Blood and Shadows

Operation: Welcome to BLACK

Location: Classified

Date and Time: September 23, 2037. 18:36 Hours.

Subject: Rainbow Dash

Objective: Unknown

I sat there for hours, at some point a lunch was passed back to me, but it wasn't very filling. All I had to think about was my friends who I may never see again, and the Equestrian Takeover. Thoughts clouded my mind, and I experienced many emotions. I cried, screamed, laughed even, at stories I told myself. It helped the time go by, and before I knew it, the vehicle had stopped. The door opened, and I saw the black car I was in, was parked in a underground parking garage. The man riding shotgun got out and grabbed my arm. I quickly tried to jerk away, out of reaction, but he was strong and grabbed my other arm. A man, who I had no idea was there, came up behind me and cuffed my hands behind my back. I frantically tried to escape their grasp, but it was as if these people were super humans or something! A man entered a door at the end of the garage, not far from us, and started walking our way. He looked just like the men holding me, black fur and a white mane, built very muscularly and wore a black business suit with a red tie. A smaller woman followed behind him, holding a clipboard and writing something down. She had black fur and a white mane as well. She sported the same suit as everybody else, I felt under dressed! I got a really bad feeling as the man and woman grew nearer, and when he finally reached us, I noticed he looked exactly like the man who grabbed my arms, exactly. I looked to make sure, and I was right, they looked exactly the same! Then I noticed the man who handcuffed me looked exactly the same as well! This was like something out of a sci-fi movie that involved clones. Where the hell was I? Who the hell were these people? Why did this bitch keep looking at me funny? Then the man who approached us started speaking.

"Don't worry Ms. Dash, you are in very good hands." His voice sounded like chocolate tasted, if you can imagine that.

"Oh really? Then why the fuck am I handcuffed and being held against my will?" I retaliated

"Because this is a top secret facility, and we can't have you knowing it's location. If you choose to join us then you will be allowed free passage. But if not then you will be put back in the car and sent back to your original base."

I calmed down now, "So then where are you taking me?"

"This way," the man guided his clones and the lady towards the door he came from.

We walked through the door and the woman turned around, "I'm going to have to blindfold you so that you do not know the layout of our facility."

I growled as she put the blindfold over me and we continued walking. We made some turns and passed through some security checkpoints, but the group was silent. I decided I would break the silence with a question that had been bugging me, "What is this place exactly?"

The man replied, "This facility is the organization known as BLACK."

"BLACK? Who came up with that stupid name?"

"If you decide to join us then you will get to find out yourself." he said with a laugh

We walked through a door, I could hear it open and close, and the clones set me down on a chair. The lady took my blindfold off as I saw we were in an interrogation room. One of the clones handcuffed me to a slot in the table and then they left the room. The man sat across from me and the lady stood by, pen at the ready.

"So," the man began, "what do you know of this place?"

"Well I know that you must run some pretty sick experiments in here to be cloning yourself!"

"Haha, Rainbow Dash, those are not clones, they are simply androids! I am the lead designer of them, so I found it fitting to put them in my image!"

"Fair enough..." I looked at the lady who was scribbling madly on her clipboard

"Do you know anything else about this place?" the man continued

"No, never heard of it."

"That's how it's supposed to be!"

"Huh?"

"BLACK is a top secret facility that is built for the sole purpose of freeing Illesia from the Elite's grasp. We operate undercover, and nobody knows we exist. Our operatives take the pledge to put themselves in the line of fire or darkness, whichever they see fit. No matter how things happen, if they are captured, we burn all intelligence of them and deny any association with them. Our operatives do not get funerals, the get a tombstone with their name on it, placed in a private graveyard. They do not wear name tags, or any other form of I.D. This is how we have operated, since the start of the Equestrian Republic."

"Wow, that is the biggest load of shit I have ever heard. Did you watch Men in Black twenty times yesterday, and that's a line from it or something? I don't know who you think you're talking to, but I am captain of the 91st Pegasus Division, and I demand to be given a proper explanation to just what exactly this place is!" I slammed my fists against the restraining cuffs.

"Don't believe me?"

"Not in the slightest!"

"Well you might want to look behind you then."

I turned around, expecting to see another wall, but what I saw was truly astonishing. There was a five inch thick wall of bulletproof plexi-glass between me and the spectacle on the other side. It appeared to be an entire city street in size, and along the sides there were technicians working on prototype weapons, and doctors injecting men with some green liquid. Dogs, the size of bears, wandered around, sniffing for any signs of danger. A tank that was completely black was loaded with about eight different cannons at one station and about five rifle barrels stuck out from underneath them. A jet was at another station, a man got inside and the wings retracted, then extended again. Another station had a man using a jet pack and shooting some targets against the wall. The entire room was made out of dark grey steel and many support beams held up the roof that seemed to be at least a mile above the floor. I turned around and the man had a big grin on his face, "Believe me now?" he asked.

I simply nodded and motioned for him to continue, I probably looked like I'd just seen a ghost.

"BLACK is a one hundred percent deniable operation, in case of emergency, the entire facility can be detonated and buried in a matter of seconds. If you choose-"

"Wait, buried?"

"Oh, yes, the entire facility is underground."

My jaw basically hit the floor at this point.

"As I was saying, if you choose to join us, then you'll need to take an oath of secrecy first."

"Where do I sign?"

"Just repeat after me: I, Rainbow Dash, do solemnly swear..." he motioned for me to repeat

"I, Rainbow Dash, do solemnly swear..."

"To protect the rightful citizens of Equestria from danger..."

I recognized this, this was the first part of the oath for joining the Wonderbolts, "To protect the rightful citizens of Equestria from danger..."

"No matter what the cost..."

"No matter what the cost..."

"Now, on to the BLACK oath."

"I have to take two oaths?"

"Yes, now repeat after me."

"Okay."

"I do not exist..."

This was new, "I do not exist..."

"But I will fight for the right to live in Equestria once more..."

I repeated

"Even if I do not get to see this goal accomplished, I will die trying to see it through..."

I repeated

"If I am captured, I will deny all association with the Equestrian Republic, and I will claim to be a rogue agent..."

I repeated

"I accept that I will not have a funeral, and a tombstone will be placed in my memory, in a private graveyard..."

I repeated

"I accept that the Equestrian Republic will deny any association with me, on any matter, and will expel me from the country if necessary..."

I repeated

"Rainbow Dash, Welcome to BLACK."

The man uncuffed me and led me to a security checkpoint, where he showed a card to a guard, said some numbers to another guard, and then went through a locked door using a retinal scanner.

"Man, you went all out on security with this place." I said

"We have to, keeps everything near impossible for the wrong people to access. Oh, and my name's Gear Head."

"Well it's nice to know the name of the guy who's giving me a tour of the place!" I laughed

"Oh, I won't be touring you around. The person who 'came up with this place's stupid name' will be giving you the tour."

"Who might that be?"

"Here she is now!"

I looked over his shoulder and the person approaching us was one who I had not seen in a long time.

"Princess Celestia!" I called out in surprise

"Ah, if it isn't Rainbow Dash!" she replied

I ran up to her and gave her the biggest hug ever. She still looked exactly the same, white fur and multicolored mane. The reason for the big fiasco was because Princess Celestia was presumed dead after the Equestrian Takeover.

"Everyone thinks you're dead!" I scolded her

She backed away and replied with a serious look, "That's the way things need to be, if the Elites knew I was alive then they'd come after us. It's better staying under the radar."

"Well, are there anymore surprises I should know about?"

"Just one," Celestia gestured towards the door she came from at the end of the hallway.

I approached the door, Celestia and her guards in tow, and turned the knob. I pulled the door open, and my eyes were met with the most advanced piece of machinery I had ever seen. The room inside was dark, everything was painted black, but the room was lit up because almost every square inch of wall space had been taken up by a computer monitor. The room was about the size of an enclosed football field, with a ceiling about twenty feet high. Men and women alike paced back and forth, talking to the technicians at the keyboards and giving them commands. The center of the room was lined with booths of people on more computers, doing who knows what. At the very center of the room, on a huge pedestal-like structure, was a holographic display of the entire planet. Multicolored dots whizzed about the projection, and people gathered around it, taking notes on clipboards. A huge screen displayed on the back wall, and on it was the word: DEFENSIVE, with a blue background behind it. "Wow..." was all I could manage to say.

"What do you think?" Celestia asked me

"Who built all of this?"

"Who do you think?" Celestia pointed at the globe in the center of the room, but a specific person below it. This person had a bright blue-green coat with a slightly brighter mane to match it.

"LYRA!" I called out

Lyra looked up at me, and she smiled instantly. She got out of the chair she was in and started running towards the stairs to the platform I was on. I rushed down as fast as I could to meet my long lost friend with a huge hug. By the time we reached each other, we were both crying.

"Where have you been Dash?" Lyra asked me

"I've been here and there, you know." I replied sarcastically

"Oh, that was a joke! I know exactly where you've been!"

"Wait, what?"

"Yeah! I run this place as a second in command to Celestia! I know everything that goes on around here!"

"And what exactly goes on around here?"

"Intelligence." Celestia cut in

"I'm sorry?" I asked

"Intelligence," Lyra explained, "we gather intel here. Not a single event goes unnoticed all around the world! We record anything of importance, and file it here. We have been monitoring the military with extreme precision as of last night! Since you returned from your mission last night, we have every single thing that has happened in all of our military bases on file here! Hidden cameras and mics! You name it!"

"Huh?"

"That document you retrieved last night, it confirmed some very important information about the Elites and some forces they have on the inside, so we've been keeping a keen eye on our own forces. That means nothing goes on in any military base without us knowing!"

"What about-?"

"Yup, even your little adventure last night!" Lyra winked, "But don't worry, I took the honor of deleting the footage myself."

"Phew, thanks." I praised

"This reunion has been all fine and dandy," Celestia interrupted, "but you're getting shipped out for your first mission in less than an hour Rainbow Dash."

"I am?"

"Yes, so go hit the showers and get the lay down on your new gear from Gear Head."

"Where exactly is my first mission?"

"Where we have feared to tread for ten years..."

"You don't mean-"

"Illesia..."

I hit the showers and was about to get suited up when a man entered the shower room.

"AH! What the hell are you doing in here you pervert!?" I rapidly hid myself behind a wall.

The man was Gear Head, he approached me very calmly, "Don't worry Dash, everybody has to do this when they first come here, you have nothing to embarrassed about, this is completely professional."

"What do you need to do?"

"I'm going to tint your fur and mane black."

"What?! Why would you do that?"

"Because a cyan coat of fur and a rainbow colored tail tend to stick out like a sore thumb. If you're gonna run a stealth op, then you can't go in like that."

I looked myself over, the bright colors of my rainbow tail reflected the light in the room like a mirror, he had a point, but still, "Why don't I just wear the special forces Wonderbolt suit? That covers my entire body!"

"That's the point, we need you mobile, your wings cant be put down and an uncomfortable suit would only make things harder on you."

Ugh, there was no way out of this, "fine, what do you have to do, paint my fur?"

"No no silly! I'm just here to give you this pill! The only reason I'm here is to make sure it works! It's still a prototype and I need to see the results. It's supposed to turn your hair completely black!"

"Does it work?"

"Well so far it has turned fur black, but the mane and tail turn white. Every time we send somebody out on a mission, we have to shave off their mane and tail."

"Well give me the pill, maybe I'll have some luck with it."

He handed me the blue capsule, and I downed it without fear, I thought I would look cool with black fur and a white mane. I knew this was completely professional, so I stepped out for him to see the effects. He pulled out a clipboard, pen at the ready. A strange feeling started in my stomach, it felt as if a small worm was wriggling around in my chest. The small irritation quickly grew, and soon my entire body singed like it was on fire. I clenched my eyes shut and held back tears, the pain was almost unbearable. I could feel my mane and tail getting longer, and my fur grew in length too. I opened my eyes to see a very strange sight. My fur had doubled in length, the half that stuck out farther was cyan, but the half closer to my skin was a dark black. I pulled my mane around to see if it was any different. It was twice as long too and the farther half was rainbow colored, and the new half was black as well.

"It's a success! I'll have to tell Lyra right away!"

"But my hair is only half black!"

"Yes, that's what's supposed to happen, a team of hair trimmers will be in shortly to give you a haircut!" He left out the door and two clones walked in with suitcases. They remained speechless as one turned their suitcase into a chair and pointed to it. I sat down and the other opened his and pulled out hair trimmers. They cut my hair and gave me a mirror to look at myself. I looked about twenty percent cooler. My fur and mane were now completely black, and when I looked at my tail, it was black too. I got up and one of the clones handed me a black jumpsuit with holes for my wings and tail, it had a built in bra. I put it on and walked out of the showers, feeling very awkward.

I followed the signs to the room Celestia told me to go to, the Loadout Room is what she called it. When I went in Gear Head was hard at work on some sort of gun, "Sup?" I said.

He turned around to face me, "Ah, right on time! Are you ready to see your new gear?"

"Ready as I'll ever be!"

He lead me to a display case with a bunch of gear stashed inside. There was a complete suit: Night vision goggles, a kevlar vest and military issue pants, all dubbed in black. A five seven with a suppressor sticking off of it hung beside a M4 with a suppressor as well. An ACOG sight sat on top of the rifle and both weapons were outfitted with laser sights on the underside. A SOG knife, with teeth on the back that looked like they could saw through steel, hung next to its holster beside the guns. A pistol holster was already on the pants and the M4 was outfitted with a sling. Several different grenades hung beside the suit: Flash bangs, Explosive, Concussive, Smoke, EMP, you name it and it was there. There were also these strange looking balls that stuck to the back wall, they were about the size of marbles.

"This is your new loadout!" Gear Head proudly said

"What are those little balls?" I asked, then I noticed he looked a little heartbroken, "Oh this is all really cool! But those little balls just caught my attention is all!" I defended.

He brightened up, "Really? Because those little balls are designed not to catch attention."

"Pardon?"

He opened the lock on the case and pulled one out, "This is the mini-mic mk.8, it's a microphone that can stick to any surface and record noise. It's a design that me and Lyra came up with together!"

He handed me the microphone and I inspected it, "How does it turn on?"

He reached inside the display case and held up a tac-map, only when he turned it on did I realize it wasn't just a tac-map. It was some sort of wrist mounted command...thingy. He turned it on and then tapped his fingers on the screen a few times to wake it up, then he held it out to me, "With this baby right here, this is a tac-map I modified to control these things, the display is only visible from one angle, thanks to little shutters installed in the screen. So now if you turn this thing on, you don't have to worry about somebody seeing it, and it only lights up according to the light around you, so you won't have a flashlight mounted on your arm. Lyra helped me with it!"

"Got a name for it?"

"I was thinking something along the lines of Op-Sat but I didn't really like that, maybe you can name it?"

I put the device on my left arm, and fiddled with the settings, it seemed a little rigged. That would be a great name, "How about The Rig?"

"That sounds awesome! I'll toss the name in the database!" He ran over to a computer and typed some stuff in real fast then came back, "Now, lets get you suited for your first mission!"