"Dash! Hey Dash!"

Rainbow looked up from polishing her gear as Lightning ran into her room, a newspaper held by her wing which she threw down in front of Rainbow. Rainbow spared it the merest glance, then looked back up at Lightning. "What am I looking at exactly?"

"Didn't you read it? Somepony tried to blow up and kill Celestia yesterday!"

"Really? No way! Did it work?"

"What?" Lightning looked at Rainbow with disgust, "Is that what you think? Don't you even care?"

"Yeah, of course I do, but alicorns are immortal, as in they, like, can't die. Or they do, but they don't stay that way." Rainbow tapped her chin thoughtfully, "I really should have listened to Twilight more about that. Anyway, my point is that Celestia could have eaten the bomb and she'd come back, so I'm actually a little more concerned that they blew up a bunch of ponies in the factory that makes our gear."

"Uh..." Lightning's eyes twitched back and forth as she tried to figure out Rainbow's nonchalance about the news. "You've lost me Dash. Even though she survived, Celestia's still probably really hurt."

Rainbow sighed and dropped her armour onto her bed in preparation to explain this. "You know Princess Twilight?"

"Well yeah, of course."

"To date she's died three times. Once when she became an alicorn, and twice more since." Rainbow fought the urge to grin as Lightning tried gawped at her. "Death for alicorns just isn't that big a deal. I bet that in a couple of weeks Celestia will be totally healed to the point that you couldn't tell she'd ever been attacked."

"Huh. Well, the point is that they attacked her! In Equestria! Doesn't that mean a thing to you?"

"Of course it does! But do you know what also means something to me?" Rainbow quickly read the paper until she found a number, "Twenty two. Twenty Two dead ponies killed in an attack on the factory that makes armour for the Wonderbolts, and-" Rainbow placed her hoof on the paper further down, "- they found another bomb in the place that makes our weapons. This isn't an attack on Celestia, Lightning, it's an attack on us. Celestia was just in the wrong place at the wrong time by the sounds of it."

"But why would they attack us?"

"Because we burnt their ships, blew up their lumber mill, and did whatever it was the bat ponies did in their prison?"

"How are you working this out so fast?"

"Eh," Rainbow shrugged, "it's a knack. I'm also guessing that's why we're bringing our next op forwards, which is why I'm prepping my gear."

"That's not what I meant. What I meant was, how do you know this wasn't an attack on Celestia?"

"Maybe it was! So what? It says they were going to bomb two places, both of which are important to the Wonderbolts, and the bombs were apparently in crates set to go off whenever somepony opened them, so Celestia being there when that happened was probably a total coincidence. Would they be making as big a deal about this if Celestia hadn't been there?"

"Proba-" Lightning went cross eyed as she cottoned on to what Rainbow might be trying to say, that the number of deaths, and the loss of the factory, were getting swallowed up by the fact that Celestia, an immortal, got hurt in an attack that might not have been even aimed at her. "Damn."

"Do you get me now? That the paper-ponies are too busy focusing on Celestia instead of the other stuff?"

"Yeah. I guess knowing the princesses can't die makes it easier to see through that kind of stuff."

"Believe me, I think I was a lot happier before I ever found any of this stuff out." Rainbow started polishing her gear again, but gave up after a few seconds, her heart no longer in it. "This is only going to get worse, isn't it? Have you heard anything off Spitfire?"

"Not yet, but she flew off to Canterlot this morning, so we won't until she gets back. Rumour is though, that Luna might be involved in our next attack."

"You mean, like, leading us?"

Lightning shrugged, "No idea. It's possible I suppose. Might be something worth seeing if it is."

"Kinda suggests that we'll actually be working with the Night Guard again if it's true."

Lightning picked up one of Rainbow's blades, pulling it out and turning it over and over in her hooves. "Are you going to be down with going on another mission?"

"Are you going to try and protect Vapor to the point she does nothing?"

"No, there's no point if things are only going to get worse. We're all going to have to be at the top of our game when that happens, including Vapor."

"And what if it's not enough?" Rainbow asked. Lightning didn't answer.

"You can't be serious," Soarin whispered, casting an eye back at the Wonderbolts assembled for their briefing. "What Luna's asking, it's insane!"

"I don't see what your issue here is Soarin," Fleetfoot whispered back. "Taking out their tank production, and their tanks, sounds like a good idea to me."

"But they're in Stalliongrad, and that place is a fortress!"

"Not for ponies with wings."

"But it's proven they have explosives now, and what's saying they haven't made their own anti-pegasus weapons like the Duke did? Stalliongrad was a shit of a place to invade even without those things."

"Doesn't matter," said Spitfire, cutting off any further arguments. "Luna thinks that after the successful attack on the armour factory, they're only going to get bolder. She also suspects it to be a prelude to Mareitania's actual invasion. The forces from the Crystal Empire, as well as Mustangia have been positioned by Vanhoover along the land route, but Equestria's forces are still far from ready, so more time needs to be bought. That's our job."

"Besides," Fleetfoot grinned at Soarin, "with Luna leading the attack, what could go wrong?"

"Famous last words," Soarin grumbled. "I still think it's a mistake to attack like this, right after they attacked us."

"Noted and filed away for later consideration," Spitfire said, giving Soarin a sympathetic smile. "If it's worth anything, I really hope you're wrong."

"You and me both."

Soarin's concerns in mind, Spitfire turned to the assembled Wonderbolts, preparing to fill them in on events. It felt like a lot had changed since the morning, and yet the situation they were in had hardly changed at all.

"Good afternoon Wonderbolts. By now I'm sure that you've read the papers, or at least heard the news, and I'm here to inform you that most of it is true." Spitfire stopped as whispers started spreading amongst the assembled ponies, and waved them back into silence. "What the papers have wrong is that it was an intentional attack on Princess Celestia. It wasn't, and her involvement is purely poor timing."

"Told you," Rainbow whispered to Lightning.

"So any of you thinking of getting revenge for Celestia," Spitfire continued, missing Rainbow's small moment of triumph, "put it out of your mind. Celestia will make a full recovery within weeks, and doesn't need you being stupid for her. If you feel like avenging somepony, avenge the twenty two ponies that died when we next go to Mareitania, which will be sooner than you think."

"After this attack, Luna thinks that Mareitania is drawing closer to launching their invasion of Equestria, which only makes what we do even more important. Tomorrow, in conjunction with the Night Guard, we will be launching an attack against the facility in Stalliongrad producing Mareitania's tanks, as well as taking out the tanks there. It's hoped that by taking out this facility, their plans could be set back by weeks, buying us enough time to field enough ponies to mount an effective defence."

"For the most part, the Night Guard led by Princess Luna herself, will be carrying out the bulk of our objective, while we will be flying cover and hitting a few secondary targets around Stalliongrad. Each squadron will be briefed by your leader on your specific tasks during the mission during the trip to Mareitania on the Heavens Grace, which will be leaving in three hours. I want you all to be prepped well before then, but the time is more or less yours until we leave. Dismissed."

Spitfire, Soarin, and Fleetfoot left the room, leaving the rest of the Wonderbolts to talk amongst themselves about what little they heard. Some of them were less than impressed by that.

"Well that was the shortest briefing ever," Lightning said, leaning back in her seat between Vapor and Rainbow. "Hopefully the one Fire Streak gives us will actually tell us something."

"It feels to me like we're being left in the dark," Cloud Chaser said from Rainbow's left. "Maybe what they're asking us to do is way worse than the last time."

"Of course it is," said Lightning. "Last time was probably a test to see if we were up to it. Now we're going to have to step it up a bit, bring our A-games."

"Hey, no problem," Sky Stinger said confidently. "There isn't anything we can't do!"

Lightning sniggered at Sky, "What's the square root of sixty four, Sky?"

"What? What's that got to do with this?"

"Oh, nothing, nothing at all."

"Besides, it's sixteen, because you divide it by four, because a square has four sides."

Lightning raised an eyebrow at Sky, "I'm not sure whether to be disappointed that you got it wrong, or impressed that you can accurately divide sixty four into four. Whatever, let's go get our stuff ready. See ya later guys."

"See ya," Rainbow said back before turning to her wing mates. "We should go get our own stuff ready as well."

"Already have," Cloud Chaser said with a sly grin. "I'm so ready for this."

"Are you sure?" Thunderlane said with obvious concern. "I just thought you'd be a bit nervous after last time, after you got hurt."

"Oh heck no, I'm not backing down because of one mess up. I was declared fit ages ago, and I'm not going to make the same mistake again. This time they won't know what hit them."

Rainbow nodded in approval, "Damn right! This time is going to go way better than last time, I promise you. Especially if Princess Luna's going to be there as well."

"Exactly," agreed Cloud Chaser. "Stop being such a worrywart Thunderlane."

"Can you blame me? I just don't want to see you hurt again."

"I think we're in the wrong profession to be worrying about that." Cloud chastely kissed Thunderlane on the cheek, making him blush, "Your concern is appreciated though."

The journey over to Mareitania was very different this time compared to the first time. The first time was done by ponies who were apprehensive yet confident they would ace the whole thing. This time it was done by ponies who had seen the truth, and didn't like the way it looked.

Rainbow had again secluded herself after Fire Streak had finished his briefing. A, and B squadrons had been given the dubious honour of providing protection while the other squadrons hit the other targets around the city, including the steelworks. Luna herself was leading the attack on the tank factory with her Night Guard, as that was deemed the toughest target.

If Rainbow was honest with herself, she'd much rather be on one of the squadrons hitting a target, as her current assignment would be the most likely to bring her into a direct fight with the enemy, which she wasn't sure was something she actually wanted. Demolition sounded much more fun.

"Girding thyself Rainbow Dash?"

"Huh?" Rainbow looked back to see Luna standing behind her, her eyes soft as she smiled at Rainbow. "Oh! Uh, sorry Princess, I didn't hear you coming," Rainbow babbled, surprised to have one of the rulers of Equestria, and her military commander standing behind her. "Can I help you?"

"Calm yourself Rainbow, I only wish to enquire how you are. I haven't seen you since the unfortunate events that precipitated this whole situation we find ourselves in."

"Oh, uh... yeah," Rainbow said, not entirely sure what it was that Luna had said to her. "I guess I'm okay. Still trying to get used to the whole fighting thing."

"Ah yes, that. You're not the only one to struggle with that here, and you certainly aren't the only pony to ever do so. All I can say is that it gets easier. You aren't the only one of your friends that will have to get used to it though."

"You're talking about Twilight?"

"No actually. It is Pinkie Pie of whom I speak. She signed up to join the Equestrian army little more than a week ago, along with her sisters. I feel it only fair to inform you."

"What? No!" Rainbow shouted, taking Luna totally by surprise. "You have to take her out!"

"And why, pray tell, should I do that?"

Rainbow stared at Luna like she'd grown a second horn, "Because she could get hurt, that's why!"

"And how is that any different from yourself?"

"It- It-" Rainbow stumbled over her words, trying to find an argument that didn't sound like a childish outburst. "It just is, okay?" she said, failing utterly.

"I think you'll find that Pinkie has as much a right to fight to get her friends back, and protect Equestria, as you do."

"But Pinkie isn't like that! She can't fight, or kill!"

"Neither could you as of a few weeks ago," Luna said calmly. "Neither could Twilight until she was forced to. I'm afraid in times like these, the ponies we are, and want to be, are irrelevant to the ponies we need to be. I discussed Pinkie's joining of the military with my sister, and we agreed that she be allowed to fight."

"Argh! Great! So now all my friends are in danger, except for Twilight who knows how to fight better than any of us!"

"I think Twilight will find dangers a-plenty carrying out her vital task." Luna sighed as Rainbow turned from her in anger, hanging her hooves over the guardrail of the airship. "I apologise if this news has disheartened you Rainbow, but I only felt it fair to tell you."

"Because you need every soldier possible, I know."

"That isn't it at all Rainbow. One mere soldier isn't going to sway the outcome of a battle, so if it were simply that, I would keep Pinkie out of military affairs. However, that would only be unfair to Pinkie when she wants to do something to help end this and get her friends back, including yourself. I couldn't in good conscience deny her that." Luna watched silently as Rainbow continued to sulk, "I am sorry Rainbow Dash."

"It's fine, I get it." Rainbow said nothing else, and after a few awkward moments she heard Luna sigh and walk away. She wanted to feel bad about treating Luna that way, but the feeling never came. Instead she could only begin to see an inkling of the issues Twilight had with the rule of Equestria after her return from Mareitania. Admittedly, Twilight had saved those issues purely for Celestia, but Rainbow herself couldn't be bothered to make the distinction between Luna and Celestia when both of them wanted the same thing, and were willing to spend ponies lives to get it. Rainbow wanted that thing too, but she suspected her reasons were different than the two princesses' reasons. Perhaps Pinkie's were too.

A stab of guilt finally hit Rainbow. She had no idea why she felt this way, and what did it matter if Celestia and Luna had different reasons to fight as long as they all got what they wanted; a free and safe Equestria. "Aww, feathers." Rainbow turned to apologise to Luna, but the alicorn was long gone. Instead she resolved to do it later. And it would have to be later she observed as they passed over the mountains and into Mareitania.

Stalliongrad was not how Rainbow had imagined it. The way Twilight had described it in the few times she was willing to talk about it at all, had left Rainbow thinking of it as some giant walled bastion of unspeakable evil. Instead it appeared to be a large, circular city with a reasonably high wall around it. The evil of its inhabitants was still open to debate though, if the stories were true.

Rainbow looked down over the railing of the Heavens Grace as it slowly drifted closer to the city, its engines cut to silence their approach. Lights twinkled in the darkness as streetlights lit up the roads and alleyways of the city, and, well, it didn't look threatening in the slightest. Only Rainbow knowing that it was making deadly machines of war clued her in to the real threat it presented, otherwise it looked totally normal.

Brayside had looked normal. Rainbow shook her head, determined to not fall into that trap again.

Rainbow was pulled out of her thoughts as Cloud nudged her side and gestured up with her head towards the bow where Spitfire was stood, silently waiting for the right time. The whole thing was being done in silence, so as to not alert anypony below until the attack was well under way. Rainbow found it creepy, but wisely said nothing for reasons other than necessity.

She also wondered briefly where Luna was, but concluded that the Princess was likely below decks with the Night Guard. Rainbow had seen Luna earlier, wearing the same armour that she'd worn when she came to Ponyville after her friends had been kidnapped. Given the time to reflect on it, Luna, Rainbow concluded, was not a pony to mess with, and that was without seeing the two glaives Luna used to fight. Perhaps with Luna leading the attack, things might not go as bad as Rainbow was afraid they might.

Spitfire raised a hoof, then started waving it, signalling them to start taking off. Rainbow did so, jumping over the railing and catching herself on her wings. Immediately she felt in control of the situation, as she always did when she flew. As much as she loved her earth-bound friends, she always felt slightly useless when she wasn't flying. Not that she'd ever say that. Ever.

Rainbow banked left, following the lead of Fire Streak as their squadron escorted another to a textiles factory that was producing uniforms for the Mareitanian army. The other targets, besides the tank factory and steelworks, were a train depot where stream trains were built and kept, and a factory that produced steam powered machinery for use in factories and suchlike. Rainbow was a little iffy on that target, but could see enough wisdom in destroying it to not question it. They were also hitting these places at night to minimise civilian casualties, at least giving them the moral high ground over those that bombed the factory in Manehatten.

The Heavens Grace was already pretty small in the background as Fire Streak signalled them to circle around and keep an eye on things as the squadron they were escorting swooped down towards their target. The textiles factory was pretty out of the way compared of the rest of the targets, having no need to be close to the steelworks for supplies, which is why their squadron was covering the one destroying the factory. Again Rainbow wished she was doing that instead, even if to just put the bit of demolition training they'd received into practice.

"Anypony else feel like this is too easy?" Fast Clip, one of Fire Streak's wing ponies asked. "There's not even an alarm going up anywhere."

"That means it's all going to plan," Fire Streak said back. "Now cut the chatter."

They kept circling until the demolition squadron exited the factory and flew back up to their escorts. "Timer set for two minutes," their leader Wind Speed told Fire Streak. "Better get out of here if you don't want to feel it."

"Good idea. Let's head back to the others..." Fire Streak trailed off as a piercing cry like an eagle's sounded in the distance, followed by another, and another, growing louder and more frequent until it was almost constant, when just as suddenly as it started, it stopped. "What the hell was that? That sounded like-!" An explosion boomed around the city, but it wasn't from any of their targets. "What is going on?"

"Sir!" Pizzelle shouted, suddenly panicked as she looked into the distance. "The Heavens Grace is on fire!"

"What!?" As they turned back towards the airship, a trail of flame arched up from the city, and collided against the airship's massive balloon, lighting up the area around with a flash that illuminated dozens of figures, half of them bigger than the others, flying around the airship in what appeared to be a vicious dogfight. Occasionally one of the figures would fall from the fight to the city below, confirming their fears that they were under attack.

Fire Streak was about to order that they head to the Heavens Grace when another eagle cry cut through the air, much louder than before, and from above. He had barely a moment to think about it when a griffon clad in mismatched armour swooped down with a sword in his claw that neatly removed most of the left wing of his wingpony Lime Jelly, who screamed as she fell, crashing with deadly force onto the rooftops below before he could even think to try and catch her.

"Ambush!" Lightning shouted as Fire Streak stared dazedly after Lime Jelly. More griffons dived from above, their cries for blood deafening the Wonderbolts. "Scatter!"

Rainbow wasted no time in doing so as Fire Streak didn't seem to have the wits to order them to scatter himself, and only just managed to avoid getting cut down as another wave of a dozen griffons struck from above. Rainbow rolled left and dived, drawing her blades ready as a trio of griffons split off to come after her and her wing mates.

"We should go for the city Rainbow!" Thunderlane shouted. "We can probably out manoeuvre them in the streets!"

Rainbow quickly looked down at the streets, then back at the griffons, with their larger stature, heavier armour, and larger wingspan. She quickly concluded that Thunderlane was right, and shouted back her agreement before setting into a steep dive that quickly brought them down to street level where they put their size, manoeuvrability, and training into good use, flying through narrow streets, and around corners that the griffons simply couldn't handle.

There was no satisfaction in hearing the griffons cries of frustration though as they eluded their pursuers though, and Rainbow was simply relieved that they were getting away. She knew just what griffons were capable of, and the Wonderbolts' aerial combat training had been left a bit sparse in favour of attacking ground based and magic capable targets, meaning that there was a distinct possibility that the griffons could easily outmatch them. The rest of their squadron was still out there though, having to fight for their lives.

"I thought the griffons were staying out of this?" Cloud said as they stopped in dark street to catch their breath. "Why the hell are they here?"

"I don't know!" Rainbow said back, far more aggressively than she meant to. "I don- I- Argh! What the fuck are we supposed to do now?!"

"We can't stay down here forever," said Thunderlane. "I say we head back up and attack the griffons from below while they're distracted fighting the others."

"We should also go help defend the Heavens' Grace," Cloud added.

"I know, I know!" Rainbow reached up to rub her head, then remembered that not only was she wearing a helmet, but her rather sharp blades were still clipped to her hooves. "Fuck it. Let's go help our squadron, then go help the Heavens Grace. We'll hit the griffons hard from below like Thunderlane said. You ready?" Both Cloud Chaser and Thunderlane drew their blades to show their readiness, "Alright then, let's go!"

All three pegasi pushed themselves back into the air and back towards the rest of their squadron, who seemed to be having mixed odds in their fight. Most of them seemed intent on getting away from the griffons instead of fighting them, and the griffons seemed to be having trouble fighting an enemy that refused to sit still and fight back. None of them saw the three Wonderbolts coming from below.

Rainbow rolled onto her back as she rapidly approached a griffon hen that was chasing after one of the others, and sank her blades into the griffons chest, angling upwards from below the ribcage to avoid the griffon's armour. The griffon screamed in pain, and looked down at the pony attached to her chest before going limp and falling out of the air. Rainbow soon saw her mistake as the angle she attacked at made it difficult to pull her blades back out. She was far too close to the ground for her comfort by the time she did.

Another griffon fell to the ground as Rainbow pulled back up, meaning that either Cloud or Thunderlane had taken one out, increasing their odds even further. Rainbow flapped harder, trying to get back to them, swinging her blades at a griffon as she passed, scoring a lucky hit on his wings that sent him tumbling out of the sky. "That was for Lime you bastard!" Rainbow screamed after him, even if it wasn't the same griffon that had killed her.

Even with three griffons down, the fight was hardly won as their own squadron was scattered and disorganised. Lightning and her wing mates were nowhere to be seen, and the others were just flying scared, desperately trying to not get killed by an enemy they didn't really know how to fight. The only viable option Rainbow could see as she joined back up with Cloud and Thunder, was to take out a few more griffons, then try to reorganise the squadron into something that could put up a bit of a fight.

If there was one advantage to this fight, the griffons were too focused on their chosen targets to notice another of the Wonderbolts moving in to attack them. Rainbow used this to great effect on the griffons chasing after Meadow Flower, Pizzelle, and Sightseer, attacking them from above, plunging her blades into the lead griffon's neck while Cloud and Thunder took out their targets.

"You guys aren't dead!" Meadow Flower gasped as they stopped fleeing, their pursuers dropping to the ground far below. "We saw those griffons chasing you to the city and thought you were done for!"

"Not yet," Rainbow said, trying to sound confident, but not quite able to hear it in her own voice. "Look, we need to start fighting these griffons, so draw your blades and get ready."

"Incoming!" Thunderlane shouted. Rainbow looked up in time to see the three griffons that had chased them down to the city coming back for another try. One of them went down quickly to the combined efforts of Cloud and Pizzelle, the latter distracting the griffon while the former looped around and slashed her blade across the back of the griffon's neck hard enough to sever the spine.

The second griffon flew off after Sightseer, with Thunderlane giving chase, while the third went straight for Rainbow and Meadow Flower. He swung what looked like a cross between a sword and a spear at Meadow, striking her across her chest, then crashed into Rainbow before she could move to help, grappling her and hugging her to his chest, squeezing her hard enough to stop her breathing. "Time to die little pony."

As much as she struggled Rainbow couldn't break free. The griffon was simply too strong to break his hold, and the way he was holding her stopped Rainbow from getting her back legs up high enough to kick him off, while her blades scraped ineffectively over his armour. She fought for as long as she could, but her struggles lessened as darkness started creeping in around her vision. Then she was falling, the griffon having released her as a Wonderbolt slammed into his back, burying her blades deep.

Rainbow felt herself get caught, and as she started to regain her senses she realised that it was Lightning and Skystinger holding her. "You're alright! Wait, where's Vapor?"

"I'm here," Vapor said shakily, hovering nearby. She had her blades drawn, and they had blood on them, telling Rainbow more than enough. She caught Vapor's eye and gave her a nod, Vapor returning it after a moment.

"You alright Dash?"

Rainbow turned back to the pony that had saved her, finding it was Spitfire. "Y-yeah," she replied to Spitfire's enquiry. "Thanks for the save." Rainbow noticed Soarin nearby, a heavily bleeding Meadow Flower held in his hooves. "Is she alright?"

"She will be if we can get her help in time," said Spitfire. "We've taken out or chased off the griffons attacking you, but we really need to get back to the Heavens Grace. The Night Guard are putting up one hell of a fight, but we're outnumbered two to one, and we're suffering for it."

Rainbow pulled herself from Lightning's and Skystinger's grip, and saluted Spitfire, narrowly avoiding her head with her blade. "What are your orders ma'am?"

"Form up on me and get ready because we're going in hard."

Rainbow checked her bracers as she waited for the signal to attack, finding that they were still holding solidly even after the rough treatment she'd given them.

"Are you really alright Rainbow?" Lightning asked, looking at Rainbow with concern.

"I'm sure I'll have plenty more opportunities to almost die before this is over." Rainbow had meant it jokingly, but the silence she got back told her it wasn't the right move. Thinking about it, it didn't feel like much of a joke. "What happened to you when the griffons attacked?" she asked to cover her awkwardness.

"I was going to follow you, but we had griffons on our tail, so I decided to fly to the airship in the hopes they'd kill the griffons chasing us. Surprisingly it worked. Then I convinced Spitfire to come back to help the rest of you."

"Good thinking. I was worried when I couldn't see you still up here."

"You guys are being super gay right now," Skystinger said to Rainbow and Lightning. "Seriously."

Rainbow looked around Skystinger to where Vapor was still hovering uncertainly, then shook her head at how oblivious he was being about his supposed best friend. She didn't get a chance to say anything on it though as Fleetfoot shouted a warning.

"Griffons headed this way!"

"This is it ponies!" Spitfire shouted. "We're going to fly straight through them and back to the Heavens' Grace. If you get a chance to take one out, do it, but don't risk yourselves until we get back to the main fight. Those carrying wounded, head straight for the ship, drop your ponies, and get back to the fight. Princess Luna will keep them safe. Now go-go-go!"

Rainbow swallowed nervously as the wave of griffons rapidly drew nearer, then met. Both groups were going far too fast to really do anything to the other as even in full armour, colliding at that speed could be deadly. Rainbow just focused on getting through to the other side and accelerated away from the griffons towards the airship where there was a considerably larger fight going on.

Thestrals, pegasi, and griffons zoomed about in a maddeningly confusing display of aerial acrobatics. The griffons were being the most aggressive of the flyers, while the thestrals concentrated on taking down isolated griffons. As for their own fight, the Wonderbolts here seemed more focused on surviving rather than fighting. It didn't look like they needed more fliers to add to it anyway, even though that's exactly what was happening as the arrowhead of Wonderbolts cut into the battle.

Rainbow dropped as a griffon swung a battle-axe at her, keeping herself well below the blade as one of the thestrals used the distraction to quickly take the griffon out. There wasn't much time to think about that as they flew into the melee proper.

The noise was incredible as metal rang against metal, griffons unleashed piercing cries, and thestrals answered with cries that transcended sound to become a physical force. There was also a strange, deep booming sound, that took Rainbow a while to work out was coming from a massive shield that Luna must have put up around the airship. With the Princess distracted with that she was likely unable to fight.

There wasn't any time to dwell on it though. Flying through the battle was like flying through a storm full of razorblades, with most of Rainbow's efforts going into dodging and weaving instead of attacking. That seemed to be the same for most of them though, as hardly anypony around her got a hit in, being far too busy with not getting hit themselves.

Rainbow growled in frustration. In a matter of minutes this whole situation had gone seriously sideways. They were supposed to destroy their targets and leave, nothing more. None of that suggested the possibility of getting into a giant fight with griffons of all things. And now she felt useless as ponies got hurt all around her.

Rainbow snarled and roll out of formation, aiming for a griffon hen that was fighting claw to hoof with a thestral. She charged in, barely even bothering to slow down, and plunged her blades into the neck of the griffon, avoiding her armour. Or at least she almost did. Rainbow's right bracer caught on something as she and the griffon fell, and Rainbow had to brace herself against the griffon's chest and push before coming free with a tearing of cloth. Rainbow took a moment to recuperate, nothing a neckerchief made of black cloth had become trapped in her bracer, and it didn't want to come out.

"What the hell are you doing Rainbow?" Thunderlane demanded to know as he and Cloud chased after her, then dragged her back into motion before any griffons could catch up. "You know you don't fly off on your own like that!"

"I'm sorry, but this is really stupid! How is anypony, or griffon, supposed to win if we're all just avoiding each other all the time?" All of them flinched as the shield around the airship boomed as it was struck again. Not that it mattered much as the shield filled up with smoke from the burning vessel.

"The only thing that could turn this fight now is Princess Luna," said Cloud. "We'll lose the ship and everypony on it if she does that though. We need to get out of here."

"Retreat? Are kidding me? We can beat them if we just try harder!"

"D and E squadrons are almost gone Rainbow!" Thunderlane shouted angrily. "We've lost two, unless Meadow pulls through, and I bet C squadron's lost ponies as well. Fuck knows how many thestrals have been killed, and the Heavens Grace is pretty much lost. We lost Rainbow. We lost bad."

"But..." Rainbow didn't get their point. The griffons weren't that tough, were they? Her wing alone had taken out over half a dozen at least. Unless they'd got lucky in their ambushes, while everypony else was just trying to stay alive.

Before Rainbow could follow her thoughts through to their conclusion, the shield around the airship collapsed with a force that sent anyone close enough tumbling through the air. A series of smaller shields then formed, carrying two dozen ponies, either wounded or non-pegasi, away from the burning wreck. Blasts of magic flew out from beside the shield, picking off a couple of griffons as Luna manoeuvred her shielded ponies to safety.

"Retreat!" Luna shouted in the royal Canterlot voice, being heard for miles around, "Retreat to Equestria!"

A mad scramble started as ponies started to flee the battle, and as the two forces started to separate Rainbow saw what she couldn't before; there were a lot more griffons than there were ponies, and a significantly smaller number of ponies than there was originally. They had lost badly.

Rainbow led her wing up in an arc that re-joined them with the rest of the Wonderbolts as Luna flew amongst them. "Take the orbs," she commanded. "There is one last thing I must do." Rainbow kept to the side as others started pushing the orbs containing ponies away from the battle. She wanted to see what Luna was going to do. She was very surprised when Luna started attacking the airship, riddling the envelope with holes, and cutting through the lines connecting the gondola to the balloon.

The two sections separated, and a blue glow took hold of the gondola as the envelope shot upwards, now unencumbered by the weight it normally carried. A second later Luna threw the gondola at their original target, the tank factory, then shot at a few griffons before teleporting away back to the retreating Equestrians.

Rainbow watched as the massive hull raced through the air, utterly unstoppable, and smashed through the roof of the factory, destroying both itself and much of the factory. She did wonder why Luna would risk destroying the ship like that, but soon realised that destroying it was much better than letting the Mareitanians get it, and at the very least the factory was significantly damaged.

It was hardly mission accomplished though as they fled as fast as they could.

The griffons soon gave up trying to chase after the retreating ponies after Luna proved that magic bridged a huge gap in airborne battles. That left the Equestrians with a few hundred demoralising miles left to fly. Luna guided them north to the only land route as getting exhausted with no place to land would only lead to more unnecessary losses. The fact that plenty of ponies there looked like they were fine with that fact was irrelevant.

"Get the fuck off me!" Rainbow cursed, shouting at the blade that was stuck on her hoof. The cloth stuck in her bracer was jamming the release mechanism, and the added frustration was pushing Rainbow over the edge when she already wanted nothing more than to throw her gear away and feel the soothing chill of the wind over her body. "Rrgh!"

"Calm yourself Rainbow," Luna said, her attention drawn by Rainbow's shouts. She pulled the blade free of its bracer, and sheathed it as she pulled the cloth free. "I hear you did well today Rainbow. You alone killed four griffons, while many failed to kill one."

"If I'd done well, we'd have won," Rainbow growled. "Where'd those griffons even come from? Does this mean the griffons have joined Mareitania?"

Luna unfolded the black cloth she'd pulled from Rainbow's bracer, revealing a small symbol. She held it up in front of Rainbow, "Do you know what that symbol is?"

Rainbow squinted at the symbol that was embroidered onto the cloth. It was a fan of three brown feathers, their ends covered in blood. She'd never seen it before. "I have no idea what that is."

"It is the symbol of the Bloodfeathers, a mercenary group associated with neither Griffonstone, or the Griffon Empire. They tend to operate in the far south in the more lawless regions of the world where a mercenary army can always find work. It seems that they have come into the employ of Faust now."

"But, how?"

"How indeed?" Luna sighed and tucked the cloth into her armour. "There is many a question I wish to have answered once I return to Canterlot. I wish I had more to give you Rainbow, but I know not these things myself. Instead I suggest you tend to your friends."

"Is Meadow Flower going to be alright?" Both of them looked at the pink and blonde mare in one of Luna's bubbles. She was unconscious, and her breathing was shallow.

"If she can hold on until we make it to the blockade, she should survive, but until then I shall make no promises. I am sorry Rainbow Dash."

"Yeah, me too," Rainbow said listlessly before drifting back towards her friends. Cloud hugged herself as she flew, while Thunderlane just seemed to be in his own world now the fight was over. Lightning, Skystinger, and Vapor flew nearby as well, to two former flying each side of the latter as she cried softly.

"How you doing Rainbow?" Cloud asked as she noticed Rainbow's return.

"I want to say I'm fine, but we both know that'd be a massive lie. What about you though? Are you okay after, y'know, killing?"

Cloud was silent for several seconds before sighing guiltily. "I want to say no, but I'm more shaken by the fight than anything. I know this probably sounds really specist, but I don't think I'm as bothered by the killing because- because-"

"Because they weren't ponies?"

"Yeah. Is that wrong?"

"Maybe? I don't know. I think I'm too angry at them being there to care that I killed four of them."

"You know we got lucky, right?" Thunderlane said unexpectedly. "If we hadn't ambushed them, we probably wouldn't have been able to get any of them."

"Then how do we beat them?" Rainbow asked back to what Thunderlane said. All of them looked up as Spitfire flew over.

"You don't," she answered for them. "Historically speaking, most aerial battles tend to go like the one we just had, with two sides whittling each other down until one gives up. If the griffons are going to be involved in the fighting, the most we can do is distract them while our ground forces do their thing. You guys did well today, just so you know."

"But we lost!" Rainbow said, exasperated at hearing the same thing from Spitfire that she did from Luna.

"Don't let our defeat sell short your performance. I will say you were pretty reckless at times, from what I saw, but I'm afraid I don't feel like arguing with results right now. Speed and agility are the only advantages we really have over griffons in this case, and sometimes you really need to push your advantages." Spitfire frowned as Vapor sniffled, "You alright there Vapor?"

"Y-yes ma'am."

"First kill?" Vapor nodded listlessly. "Yeah, that's always tough, and so is losing ponies. I can get you somepony to talk to once we get back to base?"

"I-uh, I'll think about it. What's going to happen to all the ponies we left behind?"

Spitfire looked down to the ground, not really wanting to answer. "We'll inform their families, but that's all we can really do apart from hope the Mareitanians treat our dead with respect." What Spitfire didn't have the heart to say was that considering the Mareitanians history with pegasi, that seemed more than a little unlikely.

"That's horrible!" gasped Cloud.

"I wish we could do better for them," Spitfire sighed, "but we can only deal with the fact that we couldn't bring them with us. Believe me, I already feel like I failed them enough. I never prepared any of you for aerial fighting."

"And what's going to happen to D and E squadrons?" Skystinger asked.

Spitfire winced at Skystinger's question. D and E squadrons had bore the brunt of the griffons ambush, and had lost over half their members in the first minute of the battle, and took more casualties in that time than the Wonderbolts had ever lost in their entire history up to that point. At the moment they didn't even have enough ponies left to build a squadron between them.

"Forget that," said Lightning. "What about us? Are we going to be expected to go back there knowing there's hundreds of griffons waiting for us?"

"I... don't know. Let's just focus on getting back to Equestria before anything else. Once we're there we can worry about the other stuff. We will definitely be training in aerial combat though, if griffons are going to be involved in the war. I wish I could talk more guys, but I have plenty of others I need to talk to as well. Are you all at least okay for now?" Spitfire waited until she got a nod from all of them. "Okay, good. Just try to focus on flying for now."

"Easier said than done," Cloud said as Spitfire flew over to Pizzelle and Sightseer, Meadow Flower's wingmates.

Hours passed, and the distance to their destination grew shorter, although it was still far too long for some of them. "Meadow Flower's gone," Thunderlane said quietly, watching the medic give up the fight to save her.

Rainbow closed her eyes and sighed as the others either cursed or cried. The cries of Meadow Flower's wing mates could be heard not too far away. "This is so fucked up. I should've gone with Twilight, I should've-" Rainbow pulled her helmet off and wiped her eyes, "Fuck! We're miles from Mareitania and they're still killing us!"

"Rainbow," Lightning warned. "Stop, please."

"No, I'm not going to stop! How could those griffons do this? Just kill so many of us, and for what? A few bits, or whatever it is they use?"

"We killed plenty of them as well."

"Not enough! We're just trying to defend our country, but those griffons killed us for money! Doesn't that make you sick? To think that our lives, and their own, hold so little value to them that they'll fight and kill for money?"

"Yes," Lightning said as calmly as she could, "but why they do it doesn't change anything, so stop shouting, please; ponies are trying to hold it together, and they don't need what you're doing."

"But-" Rainbow groaned and slumped, almost dropping her helmet. "I don't know what to do Lightning. I don't even know how I'm supposed to feel about this, and that just makes me angrier."

"I get it Dash, I do, and I'm telling you now, the next time we meet griffons, hopefully we're going to be ready for them."

Nopony got in the way as Luna stormed through Canterlot castle, a scrap of black cloth held in her magic as she made her way to the one individual she felt could shed some light on their new situation.

Luna burst into the private quarters of the griffon ambassador where the ambassador herself was sitting quietly at her desk, writing a letter until Luna burst through the door and slammed the neckerchief she took from Rainbow down on the desk in front of her. "What is the meaning of this?" Deetra squawked, both shocked and terrified by the sudden intrusion by the livid alicorn.

"Did you know?!"

"Know what?"

Luna slammed her hoof on the scarf, "About this! Griffon mercenaries ambushed us in Mareitania, and I want to know if you knew about it!"

Deetra peered at the symbol on the scarf, "Bloodfeathers?"

"I know the Emperor likes to keep tabs on these groups, in case they ever get used against him, so if anyone would know about the Mareitanians hiring them, it would be you. So I'll ask again, as calmly as I can despite the fact that they killed forty-three of my thestrals, and sixteen Wonderbolts, did you know they were there?"

"No, of course not! Last I heard a month ago, the Bloodfeathers were being employed to expand the frontier in the far south around Abyssinia. They weren't even in the same hemisphere as us, so I have no idea how they ended up in Mareitania."

"Then would you care to hazard a guess as to how a country that shouldn't even know the Bloodfeathers exist, let alone where to find them, managed to employ them to fight?"

"There are dozens of mercenary groups in the world Princess, and I don't find it unreasonable to suggest that they could have put the Mareitanians in touch with the Bloodfeathers. All I can really say is that whoever did it really has something against Equestria."

Luna narrowed her eyes at the ambassador, "Someone like the Emperor for example?"

"No, he wouldn't, I can assure you of that. He hates the Bloodfeathers far more than he hates Equestria."

"And why should I believe that?"

"If you're looking for proof, I can provide none. What I can give you is a promise that our intelligence service will look into whoever it is that got the Bloodfeathers and Mareitanians in contact."

"That same intelligence service that failed to realise and inform us that a thousand griffon mercenaries turned up in Mareitania?"

"I realise you're angry and want someone to blame Princess, but you're looking at the wrong griffon. I'd like to remind you that your own reconnaissance failed to discover the presence of the Bloodfeathers as well. Now I promise you I will do my best to find the culprit behind the Bloodfeathers being in Mareitania, but that's all I can help you with I'm afraid."

Luna relented, not unwilling to believe that the ambassador might actually be telling the truth, and without proof Luna had nothing to accuse the Griffon Empire with anyway. At the very least they might be able to find who was behind the Bloodfeathers employment.

"Very well, I thank you for your understanding of my frustration, and I hope your investigations turn up something quick. In the meantime, I have somepony I have to meet with. Good day."

"Good day, Princess," Deetra said, a little bewildered by what had just happened. She picked the scarf up in a claw and looked closer at the symbol. As much as Luna might insist otherwise, she genuinely had no idea the Bloodfeathers had become involved. She could only hope that she was correct in her assertions that any griffons in the Empire weren't involved either.

It had been a long time since Luna had felt the rage she was feeling now, and the feeling simmered beneath the surface as she made her way to one of the many meeting rooms where she'd arranged to meet with somepony that might be able to help. It was therefore a great relief to her that the pony had answered the summons, especially at such short notice.

"Thank you for coming so quick," she said to the white coated and blue maned pegasus before her. "I was worried you wouldn't come at all since none of you volunteered to fight."

Windy Rush leaned forwards and smiled at Luna. "No problem at all 'Selene.' You had my interest the moment you said you wanted us to fight Mareitania. Besides, we have an interest in protecting Equestria as well now, and we'd rather die than see it become another Mareitania."

"How many of the other Mareitanian pegasi are willing to fight?"

"Plenty. Trust me about that."

Author's Notes:

Apologies for the disjoined feel of the chapter, but I was writing this through a busy and complicated week, and I really feel like it shows in places. Especially the characterisation of Rainbow in the beginning which feels way off to me. I think I've gotten too used to writing highly cynical ponies. Saying that, after looking at it for an hour, my brain is failing to improve it, so I'm gonna hit that publish button anyway.