//------------------------------//
// A glimpse into the Sun. 
// Story: H.E.R.D. 
// by Time Code 
//------------------------------//

As the Orange Unicorn spoke, her horn lit up with a light teal aura, the walls of the cavern glowing a similar colour. The walls began to undulate and ripple, slowly sinking into the ground in an impressive, and intimidating, display of geomancy; especially for a unicorn. But more impressive than the melting walls were the caverns and corridors behind them. The adjoining caverns were just as large as the one the group of confused foals was currently stood in. Unlike their cavern, however, these ones were awash with activity. Scootaloo didn’t know which way to look. Some caverns were filled with chromatic arrays of smoke and vapour, large vents in the ceiling pulling the magical fumes out of the air. Others were illuminated with strange flashing lights, accompanied by an occasional shout of exertion, or the rumble of a minor explosion. One cavern even seemed to be set up like a Nieghponese dojo; complete with rows of ponies practising their various techniques, all in sync with each other. And in every cavern there were foals. Hundreds of them, of all ages and tribes, smiling and chatting with each other as they walked from one cavern to another, some nervous, some focused, some laughing joyously; most wearing some form of near identical jumpsuit.

   Scootaloo cracked a smile. This place looked awesome! Turning to look at Apple Bloom, Scootaloo noticed that the yellow filly had yet to look away from the mare on the stage. Looking towards the mare in question, Scootaloo noticed she had a sly smile on her face, akin to a knowing smirk.

   ‘If I could have your attention.’ The mare announced, amusement clear in her voice, although look in her eyes made it clear this was no request. “My name is Dr Shimmer. I am the founder and overseer of this facility. While you remain within the walls of HERD, you will rest safely under my protection. All I ask for is respect and obedience towards myself, as well as your teachers.” A dangerous glint entered Dr Shimmer’s eyes, a broad smile, with just a hint of barely contained madness growing across her face. ”I doubt I’ll get it, but I like to ask nicely the first time.” The continued glowing of her horn made consequences of a second request very clear.

   ‘Note to self,’ Scootaloo thought, ‘Don’t get caught.’

   “I am sure you have many questions,” The Doctor continued, a regular smile returning to her face. “and to try and answer as many of them as possible, I will let you continue with your induction into H.E.R.D. After this, you will have an induction briefing, where you will be shown a short presentation that will hopefully answer the majority of your questions. After that, you will be given a quick tour of the facilities more important areas, as well as receive an introduction to life at HERD from one of our senior teachers.” Finally, the glow around the unicorn’s horn died down. She smiled warmly at the awed foals. ”I am sure I will see you all again with in the next few days, but until then I wish you all luck, and I hope you enjoy the tour.”

   As Dr Shimmer finished speaking, the guards started to usher the colts and fillies away from the platform, and towards a doorway carved into the main cavern’s wall. Carved above the wall, was the silhouette of a pony's head, with a pair of compasses, glowing a dim arcane blue, engraved in the centre of the head. Beneath the symbol, glowing the same colour as the pair of compasses, were the words “PLOTTING ROOM TWO”. As the foals approach the doorway, the stone door slid open, silently and without provocation. Swallowing her nerves at the un-natural movement of the door, Scootaloo stepped forward, towards the opening.





   Sunset Shimmer stood watching the group of new students as they trotted off towards the doorward. She always did like inducting the new students. Nothing a villain likes more than revealing their master plan, and despite being a teacher for many years now, some things were just hard wired. The jaw dropping awe they showed at the reveal. The staggering realization as to the scale of the operation. The foals reactions never failed to amuse her. If there was one thing she had learned, it was that impressions are fluid. The younglings would come to rely on and trust in their teachers and mentors eventually, but for now, it was important to keep them confused, busy and tired, at least until they settled in properly. It helped to keep unruly behaviour to a minimum, a hard task considering the talents of the students.

   ‘Can’t remove it all though’ Sunset thought to herself, a smirk forming on her lips, ‘That would be counter-productive.’ There was always at least one though; one who saw through the act each year. One who wasn’t impressed by the display, or who kept total focus on her despite the show going on around them. It wasn’t hard to notice this year's stand out. The yellow filly, with the red bow. Not once did her eyes waver from the podium. She was completely focused on Sunset, and if the light biting of the filly’s own lip was any indication, was trying to figure her out like some sort of puzzle. Sunset smirked, that filly definitely took after her grandmare. There was also the filly standing next to her; the one with the purple mane. At first glance, she seemed to be just like the rest of the foals, gawking in awe at everything. But there was a smile on her face. A glint of joy and excitement in her eyes; A look Sunset had only seen on some of her most passionate contemporaries. A shiver ran down her spine. Yes. That one, more than any other first year, was meant for this life. Both those fillies were going to go far. ‘I’ll have to keep an eye on the two of them.’ Sunset smiled; a pure innocent smile. ‘This is going to be an interesting year.

   ”You can come out now Rainbow,” Sunset said quietly, the innocent smile remaining on her lips. From the shadows at the base of the statute arose a pegasus mare. Dressed in a dark fur-tight flight suit, she strutted forward, starting out as grayscale in colour before slowly sliding across to being cyan, with the prismatic mane, from which her name was devised.

   “Dam it, Sunset!” The mare exclaimed with exasperated arrogance, the remnants of her stealth magic slowly disappearing from the tips of her feathers. “How is it that you can always spot me, despite nopony else being able to!”

   “Come on Dash. Telling you would ruin the fun.” Sunset chuckled out her reply. Rainbow Dash scowled at the response.

   “Easy for you to say,” Dash muttered.

   “You were in charge of acquisitions this year, right?” Sunset asked, trotting over to the lecture in the process.

   “Yeah. Whatcha want to know?” Rainbow questioned back. Sunset channelled some magic into a rune on the lectern, causing a still hologram of the new students to appear on top of the lecture. Sunset pointed to the Purple maned filly.

   “Who is she?” Sunset was all business now. So was Rainbows answer.

   “Scootaloo. Scholarship student, although her sponsor wasn’t noted on the acquisitions order. She’s responsible for the recent mess at the Manehattan Stock Exchange. I actually retrieved her personally.” Rainbow said the last bit with a touch of pride in her voice.

   “Impressive” Sunset stated. Mess was a bit of an understatement, as the incident Rainbow had mentioned would most likely be going down as one of the worst days in Equestria’s economic history, despite nopony having quite yet figured out what had happened. The fact that a foal as young as the filly on screen was able to bring the country to its knees like that… Sunset made a mental note to find out exactly who had sponsored Scootaloo’s selection and scholarship. Most scholarship students were orphans, some were runaways, but all of them had a clear lack of familial bonds. No parental or sibling figures who would get the forces of justice involved. Scootaloo was one of these scholarship students. “Keep an eye on her Rainbow. She is going to be a handful.”

   “I was planning on it.” The Prismatic Guard stated, a reminiscent look appearing on her muzzle.  “There’s a spirit about her that I kind of like.”

   “I wonder why that is?” Sunset barked out, sarcastically. Rainbow rolled her eyes.

   “Har. Har.” came the mare’s deadpan response. Looking away from the image of the orange filly, Rainbow’s eyes came to lie on the yellow earth filly, a flicker of curiosity entering her eyes. “I’ve got to ask, Sunset. How did you get AJ to agree to this? ” Rainbow gestured towards the earth filly. A sad frown appeared on Sunset’s face.

   “Applejack and Big Mac may have gone legit, but their Granny Smith never truly left our life style. Zap Apples may be legal now, but many forget they started out as a product of Granny Smith’s arborimancy research. They forget the amount of unrestricted testing and development that went into giving both the sweet apples and the zap apples their taste.” Sunset sighed. “Unlike her siblings, young Apple Bloom has a gift for experimentation. An ability akin to her grandmare back in the day and I refuse to let such talent be wasted!” Despite the passion and conviction in Sunset’s voice, Rainbow could sense something was off.

   “That doesn’t answer my question.” Rainbow’s eyes narrowed suspiciously. “What. Did. You. Do.”
Sunset looked at the ground, a look of regret on her face.

   “I brought up their parents.”

   “Sunset!” Rainbow exclaimed a look of anger on her face.

   “I said what I had to,” Sunset replied a cold look on her face, a glimpse into the master criminal of old. “Big Mac and AJ might be alright with just their memories and the apple farm, trying to forget reality through their granny’s jam, but that filly deserves better than romanticised tales with false endings. She deserves the truth, and a chance at actually being a true Apple.” The two mares locked eyes with each other, Sunset daring Rainbow to contradict her. Eventually Rainbow sighed; a weary sigh, one of a long fought battle.

   “I keep forgetting how much older than the rest of us you are” Dash met Sunset with a look of acceptance. “Just don’t get so caught up in the past, that you forget the ponies of today.” With that, the chromatic mare’s colours faded to grayscale once more, her lithe form slinking back into the shadow. Sunset just gave a forlorn look at the other holographic foals on the lectern.

   “I won’t,” Sunset whispered, her eyes committing the faces of her newest charges to memory. “I can’t.”