//------------------------------// // Friendships Forgotten: Agent Rainbow // Story: Friendships Forgotten // by e4tmyl33t //------------------------------// Friendships Forgotten: Agent Rainbow The warmth of the sun kissed her wings. It was a feeling she loved, but one that she was also quickly getting tired of. For months now, she had spent most of her time at these high altitudes waiting for events that may not come. She sighed quietly and did a little backflip, stretching out tired muscles and worn out tendons. Six hours she’d been up here today, higher than the highest clouds. She looked down on those clouds, fondly remembering the times gone past where she would laze around on them waiting for friends to come by, or bucking them away to let the warm light of the sun stream down to all the ponies below. Rainbow Dash was tired of the war. For eight months now, Rainbow had been a lone flier for the Solar Empire. Her natural talent for speed had initially gotten her placed as a scout and reconnaissance pony, keeping near the ever-changing front lines and reporting back to other ponies what she discovered. Three months into the war, however, she was given a new assignment. She remembered that day as the day she started getting annoyed at the sun’s warmth. She thought back on the events immediately prior, the act that got her placed where she was now. She had charged into the commanders’ tent, panting heavily and legs trembling. Her rainbow mane was caked with dirt and leaves, evidence of the methods she had to use to avoid being caught. The assembled officers turned towards her, and the closest pony motioned for her to speak. “They’re coming,” she remembered herself saying, “they’re heading straight here. They’ve got to have close to 200 earth ponies and at least 3 pegasus bomber squadrons on the way.” The assembled officers gasped in shock, that kind of a force would decimate their little encampment, as they only hosted a company of 50 ponies and a single squad of pegasi. They would be outmanned, and probably completely decimated if the enemy had managed to hide any unicorns in those earth pony squads. “Are you sure about those numbers? Why would they be sending such a massive force here?” one of the captains asked. The colonel at the head of the table stomped a hoof and scowled angrily at the map spread out on the table between them all before speaking. “We’re shortly due to receive reinforcements. The higher-ups believe that if we can put together enough of a force here and drive forward that we can split the land the New Lunar Republic holds and cut off their supply lines. There are camps like this all around the Republic’s land. If it worked, we could surround a good portion of their forces and either force them to surrender, or...” his words died off, as even throughout these past few months of conflict it was difficult for anypony to think of taking another pony’s life. Rainbow Dash stood there quietly throughout this exchange, silently cursing Luna for instigating this whole war. She thought of all the ponies out in the barracks and mess tents, and how they would never survive the force that was coming towards them. They would be wiped out entirely. With a small snort of determination, she raised her head and shook her mane, causing some of the debris to fall out of it. “I’ll head them off,” she heard herself saying, not quite believing the words coming out of her own mouth. “I’ll try to create a diversion while you ponies evacuate. Get somewhere safe. If I can find you afterwards...” she trailed off, knowing how unlikely that scenario was. The officers all looked at her like she was insane. “There’s no way you’ll survive! A lone scout against that size of a force? You won’t stand a chance!” a lieutenant exclaimed. The colonel shook his head sadly. “Unfortunately, it’s probably the best chance we’ve got. Rainbow here is a good flier, one of the best. If she can deceive the enemy into going the wrong direction, even a little bit, we can save the lives of many ponies here.” He looked Rainbow Dash in the eye with a steeled expression. “I wish you luck, Rainbow. May Celestia protect you.” Rainbow Dash saluted the colonel with a tired hoof. “Don’t worry, colonel, I’ve got a plan. I don’t know if it will work, but it’s my...and our...best chance right now.” With that, she turned and slowly walked out of the tent, with all of the commanders behind her bowing their heads in a silent prayer for the lone pegasus. She shook her head to clear it from the memory. She was on duty, and she had to keep a close eye on the skies beneath her. She did a couple small tricks to stretch more muscles, making sure she kept herself out of sight behind the higher clouds. She’d never be able to pull off her maneuver if she was spotted beforehand. As she hovered in the heights, she thought back to her friends. Whatever happened to those five ponies she had hung out with back in Ponyville, before it was taken as the capital of the New Lunar Republic? She wondered how the quiet Fluttershy and bookish Twilight Sparkle dealt with the outbreak of the war. Fluttershy had always hated conflict, so she probably fled the fighting to live in peace with her animals. Twilight had disappeared shortly before the war began, having been sent on a diplomatic mission to Ponyville to try and make peace with Princess Luna. Nopony had heard from her since. She wondered if Rarity, with her style and grace, was getting along well in Canterlot, having moved there after the war started. She wouldn’t dirty herself on the front lines. Maybe she was making dresses for the bigwigs there, or designing the uniforms the troops wore. Rainbow Dash hoped that she was doing okay for herself. She had heard rumors that Applejack had sided with Luna and was fighting out on the front lines, with Big Macintosh running Sweet Apple Acres to provide food for the troops out in the fields. She idly wondered if Applejack was among the many wounded she had seen over the last few months. The only pony she could say for certain that she didn’t wish to run across out here in warzone was Pinkie Pie. After the war broke out, with chaos and conflict raging across Equestria, Pinkie Pie had gotten despondent that her parties weren’t enough to cheer up the Equestrian citizens she came across. Her mind reverted to that of Pinkamena Diane Pie, the odd and insane pony that Rainbow Dash had met only once before. Pinkie Pie’s newfound madness caused her to gather a group of mercenaries to her, calling themselves the P.A.R.T.Y. Squad, and hiring themselves out to whoever paid them the most that day. They had no remorse, and were utterly ruthless in engaging whomever was their enemy at the time. Once the killing was over, however, the true horror began. The bodies of the slain were made into “party attendees”, and their “parties” usually ended up with bloodstains and property damage covering entire towns. Rainbow Dash took the time to shed a tear for the friends she couldn’t see, the friends she missed so much. She missed Pinkie Pie’s parties, and the occasional crash through Twilight’s library windows. She missed her athletic competitions with Applejack. She missed Rarity’s sometimes-snooty sense of fashion, and the dress that she had worn for the Grand Galloping Gala years ago. She missed Fluttershy’s quiet kindness, even if she were scared of her own shadow most of the time. Most of all, she missed being together with them all. Ever since she was recruited into the Solar Empire’s fighting forces, she had been alone. Sure, there were the ponies in the encampments, but she was never there long enough to even learn their names. She was only ever in the encampments for a day or two at most before heading back out to the field for more reconnaissance work. She missed having friends to hang out with, to compete with, and to laugh with. Wiping the tears away that were building up in her eyes, she tried to empty her mind of the thoughts of the friendships that were forgotten. She had a job to do, even if it was just hovering in the sky for ten or twelve hours out of the day, and reminiscing over her old friends wasn’t getting that job done. Having cleared the final drops from her eyes with her forelegs, she once again turned her attention downwards. Scanning the sky below, she was about to resign herself to another few hours of boredom before the sun went down when she noticed a dark spot against the ground below. She squinted her eyes for a better look, then opened them wide as a small smirk came across her face. A large flight of pegasi had just taken off from Republic territory and were heading towards one of the larger camps on the outskirts of the Solar Empire’s land. She took a few deep breaths and steeled herself for what she was about to do. Judging their distance and height, Rainbow Dash mentally counted down a few seconds, and then threw herself into a steep dive, remaining as quiet as she could the whole time. As she plunged towards the ground, she placed both her forehooves in a diver’s point in front of her and began to pick up speed. The timing on this had to be perfect. As she fell, she took note of the air bending in front of her. She pushed herself faster, watching the deformity in the air grow and begin to wrap itself around her. She needed as much speed as she could get if she was going to pull off a Sonic Rainboom in the center of the enemy squadron. Rainbow had gotten this trick down to an art form, and now was using it as a weapon. As the wind whipped past her face and blew back her mane, her mind once again drifted back to that day when she first thought of using the Rainboom offensively. She had taken off from the camp and, using a long and out-of-the-way path, flew up above the cloud cover. Rainbow already hated this war, and she didn’t like what she was about to do. Once she was high enough, she stopped and looked out over the land until she found the advancing enemy. She flapped her wings and flew towards the enemy, hoping that what she was about to do would work. As she approached the oncoming forces, she began to throw herself into a dive. Three pegasus bomber squadrons meant a lot of bombs, and if she could disrupt their flight with a Sonic Rainboom enough to cause them to fall into their own troops... Rainbow blinked the tears out of her eyes. Never before had she intentionally caused harm to another pony. Sure, there had been accidents, and she had certainly caused some property damage because of her flying, but never had she willingly attacked another pony. What she was about to do was horrible, but if she didn’t do it then all those ponies in that camp would be dead by nightfall. She plunged down, the air crackling around her as the wave of energy built up in front of her. Just as she was about to hit the same altitude as the enemy pegasi, she surged forward with a hard flap of her wings. BOOM. From behind her, it didn’t sound big enough. She banked up to avoid hitting the ground, and that’s when she heard the screaming. As she circled back up above their lines, she looked down on the enemy...or what used to be the enemy forces. The Sonic Rainboom had been perfectly placed at a height mere inches above the backs of the flying pegasi. The shockwave of color and sound, being so close, snapped their wings like twigs in a tornado and sent the pegasi spinning out of control to the ground. With 20 pegasi per squadron, and each pony carrying two bombs, the ground forces were all but annihilated. Only a few wounded soldiers remained. As she looked upon the field below her, Rainbow Dash felt all the muscles in her chest and throat tighten up. She closed her eyes, which were streaming with tears, and immediately took off back towards the direction of Empire territory. She had saved those ponies in the camp, but she felt like a monster. Rainbow Dash shook her head again to focus on the here and now. Something was wrong. She couldn’t tell what, but she had an immediate feeling that something was different about this attack. She was almost upon the enemy, but she still glanced around to try and figure out what was causing this feeling of dread that took up residence in her chest. Two seconds passed before her eyes widened and she figured it out. There were no ground troops. During all these months of fighting, never was a pegasus squadron sent out without being accompanied by at least one squad of ponies on the ground as support. There were no ground troops accompanying this squadron, and the squadron wasn’t carrying any bombs. Instead, strapped to each of their backs and stomachs was a large crystal. Painted on their sides in liquid rainbows were images of a noose. This was a suicide squadron. Rainbow Dash knew that if she aborted the attempt now, she’d likely end up dead as a result of the g-forces that would be exerted on her. She narrowed her eyelids to slits, and pushed forward. All her muscles screamed in exertion as she hit that magical speed, and BOOM. The air was filled with color all around her. This wasn’t supposed to happen, her mind said, the Rainboom only makes a ring-shaped shockwave. Why is the air in front of me colored? she wondered, briefly, before a loud cracking sound was heard. BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM. The air lit up with a white light, brighter than the daytime sun. Rainbow Dash couldn’t see where she was going. She tumbled a bit in the air, attempting to find anywhere where the extreme white light didn’t exist. She didn’t even see the shockwave come up behind her and slam her towards the ground. As she lost consciousness, her only thought was, So they found a way to fight it. I guess that means I’m not so great anymore. She blacked out before she hit the forest. Epilogue She felt a cool breeze wafting over her face. She was in incredible pain, but she knew she was alive. Everything hurt, and she didn’t dare to open her eyes to see what kind of shape she was in. As the pain flared and she started slipping back into unconsciousness, she thought she heard a familiar quiet voice. “Oh...oh Rainbow Dash...what did they do to you?” She cracked her eyes open just enough to see a flash of yellow and pink before she slipped back into the darkness.