Chapter 1: Into the Chaos
Streak. Chapter 1. Into the Chaos
It was 5 or 6 winters ago now when it happened. There’s nothing to the south we all thought. Beyond the jungle, it was fact that there was no life beyond and would be pointless to go. Hell, the thought of needing a proper army was never even a consideration at the time. Life was peaceful, it would have been an unnecessary financial drain the Capitol didn’t need. I guess the mentality that a way will always be found was ultimately our greatest downfall. It was already too late when they invaded. Appleloosa was the first to go, overrun with hordes upon hordes of Ponies, all uniformly grey in colour. Their eyes blacked out, and cutie marks removed, these were not Ponies anymore, they were simply creatures of death. It didn’t take very long for the Capitol to come to their senses to muster up some sort of counter plan that doesn't just rely on the Princess and her friends. Within a week, conscription's came down, forcing any able body to arrive at Canterlot for their training. By the third day, they stopped running the training courses and started handing out uniforms.
I was one of the conscripts to arrive early, if you want to call that lucky i guess. There was no organization, of course. Why would their be? A force never before seen before attacking a completely unprepared for such a rudimentary subject; war. For 3 days all we knew was pain. Not because our entire bodies were trying to shut down, that wasn’t the problem. The problem was knowing there was nothing we could do to help all the helpless individuals still out where there’s no safety. It certainly didn’t feel good watching all the newest recruits coming through with tears running down their faces while in line waiting for their uniforms. They all knew they were being sent to die. I can understand they were sending them to simply just slow them down while the rest of us finished up the training. I don’t really know if it made a difference in the end to be honest.
It was time. I was in the guest room they gave us and could hear the sirens going off all around the city. That meant it was go time, we were going to war. I took one last look in the mirror, the green in my eyes were just a little less green, the light brown of the coat, even less colour. My normal flowing purple mane, held back with a bandanna to grant me better vision. The bandanna was dirty and torn, compliments of our 3 day crash course. I spread my wings fully to give them a check. I was ready. We were all formed up in ranks in front of the castle to await our orders. Were we formed up shoulder to shoulder, we could barely move. If I had to give a number on how many troops were there, it was easily over 10,000. I was standing in the front, a measly few feet separated the troops from Grand Matriarch Celestia and the legendary 6. I will always remember how she addressed us. It will probably haunt my mind until i'm too old to remember. She said, “Ponies of Equestria. Here we stand in front of the great castle of Canterlot ready to defend our great Nation. I’m here not addressing you as your Queen, but as a fellow citizen of Equestria. You know what has to be done, there’s no room for mistakes. Go no, defend your home, defend your people, and most importantly, defend your freedom. Never let those bastards take which they have no claim to!”
As she finished her speech, I was bumped from behind and I fell over. I was locking up my knees to be fair, but ultimately still the most embarrassing thing to happen to me. Not without resolution though, it was then when I think I noticed just how beautiful Commander Rainbow Dash was. My headband had fallen off and my mane was in a mess. My hoof was stopped when I reached down to grab it. Surprised, I was shocked to learn it was the Commander herself who had stayed my hoof from grabbing the bandanna. She smiled at me and took off her own bandanna she was wearing at the time. It was personalized just for her. Her name and cutie mark were embroidered on the corner. She lifted my hair back and tied it around, smiled, then walked back to her post. That was the last time I would see her smile, a memory I cherish to this day. Once we were dismissed, we started our march for Appleloosa, where hundred upon hundred of our untrained troops were dying to hold the line.
When we arrived in Appleloosa, copious amounts of death surrounded us, staining the earth we walked on. The enemy had broken the line and had advanced to Ponyville. We missed an entire army while travelling to Appleloosa, almost immediately screwing us over from the start. We doubled back as quickly as we could, but it was too late by the time we arrived. We charged in, taking out as many of the baddies as we could. There was maybe 100 of us against an uncountable number of opponents merely an hour into the battle. They destroyed half our army in one battle. Only half of us were sent to help defend Appleloosa in the first place, it was never enough. It was the battle at Ponyville where we discovered just how truly fucked we were. We hammered these beasts as hard as we could. They were incredibly hard to take down. Hit after hit the amount of stamina they maintained was almost godly. It was almost as if the entire army was actually bred and raised to conquer. During the battle, the great tree library was set ablaze. Everything was happening so soft, without thinking I ran inside to check for any survivors. I was welcomes to 3 large stallions slowly cornering a few ponies who were trapped inside from the start of the invasion. My 3 days of training was going to have to do, I had to save these helpless ponies. I flapped my wings as hard as I could, throwing books and like the like over the room. In the chaos, I managed to topple a bookcase over, crushing the the attackers just before they could jump out of the way. The door was aflame and at that point even I thought I was going to die. There was a loud crash, and another couple of the unknown ponies came funneling into the library. I was forced to think fast if I wanted to get out of here safe, while also securing the lives of the ones depending on me to get them out of here. They grey's advanced closer and closer by the minute. Rainbow Dash’s bandanna came loose and fell off my head, falling in front of me. I looked at the bandanna, then back at the oncoming threat. I wasn't scared anymore, I knew what I had to do. I snatched up the bandanna and secured it tightly to my head. I looked back the the cowing ponies behind me and motioned for them to stay close behind me. I thought back to a mover I saw in training where it’s possible for certain Pegasus to physically manipulate the wind they generate with their wings. I continuously flapped my wings with determination towards the attacks, but nothing was happening. I was simply cooling them off while they gained more ground towards us, as we slowing moved deeper into the furnace. I Looked back again and saw the terror in the smallest one, it gave me the power to to summon whatever energy I had left within me for one final gust. I flung my wings forward, but at the last second sharply shot my wings down towards the ground. There was a loud thundering snap, and moment later a piercing gust of wind had shot right through the attackers, blowing a massive hole out of the tree. I had completely obliterated them, and anyone else that was behind that tree. Millions of pieces of wood flew out like shrapnel towards the onslaught going on outside the library. I felt a sharp pain in my wings, and I remember passing out and can’t remember what happened after that.
I woke up back in Canterlot in what I thought was the hospital. Turns out that the blast I created destroyed enough of the grey’s that they retreated back to Appleloosa, saving the lives of everyone left still alive in Ponyville. But, it wasn’t the hospital, it was an exam room in a secret lab under the main castle.
“I didn’t think it was actually possible”, I heard from the corner of the room. I scanned the room around me and noticed a blurry figure in the corner. I rubbed my eyes again to clear my vision only to be surprised by the Commander herself. “Don’t say anything, get some rest. Meet me at the front of the castle tomorrow morning, advanced training starts early morning”. She told me before leaving the room. There was no expression in her face, her eyes dead, you could see she was carrying the burden of thousands of deaths under her command.
So, the next morning I showed up to the front of the castle, but I was the only one standing there. It felt strange, being all alone in a big city. There was a weird calm around me. I saw the odd pony walking or flying around, but everything else was relatively dead. The time of war had just begun, and it was very… peaceful. I stood in front of the castle for what felt like hours because of the quiet. When Rainbow Dash finally arrived, I couldn't help but wonder where everyone else for advanced training was.
“I’m glad you could make it, recruit” She addressed me upon her approach. I didn’t say anything back. She looked at the bandanna I was wearing and back to me. She must have noticed I was the one who fell from the day before, it’s not exactly something you would forget. She smirked, but not the smile I yearned to see again.
“Where are the other recruits?” I had asked her. She huffed, “There is no advanced training, what you did should be impossible, we’re going to hone your skills and end this war before it can really start”.
“Yes, quite a rarity you are” Another voice had came beckoning from the castle. Queen Celestia herself had made her way down to the Commander and I.
“The last Pegasus I knew with your ability vanished millennia ago, long before my birth”. “It’s told through ancients tombs that much like we Alicorns, the power to manipulate wind is a power granted from the celestial beings themselves. You have a great power little one, help us understand it and hopefully, because of you, we can save the lives of everyone out there fighting.”
It was a lot to take in. Just the week before I was out gardening, and now the Queen herself was enlisting my help because of a freak occurrence during a high stress situation. Nonetheless, I accepted the offer. “If you’re ready, we leave now”.
We traveled to the old castle ruins by Ponyville, a place too daunting for even the grey’s to go to. As we fly to our destination, Dash would tell me stories about her friend and herself would come to the ruins every now and again to remember what brought them together. It wasn't like her to get all sentimental, especially in a time like this, but I guess everything is still overwhelming even for her. My wings were still stinging from the pain from the day before, I hoped that it wouldn’t interfere with the training. We trained for days, never really gaining any progress. To be honest, I got pretty discouraged pretty fast.
“Are you sure I can do it?” I would keep saying every attempt. I would flap my wings, but I would just be pushing air towards towards the columns I was using as targets, not destroying them. Dash told me to stop what I was doing, and to take a break. She walked right up to me and looked me dead in the eye, “Look, believe it or not, I know you can do this, we depend on you.” She paused for a moment before she managed a smirk “Besides, what kind of idiot falls down in front of the Queen's address and gets to live to tell the tale.”
I laughed, but that was a little different then this. But, the war wasn't going to end itself if I didn’t. There was literally no time left to dick around. She needed her elite soldier, and I wanted to save everyone. I got up, took a deep breath and lined myself up with a column. I took one last swing at it. I cropped my wings upright and slammed them down as hard as i could, but nothing. I had hurt my right wing after that shot, I felt like I couldn’t do another. Dash looked pretty disappointed, I would have been too. “Maybe you’re not what we thought you were”, she had told me. “Let’s not waste anymore time on this, I have better things to do”, she motioned for me to pack up and carry on back with her.
It hurt, hearing that. Everyone depending on me, and I can’t do what needs to be done. I was mad at myself, I wasn’t going to let her make me believe I was special then forget everything. Childish, yes, but I didn’t care. “I’m not done!” I screamed back, but she wasn't having any of it. “Let’s go, now” she demanded, but I wasn't going to budge. I kept flapping as hard as I could, as fast as I could, but nothing. I had went to try again, but she had stopped me. “We need to get back, you know this, stop fooling around it’s over”. Still, I refused and she started to drag me away.
I was feeling overwhelmingly upset, ignorant to the fact that Dash was needed elsewhere. In a fit I pushed her away and told her to leave me here. I turned around, tears streaming down my face and I had yelled at her “Just go, I’m no use anyways”, and she had fallen to the ground not noticing my own strength. In an angry fit, I turned back around, screamed and motioned my wings in the same way as before. Fast with a sharp turn downwards as if you were cutting the air itself in half. There was another thundering clap, but it wasn't as big. The column shattered into a million pieces, shooting the rubble everywhere. I had actually done it. I had done the impossible. It wasn’t the same results, but it was something. Dash jumped up from the ground and wrapped her arms around me, thanking me and telling me that she knew she could do it. I haven't seen this much emotion from her since before the war started. I could feel her warmth all over me, her heart beating rapidly from excitement.
“You kid,” she started, “are going to change the outcome of this terrible mess. If you can do that every time you need to, we’re going to be unstoppable”
Since that day, I was the Commander's right hand mare, if you will. She sent me on top secret missions on the daily. I was either taking out high value targets, or trying to sway battles in our way. The problem though, was that I was only one mare. 2 years after the war started, a second wave of troops from the unknown south were emerging. These ponies were much larger than the last, faster and stronger. We were vastly outnumbered, but we still had me. The worlds greatest weapon, this small mare that stayed at home one day to do some gardening. This wasn't supposed to be my future, or anyone else's for that matter. No matter what I did or had to do, they just kept coming. We were losing numbers fast, losing more and more ground by the day.
The Commander called us to a secret meeting to form a last ditch effort plan to attack the heart of their main supply line. In doing so we would have been able to cut off a major portion of their troops stationed in Canterlot allowing us to regain control of the surrounding areas to make another push towards victory. We were stationed at the Crystal Empire, the last bastion of hope we had. Captain Rarity and her circle of specialized Unicorns worked endlessly to maintain the barrier between the last of the Equestrians, and the others. Retreating to the Crystal Empire was never in the plan. The longer the war went on the more tired we became. We were losing a war we began to think we were never going to win. We needed this plan to work. I had spent almost every day by the Commanders side, her patience and sanity wearing thinner and thinner.
It was almost uncanny how she carried herself. Her sheer presence would alter the
dynamic of the room almost instantly. You could honestly feel the power she wielded radiating
around her like an aura. From the sparkle in those big magenta eyes, or the way her mane
twinkled in the sun, I couldn’t take my eyes off her. For all intents and purposes, I was in love with
her. I was in love with the Commander of the Great Equestrian Resistance.
The thing is though, she doesn’t know, nor will she ever. It’s been a good 2 years since I’ve last seen her. With the enemy picking us off one by one, Princess Twilight was the last Alicorn in existence to make the ascension to Grand Matriarch, which would have given her some additional power to help with the war. Bad news was they had her. 2 years ago, we set off on a plan that we didn’t know was never going to work in the first place. 2 years ago I lost the love of my life that I would do anything in the world to see again.
Just.
One.
More
Time.
I look through my hair blocking my vision, the vast wasteland beyond me taunts me with its nothingness. I stroke my light blue bandana with the lightning bolt sewed on the corner, it reads “Rainbow Dash”. I clench onto it tightly around my neck, and continue my march. My mane a mess, light brown coat much more brown from the dirt, my wings damaged and covered in bandages, I am alone.
The nights are long, cold and lonely. I felt myself playing with myself before bed to memories of Dash, just to feel a little less empty. I failed her, and I’m the reason she’s gone.
I don’t know where I’m going or why I continue on. I guess it’s because it’s what she would have told me to do. Pick up your hooves and carry on, focus on the mission and you will be fine. But, this time there is no mission, nothing to carry on. Everything is gone. It’s been days since the last time I saw another pony. Even taking trails where we know the grey’s don't venture, we are spread far and few. This is our life now, hiding from them so that we can starve another day. I hear there’s a small settlement forming with survivors in the old caves under Canterlot, I guess that’s where I’ll go.
I miss you so much Commander.