//------------------------------// // Chapter 17 // Story: My Little Yamato // by Gideon020 //------------------------------//  The heavy mechanical shutters that rolled down over Rainbow Dash’s quarters had not been lifted since they had rattled closed to protect whoever was inside, as standard procedure dictated when firing the mighty Wave Motion Gun. Despite the systems recovering from the massive discharge of power, Rainbow Dash had kept the shutters over her window clamped tightly closed. The last thing she wanted, or needed to see was the devastation she had caused. The Yamato was still in orbit around Eden. The technicians buzzed around the ship in a flurry, making sure the firing of the Yamato’s newly discovered trump card hadn’t damaged any part of the big ship. This being the case, it was easy for anyone to see the massive dust cloud that was now slowly spreading from where one of Eden’s continents had been. The encroaching mass of thick, dusty cloud was quickly being picked up by the hot winds the Wave Motion Gun had also created. The combination of effects the destruction had wrought meant that the whole, once green planet of Eden was quickly being blanketed by its own soil. Not unlike Equus had been during the time before the unification of the three tribes, when the sun had been blotted out with ice and snow. One thing the light-hearted festive tales didn’t tell was how many ponies died of starvation or hypothermia. Or if they were especially unlucky, both. And it was this smidgen of history that was causing the inner turmoil inside Rainbow Dash’s mind, Reducing the great flyer into nothing more than a quivering wreck. Barely holding back sobs of emotion, if only out of her own pride. She was still struggling to wrap her brain around the vastness of what she had just done. In her short time upon the surface of the strangely hostile planet, she had encountered hundreds of species, just with her eyes alone. It wasn’t a far stretch to imagine that there were thousands, if not millions more creatures that she hadn’t seen. And now they were all going to die. Rainbow Dash may not have been an animal fanatic like Fluttershy, but that didn’t mean she took any sort of pleasure in the mass extinction she just caused. Sure many of the creatures she had brushed with wanted her blood but they were only doing that because that’s all they knew. She couldn’t wish their end for following their instincts. That would be like if she disowned Tank for being slow. A thought she hated to even consider. Tank was slow because he was... well he was Tank. She hadn’t meant to do it. She could admit to herself, and anyone who asked her that she wanted that... thing, to die, but she didn’t mean for all those other innocent beings to perish with it. She could imagine it now. A mother bird returning from catching some alien worm to feed to her newly hatched babies. She would squawk happily as they chirped hungrily, and just as she leant down to share the grub amongst them... Her whole world would turn into nothing but an eyeball cooking whiteness, and a searing pain of heat the likes which she could never comprehend. And then nothing. No explanation, no consolation, just death. It sickened Rainbow to her stomach. To know that she had brought about the sudden end of so many. Had they all been ponies, or some race that held just as much moral values and personal judgement that she did, she doubt she would have been able to keep the tears at bay. The small pegasus sobbed dryly into her cloud pillow, the large bed taking the weight of her emotional turmoil in the form of her tossing and turning angrily. The cautious, yet forceful knocking of somepony on the other side of the door to her room caused Rainbow to silence her shaky breaths. “Dash?” Rainbow inhaled suddenly. The voice of Apollo calling her name from the other side of the door made worry bubble in her gut, the same a foal would get when they learn that their parents know they stole money from their father’s wallet. She didn’t want to speak to him. Not now. With the destruction caused by the Wave Motion Gun on her conscience and the still sore wounds caused by what Apollo had done to Skyline, Rainbow felt on the verge of being sick. She heard the faint beep of the keypad on the outside of her room being pressed, before a small alarm echoed an obnoxious ‘Locked’ in Apollo’s face. Had Rainbow not been so emotionally distraught, she might have giggled at the face he might currently be making. Having such a tough girl image that she took pride in upholding, it was foolish for anyone to think that she would leave her door unlocked whilst on the verge of a complete breakdown. So when the beeps sounded again and the door glided open with a swish, Rainbow instantly froze. “Rainbow, I’m second in command on this whole ship. You don’t think I have the overwrite codes to every door?” Apollo stated blatantly as he trotted into the darkened room. Rainbow elected to remain completely silent, not even bothering to acknowledge his existence, hoping that if he thought she was asleep, that he might go away. Apollo sighed as he looked over the mare. She laid silently with her face in her pillow, her forehooves under it grabbing at the small cloud. Her rear hooves were tucked up underneath her and her tail was curled around the left of her body, dead still. "Sickening, isn't it? The difference between knowing something on paper, and seeing it with your own eyes." Apollo said, moving to look absently at something on a nearby desk. "I know it sounds patronising, but I do understand what you're feeling right now, at least in part.” He turned to look at the still mare. “You feel sick, like you want to cry but your pride won't let you. You don’t want to look weak in your own eyes, and after seeing all that life down there, you can't help but think, 'what if that was a pony?'” “Am I getting close?" Rainbow suddenly snapped around, her voice cracking and wavering as she barked at him. “Shut up!” Apollo sighed with a closed-eye realisation. “I hit the nail on the head, didn’t I?” Rainbow simply responded by whipping her head around to the opposite wall, hiding him from her gaze, as well as hiding the burning tears that were finally forcing their way out from her eyes. “Dash...” he began slowly. “I don’t want you to think you have to face this alone. Nopony- And I mean that. Nopony is going to blame you for this.” “What makes you think that’s what worries me?!” she snapped, still refusing to meet his gaze. The stallion sighed. “Dash... None of us were prepared for that. Before today, we weren’t even sure the Wave Motion Gun could heat a jug of water. We were all surprised by what it did, you were just at the trigger.” Rainbow took several heavy breaths before replying, her voice nary louder than a whisper. “I’ve killed so many. So many that didn’t need to die.” “Dash-” “No, you listen! I never wanted this! I was going to become a Wonderbolt! I was going to be the greatest stunt flyer the world had ever seen! Not some... genocidal monster!” She screamed, tears now freely streaming through the blue fur on her cheeks. She glared at the stallion, who looked back at her only with concern, until she felt a warm droplet hit her forehoof. Rainbow murmured in her throat as she lifted her hoof before her eyes, the large wet tear drop staining her fur. She put a hoof to her face, feeling the dampness of the trails the tears had carved through her soft fur. She blinked slowly, before she closed her eyes tightly and began to sob, her mouth open as she drew in shaking, heaving breaths. Her sobbing was so violent, she failed to hear, or notice Apollo move from his position beside the bed, to near her. She gasped but fell into the gesture when one of Apollo’s forehooves found its way around her shoulders. She collapsed into his chest, staining his white fur with her tears. She didn’t care if she was being weak or vulnerable. Right now, she needed a warm embrace more than anything. Rainbow felt the soft texture of Apollo’s two large wings cross against her back, leaving her hidden inside a veil of white fur and feathers. “Just let it all out, Dash,” Apollo cooed as he stroked her mane. “I just-” Rainbow hiccuped, “How can I keep going after doing what I just did? I destroyed a planet!” “Dash come on. This isn’t you,” he said softly, placing a hoof under her chin, gently adjusting her gaze to meet his. “Where’s the rough and tumble mare that had ponies cheering for her when we left Axial?” Rainbow sniffled. “I hate it! I am the Rainbow Dash! Why-” she gulped as her nose stung with the burning of tears again. “Why am I so torn up over this! Why is this my fault!” “Dash,” he said sternly, keeping her view focus on him, despite her wanted to shy away. “This is not, and will never be your fault. You did as you were told. Orders from the captain.” “It’s not Celestia’s fault!” Rainbow snapped. “No no, Dash, thats not what I mean... but if you want to look at it like that then yes. It is Celestia’s fault. It’s the engineers fault. It’s my fault. It’s the fault of every damn pony who ever worked on the Yamato. I didn’t know how powerful this ship really was. None of us did.” He sighed, looking down. “I sure wish we had.” “You see what i’m trying to say Dash? You can’t go looking for a reason to blame yourself when there is no one at fault. You did the right thing, even if it doesn’t feel like it now. One day you are going to look back at this and realize that you didn’t kill a planet. You instead saved an entire ship full of your friends.” Rainbow nodded slowly before a look of realization washed over her. Her features darkened as she turned her head away from him, muttering coldly under her breath. “Is that what you tell yourself?” Apollo was taken aback at the sudden coldness in her words. “Beg pardon?” “Is that how you sleep at night? Knowing you killed one of your own? You couldn’t see the look on her face, she was cornered! She was terrified! She was looking for a way out and you- You shot her!” Apollo quirked an eyebrow. “Oh... I get it now.” Finishing his sentence with a huff, he pulsed his wings, launching him off the bed to land on the floor beside it. “Rainbow, do you know about the conduct of the Equestrian military justice?” “Don’t give me those horseapples! I don’t want to hear it! Give me a reason. A real reason!” Apollo turned away, looking out the rooms window, despite the large anti-flare shutters that blocked his view. “A real reason?” “You wanna know why I did that Dash? I could go and say I did it because I wanted to save the hostage. Or that I was saving the jury the bother of a court marshalling, but you want the real reason?!” He growled angrily. Rainbow glared back, not wilting under the stern gaze of her crewmate. With a simple nod, she gave her answer. Apollo continued to glare for a few tense moments before, to Rainbow surprise, he slumped. Turning his head to the carpet, his entire posture lost all its statute and power, letting his voice come out in pure honesty. “I did it because I was scared.” Rainbow stared at him, “What?” “I was scared that she was going to hurt... Hurt you.” Rainbow looked at him curiously. “What do you mean ‘hurt me’? I bet you just wanted to protect the Elements of Harmony.” Apollo nodded, “Yes okay that’s one part, I admit, but I really was worried that you would be hurt.” He glanced away briefly, “I do think of you as a friend Rainbow Dash, despite how I can act sometimes. I care about you and if I had to choose between your wellbeing and how you think of me, I’d chose the former. Every time.” Apollo turned, making his way to the door. Rainbow’s brain slowly ticked, trying to formulate a response when the door slid open, allowing the light from the hallway to spill in. Apollo smiled. “Just... Think about what I said. Kay?” The door slid closed behind him after he left, leaving Rainbow to struggle with her own thoughts. Like the stallion had said, she was going to think about a lot of things she had been told. Just, not the ones that she probably should be. ‘He... cares about me?’ Rainbow blushed. “Captain Odrick, we’ve successfully exited warp. Sensors report a large object three klyms ahead.” Captain Lower Class Six Odrick nodded as he studied the shape in the distance, magnified to reveal the distinctive shape of an extremely old Terron battleship, “Have we been detected? Terron ships are supposed to have powerful sensors.” A sensor operator shook it’s head, “Negative Captain, we have not been detected by the Terron vessel. Sensors may be inoperable, it may be operating on automatic subroutines. It might even be a ghost ship.” Another crew-drone spoke up, “That’s ridiculous, how could a ghost vessel operate weaponry of such magnitude?” “For all I care,” Odrick snapped, “it could be operated by a group of primitives that found it in a cave.  Guider, put this vessel on an intercept burn, if that ship’s sensors are still operational we might fool it into thinking we’re a derelict.” At the controls for the ship, the Guider nodded and silently commanded its vessel to briefly fire the engines as it began to move towards the slowly moving Terron Battleship. Odrick turned his head, “Warseekers, keep your gun-slaves at their stations but do not arm weapons until I give the order.” He didn’t wait for the confirmation clicks from the cybernetically-linked weapon masters before turning to his second-in-command, “Where is the rest of the squadron?” Shifting her head slightly, the Second stared off into space, “Attack vectors will be reached in sixteen arns. By that point we will have confirmation if the Terron vessel is crewed, Captain.” Odrick nodded, “We had better. Only open fire if it is crewed, we don’t want to damage such a valuable prize.” Meanwhile, as an angular black ship moved to pass by its target, on board the Yamato a white pegasus was in an introspective mood as he considered what he had just possibly implied to Rainbow Dash.. ‘I do care about her, I really do, but do I feel more than that for her? Or am I just fooling myself and her? Sometimes, Apollo, you do a really good job of confusing yourself.’ He looked out the window, watching the stars as the Yamato continued to put distance between itself and the ruined planet in the distance. By now it was still easily visible in terms of destruction, but it was steadily becoming more indistinct as the distance increased. The once green planet still maintained its fairly distant orbit around it’s super massive parent star. After a moment, Apollo shook his head and sighed, ‘At least it wasn’t a place with a civilisation on it. Somehow, that would have been even worse.’ He was about to turn and see if there was anything being served at the mess hall, preferably something that could take his mind off recent events before he returned to his station, when a flicker caught his attention.  “Hm?” He turned back to the window, staring out at the stars, before he saw it, a series of flickering lights that were most certainly not stars. ‘What in the...’ Apollo watched as the lights became distant but visible vortexes for a brief moment, before vanishing. After a few seconds the vortexes vanished and after several more seconds of seeing nothing happening, Apollo shrugged and turned away, “Must have just been an astr-” Sparks ignited from overhead wires as unseen energy beams struck the side of the Yamato, knocking him off his hooves as the ship rocked to the side from the impact. Alarms suddenly began to blare and a pony, one of the younger bridge crew, suddenly shouted over what Apollo suspected was an accidentally activated intercom, “Celestia’s shiny butt, what the heck was that?” “How nice of you to notice the brightness of my posterior.” Celestia’s coolly amused voice came on seconds later, before she took control of the situation, “All hooves! Battle stations! Battle Stations! We are under attack by unknown hostiles!” Apollo was already running towards the elevator as the ship jerked into a roll and he smoothly transitioned from a gallop into full flight. Thundering through obstacles he navigated the twists and turns of the corridors, passing ponies that were bouncing off the walls and ceiling, flailing in panic. With haste he zipped into the elevator just as the doors opened and a pony crewmember tumbled out. Thankfully, the elevators in the Yamato only had a few buttons. Slamming down hard on the one marked ‘bridge’ Apollo began feeling the machine begin to move as the rolling sensation began to lessen.He carefully landed before the doors opened to reveal a scene of barely-controlled anarchy. Twilight Sparkle was frantically trying to maintain the Yamato’s evasion of the unknown attackers and Apollo noted that she seemed to be barely keeping herself from having a breakdown as he dashed to his station, “Reporting for duty Captain!” Celestia nodded, “XO, take over the gunnery station. We can’t wait for Rainbow Dash to recover sufficiently to handle her duties. Get those guns online and aimed at those hostiles!” Apollo nodded and was about to approach the station when the doors of the second elevator opened to reveal Rainbow Dash, “Gangway! Coming through!” She shouted as she flapped over to her station and took her position, grabbing the communication unit, “All gun crews, get those Shock Cannons ready for long-range combat!” “Rainbow Dash?” Apollo blinked in surprise, “What are you doing here?” Rainbow turned her head towards him and smiled, “What can I say, you gave me something important to think about. I came to a conclusion,” She turned back to her station, “But right now it’s time to kick some tail! Gunnery crews, what’s your status!” “Shock Cannons ready for combat, ma’am!” The Gunnery Chief reported over the system and Rainbow’s smile turned mean as she turned to the pony at the sensors. “Get me a firing solution! Now!” The poor pony didn’t argue and immediately got to work as Rainbow turned to Twilight, “Turn towards them, we’re engaging the enemy.” “What!” Twilight snapped, “Rainbow, how can you just say that! We need to escape! For all we know, they’re some kind of alien police and we’re being punished for destroying one of their worlds!” Rainbow stared at Twilight, ears folding back, “Maybe they are Twilight, but I’m not going to let everypony here die because of me. Now turn this thing around and engage the enemy, because they’re not going to let us escape without a fight.” Twilight tried to match Rainbow’s cold, empty stare, but found that she couldn’t, and simply nodded before turning the ship as the pegasus turned to the pony on sensors, “Firing solution?” “Ready to go!” The pony responded. Rainbow turned to Celestia, who was regarding the pegasus with a neutral expression, “Captain, ready to engage on your orders.” Celestia nodded, “Go to combat speed one, Twilight. Rainbow Dash, fire when ready.” “Aye-Aye Captain!” Rainbow managed to give Celestia an almost-professional salute. “Y-yes Princess.” Twilight Sparkle managed to reply as she began turning the ship towards the approaching enemies. Watching the Terron Battleship turn towards the rest of the squadron, Odrick’s Second turned to him, “Sensors, your report.” The crew-drone turned to give its report. “Life signs confirmed. Maybe Terron, maybe Primitives, or possibly Unconquered Races. Cannot acquire more detailed readings at this range, but can confirm that High Value Target known as Terron Battleship Yamato is crewed.” Odrick sighed, “So much for salvage rewards then. Order the squadron to close an-” “Alert!” The sensor-drone suddenly reported, “Terron Battleship is turning to engage Squadron!” Odrick spat a curse, “Order the Squadron to arm all weapons, bring down that ship!” In the darkness, the six ships approaching the Yamato received new orders, and began arming the rest of their arsenal as smaller secondary gun turrets activated. The servile gun-slaves were plugged into their stations and Warseekers took control to direct their fire. Missile ports flipped open with a nasty hiss, the hatches on torpedo launchers sliding to the side to reveal the deadly explosives beneath. The small armada picked up speed while splitting their formation, intending to surround the approaching Terron battleship. Odrick grinned wickedly. “Open fire.” The order raced through the crews aboard all ships. Powerful lances of energy in green, red, yellow and purple streaked across the void to strike the shields of the Yamato, causing the ship to shake as some of the crew inside screamed and tried to find somewhere to hide while others gritted their teeth and remained at their station. White hot bruises welted the side of the ponies ship, long red claw marks from the unknown enemies’ weapons raking across the Yamato’s hull. As the distance closed, a rainbow-maned pegasus watched the enemy with narrowed eyes, before she suddenly shouted, “Fire!” The freshly repaired gun turrets aimed at their assigned targets whilst the Yamato turned in space to present its side to the attackers. The two rear turrets unleashed their volleys in unison, and missiles streamed from the launch tubes in the converted smoke-stack. The guns roared inside the ears of the crews as they fired their deadly energy payloads at three chosen targets while the missiles streamed ahead in a wide spread intended to draw off any defenses. The blue-white beams, before the eyes of the watching ponies, began to wobble and twist towards each other, until instead of nine beams there were three large cork-screwing braids of energy heading towards the enemy ships. The results were initially subdued as the braids slammed into and through the armour, leaving glowing holes, until seconds later explosions ripped through their hulls, tearing one of them in half, the second breaking into smaller chunks and the third simply imploded violently in a cloud of vapour, its warp drive taking a hit to a vital component and exploding inside the hull. The remaining three ships immediately began moving to evade the deadly Terron guns, but the ponies manning the weapons and the skilled pony at the sensors were already plotting their courses to make sure that no one escaped. One of the turrets turned with a whine and fired, sending three more beams that twisted into a corkscrewing braid, punched into and then straight through the ship, leaving glowing holes as the energy beam spanned across open space. The fleeing ship began to list before it exploded. The remaining two ships continued firing in a ditch effort. Launching every missile and torpedo in their magazines at the Yamato, prompting a shouted order from Rainbow Dash. Immediately the laser AA guns on the sides of the great battleship took aim and flashed, their bolts of red energy lanced out to pre detonate the missiles before they streaked towards the Yamato’s hull. The rear turret adjusted its aim, swing its long grey barrels towards one of the two remaining ships. Another powerful volley burst forth from deep within the Yamato’s ancient weapons. A long powerful lance of blue-white energy spearing a ship neatly from bow to stern, creating a geyser of vapour and flame. The final ship turned to flee the Yamato, but it barely had time to increase speed before a final lancing braid of energy reduced it to cloud of gas and shrapnel. Odrick watched in horror from his command throne. “Guider, keep those engines offline. Warseekers, power down weapons. Don’t attract its attention. Second, prepare message for Swarm Command.” The Second looked at him from her position, “What will you have me relay?” Odrick closed his eyes, “Terron Battleship located and engaged in brief skirmish. Squadron One-Eighty-Six lost, no survivors.” The Second nodded, “As you will.” “What do we do know Captain? We cannot evade it without the engines! And if those destroyers barely marked it, then this ship shall fare even worse!” one of the gun-slaves shouted. “How dare you speak out of line! You’re lucky you’re even on this vessel. If it were up to myself, I wouldn’t let lowly crew such as yourself on a ship flown by the great Odrick! You are nothing more than a pathetic Thud!” Odrick barked. He wracked his brain for a plan, before deciding on a course of action, “We wait.” Second glanced at him, “Captain?” Odrick nodded, pleased with himself, “We wait until we’re far enough from the ship engage warp and escape, our current drift will be more than enough to put some distance between us and that monster ship so that by the time they notice us we’ll have left long before they can even target us.” For the first time since arriving, the Guider stared incredulously at it’s Captain, before returning to it’s duties. One does not question one’s place in the hierarchy, one just does their duty. Odrick growled lowly under his breath as he muttered angrily. “A lone Terron ship? Despite its age the opportunity to capture such a valuable vessel should not be neglected. Wave Motion technology could prove invaluable to the war effort.” “Sir,” the second in command spoke. “Perhaps we should return to Arkides Two. There is a regiment of dreadnought cruisers stationed there, they have a decent chance of disabling the Terron vessel.” “Do not underestimate any craft that sails under the name of the Terrons. Have you not heard the legends? Such a race is not to be trifled with.” Odrick responded coldly. “I understand captain, but we cannot engage such a vessel again, not without better ships.” Odrick growled. The long sharp points that extended past the end of his foreleg clacking against the armrest of his chair. “No. We shall not go to Arkides Two. Instead we will return to Vallynrick.” The second gasped. “Captain are you sure that’s wise? You know the penalty for returning to the home world without permission.” “I care not for the rules. Such an event of locating a Terron ship. An unguarded one at that, needs to be reported directly to the the Great Quads, Maybe even Sentinel Fidelitas himself!” “Very well sir,” the Second saluted. “Scyre Zar Suul!” The entire ship responded with a chant. “Ark Suul!” Odrick chuckled slowly, ‘Nothing shall stop the Scyre with the power of a Terron ship with us.’ He glanced menacingly at the receding image of the Yamato on the screen before him. ‘We are coming for you.’ “What in the name of Luna’s moon was that!” Twilight shrieked loudly after the commotion ceased. Several loose panels that had been shaken out of their places were being forced back into the wall, causing a small flurry of activity inside the bridge. Celestia spoke. “I haven’t the faintest idea. XO, sitrep, I was a full evaluation of both our ship and the ones we just encountered.” Apollo saluted professionally. “Aye aye ma’am.” Twilight snorted angrily, letting the frustration out through her nose. She was about to dismiss herself from the bridge when she looked over the Rainbow. “Dash. What was that?” she asked cautiously, gazing worried at her friend who sat to her left. Rainbow failed to respond for a few moments, resigning to sit in her station, silently stewing in her own thoughts. “My duty,” Rainbow said slowly. Apollo turned to her. “Dash?” “Like I said, Apollo. You gave me something to think about. You were right, I shouldn’t feel bad about Eden. Because even though I killed all those creatures, I saved my friends,” she said as she turned to look at the stallion. “I realized something. And now I understand why you did what you did to Vista. We’re not safe out here, there are things that want to hurt us, and I will never let anything hurt my friends.” “It’s them or us!” Rainbow shouted in an inspirational speech, drawing the attention of all those in the bridge. “And I won’t let anything happen to my friends,” she ended in a small voice, almost to assure herself rather than the others. Twilight look away from her prismatic friend. The way she had worded it seemed so... belligerent. “Captain? Can we plot a course out of this system? Please?” Celestia nodded once, a lone, stoic gaze in her eyes. “Engage warp.” The deep whine of the Wave Motion Engine deep within the Yamato stirred angrily, pushing the mighty ship through the black void, onwards to destinations unknown. ‘We are now certain that we are not alone in our voyage. And even if those vessels were crewed or not, we now know that our journey is fraught with danger. I am certain that this will not be our last encounter with races not of our own. I can only pray that this lifeline that is the Yamato can keep my ponies safe from the unknowns of space.’ ‘However, it frightens me. Is it right, or even sane to place this much faith into a vessel we ourselves know so little about? It is unquestionable that the Yamato holds many secrets, and i’m not sure if I want to uncover them. ‘Perhaps this ship was buried for a reason?’ ‘Now and forever ponykind will need to remember the mistakes that can be made when wielding that which we do not grasp. But now is not the time for remembering the past.’ Her mind drifted to the after-action report given by Apollo, and the images of the unknown vessels, ‘Not when there is still danger in the future.’ ‘Dangers that may yet still be lurking out there.’ The magical aura around Celestia’s quill dissipated, allowing her journal to flutter shut. With a sigh, she looked out of the large, panoramic windows of her quarters. The shrinking grey ball of Eden now sporting a horrific red scar painting the void of space.