//------------------------------// // With Blood // Story: Sword of Equestria: A Sword of the Stars II Crossover // by ForceUser //------------------------------// Sword of Equestria: A Sword of the Stars II Crossover Chapter 3: With Blood “Fluttershy! I swear to God or Celestia or whoever the hay- heck runs this crazy planet that if I don't get out of this bed right now I will go stir crazy!” The normally timid little yellow Pegasus was uncharacteristically steadfast as she stared levelly at the equally stubborn Captain still confined to the med bay bed. “No, you heard what the Princess said Missy! Besides if you went out there and hurt your wings permanently why-,” fighting back a lump quickly forming in her throat, “why I wouldn't know what I'd do with myself.” The cyan Pegasus folded her hooves in front of her and started to pout, “It's not fair! I feel fine, my wings barely hurt at all-“ Somehow managing to cut her off even with her demure and naturally shy voice, Fluttershy put a hoof on her shoulder, “I know it's not fair Rainbow Dash but it's not just that. Your wings are a mess and need to be preened and cleaned and we can't do that until they are completely healed. Spitfire showed me how to do it; she's the Wonderbolt captain and one of the best fliers in Equestria after all.” An unexpected pang of jealousy hit the Captain. She knew a little bit about Morrigi mating habits back home and preening was large and very intimate part of the process for the giant dragon like aliens. She even had the opportunity to serve on a Morrigi 'yacht' for quite some time before the war as part of an officer exchange program. Despite the jealousy she chuckled inwardly, 'only Morrigi would refer to their colossal combat cruisers as 'yachts'.' To be fair though they were lavishly outfitted and by far the most expensive ships of all the allied races' cruisers. Trying a different tactic the Captain decided to use her very best doe eyed pout with quivering bottom lip. Unfortunately for her it was not something that she has had a lot of practice with so the result was less than optimal. Flutteshy, to her credit, was kind enough to not burst out laughing at the poor attempt to soften her resolve. It wasn't that the Captain wasn't utterly adorable or even cute Fluttershy decide, it was just that the mare had had to deal with the captain trying to get out of med bay early far too often to fall for those tricks. Luckily for them both they were interrupted by the doors sliding open and producing the aforementioned ruler of 'this crazy planet'. Smiling with relief the Doctor unfolded her arms and gave a little bow. “Prince- um, I mean Celestia,” the pony corrected herself, remembering the request from the previous day, “Rainbow Dash here is suffering from a bit of cabin fever I'm afraid, not that I can blame the poor dear but I'm afraid she's going to hurt herself if I let her outside the ship.” “Hay, I'm still in the room you know,” said Dash, sticking out her tongue at the concerned mare. The Sun Princess walked over to the two ponies and regarded the Captain with some bemusement, “I know it is frustrating Rainbow Dash, perhaps even more so because you carry her name but I think I can help with your cabin fever. Fluttershy, would you mind if I asked the Captain to show me around the ship?” Her timid and shy nature suddenly reasserting itself with a vengeance the Pegasus nervously scuffed with her front hoof against the deck plating -a tick she seemed to have picked up since her change- “Oh, I um- I guess that would be OK,” looking up though the Princess could see the concern in her eyes, “but you have to promise to keep her from trying to fly around. Celestia smiled reassuringly, “You have my word Fluttershy. I will make sure no harm comes to your Captain." 'Wait did she just put emphasis on 'your' Captain-. Nah it's just my imagination.' Slowly making her way off the bed, Rainbow Dash huffed “I can take care of myself you know,” Pausing and realizing who she is addressing she hastily added, “with all due respect Princess.” A soft chuckle coming from the princess indicated that no offense was taken at the remark. As the Captain struggled to get down from the bed, her legs wobbled as they almost buckled underneath her. Her body was not yet used to walking on all fours and the combination of unfamiliar body and more than a week lying flat on her rump had her barely able to stand. She felt the soft and gentle touch of what she assumed was the 'magic' Fluttershy talked about, surrounding her and helping her find her footing. “Thanks um- Celestia, didn't realize how shaky I'd be. This is almost worse than that time the Doctor here confined me to that stupid bed for three weeks after that Tarkan ambassador visited.” She could hear a growl of indignation from behind her, “You had a pierced lung, several broken bones and a cracked vertebra! Just be glad I didn't hold you for the full two months I should have. according to regulations.” The captain looked over at Fluttershy and rolled her eyes, “Oh please I creamed that lizard at that silly stick fight of theirs and relations with the Tarka were never better.” “It was martial combat and if he was a changed male he could have killed you!” A slight whimper came from the teary eyed doctor, “You may think you're invincible but you're not!” The cyan Pegasus bit her lower lip and with a worried look walked shakily over to the pink hared, and now crying, Pegasus. “Aw common Fluttershy, I'm sorry,” She embraced Fluttershy, “the only reason why I can take these kinds of risks is because I know I have the best doc in all of SolForce to patch me right back up.” She gave the crying mare her best smile to show she really meant it, wiping away the tears from her damp cheeks. “-sniff- OK, but you promise you won't do anything stupid you hear?” Teary eyed she looked at Rainbow Dash. She nodded her head, “I promise. Besides, we're just going to tour the ship, my ship.” She tapped her hoof against the nearby titanium alloy hull, almost losing her balance if not for the mare she was still embracing. “This is one of the safest places on this planet. I'll be fine.” Letting go of the Doctor, Rainbow Dash walked over to the med bay doors with the Princess in tow explaining all the different statistics of the ship. Ooo0ooO “Right, so our first stop is the main Command Bridge but we'll be passing the brig and one of the starboard Cutting Beam modules on the way. Those were a last minute thing too, the Cutting Beams I mean; the ships' fixed mounts were all fitted with normal Lancers when she was built but the Liir, allies of ours and all round cool dudes, lent us some modules when the war with the Zuul broke out.” As the captain continued to talk about the Indomitable, the pride of the SolForce fleet, Celestia could hear that this ship was Dash's pride as well. Not just the ship itself she realized as the she started talking about the crew and how they operated the various combat and non combat systems. This was a pony that not only respected and loved her crew but was also proud of their achievements as she talked about the various individuals and the accomplishments they had made. In a break in their conversation Rainbow Dash gave a sidelong glance at the princes and cleared her throat, “Apologies if I seem a bit forward Celestia but I am not sure what kind of pony you are. Fluttershy has told me about Earth ponies, Pegasi and Unicorns but you seem to embody all three.” Celestia looked at Rainbow dash a nodded “Very astute Rainbow Dash, I am indeed an embodiment of all three races of ponies, an Alicorn. This is part of the reason why I was chosen to rule. There was much strife between the three races after the arrival and change. There were no indigenous ponies to help them come to terms with their change. Rainbow Dash frowned slightly; 'it almost sounds like she has first hand account of the founding of the colony, but that would be impossible. It was over 99 years ago by my count and she sure as hay doesn't look like a century old mare. It also sounds liek it was a lot longer ago than that.' her frown deepened as all the pieces of the puzzle failed to fit just right. “Celestia, how long has it been since the original colonists landed here?” Rainbow Dash looked up trying to read the Monarchs face, but finding it near impossible. Celestia had one heck of a poker face. She stopped and looked off into a dimly lit hallway, “it has been over three thousand years Rainbow Dash. I have heard from some of your crew that only a century or so had passed back... home.” That earned another frown from Dash, 'home- if she was a descendant, why would she refer to Sol as home?' Shrugging off her internal monologue as unnecessary worry she nodded for the Alicorn to continued. “Not a surprise really, time seems like an almost inconsequential casualty if you realize we were flung across a galaxy.” They were so busy talking that they almost missed the bridge. Chuckling Rainbow Dash stopped and opened the door, momentarily forgoing further questions to the Princess. Grimacing at the sight of her half destroyed bridge she gave an apologetic smile to the Princess “Sorry for the mess, I guess no one has been up here since-,“ she furrowed her brow trying to remember but gave up and sighed, “well I can't really remember much, only scraps here and there, mostly when I'm dreaming.” “Dreams and memories,” the princess mused, “my sister tells me she has been trying to assist you in your dreams; with helping to recover some of those memories.” Rainbow Dash's ear twitched was the princess fishing for information? “Well I did have a rather interesting dream involving another Alicorn like yourself but with a midnight blue coat and a mane that looked like it contained galaxies of stars a few nights ago.” Rainbow Dash decided to give the bait a nibble. A soft, almost inaudible whisper came from the princess, laced with sadness, “Oh Luna, you still love her, even after all these years.” The shadow of a pain long forgotten flashed across the Princess' eyes for a split second. "I do apologize Captain, after telling my sister of your- striking resemblence with regards to a certain mare of legend I realized that she would want to see for her self. My sister has had a certain difficulty letting go of the past unlike myself and my niece. "Celestia," the uncertainty in her voice making it crack "Exactly how old are you?" “We -my sister Luna, my niece Cadence and I- are immortal Rainbow Dash.” Celestia turned away from the bridge and started to make her way into the hallways outside with a curious Rainbow Dash in tow. “At least, as far as we can tell. We were on the SFS. Maer Sera when we were flung through that anomaly so many thousands of years ago. We were there for the founding of Equestria and her two sister colonies, for the wars and peace that followed,” a fond smile appeared on the Princess' face, “one of your crew members, Twilight Sparkle has become quite the expert on Equestrian history. She would be the pony to talk to if you wish to know more.” The princess slowly came to a halt and turned to look at Rainbow Dash, “The part of the history that pertains to you though happened more than a hundred years ago. In fact, it pertains to quite a few of your crew members including Fluttershy." A wistful smile appeared on Celestia's face as she recalled how the six had saved Equestria more times than anyone truly knew. "Six ponies, now known in legends as the Elements of Harmony managed to bring my dear sister Luna, whom I had thought lost a thousand years prior, back to me. Those six ponies saved us all so many times but they were not immortal. The rainbow maned Pegasus took some time to digest all the information presented by Celestia. The immortality thing wasn't a huge shock for her interestingly enough. The Liir were technically immortal, although -that- never ended well when they decided to take that immortality by force. Even the similarity to six legendary heroes wasn't that big of a deal; coincidences or destiny it doesn't matter as the end result is the same. The thing that surprised her, or rather what she had trouble wrapping her mind around was how one pony could love another, and carry that amount of pain around, for so long. The pain and desperation that Rainbow Dash had seen on the face of the Lunar princess suddenly made a lot more sense to her. Idly she lifted a hoof to her neck, to scratch at an itch she's had back there since they left the bridge. Frowning and focusing on the itch on- no in her neck she could feel the intensity of it increase, as well as the pain. Immediately she froze, her eyes wildly darting around and her heart gripped within a cage of icy fear. She knew that itch, that pain. Quickly she grabbed a hold of the Princess' hoof, "Celestia, we are in great danger, we have to move now!" Turning around and galloping towards where she knew was the closest armory. The Princess, hearing the urgency and fear in the Pegasus' voice scanned the area and sensed it. She sensed it slithering and crawling towards them, she could feel the scratching at the back of her mind as well now but quickly reinforced her mental defenses. Turning around and quickly catching up to the Pegasus she silently berated herself for dropping her guard like that. "Quickly, in here!" hissed the Pegasus, almost dragging the Alicorn into an open doorway and quickly closing it with the slam of a hoof on the control panel. As the princess turned around to look at the Captain she immediately recognized the room for what it was, this was one of the undoubtedly many well stocked armories on this ship. "I am so sorry princess," the Pegasus said with tears in her eyes, her face numb, "I can't believe how stupid I was. I was so caught up on everything happening it never- it never occurred to me that in the chaos of the battle Zuul could have boarded the ship. I- I bucked up everything." "At attention, Captain Rene Desoto!" boomed a voice unlike anything the Captain had ever heard, the assault rifles and flamethrowers on the racks rattling with the raw power of the voice and the authority inherent urging her to immediate action. Immediately Rainbow Dash jumped to attention, muscle memory taking over and standing on her hind legs, a front hoof in a salute "Ma'am yes ma'am!" Pleased that her Royal Canterlot voice, though somewhat rusty with disuse, has had it's intended effect the Princess continued with a softer but no less commanding voice, "Rene Desoto," she paused looking the Pegasus in front of her in the eyes, "you are no longer bound to that name, you are and forever will be bound to the name of Rainbow Dash. She was the bravest, the most loyal and," a small chuckle from the princess, "the coolest pony to have ever graced our corner of creation." Looking over to the racks of weapons the Alicorn levitated a combat rifle quickly disassembling it as she spoke, the parts moving too fast for the eye to see as it reassembled itself seemingly of its own accord, "You will embrace what it means to be the Rainbow-of-Legend my little pony." Closing her eyes the horn's glow increased, almost too bright to look at and with a crack all the energy was released. "For now that means loyalty to your ship, and more importantly your crew." Under her breath Rainbow Dash swore, "Fluttershy..." Nodding the princess inspected her handiwork on the modified assault rifle. "Yes Rainbow Dash, she is the only crew member still on board having refused to leave until you were hale and whole. Another aspect of the legend you embody, being able to inspire such loyalty in others." She levitated the now modified combat rifle over to Rainbow Dash. "It has been some time but one of the perks, and curses, of being an Alicorn is a never failing memory." Rainbow Dash took the modified rifle, finding it a perfectly fit for her hooves and grabbed a motion detector from its mounting next to the combat rifles. Making her way over to the door console, ready to open the door she looked over her shoulder a the princess "Alright Princess, I'll lead the way. We'll head towa-" Holding up a hoof to interrupt the Pegasus she smiled, "Do not worry about me my little pony, I have not lived for three millenniums to be killed by mere vermin. Go save your crew member, I shall deal with the source of the infestation." With a steeled resolve Rainbow Dash slammed her hoof down on the console, the door sliding open with a near silent hiss. A sudden and blinding flash caught the Pegasus' peripheral vision as an orb of pure kinetic force shot past her. With a dull impact the orb swatted a Zuul larvae out of the air as it tried to lunge at her from the other side of the door. Momentarily dazed the captain shook her head and looked at the unmoving furry larvae on the floor. "Wow, you weren't kidding Princess, that was pretty awesome." Nodding at her Celestia motioned down the hallway. "Go Rainbow Dash, I shall join you as soon as I am able." Taking off at a gallop she headed deeper into the bowls of the colossal dreadnought. Scanning her wrist mounted motion detector she could see the blip of the Princess quickly moving off the grid along with the smaller blips of the larvae disappearing in her wake. Another blip, quickly approaching from the opposite side, indicated fast approaching danger. Quickly Rainbow Dash readied the rifle slung across her back, placing the butt of the rifle to her shoulder and testing the grip and trigger nestled within the enlarged trigger guard. Her hoof fit perfectly where normally only a finger would be able to curl around the trigger. Lowering her head to the sights she moved into a crouched position just as a small, furry and very fast moving worm like creature rounded the corner in front of her. With the practice of hundreds of hours on a firing range Rainbow Dash slowly breathed out and fired of a round... Ooo0ooO Grimacing as she let off another round and killing the vile creature that had almost sneaked up on her by using the ceiling to try and confuse the motion detector. 'Almost there Dash, just one more corridor.' Out of breath and in quite a bit of pain from her not-quite-healed wounds, Rainbow Dash struggled out of her crouched position back on to all fours. Wiping the sweat off her brow she quickly scanned her motion sensor again; it looked all clear but she was leery of trusting it completely and made sure to check every corner of the hallway with her eyes before moving on to the next. Reaching her goal she could see the med bay door code-locked from the inside and allowed herself a small moment of relief. 'That's my girl,' she thought as she quickly tapped into the internal comm, "Fluttershy, it's me Rainbow Da-" before she could finish the door slid open and a bundle of yellow and pink assaulted her with hugs, almost bowling the poor Captain off her feet. As it was she was just barely able to keep standing as she clung to the yellow mare for support. "Oh Dashie, I was so worried, when I heard the gunshots I just knew something was wrong so I locked the doors but- but I wasn't sure if you needed help or if- if you were hurt and- and," She buried her face in Rainbow Dash's mane, quietly crying into it and dampening the Captain's shoulder, "you promised Dashie, you promised you would get hurt, you promised everything would be fine!" Still in their embrace Rainbow Dash started to softly, and somewhat awkwardly, stroke the pink mane of the mare in front of her "Hay, don't worry Flutters, I told you I'd be fine and I am. I was with the Princess after all. She made me this awesome gun see, and there was never really any danger, I just had to come make sure you were OK." Starting to rock back and forth she held tightly to the Doctor until the sobs were reduced to sniffs and even those were reduced to nothingness, as if her frame could block all the bad things in the universe. "Hay, tell you what," She said after a long enough time without a single sniff from the yellow Pegasus, "Why don't we go inside and wait for the Princess?" The soft tap-tap-tap-tap of 4 metal shoes on titanium deck could be heard as they both looked up to see the princes, seemingly unscathed approach the two mares on the ground, "That will not be necessary Rainbow Dash," The princess stopped in front of them and smiled, "I was able to stop the vile creatures at their source and I can assure you there does not remain a single one on the ship or in Equestria. I do however," a slight frown crosses her face, "need to return to the castle urgently. For now, please get some rest, you performed your duties well." As the princes turned to leave, she looked over her should and into the Captain's eyes; "Some ponies will say that the Rainbow-of-Legend would be proud of your actions today," She turned her head and cast a faraway look down the hall, "but Luna would say that the Rainbow Dash she knew would be humbled."