Rainbow felt her blood turn icy as she stared down the barrel of the mutineer’s gun. Having seen first hoof the devastation one could wrought, having a firearm pointed at her was truly terrifying.
“Okay.” Rainbow blinked and turned her head slightly to see Apollo approaching,
“Just get that gun out of the Tactical Officer’s face, she’s not going to do anything.” Apollo cautioned. When the pony hesitated, he sighed, “Look, she’s one of the Elements of Harmony. If you want this to succeed, you’re going to need their help, so just lower the gun okay?”
“Well...I guess you’re right. Sorry about that, but Miss Skyline was pretty sure that she’d put up a fight.” As the mutineer lowered the gun, Rainbow Dash tried to say something when the words died in her mouth as Apollo surged forward and slammed a hoof into the pony’s throat, before spinning around and bucking him right in the face as he started gagging, sending the mutineer flying into a wall with a loud thump before crashing down.
Rainbow flew over and quickly checked the mutineer, “Is he…?”
Apollo shook his head, “No, I learned a few tricks, one of them being how to hit somepony just hard enough to knock them out. But we’re in trouble. If they’re looking for the Elements of Harmony, then that mean your friends could be in danger.”
“What! We have to save them!” Rainbow blurted out as Apollo stripped the pony’s armour and weapon from him and trotted back to her, “How are we going to fight them?”
Apollo tossed her the armour. “We don’t.” he replied, strapping the helmet around her head. “We avoid them at all costs until we can get to the bridge, and find out what's going on,” he finished, fastening the bullet-proof vest around the mare.
He looked around and frowned, “But we can’t simply go through the halls together. One of us needs to do some sneaking around.” He glanced at Rainbow, “And that’s your job.”
Rainbow blinked, “What do you mean ‘my job’? What can I do that you can’t?” Rainbow hovered so she could cross her forelegs and Apollo simply pointed with a hoof at the ventilation ducts, causing the rainbow pegasus to blink and then her widened with the realisation, “Oh…”
“Yeah, I can’t fit, which means I can’t sneak around and avoid detection while getting the info we need on this mutiny. Those vents weren’t made specifically to fit whoever built this ship, but they are large enough that a slim pony could crawl through them and find out what’s going on.” He flew up to one of the vents and began working to remove the cover.
“So what do you want me to do? I can’t exactly fight all those mutineers by myself.” Rainbow asked with a small amount of trepidation in her voice.
“You won’t have to. They’re likely keep anyone who resists locked up. If you can find them and release them, they’ll fight to regain control of the ship. Which is what I hope they can manage, because there’s no telling what the Captain might do.”
That was the reminder to Rainbow that their Captain was also the most powerful being on this ship and if she was pushed far enough, especially by threatening Twilight…
Rainbow shuddered, before she realised something, "Hey. Why am I wearing the armour though? You’re the one with the gun!" she asked.
Putting a hoof on her shoulder, Apollo said softly, "Because I want you to be safe."
Turning away, Rainbow said nothing as she decided to crawl into the vent to conceal her burning cheeks. If everything went downhill from here, at least she knew that Apollo had her back.
With a squeak, the mare managed to slide herself into the tight passage. Now that she was inside, she was able to get a true sense as to why she was going it alone. Even though her athletic, trimmed body was fairly small, the cool, metal walls of the duct still grazed the sides of the armour.
She thought about ditching the heavy protecting gear, to move more quickly, but decided against it. Should she emerge from the vents into the middle of a firefight, the bulky armour would prove invaluable.
Feeling a soft breeze fluttering through the hairs on her tail, she pushed on.
Crawling through vents was easier than Rainbow thought it would be, although she was certain that someone would hear the scratching that the armour was making as it dragged through the air vent.
Shifting around a corner, Rainbow began to hear the sounds of voices coming from a nearby grate. Crawling towards the conversation that was in progress, Rainbow risked a glance out of the slitted opening, to see who was talking.
“So, we’ve got control of the Armory, two of the Elements of Harmony are in custody, and we should have the rest of the crew locked up in a few minutes. Any word on the ones that escaped?” The pony asking the question looked like one of the gun crewponies, talking to a scientist who was holding a pistol in the distinct glowing grip of telekinesis magic.
“We’re still looking for the Doctor and his mare, and we’re still missing Loyalty, Kindness and Laughter. Last I heard we managed to locate Honesty in the supply area, but she’s injured a few of us already, and well... you know Miss Skyline’s orders.”
The crewpony nodded, “I know, don’t harm the Elements of Harmony, But has she got to remind us every minute? Bet you she’ll chew out the ponies who grab Honesty, no way that mare’s going to be brought back without bruises.”
The scientist shrugged, “Not my problem. I’m just more worried about Princess Celestia. I mean, what if she decides that this mutiny isn’t worth keeping the paint intact? She could just incinerate everypony and be done with it.”
“Yeah.” The crewpony nodded in agreement, “I suppose that’s why we’re grabbing the Elements. She may decide to fry us, but with the Elements as... Well, as hostages, she should stay her hoof from killing us all.”
The scientist nodded as he turned away, “Yeah. I just hope Miss Skyline manages to convince the Princess to bury this ship again. Something like this just doesn’t have any place in Equestria. Just put this thing back in the ground, where it won’t tempt others.”
Rainbow stopped listening and continued crawling through the vent, her eyes wide. She wasn’t just being looked for, she was being hunted. With far more care than before, she inched her way through the dark maze.
Without a map of the vents, she was working on guesses and hunches based on what parts of the ship Rainbow could see that guided her. The first place she visited was the vent in Twilight’s room, and Rainbow grimaced at seeing the signs of a struggle.
It made sense though, Twilight was the one who piloted the ship, so they’d need her alive and uninjured in order to return home. So if Rainbow could rescue her, they’d be stuck in space until Princess Celestia dealt with them.
Not much of a plan, but it was good enough for Rainbow as she moved to find the other Elements of Harmony.
First things first, find Fluttershy, there was no way that she was going to handle having a gun in her face very well and Rainbow wanted to make sure that the cripplingly shy and soft-spoken pegasus was all right before she went to find the others.
Last Rainbow knew, Fluttershy should have been in the medical area and after a glance through a vent grate to get her bearings, the multicolored pegasus quickly shuffled through the tiny tunnels towards Medical to see if she could find Fluttershy.
Medical was still occupied. Just because a mutiny was going on didn’t mean that injured ponies had to be forced out, and where there were injured ponies, Rainbow found that there were doctors as she looked out the vent cover to study what she could see.
There were plenty of yellow-furred hooves walking around, but she knew Fluttershy didn’t handle crowds very well and moved on. When the shooting started, Fluttershy would likely hide somewhere that didn’t get a lot of hoof traffic. One of the unused storage rooms would probably work.
Shuffling quietly through the vents, Rainbow continued on towards where she thought the storage rooms were. After a pair of wrong turns, Rainbow found the storage rooms for the Medical section of the ship and started look through the vent covers.
The first room was empty, save for a few first aid kits and spare bedsheets. Moving on to the next one as she kept her eyes and ears focused for any clues of her friend
Grimacing at not being able to see any sign of the shy pegasus, Rainbow Dash decided to take a chance and harshly whispered, “Fluttershy! Are you in here?”
Her ears pricked up as she was met with a familiar squeak in response and she smiled with some relief, “Fluttershy! It’s me! Rainbow Dash!”
She carefully listened in the quiet as a small voice whispered in response, “R-rainbow? Where are you?” Rainbow carefully tapped the vent in response and heard the quiet flutter of wings as Fluttershy spoke up just a bit louder, though that may have been because she was nearer, “Oh Rainbow, it’s horrible! First all those hurt ponies, and then fighting started! What’s going on?”
Rainbow sighed sadly, “There’s a mutiny happening, Fluttershy. I don’t know why it started. Maybe what happened on the Dark Star, maybe someponies never liked the Yamato and decided to do this to get the Captain to bury it again. All I know is, they’re trying to take control of the ship.”
“Do...do you think the Captain will let them?” Fluttershy asked and Rainbow shrugged from inside the vent, scraping her armour against the metal to make a slight noise.
“I don’t know. I mean, we’re on board and Twilight’s her student, but at the same time, she might decide that us getting some injuries is worth keeping this ship under her control. I just don’t know Fluttershy. I know she’s the Princess and all, but I don’t know her.”
“I’m scared Rainbow. All this fighting, but I know the Captain will make the right decision. I trust her. I just wish I could help out, but they want to capture me.” There was a pause, before more fluttering of wings signalled Fluttershy landing in front of the vent as she carefully opened it and pushed through a small bag, “Maybe this will help. In case you get hurt or find somepony who needs help.”
Rainbow Dash smiled, “Thanks Fluttershy. You’d better get back to your hiding place, I’m going to see if I can find out where they put our friends.”
As she crawled away, she heard Fluttershy reply, “Stay safe, Rainbow” Before a soft flutter of wings indicated, Rainbow was alone again as she crawled.
With Fluttershy safe, for now, Rainbow decided that she would go find Pinkie Pie, and considering the mare in question, that either meant she was at the ship’s internal radio station area, or in the galley, when the mutiny happened.
“Hmm, if I was Pinkie Pie, where would I be when this started?” Rainbow muttered to herself as she stared at a fork in the vent system, “She probably wanted to-” Rainbow’s ears perked up as she heard the tinny, distant pops of gunfire and immediately started turning when she frowned, “No wait, that could be something else, and Pinkie wouldn’t get into a fight. Still…”
She decided to head towards the gunfire, maybe she could at least see what was going on before she found Pinkie.
As it turned, it was Pinkie she found as Rainbow found herself staring through a ceiling vent, and she was glad for her smaller frame allowing small wing-assisted jumps to reach it, at two armed ponies trying to pin down PInkie inside the galley, only the mare was giving them a lot more trouble than expected.
“Are you trying to kill her? Pin her down!”
“You try keeping this lunatic pinned down!”
“Watch it! Behin-” A loud clang filled the air as a heavy pot smashed into the pony’s head and knocked him out, “Oh Tartarus, forget this!” As the remaining mutineer dragged his friend out, Rainbow watched as a rather serious Pinkie Pie stood up from where she had been preparing to brain the pony with a frying pan to trot over the door as it closed and begin setting up a barricade.
Rainbow decided that it was safe enough to call out, “Pinkie!”
The mare turned and looked up at the vent, before her serious expression lit up in a sunny smile, “Dashie! You’re okay!”
“Yeah, I’m fine.” Rainbow replied, “I heard the gunfire and came to see if that was you they were firing on.” She looked down at the pink pony and winced, “Aw heck, you’re bleeding!”
Pinkie looked back at her back at a long scratch from where a bullet had brushed just a touch too close, before smiling back up at Rainbow, “It’s just a flesh wound! I’ll be fine!”
Rainbow shook her head, “Fluttershy gave me some bandages, let me come down and patch you up.”
“Okie dokie, then you can help me keep these meanies out of the kitchen!” Pinkie replied brightly as Rainbow opened the vent and hovered down, stretching her wings slightly to get the kinks out from all the crawling, before she trotted over to apply the bandages and some antiseptic.
“This might sting a little.” Rainbow cautioned as she wet a cotton pad and prepared to clean the wound.
“I told you Rainbow, I’ll be fi-” Pinkie’s reply was cut off as the mare suddenly sucked in a deep breath and let it out as a low hissing as Rainbow applied the antiseptic and cleaned the wound, before finishing her sentence with a shudder, “Fine. See?”
Rainbow simply shook her head as she applied the bandage securely like they had been taught in basic first aid. Once she was certain that it was on securely, Rainbow moved to help Pinkie set the barricade on the door as banging started from the other side, “Are you sure you want to stay here Pinkie? They’ll break through eventually.”
Pinkie smiled, “Too many cupcakes Dash, I’d only slow you down. Besides, I heard that they want Twilight to get this ship moving back to Equestria, and that could lead to a whole mess of trouble if they get there.”
Rainbow frowned, “So what do we do?”
Pinkie shrugged, “Dunno. Throw a party and get everypony to talk nicely?”
Rainbow whirled on Pinkie, “This isn’t a game, Pinkie! Ponies lives are on the line here!”
Pinkie paused, before her smile slipped a little, “I know, Dashie. But what can I do?”
Rainbow grumbled, “Just help me with this, alright!”
They continued working in silence and as the barricade was completed, Rainbow sighed, “That should hold for now.” She turned her head towards Pinkie, “Keep yourself safe Pinkie, and see what you can find out about a Miss Skyline if you can. You may slow me down, but you can get just about anywhere you want to, you know.”
Pinkie nodded with a shaky smile, “Okie dokie lokie.”
With a nod, Rainbow started to flap up to the vent when Pinkie called out, “Wait!” Rainbow paused and turned in mid-air as Pinkie grabbed something from inside her hair, “Here! I made this party bombs for when we got back to Equestria! Maybe you can distract some of those meanies with them!”
Rainbow smiled, dropped down and took them, before hugging Pinkie, “Stay outta trouble Pinkie.”
“You too, Dashie.” With that said, Pinkie ducked behind a counter and vanished while Rainbow resigned herself to more crawling, but with a new destination in mind.
There was only one pony with the technical know-how to stop this ship from moving, and apart from Twilight piloting it, he would be the most valuable pony in a mutiny.
Rainbow had to find the Doctor. She needed to get to the Wave Motion Engine.
Rainbow’s first clue that she was getting close after several minutes of passing ponies being rounded up and imprisoned or small fights between the loyal crew and the mutineers was the vibrations in the metal vents.
As they got stronger, Rainbow heard the bass humming of the Wave Motion Engine, a low sound that vibrated through her body mixing with a slight whining that made her ears twitch at the sound.
As she moved towards the Engine Room proper, she heard a voice filter through a nearby vent cover, “There’s no need to push her my good pony, we’re cooperating.”
“You’re going too slow! Miss Skyline wants to see you. Now.” Rainbow shuffled over to the vent cover and saw two ponies escorting the Doctor and Derpy down the hallway. One particularly unpleasant looking stallion was roughly shoving Derpy forward and Rainbow suppressed the urge to growl at the blatant bullying.
She had to help them, but what could draw their attention without revealing herself? Rainbow shuffled the bag containing her medical supplies and Pinkie’s Party Bombs forward so she could grab one of the small bombs and look at it.
It seemed simple enough, just pull the pin and throw from the look of it, but would it be enough? Rainbow took a breath, “No point in waiting around,” she whispered as she pulled out the pin, shoved the vent cover open with a scraping sound, and tossed the Party Bomb before slamming it shut as the two mutineers turned around as the fuse started to sizzle and spew smoke.
“What the heck?”
*POOM!*
Rainbow was about to get out and try to take them on when she heard a pair of loud *krak!* sounds and the thump of two bodies hitting the ground and blinked as she heard a voice quite calmly remark, “That was a nice bit of work there. You can come out now.”
Shuffling out of the vent as the smoke cleared, Rainbow surveyed the scene before her. True to their name, the Party Bomb had plastered the hallway with decorations while Derpy stood over the two unconscious mutineers with her silly smile still on her face as the Doctor approached, “Handy distraction there, right in the nick of time as they say.”
Rainbow blinked, “Ah yeah, it was. I was looking for you actually. Lucky thing I came when I did eh?” She remarked with a smile.
“Yes…” The Doctor replied, glancing at the ceiling for a brief moment, “A very lucky and convenient thing indeed.”
Rainbow looked at the downed ponies, “So did you take them out?”
The Doctor glanced backwards, “Hmm? Oh no, I don’t like to fight unless I absolutely have to. Derpy took them down.”
Rainbow blinked, “Derpy?”
Derpy simply smiled sunnily as Rainbow suddenly felt a distinct chill run down her back, “Okay...Anyway, I need your help to shut down the Wave Motion Engine. If we can stop these mutineers from making Twilight pilot the ship back to Equestria, we can make them surrender.”
“Or cause them to try and kill everyone, I mean everypony, but it’s a good plan.” The Doctor replied, “Better than some I’ve heard in the past.” He pointed down the hallway, “As it happens we’re only a stone’s throw away from where the ringleader is confronting our dear Captain now, so we shouldn’t want to miss the show.”
Rainbow moved in front of the Earth Pony before he could try to head in that direction, “Waitaminute! What about stopping them from moving the ship?”
The Doctor shrugged, “I have a feeling that we won’t be moving anytime soon.”
He turned to head down the hallway, “Come now, we don’t want to miss out! The Captain will need our support!”
Rainbow raised a hoof to try and stop them, before shaking her head and following them.
She did wonder what the Doctor meant by his last comment though.
Twilight sat in her designated spot in the bridge. Normally, she would quite enjoy being at the helm of the most powerful object to grace Equestrian soil, yet right now, she was terrified. A heavily armoured mutineer stood next to her, rifle pointed just inches from her throat.
The librarian was sweating profusely. A single mistake could see a lump of lead shooting through her jugular. The view wasn’t even much to look at either, the brilliant view of the stars was now obscured by the smoke and cloud of debris that still floated up from the damaged cannon.
Looking to her mentor for help wasn’t an option, the princess was basically fused to her seat, dozens of rifle toting mutineers surrounding her. A very illegal, magical suppressor was locked around her horn, not that she seemed to notice.
The captain sat perfectly still, gazing out of the far window. Her expression completely neutral but even from Twilight’s position a good few feet away, she could feel the heat radiating from her.
For a brief moment, Twilight theorised that she might be trying to overheat those surrounding her, but it was obvious to see that it was the heat of her rage.
A light on Celestia’s control panel lit up, one of the ponies surrounding her quickly noted it, “Course is re-adjusted. Engines primed, we’re good to go home.”
The pony holding the gun to Twilight nodded, before poking her with it, “You heard her,” they spat, in a clearly feminine voice. “Get moving.”
As much as Twilight didn’t want to, she knew the only way for the innocent ponies aboard to survive was to give in to the mutineers requests.
Putting a hoof on the throttle, Twilight eased it forward.
A horrific, grinding sound shuddered the whole ship. The engines coughed and spat but did not fire. Trying again, Twilight maxed the throttle, hoping that the technique she had used when they had first launched would work again.
Another, unhealthy grinding echoed around the Yamato, the engine profusely refusing to charge the engines, almost as if the Yamato itself was against the idea of moving.
The mare beside Twilight grumbled angrily, and the unicorn felt the cold muzzle of the gun push harder into the side of her neck.
“What are you doing? Get this piece of junk moving!” she shouted, jamming the gun into Twilight’s neck painfully.
Now Twilight was scared. Of all the times for the ship to quit on her it had to be now?
Pressing a few buttons, Twilight purged the engines, redirecting their current charge to elsewhere in the ship, hoping the impromptu reboot would kick them into gear.
Waiting a few moments, she pushed both levers of the throttle forward, hoping the sub-engines would work even if the primary refused.
The Yamato clearly did not enjoy that, a huge throaty bang caused the ship to lurch forward, followed by a monstrous grinding, roaring noise that caused all to clutch at their ears. The angry noises came and went like the movements of a steam engine. The roaring throbbing in and out of clarity like an angry cat.
Desperately pulling the throttle back, the horrific noises died out with a shriek, returning the ship to its idle state.
The gunpony beside Twilight didn’t like that. Forcing Twilight off of her chair, she clambered on top of her, gun still pointed at her face.
“What did you do!? You disgusting bookworm!” she spat, almost as if the failure to launch had turned her rabid.
“I-I-I don’t know! I did everything like I was told, it should have-” Twilight’s sputtering was cut short, when the butt of the gun came down across her face.
The sudden vicious act caused Celestia to move forward in her seat, eyes full of hatred, yet the ponies surrounding her kept her at bay. Despite being able to move the sun, she was not immune to bullets.
“Do that again, and they will never find your body,” she said in a calm, almost happy, yet dead serious tone, that made all back away from the princess slightly.
Even Twilight felt her eyes go wide at the statement. In all her years of knowing the princess, she’d never once seen her become properly angry, let alone make a threat.
The mare on top of Twilight didn’t seem phased however, for once, she was in power. “And how are you going to do that? Heh, actually, I don’t think we even need this waste of space, can’t the first officer also pilot this thing?” She smirked, pushing the gun between Twilight’s eyes.
“Say bub-bye Twilight. I always thought this ship needed a little color. I think red will do nicely,” She cackled sadistically, moving her hoof to the trigger.
“Oh no no! There’ll be none of that!” The Doctor tsk’ed as he strode confidently through the now open doorway, Derpy and Rainbow in tow.
Every gun turned their way as the mutineers nearest to the trio backed while training their guns at them. The mare on top of Twilight sneered, “And what do you think you can do egghead?”
The Doctor smiled and tapped his hoof to a thin, circular device fixed to his holding brace, “This.” There was a high-pitched whine as the mutineers glanced at one another, before it stopped at the Doctor nodded in satisfaction, “I suggest you surrender now.”
The mutineer nearest to them blinked in confusion, before deciding he had enough of the situation and raised his gun. Rainbow closed her eyes tight, then heard a *click* and opened them to find the gunpony staring at his gun, before fiddling with it, “The heck?”
Another pony raised her gun and pulled the trigger, and received a *click* of her own, and as they all received the same sound, the mare on top of Twilight grew paler and paler before she snarled and pulled the trigger of her gun that was still aimed point-blank between Twilight’s eyes.
*click*
The mare gaped, before Twilight’s horn glowed and she went flying into the monitor on the ceiling before landing with a short bounce, knocked out cold as Twilight got to her hooves, “That was...Captain, what happened?”
Celestia was about to answer when the other elevator door opened and out rushed several more ponies in heavier armour and larger weapons, before an Earth Pony wearing a lab coat stepped out after them, causing the Doctor to grimace, “Skyline Vista.”
“Doctor.” Skyline turned to regard Celestia, “The fun and games are over Captain, we have the majority of the ship under our control apart from a few tiny pockets of resistance, and access to the armoury. Return this vessel to Equestria and bury it once more. Our nation does not need an unnatural influence like this.”
Celestia closed her eyes and inhaled, before releasing a slow exhale that made the air shimmer with heat, “Skyline Vista, you should be thankful.”
Skyline raised an eyebrow, “Oh? The way I see it, I have much that can be considered grievances. First the sudden industrialisation programs, the suing for peace with the Border Kingdoms under unfavourable terms, hiding the truth of Little Rock, and then pulling this monster out from under Canterlot?”
She moved in front of Celestia’s seat, “What reason should I have to be thankful for finding out that all you have done recently is because of a message from space? That you are forcing us to advance technologically simply to supply and maintain an alien warship? That you would risk the lives of these ponies who blindly follow you into madness!”
“I would never put any of my ponies in danger!” Celestia suddenly roared, her mane suddenly flaring like the sun she controlled for a brief moment as she struggled to control herself.
“Oh?” Skyline smirked, clearly not phased, “And what about that misfire? Was that ‘not putting any of your ponies in danger’? I suppose I should indeed be thankful, the confusion of that event gave us the perfect opportunity to overthrow you.” She sneered.
“Return this ship to Equestria, Princess, bury it, sink it, destroy it. Get rid of it. End this foolishness.” She waved a hoof at the soldiers, “Look at this. We are not ready to be meddling with the technology of those who are vastly superior to ourselves. I saw the weapon that Tactical Officer Rainbow Dash came back with, heard about what it did when fired, what were you thinking that you would have us face off against beings with weapons like that?”
“I was thinking that Equestria; that Equus, could not remain untouched for long. I was thinking that our past, before the arrival of my sister and I to rule. The legends of ancient times before my birth, may be the key to our future survival.” Celestia turned her gaze back to the window, “And it is out there, Skyline Vista.”
“We know that we are not alone in the universe. We have for a long time now.” The Princess and Captain continued, “We cannot sit idly by until the day when they find us. And then what, Skyline Vista? The Elements of Harmony are not infallible, our magic is not all-powerful.”
She shook her head, “If this ship’s purpose is anything to go off of, we know that they may very well not be friendly, and if so our world could burn, our kind and those of the Griffons, Minotaurs, Dragons and others sold off to alien worlds as slaves.” She focused her attention on Skyline Vista, “Yes, I am mad, insane, for thinking that a message that may be aeon’s old is our only possible salvation against a threat that may never come, but my madness is vindicated Skyline Vista, yours isn’t.”
She leaned forward, heat radiating from her, “I bury this ship again. Then what? Under the law, what you have done is High Treason against my crown and rule even disregarding the charges of mutiny. Will you request that I stop the industrialisation programs? No. Will you demand I restart the Border Wars rather than trade with them? No. I will return this ship because I am no longer cold-hearted enough to watch those I care about slowly die of thirst and hunger, but once we are on the ground? You will never see the light of day again.”
Skyline Vista shrugged, “I will pay that price, so that Equestria remains safe. Your vindication is evidence that Equestria was being watched by aliens who either left or died out a long time ago. Nothing will come and frankly, you are a fool for daring to go out and goad a threat into finding us.”
Celestia’s mane flared with sunlight again but it slowly returned to normal, “And you are twice the fool for your treachery Skyline Vista. A fool damned. I love my ponies as a mother and will never harm you. My sister loves you as a guardian and ruler over her subjects. That is why, when we return, it is she that will decide your fate, not I.”
“I told you I don’t care!” Skyline suddenly screamed, “I don’t care about my fate! I care about Equestria, about the world! You say that danger will find us? I say that you will bring danger back! And I am not alone in thinking this! Why do you think the Canterlot Council has been resisting you? Why do you think entire companies of soldiers aren’t armed with your ‘modern’ weapons? We’ve never needed guns, never needed mines and factories, never needed all this technology, but you forced it all onto us!”
“Because it was necessary.” Celestia replied, appearing calmer than her mane and radiating heat let on, “Even if I decided to ignore that message, I would have done what I have done regardless.”
Her eyes narrowed, “I would have ordered those mines irrespective of any message because we need iron for steel, and gems and gold for trade. I would have built those factories in order to continue spreading our limited rail lines to the furthest reaches of Equestria and create links to other nations that accepted them.”
Her hoof tapped the console, “I would have ripped the guts out of this ship, ordered my scientists to reverse engineer them, and continued my programs anyway. Do you understand Skyline Vista? I would not have stopped, I would have continued on my path, and your protests would be noted and ignored.”
Celestia’s lips curled back into a snarl, “All this. All that you and your conspirators have done, all this pain, worthless. You have damned yourself and these ponies for nothing.”
Skyline Vista was snarling as well, “Then I guess we have no choice.” She raised her hoof and in that moment, Rainbow Dash decided that now was the time to act.
She yanked out another Party Bomb and pulled the pin, the hissing of the fuse catching their attention as she threw it and a pony shouted, “Bomb!” As they took cover, Rainbow dove for Celestia console and grabbed something she saw when she was alone on the bridge while Twilight and Applejack were on the Dark Star.
It was a thick, handled item, marked by a label above it ‘Master System Terminal BUS 1-001’, and Rainbow had seen Celestia insert it into her console after the ship had landed on the moon, before it took off for the Dark Star, so it had to be important.
Wrenching it out of it’s socket, it came free with an angry buzz, high voltage electricity arcing between its pins.
Instantly, the consoles surrounding them shut down as the Party Bomb exploded and sprayed decorations everywhere. The lights changed from soft white to emergency red as Rainbow scrambled for the elevator door and dove it as it slid closed, slamming a hoof on the button for the main deck.
As the doors closed, she heard Skyline Vista scream “Get that mare!”
Rainbow bounced on her hooves, ready for anything when the doors opened. She was slightly disappointed when she saw nopony as the doors slid open, before remembering that she was carrying something very important and needed to get to safety.
Taking off at a canter down the hallway, Rainbow tried to remember where the armoury was. Violet Tempest would help make them back off, she probably wouldn’t need to fire a shot, just point and watch them run.
“Hey! Stop!” Rainbow froze before she took off, a glance behind her showing a mutineer pursuing her at full gallop. She tried to flap her wings but the shifting armour forced her to fly with a gait.
A bullet zipped past her ear and she gasped in pain as she felt it nick and she sped up, running past an airlock to the ship’s exterior as she heard a bang as another bullet zipped past and struck the wall, creating sparks as it bounced off with a *ping!*
Dropping into a slide, Rainbow slowed enough to round a corner, the wall in front of her being peppered with bullets. Scrambling to her hooves, she shot off down the hall, hoping to find some end to her spontaneous plan.
Suddenly a door opened in front of her and Rainbow dove through it, only to skid to a halt and slam into an outer airlock door, “Oh no, oh no.” She turned to see the armed pony advancing menacingly towards her with a smile.
“Got you now,” He chuckled, leveling his gun with her. Rainbow desperately looked around, finding only the walls of the airlock.
“Shame,” he said, looking down the iron sights. “You were kinda cut-” He was cut off by the chunky inner airlock meshing together quickly. The sound of a clip being unloaded into the other side of the door rung out into the airlock.
Rainbow stared at the door for a long moment, trying to get her breathing under control, when it hitched again as the door opened.
She saw Skyline Vista staring at her, a random crewpony in a neck-hold while a pistol was pressed into the poor stallion’s neck. The stallion who had been chasing her lay off to the side, one of the bullets he fired had dislodged a ceiling panel, falling onto him and rendering him unconscious.
“Rainbow Dash, you certainly are worthy of the Element of Loyalty, but that loyalty in this situation is misplaced. Give me that component,” Skyline spat, desperation clear in her voice.
Rainbow looked at the crewpony, then her eyes drifted to the gun nearby, and made her decision. Skyline whipped the gun towards her but the athletic pegasus had already dove past her, landing into a rough tumble as she scooped up the rifle, leveling it at Skyline, who aimed her pistol at Rainbow.
The two mares stared one another down, the hostages eyes wide and frightful. “Go ahead Tactical Officer Dash. Kill me. Kill me and watch Equestria destroy itself out of paranoia,” Skyline goaded, with a confident smirk.
Skyline Vista kept her gun to the hostages head, holding steady, knowing she was clearly going to come out victorious.
Rainbow Dash tried to keep her gun trained on the other mare, but the adrenalin, fear and pain in her ear caused her to shudder, shaking the gun around. Rainbow may have been skilled in many things, but a standoff was not one of them.
The hostage spoke up. “Shoot her!” he cried, squirming in her grasp.
“What’s it gonna be Dash?” Skyline asked venomously. “Risk this ponies life, and try to get me? Or put the gun down and return home?”
Rainbow held the wavering gun for a moment longer, then slowly lowered it to the ground as Skyline Vista’s smile widened. “Very go-”
BANG
Rainbow could only stare dumbly as blood sprayed out of Skyline’s chest and over the floor, her grip on the crewpony slackening enough that he managed to tear himself away as Skyline Vista collapsed to the ground, revealing Apollo, a smoking rifle in his grip.
Rainbow shot to her hooves, “Skyline!” She came to the mare’s side and pulled out the medical supplies that Fluttershy had given her as she desperately tried to stop the bleeding as Skyline Vista gasped and tried to breath as Rainbow became more and more frantic, “Hold on! Just hold on! Don’t die on me!”
She raised her head to speak to Apollo, to get him to find help, only to find him staring at the scene with an impartial and cold glare, the gun never wavering from where it was aiming at Skyline Vista’s head.
Rainbow felt tears come to her eyes, “H-help her!” Apollo remained silent, “She’s dying! You have to help her!”
Apollo continued to stare silently at Skyline Vista before Rainbow snarled as the tears came freely, “Forget it then! I’ll save her by myself if I have to!”
She continued working, but the bleeding wouldn’t stop, Skyline’s breathing was getting quicker and more laboured, and her pulse was getting weaker.
Eventually, she stopped breathing and her pulse stopped. The mare, passing to the realms of the deceased.
When a liberated security pony discovered them, he found Tactical Officer Rainbow Dash sobbing over a body, covered in blood, and First Officer Apollo holding a rifle and watching the scene with a cold and impassive expression.
The attitude in the ship was sombre. No pony spoke, no pony wanted to speak, they all wanted to move on.
Upon receiving the report, Celestia sighed sadly, “A pity.” She turned her gaze to the quiet Twilight Sparkle, “Start the engines. Resume our previous course.”
“...Aye Captain.”
Without a single hiccup, the engines started smoothly. Pushing the Yamato deeper into their mission.