//------------------------------//
// Serving Equestria 
// Story: Her Frontier 
// by FromTheMoon 
//------------------------------//

Chapter 21: Serving Equestria

The wind whipped through Rainbow Dash's mane as she flew towards the the meeting point. She figured she had at least a few more minutes before the deadline line, more than enough time for the fastest flyer in Equestria. Bringing up the paper with the directions she stopped when she figured she was approximately over the meeting point. Glancing around below she saw nothing but scrub land. 

Immediately she began to worry thinking that she had in fact taken too long and that her opportunity at saving Top Notch was gone. Her panic began to disappear when she noticed a rather large earth pony waving up at her. Rainbow Dash flew down landing in front of the stallion. The pony was definitely not Thatcher but he still had an air about him that keep Raiinbow Dash wary. "I'm guessing you're Rainbow Dash?"

The question which Rainbow Dash immediately deemed 'stupid' won the stranger a roll of the pegasus's eyes. "No, I'm actually Princess Luna and I'm trying on a new mane style and had my coat dyed cause I got tired of looking all dark and gloomy. Of course I'm Rainbow Dash!" The stallion in front of her looked confused for a moment as if deciding if Rainbow Dash was telling the truth.

"Hey, do you think I'm some kind of idiot who can't tell when ponies are being sarcastic?" He stomped a hoof at the ground trying his best to be intimidating. "Well!?"

"Oh no, I take you as the mind reader type big guy." Rainbow Dash eyed him down doing a better job of being intimidating. 

This remark left the stallion seemingly confused again for a second. "Do you really think I'm a...wait you're just being sarcastic again aren't you?"

"Well duh, you're probably just Thatcher's dim wit muscle lackey. Makes sense that coward wouldn't want to meet me here face to face after what I did to him."

The stallion stamped his hoof against the ground again. "Shut up! I'm not a lackey. Thatcher and the boss told me personally that I'm an intelligent crucial part of this plan." The stallion had a painfully smug look on his face. "Well, what do you have to say to that little miss sarcastic? Out smarted by big bad Specter."

A grin appeared on Rainbow Dash's face, the stallion was making it too easy for her. "Okay Specter, so if you're not a dim wit lackey then tell me, why is the sky blue?" 

The question pretty much wiped the smug look off of the pony as he visibly struggled to come up with a answer. "Um...the sky is blue because of...cause...well when two pegasus love each other very much then...MAGIC! Yeah that's it, magic, thought you had me there for second didn't you?"

If the circumstances were different Rainbow Dash would of been on the ground rolling over in laughter. She kept her composure and covered her mouth to silence herself. "Oh yeah, you're definitely a lackey." 

"Well this lackey holds the fate of the stallion you like so much in his hooves. Got anything else you want to say now?" Rainbow Dash's laughter stopped and she gave the stallion an icy stare. "Thought so, now come on. The boss is waiting for you."

"What do you mean waiting for us? This is where the directions on the paper said to meet your boss." Rainbow Dash got out the paper from her saddle bag and showed it to the stallion who laughed at the sight of it.

He took the piece of paper in his hooves and ripped in into pieces before throwing it into the wind. "Right, knew I was forgetting something. Almost forgot to destroy the evidence like the boss told me to." Specter began walking and signaled for Rainbow Dash to follow him. "You didn't really think we'd write down where our hide out was did you?"

The two walked across the scrub land for several minutes before stooping seemingly again in the middle of no where. Specter pulled out a piece of paper from his own saddle big, his lips moving quietly as if he was reading. Once he read over the piece of paper again for the what seemed like the fifth time he tucked it back into his saddle bag. "Oh right, come on lets go."

"Thought you said that you guys didn't write down the directions to your hide out?" That earned the peagasus a nasty paniced stare. "What? You're going to try and tell me that I'm wrong and that's actually you're grocery list or something before yelling 'shut up' aren't you?"

"Shut up! This is actually my...SHUT UP!"

Specter began moving again with Rainbow Dash following him. She couldn't help but think how unfair it was that she always ended up facing the dumbest villains in the world. Not that she was asking for capable villains but she wondered how much trouble she would probably be in if Specter had half a brain  to look up at the sky above them. 





They finally came to a stop in front of what appeared to be an old outhouse in front of a large boulder. Specter walked up and motioned for Rainbow Dash to step inside. "Get in."

"No thanks, already went before I left the house." 

Specter put a hoof on his face. "Just get in and push the back wall. This is actually the secret entrance to our hideout."

"You're secret entrance to your hide out is a toilet? Talk about a crappy secret." Rainbow Dash stepped inside the structure and put a hoof pushing on the back wall. "Hey Mr. Lackey, the wall ain't budging. Sure you didn't get us lost?"

"Wait till I close the front door from the outside then push." Specter closed the door and Rainbow Dash heard the click of locks from outside.

Rainbow Dash put a hoof on the wall again but stopped herself. "What? You're not going in with me? How am I supposed to find your boss without a map of the place?"

"Push the wall and then walk forward, the chief should be waiting for you. I got orders to stay out here and guard the front door to make sure you don't try and run."

Doing as she was told, Rainbow Dash put a hoof on the wall and pushed it out of the way. On the other side  was a long narrow stair way lit by lamps leading down. Rainbow Dash cautiously made her way down the stairs through the dimly lit passage. She walked down for what seemed like a couple of minutes before the stairs ended in front of a large door at the bottom.

A moments hesitation was all that stood between her, meeting this boss pony, and saving Top Notch. She pushed the door aside making her way into a better lit room that was scarcely furnished with a few tables and sofas. 

Seated at one of the tables was Thatcher who was waving her over to his table . "Hello there Rainbow Dash, so glad you could join meeting me and my boss for a friendly little discussion. Please be a dear and have a seat at the table."

Rainbow Dash sat across from the stallion doing her best to give him an intimidating stare. "So where's you boss?" She leaned against the chair and threw her back hooves onto the table. "Thought the deal was I was meeting with him, not you."

"My boss will be joining us momentarily. He's actually just behind this door finishing up the final preparations." Thatcher moved aside slightly giving Rainbow Dash a view of a large silver door. "I'm just here to talk to you before we get started."

"Talk to me about what?"

"A proposition that my boss has for you Rainbow Dash. I guess to be more specific, we want to offer you a job."

A job? That certainly wasn't what Rainbow Dash had been expecting. "You want to offer me a job? What makes you think that I'd take a job from you creeps?"

The smile that appeared on Thatcher unnerved the peagsus a little. "We know you'll accept one way or the other for many reasons. The first reason being the most obvious seeing as we'll release Top Notch if you accept. Another reason is that the pay off for this job is a whole ton of glory for you Rainbow Dash. You and I both know just how much you love glory don't you? Seeing as how you, an Element of Harmony, seemed to love basking in the lime light."

Rainbow Dash brought a hoof down to the table quickly. "You don't know me! Now where is Top Notch?"

"Easy there Rainbow Dash." Thatcher put two hooves up by his sides. "Your little colt friend is in that room behind me having a brief talk with my boss. Aparently he also has a certain motive for potentially helping us. Who knows, maybe Top Notch will accept my boss's offer and join our side. How would you feel about that?"

"He'd never join you creeps! Not after you guys killed Whisky!"

"Ah yes, you two were quite good friends with Whisky weren't you? Funny thing is that his death was a complete accident." The smile Thatcher had talking about her friend's death was unsettling to the pegasus.

Sliding her back hooves off the table and sitting up right, Rainbow Dash looked Thatcher dead in the eye. "So you guys really did kill Whisky."

"When you say it like that then I suppose we did, though it was an accident. The poor fellow must of OD'd from how much of the stuff we were giving him. I have to say that stallion really did have a strong will if he resisted the influence for so long."

Thatcher looked at the mare across the table and thought he saw her...smiling? "What's wrong Rainbow Dash, you seem to be smiling hearing about your friends death."

No answer. Rainbow Dash just kept smiling.

"Hey, Rainbow Dash it's time to come back to reality now." Thatcher rubbed the back on his head with a hoof. "Maybe I broke her?"

An familiar old voice came from behind Rainbow Dash. "You didn't break her you little rat. She's smiling because you just confessed to the murder of Whisky and boy do I look forward putting you and your group behind bars." Thatcher quickly got up from the table and looked passed Rainbow Dash to see an old pegasus standing next to the door where Rainbow Dash had entered. "Sheriff Silver Point? How did you ...I told Thatcher not to bring Rainbow Dash here if she wasn't alone."

Sheriff Silver Point walked over to the table where Rainbow Dash was seated at. "With all offense intended Thatcher, that lackey of your's is as dumb as a sack of bricks. Apparently neither you or his mother ever taught him to look up. There I was sitting at my desk in the Station when a note magically pops out from out of nowhere in front of me. The note was from Rainbow Dash telling me to fly above her and track her to your hide out. Took a while too since it seemed like that stallion kept getting lost." 


"Wait but where's Specter now?" Thatcher looked around the room as if expecting to see the burly earth pony. 

"Oh don't you worry about him. I'm sure he's learned his lesson to look up from now. I took a page from Rainbow Dash's book and swooped in on him real nice like. Your little lackey is knocked out like a light."

The Sheriff jumped up and landed on the table in front of Thatcher staring the pony down. "I'd read you your rights but come on, all of us here know that you and anyone that you're working with is pretty much going to be convicted of treason once we hand you over to the Princesses." 

Quickly Thatcher looked around the Sheriff at Rainbow Dash. The mare was smiling at him with a certain look as if tempting him to try and run. Her eyes were full of defiance, he hated that. "You don't know what you've done you stupid girl! This could of been easy but no, you had to be like the rest of this hick town and defy my boss to the end. Just know that what happens next could of been avoided." 

Rainbow Dash took out a piece of cloth from her saddle bag and tossed it over to the Sheriff. "Do me a favor and gag him for me will ya? I'm getting pretty tired of hearing him talk."

Sheriff Silver Point took the gag and, with a pair of hoof cuffs that he got from his own saddle bag, jumped down in front of Thatcher. "My pleasure but first he's gonna tell us where his boss is. Isn't that right Thatcher?" 

"I'm not going to hide where he is. I already told Rainbow Dash that he's behind this door over here. Go ahead and arrest him." The earth pony was gagged after that with his front two hooves hoof cuffed. 

Thatcher was then pushed onto the floor against the wall by the Sheriff. "Sit tight, I'm going to go have a word with your boss." Sheriff Silver Point made his way over to the door and opened it. "Alright, who ever's in here listen up! You are all being placed under arrest by the authority of..." Without warning the old pegasus was thrown against the opposite wall by an unseen force. Before Rainbow Dash could react she realized that she was unable to move her body. 

At first she thought it was just her nerves acting up again but a quick glance over her body and she realized that she was covered in a golden magical aura. Rainbow Dash looked at Thatcher and saw that he was grinning. "What's going on?" She felt her muscles become tighter and tighter.

Thatcher spit the gag out and looked over to the silver door. "What's happening? You've upset my boss and now you'll see why you should of just been smart and listened to us."

Rainbow Dash didn't get a chance to respond as she too was then thrown against the opposite wall as well. A new voice resonated through the room. "It's quite all right Thatcher, I wouldn't of expected anything but defiance from the Element of Loyalty." Rainbow Dash looked towards the silver door and saw that a unicorn stallion was standing in the door way. He looked old, perhaps a little younger than Sheriff Silver Point. He had a grey coat with a neatly combed dark blue mane. He wore small circular glasses with what seemed like a piece of rock dangling from his neck by a short chain.

The unicorn made his way over to Thatcher, encasing the earth pony's hoof cuffs in a golden aura before snapping them off. "Thanks boss, those things were starting to chafe me."

"Who are you?" Rainbow Dash finally manged to say. 

"Ah yes, how rude of me. Here I am knowing all of your names but there you sit pinned against the wall not knowing mine. My name is Professor Honey Dew, a pleasure to finally make the acquaintance of an Element of Harmony besides Princess Twilight Sparkle." With an elegant flick of his head he levitated both Rainbow Dash and Sheriff Silver Point into two seats.

That name, his name sounded familiar to Rainbow Dash. " Professor Honey Dew? I've heard your name before...where?"

"It's not surprising that you've heard about me before. I am a Professor and Department Chair of Chemistry at the University of Canterlot. Oh but you probably don't know me for my teachings, no you seem like the type of pony who dropped out of high school in the eleventh grade and took some dead beat job." Rainbow Dash wanted nothing more than to jump out of the chair and smack the Professor clear across the room but the magic restraints held her tight to the chair. "You probably know me better from the health food chain I run, you heard of the Honey Comb Restaurant right? If memory serves I had a Honey Comb here in EverGlade but it went out of business due to the lack of customers."

Rainbow Dash gritted her teeth as she continued to try and break herself out of the unicorn's magical grip. An intense pain shot up from her right wing forcing her to stop. She felt a hoof placed under her chin and was brought face to face with the Professor. "Where's Top Notch?" 

That earned a grin on Honey Dew's face. "Ah yes, the little farm boy. I had actually hoped that he would join me as well but he has adamantly refused to be part of my plan."

"What plan?" Sheriff Silver Point asked.

"I was just getting to that but perhaps it would be best if all three of you were in the same room so that I don't have to repeat myself. Thatcher, please go and retrieve our guest in the other room."

"On it boss." Thatcher got up from his spot on the wall and disappeared into the next room. A few moments later Top Notch was thrown through the door onto the floor. "You got visitors lover boy." Soon Top Notch was also encased in the golden aura and seated in between Rainbow Dash and the Sheriff. 

The stallion looked like he had seen better days. Rainbow Dash looked at him and felt a pain surge inside her chest. "Top Notch! Top Notch!" She glared at a grinning Thatcher. "I thought you said you didn't hurt him!"

"We didn't hurt him...once we had him locked up that is. Unfortunately there really seemed to be no other way to bring him in without knocking him unconscious first." 

"When I get out of here I swear I'm gonna..."

"Rainbow Dash?" 

Rainbow Dash turned and saw the source of the weak voice. Top Notch was looking at her barely able to keep his head up. "Top's..."

"Rainbow Dash, what are...what are you doing here? I thought you'd be safe at the farm house." Top Notch was breathing heavily, his left eye only barely open. "I thought you'd be smart to to not come here on your own!"

"I'm here too you know, got dragged into this by your little mare friend's 'plan' to rescue you." Top Notch turned to look a Sheriff Silver Point. "I suppose it is my duty the town to help rescue you however so I can't complain. I'm starting to wish that I did hire some deputies down the line somewhere."

"Glad to know you care Sheriff. I promise I'll put in a good word for you with the Mayor..."

"As touching as this is we're actually on a schedule."  Professor Honey Dew levitated the three of them along with their chairs so that they were seated in front of the table. "Now since I'm a reasonable pony I'm going to give you all, that includes you too Sheriff, one final chance to join me by your own free will. I invite you all to come on board this plan of mine."

"What plan!?" Rainbow Dash spat. "We don' even know what you're yapping on about!"

"That' because you two had me gagged and cuffed before I got the chance to explain it to you!" Thatcher spat back. "Honestly, why can't any pony in this town be patient and reasonable?"

Professor Honey Dew put up a hoof to silence his subordinate. "It's quite alright Thatcher, I think I'd actually prefer it if I was the one who explained it to them. Either way they will still be joining us soon enough." Pulling up a chair fro himself the Professor sat himself across from Rainbow Dash. He took the stone off from his neck and dangled it with his magic for all three to see. "Do you know what this little stone is?"

Silence came from the three ponies across from him. "Fair enough that you don't. Even geologists themselves wouldn't be able to identify this marvelous mineral. Why? Because as far as the rest of the world knows this mineral doesn't exist. I have given it the name of Discordium, sound familiar? It should since without Mr. Chaos himself this mineral wouldn't exist. As you locals recall around a little over a thousand years ago Discord paid your town a little visit. He turned your world upside down by changing what was once a beautiful meadow into a vast scrub land. That's not all he changed however as I discovered years ago."

"When Discord altered the landscape of your town he also unintentionally altered the molecular structure of Barium deposits around the area creating Discordium. If the fool had known what he had done he probably would still be on the throne today. Funny how fate gives vast power to the uninformed."

All this seemed like nonsense to Rainbow Dash. The stallion might as well of been talking a different language. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"Everything my dear as you will soon realize. For you see I discovered that Discordium has an interesting property. When ingested the dust from it instead of going through the digestive system will actually attack both hemispheres of the brain. It numbs the mind until the inflicted subject becomes weak and feeble minded. To put it in lay pony terms the subject becomes like a new born infant except with the added ability for a third party to imprint themselves onto the subject. The first creature they see they immediately take as their master. A subtle way form of brainwashing if I do say so myself. Although recently I've found out that too much of the dust is lethal thanks to that restaurant owner." 

The plan starting sounding more and more like a bad Daring Do fanfic. Did the stallion actually think he could brainwash all of Equestria? "So what, you're gonna brain wash all of Equestria with that one little rock?"

"Two answers for that question. The first being no, I don't intend on brain washing all of Equestria. Just a few notable figures like I don't know all four Princesses maybe? The second answer is that unfortunately this little rock of mine has been all used up so I need more to complete my plan. Luckily I found a large cluster of the mineral in the middle of EverGlade. The whole town is practically a gold mine of the stuff. Once this town is gone I'll have all that I need." 

He turned his full attention to Rainbow Dash now. "Which is were you come in my dear Element of Loyalty. I've been busy building a restaurant empire this past few years but as you may be aware of the Princesses are very, picky I suppose is the correct word, when it come to what they will eat. I was actually having a difficult time figuring out how I was going to get my dust close enough to them to have any effect. I received word a few months ago that you flew into town Rainbow Dash. With the Element of Loyalty vouching for me, well, lets just say I'd be serving them their meals no problem at all."

A brief moment of silence as the Professor stared at all three of them. "Originally I only needed Rainbow Dash but I am a generous  and very reasonable stallion. So here is my offer to all three of you. Join my by your own free will or under the influence of the dust. To show you that I'm not a monster I'll leave you three alone for a few minutes to decide. Come along Thatcher, lets give our future friends some time to think." With nothing else to say at the moment Professor Honey Dew got up from the table and along with Thatcher exited the room. 

The three captured ponies were left alone to think. They looked at each other unsure of what would happen next. Finally it was Top Notch that broke the silence between the three. "So just to be clear, we're all saying no right?" The other two nodded. "Good cause there are some more important things I want to get off my chest before those two come back." He turned to look at Rainbow Dash. "Rainbow, I..."

"Save your breath Top's, you already told me what you think back at the house or did that knock to the side of your head make you forget that?" Rainbow Dash looked away from Top Notch facing the wall. "Honestly, we should be like using this time to make up a plan or something."

"Rainbow Dash look, I know I said some pretty stupid things yesterday but..."

"Are you serious?" Sheriff Silver Point interrupted, he looked at Top Notch surprised. "I know I told you to talk to her but right now? Seriously?"

"You went to talk to the Sheriff about this? Seriously?" Rainbow turned to look at Top Notch for a brief second. "You needed to tell him?"

Top Notch rolled his eyes. "Look Sheriff you mind turning away and tuning us out? This is sorta, you know, private matters." The Sheriff shook his head before turning to look away mumbling something under his breath. Top Notch gave Rainbow Dash his full attention. "Rainbow Dash I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings, but you gotta try and understand that I was angry and upset when I said those things to you. I know I hurt you after how close we'd gotten with each other."

"Pffft, tell it to some pony who isn't about to brainwashed. What's the point of telling me this now?"

"I'm telling you this now because I don't know what's about to happen. I just want you to know all this before whatever happens to us. Peace of mind or something like that."

Rainbow Dash turned around to look at Top Notch, her face contorted with mixed emotions. "Peace of mind huh? All you're doing is confusing me more! Honestly you're like the most confusing stallion ever. One minute your a pervert, the next your a sweet guy, and then you turn into a...a..." Rainbow Dash began choking on her words. "You know what? Just forget it. If you really want to give me piece of mind then you'll just stop talking right now." The pegasus's head drooped, her gaze falling to the floor. "It would of been better for the both of us if I had left with Apple Jack."

"No Rainbow Dash, it wouldn't of. I'm not one to believe in fate or destiny but I've always believed that nothing in this world happens without a reason. Those other things I said to you at the house, the stuff about me not being able to remember how my life was before you came along. I meant every word of it. I've had some time to think and I figured I was wrong trying to get you to tell me personal secrets. Here I was trying to help you but all I did was make things worse."

Every word that came out his mouth struck Rainbow Dash like a sledge hammer. She wanted to say something that would prove him wrong but couldn't come up with anything. With nothing to say she continued to stare at the floor. Top Notch saw the opportunity and he took it. "I'm really sorry I hurt you Rainbow Dash. I don't expect you to forgive me. Heck I actually expect you to still hate me. I just wanted to let you know that you're still special to me Rainbow, I'm sorry."

Rainbow Dash's head pounded with all that she had just heard. She was still special to him and maybe he was still special to her. She had tried to rescue the stallion by offering up herself. What made her so special that she was forgiven after lying to him for so long. For that matter, what made him so special that she was actually considering forgiving him? For the life of her she didn't know and it no longer mattered. She heard footsteps coming closer to her as her head magically jerked to look at the Professor.

"Well have me made a choice then? I'm sure I gave you three enough time to talk things over with each other. So what will it be then, freewill or the dust?"

The smile he gave Rainbow Dash was what finally boiled her over. "Buck you." She spat at him, the saliva landing in between his eyes.

"I see that negotiations have failed then." Without warning he threw Rainbow Dash clear across the room slamming her hard against the wall causing her to cough up a small amount of blood. Professor Honey Dew wiped the spit off of himself and made his way over to the pegasus on the ground. "I don't like to get my hooves dirty, that's what I have Thatcher for. You'll definitely be more cooperative once the dust has mellowed you out a little. I don't see any reason for us to delay any longer. Thatcher, the jar please."

A moment later and Thatcher came up next to his boss handing him a jar that seemed filled with silver dirt. "Can't say I didn't try to win you over. Don't worry, from what I've seen this is going to be painless. Once all three of you are out of the way I can turn my attention back to getting rid of the town." Putting a mask over his mouth that Thatcher handed to him the Professor opened up the jar. "I'm going to need you to take a big sniff of this if you don't mind."

He brought the jar up to her muzzle but then stopped. "Hmmm, you know what? I'm being to nice to a mare that spit in my face just moments ago. This calls for some poetic justice. I know, how about your little colt friend gives this to you? How does that sound?"

"In your dreams you lunatic!" Top Notch shouted. "You got a better chance of Tatarus freezing over before that happens!"

The Professor laughed at that. "My dear boy, you say that as if you have a choice in the matter." He walked over to Top Notch waving the jar in front of him. "Now be a good little colt and say ahhh for me." The jar was shoved into Top Notch's face. The stallion jerked violently trying to free himself before remaining still. "We'll see if you're as resilient  as that restaurant owner was." A few moments paced as Top Notch remained still. Rainbow Dash watched in horror at the stallions lack of movement.

Top Notch all of sudden looked up staring at the professor with glossy eyes. The Professor smiled, patting the stallion on the head. "Well Top Notch? Who do you now serve?"

A large wad of spit landing on the Professor's cheek served as his answer. "So unhygienic . Oh well, doesn't matter to me if you don't survive more doses." He lifted the jar up again to the stallions face.

All Rainbow Dash could do was watch as the the jar was again shoved into Top Notch's face, the way he struggled to break free again, and the wicked smile that Professor Honey Dew had as he watched in enjoyment. All this was what Rainbow Dash saw before she and every other pony in the room were suddenly blinded by a bright light.



To Be Concluded...