Applejack stared at the burning husk of the Luminous with dread.

Mere moments ago, her friend had been standing on its decks, but now the whole airship was gone. The explosion had ripped its hull from the inside, destroying what had survived after slamming into the ground. Applejack squeezed her eyes shut, feeling sick in the stomach as she saw somepony’s burning foreleg on the grass.

Hopefully, it wasn’t Fl—

Applejack’s heart leaped into her throat as the pegasus holding her lurched downward. She cried out, tightly gripping the pegasus’ forelegs in panic.

“Sorry, my wing… is hurt,” a strained, but strangely familiar mare’s voice explained. “I’m gonna land now, hold on.”

The pegasus rapidly descended. Applejack suppressed the urge to scream as the pegasus flapped her wings, each flap followed by a pained groan. The ground drew closer with alarming speed. Applejack braced herself for the impact, but at the last moment the pegasus went into a glide, drawing out the inevitable for a few more terrifying seconds until they finally crashed into the ground, tumbling over each other as they came to a stop.

Applejack groaned, her body aching all over.

“Are you ok?” the cyan pegasus asked, getting up on her hooves nearby. Applejack grunted affirmatively. “Good. Damn, my wing is really messed up now...” she hissed in pain, tucking her injured wing to her body. “I wasn’t supposed to lift any weights until it fully healed.”

The mare reached out to help Applejack, but she pushed her aside and stood up on her own, finally getting a good look at her savior. She recognized her immediately — Rainbow Dash, the pegasus who had been mad at her for beating her during their mock battle.

The other pegasi were landing too, carrying whom they had managed to rescue off the decks before the crash. Applejack looked around — there were about twelve ponies in total, including the four remaining pegasi. Not a lot was left from the five dozen that had set out from Stonehill. Applejack’s eyes burned with unshed tears at the thought of Flare being among those who had died, but she shoved her feeling of loss aside for later — the danger wasn’t over.

“They’re coming back!” somepony yelled, pointing behind her.

Applejack drew her sword and turned around, gritting her teeth. Rainbow Dash hurried to stand by her side with her hoofblades at the ready, scowling at the band of griffons closing in on them from the sky. They were still too far to be more than specks in the sky, but the number of those specks sucked the hope of winning right out of Applejack. Not that she had a lot of hope at this point.

But she refused to die cowering in fear. Furrowing her brows, Applejack swore in her mind to take out as many of those griffons as she could before her last breath.

Unfortunately, not everypony had her resolve.

“Everypony for themselves!” a voice screamed.

The will of the ponies finally broke. They simply scattered in a vain attempt to save themselves, screaming and weeping in panic. Applejack yelled for them to stop, calling for them to join her in her last stand, but they ignored her, galloping for the line of trees a couple of hundred feet away, desperately trying to reach it before the griffons arrived.

“Darn cowards…”

To give the pegasi their due, none of them had abandoned their position yet.

“Retreat to the forest!” one of the pegasi snapped.

“Rotten apples,” Applejack grumbled as the four of them blasted off.

Rainbow Dash had only managed to fly a short distance before crashing into the ground with a cry of pain. Applejack glanced at the approaching enemies — as strong as she was, even she wouldn’t last a second against so many on her own. It was pointless to stay, Applejack realized. Muttering more curses, the mare galloped after the fallen pegasus.

Suddenly, her leg was caught on something and Applejack stumbled, her face planting into the ground. Spitting grass and dirt, she climbed back onto her hooves, cursing whatever root had gotten in her way. She froze. Her eyes widened in a mix of happiness and disbelief as she stared at the reason for her fall — a dark purple unicorn mare.

“Flare!?” she blurted out.

Sergeant Sharp was lying by her side. Both were unconscious — Applejack’s mind refused to accept another possibility — and, from a quick look-over, had no obvious injuries except for Flare’s blackened horn. The latter looked rather disturbing, but Applejack had no idea how serious that really was.

“What are you— Oh,” Rainbow Dash stopped short, noticing the two ponies. “Weren’t they on the ship?”

“Yeah,” Applejack nodded. “Help me out here, will ya?”

Lowering her head, she put her forelegs under Flare and lifted her, allowing the mare to roll onto her back. She shifted from one leg to another, putting her friend in a more comfortable position. Rainbow Dash did the same with the sergeant. Applejack flickered her eyes upward — the griffons were almost upon them!

“Run!”

The two of them galloped as fast as they could without losing their passengers. Applejack panted, feeling her strength waning, but the adrenaline and fear for Flare’s life made her push herself beyond her limits. To her surprise, Rainbow Dash was able to keep up. They were almost at the tree line now. The griffon’s battle cry sounded overhead and Applejack lowered her ears. Something in that sound awoke a deeply buried fear of predators inside of her, giving her the strength for a final burst.

Applejack entered the forest like a hurricane, barely avoiding the trees on her way as she charged forward. She had tripped a few times but always managed to regain her footing. After a few minutes of a mad dash, the earth pony had finally allowed herself to slow to a canter. Applejack looked back and, to her relief, no griffon was in sight. She swiveled her ears, hearing the griffon’s shrieks in the distance.

As she now had time to check her surroundings, Applejack noticed the difference between this forest and the one near her village. The trees here were about twice as tall compared to the ones she was used to seeing. Hopefully, the local predators weren’t twice as large as well, Applejack thought nervously.

“You think we’ve lost them?” Rainbow asked, stopping and trying to catch her breath. Her knees buckled and she fell, practically crushed under the sergeant’s weight. “This guy is so heavy…”

“Sure hope so,” Applejack answered, squinting her eyes as she looked between the trees for any movement. “’Bout losing them, I mean. But I can still hear them. We need to keep moving.”

Rainbow groaned loudly.

“Oh, come on!” the mare tried to get up, grunting with effort, but failed. “Buck it, I can’t!”

Applejack sighed. “Fine, let’s take a short break.”

She could use one herself, Applejack admitted to herself in the privacy of her mind. Carefully lowering Flare onto the blanket of leaves covering the forest ground, Applejack dropped near her. She winced as some annoying twigs dug into her belly and wiggled, finding a better position.

Then her eyes fell on Flare.

To Applejack’s great relief, her friend’s chest moved up and down in breathing. Flare was alive against all odds. But how was it possible? Applejack recalled a strange flash of light right before the crash and Flare’s damaged horn. Could it have been her using some last-ditch spell to save herself? She had probably saved the sergeant too.

Applejack wanted to remove Flare’s battered armor to check for more injuries, but this wasn’t the time for it yet. Not when the griffons could still find them, though Applejack reckoned she would outrun them in this forest — the griffons might have been fast in the sky, but she doubted they would do that well charging through the dense thickets with their mismatched front and back limbs. Ponies had a natural advantage when it came to running.

“Break’s over,” Applejack said five minutes later. There was still no sign of the enemy, but there was no point in tempting fate.

“Fine,” Rainbow sighed. “But I’ll carry the mare now.”

Applejack frowned, but then nodded reluctantly. She didn’t want to part with Flare, but Rainbow wasn’t strong enough to carry the sergeant for long.

The two ponies continued deeper into the forest. Applejack grunted under the strain — the sergeant was much heavier than her friend — but kept pushing forward, hoof by hoof. Her opinion of Rainbow Dash’s strength grew. The pegasus was stronger than she looked, being able to gallop with such a weight for as long as she did.

“We need to find my squad,” Rainbow Dash said eventually.

“They could be far away from here by now.”

Rainbow Dash’s ears drooped, but she shook her head.

“Nah, they wouldn’t have left one of their own,” she said, trying to sound nonchalant. “We pegasi don’t do that. They’re around here… somewhere.”

“They may have just assumed you were dead and moved on,” Applejack responded flatly. Rainbow responded with a glare but said nothing. She had probably realized the truth in those words.

They walked in silence after that. Applejack didn’t mind it as she was busy monitoring their dusky surroundings, swiveling her ears at every sound and looking through the trees. She was hoping to find any of their fellow survivors but was ready for any griffon that came out of the woods. So far, she had found neither.

“Goddess fucking tits!” a voice exclaimed over her ear.

Applejack cried out in alarm, tripping over a root. The sergeant flew over her head, landing in front of her like a sack of potatoes. Except that potatoes never cursed. Rainbow Dash turned sharply, pointing her hoofblade at the “sack”, but lowered it when she saw who it was.

“What in Tartarus is— where are we?” Sergeant Sharp jumped on his hooves, his eyes shooting around wildly. “Why are we in a forest? Is this some kind of dumb afterlife?”

"'Course not, sir,” Applejack said, gently laying her hoof on his back. “Are you alright?”

The sergeant shrugged. “If we’re not dead then… how did we get here? I thought we were about to crash.”

Applejack explained everything that had happened and how they had escaped the griffons. She also shared her guess about Flare somehow saving them both. The sergeant glanced at Flare on Rainbow’s back with surprise, his eyes drawn to her blackened horn. They widened slightly before he looked back at Applejack.

“I see,” he said and his face hardened. “Well, that kind of injury is not good. She needs medical attention and rest, otherwise she’ll die.”

“What should we do then?” Applejack asked, a feeling of despair gripping her heart.

The sergeant frowned and sat on the ground, rubbing his forehead.

“Let me think for a bit. This damn headache…”
Applejack shifted from one hoof to another as she considered the situation herself. She saw no good outcome. Stalliongrad was their best option, but even that wasn’t good enough. They had covered the distance from Stalliongrad to the forest in a span of a few hours on the airship, but it would take days to cover the same distance on hoof, especially if they had to move carefully. Flare didn’t have days. Stonehill was closer, but Applejack didn’t like their chances of getting through the griffon’s blockade.

She shared her thoughts with the others and the sergeant nodded in agreement.

“We’re going to Stalliongrad,” he said decisively. “This is the only way for us and Flare to survive. We’ll keep to the edge of the forest, using it as a cover for as long as possible before we move into the open. But we should be near Stalliongrad by then. The griffons would be occupied with our army, so I doubt we’d encounter them wandering that close to the city.”

“Yes, sir.”

Applejack sighed, giving Flare a worried look. She hoped the mare was strong enough to survive the trip. It would be a cruel twist of fate for Applejack to find her after thinking her dead, just to lose her again mere days later.

“We need to find my squad,” Rainbow Dash threw in. “They’ll carry us out of here in a jiffy.”

“It’s a bad idea,” Sergeant Sharp said, shaking his head. “We’re just as likely to get lost here ourselves.” The sergeant looked around with a frown and added, “If we aren’t already.”

Rainbow shuffled her wings. “Damn wing…” she muttered, wincing slightly, before addressing the sergeant. “I can’t just abandon them.”

“They kinda abandoned you,” Applejack pointed out, causing the pegasus to droop her ears.

“My squad didn’t know my wing was hurt,” the pegasus argued.

“They could have returned for you when you fell,” Applejack noted.

Rainbow Dash’s face twisted in anger. “They probably didn’t see what had happened,” she said and stomped her hoof. “Your mud crawler pals are the ones who really abandoned us!”

Applejack flickered her tail in anger. She didn’t like what the pegasus had called them, but she agreed with the sentiment nonetheless. “Calm yer tail down, Rainbow,” she said. “I’m not trying to blame nopony. What I’m sayin’ is that we can only count on ourselves here. If we find somepony on our way — good, but we don’t have the time to go around looking.”

“We need to lay low for now,” the sergeant said. “The griffons may still be around.”

It took a little more convincing, but eventually Rainbow accepted the plan. Afterward, the ponies settled for some rest. Applejack was getting more on edge with every minute of delay, but she had agreed with the necessity of it, being exhausted herself after a day full of fighting and running for her life.

“Let’s get her out of this armor,” Applejack said, approaching Flare. “We don’t know what other injuries she might have.”

Rainbow grunted in agreement. With the sergeant’s help, they quickly stripped the battered armor off the mare, carefully putting it aside. Applejack’s eyes ran over her slightly chubby body — she should really do some more exercise once she recovered — searching for injuries.

The left side of her body had a nasty bruise, accompanied by a bunch of smaller ones visible even through her dark purple coat, but the armor had done its job well, having protected her from any punctures. A sigh of relief left Applejack’s lips. She didn’t have to worry about that, at least.

“I think there’s something wrong with her legs,” Rainbow said, causing Applejack to tense up again.

The mare stared at her friend’s legs, trying to see the problem for herself, and gasped. Both Flare’s left foreleg and hindleg were swollen and darker than the rest of her body. Applejack was surprised she hadn’t noticed it right away. Perhaps she was more tired than she had realized.

“They’re broken,” the sergeant commented.

“I can see that,” Rainbow rolled her eyes. “We need to make a splint.”

Luckily, finding the necessary materials wasn’t a problem. Rainbow fetched some firm branches and the sergeant constructed two crude splints out of them, using a little bit of rope he had in his saddlebag. They carefully applied the splints to the mare’s legs, trying not to cause her too much discomfort, even though she was deeply unconscious.

“There’s nothing more we can do,” the sergeant said after they were done.

After that, the ponies simply rested. Applejack settled on a nice spot between the roots of a tree near Flare, watching over her as she reflected on the situation they had gotten themselves in. With nothing to distract her, some dark thoughts grew in Applejack’s head. What if Flare didn’t survive? What if they all perished in this Sun-forsaken forest? What if—

Applejack snorted in annoyance, shaking her head. She shouldn’t work herself up like that. It would only make her feel worse, without anypony being better for it. Getting up, she approached Rainbow Dash, who was sitting nearby staring into the trees. The pegasus was likely having similar thoughts, if her tense posture was any indication.

“I haven’t thanked ya for savin’ my life,” Applejack said as she sat down by her side. “I’m grateful.”

“You’d better be,” Rainbow grumbled, twitching her ear. “I didn’t injure my wing for nothing.”

Applejack lowered her ears.

“It’s not like I’m blaming you,” Rainbow reassured her, having noticed her reaction. “To be honest, my wing was in bad shape already. But I couldn’t just let you ground-pounders die, you know. You’re all ponies too, even if you can’t fly on your own.”

“Thanks, I guess,” Applejack said, not sure how to take the pegasus’ words. “Anyway, what happened to your wing?”

Rainbow Dash’s shoulders slumped. “The griffons,” she said curtly.

Applejack realized right away that she had touched a nerve. There was obviously more to the story, but Applejack quelled her curiosity. It wasn’t worth upsetting the mare. Rainbow would share the story on her own eventually and if she didn’t, Applejack wouldn’t push her.

“Have you two known each other for long?” Rainbow asked.

Applejack briefly wondered who she had meant, but then her eyes fell on her still unconscious friend. Her chest tightened at seeing her injured.

“Not really. I just met Flare a month ago and she seemed so bucking annoyin’,” Applejack said with a hint of a smile at the memory. “She was pesterin’ me for days to no end. The only thing I wanted was for her to shut up… Now I can’t bear the thought of never hearin’ her voice again. She’s like a part of my family at this point.”

Rainbow Dash’s ears drooped as she sighed deeply. “Yeah, I know exactly what you mean. It would suck to lose somepony like that.”

Applejack’s eyes widened slightly at the realization.

“Ya lost a pony close to you,” she voiced her guess. “Back in Stonehill.”

Rainbow Dash nodded silently, raising her eyes to the sky. They glistened in the dim light that managed to get through the dense canopy.

“I’m so sorry,” Applejack said, arching her eyebrows.

She didn’t have to imagine how Rainbow Dash felt — she had experienced the horrible feeling firsthoof when she had thought that Flare had died in the crash. But unlike Applejack, Rainbow’s friend had stayed dead, so she was stuck with that weighing on her forever. Applejack inched closer to Rainbow, their bodies almost touching, and looked at the sky with her.

“Those bucking griffons will pay for that,” Rainbow whispered. “I’ll make them pay for everypony they’ve killed.”

Applejack grunted in support, not wishing to upset the pegasus. But in truth, she realized the futility of revenge. After Stonehill, she no longer saw the griffons as the bloodthirsty monsters of tales but rather as living creatures just like ponies. The war was claiming lives from both sides and it was foolish to crave for more. All it would bring was more friends lost and more lives ruined.

But Rainbow wasn’t ready to hear that right now. If Applejack was being honest with herself, she wouldn’t have been either if the wound of losing her friend was still fresh on her mind. Not knowing what else to say, Applejack simply patted the mare on her back. Her wings jerked as she brushed one of them.

“Careful there,” Rainbow warned, giving Applejack a sharp glance.

Applejack chuckled nervously. “Sorry.”

The group spent the next hour assessing what they had left at their disposal – and it wasn’t much. While all the ponies still had their weapons and armor, along with their field saddlebags, nopony was carrying much food except for Flare, who had some loaves of flatbread stored in hers, in addition to the standard daily ration. The water was soon going to be an issue too.

“Don’t worry, I’ve seen a couple of small rivers from the airship,” Sergeant Sharp said. “As for food — we can eat grass. I know, it won’t be pleasant, but it’s something.”

Soon after that, the sergeant ordered them to move out. Applejack was happy to oblige.

“Be on your guard,” Sergeant Sharp warned. “This forest has a bad reputation and we were warned to avoid it unless absolutely necessary.”

Applejack swiveled her ears around nervously.

“I think we can handle some wolves,” Rainbow Dash said, crushing a branch under her hoof. “Like that.”

“There are also rumors of strange ponies living in this place,” the sergeant added, giving Rainbow a withering stare, which she brushed off. “I suggest you take it seriously, pegasus. Wolves are the least of our concern.”

“If you say so, unicorn.”

Despite the sergeant’s dire warnings, they had encountered no danger on their way throughout the whole day. Either the forest was not as dangerous as the rumors had claimed or, more likely, it was because the group had kept itself near its edge. Applejack was content either way.

She’d had enough fighting today to last her for years.

Rainbow and Applejack were carrying Flare together between them on a makeshift stretcher made from a spare blanket, being careful not to disturb her broken legs. Every once in a while, she would check on her friend’s condition to make sure she wasn’t getting any worse, but even though the mare remained stable, Applejack’s worry only grew. With each passing hour, Flare was ever closer to death.

The sun was approaching the horizon, but in the forest, it had gotten dark long before that. Despite Applejack’s pleas, the sergeant thought it was too risky to light up his horn, so they had to walk in complete darkness, barely able to see their path. Their speed had slowed down to a crawl and eventually they had to stop completely, for fear of breaking their neck by stumbling on some root.

“It’ll get easier once the moon rises,” Sergeant Sharp said. “We’ll continue our advance then.”

“We can continue it now if you use your darn magic,” Applejack snapped. “Sir.”

She could only see him from his rear but knowing him, she guessed the stallion had a deep frown on his face. That fact didn’t intimidate her in the slightest.

“Show some respect for my decisions,” he said with an edge in his voice, turning to face her. Applejack’s guess had proved true. “My light would be visible to anyone for miles – griffon or otherwise. We can’t risk it.”

Applejack flicked her tail angrily, but she had to admit that the sergeant had a point there. As much as she wanted to get Flare some help faster, it would all be for naught if they were killed in the process. She looked up, trying to see the night sky through the canopy. Hopefully, the moonlight would really be enough.

Letting out a sigh of frustration, Applejack sat on the ground and took a sip from her flask. They had been able to find a stream on their way, so the water was plentiful. The food was too, if somepony had the gall of calling that food. Fiddling in her saddlebag, she grabbed a mouthful of dry grass she had stored on their way.

“I hate this stuff,” Rainbow Dash commented. “It’s disgusting.”

“At least I won’t be hungry,” Applejack pointed out. The wild grass was not that bad really, she thought as she chewed slowly. Tasteless and bland, sure, but edible.

“We’re not in a position to choose,” the sergeant agreed with her. “If you don’t eat it, you’ll eat nothing.”

“Eating nothing is better than this. Why are we eating this trash anyway? Berries and stuff grow in forests, right? Maybe even some mushrooms. I should go look.”

“In this darkness? Have you gone mad?”

Rainbow Dash snorted. “I can see just fine in the dark,” she said, standing up. “Don’t worry, I’ll get some for you too.”

“Splitting up is a bad idea,” Sergeant Sharp said. “You will stay here.”

“I don’t obey your orders, unicorn,” Rainbow Dash snapped, glaring at the sergeant with a challenge. “I’m not even in your army.”

“The Pegasus Militia is part of the Equestrian military,” the sergeant glared back. “So you fall under my command. As a sergeant, I outrank you.”

“Keep telling yourself that, mud crawler.”

“Watch yer tongue, will ya?” Applejack said, climbing back on her hooves. “No need to insult him.”

Sergeant Sharp scowled. “You’ll be court-martialed when we get back.”

“We’re all on edge here, Sergeant,” Applejack said calmly, walking to stand between the two ponies. “Why don’t we all calm down, alright?”

The sergeant’s scowl deepened. “I won’t tolerate insolence, Private Applejack,” he said firmly, furrowing his brows. “Especially not from some pegasus brat.”

“Who are you calling a brat, pricklehead?!”

Applejack felt the heat rising behind her cheeks. Why couldn’t the two just stop provoking each other?! “Shut up, Rainbow Dash!” she barked. “We’re not the enemies here!”

“Am I supposed to take his insults then?”

“It was you who started it,” Applejack noted, flaring her nostrils. “Why can’t ya just accept the sergeant’s command?”

Rainbow Dash cried out, “Oh, for feather’s sake! You don’t have a clue, do you? I’m so fed up with both of you!” Having said that, the angry pegasus stormed off past Applejack and Sergeant Sharp deeper into the forest. “See you in Stalliongrad.”

Applejack stared in frustration at her colorful tail vanishing behind the trees.

“Good riddance,” the sergeant said, scrunching his muzzle in disgust. “She won’t make it there on her own.”

Applejack growled and bucked a tree behind her, dropping a shower of leaves on her head. She couldn’t decide if she was angrier at Sergeant Sharp or Rainbow Dash for their dumb squabble. She looked the way the pegasus had gone, torn in indecision.

“Darn it, sarge, I can’t let her go there alone,” Applejack said. “She may be a fool, but she saved my life. We need to stop her.”

The sergeant shook his head, looking at Applejack with disapproval. “No. Let her go, Private.”

“Just watch over Flare, will ya? I’ll be back soon.”

Ignoring the sergeant’s baleful glare, Applejack trotted along Rainbow’s trail. She had put a lot of faith in the sergeant by trusting him with Flare, but she had saved his life on the airship. He would take care of her until Applejack’s return. The stallion had done a lot of rotten things in the past, but he still had a good heart – somewhere very deep.

Applejack focused on walking. Though she couldn’t see much, her ears were located forward, catching Rainbow’s loud hoofsteps up ahead. Applejack cursed under her breath at the pegasus’ foolishness as she raced to catch up with her.

Rainbow moved fast and it had taken a couple of minutes of reckless cantering in the near darkness, falling over a couple of times as she stumbled over some tree roots, for Applejack to catch up with the mare. Finally, her rainbow tail was in direct view. Leaping forward, Applejack caught it in her mouth. The pegasus shrieked, flaring her wings and bucking back.

“It’s me, you idiot,” Applejack said, letting her tail go as she barely avoided a hoof to her face. “Where do ya think yer goin’?”

“To Stalliongrad,” Rainbow said, turning around sharply. “Why are you here? Go kiss your sergeant’s flank.”

Applejack felt her anger boiling up inside. Having saved her life or not, nopony talked to Applejack that way. She took a deep breath, bottling up her emotions. She wouldn’t take the bait.

“We shouldn’t fight each other, Rainbow Dash,” she said, keeping her voice level. “We must stick together.”

Rainbow huffed, staring back into Applejack’s eyes. “You just don’t get it,” she shook her head in dismay. “No pegasus would serve under a mu— ground pony. It’s against our traditions.”

“Doesn’t your whole Militia take orders from Equestria?” Applejack asked in confusion.

“No!” Rainbow Dash stomped her hoof. “The Militia is an Equestrian ally, but we take no orders from you.”

Applejack shook her head. She had heard something different about the pegasi’s status, but there was no point in bringing it up now. It didn’t really matter in their current situation.

“Look, I understand,” she said. “Ya won’t take orders from the sarge, that’s fine. But ya don’t have to go all the way to Stalliongrad alone. It’s too dangerous.”

Rainbow snorted. “Please. How is that dangerous? We’ve been here the whole day and found nothing. Your sergeant is just a pussy, that’s all.”

“He’s anythin’ but a pussy,” Applejack frowned. It was harder and harder to keep her temper in check. “I think we should listen to him on this one. I don’t like this forest myself.”

“You just listen to whatever he says, don’t you?” Rainbow rolled her eyes. “What if he tells you to raise your tail? Would you just—”

Applejack’s hoof shot up like lightning, hitting Rainbow square in the jaw. Now she had crossed the line. The pegasus stumbled backward, but one hit wasn’t enough to put her out of the fight. With a scowl on her face, she reared up, swinging her forelegs at Applejack, causing her to backpedal.

She leaped forward the next moment, tackling her opponent. Rainbow grunted as she hit the ground and headbutted Applejack in the face, but the earth pony ignored the blood trickling down her muzzle, landing a series of mighty punches on Rainbow’s body. Her light armor wasn’t enough to absorb all the impact and the mare gasped for air.

Panting, Applejack stood up over her and looked down at the pegasus. Her anger slowly subsided and she felt a pang of regret for losing control. But Rainbow shouldn’t have said—

She gasped sharply as Rainbow’s hind leg hit her from below, smashing into her most tender spot. Her knees buckled and she crumbled on the pegasus, groaning as her hooves gripped her hurting lady bits, trying to soothe the agonizing pain. It hurt like hell!

She felt Rainbow Dash squirm from under her and rolled on the forest ground, moaning slightly. She turned on her side, curling into a ball, and just lay there for a while with her eyes shut. The pain was diminishing slowly.

“Eh, Applejack?” she heard the pegasus’ voice above her. “Are you alright? Look, I didn’t think… It was dumb. Okay, I was dumb. I’m sorry. I wasn’t really planning to hit you there, I mean, not really. Does it hurt much?”

Applejack snorted suddenly, surprising both Rainbow and herself. She raised her eyes to look at the pegasus’ confused face. “Nah, it feels good,” she said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. “Wanna try?”

“I’ll pass,” Rainbow chuckled nervously, flattening her ears.

Slowly, Applejack shifted into a sitting position. The pain was still there, but it was nothing she couldn’t handle. Her eyes burrowed into Rainbow’s, who quickly lowered her gaze.

“I’m sorry again, alright? It was just in the heat of the moment…”

Applejack rubbed herself, wincing as she felt that her lower lips had swollen up a bit. Rainbow’s hoof had hit hard. It would be difficult to walk for a while, she imagined. Hopefully, nothing more serious would come from it. She suddenly caught Rainbow staring at her hooves. The pegasus’ cheeks reddened and she mumbled something, averting her eyes.

“Ya were a fool, alright,” Applejack confirmed, feeling her own cheeks burning. “But I shouldn’t have snapped at you, either. Ya just hit a sore spot… Twice now, I guess.”

She chuckled humorlessly.

“What do you mean?” Rainbow asked, her eyes looking away.

Applejack gingerly got on her hooves and stepped from one hindleg to another. She winced, tucking her tail between her legs. Rainbow’s kick was still very fresh on her. She shot the pegasus a glare and the mare flattened her ears in shame.

“Yer stupid comment about raisin’ my tail,” Applejack explained with a shrug. “I’ve kind of had a bad experience with that at the boot camp.”

Rainbow Dash gaped for a couple of seconds before facehoofing.

“I’m such a fool! I’m really sorry. My dumb tongue…”

“That’s alright, Dash. Just forget about it. Are ya ready to go back now?”

“Yeah, I guess,” Rainbow said, rubbing the back of her head. “I’m just angry at your sergeant, but I shouldn’t have left you like that. You have no chance without me.”

Applejack chuckled. “If ya say so, Dash. Just try to keep from insultin’ him. It doesn’t help.”

Rainbow frowned. “I will if he does.”

“I think ya both need to cool off,” Applejack said. “Let’s go back.”

The earth pony looked around, squinting her eyes. For the love of the Sun, she couldn’t remember which direction she had come from. Judging by Rainbow’s alarmed expression, she couldn’t either. Everything looked the same in that darkness.

“Oh, snap…”

After a quick discussion, the two had chosen the direction that seemed right. Rainbow Dash walked first, her superior vision helping her to find a path among the trees. Applejack was on high alert, constantly swiveling her ears so nothing would get a jump on them. A couple of times she thought she’d heard something, but there was no way to tell for sure.

“I don’t think we’re going the right way,” Rainbow Dash admitted after ten minutes of walking. She punched a tree in frustration, “Damn, everything looks the same in this darkness!”

Applejack felt a sinking feeling in her gut. Her thoughts went to Flare and Sergeant Sharp, wondering how the two were holding out. She suppressed a spark of anger at Rainbow. They wouldn’t be here if not for the rash pegasus running off.

“I thought ya had great night vision,” she said with a note of accusation in her voice.

“Well, yeah, but it’s much darker here under the trees than it would be up in the sky,” Rainbow explained, shifting nervously. “I didn’t account for that.”

Applejack groaned.

“We need to wait for the moon to rise then,” she said, slumping her rump on the ground. “No point goin’ ‘round like blind kittens.”

Rainbow Dash sat close to her. “Even if we could see the way better, how are we going to find the others?”

“That’s a good buckin’ question,” Applejack said, glaring at the pegasus. She took a deep breath to calm down. “I think we need to retrace our steps to where we brawled and go in circles from there. We weren’t far off from the others.”

Rainbow agreed with her idea and the two settled to wait. Applejack couldn’t help but worry what Sergeant Sharp would do if they failed to find him until morning. She had a disturbing thought that the pony would just dump Flare as ballast and try to reach Stalliongrad alone.

To distract herself from worrying too much — and kill the time — she told Rainbow about her family and their little village, remembering the good old days with warmth in her chest. It had ended a little more than a month ago, but it felt like forever.

Applejack finished her story on the day that everything had changed.

“So they, like, take you into the army and you can’t do anything about that?” Rainbow asked, raising her eyebrows. “That’s insane.”

“House Belle used to let us choose who wanted to go before the darn regent seized the power,” Applejack said with a sigh. “But most Houses do just that, yeah. Our village is lucky to have the Belles, I guess. I reckon it’s different in Cloudsdale?”

“Well, duh!” Rainbow said, throwing her hooves up. “Not everypony is fit to be a warrior, after all. We have enough volunteers, so those who don’t want to join the militia are free to do whatever they want. We still have to get some basic training though. You know, in case of an emergency.”

Applejack was nodding in approval as she listened. She liked Cloudsdale’s system much better than the Equestrian one. It only further showed how different the pegasi lived from everypony else, probably because the nobles had a hard time reaching them on their cloud cities.

“Rotten apples,” Applejack muttered. She had always liked being an earth pony, but in moments like these, she couldn’t help but feel envious of the other pony tribes.

But it wasn’t all that bad for the earth ponies, she encouraged herself. They still had Stalliongrad to look up to. From all the rumors and from what she had personally seen in the city, it was a good place to live if you were one. Though Applejack doubted it had the same level of freedom as the pegasus city-states. There was also Agritania, which was west of Equestria, but except for the fact that it was primarily an earth pony kingdom, Applejack knew little about it.

Meanwhile, Rainbow continued to talk about Cloudsdale. For somepony who had spent her whole life in one tiny village, hearing about life in the pegasus city was mindblowing. Applejack was trying to imagine what it would be like living so high above the ground, never touching the ground or walking among the greenery, but her imagination failed her.

“I’ve been to the ground every once in a while,” Rainbow Dash explained. “But yeah, most of the pegasi never need to go down here. We’re just fine living on our clouds.”

As Applejack had learned, Rainbow had grown up in a family of weather ponies. A lot of pegasi did work related to the weather to some degree, but Rainbow Dash was more interested in a military career. Though her folks had been trying to get her into the family business, Rainbow had signed up for the militia at the first opportunity.

“The training was harder than I’d expected,” she said with a fleeting smile, “But I liked it. I became the fastest pegasus in the training camp, you know.” She winced. “A lot of good it did to Snowfield…”

“I’m sure ya did everythin’ ya could,” Applejack said softly, realizing that she was talking about her fallen friend.

“I’ve killed the griffons who did it, but it’s not enough,” Rainbow whispered. “It’s not nearly enough.”

Applejack was at a loss for words. There was nothing she could really say to make her companion feel better. Instead, she carefully put her foreleg over Rainbow’s withers, making sure not to touch her wings this time. The mare tensed up for a second, but then relaxed and let out a deep sigh.

A twig snapped behind them. Both ponies jumped on their hooves, facing the sound with their weapons drawn, and stared into the shadows.

“Something is out there,” Applejack said, pointing forward. Her eyes searched between the trees, but it was impossible to distinguish anything.

The two spent a few minutes in tense silence, listening to the sounds of the forest.

Nothing happened.

“Maybe it was just the wind,” Applejack suggested.

“Maybe,” Rainbow said, her ears swiveling around constantly. “Don’t worry. Nopony can sneak up on this pegasus. I have the eyes of a hawk and the ears of a fox—”

In the middle of her speech, a shadowy figure stepped out from behind a tree directly in front of them. Applejack stumbled backward, muttering curses, while Rainbow Dash jumped up with a shriek, flaring her wings.

“Stay back!” Rainbow yelled in a high-pitched voice, pointing her hoofblade at the stranger.

Applejack, having recovered from the shock, joined Rainbow by her side with her sword and stared at the figure, trying to see who it was.

“I mean you no harm,” a soft female voice said as the figure took a step back. The words were definitely in Ponish, but a strange accent made her speech almost unrecognizable. “I’m here to help you.”

“Who are you?” Applejack asked without lowering her weapon. “I can’t even see you properly.”

“Oh, sorry,” the mare said and stepped out from the tree’s shadow, making herself more visible.

It was a pegasus mare with a braided mane that fell almost to the ground. Her body wasn’t covered by any barding and she had a short spear hanging on her harness by her side. It was hard to distinguish her colors, but it was on the light side of the spectrum. Her wings were half-spread, twitching slightly as if she was ready to take off at any second.

“You’re not one of us.” Rainbow narrowed her eyes. “What do you want?”

“I just want to help,” the mare repeated, drooping her ears. “I’ve been watching your group from afar all day.”

Shivers ran down Applejack’s back. She’d had a feeling that something had been following them earlier, but she’d written it off as being too unnerved by the strange forest.

“How can you help?” Rainbow asked. “And why are you offering your help just now anyway?

“I’m sorry,” the pegasus flinched, “I wasn’t supposed to show myself to you. But I saw your friend — Flare, isn’t it? — was hurt and I can’t just do nothing.”

“Did the griffons send you to spy on us?” Rainbow said, flicking her tail in agitation.

“No, no, not the griffons,” the mare shook her head rapidly. “My people have nothing to do with them. We live in this forest peacefully and it is my job to make sure nopony disturbs our peace. That’s why I was watching you — to make sure you weren’t going to our village.”

“And what if we were?” Applejack asked flatly.

The timid pegasus drooped her ears. “I would have warned you not to.”

“I see.”

Applejack could feel that the pegasus was being sincere. Slowly, she sheathed her sword. A wild hope stirred in her chest — was she really going to help Flare? Rainbow Dash, however, seemed less than sure.

“And now you’re offering to help us?” she asked skeptically. “Why should we believe you?”

“We can’t throw away this chance, Dash,” Applejack glared at her companion, forcing her hoofblade down. “She said she wanted to help Flare.”

“Maybe she’s just out to rob us,” Rainbow said, throwing a gaze full of suspicion at the yellow pegasus. She seemed to shrink under her heavy gaze. “Yeah, maybe not.” Rainbow’s ears perked up. “Wait, if you say you were watching us, what about the other survivors? Have you seen them?”

The mare nodded, making an affirmative sound.

“My companions and I split up,” she explained. “I went to follow you, while the others are watching the main group.”

“Were there any pegasi with them?” Rainbow asked, her voice full of hope.

“Yes, three pegasi and four earth ponies.”

“Can you get us to them?”

Fluttershy shook her head. “I don’t think so. I left them many hours ago. They could be anywhere by now.”

“Torn feathers.” Rainbow Dash stomped a hoof on the ground.

Meanwhile, Applejack recalled how many ponies she had seen surviving the crash. Excluding their group, there were supposed to be ten ponies in total. The numbers the stranger had told them didn’t add up, so Applejack shared her thoughts out loud.

The pegasus looked away.

“The griffons caught them,” she said simply.

“Ah.” Applejack felt a pang of regret at losing three more of her comrades. “Anyway, if ye’re goin’ to help us, will you lead us back to our friends? I mean Flare and the sarge. We’re kind of lost.”

The pegasus nodded, finally tucking in her wings. “Yes, you’re not that far.” She stepped from one hoof to another nervously. “I saw you two fight, by the way. And the kick you got. I— I can take a look to make sure everything’s okay back there.”

Applejack’s cheeks burned red as she tucked her tail between her legs. “Eh, no, thanks. It’s not that bad now, really. I don’t even feel no pain, almost.”

“Oh, okay,” the mare nodded. “Sorry. Let’s go find your friends, then.”

Rainbow opened her mouth to argue, but Applejack raised her hoof.

“We’re takin’ this risk,” she stated firmly. “If there’s a chance she can help Flare, I can’t ignore it.”

Rainbow Dash closed her mouth and nodded curtly. “I understand. Fine then, but I’ll watch her every move.”

“I’ll try to help in any way I can,” the pegasus said. “Follow me, please.”

Having said that, the mare turned around and walked slowly. Applejack followed directly behind. Rainbow Dash closed the procession, watching their backs.

“You still haven’t told us your name, by the way,” she grumbled. “I’m Rainbow Dash. She’s Applejack.”

“Oh, I’ve heard your names already,” the pegasus admitted, her tail twitching nervously as she did so. “Mine is Fluttershy.”

“We’re almost there,” Fluttershy said mere five minutes later.

For Applejack, the forest looked exactly the same, but she trusted Fluttershy to know her way around. She told the others to stop and beckoned them closer.

“I should go first and warn the sergeant,” she whispered. “He may start shootin’ with this horn of his if he sees a stranger with us. I don’t want to risk it.”

“Sounds good to me.”

While the others waited behind the trees, Applejack continued on the path alone and soon entered a small clearing where the sergeant was. He raised his head at the sound, his horn aglow.

“Have you found the pegasus, private?” he asked, recognizing Applejack.

“You could say that, sir,” Applejack flickered a smile, coming closer. She decided to take the bull by the horn. “Remember how you told us about some ponies who live there? Well, we’ve met one. She offered to help Flare.”

The sergeant was up on his hooves in a second, wielding his sword in his magic aura.

“Help Flare, you say? And you led her here?”

Applejack nodded, taking an involuntary step back. She was glad she had decided to approach the sergeant alone. “Yeah, we did. She and Rainbow are waiting nearby.”

“I’ve heard nothing good about the ponies who live in this forest,” Sergeant Sharp said, reaching Applejack in a few steps and looking at the trees behind her. “They’re savages.”

Applejack shook her head stubbornly. “She didn’t seem dangerous to me, sir. I believe she really does want to help.”

The sergeant nodded but didn’t sheath his sword.

“Go ahead then,” he said. “Tell her to come out. Introduce us.”

The mare narrowed her eyes. “How do I know ya won’t just kill her like ya did with that mad fellow back in Stonehill?”

The sergeant furrowed his brows. “I’m not some bloodthirsty bastard. I take no pleasure in killing. If she really wants to help as you claim, I won’t do anything. But if I think she’s a threat—”

“She’s not,” Applejack cut him off. “Don’t do anything, sergeant. Please.”

Keeping her eyes on the pony, Applejack called out for the others to come out. Fluttershy and Rainbow emerged from behind the trees, the forest pegasus’s eyes not leaving the sergeant’s sword. She glanced at Applejack and the mare gave her an encouraging nod.

“Eh, hello there,” she said, waving her hoof in greeting. “If you can put your weapon away, please? I’m not here to fight you.”

“No,” the sergeant answered flatly.

Fluttershy gulped. “Oh, okay.”

The ponies stood in silence, facing each other.

“Time’s a-wastin’,” Applejack broke the silence first, making Fluttershy twitch.

“Oh, right,” the pegasus said and hurried to the injured mare.

Applejack eyed the sergeant, but he just watched. There wasn’t much to talk about as they all observed Fluttershy fussing over Flare. It went on for a couple of tense minutes until Fluttershy turned back to the others. Applejack eyed her intently.

“I think I can help,” Fluttershy said.

“What are you waiting for then?” Rainbow voiced Applejack’s thoughts.

“I don’t have what I need to do it,” she shook her head, drooping her ears. “I’m afraid we need to get her to my village.”

Applejack frowned. “I thought you said you ponies never let strangers disturb your village.”

“It’s true,” Fluttershy nodded. “But I’m sure I can convince them to make an exception. At least I hope I can.”

Some doubts weighed heavily on Applejack’s mind as she considered Fluttershy’s words. While she believed Fluttershy had good intentions, she had never met her co-villagers.

“Are they, like, going to kill us or something?” Rainbow Dash asked.

Fluttershy blanched. “Moons, no!” She shook her head. “I don’t know. I mean, nopony has really brought strangers to our village before. But we’re not bad ponies. I’m sure it would be fine.”

“Well, that’s good enough for me,” Applejack said, steeling her resolve.

“But not for me,” the sergeant intervened. Applejack looked at him warily, ready to spring into action if he made a move against Fluttershy. “I refuse to put my life at the mercy of some forest ponies.”

“I’m not letting Flare die,” Applejack said firmly. “I’ll take her there alone if I have to.”

“You won’t be alone,” Rainbow Dash said.

The sergeant shook his head. “You’re still under my command, Private Applejack. You’re not going anywhere.”

The mare tensed up, turning to face the sergeant fully. She felt the anger boiling up inside her. “Flare saved your life, Sergeant.”

“And I’m grateful for that, I truly am. But going with her—”, he pointed at Fluttershy with his sword, “—is a bad idea. I’d rather lose one soldier than let us all perish.”

Applejack stared at the sergeant aghast. She could see his point from the logical side of things, but the thought of sacrificing Flare to avoid the risk made her sick.

“She saved your life!” Applejack repeated, feeling her tail swaying in anger. “That’s why she’s dying right now. I thought you had a heart in there somewhere, darn you. You don’t want to risk it yourself, fine, but just let me go on my own.”

The sergeant’s cold expression cracked slightly. He winced and looked away. “I’m just being realistic here,” he said. “There’s no point in losing both of you. If that pegasus really wants to help as she claims, let her take Flare on her own. If she saves her life — good. If not — well, we tried.”

Fluttershy cleared her throat. “I don’t think I’m strong enough to carry her all the way to my village alone…” she stared at the ground in shame. “Even if I could, the forest gets more dangerous the deeper you go. I would be easy prey to any predator.”

“How convenient,” the sergeant snapped.

“I’m going with Fluttershy, sir,” Applejack said, her decision final. “And you won’t stop me.”

The sergeant’s expression hardened. “That’s treason, then. You gave the oath to serve Equestria. You gave the oath to follow the rightful orders of your superiors. If you break it, you’ll be considered a deserter and dealt with accordingly.”

Rainbow Dash snorted.

“What a joke,” she said. “You force ponies to join against their will. An oath given under pressure does not have any weight.”

The sergeant looked at the pegasus with a scowl. “An oath doesn’t have any weight? Well, I expected nothing less from you, birdie.”

As the two exchanged a round of insults, a frown of doubt crossed Applejack’s face. The sergeant was right, of course. She had sworn to do all that not so long ago. And Applejack always kept her word. But when her best friend’s life was on the line…

No, there was no doubt in her mind what her decision would be.

Sure, her family might face repercussions if she was reported as a deserter. The sergeant had warned the new conscripts about that. In the case of a pony conscripted from a village belonging to one of the noble houses, the House in question was supposed to pay a huge fine to the army. Whether they took it from their own purse or just took the bits from the deserter’s family was at their sole discretion. Of course, Applejack had no illusions about what the most common practice was.

The truth, however, was that Applejack’s family had collected enough bits from their orchard business to be able to afford the fine. It would set back their plans to buy out their land for years, but if that meant saving her best friend… Applejack was ready. The bits they lost could be earned back, but Flare’s life would be lost forever.

An unbidden thought entered her mind.

There was another way, she realized. After The Luminous’ crash, everypony on board would be assumed dead. The only pony who knew otherwise was Sergeant Sharp and Rainbow Dash. Applejack’s brow creased as she considered her next move.

“So, ye’re not goin’ to let me save Flare?” she said, interrupting the growing argument. The sergeant looked at her.

“I’m sorry, but no. I’ll be happy if she survives until Stalliongrad, but you’re not going to any forest villages.”

Fluttershy cleared her throat.

“Excuse me, but I don’t think she’ll survive another day. Is your Stalliongrad close?”

With their pace it wasn’t, Applejack thought grimly. It helped her finally make the decision.

Drawing her sword, she swung it in one swift motion, hitting the sergeant’s sword with such a force that it tore off from his magic grip and sank deep into a tree. Fluttershy shrieked, diving into the ground. Without giving the sergeant a chance to recover, Applejack smacked his horn with her other hoof to stop any spell, sending him reeling.

“No magic,” Applejack said, the cold blade of her sword touching the sergeant’s throat. Sergeant Sharp’s eyes were wide with shock, but his expression quickly changed to rage.

“What in Tartarus are you doing, you madmare?!” the sergeant growled, his nostrils flaring as he breathed heavily.

Applejack briefly wondered about that herself, wondering if she had made the right choice. There was no turning back from this point. She was already a deserter. But was she a murderer?

“Whoa, there,” Rainbow Dash muttered from the side.

“I’m just saving my friend,” Applejack explained, with her voice trembling. Her foreleg twitched, bringing the blade even closer to the stallion’s throat.

She still wasn’t sure what to do with the sergeant. If he lived, her family back in her village would surely suffer. On the other hoof, Applejack was not a cold-blooded killer. And despite his many flaws, the sergeant wasn’t a bad pony.

“I thought I’d made a good soldier out of you,” the sergeant spat on the ground. “But I was wrong. You’re nothing but a traitorous bitch.”

His words stung a bit, but Applejack ignored it, knowing in her heart that it wasn’t true. Her true allegiance lay with her family and she had never betrayed them.

“I don’t want to kill you,” she said, not lowering her blade. “I’m just going to leave, alright? You go to Stalliongrad on your own.”

Applejack saw Rainbow approach carefully.

“And they call me a hothead,” she said.

“Wouldn’t ya do the same if the lives of your friends and family were on the line?”

“Got me there,” Rainbow said, taking a step back. “Well, I don’t care how you ground ponies do things in the army, so whatever. It’s not my problem.”

Applejack nodded in appreciation. Her eyes met the sergeant’s glare, which seemed to burrow right into her soul, but she held her own.

“Why don’t you just kill me, you pussy?” he goaded her, inching his throat closer to the blade. “You’re the daughter of a whore.”

Applejack felt her temper flare at the mention of her mother. “I don’t want to kill you,” she growled. “Flare saved your life. I don’t want to take it away. Just go.”

The sergeant glanced at Flare. “Don’t think I forgot about that. She’s a good soldier. Unlike you.”

Applejack sighed, lowering her sword and taking a step back. She eyed the sergeant carefully, ready to defend herself if he tried a counterattack. Luckily for both of them, he didn’t.

“Flare was planning to desert once we’d reached Stalliongrad, you know,” Applejack said. The sergeant narrowed his eyes. “Just go, okay?”

“Okay, you’ve won,” Sergeant Sharp nodded and she relaxed slightly. The anger was gone from the sergeant’s face, replaced by disappointment. “I had high hopes for you, Applejack. Despite our rocky start — my fault, I admit — you proved to be a good soldier. I never thought a mare could be one, but you proved me wrong. Or so I thought. A truly good soldier always carries out their orders, no matter how they feel about them. A truly good soldier does not break their oath on a whim. In the end, you turned out to be just another emotional bitch.”

The sergeant’s horn flared, surprising Applejack, and she felt a sharp pain in her chest. She looked down to see two knives sticking out, going in just at the sides of her armor plate. Blood was trickling out of the wounds. Her knees suddenly went weak and buckled under her. Shocked, Applejack raised her eyes to look at Sergeant Sharp.

“You left me no choice,” he said, grabbing the knives in his magic and yanking them out. Applejack cried out as a gush of blood sprayed from the wounds. “The only punishment for deserting is death.”

Applejack felt her consciousness slipping away as the sergeant walked closer, but her anger held her back. Not at the sergeant, but at herself. She should have known. Now Flare would die because of her softness. She herself would die.

“Rotten apples,” she muttered.

She didn’t feel any pain, just the growing cold. In the last moments before the darkness claimed her, she heard a muffled scream and saw a rainbow streak flash before her eyes. Then her eyes closed, and everything went black.

Here is the new chapter finally, yay.
Sorry for the long wait and sorry for ending it with a cliffhanger. I hope you liked the chapter. The next one is going to be from Twilight POV and it's already written, just waiting to be edited.
Hope you liked this one.