A gust of wind blew over the desert of southwest Equestria. Along that wind road two golden wings carrying a yellow Pegasus. The stallion gazed down at a battlefield below where his friend fought pony-like creatures, modified by technology. Their mechanical limbs pounded against the earth as their eyes glowed red with hostility.
“HyperBlitz!” A greyish blue Unicorn commanded from the ground, amplifying his voice with sound magic. “Over there!”
The Pegasus, HyperBlitz, eyed where the other stallion was pointing. He noticed some propane tanks next to an opening in a fence. The blue Unicorn slipped through the opening as the pony cyborgs caught up to him. HyperBlitz lifted his left foreleg where a boot-like weapon was holstered. As the cyborgs reached the fence, the Pegasus shot down a flare of blue energy from the bottom of his hoof. It collided with the propane tank, causing an explosion.
Fire engulfed the pony creatures, they screamed in pain. Their screams soon were silenced by HyperBlitz and the Unicorn firing more energy at them. The flames died just as the cyborgs did. The yellow Pegasus circled around and landed behind his friend.
“Nice eye, Rhythm,” he commented.
“Nice explosion,” the Unicorn said as he whipped around.
He held up his right foreleg, a prosthetic that was similar to HyperBlitz's weapon. Hyper returned the gesture and bumped hooves.
“Let's get back to headquarters and report this,” Rhythm said as he led the way.
“You sure that was the last of the Hybrids in this area?” Hyper asked, referring to the cyborg ponies.
“As far as I could tell,” Rhythm responded.
The streets the two stallions were trotting on were left abandoned in shambles. The more they walked towards the center of the city, the more the buildings were maintained. The population of the city grew towards downtown where shops, homes and schools were set up. Several towers raised into the sky, the ones in the center the most cared for just as the rest of the city. This was the Los Pegasus; headquarters of the southwest Resistance.
After entering the tallest building, Rhythm cantered enthusiastically to the desk in the middle of a large hall. A mint green mare glanced up from her work and caught sight of Rhythm.
“You’re back! How did it go?” she greeted.
“Wasn’t that hard,” HyperBlitz responded just as Rhythm opened his mouth to reply. “You know Rhythm and I are an unstoppable team.”
The Unicorn mare rolled her brown eyes and then placed them back on Rhythm. “Want me to put it in as a success?”
“I mean, obviously. We’re here now, aren’t we?” Rhythm said as he propped his forelegs on the desk. He placed his bearded chin on them and looked at the mare with a smirk, his eyes shining with affection.
“Come on Rhythm, you sound just as cocky as Hyper now.”
“Eh, maybe he’s a bad influence,” Rhythm shot a glance at his friend.
“Not the first time I heard that,” HyperBlitz shrugged lightheartedly.
After typing something into her computer the mare gazed past her brown mane to the stallion in front of her. “Actually, Rhythm, there’s a request for you from the president.”
Rhythm straightened up, his dark eyes filling with wonder. “Wait, seriously? You’re joking right?”
“When have I ever lied to you?”
“I-” Rhythm gathered his thoughts. “Why? Why would the president want me?”
“I have no idea. I was just given the message to report to you,” she told him.
HyperBlitz nudged Rhythm with his wing. “Sounds important! I better get going. Good luck dude!” The Pegasus started to canter away, and then shot back around. “See ya Heartfelt!”
The Unicorn mare waved her hoof at him as Rhythm passed around the round desk.
“Guess I should go see what this is about,” he thought aloud.
Heartfelt twisted her head around to tell him “I’m getting off my shift soon. Meet you at home?”
“Of course.” Rhythm hastily ran back to the desk to give Heartfelt a kiss on the muzzle. “Love you.”
“Love you too, babe,” she smiled as he cantered off.
The elevator ride felt longer than ever to Rhythm. He was excited as a new recruit on his first mission. He had spoken to the president before, but had never been directly requested by her. Rhythm nodded courteously to ponies coming on and off the elevator, but almost wondered if he should have taken the stairs instead.
He finally arrived at the correct floor. When he reached the door, the guards seemed to know exactly who he was, for they did not stop to ask him his business. After giving his black and blue mane a pat down, Rhythm poked his head into the door. A “come in” sounded, so he did just that. Several ponies were gathered around a meeting table. All of their eyes fell to the entering recruit.
“CharmingRhythm. So glad you could make it,” a lavender Earth Pony welcomed. She gestured her hoof to a chair for Rhythm to sit.
“So, what did you need me for?” Rhythm asked the Earth Pony mare while trying to ignore the stares of the other company.
“We have an assignment for you,” she began. A Unicorn levitated a paper over to her. “We want you to set up a new camp. You’ll find some provisions already there for you, but we need a team to complete everything else.”
“Wait, why me?” Rhythm wondered, almost immediately regretting it, afraid that he sounded rude.
“You have made quite a name for yourself in the Resistance. You’ve proven you are quite capable of leading a team,” the lavender mare assured.
“Well, thank you,” Rhythm said bashfully.
“It was your team after all that found this area,” she continued.
The map opened up in front of Rhythm and he gazed down at it. His dark brown eyes studied it for a bit and soon discovered what area it was. He recognized it from a mission his team led a couple years ago. But that mission…
As if reading his mind, the president addressed “I understand it might be a sensitive memory for you, but I am sure you will find a way to push through it. You are a resilient stallion.”
Rhythm focused on her, not understanding her motive. Why would she put him in charge of this mission if she already knew this information? What was she getting at? Did she think it was an extra challenge? Rhythm thought of it almost like a taunt, but said nothing of it.
“I suppose it would be a good place for a camp. A village right next to an energy source. But why are you sending my team instead of ponies who’d probably be more competent for this kind of mission? No offense, President Clarity.”
“I want to see what your team is truly capable of,” Clarity said with a dip of her head. “I know how well you work together. I want to see if you can really tackle this assignment. It’s not a normal mission, and will take time. You will have to recruit your own members for this camp. And perhaps after you do so, your team could be regarded as legendary. If you’d like that.”
So it was a challenge. Rhythm gathered. He thought of his own team stacking up to great resistance teams before them. He wasn’t sure if that’s what he wanted. However, CharmingRhythm never backed down from a challenge. And a new camp might be a nice place to stay, outside of the city.
“I’d like to give it a shot,” Rhythm told the president with collected confidence. “Given all of my team will be up for it. But I’m sure I can convince all of them.”
“Excellent. We will gather more supplies for your departure. Please be sure to report back the members who are going with you. There’s only enough room for six ponies at the base we have set up so far,” Clarity explained.
Sounds perfect, Rhythm thought of his teammates. This certainly was a different mission than what he was used to, but the change inspired him to try. He wanted to prove to the president that he can meet the standards she expected of him.