//------------------------------//
// Chapter 3: Family Appreciation Day 
// Story: Bounty Hunters 2: Awakening 
// by Jasper77W 
//------------------------------//

"The training modules are inside, and so are the actual ones. All functional and made as you requested." Vinyl's assistant handed Vinyl a metal suitcase. 
Vinyl took it, then laid it down on a solitary table in the huge concrete basement. There were two clicks as she flicked the locks open, and a barely audible squeal as she opened the case. 
Inside, incased in foam cushioning, was a small capsule and four rings, slightly larger than Vinyl's hoof. Two black and two white. She took one of the white rings, examining it. At her command, the edge of it suddenly lit up, glowing bright orange.
"Leave." she said, and her assistant obediently left the concrete confinements of the basement. The door closed behind her, throwing Vinyl into darkness, the rings in her hooves casting a ghostly glow across her face.
She plucked the capsule out from the case, pressing a button. An LED indicator on its side began pulsing light blue, increasing in frequency. Vinyl tossed it across the room. There were a few clangs as it bounced off the concrete, then slowly roll into the center of the room. 
Suddenly it exploded with light, holographic images flying everywhere as it scanned the area around it. Legs deployed out the side, and the canister stabled itself on the ground so it wouldn't roll away.
Vinyl grabbed the other white disc, then closed the suitcase. She activated it as she walked around the table, and it glowed light green.
"Training exercise level one. Destroy all targets. Commencing in five, four, three, two..." a robotic voice said, and a holographic countdown popped up in front of Vinyl as she slowed to a stop. "One. Begin." 
There was a loud beep, and two round targets appeared ten meters away from Vinyl. She threw the first disc at one of them, watching the orange blur speed towards the target. It made contact, and the holographic target shattered. A command was issued towards the disc, and it bounced to the right as if in real life. It grazed the other target, but didn't shatter it.
Vinyl cursed. This is gonna need a lot of practice.

*

"You sure about this?" Dainty asked. It was Friday, also family appreciation day. 
"Certain." Rainbow said, placing her hat on top of her head. Threads of rainbow colored hair dangling down the side of her face. "Leave it to me, don't worry."
Dainty nodded. She trusted Rainbow. 
Rainbow patted her on the head, and placed the capsule into her coat pocket.
The ride to school was like it always was, but Dainty couldn't help but rock back and forth nervously. After all, her reputation in the school kinda depends on her big sis.
"Morning, Miss Cordy." Rainbow nodded to Cordy.
"Dainty, get to your seat." Cordy said gently to Dainty, then turned to Rainbow. "Please wait here." she said, and was about to follow Dainty into the classroom when she was stopped by Rainbow.
"Just in case I break anything, I'll pay for it afterwards, so don't worry." Rainbow said.
"Uh... Ok..." Cordy said nervously, then went inside.
Rainbow leaned against the wall, waiting. Time passed by slowly as she redid her speech inside her head. 
"...And this week for family appreciation day... We have Dainty's big sister, Rainbow Dash." Rainbow heard Cordy say, so pushed open the door and stepped in.
The room of fillies gazed curiously at her dark clothing, and the bulge on her pocket. There was clapping as Cordy moved to sit down at the side of the room and Rainbow stood behind the desk. 
Rainbow took off her hat, setting her short multi-colored mane free of containment. Gently placing the hat down on the desk, she looked up at the silent and intently listening crowd.
"As many of you may know..." she began, taking in a deep breath. "There was a tragedy last year, the rise of the science faction, and many other things. Things like that are happening constantly- in this world that you know. Strange, isn't it? You don't even detect it. But I did. Many years back, I was shown the dark side of Equestria. It's the exact opposite of the world you know now, a place filled with evil. Evil that comes from ponies like you and me, not monsters. Ponies. They may be mixed into the crowds we see everyday, walking on the streets. You may have family members that died in that short war. You may know ponies that were killed- and cried over these things. And yet, we don't cry for the millions of others. We cry for one. Death happens everyday, natural and intentional."
Dainty wasn't sure what she was supposed to do other than listen silently- the story intrigued her as much as it did the other ponies- although she had no idea where Rainbow was going with this.
"I had a friend." Rainbow continued. "She helped me in those dark days, without her I probably would've gone insane, all alone in the darkness. And she helped me through it... We saved each others lives many times over, as we fought criminals. She was one of my best friends, somepony that would never choose to leave me alone or on my own. But one day, she left. And it wasn't in her control." she paused, scanning the faces of the fillies. "She was a really good friend, she really was. In fact, if it wasn't for her; none of us would probably be here anymore. Anyway, I thought I would be all alone again. I had friends in other places, on the light side, sure. But I couldn't return to them. It wasn't as simple as simply leaving. I lost sight of what was important, my mind completely thrown into oblivion. But then I met this young filly, just last year, near the end of the science faction invasion. She reminded me that there was still a light side, that all was not lost- yet. That I could still return, and she showed me how. So I did. She gave me everything that I lost." Rainbow smiled, eyes slightly wet. "She taught me how to laugh, after I had forgotten. She showed me fun, after I lost sight of it. She was the happiness in my sad life, a constant reminder that I could move on." 
Dainty listened on, unaware of who Rainbow was referring to. Evidently, she got a small shock when Rainbow did say.
"She really did give me everything that I lost." Rainbow repeated. "Her name, is Dainty."
Dainty felt every pair of eyes look in her direction. She looked at Rainbow for reassurance, who smiled, close to tears. 
"We're not related by blood." Rainbow continued. "But we are still family. She is my dearest, most lovely, little sister." 
Dainty felt like crying and hugging Rainbow, and fought against that urge with all her will.
"It doesn't matter if we're not related by blood. We're as close as real sisters, and real sisters we are. And that's why-" there was a bright flash, and the ground in front of Rainbow was shattered, a giant cleaver sticking out of it. The fillies screamed and pressed themselves against their chairs.
Rainbow narrowed her eyes, her piercing gaze scanning over the fillies, making them yelp in fright. Even Cordy jumped a little. 
"That is why..." Rainbow continued. "I won't let anypony lay a hoof on her. Understood?" 
The fillies nodded vigorously. Cordy started clapping- slow, loud beats. Soon some other fillies joined in, then the hesitant ones. Soon the entire classroom was clapping, laughing. At that moment, Dainty couldn't be more proud about having Rainbow as a big sister. She grinned with wet eyes, and Rainbow replied with a wink.
The aqua colored pony at the back of the room that was leaning against the wall smiled. She watched the whole thing, and was glad that it was Rainbow that found Dainty, not anypony else. She was clapping too, happy to the see the living world going on pretty much perfectly.
There was a sudden puff of white smoke next to her, and Octavia walked out from it.
"That was interesting, alright." Octavia grinned.
"Sure was." Melony pushed off the wall with her arms folded, still smiling.
"I especially liked the part where she didn't mention my name." Octavia said.
"Me too." Melony said, and Octavia glared at her.
"Thank you, miss Dash." Cordy stood up, smiling encouragingly at Rainbow. "Don't forget to fix the floor." she whispered to the blue pegasus as she pulled out the cleaver and folded it back into a canister. 
Placing her hat back on her head, Rainbow gave the class one last wave and exited.

*

It was lunch time, and Dainty was sitting on the bench again. She took out her juice box, only to have it bumped out of her hoof by the same girl from the same group. Only this time, she actually moved down to pick it up for her. Dainty stared in surprise as the unicorn handed her the juice box, smiling reassuringly. 
Dainty accepted the juice box cautiously, eyeing the group carefully. 
"We're sorry for giving you such a hard time." the lead stallion said. "We really didn't realize what we were doing." 
Dainty could tell they weren't scared of Rainbow. The cleaver merely knocked the respect from the speech into them.
She smiled, glad that the hard time was all over. Taking it as an 'I forgive you', the group sat down around Dainty, joining her on the bench, chatting noisily. 
"I'll trade this sandwich for your apple..."
"Did you hear about..."
"Yeah, yeah... That...."
Dainty looked up at the sky. Thank you, Rainbow Dash.

*

Vinyl quickly wiped the sweat off her face with a towel, but it just kept coming back. Giving up, she cast the towel aside and onto the table, next to the suitcase. 
"Set me up for that damn exercise again." she commanded the AI.
"Destroy all targets. Level ninety-nine. Commencing in five, four, three, two, one."
She heard a quiet buzz as a holographic target appeared behind her. She swerved around, letting go of the disc. It slammed into the holographic stallion with the rifle, and shattered him. The disc bounced back and into her outstretched hoof. 
She ducked down, a holographic bullet whizzing over her head. She then darted in the direction of the simulated gunshot, and slammed a disc right through the stallion.
Another appeared behind her, and she knocked his gun away with a disc. She had one in each hoof, each a different color. She swung a disc around, slicing through the stallion's throat. 
A group of five stallions flickered into existence in front of her, rifles already raised and firing simulated ammunition.
In a bright blurring motion, Vinyl deflected all of them with her discs. She then threw both in different directions. They bounced off each other in the center of the battlefield, echoing each other and flying to the two stallions at the sides.
Then there was a blur of light as the discs practically bounced everywhere, shattering the holographs. Vinyl crossed her arms, and the disc flew back into her hooves.
"Level ninety-nine, complete." the AI reported.
"Load the next level." Vinyl said.
"It is recommended that the trainee rest before proceeding with a higher leveled exercise. All enemies will have major armor upgrades." the AI said.
"Load it." Vinyl said without hesitation.
"Destroy heavy armored unit. Level one hundred, setting up battlefield." 
There was a huge distortion in front of Vinyl, then a holographic mech flickered into existence. There was a whirring noise as its twin mini-guns began spinning, ready to spit out bullets. Then there was flickering all around Vinyl as various holographic surfaces rose from the ground, giving the discs an adequate amount of area to bounce off. Vinyl tightened her grasp on the discs.
"Level one-hundred, commencing in five, four, three, two, one."
Vinyl quickly ran behind cover as a stream of bullets flew past her head. She had a quick look around, finding the right surface. Quickly swinging out from cover, she threw a disc at an irregularly shaped triangular cone, then dive rolled behind a wall. The disc deflected off the side, then into various other objects before hitting the mech. Its orange glow turned green on contact, then bounced back into a wall then into Vinyl's hoof. The health bar hovering over the mech went down by the slightest.
She repeated the same move several times, coming close to being shot multiple times; until the mech's health bar was drained a quarter of the way.
"Enemy level up. New weapons added." the AI reported, and Vinyl looked through the wall, just in time to see two rocket launchers appear on the mech's shoulders.
Vinyl ran to the side, hearing the fake explosion behind her as two rockets slammed into  the wall, destroying it.
She quickly threw both discs away, rolling to avoid another missile. The discs bounced back into her hooves, and she continued running. She'll need to get closer to the damn mech, so it would either stop using missiles or blow itself up. 
She zig zagged through the complex of surfaces, because if she passes too far through one she'll automatically fail. Explosions ripped through the virtual world around her as she ran towards the mech. 
The mini-guns were buzzing too, and Vinyl was barrel rolling over streams of bullets as she continued to sprint for her opponent. 
The area ahead was clear, and she was about five meters away from the mech. She threw both discs, watched the health bar lower, then caught both. With a quick swipe to her left, she deflected a stream of bullets, scattering them around the basement. 
The mech was right in front of her now, and had stopped using missiles, as she expected. It tried to back away, but Vinyl just pushed forward. She began lashing out at it with the discs, its health bar at a steady decline. Blue sparks erupted with each impact, indicating a hit. The discs change colors every time they make contact with something, whether it's a target or just an object in the field. Right now, Vinyl's hooves were streams of rainbow-colored lights as she slashed again and again, the blows too close together to tell apart.
"Enemy level up. Laser defense turrets added." 
"Shuck-" Vinyl cartwheeled to the side as a thick glowing line passed by her head. Sure, weapons like this don't exist yet- but why not for the sake of training?
She'll need to get closer, but the lasers were blocking her out. She decided to do a test.
Flicking her wrist, she flung the disc at one of the laser turrets. As the laser made contact with the disc, it bent to the side, reflected. The disc hit the mech then bounced back.
"Aha." Vinyl said, then charged forward. The laser swiveled round and sliced at her. She held up a disc, reflecting the ray. She adjusted, turning the disc and directed the laser back at the mech. The laser turret exploded as the beam and the reflected ray met, lowering the health bar. Three to go.
Now this is where things started to get crazy. The three remaining lasers zig-zagged all over the place, constantly forcing Vinyl to jump over or duck under them, not allowing her time to counter. 
She threw a disc, and it passed through all three beams, temporarily deflecting them elsewhere, giving Vinyl some time to take proper aim and throw it at the mech. It bounced off, changing from green to blue and lowering the health bar. 
Vinyl ran to her right and slid under a beam, then leaped up to catch her disc and dodge a low beam at the same time. She swung around in mid air, launching the disc she just caught back at the mech.
She was at the side of the room now, and went over a beam that had been tracking her all along by kicking off the wall and back flipping behind it. Seeing that the other beams were far away, she ran towards the closer one and jabbed a disc into its path, stretching out her free hoof to catch the disc she threw earlier. The laser beam was deflected into the mech, and Vinyl watched the health bar drain. The mech quickly moved the beam away, but its health bar had only one quarter left in it.
"Enemy level up. Invincible to self-inflicted damage." 
The meaning of that slowly seeped into Vinyl Scratch, and her eyes widened. That means the damn thing could practically shoot rockets at itself and not lose a single bit of health.
Maybe it was crazy earlier, but this....
There were bullets flying everywhere, rockets soaring through the air, and lasers slicing through all the holographic objects. 
Vinyl dive rolled over a low barricade, some bullets flicking her tail. She was forced to splay out to avoid a laser, which glided right in front of her face. She was thrown off balance, and landed hard on her back. She leaped up, trying desperately to catch her breath, but failing. 
She quickly threw the two disks at the mech, and concentrated on surviving. A rocket aimed straight at her missed by a millimeter as she tilted her head to one side, then exploded somewhere behind her. She tried keeping track of her two discs through all the distractions, but it was hard as she had to jump and roll all the time. 
She caught the discs, her arms crossing before her. She then brought her right one up to deflect a stream of bullets, while throwing the left at the mech. She was distracted by a rocket that was heading straight for her while she was throwing, and mis-timed her release. The disc hit the mech, but bounced off somewhere then back and landed right at the mech's feet.
"Damnit!" Vinyl yelled, but at least the next hit will take out the mech and end the level.
There were two lasers, one high and the other low, coming straight at her from her right. 
She leaned back, flicking her legs up to avoid the lower laser. She arched back, the top laser passing by her face while the other slid underneath. She turned her head to the side to look at the mech, and her brain barely had enough time to register shock.
It had fired a rocket, and she wouldn't have enough time to recover and get away at the same time. There was only one thing she could do- she'll just have to risk it.
She threw her remaining disc at the mech, hoping it would get there before the rocket. Time seemed to slow as she watched the disc fly away, and the holographic rocket come ever closer. Her back hit the floor, and she scrambled to get up, despite knowing it was too late. She lost sight of the disc as the rocket flew right up to her face, and then-
There was a loud beep, and a white flash, then all the holographic items disappeared. There was a clang as her disc clattered onto the ground.
"Level one hundred- complete." the AI reported, and Vinyl let out a huge sigh of relief. 
"Congratulations." her assistant said. She didn't even hear her enter. "I've acquired the information of the ones you're after, as requested."
"I'm not ready yet." Vinyl struggled to catcher breath.
Her assistant was surprised, but didn't show it. "Would you like to go through the entire training again?"
"No. It wasn't enough." Vinyl said. "I need somepony to train me." 
"I can search up-"
"No." Vinyl wiped the sweat off her forehead with the back of a hoof. "I already have somepony in mind."