Crash site, 1905 hours, Tuesday the 6th

Twilight and her friends were wondering what to do they couldn't move forward because of the enemy convoy heading to Manehatten and Fillydelphia was already taken over. It was a lose-lose situation for them. Though they could try to get past the ongoing convoy heading to Manehatten all sneaky like, but with the bereted pony travelling with them he'd obviously try to run away or alert the convoy when they were passing by.

'What are we gonna do?' Twilight thought and thought until an idea.

"Fisher, we have ghillie suits right?"

"Yeah, why?" a confused look sprung on his face.

"How many"?

"Uh two"

"Just enough"

"Better suit up I'm pretty sure they're moving on our position right now, with the fire coming from the chopper and all"

Twilight whispered something to Applejack and she complied immediately. She bucked the bereted pony on the right side of his face. His beret flying off and his unconscious body falling to the ground, Twilight then whispered to Scott giving him a small blush upon his face. Rarity and Applejack giggled while Sam scratched his head in confusion.

Scott then pulled the pony's body into the tree line there was a lot of grunting and Twilight occasionally tried to peek in only to be stopped by Sam every time.

Then from the tree line emerged Scott now dressed in the bereted pony's clothing "How do I look?" Rarity came up to him and put the beret on, then pulled it down to cover his face "Much better" the four ponies shared in a laugh and Scott was frowning underneath the beret.

Twilight and Applejack were all ghillied up, they were able to watch Scott's back from a distance while he carried the bereted pony through as a distraction. Twilight homed in on Scott's flank admiring every the bulging thigh muscles. "Oh yeah" Twilight practically moaned it out. "Don't get carried away sugarcube, if things go wrong we're his only chance" Twilight shook her head and snapped out of it, a very crimson blush riding on her cheeks as she was caught checking out the pony they had to protect.

Rarity and Sam had some time alone near the ridge where Applejack and Twilight were. Lying down alone under the stars on a beautiful night, It was almost cliché besides the war that broke out it might have been a perfect day. Though if this had never happened Rarity might have never met Sam.

"So got anypony back home"? Rarity was sort of shocked by his statement, was he going to ask her out if she said no?

"Why what do you mean Sam?"

"Oh uh nothing like that I mean like um… family yes; umm… any family back home?" Sam scratched his head fast and awkwardly to try and break the tension.

"Ah, yes my parents and my sister"

"You're very lucky to have such a loving family"

"What about you don't you have a family or siblings"?

"They died about twelve years ago in a helicopter crash heading toward Canterlot, It's been me and my little brother ever since"

"I'm very sorry"

"Kind of a coincidence that our helicopter was heading toward Canterlot as well, maybe I should have died here"

Rarity started stroking his back "Don't say that dear, you're lucky to be alive or else no one would be able to take care of your brother".

"Hm, you're right"

"So do you not have a special somepony Sam?"

"I'm pretty sure I don't" Rarity's gaze broke away from the stars in the sky looking straight into Sam's eyes. "Are you sure about this Rarity?"

"I've never been so sure of anything in my life" The two shared a passionate kiss explosions could be heard if, it wasn't Fillydelphia then they knew that they were destined to be together. The moans coming from both ponies mouths were loud enough for A.J. and Twilight to hear they just giggled and ignored it watching as their beige friend was walking up to one of the trucks on the road.

"Turn on your intercom Scott so that we can hear you, but don't tune it to channel 5"

"Why?"

"Because Rarity and Sam are having a little 'alone' time"

'That stallion works almost as fast as me' he thought a smile cracking upon his face'.

"Okay tuning… now"

"We can hear the trucks' motors you should be good to go"

"Oh Twilight, one more thing"

"Yes, Scott?"

"Stop staring at my flank" Scott was looking directly where her scope was just a second ago looking at his flank with an angry face. Twilight blushed "Sorry". "I knew he'd catch you" Applejack giggled.

Somewhere near Ponyville, 1920 hours

Fluttershy stumbled her whole body was bruised; head to tail there were scars that told a story, a story of a pony that lived. Her eyes looked as if she'd been crying for the past half hour. She had lost a dear friend that had saved her life. That friend taught her to stand up for herself; they had been together since their meeting in Cloudsdale. It felt just like yesterday the memories racing through her mind about the day Rainbow had stood up to those bullies in flight school for her, and helped her gain that special image on her left and right flanks.

Cloudsdale Flight Academy Runway, 1240 hours, Tuesday the 26th, Year 993 of Celestia's rule

"Nice going Cluttzershy, Ahahaha"

"They aughta ground you permanently"

"Ha, my baby brother can fly better than you" The two ponies kept on laughing and looking down on her for being such a bad flyer. The orange flag she crashed into lied in front of her, as she reached for it to dry her tears it was swept away, and then out of nowhere a rainbow streak crossed the sky.

"Leave her alone" Rainbow landed right next to the dried eyed pony that was surprised anypony came to stand up for her.

"Oh what are you gonna do, Rainbow 'Crash'?" Hoops said trying to aggravate the rainbow pegasus.

"Keep making fun of her and find out" Rainbow said with anger in her eyes.

"You think you're such a big shot, why don't you prove it" Dumb-Bell said angry that Rainbow was standing up for Fluttershy.

"What do you have in mind?" Rainbow said deviously, this was her one chance to prove herself to have the bullies that tormented everypony in the academy, to be a HERO.

The four ponies then went to a starting line atop one of the obstacle courses Fluttershy flew to a cloud adjacent to where the three ponies were eagerly waiting for the checkered flag to wave.

"You're going down, Rainbow 'Crash'" Hoops said eagerly.

"In history maybe, see you boys at the finish line" Rainbow was contempt to win this race for her friend and for the rest of the ponies in the academy.

Fluttershy then got ready to wave the flag, the three ponies took ready by stroking their right hoof on the cloud, and then they were off going so fast that Fluttershy started spinning wildly atop the cloud she was on. She felt sick her face turned a shade of green from its normal yellow, but nopony noticed since they were all watching the race. She then fell off the cloud falling in a backwards freefall position her wings had no part that could help her in this and her hooves flailed wildly hoping that they would slow her down. She then waited for her inevitable slow fall to end with a crash, but it didn't it actually felt like she didn't hit anything until the feel of wings fluttering started to tickle her. She giggled then opened her eyes to the beautiful sight of butterflies in a bunched group that felt like a soft bouncy cloud. Her eyes sparkled as she looked at her surroundings on the ground. It was beautiful trees, grass, and animals nothing like Cloudsdale where all they had was the occasional bird fly near.

Then it happened, an explosion in the distance over the horizon. She looked at her flank which had an image of three pink butterflies on it. She squealed in joy that she had finally gotten her cutie mark revealed. She later found out eight years later that Rainbow had created that explosion of wondrous colors that gotten her the three butterflies that nestled in her fur.

Back near Ponyville, 1923 hours

As Fluttershy recollected her memories from that day that Rainbow had stood up for her the outline of Ponyville was in sight just a faint outline but it was Ponyville. Fluttershy ran toward the black outline of the city, her eyes glistened as she could see the light emanating from the searchlights around the town. 'Searchlights?' that can't be right, Fluttershy thought that she was just feeling woozy from the beating she had taken earlier from Princess Luna's thugs. No, she wasn't her 'Princess' anymore she was as bad as Discord right now.

"FREEZE, DON'T MOVE!" a searchlight was now on Fluttershy revealing all the atrocious wounds she had all over her body and the mud on her hooves; she didn't even notice it was raining till now.

A pony then came down from the scaffolding near the southern field of Sweet Apple Acres. He walked over to Fluttershy, and then walked around to get a good look at the wounds, after that a smash was heard emitting from Fluttershy's skull. She was okay but then fell unconscious after the agonizing pain in the back of her head was felt.

Somewhere near the Manehattan road, 1935 hours

"Alright I'm heading to the first truck now watch my back"

"Be careful"

"Twilight, I l-" his sentence was cut off as one of the rebels walked over to him.

"Hey boss, what's that on your back, and who were you talking to?"

"Nopony at all and I found this loyalist near the crash site, all the others were dead or missing.

"What of Ms. Sparkle, among the dead or missing?"

"Dead, fell out of the copter along the bridge"

"Good this is coming along nicely; soon we will have all the power in the universe" Scott was shocked, the universe, at the very least they would conquer the world but how, but right now he had to focus on the task at hand.

"The loyalist, have half our men take that truck and question him in Fillydelphia"

"What about you?"

"I'll take the others to scout Manehatten and check for tanks"

"Okay, make sure you bring that truck back in one piece boss"

"Will do" as the pony walked away and had the bound pony loaded up onto the truck with half a dozen other ponies. They lost their lead to anything but, they had to get to Canterlot and tell the Princess. What about he didn't know, just that it was important and he trusted Twilight's judgement.

After the truck had left one truck and another half dozen ponies remained "Scott I have visual on 3 ponies left, tell me you see what I see".

"There are six ponies left Twilight" he sighed "Applejack what about you, can you see all six from your position?"

"Sorry darlin' I have a worse position than Twilight here, I can only see one pony on the road"

"Damn I'll have to take out the other three quietly then, wait before you shoot the three that you can see" Scott quickly ran into the darkness of the right side of the road hoping that nopony saw him, The road was pretty huge with cement barricades to divide the ponies driving toward Fillydeplhia or Manehatten. Only the left side was lit up with the headlights of the last remaining truck turned on. The six ponies were in groups of two, four of them were on the left side completely exposed by the light standing near the truck and barricades. The other two carried flashlights and were walking about the right side.

"Uh Twilight where do you see the hostiles, I don't want to make it easier on you" he chuckled through the intercom.

"Well, I can see the two slacking on the barricade and one talking to another pony behind the truck"

"Okay then" 'So that leaves me with at the very least 3 to kill considering one of them doesn't see me' he thought as he quietly approached the two ponies in the dark. His heart started pacing to at least 150 beats per minute. The two ponies were talking at a medium volume so they couldn't be able to hear Scott moving unless it was really loud like a twig snap, but it was just his luck while thinking about the decibels in their voices he didn't watch where he took his steps and stepped on a twig that made a loud 'Tcht' type sound. When the two ponies turned their heads along with their guns and flashlights they weren't surprised at all.

"Uhh boss, why are you sneakin around?"

Scott sighed in relief "Oh just dropped something" he said with a last second smile as he walked closer to the two ponies.

"Hey, when are we gonna get some food boss I'm hungry"

"In due time soldier" he was now standing 2 hooves away from the two ponies, but without a second knife he had to improvise. As the two ponies turned around to start their patrol Scott pulled out his knife and a clicky pen to use as a makeshift knife. He then drove the two items in the two ponies' throats their gags could be heard but no screams since the items were inside their windpipes. Blood was drizzling down Scott's hooves as the two ponies stop resisting and fell down slowly. Scott dragged them toward a nearby brush hoping to hide them. He then slapped himself for not thinking of this earlier.

"Twilight, Applejack; I need both of you to be ready to take out the last three ponies by the truck"

"Gotcha"

"No problem hon."

"On my mark" Scott shifted close to the truck with the knife in his mouth as he came up to a pony that had a cigarette in his mouth and was talking to another pony. He then ran up to the smoking pony and shoved the knife into his heart. The other pony drew his weapon, but was then struck dumb as a bullet went right through his brain and he fell over. The same happened to the other two completely clueless of the situation behind them. Scott then waved at Twilight as that was the all clear signal.

Twilight broke the romance between Rarity and Sam as they took off through the rest of the woods toward Manehatten. The border was in sight as the five ponies sprinted towards it. Multiple clicks were then heard from the sandbags and toll booths. All of Equestria was on red alert because of this 'event'. A light was shown in their faces as seven ponies in gas masks came up to them starting to block the light that was gonna give them a migraine if it went on like this. The light eventually went off but was met with a less blinding light coming from flashlights.

"It's Twilight Sparkle, let them go" As they walked toward the sandbags another click was heard. "Who just switched off their safety?" all the ponies shook their heads, but one of them pointed to Applejack who was sobbing.

"Applejack, what's wrong?" Twilight thought that it was just Applejack's homesickness, but as she stared into the scared pony's eyes it was much more than that.

"It looks like I've gotten myself in a…jam" she tried to keep the tears away as she looked at her back right hoof. "It's a mine Twi, I take my hoof off and ah'm gonna die"

"You four get back now" the soldier pony was behind the barricade.

"But we can't leave her!" Twilight shouted.

"She's our friend and a part of the Noble six" Rarity had tears cresting on her eyes.

"It's an anti-tank mine Twi, you need to go. Ah'll be…okay"

"We can't leave you A.J."

"And we won't because you're coming with us" Sam said a smile across his face. "There's always a mechanism in these mines that automatically disables them with the press of a button" They started to look happier as he kept explaining. "Have you got a spade?" one of the ponies tossed a spade to him from behind the barricade. "Now this could be dangerous so you three need to wait over there" they walked over to the sandbags as Sam started digging. "Okay uhh about a millimeter to go YES! There it is the hole" he took out a pen and jammed it into the hole. His expression quickly changed from happiness to shock.

"Sam is everything all right" Twilight was getting eager to see her friend get freed from this situation and didn't notice Sam's facial expression had changed as he turned around.

"The hole, it's umm…"

"It's what Sam?" Rarity said slowly losing her happy face turning to a worried one.

"It's been glued and kept in place by a magic seal; I don't think Princess Celestia could even break it" all their expression went to shock and the tears came back as Twilight ran in to try and break the seal, but Sam and Scott stopped her. "LET ME GO! I HAVE TO HELP HER!" the tears were dropping all over the ground as Twilight struggled against the two ponies keeping her back. "Twilight the lock is rigged, you try and to break it and it blows up. Let her live a bit longer" Twilight was struggling even harder now. "IF SHE DIES I GO TOO!" Scott and Sam sighed as the violet pony kept on trying to get past them.

"Twi…ah-ah know this is hard for you, bu-but you have to let me go there's nothing you can do now"

"I-I can't" Sam knew she wouldn't leave her, but then another light bulb came on. "Twilight calm down I have an idea" a sparkle of hope glimmered in Twilight's eyes as she thought her friend could once again be saved. He walked over to the sobbing orange stetson wearing pony and whispered something in her ear. She nodded her head and then started looking up at the stars as Sam revealed his plan. "The weight if we can match the weight that A.J. is putting on the mine we might be able to save her. Now the sandbags should weigh about ten pounds more or less, A.J. how much do you weigh?"

"About two hundred and ten pounds, heh"

"Okay sandbags out of the question, Twilight go with Scott and Rarity to find something heavy" Twilight nodded and went over to the sandbags. Sam walked over to A.J. and whispered something else. "I'm so very sorry" Applejack cried onto Sam's shoulder and he walked away. Twilight then turned around to see the bawling pony take her hoof off the mine. "NO!" Twilight screamed and ran toward her friend only to be caught by Scott as she gazed upon the sight of the exploding pony's body flipping over onto her back. Twilight kept struggling, but with Sam now trying to hold her back she just fell down and sobbed into her hooves. Rarity was rubbing her back as she too had lost another friend this dark day.