Chapter 6: Trauma
Chapter 6
Trauma
The next morning dawned bright and cheerful, and Rainbow Dash rose with the sun. Many ponies would be shocked at how early she had gotten up, especially since she had no weather duties to attend to. But today was special because, even though her search was ultimately fruitless, Twilight Sparkle had finally been found.
Rainbow Dash was ecstatic now that she could cancel the rest of her worldwide search. She’d barely covered half of the Equestrian continent in the preceding months, and had not been looking forward to searching the rest of the world. Despite her speed, such an endeavor would have taken years, maybe even decades.
She took a deep breath of the crisp, late-winter air as she stepped outside her cloud home. She had missed the skies over Ponyville. This was her domain, and Ponyville’s airspace had not been graced with her presence for nearly five and a half months! It was high time to rectify that mistake.
With a joyous shout, Rainbow Dash catapulted into the air. This was what she lived for. No worries, no doubts, just her and the open skies. Rainbow was about to launch into an impromptu aerobatics routine when movement below caught her eye. Looking down, Rainbow could see flashes of color in between the barren trees of the Whitetail Woods. Specifically, she saw flashes of purple and indigo.
Zooming down for a closer look, Rainbow Dash was surprised to see Twilight Sparkle leisurely cantering along through the Whitetail Woods.
“Hey Twilight!” Rainbow Dash called out. “What are you doing out this early?”
“Oh, hello Rainbow,” Twilight replied as she turned her head to look at Rainbow Dash, but otherwise continuing her pace. “I’m just out for my morning run.”
Something about that answer didn’t sit well with Rainbow Dash. “Since when did you have a morning run, egghead?”
“I picked up a few habits while I was away, Rainbow,” said Twilight. “Besides, it’s done wonders for my physique.” Indeed it had. Now that Twilight was not covered head-to-hoof in armor, Rainbow could see that she was much slimmer. While Twilight could never have been called fat, her sedentary lifestyle meant that she was a little pudgier than the average Ponyville resident. Now though, the bookworm looked like she didn’t have a shred of body fat.
“Yeah, that is definitely a good look for you,” said Rainbow as she continued to follow Twilight. “Say, weren’t we supposed to meet at your place for breakfast? What’s on the menu?”
“Pancakes, eggs, and muffins,” replied Twilight as a hint of drool formed at the corner of her mouth. “It’s been a long time since I’ve tasted Cadence’s cooking.”
For a moment, Rainbow could only blink as her brain tried to process that statement. “Wait, the Princess is cooking breakfast?”
Twilight giggled at Rainbow’s reaction. “Cadence may be the Princess of Love, but she also loves cooking. Frankly, her baked goods would give Pinkie a run for her bits.”
Rainbow couldn’t take it anymore. She just started laughing like a hyena. Somepony was a better baker than Pinkie? Yeah, she’d believe that when she saw it.
Her disbelief was not lost on Twilight. “Well, you’ll learn soon enough. Breakfast should be ready in thirty minutes. Say, could you do me a favor?”
It took a few moments, but Rainbow Dash eventually got her laughter under control. “Sure Twi, hehe, whadya need?”
“I need you to go by Rarity’s and ask her if I could borrow one of her ponnequins. I’d like to keep my armor on display in my room.”
“Sure thing, Twi,” replied Rainbow. “Knowing her though, she’ll just let you keep it.”
Twilight couldn’t help but laugh at that. “True, true. So, anyways, I’ll see you at the library. Later.”
“Later Twi.” With that, Rainbow Dash jetted off into the blue skies over Ponyville once again, angling her trajectory towards Carousel Boutique.
“Well, I suppose I could let go of one of my ponnequins,” said Rarity. “I must say that it will be put to good use. That armor was exquisite! It’s a shame that I didn’t ask what it was made from.”
Typical Rarity, thought Rainbow Dash, wearing a knowing smirk on her face. “Yeah, well, we were all kinda distracted last night. What with Twilight showing up out of the blue with a story suitable for a science fiction series.”
“True,” Rarity muttered in agreement. “Frankly, I’m still appalled at the fact that Twilight is a killer. Doesn’t that bother you?”
Rainbow blinked once and shot Rarity a flat look. “Not one bit.” With that declaration, Rainbow Dash fled from the boutique, not even giving Rarity the chance for a rebuttal.
The Ponyville library was a large building, but even so, three alicorns and seven ponies, plus a baby dragon, could make the main room seem small. It didn’t help that Twilight had dragged out a large table from storage that was taking up most of the available floor space.
Still, Twilight could hardly complain. All of her friends and the Princesses were enjoying a hearty breakfast, and she wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world. She just wished that her parents could’ve made it down to Ponyville. She’d gone to see them after her nap the previous day, but they simply couldn’t tear themselves away from work on such short notice, unlike the Princesses whose word was law.
Having finished a second plate, Rainbow scooched her chair out from the table and patted her belly contentedly. “I’m sorry Pinkie, but those were the best muffins I’ve ever tasted.”
“Nuthin’ to be sorry about, Dashie,” Pinkie replied as she mimicked Rainbow.
“It’s why I married her,” added Shining Armor.
For her part, Princess Cadence could only smile… and blush. There was a lot of blushing. “Oh, all of you are just flattering me.”
The friendly banter continued for what seemed like hours as Twilight tried to catch up on some of what she’d missed while away. However, all things must end, and eventually Princess Celestia tapped a glass, calling everypony present to attention.
“Now, Twilight,” she began. “I believe you have a story to continue. Please, tell us, what happened after the battle?”
Twilight stood up and cleared her throat before speaking. “Yes, right. So, the fight for the ship was over, and…
The noise in the engine room was deafening. Marines, ODSTs, and a few Navy engineers continued cheering over their recent victory.
Despite recently losing her lunch, even Twilight Sparkle jumped for joy. That is, until she got a good look at the results of her spellcraft. Nearby, the burnt husk that was once a Skirmisher emitted acrid smoke. The scent of blood, ozone, and fresh vomit mixed in a pungent, nauseating cocktail.
Lurking behind that, however, was an all-encompassing sense of fatigue. It was something she’d felt before. The last time she felt like this was after her first attempt to remove Discord’s corruption, before she even learned of the draconequus’ involvement. This time, however, the feeling was much stronger.
Like on the planet below, she started shaking. This was different, though. Her trembling was far more violent, so much so that she started to worry Tony.
“You alright there, Sparky?” he asked.
“I-I-I don’t k-k-know,” she managed to say. Her head swam as darkness began to cloud her vision. The cheering seemed to die down to a faint droning. She didn’t even hear Tony yell her name as she passed out.
She was alone. Darkness spread as far as the eye could see. Yet despite the darkness, she could still see. Bodies were strewn all around her. Humans, Covenant, ponies, all dead. All butchered. Her hooves were coated in blood of various hues.
The unicorn walked amongst the carnage, as if drawn towards an unseen horizon. Suddenly, the bodies faded, dissolving into a black mist, save for one. Lying before her was the body of Princess Celestia. Her once white coat was stained red with blood. Soon, even she dissolved into mist.
The mist swirled all around the unicorn. In front of her, a pair of eyes began to form in the mist; large, teal, viperous eyes. Below the eyes, a black snout pushed through the mist, snarling with a mouth filled with wicked fangs. Without any warning, the mouth snapped open and lunged at the unicorn…
Consciousness found Twilight lying on her back in a soft, warm bed. Thin, silky sheets covered her up to her neck. Her head felt like somepony had been using it for drum practice. She slowly cracked her eyes open, only to be blinded by a bright light.
“Ooh, Princess,” she groaned. “It’s too early to raise the sun.”
“She’s awake,” someone said. Twilight knew that voice, but her foggy mind was having trouble placing it.
“Thank the lord,” another voice said. Twilight recognized this one too, but had equal trouble placing it. The Stalliongrad-ish accent was rather distinct, though.
She turned her head, and once more cracked open her eyes. The light was still bright, but it was no longer pointed directly at her face. Her vision was blurry, but clearing slowly. She eventually made out both George and Sergei sitting at a table, dressed in casual fatigues with an abandoned game of chess in between them.
After several false starts, she eventually managed to say something. “Where am I?”
“Sick bay,” said a third familiar voice, this one on the other side of Twilight’s bed. She turned her head to see who it was, which only caused her headache to flare up. Twilight hissed in pain as she squinted her eyes. The pain faded quickly, allowing Twilight to open her eyes a little more. She saw Dr Montgomery standing over her, examining her closely.
“You gave us quite a scare when you passed out, Ms Sparkle,” she said, a hint of motherly concern in her voice. “How’re you feeling?”
“Like the morning after a party at Berry Punch’s place,” said Twilight. “How long have I been out?”
Dr Montgomery chuckled. “Not long, only a few hours,” she said. “About long enough for word of your exploits to spread all over the ship. Congratulations, Twilight Sparkle. You’re a hero.”
“Oh great,” groaned Twilight. Even thousands of lightyears away from Equestria, she couldn’t avoid being a celebrity. She tried sitting up, but this only caused another lance of pain to shoot through her head.
“Easy now, don’t strain yourself,” Helen said as she placed a cool, damp cloth on Twilight’s forehead, pushing the unicorn’s head back down on the pillow. Slowly, but surely, her headache began to fade. “Any idea as to why you passed out? I hate to ask, but I have very little knowledge about your physiology.”
Twilight thought for a moment before coming up with an answer. “Magic exhaustion, with a side of mental trauma is my best guess.” In the back of her mind, she knew that self-diagnosing was a bad idea, but at the moment she was too exhausted to care.
Helen raised an eyebrow as she typed something on a datapad. “Magical exhaustion?”
“Well, I was tossing out a lot of spells during the battle,” she said. “A few of them required a lot of energy.”
“She melted Hunter armor, Doc,” George exclaimed.
“Da,” Sergei added. “Remind me not to piss little pony off.”
Twilight laughed nervously, clearly remembering exactly why she slung around so much power earlier.
“And… the mental trauma?” Judging by her face, it was obvious that Helen already knew.
Twilight gulped. She was afraid she’d be asked about that. “I don’t want to talk about it,” she mumbled.
“I see,” Helen said evenly. “Well, if you ever want to talk, my door is always open, Ms Sparkle. For now though, I pronounce you fit to leave sickbay. Go and decompress. You’ve had a long day.”
“Y-yeah. I have,” Twilight agreed.
Slowly, she climbed out of bed, and only encountered a brief bout of dizziness as her hooves touched down. George and Sergei stood up to help her, but she only waved them off. “So, what’s next?”
“Well, Colonel Zhang wants to have a meeting with the squad in our ready room, and you’re invited,” George answered, a bit of trepidation in his voice.
Twilight cocked her head sideways. “Something wrong?”
“Nah. I just have a bad feeling about this whole mess,” he replied.
“You always have bad feeling,” Sergei said mirthfully. “You had bad feeling about yesterday’s soup!”
George just grumbled at his teammate, eliciting girlish giggles from both Twilight and Dr Montgomery. It took them a couple minutes to calm down.
“Well,” Helen began, “I’ve got paperwork to finish. Twilight, I hope to see you later.”
“Thank you, doctor,” she said.
“Please, Twilight,” replied Dr Montgomery. “Call me Helen.” With that, the doctor turned on her heels and walked through a nearby door. From what Twilight could see around the woman, it appeared to be a normal office.
“C’mon, Twilight,” George spoke up as he started to leave the clinic. “Colonel Zhang’s waiting for us.”
Twilight fell in step behind George, while Sergei took position behind her. She suspected that they were escorting her like earlier, but wasn’t completely sure due to their lack of weapons.
That lasted until they got out into the hallway. An armored, grim faced Marine handed George a handgun and he holstered it on his belt. Twilight could only conclude that the humans still didn’t completely trust her, even though some considered her a hero. Still, the Marine flashed a quick smile as she trotted by.
“So…” began Twilight, “we’re meeting the Colonel. Do I have anything to worry about?”
“I don’t think so, Twilight,” replied George.
“Good,” she sighed. “I just hope he likes me.”
“Frankly, I don’t like you.”
Twilight could only blink at Colonel Zhang’s blunt remark. “I’m sorry?”
“Let me be clear. Yes, you saved a lot of lives earlier. Yes, my ODSTs adore you. But to me, you’re nothing more than a giant fucking security risk!” As he swore at her a vein in his forehead visibly pulsed. “If I had my way, you’d be locked up in the brig until we got to Reach!”
Involuntarily, Twilight gulped. Zhang was the first human to show any sign of open hostility towards her. Everyone else she’d encountered had been overly curious at worst.
“However,” Zhang continued, “in his infinite wisdom, Captain Ackermann has decided to be very lenient with you. You will not be spending the trip locked up. But that does not give you free reign aboard this ship. Am I understood?” Unable to speak, Twilight nodded her confirmation. “Good.”
Zhang turned around to face George and his troops, who were standing at attention. “Now, against my better judgment, I’m entrusting Angel Squad to look after our guest. I want this done by the book, and I will not tolerate any of your usual shenanigans!”
Sergei mumbled something under his breath. Unfortunately for him, Zhang must’ve heard him “What was that, Corporal?”
“Yob tvoyu mat, comrade Colonel,” he replied.
Zhang glared at Sergei for a moment. “Very well. All of you, dismissed!” With that, the Colonel swiftly walked out of the room. As soon as the door closed behind him, everyone let out a pent up breath.
“Holy shit, man! Holy shit! I can’t believe you said that to him!”
“Seriously, Sergei, you are one crazy Ruskie!”
“Why, what did he say?” asked Twilight.
“’Fuck your mother’,” everyone replied simultaneously.
Twilight’s jaw dropped upon hearing that invective. Part of her mind wondered why Zhang was treated with such open disrespect. From what her brother told her about life in the Guard, such an act was unheard of in Equestria.
Her thoughts were interrupted when the door hissed open once again. Expecting to hear Zhang return to dress down her new friends, she was surprised to hear a familiar, soft, feminine voice. “Did I miss anything?”
Twilight recognized Lin’s voice. She turned around, and received yet another shock. Twilight expected a big, hulking brute of a woman. However, without her armor, Lin was downright petite. Still, her muscles were well defined under her fatigues, and she looked like she could overpower Sam easily.
“Sergei just cussed out the Colonel right to his face,” said George incredulously.
Lin covered her mouth with a small, delicate hand and giggled like a little girl. Once again, in a strange case of juxtaposition, Twilight could almost see her friend Fluttershy standing there.
“Wish I’d seen that,” Lin said. “We’re on guard duty?”
“Correct, Lin,” George replied. “We were told to do this by the book, but since we don’t exactly have regs for a non-hostile alien life form, just treat Twilight like she’s a regular civilian.”
Lin nodded and walked towards what appeared to be a small kitchen area. Now that Twilight wasn’t busy being yelled at, she took a moment to survey the squad’s ready room. It was better furnished than the Royal Guard’s barracks at the palace. The walls were the same dull gray as the rest of the ship, but the floor was actually carpeted. Granted, it was a horrid green shag that would put Rarity into a coma, but at least it wasn’t metal.
The walls were decorated with what appeared to be framed photographs. Some showed families, while others appeared to be graduation photos. Twilight made a mental note to further study them for any similarities to pony culture.
Calling the kitchen a “kitchen” was being generous. It consisted of a small fridge, an even smaller pantry, a counter with a built in sink, and not much else. Lin opened the pantry, pulled out a small bag, and tossed it towards Twilight. Reacting, Twilight caught it just before it hit her, and saw that it was a bag of potato chips.
Her stomach grumbled sympathetically, much to everyone’s amusement. Chuckling to herself, she opened the bag and began munching on the snack. The taste was a definite improvement over her previous meal of bland vegetables.
“Well, when you’re done with your snack, I’ll show you your cabin,” said George.
“Here you are, home sweet home,” George said with mock enthusiasm. It was a tiny room, with sparse accoutrements. A small metal desk and chair along one wall, and a thin mattress in a recess on the opposite wall were the only bits of furniture.
“How luxurious,” Twilight deadpanned.
“Yeah, well, the Presidential Suite’s down for maintenance, and every other room was booked up.” George’s sarcasm was so thick that Twilight could almost see it hanging in the air. “If you need a snack, you can raid our pantry any time you want. The ready room’s just down the hall, so you don’t need an escort from here to there. Breakfast is served in the galley at 0700. One of us will wake you up in time.”
Twilight only nodded. She wondered how she’d tell the time, as there was no clock she recognized.
“It’s 2314 right now, so I’d suggest getting some sleep. We’ve all had a long day. I’ll get you a datapad in the morning. Then you’ll be able to browse the ship’s library.”
The unicorn smiled at that prospect. She’d desperately wanted to learn as much as she could about humans. Their history, their culture, everything she could.
“Light switch is right here.” George tapped the switch next to the door a couple times. “Night, Twi’. See you in the morning.”
“Good night.” With that, George left her to her thoughts, the door hissing closed behind him. Having nothing better to do, Twilight climbed into bed. She had a little difficulty, seeing as it was sized for a human. But, with a little effort, she managed, and it was surprisingly comfortable despite how thin it was. Nowhere near as good as her bed in Ponyville, but it’d do.
She laid her head down on the pillow and flicked the light switch with her magic, intending to get some sleep after a long, long day.
However, now that her mind was free of constant stimuli, it began racing. Her thoughts turned to her friends. No doubt they were wondering what exactly had happened to her. Princess Celestia would’ve undoubtedly been informed as soon as possible, and most likely would be busy puzzling out how the spell had misfired.
Being the Captain of the Royal Guard, her brother would most likely be with Celestia, and would know about her fate as well. The one saving grace would be that her parents most likely hadn’t been informed, but that would change soon enough. They would be in tears for a long time to come.
The worst part was, barring a miracle, there was likely no chance for Twilight to return home. She would never again see Rainbow Dash as she raced through the sky, never model another of Rarity’s dresses, and never taste another apple fresh from Sweet Apple Acres.
She’d give anything to see Fluttershy’s smiling face once more; to taste just one more of Pinkie’s cupcakes.
Sleep was a long time coming.
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I was just thinking about Halo when this updated! Talk about timing!
Whew! Been waiting for this one!
Why do I get the feeling Zhang will eventually taste Twilight's wrath himself? Maybe he'll do something stupid, like insult Angel Squad to her face.
BTW, out of curiosity, are you planning a sequel to this? Because from the looks of things, this is just the backstory for what could potentially be a crossover of epic proportions. Maybe the next book involves Twilight using her knowledge to allow Equestria to travel the stars?
I have been waiting for this day forever, it seems. May I tell you how much I love this story? It's simply fantastic! Now if only I could travel to the future and read it all in one go...
An update. YES!
Can't wait to read. :3
~Batsy Marble
Awsome pawsome now for more
More please!
...FUCKIN' HELL. I almost issed this because of the 97+ chapters in my Que! Arrrgh!
Another great chapter. Can't wait for more fighting though.
i get on real quick to see if any of my fav's has updated, and what do you know!
Dat ending
Dem feels
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Updates!
And [censored].
Oh... Challenge accepted.
F****.
First.First.
-end bad forum joke-
Boy it was a good chap of what happened after the fight but I would really like longer chapters do not mind me though. Keep up the good work.
Alright, new chapter.
Awesome!
just logged on saw update and was like
then was like
then was like MOAR
Excellent as always, but it seemed a bit shorter than usual for some reason. Also, sorry Twilight, but I'm agreeing with Zahn, he shouldn't trust you with all the shit the Covenant have done.
THIS, GOOD SIR, IS AWESOME!!!
Another one of Pinkie's cupcakes but you're eating Cadence's muffins? That sounds like insults from a man "touched by the gods"
I had just re-read the previous chapter before this updated... convenient
Glad to see this updated.
Is 'Queen' still being written, or have you cancelled it?
NICE!
Sergei is now second-best pony(Twi's still first).
We need him ponified. Now! In fact, get all of Angel Team as ponies. Fan artists, Hop to it!
Hey, thanks for shoving Tooth and Nail out of the top position in the updates box.
I'm kidding, somebody had to.
Yob tvoyu mat
Spotted this right off. Yes, I learned all my foreign swears from Tom Clancy.
1465326
no, just no.
As amazing as ever! Can't wait for the next chapter!
1465334
Realized I had the wrong name right after I posed it. Look again.
1465333 Good to see that someone else learned their (relatively) obscure profanity that way.
Post-combat stress and exhaustion: Bad.
That dream: Ho-ly shit. I'm hoping it was just the usual mish-mash processing, and not prophetic.
I think I was as surprised by Dash's answer to Rarity's question as Rarity. I'm just wondering whether or not Fluttershy's going to have a bad reaction.
All in all, well done. 3.5 of 4.0.
Wait, first?
Whenever this story updates, I drop whatever it is I'm doing to read it.dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/emoticons/misc_Lyra.png
Col. Zhang's reponse strikes me as perfectly justified. After all, Twilight's an alien. Who knows if she's a new type of Covenant soldier?
On a side note, will the Humans ever meet the Equestrians?
1465339
Better, but still no.
-Insert Moar joke, or possibly Oliver Twist "More, please" here-
Yeeeeeeeeeesssssssssssss~~~~~~~~~
1465364
What? Did I get the wrong name again?
Finally an update not to much happened in this chap but it was still entertaining can't wait for the next
Glad I get emails for this. I was actually just finishing up with editing one of the stories I work on when I got the email. Below are some things you should look at in this chapter, good author.
Might want to fix that.
Wrong punctuation mark. You want a comma.
1465214 Now all I can picture is a brass, gold, and steel ship called the ESS Harmony showing up and pounding the piss out of a Covenant battle group....
1465343
I learned my obscure profanity from Karen Traviss novels.
1465441 Dammit. Honestly, how do I miss some of these things?
Good to see an update
Lin is a spartan correct?
Can I just say one thing?
MOARMOARMOARMOAR
seemslegit.com/_images/9dcb72ba1c0ff4efb5c936ebec423d4c/470%20-%20moar%20parrot.jpg
smilepanic.com/wp-content/uploads/MOAR8.jpg
smilepanic.com/wp-content/uploads/MOAR9.jpg
smilepanic.com/wp-content/uploads/MOAR11.jpg
deviantart.com/download/87145667/cry_sum_moar_by_makani.jpg
files.sharenator.com/633515943671714095_photoshop_wars_5_iran_fires_moar_Copy-s750x600-149924.jpg
AWESOME CHAPTER!, as always, however I woud like to see If Celestia and Luna put Twilight into some test to consider how would she fare against the most veteran elite soldiers in the Royal Guard and what rank they would give her, I want to see some high ranking oficers being beaten down to paste!
On the Wings of Angels updated?
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This chapter really shows, to me at least, that Twilight is and was still the same pony we know and love, just changed from some honestly traumatizing ordeals, and that's she's doing a lot better than many would in her place, though different issues are cropping up for her than a human in a similar situation.
I'm reading this with a headache
Too good to stop.. But the paaaain...
Ossum chapter, as usual.
Moar, as usual.
1465402
I just like humans to stay human.
:c
1465316
Not cancelled, but not actively being written either.
1465489
Yes, a Spartan III to be precise.
If you're gonna bring up her size, I checked. Spartan IIs are freakishly huge due to an implant in their thyroid that releases human growth hormone. Spartan IIIs do not get said implant.
1465333
I learned it from one of Harry Turtledove's newer books; either it was "Hitler's War" or "East and West" (Or was it "West and East?"), either way features a lot of foreign swear words.