The royal air yacht was a level of comfort that Rainbow had rarely had the luxury of experiencing before, save for her few visits to Canterlot Castle. Sure it was a little dusty from being kept in storage for so long, but that hardly detracted from how nice it was. Rainbow hadn't even been aware that there was a royal air yacht until it had pulled up at the Wonderbolts headquarters the day before, and had been told that it was used exclusively by the princesses on long trips abroad, the last of which had been thirty years prior.

The only reason Heaven's grace had been brought out of retirement now was because of the sheer size of it. Despite being nearly a hundred years old, it was still the largest airship in Equestria by far, and its enchanted hull negated its own weight, meaning it easily housed the Wonderbolts, and three hundred of the Night Guards, as well as the equipment they needed for the mission. At least it did if you didn't mind sharing rooms. Even so, it certainly beat flying to Mareitania and back in one night.

Rainbow sat on deck, leaning over the guardrail and watching the ocean twinkle with the last rays of the soon to be setting sun. She been there for the last hour, just quietly contemplating the fact that she was about to go and kill ponies in the first strike of a war that hadn't technically begun yet. She finally felt that she understood Twilight now that she was having to do these things, not because she wanted to, but because she had to.

"Hey Rainbow, looking for company?"

Rainbow didn't need to look to see that it was Lightning Dust that had spoken to her, and she was almost tempted to brush her off, but she didn't need Lightning to think that Rainbow was giving her the cold shoulder mere hours before they launched their attack.

"Sure." Rainbow still didn't move as Lightning sat beside her, both of them ignoring the activity around them as the others mentally prepared themselves for their mission. Some of them were pumping themselves up, while others exercised quietly to prepare their bodies. Others were like Rainbow, and kept to themselves.

"So, you ready for this?" Rainbow snorted a sigh at Lightning's question, telling Lightning more than enough. "You're not going to back out of this are you?"

"Of course not. I'm just scared alright? Is that a problem?"

Lightning quickly held up her hooves in submission, "Dude, no. I'm not going to lie and say I'm not scared just to try and impress you or something. What we're about to go and do is crazy, and I think you'd be nuts to at least not be concerned. Heck, even Spitfire's wigging out about it, and she's actually got combat experience. The only ones that seem fine with it are the bat ponies, and who the hell knows what they're thinking?"

"Got something against bat ponies?"

"Only the ones in the Night Guard. They always seem so uptight, and devoted to Luna. It gives me the creeps."

Rainbow looked back at where some of the Night Guard were quietly talking to each other. "Say what you want about them, I'm happy to have them on our side. From what Twilight told me about them, they could probably wipe the floor with us in seconds."

"That good huh?"

"They can live to be up to eight hundred years old or more, and looking at some of them, yeah they seem younger than us, but could easily be two or three hundred years older. And they're part dragon, which makes them tough as hell. Some of those guys have probably had more combat experience than us in the time before we were even born than we'll ever have in our entire lives."

"Woah..." Lightning looked back at the thestrals with a newfound respect. "Wait, how can something be part dragon? Did ponies breed with dragons at some point? Is that even possible? Don't dragons lay eggs? Do bat ponies lay eggs?"

"Don't ask me. I'm just telling you what Twilight told me. They're mostly pony, part dragon, and part bat. She wouldn't tell me how they came to exist, or why there's no mention of them anywhere before the whole Nightmare Moon thing."

"So it's a secret?"

Rainbow shrugged, "Maybe? Who cares? They're on our side, and that's good enough for me."

"I guess." Lightning hooked her forelegs over the side of the airship and looked in the same direction as Rainbow as the sun dropped below the horizon. In a few hours they'd be in Mareitania, and would be making ready to begin their mission. "Rainbow?"

"Yeah?"

"If you die, can I have your blades?"

"No."

"Aww."

"Hooves in the air in fifteen minutes ponies!" Soarin shouted as he trotted around below decks. Fleetfoot would be telling ponies the same even lower, while Spitfire waited up top. "That means to move your keisters!"

Rainbow checked the zips on her flight suit were all done up, then started the surprisingly awkward process of strapping her blades into place on her hind legs. She pulled a blade out of its sheath before she started, checking the two small runes on either side of the blade still glowed with the purple of Twilight's magic. It felt comforting to have a small bit of Twilight with her.

She slid the blade back into its sheath and strapped them on, then hovered in the air as she drew them to check that her bracers were on solidly. They were, so she sheathed her weapons, stuck her helmet on her head, and sighed because she was ready, and this was actually happening.

"Maybe you should get a haircut," Thunderlane said to Cloud Chaser as she put her helmet on. "Maybe then you'd be more comfortable."

"No way! This is like my signature hairdo! No way am I cutting this off."

"Then you could at least have the decency to stop whining about your helmet being too tight?" Thunderlane placed his own helmet on his head, and did the strap up while Cloud pouted angrily at him.

"You whined for days about that thing squashing your mohawk during training."

"That's different."

"I hardly see how it's that diff-"

"Guys," Rainbow interrupted. "Quit chatting and get ready. We'll be taking off in ten minutes."

"Sorry Dash," Cloud said as she squashed her mane into her helmet and strapped it on. "Ready to go."

"Okay, you guys head up top. I'm going to go see if Lightning and her wingmates are ready." Both of them saluted lazily at her, then walked off while Rainbow headed in the opposite direction. She stopped a few doors down and knocked before entering, finding Lightning and Sky Stinger holding Vapor Trail on both sides. "Are you okay?"

"We're fine," Sky answered flippantly. "Vapor's just a bit nervous."

"And I don't know how you aren't," Vapor snapped breathlessly at him.

"Me? Nah. I'm pumped up, y'know? Totally ready to go and kick some ass!"

"I hope you're not so pumped up and busy kicking ass that you forget about us," Lightning said snidely.

"No worries you guys; you can totally count on me."

"I hope so." Lightning squeezed Vapor a little tighter, "You good Vapes?"

"Yeah, I'm good. I can do this." Vapor breathed in deeply, and exhaled slowly, "I can so do this."

"Atta girl." Lightning released Vapor and rechecked her gear, while the others did the same. "I get the feeling I've forgotten something. You guys go ahead, I'll catch up."

Rainbow stood aside to let Sky and Vapor pass, then raised an eyebrow at Lightning. "Have you really forgotten something?"

"Nah, I just thought you wanted to talk."

"I was only going to ask if you really think Vapor's up for this?"

"Vapes? She's fine. It's actually Sky that bothers me. Either he's putting on a big show and is actually going to crumble when the mess hits the fan, or he's going to do something stupid and get himself hurt. Even worse he might get me and Vapor hurt too."

"I thought you were the leader?"

"Yeah, but that only makes me obliged to save him from himself." Lightning shook her head and tried to put it out of her mind. "Whatever. There's only one way to find out what he does, and that's by doing this. I guess we better head up."

"After you." It was only a short trip to the top deck, and most of the other Wonderbolts were already waiting, although they still had to wait a couple of minutes for stragglers to arrive. The bat ponies of the Night Guard were assembling below decks, and were receiving their own briefing off Captain Greywhisker, while Spitfire would give the Wonderbolts their briefing on the top deck.

"Alright ponies," Spitfire said loudly once they were assembled. "I'm going to go over this again for those of you that are hard of hearing. We will be hitting the shipyards at Whiplash first. Most of you will be providing cover for our bombers." Spitfire waved at the two dozen Wonderbolts that wore their display uniforms because their own combat armour hadn't been made yet. "Anything that takes a shot at them, you take them out. Your secondary objective is to stop ponies putting those fires out. Once we're done there we'll be moving south towards Hoovendale, firebombing the ships they've built along the way. At Hoovendale it'll be the same deal, but there should be less resistance by a long way."

"What about the bat ponies Captain?" one of the Wonderbolts asked.

"They have their own mission, although I've not been told what that mission is. What I have been told is that they'll make a distraction, and if we're lucky they'll draw most of the attention away from us, otherwise what they do makes no difference to us. Now do you all know what you're doing?"

The gathered Wonderbolts all replied at once, "Ma'am, yes ma'am."

Spitfire nodded her appreciation, "Good. This is your first taste of real combat for a lot of you, so keep your heads, stick together, and above all else, kick some ass! Altius volantis Wonderbolts!"

"Altius volantis!" they all cheered back. Spitfire pecked Soarin on the cheek, clipped her muzzleguard into place, and gestured for everypony to start taking off.

Rainbow started running and jumped off the edge off the edge of the airship, Cloud Chaser and Thunderlane following after her, joining her in her short dive to give themselves momentum. They pulled back up, joining the rest of B squadron as they formed up around Fire Streak. Lightning, Sky, and Vapor fell into position beside them, while ahead of them A squadron formed up around Spitfire, Soarin, and Fleetfoot. Soon after the remaining squadrons formed up behind them.

"Woah," Thunderlane gasped as he looked back at the airship. Rainbow did the same, and was inclined to agree as the Night Guard streamed out of the side hatches of the ship, vanishing into the darkness below. "I wonder where they're going?"

"Doesn't matter. Let's just focus on what we're doing."

The town of Brayside lay before them, a thousand tiny lights lighting up the streets, unaware of the danger that silently glided through the night. The town wasn't their target though, and neither was the massive building to the north that Rainbow could only assume was the prison. Their target lay between the two; the half dozen wooden structures on the river banks that held a half dozen ships that ranged from a basic structure, to almost fully built.

Even though no work was being carried out at night, the dry-docks were still lit up, showing the ponies guarding them. A couple dozen at most by Rainbow's estimate, although that was liable to change as the alarm was raised. By all accounts it was an easy mission with an easy target. All Rainbow had to do was go down there and kill some ponies. Easy. It sounded easy anyway.

Spitfire wheeled to the left, then circled around the town, the rest of the Wonderbolts following her, even as they went further away from the dry docks. Rainbow looked back at her wing-ponies, both of them shrugging back at her. Were they waiting for the distraction? Was it late? Was it coming at all?

As if in answer, a flash of light lit up the night, followed swiftly by a thunderous boom that Rainbow felt through her feathers as much as she heard it. Fires on the roof of the prison highlighted the plume of smoke that rose into the sky, just about covering the dark figures that slipped into the prison through the hole they'd blown in the roof.

"As distractions go," Lightning muttered, "that's definitely in my top ten."

"Blades out Wonderbolts!" said Spitfire, managing to both shout and whisper at the same time. Alarms started sounding as the thestrals attack on the prison progressed. It also drew some of the guards from the dry docks, but there were still plenty left. Rainbow clipped her blades into the diving position, and waited for the signal to attack, which came sooner than she both wanted and expected it to. "Dive, dive, dive!"

Spitfire's squadron went in first, diving sharply towards the docks. In seconds they'd taken out a hoofful of guards, cutting them down with ruthless efficiency. Then came B squadron's turn. Fire Streak started the dive, everypony following after him, then splitting up slightly as each wing picked their targets.

Rainbow focused on a unicorn that was trying to hide behind a stack of boards on the scaffolding around the dry-dock. Apparently she was making more noise than she thought because he looked up and saw her coming, and in that moment she locked eyes with him, and saw the same fear in him that she felt herself as she dove towards him, the first pony she was going to kill.

Rainbow couldn't go through with it, even without him pointing a weapon at her, and as he brought his crossbow up, Rainbow tucked her left wing and rolled, breaking off the attack. He didn't break off his attack though, and a split second later he fired into the space where Rainbow had been. A space now occupied by Cloud Chaser.

"No!" Thunderlane shouted as Cloud Chaser screamed, plummeting down onto the scaffold and crashing into the stack of boards the unicorn had been hiding behind.

Rainbow turned in midair and pumped her wings, fighting momentum and gravity to get back to Cloud Chaser as fast as she could. Thunderlane got there first, thudding down onto the wooden planks as Cloud Chaser cried in agony, her hooves wrapped around the shaft of an arrow buried in her gut. The unicorn stepped out of hiding, and the two stallions froze as they spotted each other.

Thunderlane was quicker, and still had his blades drawn. Driven by adrenaline and his fear for Cloud Chaser, he pumped his wings to push himself forwards, and punched at the other stallion hard enough to pierce his blade straight through the armour he was wearing. The unicorn stared at Thunderlane in horror, then slowly keeled over, pulling himself off the blade, and falling over the side of the scaffold.

Rainbow hovered in the air, breathing rapidly as Thunderlane clumsily sheathed his weapons and scrabbled back to where Cloud Chaser was still wailing in pain. He stood there for a moment, unsure of what to do, yet totally sure of who to blame. "What the fuck did you do Rainbow?!"

"I-I-I-," Rainbow stammered, words escaping her.

"Why didn't you get him? Why'd you break off?"

"I- I couldn't-"

"Ngghh!" Cloud whimpered, her breathing sharp and rapid. "It hurts, it hurts, it hurts!"

"Rainbow!" Lightning swooped down and tackled Rainbow onto the scaffold, "Don't just hover there you idiot!" She looked up at Cloud, then back at Rainbow, "What the hell happened?"

"That bitch," Thunderlane shouted, "broke off her attack and got Cloud shot because she's too fucking chicken shit to go through with this!"

Rainbow closed her eyes as Lightning glared her. "I'm sorry..."

"Can it," Lightning growled. "We need to get Cloud back to the airship. Vapor!"

Vapor landed lightly on the scaffold as Lightning shouted her name, "Yes Lightning?"

"Help Thunderlane get Cloud Chaser back to the airship, and quick, because those fire bombs are going to start falling soon." Vapor nodded, and picked Cloud up on one side, while Thunderlane picked her up on the other. Cloud screamed as they picked her up, but they ignored it as they flew her away to safety. "Rainbow, you're coming with me."

Rainbow kept staring at the patch of crimson where Cloud had lain, unable to think of anything else. She'd fucked up, and Cloud might have gotten killed because of it if that unicorn had aimed slightly upwards. Was this how Twilight felt? With every action she'd taken in Mareitania resulting in ponies getting hurt? How did she live with it?"

"Rainbow!" Lightning smacked Rainbow around the side of the head, her hoof stinging as it collided with Rainbow's helmet. It had the desired effect though as Rainbow looked up her in shock from being struck. "We need to move, Rainbow!"

"R-right." Lightning half dragged Rainbow to the edge of the scaffold, and jumped off, pulling Rainbow with her. Giving the choice between falling to the ground below, and spreading her wings, Rainbow chose the latter, although her instincts had already chosen before she'd even thought about it. The simple action of flying had a galvanising effect on her, opening her mind to everything else around her, and by the time that Sky Stinger fell in with them, and they made it back to B squadron, Rainbow was far more aware.

"Where's Cloud, Vapor, and Thunderlane?" Fire Streak asked as they formed up with the rest of the squadron.

"Cloud got hurt," Lightning told him, saving Rainbow from having to. "Thunder and Vapor are taking her back to the airship."

"Damn it, and there I was thinking we'd got through unscathed. Will Cloud make it?"

"I should think so sir."

"Good, good." There was a tinkle of broken glass below them, and a Fwoosh as the first fire bombs were dropped on the dry docks. The flames quickly started to devour the dry, tar smothered wood, and within minutes the entirety of the dry-docks was ablaze, even as ponies below started to try and extinguish the flames.

Shields sprung up around three of the most complete ships, suffocating the flames that had reached them, and protecting the wooden vessels from the conflagration around them. A dozen unicorns stood nearby, most of them shielding the ships, while the remainder shielded the unicorns.

"I'm betting those are Adepts," Fire Streak said thoughtfully. "Spitfire!"

"I see them. We'll take out the shields, you follow us in and take out the unicorns." Spitfire wasted no time in putting her words into action, and dived with her squadron towards the shielded Adepts. A few bolts of magic raced up towards them, but with most of the Adepts focused on their shields, they were few and easy to dodge. Spitfire's squadron reached the shield and kicked at it in unison, destroying it utterly and staggering the Adepts, then flew off while B squadron attacked.

Rainbow kept behind Lightning as they dived in, then pulled off as Lightning slammed down on the back of a mare, plunging her blades between the unicorn's shoulder blades. One of the blades must have stuck, because as the unicorn fell, Lightning was dragged down with her. She fought to free her blade, and panicked as one of the other Adepts turned to attack her.

"No!" Rainbow shouted as the Adept's horn lit up. She charged and tackled him with her shoulder, the spell he was about to cast at Lightning shooting off into the air instead. He tried to kick Rainbow off, and unlike the first pony she tried to attack, this pony wasn't fearful. He was determined, and knew full well it was kill or be killed. Now, Rainbow knew it too.

With a cry born of fear and desperation, Rainbow reared up and slammed her hooves down on his chest, her blades piercing through his armour like a hot knife through thin ice thanks to Twilight's enchantments. She reared back up and stabbed him, again and again, splashing herself with his blood with every fresh attack on his corpse.

"Rainbow!" Lightning braced her rear legs against the body of her victim, and pushed, freeing her blade. A quick check told her that Spitfire's squadron had looped back to help them, and that the unicorns were all taken care of, giving her a chance to talk to Rainbow.

"Rainbow, you can stop. You got him." Rainbow kept stabbing the corpse, either ignoring Lightning, or not hearing her at all over the sound of her own rapid breathing. "Rainbow! Stop!"

Rainbow paused in mid-stab, then slowly fell to her rear. She looked at Lightning, then back at the body, then scrambled away from it like it was the first time she'd seen it. "A-are you okay Lightning?"

"I'm fine Rainbow, thanks to you." Lightning bumped an elbow against Rainbow's shoulder, "You saved me."

"I... I had to. I couldn't just let him kill you."

"I know, and I hope you realise that I'd do the same for you. We all would."

"Yeah, I guess." Rainbow smiled weakly at Lightning, not that Lightning could tell through the muzzleguard.

"Now come on, I don't think Wonderbolts are supposed to spend this much time on the ground."

"Right behind you," Rainbow said, and meant it. She'd just had to kill a pony, but she did it to save Lightning. She realised that maybe she'd been thinking about this all wrong. She thought that to kill a pony you had to enjoy it on some fundamental level, which she knew was probably wrong to begin with, and a horrible thing to think about Twilight, but couldn't see another reason why. She never thought that you did it to save yourself, or your fellow soldiers, or your loved ones back home, or because sometimes you simply had to. It wasn't all about the killing at all, but could be about saving those that pony might hurt later. It was still a bitter pill to swallow, but she felt it was one she could swallow again and again if she had to.

"Alright," Spitfire said, looking over the carnage they had wrought once they had reconvened in the sky. The dry-docks and their contents were burning strongly, and were well beyond being salvaged. "I think that's part one well and truly over. Time to start heading south."

"Captain Spitfire!" A shape loomed out of the darkness, turning into the thestral Shadow as the light from the fires illuminated her. She tossed a salute in Spitfire's direction, "Good to see you again."

Spitfire returned the salute, "Likewise. You want something in particular?"

"We've completed our mission, so Captain Greywhisker is letting us assist with yours if you want us to?"

"Sounds good. Head back to the Heavens Grace and order them to start heading south along the river. You can burn their ships along the way, while we head on south to Hoovendale."

"Okey dokey!"

"Let's move Wonderbolts."

The flight to Hoovendale took half an hour, which was plenty of time for the events at Whiplash to sink into ponies minds. Most of the Wonderbolts flew in silence, contemplating just what it was that their first battle had turned them into. Others seemed far less worried.

"Did you see that dive I pulled off going after those Adepts?" Sky Stinger said for the third time. "I mean, wow! What a rush, y'know? That mare didn't know what hit her!"

"A thousand pounds of ego by the sounds of it," Lightning said to Rainbow out of the corner of her mouth.

"And that flip I pulled as I pushed up off her! That was intense!"

One of the other former reserves, a pink mare named Meadow Flower, who was also in B squadron, flew up into Sky's face. "Do you even hear yourself?" she shouted angrily. "You just killed a pony, and you're going on about what acrobatics you pulled off! What is wrong with you?"

"What's my problem?" Sky shoved Meadow Flower away, "What's your problem?"

"My problem? My problem is that you're a psycho!"

"Really? You sure you're not just jealous of how much better I am than you!"

"Rrrgh!" Meadow Flower launched herself at Sky with the obvious intent to attack. Rainbow threw herself in Meadow's way as Lightning held back Sky.

"Knock it off!" Rainbow shouted as Meadow tried to push her off.

"Let her fight me! She'll just lose anyway!"

"Hey!" All of them froze at the sound of Spitfire's shout. She hovered beside them, with Soarin and Fleetfoot to either side of her. "You think that because I'm not in your squadron I can't hear what's going on? Meadow, get back in your wing, and Sky, for the love of Celestia, please shut up. We can all do what you did, so stop acting like it was some amazing thing only you can do. And maybe show a little consideration for those around you."

"Sorry ma'am," both of them intoned. Spitfire nodded and returned to the front. Meadow returned to her wing, while Fire Streak glared at both her and Sky.

"Knock it off the both of you. If I see you causing trouble, or boasting like an idiot, or getting Spitfire's attention like that again before we complete this mission..." Fire Streak left the threat open, but none of them needed to guess that he meant there'd be trouble. He pointed a hoof at his eyes, then at the two of them.

Rainbow groaned quietly as the flight continued without incident. We wasn't sure why Sky Stinger's ego had come back, but it had, with a vengeance. She'd hoped her intervention between him and Vapor back at the academy had fixed that, but it seemed she couldn't have been more wrong.

Five minutes of blissful silence brought them to Hoovendale. The small village was surrounded by massive clearing of felled trees, when previously the lumber operations there had been fairly small scale during the uprising. Various bits of machinery dotted the clearing, while the sawmills themselves sat in the middle, surrounded by piles of wood.

"That looks nicely flammable," Spitfire commented cheerfully.

"Almost like it was meant to be," Soarin agreed. "Those machines are going to take a bit of work though."

"Nah, the explosives on the Heaven's Grace can take care of those when they get here. Let's take out the guards for now, if there are any. We'll be done in no time if we split up into wings."

Rainbow followed Lightning as they picked a direction and flew. She had no idea what they were expecting to find as the place did seem completely deserted, which suited her just fine. If they could do this without getting into another fight at all, even better.

"You guys see anything," she asked as they looped around for another pass.

"Nah," Sky said boredly. "Pity-"

"Don't," Lightning warned, directing a glare at Sky.

"Fine..."

They could see the Heaven's Grace as they came back around, and the dozens of ponies flying back and forth from it. Most went to the sawmill, while some flew to the machines around the clearing. Spitfire hovered in the middle of it all, a satisfied look on her face.

"What's going on?" Rainbow asked as they made it to where Spitfire was.

"Well, since there doesn't seem to be any resistance here at all, we've decided to do something a little special with the help of the thestrals."

"Like what?"

Spitfire grinned, "You'll see. Head back to the ship and prepare yourselves for a show."

"Yes ma'am." Happy to be dismissed, they flew up to the airship, although Rainbow insisted they went slow as she tried to see what it was the thestrals were carrying. They were carrying black metal orbs with a protrusion, from which a white cord snaked. Not even she had to guess what they were as she knew they were explosives.

They settled on the deck and stripped their helmets off, relishing the cool air blowing against their faces, and keeping watch as the thestrals did whatever they were doing below. Sky wandered off to do whatever he did, leaving the two of them alone. Feeling that now was the best time to do anything, Rainbow had something she wanted to ask Lightning.

"Why'd you send Vapor with Cloud?"

Lightning looked at sideways at Rainbow, a small frown on her face. "What's that matter?"

"Cloud was my wingmare, so I should have gone with her."

"I don't know if you noticed, but you had almost gone catatonic. Cloud needed help, so I sent Vapor."

"You're protecting her, aren't you?"

"What? No, I-" Lightning stopped at the way Rainbow was looking at her, and grunted under her breath. "Fine, you got me. I'm just not sure Vapor can handle this, y'know?"

"She couldn't be any worse than me. First contact with the enemy, and I totally chickened out, flubbed the attack, and almost got Cloud killed."

"I saw what happened Rainbow, and I think you're being too hard on yourself. If you kept on your course, he probably would've hit you instead. While it might've been you chickening out, doing so might have saved your life."

Rainbow disagreed. "It should've been me that got hit."

"That's stupid talk, and you know it."

"Says the pony protecting Vapor from all this."

"...nngh... fair point. Still, why aren't you going to see Cloud?"

"I will as soon as I know we're done here. If I go running off just for us to get attacked, and somepony gets hurt because I wasn't there..." Rainbow shook her head, "No. No way am I letting that happen."

Lightning kept watching Rainbow out of the corner of her eye, then shrugged. "Alright, whatever you say."

A few minutes later Spitfire flew up with most of the thestrals. She landed, then waved at the helmspony to get his attention, then made a circling gesture and pointed east once she had it. A moment later the entire ship lurched and started to turn, it's propellers humming through the air.

Spitfire looked east towards the distant light of a sun not yet risen, and nodded to herself. "Alright Shadow, give the signal."

"Signal?" Rainbow asked, only for her ears to buzz as Shadow opened her mouth and emitted a noise far beyond any non-thestrals range of hearing. A moment later Rainbow's ears buzzed again as an answer came from below, or several answers, although she had no idea how she could tell that. She was proven right though as several thestrals flew up from around the sawmills.

"Any moment now." Seconds later a flash lit up the clearing, followed by a bone shaking boom that made the entire ship vibrate. Soon after it happened again, and again, as the various pieces of machinery exploded into pieces. A pattern soon emerged that sort of spiraled anticlockwise around the clearing, growing closer and closer to the sawmills in the middle, before that too exploded into a fireball that rose up into the sky as bits of building rained around in a large circumference.

Almost as if it wanted to see what the fuss was, the sun rose and peeked over the mountains to the east, shining a dim light over the area that showed how complete the destruction of the sawmills was. And it was complete. Almost nothing remained except for what had failed to get thrown about by the explosion, and what was still whole was burning instead.

Spitfire sighed happily, "I love the sound of explosions in the morning. Now lets wrap this up and get back to Equestria."

Rainbow waited until they were past the border of Mareitania and out over the ocean before finally deciding to even try and relax. Most of the other Wonderbolts had gone below decks, leaving her alone with the Night Guard, most of whom were chatting quietly. None of them seemed too bothered about what they had just done, and in the end Rainbow had to go before she yelled at them for being so nonchalant about it all. She also had to go and see Cloud Chaser, which she knew she had been putting off, mostly because she knew Thunderlane was going to be there too, and he was likely to be far more vocal about how unhappy he was with her than Cloud would be.

She stepped down through the hatch into the well lit interior of the gondola, and immediately gagged at herself. Now she was in the light inside she could see just how much blood she was covered with, and it was a lot. She swallowed down her disgust and ran to the small room she shared with her wingmates. Thankfully, and unsurprisingly, it was empty, meaning there was nopony to complain as she threw her helmet into the corner and wrestled her weapons and bracers off, not even bothering to properly undo them in some cases. The flight suit was tougher, and Rainbow was almost frantic as she pulled and tore at it, trying to peel it off herself as fast as she could without having to touch anything with blood on.

"Get off of me!" Rainbow rolled onto her back as she struggled her way out of the suit, and finally managed to get it past her hips and down her legs, allowing her to kick it into the corner. She got up and sat panting as she stared at the suit, willing her breathing to slow, but it only seemed to grow faster in line with her disgust. Her stomach churned, and she threw up before she could even think of finding something to to throw up into. Her stomach heaved again, but nothing came out. There was nothing to come out, but that didn't seem to matter to her stomach as it kept heaving and heaving for several minutes.

Slowly her stomach calmed, and she wiped her mouth in the hopes that she was done. What surprised her the most was that she wasn't crying through any of this, and she was almost tempted to hate herself for not being more upset about that. As much as she could justify it, she had still just killed a pony, and felt that she should be more bothered about that. As much as she tried though, the mental image of the pony that had tried to kill Lightning, the pony that she had killed, just didn't worry her as much as she felt it should, which only worried her in a different way. What kind of pony was she if she was okay with this? Was she okay with it? She honestly couldn't tell at this point.

Rather than sit there for any longer, dwelling on it and hating herself for not being something she felt she should, she found some paper towels to clean up her vomit with, and as she tossed the sodden paper into the trash she wondered how the others were dealing with it. Lightning had seemed rather capable during the attack, and didn't seem to have any issue with killing, which only made Rainbow wonder how Lightning was so okay with it. Was Lightning actually more torn up about this on the inside than she was showing? That still wouldn't explain how she was able to cut a pony down so easily. In fact, it seemed to Rainbow that most of the Wonderbolts had an easier time of it than herself. Was she the abnormal one?

In the end Rainbow decided to stop thinking about it. They were at war, and she'd have to do her part to protect Equestria, as must all ponies, regardless of how she felt about it.

Rainbow turned to go see Cloud, but paused as she caught sight of herself in the mirror above the sink in the small bathroom. Blood speckled her face, and for a moment she felt her disgust rising in her throat again. She looked away from the mirror, then back again, and sighed. She'd probably better wash before going to see Cloud, and that would involve having to look at the blood on her face.

She let the tap run for a moment, letting the system heat the water a little before splashing it onto her face and scrubbing the blood away with her hooves. She looked back up at the mirror and watched the pale red rivulets of dirty water run down her face. She rinsed her face again and looked at herself once more, and found herself to be looking more like the Rainbow she usually saw in the mirror, although the usual Rainbow didn't frown quite so much. She tried to put a smile on, but it lasted mere seconds before vanishing again, so she gave up and dried her traitorous face before heading out to the medical bay.

The ship was not as quiet as it seemed to be from within her room, and Rainbow found herself walking slowly, not so she didn't disturb anypony, but so she could hear what was going on in some of the other rooms. Some were silent, either because they were empty, or because the ponies within them had decided to try sleeping, but others contained the hushed words of whispered conversations, or the sound of a pony trying to cry quietly, maybe while being comforted by their wingmates. As much as Rainbow felt guilty at the thought, she was glad she wasn't the only one struggling with this.

"You can't turn ponies into soldiers in two weeks," said the voice of Fleetfoot from one of the rooms around Rainbow, who stopped moving altogether to try and home in on where it came from. "We had months and months of training for this, and even then we struggled at first. I remember screwing up my first attack in Mareitania, then seeing one of the pegasi we trained carry it out just fine because, well, they're different to us. Let's face it Spitfire, ponies in Mareitania are just made of sterner stuff than Equestrians."

"She's not wrong," said Soarin. "Even the more experienced Wonderbolts weren't exactly at their best tonight. Blaze pussed out on all of her dives tonight, and I swear Surprise was crying the whole time. What kind of example is that going to set for the rest of them?"

Spitfire sighed deeply before replying. "I know what you're saying guys, but we don't have longer to turn these ponies into soldiers. They're either going to have to learn quick, or we are going to have to declare ourself unfit as a unit to do what's being asked of us. Tonight was easy compared to a lot of the stuff we had to do during the uprising, and yet we had so many cock-ups it's almost unbelievable that it went as well as it did, with only a half dozen injuries, and amazingly, no fatalities. Hopefully now they've got some experience they'll step their game up."

"We got lucky," Fleetfoot said harshly. "There's no other way to describe it. Cloud Chaser got taken out seconds into the fight, and frankly she's damn lucky to not be dead. If she hadn't tried to pull up that arrow would have got her in the face, and this unit would have had it's first casualty in this war. Doesn't mean she shouldn't have followed Dash instead though."

"Too bad it couldn't have been Sky Stinger," said Soarin. "I swear, if that little prick had kept boasting the way he was, I might have punched him myself. I bet he's going on about how great he is to Vapor right this very second. I don't know how she puts up with him, let alone why she wants to jump on his gigglestick."

"I don't get how he's so oblivious to it," Fleetfoot laughed. "Back when we were cadets, making goo-goo eyes at somepony and giving them an invitation to the showers meant nothing to do with getting clean."

"Obliviousness and boasting aside, he did do well tonight," said Spitfire. "I just hope he doesn't get too cocky and get himself killed."

"I hope he gives a thought to what he's actually doing at some point," Soarin sighed. "Doing a wicked dive and a backflip when killing somepony is all well and good, but not if you completely forget the part where you did actually kill somepony. Meadow Flower was right to get pissed at him."

"I know," Spitfire agreed. "If it looks like his antics might risk somepony other than himself getting killed, something might have to be done about it. Until then though, we need him, so I'm just going to leave it. Mostly because right now I'm beat." Spitfire yawned and smacked her lips. "I'm going to bed."

"Does that mean..?"

"To sleep, Soarin."

"Aww..."

"Yeah... I'm not sticking around to hear you two go at it, because I know you will," Fleetfoot said with a small shudder of disgust. "You two have fun. I'm just going to check on our wounded before going to bed."

"But I just said I'm going to sleep."

"I know what you said."

Rainbow froze as the door next to her opened, and grinned sheepishly as Fleetfoot saw her. Rather than make an issue of it though, Fleetfoot said nothing as she shut the door behind her, then nodded for Rainbow to follow after her.

"So, how much of that did you hear?" Fleetfoot asked after a moment.

"Enough to know we aren't as great as we think we are. And that Soarin thinks Sky is a prick."

"He's not the only one. Feel free to tell Sky that, but the rest of it you keep to yourself."

"Are we really that bad?"

"Honestly, no." Fleetfoot smiled faintly as Rainbow looked at her with surprise. "I'm not saying we were great either. This was an easy target where we had the element of surprise, a numerical advantage, and a distraction, yet we still had five ponies seriously hurt, and at least half of us unable to go through with what was asked of them. Even those drafted in from the Royal Guard flubbed a few of their attacks."

"Then how are we not bad?"

Fleetfoot shrugged, "Because what we did was perfectly normal for a first time. I'm not going to lie though, in a serious battle, we would not only have lost, but I imagine a lot of us would've been killed too. If the Wonderbolts are going to not only survive this war, but make a real difference in it, we need to get a lot better." Fleetfoot smiled at Rainbow, "Don't sweat it right now though."

"Kind of hard not to," Rainbow sighed."

Fleetfoot stopped Rainbow outside of the medbay, "Look, Rainbow, I can see you're kicking yourself about Cloud, but you really can't keep blaming yourself for it. In fact, I'm willing to bet Cloud herself doesn't even blame you."

"How could she possibly not blame me?"

"You'll see." Fleetfoot opened the door and gestured for Rainbow to enter. Although she was reluctant, Rainbow did so, only to meet the angered glare of Thunderlane.

"What the fuck are y-" Thunderlane cut himself off as Fleetfoot entered the room behind Rainbow, and backtracked mentally as she walked up to him.

"Is there a problem Thunderlane?"

"N-no ma'am. I simply think its insensitive of Rainbow to come see Cloud right now."

Fleetfoot looked at Thunderlane funnily, "Insensitive of her to come see her injured wingmate? Thats a new one."

"Beg pardon ma'am, but its Rainbow's fault that Cloud's here in the first place."

Fleetfoot chuckled quietly, although it seemed more theatrical than genuine. "You're in for a surprise." Fleetfoot turned to Cloud, who was watching the exchange owlishly. She was wrapped in bandages around her middle, and was on a healthy dosage of painkillers fed through a drip. "Cloud Chaser, perhaps you could tell Thunderlane and Rainbow exactly what it was you did wrong."

"You're blaming her?" Fleetfoot held up a hoof in front of Thunderlane's mouth, and gestured for Cloud to speak.

"I followed too closely behind Rainbow," said Cloud, her voice slurred by her medication. "That unicorn was about to attack her, she pulled out, and I was too close to react in time, so I got hit."

"But that's not why she pulled out!" Thunderlane shouted. "She pulled out because she couldn't go through with it!"

"It doesn't matter why she pulled out," Fleetfoot told him. "In the situation it was the right thing to do, and it certainly wasn't Rainbow's fault that Cloud was too close behind her."

"But you taught us to bunch up!"

"In tight spaces, yes, but even then we never said to fly right behind one another unless it was the only option."

"But none of this would have happened if Rainbow had gone through with her attack!"

Fleetfoot growled under her breath, annoyed at Thunderlane's stubborn insistence that Rainbow was to blame for this. "If Rainbow had gone through with the attack, she might be here right now, or worse she might be dead. Stop blaming her for something that she couldn't help."

"But-"

"Thunderlane!" All of them looked at Cloud as she shouted Thunderlane's name, surprised at her outburst. "It's not Rainbow's fault! Stop blaming her for my screw up!"

"I-uh... I" Thunderlane looked around at all of them, and gave in. "Alright," she sighed. "Alright, I'm sorry for blaming you Rainbow."

"You don't have to apologise."

"Well, I have, so just accept it so we can move on."

Rainbow was about to refuse as she felt Thunderlane had nothing to apologise for, but decided to that it wasn't worth arguing with if it meant an end to the problem. "Apology accepted." She smiled at Thunderlane who only nodded back, leaving her with the impression that perhaps he really did still blame her, but hopefully he'd calm down on his own.

"Okay, I'm going to go check on the others," Fleetfoot said once she thought the situation was under control. "You guys play nice, and try to get some sleep at some point."

Rainbow watched Fleetfoot as she went other to the next bed, happy that she'd been there as Rainbow knew she couldn't have defended herself even if she hadn't been thinking it was her fault Cloud had got hurt. She still thought that a little, but not enough to make her want to sob apologies to Cloud.

"How you feeling Cloud?"

Cloud smiled dreamily, "I don't know what they put in this drip, but it's some good stuff. I get to stay on it too, at least until the S.h.d is freed up to use on me."

"You mean you aren't the most injured here?"

"Nope. Mad isn't it? Lime Jelly got hit by a spell that took a massive chunk out of her. Apparently she's lucky we have a S.h.d, because she'd be dead by now if we didn't."

While Rainbow was surprised that Cloud could talk about a fellow Wonderbolt almost dying so easily, she suspected the drugs made it easier. "Are they still using it on her?"

"Yeah, and I have no idea when they'll be done. I'm next in line though."

"That's good, and I'm glad Lime Jelly's going to be okay."

"Mmhmm. Now how about you tell me and Thunderlane what happened after I became a pincushion? Surely we must have missed something good judging by all the explosions."

Spitfire stepped off the Heaven's Grace as soon as it docked at the Wonderbolts HQ, and saluted Princess Luna who stood quietly waiting for them to arrive alongside two of her Night Guard, as well as Fleur, who wore a dark suit. "Mission accomplished."

"Very good Captain."

"I can't speak for your Night Guard though."

"Captain Greywhisker will fill me in later. For now though, I simply wished to be here for your debriefing, and to hear what happened during your mission. It might be important to hear it myself in case there are any improvements that could be made for your next mission."

"Of course. If you would follow me to my office ma'am, I'll tell you everything."

Rainbow watched quietly as Spitfire led Luna away, leaving the rest of them to disembark in their own time. Rainbow was at least thankful that Luna didn't want to talk to her, because she didn't want the Princess to think she wasn't up to defending Equestria.

"I know it's been pretty hush-hush," Lightning said from beside rainbow, her own wingmates beside her again, "but have any of us actually asked what exactly the thestrals were up to? It seems odd that they'd attack a prison. Were they rescuing somepony? Or breaking all of the prisoners out? Or what? I hate not knowing stuff."

"I'm pretty sure that anything done by Luna's personal guard isn't supposed to be known by the rest of us."

"I know, but, y'know... whatever. I'm going to go hit up the showers, then get something hot to eat. You coming with?"
Lightning suddenly thought of her wingmates and quickly decided to clarify something. "No homo."

Rainbow sniggered at Lightning, but nodded. "Sure, sounds good."

"Hey, we should do that too," Vapor said hopefully to Sky. "A nice hot shower would be amazing."

"Hmm, nah," said Sky, totally oblivious to the nature of the invitation, and to the way Vapor slumped as he rejected it. "We're going to have to work on getting even better for our next mission, so I'm going to go get some practice in. I'll see you all later."

Lightning patted Vapor on the back, "He'll work out what you really mean some day."

"What? I don't know what you're talking about." Vapor blushed coyly and looked down at the floor. "I-uh, I need to go. See you later."

Lightning grinned after the rapidly retreating Vapor, "Heh, they're so adorable. Now come on, I'll race ya!" Lightning jumped over the rail and sped off, leaving Rainbow still sat on the airship with no intention of racing anywhere as she thought back to what Lightning said about the Night guard's private mission. There was only one reason she could think of as to why Luna would risk them attacking the prison, and since nopony came back with them, it was pretty clear that whoever Luna was looking for wasn't there. Clearly her friends were being kept in High Rock keep.

"You did what?"

"I hardly feel as if I really need to repeat myself Fleur."

"I know, but..." Fleur sighed and tried to think of how to explain this to a being that was older, considerably more powerful, and hopefully wiser than herself, without sounding like she was talking to a child. "You're the one that suggested the formation of the Equestrian Intelligence Service, correct?"

"That is correct," Luna confirmed with a nod.

"Then why would you order your Night Guard to attack the prison at Whiplash without at least informing us?"

"Because it was a last minute addition to the mission, and I didn't have time to inform you before they departed."

"But you had all day after that!"

Luna fixed Fleur with a cool stare, "I have command of all military activities carried out by Equestria, do I not?"

"Of course you do Luna."

"Which includes the activities of Equis, yes?"

Fleur winced uneasily, "...yes?"

"Then I imagine I am capable of doing things without having to inform Equis until I am good and ready."

"But that's not the point," Fleur whined. She could see Luna's point though, as misguided as she felt it was. "It just makes our job harder."

"Do you wish to hear what they were doing there, or not?"

"Apologies Luna, please continue."

"Their primary objective was to release the prisoners while providing a distraction for the Wonderbolts and their mission."

"Free the prisoners?" Fleur had no idea why Luna would order her Night Guard to release all the prisoners, especially after the lengths they went through to get them all in there. "Why would you do that?"

"Any trouble we can cause for the Mareitanians slows down their efforts against us. Time and resources will have to be spent repairing the prison, and recapturing the escapees."

"Isn't this just creating a problem for us further down the line?"

"Compared to the problem we currently face?"

Fleur had to admit that maybe Luna had a point that future problems really did pale in comparison to the current ones. "Very well. I also suspect that, due to their continued absence, that the captured Elements of Harmony weren't being held in Whiplash."

"Indeed not, but we suspected that all along. It's safe to say that for now, they are well beyond our reach."

"Understood. I hope those poor girls are okay." Fleur skimmed through her notes and nodded. "Unless you have more to tell us then, I think that's it. I'll report your mission for the Night Guard's and the Wonderbolts' success, back to Equis, and see if we can't find some other ways to slow Mareitania down. See you soon Luna."

"Farewell Fleur." Luna sat back as Fleur left, and pondered the Night Guards true failure. The attack at Whiplash had utterly failed to attract a single griffon.

"Applejack!" Rarity shouted in a whisper, pressing her face up against the bars of her cell so she could see. "Applejack, are you there?"

"Rarity, you better have a good reason to be whisperin' my name so loudly."

Rarity gasped with relief that Applejack had answered. "Oh thank goodness! I was terribly afraid they were going to do something terrible when they dragged you away like that." Rarity gasped again as Applejack stood where Rarity could see her, as well as the black eye and bruises she'd been given.

"It ain't that bad Rarity."

"But why would they do that to you?"

"Would you believe that I have no idea? And I'm the one they done it to. Anyway, I've been back fer hours, so how could you not know I was here?"

Rarity prodded a hoof at the bags under her eyes, "I'm afraid I may have fallen asleep. Being trapped in this place is surprisingly exhausting. But enough about me, what did they do to you?"

"Well, first they gave me a nice hot meal. Said it was courtesy of the Lady. They let me eat in peace, then as soon as I was done they asked me what I thought of the Lady. Now you know I ain't gonna lie, so I told them she's still an evil harpy fer locking us up in here." Applejack gingerly poked her black eye and chuckled. "Don't think they liked that very much. Kept telling me I'd learn to love the Lady one way or another."

"Oh Applejack, you could have lied to them."

"And end up trapped in that lie? No thank you. I'm almost more afraid of what they'll do if they think we do actually love the Lady. Besides, didn't they do something like that to you yesterday?"

"Not like that. They-uh... gave me a choice. They told me they only had three meals for us, and that I would have to pick which one of us went hungry. I hated the thought of one of you going hungry, so I... chose myself."

"Oh Rarity, y'all didn't have to do that."

"Ah-ah, not a word Applejack. It's important that you all keep up your strength if we're to make it through this."

Applejack sighed and nodded, "Fine, but it ain't no good for us if you waste away givin' all your food to the rest of us. Y'all need to eat too sugarcube. Still, at least you ruined their fun by not being selfish. Guess they just don't know about you and your generous nature."

"Just as they don't know you if they think you're going to lie."

"Darn straight." Applejack turned her head to look further down the passage. "Hey Fluttershy, ya alright? You're being awfully quiet."

"'m okay. As okay as I can be."

"They haven't done anything bad to you have they?"

There was a long moment of silence before Fluttershy answered. "They made me pick an animal to kill!" she cried. "Forced me- Forced me to pick an animal for them to kill in front of me, and- and- and said they'd k-kill one of you if I didn't! I- I-" Fluttershy wailed, sucking in deep breaths, just to squeeze them back out in as she cried louder.

"Aww shucks..." Applejack raised her hoof to her head to remove her hat, only to remember she'd not been wearing it when she was abducted. "I'm sorry Fluttershy. I guess I got nothing worth complaining about."

"I want to go ho-o-o-ome!"

"We all do," Rarity said quietly, brushing her dishevelled mane out of her eyes. "Spike darling?"

There was a clinking of chains as the occupant of the cell next to her moved at the sound of his name. "Yeah?"

"Are you okay?"

"I'm chained up, and forced to wear a mask so I can't breath fire." Spike let that reminder sink into Rarity's head. "All things considered, I'm not bad though. Almost feels like they've forgotten about me."

"Or they don't care because you ain't got an Element bound to you," Applejack sighed and nodded at the inhibitor on Rarity's horn. "I don't suppose you're any closer to getting that do-hickey off your horn yet Rares?"

"I think it would rather defeat the purpose of wearing it if it came off that easily. I'm afraid the only way I can think of to remove it would be to break my own horn, which for obvious reasons, I'm not going to do. Not least because it would still leave me without magic."

"Figures."

"Are you not tempted to try bucking the door down again?"

"After my last try, not so much." Applejack banged a hoof against the thick bars of her cell door. "I hate to say it, but this place is locked up tighter than a house with no doors. Still, I don't think we should give up on getting out of here entirely."

"You sound like you have a plan," Rarity said hopefully.

"'Fraid not, but I did hear somethin' interesting while I was getting beat up. Apparently there was some attack on that prison place down in... Whiplash, I think they said? That's gotta be ponies lookin' for us, right? Maybe even Twilight!"

"It has to be!" Rarity frowned as a thought hit her. "But how could she possibly hope to get us out of here? You've seen this place Applejack, and that Faust. There's no way she could get us out of here."

"I know, but knowing Twilight, she ain't gonna give up easily."

A deep chuckled echoed from nearby, "Is that what you think?"

"Oh lordy... Shut up Francis! We don't wanna hear it! Twilight kicked your sorry ass, so she's sure as heck gonna kick Faust's! I betcha she has a plan on how to do it already!"

"Twilight?"

"Yes Trixie?"

"You've been staring blankly at that page for like an hour now. What are you doing?"

Twilight blinked a few times, then stared at the accusing blob of saliva she'd left on the priceless, one of a kind tome written by Starswirl himself. She sighed, and turned to face Trixie.

"I have no idea. I'm going to bed."

Author's Notes:

Not sure what's up with this double spacing to split the paragraphs up. Annoying as fuck.

Edit: And they change it back to normal spacing right after I bothered to put in double spacings. Thank god I felt too lazy to go and change the previous chapters.

Edit 2: Less than an hour later we're back to the no spaces between paragraphs thing. What the hell is going on?