A blue pegasus mare paced around the cloudhouse room with a scowl on her face; her colorful tail swished behind her like a whip, barely avoiding hitting other ponies — her squadmates.

Most of them simply ignored the mare’s obvious displeasure, preferring to relax on their cloud cots instead, except for one pair of eyes that followed her every movement.

With a growl, the enraged pegasus suddenly bucked the wall, leaving a gaping hole in it.

“Chill out, Rainbow Dash,” a white-winged mare said, rolling her eyes. “We don’t need more ventilation here.”

Rainbow turned her glare at the mare who had dared to interrupt her and her anger lessened a bit. She took a moment to admire her — Snowfield was a pretty mare. Unlike her wings, the rest of her body was dark gray, while her mane had a soft pinkish color, creating a wonderful palette.

“Shut up, Snowfield,” Rainbow grumbled, having lost much of her heat.

“You’re blowing this way out of proportion, Dash,” Snowfield said and puffed up her cheeks. “After all, it was just a training exercise.”

The pegasus shot to the ceiling.

“Just an exercise?!” she roared, gesturing wildly as she made circles around the small room. “I would have been dead if that was for real! How am I supposed to become a hero if some mud crawler can beat me?”

“Perhaps you’re not as good as you think you are, Rainbow,” somepony from below pointed out.

Snowfield facehoofed.

Predictably, Rainbow went as red as a tomato while her eyes darted from pony to pony in search of whoever had said that. Suppressed giggles sounded throughout the room, causing her face to redden even more.

“You… You guys…Argh!” With a scream of exasperation, Rainbow burst through the open window and disappeared into the night, leaving a rainbow trail behind her.

The pegasus’ powerful wings flapped, raising her higher and higher into the chilly air. That was what she needed right now. Some chill. After a few minutes, Rainbow Dash finally stopped and took a few deep breaths of rarefied air.

Feeling somewhat calmer, she looked at the beautiful night sky far above. The moon shone brightly alongside smaller stars, which created wonderful constellations. It had been a while since she’d been able to simply enjoy the view.

Rainbow frowned as she noticed something different about the moon’s appearance. It used to have a notable mark on its battered surface as far as she could remember. But somehow the moon looked even better without it.

After hovering there for a while, basking in the night, Rainbow finally turned her attention downwards.

She could barely distinguish the pegasi militia’s camp in the clouds below her, least of all a separate house where her squadmates resided. Stalliongrad looked so small — Rainbow must have been flying higher than she had realized. Despite the night, the streets of the city were well-lit and tiny dots — ponies — were in constant movement.

They seemed so insignificant from her position. And to imagine one of them had actually beaten her in a fight! Rainbow recalled her adversary’s orange fur and bright green eyes. Her hooves, hammering blow after blow on her helmet, making it ring; the helplessness Rainbow had felt.

Remembering such a humiliation made her blood boil once more.

“I won’t underestimate you the next time,” Rainbow Dash promised.

To distract herself, the pegasus tucked in her wings, diving straight towards the ground. Her mane and tail waved behind her as the buildings below grew frighteningly bigger. Some ponies on the streets were pointing at Rainbow Dash, but the mare ignored them. When a crash seemed inevitable, she finally spread her wings.

A gust of air almost forced them out of their sockets, but Rainbow was prepared for the possibility, keeping her wings steady. If she had been wrong about her timing by even a second, she would have splatted on the pavement, but instead she flashed just above the heads of the ground dwellers and then pulled up with a crazed grin on her face.

Though the ponies below weren’t pegasi and couldn’t truly appreciate what it took to pull off such a stunt, Rainbow enjoyed their shocked faces nonetheless. But as fun as it had been, Rainbow really needed to get some rest before the big day tomorrow. She did a flip in the air, throwing one last look at them and then turned back towards the fortress, above which the pegasi camp hovered.

Rainbow had to explain to the patrol what she had been doing outside past curfew, but in the end they let her off with a warning. Before another one showed up, she went straight to her squad’s house, easily finding it among dozens of others.

Each squad had made their dwelling on their own out of the cloud substance they’d been given, giving each of the houses a unique look. Though the material was cheap, the houses were good enough to last a couple of months.

When Rainbow got inside, she found most of her squad sleeping. Snowfield, however, was still up reading some book. Her ear flickered as she heard her friend’s soft steps.

“Cleared your head?” she asked, closing the book.

“Somewhat. Why are you still up?”

Snowfield smirked. “Was waiting for you, obviously. If you hadn’t come back in ten more minutes, I was going to look for you.”

“What did you think could have happened?” Rainbow asked, raising her eyebrows.

“With a hothead like you? I’m scared to imagine,” the mare continued, grinning. “But I’m glad you’re fine.”

“Yep. I’m totally fine,” Rainbow nodded. “Because I know what I’m going to do now.”

Snowfield kept silent, simply raising one eyebrow.

“I’m going to find that mare and duel her,” Rainbow announced, ignoring her friend’s facehoof. “Beating her would be a challenge, but once I do it, I’ll be unstoppable!”

Snowfield sighed. “That’s one of the things I was scared to imagine. You can’t just duel anypony who ever beats you in training. Is it too much to ask you to just drop this silly idea?”

Rainbow stomped her hoof, causing the sleeping ponies to stir in their cots.

“Nopony has ever beaten me in training,” she said, swishing her tail from side to side. “Except for her. But I’m the best. And I’m going to prove it.”

“That’s a bold statement,” Snowfield said flatly. “Have you forgotten how the sergeant wiped the floor with you back in training camp?”

Rainbow’s shoulders slumped slightly, but she straightened them again.

“Yes, well, that was a long time ago,” she waved her hoof dismissively. “I could beat him easily by the end, remember?”

“That’s true,” Snowfield admitted, meting Rainbow’s eyes. “But we’re going to launch an offense tomorrow. I don’t think you’ll have the opportunity.”

“We’ll see about that. Night.”

Having said it, Rainbow jumped onto her cot made of soft clouds and a few seconds later she was snoring.

Snowfield smirked. The mare’s unreal ability to fall asleep in an instant was somewhat legendary among the soldiers. She was even jealous of it at times.

Her eyes wandered over Rainbow’s lean, muscular form, lingering on her firm flanks, before stopping at the folds under her tail. Snowfield’s breath quickened, but she turned away through sheer force of will.

At times like that, Snowfield thought of telling Rainbow about her feelings, but the pegasi traditions would be against their relationship, even if Rainbow returned her affection.

“So unfair,” Snowfield whispered with a heavy sigh.

Forcing useless thoughts out of her head, she fell back onto her own cloud cot, hoping for sleep to overtake her soon.
***

Rainbow Dash’s dream was rudely interrupted when she felt something pulling on her tail. Grumbling, she bucked her hind leg at whoever had messed with her tail and the sensation stopped. Opening her eyes, Rainbow glared at Snowfield, who was standing by her cloud cot, spitting some rainbow-colored hairs.

“You overslept, Dash,” Snowfield stated accusingly. “Again.”

Rainbow narrowed her eyes.

“Doesn’t mean you can pull my tail, Snowhead,” she retorted, swishing it right into the mare’s face.

“Hey!” Snowfield exclaimed, jumping back.

Grinning, Rainbow rolled onto the floor and took a look around. As usual, she was the last one to be up. It was about the only thing she didn’t mind to be the last at.

After greeting the rest of the ponies, Rainbow quickly put on her barding. It was her least favorite part of being in the militia, but the regulations forced every pegasus to wear it while on duty. Sure, it made their wings stronger by carrying an additional weight, but it also slowed them down.

And if the latest exercise had proved anything, it was that even a spare second could be crucial in a fight.

“Ready now, slowpoke?” Snowfield asked as soon as Rainbow had finished.

“More than you’ll ever be, Snowhead.”

Just as she had said it, the door burst open and a yellow pegasus flew in. He was wearing a fancy helmet with a red brush on top. Hovering in the air, the stallion waited for the soldiers to assemble into a line before him.

“Good morning, troops,” Sergeant Yolk said, exchanging a salute with them. “As you should be aware, today is a big day for all of us—”

Rainbow found it hard to listen to his speech. The sergeant was explaining their schedule for today, but it wasn’t anything Rainbow found particularly interesting. After all, she could always ask Snowfield if she missed anything really important, and the fact that they were going to launch an offensive on the griffons had been known for a long time.

“Finally,” Rainbow groaned when Sergeant Yolk finished.

She was the first one to leave the house, flying straight up to the mess hall. The large square building was placed on a large cloud atop of the squad houses, so Rainbow got there in just a couple of seconds without breaking a sweat.

A thin smile crept on her face — the doors were still closed. The place was going to open exactly on schedule and not a minute earlier, so she still had time to get first in line. It seemed like all the other squads were waiting by the doors already, but Rainbow was never intimidated by competition.

“So, Dash—” Snowfield caught up to her friend only to be met with a dissipating rainbow trail in her wake. The mare rolled her eyes. “Typical...”

There was never a day when Rainbow Dash didn’t manage to be the first and today wasn’t an exception. While Snowfield and the rest of their squadmates were waiting in line, Rainbow was already finishing her meal, which consisted of beans with rice today.

“So, Dash,” Snowfield repeated, approaching her table. Rainbow’s ears swiveled at her. “You haven’t changed your mind yet?”

The mare shook her head.

“Nope.”

“This won’t be easy, Dash,” Snowfield pointed out. “She’s not a pegasus. Major Windmane would never approve of you having a duel with her.”

Rainbow frowned. Major Windmane was in charge of their whole company and was well-known for his strong traditional views. While he wouldn’t bat an eye if Rainbow settled her problems with another pegasus with a duel, if the major learned of her doing it with an earth pony…

“Damn it.” The table shook as Rainbow’s hoof left a dent in its surface. Her neighbors threw annoyed glances at the mare, but Rainbow ignored them completely. “I didn’t think of that.”

Snowfield patted her friend’s hoof. “That’s why I’m here, Dash. To think for you.”

“Shut up,” she batted her hoof away. “I’ll just have to duel with her in secret.”

“Well, it’s not a secret now,” a squad member sitting left from her said. Rainbow growled in frustration.

“What if she doesn’t accept your duel, Dash?” Snowfield asked. “Or worse, what if she beats you? I don’t think your ego would survive that.”

“That won’t happen,” Rainbow waved her hoof dismissively.

“She has beaten you once, hasn’t she?”

While the two continued to argue, the rest simply ignored them. It was easier to let it run its course, rather than trying to intervene. But the mares hadn’t stopped even when they had finished breakfast and the squad had flown to the port for the final briefing.

Only when the sergeant himself had joined them, did the two finally quiet down, though still far from any agreement. That stubborn Snowfield simply refused to understand Rainbow Dash’s position! The mare huffed angrily and concentrated on flying.

Soon the squad arrived at the large field near the port. They were among the first, but more squads were arriving by the minute, so it didn’t take long for every pegasus to form by their companies.

In the end, twelve full-sized companies of the Militia, each representing one of the great city-states, stood on the field — fifteen hundred of the best pegasi warriors. It was a force to be reckoned with. Rainbow Dash even forgot her frustration for a moment as her eyes glinted with pride, observing the formation.

Finally, the strategos in charge of the whole pegasi force finally appeared flying from the port’s direction, accompanied by the companies’ leaders. Major Windmane was among them. The officers landed in front of the formation, exchanging a salute with the troops.

“Today is a great day for us, everypony!” the strategos, the long-bearded pegasi in old-style armor, started. “Today we’re joining Equestria in reconquering its rightful land from the barbarians—”

Rainbow Dash listened to the speech with undivided attention until it was over. When the strategos had left, the leader of their company began explaining details like which ship they were being assigned to or other boring stuff like that. Rainbow simply tuned out from it, dreaming about the glorious battles awaiting her instead.

“Wake up, Dash.”

Rainbow blinked sheepishly as she came back to reality. Her eyes concentrated on Sergeant Yolk, who was standing in front of her as he looked at her with narrow eyes. Behind him everypony was taking off, so the briefing was probably over.

“I’m expecting you to repeat everything the Major said once we’re settled, Dash. Now, everypony, follow me.”

Having said that, he took off into the air, leading his squad to the port, along with the rest of the company. Rainbow and Snowfield kept at the tail of their formation.

“Do I have to repeat everything to you again?” Snowfield sighed heavily. “Fine. But only if you say please.”

Rainbow gave her an annoying glance, still angry at her stubbornness earlier.

“Please,” she growled through her teeth.

“Good enough,” Snowfield smirked. “Anyway, here’s the deal—”

On the short flight to the port, she quickly explained to her friend the outlines of the Major’s briefing. As she listened, Rainbow’s ears were lowering more and more.

“What? Are you sure?”

“That’s what he said,” Snowfield shrugged. “We have to take that mining town and clear the surrounding area from the enemy. I thought you’d be more excited.”

“Excited? I was hoping to be among those who liberate Fillydelphia! Not some stupid mining to—” Rainbow’s eyes widened. “Oh no…”

Snowfield glanced at her in surprise. “What again?”

“I just realized something. If the fleet is split up like that, that earth pony might land in some other squadron than me. I won’t be able to duel her!”

“Oh, what a shame it would be,” Snowfield deadpanned, ignoring her friend’s glare. “Sadly, you’re wrong again.”

“What?” Rainbow blinked.

“She’ll probably be on the same ship as we are, Dash,” Snowfield said, shaking her head in dismay. “The Luminous. It’s the same one where we had a training fight yesterday. If nothing has changed, her company is still assigned to it.”

“Oh, I hadn’t thought about it.”

“You never do, Dash,” Snowfield sighed heavily. “You never do.”
***

A few hours after the strategos’ speech, the last preparations before the launch were finally over. As the war horn blew, dozens of airships slowly rose into the air from their hangars. More than half of those were the old balloon types, but the rest were modern airships, kept afloat by a heavily protected magical crystal core. Raising their sails, the airships gracefully maneuvered into smaller formations, escorted by pegasi militia.

It was an awesome display of power.

Rainbow Dash’s squad was among those who were escorting the Luminous, the flagship of its own squadron. Only two other, smaller airships of the previous generation were a part of it besides the flagship itself. Rainbow couldn’t help but feel disappointed for being assigned to the weakest formation.

Picking up speed, the Luminous moved north from Stalliongrad, keeping the Foal Mountains to the left and getting further and further away from the rest of the fleet. While their pace could have seemed fast to a ground dweller, Rainbow Dash had no trouble keeping up, lazily flapping her wings.

The mare threw a glance at the airship, observing the ponies bustling around the decks. While they had no wings of their own, they had still found a way to soar the skies. They would never truly experience the joy of flying as Rainbow Dash could, of course, but their attempt was admirable.

“Keep your eyes peeled for the enemy, Dash,” Sergeant Yolk yelled at her from behind.

The mare cringed, grudgingly returning her attention back to the surroundings. She hadn’t expected their advance to be so boring. Not only did she have to slow her speed to a crawl to escort the airship, the sergeant also wanted her to be at full attention as if he was expecting the griffons to sneak up on them right in the air in broad daylight.

Rainbow would like to see them try.

Only a third of the pegasus’ militia in the Luminous’ squadron were in the air at a time. The rest of them rested on the airships, ready to spring into action in case of an attack. Together with the airships’ mounted crossbows, they had the strength to win any battle in the skies and two full companies of ground troops could handle anything on the ground.

But an hour had passed and not a single griffon had been seen. Perhaps they were hiding in some of the seemingly abandoned pony villages the squadron had passed on the way. Those seemed like somepony had just been there, with the fields harvested and the roads appearing well in use. Rainbow was ready to go investigate, but unfortunately no order for that had been given.

At the speed the squadron had been moving, the mining town they were going to liberate finally appeared in their view two hours later. It could have been even faster if they hadn’t made a detour around the massive forest on their way.

Contrary to Rainbow Dash’s expectations, they didn’t go to the town directly, but landed on the fields a few miles from it. Hovering over the ship, Rainbow stared in the town’s direction, hoping to finally see the enemy.

“Everypony, land for now to have some rest,” Sergeant Yolk ordered when another squad advanced from the Luminous to take their place. “I don’t know how long we’ll have, so don’t get too comfortable.”

Rainbow had preferred to hover instead. The ground was rough and hard, so she tried to spend as little time on it as possible. At least it was better than the narrow corridors of the airship. Compared to the openness of the sky, they felt like a coffin.

“It’s so dumb,” she complained to her comrades. “Can’t we, like, lie on a cloud or something?”

Sergeant Yolk sighed. “Don’t be stupid, Dash. Have you ever tried to land on a wild cloud?”

“Oh, right…” Rainbow’s ears went limp. “I forgot.”

Trying to ignore her smirking squadmates, Rainbow turned to the Luminous. For some reason, the ground troops were exiting the airships, simply hanging near it without any proper formation. Some of them were stretching.

“Are you looking for that mare?” Snowfield asked, hovering in the air besides her.

“That mare? Oh, yes!” Rainbow scanned the crowd, trying to find the orange pony among the hundreds. With the armor covering most of their bodies, it wasn’t easy to find her target, but luck was smiling on her today. “There she is!”

The mare’s blond braid was sprawling from her helmet, which was why Rainbow Dash recognized her. A familiar unicorn that she had knocked down during the exercise before her shameful defeat was standing right next to the earth pony. The two were chatting.

Grinning widely, Rainbow flapped her wings, launching herself towards the ponies in one leap. She landed in front them with a thud, causing both to jump in surprise. A moment later Snowfield landed beside Rainbow, shooting nervous glances at the ground soldiers, who were staring back at them in surprise.

“What do you want?” a plump purple unicorn, the orange mare’s pal, asked, narrowing her eyes.

Ignoring her, Rainbow Dash addressed the earth pony, “You beat me in the exercise yesterday,” she said, staring right into her eyes as they slightly widened in recognition.

“Ah, yes,” the orange pony nodded. “Ya put up quite a fight there, I admit. Left some nasty bruises on my stomach.”

Rainbow raised her eyebrows.

“I did? I mean, yes, of course I did,” she smiled briefly. “But I want to challenge you to a duel to prove which one of us is better once and for all.”

“Didn’t Applejack prove it clearly enough yesterday?” the unicorn smirked, earning a punch from her friend. Rainbow’s face turned red.

“Excuse my friend over here,” Applejack said, “But what do ya mean by a duel?”

Throwing a murderous stare at the unicorn, Rainbow Dash returned her attention back to Applejack. “We fight each other until one of us admits defeat,” she explained curtly.

“Oh, just like the tournament we had back in camp!” Applejack smiled. “Sure, I’d like to do that sometime.”

Rainbow’s mouth hung open at the mare’s blatant comparison of the sacred pegasus duel to some camp tournament, but she quickly pulled herself together. It was just one more reason to beat her in the duel.

“Let’s meet on the Luminous’ decks once we’ve seized the town to talk about details,” Rainbow offered. Her opponent nodded. “My name is Rainbow Dash, by the way.”

“Applejack.”

“Flare,” the unicorn said cheerfully, ignoring Rainbow Dash’s burning gaze. Once she had beaten Applejack, that insolent brat would be next.

Suddenly, a unicorn with a sergeant’s stripes appeared from behind the soldiers.

“Hey, what’s the problem here?” he said, looking from Applejack to Rainbow Dash in turn.

“Nothing, sir,” both answered in unison.

“I was just leaving,” Rainbow added, saluting.

Having said that, she nodded to Applejack and went back to her squad, only now noticing the hard stares of the other ground troops, concentrated on her. Rainbow herself would have reacted the same way if some earth pony had showed up to challenge one of her squadmates.

As she and Snowfield landed among their squad, Sergeant Yolk shot them a suspicious glance, but since they hadn’t caused any trouble, he left them be. The sergeant was good that way.

“Weren’t you planning on having a duel in secret, you featherbrain?” Snowfield chided her as they walked out of the others’ earshot. “Major Windmane will definitely hear about it now.”

Rainbow furrowed her brows. “I’ll just have to risk it, I guess.”

“You’ll be getting yourself killed someday if you don’t start thinking ahead,” Snowfield said flatly.

Rainbow just waved her hoof dismissively.
***

The problem with fighting griffons was their mobility in a battle. While the movement of large armies was still limited by the supplies that each griffon could carry in a flight, they could easily jump around the battlefield, attacking their ground-based opponent from multiple directions.

That was where the airships would come in. Heavily protected by its soldiers, they were like mobile fortresses. The griffons would have no choice but to either flee or try taking them down. Rainbow silently prayed for them to choose the second one.

Finally, the order to advance came.

The ground troops boarded the airships once again and together with their pegasi escort moved towards the town. Rainbow’s eyes were peeled straight ahead, searching for the enemy, but she hadn’t been able to detect any movements so far.

“Damn, my hooves are shaking a bit,” Snowfield addmitted, staring at her foreleg. “This is our first real battle.”

“Don’t worry, Snow, we’ll kick their flank,” Rainbow said lightheartedly, trying to hide her nervousness under a grin.

She glanced at the other ponies in the squad, trying to read their emotions. None of them had been in a real battle either, despite having been in the militia for a long time. She could see uneasiness in their eyes.

“You know what to do, guys,” Sergeant Yolk said. “Keep the griffons from damaging the airship and watch out for the crossbows, because friendly fire isn’t really your friend.”

“Yes, sir,” everypony answered as one.

The airships slowed down as they reached the edge of the town. There was still no sign of the griffons. While the town’s buildings were in a good condition, the streets were abandoned and all the houses had their shutters closed tight.

“They’re hiding somewhere,” the sergeant said. “Be ready.”

Rainbow tensed up, but no attack came.

For the next twenty minutes the whole squadron just waited as some pegasi were scouting the city from above. They reported no signs of the enemy upon their return. If the griffons were still in town, they were hiding in some of the houses.

The command had reached the same conclusion.

The airships descended, unloading about half of their troops on the streets below. Slowly, they began checking house after house. Just like Rainbow Dash had expected, the civilians were hiding inside, though a lot of houses turned out empty.

As the troops spread out throughout the town, herding the civilians to the town’s center, the airships along with the pegasi hovered overhead, ready to lend their support in case of any trouble. Rainbow’s sharp eyes eagerly pierced the area below, hoping for some action.

And she was finally rewarded.

“There they are,” the sergeant said, pointing at the commotion on one of the streets.

A swarm of griffons was pouring from nearby houses. Rainbow watched helplessly as since they were vastly outnumbered, the ground troops were quickly overwhelmed. Without wasting any time, dozens of griffons rushed towards the airships next.

The Luminous was the closest one.

Rainbow rose up to meet them, but the sergeant barked at her to stop just in time when a volley of bolts shot from the airship. The griffons scattered, but a lot of them had been struck anyway, crushing into the side of an airship or falling to the ground.

“Here they come!” the sergeant yelled.

With a feral grin, Rainbow sunk her hoofblade into the attacking griffon’s chest, splattering her own armor with blood. The creature’s wings flapped desperately while his claws slashed at her, but Rainbow’s second hoofblade pierced his neck, finishing his struggle for good.

Before the griffon fell, their eyes met for the last time. Rainbow’s grin was gone in an instant as they stopped moving. Her eyes followed the dead body of her enemy falling to the ground.

“Dash!”

Rainbow ducked, avoiding another griffon’s slash. This was no time to be distracted! A slight movement of her wings and she was already behind the enemy’s back, but for some reason the mare hesitated to land a finishing blow, so the griffon managed to avoid it.

Before Rainbow could do anything, two other pegasi tackled the griffon from behind, making quick work of him. Rainbow watched as his bloodied body joined the rest of his fallen comrades below.

“Good job, everypony,” the sergeant said.

The mare looked around in surprise — there really were no more griffons left to fight.

“That was weak,” Snowfield said, startling Rainbow. “What were they hoping to accomplish?”

Rainbow shrugged. The griffons were outnumbered and outgunned in this fight. With the airship’s crossbows and the other squad’s help, they couldn’t hope to win.

“Are you alright, Rainbow?” Snowfield asked, frowning in concern. “I thought you’d be more excited after a fight. You’re not wounded, are you?”

“Nah,” Rainbow shook her head. “It’s just… I killed a griffon. It didn’t feel as good as I thought.”

Scrunching her muzzle, Rainbow rubbed a blood spot off her chest armor.

“It’s only natural to feel that way,” Snowfield said. “It’s not in a pony’s nature to kill. Even though they are the enemy, they’re still living creatures just like you.”

Rainbow Dash nodded, thinking.

Everything she’d been training for was finally happening. She had taken down her first enemy, which was supposed to fill her heart with pride. And it did, but the feeling was somewhat ruined by the memory of the griffon’s eyes right before he died.

But nopony had asked that griffon to attack her. Nopony had asked them to take the pony’s land and enslave its inhabitants. The mare furrowed her brows, feeling her anger growing. It had been his own damn fault that he had died!

Feeling more at ease, Rainbow checked the rest of her squadmates. They too didn’t seem particularly happy at their first victory. In fact, they seemed sad for some reason. Finding Snowfield, who was chatting with somepony, Rainbow met her gaze, raising her eyebrows in question.

The mare flapped her wings, bringing herself to Rainbow’s side.

“Cloud Walker is dead,” she blurted out.

Rainbow widened her eyes. “What?! How?”

Though she hadn’t been close to Cloud Walker, he had been a good member of their squad. They had sparred sometimes, so she knew he had been a good fighter. She had never imagined that he would die in his very first battle.

“I haven’t seen it myself, but I was told a wounded griffon grabbed him and didn’t let go until he had been crushed.”

Rainbow’s gaze shot to the ground below the ship, quickly locating the two bodies among the rest. The mare growled in helpless rage — it was too late to do anything.

“I’ll make those bastards pay…”

“Casualties in war are unavoidable, Dash,” Snowfield said. “We’ve already killed far more of them here, so we don’t need to risk our lives on needless revenge.”

The pegasus turned to her friend in disbelief.

“Don’t you care about Cloud Walker?”

Snowfield narrowed her eyes. “Of course I do, Dash. But we can’t bring him back. All I’m asking is that you don’t do anything reckless. Besides, the one who killed him is already dead.”

“Sorry,” Rainbow sighed. “I guess you’re right here…”

Both fell quiet for a while.

No more griffons were found, so an hour later the town was finally declared to be liberated from the griffons’ presence. It was clear that except for those who had attacked the airships, the main garrison of the town had chosen to abandon it.

Rainbow Dash felt both disappointment and relief about the fact. She still wanted them to pay for killing one of her comrades, but at the same time she realized the truth in Snowfield’s words about the casualties. She didn’t want another squadmate to join the list, least of all Snowfield herself.

Rainbow looked at the mare, shuddering at the thought of her dying. Tartarus itself would break open before she would allow any griffon to harm her friend!
***

It was evening when Rainbow Dash was finally able to get to the Luminous’ decks. The ship had been hovering above the town’s center with half of the troops still on board, so as soon as her patrol was over, Rainbow flew there, hoping that Applejack would be waiting for her there after all that time. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case.

“You didn’t really think she’d be here all day?” Snowfield said, landing behind her. “Besides, she may be among those who went to the ground.”

“I’ll ask somepony,” Rainbow said.

She darted to the first crewpony in her view, startling the poor mare into grabbing her sword. She shot some questions at her.

“Yeah, I saw somepony like her leaving the ship,” the crewpony said, glaring at her angrily as she sheathed her sword. “She’s probably still on the ground, so go look for her there.”

Rainbow took off without another word, diving straight down. She opened her wings at the last moment, rapidly slowing her descent and softly landing on her hooves between the tents in the central square they had occupied and converted into their base. A couple of seconds later, Snowfield joined her, almost stumbling as she roughly touched the ground.

“The sergeant will be mad at us, Rainbow,” Snowfield said, panting slightly. “We were supposed to stay at the base.”

“It’ll be fine,” Rainbow waved her hoof, looking around.

Her eyes widened slightly as Sergeant Yolk approached the two.

“Where in Tartarus have you two been?” he asked sternly, a frown on his face.

“Visiting the ship, sir,” Rainbow shrugged as it was no big deal, lowering her ears slightly. “You didn’t say we couldn’t.”

The sergeant considered her words for a moment and nodded.

“You’re right,” he admitted, wincing as if he had bitten a lemon. “Well, now I will say it explicitly. Don’t leave the camp unless you’re on patrol. For all we know, the griffons may be preparing a counterattack as we speak. Is that clear?”

“Yes, sir.” Rainbow and Snowfield saluted in unison.

Nodding curtly, the sergeant led them to the rest of the squad, who were just finishing putting up a big tent. It had enough space inside for the whole squad. The three ponies, including the sergeant, lent their help, quickly finishing the job.

When they were done, everypony silently joined together in a small circle. Nopony had said anything, but Rainbow knew without words what it was about.

“We’ve lost our friend Cloud Walker today,” the sergeant said, slowly eyeing each of the soldiers in turn. “He was a good soldier and died a heroic death, fighting the enemy under my command. His death was not in vain, as thanks to his sacrifice and that of other fallen soldiers, we have taken this town from the griffon’s claws. Cloud Walker will not be forgotten.”

The sergeant fell silent, bowing his head respectfully. In turn, the other squad members said their own words about their fallen comrade. Rainbow would have liked something to drink, but it was out of the question, considering their situation.

After the improvised memorial was over, the ponies slowly spread out around the camp to mingle with the rest of the soldiers. Rainbow and Snowfield followed their example, though Rainbow had a certain goal in mind as she trotted towards the ground troops’ tents at the side of the square.

“Hey, you,” Rainbow pointed at the unicorn that was trotting past her. The pony stopped, looking at the mare questioningly. “Do you know Applejack? An earth pony?”

“Nope,” the unicorn shrugged and was on his way.

She asked a dozen more ponies, but no one gave her the answer she wanted. Stomping her hoof in frustration, Rainbow turned around and flew towards the town hall, which towered over the square.

The building had just two stories, but for this small town even that was considered pretty high. It’s thick brick walls offered some good protection against any potential assault and looked sturdy enough to fend off even unicorn spells, so their detachment’s command had set up their headquarters inside.

“Where are you going, Dash?” Snowfield asked, throwing a cautious look at the mean-looking unicorns guarding the door.

Rather than answering, the pegasus flapped her wings, getting onto the roof of the building in one swift movement. Turning around, she searched the square below her for a certain orange mare. Snowfield patiently waited at her side.

“Damn it, I can’t see her,” Rainbow Dash shook her head in dismay.

“She could be in one of the tents,” Snowfield shrugged. “Or patrolling the streets. Or that sailor mare was wrong and she’s still on the airship. You should just keep asking.”

Grunting, Rainbow sat at the edge of the roof, observing the town. She could see all of it from this position — it was tiny, especially compared to Stalliongrad itself. While the streets had been empty when the army had first entered the town, now the locals were out and about.

When Rainbow Dash had imagined liberating the ponies from the griffon’s rule, she had expected to see them on the edge of starvation, brutalized by their masters. However, reality was much different.

A noise from below caught Rainbow’s attention. A big group of town ponies were moving on the adjacent street towards the square, shouting something loudly. A line of soldiers formed at the camp’s entrance, blocking any further advance.

Rainbow swiveled her ears, distinguishing some of their words.

“Those ungrateful bastards,” Rainbow growled, appalled. “We saved them from the griffons. Why would they want us to leave?”

“Why don’t you ask them yourself,” Snowfield said flatly.

“I think I just will,” the pegasus said, spreading her wings.

Her friend widened her eyes, leaping to bite Rainbow’s colorful tail just as she took off.

“Don’t be a fool,” Snowfield grumbled through her teeth, pulling the pegasus back onto the roof. Rainbow glared at her, annoyed. “The soldiers have the situation under control. You’ll achieve nothing by going there.”

Rainbow hovered for a few more seconds until she finally landed back on the roof.

“Cloud Walker died for them,” she said, pointing at the ungrateful ponies below.

“I know, Dash,” Snowfield sighed. “But ponies never like changes. Perhaps they’d gotten used to the griffon’s rule for the last five years, so it’s to be expected that some of them would be unhappy.”

Huffing, Rainbow fell silent.
***

“You’ve got to admit that it’s weird,” Snowfield said as she moved steadily through the night sky.

Two other pegasi were flying alongside her — Rainbow Dash and Peachy Wings — as they patrolled the area around the town. Thankfully, with both the moon and the stars shining above, the visibility wasn’t an issue, despite the late hour.

“What’s weird?” Rainbow asked.

“Why would the griffons give up the town so easily?” Snowfield asked. “I mean, we were told they had a decently sized garrison in here. They could have caused us some serious trouble if they had dug in and fought us.”

Rainbow shrugged. She had thought about the situation before and hadn’t come up with a good answer.

“Well, maybe they didn’t have that many forces here,” Peachy Wing said.

“Yeah, maybe,” Snowfield nodded. “Well, I’m not about to complain.”

Nopony made any further comments, so the patrol continued in silence. As the group went along its route, Rainbow didn’t let herself relax. While to the east of the town were large open fields, to the west lay Foal Mountains with its mines and natural caves, which were perfect for hiding.

Soon, Rainbow noticed another patrol flying to meet them. Perhaps they were finally being reli—

Her eyes widened.
She sharply leaned to the side, letting a thrown spear pass mere inches from her body. Only her lightning quick reaction saved her from being impaled by it. Rolling in the air, Rainbow caught a glimpse of her attacker.

It was a damn griffon!

Snarling, Rainbow dashed at him. Easily avoiding another thrust of his spear, she punched the griffon in his chest with her hoofblades. He trashed, managing to scratch her with his back claws, but his strength rapidly diminished as his wings stopped flapping. Sliding off the hoofblades, the griffon dropped to the ground.

Hearing a scream from behind her, Rainbow Dash turned just in time to see Peachy Wings falling, a spear sticking out from his body. A triumphant griffon let out a happy screech and darted to another pegasus, who was fighting his comrade nearby.

A wave of fear washed over Rainbow. Snowfield!

In a few beats of her wings, Rainbow flashed over to the griffon. He had probably heard something in his last moments, but Rainbow’s charge was too fast for him to react as she cut one of his wings straight off, sending him spiraling to his death.

“Hold on, Snowfield!” Rainbow Dash yelled, throwing herself onto the last griffon.

But it was too late.

As she threw the dead body of her enemy aside, her eyes desperately searched the skies around her for her friend. She had found her within moments, her body plummeting to the ground helplessly. An expression of horror froze on Rainbow’s face.

“Snowfield!”

Rainbow raced to her friend, flying faster than she ever had before. The wind cut into her tearing eyes, but she didn’t care, pushing herself even faster. Every beat of her overworked wings hurt, but it didn’t matter. There were only a couple of seconds left before Snowfield would have hit the ground when Rainbow Dash finally grabbed her in her hooves.

She attempted to straighten her flight in the last moment, but even she couldn’t completely recover in time, so Rainbow just tried to minimize the damage as she rolled on the ground, keeping her wounded friend close to herself.

As they both came to a full stop, Rainbow gently released her and stood up on her shaking legs, grimacing in pain as she tucked her wings. Her heart beat faster with fear as her eyes fell on her friend. In the dim light of the night sky, she could clearly see the gaping holes in her light barding. They were stained with blood.

The mare stirred, opening her eyes. She blinked a few times as her vision focused on Rainbow Dash’s fearful face.

“I don’t feel so…” she started saying, when her body suddenly twitched. She continued to lie unmoving.

Rainbow’s eyes widened with shock. “S-snowfield?” she asked, lowering her head to check her friend’s breathing.

She couldn’t hear anything.

I hoped you liked the Rainbow Dash's introduction.
PS.
The next chapter will be two weeks later instead of one. It would be like that for the future. As much as I would like to release a chapter per week, I can't write that fast. I was releasing the chapters I had written ahead, but I've run out.
Sorry about that.