Author's Note

Hi there and thanks for reading, just here to let you know that everything coming between the lines made up of these symbols here: ~

These segments are flashbacks sequences. That's all. Again, thank you for reading. I'll let you get back to it now

Chapter 2: Face Of Hope

The hallway leading to the gymnasium was definitely the most well used and most traveled of the rest. The floor was slightly worn down and had a variety of black scuff marks running along the sickly green tiles, which was admittedly a nice color contrast to the rest of it. As she trodded down the hall, her boots thudding against the tiles, Rainbow’s stomach growled a bit loudly. She figured it was from the sugary treat she had just fed it. She walked into the gymnasium slowly, looking around and taking in the sight of their make-shift training area. The gymnasium was your typical variety, around one hundred or so feet in length and about sixty across with well worn waxed floors and painted white lines going around its exterior. It even included two basketball hoops, though they seemed pretty useless considering they didn’t have a ball to play a game with. At the far end of the gymnasium stood a few training dummies with a small rack of wooden sparring swords, in the very center sat a couple foam wrestling mats wrapped in some form of dark blue faux leather, and along each wall of the gymnasium sat two triple decker rows of bleachers.

Rainbow looked up to see that her handful of trainees were seated on the bleachers to her left, chatting and mostly not paying attention to the fact she had entered the gymnasium, they were likely waiting on her to start their training regime for the day. They hadn’t really been able to find many suitable combatants to fill out their ranks, and the ones they had weren’t ready to go out into the field by any means. Even those with any sort of prior combat experience were hesitant to go out into the field anymore, too many had gone missing during recon missions. They had lost some well versed ponies in terms of combat experience. Among those were Spitfire and Shining Armor, though Shining had left with the intention of finding Cadence and said he wasn’t coming back until he did.

Rainbow approached the trainees, putting on her best drill sergeant persona as she always did. She stood at the foot of the bleachers and did an intentional stomp with her boot to get their attention. The trainees hopped up from the bleachers and filed down onto the main floor into a neat and orderly line, standing at attention and saluting with their gazes straight ahead.

“Good morning, Lieutenant Dash!” They all said in nearly perfect harmony, awaiting instruction for their regime today.

“At ease, recruits.“ Rainbow shouted in her stern voice as she walked down the line of trainees, checking their attire to ensure it was clean and their shirts were tucked, aside from the same green fatigues and tank tops that everybody else in the bunker wore, they were given berets of the same color as the fatigues like proper military aspiring ponies.

“Yes ma’am!” They replied all together, putting their hands back down at their sides.

“Now then, I hope you enjoyed your little bit of down time this morning because your training for the day starts now. We’ll be doing some basic endurance and stamina training. Which means... Wait a minute, where the hell is Sea Foam?” Rainbow asked, referring to the slacker of the trainees she had to deal with this year.

“Uh… I think she’s still in bed, ma’am.” One of the trainees stepped forward and spoke up. Rainbow sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose lightly in irritation.

“Of course… Alright, you guys run some laps while I go and get our resident slacker out of bed.” Rainbow replied as she started back towards the hallway.

“Yes, ma’am!” They called out behind her and started to run down the side of the court.

Rainbow grumbled to herself as she made her way down the hall and up the staircase to the second floor. The second floor was mostly used for the shared sleeping quarters of the rest of the bunker, as well as a couple recreation rooms which just contained mostly books they were able to salvage from the destruction of the world above.

She proceeded down the walkway of the second floor balcony, and towards the sleeping quarters of the prospective militant recruits. Without a word, she stormed into the bunk room, it wasn’t hard for her to tell which bed was still occupied as there was only one that wasn’t made properly. Rainbow walked over to the bunk with a lump under the covers, quickly tossing back the cover and immediately covered her eyes. The blue haired, white coated unicorn mare lay completely nude under the covers in her bunk and unfortunately Rainbow had seen it all. Without having to look down again, Rainbow gave the mattress a hard kick, which startled the mare awake. She sat up groggily and looked around, blinking a few times before making eye contact with Rainbow.

“Dude… I was having the best dream and you just totally ruined it…” She said through her still half asleep state, not even bothering to cover her shame.

“Oh, my apologies, Sea Foam. Let me just go ask Sombra if he’ll wait a little longer to be dethroned while we let you keep sleeping.” Rainbow retorted in a very sarcastic tone.

“Word? That would hella awesome.” Sea said drearily, laying back down on her pillow and rolling over to face away from Rainbow.

“Oh you’ve gotta be… Get your ass out of this bed right now!” Rainbow yelled, giving the mare a hard kick in the bare ass, which threw her off the bed entirely. She flopped onto the floor with a loud groan and sat up again.

“Dude, what the hell? You just said…” Sea started to protest, but was immediately cut off by Rainbow hitting her in the face with the clothes she should be wearing right now.

“One more word out of you and you’re pulling a double training shift tonight! And put your damn clothes on, I’m already sick of looking at that tangled mess of blue hair that you call pubes.” Rainbow said, avoiding looking down any more than she had to.

“Don’t act like you don’t like what you see, dude.” Sea said, giving Rainbow a small grin as she cupped her breasts and gave them a little jiggle. Rainbow glared down into the mare’s eyes and gritted her teeth.

“No, I can assure you that I don’t. If you don’t get dressed and move your ass down to the gymnasium with the rest of your squad, I will personally see to it that you are sent out with the next scouting party. Do I make myself clear, Sea Foam?!” Rainbow replied coldly and flatly, not amused by her antics.

“Dude, take a chill pill. So I slept in, it’s not that big of a deal, yo.” Sea said casually, slipping on the clothes with no sense of urgency about herself. Rainbow balled up her fists and growled loud enough for Sea to hear.

“Not a big deal? NOT A BIG DEAL?! Our whole goal is to take down Sombra! Y’know, the piece of shit that is the whole reason we have to live in a fucking bunker! The same piece of shit that decimated the entirety of Equestria with a god damn nuke! The bastard that murdered or enslaved all of our friends and family! The mother fucker that literally stole my life with Jet from me! Now either get your worthless ass in gear and get down to training or get the fuck out of this bunker! We have no room for lazy pieces of shit like you in our resistance ranks!” Rainbow screamed at the top of her lungs, tears welling in her eyes and fists clenched so hard that she could feel her nails digging painfully into her palms.

Sea Foam just sat there in shock, eyes wide and full of legitimate fear. Rainbow had been holding all of her anger inside for so long, but this one lazy mare had managed to uncork that bottle of rage in just a matter of minutes. Somewhere deep down, she felt bad for screaming at Sea like that, but at the same time it felt really good to finally get some of it off her chest. Rainbow was breathing hard, the tears starting to stream down her face, leaving thin darker blue streaks against her cheeks as it soaked the cyan coat of her face. Sea Foam started to say something, but Rainbow held up her hand to stop it. After a deep breath, Rainbow turned away from the mare and started towards the door.

“Whatever you were about to say, save it, I don’t want to hear it. Just get down to the gymnasium. Run some laps to match whatever your squad has done, then the entire lot of you are to work on sparring with one another.” Rainbow said as she walked out, back down the walkway and descended the stairs.

She gave a look down the hallway to see that the other trainees were still running circles around the gym, keeping in line with the painted lines on the floor. With another sigh, she turned and headed back down the hallway, away from the gymnasium, passing through the cafeteria again, which was now empty and Applejack was busy at work wiping the tables down from breakfast. Rainbow passed by without a word, heading into the hallway that led to the med wing. Around halfway down the hall, she stopped at a door that definitely stood out from the others. It was ornately decorated with tiny shards of varying gemstones, arranged into a sort of flower pattern with a sign in the middle that simply read ‘studio’. Rainbow took another deep breath and had a mental debate with herself over whether or not she was ready for this. Before she could talk herself out of it, she knocked on the door and waited. At first, it was silent on the other end of the door, but before too much longer there was the sound of clattering as if whoever was inside had tripped or knocked something over. The door opened slowly and only a crack, from inside came a white unicorn mare with a curled, albeit slightly frazzled, mane with a measuring tape strung around her neck and a pencil behind her ear. She was looking back into the room and not paying attention to her visitor.

“Applejack, if that’s you again, I already told you that I’m too busy for round two. Come back la… Oh, Rainbow Dash, to what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?” Rarity said, finally taking a moment to look up at her with a friendly smile.

“Uh… So, you and Applejack?” Rainbow asked with a raised eyebrow and small smirk.

“O-Oh, well yes, she and I are… Fraternizing with one another.” Rarity responded, her white cheeks slowly turning crimson in embarrassment.

“I knew you two would end up together.” Rainbow said with a small laugh.

“Well… Be that as it may, I assume you didn’t come here just to poke fun at me for my relationship choice.” Rarity replied, motioning to Rainbow’s tear stained cheeks.

“I wasn’t poking fun this time, just surprised it took as long as it did for it to happen. But, yes, I did come for another reason. Can I come in?” Rainbow asked, trying to wipe her face a little with her hand.

“Oh, of course darling. You’ll have to excuse the mess, of course. It’s not easy keeping up with the repairs to more than a hundred outfits for our residents, but, somebody had to do it and I am the most qualified after all.” Rarity replied with a small giggle and pulled the door fully open for Rainbow to come inside.

She stepped inside, having to step over a decently sized pile of ripped and torn clothing items. Contrary to other rooms in the bunker, Rarity had somehow managed to paint her studio a brilliant purple that almost matched her hair to a tee as well as get her hands on some brightly colored pink carpet to cover up the drab green tiles. The interior of the room looked like a hurricane had come through it, various strips of fabric lay strewn about everywhere, a good number of mannequins lined one wall, a desk was pushed against the wall opposite the mannequins with a small trash can beside it, a set of floor to ceiling mirrors adorned the wall just inside the door, and a variety of seamstress’s tools lay here and there on both the floor and desk. Seated in the floor in one of the corners was a unicorn filly in her teens with a white coat with a swirled purple and pink hairdo, she was reading some cheesy romance novel with a small blush across her face. One hand held the book up to her face while the other was nowhere in sight, which made Rainbow cringe to herself. If Rainbow had to guess, that novel was one of Rarity’s that she used to read back when things were still normal. She was so engrossed in the book that she didn’t even notice that Rainbow had entered the room.

“So, what’s the problem darling?” Rarity said, pushing some fabric off of a couple chairs and into the floor. She took a seat in one of the chairs, motioning to the other one across from her for Rainbow to sit in. Rainbow came over and sat in the chair.

“Uh... You sure she should be reading that smut?” Rainbow asked, referring to Sweetie Belle in the corner, still seemingly oblivious to their presence.

“Oh, pish posh, darling. She’s old enough that reading such a great novel won’t hurt her. Besides, it’s not smut. It’s a love story between an outcast girl and a vampire that she meets after moving to a new town. Though, yes, there are some… Mature scenes described in it. Anyway, I highly doubt that’s what you wanted to talk about, so stop trying to change the subject.” Rarity replied with a smile, not seeming to be bothered by what it appeared that Sweetie was doing over in the corner.

“Right… I just… Need someone to talk to really, and out of my three remaining friends, you’re the most likely to understand and I know I can trust you to keep this between us.” Rainbow said steadily, not really one to express her feelings openly like this.

“But of course, darling. I won’t peep a word of it to a single other pony. Except maybe Applejack, I can’t really hide anything from her. Especially when she does this one thing with her…” Rarity began to go into detail about something, but Rainbow quickly held up her hand in protest.

“Ah! I don’t need or want to hear whatever you’re about to say. And I’m serious, Rarity. Not. A. Soul. It’s hard enough for me to keep up my appearance around the trainees with everything going on.” Rainbow said sternly, giving her friend the most serious expression she could muster.

“Oh, fine. I was only joking anyway darling. Now, what seems to be troubling you?” Rarity asked, waving a hand at Rainbow daintily. Rainbow took a deep breath before speaking.

“Ok, here goes… I just… That is to say… Um…” Rainbow stuttered out, wanting to confess how this whole situation was making her feel but at the same time wanting to just bottle it all up like she always did.

“Yes? Come on, out with it, dear.” Rarity said reassuringly, she’d never seen Rainbow this flustered about something before, at least not something as trivial as talking anyway. Rainbow took an uneasy breath.

“I... I… I just can’t do it anymore! I hate every part of my life and I dread waking up everyday! I hate this place! Day in and day out, it’s always the same bullshit! Wake up, shower, eat breakfast, try to train a group of untalented recruits that will probably just go MIA as soon as they leave my care, eat dinner, and finally go to bed! Just to wake up and do it all again the next day! And at the end of the day, I don’t have anybody to hold me and tell me it’s ok like I used to! I just can’t do it anymore! I’m so close to just sending myself out on a recon mission, just to put an end to all this monotony!” Rainbow cried out as tears streamed down her face, she tried to stop the words from coming out, but once it started she couldn’t stop. It all just came spilling out, everything she had been bottling up for the past few years.

“Oh… Darling, I’m so sorry… I had no idea you were keeping all of this in…” Rarity replied quietly, pulling her friend into a hug and gently rubbing her back as Rainbow sobbed into her shoulder.

“It’s just been so hard without him… He was my rock, the only stable and guaranteed thing in my life… But he’s gone and there’s no telling when or even if he’ll come back… I just miss him so much… His touch… His lame jokes… His stupid handsome face…” Rainbow continued on, soaking Rarity’s shoulder with her tears. From behind them, they heard a quiet sniffle. They both looked up to see Sweetie Belle standing there, tears welled in her eyes and her book clutched to her chest.

“That’s so… So sweet! It reminds me of book three of this series. The main character, Della, is separated from her vampire boyfriend, Edgward, when he gets kidnapped and put into a nearly eternal sleep by a group of rogue vampires. Then she goes through a very similar thing after he’s gone from her life.” Sweetie said quickly, reminding Rainbow of Twilight when she would go into a rant of some book she was reading at the time.

“Sweetie Belle, dear, this is no time to talk about those silly novels. Let the adults talk in peace, please.” Rarity retorted, offering Rainbow a box of tissues.

“N-No, it’s ok Rarity. Did… Did they get back together?” Rainbow asked, genuinely kinda curious as she took the box.

“Of course they did!” Sweetie replied with a wide smile. Rainbow sniffled, pulling out a tissue and blowing her nose into it.

“So, how did they manage that?” Rainbow asked, tossing the tissue into a nearby trash can.

“Oh, well Della has to journey out into the unfamiliar land that the vampires originated from, then she has to fight a really strong vampire leader, and only then is she able to see him again. But he’s still stuck in his eternal slumber and the only way she was able to wake him up was to finally confess that she loved him, followed by a tender kiss to his lips. Kind of a reverse sleeping beauty situation.” Sweetie went on, nerding out completely and reminding Rainbow even more of Twilight now.

“Oh, well, I wish it was that easy to fix this problem. I’d gladly take some undead vampires over the brain dead soldiers we have to deal with now.” Rainbow replied, smiling a little at the thought of shredding through hordes of the undead like some kind of vampire hunting superhero.

“See, Sweetie. Those silly novels are of no help here.” Rarity said, giving Sweetie a stern face.

“Relax, Rarity. It’s sweet that she wants to help and I’m kind of jealous that she can get lost in a different world like that. Thank you, Sweetie. That oddly made me feel a little better.” Rainbow retorted with a small friendly shove at Rarity.

“I’m glad I could help, even a little. It’s like the good days when Scootaloo, Applebloom, and I would do whatever we could to help everybody.” Sweetie said, sticking her tongue out at Rarity.

“Scootaloo…” Rainbow said solemnly as she remembered her non-related little sister. It pained her to admit it, but she hadn’t thought of the little squirt in quite some time, having pushed her to the back of her mind to avoid thinking about what could’ve happened to her.

“Oh, I’m so sorry Rainbow Dash! I didn’t mean to bring up Scootaloo…” Sweetie said quickly, throwing her hands up in an apologetic manner.

“No, it’s ok Sweetie. Somebody needed to remind me of her, I’ve been so focused on Jet that I had all but forgotten poor Scoots... “ Rainbow said, wiping her face with one of the tissues before standing up from the chair.

“See what you did, Sweetie? This is why I tell you to sit in the corner and read quietly.” Rarity said, giving Sweetie a slight glare.

“Oh, go get pegged by your girlfriend again, you stuck up bitch.” Sweetie replied with a glare to match Rarity’s. Rarity gasped loudly, a hand covering her mouth in a gesture of shock.

“What did you just say to me, Sweetie Belle?!” Rarity said, her voice raising to emphasize her shock and anger.

“You heard me, Rarity! I’m so sick of you treating me like some useless kid! I’m almost eighteen for fucks sake!” Sweetie yelled back. Rainbow decided it would be best if she just left at this point.

“Uh.. Thanks guys, but I should get going. Got recruits to train and stuff.” Rainbow said as he headed for the door.

“Oh, you are going to get it for that, you little brat!” Rarity screamed, getting up from her seat and grabbing a yard stick from somewhere within one of the piles of fabric as she approached Sweetie.

“Go ahead and do it, you pussy! You’ve been busting my ass with that stupid thing for so long that now it doesn’t even bother me! In fact, I’m into…” Sweetie screamed back as Rainbow shut the door behind her, thanking the gods that these rooms were sound proof.

With a shuddering sigh, Rainbow headed back down the hall through the cafeteria again and towards the gymnasium again. She was both surprised and delighted to see that Sea Foam had indeed listened to her and was sparring with one of the other recruits, she wasn’t doing well by any means, but it was the effort that Rainbow appreciated. Rainbow walked into the gymnasium fully and took a seat on the bleachers, resting her arms on her knees and putting her face in her hands as she tried to calm herself down from having just spilled the entirety of her guts to one of closest friends. She took deep steady breaths as she just sat there in thought, listening to the soft clacking of the wooden training swords colliding from the sparring matches happening a few feet in front of her. Her mind wandered and drifted off to a memory from long ago.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was a day not much different from the day things went to shit, except this day held nothing but happiness and good times for her. She was walking down the streets of Canterlot with Twilight, they had met up and camped out to be the first ones to get their hands on the latest Daring Do book. Unfortunately though, they didn’t have the time to start reading it just yet, as Celesita had asked Twilight to come to the castle for some important princess meeting. Oddly enough it was the first one she’d been asked to attend since becoming a princess, Rainbow was just tagging along to have something to do in all honesty. WIth it being winter, the Wonderbolts were on a seasonal break, so she didn’t have anything on her agenda.

She had on her Wonderbolts hoodie and a pair of black leggings with under armour underneath and a pair of basic running shoes to brace herself against the cold air. Twilight was bundled up in a puffy purple winter jacket and jeans with fuzzy topped boots. The both of them had gray book store bags hanging from their arms. They were walking and talking, speculating about what this latest entry of Daring Do might contain. The semi frozen cobblestone made soft crackling noises under their feet as they walked. Two unicorn guards, dressed in the typical golden armor of the royal guard and armed with spears, were standing on either side of the closed gate. The bars of the gate gleamed slightly in the dim winter sunlight. As they approached, the guards took notice of Twilight, greeting her and opening the gate with a soft glow from both of their horns. The gate groaned on its frosty hinges as it slowly opened. The pair walked inside, the gate creaking closed behind them. They walked through the courtyard and towards the door of the castle. A huge set of steel doors that had been painted to look like wood, likely to fool invaders and trespassers into thinking it was easy to move them.

Rainbow took a moment to admire the courtyard, she wasn’t much for the girly flowery stuff, but she had to admit that the scenery of the courtyard was beautiful. The bright green neatly squared off hedges that seemed to endure even through winter, the lush and fluffy looking clementine trees specifically planted here due to its weather enduring nature, and even the gilded gem encrusted fountain which even froze over was a sight to behold. Before she could get lost in the majestic scenery, she continued on with Twilight into the castle interior itself. If the outside was considered a seemingly unreal wonder, the inside was a fever dream of beauty. Even though she’d been here a few times beforehand, Rainbow was still in awe of just how awesome the decorations were. Along the walls of every hallway they walked through was adorned with an assortment of tapestries, armors, statues, ferns, paintings, and busts. It was like walking through the world’s slimmest and longest museum.

After a few minutes, they arrived at the massive gold and silver trimmed doors that led to the throne room. There were two pegasus unicorn guards posted on either side of this door as well, though these ones were dressed in the silver armor of the elite class royal guards and armed with thin katanas which hung from their hips. Twilight took a moment to greet them and inform them that Celestia was expecting her. They gave a nod and opened the doors for them to enter, as they headed inside one of the guards stopped Rainbow putting an arm in front of her to block her way.

“Sorry, miss. Princess Celestia only requested the presence of Princess Twilight, she said it was important and classified business.” He said, his voice having almost a robotic tone due to echoing slightly inside his helmet as he spoke.

“What? Hello? Fellow multi-time savior of Equestria here. I think I deserve to be in on whatever she has to say.” Rainbow protested and tried to push past him, but to no avail.

“Rainbow Dash, I am sorry and I do truly appreciate your efforts in keeping things relatively civil in Equestria, but this is strictly royal business. I mean no offense, but you unfortunately don’t have the clearance for the information I have to share with Twilight.” Celestia’s voice came from behind Rainbow, which made her jump a little.

She turned to see Celestia standing behind her with a soft smile on her face, her light purple eyes peering through her, not in a menacing way but it still sent a shiver down Rainbow’s spine as it felt like Celestia was looking into her very soul. The princess was dressed in an elegant flowing white dress that somehow managed to accentuate her also white coat, her hair was down as usual, her immaculately trimmed multi-colored locks flowing like the waves of the ocean.

“Fine, but what am I supposed to do until you get done with her? We’ve got… Book Club after this…” Rainbow said, she still couldn’t believe that she had agreed to join Twilight’s egghead club, but she would be lying if she said she didn’t have fun. Celestia tapped her chin for a moment.

“Hmm, well, everytime you’ve been here in the past there’s been some kind of life or death emergency. How about a tour of the castle grounds while you wait?” Celestia suggested, still bearing her signature comforting smile.

“Uh, sure, but who’s gonna give me said tour if you’re busy with your royal business?” Rainbow asked, readjusting the bag on her arm.

“Well, I can assign you one of my personal guards if you’d like?” Celestia said, her eyes lighting up as if she had some kind of underlying plan here.

“You mean one of these stiffs? Sure, whatever I guess.” Rainbow replied with a shrug.

“Great! Give me just one moment, dear.” Celestia said before disappearing into the throne room.

It wasn’t long before she returned with a guard trailing behind her adorned in the same silver elite armor as the ones standing guard by the throne room door. Something about this guard seemed different to her though, that’s when she noticed that this one had dark brown wings protruding from his back. There weren’t many pegasi among the ranks of the royal guards, especially the elite class guards. The pegasi were usually assigned to patrols and things of that nature.

“Rainbow Dash, I’d like you to meet one of my personal guards, Jet Stream.” Celestia said, looking down at the guard, who proceeded to remove his helmet.

Once his helmet was off, he gave a shake of his head to help get rid of the helmet hair he had. His black and red striped hair bounced against his head slightly, and flowed up away from his face. The well defined features of his face made her wonder why he was a guard in the castle here and not some kind of model somewhere in Manehattan or Fillydelphia. Rainbow looked on in a combination of shock and horror as she stared up into his bright blue eyes. Her palms suddenly got clammy, her knees started to feel like cooked spaghetti, her heart was pounding, and her thoughts became an unintelligible blur. In her head, she was questioning what was happening, had she gotten sick while camping out in the cold all night for a stupid book? Was she having a heart attack? She hadn’t the slightest idea, but she was slightly worried for her health now.

“Hi, nice to meet you, Rainbow Dash. I’ve heard a lot about you. All good things, I promise.” Jet said with a chuckle, extending a hand in the gesture of a hand shake.

“Buh… H-Hot... I mean… H-Hi…” Rainbow managed to mumble, despite her clouded and short circuited brain.

“Alright, have fun you two.” Celestia said with a light hearted giggle as she disappeared back into the throne room, shutting the door behind her with a bright yellow glow from her horn, leaving the two alone in the silent hallway.

“So… Should we start in the garden, I guess?” Jet asked casually, ignoring her earlier muddled mess of a greeting.

She stood there in silence, afraid of what would come out if she dared speak right now. He waved a hand in front of her face in an attempt to snap her back to reality. One of the guards by the door stifled a laugh.

“See, Jet? I keep on trying to tell you that that face of yours was a mare killer.” He said with a laugh, the other guard joining in shortly after.

“Oh, shut it, you two or I’ll have Shining Armor put you both on latrine duty for the next week.” Jet said, rolling his eyes and continuing to wave his hand in front of her face.

She still said nothing, staring into his eyes and literally lost in the depths of those bright pools of blue.

“Hello? Rainbow Dash? Raaainbow?” He kept on saying her name, his voice sounding further away with each utterance of it and for some reason it seemed to be changing pitch.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rainbow was startled awake by a hand on her shoulder, she sat up straight and looked around in a daze, she had apparently fallen asleep on the bleachers with her face in her hands. She rubbed her eyes and blinked a few times. Standing in front of her was Sunblast, a worried expression on his face. She could see his mouth moving, but she was still dazed from having fallen asleep without realizing it. She rubbed her eyes a few more times and groaned.

“This better be important, Sunblast, I was actually having a good dream for once.” Rainbow said groggily, letting out a long yawn.

“I’d say it’s not just important, it’s a fucking emergency!” Sunblast replied in a slight panic.

“Emergency? What’s wrong? Did you guys blow something up in the lab again?” Rainbow asked, quickly coming out of her groggy state at the mention of an emergency.

“No… Well, yes. But, that isn’t related this time. No, this emergency is far worse than a failed experiment. Something’s going on with the generators outside, we’re getting power fluctuations in the stasis room, and that’s obviously very bad for our mutual friend floating around the place.” Sunblast explained in a hushed voice as to not let anybody else hear him, something like this would almost definitely cause a mass panic within the bunker.

“Ok, why are you coming to me with this? Isn’t that why we have an engineer?” Rainbow said with a bit of a confused look.

“That’s the thing, Heavy Gear never checked in from her maintenance check today, and she’s been gone for five or six hours.” Sunblast replied, the panic not leaving his voice in the slightest.

“Six hours? That’s definitely suspicious. But still, why come to me?” Rainbow asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Because you’re the only one I trust to not turn this into a mass panic situation. That’s the last thing we need around here right now.” He said, trying to calm down a bit.

“Alright, alright. I’ll go out and check the situation. But, I’m hundred percent not going out there unarmed.” She said, running her fingers through her hair to finger comb it again.

“Well, of course. I wouldn’t expect you to. That’s why I brought this to take out with you,” He replied as he pulled a long metal cylinder from behind his back, it was fluted at one end with some sort of wooden rubber wrapped handle. On the opposite end from the fluted side was a small glass chamber that looked like one of those plasma ball collectibles you could find at souvenir shops.

“Ok, cool. But what is it?” She asked, eyeing it over, skeptical of the fact it looked like a cobbled together foal’s toy.

“It’s still just in the prototype phase, but I can assure you it works. I call it the Tesla Cannon. Take aim, pull the trigger, and…” Sunblast explained, pointing the weapon at one of the training dummies and firing. A bolt of bright white electrical energy shot from the fluted barrel, hitting the dummy head-on and instantly vaporizing it. Rainbow gasped in amazement as he handed it to her.

“Woah, that was incredible, Sunblast!” She said as she took the weapon and looked it over more carefully, the plasma ball looking part seemed to have dimmed after being fired.

“Thank you. The only downsides that I’m working on fixing is that it has a five minute cooldown and the potential of a recoil shock to the user, so use it sparingly and make sure you’re holding the rubber wrapped part of the handle. Oh, and take this too. It’ll let us keep in touch for as long as you're within range of the bunker.” He replied with a satisfied smile at her compliment, handing her a small earbud looking device, almost forgetting the whole purpose of him coming here.

“Alright, let me go grab some gear and I’ll head out to investigate.” Rainbow said, putting the earbud into her ear, standing up and sprinting back to her room.

She made it to her room relatively quickly, kneeling down in front of the foot locker she had that was positioned at the foot of her bed. She popped the latches on it with a soft clunk, pushing up the lid with a groan from the underused hinges. There wasn’t much inside, just things that she wanted to keep, but didn’t want to look at every day. She had kept her Wonderbolts hoodie and letterman jacket, Jet’s katana, a respirator that the boys in the lab had made and given out to everybody, a flashlight with a belt clip, and a pair of her old running shoes. Laying against one side was a framed picture of her and Jet from a vacation date they had taken to Manehatten beach, she was wearing a rainbow colored bikini and he was wearing a pair of red swim trunks. She picked up the photo and ran her fingers across the glass, Jet’s smile warming her heart a bit as she stared down at his goofy face. Her eyes traced over the three scars across his chest, one running down across one of his pecs and an x-shaped scar just above his navel. She still wasn’t sure how he’d convinced her to put on a two piece for that day, but she was kinda glad he did as that night was the first that they spent with each other and it was magical for her.

She gently set the photo back against the side of the foot locker, grabbing out the respirator, flashlight, and the katana. She’d be needing the respirator as the outside air was more than fairly toxic after the mega spell bomb had decimated everything. With a nearly silent hiss, she stuck the respirator onto her face. It was just big enough to cover her mouth and nose, the moderately sized reuleaux triangle shaped silver device adhering to her face through a powerful yet somehow not uncomfortable suction. Two thin cylinders stuck out from the front of it, which were self refilling compact oxygen tanks. She hooked the katana onto the side of her belt, the flashlight onto the front right side, and gave one last look at the photo before shutting the lid and relatching it, the hinges groaning in protest, as if wanting her to keep reminiscing about the day from the photo.

Once she was geared up, she headed back out into the cafeteria and down the hall leading to the exit of the bunker. She looked up at the ladder leading up to the small round hatch that held back the outside. She took a deep breath and began to climb up the ladder, she hadn’t left the bunker since getting here eight long years ago as she had been assigned to the trainees the entire time, being deemed too valuable of an asset to risk sending out into the field. When she reached the top of the ladder, she grabbed the wheel that acted as the door handle for the hatch, and twisted it. The wheel screeched loudly as it turned, unlocking the hatch. She pushed out on the hatch and it flew open with a forceful wind from outside. With another deep breath she climbed up and out into the wasteland that they had once called Equestria.

She looked around and gasped loudly at the very depressing sight before her. The once vast green rolling hills of Equestria now looked like a desert, nothing but dusty plains and charred barren trees as far as the eye could see. Off in the distance, she could just barely make out the silhouette of the ruined castle along with some other various building shapes and the massive stretch of ruins that once made up Ponyville. The air was thick with an acrid and musty stench that she could smell even through the respirator, there wasn’t really any way to know what time of day it was due to the fact that the sky was covered in thick black clouds that blotted out the sun itself, which didn’t help the temperature. It was supposed to be spring time right about now, but it felt like winter with how chilly it was.

“Rainbow Dash, do you read me?” Sunblast’s voice said in her ear as she looked around at what had become of her home land.

“Yeah, I hear you loud and clear, Sunblast. Why didn’t anybody tell me how bad it was out here?” Rainbow asked, still shocked by the view she was seeing.

“It didn’t seem that important, honestly. But, we can talk more about it later. Right now, you need to head South to a hidden cave to check those generators.” Sunblast replied.

“Got it.” Rainbow said, looking around to see a large rock formation not too far to the South. She began moving in the direction of it.

“Remember Rainbow, if we lose even one of those generators, we won’t be able to keep power on in the stasis room for very long. The backup power will only give us a few minutes of power to work with.” Sunblast said, worry in his voice again.

“Yeah, don’t remind me.” Rainbow replied, making it to the rock formation, there was a large collection of dead brush on one side of it.

Upon closer inspection, she noticed that the brush wasn’t connected to the ground like something that had grown there would be. She pushed the brush aside to reveal a dark cave. With a soft click, she turned on the flashlight, illuminating the cave only slightly. She proceeded inside cautiously, keeping one hand on the katana as she went in. The interior of the cave was surprisingly large, big enough that she would’ve been able to take to the air and have a full room size space between her and the ground. It was also very damp and cold, eliciting a shiver from her. After a short while, she saw a dim flashing light up ahead from around a corner in the cave. She slowed her walking speed a bit and shut off her flashlight, sticking close to the cave wall. She made it to the corner, she peered around it to see a set of four medium sized generators that only rose about halfway to the ceiling of the cave, each one having various dials and knobs on the side facing her as well as three pylons on top. The pylons sparked lightly with tiny visible bolts of electricity. She didn’t see anybody around, satisfied with the coast seeming to be clear, she fully rounded the corner and approached the generators. The cave continued on into darkness behind the generators. As she got closer, she nearly tripped over something that made a metallic thud against her boot. She flicked her light back on to see a red toolbox laying open on the ground at her feet.

She kneeled down to check it, and to her surprise there on the side of the toolbox was an engraved name, Heavy Gear. She looked around for any sign of the earth pony but didn’t see anything. A loud spark from behind the generator closest to her made her almost jump out her skin. She drew the katana from its sheath and approached the backside of the generators slowly, what she saw almost made her puke into her respirator. The back panel of the generator was laying to one side and a charred body stood there with its head crammed into between the exposed internals. Its clothes were burnt and still smoking. She pulled out the tesla cannon, gripping the rubber lined handle tightly, and used it to push the body free. It fell to the ground with a loud thud against the metal grating lining the floor under the generators.

“Hey, Sunblast you there?” Rainbow asked quietly against the silence of the cave.

“Yeah, what’s up? Did you find the generators?” He asked through her earpiece.

“I did, and I think I found Heavy Gear too.” She replied, looking the charred body over with a sick feeling in her stomach.

“Really? That’s great! Why didn’t she check in?” He asked, some hope seeping into his voice.

“Well, it looks like somebody shoved her head into it while she was doing her maintenance routine.” She replied with a shudder, thinking about how much that had to hurt.

“Oh… But who would’ve known where to even find our power supply, let alone murder one of our engineers?” Sunblast asked rhetorically as Rainbow suddenly heard a noise from somewhere behind her further into the cave, as if something had kicked over a rock.

“I’m not sure, but I think they might still be here. I’ll keep you posted.” She said, stepping to the side and looking off down the cave to locate the source of the noise, but saw nothing.

She suddenly saw something glint in the light of her flashlight off in the distance, she squinted her eyes to try and make out what it was. At almost the very last second, she realized what it was and dodged to the ground doing the splits just as a large triple bladed weapon embedded itself in the cave wall behind her. Attached to the weapon was a spiked chain that extended off into the darkness. As the weapon retracted from the wall, Rainbow quickly fired the tesla cannon in the direction of where the weapon had come from. The blast of electrical energy surged down the cave, illuminating the cave as it went and revealing a black armored figure with wings and a horn, also covered in armor. Rainbow’s heart started pounding as she recognized this figure as one of Sombra’s assassins, this one being called Crystal Shredder. The light from the tesla cannon blast faded, cloaking the assassin back in darkness and hiding them from view. Her eyes darted around trying to get a bead on the hidden assassin.

“Show yourself, coward. Stop hiding in the shadows.” Rainbow called out into the darkness of the cave.

She was answered with only silence and the soft sparking of the generators. She gripped the katana firmly with both hands, awaiting the next attack to come. As she stared off into the black void of the cave, she made out the glint of the weapon again, this time she was ready though. As soon as she saw the blade coming, she dodged to the left, bringing her back to behind the generators just as the weapon embedded itself into the wall again, sending small streams of dust and rock to the ground under it. As before, the weapon was retracted back just as fast as it had come. Her heart was pounding out her chest, much like the other assassins in Sombra’s employ, she didn’t know what this monster was capable of, but she definitely didn’t want to find out for herself.

While she was caught up in this thought, she almost didn’t notice that the assassin had managed to fly up towards above the generators, gearing up for another attack. Rainbow cursed to herself as she dove out of the way just in time to avoid another attack, instantly regretting it as the weapon impaled the generator. It sent a massive bolt of electricity up along the chain of the weapon and directly into the assassin, the generator buzzed and surged loudly, starting to smoke as the assassin somehow managed to tank the wattage from it. To Rainbow’s horror, the generator caught fire and shortly after exploded, sending debris every which way and blasting the assassin both her and the assassin to the ground with an ear ringing boom, momentarily dazing Rainbow and giving the injured assassin the opportunity to escape.

“Rainbow Dash, what the hell is happening up there?! We just lost power to the stasis room! Get back here as fast as you can!” Sunblast yelled in her ear, very much panicked.

Without a word, she got up and sprinted out of the cave, hauling ass back to the bunker. She quickly slipped in through the hatch and shutting it tightly behind her. She ran through the halls of the bunker, through the cafeteria, and down towards the science wing. The entire time, an alert was ringing through the bunker.

“Warning! Failure detected in generator number two! Please reconnect the power supply immediately or it will result in power failure to the stasis wing! Time remaining to reconnect is ten seconds!” A computerized voice rang out, making everybody aware that they had just lost a whole generator due to Rainbow’s small mistake.

Rainbow made it into the stasis wing, pushing past a group of lab coated ponies and into the main room. She arrived just in time to see it powering down and sliding open. The viscous stasis liquid spilled out onto the floor in front of it, followed by Jet’s unconscious body. Rainbow darted over just before he hit the floor and caught him in her arms, holding his head up and looking down into his comatose face. Over the sound of the computerized voice, she could hear the heart monitor hooked up to Jet fading from a soft steady beeping down to a solid flat tone. She rocked on her knees as she held him close, her eyes quickly overflowing with tears at the realization of what was happening.

“Nononononono, please no! Jet, don’t do this to me! Please!” She cried out in desperation as he started to go limp in her arms.

“Rainbow… I’m sorry…” Sunblast said from somewhere behind her, but she ignored him, her full attention on her dying boyfriend clutched in her arms.

“Please, Jet… Don’t die on me… I need you… I… I love you…” Rainbow continued desperately, sniffling and slowly leaning down to place her lips against his.

She stayed like this for several seconds, eyes shut tight. She was so lost in the sadness of the moment that she didn’t hear the heart monitor pick back up in pace. As she sat there, lips locked with his, she suddenly felt him stir in her arms and slowly begin to return the kiss. She opened her eyes to see his slowly starting to flutter open. She pulled away in shock and just stared.

“D-Dashie? What’s going on…? Where am I?” He asked, very groggily and slowly looking around the room. She continued to cry, but not from sadness anymore, these were tears of happiness. She pulled him into a tight hug and sobbed gently into his shoulder.

“Oh, Jet! I’m so happy you’re back! I never thought I’d get to hold you again!” She cried out in excitement.

“Back? Did I go somewhere?” He asked with a confused look at his surroundings as his vision cleared and adjusted to the dim light of the lab. She just gave a small laugh and pulled away from the hug, looking into the beautiful pools of blue that were his eyes.

“You have a lot to catch up on, mister. But don’t worry, Sunblast has kept files of everything.” Rainbow replied with a wide smile, tears still streaming down her cheeks.