Operation Westhorse

by PropMaster

Hiroshima - Cold in Gardez

If there was one thing Rainbow Dash knew – and she knew lots of things, because she was super smart, almost as smart as Twilight Sparkle – it was that the world needed more places you could lie in the grass with your wings spread, with the sun gently toasting your belly, the salt scent of the ocean tickling the place where your nose touched your brain, all surrounded by the quiet bustle of a busy city on a lazy afternoon.

The world needed more places like that. Her world and this world, because she was starting to wonder if maybe they were two different worlds, but that was a scary thought so she stomped it into submission and shoved it into the deep recesses of her mind where dwelled memories of the first colt she kissed and that time she almost gave up her dream of being a Wonderbolt and the lyrics to the nursery rhyme her mother sang when she was sick with croup and couldn’t sleep. She bound the idea in denial’s twine and left it behind and went back to enjoying the hot sun on her chest.

Yeah, that was nice. She could do this for another hour, easy.

In time, though the weather conspired against her, pulling in clouds from the south and hiding away the sun. She felt the air pressure fall in her hollow bones and tasted the promise of rain. She sighed and rolled up onto her haunches with a yawn and a stretch.

This Japan-city was a lot like the other Japan-cities, though it had a lot more rivers. Apparently the people here liked water, because rivers weren’t enough for them – they wanted to live by the ocean, too. It wasn’t as big as the capital Japan-city, the one that extended for dozens of kilometers, crowded with so many buildings, as though every single person in the metropolis had their own skyscratcher. And yet this city was still larger than any pony city she’d ever known. Not even Manehattan dared to sprawl as wide as this city of wide islands.

The park – the beautiful park the world needed more of – was dotted with families, out enjoying their afternoon. Foals chased balls and flew kites while their parents watched from plastic blankets and sipped wine in little plastic boxes, which incidentally was a brilliant invention she intended to patent once she made it back to Ponyville. There was a market for that – heck, she was a market for that.

Across the river was an old, abandoned castle, starkly out of place in the modern, well-kempt city. Stone, a few stories tall, with exposed iron girders in the shape of a dome. Several of its walls had collapsed into rubble. Gardens surrounded it, and a steady stream of people decked out in brilliant spring plumage flowed past. She walked to the edge of the park and hopped up on the railing to watch.

Some time later, an elderly stallion – no, man – joined her at the rail. He leaned against it, squinting against the glare of the clouds, and watched it as well. She considered flying away before he could snatch her, but discarded the idea.

“Utsukushii, ne? Mata, kanashii.” He spoke quietly, in a low rumble. A voice like the earth.

“Um.” Rainbow Dash fluffed her wings. “Uh, I’m sorry, nihongo, uh, warui?”

“Ah, nihongo jouzu desu ne. You speak English?”

Oh, thank Celestia. She still wasn’t sure what English was, but it was pretty similar to Equestrian, apparently. “Yeah, I guess I do.”

“I worked for the government, many years,” the man said. “Must speak English. Very difficult language.”

“Uh, yeah.” It didn’t seem hard to her. Maybe she was just super-good at languages, though. “You from around here?”

“Yes. Parents lived here. My daughters, though, they live in Tokyo now.” He seemed to shrink a bit at this, and clasped his hands on the railing. “I think maybe should move there, be with them.”

“Maybe they should move back here?” Rainbow countered. “This city’s nice. Lots of rivers, you know?”

He smiled, his face vanishing in wrinkles. Somehow, despite the creases, he looked younger. “Maybe they should. You like Hiroshima?”

Was that this place’s name? Yeah, probably. She nodded. “I do. Your castle is falling apart, though.”

“Castle?” He stared at her, then followed her gaze across the river to the ruins. “Ah, the genbakudomu. It is not a castle.”

“Oh.” She stared at the half-collapsed structure and frowned. If not a castle, then…? She turned it in her mind, slotting it like a jigsaw piece against every other bit of her knowledge, looking for the perfect fit. “What is it?”

“It is a memorial. A monument to peace.”

Rainbow Dash turned her head. She had missed something, clearly. “It is?”

“It is.” He extended his foreleg and pointed a finger at the ruins. “Do you know what war is, little one?”

“Pssh, yeah.” Rainbow puffed out her chest. “Pegasi are, like, natural warriors. Commander Hurricane was the best warrior ever!”

“That is an interesting name for a general,” he said. “He must have been quite fierce—”

“She.”

“Ah, sorry. She must have been quite fierce to earn such a name.”

“You bet. I mean, uh, probably. We don’t remember much about her, you know? Long time ago.”

“That is good. We were warriors, once, not so long ago.” He nodded toward the ruins. “This memorial reminds us of those days. Whenever we start to forget what war is like, or start to remember it too fondly, this dome is there to warn us.”

“Oh.” Rainbow stared at the memorial, then leaned back to consider the gardens and park around it. “How, uh… All the other stuff around us is fine. The park, those buildings. How was that building the only one damaged?”

He was silent for a while, so long that Rainbow Dash wondered if maybe he hadn’t understood. Perhaps English and Equestrian weren’t so good after all? She was struggling to find some other way to phrase her question when finally he spoke.

“Ah, sorry. This building was not the only one damaged,” he said. “It was the only one that survived.”

Survived? Rainbow frowned at the destruction, at the saw-toothed walls and empty windows. The stone facade that had peeled away like skin, revealing brick and metal bones beneath. The streaks of rust and cracked foundation. Survived was not a word she would ever use to describe such remains.

“What happened to the rest of the city?” she asked with a quiet voice.

“Ah. Ee-tou…” Silence again. He looked around at the bustling city, the gardens, the herd of people. “It is so beautiful today, is it not?”

She swallowed. Yeah, it was.

In time, the crowds began to thin, and Rainbow Dash took that as her cue to leave. She gave the elderly gentlestallion a nod, leapt into the air, and rode with the drifting cherry blossoms to the west.

Comments

[Imploding Colon]

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh shit son. Let's do this.

Man. Just one paragraph in and I'm already hard.

>>"the deep recesses of her mind where dwelled memories of the first colt she kissed"

I'm tickled beyond pink that CiG is writing a chapter for this, so I can just smile and nod at the fact that he has absolutely no clue who Austraeoh!Dash is. Lulz.

And here--ladies and gentlecoozies--is how you mix idyllic setting with character exposition.

>>"Foals chased balls and flew kites while their parents watched from plastic blankets"

I'm guessing Rainbow is projecting... unless CiG didn't get the memo and thinks is this poniponiponi!Nippon. That being said, if I remember old blarghs right, then there's a dayum good reason this chapter is being written about this city.

Rainbow Dash sure lurves her rivers.

I feel like I'm about to get edumacated in this chapter.

Yup. This chapter made me look up "Hiroshima Peace Memorial." Thanks as always for bringing enlightenment to the poni poni poni forum, senpai.

I like how there was--y'know--an old person in this installment. Kinda felt like this chapter and last chapter were two extremes of the Japanese coin. Lulz. They're both good in their own respects, but this one--naturally--made me think more.

This is a great fic, but it's also a very absurd one in its premise. I say that because in a lot of ways I would lurve for this chapter to be broadcasted as a standalone oneshot, but I don't think it would work on its own given how inexplicably bizarre it is for Rainbow Dash to be showing up at a memorial in Hiroshima. Then again, I'm a bit biased, and I feel that all of CiG's work should be made available to the masses. Like a literary memorial of bronyism... or something. F'naaaa.

Thanks for contributing.

[Seraphimus]

War is a terrible terrible thing. something Dash Understands better than most ponies.

I think... I think I'd like to visit this memorial now.

[Merula]

I wonder how Dash would react if she knew just what made Hiroshima so famous?