Rain Sight walked along with her father, Eye Glass and a black earth pony stallion with golden eyes, who she did not know, to a small single floored building with a single door, located in a back alley. Karn had told her that Dominion Intelligence would have him killed, and would do something even worse to her if he did not agree for both of them to work as their agents. That was nowhere close to making the filly feel even a tad bit better about the situation. Even though she was in the company of three stallions who knew how to defend themselves pretty well, the darkness of the alley made her feel uneasy, so she walked as close as she could to her dad, while looking around with a worried expression.
When they got to the building, the black stallion made four quick knocks, paused for a second, made one slow knock, immediately followed by another round of four quick knocks.
"I recommend both of you to remember this combination." He addressed the other two stallions.
In a few moments the door opened, revealing a teal stallion's head. He had a goldish-brown mane and green eyes. He took a good look at the group, after which gave the golden eyed earth pony the 'all clear' in the form of a nod. Next the black stallion turned back to Karn and said.
"I hope your goodbye speech isn't too long."
The gray unicorn ignored that statement, knelt down and gave Rain Sight a hug, which she returned as he spoke.
"Honey I am so, so sorry about this."
"It's not your fault daddy." The filly returned, tears escaping her eyes.
"I will come to visit you as often as possible, I promise." He began.
In return she nodded, rubbing her cheek against his chest. Then he pulled her back, looked her in the eyes, and continued.
"I want you to promise me something as well. Promise me that you will be strong! For me, for yourself, for your mom and for Rust. Promise me that you will be strong enough to make it through this."
"I promise daddy! I love you!" She sniveled.
"I love you too sweetie." He returned, once again pulling her in a tight embrace.
A few moments later they broke apart, and Rain walked to the black stallion, who gave Karn a question, while bearing a smile.
"Anything I should know in advance, besides the emergency numbers?"
"Don't force her too much. Bad things can happen." The unicorn returned with a stern voice, and glaring daggers, while thinking. 'Like ripping your head off after she mutates.'
"Right...I will have that in mind." Goldeneye said.
Despite all he had dug up about the templar, he did not know about the condition Rain Sight had.
"Don't worry about us. We're gonna have lots of fun. Just go out there and do your job." The earth pony added, bearing a reassuring smile.
The two unicorns however did not buy it. As they walked off Karn gave him a death glare, and Eye Glass made an 'I've got my eyes on you.' gesture with his hoof. Then the stallion looked down at the frightened filly and said in the most friendly tone he could bring out.
"Hey there, I am Goldeneye. And what's your name?"
"Y-y-you already know it." She returned.
"That may be true, but I want to build a friendly connection here. I'm just trying to accomplish that, without feeding you an omelet, in which I had put my hoof." He finished his statement with a laugh.
The filly however remained silent with a frightened expression.
"What? Don't you watch cartoons?" He enquired when he got no reaction.
"I do, but...I don't really feel like laughing right now." Rain Sight sheepishly admitted.
'Oh brother.' Goldeneye groaned mentally, putting on a deadpan expression.
He slammed his hoof on his face, and slowly stroked it down, stretching his skin, before taking a deep breath.
'Okay, I can still make this work.' He thought, before saying.
"Look Rain, I know that this isn't where you imagined yourself at this age, but the sooner you start this, the sooner it will end. So how about that? Shall we?" He then gestured towards the open door.
She stood in place for a moment, but after that hesitantly entered, followed by the black stallion. Once both of them were in, the door slammed shut.
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Inside, Goldeneye led her to a dress room of sorts, where they got her into a black spandex suit, and placed a silverish bracelet, with a small monitor, which displayed - 776-G-R0 in red lettering. When she got out, she followed the stallion though the facility. After they passed by the chemistry lab and entered a long hallway Rain Sight asked sheepishly.
"So...what am I going to do now?"
"Now you are going to meet your classmates. Seriously, haven't you gone to school before?" Goldeneye returned.
She lowered her head and stared at the floor, with a saddened expression. That made her escort groan, after which he said.
"Come on kid. Stop taking things so literally. Loosen up a bit." He ended his statement giving her a light push.
That however did not have the desired effect. Actually it didn't have any effect at all, as the filly continued her quiet follow.
"Fine! Be that way. Moonraker's gonna have a tough time trying to get to you." The stallion snapped.
They continued, until they reached a metal door, guarded by two ponies in power armor. When they saw the commander they stepped away, one of them pressing a button, which opened the door. It revealed a dark empty room.
"In you go." Goldeneye deadpanned, giving the filly a little push.
With a lot of hesitation she entered and the door closed. She wondered what the point of putting her in a large empty room was as she continued her walk further in. All of those thoughts disappeared when she bumped into something and heard the voice of a colt.
"Hey watch it!"
"Sorry, sorry." She quickly said, backed up several steps, and stopped in place.
In return she received a gruff. She was really scared, and wanted to just close her eyes and cry. Her dad to calm her down and that everything was okay. And when she opened them everything to actually be okay. But as much as she wanted to do it, she couldn't. She promised her dad that she would be strong and make it through this. Suddenly a loud noise of clanking metal was heard, turning hers, and whoever else was in the room's attention at a platform which started raising itself from the floor. There was also a metal bridge stretching itself towards the platform. Rain Sight made out the shape of a pony making its way down the bridge.
When it aligned with the platform, and the mysterious figure stood on it, a light came from the ceiling and revealed it to be a red pegasus stallion, with a black mane and black fur spots on his eyes, making the white in them to stand out. He wore a blue jacket with five red letters - DINGA, embroidered on the left side, a white cap hat turned backwards and mechanical gloves and boots currently in quadrupedal mode on all of his hooves. Also a whistle could be seen on a chain around his neck, along with a pair of dog-tags.
A white mare in a white coat ran up to him, placing a set of headphones over his head and then went away. He brought the microphone on the headphones to his mouth, lightly tapped it and spoke.
"Testing, testing 1, 2, 3. 1, 2, 3." His voice echoed through the entire room.
Rain heard multiple grumbles and murmurs, indicating that whoever was in there with her was just as confused. Then they silenced themselves as the stallion spoke again.
"Sorry about that. You can never be too sure with this equipment."
He took a deep breath, before continuing in a cheerful tone, which didn't really fit the situation.
"Fillies and gentlecolts, welcome to the Dominion Intelligence Non-Ghost Academy."
He heard several giggles from his hidden crowd, and a comment, probably made by a colt.
"They seriously named this place DINGA?"
"Hey!" The stallion exclaimed, silencing the crowd, after which he continued. "That is a very awesome name, made by yours truly..." He gestured to himself. "...Sadly though, I'm the only one who calls it like that, because apparently nobody in high command appreciates true talent. Oh, and before you ask, no, you can't have a jacket. Mainly because this is the only one, custom make." He proudly said.
More murmurs could be heard. Once they died down, the stallion spoke again.
"From this moment forth, all of you are part of class Enigma-17-Niner, and I - commander Moonraker Fleming, will be your trainer, coach, warden, executioner, savior, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera." He spun his hoof as he listed off his duties.
Suddenly, he took off his cap, and his cheerful expression turned into a deathly dark one. Then he said in a bone chilling tone.
"I will have you know, that my class has never, I repeat, NEVER, failed grading by higher command at the end of its training period. So get this you little shits, you will make it out of here either as one of the most elite and feared units in the sector, or in a body bag if you are lucky. Do I make myself clear?"
A wave of terrified 'Yes!' or 'Yes sir!' hit him. He knew that not all of the attendants replied, but he was certain that the part which remained silent were nodding their heads off. Rain Sight being one of the latter.
"Good..." He began sinisterly.
Then he put his cap back on, his expression turning from cold-dark-death to warm-sunny-sweetness, and he continued in a cheerful tone.
"Okay, now I am going to run you over..."
The crowd interrupted him with a loud gasp.
"...with the training program." He finished.
The attendants sighed in relief.
"Why are you sighing? You should be terrified." Moonraker said, earning not a wave of gasps, but a wall of frightened gazes.
The same white mare ran up to him again, handing him a tablet and a pen. He activated his mechanical limbs, standing up on two legs and took the device, after which he spoke.
"Alright, as it has obviously revealed itself to you, here we train agents, without the use of fancy-shmancy-magicy-what not that unicorns have." He made quote gestures.
"Nothing personal bro." The stallion said, confusing the kids, after which he continued. "That part comes later on, though high command wants to see your magic capabilities, and their improvement, so unicorns. until your magic training begins try to use your magic as much as possible. For now however, you will be learning how to use these puppies." He stated as he flexed his mechanical arms.
Then he once again stood normaly, pointed the pen at the crowd and said in what seemed like a saddened tone.
"All you pegasi out there, I am sorry that we had to restrain your wings, I truly am, but don't worry. In a few years you will get to use them again."
The ending of that statement earned him a lot of disappointed groans.
'So there are a lot of pegasi here. Great.' Rain Sight deducted.
Then he continued.
"As for you unicorns who thought..." He placed both palms on his cheeks, making a fangril like face. "...'Hermagerth! I'ma be invisible and jerk around in pople's brains!'..." He returned to his normal stance. "...Yeah no. You won't get to do that." 'Unless you show you're worth the bother.' He thought, before addressing the attending ponies once again. "So, pretty much you are all on equal grounds...Please prove me wrong on this one."
After another minute of murmurs Moonraker continued.
"I want you kids to motivate yourselves. You may be school drop outs, homeless, orphans or whatever out there, but in here, you are going to become that which proves that them wimpy ghosts aren't the elite of the Dominion!" The stallion exclaimed, after which gave another apology to someone going under the title 'bro'.
His next words however, brought a good amount of unease to the ponies.
"Oh, I should mention that those bracelets you got..." Everyone looked down at their bracelets. "...are equipped with a remote control electric generator. If anyone of you attempts to escape, and/or remove said bracelets, or misbehave will receive a reaaallly nasty shock."
Several thuds could be heard, indicating that a few weak hearted fillies, and possibly colts, fainted.
"Someone pick them up." Moonraker instructed, before continuing. "Next, any of you who still have any sort of family and/or friends, which are already connected with the DI may sometimes receive visits from them. The ones of you who don't...well...life sucks. Grow some balls, take off your purses and high heels and take it."
A good number of sobs, and cries was heard. A few moms were also called to help. Rain Sight did not manage to hold her own tears back, but at least she made sure to be quiet.
"Okay, you guys took it a lot better than I expected. Good job!" Moonraker stated, giving them a thumbs up.
Then he looked down at the tablet, scrolled with the pen and continued.
"So, for the first several months we will work on your mental and physical endurance, efficiency with precision gloves, chemistry, math, yada-yada-yada, boring school stuff, oh the ladies will have seduction classes, nice..., and martial combat, where you might have the chance to spar with either some of our finest agents, your peers or me. This should be fun!" He exclaimed, a wide smile coloring his face.
That however, was not received as such good news by the cadets.
"Alright, I believe it's time for introductions. If you have any requests, praises..." He took of his cap, becoming frightening once again. "...complaints..." He put it on, continuing with a cheerful tone. "...turn to me. If I am not around then ask any of the staff about Moonraker, or if you feel more professional than personal - commander Fleming. Now to see what fine hundred have I been given."
'One hundred?! There's one hundred of us here?!' Rain thought.
"Let's see now..." He started scrolling down the tablet with the pen. "Francis Morena."
Another light from the ceiling turned on, revealing a silverish pegasus colt with a red mane to all of the ponies in the room.
"Nightshade Star Dust."
The next to be revealed was a night blue earth pony filly with a dark purple mane.
"Glade Gilson."
That was a green earth pony colt. And so, Moonraker had listed about forty more names, the room becoming more and more visible. Then, as he scrolled down, his eye widened in pleasant surprise, after which he spoke.
"Well, well, look who we have here."
'Oh no!' Rain thought, her eyes widening in terror.
"Rain Sight.."
'Oh god please don't say it!' She prayed.
"...High Ground..."
'NO! PLEASE NO!' The filly screamed mentally, her eyes pouring out tears once more.
Sadly, her prayers had fallen on deaf ears, as the stallion finished with a smirk.
"...de Steel Wing."
Everyone in the room gasped in surprise, turning their heads towards her as a light revealed her. That very moment she brought her head to the ground and covered it with her forelegs, now sobbing. Not a moment later the insults and threats began to fly in.
"Bitch!" "Confederate scum!" "Go die in a fire!" Were just few of them.
Next a purple colt with a brown mane walked up to her and shouted.
"My dad died fighting you monsters!" After which he bucked her from the side, sending her down on the ground.
As that continued she curled up in a ball, and continued to cry. The colt walked up to her for more, but just as he was about to land another hit his bracelet beeped, followed by him stopping in place as electricity surged through his body. A second later he fell on the ground, steam coming from his body. That's when everyone but Rain Sight, who was still mimicking a ball, looked up at Moonraker. The stallion removed the pen from a button on the tablet. What scared the crowd the most was that he wasn't wearing the cap, and his cold glare poured itself on them. When the electrocuted colt came to, and faced him, the trainer spoke in a stern tone.
"That was a warning to all of you. The only one who can use unauthorized violence here is me! If anyone else does anything like that, he or she will receive a lethal shock. Am I clear you filthy, not to mention EXPENDABLE good for nothings?!"
The majority of replies was a frightened 'Yes sir!', along with the 'Yes!' and overnodding. Only this time the replies were accompanied by a couple of faints.
"I want you all to know something. I may be a nice guy, but I am no afraid to get rid of a few bodies who are more trouble than worth. So I'd highly recomend you don't try my nerves." He finished, after which he put the cap back on, only he continued to list names with a tone filled with malice, instead of niceness.
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When he was done, and all of the fillies and colts were revealed in light, Moonraker continued with his instruction.
"You will have your food breaks at your rooms. Also, tomorrow in chemistry you will be making poisons, which should be able to do their job in about 10 minutes, as well as suitible antidotes for them. You will find the books you need on the subject and the other classes which require reading in your rooms. You have the courtesy of a clock, so I want you to read all of the books from cover to cover before lights out."
He did another scroll down the tabled, before giving them the end of the instruction.
"Another things about your bracelets, I want you all to look at them."
The ponies followed the order. Their numbers changed into a five digit code for a brief moment, before returning to the numbers. Rain Sight's was 09341. She had managed to recover as best as possible from the colt's attack, and it's emotional effect. Now all of the wondering cadets looked up at Moonraker, who spoke.
"The codes you were given are very important!" He emphasized on important. "You have to remember them, and NOT let anyone know what they were. Burry them deep in your mind, so that no one can ever find them. And if you think it's a good idea to share or switch them with any of your classmates, well...let me just tell you, it's a VERY bad idea!"
With that said, even those who had thought about it, lost any sort of desire to do so.
"That is all. Now a staff member will escort you to your rooms. I'll be seeing you all bright and early for training." Moonraker finished.
The projector that was on him turned off, as he walked back on the bridge. At the same time the platform lowered itself and said bridge pulled back. As he said, multiple ponies in uniforms came in and led the cadets in fours. Rain Sight trailed behind the other three which were left to be with her. Not just them, but every other cadet looked at her with spite, which had a great toll on her emotional stability. The entire way she just stared at the floor, and would have certainly missed her room if the accompanying her staff member had not told her they arrived.
The room itself wasn't much different from a cell. A single bed chained to the wall, a door separated a small bathroom from the main room, and when she entered the door to the facility was locked. If not anything she was glad that she was finally left alone, excluding the several cameras hidden in the room. What made her even happier was the small pile of books waiting her at the end of the bed, along with a platter, which had a plate of grilled leeks and tomato salad, an apple and a glass of water on it. She stationed herself on the bed, took a deep breath to clear her mind, took a bite of a leek and picked up the first book on the pile - 'Plants and their effects for beginners Tome I'.