6th day of Flowers Blooming
454 Years after the Defeat of Discord by the Sisters

Pallas groaned as the field medic wrapped bandages around her now-splinted wings. The broken bones left a deep, aching hurt punctuated with the sharp pain of tearing flesh.

“You were lucky. What was left of your wingblades acted as a rudimentary brace and kept you from hurting them too badly on your own,” the medic said, as he gave them another pass with a scanning spell before wrapping them even tighter, the pain making one of Pallas’ back legs kick out with enough force to knock over the rolling cart he’d left behind her.

“What are you doing? That hurts worse than when I broke it in the first place!” She snapped.

“When you broke it you were busy thinking about other things,” the medic said. “Now you’re only thinking about the pain. Which is good, because maybe thinking about the pain will keep you from doing this again. It looks like you jumped off a darn cliff!”

“Close enough,” Pallas grumbled. “How bad are the breaks? Will I still be able to…” she trailed off, unable to complete the thought.

“Not for a few weeks until they heal,” the medic said. “After that, we’ll see. I don’t think you’ll have problems, but don’t think for a second that means you can just go and be careless again. Your ribs were badly broken, and your organs were bruised. You go around and fall off any more cliffs, and one of those broken ribs could decide it wants to visit the inside of your lung or worse.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Pallas said softly, putting her head down on the table while he worked, trying to keep still. He finished wrapping her bad wing and strapped it more securely to her side with a cloth sling to make sure it was kept safely close to her body. Which was also wrapped in bandages, but still.

“Alright, little miss fussy,” the medic said. “You’re good to go. You aren’t doing anything more strenuous than walking back to your tent and sleeping, you hear? And no drinking!”

“Whatever!” Pallas rolled her eyes, standing and limping out of the medical tent, pausing at the flap and looking back, giving the other ponies a sympathetic look. As badly hurt as she was, it would heal. For some of the ponies lying there, not well enough to even sleep in their own tents, they’d never recover. Missing limbs, eyes, or worse. There were far too many ponies lying still under white sheets.

Pallas sighed and walked out into the gray, pre-dawn light, and was nearly knocked over by a white blur.

“Pallas! What happened to you?” Bianca squeezed her in a hug that made her broken ribs twinge with pain. Pallas gently pushed her back.

“I’m pretty sure you do remember that battle we were in a few hours ago?” Pallas teased, raising an eyebrow. “I know Luna has you sit far away from the fighting, but you must at least remember a lot of other ponies running around, maybe a lot of noise?”

“Pallas stop it!” Bianca’s ears folded back, a bright blush spreading across her features. “I’d fight if I could…”

“I know you would,” Pallas said, leaning down and ignoring the pain in her neck as she nuzzled Bianca for a moment. “But at least one of us needs to keep looking good.”

“Come on, you know mares dig scars,” Bianca smiled. “But are you going to be okay?”

“Yeah. I’m not going to be doing any fighting for a while, though,” Pallas sighed.

“It is no worry, since the dawn will have a sun rise over a freed Equestria,” Princess Luna said, stepping out of the shadows. Bianca trotted to her side. Pallas tried to bow politely. “Don’t. You look as though if you abased yourself we would have to find help to get you back on your feet.”

“Sorry,” Pallas said, looking down.

“I heard you killed several minotaurs, including their Khan,” Luna continued. “I would almost hesitate to believe it, except Captain Morning Glory delivered the report himself. I am at equal parts amazed and disappointed. Amazed that you could fight so well, and disappointed that you nearly threw your life away so recklessly.”

“Sorry,” Pallas repeated, biting her lip. “It won’t happen again.”

“I should hope not, since the war is over,” Luna teased. She broke out into a smile. “I am very proud of you. You have constantly exceeded my expectations and risen to become one of my most valuable warriors. ‘Tis almost a shame the fighting is done, but such is the fate of a soldier who does their job too well.”

Pallas returned the grin. “So what now?”

“Now we celebrate!” Luna declared. “There is little point in victory if the victors do not enjoy it!” She put a wing around Pallas, gesturing grandly towards the sky. “It came at a high price, but the invasion is over. Perhaps my sister will do well at quenching the griffons’ ambitions with her diplomacy. If not, they will be forced to look for easier targets now that they know we are not a land of toothless prey for them to hunt.”

“So what are you gonna do once this is over?” Wind Dancer asked, as the party went on around them. Pallas looked over at her. The pegasus was lying on the ground belly-up, her hooves in the sky like she'd simply been inverted while walking over. She'd managed to come out of the fight without a single scratch on her, one of the lucky few to make that claim.

“Over?” Pallas asked, frowning.

“Well, the war is pretty much finished,” Wind Dancer clarified. “I know a lot of soldiers are going to want to get back to their real lives, or whatever is left of them. A lot of us left family and friends to fight for Equestria.”

“And a lot of us didn't,” Zudah countered, dropping an empty mug on Wind Dancer's belly as he flew past to land at an overturned log to sit. “I was living in the woods like a wild animal before Luna found me.”

“No, you were living in the woods like a bandit,” Wind Dancer said, kicking the mug away. “Because that's what you were.”

“Fine, whatever. Like a bandit.” Zudah rolled his eye. He hadn't been as lucky as Wind Dancer, and half of his face was covered in bandages. He'd likely be blind or mostly blind in his right eye for the rest of his life, but he'd already started talking about getting a 'bad-ass eyepatch and a boat and making the best of the situation'.

“I'm staying with Luna,” Bianca said. “I really don't want to go back home.”

“And I don't have a home to go back to,” Pallas mumbled. “Killing a bunch of griffons made me feel better about what happened, but even if I went back to town, I've been away for a long time, and there's not going to be anypony there to greet me.”

“I'm going to stick with her and go back to Everfree,” Wind Dancer said. “I might take some time off to make sure all the other girls made it out okay, but I'm getting too old for my previous job, sadly.” She hopped up and shook her flank, doing a little dance.

“Liar,” Bianca giggled. “If I had a bag of bits I'd be tossing them at you.”

Wind Dancer stuck out her tongue. “That's because you happen to like big, strong mares.” She smirked at Pallas, who blushed and looked away, completely unable to meet her gaze. “I'm past my prime. Customers want a mare who's just barely legal. What I'm hoping is that I can snag myself a nice husband in the capital. Maybe even somepony with a title~”

“I can definitely see you spending the rest of your days being a trophy wife,” Zudah snickered.

“There's nothing wrong with wanting to be comfortable!” Wind Dancer huffed.

“It'd suit you,” Pallas said. “You're too pretty to be a soldier.”

“Hey, what about me?” Bianca frowned.

“Hm. I don't remember you doing any fighting,” Pallas teased. “I don't think you count as a soldier.”

Bianca blew a raspberry at Pallas. “I outrank you!”

“Careful, Pallas,” Zudah said. “You know officers don't get stuck in with the grunts. Aside from you, anyway. But none of us can keep up with you.”

“Only the Dragoons have a higher kill count,” Wind Dancer said. “I checked. Silver Tongue might be rude, but he's been magically tracking everyone's score. Apparently there was a betting pool this whole time!”

“Yeah, and I made a bundle on it before the odds got switched around,” Zudah grinned. “I'm glad I didn't bet on Pallas kicking the bucket. She'd put her hoof through my flank.”

“Damn right I would,” Pallas smiled. “I can't be killed so easily.”

“Easily she says,” Zudah laughed sourly. “As if a minotaur Khan is no big deal at all!”

“If I hadn't been so careless with the first minotaur it would have been a lot easier,” Pallas admitted. “But once he was down, the other minotaurs just kind of packed up and left. They didn't even take the griffons with them.”

“Luna told me it was an honor thing,” Bianca said. “I don't really understand it myself.”

“Once he was down, they decided to cut their losses and go.” Zudah shrugged. “I mean, they weren't in this to conquer Equestria, they just wanted to make a profit. Once the boss was dead they probably decided it just wasn't worth it anymore.”

“That or they were scared they'd have to fight her next,” Wind Dancer laughed.

“After that fight I don't think I would have been able to handle anything bigger than an ant,” Pallas joked. “And I'd only manage that because I could fall over and crush it as I passed out.”

“So that means I can finally drink you under the table,” Zudah said. “Double or nothing.”

“Zudah you owe me so much money Luna should just give me your pay,” Pallas said. “You sure you want to double that? I'm pretty sure I have to take your firstborn at that point.”

“Like I'll ever have a kid,” Zudah laughed. “Come on. You win and I'll toss in my lucky pendant. You lose and I don't owe jack!”

“It's your funeral,” Pallas shrugged. “Bianca, get us some mead.”

~~~***~~~

“That was a terrible decision,” Pallas groaned, as she collapsed onto her bed, winced, then rolled to her other side. Then she winced again, and settled down on her belly. Both sides weren’t pleased about having weight put on them.

“You shouldn’t have tried to lift the keg of mead,” Bianca said, settling down next to her. Pallas tried to get comfortable, shivering in the cold air. “You could have hurt yourself even worse! It's bad enough that you've got both your wings hurt, you're going to end up looking like a mummy if you keep it up.”

“It wasn't trying! I got it above my head and drank half of it before Luna grabbed the rest. Did win that pendant, though.” Pallas smiled, pulling it out to look at it. It was nothing special, just an oblong stone with odd carvings on it. Bianca giggled and pressed closer to her, drawing a blanket up to cover both of them. “You know, I'm all sticky and awful,” Pallas warned, letting the pendant drop back to her chest.

“Well I want to get some celebrating in too, if you haven't broken yourself too badly,” Bianca said, licking at Pallas' neck. “I'm pretty sure you need a bath, but I only have my tongue~”

“Won't Luna be mad?” Pallas rested her chin on top of Bianca's head. She was so much bigger than the albino that she co

“About what?” Bianca asked, blinking. “Are you worried she's going to be jealous~?” Bianca started giggling. “You worry too much. She's my teacher, and she's like a mother to me. Besides, she keeps trying to get me in bed with you.”

“Oh? Is that part of your training too?” Pallas asked, smirking.

“Maybe...” Bianca said, nuzzling Pallas. “Luna says it'll be a few days before the Solar Guard arrives to relieve us. I heard relaxing is the best way to heal quickly, and I know the best way to get you to actually relax for a while...”