The Great War

                                ~~~~~~~~~~0100 Hours, Snow Fall 13, 3783 (Las Pegasus) Pegasalian Capital~~~~~~~~~~

          “I’ve got my eye on a group of three tangos just ahead of your position” said Gilda looking through the scope of her newly acquired L-76 (Raptor) sniper rifle while also fighting the chill that came to the city of Las Pegasus every winter from her perch high atop Osirus Tower. She was deep inside of hostile territory providing over watch for Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Soarin who were attempting to infiltrate a building across the street. It was a standard Intel grab op to discover the enemies military, naval, and aerial capabilities.

         “All right” Responded Rainbow Dash over the comms from the roof of the Havok Building. Princess Luna couldn’t have picked a more miserable day for the mission than the one they currently found themselves in. Temperatures hovered around 34 degrees Fahrenheit. That coupled with the torrential downpour of rain made the already depressing atmosphere about the city that much more prominent.

       “I’ve got em” stated Gilda confidently setting her sight on right pegasi’s head. Normally this shot would be too difficult for even the greatest of snipers to risk due to the low visibility. But Gilda had a secret weapon. Thermal sights made it possible to see a target through thick smoke, fog, or even the most inclement weather in the former province of Equestria.

       Rainbow Dash squinted against the rain barely making out the shapes of three guards directly ahead, just as Gilda said. As soon as she had begun to make their forms more clearly each in order from right to left crumpled under their weight landing on the ground dead.

       Seeing that it was safe to move forward Rainbow Dash stood up and made her way over to the bodies followed closely by Fluttershy and Soarin. By the time they reached the bodies, blood had begun to pool around their heads.

      “And that’s how we get things done” crowed Gilda already knowing what the answer would be.

      Rainbow Dash chuckled a bit. Gilda had changed a great deal since the incident with Pinkie Pie a couple of years back. According to her, after she ran off from Ponyville she made her way back to the town of her birth, Grifaux back in Leaglia. Her attitude had gotten her very few friends and she lived a lonely life on the street. But she never forgot her old friend Rainbow Dash and when she learned of a war breaking out in Equestria she packed her bags and immediately enlisted. To her surprise she was accepted even despite being a griffon and was placed in Kilo 2 under the command of Major Lyra Heartstrings. She rose through the ranks quickly and eventually became the second in command. But then during a mission in The Badlands her team was ambushed, all with the exception of herself, Lyra, and Cheerilee were killed during the attack. The three of them suffered at the hands of a brutal earth pony by the name of Scourge until only Gilda remained. Cheerilee was killed by a guard while being brought to another torture session. And Lyra, Lyra couldn’t take it anymore she grabbed the gun of a guard a ended her own life a few days later. Eventually Gilda had given up hope of escape until one day The cage door opened and a familiar voice sounded from the doorway. It was Rainbow Dash she had been sent in to eliminate Scourge but instead got to watch as an angry Griffon tore out his throat. After that Rainbow Dash had gotten Gilda, the only surviving member of Kilo 2 transferred to her squad and Gilda spent the rest of her life so far trying to amend things with Dash and her friends.

        “Looks like your job’s done Gilda” joked Fluttershy “you would be sort of conspicuous in a building of nothing but pegasi”

        “Yeah, but that’s why I’m a sniper and not an infiltrator” Gilda paused before continuing “Hey Dashie how in Equestria are you gunna blend in?”

         Rainbow Dash had thought of this before but never figured it out until she asked Fluttershy. She was the only Pegasus in the world with a naturally rainbow colored mane and tail, the solution instant mane dye. She would have to apply it once she was inside so it wouldn’t wash out in the rain and it would remain that color for the next 24 hours. Of course she didn’t like the idea but she was a soldier and as a soldier it was her duty to complete the mission, no matter the cost.

        “Alright you two go inside and head to your objectives” said Dash without answering Gilda’s question “I’ll go on in once I’ve hidden the bodies”

        Fluttershy and Soarin both nodded before they made their way inside the building. Rainbow Dash admired the two of them. They were the perfect kind of couple. Clearly in love but not to the point where you want to barf.

       Putting the thought aside Rainbow Dash drug each body individually behind a ventilation duct were they would be out of sight from any aerial patrols. Then the rainbow maned Pegasus quickly stepped into the building.

       The door lead to a staircase which went all the way down to the ground floor stopping at each of the 65 floors. Rainbow Dash’s sigh of relief was short lived as she shook the water from her body. Now came the worst part of the mission. She reached into her backpack for the can of instant dye and brought it around to her mane. The process of changing her rainbow colored mane and tail to a deep crimson was only about a minute. But it seemed like an eternity to Rainbow Dash.

      Once she was done Rainbow Dash checked her mane and sighed. Under any other circumstances she would’ve never dyed her mane because of how awesome it truly was on it’s own.

      Rainbow Dash shook the thought out of her head and made her way down to floor 58. This floor was the floor that scans indicated that Dr Yuri Cloud’s office was located on. Dr Yuri Cloud was responsible for the development of the Arosak ballistic missile near the beginning of the war. He also happens to be one of the most trusted of Onyx Shadow’s advisors so his office could hold many important documents.

      The hallway as could be expected because of the fact that it was just about 1:30 AM only had a small personnel presence. There were two armed guards patrolling the hallway and a single civilian making his way toward the elevators. Rainbow Dash made her way down the hallway attempting to not draw attention to herself. She reached Dr Cloud’s office just as the two guards disappeared around a corner so she was able to slip inside undetected.

     The office was a decent sized office with a desk and a handful of filing cabinets. A laptop sat on top of the desk next to some pictures of the doctor’s family and friends and a pencil sharpener. However the only source of light was the slight amount that filtered in through the shades on the window from the city outside. Just as Rainbow Dash was about to start collecting files she heard the door knob begin to turn and she instinctually dove for cover underneath of the desk. From her position she could hear the door as it slowly creaked open followed by a sudden blindness as the lights flicked on. She got her Colt-6 Revolver prepared in case she was found. She could hear hoof steps moving across the room toward the desk. But just as she was about to spring out and eliminate the threat she heard something get picked up off the desk followed by the sound of hoof steps exiting the room.

     Rainbow Dash stayed under the desk until her breathing returned to normal before moving to the file cabinet. She wanted nothing more than to leave after that close call and quickly scooped up all of the files out of the first drawer followed by the second and third. After she was done with the filing cabinets she had to get the files off of the laptop. She instead took the whole laptop and placed it into her backpack along with the files.

      “Let the eggheads deal with this” she muttered under her breath. This was one of the few times Rainbow Dash had been truly frightened on a mission. She didn’t usually show fear because that was how a leader was meant to be, strong and unwavering.

       Once she was done Rainbow Dash made her way out into the hallway and quickly made her way back to the staircase. But she was stopped by a voice from down the hallway.

       “Halt!” called one of the guards making his way over to Rainbow Dash

       “You’ve got a lot of explaining to do” stated the second Pegasalian guard as they reached Dash’s position

        “What” asked Dash as the two guards attempted to restrain her

       Rainbow Dash pulled her revolver out but she wasn’t quick enough. As soon as she had her revolver up to shoot she felt an explosion of pain in her leg causing her to fall to the ground. She looked down to see a bullet hole with blood pooling around her right hind leg at just about thigh level.

       She had been shot before but for some reason they it never hurt as bad as it did now. Every little movement of her was like an explosion of pain which shot all the way up her leg. To make matters worse when she looked away from her leg she found herself staring down the barrel of an M4A1 assault rifle.

     “I uhh” choked Dash

     “Save your breath” stated the guard holding the gun “I know who you are, Rainbow Dash”

     “But how?” asked Dash attempting to block out the pain

     “Oh you don’t remember me?” responded the Pegasus a bit of menace in her voice “maybe this’ll jog your memory, Wonderbolt Academy”

      Rainbow Dash was instantly aware of who the Pegasus standing over her was “Lightning Dust?”

      “Ding Ding Ding, look who’s suddenly smart”

      “Why, why are you doing this” asked Rainbow Dash on the edge of crying out in pain

      “It’s all your fault” Lightning Dust explained “I was always better than you, better than the others, better than even the Wonderbolts themselves and you went and ruined everything, you got me kicked out and crushed all of my dreams, but you know what now I get to right that wrong say goodbye Rainbow Dash”

        Rainbow Dash closed her eyes and waited heart pounding for her inevitable demise. She heard a gunshot followed by a second and then silence. She almost had herself convinced she was dead until she heard hoof steps making their way toward her and she opened her eyes. Before her eyes was the dead unmoving body of Lightning Dust with a pool of blood steadily forming around her body and down the hallway she could just make out the fuzzy form of the other guard. She felt light headed and her vision was fading in and out of focus. Then she heard voices but they seemed far away and she couldn’t make out what they were saying. What she did become aware of was that she was being carried. She was in this state for a few minutes but it seemed like a much longer period of time to her. She finally regained her hearing around the same time that she noticed a feeling of cold raindrops and she could see the lightning flash through the sky.

         “Gilda get your ass over here” called Soarin taking a commanding tone of voice that was uncharacteristic for this happy go lucky Pegasus “Rainbow Dash has been shot and she needs immediate medical attention”

           “Alright I’m on my way” responded the Griffon all of her cocky, sarcasm gone from her voice

           “Soarin” coughed Dash trying to get his attention

         “Hey, Fluttershy she’s awake” called Soarin “shhhh, save your strength you’ve lost a lot of blood”

         “Is she going to be ok?” asked Fluttershy her fear for her friends life showing clearly in her voice

        “She’ll be fine” said Soarin reassuringly “don’t worry RD you’re gunna be fine”

        Rainbow Dash was now fully aware of her surroundings as well as the pain in her leg. The pain was worse now than it was and Rainbow Dash wished she had a stim to take the edge off at least.

         She looked up to see Gilda fly overhead and land directly in front of her. For the first time Rainbow Dash could remember Gilda had a worried look on her face.

         “Alright Dash” said Gilda scooping up her injured leader and friend in her arms “I’m going to get you home safely you here”

          They all took off from the roof of the building. The tough Griffon still trying to find her true self, the shy, skittish Pegasus who was learning to trust in her own abilities, the all around nice guy who could take charge when push came to shove, and the injured Pegasus who was trying to learn what it truly meant to be a leader slipped off into the stormy night.