On a peaceful green hill outside of Ponyville Center, a magic vortex appeared. Adorned with arcane and chronological symbols, the upended funnel shape spread wide, and spat out three figures who impacted heavily to the ground.

“Oof,” Twilight grunted, picking herself up from the ground. “I still need to work on my landings. Is everypony okay?”

“Trixie is fine, Twilight,” said Twilight’s knight, dusting off her leather armor, unhitching her safety line and making sure her sword had not come loose in its scabbard.

“I’m fine, too,” Derpy said, her silk and cloth ensemble mussed, but undamaged by her impact with the ground. “That wasn’t too hard of a landing at all.”

“Great, girls,” Twilight said, with a pleased nod to her companions. “I’ve been here before but give me a minute to get my bearings. It’s been a couple of years since I was here last.”

Twilight levitated a pair of binoculars from her saddlebags and began to look around. As near as she could tell, they had come out the same place she had the first time she had come here with Spike. Ponyville was nearby, and through her glasses Twilight could see a bustling activity that hadn’t been present before. In fact, she could see a couple of large trestle tables in the village square, laden down with food and drink. She could see ponies eating and drinking, some staggering around with obvious drunkenness. It seemed like a major celebration was going on.

“What is it, Twilight?” Trixie asked, stepping up alongside her. “Things look peaceful, a little different than home, but peaceful.”

“They do,” Twilight said, biting her lip in concentration. “Maybe I’m a little paranoid after my last experience, but things seem a little too happy, almost reckless...hang on a second.” Twilight refocused her binoculars to the area on the far side of Ponyville, where Sweet Apple Acres should be. To Twilight’s relief the large apple processing plant she had seen before was still there, and still in full operation, if the blasts of steam from its chimneys were any indication.

“That’s where we’re going to go Trixie,” Twilight said, looking over to Derpy. “Derpy, feel up to some aerial reconnaissance?”

“You bet, Princess!” Derpy chirped happily, unclipping her own safety line from Twilight. “Where do you want me to check out?” Twilight smiled at Derpy’s enthusiasm, so like that of her friends back home.

“Do a flyover of the town, don’t land, but see if you can find out what the party is about,” Twilight ordered. “Go past Sweet Apple Acres and see if there are any ponies there, then come back. Oh, and no titles while we’re here.”

“Okay, sure thing Twilight,” Derpy said, stretching her wings and taking to the air, her speed undiminished by her clothing, which handled a windstream well thanks to Rarity’s expert tailoring.

“What should we do in the meantime?” Trixie asked, idly juggling a set of balls with her magic.

“Derpy shouldn’t be too long, and if we go somewhere, she may not be able to find us again,” Twilight said, taking a seat on the grass. “So, for now, let’s just stay put.”

“Trixie is fine with that,” Trixie said, sitting down beside Twilight, nearly tangling her legs up in her sword as she did so. “What can you tell Trixie about this world?”

“Well,” Twilight began, “on this world, Sombra was able to come back and take over the Crystal Empire. Ever since then, this world’s Equestria has totally focused on one goal. Stopping King Sombra from taking over Equestria and then the world with his enthralled slave soldiers.”

“What do you mean by totally?” Trixie asked, her eyes wide, a chill coming over her despite the warm sun from above.

“I mean every possible resource, stallion, mare and colt mobilized into a single goal,” Twilight said, with emphasis.

“So, a strange pegasus, dressed in the livery of a strange noblemare might be taken notice of?” Trixie asked, shading her eyes.

“Um, what do you… oh dear,” Twilight said, shielding her own eyes in the glare. She could see Derpy flying back towards them, closely flanked by a pair of spear carrying pegasi. It was clear to Twilight that her serving mare was under guard and obeying the commands of the pegasi with her. Twilight stood and waved to the approaching group, “Let me do the talking, and do whatever they say. We need to get along with these ponies.”

“Sure thing, Twilight,” Trixie said, flipping a cloak over Twilight’s back that covered her wings. “Not too many alicorns around here, I’m betting.” Twilight nodded her understanding and about a minute later Derpy landed in front of them closely flanked by the two pegasi who wore brightly coloured uniforms.

“I’m sorry, I don’t know what went wrong, My Lady,” Derpy said, bowing to Twilight as she played her role of a noblemare’s servant.

“It’s all right, Derpy,” Twilight said, in a formal voice, her chin raised. “I’m sure these two fine young stallions can tell us what is the matter.” The pegasi guard stallions exchanged a quick look and Twilight could definitely pick up a hint of nervousness from them. It was one thing to intercept and corral an individual mare, quite another to confront her noble employer.

“Er, yes Ma’am” the right hand pegasus said, giving Twilight a respectful nod. “I’m Low Glider, does this mare work for you?”

“Indeed she does… Low Glider, was it?” Twilight said, a slight air of condescension in her voice. “Has my servant done something wrong? If so, I can assure you she will be punished most thoroughly.” Twilight saw Derpy mouth the word “please’ to the other guard. She realized Derpy was playing the part of a servingmare with a harsh mistress, and inwardly Twilight was pleased with the quick thinking of both her companions.

“Not really wrong, Lady...um,” the other guard said, hesitantly.

“Sparkles,” Twilight supplied, thinking that she shouldn’t go too far away from her own name. “I am Lady Sparkles of the Appleoosan Sparkles. Now, what has my servant done?” Twilight’s glare at Derpy could have been used to fry eggs in the pan.

“I’m very sorry, My Lady,” Derpy said, lowering herself to her knees and bowing her head, playing up the part. “I didn’t mean to trespass in restricted airspace.”

“Should I fetch your crop, My Lady?” Trixie asked, getting into the spirit of things. “Or do you feel a sound whipping is required this time?”

“Guard Low Glider,” Twilight said, her cold imperious voice snapping the guard to immediate attention. “In truth, how severe is my servant’s transgression? I have come to visit an old friend of the family. One Applejack Apple, and I would like to get a move on if at all possible.” Low Glider’s eyes went a little wide as he saw Lady Sparkles apparent bodyguard dig out both a crop and a whip from a pair of saddlebags.

“Oh, it’s nothing too bad, Lady Sparkles,” Low Glider said, almost stumbling over the words in his haste to get them out. “The airspace over any community is regulated and when your mare flew overhead we had to investigate. There was no harm done.” He shifted himself as he finished to put himself a little between Twilight and Derpy as Twilight lifted the crop in her magic.

“I see,” Twilight said, tapping the tip of the crop to her chin. “Well, if there was no harm and no foul, I can’t really see a reason to punish Derpy here. Thank you for your understanding, my good stallions.”

“Our pleasure, Ma’am,” Low Glider said, getting ready to take off again. “Just a word of advice, go around Ponyville right now. The celebration over the truce talks has been getting a little out of hoof.”

“We will be sure to do so,” Twilight said, nodding graciously. “Thank you for your assistance. I will be sure to remember your name in the future.”

“My pleasure, My Lady,” Low Glider said, and he and his partner took off to likely resume their patrol. Twilight waited a few beats to make sure the guards were fully out of earshot before she spoke again.

“That was close,” Twilight said, then she turned to Trixie and Derpy. “That was some smart and fast thinking you two.”

“Thanks,” Derpy chirped, as Trixie put away the props. “I got the idea from some old books I read.”

“Sounds good,” Twilight said, smiling. “Let’s take the long way around in case those guards are watching us.” Trixie and Derpy both nodded and the trio skirted the edge of Ponyville. The entire time, they could hear raucous singing, laughter and out-of-tune music coming from the center of the still mainly boarded up town.

“Trixie does not like the sound of that laughter,” Trixie said, shuddering a bit and Derpy put a wing around the armored mare to provide emotional comfort. “It sounds too much like ponies who are trying to remember how to be happy again and are about to do foolish things.”

At last though, the trio made it to the gates of Sweet Apple Acres, and the smell of cooking apples filled the air. There were more buildings than the last time Twilight had been here, and the entire farm still held that same air of urgent drudgery that it had before.

“Well, Ah never thought Ah’d ever see you again,” a familiar voice said from behind a wagon.

“Applejack?” Twilight asked, moving to step around the wagon, Trixie and Derpy trailing in her wake. “Is that you?”

“Ya, it’s me,” this world’s Applejack said in a tired voice. “Ah guess things didn’t go as well as you had hoped. The war’s still goin’ on.”

“I heard something about peace talks?” Twilight asked, taking in the exhausted look of the mare in front of her. Her Applejack had always been filled with what seemed limitless energy and endurance, only slowing down when she had been completely drained of her vitality. This Applejack looked just as drained, but in this case, it was the spirit of the earth pony that had been drained away, not her physical endurance.

“Ya, but we’ve heard tell of that before,” Applejack said, sighing, “and each time it was a trick that polecat, Sombra, tried to pull over the princesses.”

“And this time?” Twilight said, trying to sound hopeful for this version of her friend. “We heard the celebrations in Ponyville. They sound pretty happy.”

“Just some folks who don’t know better,” Applejack said, pushing an empty barrel in Twilight’s direction. “So, what brings you back?”

“I thought I’d see if I could help things here,” Twilight said, putting a hoof on the barrel and bringing it to a stop, forcing Applejack to stop as well. “You were really helpful to me the last time I was here, and I wanted to repay that. If that makes any sense.”

“Heh, fair enough,” Applejack said, rubbing a hoof on her chin. “Ah guess the best thing you might want to do is to head yourself to the peace talks. They’re happening over in the ruins of Vanhoover. Say, remind me again what yer name was. Twilight something, was it?”

“Twilight Sparkle,” Twilight said, throwing off the cloak covering her wings. “On my Equestria I’m the Princess of Friendship, and I promise you, as a princess, that I will do whatever I can to bring peace to your world.”

“Yer a princess,” Applejack said, her tone of voice making it a statement of disbelief rather than a question.

“I didn’t get these wings out of a box of Cracker Jacks,” Twilight said, with a fierce look. “and you saw these the last time I was here!”

“Well, to be honest, Ah didn’t quite trust my own eyes. Sixteen hours at an apple canner will do that to ya,” Applejack said, and the mare seemed to brace something inside herself as she came to a decision. “Welp, with the peace talks going on things are a little slow here. Ah reckon Ah can at least get you to the train station and on your way to Vanhoover.”

“Thank you,” Twilight said, embracing the earth pony. “Thank you very much. We’ll get things fixed so that you and everypony else here can finally know some peace.”

“Well, no time like the present,” Applejack said, leading off and heading out the main gate of the farm. “Ya’ll coming or what?” Twilight and the others ran and caught up to Applejack, who pulled off her manenet as they walked.

“Did Trixie hear things correctly when you said ‘the ruins’ of Vanhoover?” Trixie asked, from her flanking position. “What happened there?”

“It was one of the first cities Sombra attacked,” Applejack said. “The Crystal Empire doesn’t have any ports, so he tried to grab it so that he’d have one. Princess Celestia objected, a whole lot.”

“What happened?” Trixie asked, her face falling. “Trixie has many good memories of that city in her Equestria.”

“Sombra an’ his troops came in over the North Shore mountains,” Applejack said, recounting the tale. “Nopony thought an attack would come that way, so before anypony could stop him, they had the entire north side of the city. But the Vanhooveran Guard stopped them at the two bridges that cross the Burro’d Inlet.”

“So, most of the city is okay?” Trixie asked, hope in her voice.

“Not so much,” Applejack said. “After five days, Sombra decided to stop playing nice and just flooded his troops across the bridges, not carin’ how many he lost. It was hoof to hoof fightin’ in the streets of Vanhoover. Then we caught a break...sort of.”

“What...what happened?” Trixie demanded, hanging on every word.

“Princess Luna went an’ dropped both of the bridges over the Burro’d Inlet. It cut Sombra’s troops off from each other and they couldn’t get any more reinforcements. We chopped ‘em up pretty good after that, but Vanhoover was pretty much ruined as a port from that point on. Pieces of the bridge are still blocking the harbour entrance.”

“What about Manehatten?” Twilight asked, as she threw her cloak back over her back. There was something of a chill in the air, and despite her letting Applejack know she was a princess she didn’t feel like letting everypony here know about that.

“Manehatten’s okay,” Applejack said, as the train station came into sight. “Sombra threw an attack their way after Vanhoover, but we were ready. Oh hey, looks like we’re in luck, there’s a train just coming in.” Applejack gestured as a heavily laden locomotive huffed past the group to pull into the station.

“Let’s get going girls,” Twilight said, breaking out into a rapid canter and within a minute or two the group had made it to the train station. The train station was twice the size of the Ponyville station back in their Equestria, but it seemed mainly devoted to freight and a large number of snack shops. Several dozen uniformed soldiers had gotten off the train and were buying all sorts of things, talking with each other or simply stretching their legs.

“Wait here,” Applejack said, looking at the crowd. “I’m gonna talk to the ticket agent and make sure this train is headed in the right direction for you all.”

“Thank you, Applejack,” Twilight said, and she looked around to see if they were gathering any attention. Trixie was gathering a few stares as the military ponies took in her armor, more than a few seemed to be staring intently at her sword and Twilight made a mental note to have Trixie find a cover for the distinctive guard of the Zodiac sword. Derpy, on the other hoof, was circulating freely through the crowd, talking to ponies, buying various knick knacks, while gathering more than a few appreciative looks at how well she filled out her outfit.

“Okay, Ah’ve got it all set up for ya,” Applejack said, a few minutes later. The orange earth pony mare passed over three sets of train tickets. “The talks moved to the Crystal Mountains apparently. The closest I could get you three tickets for was the transfer station just north of Neighagra Falls. You’ve got a four hour layover in Canterlot though, Ah hope you don’t mind.”

“You’ve done more than enough, Applejack,” Twilight said, impulsively hugging the mare. “I hope this makes up for all the trouble we’ve caused you.” Twilight made to pass over a medium sized ruby from a stash of gems Rarity had insisted Twilight take with her.

“Keep it, just knowing you’re on your way is payment enough,” Applejack said, looking down at the floor. “Look, Ah gotta get going. You folks take care now, okay?”

“Trixie will always remember you,” Trixie chimed in from the side. The showmare turned knight had flipped her own cloak over her back to cover her sword, having picked up on the attention the weapon was garnering. Applejack just gave a sad smile, turned and walked off the platform.

“I got us some lunch,” Derpy said, coming up to Trixie and Twilight and holding up three bag lunches. “I also got us a map, a train schedule and a couple of newspapers.” The train blew its whistle, signaling that it was time for all passengers to board.

“Well done, Derpy,” Twilight said, a wide smile crossing her muzzle. Knowledge of local conditions would be invaluable. This was the sort of thing she had wanted to do on Flim and Flam’s world, stay in the background, watch and learn about the world she was in, and only then see how she could help.

“We better get on board Twilight,” Trixie said, a tad nervously. “Do we know where we are sitting? Trixie is hoping for a stateroom.”

“We’re in general car seating, Trixie. We were lucky Applejack could get us what she could,” Twilight said, and the train blew its whistle again causing ponies to hurry onto the train. “C’mon we better get onboard or we’ll get left behind.”

Ten minutes later, the platform was quiet again, the train having just cleared the station. The various merchants on and around the platform were cleaning up and putting things away as an orange earth pony mare wearing a stetson hat peered around the corner of the station looking for something or someone. Seeing the platform was bare and the train gone, she stepped around the corner and made her way quickly to the telegraph office.

“Hey there,” Applejack said to the telegraph clerk nervously, taking her hat off her head. “Ah need to send an urgent telegram to Canterlot, care of E.I.S.”

For hours the train rolled through the Equestrian countryside, and all three mares found it hard to get comfortable. Seating on the train consisted of rough bench seats with absolutely no padding at all, and after a couple of hours Trixie had speculated if their secondary use was as a torture device. Twilight and her pair had a bench to themselves, due to the rank that Twilight had claimed, which was a good thing because otherwise the train was packed to capacity.

Derpy struck up a conversation with a couple of unicorn privates, who were more than glad to have the attentions of a lovely mare to divert them from the monotony of the train ride. Trixie amused herself by practicing various bits of sleight of hoof, which almost got them into trouble when she started practicing with a small knife. Several nearby earth pony troopers became very angry when Trixie insisted she wasn’t using any magic to hide the knife in one hoof, only to have it reappear in the other.

Things were becoming argumentative when Twilight intervened and had Trixie show the stallions the pass maneuver in slow motion. Once the soldiers saw how the trick was done, all of them became much friendlier, with two of them asking Trixie to teach them the trick, which she did in exchange for a small metal flask that was filled with some truly vile, but incredibly potent brew.

As for Twilight, after she idly calculated the maximum capacity of the train, compared to its maximum efficient load, and compared that to various fuel loads and cargo loadouts, she was just as bored as anypony else on the train after she had read the newspapers. With nothing else to do, her gaze went out the window to the passing golden Equestrian countryside. She had seen the view a thousand times in her journeys between Ponyville and Canterlot, but this view was subtly different and it took Twilight awhile to realize what the difference was.

Back home, the view outside would be nothing but farms, forest or unclaimed land, but here it seemed like everything she saw was being used for some purpose. Trees had been logged and replanted for wood and paper, crops for food, sheep for wool and clothing. Then there was the military presence. Scarcely fifteen minutes would go by without seeing an outpost, or a guard station or a pegasi patrol on duty. This Equestria was very much an armed camp. Twilight was musing on this when the buzz of conversation in the train car grew louder, with several soldiers and more than a few civilians crowding around somepony who had just entered the far end of the car. Twilight craned her neck to look, but couldn’t see through the crowd, so she nudged one of the soldiers that Trixie was finishing teaching her knife trick to.

“Excuse me,” Twilight said politely to the stallion, who had just dropped the knife, almost stabbing himself in the hoof. “But what’s going on? Who is that?” The stallion looked up from the knife, stuck point first in the wooden flooring, and his face became happy and delighted, his ears orienting forward.

“Sweet Celestia, I think it might be her,” the stallion said, astonishment in his voice as he continued. “Holy crap, I think it’s all three of them. I’d heard they were on some sort of tour, but I never thought...”

“Who?” Twilight asked, a little frustrated. “Who is them?” The stallion looked back, saw Twilight didn’t understand what he meant and looked back at her with surprise.

“Are you kidding?” he asked. “Where have you been? I mean, everypony knows about the ThunderBolts!” Twilight’s mind raced, obviously whoever these ponies were they held some kind of special significance, and there name was obviously an outgrowth of “Wonderbolt” so Twilight assumed the stallion must be referring to some sort of military pony. It was the reverence in the pony’s voice that took her aback though. She’d heard that sort of worshipful awe in the voice of ponies before, but only when referring to Princess Celestia or Luna.

“Well, I could figure out it was a Thunderbolt,” Twilight said, trying to sound like she knew what she was talking about, and she saw in her peripheral vision that both Trixie and Derpy were picking up on what was going on. “But which one?” It didn’t help, as the stallion still looked at Twilight like she was a gibbering idiot.

“Are you kidding me?” he asked, incredulous still. “It’s Captain Dash, the pony who nearly killed Sombra single hooved.” Twilight decided that she should end the conversation as quick as she could to avoid raising the pony’s suspicions more than they already were.

“Well, don’t just sit there, Corporal,” Twilight said, as the pony murmured “Private” in an attempt to correct her, “go up there and get yourself an autograph.” The stallion wasted no more time on the obvious idiot that Twilight was, and headed to the end of the car with barely a nod back to her.

“Did he say ‘Captain’ Dash?” Trixie asked, her brow furrowed in thought. “And doesn’t ‘ThunderBolt’ sound like something very different than ‘Wonderbolt?’”

“Hey there, ponies,” a familiar voice said from the far end of the car. “If you would mind sitting down so everypony can see me that’d be great.”

The ponies around Rainbow Dash unwillingly sat down and Twilight Sparkle got her first good look at the pony so like, and so unlike, her loyal friend. She was lean and slender, like a rapier that had been honed to a razors edge. Her trimmed rainbow mane revealing an eye that was seamed by a vertical scar, and Twilight winced as she realized that the wound that had caused the scar must have barely missed Dash’s eye.

That was not the most terrible wound however. That honour was reserved for the missing wing on her side that had been replaced with a magical prosthetic made of some sort of metal. The entire wing was gone, right down to the root, and Twilight felt her eyes water at the thought of the agony the cyan mare must have suffered. Flanking Dash, on either side of her were another pair of ponies that Twilight recognized and if Rainbow Dash was a rapier, her companions were claymores.

Pinkie Pie and her sister Maud stood there beside Rainbow Dash, and both looked just as battle ready as the pegasus did, their brown earth pony uniforms contrasting with Dash’s blue. Both of the Pie sisters had their manes trimmed short with not a curl to be seen from either. Rainbow took a step forward and the Pie sisters moved with her, automatically covering each other's flanks and scanning for dangers, as they spread into a loose triangle.

“Well, I suppose you’re all wondering what I’m doing here?” Rainbow Dash asked the crowd, and several joking responses came from the soldiers, which Dash laughed at before addressing the group in the train car as a whole. “What I’m actually here for is to get to Canterlot so some of those rich ponies can cough up some bits for some war bonds. I’m not much of a salespony and I don’t expect hard fighting soldiers to have any bits. So, if you don’t mind, I’d like to give you a song instead.”

Dash reared up on a seat, the pony there more than happy to make room for Rainbow, who was obviously idolized by the soldiers in the train car. Pinkie Pie, her short mane flat as a razor pulled out a guitar and began to strum a tune. Dash waited a few beats and began to sing

The song had started off soft, almost ballad-like, but became louder and more defiant as the verses rolled by, and when the last chorus came every pony was on their hooves. The song had become a shout of defiance against the crystal tyrant who had caused pain and misery to them and their friends. Overcome by the emotions surging around her, Derpy openly wept, leaning against Trixie for support, whose eyes were also suspiciously damp.

“They been to Tartarus and back,” Twilight murmured under her breath, as she gave both of her companions a hug to steady them. Derpy got herself back under control after a few minutes, making loud use of a handkerchief she pulled from one of her pockets as she did so, and passing one to Trixie.

“So,” Rainbow Dash said, surprising the group as she approached from behind them, having taken minutes to walk the fifty foot length of the car to reach Twilight, “you’re the ponies Swift Dancer told me about, the ones who’ve never heard of me.”

“Oh, hello Captain Dash,” Twilight said, greeting the soldier pony. At this range Twilight could see even more scars on this Rainbow Dash, and that one of her ears had been half ripped off at some point. “We’ve heard of you, of course. But we just didn’t know any of the details about how you got so awesome.”

“Wow, really?” Dash said, surprised. “Hey Pinks, I gotta put this in my diary. Somepony who doesn’t know the story of how awesome I am.”

“You know I don’t like you keeping that diary, Dash...Captain,” Pinkie said, putting a hoof on Dash’s shoulder. “It could be a security risk.”

“The captain needs it, sister,” Maud said, from the other side in her near emotionless monotone. “You know that is how she deals with what happened.” Pinkie Pie gave a quiet snort of disagreement and Derpy hid a sudden smile behind her hoof as she watched the interaction.

“What do you find so amusing, pegasus?” Maud asked Derpy, noticing her smile.

“Oh, I just love seeing couples doing things together,” Derpy said, not hiding her smile anymore. “It’s just so nice to see that love can happen even in war.”

“Not many notice that right away in my sister and sister-in-law,” Maud replied, and although her expression didn’t change, she seemed to be studying every inch of Derpy. “You aren’t from around here, are you?”

“So, Captain Dash,” Twilight said, trying to steer the subject away from the question of where her and her companions were from. “I’m here now, and I’d love to hear the story that everypony else seems to know by heart.” Twilight hoped, Rainbow Dash couldn’t resist the opportunity to talk about something she had done.

“Well, it's pretty straightforward, and pretty awesome,” Dash said, as Twilight tried not to sigh in relief. “It was pretty early in the war, and I was flying with the Wonderbolts then. We were with Princess Celestia in the Serenity Valley when old Smokey Eyes himself led an ambush from right under the Princess’ muzzle.”

“Oh my goodness,”Twilight said, prompting Dash to continue. “What happened?”

“Well, Sombra’s troops had Celestia’s guards down, and he had her dead to rights,” Captain Dash said, illustrating things with her hooves. “The Wonderbolts had been scattered all over the valley, but I was overhead and saw what was going on. Just as Sombra was about to win the war, I dove and flew harder and faster than I ever had before, right into Smokey Eyes grinning mug. I must have knocked him back a hundred feet and that gave Princess Celestia the time she needed to get out of the ambush.” Rainbow Dash smiled widely at that and Twilight noted it was something of a rictus.

“Tell them the rest of it, Dashie,” Pinkie said, taking one of Dash’s hooves in her own. “The doctors told you that you always have to tell the full story.” Captain Dash’s face fell at that, and she sighed and nodded to Pinkamena.

“What happened after wasn’t so awesome,” Dash said, looking down. “When I hit Sombra, he hit me right back, and his magic coated the feathers on my right wing with sharp crystals. As I tried to fly away the crystals sliced up my wing, and by the time Sombra got up and got to me, I was down and pretty much done anyway. He...” Dash paused as a pulse of remembered pain went through her. “He sliced my wing off with a crystal knife and burned the wound closed with his magic. Said I was more valuable as a live prisoner than a dead soldier.”

“But you got away, right?” Trixie asked, hanging on every word. “Trixie means, you’re here now, so you must have escaped.”

“Nope, I didn’t escape,” Dash said, turning to look Pinkamena in the eye. “Sombra had me collared and chained to a wall, torturing me for information. After three days I’d pretty much given up hope, but then the wall beside me caved in and the most awesome mare in the world came through the hole and got me out of there.” Pinkamena flung her hooves around her marefriend, hugging Dash tight.

“I’ll always be there for you, Dashie. My Dashie,” Pinkamena said, in a whisper that barely carried to the ears of the group. Twilight, Trixie, and Derpy couldn’t help themselves as they enveloped Pinkamena and Dash in a group hug, with Maud joining in on the outside.

“Hey, no need to get all mushie here,” Dash laughed a minute later, as the group released the hug. “Anyway, after that Princess Celestia realized that the Wonderbolts just couldn’t cut it in a war. So, she made a new group of military fliers and put me in charge of her new aerial combat team, the Thunderbolts.”

“Wow, that sounds like quite the change,” Twilight said, sensing an opportunity to gather more information about this world. “Why don’t you tell me about them?”

Captain Dash grinned with the cocky, self-assured look that Twilight had seen from her Rainbow a hundred times as she launched into a detailed explanation of her team. She was as proud of them as any mother with their child and the rest of the trip to Canterlot passed quickly as the three military ponies regaled them with stories of their lives and times. After what seemed only a few minutes, the train sounded its whistle and the conductor announced that they were about to arrive in Canterlot.

“Well, that’s our stop,” Rainbow Dash said, getting up. “See you folks around. It’s been great talking to ponies who haven’t heard all my old stories.”

“Best of luck, Captain Dash,” Trixie said, smiling at the trio, as the other two got up to go.

“Here’s some muffins for you,” Derpy said, passing over some baked goods that she had pulled from who knew where.”

“I am sure we will meet again,” Maud said, gravely accepting a muffin, and the three military ponies left to collect their bags.

“Where are we going to go from here?” Derpy asked, as the train arrived at the platform and began to slow to a stop.

“We’ve got a bit of a layover here,” Twilight said, “and I don’t know about you two, but I really want to give my legs a bit of a stretch, at the least.” The train lurched a bit as it came to a full stop and the doors of the train cars opened as ponies began to file out.

“Trixie is looking forward to doing a bit of shopping,” Trixie said, curling her back in a stretch that popped joints along her entire length.

“We’ve got enough bits for some of that,” Derpy said, and Twilight let her take the lead through the doors, playing the part of a servingmare to Twilight’s noblepony. The platform was bright and bustling, with ponies of all shapes and sizes walking around. Several were getting off or getting onto trains and loading or unloading cargo. The sun was a little low on the horizon, but there were still hours to go before dark leaving lots of times to get things done.

“Well, if this Cant—” Twilight began, getting her bearings.

“In the name of Princess Celestia, I place you under arrest for treason and espionage!” a shouting voice interrupted Twilight. Ponies looked around and the crowds parted to reveal a stern faced unicorn looking directly at Derpy, Trixie and Twilight.

Twilight stared at the other mare. She, like Rainbow Dash, had the trim and lean body of a military pony. She wore a black uniform highlighted with yellow piping and a scarlet badge with the letters “EIS” on it. Her mane was a closely trimmed purple and blue while her tail was braided with black ribbon. As the other mare looked up at Twilight, she locked eyes with this world’s version of herself, who looked to be in a very bad mood.

“Lay down on the platform, put your hooves over your head. This is the only warning I’m required to give,” the other Twilight said, threat and menace in every syllable. “Please resist arrest, I’d love to break another set of Sombran spies.”

Some of you with brown coats might recognize the lyrics of Dash's song. For those of you don't here is a link to "Mal's Song". Things don't look so good for our heroes, does it? Of course we had to run into "Iron Wing" didn't we? Also, yes, in this world PinkieDash is a thing. If you don't like this ship, just remember, it's an alternate universe.

Oh just a side note "Burro'd Inlet" corresponds to the Burrard Inlet in Vancouver.