//------------------------------// // Chapter 1/Prologue // Story: Dead cold // by laradash //------------------------------// Just another job, just another day. Rainbow told herself, alone in her small underground crib just outside of Canterlot. Though obviously to any regular eye, she was no regular Rainbow Dash. Her left eye was white, as if she was blind. Stitches, everywhere. Over her whole body, there were stitches, bruises and wounds. They hurt so much before, now she doesn't even feel them. Nothing but a warrior, pride being all she's got left. Not even her beloved wings. Just another day.. no job..  Days passed, quickly and dully. Every so often, a letter would pass under her door, stating her payment, where the victim will be at what time, though that was optional, and a description. Dash would quickly exterminate them without trouble, though sometimes guards would get in the way. Idiots, for her, they were target practice. ------------ Dash was sitting on the dusty old couch, many scratches and loose springs coming out of it. What had her attention right now was her stiletto, as she was sharpening it with another one. Weapons were best kept sharp at all times, after all, you never know what will come along. There was a sound of hoof steps, Dash's ears perked up. A sound of paper sliding against solid rock, and then a flap of wings. Another fuckin' assassination. Well, it was a boring job. No one ever put up any sort of challenge, and it was kill-pay-done. This one felt different as soon as she saw it, the black envelope and red seal were just confirming it. Confirming what? That it was.. weird. Rainbow reached down and grabbed the letter, opening it and giving it a read....; "We know who you are and what do you do, and we are in need of your services." Was the opening statement. Well, just the usual, why the fuck not? She continued; "You must go to Ponyville, the one in another universe. You will get there using the crystal we will send you, should you accept. It is a return ticket with a Pre-set destination, and that is Ponyville. Your target is a Pegasus, a rainbow lightning bolt from a cloud as her cutie mark. Her coat is of a light cyan, her eyes are a lighter shade of Magenta, and her main and tail show the colors of the rainbow." Rainbow gave a loud, mocking chuckle. Who the fuck do 'we' think 'they' are?! To think she'd kill herself? Just for the fuck of it, she kept reading; "She is a threat to both you and us, and her death will save both our lives'. Your payment, is 30000,00 bits." Dash simply stared at the letter, wide-eyed. Maybe.. well.. why not? It wasn't her universe, and she used to be awesome in everyone's eyes, so unless this Dash did something bad.. fuck. She won't show sympathy, nor understanding. She'll do the job. Taking the sender's fake address and copying it, she simply wrote 'Accepted.' as a response, and returned to the original sender. Tomorrow was gonna be a looong day.. ------------- The following morning... Dash was awoken by the sound of loud thumping on her door, she got up and braced herself, before she realized it was the mail pony, and not someone trying to bring it down and kill her. She let her guard down.. for now, and creaked the door open. Now the pony was... gone? Only a package was left on the ground, so it must have been.. that. Rainbow took the package and closed the door, setting it on the floor and looking at it, something just keeping her from opening it right now. Maybe.. later. After all, she's going to travel through space, maybe she should get ready, who knows what'll happen when the box opens. Rainbow entered her room, and began the preparations for an assassination. She just hoped it wouldn't be too much of a fucking waste, maybe something interesting'd happen after all. Rainbow was now fully in uniform, a hood attached to her shoulders going over her head, a pair of bracers on her front hooves, an Equestrian Quick Sword, seven throwing knives, a small sharpening knife, stiletto, and three smoke bombs. Perfect. Somepony was going to die hard today, and Dash would make sure of it. Rainbow opened the box, inside finding a stall with a dark lavender crystal on it, and a pair of what appeared to be round, radiant key runes, about double the size of a bit. One was white, while the other black. The black one appeared to be glowing and pulling towards the crystal like a magnet. She put the white one in her pouch, while putting the black one to the crystal. On contact, the white one glowed, and the black one disappeared completely, as if it vanished out of thin air. The crystal reflected a radiant, purple aura around the room. Dash collapsed onto the ground senseless, a blackish matrix appearing around her, as if glitching her out of the room. --------------- Somewhere along the entrance of the Ever-free forest, the same glitch effect appeared about half a feet above the ground, dropping Dash down, with a light 'thud' noise, as she was dropped in a patch of taller grass. A few critters and smaller animals scattered around, surprised by the noise. After about five minutes, Dash opened her eyes, coming to. Her vision was blurry, but what she saw was.. nostalgic. It was a picture of Ponyville, before the incident happened. Did this mean it was successful? Whatever it meant, Dash didn't care. Her head was pounding, an awkward feeling overtook her, as if a thousand needles just broke through and pierced her skin at the same time. She closed her eyes, and took something she was used to since childhood, a nap. My head hurts like fuck.. I'll just.. get some rest.. End of Chapter 1.