Chapter Thirty One: Fire and Blood.

***

Plymouth, March 15th 2030.

"Everfree squad, comm check."

"Applejack, on."

"Rarity, on."

"Desert Wind, on."

"Lyra Heartstrings, on."

"True Grit on."

"Sapphire Steel, on."

"Pinkie Pie, okie dokie lokie!"

"Pinkie, stick to the comm procedure."

"But it makes no sense - on? On what? What am I supposed to be on? I'm on rubble, if that counts, but I don't think that's what whoever wrote the procedure meant when they -"

"It's short for on alert - and the reason it's the shortened version is to clear the airwaves of unnecessary traffic."

"The same airwaves we're cloggin' now, sugarcube."

"Oh! Ok! I get it. Ahem - Pinkie Pie, on!"

"Squad is on, Twi," Applejack said, giving her friend a wry smile.

"Finally." Twilight sighed slightly as she walked. Pinkie's refusal to totally adhere to military protocol was... slightly wearing, especially for Twilight: she may have hated fighting, but protocol - rules - were things she could get behind.

The little squadron of ponies traversed the empty, foreboding city as quickly as they could. All around them were the skeletons of concrete and metal buildings, shattered by destructive spells and munitions or charred by fire. In the distance, the group could hear yelling and the sounds of battle, and above them they could see specks that looked like Pegasi in the air, fighting in a twisted dance of death. Bodies were visible all around them, beneath rubble, some in such horrible conditions that some of the inexperienced fighters - Rarity especially - felt the need to vomit.

"This is horrible," the fashionista muttered under her breath, looking around with wide, depressed eyes.

"Keep the line clear, Three," Twilight said at once, using Rarity's call sign. She sounded more than a little worried.

Truth be told, Twilight couldn't help but feel nervous, not only of the city but of her command over the little team of ponies, her friends, all of whom were relying on her to make the right decisions, to do the right thing by them - and her nerves showed. Her doing the comm check was only one sign of how tense she was - she had repeatedly halted the squad's advance as they went in order to be certain there was no sign of enemy activity, and more than once had ordered the squad into cover, only for a stray animal to wander across their path instead of the horde of converted or Guards she had obviously expected.

"How far are we d'you reckon, Twi?" Applejack asked Twilight quietly as they walked.

"We've made it two streets. The third is coming up," the unicorn replied quickly. She looked around nervously, before turning back to the squad. "True Grit, I want you to scout the street. Keep your eyes open, report to us if we're clear."

"On it, ma'am," Grit said sharply, snapping off a quick salute. He darted ahead of the squad, keeping his head low as he did so.

"Watch yer spacin' guys," Applejack said to the rest of the team. "Don't wanna be bunched too close together if they throw a spell at us."

"She's right," Sapphire Steel added quietly. "Area of effect spells are deadly."

The group adjusted their positioning slightly, spreading a tiny bit further out than they had been before - unconsciously, most of the ponies had bunched up, most likely out of nervousness.

"Everfree Six to Everfree team," True Grit's voice crackled on the comms after a few moments, using his call sign. The group could see the grim former Guard waving from the other end of a street. "Way's clear. Over."

"Copy that," Twilight said quickly. "Everfree squad is en route to you. Hold position. Over."

"Wilco," Grit said. "Out."

Twilight turned to the others. "Let's get going, guys."

The group quickly began moving, keeping low as they scuttled between burnt out cars and piles of rubble. Within a few moments, the had reached Grit.

"Enemy activity is supposedly getting more pronounced in this area, according to reports," Grit said. As radio operator, he had picked up comm chatter since before they had landed, though most of it was superfluous. "Especially in the sky: heavy Pegasi presence: most theories seem to think it's due to that Thunder Tank."

"Who do you think that is above us now?" Pinkie wondered aloud, looking up at the sky. Everypony else quickly glanced up, the sight of the dogfighting ponies definitely a concern.

"Comm chatter suggested that the Pegasi escorts had engaged Guard forces," True Grit said quietly. "Might be Grey or Upsilon Squadrons, they were told to engage the hostiles directly."

"Whoever they are, keep an eye on them, somepony," Twilight said, casting a glance up at the sky as they went. "Pegasi air squadrons might be assigned the sky but Guard are versatile enough to land and still be a threat to us down here."

"I've got my eye open," Desert Wind said, glaring at the sky as though his stare alone could smite guards. "You with me Steel?"

"With you," she replied. The mini gun Desert had required a magical stabilisation in order to maintain accuracy (since ponies weren't built to fire guns or handle recoil), and Sapphire Steel had volunteered to be Wind's stabiliser.

"Grey Squadron is where Rainbow, Ditzy and Fluttershy are," Rarity said quietly. "I hope they're alright."

"Me too," Twilight admitted.

A moment later, as though responding to their thoughts, a rainbow coloured blur, followed quickly by yellow and grey blurs, zoomed past the group.

"Down!" Twilight yelled at once, taking cover. The rest of the squad followed suit, their eyes fixed on the blurs.

The three blurs stopped a moment later, landing near the group, before the Pegasus at the head of the group looked straight at Twilight with a joyful expression on her face.

"Twi!" the familiar form of Rainbow Dash spoke, grinning widely. Behind her were none other than Fluttershy and Ditzy Doo, all three of them looking harried.

"Rainbow?!" Twilight said, shocked to see her friend. "Fluttershy? Ditzy? What are you...?"

Before anypony could say anything else at this reunion. Fluttershy yelled out.

"Here they come!"

***

Five minutes earlier.

"Damn, these buckers are persistent!" Rainbow said, dodging as another Guard flew past her, narrowly missing her with his spear. She had three more Royal Guard on her tail, and no matter how hard she flew, she couldn't shake them. They must have been some pretty good flyers, she mused bitterly, to be holding spears and still moving so well as to keep up with her, but she was a bit too busy trying to not die at their hooves to really rate their skills.

"I need a little help!" she yelled into her comms. The body of an Upsilon Squadron flyer zoomed past her, a wing severed, and she swore as she dodged it. "Now! It's getting hot over here!"

"Hang on Rainbow!" she heard Fluttershy yell. "I'll be right with you!"

Rainbow turned to see Fluttershy and Ditzy tailing the Royal Guards. To her horror, however, two of the Guards tailed off and looped around her squadmates.

"Damn!" she swore. "Did we manage to find the only competent flyers in the Royal Guard?!"

"This is Grey Leader to all flyers," Errant's voice spoke before she received any further response. "Lead the enemy to the ground, take them on in the buildings! Might give us an advantage!"

"That'll take some tricky flying!" Grey Fox from Upsilon said, his voice sounding harried but still strong.

"Then it's time to show us your moves, Fox," Errant replied grimly. "Go, go, go!"

Rainbow watched as flyers began heading for the ground, Royal Guard hot on their tails. She gritted her teeth. This wasn't something she'd particularly enjoy, but she supposed she'd have no choice.

"Ok, Ditzy, Shy, we're going in low and fast, that'll keep these buckers off our backs," she said quickly.

"Right behind you!" Ditzy said, surprisingly calm considering the proficiency of the flyer behind her.

"M-me too!" Fluttershy added quickly, sounding nervous but managing to hold it together

Rainbow grimaced as she began her descent. The Guard matched her move for move, but the streets of Plymouth were a rubble strewn maze of skeletons and wreckage. She was pretty sure that no matter how good this guy was, he hadn't trained in such conditions - but thanks to the Grey Squadron training course, she had.

"Building on the left!" she said, darting into a building, dodging beams and broken windows as she did so. Fluttershy and Ditzy followed her in, their Guard pursuers not following them, apparently stymied by the damaged masonry and metal. For a moment, they stopped in the rubble of the ruined building, catching their breath.

"D'you think we lost 'em, Rainbow Dash?" Ditzy asked, sounding for a moment like the old Ditzy Rainbow knew.

"Not likely," she said. "They're probably just slowed down. Let's keep going."

"Er... I've got friendlies on my HUD," Fluttershy said quickly, pointing to a signal they were all getting on their HUDs. "They might be able to help?"

"Good call, Flutters," Rainbow Dash said quickly. "Come on!"

She dashed out of the building, the others hot on her hooves. Sure enough, the minute they saw their targets again, the Guards - who had apparently been waiting outside the building for them to emerge - charged after them, though they were nearly there.

Rainbow, faster than she had ever gone short of Rainbooming, landed first by the little group of allied troops, all of them apparently ponies. Next to her landed Ditzy and Fluttershy. She took a moment to register who she was looking at.

"Twi!" she said, grinning at Twilight Sparkle, who looked shocked to see her.

"Rainbow?!" Twilight said, shocked. "Fluttershy? Ditzy? What are you...?"

Before anypony could say anything else, Fluttershy yelled out.

"Here they come!"

Sure enough, the three Guards landed a short space away.

"Spears!" one yelled, and they threw their spears, one impacting near Rainbow but the other two missing. A moment later, the Pegasi moved to charge.

And then a hail of hot lead tore them apart, shredding their armour and tearing holes through wings, skulls and limbs.

Desert Wind, breathing heavily, released the bit trigger of his mini guns, the weapons glowing slightly with a pale blue light as Sapphire Steel steadied them, her face a mask of concentration, and the ends glowing an oddly contrasting orange with heat.

"Booyah motherbuckers," Desert said, grinning nastily at the remains of his targets.

There was a moment pause as everypony caught their breath.

"Rainbow, what's going on?" Twilight asked her friend after a moment, still looking shocked to see her.

"Grey and Upsilon Squadrons broke from the air and tried to lure the Pegasi down here," Rainbow replied breathlessly, staring at the shredded bodies in shock. "What the heck was that..."

"It's the Resistance P220," Desert Wind said, grinning a little too maniacally for any pony's comfort. "Death comes in pony size, baby!"

Rainbow chuckled at that. As she did so, Ditzy moved over to her.

"The rest of Grey and Upsilon might need our help!" she said to Rainbow Dash, speaking quietly but urgently. "We have to help them!"

"Ditzy's right," Rainbow said, turning back to Twilight. "Can you guys help us?"

"We're en route to a rendezvous with a Defence Force position," Twilight said slowly. "I'm not sure we can divert from our orders like that..."

"Orders?" Rainbow asked, sounding surprised and a little angry. "These are pony lives we're talking about!"

"Twi, war ain't just about orders," Applejack said quickly, giving Twilight a look. "We've got to help our fellow ponies out here."

Twilight only hesitated a moment, looking torn, before replying, her tone suddenly stern and commanding.

"Grit, Lyra, Steel, Wind," she said quickly, looking at each pony in turn, "I need you to get to Sergeant Dietrich's position as we were ordered and tell him the situation: ask him for backup if he can spare it but your primary job is to support his position."

"Wilco, ma'am," True Grit said at once. Immediately, he headed off, the others going with him.

Twilight, nodding with satisfaction, turned to the remaining members of Everfree. "Pinkie, Rarity, Applejack, you're with me."

"Right with ya Twi," Applejack said approvingly, smiling.

"So," Rarity said grimly, not looking particularly enthusiastic, "where first?"

"Ditzy Doo, scout the skies, keep an eye open for our ponies," Rainbow said to the grey mare quickly. "Then hover over them or near them. Stick fairly close: we're at foot speed now."

"Gotcha, Rainbow Dash," Ditzy replied, taking off immediately. A moment later, she flew off in an easterly direction.

"Come on!" Rainbow said at once, following her on foot. The rest of the ponies followed her as quickly as they could.

"We could have used Wind's mini gun!" Applejack said as they ran. "Why'd you send him off to help Dietrich?"

"That gun's our squad's biggest asset and Dietrich's team needed the support," Twilight replied slightly breathlessly - she had never been the most fit, and even though training had made her more so she was still not the best runner. "We'll manage without it."

"If you say so," Applejack replied, sounding unconvinced.

Twilight ignored her comment. There was something strange going on with Applejack: it was like she was getting too used to this life, the fighting. Still: there was nothing Twilight could do about it now. They were stuck here for the moment. And maybe getting used to it was the way forward...

No, she thought, shaking her head. How could she go back to peace if all she knew was war? How could she go back to Equestria, to that peaceful place, if she did get used to violence?

And then another thought occurred to her, creating an icy pit in the base of her stomach.

How would anyone back home ever understand what she and her friends had been through?

***

Hell Blazer and the Doctor walked at a steady pace behind Rozhenko. The soldier was marching quite quickly, but not so much that the two ponies couldn't keep up.

Hell Blazer glanced sideways at the Doctor. Every time he saw the pony who had once, supposedly, been the fresh faced and cheerful Doctor Hooves (though how that worked Hell Blazer didn't know), the old pony looked older, more tired and greyer. Even now most of his mane and beard had turned grey, and there were bags under his eyes and lines surrounding his mouth and eyes, the signs of a stressful life.

"How've things been?" Hell Blazer asked. He felt foolish doing so: the old pony rarely spoke about himself.

"Well," the Doctor replied tersely, without looking at the yellow Earth Pony.

Pretty much as expected, Hell Blazer thought. "You were pretty quiet on the ride here."

"I was thinking," the Doctor said simply.

"Anything interesting?" Hell Blazer asked idly. He didn't expect an answer to that one.

"Nothing that would interest you, I'm sure," the Doctor said tiredly. "Merely..."

Hell Blazer's ears perked up slightly as the Doctor trailed off. An actual answer was... interesting, and certainly not what he had been anticipating from the Doctor. Certainly not an answer that revealed anything about what the tired old stallion was thinking.

"Merely what?" he asked, hoping he wasn't pushing his luck too much.

The Doctor didn't answer, and for a moment Hell Blazer was certain that he had pushed too far, that the stallion had decided to shut up. To his surprise, however, the Doctor sighed.

"I was thinking about the newcomer Ditzy," he said quietly.

Hell Blazer frowned. This was not necessarily a bad thing, but Elliot had more than once remarked that the Doctor had a tendency to brood.

"What were you thinking?" he asked.

"We spoke, briefly," the Doctor said quietly. "She is much as Ditzy was before the war: naive, innocent. Less so perhaps than she was to begin with but more so than my Ditzy at the end."

"Was your Ditzy...?" Hell Blazer asked. The Doctor frowned at him.

"She and I were friends," he said sharply, sounding more emotional than Hell Blazer could ever recall hearing from him. "She showed me the world of Equus, helped me understand Equestria. There was no gift greater that she could have possibly given me. She was the first face that face saw, and her death..."

He paused, and suddenly he looked old, older than his body, older than Hell Blazer had ever seen anypony. His eyes bore the weight of years uncounted.

"Her death sparked a side of me I didn't think I still had," the Doctor said quietly. "One I had thought long forgotten. But here I am: a Doctor no more." He chuckled tiredly, but it was a sound without mirth. "No matter how far I run, this is my destiny. Loss. Bloodshed. Death."

Before Hell Blazer could reply - or even begin to think of a way to reply - Rozhenko stopped, holding up a hand.

"We're here, gentlemen," he said quietly. Hell Blazer frowned as he looked for what the man meant, and the his eyes settled on it. They widened in shock. The Doctor, frowning, took out his sonic screwdriver and ran a scan.

"Is that...?" he asked, throwing Hell Blazer a glance.

The yellow Earth Pony grinned widely. All his prayers had been answered at once. "Oh, hell the buck - fuck - yes!"

***

After a few moment's of running through the city, following Ditzy's lead, Twilight and her friends reached a fighting zone. Ditzy was pointing downwards from a rooftop towards a crossroads in the middle of a town centre area, which had once been dominated by a fountain. Said fountain was now ruined and filled with a murky red-brown liquid that might have been dirt or blood, nopony could tell (and they didn't want to find out).

A group of three ponies, two in Upsilon colours as well as Bright Wonder from Grey, were hiding behind a ruined car, using it as cover, as three unicorns in Guard armour fired spells off at them, five or six Guard Pegasi waiting near them. A fourth pony, an Upsilon flyer, lay dead nearby, charred and still, obviously the victim of a Guard spell.

Immediately, Rarity and Twilight retaliated, firing spells at the ponies and killing two of them, suppressing the third. The harried pony signalled for his Pegasi cohorts to move, but in a flash, Ditzy, Rainbow and Fluttershy were on them, Pinkie and Applejack not far behind. Rainbow took two out quickly, Ditzy a third. A fourth met Applejack's bucking legs, his neck snapping into a horribly odd angle, and Fluttershy, while trying to block another's blow, stabbed him in the throat, yelling involuntarily as he gurgled blood at her, before stepping back, his eyes wide and staring.

"I'm - I'm sorry!" Fluttershy said quickly, her eyes widening in shock and horror at the sight. "I... I didn't mean..."

He collapsed, still gurgling, and Fluttershy stepped back, horrified by what she had just done.

A sixth and seventh were blasted into the masonry of the fountain by Pinkie's party cannon, the pink mare unusually grim faced, her normally bubbly hair going lank. The last took a bolt of light to the face from Rarity, and slumped to the ground, a neat hole drilled in between his eyes. Looking faintly sick, Rarity kept firing, taking the last Guard unicorn out as well, one if his eyes reduced to a scorched hole.

"That's all of 'em!" Applejack said, grinning slightly as she turned to the flyers. "You ponies ok?"

"I'm ok," one of the Upsilon ponies said quickly, looking concerned. "But Blue Sky is hurt."

"I'll take a look," Fluttershy said, her voice entirely too quiet. She had never directly killed before today, never seen the life leave her victim, though she had on occasion managed to knock a pony from the sky before. It was an altogether sobering experience, and one she dearly hoped she'd ever have to go through again.

"Wonder?" Rainbow asked, turning to her fellow Grey.

"I'm good," Bright Wonder said quickly, looking tense but smiling nonetheless. "You seen any of the others?"

"No," Rainbow said, sounding frustrated. She turned around. "Twilight, we ready to move?"

There was no response from her friend, and Rainbow suddenly realised she couldn't see her,

"Twi?" Applejack called out.

"Where did she go?" Rarity asked.

"She was over there," Ditzy said, pointing towards the street the unicorns had been positioned at. Applejack exchanged a worried glance with Rarity, and the two raced off in the direction Twilight had gone in. A little further down the street was where they found her, staring open mouthed in awe at what she had found.

She was staring at a rapidly shrinking pink magical portal, a room vaguely reminiscent of Canterlot architecture visible beyond it.

"I'm an idiot," she said quietly, almost to herself. "A... bucking... idiot! He told me about this but I didn't listen - bucking, bucking idiot!"

Applejack and Rarity exchanged worried looks: Twilight very rarely swore. For her to swear, something big must have happened.

"What is it Twi?" Applejack asked. There was no response from the purple unicorn.

"Twilight, dear?" Rarity added after a moment, looking concerned. "Are you alright?"

The unicorn ruined, a gleam in her eye - a familiar, half welcome and half terrifying gleam that told both ponies that she had an idea: one that might be good, or might be insane.

"We need to speak to Elliot," Twilight said quickly. "As soon as possible."

"Twi, we need to find the rest of the flyers first," Applejack said. "You know that."

"After, then," Twilight said, eyes wide with excitement. "This is too big!"

"What is?" Rarity asked.

Twilight grinned, a fierce and determined thing that almost frightened her two friends. When she spoke, what she said both terrified and excited them.

"I think I know how to change the course of this war!"

***