//------------------------------// // With Dreams // Story: Sword of Equestria: A Sword of the Stars II Crossover // by ForceUser //------------------------------// Sword of Equestria: A Sword of the Stars II Crossover Chapter 2: With Dreams For Rene to say that she was getting used to the dreams, or memories rather and that they weren't getting to her would have been more than just a little lie. For this reason she was rather pleasantly surprised to -not- be reliving a fragment of her memories as she had been the last few nights. 'Still, this doesn't seem like any normal dream,' she thought as she looked around the surreal landscape of brightly lit green meadows under an impossibly bright moonlit night and a pitch black night sky. A vibrant canvas of stars were pained across the night sky and shined extra bright. The fact that she was in the body of what looked like a pony with wings was almost tame in comparison to the scenery. 'Pegasus' she mused to herself, 'that's what Florence called it.' "You perchance meant to say Fluttershy?" A bellowing voice with a strange accent intoned behind her. Out of the corner of her eye she managed to catch a movement and quickly spun around to look at who, or what had spoken. As she did, her unfamiliarity with her pony form had her ending up on her rump on the soft grass. Rene looked up but could only see mist slowly dissipating. "Who- who's there? I'm not afraid of you!" Shakily standing up and looking around furtively for the speaker only the dream-scape showed itself. "Your courage is commendable my little pony, as it always was," the voice was harsh but paused for a second, becoming much softer when it was heard again, "but you have nothing to fear here. This is my domain, as well you know... Rainbow Dash." Her voice carried a desperate, almost pleading tone, soured by an undercurrent of a deep and impossibly old pain. The mist that had seemed to have no form, drifting a few meters away from the Pegasus slowly coalesced into the form of a much larger and strikingly beautiful pony with a coat of midnight blue and a flowing mane that seemed to contain entire galaxies of stars within. Even though there was no wind the star lit mane moved as if caught in a slight breeze. Adorned with a crown above her horn and silver armour that shone like the moon above the pony slowly walked up to the bewildered Pegasus and simply sat down, cocking her head to one side "You truly do not remember me, do you Rainbow Dash?" There again was the undercurrent of a pain not felt in a very long time, a scabbed wound that would never heal, ripped open. To her credit Rene was taking this all extremely calmly considering the circumstances. Even though her voice was shaky, with each passing word she regained some measure of stability. "Wha- Who is Rainbow Dash? I am Rene Desoto, Captain of the SolForce Flagship Indomitable and Admiral of the 23rd Combat Fleet." Truth be told though she hated being called an Admiral, 'just a bunch of pen pushers and glory hounds.' A frown formed on the regal looking pony in front of Rene as she stared at the Pegasus "I am unfamiliar with this term 'pen pusher', is it some form or insect or parasprite?" A look of shock crossed the captains face and the midnight blue pony was quick to apologize, "My apologies Rain- Rene, an old habit of reading the thoughts of those that allowed it," Another frown, "a very old habit." The Captain merely shrugged "It's OK I guess," a small pause and a tiny smile, "it's parasite by the way." she corrected the pony in front of her. Looking closely she could make out the form of a crescent moon and white spots on a black backdrop on the regalia in front of her, almost at eye height. 'She must be a princess or something', mused the Captain, 'that's pretty cool I guess.' Slowly the 'princess' stood up with a sigh "One would think that I would have learned by now that my sister is always right. You share her appearance, her voice and even her mannerism, and yet you are not my Das-," her voice broke as she fought to control her emotions. The princess of the moon took a deep breath and turned around "You are not Rainbow Dash." A single tear, hidden from Rene rolled down from her eye, along her snout and fell to the ground. "Tonight I shall grant you a reprieve from your memories that have been plaguing you since you arrived," the mist was slowly engulfing her as she spoke, "rest well, my little pony." Rene felt a heavy weariness and contentment wash over her as her eyelids sank slowly close, her last though slowly drifting away; 'She even had her regalia tattooed on her butt.' She fell asleep on the soft meadow, a small smile playing on her face. Oo00oO Florence let out a small -Yey- as she helped the captain into a seating position on the bed, "you're much stronger today than I expected you to be." Letting go of the now upright Pegasus, Florence slowly dropped back to all fours and walked over to the light switch “You asked yesterday how rainbow hair would work," a soft -click- as the lights were dimmed, "well you can now see for yourself. We can take off the bandages finally. Now, your eyes will be quite sensitive being without any light for so long so it will take some time to get everything in focus.” Rene felt the Doctor's soft hooves slowly reach around her head to take off the bandages around her eyes. Frowning she wondered why she could still see nothing even with the bandages removed. A small giggle escaped the doctor, "okay silly, maybe you should try opening your eyes too." Rene wasn't even aware that she had her eyes closed and gave a nervous grin as she slowly opened her eyes. The dimly lit room's blurry figures steadily came into focus as the Captain blinked away the tears from her sensitive eyes. As she did so the room became more and more familiar as she recognize the various medical equipment. The familiar surroundings, having been here a few times herself for her somewhat reckless behavior in the various sports she participated in, immediately put her at ease. She slowly looked around and spotted what by all rights seemed to be a pastel yellow pony with a long flowing pink mane and what appeared to be two wings folded to her side standing by the side of the bed. "Hi there" the yellow pony said in the voice of Florence, giving a small and timid smile. "Hi yourself." replied the captain with a nervous smile. 'Why am I finding this yellow pony so attractive and why the hell and I not freaking out by that thought?' Shaking her head a bit Rene mused, "Well that sure is something." Trying to distract her from her thoughts she lifted a light blue arm, her arm, in front of her and moved it around while flexing it. "I have to admit Doc I think this is one of the weirdest things I will ever experience in my life." The doctor gave an obviously faked and very nervous smile making a sound almost like a bleat of a lamb "Oh I don't know about that captain, there is still an awful lot of day left." Raising an eyebrow at the doc the blue Pegasus slowly reached behind her head at her hair, feeling how impossibly long it is from how she remembered it was a mere week ago and held a few locks in front of her. 'Yup, rainbow coloured hair, go figure.' "I see what you mean Florence," she gave a sigh and looked back at the Doc, "why don't you start with the most important things first and we'll go from there? It's not like I'd want to go anywhere with you... here! I mean, with you here." 'Nice, real smooth there Casanova.' A blush coloured the Pegasus' yellow cheeks to near crimson as she tried to hide behind her long pink hair. Slapping her hoof to her forehead the captain sighed, "why don't we just start with the planet we- I managed to land us on?" "Oh, OK," sounding almost disappointed the Doc peeks out from behind her long hair, "Well, I don't know all the details but the planet we landed on is just like earth. Twilight says it's a standard M class planet with near zero hazard rating." As Florence started talking about what the captain had missed in the week since planet fall she slowly started getting more and more exited. Soon she was talking nonstop as she described all the wonderful animals she had seen. "-and there's apple trees and forests with all kinds of animals from earth like butterflies and bears and, oh! Bunnies! The cutest little bunnies and birds and I can even talk to them you see, just like the legendary Fluttershy. The native ponies from Ponyville say that there are very few ponies who can talk to animals and it's almost always earth ponies and mrmrf-" A cyan coloured hoof finally stopped the avalanche of words from burying the poor cyan Pegasus by corking the mouth and by extension the word generator attached to said mouth. "Back up there Florence- wait is that why Alicia called you 'Flutters' yesterday?" A muffled "yrfs" emanates from behind the hoof still firmly lodged in the mouth of the exited yellow Pegasus. With a loud -plop- the Captain extricated her now very wet hoof. "Yea, anyways,” the funny nickname momentarily forgotten ash Dash peered at her soggy hoof, ”you said there were native ponies on this planet?" A vigorous nod from the Doc confirmed that that was indeed the case. "You also said something about earth ponies? What makes them different from Pegasi?" The doc lapsed into deep though for a moment for a moment before replying "Well Twili- I mean Tina Light, one of the ship's psi personnel will be able to give you more detail than me..." The Pegasus mare looked nervous again. The captain gave her a warm smile, "I'm sure whatever you can tell me will be fine." "Hmm according to the locals, they are the descendants of one of the very first colonization fleets, after the Hiver attack of course, lead by Captain Rese Desoto." Florence looked uncertainly at the captain. The captain gave a knowing smile, "No relation actually. It comes up more often that you'd think," she explains, "I believe that specific fleet was lost, listed as disappeared while exploring the z67- something system." A cheerful smile from the Doctor has the Captain's pulse racing again. 'Damn there's that smile again.' Shaking her head vigorously she looked at the Doctor "Sorry, you were saying something about the Earth ponies?" "Oh yes, well they are one of three um.. well actually more like four different type of ponies. Tina said something about a- an airborne agent that ini- initiates the change from human to pony but that was a little bit over my head." An apologetic smile from the mare as she continues. "There's us Pegasi of course, with fully functioning wings and light but strong bones," she pointed at her wings on her back, "Earth ponies like AJ turned into that are incredibly strong with very dense muscle and strong skeletal structure and um... Unicorns." As the pink haired pony trailed off Rene raised an eyebrow, "You mean like an actual horn sticking out the forehead unicorn?" Florence nodded quickly, "Oh yes, but according to the natives they also have well, magic." The Captain burst out laughing, "Oh come on, with wings as awesome as these I can perhaps swallow being able to fly but you can't seriously believe in some tribal mumbo jumbo about magic." "Well I didn't at first but Twilight, she has been studying it and she thinks it's actually a very strong form of psionics. In fact much stronger than anything we had back home, even stronger than the Liir. She even turned into a unicorn as did most of the psi personnel and people with strong psionic potential." The doctor was about to explain some more of the discoveries they've made when she was interrupted by the door to the med bay opening. Rene looked over to the door and unbidden a surprised gasp escaped from the startled cyan Pegasus' lips. Not only did she not realize she was staring like a fool at the amazingly regal creature in front of her but that she was in very real danger of drooling all over the floor. In the doorway stood pony, 'no, pony isn't the right word, not by a long shot,' a pony much larger than herself or the doctor with the wings of a Pegasus and the horn of a unicorn. Adorned with strangely familiar regalia, golden this time instead of silver and a sun instead of a moon emblazoned on the chest piece. 'And the flank,' she noticed. The Captain groaned inwardly, 'that dream with the princess wasn't a dream after all! I swear one of these nights I’ll have a plain old normal dream.' Florence smiled at the approaching pony and daintily went down on one hoof; “oh my, I wasn't expecting you to be here today Princess Celestia." The pony in the doorway smiled warmly at the yellow Pegasus bowed in front of her. "Fluttershy, please, there is no reason to be so formal, this is your ship and for the time being your home. This is still by our laws considered sovereign territory of Sol if my memory of those laws still hold true." The princess looked over to the still recovering captain. "Captain Rene Desoto, I am princess Celestia, ruler of Equestria. It is good to see you are well, you had your crew worried as you were gravely injured when you managed to land your ship." The captain was stunned by the sheer grace and beauty of the princess in front of her, both as she talked and as she moved. Her flowing mane, while not quite as colorful as hers, still contained various shades of pink and green and had a surreal glow to them. The way it gently flowed as if trapped in an ethereal wind only added to the overall look of royalty and mysticism. The small -by comparison- Pegasus shook her head and looked at the princess. "I am not sure where to start princess, I-," nervously she rubbed the back of her neck with her hoof and looked over to where Florence or Fluttershy or whatever the heck her name now was, "I haven't caught up with all thats happened yet." The princess' brow furrowed momentarily, but unfurled into a smile, her voice filling the Pegasus with warmth like a spring sun on a chilly morning. "I can see the concern in your eyes but let me assure you, your crew is safe and happy," she walked to the bed, "so please do not worry about them. For now I am here to help you as much as I am able.” The captain looked over to Florence who nodded and smiled. "Very well Princess if Doctor Florence is not concerned, I won't be either." The Princess cocked her head to the side for a moment while somehow able to remain regal, a movement the Captain found rather familiar to that of a certain Midnight blue pony, then in realization chuckled warmly, "Oh you mean dear Fluttershy!" Fluttershy touched the captain's shoulder. "I'm sorry but I um- didn't want to bother you with this as you already had so much to go through and it is such a tiny thing really.” The Pegasus shyly looked down and scuffed a hoof against the deck, “After the first day the ponies form the local town took many of us into their homes while the engineers built new homes for the crew. We have all um- picked up what you may think is merely nicknames but to them it is so much more. Mine is Fluttershy, it's- well it's linked to our cutiemarks.” The captain gave a deep sigh and rubbed her temples. “OK, lay it on me, what's the story behind cutiemarks." “If I may Fluttershy?” Celestia asked. With a nod she continued; “Every pony is unique and has a special ability. This marks them as so much more than just an Earth pony, Unicorn or Pegasus. This very special talent or ability to do something special represents itself as a mark on the flank,” as she is spoke one of her wings unfurled itself from the princess' back and pointed to her own cutiemark, a blazing sun, “of each and every one of us. Normally this mark is acquired when a young filly or colt realizes that one thing that truly makes them special.” “So wait, does that mean I have one too!?” Quickly the cyan Pegasus lifted the sheets of the bed she was still in and froze. It was not her cutiemark that caused her to freeze, although it was rather colourful. It was a realization- A rather obvious realization if you think about it- She was naked- As was the Princess- And so was Fluttershy. Throughout this thought process the cyan mare slowly went from cyan to almost purple as a fierce blush spread from her face to her neck and upper torso. She peeked over at Fluttershy again. 'Yup, very naked.' The princess with a knowing smile merely dipped her head down to Fluttershy, whispered something into her ear and gave a small bow to Rene “It was nice finally meeting you Rene. I hope in time you will embrace your true name but for now I will have to depart. The time schedule of a leader is quite unforgiving.” As the regal pony turned to leave Rene caught what looked like a wink from the Princess though she could not say for sure if that is what she saw. 'Wait, are Princesses even allowed to wink?' To her credit Fluttershy managed to keep a straight face even as she turned from yellow to orange as her own blush did its best impression of turning the mare into a chameleon. There was a long and very awkward silence but this at least served to reduce the two ponies blushing down to a level where they were at least mostly back to their original colour. “So-“ “I-“ Both ponies smiled nervously as they looked away from each other. A small cough from the captain brought the Doc’s attention to her “Um, you go first.” “Um w- well, y- you see,” stammered the pink haired Pegasus said, a soft dusting of pink remaining from her blushing still covering her cheeks, “it took us a few days to get used to the-, " a tiny mumble was all she could muster, "but well, with the fur and the anatomy of ponies and all that..." she trailed off. “I guess you're right um- Fluttershy,” the unfamiliar name feeling strange on the Captains tongue, “when in Rome right? Or in this case, Equestria.” A visibly relieved Fluttershy game a small giggle, “There is a lot of strange and new things, and also so many old and familiar things. But I think we'll be alright Captain.” A sudden load yawn surprised both ponies as the captain slapped a hoof over her mouth. “Wow I didn't realize how much all this took out of me. I'm sure I'll be right as rain after a little nap. So Fluttershy, what cool name does the locals have for me?” As the captain laid back down she noticed that her back and wings barely hurt at all anymore and that she was slowly becoming more and more comfortable with her new form. As her eyes felt heavier and heavier she looked over at the Pegasus standing with her forelegs once again on the side of the bed. “Well, they said you had the same cutiemark as another legendary Pegasus hero called Rainbow Dash.” The Pegasus said thoughtfully. Another big -yawn- from the tired captain. “Rainbow Dash?” 'Figured as much, dang stupid dream and stupid pony Princesses.' A small pause “Still it's a pretty cool name,” With Fluttershy tucking her in and Dash’s eyes closed she felt a soft peck on the forehead and mumbled, “Rainbow Dash is at least twenty percent cooler than Re..” As the rainbow haired pony started softly snoring the Doc smiled warmly at her. “I think so too, Rainbow Dash.”