The Assistant

Chapters

Arrival
Party Time
The Truth
Love Is In Flight
Initiation
Training
Passing Notes
Squads
More Training
Wings

Arrival

It was a normal Sunday afternoon. The sun was beaming, and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. It was a perfect day to play, take a nap, and maybe even go on an adventure. For RainbowDash, however, this was not the case. She was stuck at the train station, waiting for some big-shot stallion who wanted to be all up around her. Not that that was necessarily a bad thing, RainbowDash loved her fans. But this one had gone way to far.

She had gotten the letter a month ago. Straight from Princess Luna herself no less. It had said that she was getting an assistant, and that she didn't have any kind of say in it. The letter didn't say why she was getting an assistant, but based on the fact that she didn't need any kind of help with the weather, she could only assume that it was some young stallion who was just head over heels in love with her.

He couldn't have chosen a worse day either. Not only was this a beautiful day, but it was her's and Thunderlane's 1 year anniversary. They had been planning for months. They were going to go out to a nice dinner in Cloudsdale's nicest, fanciest restaurant. It had taken weeks to get the reservations, and they had still and to plan three months ahead. It was going to be beautiful, and now she was stuck here almost late because of some stupid stallion who thought he was king of the world.

The train pulled into the station. As the doors opened, dozens of ponies filed out of the train. She looked around for the stallion, who according to the vague description was a Pegasus with alot of luggage. Eventually she found him, with some difficulty as he was surrounded by half a dozen unicorns who all were carrying some of his luggage. Even with so many different ponies helping, all of them were still swamped with luggage. She flew over. Upon reaching him, all of the unicorns eyed her threateningly. She hovered directly over top of the last unicorn in the group, so that none of them could stare at her.

"Are you my new assistant?" Rainbow asked hatefully.

"Are you RainbowDash?" The Stallion replied.

"No, I'm Big Macintosh," She replied sarcastically,"Who do you think I am?"

"My new boss by the sound of it," The Stallion replied,"My name is Albert Jordenson II. But Red Mist is what i usually go by, if you don't mind."

Great,RainbowDash thought,He's got a faggoty ass rich boy name AND a full-of-himself nickname.She looked at the clock on the wall. It read 5:15. Their dinner was in less than three hours, and she hadn't even gotten dressed yet."Alright," she said impatiently,"but I have somewhere to be, so just be over sweat apple acres by 10:00 sharp tomorrow, ok?"

"Yes ma'am." Red Mist Replied.

And he's gonna call me "ma'am"? This is gonna suck.RainbowDash thought. Before she could think about it anymore, she zoomed off to her house to get dressed in the fancy dress Rarity had given her for the occasion.

Red Mist continued on, his group barely able to move due to the weight of the luggage. After close to half an hour of slow marching through town they arrived at Red Mist's new mansion. It was a large place, off the edge of ponyville. It was two stories, all white marble walls and pillars at the entrance.The floors were a beautiful grey granite, and the same material was on the outside of the building on the edges and where the floors changed. Guards dressed in purplish uniforms with the letters NLR printed where the cutie mark would be were stationed at every corner of the building, to at every door.He thought it safe to presume that the potted plants held automated defenses and the windows snipers.

He walked in and started walking towards the basement. Before he could enter, however, one of the guards stopped him. The only difference between his uniform and the others was a small arrowhead with a star beneath it, indicating his rank. He was a white unicorn with a sleek black mane.

"Excuse me sir,"The Unicorn began,"But we must test the basement security system first."

"Shouldn't you have finished this stuff before I got here?"Red Mist asked impatiently.

"Sorry sir,"The unicorn started,"but as you know this was all put together very recently."

"This shit is heavy, Chief," Red Mist pleaded.

"Sir, we already have a prisoner locked down there," Chief replied flatly.

"Alright," Red Mist sighed,"Just make it quick. The rest of you stay here."

Chief led Red Mist up the stairs and into a room in the middle of the upper floor. The room was filled with panels with all sorts of buttons, levers, and monitors on them. In the front of the room was a huge screen that showed images of the entire house. Chief enlarged the picture of the basement. A griffin was in inside, pacing angrily.

"Hello Gilda,"Chief said into a small microphone,"If you would please hold your knee up to the DNA scanner on the wall behind you we will release you from your torment."

"FUCK YOU!" Gilda screamed back,"LET ME THE FUCK OUT OF HERE NOW!"

Chief started pleading in a sympathetic voice,"Please Gilda, Just hold up your knee and this will all be over."

"The fuck you need my DNA for?"Gilda asked calming down slightly.

"All will be explained later, I swear,"Chief replied.

"When I get out of hear, I want some fucking answers!" Gilda replied moving to the DNA scanner.

As she held up her knee, a small needle that couldn't be seen on camera extracted a drop of blood. It took only a split second for the alarm to go off. Four turrets dropped from each corner of the small room. Before Gilda could scream one curse, lasers shot out and vaporized her.

"Is that all?"Red Mist asked indefinitively.

"Yes sir,"Chief replied.

"Good, now if you excuse me,"

Red Mist started down the hall and down the stairs. His body was aching and he was anxious to get to work. he reached the basement door and the unicorns went down the stairs with him. he entered the room where Gilda had just died and eyed the burn scar on the ground. He wondered, as he often did, what death was like. he stopped thinking about the depressing matter as they reached the second door. He held up his knee to the DNA scanner. A split second later a green light popped on and the door opened. He and the unicorns walked in and placed the luggage on the ground. They all left with a small salute and the door closed behind them, leaving him alone.Time to get to work.He thought to himself

Party Time

RainbowDash moved the last cloud in place over sweet apple acres. Her body ached all over, and she was in desperate need of a nap. Last night had been fun, but exhausting. First they flew to cloudsdale so fast that she almost made a sonic rainboom. After the dinner they had to fly back, slower, but they were tired from dinner. Once they got home, they decided that the climax of night would be held there, several times. She had finally gotten to sleep at about 2:00, and then she had gotten up at 8:00 to move all the clouds over ponyville to sweet apple acres. She hoped Red Mist was a slow flyer, so she could take a nap while he cleared all the clouds. She heard hooves trotting on the ground bellow, and upon looking down she saw that it was Red Mist. She fluffed part of the starting cloud, turning it into a pillow.

"Yo, Red,"She shouted down to him,"Up here, I got work for you!"

"Yes Mam! On my way!"Red Mist shouted back, flying up to meet her.

"Alright,"RainbowDash started with a yawn,"I spent all morning moving these clouds here so I can see what kind of skill you have."

"Yes mam."Red mist replied, getting in take off position.

"Alright,"RainbowDash said, raising a stopwatch,"3, 2, 1, GO!"

Red Mist's take off almost knocked RainbowDash off the cloud. She tried to find him, instead she only saw a stream of red zooming around through clouds faster than her eyes could follow. he zoomed here and there, leaving no cloud behind. in just a few seconds, he was speeding back towards her. She jumped out of the way to avoid being hit. The stopwatch fell to the ground, shattering as it made impact with the earth. She didn't need it though. He was incredibly fast, maybe even faster than her.

She looked at him and took in his appearance for the first time. He was slightly taller than her, a little over four foot. his mane was dark grey, making his red mane, tail, and wings stand out drastically. His eyes were a deep blue that seemed to move like water. His cutie mark was by far the most eye catching feature of him.It resembled a flower with just pedals, each of the six a different color, all surrounded by a white outline. She realized that she had a massive wing-boner, and quickly shot her wings down.

"Holy Shit!"RainbowDash exclaimed, her wings shooting back up.

"I know, sorry,"Red mist said apolitically,"too hard of a landing, I know, I'm sorry ma'am, it won't happen again."

"What?"RainbowDash said,very confused,"No, no, that's not what I'm talking talking about."

"Then why did you scream 'holy shit'?"Red Mist asked, equally confused.

"You flew so fast!"RainbowDash screamed,"You cleared the whole sky in like, five seconds!"

"Oh, that,"Red Mist said shyly,"That's nothing, really."

"What do you mean, 'that's nothing'?"RainbowDash screamed, even more confused,"That was amazing!"

"No, it was nothing, really,"Red Mist insisted, growing quieter with every word.

"Ok, Listen,"RainbowDash said strictly,"As your boss, I demand you accept the fact that your flying is awesome."

"Ok,"Red Mist said barely audible,"Um, thank you."

"Your welcome,"RainbowDash said,"Now come here, I have an idea."

As per RainbowDash's plan, whenever the forecast was cloudy or clearer, Red Mist took the skies. Otherwise, RainbowDash was in charge. Since this gave her alot of spare time to hang out with Thunderlane and her friends, she decided to split the pay with Red Mist, 75-25 her, of course. For the next couple weeks things went smoothly, everypony was happy, and she was having more fun than ever before. Her love life improved, the other residents of ponyville got to spend more time in the sun, and best of all, she got a raise. Then, one day, Red Mist approached her.

"Hey there boss,"He announced as he approached her wearing a small saddle bag.

"Oh, Hi Red,"RainbowDash replied,"Whats in the bag?"

"Here, take one,"Red Mist said.He gave her one of the envelopes,"It's an invitation to my house warming party, I've been waiting to have one until I was settled in, and now that i have I'm throwing one.

"Who's going to be there?"RainbowDash asked. As far as she knew, Red Mist only came outside of his house to do the weather, and that only took him a few seconds each day. Nopony ever visited him, and now that she thought about it, he probably didn't have any friends outside of, wherever he was from.

"I'm inviting everypony in ponyville, and a few friends from out of town too,"Red Mist said proudly,"Will you come?"

"Sure, is it alright if I bring a date?"RainbowDash asked.

"No problem,"Red Mist answered.

"Alright then, count me in!"RainbowDash said happily,"When is it?"

"Tonight at dusk,"Red Mist replied.

"I'll be there,"RainbowDash said. She was curious on what kind of party he could throw, and what his friends were like. He was obviously rich, he could afford six unicorns just to carry his mass of luggage, so she assumed at first that his friends would be snotty and stuck up. Then again, he flew faster than anypony she'd ever seen, beside herself of course, so he was at least a little awesome and so his friends might be to. After reading the invitation she was relived to see that it said dress casual. She flew home to tell Thunderlane about it.

"Thunderlane!"She screamed upon entering her kick-ass cloud mansion.

"Yeah Dash?"Thunderlane replied as he came walking down the stairs.

"Do you want to go to Red Mist's house warming party tonight at 10:00?"She asked.

"Sure I heard that it was going to be pretty cool."He replied,"Do you know if he really hired Vinyl Scratch?"

"I don't know, I just heard about it,"She replied,"I guess we'll find out when we get there."

"Well, if it starts at 10:00, it'll probably last all night,"Thunderlane said seductively,"How about we go upstairs and have a little fun before the party?"

"Race ya!"She replied, dashing to her bedroom.

Many orgasms later, they left the house and went to the party. They were only half an hour late, but the party was in full swing. Vinyl Scratch was indeed DJing, and tons of ponies were dancing and conversing, a few pegasi were having a race on a track made of clouds over the entire party.

"You want to join the race?"Thunderlane asked.

"In a sec,"RainbowDash replied as her stomach emitted a thundering growl,"I'm gonna see if they have anything to eat around this place.

"Alright, see you on the track,"Thunderlane replied, speeding off to the track.

She flew down and entered the house. It was beautiful inside, and all the ponies inside were dancing to the dubstyle blasting throughout the building. She found the kitchen, and almost exploded from want. The central table was covered in delicious looking food, most of which she couldn't name. She started making a plate, but something caught her eye. A group of seven ponies, led by Red Mist, was making its way to through the party, paying no attention to the ponies around them. She figured these were some of the friends Red Mist had told her about, but the last pony in line proved her wrong. None other than Twilight Sparkle brought up the rear, leaving RainbowDash extremely confused. She walked toward the posse, forgetting her hunger.

"Hey Twilight!"She said when she caught up with them."Great party, huh?"

"Oh!"Twilight jumped as she heard her name,"Hi Dash, Albert sure does know how to throw one."

"Albert? Oh, you mean Red Mist,"RainbowDash replied, temporarily forgetting his real name,"Speaking of which, where are you guys going?"

"Oh, no where in particular,"Twilight said.

"You mean like a tour?"RainbowDash replied, detecting the lie,"Can I come?"

"Well, um..."Twilight tried to think of an excuse.

"Miss Sparkle,"Red Mist shouted from the front of the pack,"This way please."

"Coming Mister Jordenson!"Twilight shouted back, trotting to catch up.

"Mister Jordenson?"RainbowDash said questioningly flying next to Twilight,"Whats going on here?"

"Dammit, Dash!"Twilight exclaimed, stopping to face her friend,"Your going to get me in trouble! Hold still!"

Twilight's horn glowed, and then RainbowDash felt the spell hit her. She tried to ask what Twilight had done, but she found herself unable to make a sound. She looked at her hooves, but saw only air.

"Nopony can see or hear you now,"Twilight explained,"Stick close, and don't touch anything or anypony, and try not to fly to much, you make a breeze."

RainbowDash landed and galloped silently next to Twilight. The Group was headed towards a door on the other side of the entrance hall. Two unicorns stood leaning against the wall on either side of the door. They walked through, RainbowDash barely making it through before the door closed. They all walked down a small flight of stairs, at the bottom of which was a small room with just one metal door with no knob. Red Mist walked up to the a panel next to the door, holding his knee up to it. A moment later, the door opened and Red Mist led the group through. This door shut so abruptly that she had to jump slightly to make it through, even so her tail got snipped slightly. She looked around the room, and what she saw made her more confused than ever before.

The room was a firing range, the other side barely being visible in the darkness. There was a wall set up, turning the room into a twenty by twenty square. In the middle of the room there was a huge machine. It was at least eight feet tall, and twice as long. it looked like a giant mechanical coffin with some sort of satellite dish and a tube of some sorts on it. The ponies organized themselves around the room, Red Mist and Twilight standing on either side of the device. the rest of the ponies organized them selves along the walls, leaving RainbowDash to stand next to the glass wall that seperated there portion of the room with the down range.

"Filly's and Gentlecolts,"Red Mist began to say in presentation type voice,"I Present to you the weapon you've all been waiting for, the Electra-Magic Laser-500, or EML-500 for short. This weapon has a long enough range to hit any thing it can see and enough power to destroy the target. Though it is currently in its prototype stages and cannot fire above 20% power, it is still a force to be reckoned with. I will now demonstrate the Electric power only mode at 5% power."

Red Mist turned around and started pushed a series of buttons. The EML started to glow and hum, make low but powerful vibrations that she could feel. Red Mist moved a lever slightly upward, and stopped with it just off the starting point. The humming was so intense she thought her coat might just pop off. Red Mist pushed one more button, causing a laser beam that was all of the colors of the rainbow at once. It's light illuminated the rest of the range, reveling a pony shaped gel figure. A second later the dummy was on fire, both its chest and backside left black from the heat. the laser had shot straight through and left a small red spot on the wall.

"Now, that was only at 5% with no magical energy."Red Mist started again,"If we add the same amount of magical energy to the beam it becomes much more powerful. Miss Sparkle, if you would."

"Yes, Mister Jordenson."Twilight replied. She turned to face the satellite dish. Lowering her head so that her horn pointed straight at it, she shot a beam of magical essence into it. RainbowDash expected the device to be partially destroyed, instead it simply absorbed the beam Twilight was shooting at it. It started to glow and hum again, louder and more intense than before. RainbowDash started to get a headache, but the other ponies in the room seemed unaffected. After about a minute of magic absorption, Twilight raised her head and stepped back, looking slightly light headed.

"Thank you, Miss Sparkle,"Red Mist said politely as she stepped back against the wall,"Now, for the EML-500 at 5% on the elctra-magic mode." He pushed a different sequence of buttons, making the humming increase in pitch and volume. Rainbow dash was sure her ears would start bleeding when he raised the lever to the same spot. Then he pushed the button. RainbowDash jumped out of the way, almost bumping into the pegasus next to her. The beam emitted a huge amount of heat, and even more light. When it reached the end of the range the dummy was completely obliterated, not even the smallest piece of charred gel remained. The space where the dummy was charred black, the small red dot doubled onto the floor and was multiplied in size by ten.

"Doesn't seem very effective against armored targets, or large amounts of infantry for that matter," RainbowDash looked at the speaker. It was the pegasus that was standing next to her. She took in his appearance, and came to a very sudden realization that he looked almost exactly like Red Mist. The only difference was the coloration. Red mist had red wings, mane, and tail with blue eyes, where as this pony had blue wings, mane, and tail with red eyes. They had the same build, same coat color, even the same hair style.

"Well, father,"Red Mist started, answering the question that had arisen in Dash's head,"It is still in the prototype stages and that was at very low power. It will be more powerful when it is complete."

"Even so, I feel that you should have made more progress,"Red Mists father stated.

"Oh give the boy a break Albert,"A wizened looking old unicorn said,"He's only been here a month! I for one believe this is spectacular progress."

The ponies around the room nodded there agreement. Red Mist's father, Albert, looked angry, almost as if he might hit the old man for speaking against him. The room was silent for a minute. Red Mist cleared his throat and started speaking again.

"Well,"He said nervously,"I hope you all enjoyed the presentation, feel free to stay for the rest of the party."

The ponies clapped their hooves and then started to file out, Red Mist and Twilight bringing up the rear. As they all left, RainbowDash tried to comprehend what she had just seen. No matter how she thought about it it just didn't make sense. She waited until twilight was separated from the others and tapped her on her back.

"Oh!"Twilight said with a start,"Hello?"

RainbowDash hit her in the forehead with her hoof, slightly harder than she might have under normal circumstances.

"Ow!"Twilight said,"Oh yeah! RainbowDash, follow me."

They went outside and to a puddle a little ways away from the party.

"Stand in the water and don't move, its the only way I'll be able to know for certain where you are,"Twilight explained.

RainbowDash stood in the puddle. Twilight lowered her horn and pointed it right at her. Her horn glowed and a beam shot out. when it was gone Dash looked at her hooves. They were there again, and she immediately used them to hit Twilight in the face, hard.

"OW!"Twilight screamed,"What the hell was that for?"

"Do you want to explain to me what the fuck that was all about?!?!"RainbowDash screamed furiously.

"I will,"Twilight said,"But not here. there are too many untrustworthy ears. I'll tell you tomorrow."

"Fine,"RainbowDash sighed. She knew there was no arguing with the newly made princess about simple matters, and this was obviously a huge thing. She wasn't about to wait hours though. She decided to try and find Red Mist, he should answer her questions.

As she entered the house once more she found even more crowded. She tried to shove her way through, but eventually was forced to take to the air. She looked around, but couldn't find Red anywhere. She started to fly towards the stairs, but was stopped by a sudden tap on her shoulder.

"Enjoying the party?"She turned around and found herself face to face with Red Mist."I didn't spare one bit. Do you like it?"He seemed slightly to happy, almost fake.

"Sure,"She replied,"Listen, I need to talk to you..."

"Were you the one Twilight snuck in?"Red Mist replied,"Did you have any questions about the presentation?"

"Wait,"Dash started, confused,"How did you...?"

"Twilight's spell was a very good one,"He explained,"But when I fired the Electra-Magic beam the light and neat were ever so slightly warped by your presence. Don't worry, I'm the only pony who noticed, your secret is safe with me."

"Ok,"She replied, getting back on topic,"And I do have just one question."

"Yes?"He said.

"What the fuck is going on here?!?!?!?!?"

"Ah,"He said, having guessed the question before hoof,"Alas, you ask the one question I cannot answer right now, for the same reason as Twilight stated earlier."

"Wait, How?"She began,"You know what? I don't give a shit. Explain your self."

"Sorry,"He said, teasingly. She was started to think he was drunk,"I just cant tell you that right now. But tell you what, come by my house at about noon, and I'll give you a much better explanation than Twilight can."

"Hmm"RainbowDash thought about it. Twilight was her friend, and she trusted her, but Red Mist had definitely been in charge down there,"Alright, fine."

"Great!" he yelled. She could smell the alcohol in his breath,"It's a date. Now please, enjoy the party!"He flew off.

She was about to fly after him, but her stomach growled again and she decided to go back to the kitchen.

The Truth

RainbowDash woke up at 11:30, extremely groggy. Other than the weird-ass thing with Red Mist, the party had been quite fun. She'd won multiple races, danced her ass off, and when they had gotten home her and Thunderlane had decide to do it a few more times. She was tired, and by the time she had made her breakfast it was 11:50 and she was forced to rush out, leaving Thunderlane a hastily scribbled note about a problem with a storm forming outside of town. She sped towards Red's house, scaring many of the ponies below her who all seemed just as tired as she was.

Upon reaching the mansion she found it heavily guarded. Unicorns covered the grounds, patrolling what had been the dance floor, pegasus controlled the skies. One pair of pegasus approached her, wearing some sort of purple uniforms and holding some sort of tubes under there wings. Based on what she had seen last night she assumed they were some sort of lasers or something.

"RainbowDash?"One of the pegasus asked.

"Uh, duh,"She answered.

"Follow us,"The other said flatly.

They flew down to the front door, where a white unicorn with a sleek black mane and tail flanked by 2 other unicorns who were fully suited up in the purple uniforms.

"Hello Miss Dash,"The white unicorn said nicely,"I'm the Chief of security, and that's what you can call me. Now listen,"they started to walk inside,"I don't want you here, I was up all last night monitoring and double checking video feeds. I'm tired, annoyed, and quite frankly if it were up to me I would've killed you last night."

"Well your a charmer,"She replied cooly, not knowing that she could of died last night. She was now extremely cautious, and felt unwary with so many of the unicorns that appeared to obediently listen to Chiefs every command around her,"Glad you aren't in charge then."

"I'm not paid to be nice,"Chief replied sternly,"I'm paid to keep Doctor Jordenson safe, and this happens to be a major breach in security. But, the doctor's in charge, and he says your safe but I don't trust you and you should know that we will be watching your every move,"They reached the basement door,"so don't do anything that could even make me regret my decision last night, or else I will kill you in an instant."

"You have nothing to worry about,"She replied smart-ass like. The last thing she saw on the unicorns face before the door swung shut was absolute hatred. She decided that she didn't like "Chief", but would watch her step just in case his threat was serious, which it sounded like it was. She spied a camera on one wall, and suddenly felt extremely exposed. She reached the door, and, not knowing what else to do, she held up her knee to the panel next to the door. She felt a slight pinch as something popped out and penetrated her skin. She pulled her knee back, and a second later a green light popped on and the door opened. What she saw made her more confused and scared than she had ever been in her life.

"Good bye father,"Red Mist said, the EML pointed straight at his head,"I'm sorry I wasn't able to make you proud of me."

RainbowDash almost made a sonic rainboom right there she flew so fast. She shoved Red Mist out of the way just in time, her tail getting singed slightly. They stared at each other for a minute, Red Mist's eyes showed nothing but fear, sorrow, and just a smidge of thankfulness. RainbowDash's showed all confusion. When the EML stopped firing RainbowDash got off of him. Neither of them said anything for a long while, finally RainbowDash broke the silence.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?!?"She screamed.

"Ow,"He replied, holding a hoof up to his forehead,"Please don't yell, I'm really hungover."

"And THAT'S why you tried to kill yourself?!?"She screamed, confusion turning into anger,"Because your hungover?!?"

"Ow,"He stated flatly,"No,but I'm not saying anything until you calm down."

She took many deep breaths."Ok,"She started after almost five minutes,"Why did you try and kill yourself?"

"Thank you,"He began,"And to answer your question in two words, my father."

"What?"Her confusion soared,"What did he do that was this bad?"

"All my life,"He started to explain,"He has pushed me to go above my limits. Even before I could walk. In fact, that was the first thing he pushed me to do. Do you know how old I was when I started walking? Five months. Five fucking months, he pushed me that hard even as a baby. As soon as I could walk he started making me exercise and try to fly. I mean, it wouldn't have been bad if he would have been fatherly about it, you know, laughing with me, making the exercises a game, something like that. But no. He drilled me. When I passed, he raised the bar and made me go again. When I failed,oh when I failed, he went nuts. He beat me, called me worthless, told me I was never going to amount to anything. I was the first one in my class to start flying, and the first to get my cutie mark. Oh ho ho, my cutie mark, that was real fun. I come home proud as can be, and then when he figures out what it means, he flips out and beats me senseless, and makes me work even harder, trying to make it change. CHANGE! Have you ever heard of a pony who could change there cutie mark?"

"What exactly does your cutie mark mean?"She asked, wondering what could be so bad about it.

"Imagination,"He replied,"I got it while I was doodling in class, which only made him more furious. It sounds stupid, but if it weren't for my huge imagination I wouldn't be were I am today. Then again, right now I am in a basement contemplating suicide, so I guess that isn't a good example."

"Why would he have such a negative reaction?"She said. Red's father was starting to sound like some sort of monster.

"He wanted me to be this amazing super solider, and become a general like he was."

"A general?"She said quizzingly,"We don't have an army, do we?"

"Depends who you ask,"He started,"If you ask Celestia or Twilight they'll say no. But if you ask Luna or Cadence, they'll tell you the truth."

"And what exactly is 'the truth'?"She asked.

"They'd tell you that Equestria has a group of secret protectors, which is exactly what we are."He replied.

"And who is 'we'?"

"We are the New Luna Republic,"He began proudly,"And although Celestia or Twilight will tell you we're a ton of terrorist that are trying to put Luna in charge and are willing to destroy Equestria in the process that's not what we are. Not to say that we wouldn't say no to Luna getting put in charge, but what we really want is a constitution, and while were not going to do anything to harm Equestria, until a constitution is formed all we can do is try to protect Equestria and prove to Celestia that were on her side as much as we are Luna's."

"Wait,"She began,"So that's why you built that thing? To protect Equestria and prove yourself to Celestia?"

"Officially,"He said,"But Unofficially I'm also trying to make my father proud of me, as I have all my life, but to no avail it seems."

"Listen,"She began, putting her hoof around his shoulder,"You guys sound pretty cool to me, and you really have done good work. I mean, I don't know much about laser guns and stuff like that, but you've built a badass laser cannon and a thing that can absorb magic. In a month! With no one suspecting a thing."

"Thanks,"He replied quietly.

"Now I just have a few more questions,"She began.

"Yes?"

"One, If you know Twilight is on Celestia's side on this whole thing then why let her in on the demonstrations?"

"Oh, she doesn't know we know,"He replied,"She's a spy for Celestia, and if we reveal our knowledge then she would try to arrest us or kill us, and then we'd kill her. Now, we've killed plenty of others, you know, changelings, the occasional saddle arabian, any one that threatens the security of Equestria. But if we treated Twilight like we treat the rest of Celestia's spy's we'd have a major problem. It'd be kind of hard to seem like a good guy after you kill a princess. So we keep her here, show her all the good stuff that some one of her rank would get to see, and when she sends her report spike changes it so Celestia doesn't get to know any of it."

"Ok, second question. What exactly are you in this New Luna Republic?"

"You can call it the NLR, it's what we call it,"He started,"And I am one of the leading weapon developers, specifically the more advanced ones like mass acceleration cannons, laser tech, as well as defenses against weapons like that. Luna made sure that I got good schooling, and thanks to her I have the five PhD's I have now."

"Five?!?"She was stunned,"You cant be any older than me!"

"Younger, actually,"He said quietly once more,"I was twenty one when I got them all."

"Why do you get all quiet like that anytime were talking about you being a complete and total badass?"She inquired.

"It's probably got something to do with my father beating me for trying to take pride in my accomplish, and my social anxiety."He replied.

"Oh,"She said flatly,"Well you should stop that. Your a badass, and you need to take pride in that fact."

"Thanks,"He said in a barley audible whisper.

"One more question,"

"Yes?"

"Have you ever killed anyone?"

"No, I'm not a killer, to my fathers dismay, I'm a scientist. I don't do the killing, I just make the tools to get it done."

"Alright,"She said,"Well I'm going to get going, Thunderlane's gonna flip if I don't get back soon."She started walking back to the door.

"Why would he flip?"Red asked, walking next to her,"Didn't you tell him where you were going?"

"Nah, I told him I was going to stop some storm from destroying ponyville. Didn't want him to think I was cheating on him or something and get all jealous."

"Why would he get jealous? He know's what I do and that I'm not looking for anypony at the moment, I'm far to busy."

"Wait,"She stopped at the stairs,"What did you say?"

"I'm not looking for anypony, I don't have time for a relationship."

"No, the other thing."

"He already knows what I do?"

"Yes! How would he know that?"

"Oh my,"Red Mist's face dropped,"He didn't tell you."

"Tell me what?"

"I should have guessed, you didn't know anything about the NLR, how could I be so stupid."

"TELL ME WHAT?!?!?"

"Ow, still hung over here."

"What didn't he tell me?!?!?"

"He's a member of the NLR."Red Mist sighed,"He's in charge of the security of ponyville."

"WHAT?!?"RainbowDash couldn't believe what she was hearing. How could Thunderlane keep such a huge secret from her?

"Owwww, ow ow ow,"Red Mist put his hoof up to his fore head once more,"Listen, it's not his fault, were not supposed to tell anypony about the organization, he was just following orders."

"Orders my ass,"She screamed, cantering up the stairs,"I'm his girlfriend, have been for a year, he should have told me."She stepped outside and got in take off position.

"Wait..."Red Mist began. He was to late. She shot into the sky like a bullet, zooming back towards her house. He shook his head and went back to the basement to continue working.

RainbowDash raced backed to her house. She couldn't believe this. How could Thunderlane have kept this from her? She had half a mind to dump him on the spot, and the other half wanted to beat him senseless. She saw her house and sped up. she pounded through the door to find Thunderlane drinking some coffee.

"There you are,"He greeted her warmly."I was starting to get worried, it's almost three."

"Shut up,"She said angrily.

"What?"He was confused,"Is something wrong?"

"Oh,no nothing"She replied,"Nothing except I just found out you've been keeping the biggest fucking secret in the world from me for a year!"

"What?"Thunderlane stood up,"What are you talking about?"

"I talked with Red Mist,"She said coolly,"He told me everything."

Thunderlane looked distraught,"Wh-what?"

"You heard me you lying piece of shit!"She screamed back.

"Listen,"He started backing up,"I-I was under strict orders from..."

"DAMN YOUR ORDERS I'M YOUR FUCKING GIRLFRIEND!!!!"Down below, a few ponies looked at the cloud mansion, wondering what was going on.

"Dash, sweetie, please, I..."

"NO! You have lost all right to call me 'sweetie'. Now, your going to tell me everything right now or else I might kill you right here right now!"

"Alright,"Thunderlane breathed. He was backed up against the wall now,"I joined up about three years ago. It's a good organization. We keep Equestria safe."

"And when were you planning to tell me this?!?"

"I don't know. It never seemed like the right time. I mean, it s not exactly the normal topic of conversation."

"You should have told me."

"I know, and I'm really sorry, I just didn't know how..."

"Shut up."His jam snapped shut,"Right now, I've got a lot to think about, and I've only had a few hours of real sleep. I want you to take your stuff, and get out for a while."

"Ok."He replied sadly,"Just know this, I really wanted to tell you..."

"Get out."

"I just couldn't think of a way how to and..."

"Get out."

"I do love you...."

"GET OUT OF MY FUCKING HOUSE!"

Thunderlane dropped his head and flew out.RainbowDash stared at the door for a minute. Then she threw his cup of coffee on the floor. She started walking towards the stairs, destroying everything that had anything to do with Thunderlane along the way. Pictures, furniture, even trophies didn't avoid her wrath. When she got to her bedroom she saw a picture of her and Thunderlane, kissing. It was the first time they had ever kissed. It had been there third date, at a movie theater, inside a photo booth. It had been one of the greatest nights of her life.

She knocked the picture on to the floor. It shattered. She stomped on it several times, the glass cutting the picture and becoming a fine powder. after the picture was adequately destroyed, she laid down in bed and went to sleep.

Love Is In Flight

RainbowDash trotted through a puddle. The storm yesterday had left all of ponyville soaking wet. Two months ago, she would have been clearing the skies so that the sun could be seen. Of course two months ago, her life had been normal. Two months ago, she had been in a great relationship. Two months ago, she hadn't been caught in between a giant feud between the princess. Two months ago she had had an amazing life that no pony could ruin. That was two months ago.

Now she was caught in the middle of the princesses secret war, her love life couldn't be worse, and to top it all off she was bored out of her mind. For the past to weeks she had been talking with Red Mist, trying to convince him that his father was just a douche bag who wasn't worth killing himself. It didn't seem to be going to well. While she hadn't had to push him out of the way of any more lasers, every time she had seen him he had seemed more depressed. She hoped, unlike Twilight, that he wouldn't go through with it, but that seemed to be where it was headed.

Meanwhile, he had been instructing her on the NLR. It seemed like a pretty cool organization to her. He told her stories about how Luna had led the attack against the changelings when they had invaded, and about how Cadence and some of the crystal ponies (who were all sworn members of the NLR) fended off a huge invasion of saddle arabian ultra-nationalists. He also found time each day to tell her that she should fix things between her and Thunderlane. This was usually saved until after he had finished telling her about everything else, as it usually resulted in her leaving the area.

Thunderlane.

She hadn't talked to him for two months. She had seen him plenty though. She started to notice that he would patrol the skies, mostly at night. She had seen him talking with the mayor, who Red Mist said was a member of the NLR as well. She had also realized that without each other, they were both miserable. She just couldn't forgive him yet. It had been to big of a secret. She wasn't mad that he was in the NLR, she had considered joining the group more than once. She was just furious that he hadn't trusted her with the secret that he had been keeping for three years.

But she couldn't think about that today. No, today she was on her way to Fluttershy's house to see if there was anything to do there. She had already been to sugar cube corner, sweet apple acres, the library, even carousel boutique. All of her other friends seemed to busy to hang out with her, though she assumed that Twilight was just mad at her because she was leaning toward joining the NLR where as Twilight was on Celestia's side 100%. Hopefully Fluttershy wasn't doing anything.

She crossed the bridge to Fluttershy's cottage and saw the yellow pegasus standing outside her home, watching the sky. Dash looked up, but saw nothing of particular interest, and continued towards her friend.

"Hi Fluttershy,"Dash said as she approached her.

"Hi Rainbow,"Fluttershy replied, not taking her eyes off the sky,"He's an amazing flyer, isn't he?"

"Who?"

"Albert."

"You mean Red?"RainbowDash said, looking up again and seeing Red Mist clearing the skies over head,"Yeah he's pretty good."

"And he's such gentlecolt,"Fluttershy said with admiration.

"Uh-huh..."Dash replied. She looked at her friend. Her head spun around ever so slightly in an attempt to follow the pegasus clearing the skies. Her eyes said one thing; want.

"I'll be right back,"Dash said as an ingenious idea popped into her head. She shot into the sky, catching up with Red Mist as he was just finishing about to finish a clearing the sky.

"Hey Red!"She shouted over the wind that blew past as they flew at super sonic speeds.

"Hi Dash,"He replied sternly.

"You know Fluttershy, right?"

Red mist stopped mid-flight, leaving a small puff of cloud alone in the sky."Yes, I do, why? Did she ask about me? What did she say? I mean, I, um..."He was talking a mile a minute.

Perfect RainbowDash thought to herself."Come with me,"She said, pushing him from behind. They reached the ground very quickly. When they touched down both Fluttershy and Red Mist looked, well, terrified would be an understatement.

"You two already know each other,"Dash started,"I was going to hang out, but I just remembered I have somewhere to be. So, I thought it might be a good idea for you to show Albert here all of your awesome animals!"

"Oh, well, if you want to I can..."Fluttershy's voice was almost inaudible.

"I'd love to, I mean, um..."Red Mist replied to the ground.

"Great!"RainbowDash said, clapping her hooves together,"Now I really, got to get going, so you two have fun!"

She flew off, glad that she had just solved all of Red's problems. Then she got incredibly depressed. She thought about it for a second, and then she realized what she had to do.

Back on the ground, Red Mist and Fluttershy stood, awkwardly, poking the dirt. Fluttershy broke the silence.

"Do you really want to see my animals?"She said, barely breathing.

"Yes, I would love to,"Red answered, even quieter,"I mean, if, um, you don't mind..."

"Oh,"Fluttershy said,"I don't mind at all! Follow me, if, um, that's ok with you."

While Fluttershy and Red Mist explored the woods RainbowDash soared across the skies, searching for Thunderlane. She saw him outside of sugar cube corner. She dashed down and landed next to him with a small thud.

"Oh,"He said sadly,"Hi Dash, did you want to talk about something?"

"Yes,"She said,"But, not here. Come back to my place?"

"Ok,"He said hopefully. They flew back toward her mansion. the sun beamed warmly upon them. She looked over at Thunderlane. He looked incredibly handsome, more handsome than she had remembered him. The saying "you don't know what you've got until its gone" must be true. His feathers were damp, probably due to the humidity. With the sun shining on his damp wings they glistened like crystals.

They reached her house very suddenly. She opened the door and offered him some coffee. He accepted, and they both sat down in her living room. They were silent for a minute as they sipped there coffee.

"Dash,"Thunderlane broke the silence.

"No,"She replied sternly. She had thought this conversation through many times in her head."Listen. I was wrong to act like that,"

"No you weren't..."

"I said listen. I was wrong. I overreacted. But that was a big secret to keep from me for such a long time. We were both wrong."

"No, I was the wrong one, you had every reason to act the way you did..."

"I'm not done. We were both wrong. But it's clear were both miserable and lonely without each other. So I've been talking with Red Mist, and after everything he's taught me about the NLR and about what you've been through over the years, I think we should just put this whole situation behind us."

Thunderlane was silent for a minute."Really?"

"Yes."RainbowDash said calmly, barely holding back the want to jump on him and just fuck him right there,"Is that a problem?"

Thunderlane jumped on top of her and started kissing her, saying "no, it's not" in between each kiss. Once he moved to her neck she had to push him off slightly.

"What?"He said, confused,"Do you not want to..."

"Oh, I want to, trust me. But there's one more thing I wanted to tell you,"She replied, swallowing a groan as he slid his hoof down to her unmentionables.

"Yes?"Thunderlane replied, slightly worried.

"I,"RainbowDash was nervous. This was a decision that she had been avoiding for weeks,"I...I want to join the NLR."

Thunderlane almost exploded in happiness,"Oh Dash!"He started kissing her neck again,"That is, the second most, amazing news, I've heard in a long long time."

"What,"Dash started to ask, a low moan escaping her before she could finish,"What, was the first?"

Thunderlane looked at her seductively,"When you said you wanted to get back together."

RainbowDash couldn't contain herself.The couch is comfortable enough.She thought while she kissed him.

The next day was incredibly perfect. Her and Thunderlane were walking throughout town, loving every step they took. They were finally back together. The sun was shining down on them, they were back together, everypony was happy, and they were back together. she didn't know how this day could go wrong. Then she walked past the library.

She heard shouts from inside the building,"Hold on,"She told Thunderlane. She held her ear up to the door. As soon as she did the door burst open. Fluttershy came stomping out. She looked furious. She was certainly madder than Dash had ever seen her. Her mood turned around quite drastically when she saw them.

"Oh hi Dash,"Fluttershy said in her normal kind voice.She sounded happy,"Thank you ever so much for leaving Albert at my house yesterday. He's an amazing colt."

"No problem,"Dash replied with a confused look from Thunderlane,"Did you guys hit it off that well?"

"Oh yes,"She replied with a huge smile,"In fact, he asked to meet me at sugar cube corner tomorrow!"

"Great!"Dash replied, glad that her plan had worked,"Good for you guys. You two make a cute couple."

"I think so to."She replied,"Although there are some ponies, Twilight, that are a little less supportive. I mean, she acted as if I was dating a terrorist!"She walked back towards her house, her back to the library.

Dash walked into the library, Thunderlane right behind her. Twilight was on the top floor, staring at her with loathing.

"You,"Twilight said hatefully.

"What'd I do?"Dash asked defensively.

"You set Fluttershy up with a terrorist!"Twilight screamed as she stomped down the stairs.

"Oh, not this again,"Dash said with a roll of her eyes,"Twilight there not terrorists, if you would just take the time to learn more about them..."

"I already know everything about them!"Twilight interrupted.

"No, you just know what Celestia told you, which is jack shit!"Thunderlane yelled at her.

Twilight reached the bottom of the stairs with a stomp. She stared at Thunderlane for a moment, her entire being full of hatred. Then her horn glew and she threw him against a wall telepathically. RainbowDash shot like a bullet for the alicorn, slamming her against a bookshelf. Dozens of books fell, most of them hitting her and Twilight. Twilight winced with pain, but RainbowDash felt nothing but anger.

"Now listen you close-minded bitch,"Dash began with hatred in her voice,"Your not going to hurt my boyfriend ever again, or I will kill you. Do you understand?"

"Dash,"

RainbowDash hit her squarely in the face with a hoof. Blood splattered out of her nose and her lip started to bleed."I said, DO YOU UNDERSTAND?"

Twilight was silent. Dash hit her one more time, harder."ANSWER ME YOU BITCH!"

"I-I understand,"Twilight said quietly. Her face was bruised and bloodied. It looked like her nose might have been broken.

"Good."Dash said with a humph. She walked over to where Thunderlane was on the ground. It looked like one of his wings were broken. It was all Dash could do to stop her self from doing the same to Twilight."Are you okay?"

"Mostly,"Thunderlane replied with a grunt as he stood up,"We should probably go see nurse Red heart though, just in case."

"How will we explain this to her?"Dash thought aloud.

"Don't worry, she's with us."Thunderlane replied.

They walked out of the library and towards the nurses office, leaving Twilight by herself. She couldn't believe this. Two of her friends were dating terrorists, one of which new that she was and still protected him. She couldn't make since of it. She guessed that RainbowDash was probably under some sort of mind control spell, but she couldn't be sure. She decided to hold off from doing anything rash. If she was lucky Fluttershy and Albert wouldn't work out as a couple. She also decided to do some research on mind control spells, hopefully she could find something to help with the whole RainbowDash-Thunderlane situation.

She cast a healing spell on herself and looked into a mirror. She looked like her old self again, but deep inside she was still hurt. Was Dash serious? Would she actually go as far as to kill her to protect Thunderlane? She stopped think about it, as the idea of it coming down to a life or death fight between her and Dash made her sad. She stepped on a book as she walked. First, I have to clean this up. she thought to herself.

Initiation

RainbowDash paced impatiently in her living room. She looked at the clock. It read 9:30 am. Still thirty more minutes until the mail pony arrived. She continued pacing. Today was the day. After a few months of talking about the initiation of new members into the NLR, Dash had finally sent her application to princess Luna. She had replied back saying she'd send her a letter with her decision in two weeks. It had been two weeks.

"Don't worry,"Thunderlane told her as she paced,"You saved Equestria, three times!"

"Red Mist said that those don't count,"She replied,"because I had help and I used my element of harmony."

"Ok,"Thunderlane thought of something else to comfort her,"Well, you are the only pony to ever make a sonic rainboom. Not to mention you did it twice!"

"Yes but,"Dash begun,

"And you passed the wonderbolt academy with flying colors, literally!"He added.

"Yes, but,"Dash tried to think of a reason why she wouldn't be accepted.

"There is no reason why Luna wouldn't accept you."Thunderlane said, seemingly reading her mind.

RainbowDash let out a sigh and sat down."Your right. I mean, I'm the best flyer in all of Equestria! Why wouldn't I be accepted?"

"That's what I've been trying to tell you!"He shouted playfully.

She looked at the clock. 9:50. She started pacing again.

"Oh, come on..."Thunderlane sighed. Just then the doorbell rang. RainbowDash froze. Thunderlane moved to get the door as it rung the second time. A brown pegasus stood on the porch.

"Letter for Miss RainbowDash." The stallion said.

"Two seconds,"Thunderlane said. He ran over to her and pushed her with his head."Here she is!"

"For you, Miss Dash,"The pegasus said, giving her the letter,"From Princess Luna, no less. Have a nice day."

He flew off. Dash shut the door behind her as she walked back into her living room. She couldn't believe it. It had finally come. What did it say? She was torn between ripping it open and leaving it shut for ever.

"Well?"Thunderlane looked at her curiously,"Are you going to open it or what?"

She tore it open with her mouth. Sitting down, she began to read aloud.

"Dear Miss RainbowDash."She began nervously,"We are delighted to inform you that you have been accepted..."She reread that word a thousand times. Accepted. She had been accepted. She jumped into the air, letting the letter fall to the floor. She didn't need to read the rest, she had made it in. All the weeks of worrying were behind her because she had been accepted.

"Don't you want to read the rest of it?"Thunderlane asked, laughing slightly at his girlfriend who appeared to have gone insane.

She picked up the letter and continued reading."Into the NLR. Training begins in exactly one month, we suggest you prepare yourself. Training sessions are from 9:00 to 9:00. Don't worry about any work you might have, we will cover for you. Group training lasts for three months, squad training last for two, and lastly there is the Practice mission, which has a maximum length of one month. The first training session will be held at 1266 Hemlock avenue. Wait,"She studied the address,"That's Red's address!"

"Doesn't surprise me."Thunderlane said,"His house has a huge bunker built in, as well as tunnels that connect to all of ponyville. He probably has fixed em' both up to be real spiffy for the training."

There were three very loud knocks on the door. RainbowDash jumped slightly, and then went to open the door. It was Red Mist.

"Did you make it?"He asked, entering the living room. He sounded worried.

"Yeah,"She said eyeing him,"Is something wrong?

"Yes,"Res replied flatly,"Something is very, very wrong."

"What happened?"Thunderlane asked.

"My father,"Red began sadly,"Is the one that will be doing the group training."

Thunderlane looked like he had just been told Dash had died. In reality, that wasn't a bad guess.

"You have to withdraw,"Thunderlane told her after a moment.

"What?!?"She screamed in confusion. She had waited for this answer for two weeks, if she dropped now she would have to wait another year.

"It's to dangerous,"Thunderlane said flatly. he seemed to be in a far-away place. Not looking at her he continued."I had him for group training. He killed three ponies when they talked back or didn't before well enough for his standards."

"He won't kill anypony,"Red replied,"He got transferred from cloudsdale with a warning about his harshness."

"He'll still beat her,"Thunderlane said worriedly.

"Probably, but,"Red Mist tried to think of a good side to this. There was none.

"But what?"Thunderlane asked,"But nothing, that's what I thought."

"Thunder,"She started to say.

"No,"He replied, facing her,"I'm putting my hoof down. Your not training, no pony should have to go through what I went through."

Red Mist looked at him in a "how could you say that?" kind of face."What YOU went through? I GREW UP with him as my father! And guess where he's staying for three months? She only has to see him twelve hours a day, I'm going to have to LIVE with him. Again! I'd hope I'd finally gotten away from him, but no. Do you know what he'll do when he finds out about Fluttershy? Oh no,"He said, realizing what exactly he would do if he did find out about Fluttershy."Oh no no no. He CANNOT find out about Fluttershy, oh no oh no no no."

"What will he do?"She asked.

He went crazy."He'll kill her!"He sobbed as he paced.

"He wouldn't do that,"She said, thinking he was overreacting. She was wrong.

"He beat me when I got my cutie mark because it wasn't directly related to being a solider."He said, still pacing frantically."Fluttershy is a pacifist. What do you think he'll do?"

"He'll..."She began. As much as she thought about she kept seeing Fluttershy's blood on Albert's hooves, her head squashed into nothing. She stopped thinking and started talking once more,"Kill her."

"Exactly!"Red Mist screamed,"He can't find out, I'll have to stay in my house as much as possible. I'll only leave when I have to do the weather, and I'll come right back. All of my time I'll spend working on the EML. Oh, shit! The EML! He'll beat me senseless when finds out what little progress I've made on it. I have to get to work, but first I have to talk to Fluttershy, and then..."He was talking more to himself now, appearing to have gone into some sort of mental breakdown.

"What will you tell Fluttershy?"Dash asked.

"The truth."Red said,"That my father's coming,that he's a dick, and that he'd kill her if he found out about her."

"Why would he kill her?"She pointed out, sensing the flaw in the plan.

"Because she's a pacifist,"He began,"And he's a overly abusive gen-, oh fuck."

"You haven't told her yet?"She asked. They had been dating for three months, and even though Thunderlane hadn't told her, well, ever, she had hoped that Red's truthfulness and non-stupidity would have led him to tell her about the NLR.

"I just didn't know how to bring it up,"He said defensively.

"That's not a good excuse,"Dash and Thunderlane said in unison.

"I know,"He said sadly,"It's just, we've only been dating a month and a half, and I was worried that if I told her that she would dump me, or hate me, or think I was a murderer, or..."

"So long as you explain things before Twilight does,"Dash began,"She'll accept you. You have to have faith."

Red sighed loudly."Alright. I'll go and tell her tonight."

"Good."Dash said."Now, tell me about life under Albert."

Thunderlane and Red Mist exchanged glances. They spoke in perfect unison,"Hell."

"I need details!"She screamed.

"Hell times ten."Thunderlane added.

"Twenty"Red Mist corrected.

"I need more details than he's worse than hell!"Dash screamed.

They looked at the ground. They didn't like to talk about it; the memories alone caused physical pain. Dash saw the look's on there faces as they thought about it. Thunderlane started to tear up. Red Mist on the other hand looked like he might throw up, faint, or maybe both.

"Listen,"She said apologetically,"I know you don't want to think about it, but unless you want me to go in not knowing how to act and go through what you guys went through, you have to tell me."

They looked at each other once more. Thunderlane nodded and Red sighed.

"Don't talk back,"Red began with some difficulty,"Or he'll beat you. If you complete one thing, he'll raise the bar and make you go again. Never stop. If you fail he'll call you worthless, but he won't hit you so long as you make it within five tries."

"Don't speak unless spoken to,"Thunderlane took over, as Red Mist began to have convulsions,"When talking to him say 'Yes sir, Mister Jordenson, sir.' or 'No sir, Mister Jordenson, sir.' If you say anything else he'll beat you, and he won't warn you before hand."

"Is that it?"She asked. It didn't seem that bad to her. Of course, something had to be causing them to act like this. Red Mist was laying on the couch, shaking violently. Thunderlane was shaking to, although not as severely.

"Yes,"Red said, regaining control of his voice,"But words can't capture his cruelty. His rules are simple, but his punishments harsh even for the slightest mistake. You'll see when you get there. The other recruits won't be as lucky as you'll be. You get a warning, they don't."

"Wait,"She said,"Can't we warn them?"

"No."Thunderlane said flatly,"Not even the trainers get to know who the recruits are."

"Why?"Dash asked, confused.

They were both silent for a minute. Finally Thunderlane spoke up,"We, um, can't really tell you."

"Thunder,"She began,"When was the last time keeping secrets from me because of orders had a positive outcome for either of us?"

"If he tells you he'll get kicked out of the NLR, maybe even executed,"Red Mist explained,"Our recruiting techniques are an even more closely guarded secret than the NLR itself. Luckily, I'm to important to lose."

"Ok,"She said, giving a look of forgiveness at Thunderlane. She had hurt him with what she had said.

"In the practice mission,"Red Mist began,"Your allowed to kill each other."

"What?!?!?"She was shocked,"We have to fight each other?"

"Not necessarily,"Red clarified,"But you can. It's a squad mission, your squad leader decides how to handle the other squads. Usually they choose to to try and make alliances, but they do get the occasional one who doesn't trust anypony else and orders his or her squad to kill on sight."

"I don't know if I'll be able to kill some pony else..."She said. She knew she would probably have to kill something eventually, but all the ponies she would be training with would be from ponyville, and she didn't know anypony that she would kill.

"Don't worry,"Thunderlane said,"I know all of the squad leaders. We're all smart enough to know that we should team up instead of killing each other."

"Ok,"She said.

"Due to this fact,"Red started again,"If everypony knew who the recruits were they could kill them to increase there chances of surviving."

"Has that happened before?"She was worried that her life may be in danger in more ways than one.

"Yes,"He replied,"But we've put a stop to that."

"Ok,"She said. She was starting to think that this hadn't been such a good idea. If the training was this deadly, how dangerous would the actual job be?

"Well,"Red moved toward the door,"I better be going towards Fluttershy's. I got a lot to explain to her."

He flew out and lazily moved towards Fluttershy's house. He didn't want to do this. Not yet. But RainbowDash was right. He had to. He saw her starring out her window. He followed her gaze. She was starring at the star he had bought for her on their one month anniversary. He was touched that she actually liked it. He had been afraid that it had been a stupid gift, but seeing her watch it so tentatively. It made this whole thing slightly easier.

He flew down to her door and knocked. She had always liked that. She said it was much more polite than flying through the window like Dash usually did. He had never understood the big deal. It was just second nature to him. But she liked it so he kept doing it and didn't say anything about it. He just wanted to make her happy. He was worried he was to ruin that.

"Oh!"Fluttershy said, happily startled,"Hi Albert! What's going on?"

"Fluttershy,"He began, with much difficulty,"We, um, need to, uh, talk. Will you come to my house please?"

"Sure,"She replied,"Is something wrong?"

"I'll explain when we get there,"He said. He didn't want to tell her. He couldn't. He would have to show her.

The walk there was a quite one. He couldn't say anything. If he opened his mouth he would blurt out everything about the NLR in the middle of town, which wouldn't be very good. They reached the hill that led to his house in half a hour. They night was cool and fresh, the moon was just rising.

"Who are all the ponies?"Fluttershy asked when she saw his guard,"Are you having some sort of party?"

"No,"He replied.

"Then who are they?"She asked persistently.

"There,"He began. This was it. The moment of truth,"There, my guard."

"Guard?"Fluttershy asked, confused,"Why do you have a guard?"

He let out a sigh and told her everything as they stepped onto his front lawn. Please don't hate me, He thought as he spoke,Please oh please don't hate me.

Training

RainbowDash woke up in the middle of the night. She looked at the clock on the end table. It said it was 5:00 in the morning. She needed to get back to sleep. In four hours she would start training under Albert. She knew she needed to get back to sleep. This was to important to go in with only two hours of sleep. She had to sleep. She closed her eyes and pulled Thunderlane's arm around her tighter. She laid there for a whole ten minutes before she got up and went downstairs.

She made a cup of coffee, realizing that she wasn't even tired now. She got mad at herself. She needed to sleep. She had to sleep. She knew this. "So why can't I go to sleep?"She thought aloud.

"Because your afraid."Thunderlane scared her as he came down the stairs."I went through this to, and your probably worse than me, considering you know what you have to deal with. Can I have a cup?"

"Sure,"She said, poring both of them a cup of coffee. They sat there for a minute in silence."Why am I scared?"She eventually blurted out,"I mean, I already know whats coming up. I had no clue what was going to happen when I fought NightmareMoon, or Discord, or when I went to save the crystal empire, and I wasn't scarred any of those times! And now that I know exactly whats coming up, I'm terrified. I'm a wimp."

"No your not,"Thunderlane said reassuringly,"This is normal. You don't know exactly whats coming up, you just know what we told you. Your anxious to see if we were lying or not, plus you know if we weren't lying then you've got the three worst months of your life coming up. That's enough to make anypony uneasy."

RainbowDash thought about it for a few moments. He was exactly right. She was anxious. She couldn't believe it. How come she hadn't seen this earlier? "What ever it is,"She began,"It sucks. Now I'm going to be tired all throughout training, and Albert's going to beat me, and..."

"No he's not,"Thunderlane said sternly,"Because Red figured this was going to happen. He gave me this to give to you."

He pulled a small glass bottle out from a drawer. Inside was some sort of glowing orange liquid."What is that?"She asked.

"It's an energy elixir."He explained,"It'll give you the energy to blow through Albert's training, but be careful. Don't go over what you think you normally would when it comes to the tests. This is a one time thing. Also It will only last twelve and a half hours, so when your done come right back here. This thing has a crash so bad you'll get knocked out when it stops working."

"Ok,"She said, setting it aside. She didn't like the look or smell of it."Is there any last minute suggestions you have?"

"No,"He replied,"I've told you everything I know. But there is one more thing."

"What?"She asked anxiously.

"Good luck."Thunderlane said with every ounce of kindness that existed in all of Equestria.

She jumped over and hugged him. She didn't want to let go of him. "Don't let me go." She whispered into his ear. She realized she was crying.

"I don't want to,"He said, pushing her away slightly so there eyes met,"But I have to. A bird doesn't learn to fly if you hold onto it it's entire life."

"I know how to fly,"She responded.

"You know what I mean,"He said, chuckling slightly. The room got very quite after that. They stood there hugging for a long time. Eventually Thunderlane disembraced. "C'mon, it's six, you've got three hours till training. In the meantime, how about we watch some TV?"

"Sure,"She said, wiping her face off. They walked to the living room and sat on the couch. As they watched she looked up at all of her ribbons and trophies.Alright Dash, She thought,You can do this. Your the best flyer in all of Equestria. Albert's got nothin' on you. This thought gave her some comfort, and as she laid down on Thunderlane she was finally able to get back to sleep at 7:30.

"Dash!"Thunderlane shook his girlfriend,"Dash! Wake up!"

"Huh?"Dash said groggily.

"You have to go!"He screamed as he shook her some more.

She looked at the clock."Oh fuck,"She screamed as she saw it was 8:50. She pounced up and drank the elixir in one gulp. She was worried when she didn't feel any less tired. Nevertheless, she galloped to the door. Thunderlane shouted good lick as she took off.

Dammit you stupid elixir, She thought as her eyes began to droop,Why won't you wor-

All of a sudden she doubled in speed. Confused, she realized that she wasn't the least bit tired anymore. She almost made a sonic rainboom accidently but she was able to slow herself down enough to prevent that. As she walked into Red's house she saw that his clocks still said 8:50. Damn, She thought, This shit really does work! I need to keep calm though, if I come in tommorow and there's a huge difference, I could get beat, along with Thunder and Red. She realized this was much easier said than done, as her wings didn't want to stay down and it was all she could do to keep them from flapping.

"Miss Dash," a voice said from behind. It was Chief.

"Oh,"She said cheerily,"It's you. How ya been charmer?"

"I can understand why you wouldn't like me,"He said,"But I want you to understand the only piece of intel I had that was attached to the NLR was your friendship with Twilight. So, I assumed you would have gone to her first and been told the lies of Celestia."

"Whatever,"She replied, not caring,"Where's the training area?"

"Follow me please."He led her across the room and up the stairs. Once they were in the middle of the balcony he pulled back on one of the spokes on the guard rail. The picture behind them moved back and slid to the side, revealing an elevator."Good luck," He told her as she stepped in.

As the elevator reached it's destination she stepped out and saw something incredible. She had been taken some circular room with a ceiling so high she figured it had to be the hill that was directly behind Red's house. In the center of the room there was a huge pillar that appeared to be some sort of building; she guessed this from the windows. She didn't see Albert anywhere, but the ponies she did see surprised her greatly.

She saw Colgate talking to Cloudchaser, Octavia and Vinyl Scratch were chatting a little ways away from them. Closest to the ramp that led down to the floor were Lyra and Bon Bon. Farthest away from her was the pair that surprised her the most; Doctor Whooves and Derpy Hooves. As she walked down the steps Vinyl saw her.

"Ha ha, Bitches!"She shouted,"I told you! Now pay up!" The ponies started to walk towards her, many of them rolling there eyes.

"Wait, what?"Dash asked.

"We had a bet,"Octavia explained as she gave vinyl scratch a hoofful of bits,"That there would be another pegasus coming. Then Vinyl decided to 'make it more interesting' by guessing who it would be, and she guessed you."

"Oh,"She said,"Ok. Hey, anypony want to race?"

"Sure,"Cloudchaser said, jumping into the air.

"Ah ah ah,"Vinyl said,"First, pay up."

"Ok,"Cloudchaser replied. She grabbed a hoofful of bits and before throwing them down to the unicorn pretended to masturbate with them as if she had a dick. On the third stroke she shot the bits out at Vinyl. Vinyl, going along with the joke, opened her mouth and attempted to catch them. When she failed and got a faceful of bits she licked her face. Everypony except Octavia was laughing, even Vinyl. As they calmed down Albert walked out of the central pillar.

"What the fuck is wrong with all of you?"He screamed, shutting them up instantly,"Get the fuck in line!"

They all lined up. He patrolled in front of them, starring each of them down. None of them flinched, though almost everypony gulped.

"This is what they let into the NLR these days?"He said after a few minutes,"We must be getting desperate. But it's my job to turn you maggots into grade a soldiers. So you should all know that that's what's going to happen. Weather you like it or not. Let's get going, everypony to the escape tunnel, NOW!"

They all ran in different directions, Albert correcting there courses with a slap to the forehead. Luckily she was able to find the tunnel before he could find her. The rest followed her and they lined up in the large tunnel.

"Alright maggots."Albert yelled at them,"First step to joining the NLR is pure physical strength. I don't care what or who you are, you'll need it at some point in your worthless lives. Now, I've set up this tunnel as a track. The finish line is a mile down, and that's where you've got to make get to in no less than thirty seconds."

"Thirty seconds?"Bon Bon asked,"Is that even possible?"

"The only limitations you have are the ones you put on yourself."He screamed at her,"Now, get your sorry asses down there now!"

He blew a whistle and they all started running, or in the pegasi's case flying, down the tunnel. It was a cinch for Dash, who got to the end in ten seconds before she could slow herself down. She looked toward the start line. She couldn't see the others, but she could hear what was going on. Albert was cursing out Derpy as well as every pony who couldn't fly. She heard a buzz and looked at the wall beside her. A giant digital timer showed that it had already been thirty seconds. She felt bad for the others. It didn't sound like any of them had gotten past half way yet. At one minute Cloudchaser reached the finish line.

"How,"She began, breathing heavily,"Did you, get here, so fast?"

"I am the fastest flyer in Equestria,"She said, trying to hied the fact that she was cheating.

"But,"Cloudchaser wasn't satisfied,"Your, not even tired. How..."

Just then the other ponies came into view, along with Albert. They were all gasping for breath and Derpy Hooves had a large bump on her forehead. Dash almost lost her cool right then and there. How could anypony be so evil? Derpy Hooves was the nicest pony in all of ponyville, neigh, Equestria. How could anypony hurt her, especially so badly? She wanted to kill Albert, but remembered that he was a three star general and even though she was on this super elixir thing she was on he could probably still kill her in an instant. She gritted her teeth, barely holding herself together.

The rest of the practice was spent attempting to beat Albert's impossible test. Dash kept rising to the next level, until she finally reached the "ultimate test" as Albert called it. She was supposed to fly 10 miles in 1 second. Even when she let herself go and let the elixir go full strength she couldn't make it. Luckily she didn't make it this far until the end of day, so she didn't get beat. The others weren't so lucky. Cloudchaser left with a small cut on her lip. Octavia and Vinyl both left with black eyes. Lyra and Bon Bon got both black eyes and bloodied noses. Bon Bon also left with a large lump on the back of her head. Doctor Whooves, who had tried to defend Derpy, had left with two black eyes, a bloody nose, and what appeared to be a fractured leg. Derpy Hooves had gotten the worst. To add to her bump she had two black eyes, two bloody noses, and a broken wing. She didn't know how they could keep going like this; she figured the others probably hated her and even if they didn't they'd probably die if they came back.

Just as she was wondering how this was going to work, a group of three ponies got in front of them directly outside of Red's house. It was Thunderlane, Chief, and, she couldn't believe it, Big Macintosh.

"What do you want?"Doctor Whooves asked hatefully.

"We wanted to apologize on behalf of General Jordenson."Big Mac said.

"Well you can keep it."Octavia screamed,"We had the wrong idea about the NLR. You guy's are monsters!"

"No where not."Chief said."General Jordenson is just an asshole."

"Does it look like we give a fuck?"Vinyl screamed,"We almost died today! Were not coming back!"

"Please, listen,"Thunderlane said stepping forward,"I trained under him. He's the biggest asshole on the planet. But the rest of the NLR is good. We protect Equestria and fight for the rights of everypony. You can't leave on account of him. Please, just push through, and then we'll take over and you won't have to worry about him ever again."

"If we go back tommorow then we will die."Lyra stated.

"No you won't"Big Mac said,"Nurse Redheart is gonna fix all y'all up real good. Just don't tell Jordenson or else he might lose control of himself."

"Damn you guys,"Cloudchaser began,"If I die on account of you I'll kill you my self."

"Thank you for staying."Thunderlane said,"We really are a good group, it's just him. He's a little, um, well, crazy."

"You don't say,"Bon Bon added sarcastically as she and Lyra left.

Dash took off to her house. Her elixir would wear off any second now, and she didn't want pass out in the middle of town. She pounded through her door and up to her room, knocking down a few pictures in her rush. She passed out as she entered her room, her inertia carrying her into her bed.

Passing Notes

The next few days were absolute hell. No one quit, but Albert got even harder each day. He strained them to there limits and beat them when they found them. After her initial performance Albert was especially hard on her. She was able to eventually get back to that level of speed, but she got a few beatings first. The whole time she was wondering what Red was doing. She figured that he was working on the EML, but she hadn't even seen him leave the basement. She even noticed that Albert was doing his job of clearing the skies. She hoped he was ok.

It had been two weeks since training had begun. She visited nurse Redheart nightly and was left aching every day. She worried about Red and this got her distracted which usually resulted in a beating or two. Then, one night as she was leaving, somepony stopped her.

"Psst,"A voice said from behind.

She turned around, but didn't see anypony."Hello?"

"Over here,"The voice said in a barely audible whisper. She moved toward the shadows next to Red's porch. What she saw scared her.

"What happened to you?"She almost screamed. Red was covered in cuts and bruises, he limped badly and it didn't look like he fly.

"This?"He said,"This is nothing. He's actually mellowed with age.Now keep your voice down, I have something for you to do."

"What is it?"She asked quietly.

He pulled a letter out of a crack in the wall and gave it to her."Give that to Fluttershy. I miss her and I want her to know that I do and that I love her."

"Ok."She said. Normally she would have said no, that she knew, that he was taking a huge risk, etc. etc. But he was hurt bad and she could tell this was something he had to have happen.

"Oh thank you,"He said, giving her a quick hug, before jumping back in pain,"Ow, shit that hurts. Um, if you don't mind can you check over here after each training session? I'll leave letters in this crack."

"No problem."She replied. She flew towards Fluttershy's house while Red limped back into his home. Dash couldn't believe it. He had seemed to be at the edge of death, and yet he still risked everything to communicate with Fluttershy. He must really love her. She felt very good about hooking them up. They were both so shy she doubted they would have gotten within ten feet of each other if it weren't for her.

She reached Fluttershy's house slower than she might have if she wasn't so sore. She saw Fluttershy had left her window open, so she just flew in through there to save the pains of walking an the uneven ground.

"Fluttershy!"She screamed throughout the house.

"Huh?"Fluttershy said from the kitchen, confused,"Wh-who's there?"

Dash started down the stairs, each one causing her to grunt with pain,"It's me, Dash!"

"Oh,"She said, going back to preparing a salad for Angle,"Come on down, I'm in the kitchen."

Dash entered the kitchen with a groan. Her legs hurt bad, and she thought she had a fracture somewhere but she wasn't sure. Her hatred for Albert grew with each step.

"You know it's rude to fly in through someponies window instead of using the door."Fluttershy said quietly. Dash saw that her eyes were bloodshot.

"Fluttershy,"Dash began,"Have you been, crying?"

"Yes,"Fluttershy admitted,"I just miss Albert so much. I hate his father. I wish he had never come to ponyville."She began to sob again.

"Oh don't cry,"Dash said, going to comfort her friend."I have a special letter for you."

"From who?"Fluttershy asked hopelessly.

"Red Mist!"Dash said excitedly, pulling the letter out of her saddle back.

Fluttershy jumped over and pulled the letter out of Dash's mouth. She laid it on the table and began reading. Dash sat down on the couch, allowing Fluttershy to read the letter at her own pace. Almost an hour later Fluttershy stood up and and ran over to hug Dash tightly.

"Ow!"Dash screamed, pushing her friend away,"Damn shy, careful! I just came back from training!"

"Oh I'm sorry,"Fluttershy said joyously,"It's just, oh I'm so happy, thank you for bringing this to me, your the best friend ever!"She hugged her again.

"OW!"Dash screamed, pushing her away once more,"It's no big deal, just stop hugging me."

"It is a big deal!"Fluttershy insisted, barely restraining the urge to clasp onto Dash once more,"You have no idea what this means to me. I miss Albert so much, and now we have a way to communicate!"

"Yeah,"Dash said, realizing she was likely to get alot more hugs before this was over,"Well, I have to get going. Thunderlane'll throw a fit if I'm to late coming home. He might think I've died or something."

Dash flew out and to the hospital. Nurse Redheart gave her the usual elixir and told her how brave and strong she was for pushing through and staying in training this long. She flew back to her kick-ass cloud mansion and found Thunderlane drinking some wine and tapping her hoof impatiently at the kitchen table.

"Where were you?"He asked as she stepped in.

"Oh, nowhere."She replied playfully,"I was just making the best couple in Equestria, other than us of course, even happier."

Thunderlane looked like he had seen a ghost."What did you do?"He asked slowly.

"I delivered a letter to Fluttershy from Red,"Dash said, expecting to hear praise on her kindness.

"What?"Thunderlane said slowly.

"Jeez, how much have you drank Thunder?"She asked,"I said, I-"

"Don't say it again."He said suddenly,"Do you have any idea how mad Albert will get if he finds out?"

"Um,"Dash began. She hadn't thought about that,"Well, he won't find out, so it doesn't matter."

"What if he does?"Thunderlane screamed,"He'll kill you, orders or no."

"Don't worry,"She replied, pouring herself a glass of wine and taking a sip,"I did a good thing, and Albert's not going to find out. Now, how about we get drunk and screw?"

Thunderlane thought for a minute, lightly sipping his wine. Eventually he grinned,"Fine."

The next two month's went by without a cinch. Dash continued to relay messages between Red and Fluttershy, Thunderlane becoming less worried as time went on. She began to get excited about group training coming to an end, until she found Thunderlane packing up his things.

"Wh-what are you doing?"She asked worriedly.

"I got the squads today."He explained,"I can't tell you who's in your squad, but I'm not your leader. I have to leave, or else we could both get expelled from the NLR."

"Oh,"She said sadly,"Ok, well, I wish you could stay."

"I do to,"He replied."But hey, I don't have to leave until squad training begins, so how about we make the most of it?"

She knew exactly what he meant, so she raced up to her bedroom.

One day, only two weeks from the end of group training, she was about to leave Red's house when she was stopped.

"HEY!"A voice screamed from behind her. It was Albert,"Your the one who's been moving the letter's! Who is she?!?!"

Dash did the only thing she could think to do; get the fuck out. She zoomed through town, dodging everything in her path. Albert, on the other hand, flew through everything on his path. She flew low in an attempt to cause him to crash and lose control. This was not the case. He did crash through everything she dodged he kept perfect pace with her. They flew though out town, causing a huge rucuss as they went. Eventually Dash had an idea. As they came to sugar cube corner she began to speed up. At the last possible second she turned sharply and left Albert to crash into the corner.

This backfired majorly. Albert did indeed slam into the corner, but he matched her turn and only took out a part of the wall instead of crashing into the building as she had planned. They leveled out at about cloud level. She flew towards the everfree forest, a new idea pouncing into her head. They entered the forest and flew into the thickest part of the forest she could navigate. She zipped past many thorns and trees, Albert flying through the former. They reached a straight path and Dash heard Albert gaining on her. She beat her wings as hard as she could, eventually gaining her desired speed.

She made a sonic rainboom. She doubled in speed, almost running into a rock. She made a ninety degree turn to avoid it at the last possible second. Yes, She thought, I must have lost him. He probably ran into that rock. I guess this is kinda bad 'cause now we have to wait another year till we can join, but at least-

Her thoughts were cut off as Albert slammed into her left flank. She would've fallen had it not been for Albert holding onto her fiercely. They flew up and up, much higher than before. When they were high enough to see all of ponyville Albert bent her forelegs backwards to touch her wings. He twisted all of them together in the most painful manner possible, which wasn't very hard considering her tired state.

"WHO IS SHE?!?!"Albert screamed,"WHO?!?!"

Dash thought wildly. She wasn't about to give up Fluttershy, but she couldn't think of anypony else. She knew whoever she said would be killed, and she didn't want to kill anypony. Then she did the bravest thing anypony had ever done ever in the history of every universe that ever existed.

"Me,"She said, closing her eyes. She filled her mind with Thunderlane, wanting him to be the last thing she thought about before she died.

"What?"Albert asked, loosening his grip.

"I'm his girlfriend,"She said.

"Oh,"Albert said. He released her, which she thought was an attempt to kill her, but as she started to fly back up she realized that this couldn't be it as Albert was neither stupid or trying to kill her as she flew up.

"Wait,"She began confused,"Your not going to kill me?"

"No,"Albert said flatly,"I mean, if you were someone like that Flutter-whats her face, then I would. But your a strong solider, a good enough girl for Albert."

"Uh, thanks,"She said awkwardly.

"But listen,"He began again,"He's here on a mission. You can't date him until he's finished with his job."

"Ok,"Dash said,"So, um, can I go home now?"

"Yes,"Albert replied flatly,"Just remember what I said."

"Yes sir,"Dash replied. She flew down to Fluttershy's house. She would need to hear this. She flew down and knocked on her friends door.

"Oh, Hi Dash!"Fluttershy said joyously,"How are you? Have you been to Nurse Redheart yet?"

"Fluttershy,"Dash began,"We need to talk."

"Ok,"The yellow pegasus began,"Is something wrong? Where's Albert's letter?"

"About that,"Dash began sadly,"Red's father found out."

Fluttershy looked like she had just been given the death sentence. After a while Dash started talking again,"Don't worry. I told him that I was Red's girlfriend."

"You what?"Fluttershy said.

"I told him I was dating Red,"Dash repeated.

"You, um,"Fluttershy began in a quite yet jealous voice,"Don't actually want to do you?"

"What?"Dash said defensively,"No I have Thunderlane, Red's all your's."

"Ok,"She said with a sigh.

"Don't worry,"She began,"Just two more weeks until Red's dad is gone."

"Ok,"She said sadly.

"Alright, well, I got to get to the hospital,"She said,"I'll see ya later, k?"

"Ok,"Fluttershy said quietly. She began to cry as Dash left. Dash felt bad, but her wings must have been broken to some degree and she could hardly move. After the hospital she went home and explained the whole situation to Thunderlane. He took it about as well as she thought he would.

"What the fuck were you thinking?!?!??!?!?!??!?!?!?"He screamed as she finished explaining.

"I was thinking about my friends."She said,"Besides, it's only two more weeks till he's gone, everything will be fine."

"Alright,"He sighed, pouring a glass of whiskey,"Just be careful, ok?"

"When am I not careful?"She said playfully.

Squads

RainbowDash stood in line in front of the pillar shaped building as she had on the first day of training. This day had been particularly easy; as the group training came to an end Albert had started to focus on actual combat rather than just exercising. Now they all stood in a line and were waiting for their squads. They were supposed to spend the last two hours socializing with their new squad mates as they would be spending the next few months with them in specialized training. She was eager to start for multiple reasons. One, no more Albert. She hated the bastard. He was truly a "mother fucking asshole" in the words of Red Mist. Two, she would actually be aloud to talk now and would be able to get to know who she would be spending up to a month in the most dangerous place in the world with. That was the third reason. Getting squads meant that they were at least half way through training.

Albert came out of the building with the squad leaders; Thunderlane, Big Macintosh, and Chief. They stood behind Albert as he spoke.

"Alright maggots!"He began hatefully,"Unfortunately I don't have any more time to shape you into real soldiers, so now it is time to announce your squads. Squad leader one is Thunderlane, two is Big Macintosh, and three is Chief. When you hear your name report to your squad. I'll start with the unicorns."He pulled a scroll out of a saddle bag,"Lyra, squad one! Vinyl Scratch, squad two! Colgate, squad three! Move out!"

The unicorns moved up the ramp behind there leaders."Next, the Earth ponies!"Albert screamed,"Doctor Whooves, squad one! Bon Bon, squad two! Octavia, squad three!"

The Earth ponies moved slightly slower than the unicorns had, especially Bon Bon. They had hoped to get put into squads with there unicorn friends. Now they wouldn't be able to speak for at least another two months."Pegasus!"Albert screamed once more,"Squad one, Cloudchaser! Squad two, Derpy Hooves! Squad three, RainbowDash! Get up here!"

They flew up sadly. None of them were happy with the squads. They were the opposite of what they wanted. They were separated from there friends, and in Derpy and Doctor Whooves case there family. This meant 2-3 months of nopony but complete strangers who they probably wouldn't get along with. Granted Dash knew she wouldn't be with Thunderlane, but she had hoped to get Big Mac and not the one pony in the group that had threatened her life.

"Alright,"Albert started,"We all know you hate these groups, but there supposed to take you out of your comfort zone. If you can't survive with random strangers then you can't survive by yourself or with anypony you know."

They just shrugged it off. Mentally of course. If they moved they were likely to get beat. They just stood there in line hating the asshole standing in front of them and wishing they were three months in the future.

"Well,"Albert sighed,"I've done all i can. Good luck." He walked off to the elevator.

"Alright everypony,"Chief said,"As you know, your not allowed to interact with each other. This is because of security reasons, and that's as much as I'll say. So while were 'mingling' well be separated" He stomped his hoof and three small walls cut the room into thirds. Numbers appeared showing them where to go. "Alright, lets move, c'mon."

They sluggishly moved towards there specified areas. They chattered mindlessly for the next two hours. They all admitted that they didn't want each other as squad mates, and they decided that they would just put up with each other until it was over. Dash decided that she really didn't like her squad. Colgate was to cautious, Octavia to uptight. She was relived when it was over, and learned that her new training times were 4:00 PM to 12:00 AM. This meant the longest break in training she had ever had. As they were all leaving she stepped aside to the basement. Fluttershy had asked her to get Red when Albert had left. She walked down and held her knee up to the panel as she had so many times before. What she saw scared her more than when she had seen him trying to kill himself.

Red Mist laid on the EML almost unconscious. He was covered in deep cuts and harsh bruises. His wings were bent in ways that she had never seen before, and she dated Thunderlane, who just so happened to like it kinky. He was spitting up blood, and it appeared as if Albert had come in for a goodbye beating.

"Father!"He screamed, jumping off the EML,"I-I was just, um...you see, I um, started coughing, and I..."He stumbled onto the ground. She rushed over and held him off the ground. "Dash?" He asked.

"Yeah,"She replied, trying to figure out which wound was worst,"It's gonna be ok, don't worry."

"Thank you,"He whispered right before he passed out.

"Red?"She said, growing worried,"Red?Red?!?RED?!?!?"

Just then the one thing that could have made this moment worse walked in. Fluttershy.

"Hello Al-"She was cut short by what she saw.

"Fluttershy,"Dash began, barely able to stop the blood oozing out of Red's wounds,"I need your help to carry him to Nurse Redheart." Fluttershy was frozen."Come on! His wounds are serious! I need your help!"

Finally she moved over and together they lifted him to the upstairs. There Chief levitated him to the couch while Dash ran off to the hospital to get Nurse Redheart. Fluttershy stayed with Red. She wouldn't leave his side, and they all knew it. The whole situation was kept very hush-hush; most ponies in ponyville didn't even know Red's real name, and the fact that he had been abused like this would raise alot of questions. After an hour or two, Red was stabilized and Dash flew home. As she suspected, Thunderlane was pacing back and forth in the living room.

"Where have you been?"He asked,"You know this is the last time i can see you for at least two months? And your just pissing it away..."

"Hey!"She said defensively,"Sorry if Red was dying!"

"What?"He said taken aback.

"Red was seriously fucked up,"She explained, sitting on the couch. She looked at the clock. 11:00 PM. She had one hour left before he would have to leave. "Damn, is it already that late? Shit, I'm sorry Thunder, I didn't know it was this late."

"It's fine."He said with a sigh,"Lets make this last hour count, ok?"

"Ok,"She said. He walked over and sat with her. They kissed. It wasn't like there normal kisses, which were aggressive and fun, this one was passionate. After a while, Thunderlane got on top of her. They had the most wonderful and passionate sex they had ever had. They both liked to have hardcore sex normally, but this was special. They had to make it count. At 11:45, they climaxed. The most wonderful feeling climax either of them had ever experienced. It was wonderful, and it felt amazing. After a few minutes of cuddling and kissing they got up and, sadly, started to pack up. He stood at the door for a moment, and finally after one last deep, passionate kiss, he left.

She stood at the door for a while, staring after him. She would miss him. She loved him. She almost wished she had never joined the NLR. Then she remembered how much good she would be doing. Plus she would probably stay in ponyville; it was of utmost importance considering the EML and the fact that it now had the largest NLR population outside the crystal empire. She went up stairs and laid down. After a few tears she finally got to sleep.

She woke up the next morning and realized she had time to actually do something before she went to training. It was only nine, she had a few hours to kill. She decided to go check on Red and Fluttershy. She wouldn't be allowed anywhere near the house but she figured she could check by Fluttershy's cottage or get a letter in there somehow.

She made some coffee and ate a bagel. Afterwards she flew to the ground and walked to Fluttershy's house. Despite the fact that she would be without Thunderlane for a couple months, she felt great. This was her first real break since she had started training. She was in a fairly good mood. She passed many ponies on the way to Fluttershy's and found that today was a good day for everypony. Before she reached the cottage she saw a Fluttershy and Red flying there. It was strange to see Red flying slowly, and just as strange to see Fluttershy flying instead of walking. Then she remembered that just yesterday she had seen Red with out any other color than that, so she was even more surprised to see him in such good condition. Nurse Redheart was good, but this was some sort of miracle. She guessed he probably qualified for some sort of top secret healing methods, but she wasn't sure. She followed them on the ground, sensing that they were probably trying to be inconspicuous.

They flew straight to Fluttershy's cottage. They walked in and closed the door behind them. After a few seconds Fluttershy closed the shades in her bedroom. Even though she knew it was wrong of her to do so, Dash flew up and tried to see through the translucent shades. She saw two shadows. After a few minutes of what appeared to be awkward chatter, the two came together. A few minutes later the moved to the bed.

She moved away and flew back towards town. This was absolutely none of her business, and despite her sluttier side trying to get her to continue watching she wouldn't intrude on Fluttershy's and Red's privacy like that. As she was flying back home she heard the unmistakable pop of somepony teleporting on the ground directly below her. Looking down, she saw an angry looking Twilight. Knowing this couldn't be good she flew down to stop her.

"Out of my way Dash,"Twilight said angrily.

"Why?"Dash said just as angrily, knowing perfectly well why she wanted in.

"Do you know what Fluttershy is doing up there?"Twilight asked.

"Yeah,"Dash replied,"And it's up to her who she wants to fuck."

"She doesn't know who he really is though!"Twilight said,"He's taking advantage of her!"

"Wow,"Dash replied,"You don't know anything do you?"

"What do you mean?"Twilight asked, confused.

"Red told her about the NLR months ago,"Dash explained.

"What?!?!"Twilight exclaimed,"And she's still dating him?"

"Yeah,"Dash smirked,"Cause the NLR isn't a bunch of psychotic terrorists like you think they are for some reason."

"He obviously lied to her,"Twilight said,"Just as he and Thunderlane lied to you."

Dash grinded her hooves into the ground. She was never able to take insults, whether they were directed at her or her friends,"Listen,"She began sternly,"Leave Fluttershy and Red alone. Just because you disagree with Red's political party..."

"Political party?"Twilight said with a small laugh,"Ha. A political party wouldn't try to assassinate Celestia!"

"Pft,"Dash said. She had been told about this by Red,"That was Celestia trying to win over more supporters for herself."

"Why would Celestia try to assassinate her self?"

"I just told you,"

"That makes no sense,"Twilight said,"Celestia is the most powerful pony in all of Equestria! She doesn't need an army, and besides that she already has one!"

"Whatever,"Dash replied. There was just no arguing with Twilight over this matter,"Just leave them alone."

"No,"Twilight retaliated,"I'm putting my hoof down. She can't go through with this. It's to far, she's putting herself in more danger than she knows!"

"Listen Twilight,"Dash began to talk as if Twilight was a child she was explaining this to,"Fluttershy's a big girl now. She doesn't need you to look after her every move."

"Have you seen Fluttershy?"Twilight began once more,"The only defense she has is 'The Stare', and that won't protect her against lasers and railguns!"

"Red isn't going to let anything bad happen to her. He loves her Twi, and he's to nice to let her be hurt. All of us are."

"If he really loved her he wouldn't be putting her in the kind of danger he's putting her in. If either of them really loved either of you then they wouldn't have ever asked you out."

RainbowDash snapped. She charged Twilight. Last time she had done some damage, but not much. Now she was equipped with deadly hoof-to-hoof combat training and could probably kill Twilight. Part of her intended to do just that. She hit her at near supersonic speeds, ramming her into a rock over two hundred feet behind them. She intended to hit her in a certain part in the face where she knew she could dislocate her jaw, but Twilight blocked it with her own hoof. This took Dash aback for a split second; all the time that Twilight needed.She threw Dash off her with her back legs. Dash landed on all fours and braced herself. She had sparred with Albert and had given him a good fight, though he would never admit it, more than once. She could take Twilight.

The Charged at each other, both flying a foot off the ground so that they could move faster. They raised there hooves and picked a target. Dash aimed for Twilight's best weapon;her horn. Twilight prepared to snap Dash wing joints into pieces. They collided. Dash made her mark, but just slightly as Twilight's other hoof came to protect the sensitive appendage. Twilight was completely blocked as one of Dash's hind legs came up to block her. Dash spun and in a second Twilight's arm was twisted behind her in as painful a manner that dash could think of. Twilight, who was simply showing Dash her moves right now, Did a somersault and slammed Dash into the ground. She placed a hoof on Dash's throat and applied pressure. Dash punched her in the sensitive spot on Twilight's ribs causing her to reel back in pain. Dash got up and grabbed her tightly. She flew up as high as she could go. She bent Twilight's wings in a similar manner as Albert did to her, only harder. When she heard both wings snap she released Twilight to fall to the ground. Remembering that Twilight could teleport she rammed into her and steered her to the hardest spot that she could see. Twilight released a burst of magical energy and Dash was forced off her. They both landed on all fours safely, Twilight using a bone hardening spell to brace her self. Dash smirked. They both knew that if Twilight hadn't used her magic she would be dead now. She could still beat her.

Just then Fluttershy's cottage door opened. Both of them turned to face it. Red Mist stoop in the doorway, talking to Fluttershy. Twilight teleported to god knows where. Dash flew off into the clouds and hid. After a few minutes of chatter Red and Fluttershy kissed and Red left, almost prancing, down towards his own home. Dash looked around in a vain attempt to find Twilight. After that failed she went to the hospital. She wasn't that bad, but she was definitely sore and exhausted. Twilight had been more of a challenge than she had expected. Her sparing with the unicorns had taught her that anypony with magic and the right know-how could kill you easily. Her smirk had been more to piss Twilight off and cause her to go back to physical fighting than to show that she was winning.

She reached the hospital and gave Nurse Redheart small nod. She understood and showed her into her office.

"What did you do this time?"Redheart asked as she pulled out a small elixir,"I thought General Jordenson was gone."

"He is,"Dash explained, accepting the medicine and drinking it in one gulp,"But Twilight's still here."

"What?"Redheart looked concerned,"You two fought again?"

"Yeah, and this time she gave me a fight,"Dash replied. She felt better as the elixir took effect.

"I'm surprised your not dead!"Redheart exclaimed,"Twilight has more combat training and experience than alot of the NLR!"

"I should have guessed,"Dash said, mostly to her self. Twilight was an alicorn, the most powerful race in all of Equestria. Of course she would be trained, and considering her closeness to Celestia she probably had more power than Cadence.

Dash looked up at the clock. It read 3:45. Her and Twilight's fight had lasted much longer than she had thought.

"Shit!"Dash exclaimed,"Is that clock right? I need to go, thanks Nurse!"She flew out of the office window and towards her house. She had to tell Thunderlane what had happened. Half way there she remembered that he had left and was probably asleep right now. Add that to the fact that she wasn't allowed to talk to him and she decided to just go to training.

Back in the library Twilight looked up spells to fix her wings. There weren't many, and none of them were designed for alicorn's. Eventually she just choose one and cast it. It seemed to work; she could at least move her wings again. She prepared to right a letter to Celestia. She couldn't trust spike; alot of her recent urgent letter's had only been replied with "Everything's fine, keep up the good work," or "There's nothing to worry about." She guessed that somewhere her letter's were being intercepted, and she couldn't let that happen here. Red Mist and Fluttershy having sex wasn't a big deal, at least not to princess Celestia, but Dash being combat trained was. The NLR only recruited in groups with a minimum of three. That meant there were at least two more recruits that even she hadn't known about. This was bad. She had to get to the bottom of this.

"Dear Princess Celestia..."

More Training

Dash flew towards Red's mansion. Once she arrived she was greeted by the familiar pegasi pair. They directed her to a small fenced off area in the backyard. Looking at one of there watches told her that she still had five minutes until her training began. She saw her fellow squad mates and was lazily greeted by Colgate who seemed to be thinking about something else. Octavia, on the other hand, was fairly angry.

"Are you ever going to be on time?"She asked hatefully.

"I had to deal with something else,"Dash replied. She figured it was a bad idea to start spreading the story of her and Twilight's fight.

"Well we almost got expelled because of you,"Octavia replied sharply,"You know they only recruit in multiple's of three, don't you?"

"Yeah, yeah,"Dash said with an exaggerated sigh as she stretched her wings,"Look, I'm here, aren't I?"

"Had you been five minutes later we would've been expelled"Octavia said angrily.

"It won't happen again,"Dash replied, barely listening to Octavia. She had heard something else,"I think there letting Big Mac's squad out."

Sure enough Big Macintosh and his squad were leaving the building, though Dash and her squad mates never saw them. As they left Chief came into their view.

"Come on!"He yelled at them,"We haven't got all day! Get to the basement, move!"

They all ran, or in Dash's case flew, inside and into the elevator leading to the basement. As they went down they were silent. They had all been through Albert's training, and even though they knew Chief wasn't going to be as hard they expected the worst.

They reached the basement and saw that it had been set up with many obstacles and targets. They couldn't quite tell what Chief had planned, but they all came up with there own idea's for what was going to happen.

"Line up!"Chief shouted as he teleported down. They got in line in front of the tower as they had many times before,"Alright, listen up. I have 8 weeks to turn you all into a well oiled machine. After a few minutes of crunching the numbers, here's the plan i came up with. I will spend 18 day's on each of you, and then the last day your going to run this course in 30 seconds, no sooner, no later. Any questions?"

All three of there hooves went up at once."Colgate,"Chief said.

"How are you going to get us all up to the right skill level with only 18 days apiece?"

"Whoever I'm training that day will get my undivided attention. We'll rotate everyday, that way you all keep your skills up to par. Octavia."

"Are we going to run the course before the last day?"

"The end of each day will be spent running the course as practice. RainbowDash."

"When do we start?"

"You start on the day after tomorrow. Today I'm focusing on Colgate. In the meantime you two just run through your normal training. Target practice and stuff like that."

"Yes sir,"Dash and Octavia said in unison. Octavia moved to the larger shooting range to work on her skills with her new personal railguns, which she could barely move whilst wearing. RainbowDash went to her usual tunnel where the dummies were set up with walls in front of them to prevent forward assault. In the main chamber Colgate stood nervously next to Chief.

"For you I have something special planned,"Chief began,"But first a demonstration."His horn glowed an Islamic green color for a split second and then turned off."Ok,"He started again,"Try to kill me."

"What?"Colgate said with confusion.

"Try to kill me,"Chief said flatly as if he were asking her to pass the salt,"In the forest you can't second guess my orders. Now try to kill me."

"Yes sir,"Colgate replied nervously. She braced herself, certain that she was about to be kicked out of the NLR. She pointed her horn directly at Chief and sent a huge surge of magical energy through it. A blue beam of pure magical energy shot towards Chief. It stopped about ten feet in front of him, arcing and flatting as if it had hit a wall. A slight greenish glow appeared underneath and around the edge of the where the beam hit the magical barrier. In her shock and confusion Colgate lost concentration and the beam disintegrated into the air. The glow disappeared with the beam. A second later Chief's horn glowed once more and he walked towards Colgate.

"How did you...?"Colgate began, speechless.

"It's an invisible barrier spell I developed,"Chief began,"And your going to learn it by the time we go into the forest. It works just like a normal barrier spell, you just have to concentrate some more to make it invisible. Go on and try."

Colgate focused. Her horn glowed and a blue barrier appeared. She shut her eyes and tried to picture it being invisible. After a few minutes she got a headache and had to stop. This spell was a lot harder than what she thought she had guessed it to be.

"Not a bad first try,"Chief complimented,"But you have got a long way to go. Try again."

The rest of the day was spent attempting to cast the spell. At the end of the day Colgate had only managed to make a slightly translucent barrier, but it could still be easily seen. About ten minutes towards the end of training Chief called them all to the center.

"Alright everypony,"He began,"Time to run the course. Your objective is to make it to the center, grab the flash drive, and make it to the end. You will need to work together. Remember, complete it in 30 seconds. not 31 seconds, not 29 seconds, 30. Any questions?"

"Why can't we complete it faster?"Dash asked.

"Any pony in the NLR could easily beat this course in under 30 seconds,"Chief began,"But speed isn't everything. sometimes you have to take your time to ensure you did the job right. To make sure you don't get caught. The 30 second rule teaches you to move quickly whilst pacing yourself. Anything else? No? In that case, GO!"

They shot off into the course as the timer started. It was much harder than they thought. Multiple times they had to double back to get one another, and it took them almost two minutes to get to the center and get the flash drive.The course was filled with hidden traps that appeared to come out of nowhere. The more they messed up the more difficult it appeared to get. The way out was almost impossible. Dummies and turrets popped up at random intervals. By the time they were done they had less then two minutes left.

"Not to bad for a first try,"Chief commented,"The last squad i trained took half an hour their first try. But there is defiantly alot of improvement to be made. Before you go take this holograms. They are maps of the forest. Study them, you need as much information you can get. Octavia, bring your bow tommorow."

"My bow?"Octavia asked.

"Yes,"Chief answered,"Is that problem?"

"No sir!"Octavia replied.

"Good. Dismissed."

They filed out of the basement and then out of the house. Upstairs Red was in the middle of the most through checkup he had ever experienced. Nurse Redheart wasn't leaving any stone unturned, so to speak. He had known to expect something more attentive then his usual checkup's, but this was insane.

"Almost done nurse?"He asked impatiently.

"Almost,"She replied,"Do you have somewhere to be?"

"Yes actually,"Red answered proudly,"I'm supposed to be heading out with Fluttershy again."

"What about that project your working on?"Nurse Red heart asked as she prodded his wings with some sort of medical device.

"I've been trapped in that basement for the past three months,"He shot back,"I need a little break before I go back to work."

"Ok, ok,"She said,"One last question."

"Yes?"

"Have you had sexual intercourse recently?"

His heart literally skipped a beat."What?"He said quickly and nervously,"Why?"

"Well,"She began, a sly eye crossing his face,"According to these charts either you had sex or the elixir is having some major unpredictable side effects."

"Oh,"was all he could manage to choke out,"Well, um, you see, I, uh..."The monitor's on the walls were having a field day.

"I'll take that as a yes?"Nurse Redheart replied with a raised eyebrow.

"Please don't tell anypony,"He said quickly,"Neither of us want anypony to know. It's a bit private."

"Doctor Jordenson, I am insulted!"She replied,"I am a medical professional, I would never stoop to such a level as gossip!"

"Thank's Nurse,"He replied,"And sorry. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a date to attend." He walked down stairs and went out side. It was midnight; he could see Chief's squad leaving the premises. He took a quick moment to try and catch them, or at least RainbowDash. He wanted to thank her again. He saw her take off and head towards her house. He caught up to her in an instant.

"Hey!"He shouted at her. She turned around, slightly worried for a second she was in trouble.

"Oh,"She said with a sigh as she saw him,"It's you! How's it goin'?"

"Pretty good,"He replied cheerfully. It wasn't fake this time like his happiness used to be. Ever since he had started dating Fluttershy he had been truly happy for the first time in his life. This just so happened to be the happiest day of his life.

"Cool,"Dash replied,"Didn't expect to see you up and about for a while. How'd you do it?"

"Let's just say i gave Nurse Redheart a new trick,"He replied,"But anyway's, I just wanted to thank you again."

"For what?"Dash asked with a tilt of her head.

"Let's see,"He started,"Since I've been here you have saved my life twice and set me up with the most amazing mare on the planet, no offence."

"None taken,"She replied,"And don't mention it. Your my friend, and that's what friends do for each other."

"It is, isn't it?"Red replied. He had never had friends, so he wouldn't know,"But still, thanks."

"Again, no problem."Dash replied.

"Ok, well I have a date with Fluttershy,"Red said, turning towards Fluttershy's cottage,"So I better get going. Goodnight."

"Ok,"She replied,"It was nice talking to-wait Fluttershy?"

"Yeah,"He said, turning back around to face her,"Is there a problem?"

"Yes,"She began, remembering the events of the afternoon,"I don't know how, but Twilight knew you guy's were having sex this morning."

Red went unconscious. When he woke up he was on Fluttershy's couch."Wha-"Was all he could say before he was stopped by a massive hug and kiss from Fluttershy.

"Stop doing that!"She screamed after she was done.

"What happened?"He asked, attempting sit up.

"After I told you that Twilight knew about you two having sex you fainted and I carried you here,"Dash answered. Red noticed that she was leaning against the wall. He looked at the clock. It read 2:30 am.

"Holy shit,"He began,"Is that clock right?"

"Yes,"Fluttershy stated,"Listen, Albert, are you feeling ok? Is your medicine doing this?"

"No,"He replied,"It was just shock. How did she know? And, how did you know?"

"Well,"Dash began, scratching the back of her head with her hoof,"I kinda followed you guys, and Twilight..."

"You what?"Red and Fluttershy asked in unison.

"I followed you,"Dash repeated,"I was curious. Last night I had seen you leaning over about to die from the beating's your dad had gave you, And then I saw you flying like you had a thousand times so I followed. Don't worry, I left as soon as I saw you guys move to the bed. And no, I didn't see anything really, I could just see your shadows."She added as there faces dropped.

"And Twilight?"Fluttershy asked after an awkward moment of silence.

"I have no clue,"Dash replied,"I was flying away and she teleported onto the path."

"Hhmmm..."Red hummed,"This is troubling."

"How so?"Fluttershy asked,"Twilight probably just followed us like Rainbow did."

"I don't think so,"He replied,"Dash would've noticed her then. Plus she wouldn't have been able to know we were...doing that without looking through the window or..."

"Or what?"Dash asked.

"I think Twilight may be reading one or both of our minds,"Red answered.

"What?!?!"Fluttershy and RainbowDash said at the same time.

"She has been approaching me more often than usual, in the NLR I mean,"He began to explain,"Saying that this relationship is going to far, or that my skills are being affected, and a ton of other bull shit to. Sorry sweetheart."He added. Fluttershy didn't like cursing.

"Why that little bitch,"Fluttershy nearly screamed,"How could she do that? And how did we not notice? When I see that little fuck..."

"Goddamn Fluttershy,"Dash exclaimed as Red's mouth hung in shock,"I don't think I've ever heard you curse before."

"That bitch,"Fluttershy began,"Has been badgering me about dating Albert from day one, and now I learn that she's reading our minds? She is so dead."

"There's only one problem with the whole, mind reading thing,"Dash pointed out.

"And what might that be?"Red asked.

"She didn't know that Fluttershy knew about the NLR,"RainbowDash added.

"What?"Red said,"Are you serious?"

"Yeah, she was completely clueless,"Dash replied,"If she was reading your minds she would've known that, right?"

"Mind reading spells are tricky,"Red began to explain,"You usually only see what you are looking for, so if she was only looking to see how far the relationship had gone, that might explain it, but the NLR come up quite a bit with us, so she should've still know. Unless...."

"Albert, honey, your rambling again,"Fluttershy said quietly.

"What?"He snapped out of his trance like state,"Oh, sorry sweetheart."

"It's fine darling."Fluttershy assured him.

"Well, I better get going,"Dash said,"I got training tommorow."

"Alright Dash,"Fluttershy replied, failing to hide the fact that she wanted to be alone with Red,"Get home safely."

"Good bye Dash,"Red said to her,"Sleep well."

"You to,"Dash replied,"Or, maybe not" She winked and left.

"So, what do you want to do now?"Red asked.

"Well, um,"Fluttershy began quietly, her face reddening with every word,"I was kind of hoping that maybe, um, if you wanted to, uh, maybe...."Her voice trailed off.

"Go again?"Red asked.

"Yes."Fluttershy answered,"I mean, only if you want to...."

He kissed her red cheeks and put his wing around her,"Let's go,"They went upstairs.

Wings

The next day was a bit boring for everyone in ponyville. At the NLR training Chief taught Octavia a few new techniques that she could use for her bow. Nothing to interesting happened, at least not for RainbowDash and Red Mist. The next day was different however.

On day three of group training it was Dash's turn to be trained. When they walked down Chief wasn't there, so at first they just did there normal routine. Then they heard the elevator. RainbowDash flew to the spot in the room where she always stood when they were called to attention. What she saw made her jaw drop.

Chief walked in with a pair of wings. Not like the pair Twilight had given Rarity when they went to cloudsdale, these ones were more like normal wings. They had feathers, they were definitely solid, and Dash doubted that they would evaporate in sunlight.

"What?"Chief asked,"Never seen a unicorn with wings before? How else am I supposed to train you?"

"Well, I have,"Dash began,"I just didn't expect to see a pair on you. How'd you get those?"

"Did you honestly think Twilight was the only pony that could cast that spell?"He asked,"Now, lets get to work."

"Yes sir,"Dash said, getting over the shock of Chief's wings,"What are we going to do?"

"I noticed when your firing you just go in for a dive, holding your wings down on the triggers."

"Yeah,"Dash replied,"What about it?"

"Well there's a better way that not only conserves ammo but is safer, as in you won't crash into the ground."

"Alright sir," Dash said.

They spent the next few hours trying to teach RainbowDash the new technique, which was harder than one might think. Chief's new idea involved RainbowDash pushing her wings lower than she normally would while flying with her guns, which made them fire for a split second. It meant alot more accuracy was needed, but Dash could not deny that with some practice it would be very effective. Though for now, it just meant alot of almost falling out of the sky. Dash could not hide her embarrassment when Chief was literally doing circles around her.

The next few weeks were like a record on repeat, though there was definitely improvement with all of them. By week 6 they could all finally complete the obstacle course in 30 seconds. They were all saddened by the fact that they were still so separated from there friends (and in a few cases significant others), but they knew that this would all be over soon. As they approached the infamous last month of training they all got nervous, but they also felt well prepared. Dash had almost memorized the map, and she thought she could get through it in far under a month. The route they would take was up to Chief though, and by now she'd learned that he was alot smarter than her when it came to this stuff. She was willing to bet they'd be through the forest in a week.

Of course part of her didn't want to get out to early. The first group to make it out won, and the other groups could sometimes be left inside the forest, stuck. It surprised Dash that they had not fixed this, though she heard rumors that it was intentional to keep flunk out's of training to spill the beans about the NLR to the public, or worse, to Celestia. She hoped that Chief would wait as long as he could to let the other groups get to the end with them, and that the other groups would do the same for her. She was certain that Thunderlane would wait for her, and she hoped that Big Mac would as well, but she could never be sure. Besides, the other trainee's might not be as nice to her. The forest was dangerous, deadly even, one could easily die just from waiting to long. They were supposed to listen to their leaders, but if somepony decided they didn't want to wait for them.........

Dash wouldn't let herself think about it. Chief was constantly telling them that they needed to stay confident, cause fear hurts worse than bullets or something like that. She focused on the holographic map, trying to find places where ambushes might happen, good places to camp at night, and a thousand other things that could mean life or death in the forest.

The last day of group training had a peculiar feeling about it. She blamed it on the fact that they all knew that after today they might not survive. Nothing exciting happened, but Chief was alot more pleasant than usual at the end. Perhaps he didn't think they would survive. Perhaps he was proud of how much progress they had all made. Perhaps he was just in a good mood. Dash couldn't tell. His face always had the same look of anger or annoyance on it, though occasionally she would see him look ever so slightly proud. He never smiled though.

They completed the obstacle course once more, and left for a bit of rest. They were to report back here at noon for movement to the forest. Dash could hardly sleep that night. The only thing that she could find solace in was the fact that she would see Thunderlane again tommorow, even if it was just for a moment.

She woke up and got ready. She had gotten her uniform a few days ago and had only worn it a few times. She washed and ironed it, which was something that she normally wouldn't have done. The only reason she did now was beccause of all the NLR officials that would be there today, watching her as she entered what was arguably the most dangerous place in Equestria. By the time she was ready to leave it was 11:30, and she quickly got dressed and rushed over to Red's house.

Red, on the other hand, was busy organizing everything. A few ponies had already arrived but none of the recruits were here yet, which he was glad of. The party was always a surprise, a happy note for the recruits to quickly talk to each other and reunite for a moment before marching to what was likely to be their deaths. He flew around making a few last minute checks on the snack table, the music system, everything. This wasn't going to be nearly as large as his house warming party, but it was just as important in his eyes. If he failed here the recruits might not have enough happiness left in them when they enter the forest. He'd seen it happen before,; the recruits could become insanely depressed during the forest, kill themselves or their squad, go insane, and a number of other things. The forest was intended to be a mental challenge as well as a physical one but it went to far in this aspect, and so they gave them this to ensure that at least a few made it through.

"Albert,"He heard Fluttershy's voice, though he was sure no one else did. He flew down to meet her.

"Yes my darling?"He asked.

"Albert honey,"Fluttershy began,"Everything is perfect. Everything looks amazing, and your the crown jewel. Everything is going to be fine, and I bet all the recruits make it through this time around."

"Thanks Fluttershy,"He said soberly,"But this...it's more than anypony should have to go through. I still have nightmares about it. I just want to make sure they don't."

"I know honey,"Fluttershy replied,"But your working yourself to death! This is supposed to be a break for you as much as it is for the recruits. Now, come on, we have some ponies to surprise." She smiled and quickly fixed his bow tie, then held her wing out to him.

He smiled and took her wing in his, walking toward the entrance. He supposed he did look nice; his tux was a dark purple that could easily pass for black even in the brightest daylight. His bow was the same color and he was wearing a white undershirt. Fluttershy looked far better than him however; her purple dress went insanely well with her pink hair and yellow fur. It frilled at the end giving it a nice effect on her ass, though he would never point this particular fact out in public. They only acted perverted when they were alone in a bedroom, and then it was a bit more intense then he would ever admit.

They got to the enterance and waited for only a few minutes until the doors opened and Doctor Whooves walked in. They greeted him and told him where everything was, then let him on his way. They repeated this process for every recruit, giving an extra direction to the guest bedroom where Thunderlane was waiting to RainbowDash. After everypony had arrived they walked around and enjoyed the party. It was much more formal then the previous one, and everypony seemed to be enjoying themselves.

While Fluttershy and Red had fun at the party, RainbowDash explored the house looking for Thunderlanes room. While she had been inside Red's house before, she had never gone past the front rooms and the basement. From what she saw, it seemed it had enough rooms for everypony in ponyville and then some. Luckily the rooms had the intended tennates cutie mark on the door. All she had to do was not get lost and she'd find Thunderlane.

After what seemed like an eternity of searching, she found it. Her heart jumped with joy and she opened the door and walked in. It was dark, and the only light was comming from the hallway. The door closed suddenly behind her, and she was plunged into absolute darkness. She figured it was Thunderlane messing with her, but she still had just a twinge of fear in her.

"Hello sweetie,"A voice from right behind her said. She turned and tried to kiss the source, but it was gone when she turned. She tried to find something, a light switch, a pony, Thunder's dick, something to tell her she wasn't alone in here. Then, out of no where, the lights turned on and she was face to face with Thunderlane.

"Did you-"Was all he could get out before she kissed him. After a while of kissing she threw him onto the bed and kissed him all over, eventually making her way to his dick. Right before she sucked him off, he pulled her chin up to his face.

"What, I don't even get a 'I love you' or 'I missed you so much'?"He asked with a mocking grin.

"I was trying to prove it,"She replied, kissing his neck and biting a little.

"Oh I see, it's all about the sex,"He said mockingly.

She scoffed and bit his neck hard, making him yelp. After that she told him how much she missed him and loved him and proceeded to fuck him harder then she ever had before. After a month of not being touched in any way, not even by herself, he felt amazing. After a while she laid down next to him, still gently rubbing his dick.

"That was amazing. Maybe we should wait a couple months in between having sex from now on."He said. He took this back after she squeezed his dick and threatened to take it off to use for her self in the time between fucks.

After a while they freshened up and went back down stairs to rejoin the rest of the party. Dash had to admit it was very nice, though not quite her usual style. She took the opportunity to very quickly look over the other recruits, and try and see what they had in them. All of them looked very formidable, and she decided that she would take up praying while she was in the forest, just in case.

She spent the rest of the time at the party focusing all her attention on Thunderlane. He somehow looked even more attractive with his uniform on, though if she could have her way she'd rip it off again and just stay in the bedroom for the rest of her life.

Eventually they called everypony together. Red stood on top of a stage next to Fluttershy. There where a few other NLR officials on stage but they were in the back and nopony really noticed them. Thunderlane and the other squad leaders were standing next to each other with a little space in between them. The recruits went ahead and lined up directly behind them, which was apparently how they were supposed to stand as there was just enough space for all of them to stand shoulder to shoulder . RainbowDash stood as close to Thunderlane as she could, but Big Mac's entire squad was still in between him and her.

"Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen,"Red began, going into the trance like state he always went into when giving speeches,"I hope you have enjoyed the party thus far. As you all know it was put together last minute, so if there were any faults with it I apologize."There was a general mummer of agreement that the party had been amazing before silence fell once more,"I would like to take a moment to commemorate the recruits for there hard work and sacrifice to have gotten this far in the program. Now, on to the real reason this party is going on." He looked at the recruits and spoke directly to them,"You have all made it very far. I know it must've been difficult. We've all gone through the same thing you have, and we didn't do half as good as you all did. You are a shining example of what the NLR should be. In a few minutes you will all go into the forest. You may see and do things in there that you never want to remember happening. But you will make it through. You know why? Because you are the best of the best. And when you come out the other end there's going to be a party ten times the size of this one just for you guys. So, are you going to let a bunch of plants and animals take you down, or are you gonna kick their asses and come back out to a massive party?"

There was a roar as all the recruits screamed,"Kick their asses, sir!" in unison. After that Red dismissed everyone and the squads where moved to the starting pads. These pads would teleport them to a random spot on the edge of the forest and they would have to make their way towards the center where the exit pad was. They had one month, and if they failed they where supposed to be teleported out, but they all knew that that didn't always go as planned.

There was a timer on the wall. All around were ponies that had already gone through this and knew what was going to happen. Yet none of them went out to stop them, to save them from what was coming. In a strange way this comforted RainbowDash. If they weren't trying to save her then the forest couldn't be that bad, right? A look across there faces showed different. They all looked sad, as if they were looking into a coffin and some friend of their's was inside. She swallowed a breath as some random scientist was counting down.

"And five, four," he counted,"three, two, on-"

That was the last thing she heard before there was a bright flash of light, a lot of pain, and a thud. When she opened her eyes, she was surrounded by darkness and trees.