//------------------------------//
// Fans 
// Story: Extinction: Ground Zero 
// by Silver Melodies 
//------------------------------//

     Dressed in her full battle armor, Scootaloo marched down the hall. She was heading for training before anything busied her day, not wanting to miss it again, like the day before. It wasn't her fault, really. She had stayed up all night two days ago, playing with her two friends on Maze, and having a more fun then they had in a long time. They had slept in all day, causing her schedule the next day to be thrown off. She had spent the whole day dealing with legal matters and fans and command she had no time for training.

Okay, maybe it was her fault.

One way or another, she needed to get in some extra training. She usually trained once every day, an hour a day, unless she was deploying that day. She had no deployments scheduled, and not much else to do this day, so she planned on getting in two hours of training, to make up for yesterday. Her friends all said she trained to hard, but training kept her alive on the battle field. She wasn't first on the score boards, but she was pretty close.

Several fans called out to her, but she ignored them. She had no intention of dealing with her annoying fans today. It was amazing that they even had fans. Sure, they kept the space colony alive, but that was their job. They weren't trying to be glorious, save Rarity. They were all doing this because they had to. This was how they survived.

She would think her fans would know she's still human, and she still needed her personal space. Its not that she hated her fans. Far from it. It felt good to be loved and recognized where ever she went, but damn, they could got so annoying! Hounding her and her friends, never letting up, all just to even get a glimpse at them. It was insane. Some people would actually try and grab ahold of them as they passed by. Those few were often met with a swift arm to the chest, and occasionally their face. Most learned their lesson, but several were still dumb enough to try again. Thankfully she only encountered fans while walking though public areas, but it was still a necessary occurrence, in order to reach command, other soldier's bunks, or specific rooms.

For instance, she was currently headed to the public training room. Not that there was something wrong with the military's, but the public one had more equipment, more room, and best of all, water fountains, so she didn't have to bring her own water and worry about running out. As a bonus, the doors didn't open to the public for another two hours, so she had all the time she needed to train, then get out before it was swarmed with people wanting to workout.

With a sigh, she entered the training room. It was large, with white walls and blue, padded floors. There many different types of workout stations, so she would be sure to get in a full, well rounded workout. Large, fenced off areas for sparring and fighting, and even some hanging bags for punching. Best of all, it was completely empty.

As a safety precaution, Scootaloo locked the doors to the room. While people needed a clearance card to get in, some had been known to force open the doors, and they didn't get fined or anything, because they didn't break anything. If it was locked, that left either break the doors down and suffer a large fine, or wait until they opened, and by then she'd be out. She'd leave the doors for management to open. She didn't want to risk being caught in a swarm of fans.

With that out of the way, she set to stretching, really not wanting to pull something as she worked out. She was very fit, and very limber, but she could never be to careful. She had seen several people put out of action for days, or even weeks, because of improper warm ups. She had resolved that would never happen to her.

Stretching was quick enough. Legs, arms, back, core, neck, and she was good. She did at least one stretch for each major muscle used in her workouts, spending enough time on each one that she felt very warm by the time she was done. She had gone through the same routines so many times, she managed to finish with plenty of time to work out. With a quick glance at the clock, she saw the time read ten twenty-five. She still had about an hour and a half left. Perfect.

First thing on her list was weights and cardio. No amount of weight lifting allowed her to raise her max weight past two hundred pounds, but she didn't complain too much. She was still stronger then most stallions, so that was a good enough max for her. Her cardio was easy enough. She had to work as hard as she could on the hardest workouts for a half hour before she was capable of even getting winded in the slightest. Of course, that was normal for her. It wasn't entirely due to her physical condition, but also to the serums and implants in her body, enabling better functionality. 

Her next chore was intense physical combat training for the last fifty minutes. She had no opponent to spar or fight with, so that left the punching bags. They'd have to do.

She looked towards the doors for a brief second and saw several people had gathered around, watching her workout. It wasn't embarrassing, but slightly annoying. It was like she could get no privacy at all. She just wanted to work out, not be watched by fans. Of course, she was in a public area, but still. These people had no sense of respect, apparently, outside of crazed fandom.

With a small shrug, she walked over the punching bags. She thought up a little drill for herself to go through. Maybe some light kicks and punches on the bags, followed by some more intense melee practice against the dummies. Possibly some parkour practice later if she had the time.

Whack!

Scootaloo hefted her arm forward, swinging with all her might, and throwing her weight into it for good measure. The bag swung backwards and up, so high the hook holding it up almost became loose. As it swung back down, she spun around, leg extended, landing a solid blow on the side with her foot.

Bam!

The bag stopped in its tracks and instantly changed directions, swinging around her, towards her back. She wasted no time in spinning to meet it with another fist, sending it backwards again and to the side a bit.

She went on in this manner until the bag actually broke, the chains holding it up snapping due the stress she was putting them under. Shrugging, she moved onto her melee training. It wasn't like breaking things was okay, and she generally tried to avoid it, but she was also a Draconis, and that meant she did get a few special privileges, like being able to break something and not have to pay for it. She would finish this, then be out of here, which brought up the question, just how was she going to get out of here? Glancing back to the doors, they were all crowded with people straining to get a look at her.

She tucked those thoughts away for a later time. Right now, she needed to finish her workout. The dummies stood before her, unaware of the cold, hard beating they were about to receive. They just stared ahead, plastic, lifeless eyes unwavering. 

Scootaloo began to picture in her head the dummies turning into the Dark, as they began to surround her, ready to move in for the kill. She wouldn't let that happen. Taking a breath, she slid one foot back slightly, getting into her fighting stance, and brought her hands up. Not a sound was heard as the combatants waited for someone else to make their move. Scootaloo wasn't going to let it be them.

She leaped forward with such speed and suddenness, her enemy had no time to defend. Her foot caved into the first enemies face, causing it to explode, sending bits of dark, gooey flesh everywhere. She landed and rolled, bringing herself to a standing position, ready to fight. She dashed forward and brought her fist to bear on the next enemies chest. It staggered backwards before falling. She pounced on it and grabbed its face, imagining it's screaming and howling as she tore it off, ending it's life.

Without any time to loose in a battle, she rolled backwards and flipped, landing before her last target. She imagined it swinging it's arm at her, so she ducked, hitting the ground with a roll, coming up behind it. She imagined it spinning around, arms extended, to hit her, so she ducked again, but this time, sprung forward and tackled it. She proceed to pound it into the ground, fists a flurry of motion as she beat the life out of it. Eventually its chest exploded, unable to withstand the furious beating it was taking, sending black flesh everywhere.

With a satisfied sigh, Scootaloo stood up and was meted with a loud applause. Jerked back to reality out of her imagination, she noticed a massive crowd had formed around the doors. And there was only ten minutes until the place was opened for everyone.

The crowd pounded on the doors, cheering, howling, whooping, even screaming for her, and many were chanting her name, though it was lost in the cacophony of noise coming from her fans.

"Hey squirt."

Scootaloo had heard that voice, loud and clear, almost as if it was in the same room. And she knew that voice.

She pun around, a small smile on her face as she saw Rainbow Dash, leaning against one of the still functional dummies, her arms crossed over her chest. She was smiling, but not in the purely happy way. More if the competitive way. She was decked out in full battle armor, her helmet resting on the ground.

"That was pretty impressive." The rainbow haired soldier laughed. "Too bad you still can't be me."

Scootaloo walked over and they grasped each others hands tightly, pulling each other close until their armor bumped, then pulled away, the traditional way for the soldier's to greet each other.

"But with those moves, you'd come pretty darn close."

"Well, when I practice, I imagine that I'm beating up you. Seems to help." They both shared a laugh. "Of course, even though you're better then me at melee, you know what the score boards say."

Rainbow waved her hand dismissively. "Ah, those are just score boards that serve no purpose. Besides." Her eyes sparkled with mischief. "I'm sure those boards are broken. I'm pretty sure I'm the best soldier here."

Scootaloo punched Rainbow's shoulder. "Keep dreaming."

Rainbow turned to the doors of the training room. "Do you think we should get out of here? Seems we've drawn quite the crowd."

Sure enough, a very massive crowd of fans had gathered, both for Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash. It was beginning to look like a mob out there. Scootaloo would never understand what went through the deranged minds of her fans, and what made them act so damn crazy.

"Yeah, I guess. But how?" Scootaloo asked. The doors are pretty much sealed."

Rainbow laughed, a devious smile spreading across her face. "Watch and learn kiddo."

Rainbow walked over to one of the doors nonchalantly, casually whistling a merry tune. She unlocked it, but held it shut against the hundreds of crazed fans, cracking it open just enough to allow her voice to be heard. With a deep breath, she bellowed into the mass of people, causing them to be silent.

"Thank you. Now, I have a little challenge for everyone here, okay?"

The crowd nodded eagerly, awaiting whatever challenge the Draconis had in store for them.

Rainbow looked across the crowds, smiling wickedly. "Whoever gets back to their rooms first, gets to have sex with me."

Without even a moment of hesitation, almost the whole crowd was gone. Only around twelve actually stayed. Rainbow swung the doors open, waving Scootaloo over. Together they exited the training room, passing the few remaining fans, who stared dumbstruck at them.

"That was wrong on so many levels." Scootaloo laughed.

"Maybe, but it got us out, right?"

Rainbow stopped by the last fan they passed and clasped him on the shoulder. She stood over him, a good foot taller, thanks to the special serums they had taken during training. Those serums had stimulated everything about them, making them stronger ,smarter, faster, and taller. She looked down at him, and he stared up at her, with wide eyes. Scootaloo could tell, however, his eyes weren't filled with crazed awe, or complete stupidity at being this close to one of his heroes, but instead was filled with a different kind of awe. He actually seemed sane.

"Stay strong friend." Rainbow said, before turning and leaving him.

Scootaloo walked past him as well, stopping for a second. "Hey." He turned to her, his eyes going wide again. "Thanks for not being insanely stupid like everyone else, m'kay?"

The man nodded slowly, a smile spreading across his face, enabling him to spit pout a few words. "Th-Thanks... Draconis."

Scootaloo smiled and walked away, following Rainbow Dash. The trip back was short and uneventful. All their fans were gone, probably waiting in their rooms for a certain rainbow haired soldier to show up. They'd be sorely disappointed when they figured out she had lied to them. Then again, it's what they got for going crazy every time they saw them.

"Hey kid, remember when we went through melee training?" Rainbow Dash asked rather suddenly, breaking the silence.


~O~O~O~O~O~


"Duck!"

Scootaloo narrowly avoided a blow from her foe, who's goal was to take out her face. Luckily, this particular opponent was strong, but a bit clumsy and slow. His swing was easy to see coming, but the cry to duck had thrown her off, just by a split second. Thankfully, she had managed to dodge, and no the over-powered swing sent her attacker stumbling away. She sprung up behind him and kicked him in the back, sending him sprawling.

She didn't even hesitate to pounce him, pinning him to the floor, and twisting his arms behind his back. He cried out in pain she pulled his arms in directions they weren't supposed to go.

"Time! Soldier 041 wins!"

Scootaloo let up on the pressure she was applying to his arm with a sigh, knowing she could lose rations or worse if she went against the refs rules. Not that she wanted to hurt this guy, but when she got in the zone, she hated getting out.

Instead, she whirled to her friends, climbing out of the training ring. "Sweetie Belle! What did I tell you about telling me what to do?!"

Sweetie smiled sweetly, trying to act innocent. "Whatever do you mean, friend?"

Scootaloo did not want to put up with this. She was tired, mad, slightly hurt, and now pissed at her friend. "Dammit don't you dare act like that!"

Apple Bloom stepped forward. "Whoa, easy there Scoots, what's wrong?"

"Nothing!" She shouted, a little too quickly. "Ugh, it's nothing, really. I'm just tired. Who's the last person I have to fight so I can go get some rest?"

Sweetie Belle pulled a clip board. "Um." She searched through the various names on the paper before her. "It think it's Roseluck."

"Oh great." Scootaloo mumbled. "Just what I wanted..."

Roseluck was one of the better soldiers in training so far. She was fast and smart. What she lacked in strength, she mad up for in agility and the ability to outwit her opponents in combat. Scootaloo was, of course, better, but she would be a hard challenge, and she had been hoping to get someone easy.

She climbed into the ring again, waiting for her contender to show up. Just when it was looking like she'd be able to skip the last melee fight, Roseluck walked through the doors to the training room. With a sigh, she climbed into the ring with Scootaloo, and the two performed the normal greetings they were taught when fighting another soldier.

With that out of the way, they went at it, full force. Scootaloo threw punches, jabs, kicks, knees, all to be blocked by Roseluck's defenses. Roseluck threw elbows, hooks, and even some haymakers, only to be stopped cold by Scootaloo's solid blocks. For an hour this went on, and it seemed as if they would never finish. 

Then Roseluck let slip a small hole in her defense, one Scootaloo planned on exploiting all the way. She reached towards Roseluck, grabbing her arm, and pulling it towards the ground. Roseluck fought back, pulling up and trying to jab her enemy. Scootaloo had anticipated this, and managed to dodge the blows and end up behind her opponent. With a quick pull and twist, Roseluck had her arm pinned behind her. She tried to through Scootaloo over her shoulder, but that was exactly what she wanted. Going with the pull Scootaloo rolled onto Roseluck's shoulders. Letting go of Roseluck's arm, she pushed herself into the arm off of her enemy, flipping right-side up.

Roseluck looked up to see what had happened, only to find Scootaloo crashing down onto her, feet connecting with her shoulders, and forcing her into the ground with the unexpected impact. A loud crack was heard throughout the training room. Scootaloo rolled off her opponent, and came up into a fighting stance, ready to finish the fight.

However, it seemed her little trick had finished the fight for her. Roseluck was lying on the ground before her, holding her leg, crying in pain. A large, white object stuck out where her shins were.

Slick, crimson fluids coated the training floor..


~O~O~O~O~O~


"Yeah, I do." Scootaloo shuddered. "Not the best part of training."

"But arguably one of the most important."

Scootaloo laughed. "Only because it's the one thing you're better at then me!"

Holding her hands up in mock surrender, Rainbow chuckled. "Okay, you got me kid. you must be a detective."

Sharing one more laugh, the two spent the rest of the trip back to their rooms in silence. Scootaloo didn't know what else she would do today, but at least she had managed to make it through her training without being swarmed by fans. That was a plus. She pulled out her info pad.

There were approximately two million people on each frigate, and there were twenty three frigates. That was about forty six million people. There was no way every single one of them was insane about them. In fact, every crowd she had ever seen only reached sizes of around one or two thousand at the most. That meant there were millions and millions of people who weren't crazy. That was a comforting thought.

That must have meant that the sane people just never came out to see them much. So the only fans they ever saw were the crazed ones. That wasn't a very comforting thought.

Oh well, there wasn't she could do to change it. just ignore them and continue her job. It was all any good soldier could do, right?