Fall of Libertyby iota_epsilonChaptersGermany's AscensionTermsUnwanted AttentionWhat Now?Chapter Five: Almost There...Germany's AscensionFall of Liberty Mlp humanized Chapter 1: Germany's Ascension July 23rd, 1944, Washington DC Winter Soldat crawled into position, right on top of the Lincoln memorial. He slowly made his way to the edge of the roof, inch by inch, his whole life had been leading up to this moment of glory for Germany. He pulled his rifle off of his back and lined up the crosshairs with Winston Churchill's head. The Britain prime minister was in America for security reasons, but in fact it only made killing him easier. Today was absolutely perfect for Ulrich, no wind, only a few hundred meters from his target, nearly one hundred percent visibility in all directions, and best of all, he was ensuring Germany's ultimate victory over America. He slowly calculated each measurement he needed to take the shot, then, BANG! November 15th, 2010 Twilight sparkle ran through the streets of Easton, praying that she made it back to her library in time to give the note to the Virginian General. She looked up at the sky and saw a girl floating in the air under her blue outstretched wings, it was Rainbow Dash! "RAINBOW DASH!" Twilight called out. Her rainbow haired friend went into a dive, then unfolded her wings just in time to land softly on her feet. "What's up Twilight?" "I need to get this letter back to the library, Shining Armor is waiting on it. You can fly a lot faster than I can run," Twilight handed a small folded up note to her friend. "Now go, hurry." Rainbow dash took off in the direction of Twilight's home. When she got there, she walked inside to see that the generals of all twelve American states were gathered together. Astonished, rainbow dash knelt on one knee, as was custom, and presented the note. "Sirs, I am honored to be in your presence. I have a message for General Shining Armor." "Word from twilight?" A man with dark hair and a military uniform stepped forward. "Yes sir." Rainbow dash handed over the note. When rainbow dash turned to leave, a dark haired woman stopped her. "Rainbow dash, last we heard, twilight was more than six miles away." It was General Luna of South Carolina. "Yes ma'am." "That was two minutes ago. Tell us how you were able to hand deliver a message from six miles away in that time frame." "I'm the fastest flyer on this side of the wall, ma'am." Rainbow dash said quite boastfully. All of the Generals seemed very impressed. "If that is true, than we need you for another job. Fly to the top of the bell tower in the center of town, just outside of the wall. Ring the bell four times to signal the troops just outside the wall. We can't use a written message at risk of you being caught." "Caught?" "The Germans do not normally bother civilians, but if you were to ever be captured or searched outside of the wall with evidence that you were working for the military, you would not live to tell the tale. Not to mention the Germans would confiscate messages about our troop movements." "I understand." "Rainbow dash I will not force you to do this, as the danger is very great, but the situation is dire, and we need somebody fast to fly outside of the wall tomorrow morning." Rainbow dash looked away. "Be here tomorrow at ten AM, if you show up, twilight will direct you to our smuggler who can get you outside of the city. If you do not show, we will understand." Rainbow dash walked outside and shut the door behind her. She resolved to talk to rarity on the matter. She flew rather slowly towards what was once the carousel boutique. It was run down and unpainted, the windows were boarded up and the the sign outside was covered up with black spray paint. "Rarity?" Rainbow dash's voice echoed in the abandoned building. "Upstairs!" It was rarity. The call came from a door in the back of the boutique. Rainbow dash walked to the door, it made made an evil hiss as it squeaked open. On the other side was a staircase, rainbow dash followed it up to the second floor, there she found her purple haired friend staring out the window. "Hey." "Hi dash." Rarity looked saddened. "Everything ok?" "Yes, it's just, ever since the fire I've been thinking about this place." Several months ago a stray artillery shell landed just inside the wall and set the boutique on fire, as it went up in flames, rarity and her sister lost everything, they had to move across town with nothing but the clothes on their backs. "I just, just wish I did more to save this place." "It isn't your fault rarity. There's nothing you could have done." "I suppose you're right, but I can't help but to feel guilt over losing it. My grandmother opened the boutique back in the forties, just before the war. She told me that it would be mine one day. It was great while it lasted, I guess it just ended sooner than I thought." "It'll be ok rarity. I promise." "If you say so." "Now stop being sad, I have to complain about my problem now." Rainbow dash said jokingly. Rarity cracked a smile like rainbow dash hoped. "I have been given a choice on wether or not to help the war effort." "Well what are you telling me for? I know you'll do anything to help the Americans." Rarity sat down on the ripped and black burnt bed. "Yeah, but I'll be on the other side of the wall." Rainbow dash took a seat beside her friend. "General Luna wants me to meet up with some smuggler to get past German forces so I can fly to the bell tower." "Why do they want you to do it? Can our soldiers not fly up there?" "Soldiers are being pushed back, and they would be shot immediately if they tried to take off. Apparently Luna thinks I'm fast enough to dodge fucking bullets." "Maybe you are." Rainbow dash just looked at rarity with an 'are you crazy or are you just that stupid?' look. "Not literally, but you are fast enough to avoid any enemy. You could get to the bell tower, and get back home before anyone knows your gone. If any flyer can do it, it's you Dash." "Thanks rarity, I'll do it. I'll go outside the wall." Outside the wall. The words echoed in her head, bouncing around like a bouncy ball. Those words were Applejack's, it was her dream to leave and fight. Several months ago, just before the fire at Rarity's boutique, Applejack said she was leaving to help the war effort, then she just vanished. No one had heard from her since, not even her brother and sister. Rainbow dash had tried so hard to get in contact with her friend, but the military officials said that there was nobody named Applejack in any branch the armed forces, dead or alive. If the blonde girl had not joined the military, what happened to her? "I know you're still thinking of her. We all are." "I just wish I knew if she was alive." "She said she went out to help the war effort, and I bet that's what she's doing." "You think so?" "I know so." Rarity said, trying to comfort rainbow dash, she could see tears welling up in rainbow dash's eyes. The girls shared a hug before Rainbow Dash left. Author's Note A/N: here's chapter one, be sure to leave a review with comments or CONSTRUCTIVE criticism. Later on this may start to seem like an appledash romance, but I can assure you it will not be (no matter how much I love appledash). TermsChapter 2: terms Rainbow dash opened the door of Twilight's library. "Twilight? Twilight I'm taking the assignment." "Really? That's great. I can take you where you need to go." "Wait twilight. Before we go anywhere, I need to know a few things." "Perhaps I can help." Princess Luna walked from the second floor down to the first. "Where is my friend?" "You mean applejack?" "Yes, yes! Is she ok, she said she was going to help the war effort. Is she..." Rainbow dash feared Luna might report her dead. "Applejack is alive and well I assure you, and she is playing a crucial roll in the war." "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" Rainbow Dash ran and hugged Genera Luna. "Both of you, it is time to go." "Right, um, sorry." Rainbow Dash and Twilight walked down the street away from the wall. "Twi, aren't I going through the wall, not away from it?" "Just keep going, we're almost to the place." Rainbow Dash kept quiet until they reached a four way intersection that was void of cars and had a manhole in the middle. "Here we are." "What? What's here that's gona get me outside of the wall?" "Your standing on it." Rainbow dash looked at her feet, she was on top of up the manhole. "You're joking." "Sorry dash, this is the only way outside wall. You'll go down and meet up with the smuggler who'll take you through the tunnels and as close to the bell tower in the center of town as they can." "But it's a sewer!" "Don't be such a little kid." "Fine. How do I find the smuggler?" "Should be waiting on you fifty meters towards the wall. Just climb down and start walking." Twilight's hand was surrounded by a purple glow, as was the sewer cover, she raised her hand, the metal disc followed, she then set it down a next to the open hole. "Down you go." Rainbow Dash stepped into the hole and grabbed hold of the ladder, just before she descended, twilight stopped her. "Here, you'll need this." The purple haired girl dropped a large black flashlight down to to her friend. Twilight recovered the sewer as soon as Rainbow Dash was inside and climbing down. "Ugh, I can't see shit." Rainbow Dash heard running water nearby, she turned on the flashlight and looked around. She started walking down the narrow, wet, gross tunnel in the direction of the wall, north. Pushed walked for a minute, then, not looking at the ground, Rainbow Dash slipped down a slick slope and slid a few meters down. She landed hard on her butt right next to a river of sewer water. She lost the flashlight in the fall, but could still see somehow. She looked around and saw a lantern providing dim light to three silhouetted figures. "Ow, who- Are you the smugglers?" "You bet partner." That voice, the accent, it only belonged to one person. "Applejack?" "In the flesh. How ya doin' Dashy?" Rainbow Dash ran up to her lost friend and hugged her tight. "I thought I might never see you again." "Rainbow Dash. Ah-" "No you don't get to talk. I'm pissed off that you just got up and left your friends, family, and me." Rainbow Dash tightened her grip. "Ah said ah was goin t' fight in the war." "You just left, no goodbye, no letters, no word from you. I didn't know if you were dead or alive, I asked so many times for information on you from the military, but you apparently didn't join like you said." "Ah was gonna, but General Celestia needed a smuggler, and ah was the best." "So you didn't even tell me, or anyone else." "Rainbow Dash, this is an incognito deal, nobody can know who we are, if the nazis find out, or intercept letters home, then they could come after me or mah family." "You could have at least let me know you were alive." Rainbow Dash let go and stepped back from Applejack. "Alright, alright, I'll break this up." One of the other silhouettes said. "Right, sorry. Dashy this is Rush and Stinger." Rush, the shorter of the two, was muscular and had very dark hair. He was dressed in all black just like the others and had a civilian class .45 rifle on his back. Stinger was taller and had dirty blonde hair, a little darker than Applejack's. He was athletically built but not very muscular, he carried a German G36, probably taken off a dead soldier's body. "Your names Rush and Stinger?" "Nah, they're just code names, can't have no one know who we really are." Stinger said, "Little miss Applejack here is Blaze." "We got a ways t' go y'all, let's get on with it." "Wow, Blaze, you're usually not so eager to start a mission." Rush looked at the girl, slightly suspicious. "Ah just want t' get the cargo t' get where it's goin," She looked at Rainbow Dash. "We have a lot a' troops dependin on us." She picked up her pack and began walking. Unwanted AttentionChapter 3: Unwanted attention. "So Apple- uh, Blaze, what do you do normally on these jobs?" "Well usually we hide the cargo on us and take the main water line. But we ain't used to takin people to the other side, so we're takin the hidden tunnels like we do for more valuable things." "Who runs these jobs?" "Sometimes we do civilian contracts, but mostly we take orders from General Celestia in Florida, or Luna here in South Carolina." "Do you-" Blaze put a hand on her friend's mouth. "Patrol." Blaze said as she pulled Rainbow Dash behind a corner, they were quickly followed by Stinger and Rush. They hid in the shadows for almost a minute before Rush looked out and confirmed the Nazi patrol was gone. "What were they doin on our side?" "What do you mean?" "They usually stay on their side of the wall. Ah've rarely seen any of em even close to the border." "Maybe they're on to us. We could have been seen before on another job." Stinger said. "Ah doubt it. They'd have a hell of a lot more security down here." "Let's use the vests just in case." "Alright." Blaze pulled the orange vest out that had been hanging from her back pocket and put it on, then handed an extra to Rainbow Dash. "Put it on." "What is it?" Rainbow Dash slipped on the mesh vest and looked at the logo. "German tunnel worker uniforms. We use em t' get by any passin soldiers." Blaze turned to keep walking. "Let's keep movin, we have a few more miles t' the DZ." As they walked, Rainbow Dash kept pace behind stinger. She hadn't noticed it before because he had kept his wings folded up, but we was a flyer; and by the looks of it, he was a good one. Stinger's wings were yellow like his hair and well toned, they weren't large but fit. Stinger looked like a match for Rainbow Dash herself. She was admiring Stinger's wings when he suddenly stopped, causing Rainbow Dash to bump into him. She looked around and saw another German patrol. Blaze walked out in front right up to the Germans. "What is she doing?" Rainbow Dash asked worriedly. Stinger and Rush dropped their rifles and stood behind Rainbow Dash to keep the guns hidden. "Just let her do the talking." Rush whispered to the girl. "Wer sind Sie? Militär nur." The commander of the Nazi patrol said. "Maintenance-Gruppe." Blaze spoke fluent German. Her country accent made it sound a bit off, but the soldiers didn't notice. "Was tun Sie, auf dieser Seite der Wand?" "Wasserleitung war gebrochen. Wir kamen zu reparieren." "Sie sind nicht laut, über die Mauer zu gehen! Wir müssen Sie Escourt zurück." "Who are you? Military only." The commander of the Nazi patrol said. "Maintenance group." Blaze spoke in fluent German. Her country accent made it sound a bit off, up but the soldiers didn't notice. "What are you doing on this side of the wall?" "Water pipe broke. We came to repair it." "You are not aloud beyond the wall! We must escort you back." Blaze crossed her fingers behind her back, the signal for we're in trouble. As Blaze protectively stepped in front of Rainbow, Rush and Stinger grabbed their guns and attacked the German squad. There were five enemy soldiers, Stinger shot two of them before they could react, and Rush rushed the tree remaining men, knocking one in the water, and the other two on the ground. Blaze pulled out one of her concealed revolvers and killed the men in the ground. After dumping the bodies in the river, Blaze turned to her friend. "Ya alright Dashy?" "Applejack, y-you got in front of me to protect me." Rainbow Dash quickly realized why. "Oh, protecting the mission." "Well yes," Blaze whispered so the boys couldn't hear her, "but ah woulda gotten in front a' you anyway." Blaze blushed and helped the cargo to her feet. They continued to walk for several minutes in silence, praying that no other patrols were close enough to hear the gunshots' echoes bouncing off the walls. Eventually the group arrived at a large room in the sewer system with a gate right in the center. Rainbow Dash walked up to the gate in the fence and raised a hand to open it, but Rush stopped her. He picked up a rock off the ground and dipped it in the water, them threw it at the fence. BZZZZZT! The gate hissed and buzzed, then shot the rock back. "It's electrified." What Now?Chapter 4: What Now? "How do we get around this thing?" "We don't, we go through it." Blaze opened her pack and pulled out a small, metallic ball. "Stand Back." She pressed a button on top of the ball and threw it through the gate bars and around the corner of the next hallway. The low hum in the air stopped. "Ten seconds, let's go." Rush pushed open the gate and stepped back, then Blaze quickly stepped through with a raised handgun and checked all the corners and shadowed areas in the room before motioning the the others to follow. The door was shut long before the ten second time limit. Blaze explained that the door must be shut before the power generator around the corner comes back to life or an alarm will sound. The TEMP grenade stopped all electronic flow in the blast radius, then allowed it to resume after the time limit. Blaze was about to kick the ball into the water to hide it when Rainbow Dash stopped her. "You can't use that one again?" The flyer asked. "They're single use, the thing's 'bout as useful as a rock, now." The blonde picked up the TEMP and tossed it to her friend. "Souvenir?" "Sure." Rainbow Dash put the object into her loose pockets, stretching the fabric due to its size. She was infatuated with the piece of military equipment, it was quite impressive. They continued on, the tunnels twisted and turned like a snake, it made Rainbow Dash feel like she would never find her way out if she got lost in this maze of a sewer system, but the smugglers knew exactly where they were going. The walk was rather boring, the occasional water drop dripping from the ceiling into the now still water was the only interruption in the deafening silence. Rainbow Dash wanted to talk, but they needed to remain quiet in order to hear incoming patrols. Without breaking the silence, Blaze, who was on point, held up a clenched fist. The others stopped in an instant and raised their weapons as if on verbal command. The country girl's fist turned into four fingers straight up. Four men were approaching. Wanting to avoid any conflict, as it came with numerous complications, Blaze spotted a metal pipe jutting out from the wall, it was about a meter off the ground and barely wide enough for an average person to crawl through. She ran to it and dove right in, the others quickly followed suit. Rainbow Dash just got her feet inside before the German patrol passed by. They saw it best not to continue along their normal route, as it had already been interrupted twice. They crawled single file down the long ventilation tube that was clearly no longer in service. The rainbow headed girl attempted to touch the slimy walls as little as possible, and shuttering whenever her skin came into contact with the soaking wet, algae infested floor. The confined space was cylinder, thus awkward to crawl through on all fours. "Fucking gross," Rainbow Dash muttered when her hand pressed down on what she suspected was a dead rodent. "Don't be such a chicken." Blaze tried to hold in her laughter. "Oh, you want to come and feel this thing?" "Ah'm fine, thanks for the offer." "That's what I thought." "At least ah'm not complainin' about every little fuzzy thing ah touch. You're startin t' sound like Rarity-" Blaze was suddenly cut off when her front hand was placed down, only to feel the nothingness in front of her. "Shit!" Blaze fell face first down the nearly vertical shaft, her hands unable to get any traction as she slipped down the dirty pipe. She was without solid ground for about five seconds before a loud splash echoed all throughout the tunnel system. "Blaze?" There was no response. "Applejack, are you ok?!" The blonde surfaced and spat out a good bit of murky water. "Ah'm alright. There's water at the bottom of the drop. Y'all come on down, ah think ah see a way out." The three still in the vent jumped down, one by one. Blaze waited on the bank for her comrades, dripping and cold. "Shit, it's freezing in here," The taller girl stated. "Do you guys come through here all the time?" "Never. Ah didn't know that pipe was there 'til just a minute ago. Anyway, ah think this maintenance hatch oughta take us to the surface." Blaze pointed up above her head to a small, square door with a red handle and black label that read 'maintenance' in German. "It's about time. I'm getting claustrophobic in here." "Stinger, boost me up." The man pulled himself out of the water and stepped up to the group leader, towering over her. Even with her hat, Blaze didn't even reach the man's shoulders. Doing as he was told, the flyer laced his fingers together and rested them on a bent knee. "Find out where the exit leads," Stinger instructed. "Got it." Blaze put one foot on the makeshift stepping stool, then pushed up, jumping to grab the handle on the hatch cover. The trapdoor did not swing open at first like expected, Blaze had to give it a few tugs before it fell on its hinges. Not enjoying the feeling of dangling from the ceiling, no less then three meters off the ground, the blonde displayed an impressive amount of body strength by pulling her body up to the bar above her with only one arm. She grabbed onto what she now knew was a ladder rung and began her climb. After the fall down the ventilation shaft, and the twenty feet they had already been below the surface, the trek to the top of the ladder was a long one. When she reached her destination, Blaze took great care in opening the heavy sewer cover in as quiet a fashion as the rusty cover would allow. The smuggler's luck was most certainly not looking her way when she discovered that she would not be rising to a treatment plant with designated passage in and out of the sewers, but instead in the middle of a busy street. "Damn," Blaze spat as she signaled for the others to join her. Stinger boosted Rush up to the hatch just like Blaze before flying up himself. Rainbow Dash gave two half-hearted flaps of her wings before she was inside the maintenance duct. She shut the hatch below her and followed the others up. "What's up there?" Rush inquired. "A damned street. Maybe we should find another way up." "It would take too long, we have to have the girl in position by sundown. It could take hours to get there even on the surface." "Fine." Blaze pushed up the bronze cover once again and checked her surroundings. One car on the opposite side of the street, other than that, the coast was clear. "C'mon." Blaze jumped up as fast as she could, then pulled the cover away from the hole. Rush and Stinger got up before anymore cars came. They waited on the side of the street for Rainbow Dash, but no such person arose, instead there were two loud gunshots, and a bullet flying right up out of the sewer and off into the sky. "Rainbow Dash!" Blaze saw a large eighteen wheeler round the nearest corner and begin in the flyer's direction. The blonde sprinted out and slid on her knees to find Rainbow Dash trying to pull up on the top rung, her right arm covered in blood. Author's Note The next chapter may take a while, even longer than usual, but don't worry, I won't be abandoning this story. I'm planing on anywhere from seven to eleven chapters for the entire story, after that I have a few more stories to post. Chapter Five: Almost There...Chapter 5: Almost There... "Dashy!" Blaze grabbed her best friend's left hand. She looked back to see that there wasn't enough time to pull her up and out of the path of the oncoming truck, but she couldn't leave the flyer in the hole or she would be shot again by whoever fired the first two rounds. The blonde made her decision. Blaze yanked on Rainbow Dash's arm, pulling her to street level, then held her down against the concrete and flattened herself out as much as possible. She held her breath as the gigantic truck roared over their heads, all nine axels just barely high enough not to decapitate them. Blaze looked up as soon as the big rig passed. When she noticed the absence of her hat, the blonde began to frantically search for it, the truck had knocked it off her head, luckily the stetson landed about four meters ahead. "Rainbow Dash?" "Shit! There's a fucking bullet in my arm!" "C'mon, we need t' get ya to our soldiers." Blaze's comment fell on deaf ears as the rainbow haired girl sent a barrage of curses back down to the German patrol that shot her. Blaze unholstered a revolver and fired three times blindly at the men below. Rush and Stinger ran to grab their cargo as Blaze covered up the sewer. "Let's get her t' the DZ, they can patch her up." The instructions were immediately put into motion, then halted by a large transport truck baring an iron cross and black swastika that heard the commotion. Ten soldiers unloaded and aimed their weapons as another truck approached from behind. They were completely surrounded. "Shit." Blaze possessed many useful skills in many fields ranging from combat to brain power, but no matter how potent her abilities seemed, she knew when the enemy had her outmatched. As the leader of the German squadron shouted at them to drop their weapons and get on the ground and her teammates pleaded for instruction, Blaze hesitated, her gun still up and her finger on the trigger. After a long, intense moment, Blaze spoke up. "We surrender," Blaze began in German. "But only if you help my friend." "Why would I save her life when taking all of yours sounds far simpler?" The tall commander asked in his own language. "You can execute us right here, but I can assure you that we will take a few of your men with us. And that little mess may cost you points when you ask for a promotion." After pondering his options for a moment, "You have my word that she will receive proper medical attention," the German leader responded, not wanting to explain a street shoot out to his superiors. The muscular blonde turned to her fellow smugglers. "Put your guns down. We're goin' with 'em." Blaze dropped her revolver in the street before tossing her pistol down next to it. Rush and Stinger followed suit. Two of the German patrollers, both baring red crosses on their helmets and uniforms, rushed to take Rainbow Dash from Rush's support and brought her into the ambulance next to a paddy wagon, both of which had just arrived on the scene. The rest of the patrol roughly ushered their prey into the prisoners' van. As they arrived at the back bumper of the armored vehicle, Blaze turned to the commander and whispered in his ear. "Let us go. Ah can make it worth your while." "Shut it, American bitch." Once the prisoners sat loaded and handcuffed in the truck and the doors locked tight, Rush and Stinger herd a rustling and clanking coming from Blaze's side of the van. She seemed focused on something behind her back. After several seconds, she revealed two free hands. "When did you snatch the key?" Stinger inquired. "Right before he shoved us in here when ah got real close. Before we were even in cuffs." "We ought to change your code name to 'Slick.'" Blaze freed stinger from his bonds before repeating the routine with Rush. "So, what's the plan." "Ah got no damn clue. We really got ourselves in deep shit, didn't we?" "Affirmative, commander." "How do we break outta here and save Dashy in time to ring that damned bell before next sunrise?" "Ain't that the million dollar question?"
Germany's AscensionFall of Liberty Mlp humanized Chapter 1: Germany's Ascension July 23rd, 1944, Washington DC Winter Soldat crawled into position, right on top of the Lincoln memorial. He slowly made his way to the edge of the roof, inch by inch, his whole life had been leading up to this moment of glory for Germany. He pulled his rifle off of his back and lined up the crosshairs with Winston Churchill's head. The Britain prime minister was in America for security reasons, but in fact it only made killing him easier. Today was absolutely perfect for Ulrich, no wind, only a few hundred meters from his target, nearly one hundred percent visibility in all directions, and best of all, he was ensuring Germany's ultimate victory over America. He slowly calculated each measurement he needed to take the shot, then, BANG! November 15th, 2010 Twilight sparkle ran through the streets of Easton, praying that she made it back to her library in time to give the note to the Virginian General. She looked up at the sky and saw a girl floating in the air under her blue outstretched wings, it was Rainbow Dash! "RAINBOW DASH!" Twilight called out. Her rainbow haired friend went into a dive, then unfolded her wings just in time to land softly on her feet. "What's up Twilight?" "I need to get this letter back to the library, Shining Armor is waiting on it. You can fly a lot faster than I can run," Twilight handed a small folded up note to her friend. "Now go, hurry." Rainbow dash took off in the direction of Twilight's home. When she got there, she walked inside to see that the generals of all twelve American states were gathered together. Astonished, rainbow dash knelt on one knee, as was custom, and presented the note. "Sirs, I am honored to be in your presence. I have a message for General Shining Armor." "Word from twilight?" A man with dark hair and a military uniform stepped forward. "Yes sir." Rainbow dash handed over the note. When rainbow dash turned to leave, a dark haired woman stopped her. "Rainbow dash, last we heard, twilight was more than six miles away." It was General Luna of South Carolina. "Yes ma'am." "That was two minutes ago. Tell us how you were able to hand deliver a message from six miles away in that time frame." "I'm the fastest flyer on this side of the wall, ma'am." Rainbow dash said quite boastfully. All of the Generals seemed very impressed. "If that is true, than we need you for another job. Fly to the top of the bell tower in the center of town, just outside of the wall. Ring the bell four times to signal the troops just outside the wall. We can't use a written message at risk of you being caught." "Caught?" "The Germans do not normally bother civilians, but if you were to ever be captured or searched outside of the wall with evidence that you were working for the military, you would not live to tell the tale. Not to mention the Germans would confiscate messages about our troop movements." "I understand." "Rainbow dash I will not force you to do this, as the danger is very great, but the situation is dire, and we need somebody fast to fly outside of the wall tomorrow morning." Rainbow dash looked away. "Be here tomorrow at ten AM, if you show up, twilight will direct you to our smuggler who can get you outside of the city. If you do not show, we will understand." Rainbow dash walked outside and shut the door behind her. She resolved to talk to rarity on the matter. She flew rather slowly towards what was once the carousel boutique. It was run down and unpainted, the windows were boarded up and the the sign outside was covered up with black spray paint. "Rarity?" Rainbow dash's voice echoed in the abandoned building. "Upstairs!" It was rarity. The call came from a door in the back of the boutique. Rainbow dash walked to the door, it made made an evil hiss as it squeaked open. On the other side was a staircase, rainbow dash followed it up to the second floor, there she found her purple haired friend staring out the window. "Hey." "Hi dash." Rarity looked saddened. "Everything ok?" "Yes, it's just, ever since the fire I've been thinking about this place." Several months ago a stray artillery shell landed just inside the wall and set the boutique on fire, as it went up in flames, rarity and her sister lost everything, they had to move across town with nothing but the clothes on their backs. "I just, just wish I did more to save this place." "It isn't your fault rarity. There's nothing you could have done." "I suppose you're right, but I can't help but to feel guilt over losing it. My grandmother opened the boutique back in the forties, just before the war. She told me that it would be mine one day. It was great while it lasted, I guess it just ended sooner than I thought." "It'll be ok rarity. I promise." "If you say so." "Now stop being sad, I have to complain about my problem now." Rainbow dash said jokingly. Rarity cracked a smile like rainbow dash hoped. "I have been given a choice on wether or not to help the war effort." "Well what are you telling me for? I know you'll do anything to help the Americans." Rarity sat down on the ripped and black burnt bed. "Yeah, but I'll be on the other side of the wall." Rainbow dash took a seat beside her friend. "General Luna wants me to meet up with some smuggler to get past German forces so I can fly to the bell tower." "Why do they want you to do it? Can our soldiers not fly up there?" "Soldiers are being pushed back, and they would be shot immediately if they tried to take off. Apparently Luna thinks I'm fast enough to dodge fucking bullets." "Maybe you are." Rainbow dash just looked at rarity with an 'are you crazy or are you just that stupid?' look. "Not literally, but you are fast enough to avoid any enemy. You could get to the bell tower, and get back home before anyone knows your gone. If any flyer can do it, it's you Dash." "Thanks rarity, I'll do it. I'll go outside the wall." Outside the wall. The words echoed in her head, bouncing around like a bouncy ball. Those words were Applejack's, it was her dream to leave and fight. Several months ago, just before the fire at Rarity's boutique, Applejack said she was leaving to help the war effort, then she just vanished. No one had heard from her since, not even her brother and sister. Rainbow dash had tried so hard to get in contact with her friend, but the military officials said that there was nobody named Applejack in any branch the armed forces, dead or alive. If the blonde girl had not joined the military, what happened to her? "I know you're still thinking of her. We all are." "I just wish I knew if she was alive." "She said she went out to help the war effort, and I bet that's what she's doing." "You think so?" "I know so." Rarity said, trying to comfort rainbow dash, she could see tears welling up in rainbow dash's eyes. The girls shared a hug before Rainbow Dash left. Author's Note A/N: here's chapter one, be sure to leave a review with comments or CONSTRUCTIVE criticism. Later on this may start to seem like an appledash romance, but I can assure you it will not be (no matter how much I love appledash).
TermsChapter 2: terms Rainbow dash opened the door of Twilight's library. "Twilight? Twilight I'm taking the assignment." "Really? That's great. I can take you where you need to go." "Wait twilight. Before we go anywhere, I need to know a few things." "Perhaps I can help." Princess Luna walked from the second floor down to the first. "Where is my friend?" "You mean applejack?" "Yes, yes! Is she ok, she said she was going to help the war effort. Is she..." Rainbow dash feared Luna might report her dead. "Applejack is alive and well I assure you, and she is playing a crucial roll in the war." "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" Rainbow Dash ran and hugged Genera Luna. "Both of you, it is time to go." "Right, um, sorry." Rainbow Dash and Twilight walked down the street away from the wall. "Twi, aren't I going through the wall, not away from it?" "Just keep going, we're almost to the place." Rainbow Dash kept quiet until they reached a four way intersection that was void of cars and had a manhole in the middle. "Here we are." "What? What's here that's gona get me outside of the wall?" "Your standing on it." Rainbow dash looked at her feet, she was on top of up the manhole. "You're joking." "Sorry dash, this is the only way outside wall. You'll go down and meet up with the smuggler who'll take you through the tunnels and as close to the bell tower in the center of town as they can." "But it's a sewer!" "Don't be such a little kid." "Fine. How do I find the smuggler?" "Should be waiting on you fifty meters towards the wall. Just climb down and start walking." Twilight's hand was surrounded by a purple glow, as was the sewer cover, she raised her hand, the metal disc followed, she then set it down a next to the open hole. "Down you go." Rainbow Dash stepped into the hole and grabbed hold of the ladder, just before she descended, twilight stopped her. "Here, you'll need this." The purple haired girl dropped a large black flashlight down to to her friend. Twilight recovered the sewer as soon as Rainbow Dash was inside and climbing down. "Ugh, I can't see shit." Rainbow Dash heard running water nearby, she turned on the flashlight and looked around. She started walking down the narrow, wet, gross tunnel in the direction of the wall, north. Pushed walked for a minute, then, not looking at the ground, Rainbow Dash slipped down a slick slope and slid a few meters down. She landed hard on her butt right next to a river of sewer water. She lost the flashlight in the fall, but could still see somehow. She looked around and saw a lantern providing dim light to three silhouetted figures. "Ow, who- Are you the smugglers?" "You bet partner." That voice, the accent, it only belonged to one person. "Applejack?" "In the flesh. How ya doin' Dashy?" Rainbow Dash ran up to her lost friend and hugged her tight. "I thought I might never see you again." "Rainbow Dash. Ah-" "No you don't get to talk. I'm pissed off that you just got up and left your friends, family, and me." Rainbow Dash tightened her grip. "Ah said ah was goin t' fight in the war." "You just left, no goodbye, no letters, no word from you. I didn't know if you were dead or alive, I asked so many times for information on you from the military, but you apparently didn't join like you said." "Ah was gonna, but General Celestia needed a smuggler, and ah was the best." "So you didn't even tell me, or anyone else." "Rainbow Dash, this is an incognito deal, nobody can know who we are, if the nazis find out, or intercept letters home, then they could come after me or mah family." "You could have at least let me know you were alive." Rainbow Dash let go and stepped back from Applejack. "Alright, alright, I'll break this up." One of the other silhouettes said. "Right, sorry. Dashy this is Rush and Stinger." Rush, the shorter of the two, was muscular and had very dark hair. He was dressed in all black just like the others and had a civilian class .45 rifle on his back. Stinger was taller and had dirty blonde hair, a little darker than Applejack's. He was athletically built but not very muscular, he carried a German G36, probably taken off a dead soldier's body. "Your names Rush and Stinger?" "Nah, they're just code names, can't have no one know who we really are." Stinger said, "Little miss Applejack here is Blaze." "We got a ways t' go y'all, let's get on with it." "Wow, Blaze, you're usually not so eager to start a mission." Rush looked at the girl, slightly suspicious. "Ah just want t' get the cargo t' get where it's goin," She looked at Rainbow Dash. "We have a lot a' troops dependin on us." She picked up her pack and began walking.
Unwanted AttentionChapter 3: Unwanted attention. "So Apple- uh, Blaze, what do you do normally on these jobs?" "Well usually we hide the cargo on us and take the main water line. But we ain't used to takin people to the other side, so we're takin the hidden tunnels like we do for more valuable things." "Who runs these jobs?" "Sometimes we do civilian contracts, but mostly we take orders from General Celestia in Florida, or Luna here in South Carolina." "Do you-" Blaze put a hand on her friend's mouth. "Patrol." Blaze said as she pulled Rainbow Dash behind a corner, they were quickly followed by Stinger and Rush. They hid in the shadows for almost a minute before Rush looked out and confirmed the Nazi patrol was gone. "What were they doin on our side?" "What do you mean?" "They usually stay on their side of the wall. Ah've rarely seen any of em even close to the border." "Maybe they're on to us. We could have been seen before on another job." Stinger said. "Ah doubt it. They'd have a hell of a lot more security down here." "Let's use the vests just in case." "Alright." Blaze pulled the orange vest out that had been hanging from her back pocket and put it on, then handed an extra to Rainbow Dash. "Put it on." "What is it?" Rainbow Dash slipped on the mesh vest and looked at the logo. "German tunnel worker uniforms. We use em t' get by any passin soldiers." Blaze turned to keep walking. "Let's keep movin, we have a few more miles t' the DZ." As they walked, Rainbow Dash kept pace behind stinger. She hadn't noticed it before because he had kept his wings folded up, but we was a flyer; and by the looks of it, he was a good one. Stinger's wings were yellow like his hair and well toned, they weren't large but fit. Stinger looked like a match for Rainbow Dash herself. She was admiring Stinger's wings when he suddenly stopped, causing Rainbow Dash to bump into him. She looked around and saw another German patrol. Blaze walked out in front right up to the Germans. "What is she doing?" Rainbow Dash asked worriedly. Stinger and Rush dropped their rifles and stood behind Rainbow Dash to keep the guns hidden. "Just let her do the talking." Rush whispered to the girl. "Wer sind Sie? Militär nur." The commander of the Nazi patrol said. "Maintenance-Gruppe." Blaze spoke fluent German. Her country accent made it sound a bit off, but the soldiers didn't notice. "Was tun Sie, auf dieser Seite der Wand?" "Wasserleitung war gebrochen. Wir kamen zu reparieren." "Sie sind nicht laut, über die Mauer zu gehen! Wir müssen Sie Escourt zurück." "Who are you? Military only." The commander of the Nazi patrol said. "Maintenance group." Blaze spoke in fluent German. Her country accent made it sound a bit off, up but the soldiers didn't notice. "What are you doing on this side of the wall?" "Water pipe broke. We came to repair it." "You are not aloud beyond the wall! We must escort you back." Blaze crossed her fingers behind her back, the signal for we're in trouble. As Blaze protectively stepped in front of Rainbow, Rush and Stinger grabbed their guns and attacked the German squad. There were five enemy soldiers, Stinger shot two of them before they could react, and Rush rushed the tree remaining men, knocking one in the water, and the other two on the ground. Blaze pulled out one of her concealed revolvers and killed the men in the ground. After dumping the bodies in the river, Blaze turned to her friend. "Ya alright Dashy?" "Applejack, y-you got in front of me to protect me." Rainbow Dash quickly realized why. "Oh, protecting the mission." "Well yes," Blaze whispered so the boys couldn't hear her, "but ah woulda gotten in front a' you anyway." Blaze blushed and helped the cargo to her feet. They continued to walk for several minutes in silence, praying that no other patrols were close enough to hear the gunshots' echoes bouncing off the walls. Eventually the group arrived at a large room in the sewer system with a gate right in the center. Rainbow Dash walked up to the gate in the fence and raised a hand to open it, but Rush stopped her. He picked up a rock off the ground and dipped it in the water, them threw it at the fence. BZZZZZT! The gate hissed and buzzed, then shot the rock back. "It's electrified."
What Now?Chapter 4: What Now? "How do we get around this thing?" "We don't, we go through it." Blaze opened her pack and pulled out a small, metallic ball. "Stand Back." She pressed a button on top of the ball and threw it through the gate bars and around the corner of the next hallway. The low hum in the air stopped. "Ten seconds, let's go." Rush pushed open the gate and stepped back, then Blaze quickly stepped through with a raised handgun and checked all the corners and shadowed areas in the room before motioning the the others to follow. The door was shut long before the ten second time limit. Blaze explained that the door must be shut before the power generator around the corner comes back to life or an alarm will sound. The TEMP grenade stopped all electronic flow in the blast radius, then allowed it to resume after the time limit. Blaze was about to kick the ball into the water to hide it when Rainbow Dash stopped her. "You can't use that one again?" The flyer asked. "They're single use, the thing's 'bout as useful as a rock, now." The blonde picked up the TEMP and tossed it to her friend. "Souvenir?" "Sure." Rainbow Dash put the object into her loose pockets, stretching the fabric due to its size. She was infatuated with the piece of military equipment, it was quite impressive. They continued on, the tunnels twisted and turned like a snake, it made Rainbow Dash feel like she would never find her way out if she got lost in this maze of a sewer system, but the smugglers knew exactly where they were going. The walk was rather boring, the occasional water drop dripping from the ceiling into the now still water was the only interruption in the deafening silence. Rainbow Dash wanted to talk, but they needed to remain quiet in order to hear incoming patrols. Without breaking the silence, Blaze, who was on point, held up a clenched fist. The others stopped in an instant and raised their weapons as if on verbal command. The country girl's fist turned into four fingers straight up. Four men were approaching. Wanting to avoid any conflict, as it came with numerous complications, Blaze spotted a metal pipe jutting out from the wall, it was about a meter off the ground and barely wide enough for an average person to crawl through. She ran to it and dove right in, the others quickly followed suit. Rainbow Dash just got her feet inside before the German patrol passed by. They saw it best not to continue along their normal route, as it had already been interrupted twice. They crawled single file down the long ventilation tube that was clearly no longer in service. The rainbow headed girl attempted to touch the slimy walls as little as possible, and shuttering whenever her skin came into contact with the soaking wet, algae infested floor. The confined space was cylinder, thus awkward to crawl through on all fours. "Fucking gross," Rainbow Dash muttered when her hand pressed down on what she suspected was a dead rodent. "Don't be such a chicken." Blaze tried to hold in her laughter. "Oh, you want to come and feel this thing?" "Ah'm fine, thanks for the offer." "That's what I thought." "At least ah'm not complainin' about every little fuzzy thing ah touch. You're startin t' sound like Rarity-" Blaze was suddenly cut off when her front hand was placed down, only to feel the nothingness in front of her. "Shit!" Blaze fell face first down the nearly vertical shaft, her hands unable to get any traction as she slipped down the dirty pipe. She was without solid ground for about five seconds before a loud splash echoed all throughout the tunnel system. "Blaze?" There was no response. "Applejack, are you ok?!" The blonde surfaced and spat out a good bit of murky water. "Ah'm alright. There's water at the bottom of the drop. Y'all come on down, ah think ah see a way out." The three still in the vent jumped down, one by one. Blaze waited on the bank for her comrades, dripping and cold. "Shit, it's freezing in here," The taller girl stated. "Do you guys come through here all the time?" "Never. Ah didn't know that pipe was there 'til just a minute ago. Anyway, ah think this maintenance hatch oughta take us to the surface." Blaze pointed up above her head to a small, square door with a red handle and black label that read 'maintenance' in German. "It's about time. I'm getting claustrophobic in here." "Stinger, boost me up." The man pulled himself out of the water and stepped up to the group leader, towering over her. Even with her hat, Blaze didn't even reach the man's shoulders. Doing as he was told, the flyer laced his fingers together and rested them on a bent knee. "Find out where the exit leads," Stinger instructed. "Got it." Blaze put one foot on the makeshift stepping stool, then pushed up, jumping to grab the handle on the hatch cover. The trapdoor did not swing open at first like expected, Blaze had to give it a few tugs before it fell on its hinges. Not enjoying the feeling of dangling from the ceiling, no less then three meters off the ground, the blonde displayed an impressive amount of body strength by pulling her body up to the bar above her with only one arm. She grabbed onto what she now knew was a ladder rung and began her climb. After the fall down the ventilation shaft, and the twenty feet they had already been below the surface, the trek to the top of the ladder was a long one. When she reached her destination, Blaze took great care in opening the heavy sewer cover in as quiet a fashion as the rusty cover would allow. The smuggler's luck was most certainly not looking her way when she discovered that she would not be rising to a treatment plant with designated passage in and out of the sewers, but instead in the middle of a busy street. "Damn," Blaze spat as she signaled for the others to join her. Stinger boosted Rush up to the hatch just like Blaze before flying up himself. Rainbow Dash gave two half-hearted flaps of her wings before she was inside the maintenance duct. She shut the hatch below her and followed the others up. "What's up there?" Rush inquired. "A damned street. Maybe we should find another way up." "It would take too long, we have to have the girl in position by sundown. It could take hours to get there even on the surface." "Fine." Blaze pushed up the bronze cover once again and checked her surroundings. One car on the opposite side of the street, other than that, the coast was clear. "C'mon." Blaze jumped up as fast as she could, then pulled the cover away from the hole. Rush and Stinger got up before anymore cars came. They waited on the side of the street for Rainbow Dash, but no such person arose, instead there were two loud gunshots, and a bullet flying right up out of the sewer and off into the sky. "Rainbow Dash!" Blaze saw a large eighteen wheeler round the nearest corner and begin in the flyer's direction. The blonde sprinted out and slid on her knees to find Rainbow Dash trying to pull up on the top rung, her right arm covered in blood. Author's Note The next chapter may take a while, even longer than usual, but don't worry, I won't be abandoning this story. I'm planing on anywhere from seven to eleven chapters for the entire story, after that I have a few more stories to post.
Chapter Five: Almost There...Chapter 5: Almost There... "Dashy!" Blaze grabbed her best friend's left hand. She looked back to see that there wasn't enough time to pull her up and out of the path of the oncoming truck, but she couldn't leave the flyer in the hole or she would be shot again by whoever fired the first two rounds. The blonde made her decision. Blaze yanked on Rainbow Dash's arm, pulling her to street level, then held her down against the concrete and flattened herself out as much as possible. She held her breath as the gigantic truck roared over their heads, all nine axels just barely high enough not to decapitate them. Blaze looked up as soon as the big rig passed. When she noticed the absence of her hat, the blonde began to frantically search for it, the truck had knocked it off her head, luckily the stetson landed about four meters ahead. "Rainbow Dash?" "Shit! There's a fucking bullet in my arm!" "C'mon, we need t' get ya to our soldiers." Blaze's comment fell on deaf ears as the rainbow haired girl sent a barrage of curses back down to the German patrol that shot her. Blaze unholstered a revolver and fired three times blindly at the men below. Rush and Stinger ran to grab their cargo as Blaze covered up the sewer. "Let's get her t' the DZ, they can patch her up." The instructions were immediately put into motion, then halted by a large transport truck baring an iron cross and black swastika that heard the commotion. Ten soldiers unloaded and aimed their weapons as another truck approached from behind. They were completely surrounded. "Shit." Blaze possessed many useful skills in many fields ranging from combat to brain power, but no matter how potent her abilities seemed, she knew when the enemy had her outmatched. As the leader of the German squadron shouted at them to drop their weapons and get on the ground and her teammates pleaded for instruction, Blaze hesitated, her gun still up and her finger on the trigger. After a long, intense moment, Blaze spoke up. "We surrender," Blaze began in German. "But only if you help my friend." "Why would I save her life when taking all of yours sounds far simpler?" The tall commander asked in his own language. "You can execute us right here, but I can assure you that we will take a few of your men with us. And that little mess may cost you points when you ask for a promotion." After pondering his options for a moment, "You have my word that she will receive proper medical attention," the German leader responded, not wanting to explain a street shoot out to his superiors. The muscular blonde turned to her fellow smugglers. "Put your guns down. We're goin' with 'em." Blaze dropped her revolver in the street before tossing her pistol down next to it. Rush and Stinger followed suit. Two of the German patrollers, both baring red crosses on their helmets and uniforms, rushed to take Rainbow Dash from Rush's support and brought her into the ambulance next to a paddy wagon, both of which had just arrived on the scene. The rest of the patrol roughly ushered their prey into the prisoners' van. As they arrived at the back bumper of the armored vehicle, Blaze turned to the commander and whispered in his ear. "Let us go. Ah can make it worth your while." "Shut it, American bitch." Once the prisoners sat loaded and handcuffed in the truck and the doors locked tight, Rush and Stinger herd a rustling and clanking coming from Blaze's side of the van. She seemed focused on something behind her back. After several seconds, she revealed two free hands. "When did you snatch the key?" Stinger inquired. "Right before he shoved us in here when ah got real close. Before we were even in cuffs." "We ought to change your code name to 'Slick.'" Blaze freed stinger from his bonds before repeating the routine with Rush. "So, what's the plan." "Ah got no damn clue. We really got ourselves in deep shit, didn't we?" "Affirmative, commander." "How do we break outta here and save Dashy in time to ring that damned bell before next sunrise?" "Ain't that the million dollar question?"
