The Assistant

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.