Chapter FIVE

The plan hadn't changed all that much, Cheerilee had at least that much to be thankful for. Second and third platoon would still be attacking the enemies exposed eastern and western flanks; the only real difference was that they were going to the enemy as opposed to letting the rebels come to them. This meant that they'd have to swing their march wide in order to obtain good position, and that they'd have to move double time if they hoped to arrive before first platoon was completely wiped out.

Any good military unit new better than to expect things to always go exactly as planned. Still, battles tend to have a certain – a certain rhythm – an ebb and flow that is not unlike an ocean's tide. Changes disrupted that rhythm, as well as other things. Chief among them being moral.

Little bits of murmurs reached Cheerilee's careful ears. Every manner of belly aching and protesting, coupled with every thinkable vulgarity. The groans of her soldiers fluttered up from the ranks in fragments, like one-winged butterflies drifting on an ominous wind. The lieutenant marched on at the helm, her ears catching them as if with a net.

"…ponyfeathers. I knew that damn unicorn was going to get us all killed…"

"…can you believe it – RD just turning tail like that? Rainbow-fucking-Dash!"

"…think I'm gonna be sick…"

"…If we live through this I want a medal. I want the fucking princess to put a fucking medal around my fucking neck…"

"…kill her. Kill that damn Sparkle…"

"…An Ursa Major? Celestia help me, I'm gonna be sick…"

Though she was troubled by her soldiers' seemingly infinite capacity to piss and moan, Lieutenant Cheerilee couldn't honestly say that she disagreed with the subject of their gripes. Cheerilee didn't like Twilight Sparkle. At the very least she could acknowledge that the lieutenant did, as much as it pained her to admit, have some talent for battle tactics, and she could keep a cool head under pressure. Good qualities for anypony of her rank. But Sparkle played favorites. She made decisions that should have been well outside of her authority to make, and she made these decisions with no consent but that of her little cohorts. Cheerilee imagined the six of them, scheming in their private tent, plotting to rise in the ranks. She imagined Sparkle in that little tent, plopped in a rotating chair behind a desk and petting a cat like some kind of comic book villain, laughing at the rest of the company. Laughing at her. Just the thought of it made her mash her teeth as she marched.

Applejack and Pinkie Pie marched a few paces behind their acting commander, hooves dragging lackadaisically. They had the look of abandoned children wandering through an empty place in search of parents who no longer wanted them, each only vaguely aware of the tasks inherent futility. Not long ago a rainbow colored streak of light had flashed across the sky, fleeing from the ensuing battle and taking with it both their wills to fight. After the rainbow faded neither of them was able to muster the courage to utter so much as a word about it. They just looked at each other with big round unbelieving eyes.

Lyra and Bon-Bon marched alongside them. A thin white wisp of smoke billowed up from the glowing end of Lyra's lit cigarette. She took a deep breath and blew a cloud in Applejack's face, prodding her.

"Oh pull your head out of your ass already. You and Pinks need to get your shit together. We're walking into a cluster fuck, in case you didn't know, and I'd feel better knowing that the pony watching my back isn't a fucking vegetable." Harsh words. Applejack thought about her fight with Twilight and wondered passively if life had anything to offer her other than unicorns with harsh words. She looked Lyra in her face but said nothing.

Lyra sighed. She didn't actually care anything for either Pinkie or Applejack, at least, nothing more than she felt for any other pony in the company. They were allies sure, but that was as far as their relationship went. Lyra liked things that way – simple – without emotions or personal feelings to make a mess of things. She had chosen to live keeping everypony and forelegs length, that way it hurt less when you had burry them.

Lyra, however, did care that Pinkie and Applejack were two of the most capable close range fighters in the entire company, and defiantly the most dangerous killers in third platoon. Years of apple-bucking on her family's farm had proven a better prerequisite for battle than any amount of boot camp drilling. She was a virtual iron horse; with muscles as hard as bricks, but also limber as wood, lungs that expanded like balloons, a heart that pounded like a piston. She had speed, and power, and coordination, and all of those other little physical advantages that lend themselves well to the work of ending lives. At the start of this mission Lyra had considered it a blessing to fight alongside the young apple-bucker, but seeing AJ as she was now seemed to dim her own chances of survival.

"She's gone. Get over it!" Still nothing, not even a twitch. "Hey chicken shit, I'm talking to you!"

"She heard you!" snapped Pinkie, her voice possessing the quality of a rapidly recoiling rubber band. She glared at Lyra with crazed, angry eyes, a glare, it was whispered amongst the ranks of Company Everfree, that could halt a charging manticore and turn a cockatrice to stone.

Lyra flinched.

Pinkamina Diane Pie, it was said, became a different pony entirely when she stepped out onto the battlefield. In the barracks she was a clown; always joking, always smiling, and often the cause when others were doing the same. The brass loved her. They indulged most of her eccentricities because keeping her happy meant keeping the company happy. As far as the higher ups were concerned, there existed no better method for maintaing moral than maintaing Pinkie Pie.

But in the midnight hours on the nights before she deployed for battle, rumors went that if you happened to wander by her tent you'd find her sitting beside a fire, staring into a small cracked mirror, mumbling little inaudible nothings to herself as she straightened her mane with an old comb. They say it's her ceremony. It marks her transformation, or rather, her emergence. That other Pinkie Pie. The one with the long pink mane – straight as a razors edge – who takes gleeful pleasure in the suffering of others.

Lyra had never actually seen this supposed ceremony, but it was an undeniable fact that Pinkie straightened her mane before missions. Though Lyra suspect it was perhaps for more practical reasons. Most likely so her usual frizzy mess of a mane wouldn't snag on foliage while she stalked through the Everfree Forest.

Pfft. Ponies and their pony-tales.

"The whole forest can hear you begging me and Applejack to pick up your slack." Pinkie kept up her stare, as if meaning to make a contest of it, until Lyra, unnerved, was forced to turn away. Even though she insisted on believing that the stories surrounding the so called,"Madmare of Company Everfree," were exaggerated, not even Lyra could deny that there was madness in that stare, or at least something bearing a strong resemblance.

"You want bodies," Pinkie mumbled to no pony in particular. "I'll give you bodies. I'll stack them at your fore hooves." A grim vow. Lyra was sure that Pinkamina meant every word.

Good, she thought. At least one of them still has some fight in her. She and Bon-Bon would stick close to the psychopath. She may have been a little off, but she was a hell of a fighter, and Lyra needed the very best at her back if she and Bon-Bon had any chance of trotting away from this in one piece.

For a while they marched. Cheerilee once again found herself bored.

And then all it once there were muzzle flashes directly in front of her, not even fifty yards out. Cheerilee could see the muzzle flashes of the rebel's small arms fire. The pop form their rifles startled her and she dropped to her stomach out of instinct, only vaguely aware that the shots were not aimed at her. The soldiers immediately behind her followed suit, as did those behind them, and those behind them; until the entire platoon was face down on their stomach, caressing the safeties of their weapons in nervous anticipation. They were so close but their arrival went unnoticed. The rebels were too busy picking off what was left of first platoon, prematurely reveling in what they assumed was their impending victory.

Finally, thought Cheerilee, Celestia smiles on me.

The proud soldier bore herself up on her hind legs, her forelegs kicking wildly at the empty air. She breathed deep and let out a neigh that shook the sturdy trunks of the forest trees. The soldiers at her back watched her closely, marveled even, and in that too fleeting moment Lieutenant Cheerilee seemed a thing akin to the aurora – hauntingly powerful, that power enlarged by its own intrinsic brevity.

When she returned to all fours, she came down galloping. Behind her third platoon became a stampede. They crashed into the enemies exposed flank violently, like a great wave breaking against sharp rocks. The fighting had begun. It was close; hoof to hoof, practically nose to nose. Though they were out numbered and out gunned, both the close proximity and the element of surprise served the MM well. Both were products of Sparkle's strategy. Lieutenant Cheerilee didn't like Twilight Sparkle, but even she had to admit the unicorn knew what she was doing when it came to the art of war.

Pinkamina Diane Pie drew a knife from her shoulder holster and bit down on the handle, clenching it tightly between her teeth. Its edge met little resistance as it tore into the hind quarters of an unsuspecting rebel. He squealed and spun around, poised to return fire, only to feel the bite of a second blade rend his collar bone. Then he fell to the ground and felt nothing, nor would he ever again.

The kill strike belonged to AJ. She'd charged in after Pinkie had, her own knife clenched between her teeth. Now she made a dash for another rebel, a unicorn with her iron sights trained on Pinkie. Just as the enemy unicorn squeezed her trigger, Applejack's knife sunk into her back. Bullets sprayed uselessly into the air as the rebel let out a desperate wail, calling out to her fellow soldiers for help, only to be answered by the pink earth pony's blade as it slashed across her throat. The cut was so deep that the unicorn's head was nearly severed, and for one horrifying moment it dangled precariously from a thin strand of flesh before what was left of the wretched rebel toppled over, coming to rest in a heap of blood and gore.

AJ wrenched her neck to retrieve the knife from her kill's spine. As she pulled she met a moment's resistance, not long, but long enough for a rebel soldier to get the drop on her. He aimed from the hip just as she was turning to face him. Too slow. Too late.

Time slowed to a crawl. Her mind raced. Something in the back of her head prayed that her body armor would hold; that the blast wouldn't rip through her head or neck. But even if she caught the rounds with her chest, she knew at this range she was staring down a kill shot. No amount of Kevlar would save her from the volley.

This was it. In those last few moments she thought about her fight with Twilight and cursed Celestia that she'd have to leave her friend on such bad terms. She thought about the streaking stretch of multicolored light in the sky, and though she hated Rainbow Dash for betraying her, she still wished for her to survive the war. To start a new life some place far away from all this madness, all this – this…

…Klick, went the unmistakable sound of an assault rifle attempting to fire with an empty magazine. AJ wasn't sure whether or not she'd actually heard such the tiny sound over the clamor of the encircling melee, but she was sure of the fact that she was still alive.

Both Militiamare and rebel hesitated.  

Then with snake like reflexes she struck out at the rebel, but he was ready for her and, being no slouch himself at close quarters, struck her squarely on the jaw with but of his gun. The knife flew from her mouth, as did he helmet form her head. She reeled backwards and he stumbled forward; off balance form having delivered such a heavy blow while supporting all of his weight on only his hind legs. The two of them rolled together onto the blood stained grass, wrestling for possession of the rebel's empty riffle. Muscles strained. Teeth gritted. The rebel was strong, a big lumbering stallion of an earth pony with legs like stone columns, but as he tussled with the filly at least half his size his confidence waned. That this small girl could give him so much trouble was unbelievable. But unlike the great lumbering stallion, strength was not the Militiamares only talent.

Seeing an opening she pushed away from her opponent, creating enough space for her to spin around, and spring up on her forelegs. She bent deep at the knees and her entire body coiled and tensed. When she uncoiled her hind legs kicked viscously at her attacker, bucking him in the throat. He choked and wobbled but didn't fall. AJ hurried to finish the job, but before she could reach him he dropped to the ground, dead; felled by three rounds to the back of his neck. The shots had come from the barrel of Bon-Bon's sidearm. She rushed over to AJ's side.

"I got your back covered private. Lyra's doing the same for Pinks."

"Where's ur riffle specialist?" Applejack asked, noticing that Bon-Bon was only caring a pistol.

"Don't know. Lost it in the fray," replied Bon-Bon. Applejack noticed the sidearm shaking in Bon-Bon's hooves. Her mane was matted and blood speckled. She picked up the weapon that had belonged to the dead stallion, reloaded it with a magazine from off his vest, and handed it to Bon-Bon.

"Try not ta lose this one." Then she pulled a long knife off of the dead rebel solider, and got back to work.

Twilight noticed a dissipation in the enemy's rate of fire. Good, that meant second and third were doing their jobs. Soon the rebels would be overtaken, boxed in from all sides. If she was going to make a move against the rampaging Ursa, then she could not wait any longer. Pegasi were dying and Fluttershy was among those pegasi. Whatever was to be done had to be done now, before night fully descended upon them. She tapped Carrot Top on the shoulder.

"On my command were going to make a gallop for the main trench," she said calmly.

"But the sniper!"

"Do not argue with me." Carrot Top nodded. She didn't care what nasty things Lyra and Cheerilee and all the others said about Lieutenant Sparkle, she was a good pony and a fearless leader. She decided to trust the unicorn, and if in the end that trust got her killed – well then it had been an honor, as they say.

"GO!" Carrot had never run so hard in her entire life. Her legs ached, and her lungs burned, and no matter how much distance she covered the trench never seemed any closer. Then all at once she was tumbling into the ditch, coming to an unpleasant halt against a solid wall of earth. Twilight was beside her. She had a look on her face that Carrot couldn't make sense of.

"Private your hit," said Twilight, and as if Twilight's words had been the cause, Carrot Top suddenly became aware of an acute pain in her right hind leg. She'd been shot just above the kneecap and was bleeding, but not badly. She could still stand on it despite the pain.

"I'm fine, sir. Nothing but a scratch."

"You've been brave enough today, private. Find a medic and get yourself taken care of."

"Yes sir." Carrot gave a hearty salute before limping off a ways down the trench in search of a medic. If she remembered right there were only a few deployed on this mission. She hoped they weren't all already dead.

The trench proved to be an excellent defensive position. It stretched several yards, and was deep without being too deep. It was a bit narrow but some imperfections were expected given the spontaneity of its creation. What was left of first platoon's earth ponies and unicorns had taken up defensive position, manning the heavy machine guns. Twilight trotted down the length of the trench, opposite the direction Carrot went, and began shouting orders.

"Listen up first. Those of you manning .30 cals keep up the suppressing fire. The rest of you riflemares are with me. I want mortars and R.P.G. rounds on that Ursa." Twilight found a discarded bazooka and took up position leaning over the trench's north wall. The other ponies followed suit: loading R.P.G.s and securing grenades to the launchers on the ends of their riffles.

"On my command." Twilight took a moment to aim carefully. She had many skills that aided her well in battle, but unfortunately precision with anti-armor weaponry was not one of her fortes.

"Ready…"

"Wait!" somepony shouted. Twilight was so startled she nearly fell over under the weight of bazooka on her shoulder. She turned to find Carrot Top hobbling awkwardly on her three good legs, shoving past the other MM as she made her way back to Twilight.

"Private I told you do see to that injury."

"Wait…wait," she gasped. "Our pegasi are still circling around the Ursa. If you fire now you're sure to catch a few in the crossfire."

Tsk. Like she didn't know that already, but there was no way to deliver the order to fall back to her fliers. They were well outside of shouting distance and sending anypony close enough would only endanger one more life.

"There's no other way."

"You could use your magic. A teleportation spell. You could–"

"You know I can't do that." She glared at Carrot like a mother scolding her child. It was unthinkable. Carrot was green alright, but even she should have known better than to suggest something so brutish. Equestrian law strictly forbade certain methods of engagement: methods like the use of poison gasses, flamethrowers, and chief among these offenses was the use of magic for anything other defensive or medical purposes. Spells used for advancement of position, relaying information, or, of course, direct offensive action were considered crimes against the state and all of pony kind.

"Don't ever let me hear insubordination like that out of you again. Understand?" Carrot's eyes fell to the ground and she nodded meekly.

"I asked you a question private!"

"Sir! I understand perfectly sir!"

"Good. As for the rest of you," Twilight resumed aiming the bazooka, "be ready to fire on my command."

Fluttershy watched the Ursa skewer one of the slower pegasus ponies on the end of a terrible claw, and then drop the poor soldier into his mouth. He screamed out for help as his bones splintered under the power of the monster's jaws. Then, satisfied with his kill, the beast failed to swallow. Instead it spat out what was left of its prey, fresh blood trickling form its lower lip.

Bullets bounced uselessly off its hide. Angering it but doing it no harm. The pegasus ponies flew around the beast, weaving and bobbing and circling the monster. Distract it. That was the plan. But the damn thing never seemed to tire, much unlike first platoon's pegasi, and as they tired there maneuvering grew sloppy. They misjudged distance, flew too low, came in to slow. And every mistake they made cost them another member of first's already rapidly dwindling numbers.

Fluttershy emptied her last magazine into the Ursa's cheek. The beast took a swipe at her but she was already well out of reach. She drew her side arm, and just before she began firing something caught her attention. A voice that reached her over the monster's roar, and the clatter of small arms fire.

"This is pointless," shouted one of her fellow MM, she had an off blond mane and a dull lavender coat. Her midsection was bleeding from where the Ursa had nicked her with the very tip of its claws; three little cuts, shallow wounds that wouldn't even leave scars. Fluttershy thought she looked familiar, somepony from basic maybe. The name was at the back of her throat. She was practically choking on it.

"We got to lead it away. Give our friends on the ground a chance to escape without getting chased back to HQ. You with me Sarg?"

Whatever this pony was about to do was probably going to be stupid. Stupid and reckless, and even though she didn't have the authority to make a call like that in first place, Fluttershy nodded in agreement anyway. It was the lavender pony's voice and her posture that convinced Fluttershy to trust her. So confident. The lavender pony was sure that this plan of hers would work, and she smiled as she explained the details, reveling in the promise of danger. She sounded like her. Moved like her too – not exactly; no pony was exactly like her – put this one was a close second. With a few more colors in her mane, Fluttershy thought, she might even look like her.

"I'll need you out front with me. You're Twilight's right hoof, the number two. When they see you the others will follow." Fluttershy nodded again. She remembered what Twilight had said to her when they were together in the foxhole. She was going back to her. To all of them.

"Follow my lead!" shouted the lavender pegasus pony. She flew up high, and then darted down at the monster at an almost perfect ninety degree angle. She was fast. Fluttershy could barely keep up with her new companion as she dove in close to the Ursa, surprising it with a quick burst of fully automatic rounds to the eye. A growl rose up from the beast that was unlike any sound it had made before. It was a hurt sound, like that of a whimpering dog. The thing lumbered backwards. It rose up on its hind paws and swiped at the lavender pony but was too slow. A few seconds later Fluttershy did the same, dropping in form above and aiming for its other eye but missing. The bullets from her sidearm pinged harmlessly off its brow. It didn't matter though, they had the Ursa's attention. Now they had to keep it.

The two of them circled the monster's head twice, flying in close and firing across its face in a sweeping pattern before suddenly breaking off. They flew away, leading it deeper into the forest and the Ursa followed. The other pegasus ponies noticed quickly and began to do the same, making sure to head in the same direction as Fluttershy.

"That's it, that's it! After me big guy!" taunted the lavender pony, excited, trilled by her presumed triumph over the beast. Over confident. Careless. She seemed more and more like her with every passing moment. Fluttershy flew ahead, but the lavender daredevil hung back to taunt the monster, staying close, making sure the thing kept its attention on her. Fluttershy watched as her new companion ventured to near to the Ursa's menacing jaw, and somewhere in the back of her mind she wondered if she had perhaps been unconsciously looking for somepony to replace her AWOL friend. She hated herself for even thinking that Rainbow Dash of all ponies could ever be replaced, and so soon no less. But she hated Rainbow more for abandoning them. She was supposed to be made of tougher stuff than that. She was supposed to be the brave one. The one who came to everypony's rescue. She wasn't the one who got teased for being a pegasus afraid of heights, or for cowering from her own shadow. If anypony was supposed to just fly away it was suppose to me, thought Fluttershy; angry tears pooling behind her eyes.

She blinked them away defiantly. If she was going to die, she was going to do it with a face wet from blood and sweat, not tears. No time for that – not now. Not ever again. Now it was her turn to play daredevil.

She dashed across the sky as fast as her already exhausted wings would let her. To the lavender pony's surprise – to everypony's surprise – the Ursa leapt up into the air. Not high, but that anything that large was capable of leaving the ground should have, in a sane world, been impossible. It wasn't fast either but it was fast enough to catch the lavender pony off guard. She beat her wings harder but it was too little too late.

The Constellation's jaws opened, and inside his mouth there seemed an entire galaxy. His teeth were like sharpened pillars of pure meteorite, and his tongue was bright and hot like a star, and behind his tonsils there was nothing a but a void: infinite, cold, and dark.

Fluttershy dashed through the sky. The constellation's mouth began to close. The lavender pony beat her wings.

Fluttershy dashed. She was close. She could make it. The constellation's tongue lapped, savoring the coming meal. The lavender pony beat her wings. Too close – not enough time.

Fluttershy dashed; just a blink away now. She could make it. The constellation took a deep breath, inhaling, pulling at its prey like the vacuum of a black hole. The lavender pony's wings were still. She shut her eyes and made her peace.

Fluttershy crashed into the lavender pony, grabbing her around the waist and holding her fast. The constellation's jaws snapped shut, its teeth grazing one of Fluttershy's wings.

Then there was a boom. It knocked the pair of pegasi off balance, sending them spiraling uncontrolled through the air.

And then there were more booms. The sky was full of them. They were tearing the world apart. Fire and smoke and horrible defining sound. The world was ending. Celestia was ripping it to pieces herself. They had angered her with their warring, and their cowardice, and their callousness and now she was ripping it all apart. What else could it have been? Nothing seemed to make sense.

The monster reeled, it fell out of the sky and its graceless landing shook the earth.

In the last sane part of her mind Fluttershy knew that she had done it. She had saved that brave, foolish pony with the lavender coat. She was safe, cradled in the sergeant's forelegs as the two of them hurtled towards the earth. Fluttershy held her new companion – her new friend – close to her chest and navigated the landing as best she could. They came down fast, but Fluttershy managed to catch enough of the updraft from the explosions under her wings to slow their fall significantly. They hit the forest ground hard and skidded across the soft grass for a bit before rolling to a stop at the base of a small tree.

Fluttershy gathered herself quicker than her condition should have allowed.

"HAHA!" she exclaimed. She won! She tricked the Ursa, and saved her new friend, and survived the end of the world. She didn't need Rainbow Dash. She'd be fine without her. They all would. And between the five of them that were left they had courage in spades. But most importantly she was going back to Twilight. She was going to hold the unicorn in her forelegs and thank her for everything.

"We made it! We… made…" Fluttershy looked down at the pony in her forelegs, and it took her rattled mind almost a full minute to process what she was seeing, "…it."

What she had been clutching during her return to the earth wasn't a pony at all. It was half a carcass – the bottom half. Nothing but entrails hanging out of a mangled midsection, like some kind of sick live piñata, a naked pair of limp hind quarters, and a partially burned off blood flecked cutie mark. The image on the dead flank was that of a bright yellow sun partially covered by innocent looking clouds. Cloudkicker. The name popped into her head as if on cue. Seeing the cutie mark sparked the memory of their first meeting back at basic training. That was a lifetime ago. Fluttershy wasn't sure if it had even been hers. She held what was left of Cloudkicker in her fore hooves and stared at it, perfectly and profoundly numb.

The wounded constellation stood up. Twilight didn't want to believe it. The thing could still stand after eating a round form every anti-armor weapon in the platoon's arsenal. She wagered that the beast couldn't do it a second time.

"Reload!" she ordered, and the others obeyed. "Again. On my mark…" Twilight Sparkle took aim, the weight of the bazooka heavy on her shoulder.

The Constellation bounded toward her. Fluttershy watched it with tired eyes and a dull uninterested expression. She noticed night had fallen. It was dark, and in the darkness the Ursa shined like a cold sun. Beautiful – terrifyingly so.

And then something impossible happened. Fluttershy, and Twilight, and all of the MM and of all of the rebels saw it, and they knew that it was impossible, but it happened anyway.

In a flash it was day again, as if Celestia had changed her mind and suddenly bucked the sun back into the sky. But the light form the sun was too bright, and too many colors. There were beams of brilliant yellow, and that seemed right; but accompanying them were beams of red, of green, of purple, of orange, and of blue. The sky was awash with every color and every shade that had every flickered across the visual spectrum; an infinite gradient of light spreading out in every direction.

Fluttershy saw red, and it was all at once the sharp crimson of a dancing flame, and the pale whisper of blushing cheeks, and the dark scarlet of blood. She saw sky blue and ocean blue. She saw canary yellow beside lemon and watched, awestruck, as they danced with the blues and became greens. The great shine of the living galaxy paled. It seemed but a speck now. A single candle attempting to outshine Celestia's sun.

The Ursa was all but upon Fluttershy, apparently blind to the great spectacle in the sky. It rose up on its hind legs and roared. The tiny pegasus pony did not look away. She met the monster's gaze and was not afraid. Its claws gleamed in the multi-colored light as it prepared to deliver the killing blow.

Then came the boom, like thunder, drowning out the mighty roar of the living galaxy. A bolt of rainbow colored lighting split the sky in two. It moved faster than anything could move, but Fluttershy saw her with her own naked eyes. At least that's what she'd tell the others later when she got back to camp. She'd tell it to her fellow soldiers when stories got passed around in the mess hall. She'd tell it to them around campfires, and during marches. She'd tell it every chance she got, and when she was old and gray she'd tell it to her grandchildren. She would tell it a million times before she died, and it would still be a million times too few. She'd never embellish it. She couldn't even if she'd tried. It was already as miraculous as anything could be.

She'd tell them that she saw her – through all the sound and fury she saw Rainbow Dash.

The rainbow lightning bolt struck the Ursa in the temple, just under the ear. Its skull caved in, crushed by the overwhelming force of the impact. Blood sprayed from its head as it toppled over, and Fluttershy was surprised somewhat by the mortality of the living galaxy. Despite its other worldliness its blood was red, no different from any of Celestia's children. It finally came to a rest on its side. Dead. It had been even before it hit the ground.

In death the beast's natural light was extinguished. The light from Dash's sonic rainboom had dissipated too. It was night again. Fluttershy sat in the darkness under the small tree, completely unaware that she was still desperately clutching Cloudkicker's remains in her fore hooves. For how long she didn't know. Twilight found her that way: sitting with the dead pony's entrails spilling onto her lap and covered from hind-hoof to chest in blood that wasn't hers. She wasn't in great shape but she'd survived. Rainbow Dash had survived too. The impact left the bones in both her wings and forelegs in pieces. Her collar bone was fractured, and she'd broken several ribs, among other things; but she was still alive when first platoon found her, sprawled out on ground a few yards from where the Ursa lay dead. It was Carrot Top who spotted her. She called out to Twilight, who rushed to the side of her fallen friend. Unabashed, with no regard for the flood of tears pouring down her face, she stood over Rainbow and said in a voice that was almost a wail,

"Where did you go? I thought you ran away? What – what took you so long?"

To which a barely conscious Rainbow Dash responded, "Had to get a running start. You – uh – you know how it goes." Two of the platoon's surviving medics shoved past Twilight, then shooed her away, making sure she wasn't hovering over them worrying herself sick while they went to work on stabilizing Rainbow.

"We're gonna need some space here sir. Please, go see to the rest of your platoon," said one of the medic ponies in as measured a voice as anypony could manage given the events of the last few hours. He was a unicorn with long horn, longer than most. This detail Twilight remembered because the tip of it was lit up with a magic spark. It was a simple illumination spell, dim, but it was the only light in the entire forest. Every eye in the platoon was drawn to that little spark. Too worn out and run down to bother with a campfire, the ponies of Company Everfree's first platoon rested silently; watching the two medics work with laser like focus. The worst of it seemed to over. Rainbow's wounds were severe, but she'd already come out of shock and was responding well when questioned by the medics as to the specifics of what hurt, what parts of her body she could still move, and what parts she couldn't feel.

Exhausted in every way a pony could be, Lieutenant Twilight Sparkle sat down under the tree beside Fluttershy, and watched the healers work their magic. It was a pacifying thing: to watch a life being mended after so many before had been violently torn apart. Twilight gave Fluttershy an awkward sideways glance. Had she been a braver pony, she'd have been able to look the blood stained pegasus in the eyes. But when she needed it most her courage failed her. She couldn't meet the sergeant's vapid gaze for fear of what she might find there, and also what she might not. Instead she reached a foreleg around Fluttershy's torso and pulled her closer. Fluttershy rested her head against the unicorn's shoulder, and Twilight could feel the sergeant's body shaking against hers.

From out of the dark forest a lone light advanced toward first platoon's position. It blinked three times, with a three second pause in-between each blink; a sign to the others that hold their fire for an incoming friendly. As the lone light neared, the shape of a pony materialized. It was a she, and she was a long earth pony carrying a flashlight in her mouth. Everything about her seemed long, her features distorted in the eerie lighting. She had a long snout, and a long graceful neck, and she walked on long graceful legs. Her mane was dark, and so was her coat. She moved silently, purposely. She spotted Lieutenant Sparkle sitting under a tree beside another pony and approached her.

"Lieutenant Octavia of second platoon, awaiting orders sir," she had a voice that was subtly intimidating, and a tone that suggested she wasn't terribly familiar with the concept of nonsense.

Twilight looked up at Octavia, hoping to find some compassion in her cold disciplined countenance. There wasn't any.

"For the moment we rest." For Octavia this answer would not suffice.

"With all due respect sir, ponies are dying. Second and third are still fighting. Practically blind I might add."

Twilight rubbed her temples with two very sore fore hooves.

"Sir, your orders. My ponies are still back there. Fighting. I need –"

"Celestia's sake, could you give me a minute." Octavia obliged her, and Twilight used that minute to wish away the whole lot of it. She shut her eyes and found herself back in Canterlot. It was an easy summer night. She'd just tucked Spike into bed and was starting in on some late night reading. Not for study either, but for pleasure. It was a book of poetry she'd stumbled upon in the royal archives, written by one of the most prolific poets in all of Equestria.

A candle burned on her bedroom nightstand, and in the near darkness the words danced off the page. For a minute she was happy.

When she opened her eyes again there was Octavia, staring down at her stoically, waiting for an answer.

"The brass must love you," grumbled Twilight. "Get back to the front. Tell second and third to pull back, and head toward this location."

"We will be regrouping here then?"

"No, not here. A few hundred yards south of here, were the forest is thicker. We'll dig our hooves in there. Take up a defensive position in case the rebels are still looking for a fight."

"Sir, yes sir," and with that Octavia started back the way she came. Twilight didn't watch her leave. She stood up and rallied her troops as best she could. Then, weary and wounded, they began marching back the way they'd come. Next Chapter: Chapter SIX Estimated time remaining: 2 Hours, 10 Minutes