Sword of Equestria: A Sword of the Stars II Crossover

by ForceUser

With Pegasus Wings

Sword of Equestria: A Sword of the Stars II Crossover

Chapter 6: With Pegasus Wings

Rainbow Dash groaned loudly as she sank into the steaming hot bubble bath, the wisps of steam lazily rising and fogging up the only mirror in the bathroom. The slow fizzle of bubbles popping on the water surface helping to relax her as much as the warm water swirling through her hooves and wings. The day had been a long but extremely rewarding one, not so much in having accomplished anything of any specific value but rather in finally doing something other than sitting on her flank and having weird dreams. Her body was sore and stiff from not only the unaccustomed hard labor but also pushing her new body to the limits -as much as the hovering Fluttershy would allow of course. The aromatic water was having the desired effect; washing away the sweat and dust of the day and soothing her tired muscles by slowly unwinding them. Even her wings were enjoying finally being allowed to slowly open and soak in the water, the places where they sprout out of her wing muscles relaxing and the constant pain slowly being replaced by bliss.

She had spent most of the day with Applejack inspecting the colossal dreadnought from the inside out with Fluttershy constantly hovering about and worrying about Dash and her wings. She liked how much the yellow Pegasus cared about her, even if was one huge pain in the flank sometimes. She shook her head ruefully; If this had somehow happened on just about any world back home, getting the Indomitable back up into space and into working condition would have been a relatively simple matter. The manner in witch she got down on to the planet in one piece would have been hard to explain but the battle damage alone was not enough to cause any lasting issues with getting her space worthy again. With the Adamantine armor plating supplied by the Hiver Queen herself protecting the vulnerable innards of the ship and the 'magical if a might bit messy' as AJ put it, Tarkan GOOP modules, the ship was practically ready to do front line duty

Sinking into the water, nearly submerging herself completely with only her face and muzzle sticking out she stared up at the at the wooden ceiling of the small cottage, now home to Fluttershy and a bizarre array of of animals. She gave a deep sigh, bubbles forming at the sides of her muzzle; 'I wonder how things are going back home. I wonder if we lost any more worlds or how much of the fleet was lost. I wonder if Earth…'

Shoving herself into a sitting position she shook her head head to try and derail that train of though. Chastising herself for worrying about something she could do nothing about she pouted. 'There is no going back Dash and you know it. Besides even if we could, what would we do? We're just ponies now, barely able to function on our own ship and even our weapons are useless. We'd be nothing more than a nuisance, not even able to protect our own homes.'

Slamming her hoof into the water with frustration, a wave of the foam topped bathwater deposited a large amount of soapy water on the fire brick floor and soaked the bathroom mat. “It's not fair!” she yelled in frustration.

A soft knock at the door pulled her out of her angry introversion, “Is- is everything OK in there Dashie?” came the soft and timid voice of Fluttershy from the other side of the door.

Scowling at herself for losing her cool, Dash took a slow long breath to calm her nerves. “Everything is fine Fluuttershy, I just um- slipped is all,” wincing at the obviously lie she held her breath; she didn't need to burden her with these thoughts. 'All part of being in command, you can't show weakness or you lose the trust your crew put into you, or worse.'

“Oh- okay,” letting out a slow breath as it seemed her little white lie was accepted without question the little voice on the other side continued, “can I come in? Your wings need to be preened properly… if that's okay with you I mean.”

Nervously fidgeting in the bathtub Dash felt the heat of a blush starting on her lower neck and slowly working its way up to the sides of her muzzle. Not wanting the other Pegasus to see the Captain lose her cool she turned around to face the wall and pulled out her soaked wings from the warm embrace of the water. They looked to still be in a pretty sorry state but far better than they were when she got in. Clearing her throat she managed to squeak, “Sure Fluttershy, you can come in.”

Hearing the door slowly open behind her she quickly grabbed a bar of soap and pretended to wash her left hoof, working the soap into a lather trying to get her mind off the awkward situation she's found herself in with the good Doctor. She has had to be bathed by the Doctor more than once when she was still a Human, with her constant combat injuries and sports related accidents so the situation itself wasn't all that different from normal. The one incident in particular sprang to mind; she managed to break both her arms in a friendly underwater wresting match with a Liir black swimmer on a visit to one of their cruisers. The poor thing was terribly sorry she remembered but considering how young the Liir was, Dash couldn't fault it for either its enthusiasm or inexperience with Humans. 'Black Swimmer, so apt a name for the Liir who go off into space to defend their homes, considered dead the moment they choose to take up the responsibility...'

Still she felt more naked than ever, as funny as that was considering she was covered in fur, but she wasn't so naive that she didn't know why. She jumped when she felt a hoof softly touch her wing, feeling it pull away sharply with a startled 'eep' coming from behind her. She had been so lost in thought and Fluttershy so damn sneaky quiet that she had forgotten the mare was even there. “So- sorry Dashie, didn't mean to startle you. Are your wings still sore?”

Chuckling nervously Rainbow Dash was relieved her wet mane plastered across her neck and back hid most of her rising blush. “That's cool Flutters, was just lost in thought is all. So how does it look back there? They looked a bit messed up to me.”

This time when the Doctor took hold of her wing Dash didn't jump or pull away, she merely gave a tiny sigh and lowered her head a little bit, raising her wings up in the process. As the hoof traveled along to top part of the wings -where the bone, muscle and sinew was located- she could feel a pressure building up at the base of her wings. Guessing that there would be a nerve cluster located in that spot that probably fed directly into her spine, she groaned as she was proven right. When Fluttershy reached the base of her wings she slowly ground a soft hoof into the cluster, forcing the nerves to release the taught muscles in her wings and feathers. Immediately she could feel some relief from the the intense itch her primaries and most of her secondaries had been plaguing her from being so far out of position. She let out a low moan; "Oh buck that feels so much better."

Behind her Fluttershy gave a soft 'yey', the stress in her voice dissipating as she worked on the pent up muscles and nerves. “It doesn't look too bad Dashie, they formed fine except for a few feathers that got bent from being wrapped up for so long and the um- the nerves all look like are working like they should be.” Punctuating the her last few words she drove her hoof a bit harder into the feathered back in front of her, forcing the last few stubborn nerves to release and eliciting another groan from the bent over form in front of her. "There we go, doesn't that feel better?"

Glancing over her shoulder Rainbow saw the pony behind her beaming with a happy smile. Blushing she quickly looked back to the wooden wall in front of her, finding it extremely interesting. "Than- thanks Flutters! Yea wow, it feels a lot better! Didn't know the nerves were that twisted up haha," the nervous laugh dieing a quick death in the small confines of the bathroom she gave another quick glance over her should and asked, "so does this have to happen often?" There was a slight hopeful tone to her question.

Seemingly not noticing the tone, or deciding to ignore it, Fluttershy merely shrugged as she started adjusting the Captain's Primaries with her hooves, putting them back into place and smoothing them out. "Oh I wouldn't worry about having to do that too often." Scrunching up her face in concentration Fluttershy adjusted the last Primary in Dash's left wing, the itch slowly receding from her wing but the blush on her face increasing with each pull. The whole situation was surprisingly stimulating for the cerulean pegasus.

Switching over to the right wing the Doctor smiled, "Spitfire was right, this is so much better when you do it with someone else, though um- I still don't understand why she was winking at me so much when she said that." A small growl escaped from the bent over Pegasus in front over her. "Oh I'm sorry Dashie, did that last one hurt?" Fluttershy said with concern.

Dash just waved a wet hoof over her shoulder, not trusting to look over her shoulder. 'Looks like I'm going to have to have a word with this 'Spitfire' pony,' she thought, 'though come to think of it, what do I do if the crew wants to... get to know the locals better? I highly doubt SolForce rules and regs can apply in this sit-'

"OW!" A yelp more from surprise than real pain came from the Captain, "what the hay was that?" Turning around she could see Fluttershy smiling sheepishly, with a light blue feather stuck in her mouth. Spitting it out she looked a bit downcast.

"Oh dear I'm so sorry, must not have said it load enough, there was a loose feather and I asked if I could pull it and you must have been lost in though and i bet you have a lot on your mind and eep." As she spoke her voice got softer and softer and it looked like she was on the verge of tears.

With a pang of guilt Rainbow Dash turned around and embraced the sniffling mare in front of her with a very wet hug. "Oh hay, I'm sorry Fluttershy, you just surprised me is all. I guess I got lost in though and didn't hear you so it's okay." Patting the pink mane Dash realized she was still soaking from head to hoof and was in the process getting her friend very wet as well.

"Oh ponyfeathers," having heard one of the local ponies use the epithet she found it rather fitting in this situation, "now I got you all wet as well."

Fluttershy looked up, a rose tint to her yellow cheeks and trying her best to hide behind her pink mane. "It's okay Dashie, I don't mind," looking down at her nearly soaking wet fur she giggled a bit, "but I am pretty wet."

Biting her lower lip, Rainbow mulled over a thought in her mind. "Well," she finally said, "since you haven't had a bath yet and you're wet already you might as well get in while the water is still nice and warm. It'll be a bit of a squeeze but you can finish with my wings that way right?" She looked hopefully at Fluttershy, noticing the blush on the yellow face darkening by a shade.

"Oh well- I um guess I could, if that's OK with you."

Slowly the yellow Pegasus stood up and with Rainbow Dash scooted up to the front of the large tub, carefully put her hooves into the bath, with her front hooves on Dash's shoulders to provide balance. She lowered herself into the still warm water and shifted around a bit, putting a lower hoof each on the left and right of the mare already seated in the bath. Throughout Dash was desperately trying to wipe the goofy grin off her face but inside she was jumping up and down yelling 'Best. Thing. Ever.' over and over.

Spreading out her wings and peeking over her them and her shoulder just enough to clear her eyes but hide her still goofy grin she said in as even a voice as she could muster, "Well whatever you are doing to my wings, keep doing it, they're feeling way better already!"

With a critical eye, Fluttershy eyed the stretched out wings in front of her in the bath tub. With a wet hoof she took one of the wings in her hoof and inspected it closer. "It looks like the primary and secondaries- I mean the feathers you use to fly are all good, just the one damaged secondary that I had to pull out."

Dash rolled her eyes, "I know what Primary and Secondary feathers are Flutters, books are not just for dorky eggheads, just boring ones like maths or biology. Books about something as cool as flight is like, at least twenty percent cooler." As she was talking she felt Fluttershy dig into her feathers with her mouth, arranging skewed covert feathers and removing ones that were loose. With a soft moan Dash's eyes drooped close as the dull ache of loose feathers poking into her and the general itch continued to fade. She also found that her wings were particularly sensitive right ther- "Ow!" Again her thoughts were interrupted by the sharp pain of a feather being pulled, "I thought you said the rest fo my feathers were all fine?"

Spitting out the feathers Fluttershy smiled sheepishly, "I- I'm sorry Dashie, but your covert feathers are a mess. Most of the broken and bent ones look like they're loose already but there might be one or two more I'm going to have to pull out if that's OK?"

Reaching back with a hoof and rubbing the spot where the errant feather was a few moments ago she flashed a reassuring smile over her back. "It's fine, just warn me next time OK?" With a nod she continued her ministrations with Dash wincing every now and then as a particularly stubborn father got plucked. Even though it was not an overly enjoyable experience, she did feel a lot closer to Fluttershy than she has ever felt, to anyone, even when they were still Humans. As Fluttershy spat out a few more feathers, the bath now full of floating and submerged bits of feather, Dash looked critically at a wing tip with a worried expression, "is it always this bad?"

Shaking her head energetically causing the water in the tub, having lost most of its heat, to splash about, "Oh good heavens no, my first time was painful as well but I really enjoyed my second time with Spitfire even if it didn't last so long. She was really gentle."

Fighting a growl and giggle at the same time, and losing to both, Dash settled for a strangled half cough and staring at the spigot in front her with crossed eyes as she tried to recover. That spigot was really interesting.

Innocently Fluttershy patted Dash on the back with a giggle and started to slowly massage her wing roots again. Rainbow smoothly closed her wings, a much more pleasurable and by far easier task now that they've been preened. Glancing back at Fluttershy her heart started beating faster and faster, not believing was she was about to do. Turning her head back to look in front of her, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath trying to calm the hummingbirds fluttering in her stomach and the jackhammer that somehow replaced her heart. Slowly but surely she shifted herself back more securely into Fluttershy and leaned back.

As she was leaning back, her heart not giving up on it's jackhammer impersonation for a millisecond, it felt like time came to a grinding halt as she felt Fluttershy's hoof on her back freeze. This caused Dash to freeze in place as well including stopping breathing, not sure if she had gone to far or if she had read the signs wrong. She wasn't the most socially adept Human -though seemed to do pretty well with the aliens she's met- and there was no reason to think she would be any better as a Pegasus. An agonizingly long minute passed as Rainbow's lungs started to burn from the lack of oxygen as her heart quickly depleting what little oxygen she did have left in her body. Just as she tensed her muscles to jump out and apologize -not to mention breathe- she felt Fluttershy's hooves slowly and shakily snake their way around the barrel of her chest and pull her closer. Letting out the breath she was holding in a long sigh Dash snuggled on to Fluttershy's soft and very wet body and laid her head in the hollow of her shoulder with a content smile on her face.

Looking up from her position right below Fluttershy's chin she looked up into those big round eyes, as blue as her own fur stare back into her. She could see uncertainty and fear, but also compassion, love and what she hoped was the spark of lust. Slowly she reached up with a hoof, cupping the side of Fluttershy's blushing face while she guided their faces together. Closing her eyes a single thought flowed through her mind; this moment is perfec-

"SURPRISE!" Like a round shot from a rifle Dash jumped out of the bath, nearly hitting the roof, as pure instinct took over. Landing on all fours she crouched into fighting stance she had learned from one the Hiver Princes to face the threat. She was sure it would have looked a lot more impressive if she wasn't soaked and resembled a wet cat more than a fierce Hiver Warrior drone, with water splashed over just about every square inch of the bathroom. As her brain finally finished restarting after the cold reset she realized that the whole bathroom was filled with wet confetti, wet streamers, wet balloons and a very happy, if also wet, energetically bouncing pink pony. With a deep, guttural growl Rainbow Dash stomped her hoof into the floor.

"Pinkamina Diane Danger Pie!"

Author's Note:

Ok so apparently no matter how much I plan my chapters I run off track halfway through the first one and then everything goes out of whack, up to chapter names. I am probably just really bad at making and keeping to the planned chapters. So I've renamed chapter 5 to make this one fit, sorry. Guess from now on I'll just have to wing it.

ps. Yes I realise the whole preening thing is a very cliche catalyst for romance (and popular in clop) but I rather like the imagery.

Hope you guys are enjoying it so far!

Comments

[Dragonfox]

Now that was some bad timing. It looks like someone is in trouble. I can't wait for the next chapter. Keep up the good work.

[ForceUser]

I have started on chapter 7 but work sent me across the country so this chapter will be taking a bit longer than usual

But the story will go on! Huzzah!