From Darkness

Operation: Resonating Hope

Location: Former Manehattan, Shadows HQ

Date and Time: September 26, 2037. 11:07 Hours

Subject: Shadows

Objective: Give the Elites...hope...

Jesus my friends are assholes...

The moment Spitfire laid eyes on Skar, she went into all out beserk mode. She would have blown his brains out if I didn't step in the way! After a heated explanation, Spitfire put her weapons down and went back to what she was doing. She said she was going to finish up and then debrief us. Cogs just sat in the corner of the room, silent, staring at the Elite. Is orange-rust colored fur showed extreme tension in his body, as it stood up around his neck. His black mane hung loosely at his shoulders, and his arms were crossed, he was tapping his pointer finger on the inside of his elbow. His wings weren't completely extended, but they looked ready to flap and put ten yards between him and Skar. He didn't say anything, but it was clear he was agitated.

After a long silence when Spitfire left, Cogs finally spoke up to Skar. Cogs said, "So...Skar, you were-"

Skar cut him off, "You call me Streak."

"Oh? Shadows tells me your name is Skar." Cogs replied calmly, although his body language didn't change.

"My name is Skar Streak. You can call me Streak, for now."

"Oh...well...Streak, you were a part of the Elite military...correct?"

Skar raised an eyebrow, "Yes?"

"Is there anything about their...uh...technology...that you could tell me about?"

Skar sighed, "Sorry, I was more of a soldier. I left the tech stuff up to the tech guys."

"Oh...that makes sense..." Suddenly, Cogs shifted, and his wings expanded a little more, forming a defensive position, "How many people did you kill?"

Skar looked at his feet, "836."

Cogs stood silent, just waiting for something. Though, I couldn't really tell what. Maybe he expected Skar to attack?

Skar continued, "And every single one of them was an Elite..."

Cogs gasped, and another gasp could be heard from the nearby doorway. I turned and saw Spitfire, with her hand covering her mouth, and her eyes wide open.

Skar looked at Spitfire, although he was still talking to Cogs, "I was a sleeper cell, and in order to keep my cover I had to kill Elites. I counted every single one, 836. 945 if you're counting the wounded too. Personally, I don't think that killing ever solves anything. But I did what I had to."

Cogs put his wings down, and his arms were now uncrossed, "I'm...sorry. Jesus, I'm an asshole. Look, you're just the first Elite that I've met who didn't try to kill me instantly. Please forgive me for being so rude, Streak."

"It's fine, I understand. Please, call me Skar."

Well, it seems Skar and Cogs are okay now. But Skar never stopped looking at Spitfire. Now it was Spitfire's turn to be shown up. She gestured towards me and Skar and said, "Shadows, Skar, come with me."

All Skar said was, "You call me Streak..."

Spitfire took us back into the debriefing room. I noticed she had the interrogation table removed, like always. She knew it bugged me. I walked towards the closet where she stored it. Opened the door, and pulled it back out. Needless to say, Spitfire was thoroughly surprised, and gave me a look that said we'll talk about that later.

Spitfire sat on one side, while me and Skar sat opposite of her. Before Spitfire could talk, Skar spoke up.

Skar stated, "You are Spitfire."

Spitfire wasn't the only one with wide eyes. How did Skar know that? I never told him!

Spitfire voiced my question, "How do you know that?"

"Does the code-name 'Delta' sound familiar to you?"

"Delta? HOW THE FUCK DO YOU KNOW THAT! WHO ARE YOU?" Spitfire screamed

This conversation was taking a turn that I didn't anticipate.

Skar was still calm, but his eyes seemed glassier that normal, like tears were forming, "Love is like a fire, even if you go. It'll just keep burnin', melt away the snow." Skar's voice was low, was he singing?

Spitfire eyes shot wide, like she made a sudden realization. Then, she began to sing too, "No matter where you are, you will always know. That I love you so..."

Skar continued to sing, and stood up face to face with Spitfire, "Break away the chains, follow me now. Even if it's cold, we'll stay warm somehow."

Now, Skar and Spitfire were inches from each other, and singing together, both in low voices, "No matter where you are, you will always know. That I love you so..."

Hold up a minute, this was totally fucked up. Did I just watch Skar and Spitfire kiss? After singing some song? What the fuck is going on? It's like two distant lovers were just reunited! What the hell? That's it, now it's my turn for questions!

"What the fuck was that?" I asked blatently

Spitfire and Skar were still staring each other down, oblivious to my question.

"HEY! I'M STILL FUCKING HERE YOU KNOW?" I yelled

That jogged their focus, and whatever reverie they were having was interrupted. Spitfire and Skar looked at me, Skar said, "Well, there's no easy way to say this...but...me and Spitfire used to date...heavily..."

Okay, now I'm totally baffled, "What?"

Spitfire replied, "Delt- I mean, Skar used to be a member of the Wonderbolts fighting force. Though I didn't know he was an Elite."

Hold on, I still had some questions, "How do you know he's Delta?"

Spitfire smiled at Skar, as if reminiscing about something, and said, "Delta was the only one who knew that song. He sang it for me on the day of our first anniversary."

Skar chuckled, "It was the cheesiest crap ever!"

Spitfire giggled (it was the first time I ever heard her do that!), "It was sweet!"

I fake gagged, and that brought a hearty laugh out of both of them. Then I had my most burning question, "And...you don't care that he's an Elite?"

Spitfire raised an eyebrow, saying, "Why would I? I love him! I was taken hostage by the Elites during their raid, and then you took me in after I escaped that compound with you! Jesus, is escaping stuff all you ever do?"

I laughed and shook my head, remembering how the battle recorder asked me the same thing in the objective display. Lyra even gave those things a sense of humor! Or...was it using my sense of humor? Damn, if that was the case then I was kinda mean! Either way, Spitfire was more than happy to work alongside her old partner.

Skar let his friends call him Skar, and his co-workers called him Streak. Spitfire got to call him Snookums! He's never gonna hear the end of that! Me and my friends had a long day, so we sat down for a drink to celebrate a happy reunion, and an addition to the team. Things were going great, and we could get right to work on preventing a full out war on the Elites, and trying to solve this matter peacefully!

We chatted for about 30 minutes, sharing stories about what was going on while we were separated. I looked at the clock, and noticed it was already going on noon. I decided now would be the best time to start making lunch, then we could get straight to work on Operation Resonating Hope. First, I needed to use the bathroom. I headed down the hall to the restrooms, and went about my business. We had the restroom sort of set up like a lobby, due to the fact that we normally had a bunch of mercenaries in the place, and it always seemed like ten of them were trying to crap at once. The TV hung in the corner of the room played the Elite national news regularly. I was finishing up, when something the TV man said caught my attention.

"Crisis in Tuto today!" The anchorman said

I opened the stall door, and looked at the TV, wondering what was wrong.

The anchorman continued, "An unidentified force assaulted the Illesian capital of Tuto this morning in a raid for the ages. Hundreds are confirmed dead, and even more are injured. It is still unknown who assaulted the capital, but sources suggest an attack from The Equestrian Republic. More on the story at 1."

No...we're too late...

"NO! WE CAN'T GIVE UP!" Spitfire screamed, slamming her fist on the table, "NOT NOW!"

"What can we do Spitfire?" I reasoned, "The Elites now have plenty of reason to hate the Equestrians! Even those who didn't originally!"

"It will take a lot more than that..." Skar noted.

"What do you mean?" Cogs asked.

Skar looked at me, "Did you see the statue in Irkutsk town square?"

"Irkutsk? Is that former Ponyville?" I asked

"Yes." Skar answered.

"Yeah, the one with those six girls on it?"

"Yes, do you know who they are?"

"I know two of them. One is Princess Twilight Sparkle, and another one was Rainbow Dash. I couldn't tell you the other four."

"Those six girls are the elements of harmony. Their friendship was the strongest in all the land. The Elite military forces took that away from them when they raided Ponyville. They killed the other four: Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Fluttershy. This caused their friendship to completely fall apart, and the elements of harmony became cold and dark. The stones still sit in the Irkutsk library, waiting for the next bearers. The Elites there use them as a sign of hope, that one day a group of Equestrians will have to come there to get them. Any bearer of an element of harmony, would gladly hear both sides of the story, and the Elites would have a chance at peace with the Equestrians. They were erecting that statue to show they meant no harm to the Equestrians when they should they arrive, but in a way that the military would be too corrupt to see."

"Wow." Was all I could manage to say.

Skar continued, "The purple and blue ones still have some glow, showing that Twilight and Rainbow Dash are still alive."

Cogs, who had left the room at some point, was now coming back, and said, "Not anymore..."

Skar and I both raised an eyebrow, and Skar asked, "What do you mean?"

Cogs looked at his feet, "I was doing some research on what you were saying. Just this morning, the Irkutsk library posted that the blue element of harmony lost it's glow early this morning...during the attack on Tuto."

Skar shook his head, obviously not too fazed about it. To him, it just meant that Rainbow Dash died. To me, it meant Rainbow Dash died.

I broke down, I finally gave in. First Rosa, then the Elites, then the Equestrian Republic's attack, and now Rainbow Dash? I was sobbing like a baby. That girl didn't deserve to die. Sure, she wasn't too bright, no BLACK operative is, but she didn't deserve death. All she wanted was to win this war, have things go back to the way the were before it, I could see it in her eyes. I didn't see her for very long, but I knew more about her than most anybody did from just being around her for the time that I was. She was a soldier, she followed orders, no questions asked. I used to be that way, in a way, it was what got me in the mess I was in. She didn't know the Elites weren't all bad, and she killed them because of her lack of knowledge. Because nobody told her...a lack of communication...wow. Because of one stupid lack of communication, Rainbow Dash was dead. Why didn't I tell her? She could be here, with us, fighting for the right cause. I was making the same mistake all over again. Funny...how things work that way...