Blood makes you related,
loyalty makes you family.
“Are you ready, Rainbow?”
I rolled my eyes as the egghead had asked that same question like a million times. “Yeah, I am. Now get to activating that portal so you can start calculating and I can start searching.”
I was packing a large amount of equipment, my saddlebags filled to the brim with survival equipment while I myself was wearing enchanted leather armour that would protect me from the elements and any potential blunt trauma I could be exposed to on the other end. We stood in front of the mirror which was surrounded by all sorts of equipment, humming away as it was probably monitoring the mirror.
“Just remember that I will not be able to pull you out for a good while so you'll be there for some good time before you can return.”
Placing a hoof on the alicorn's shoulder, I looked her straight in the eyes. “Twi, we're not going to get more ready than we already are. Send me through and let me do what I'm good at.”
Twilight's ears drooped and she swallowed nervously. “Alright, I trust you Rainbow. Be safe and get our girls back.”
I smirked as the alicorn took her distance and started activating some of the surrounding machines. “I'll have them in ten seconds flat!”
The mirror came to life, becoming a portal once again as the machines around started humming loudly. Twilight called out that the portal was ready and I didn't waste a second to step through. The ride was incredibly bumpy, it was almost like flying through turbulence only in this space I couldn't compensate in the slightest. It made me sick to my stomach. The journey wasn't all that long but the moment I got spit out was a moment of great relief. Looking myself over after getting my bearings turned out to be quite a shock.
Sweet Celestia, I really did change into a different species.
Of course twilight had warned it was very likely this would happen but that only really softened the blow. A comforting factor though was that I'd been able to keep my wings, feeling the feathers catch wind.
These look like those hand things Twilight told me about.
My fascination with the new body parts was interrupted as I heard someone shout from some way away. My wings flared while I went into a low crouch as eight green-armour clad creatures approached, aiming some kind of tool in their hands at me.
“Get onto the ground! NOW!” one of them called out, followed by similar orders from the others while they kept advancing on me. I looked around the immediate area, seeing all sorts of buildings around and various similarly clothed creatures standing further out which were either getting to cover or aiming their own tools at me. “Get onto your belly or we will open fire!” the lead creature shouted again.
Shit, are those things ranged weapons?
I quickly went over my options as the possibility of a ranged weapon of unknown power was in play.
Getting caught here is not going to help me search for the girls... Those things don't have wings, do they?
I smirked and crouched down, preparing a mighty flap but before I could launch myself I got hit by something really heavy from the side. “Oof! Hey, get off of me!” A black armoured individual was pinning me to the ground on my stomach, soon joined by the green armoured ones. One of the creatures sat on each of my wings, keeping them pinned, while two others were keeping my torso and legs in check. “Let me GO!” I growled to no avail.
“If you stop struggling this'll be a lot easier!” the one on my back growled, pressing his knee onto the back of my head. I soon felt my hands being tied together and wings strapped to my body while my bags were cut loose and taken away separately, and as a finishing touch a blindfold was applied. Now in complete darkness, I was hoisted up into a kneeling position and held there.
Buck, buck, buck... These guys are really serious.
“Hey, we can tal-”
“Keep your mouth shut. You will only speak when spoken to,” a gruff voice cut me off.
“Hey! What gives you-”
“What part of shut the fuck up do you not understand?” another voice said as I got smacked to the back of the head. I growled but kept my teeth clamped together as I was getting nowhere.
“Marines, stand down!” a female sounding voice called out from some distance away and I could hear someone running closer. “Return to your posts, she's ONI's concern now.”
“I don't take orders from spooks, lady,” the one who'd smacked me across the back of my head stated.
“Then I'll just go to your superior and make him order you to give him over to me,” the female said sharply, “A waste of both our energy so let's not make this an issue shall we?”
“Fine. She's yours.” I got roughly pulled off the ground and pushed forward, getting caught by someone as I clumsily stumbled on my two legs.
“Thank you for your cooperation,” the female stated sarcastically, grabbing me by the arm and guiding me along. “I take you're the Rainbow from Princess Twilight's side of the portal?”
“Wait, what? Who are you?” I asked as my eyes widened below the blindfold.
“Sunset Shimmer, it's good to meet pony you. Though why you're here is a good question on its own,” she stated, I'm sure that's when we entered a building as the temperature went way up.
“Hey, no offense, but can you get this blindfold off of me?”
“Oh yeah, sorry about that,” I had to squeeze my eyes a little as the room was lit rather brightly. “I just wanted to get you into my lab so you're not in plain sight of everyone. I sort of have to make a few calls to some people now you're here.”
“Uhh, okay? Look can you tell us what in Tartarus is going on here?” I exclaimed as I looked around Sunset's lab, the machines and gadgets reminding me of Twilight's basement. “Like, who the hell were those people outside?!”
“Those were Marines, they were just doing their job,” Sunset waved off as she screwed with a glowing tablet of sorts.
I rolled my eyes. “And that job is?”
“Killing,” Sunset simply answered, sending a shiver down my spine. Had they been close to ending me right then and there? Sunset must have noticed me being uncomfortable as she put the thing she was working on down for a moment. “Look, Rainbow, this place... It's bad. What did Twilight think she could achieve in sending you here because I don't believe you got the portal working on your own.”
“She wanted to measure the time stream thingy, needed the signature of a pony to do so or something.” Sunset sighed and rubbed her strange, furless, forehead.
“Of course she did, honestly I don't even fault her.” Sunset shook her head. “How much time has passed in your world since the Crusaders went through?”
“A week? Twilight said that in this place more time could have passed though...”
“Correct...” The deep frown on Sunset's face told me I was not going to like the next part. “Dash, for the Crusaders it's been over three years.”
My legs suddenly felt exceptionally weak, collapsing from the shock of that revelation. For me it'd been seven, admittedly rather long, days but for the crusaders it had been so much longer. “Where are they?”
“They're out there somewhere.” Sunset pointed at the roof as she said that. “Honestly I have no clue where exactly, they're operating deep behind enemy lines. If they've made it then they'll get back into contact in about two to three months.”
I felt my blood drain from my face completely, my stomach twisting into further knots. “And how long have you been here?”
“Two years,” Sunset answered. “I actually owe my life to those three. I'd have been killed right after arrival if it wasn't for their intervention.”
“I can say the same about owing you,” I stated starting to feel like I was way out of my league here.
“Nah, that ODST wasn't about to snap your neck. And even if I hadn't intervened you'd have ended up with me.” Sunset sighed and picked up her tablet again. “Look, I need to finish this message and after that I'll fill you in on everything, okay?”
“Yeah... Alright...”
I stared into the mirror that hung in Sunset's tiny washing room, taking in the wrongness of my new body. Not only had my entire species been changed, but also the colour of my hair, the thing that was my Celestia damned namesake. The messy hair went from red, to orange to blonde and then white, the green, blue, and purple having completely disappeared, the only place where blue was still visible was the pair of wings that sprouted through a set of adjusted clothes from Sunset.
Ugh, your hair is the least of your problems right now, Rainbow.
Stepping back into the main room that also served as Sunset's lab I went over and got myself a glass of water. The scale of the revelations that had been dumped on my head for the last hour had been almost too much to handle for even someone as awesome as me. I could hardly believe the Crusaders, messy as they were had become hardened warriors in the three years they'd been here but from the little Sunset had shown they really were something. I'd gathered they'd gotten fairly badly hurt somewhere along the way, but Sunset neatly skirted around the subject and left out as many details as possible.
And then there was the fact I was pretty stuck on a planet sized warzone.
This place is such a mess...
Poking at some of the machines only entertained me for less than ten minutes, boredom setting in pretty soon after that. It wasn't like I could go outside either as it was literally a warzone and, to be fair, it wouldn't be the brightest of ideas anyhow to go wander.
Though if I stay close to the building Sunset won't be too mad, will she?
Deciding it wouldn't be all that much of a crime, I stepped out and found a fairly covered spot near to the door, laying down on a box of sorts and looking up at the sky. It was filled with grey clouds and dust, not a ray of sunshine managing to pierce the grim view.
“Why does this new world need to be so depressing!” I called out in frustration, exploring new dimensions was supposed to be fun!
“Yeah, this place isn't exactly the best but there are good people around.”
I sprung up to see Sunset standing a small distance away with her arms crossed.
“I uhh...”
“Got bored of sitting inside?” she finished for me, I nodded sheepishly. “Yeah, guessed so. Mind if I join you?”
I shook my head and made place for Sunset who grabbed a package of cigarettes from a breast pocket and lit one up. “You know those are real bad for you, right?”
“At the rate things have been going around here I'll die of a plasma blast long before the lung cancer, which incidentally is something they have an easy medical fix for around here,” Sunset stated matter of factly as she took another long drag from the cigarette. Honestly, I couldn't fault her, the pressure Sunset must have been under was probably crushing.
“So what am I supposed to do around here? I don't want to sit around and do nothing,” I stated, switching subjects.
“Honestly, I have not a clue what you can do. Getting you off world would be kind of counterproductive as I'm working on creating a portal back to Equestria but around here you simply aren't trained enough to be of help.”
That irked me more than I'd care to admit, the Rainbow Dash not being of help? That couldn't be. “Oh come on, you could teach me stuff, right?!”
“I could teach you stuff, yes, but that's something completely different than actually going through the entire training process. Marines get trained to exhaustion and then a little further, ODST's even harsher,” Sunset said as she shook her head. “The facilities simply don't exist here on Harvest.”
“Scoots and the girls, they're marines, right?” I asked as I recalled Sunset's quick explanation she'd given me before, I hadn't been told of these ODST's yet though.
“No... well, yes. They are, or were, ODST's, orbital drop shock troopers. They're recruited from the best marines, they're among the elite of the elite. Only really two units are better than them,” Sunset said as she leaned against the wall and blew out a lungful of smoke. “Can't say much about those except that the girls are part of one of them now.”
“I just... can't wrap my head around all this, it just sounds so unreal,” I groaned as I did my best to avoid the smoke. The girls having become high end trained killers... They were just kids!
“For sure, it'll take a while to get used to this place but you'll find a spot to fill.” Sunset stood back up and flung away the butt of the cigarette, stamping on it to make sure it really was out. “Come on, there are some things we need to set up. The next few days will be rather busy for you.”
“At least it'll be something to do.”
“Heh, sure, let's go with that,” Sunset chuckled in a way that I could hear I wasn't going to like.
“It's going to be paperwork, isn't it?”
“Lots, and lots of it.”
“Ughhh”
The cryo-tube hissed open, my body still somewhat stiff and very itchy from being suspended through the slipspace voyage. Beside me the others had a much better time as they hadn't been in any clothes when they entered, my Mjolnir making that impossible. Knowing it would go away with time, I set off towards the bridge to get a quick update from the captain since the crew should have been out for a while.
The small population of our prowler had become fairly tight-knit as we'd had to rely on each other for survival for the last few months. Except for a small incident where Scootaloo had become a little too friendly with a male crew member, they had shown the utmost professionalism.
“What's our status, captain?” I asked as I found the man I was looking for. He turned for a moment to acknowledge me before returning to monitor various screens for anomalies.
“There should be a UNSC space station around here with updated information but I'm keeping silent until we can confirm it's still operational,” he answered, tapping a few buttons to bring up a two-dimensional view of the star system to show our current position. “ETA is two hours, I can probably confirm the station is active in one. Can you inform your CO that I want you guys on standby just in case?”
I nodded. “Of course, sir, anything else?”
“No, sergeant, you're dismissed.”
After saluting him I turned to leave, my strides somewhat larger than when I made my way back to the cryo bay.
“So, think Sunset has stuff figured out?” Scootaloo asked Sweetie, pulling up her pants while her upper body was still completely unclothed. Ana was a little further along, tying her shoes already.
“She's like Twilight when it comes to magic. I haven't a doubt,” Sweetie replied, eying me. “So what's the word?”
“Cap wants us combat ready just in case. Where are the Spartans?” the three of them cursed as they quickly started undressing to get into their BDU's instead.
“They're in the armoury,” Sweetie informed me, pointing at the door that lead to the mentioned section of the ship. Needing to go there anyway, I stepped in to find the three Spartans working on their weapons.
“Cap wants us on standby, Maria, we should have contact with the station in about an hour,” I informed the spartan in question after joining them.
She nodded, “Captain's prudent as ever. Linda, Grace, warm up the pelican for hot deployment. I take the others are being dressed.”
"Yeah, they should be done in ten," I replied, knowing the three of them would step on it to get ready. "So, do ya think ya will be joinin' us on Harvest?"
"Perhaps. I would not be surprised if Command wanted to send more than just you to gain your people's help," Maria admitted as she opened the weapons lockers, pulling out a battle rifle and loading up on ammo. I pulled out my shotgun and also made sure my shell supply was topped up to maximum. Ana, Scoots, and Sweetie came in eight minutes later to get their own gear and equipment, Maria giving them a quick set of orders before we all made our way to the pelican and waited in the craft for news. Linda and Grace took the piloting positions while the rest of us waited in the hold.
"So, how long do we have to stay in this bird before we can actually get a snack? I'm starving," Scootaloo complained while sharpening her already razor-sharp knife even further.
"'till we get an all-clear from the cap, if yer that hungry ya know there's a small provisions kit on the pelican here," I stated as Scootaloo being bored out of her mind was nothing new.
"Yay, protein bars and dry cookies..." she replied in the least enthusiastic voice she could manage but went to look for the things anyway. Ana on the other hand was leaning back in her chair, looking completely at peace as she sat there. Sweetie, though, was way too quiet for her standards.
"So what's on yer mind, Sweetie?"
She looked up, looking me in the eyes before letting out a sigh. “Harvest.”
“Scared that Sunset ain't able to get us home after all?”
She shook her head. “No. I am afraid she is able to. Bloom, what the hell are we going to do when we get back? Get Celestia to help the humans and return to school? We've aged three years and then there's the little detail of us being trained killers now, how many of those do we have in Equestria? Even the royal guard would probably be reluctant to take us in.”
“That's a bridge we will cross when we get to it, and when we do we'll all be there to figure it out together,” I stated, though the concern was one that had undoubtedly crossed all our minds at some point. Putting it off was really all we could do as honestly we hadn't a clue how everypony back home really would react.
"What is it like?" I looked over to Maria who'd asked the question. "Your world I mean."
That question kind of took me by surprise, in all the time we'd been together Maria had never really asked about any details about us. Of course she knew we weren't fully human, but before she'd only been interested in what abilities that provided us with.
"Peaceful," Sweetie stated. "Technology isn't nearly as advanced as around here, closer to industrial era Earth, but magic makes up for it in many ways. Ponies do not have the same drive as humans, a need to know more, expand. Content with what they have and maintaining balance."
Taking off her helmet and placing it next to her, Maria took a seat and leaned forward. "Sounds like a wonderful place to live."
"It really is," I confirmed, sighing as I remembered the rolling plains around Ponyville, even the Everfree had a beauty of sorts to it. "Canterlot, Cloudsdale, the Crystal Empire, Rainbow Falls... Each of them really is a sight to behold, perhaps you'll get the opportunity to see them all."
"Perhaps I will," Maria agreed, turning away her head as she received a message. "We're up. Captain just pinged the station and didn't receive a response. We're going in to investigate."