Commission: Scarlet in the crimson color

A few days had passed, and after a long and exhausting ride on the train from Ponyville, changing many times between carriage to other means of transportation, Spectrum Slash woke up to Red Gear nudging her shoulder. Her cheek ached from leaning on that hard surface that she had believed was the window or the small table in front of her. She needed a moment to gather herself when she turned her eyes to the pony sitting next to her and saw Red Gear's snout just an inch away from her own. He chuckled and told her she had slept on his shoulder the last hour or so, a fact Spectrum wanted to forget for now, judging by the faint flush on her blue cheeks. Funny as the moment was, Red turned to the window and pointed out, knowing his company would be excited to know where she was now.

Spectrum looked out with wide eyes when she saw the beautiful city in all its grace. The large buildings, the wide river running through, the banners standing high together with the red flags. They were marked with two wreath petals formed into a half-circle holding a horse shoe and a flower crossed beneath a sun. They were just like Spectrum remembered from the last time she saw them.

“Welcome to the Hooviet Union capital of Moosecow, named after the Moose city this beautiful and proud city was built on!” Red Gear said with a true tone of patriotism and excitement. He had seen the city from afar many times before, but no matter how many times he did, it always brought a comfortable vibration up his spine. However, this was the first time he came back with female company, something he never had imagined would make it all more exciting.

They exited the train, stepped out on the large platform and looked around. Spectrum didn't realize until now how wonderful the architecture was in this country, aside from its many cultural legacies such as the Cathedral of Celestia the Savior and majestic buildings like the Seven Sisters. Red Gear would eventually grab Spectrum's fore hoof and show her another majestic part of the city, giving her a big tour along the tall buildings and impressive pieces of work. She had wished to see more, showing great interest not only for the fact that she had a chance to see Saint Basilica's Cathedral... she was also very impressed to see the large variety of races walking around the streets like nothing. The equality was undeniable, you could tell that when you saw a pony and a minotaur walking next to each other like good old friends or a griffon and a moose sitting on a bench with their hands and hooves touching.

There was another thing she also had noticed that Red never mentioned. He was busy showing her around, retelling the old stories he learned about in his youth. Spectrum took the opportunities she found to eye the stallions and mares dressed in army clothes, armed with SKS rifles and an indifferent expression towards anypony passing by. They stood in almost every corner, not far from a poster of the present leader of the UHSR or a propagandist message to the population. She saw the stern look in the soldiers' eyes and what effect it had on the citizens. They knew they were just a step from death if looking the wrong way, any sign of weakness would be noticed and most likely dealt with. But everypony she saw passing through them simply straightened their backs and went on as usual with whatever they had on their agenda. The soldiers turned their eyes away from whoever they looked at and observed another couple, hoping they wouldn't be given a mess to clean up.

“Something troubling you?” Red Gear asked, snatching Spectrum away from her thoughts like a devil in the night, even though it was bright summer daylight shining on her. She turned in an instant and looked him deep in his eyes, reflecting a clear fraction of her excitement to be here. She shook her head and asked him to go on, her restlessness was going overboard after seeing all this clear success in a strong government managing to discipline its citizens.

She didn't need to be afraid here. As long as she was strong, nothing would threaten her here. It was so different from Stalliongrad...

Before she had time to say something, Red already understood that he had made some nice progress with this mare. Perhaps not to know her better, but indeed to recruit her. Thus, he decided that it was enough about Moosecow's cultural value for today. He actually had more important things to show her. He was about to open his mouth when Spectrum did the same, only faster.

“So... about that job you spoke of?” she said much to Red's appreciation. He laid a hoof over her neck to show that he wanted to walk with her down the street while talking about that. He needed a little moment to prepare himself; for some reason he found it more difficult than usual to talk in this mare's presence.

“About that. The USHR doesn't usually accept ponies to join any filial within the KGB before they have claimed a full citizenship. And that will take you a little while...”.

Spectrum bit her lower lip. Did this mean...?

“But of course, knowing some of the higher names withing the KGB always helps if you want to pull some strings” he finished and blinked at her. Spectrum didn't enjoy this roller coaster made of feelings in her gut, but she was none the less unable to hide her grin when Red gave her the good news.

“However, you must go through some specific training before you can be accepted into the Red Saddles”.

“Red Saddles?”.

“A nickname for the secret police”.

Spectrum noticed that Red was sounding more serious the longer they talked about her recruitment. She was aware that in order to serve under a strong regime, you had to be tough enough to endure it and live up to the name. And that was exactly what she looked forward to... being stronger than what she once was. Strong enough to survive and look her past in the eyes...

The same day in an unknown location, two muscular stallions dragged a pony with a bag over its head into a cold room. She didn't resist nor made any noise to stop it, just like it was a dead body. The stallions closed a heavy door behind them and dragged the pony up to a chair with leather straps on both the arms and the front legs. They carelessly tossed her up on the chair and locked each leg of the pony to the respective strap, making sure they were properly attached. Once they were done, one of the stallions took off the bag over the pony's head.

A strong light hit her face once she could see again, not that it helped her since it was aimed straight at her face. She grit her teeth and tilted her head to get away from the brightness, only managing to disappoint the third stallion walking out from the darkness in front of the heavy door. A thick-skinned pony with several scars across his muzzle and a closed eye with an even thicker scar over it walked up to her. His head was completely bald and the tail was cut short. His cutie-mark was that of a knuckle bracelet, the only thing harder than his cold, judgmental look in the healthy eye. But what the mare noticed first was that he wore a green jacket with a small symbol over the chest.

He raised an eyebrow at the blue mare and looked at her cutie-mark, sighing in a different direction before facing her.

“So you are Spectrum Slash?” he began without moving a single facial muscle aside from his lips. Spectrum noticed that he didn't even move his jaw. What was this, a competition for the most bad-flank pony, she thought while nodding her head. The scarred pony's accent was thick, a pure creation of the Hoovet Union's language that not too many still spoke due to all the immigrations. He started walking around her and the large stallions, taking his time to study the object he had been promised.

“Red Gear tells me you are strong pony. Thick as leather, strong as Ursa, vicious as Timber Wolf”.

She would have liked to agree to all of the mentioned things, but right now she could only feel the pressuring aura in this room. Aside from the strong light aimed at her, she couldn't see anything around her except the floor shaped like a huge iron fence with pipes beneath it. Her breathing quickened, but she still had control over herself.

“Yeah! You could... say that” she nearly hesitated. The only thing she remember before ending up here was Red Gear leading her to The Red Square, then suddenly sighing and reminding her that if her mind was made up, he couldn't stop her anymore. She wasn't dumb enough to question what was going on when the bag fell over her head and the strong hooves restrained her. Now... she was in the middle of her throw, hoping the dice would end on the number she had put her bet on.

“Really...?” he said as he stood in front of Spectrum again, rubbing his rough chin. “You think you are strong like Orlov and Trotter?”.

Spectrum glanced at both sides, understanding he must have meant the big stone-faces next to her that didn't even seem to breathe. She instantly doubted her ability to take down such kind of ponies, minding they surely had more muscles and not to mention more combat experience than your average bruiser of Ponyville. But before she could turn her eyes to the scarred pony, she was greeted by a hard hoof flying straight into her face.

“You hesitate, you die!” he exclaimed while Spectrum's head flew to the side.

Pain thundered from her cheek and teeth as the bald pony struck her with a healthy dose of strength. She was mildly shocked, yet still focused on what was going to happen. She saw from her tilted stance the hoof moving back to the chest covered in green. He was cool again like nothing just happened.

“I am commander Polkan. It is my duty to test you. You fail... you die...”.

For the following month, Spectrum Slash was tested in every way possible both in physical fitness and mental endurance. She was in the beginning trained to withstand exhaustion by running away from trained dogs until her stamina fell flat to the ground. Her lungs were strengthened by constant abuse to her ability to hold her breath under water. Both of these segments collaborated to remind her how valuable every breath you take is and to put maximum use out of it.

Meanwhile, there was the beating. She was chained to a wall and forced to endure one hour of constant physical pain per day, or until she couldn't scream anymore. Commander Polka supervised everything twenty-four seven, making sure his subordinates followed the strict scheme. Sometimes he even stood in the same room and stared silently at the mare getting brutally abused, not letting go of a single expression while doing so. The muscular brutes didn't go easy on her. If it wasn't torture by the means of hooves, they strapped her to a table and either twisted her limbs until they nearly broke or mauled her hooves until they almost cracked.

Polkan was displeased by the display. He saw that something yearned inside the blue mare's eyes. There was a basic instinct he had seen in few ponies, an inner being that struggled for the ultimate outbreak. Yet, all he saw coming from those eyes were tears. Her arrogance only lasted for a few minutes when Orlov and Trotter warmed her up for the upcoming suffering. However, she had lasted much longer than what the average recruit did, a promising fact that perhaps could keep her alive.

Sad fact was.... if she didn't manage to break free from any of the events withing a month, she was going to be killed.

One night, when only a few days remained of her test, she was on the edge of giving up. She was stuck with her forelegs chained to the cold wall again, mane hanging over the half-dead muzzle. She was still dripping blood from some cut wounds on her face, reminders that she was mortal just like anypony else. The dry air strained her already ravaged lungs and the blood loss in her forelegs didn't relax her sore and exhausted body. She feared for the worst, knowing all about the disappointed looks from the commander. Her body was empty on strength, barely able to blink when she tried to sleep. The pain haunted her, reminded her...

“Spectrum?” somepony said from the darkness. She twitched her head up in surprise, immediately stricken by the image of a merciless hoof coming at her. She blinked a few times while the pony unveiled itself to be nopony else than Red Gear. She nodded down her tired head and breathed deeply to say something, but she wasn't able to produce much more than a couple of faint noises.

Red sat down on his haunches next to her, leaning on the hard wall stained with Spectrum's blood. He looked down at her and sighed. He wasn't supposed to be here, yet he felt forced to accompany her.

“You're putting up a real fight. Polkan is impressed that you're not begging for mercy after everything”.

Spectrum didn't reply, Red took that as a sign that she tried to stay focused. He still heard her breathing, so he didn't worry about her health.

“What you're going through right now is just a tenth of what the commander has experienced during his life. It takes a supernatural pony to come out of that ali-” he said before cutting himself off. His eyes glanced down to the beaten mare, lingering long enough for him to see the tears running down the blue cheeks. “I know it's tough, Spectrum, but I also know you can-”.

“You don't know shit, Red...” she said silently but loud enough for the mentioned stallion to hear. He forgot what he was going to say and decided to listen instead. Spectrum took some deep breathes and managed to lean back her head on the wall.

“He might be an experienced soldier on the field. But he doesn't know shit about what a real war is...”.

Red raised an eyebrow, unsure about what that was supposed to mean. He had seen the commander in action and those were some serious days where he trashed through enemies with dead comrades laying in his wake, trained to not hesitate for a moment when fear is chomping on your spine. What could be worse than that?

“Wars... are worst at home. When a young filly can't protect herself from her parents. When they slowly turn their back on you and blame you for everything. When everything seems to be your fault... that moment when your mom and dad tells you they regret you”.

Red widened his eyes.

“I'd prefer to catch a grenade from an enemy I barely know rather than have a liquor bottle thrown at me by my own... mother...” she nearly sobbed and closed her bruised eyelids. “They don't know shit!”.

Red watched as a tear fell from Spectrum's eyes. He felt cold inside, chilled by the fact that this mare had been through worse than he expected. Sure, those eyes must have had a back story, but he never saw this coming. He decided to act, thus laid a hoof on Spectrum's shoulder. She turned her head to him and looked straight into his eyes. Once again, he was locked by the beautiful eyes staring at him, giving the owner of them the chance to say one last thing.

“Those foals... they didn't have to die...” she whispered with gritting teeth. At that moment, even though he didn't understand what that meant, Red found his words again.

“There is a way to deal with your past, Spectrum.... and that is to look into its eyes... and tell it that you're still alive...”.

Spectrum didn't understand at first, but once she gathered the words in her head and thought about it for a few seconds with her eyes towards the floor, she saw the message. Red patted her shoulder with a smile on his lips, wondering if it was too much to give her a friendly kiss on the cheek. He didn't want to hesitate, thus decided to brush back her mane and give her a quick smooch on the forehead. The receiver widened her eyes in surprise but didn't do much more than that. Her wounded cheeks flushed red with heat while the stallion got up on his hooves. He walked up to the door and put his hoof on the heavy handle, only to look over his shoulder.

“There is another way too. And that is to... just... let the monster out”.

With those words, he opened the door and left the room. Spectrum stared at it for a short while before turning her head down again. She could still feel Red's soft lips on her forehead. For reasons she didn't want to admit, it helped her fall asleep...

In the next morning, commander Polka opened the door to Spectrum's room only to find her completely focused. He didn't say anything aside from the muted nod towards her. The large stallions came inside right after him and walked up to the chained mare. As they unlocked the chains connected to her forelegs, they were all prepared to see her die today. She fell lifelessly to the floor and thus forced the stallions to lift her up to the large bucket of ice-cold water. Spectrum opened her eyes weakly the moment they forced her head down below the surface of water.

The strong grips over her neck didn't have to resist this time. She had decided to lay absolutely still and think about yesterday. The chills over´her cheeks quickly spread and cooled down her head into a state of numbness. The words were warmer, though. The message she had been given, the thought about reminding her what she had on the inside. She shut her eyes and concentrated, betting her life on this moment in which she would be found dead in front of Red Gear. She would have him taken away from her, stolen and forever remembered as the only stallion who've shown her respect and appreciation. The thoughts developed into something stronger, much harsher than the outcome she expected. Her eyebrows arched, she grit her teeth and put all her thoughts on the single most hated stallion she knew of.

Then she opened her eyes. Her deep, murderous eyes...

Orlov leaned over the bucket and exchanged glances with Trotter, silently asking if she was dead minding the lack of bubbles. Trotter, who held Spectrum down over the back of her head, shrugged in response.

At that moment, the surface cracked and splashed up water right into Orlov's eyes, stunning him while Trotter experienced the immense strength forcing his grip loose. He fell back but only had time to hit his head to the floor before a blue hoof grabbed his collar and pulled him up again into a hard punch cracking his snout. When Trotter had managed to wipe his eyes, he was stunned once again by the ravenous mare smashing his comrade's face with a rapid series of punches. He shook off the fear and charged her, kicking aside the bucket in the process. Sadly for him, Spectrum instantly let go of her victim and turned around in a flash with her mouth wide-open, going for his throat.

That was the last thing Orlov saw before the blood splattered from his neck. Spectrum crunched with all her might and crushed his gullet within seconds, forcing the flesh to bulge into a bloody mess after she let go. Orlov covered the lethal wound and fell to the floor with the worst pain he ever had felt, and also his last. He died in a pool of his own blood in the next moment.

Spectrum stood silently on her hindlegs, panting like a nearly drowned beast with her soaked mane hanging over her muzzle. She looked over her shoulder, revealing to commander Polkan the raging demon in her eyes. He stood silently, refusing as usual to show any expression. Spectrum grinned with a light chuckle, behaving like she pleasured the moment like a foal with a bag full of candy. As she got down on all four and casually walked towards Polkan, he remained without loosing his attention to the mare, meeting her cold eyes like an old friend coming his way. He saw the terror in her eyes, what monster he had awakened, the insatiable hunger craving more blood. Soon there was just a few hooves left before she would reach him... and rip his head off.

Suddenly, the door flew open behind Polkan. Spectrum didn't care until she saw exactly who it was.

“Spectrum, that's enough!” Red Gear shouted and got up between him and the commander. Like a lightning bolt just struck in front of her, she halted and looked into Red's eyes. Her own, full with tempered hatred and rage, cooled down in a second. The monster was put back into its cage to rest, giving Spectrum full control of her body again. She was aware of what she had done, yet didn't regret any of it. However, her first will of action was to throw her forelegs around Red and hug him heartily. The embraced one acted on reflex and did the same, relieved to know she was calm again.

“Impressive, Red Gear” commander Polkan said and walked past them. The hugging ponies followed him with their eyes as he ventured to the downed stallions. “You promised me good recruit, and you were right”.

He turned to Spectrum after checking if Orlov was dead, which he didn't doubt for a second anyways. “Assign comrade Spectrum Slash her jacket. Mission is tomorrow” he then said and walked back towards the door. Those words confused Red Gear, causing him to raise his eyebrows and stutter.

“B-but... what about... her real training?” he asked, much to Spectrum's own confusion. Polkan looked over his shoulder, seemingly even colder than what he had given the appearance of until now.

“There is no need. I have seen much in life... but never something like that” he stated and opened the door, changing his tone from the dead serious one. “You will supervise comrade Spectrum Slash and report progress. Take care of Trotter before you go to doctor”.

The door closed behind him, leaving Spectrum alone with Red. She let go of him and looked strangely into his eyes. “What do you mean with 'real training'?”.

Red chuckled and scratched his neck, suddenly feeling awkward about the situation. “Well... you see, this was a test you had to pass in order to start your actual training to become an agent” he said and walked over to the nearly unconscious stallion. “Orlov and Trotter are traitors who were found guilty of aiding a dissident group. They were told they had been given a second chance if they helped us with a new recruit. Buuuuut....”.

He pulled out a handgun from his collar and aimed it at Trotter's head, looking into his narrowed eyes without hesitation. “... there is no second chance” he said and pulled the trigger, sending a twitch through Trotter's body as the bullet blew a hole into his forehead. Spectrum jumped in surprise, staring with wide-open eyes at the dead body Red also looked at. He put back his gun inside the jacket and walked back to his new comrade.

“You were supposed to at least take them down with force, but you exceeded all of our expectations, even commander Polkan's “ he said happily and put a hoof over his forehead, casually saluting Spectrum. “Welcome to the Red Saddles, agent Spectrum Slash”.

The same afternoon after getting fixed at the infirmary, Spectrum was given her citizenship papers and passport personally by Polkan, together with her own green jacket. He bid his farewell with a hint that he knew she would serve the USHR well. With his blessing, she enjoyed the rush of excitement all the way to Red Gear's home. She was quickly shown around his house, learning that only he lived here. Later, he offered her his bed for tonight and that he would sleep on the couch. She accepted the kind offer since she was a guest.

That night, however, Spectrum laid in bed for a long while with the urge to ask for Red to keep her company. Meanwhile, Red pondered on the couch why he didn't take the courage to ask the same thing...