Chapter 2
Solar Flare
Rainbow Dash awoke to find herself in a small, brightly lit white room. Looking around, she saw that the room was bare, housing nothing but her, a mirror running the length of the wall opposite of her, and some chains holding her in place. Dash looked at herself in the mirror. She looked like horse apples. Her fur was singed, her brightly colored mane dulled by ash, and her face housing a scowl that could melt wax with its intensity. She strained against the chains to no avail. Not that she had expected much of an outcome.
“Hello Ms Dash.” A voice said from behind the mirror. It sounded like the voice of a young man, distorted slightly by a microphone. The voice was soft and trusting. She hated it.
“Where am I? Who are you?” Dash didn’t really need an answer to those questions. She knew exactly who, and what, she was in the presence of. The owner of the voice was aware of this and didn’t bother to answer her questions.
“You are here to help us find something Dash.” The voice was calm and friendly. It enraged Rainbow.
“Not gonna’ happen bub. Now let me out of here so I can kick your bucking face in!” Rainbow kept up her futile struggle against the chains.
“What if I said please?” A slip in the nice façade. Dash didn’t even grace the sarcastic remark with an answer. She glared at the mirror as if in hope of breaking it with her gaze. After a time, her captor sighed and spoke again. “Rainbow, please. We want to end this. We want peace, and the more you help us, the more you help your own kind.”
“I’m helping them a lot by not talking.” She growled. A loud bump could be heard from the other room.
“Listen you hopeless barbarian!” A new voice, deeper than the last, said. “You know full well that you can’t win this war. Why postpone the end by another day and let more people die? For spite?!
Rainbow just bowed her head. “ You may think you’ve already won. But we will never bow our heads to you. As long as a single Equestrian lives, this war is far from over.” The lighter voice sighed deeply.
“You are more right than you realize.” The light voice said. It had the hollowness of despair in its tone. The deeper voice spoke up.
“Now, you are going to tell us where the elements of harmony are whether you like it or not.”
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rainbow Dash awoke from her troubled sleep with a start. She quickly shook the feeling of having forgotten something. She hated that feeling, she felt like she was not in control of herself.
She took stock of her surroundings to help her shake off her amnesia. She was in an armored carriage of the Equestrian high guard. Sitting to her right was one of the many nameless members of the E.C.D.R.P (Equestrian Center for Disease Research and Prevention). He, or she, it was hard to tell through the hazmat suit and gas mask, was screwing with some small machine. Across from her sat another member of the guard; Soarin was his name, and her friend Applejack.
The story behind the E.C.D.R.P. pony’s presence was more than a little dumb, in Rainbow Dash’s opinion. Over the past few days, a heat wave had supposedly weakened the exposed ponie’ immune systems, making them susceptible to any number of strange diseases. He/she was here to make sure that all rioters were plague free. Sounded like a load of BS to bring more tax income in to the E.C.D.R.Ps wallet. And then there was Applejack. Dash had known Applejack for Two years now. A simple country pony from Ponyville, she was. Until one day, when a new tax on fruits sent market prices on apples and other foods to skyrocket. Applejack organized a petition and personally brought it to the council. And when everything was finally sorted out, she just kind of stayed. She realized she had a talent for working with ponies. In order to see to it that her fellow farm ponies were not taken advantage of, Applejack ran for the position of head of agriculture in Canterlot.
Applejack was coming along to inspect the plants for a possibly botanical infection and to calm the, reportedly, still rioting ponies. Dash knew that was simply an excuse for Applejack to be near the action. She knew the orange earth pony was just hoping for some kind of conflict to break out that she could fight in. She never really wanted to be a farm pony or a head of Agriculture. Applejack would have joined the guard as soon as she had come of age where it not for the manehatten resolution. The Resolution stated that in order to keep the military from gaining too much power, every family could have only one member in the military at a time except in wartime. Big Macintosh had already become the family soldier, leaving Applejack to a civilian job.
Gazing out a window Rainbow saw that the early morning had ticked away into noon while she slept. The city of Phillydelphia stood on the horizon. Something wasn’t right though. There was a strange cloud coming from the city. Even from about ten miles away, she could see the thick black pillar of smoke. The others took notice and leaned their heads out the windows. Rainbow could smell the smoke in the air. It smelled like burning flesh.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Four hours earlier, in the council room.
Rainbow Dash stood in the midst of the thirty chancellors in the council meeting room. The Captain of the high guard took a breath and began to explain the events in Phillydelphia.
“At o’ five hundred, this morning, we received a report from the Lower Guard station in Phillydelphia informing us of a small group of ponies inciting anger amongst the citizens. These ponies were described as being dressed in strange attire and possessing unnaturally colored eyes. At o’ six hundred, another report came in saying that the disturbance had spread exponentially. The citizens were beginning to assimilate into the group of protesters. Another message at o’ seven hundred told us that the anger amongst the citizens had turned into looting and threats of violence toward fellow citizens. The rioters seemed to have been chanting something about the heat wave. Several guards ponies were said to have actually joined the rioters.” There was an intense wave of nervous mumbling at this news. “Since then, we have not received any updates from anyone in the city and we are led to believe that the Lower Guard has lost control of the situation.” Ditsy Doo cleared her throat before speaking.
“How do you suggest we deal with this situation Captain?” It was not like ponies to become so disgruntled all of a sudden and it was almost unheard of for a riot to begin for so little reason so quickly. Not to mention, the strange attire and eye color mentioned. There was certainly something amiss.
“I suggest sending in a squad of High guards ponies, led by myself, to both scout the situation and sort it out if possible.” It was typical of the young captain to want to lead the troops into battle herself.
Twilight Sparkle worried for her friend, but knew she would be alright. Rainbow Dash could handle any bad situation.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The carriages landed on a hill overlooking the city. As soon as the wheel touched the ground, everypony piled out to see the fire. The smoke was mostly above them but it was still a little difficult to breathe. The E.C.D.R.P. agent produced twenty or so gas masks from seemingly nowhere for them all to put on. Rainbow ordered her troops to don the masks.
The source of the smoke seemed to be located in the center of the city. From this distance, Rainbow couldn’t see anything that was happening down in the city. She had to suspect the worst. Rainbow circled to the back of the carriage and grabbed a hoof cannon. Hoof cannons were relatively new weapons that could be strapped to the limb below the knee. They had small triggers that could be pulled with the other hoof or the mouth that shot a small ball of lead fast enough to go through a skull. The killing power of the hoof cannon amazed Rainbow and she hoped she wouldn’t live to see them used in a full scale war. The captain turned to her troops, nineteen in all.
“Alright, troops! I want three teams of five!” Her gas mask muffled her voice and made it hard to understand her but the guards ponies knew what to do even if they couldn’t hear the instructions. “Sergeant River, you get uptown.” A light blue earth pony saluted and signaled for her group to move out and headed to the western end of the city “Corporal Crimson, You take your squad to the industrial district.” Crimson (his name matching his color) also silently saluted and led his group toward the opposite side of the city. Rainbow approached Applejack and the agent. She looked at the four remaining soldiers without a group. “You four are gonna guard this site. Don’t let these two out of your sight.” Rainbow pointed at Applejack and the agent.
Applejack was offended. She had a job to do too, even if it was just a bunch of baloney to get her into some action. Rainbow was talking like they were hostages.
“Oh no you don’t, Rainbow, I’m goin’ with you.” Applejack trotted up to the captain and stood her ground. Rainbow shook her head.
“Sorry Applejack. I know you wanted to go in but this has obviously escalated past allowing a civilian to enter the area. Soldiers only.”
“ But you know ah’ can take care of myself, hay, ah’ could help you.” Rainbow Dash looked Applejack in the eye through her gas mask.
“Soldiers only.” She said with exaggerated punctuation. Applejack was visibly angry but knew better than to argue with the captain of the high guard. She nodded and started walking back to the carriage. Rainbow turned her attention to her group of soldiers. “Move out.” She shouted.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The streets of the city were empty. The only sound Rainbow Dash could hear was the crackle of the fire far away. It still wasn’t visible at street level, but she could tell they were getting closer. The smoke became thicker as they approached and visibility had actually begun to drop. Thank goodness for the gas masks.
The emptiness of the streets was not in itself disturbing, considering the condition of the air. But the vacancy of the buildings and the destruction around them served as a good warning.
“Where the hay is everypony? Nopony left, so they must be here and there aren’t any bodies so they must be alive.” Soarin voiced his worries out loud. It was incredibly troubling.
“Maybe they’re watchin’ us.” The pony at the front of the group said nonchalantly. Camouflage was his name.
“Way to boost morale and keep the troops calm.” Dash mumbled.
They continued to walk and scan their surroundings. Rainbow heard the sound of hoofsteps the same time the rest did. They looked up to see a silhouette of a pony staring down at them. The five aimed their hoof cannons at the figure. It did not react.
“State your name.” Rainbow called to the roof pony. Again it did not react. “I asked you to identify yourself!” The shadow cocked its head to the side like a bird but remained silent. Rainbow Dash cocked the hammer on her cannon. “Are you def?! Tell us who you are and what your situation is or I will I.D. your corpse!” Rainbow strained her eyes to catch a glimpse of the pony but the smoke and the gas mask obscured her vision.
“Cap! She’s a distraction! “Rainbows mind registered this in about a seventh of a second. The fighting style of the Diamond Dogs was similar. Capture the enemy’s attention and then strike when they turned their back. Her reaction time was famed in situations like this. But she had not seen the ruse fast enough. She felt the sting of a needle pierce the skin on her back between her wings.
Instantly, the muscles in her wing began to melt. He legs felt weak and her head felt heavy. She could not fall unconscious. She had to help her troops. A unicorn named Eyeful was the next to take a launch syringe in the back. Dash forced herself up and awake.
“Every pony inside!” Rainbow shouted while she hauled the pony up and started dragging him to the closest building. The hail of darts did not let up as they dashed for the entrance of the building. As they ran, another dart sank itself into the rear of the green earth, Camo, bringing him to the ground. Dash could not stop to pick him up nor bear the extra weight in the first place so she had to leave him. Soarin opened the door and stood aside for Dash to drag the unconscious soldier inside. She set her comrade down on the counter of what appeared to be a restaurant. The room was rather enclosed with only two windows and plenty of tables to serve as impromptu barricades. Soarin closed the door just in time to block three darts that would have impaled him.
“What now?” He asked. Dash saw that the other remaining conscious pony, a private by the name of Lightning Dust, was arming her hoof cannon. She peered out the side of the window, readying to take a shot.
“Stay away from the windows!” Dash yelled, more an order to the soldier than an answer for Eye Full. Unfortunately the stubborn pegasus either did not hear her or ignored her and rose to see out of the window. Before she could even look down the sights of her weapon a dart hit her square in the chest. Dash face hoofed and did not even bother to catch her as she hit the ground.
As suddenly as the hail of darts had come, it was over and the streets were quiet. Dash looked at Soarin. He raised his eyebrows as if to ask ‘what now?’ Dash motioned toward the door. Eye Full nodded and opened the door just enough to see through the crack. He turned his head to Dash and seemed about to say something when his face (or what She could see of it through his gas mask) grew into a look of terror.
“Rainbow behind y-.” He did not get to finish his sentence because the door to the building erupted from its place in the wall and hit him full force. Rainbow turned to be greeted by a horrific sight. Ponies with eyes that all glowed neon orange as if the inside of their skulls were on fire.
Rainbow was in no condition to fight, but she would do her best. “Come on you wimps, come get some.” She could hardly stand on her legs and her voice was sleepy, hardly a threat. The largest one of the group, an earth pony with a steel girder for a cutie mark, looked at the others behind him. He then turned his head to Rainbow and grinned a sinister grin.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Somewhere high above, Two figures watched the burning city.
“I say we Gauss it.” One said.
“Sir, with all due respect, we are trying to prevent violence here. If we destroy the city, it may bring…..” The other trailed off, afraid to speak the name for fear of it summoning the subject. The other waited for it to finish its sentence without fear. “…HER back”
“And if we leave the freaks to build the fire, it WILL bring her back. We can’t just round up the entire town and amnesialise them.”
“Well, what do you think blowing it up will do?”
“Relax, Goggles. Our guys will save your little experiment and then we blame the crater on the ‘rioters’.”
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
When Rainbow Dash awoke, she was being dragged by her knees toward a huge bon fire in the center of town. Looking around she saw that the other squads had met the same fate as hers and were all lined up near a wall, unconscious or bound. They had removed Dash’s gas mask and she struggled for air in the smoke. Thankfully the smoke had decreased to the point of not being able to suffocate her however it still racked her with pain to breath in.
‘How can these guys be breathing and moving around like this smoke isn’t even here?’
She looked toward the fire to see that it was fueled mostly by books and flags; Mostly. The sight of the bodies in the fire was not one that surprised her, but it still made her gag.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Two figures watched the fire from a burned out building.
“Well, there’s our little pony.”
“shall we do it now?”
“Wait until the bitch is in position.”
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rainbow had stopped being dragged and was now a few feet away from a wooden stage in front of the fire. A hush came across the entire square. She looked up to see a silhouette trotting out of the fire and onto the stage. Dash couldn’t make out any features against the blinding light of the fire but she did see the shape of the figure. It wore a strange hat with reflective orange suns on it that glowed in the fire light.
“Hello Rainbow Dash. Did you miss me?” It’s voice was gentle with an underlying sinister tone. A voice of arrogant victory. Rainbow just gave her best unimpressed look.
“ And you are?” The silhouette laughed.
“Oh Rainbow, it has been too long. Allow me to refresh your memory.”
“If we are going to do something I suggest we do it now.”
“Right, Time to cause a little chaos."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Figure from the fire Was readying it’s magic. Rainbow was readying for the worst.
Suddenly a can about the width of Dash’s arm rolled in-between the two.
“Uh, what is that?” Dash said.
Before the figure could respond, the can burst. And Rainbows world went white.