A/N: I should have said this at the end of chapter 6 but I forgot. So if you haven't read WARC then have no worries I will not be incorporating it heavily. It is more of if you did read it then you know a little more about Rainbow in this story. I am not doing this to get people to read WARC. To give a basic for those who want to know what happened in WARC but don't want to read it: Rainbow went through some bad times and Rarity and her ended up in a relationship. That is the super simple version. Well back to this story. Please review.
Chapter 7: Welcome to the new world.
A day had passed from when Rainbow had heard the reports about Equestria. Earlier today she had been given a letter explaining that a meeting was taking place in the castle for the upcoming mission. No details were given beside the location and time of the meeting. Rainbow walked through the fancy castle. It was noon and she was walking down a hallway in search of a room with a red ribbon hanging on the door handle. She found it and entered the room.
The room was dark but she could make out ponies sitting lined up to face the wall to the right when entering the room. One pony was standing in front of the group. "Glad you could finally join us Dash. We have been waiting. Take a seat." It was Striker. She was a leading the meeting.
Rainbow took the last seat in the back of the group. A projector lit up the wall behind Striker. Rainbow could make out the shadows of the ponies in front of her. She counted nine ponies sitting in front of her. Including her there was ten ponies attending the meeting.
Striker began to speak. "This is a confidential meeting. Meaning that no pony will speak of what I say out of this room. Don't talk about this when your at the bar after. Don't talk about it to your friends. Don't tell your family or loved ones. You DO NOT say a WORD. To keep the risk of rumors down I am personally over seeing the briefing to reduce how many ponies know. Now that, that is out of the way. We are here to discuss the mission you will be going on tomorrow. I don't like informing you of a mission on so short notice but I don't want to spread panic."
"Tomorrow you will being going to Ponyville." A map of Equestria projected onto the screen. Ponyville was circled in red. "It is a short flight from the edge of the shield. Unfortunately it is a long walk due to the mountain. You will have no help from any unicorns or earth ponies. This shouldn't be too much of a problem since you are more or less just scouting. Your mission will be to locate two ponies. We do not have their names but we do have a descriptions."
Words projected onto the wall behind Striker so that the ponies could read along. "The first is a stallion. A unicorn with a black coat and dark brown mane and tail. His cutie mark is a screwdriver and tape. He has a large scar on the right side of his barrel. This pony seems to know at least a decent amount about the Equestria that now exists and doesn't seem to be hostile. He saved the life of a scout but was not too happy about our plans to reclaim Equestria. This pony is known to have killed other ponies. It was in the defense of the scout but it is uncertain if he will cooperate with us but we need to try. He could have valuable information for us."
"The second is a mare. She is a pegasus with a lavender coat and grey mane and tail. Her cutie mark is a needle with some hay straws. She seems to be friends with the first pony. It is unknown if she has knowledge that would be useful but she could lead us to the stallion more than likely. She was seen defending the scout as well. Yes this means she killed ponies as well. Both of these ponies are armed and dangerous but they could help us so we need to find them."
The projector changed to a map of local Ponyville. Striker pointed her wing at a section of the town. "The ponies have been spotted on the eastern outskirts of the town. You should begin your search in this area first. If you don't find them then continue to search around panning out further and further. If by the end of the day you don't find them head back here. Do not risk staying in the town."
"The ponies we have encountered have been extremely dangerous. Try to refrain from splitting up. If you do split up you must stay in a group of at least five. Most bandit groups that were encountered were around three. If you stay in a group of five you will hold an advantage. Every pony you see is to be assumed hostile tell proven otherwise. Your mission is not to save ponies for now. Do not try to bring back any ponies. You can tell them to head here and help them but do not trust them. The leader of this mission will be captain Dedication. Will you please stand captain?" A pony on the front row stood up and faced the group. It was hard to see her but she looked to be green with a yellow mane and tail. "Thank you. You may be seated now. Does any pony have any questions?"
A pony sitting in the middle row raised a hoof. Striker looked at the pony. "Yes airman?" The pony answered in a timid tone. "What do we do if we find these ponies?" Striker looked away from the pony. "That is a good question. You are to approach them and try to work out a deal with them. Try to get them to stay in one place. You will report back here and we will send a group to escort them here. Any pony else have questions?" All ponies shook their heads no. "Good. Meet at the castle gates at O five hundred tomorrow and be ready to leave. Dismissed." The ponies filed out of the room one at a time.
Rainbow was the first one out and thought it would be a good idea to go see Twilight Sparkle before leaving the castle. After asking around she found her in the castle library. "Hey Twilight." Twilight had been reading while sitting at a table and was too focused to notice Rainbow come up next to her. She jumped when Rainbow spoke. Oh Rainbow it is just you. What brings you here?"
Rainbow took a seat next to Twilight. "Nothing important. Just wanted to see what you were up to." Twilight set her book on the table. "I was just reading a book on pony behavior. There isn't really anything useful to us. I was hoping there would be some studies on how ponies acted in extreme situations but there is not much here."
Rainbow wanted to know how Twilight felt about taking back Equestria. "What do you think of what we are doing? I mean the whole taking back control thing." Twilight thought before answering. "Well I am glad we are doing it. It needs to be done. From what the scouts said the ponies out there need our help. I am obligated to help and so are you. We have to save those ponies in need. If we don't than we are no better than the thing hurting them."
Rainbow actually felt better now. She hadn't thought about the ponies who weren't bad. She had only been thinking of the bandits who have hurt the scouts. She didn't think of the other ponies who were getting hurt from the bandits. She now had some motivation to help. "Thank you Twilight. I was doubting whether to go or not. You have made me feel better. When is it your turn to hold the shield up?"
Twilight had her schedule planned for weeks ahead. "I have to switch with Shining Armor tomorrow. Holding the shield up takes a toll on any pony. It isn't like that small one when Shining was getting married. We need the land around canter lot for crops so the shield is so much larger. I am glad we only hold it for a day. If it was longer we might not be as capable of doing our other duties."
Rainbow shrugged. "I would help if I could but I don't have that fancy horn there." Rainbow pointed to Twilight's horn. "Well I leave you to your reading. I have to go get ready." Twilight said goodbye and Rainbow left. Rainbow wanted to spend the rest of the day with Rarity.
The next day Rainbow woke up before the sun was up and put her wonder bolt uniform on before going to the castle to meet with her squad. Upon arrival she found out she was the last pony to arrive. Captain Dedication greeted her. "I see the wonder bolt is the last to come. I thought you were suppose to be the fastest ponies around."
Rainbow was getting tired of ponies giving her shit for being a wonder bolt. "I am on time so it doesn't matter." Dedication didn't care to argue. She walked over to a chest tat was locked and used the key given to her to unlock it. She opened it up and announced to her squad. "Come over here and get your weapons and amulets." The group huddle around and took their supplies. Striker knew the importance of having the ability to fight in air she each of the squad members received bracers with extendable blades. The younger ponies were mesmerized by the weaponry. They started to comment on how cool they were and how they had never used the real things in training. Dedication explained that the amulet would let them exit and enter the shield without it dropping.
It wasn't even time for them to be here much less leave but Dedication saw no point in standing around when they already had their orders and she was getting tired of the younger ponies being stupid. "Now that every pony is here we are leaving. I am not wasting time sitting on my ass." The captain took flight followed shortly by the rest of the squad.
Rainbow noticed that her uniform was different then any of the others. They all wore plain blue uniforms versus her flashy blue and yellow. She could see their insignias and if she was knowledgeable of it could tell what rank they were. The group continued flying in silence. After a few minutes of flying a pair of low ranking ponies started up a conversation. Rainbow could overhear the young ponies talking.
"What do you think we will see out here?" The stallion asked.
The mare responded. "I don't know I haven't heard anything from any pony what is out here. My parents said that it use to be beautiful."
"My mom said that you use to not have rations. That if you had the money you could eat all the food you wanted. And there was all kinds of fancy stuff that was really expensive."
"You use to be able to get really pretty dresses not just the ugly stuff they give out during the winter."
"I don't carry about dumb dresses."
The mare messed with the stallion. "Oh why not? I think you would look so pretty in a dress. Maybe make it a pretty pink? You would look so adorable!"
The stallion was about to respond but Dedication interrupted. "Shut your gabbing! We are here." All of the pegasi stopped and hovered high in the air on the outskirts of Ponyville. Rainbow looked down at the town. The first light of the sun shined over the town. Many memories were brought back to Dash. All of her time spent preparing to be a wonder bolt and all the times spent with her friends. But a sadness crept into her as she looked of what had become of the town. Plants had started covering everything and many buildings had begun to fall apart. She looked closely and noticed something horrible lying next to a building. A decomposing pony corpse laid leaning on a building.
The stallion that had been talking was the fist to say anything. "This place is messed UP!" The mare that had been talking to him smacked him with her hoof. "Shut up." Dedication knew what they were here for and wanted to get the mission done as quickly as possible. "Land and then we begin searching. We will start with the first house and continue from there."
The squad landed near the closest home. Half of the home was collapsed. Dedication gave her orders. " Madcap you take point. I want five ponies guarding the door, sergeant you handle that." A mare who had been silent nodded and picked out four ponies. The stallion who had been talking on the way here, Madcap stepped forward. He opened the door cautiously. He peered inside first then stepped in. Rainbow was last inside the house. They started looking around but found no pony.
When every room had been searched they moved on to the next home. Their searches were quick as they scanned the rooms quickly. They made excellent progress. They had been in Ponyville for twenty minutes and had already searched six homes. They found nothing though. No pony in sight. They approached the seventh house. Madcap took the point. The home seemed intact. It's outside was cleaner than the rest of the homes they had been to. Madcap pulled the door open. He looked inside and didn't see any pony.
He stepped forward. When his hoof crossed the barrier into the house there was a subtle snap. He looked down at his hooves. A fishing line lay broken on the floor near him. "What the…?" He didn't have time to finish his sentence when two large rocks swung from both sides and pan caked his head. The mare directly behind him screamed as blood splattered across her face. His body fell lifeless to the floor.
Every pony in the group faced the door way. The mare back peddled into Dedication. Which seemed to be the only pony not the least bit phased by this. Stomping came from the groups sides. Dedication was the only one to notice the bandits armed and facing the squad.
One of the pegasus bandits rammed a spear into the side of the unwary pony. She howled in pain. It went deep into her barrel. She toppled to the ground. The rest of the squad saw what was happening and diverted their attention from Madcap. It was too late for another one of the squad members as she got her throat slit by a earth pony with a blade helmet. The squad was down three members within one minute. The rest of the squad got a hold of themselves and readied for combat. All except the young mare who was laying on the ground, stunned over seeing Madcap die.
The bandits who had already hurt the squad jumped back to not get hurt. The squad had six members ready to fight. There was six bandits. It would be an even fight but half the bandits had heavy armor and the ones who didn't had better weapons. Two of the bandits were unicorns wielding huge claymores. The three earth ponies had heavy plates of armor that cover most of their body. The only pegasus bandit had a spear that had greater range then the bracer blades the squad was carrying.
Dedication didn't like these odds. The squad had weapons but they had no armor. The uniforms were made for speed not protection. Her first thought was to order a retreat since there is only one pegasus but she wouldn't leave a pony behind and the mare was freaking out on the ground. "Some pony get that mare on her hooves." One of the ponies rushed to her side and immediately began trying to bring the mare to her senses.
The five remaining ponies stood waiting just like the bandits. No pony moved. Rainbow could hear her breathing and feel her heart beat. She had gotten a surge of adrenaline and everything seemed to slow, making theses few seconds last forever. One of the bandits smiled. He gave the order in a calm tone as if it was the most normal thing in the world, and it probably was. "Kill them."
Five of the bandits charged. The earth pony who gave the order didn't move. Rainbow had a earth pony charging her. She used her wings to lift up and be able to be as effective as possible. She heard a grunt to her left but was focused on her target the charged right past her un able to stop in time. Rainbow saw her chance and hopped onto the pony's back. She stabbed him into the back of the neck where he was exposed.
The stallion didn't go down. He whipped his helmet around in an attempt to hit Rainbow. She was nicked in the chest. It barely drew blood but it was close. The stallion faced the hovering pegasus. "Get down here you pussy!" Rainbow wasn't stupid. She was not going to risk her life over a stupid insult. Rainbow took a second to see how the squad was doing. She saw that they were down another member but so was the bandits. Dedication had dispatched one of the unicorns and was fighting the other earth pony.
Right as she checked the other unicorn decapitated an older squad member. The head flew through the air until it landed on the ground with a wet thud. She looked over and saw the sergeant fighting the pegasus with the spear. The sergeant dodged thrust after thrust of the spear as the bandit laughed. Rainbow had not been paying attention and the earth pony threw a rock at her. It hit her wing and knocked her out of the air. She dropped to the ground and rolled, preventing herself from being hurt further. The stallion gave her no time to recover and rammed her with his chest.
Rainbow fell over and skidded in the dirt. The stallion ran up on her and lifted into his hind legs. Rainbow looked up to see the stallion about to stomp on her head. She rolled to her right as the stallion's hooves slammed down where she had been. Rainbow jumped up and tried to regain her stance but the stallion swept his blade causing her to duck. She saw her opportunity and stuck her blade into the stallion's jaw. He stopped dead and fell on his side. Rainbow yanked her blade out. "Fuck…you!"
Rainbow tuned around just in time to see the claymore headed for her face. She ducked and avoided the blade. The bandit unicorn looked disappointed. Not mad or shocked. She didn't say anything, she just shrugged and began to swing the claymore with her magic once more. Rainbow had to repeatedly dodge the monster of a blade. She was barely escaping getting diced. It was tiring for her. She didn't have the stamina that she had when she was younger. 'This bitch is going to get me if I don't do something.'
Rainbow thought wrong. Right as she thought that a green blur flew in from the side. Dedication nailed the unicorn in the side and began stabbing in quick movements. The captain ended the pony's life in seconds. Rainbow stood there like an idiot afterwards. The captain faced rainbow. "MOVE YOUR ASS!" Rainbow snapped out of it. She looked around and saw that the only bandit left was the pegasus. The last earth pony was nowhere in sight. She looked over to the traumatized mare. Rainbow was shocked to see her dead. The pony who was tending to her had a deep cut on his left foreleg.
Dedication flew above the pegasus still jabbing away at the sergeant. The captain cut the wing off that was holding the spear. The bandit freaked out once he realized that his wing was gone. He didn't have much time to freak out before the captain shoved a blade in his temple.
"Ahh son of a bitch!" The mare who rushed to the traumatized pony's side was yelling about her injury. The captain rushed over and examined the cut. "You will be fine. We just need to get you to a doctor." She looked around to see who else had made it. The bandits had lost five members and the leader ran away. The squad had lost six and one injured. Most of the squad members had bled out during the fight and all lay around them. Blood covered the ground. Rainbow found it sickening.
Dedication helped the pony up. "Ok we need to get home. Mission is a fail." She looked at the hurt pony. "Can you fly?" The pony nodded. "We are going now. Rainbow get the tags off the dead then head back to Canterlot." The captain and the sergeant flew off with the injured pony.
Rainbow collected the dog tags from her squad members. It hit her that this could have been her. 'What the hell just happened? I just nearly died!' Rainbow looked over the body of the stallion she killed. 'I killed a pony. We were here to find a pony and talk. That is it! We weren't even doing anything that dangerous and six ponies died! What the fuck!' Rainbow got the last of the tags and flew as fast as she could back to Canterlot. She arrived and was immediately greeted by medical personnel. They checked her over before letting her proceed, they took the tags and guided her to the showers. "Why do I need to shower?" The unicorn mare just looked her over with a funny look.
Rainbow looked at her sides to see the blood. She was so focused on other things that she failed to notice the blood splatter all over her uniform. When she got to the bathrooms she looked in the mirrors to see her face covered in blood. She was left alone to bathe. She stood letting the water fall on her body. Her mind wondered. 'What is going on? What have I gotten into? There is eleven dead ponies back there. Where my friends use to live. Where Pinkie and I pranked Rarity. Where Twilight helped me pass my wonder bolts exam. Where Applejack and I raced and had the most daring pony competition. Where Fluttershy overcame her fear of flying in front of ponies. There is ELEVEN dead ponies back there. Six were my team mates! Holy shit I need to talk to some pony about this. Can I talk to Rarity? No. She will want me to never do again and she will freak out. Twilight is busy. I am sure that AJ is busy, as well as Fluttershy. I don't trust Pinkie to talk about such a serious matter. Maybe Birch Curve can help me.'
Rainbow finished her shower and headed to Rarity's work place to tell her she was fine. Rainbow walked into the tailor store. It wasn't really a store since no pony bought anything anymore. Everything essential was made and given out. Personal possessions were not common. Anything that could be used for survival was monitored. It may be safe in the shield but life wasn't the same as before. Any object that was a want was paid for in labor. IOUs were currency. It was funny seeing a colt or filly finding a bit and not really caring. Some ponies made necklaces from bits stringed together. But if you find a IOU with a ponies signature every pony jumps at the chance to use it. Rainbow thought about this as she made her way to the back room to talk to Rarity. Then Rainbow thought about outside the shield. How the ponies didn't ask for anything. They didn't say anything besides to order the others or insult them.
Rainbow shook the thought out of her head. She saw Rarity sewing some plain cloth together to make sweaters for winter. "Hey Rare." Rarity turned and saw Dash. "Oh I didn't expect to see you here darling."
Rainbow shrugged. "Well we got done so I thought I would let you know I'm ok." Rarity stood up, walked over and gave Rainbow a hug. "Thank you. I was worried about you. Not that I am mad about it but why are you back early?"
Rainbow shook her head slowly. "No. I will tell you later. For now I am going to see Birch Curve." Rarity was worried but knew that Birch was a good pony and as long as Rainbow had a pony to talk to she thought it was ok. "You do that. I will talk to you later. I love you." Rainbow started to leave. "I love you too."
Rainbow went to Birch's place. She regularly visited him so it was no big deal to see him. Rainbow opened the door to his home. Birch Curve sat in a rocking chair, probably made by him. The earth pony greeted Rainbow. "Hey there. I didn't expect to see you today."
Rainbow took a seat next to Birch. "I didn't plan on coming here either, but I needed some pony to talk to." Birch had not been told about Rainbow going out today. "Oh why is that?"
Rainbow let out a sigh. "Well I didn't tell you but I went outside today. Like I went beyond the shield." Birch listened but did not interrupt. "We where looking for some pony. A black unicorn. That isn't the point. We where out there for maybe an hour. I don't know I lost track of time. We were ambushed by some bandits. We lost three ponies right away. We didn't know what was going on at first and were unprepared. One of the mares freaked out and couldn't get a hold of herself. She just laid on the ground freaking out like an idiot. The squad fought and we won but not by much. We had the numbers too."
Rainbow's voice was getting louder with every sentence. "It was horrible. I saw a pony's head fly off. The bandits. The bandits didn't even care. One laughed as he struck at my sergeant. Laughed! As he was trying to murder a pony! They didn't even try to talk either. As soon as they saw us they tried to kill us. No negotiations, no demands. Just attack. They didn't care about us. I don't know if they wanted our stuff or they just wanted to kill us. I had to defend myself just like the others. I killed one. It was a big earth pony. I stabbed him in the back of the neck. He shrugged it off like nothing and came at me again. I got a good angle and I took him down with a blade to the jaw. I killed a pony! I ended another pony's life! What do I do now?! Do I continue? How am I suppose to do that again?" Rainbow looked at the brown earth pony.
Birch had been listening to every word. Doing his best to understand as much as possible. "I cannot make this decision for you. I cannot relate to what has happened to you either. What do you truly fear? Is it killing another pony or is it dieing yourself?
Rainbow thought about it before answering. "A little of both. I think I am more afraid of dieing. I am not afraid of dieing as much as I am of leaving my friends and Rarity."
Birch thought as much. "I am sorry but you are being selfish. What you are doing is for the better of all ponies, not just you and your friends. You must do this. If you walked away now could you live with yourself knowing that you abandoned every pony in the military and every pony out there that needs your help? That you abandoned our future. That you left behind the Equestria we all know and love. That you gave up when every pony else stood strong in the face of danger. What if Rarity was out there? What if she had not been lucky enough to make it to Canterlot? Would you leave her behind for your own life?"
Rainbow emotions got the better of her. She got in Birch's face. "NO! I would never leave her behind! I would DIE for her! No pony can tell me otherwise! What do you know? You haven't been out there. You stay here and make furniture, safe behind the shield. I am the one who brought you here. If it wasn't for me then you would probably be dead."
Birch Curve was hurt by her words but knew better than to lose his cool. "I know Rainbow. I thank you for saving me but that is how I feel, and I signed up by the way. I will be going to training soon enough. I may be older and not as fit as most but I am going to play my part. Are you willing to do the same or will you cower behind the shield like a foal?"
Rainbow backed off and calmed herself. She realized that Birch cared for her and wouldn't say such things if he didn't believe in them. "I will play my part. I am no foal. Thank you for showing me that I was just scared. Sorry for yelling at you." Birch blew it off. "Don't worry about it. You were stressed. You are a brave pony, I know that. I just needed to show you that your fear was blinding you of the big picture."
Rainbow was glad that she had met Birch so long ago. He was a pony to depend on. "Thank you for being there all these years. You are a great pony." Birch appreciated the kindness. "Thank you but there is many ponies greater than I."
Rainbow said goodbye and left Birch to go see Rarity. She had made up her mind and was ready to play her part.
A/N: Well that was a little long. Birch Curve is OC by the way. For any of you who don't know the name of every character that has ever appeared on screen. I surely don't. About this story being considered a flop. Yes it is still considered one. So you know it has less than ten percent of my other stories views. To be accurate it had like 5%. That is really bad by comparison. And no reviews. None. It saddens me deeply. Well nothing I can do about it. But you can so please review. Happy thought on yall.
