Seven days before Day: 1
“Help!” A voice echoed through the air, waking me from a nap on a small cloud. I peered over the edge slightly to get a view of Ponyvile, but my vision was blurry because of the sudden wake up call. I rubbed my eyes to clear my vision, but the attempt failed. 'I swear, I have not once been able to get a full nap without being interrupted!'
I tried to track where the voice came from with my ears, thinking to the few seconds before now. I finally thought I got it. Then the scream tore the silence again, in the opposite direction of where I was heading. And then I saw the pillar of smoke. I face-hoofed.
I dove off the cloud, gained momentum, then leveled off so I could get to my destination faster. When the momentum disappeared, I angled my wings slightly down to move forward yet stay in the sky, and flapped.
I knew where the voice was coming from, and who had screamed, so I was in no hurry.
'How many times this year? Seven? Why can’t Rarity take the time to teach her sister how to cook? Or at the very least have Pinkie teach her?'
I reached Rarity's boutique, and hovered for a moment.
The fire was coming from the regular place. The kitchen.
I pulled out my watch and reset it. I hovered for a second more, began the timer, and dove into the building. I rushed into the kitchen where Sweetie was standing next to Rarity, who wasn't moving, due to shock. Sweetie stayed where she was, a bored look on her face. She looked at Dash.
"Again?" Dash asked.
"Again." Sweetie replied, blushing slightly.
I dashed toward her and Rarity, and grabbed them in my to front legs, and flew them safely outside. I returned inside by flying through the second story window, and grabbed Opal by the scruff with my teeth, and threw her out the window, then grabbed Rarity's hairbrush, then through that out the window. I stopped flying, landed, ran, and did a frontflip out the window. I can be awesome when I want to be awesome.
I checked my watch, and stopped it.
Time: Ten seconds flat.
I looked to Rarity, who had regained consciousness, and was yelling at Sweetie once again for trying to cook without supervision. Sweetie Belle was lowering her body in shame, but held her position.
“Rarity!" I trotted over to her, and she turned to me, "You need to TEACH Sweetie Bell how to cook! You can't just keep making her do it herself!" I said to her angrily, hoping she could prevent further disaster.
"But I just don't have time! I have-" Rarity started to retort.
"Rarity!" I yelled, and put my hoof on her muzzle, "You find time for everything!" I continued to glare at her, "You make time for your friends, but you can't even find time for your own sister!" I released my hoof from her muzzle. She opened her mouth to reply, but nothing came out. She closed her mouth and looked at her little sister, who sat down, small tears welling up, her eyes pointing at the ground, trying to avoid eye contact. Rarity frowned in pity, and realization.
I heard a grunt behind me, then a low, grumbling voice that could pierce your soul, said behind me the most un-imaginable thing.
“Excuse me miss.”
I had you going there, didn’t I?
I turned to face the source of the mysterious voice. There stood two ponies. Royal guard by the way they dressed. But I’m not sure… (hint: sarcasm) One of them was a private, wearing simple armor and had the ‘Private’ symbol on his chest-piece. He was very thin for a guard, but still quite muscular. The other looked like a gruff, war scarred soldier. Muscles and the regular ‘super-freakin’-tough-guy’ look. He had a 'corporal' insignia on his chest. (I didn’t understand the ranks at the time)
“Umm… can I help you?” I asked them, my eyebrow raising. I couldn't think of anything that I would get in trouble for, so it must be something somepony else did.
The corporal spoke in a high pitched voice like a young colt, “Hello, ma’am. My eyes seem to be deceiving me, but did you just save those two ponies," He pointed to Rarity and Sweetie Belle. I turned to face them, only to find them in a tight hug, Sweetie bawling in Rarity's hooves, "A cat, and a hairbrush in only a few seconds?” He looked genuinely intrigued.
I chuckled a bit at the voice differences. Big guy, little voice. Little guy, big voice, "Yes sir! And being totally honest, it was ten seconds."
Mr. "Low" recoiled slightly in surprise.
"What is you name, miss?"
"My name's Rainbow Dash! Ponyville weather captain, future Wonderbolt, and Element of Loyalty of the Elements of Harmony!"
“Well, Miss Rainbow Dash, I would like to say, you have some strength for a mare! And definitely the agility of one too! Carrying two ponies, and returning for a cat can’t be easy.”
“Are you kidding?" I bragged, "I do this type of stuff every day!” I put my hoof to my chest and stuck my head up.
"Well then. Maybe we could use you." said Mr. Low.
“What do you mean?” I asked him confusedly, my eyebrow, and lowered my hoof and returned my neck to its normal position,
“I’m saying that the Equestrian Royal Guard could use a pony like you Rainbow Dash.” He stared into my eyes, dead serious.
“What?” I backed up a step.
“You heard me correctly.” He continued his glare.
I had thought of the royal guard before, but had never actually been ASKED to. And I eventually noticed that despite the lack of male ponies compared to females around Equestria, only stallions were in the guard. Not once has there been a report of a mare in the guard in a hundred years. That would make it awkward. And I don’t even want to THINK about the amount of stallions that would be hitting on me.
I shivered at the thought. I was never very good with guys.
And High school...
I wanted to barf. It would be like having the WHOLE SCHOOL hitting on me, instead of just half. 'Why does every guy think I'm hot?'
Besides the male/female crap, I have too much energy. There is NO WAY I could make myself stand at a door and do nothing for an hour.
“I would, but there are some… complications… and besides, I have way too much energy to stand at a door for six hours!” I gave him my explanation.
He looked at me like I was insane.
“What?” I backed away another step.
“You think the guard just stands at doors and does nothing?" He stepped forward, making me step back again, "Miss Dash, I understand your concern, but I must ask: Have you been to any of the towns near the borders of Equestria?”
“Well, no, but-” I began
“Miss Dash, we do not simply ‘stand at doors for six hours’. We have a military. And we do what a military does.” The squeaky corporal said
“And what’s that?” I asked, stepping forward to show him I wasn't a total chicken.
“We prevent enemies from entering Equestria and killing or harming our population" hat took me by surprise. What did he mean by enemies? "We prevent ponies from hurting each other in any way possible! Do you know why your life is so peaceful and perfect, and lacks any adventure?" I shook my head, not understanding where he was going with this, "Because we prevent your paradise from becoming Hell! And yet, Hell still finds its way here.” he looked at the ground in depression, “Ponies are killed, and hurt, every day. But we can only lessen the harm, not stop it. You could be the one to lessen it to the point it's rare, or be the one to halt it all together.” He looked to his partner, then back to me, “Think about it. If you decide to join, sign up by next week. Training starts the next Tuesday.” He and his partner turned away. The Corporal peeked over his shoulder and said, “And remember: you could be the one to end it or lessen it, or you could be the one to let it get worse and continue.” And they left trotted away at that, leaving me with a concerned and thoughtful look.
‘What if?’
“Rainbow Dash!”
The voice broke my thought, and I looked toward Rarity, who held a hoof over Sweetie's back. The Ponyville Fire Department arrived (Led by Pinkie Pie, who seemingly lad every department except the guard.).
"Yeah, Rare?" I said, my expression blank. Thought ran through my head, not allowing me to process emotion.
“I just wanted to thank you for saving me and my sister… again.” She smiled happily.
“It’s nothing Rarity, but seriously: teach Sweetie how to cook!”
“I'll be sure to do that!" She looked at Sweetie, who blushed a bit.
"Thank you!" The thoughts stopped for a moment to give me emotion, and I sighed in relief.
"Well, now me and Sweetie have to go and find what we lost!"
"Isn't that everything except the hairbrush?" I asked.
She paused, "...Yes."
I chuckled, "Just don't do it again! I'll see you later, Rare!" I took off into the sky.
"Goodbye, Rainbow Dash!" She yelled behind me.
____________________________________________________________
‘What if I joined?’ I thought to myself as I lay on my bed, covering myself with my sheets, ‘What would or wouldn’t happen? I would have to leave my friends. Give up my dreams!’ There was no way I could give up on being a Wonderbolt!
“You could be the one to end it or lessen it, or you could be the one to let it get worse and continue.” The guard’s voice rang in my head.
‘What if it got worse?’ I realized, ‘What if it reached Ponyville? If we all just started killing each other? For small reasons! And what if it only happened because I didn’t join?’ my heart dropped at one last thought, ‘What if my friends tried to kill me? Or they killed each other?’ Joining the guard would be a complete self-less act, and not joining would be totally selfish. Should I, or shouldn’t I?
The only way to answer a question you don’t know how to answer, is the simplest. I took of my sheets and flew out the window of my big, cloud, castle, and headed for the giant tree that Ponyville had given the name of: THE LIBRARY.
_______________________________________________________________________
I knocked on the door of the overly large tree. Seriously, most ponies don’t really notice, but this thing was HUGE. About the size of a library (Crappy Joke)!
The door opened to reveal a small purple and green dragon.
“Hey Spike! Is Twi here?” I asked him.
“Oh, yeah, hold on a sec,” he turned around and yelled, “Twilight! Dash is at the door!”
“Let her in! I’ll be there in a few minutes!”
Spike turned back to me, “You got a few minutes, or is it important?”
“It’s important, but I can wait, as long as she’s here by the end of the week.”
He looked at me curiously, and then stepped aside to let me in. I accepted his invitation and stepped into the tree. Library. Tree-brary. You get the point. I just sort of walked around the stump in the center of the room, figuring out how I would ask for her opinion.
After exactly four minutes of pacing, Twilight entered the room from a door that led to her ‘basement’.
“Sorry, Rainbow,” She said, “I was busy trying to find out how hooves work.”
“Huh? Never mind.” I shook my head. We walk on these things. I’m pretty sure I know how it works, and I think she does too,
“Twilight, I… I didn’t know who else to come to about this! You’re the most reasonable pony I know, other than Applejack, but I know what she’d say.”
“Yes?” She looked at me with concern.
“This morning, Sweetie Bell set the boutique on fire again-”
“Oh my gosh! Are Rarity and Sweetie okay?”
“Yeah, they’re fine, but that’s besides the point. A couple royal guards saw me do it and said I should join the royal guard!”
“And… you have a problem with this?”
“Yes! Well, no! Kind of! Whatever! I just don’t know if I should join! The guard said that there are possibilities. There is war just outside our borders, and I could be the one to end it, or lessen the chance of failure. And if I didn’t, Equestria could be overrun with war, or that many innocent ponies will die!”
“That makes it sound like a threat!”
“I was paraphrasing.”
“I didn’t know you even knew what that means!”
“I am seriously starting to think that you guys think I’m stupid.” Twilight blushed slightly. “Anyway, I don’t know whether I should join or not! I still want to become a Wonderbolt! And if I joined, I’d barely ever see you guys!” I was seriously close to tears in confusion and indecision.
Twilight gazed at me a long while before finally sighing, and replying, “I’m sorry Rainbow, but this is your choice to make. I can’t convince you of whether or not you should.” I looked down in depression.
“Well, thanks anyway Twilight.” I walked out of the tree with my head hanging, and without even saying a proper goodbye. I unfurled my wings slowly, and took off slower than I thought even possible.
‘Now what do I do? Even Twilight doesn’t know!’ I reached a random cloud and sat down on it.
‘Yes or no. Life or death. Personal wants or country’s safety?’ I raised my head higher, and my face became serious,
‘I am the element of loyalty, and the loyal do not abandon others.
I will not let my friends feel the horrors of Hell. I will not let anypony feel those horrors. I’ll go headfirst onto Hell as long as it keeps my friends and others safe and unharmed.’
My mind was made. I’ll head to Canterlot in the morning to sign the papers.
I was joining the EQUESTRIAN ROYAL GUARD.
“Excuse me miss, this is the recruitment center. If you’re heading to the medical center, it’s the building on the far left.” The stallion at the front desk informed me.
“No, I’m in the right place.”
“Ma’am?”
“I’m here to sign up for the guard.”
The stallion laughed, “Sorry miss, but are you sure you’re looking for the guard?”
“Yes.”
This got him bursting in laughter, “In case you haven’t noticed, there are no females in the guard.”
“So? Is there a law that says mares can’t join the military?”
“Well, no-”
“And your point is?”
“Well, there hasn’t been a mare in here for a few hundred years-”
“And?”
That stopped his protesting. He pulled a clipboard from under the desk and hoofed it to me, “Sign your information here, and I’ll deem whether or not you are fit for duty.” I took it and grabbed a pen from the pen cup. I read through and answered the questions:
Full name: Rainbow Eleanor Dash. Previous jobs: Weather captain of Ponyville. Allergies: Poison joke: severe wing disorder. Ponies to notify of injury: Pinkamina Diane Pie, Apple Jack, Fluttershy Libernum, Twilight Tiberius Sparkle, Rarity Dennit, Scootaloo (Unknown last name), Princess Celestia, Princess Luna.
I answered a few more questions about my physique. Weight, height, etc., then I hoofed the clipboard back and deposited the pen back in the cup.
The recruitment receptionist read over the paper. Soon after he began reading, he looked at me inquisitively and said, “Miss Dash, we can’t inform the princesses of every injured soldier.”
“Ever heard of the Elements of Harmony?” He nodded, “I’m the element of Loyalty.” He recoiled a bit in surprise, then returned to reading the information.
When he finished, he looked at me and smiled, “Well, Rainbow Dash, your profile says you’re fit for duty. Welcome to the Equestrian Royal Guard.”
I felt happy knowing that I made the right decision. I will save lives, and I actually get paid for it now! Yes! I hadn’t even thought of that until now!
“Well, Miss Dash, you have a week to choose your bunk in building sixteen, and to move any valuables that you need. Note that you have a very limited space, so keep it small. Training begins next Tuesday morning.” He hoofed me a note of reminder.
I saluted him, and trotted out the building, excited to see where my new job would lead me.
This is much longer than the prologue, but not as long as I’d like.
I will make the chapters after the next MUCH longer. I hope I got Rainbow’s personality somewhat right, let me know! I hope you enjoyed this chapter, I still plan on later chapters being MUCH longer. I know this was a bit rushed, but I just wanted to get the beginning out of my way so I can leak random thoughts without knowing where one thing will lead to, until the end, which I know by heart, word for word. Bro-hoof, and see you guys later!