Rainbow Dash lives an exciting life and is swiftly becoming the most daring, awesome pegasus in all of Equestria. She would gladly give it all up, though, just to confess her love to Applejack.
"So..." Rainbow Dash smirked. "Zecora does have a shed."
"Mrmmmf..." Noir fussed with the door. The latch made a loud clakking sound as it eventually opened. "She does now."
"How come I've never seen it before?" Rainbow asked.
"Because I built it." Noir opened the door to a tiny interior lined with shelves full of jars and bottles and satchels of alchemic ingredients. "Just a month ago."
Rainbow cocked her head aside. "Wow... you two are serious, aren't you?"
Noir sighed, turning around to give Rainbow a bland stare. "Zecora is more than capable of grasping simple—even advanced architecture. However, being a mare who hails from the Zebrahara, her experience with carpentry is... limited." He cleared his throat, gesturing with a hairy fetlock. "It was... the decent thing to do, on my part."
"Right." Rainbow smiled. "I'm sure Zeeks is pleased."
"Mrmmmff..." Noir turned and trotted into the dark interior. "There are not many things in life that are precious to me. Zecora... is the brightest star that my existence has afforded. Assisting her around the confines of her Everfree Habitat is the least I can do to honor such a graceful creature."
"Yowsers..." Rainbow fanned herself. "You should totally say that to her, dude."
"I... am attempting to come up with an abridged version, yes."
"Well get right on it." Rainbow smirked. "It'd be wicked cool to see a bunch of striped bat ponies flying around."
Noir navigated another groan before muttering: "There was something you desired to share with me?"
"Well... more like something I... uh... wanted to ask of you." Rainbow stepped in close. She spoke in a quiet voice that barely echoed off the narrow walls of the shed. "Are you... like... still with the Moonbase Alpha ponies?"
"Lunar Code," Noir corrected.
"R-right. I knew that."
"And I'm somewhat confused by the inquisition." Noir turned, his slitted eyes glimmering like a wolf's in the dark. "Why would the Lunar Code not be giving their all to defend the security of Princess Luna and Equestria at large?"
"Ah! So you're still totally a thing. Cool beans." Rainbow brushed her bangs back with a nervous smile. "So much crazy crap over the past year... I-I sorta forgot if Don Canter did a number on the bulk of you or not..."
"He dealt a nasty blow to members of the Order, yes, but we are far from extinct." Noir fiddled through several jars, looking for the enchanted dust. "Thanks to you—indirectly or not—we no longer have to fear the likes of him."
"That's cool, I guess..."
"It is far more than 'cool.' Already, our agents along the eastern coastline have observed a significant drop in organized crime throughout the island of Manehattan. It's... almost revolutionary, Miss Dash."
"Yeah, well, you might wanna swing by Las Pegasus in the near future."
"Huh?"
Rainbow winced. "Erm... a conversation for another time. Ahem." She rubbed her tingling forelimbs. "So... I was wondering..."
"Yes...?" Noir searched through more and more ingredients.
"... ... ...any other jobs that the Lunar Code might need an awesome pegasus for?"
Noir turned to look at her.
Rainbow looked back, biting her lip.
"When you use the world 'job' in its pluralized form..." Noir raised an eyebrow. "...do you mean to suggest that there are positions within the Lunar Code that rewards loyalty with monetary commission?"
"Right..." Rainbow nodded. "...a job."
"Miss Dash, I'm afraid you misunderstand the purpose of the Order that Princess Luna set in motions ages ago." Noir exhaled. "We give our very livelihood to the protection of Equestrian interests. It is... not something that we do to get rich from. Or famous, I might add."
"Er... yeah. Totally." Rainbow rubbed the back of her neck again. "I sorta figured that..."
"However..." Noir nodded into the shadowed corners of the structure. "...we have many resources at our disposal. And—considering the fact that it takes a veritable lifetime to commit whole-heartedly to the Lunar Code—the call of duty is more than enough to sustain a humble soul, so long as they are committed to the service."
"So... in a sense... it does pay?"
"It sustains, Rainbow Dash," Noir clarified. "Either you live by the Lunar Code or you live for yourself."
"Do... you still live by it?" Rainbow winced slightly at her own words. "I-I don't mean that in a bad way. I mean... it sorta seems like you've... uh... settled with Zecora here." She cleared her throat. "In the Everfree Forest."
"In a manner of speaking, I suppose you could say that," Noir remarked. "However, I have been on active duty three times since I recovered from my injuries."
Rainbow blinked. "You have?"
"Indeed." Noir nodded. "My brothers and sisters in the field are doing more work than me, admittedly. But that's because the nature of my contributions have... become more moderate as of late. It's only a natural stage of having so many veteran years in the service."
"Ah... I get it..." Rainbow managed a slight smirk. "Bat pony retirement and all that."
"Not the choice of words I would use, but ever so slightly analogous—yes."
"Well, that's cool for you." Rainbow exhaled. Both her words and her thoughts trailed off. She stared into negative space.
Noir glanced curiously at her. "Do you... seriously wish to work for the Lunar Code?"
"You... think it would give me something to do?" Rainbow's voice wavered a bit. "Keep me fed?"
Noir nodded. "Most assuredly. And—if your brave actions don't already speak for themselves—I can most definitely assist you in landing an active position. One that is best suited to your... fearless bravado."
"Heh..." Rainbow exhaled with a slight shudder. "Sounds nifty."
"However, Rainbow Dash, it is only fair to warn you." Noir's eyes hardened. "You will be considered a novice at best in the eyes of my peers. You would have many trials to overcome... many tests to prove yourself worthy."
"Right. Sure. I get it."
"And..." Noir tilted his chin back. "...you would not have the same luxury of choosing your base of operations. Not like I currently do. You will most likely be situated in the furthest parts of Equestria and the world at large—many locations that are considered inhospitable."
"In other words..." Rainbow spoke. "...I would have to kiss Ponyville good-bye."
"Indeed, Miss Dash." Noir gravely nodded.
Rainbow took a deep breath... frowning, almost. "So... where do I sign up?"
Noir blinked.
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Space: 1999 reference.
And the next arc begins.
7295958
Dude... Close, but no cigar.
7295958
Maybe the dragons are causing problems again.
7296011 Maybe we should set up a betting pool: who do we see first, me or AJ?
7295988 Only one lemur knows for sure.
Oh, Dash, no.
And how are you going to explain THAT to your friends?
(I can't see them, and most especially AJ, taking that very well.
Or for THAT matter, Scoots?
7296054 I'm predicting no one and Rainbow leaves a note behind... that gets carried away by the wind where it settles down with her love letter and a spin-off story begins hazzah
And there you have it.
Okay see, she's abandoning ponyville, and that's bad, but here's the really shitty thing
We know Dash can't die because she's the main character, so nothing the Lunar Code throws at her will end this story prematurely.
With that being said, they can throw literally anything at her, life can throw literally anything at Dash, and we just have to sit here and read it and wait because we were promised cuddles.
But shit can literally still get worse from here
7296206 Um . . . Dash has died twice already in this Fic. Unless the one with Romulus doesn't count, I mean. Maybe we should start worrying. And I agree. It can totally go even more downhill.
7296120 I'm not entirely sure her friends would actually notice. They haven't noticed anything going on so far.
7296228 Well, that's true, but I'm thinking that if she just disappeared completely, they might.
At the very least, Fluttershy would, if Dash just stopped coming by altogether.
(And I'm NOT so sure about AJ, either.)
(Her fixation with Stu-pid Leaves notwithstanding.)
And they'd probably REALLY notice that something was up when ponies start taking her home apart for the cloudstone, as that thing's pretty hard to miss.
But I guess we'll just have to wait and see what Skirts has in store for us for the next bunch of chapters.
ACT II: DEATH DRIVES A STICK
Oooh, you caught him off guard. Nice Dash.
...is Luna going to hear about this? I mean, if Noir's word isn't enough, Dash is one of the elements of Harmony, and on pretty good terms with Luna, perhaps if the very pony behind the existence of their order vouches for her...
..Eh. Like Dash would accept that, if she wants to be an agent, she'll want to prove herself.
7295988
7296206
True, I mean she's already been at Death's Door, so how much worse can this get?
I'd be okay with Rainbow leaving Ponyville if we got some striped bat ponies out of it.
What a depressing world this has developed into, where we started with the closeness of canon and slowly, through nothing but the legitimate timeline of the book, have grown to a point where Rainbow's almost considered as outside their inner circle of friendship. I'm overplaying it a bit, but it must be said; it's interesting reading about how relationships can change given a realistic timeline, instead of skipping years for the sake of getting to the point.
Dash was tied to Ponyville by AJ. With her supposedly moving on, or finally trying to live for herself rather than others, maybe this will be HEALTHY for Rainbow.
Well. Okay then. I can't say I was expecting her to leave quite like that.
And watch.
While she's at Canterlot, Twilight is going to meet Sunset Shimmer, who is going to tell her all about how she was able to leave Don Canter's gang thanks to Dash, therefore also revealing the ordeal about the shards and possibly how Dash told her she was retrieving the rest of them to save some farm filly's sister's (i.e. Apple Bloom's) life.
This will all lead to Twilight rushing back to Ponyville to tell everyone else, but probably not before she tries to go confront Dash about it all herself...
...only to find out that at this point, it is too late, and Rainbow Dash has already left for good.
I mean, I really don't know what else to expect.
Now, that's a big shoe to drop.
Is this really what you want, Dash?
7300051
Maybe not what she wants, but what she needs.
Is this really what you want, Rainbow?
Dashie is awesome at giving advice, but less so at taking her own.
That's, like, 80% of Appledashery so far.
I'm ambivalent. Sure, it will take her away from Ponyville and her friends and particularly Applejack. But it does seem that her existence there is basically a holding pattern. The only time she is truly in her element is when she leaves to go suplex supervillains and relieve miscellaneous miscreants of their molars.
So by all means, Dashie. If you can't be happy with AJ, at least be happy.
ex-squeeze-me??
Emotionless voice: It sustains, it sustains. That which sustains, satiates.
You melon fudge, what about your friends?!