Blaring brass.
Double Diamond jolted out of bed and banged his head on the window.
The bedroom was quite small, perhaps overloaded. Several bags and backpacks cluttered the sad sleeping quarter. Paintings and drawings of equal signs and ponies smiling—posted, tacked, taped on the walls and one beside a decaying calendar on the ceiling. A few books on the shelves and on a little table, most prominent of all a huge book with the words "Communal Harmony: An Anarchist Manifesto by Starlight Glimmer" plastered across the cover's whole. This hodgepodge of a bedroom was topped with the scent of coffee emitted from a cup of tea—a bag of loose "coffee tea" rested on the manifesto's side.
Double Diamond wrested the curtains away from their captive windows, letting in the sudden glare of the morning sun.
He snarled.
On the wide boulevard fixed up by ribbons, streamers, posters, and rainbow-colored decorations all around, a bombastic parade went on. Unicorns dressed up in purple-black uniforms levitating an instrumental array: drums, trumpets, fancy horns, trombones, tubas, obes, flutes, violins—in tune, together, and producing a grandiose piece, introducing to the tiny lakeside town the one and only on a wheeled platform: Rainbow Dash.
Despite the village's relatively unimpressive size, crowds of ponies flooded the sidewalks with some attempting to gallop to the famed pegasus herself before being swatted away by one of the armored guards. They reached out to her, eyes on her as their sole focus as screams and shouts and yells saturated the atmosphere—"Rainbow Dash! Rainbow Dash!"
The Wonderbolt herself was in full armor except for her helmet. Her spiky mane and her rugged face remained stoic, waving to the crowd with an emotionless move—narry a smile. Her wings were closed.
Both her natural and her artificial.
Double Diamond narrowed his eyes down on that strange wing.
It was an intricate yet robust cybernetic limb. Each component was a sleek metal part, crafted to match her real wing as close as possible. Seamless, too, that wing was, for there he could see none of the inner wiring or other materials between the spaces—for, in that wing, there was no space; it was one whole new wing, shining under the sun.
He closed the window and plugged his ears, still sitting on his bed. "So, she's back. More of that nonsense drivel."
Eyed the manifesto on the table.
"I'm not Starlight's right-hand pony for nothing," he mumbled.
Sharp, indignant eyes.
Star Tracker waved at the approaching Rainbow Dash on the platform as it slugged through the road. He stepped out of the sidewalk, only to be cut in by a swift guard planting temporary fences separating him from the celebrity on that pedestal.
"Oh, come on!" he cried out loud, yelping at the surprise fence before him. "You have a fencing regiment now?!"
Though his complaint was drowned in the sea of applause, march, and music.
Drooped his shoulders. "Never mind. It's probably for the best and—"
Spotted a white pony jumping to the road.
Others pointed at him. Gasping, questioning.
"Hey!" Tracker shouted, pointing at him. "What are you doing?!"
That pony ran on.
Skidded to a halt in front of the parading band.
Between Rainbow Dash and him, a few musical platoons.
The music stopped.
All went quiet.
Double Diamond beat his chest. "I'm a conscientious objector! I'm here to tell you—all of you, yes, especially those of you who are on the sides, thinking about volunteering in the war!—I'm here to tell you that this war isn't as nice as you think it is!"
Murmurs, shocked whispers around.
Rainbow Dash spread her wings open, flew down to the ground.
The band gave way to her.
An open path to him.
Walked her way to him.
The short buildings, the unlimited grass fields, the large lake a little ahead of the bridge, the snowy mountains up ahead—faraway witnesses to this scene.
Then, paused.
Mere inches away from his face.
"What are you doing?" Rainbow said in a growling voice. "Are you a spy?"
"The opposite of a spy," he replied, staying resolute with a cold face. "I'm Double Diamond. I live in the Town of Efficiency. I'm here to protest against this senseless war because it goes against harmony!"
Rainbow spat at the asphalt. Gave him a mean look. "I don't reason with pacifists like you, wise guy! Sombra attacked first! We're only defending ourselves and making sure this evil won't come up again!"
"And, you'll do that by what?" Double Diamond retorted. "Banishing him to the moon? See how that worked out for our beloved Princess and her mental state!"
Gasps. Some fainted mares.
A growing cry, a growing counter-protest—rallying against him, closer and closer to him, spilling from the sidewalks to the road.
Rainbow Dash opened her artifical wing, glaring at the angry mob.
Quieted down.
Closed her wing and looked at him straight. "Do you have a major malfunction? Because, that's not how you refer to Princess Luna."
"I'm only citing a historical example," he said, matching her straight look. "You can't fight against facts, can you?"
"It was the best option Princess Celestia had at the time!" Rainbow shouted. "She couldn't do anything else then, and she can't do anything else now because war is the best decision! If it weren't for us keeping you safe, you pacifists wouldn't even be alive to talk about peace!"
"Yes, we can't do anything about that," Double Diamond conceded. Raised his head. "But, there's the next best action: peace now. Why can't we co-exist with the Crystal ponies, trying to understand what King Sombra has to say?"
"Are you out of your mind?!" Rainbow yelled, slapping the air before him—nerves strained. "What's so 'good' about brainwashing your subjects? Or not obeying war conventions like treating the white flag right? Or aiming for hospitals and medics before anypony else?"
"Maybe he's only grown that ruthless because of what you've done."
Rainbow smacked herself on the head, shaking in disappointment. "OK, arguing with you guys isn't my talent."
Double Diamond smiled.
Both in the middle of the road, the pegasus surrounded by the full force of the marching band.
"You're saying that you know the consequences of your deeds in this unlawful war?" he asked, bitterly happy.
Dash smiled back. "I've got a better solution."
And whistled.
Guards charged at him, bound him in chains never breaking in his struggle.
"Talk to the hoof, buddy," Rainbow said as she took one more step to the apprehended objector.
Then, slapped him on the face.
Kicked him with a hoof.
Silence on that broken parade, that broken march on the road.
"That oughta' teach you a lesson," she said, smirking before flying back to her platform.
Everypony watched as Double Diamond was whisked away by his captors into a cage on a wagon. Locked up two times, he was wheeled from sight, disappearing from public view.
Rainbow stomped on the stationary platform in the middle of the boulevard. "Alright! Let's get a move on already!"
A second's pause.
Then, the marching ponies got back to formation, raised their instruments, and played once more.
The parade continued, though the audience restrained themselves—dull sounds, a lone fanatical cheerer in the audience before being hushed down by his neighbors.
Only the pompous, triumphant music reigned.
Inside the Cutie Mark Crusaders treehouse, Apple Bloom drew an apple tree on paper. She nailed it to the wall, tilted her head a bit, and smiled at herself satisfied.
Heard the swerving of tires on the ground.
She opened the door. Looked down the flight of wooden stairs, saw Scootaloo running up—helmet still on.
"What's the matter with you, Scootaloo?" Apple Bloom asked, confused.
Scootaloo gripped the wall, gasping for air. Exhausted.
Apple Bloom saw the photo on her other hoof.
Closer to grab it.
"No!" Scootaloo shouted. "Don't touch it!"
"Why?" Apple Bloom said, scratching her head as she walked back inside.
"It's...it's Rainbow Dash." She threw her helmet at the painted target on the floor. "I don't know...what just happened to her..."
Apple Bloom closed the door. Locked it shut.
Sighed.
"Take a seat," she said, gesturing a hoof toward the floor as she herself sat down. "Talk about it with me." A hopeful turn of the lips. "That's what friends ar' for, right?"