//------------------------------//
// The First Chronicle - Chapter 1 
// Story: Octaves - The Chronicles of 
// by Victoria_the_dragoness 
//------------------------------//

The First Chronicle

•	Fear - To fear or be afraid of something or somepony is merely the conscious weakness all hold within themselves. But to break free from such feelings of pity and terror...is to set in motion something that will change the course of history forever.
•	That change...will be mine to make...

Chapter 1

5 Years Earlier

"Woo! Have I got a day planned for us or what Rainbow Dash?" Pinkie cried as she hopped alongside her rainbow-maned companion. It was still early in the morning for Rainbow Dash. The sun hadn't risen over the tops of the houses quite yet, but Pinkie insisted on getting an early bird's start on the day.
Like always, Dash had grudgingly agreed to wake up in the morning to meet the little pink pony. "Yeah, sure Pinkie." She replied, as usual. It was difficult, nearly impossible, for her to say no to those bright cyan eyes. Pinkie only seemed to use them with Dash, which was all the more frustrating. The pegasus moaned in her head about how easily she could be talked into these things...it never failed. "Alright Pinkie Pie, so what are we gonna do first-? Ooph!!"
Before she knew what was going on, Dash was tackled into an alleyway by Pinkie. She always marveled at how strong the mauve mare could be in certain situations; Dash often wondered how she could be so strong when all she ate were sweets. All she could do right now though was cough as the pony was unknowingly crushing Dash's wind pipe. "Shh! Somepony's following us!"
Do I have a choice? The cyan mare thought as Pinkie still took no notice of the poor pegasi's dilemma. "P...Pinkie- get...off me." Dash managed to sputter out at last. It seemed to do the trick.
Pinkie hopped off of her friend and looked back at her with apologetic eyes. "Sorry Dash. I just know there's somepony out there watching us." The pink mare proceeded to paste herself to the side of the building closest to her and peer around the corner suspiciously.
"Uh, yeah, sure." Dash replied, rubbing her chest as she sat upright. "Come on Pinkie, you've been acting like this all week. Nopony's out to get us. This is Ponyville for Celestia's sake." Still, the earth pony glanced around the streets trying to spot the "pony in question". Dash shook her head and rose to her hooves. She walked over to Pinkie and put a steady hoof on her shoulder. "Come on Pinks. You can show me the first thing you wanna do today."
The sudden contact seemed alien to the mare at first, but Pinkie only shook slightly before relaxing and turning to look at Dash. Pinkie smiled. "Yeah, okay. You're right. We have a lot to do after all. We can't miss a thing over some spooky feelings."
"Right." Dash smiled back and took to the air, waiting for directions.
Pinkie giggled and bounced back into the light of the sun on the cobbled road. "Come on Dashie! We've got ponies to see!" With that, Pinkie began bounding off to their first destination: Sweet Apple Acres.
***
The two ponies made it onto the Apple Family's property at around 9 AM. The sun had only just risen over the top of the barn to grace the fields with a good ray of sunshine. Pinkie bounced through the entrance happily and came to a halt at the beginning of the apple orchards.
It was always an amazing sight to see so many trees lined up and bursting with apples. Of course Dash didn’t care too much for the apples so much as the delicious cider that most of them were made into. Now though the leaves were already changing colors and falling gracefully to the ground in preparation for the winter months.
Dash would never admit it to anypony, but sometimes she just liked to sit and watch the leaves change color and fall from the trees. It was kind of a calming feeling to see them rustled gently by the cool breeze in autumn, while the other ponies were busy working all day.
It didn't take long before the two ponies were noticed. Applejack was already out in the orchards bucking off the ripe apples from the trees when she saw them come by. "Yeehah! Howdy Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash. What brings ya to Sweet Apple Acres on this fine morning?"
"And an early morning at that." Dash added sleepily.
Pinkie Pie grinned and hopped forward to greet the orange mare. "Hey Applejack, whatcha doin'?" She asked in her cheerful way of asking anypony what they were doing.
Applejack tipped her hat and gestured to the tree beside her. "Shoot. I'm just gettin' a head start on these apples. I got a heck of a lot ta do 'round here before the autumn season ends. Winter's not too far away I reckon."
"Oooooh, that sounds like fun. Can we help you Applejack?" Pinkie asked excitedly as the cowgirl pony bucked an apple tree. The ripe apples tumbled down into the baskets she had placed there, while Applejack moved onto the next one.
"Well, ah suppose ya'll could help a little bit. Ah remember ya'll bein' a great help ta me when ah needed a couple extra hooves. Sure ya can, if it's not too much trouble." Applejack smiled at Pinkie and Dash gratefully.
Pinkie shook her head quickly in response. "Oh nononono! Not at all, right Rainbow Dash?" She asked, turning to the cyan pegasus beside her.
"H-hey, Pinkie Pie!!" Dash yelled at hearing what Pinkie was agreeing to for her.
"See? Nooo problem!" Pinkie laughed in quick succession, cutting off Dash's protest.
Applejack nodded patiently, looking from one to the other. "Well alrighty then. Thanks gals, I owe ya one."
When Applejack was out of earshot, Dash bumped the pink pony slightly to get her attention. "What did you do that for?" She whispered. "Please tell me this isn't the first thing we have to do today; I'm just waking up as it is."
"Oh Rainbow Dash," Pinkie soothed, waving a hoof at her dismissively. "It won't be that hard. We don't have to clear the whole apple orchard with her; I just wanna help a little is all." Dash huffed and turned her head away from the pink mare. Pinkie hopped back into sight of the mare. "Come on...pleeeeease?"
Those pleading eyes again. Light blue spheres that got her whatever she wanted from the pegasus. Dash sighed a long, tired sigh. "Ugh, fine. But when I've had enough, we go to your next list item. Got it?"
"Yay!" Pinkie screamed, hugging the cerulean pegasus tightly before letting go. "You won't regret this Rainbow Dash, I promise!"
Happily, Pinkie sprang off after Applejack to see what she and Dash could do. Dash on the other hoof just grumbled under her breath as she followed behind. "I think I already am."
***
The morning drew on in Ponyville, and the sun rose high into the sky so the ponies could enjoy another splendid day in the small town. Dash however, was not enjoying her morning so far. Normally she would be sleeping until noon, but instead she was bucking apples off trees while half asleep. 
At least Pinkie wasn't breaking into song or dance or anything.
She was actually beginning to wonder about that though. After they had started, Pinkie grew quite quiet, as if she’d forgotten she or Applejack were there. It was something very unusual for the pink pony, and Dash was just about to ask her about it when Applejack spoke.
"Ah really appreciate ya'll helpin' me this morning. It means a lot." She said with that unmistakeable Southern twang of hers.
Dash took a step to the side and bucked the tree behind her. The apples fell and neatly piled into the baskets underneath. "Sure thing Applejack. I suppose it's better than sleeping and doing nothing." Yeah right.
Applejack chuckled at that. "Well ah know how much ya like yer sleep, and Pinkie's always glad to help me out. Thanks to ya both, but if ah may ask...why did ya come ta help me Rainbow?"
"Oh, I uh, well..." That caught Dash a little off guard. For some reason she suddenly became worried about telling Applejack about Pinkie's plans for the day.
Pinkie looked up from the basket in front of her to look at the two ponies in conversation. "It's okay Rainbow Dash. You can tell her."
Dash coughed and turned to look at Applejack. "Well it's...cuz Pinkie Pie has a list that she made for the two of us to complete...by the end of the day. I just didn't know bucking apples was first on the list."
The orange pony nodded in understanding. "Ah see. So that's why."
"Yeah."
The three ponies were silent for a moment. None of them looked at each other, and only stared at apples or the trees or both.
"Hey," Applejack said, breaking the long silence over the group. "Did ya hear about the other disappearance a while back?"
Dash sighed after another long quiet. "Yeah, it was all over town. I can't believe nopony’s investigating it further. We haven't seen any of them since, but nopony knows or is telling us what's going on...I want some answers, you know?"
"Knock it off, Dash. I'm sure they've got it handled. How would ya'll go about gettin' answers anyway?" Applejack retorted, kicking her back legs out to hit the tree behind her.
"I just hope everypony's alright..." Pinkie said, moving the dirt around under her hoof.
***
When it was time to leave, Dash was getting restless and Pinkie's list was far from on schedule, the two ponies said goodbye to Applejack and returned to the road heading to Fluttershy's cottage.
"So whaddya think of that Rainbow Dash? Was it fun-a-fun, fun?" Pinkie questioned hopefully as she bounced along the path.
"Yeah I guess." Dash answered lazily, looking a bit sidetracked. "It coulda been worse. I still don't know what brought that missing pony subject up with Applejack."
Pinkie shrugged as she bounced and adopted a trot to match Dash's stride. "I dunno. What do you think is going on?"
"I'm not sure, but I wanna find out...and I think I know how." Dash's face was serious and focused. She quickened her pace on the path and turned her head towards Pinkie.
The little pony looked confused, but interested. Pinkie tilted her head to the side curiously. "You do? How?"
Dash responded, smiling in that determined way she always did, "By becoming an agent of the EBI."
"Ooooh, that sounds cool. What do ya think you'll be doing?" Pinkie asked.
The cyan pegasus took to the air suddenly and floated in front of Pinkie. "The only thing I want to do is find out what's happening to these ponies. I'll do whatever it takes."
Pinkie only smiled and continued walking. "I wouldn't expect anything less from you, Rainbow Dash."
*****
3 Months Later
*****
"Congratulations Rainbow Dash. You are now a special agent of the Equestrian Bureau of Investigation."
"Thank you ma'am, I won't let you down." Dash replied, standing up and saluting in front of the Bureau. She stood in line with three other graduates, but Dash was the first to be called up to receive her badge.
The chief of the Bureau smiled warmly. "I have no doubt that you won’t Agent Dash. You have been our best graduate in years, and I'm not saying that lightly. Good work."
"Thank you." Dash shook her hoof and accepted the grad scroll. She shook the other board members' hooves and proceeded back to her seat.
***
As the ceremony ended, the rainbow maned pegasus strolled out of the conference room with a proud smile on her face. She was asked to visit the chief's office to be assigned her uniform and equipment.
Dash walked down the large white cobblestone hallway to the head office of the Bureau. It had been a long time since Dash saw any of her friends; and although she wrote to each of them often, she needed to get back to them soon. However, there was something she had to confirm first.
***
The cerulean pony sat in her seat in front of the chief's desk, waiting patiently for him to return. He stepped back in from the second room and laid out Dash's equipment. "Here is your uniform and coat, and your badge and gun..." The chief sighed. "Now I understand that you put in a request to work on the disappearance case in Ponyville, is that correct?"
"Yes sir. It's why I joined the EBI." Dash answered nodding her head. She picked up her badge and held it in her hoof for a moment.
The chief raised his eyebrow at the colorful mare, curiously. "Oh?" He said.
"I don't believe these cases are simple disappearances, sir. Somepony is taking these ponies and keeping them hostage. What ponies are saying; that all of them are just on vacations or-or away on business is horseapples and is afraid to admit the truth. I want to find out who's doing this and why."
"Well Agent Dash, you are one of our best new graduates...one of the best I've seen in a while, but I must advise against such a request." The chief reasoned, shuffling papers that covered his desk.
Dash persisted, standing up from her chair and holstering her gun at her hip. "Please chief. I know I'm asking a lot, but I can do it. It's in my town that this is happening and nopony seems to have discovered anything worth looking into."
The chief chuckled after a few minutes. "Well...that isn't entirely true."
Dash's ears perked at hearing this, focusing on what her superior was about to say.
"You see a while back…when this case first arose we found some strange evidence." He coughed and stood up from his seat, wandering around his office as if in thought. "At that time, two ponies had already gone missing...without a trace or...anypony knowing where they might have gone. Now it seemed that...the two agents assigned to investigate there discovered a list...it had the names of those two ponies along with many others." 
At that the chief stopped walking. He turned to face Dash, who was watching him circle the room intently. "Their names were Emerald Dust and Lyra Heartstrings. There might have been lists before the one we found, but we can't know for sure. Unfortunately, that list was not enough to investigate further and they found no more evidence of what might have happened. So the Bureau closed the case as unsolved. Nopony's offered to reopen the case since then." He exhaled deeply and strolled back to sit in his chair.
"So is there still a chance I can begin where those other two ponies left off?" Dash asked quickly, having even more of an interest in the case after being given information into it.
The chief sighed and opened a drawer in his desk. He pulled out an envelope with the word ‘unsolved’ printed at the top and gave it to Dash. "Here's all we have of the case so far; all the names of the missing ponies and the dates of when they were reported in. The list of supposed victims is in a bag in there too."
Dash grinned at him and pulled her uniform on. "Thanks chief, I'll get right on it." She trotted up to the door when the chief spoke again.
"This case was never investigated further, Agent Dash...ponies in the unit, in the EBI, just became scared as to what this case actually was. Be careful." He warned, sorting through the sheets of paper littering his desk again. "Don't go too deep into this thing, or you might not come out the same way."
Dash turned to look into the chief's eyes and saw how serious he was about this. She nodded and said nothing, turning the doorknob and walking out of the office with her first assignment.