Chapter 9 - Grace Under Fire
My heart swelled with pride as I watched my darling Sweetie Belle trotted along with Dr. Horse. Thankfully he was one of the few in Ponyville to escape Tirek with his magic intact, unlike most gathered in this cellar, and made his way to the schoolhouse where many were hiding. Sweetie Belle followed the doctor, hanging onto his every word and helping him when asked. I couldn't help but look at the new cutie-mark she bore. The more I looked at it, the more it made sense. The young filly had always been the one who thought things through carefully, most of the time, and more often than not, she kept her friends and herself from getting hurt in whatever scheme they had come up with that week. Sweetie Belle had never liked seeing other ponies hurt.
If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I would have doubted the story had it come from somepony else. Earlier that day, only hours after word had reached Twilight that Tirek was making his way to Ponyville after rampaging through Canterlot, the front door of the boutique burst open and in staggered two fillies. Leaning against a distraught and crying Silver Spoon, was Diamond Tiara who's face was soaked in crimson from a deep gash above her right eye. Both of their coats and manes were dull and lifeless, just like Sweetie Belle.
"He.. He... He got our parents!" Silver Spoon wailed, her voice near panicking. "They told us to run... I... I... I didn't know where to go!"
I ran into the kitchen to try and find a cloth to stop Diamond's bleeding but stopped at the threshold when the sound of ripping fabric caused my heart to skip a beat. Turning around, I saw Sweetie Belle holding the makeshift bandage to Diamond Tiara's forehead. Both Silver Spoon and I watched in awe as colour returned to Sweetie Belle in a cascade of light from every colour in the spectrum.
"Sweetie... Your flank..." Silver Spoon began to say, her words catching in her throat.
Sweetie Belle looked down at her flank and a small smile crept onto her face.
"You can make fun of it later, let's take care of your friend first." Sweetie said, not bothering to hide her sarcasm.
"Rarity." A voice said, snapping me out of the memory I had lost myself in. It was James, the human I had first thought strange, but now, when everypony else was scared, he had an air of confidence about him. He had kept everypony he could find from panicking and lead them to the schoolhouse's cellar. It was calming and reassuring just to be around him. "Do you understand what I need you to do?"
"Yes," I said, my voice faltering slightly, but then I picked my head up and stared him in the eye. "Yes, I do."
"Good," James said, giving me a nod then turning to the pegasus stallion next to him, Storm Front, the last of Ponyville's town guard. "You good to go?"
"Following your lead, Lieutenant." The stallion responded, snapping to attention.
"Let's move out," James said, pressing a button on the long device he had in his arms causing it softly hum, then made his way to the cellar door, with the pegasus close behind. Following them outside, I saw James climb onto Storm Front's back. "Rarity, I'll see you in the center of town." He told me before the two of them flew off towards the hamlet of Ponyville.
Scared out of my mind, I somehow managed to walk into town, the rage welling up inside me the only thing keeping my composure.
"Hey! Ugly!" I screamed, getting Tirek's attention, his ghastly yellow eyes boring into me. "That's right, I'm talking to you!"
"What's this, another unicorn come to try and stop me?" The monster bellowed before bursting into a frightening laugh. "Even your Princess' were no match for my power! Oh, how they screamed when I took their magic from them!" He gloated, shaking his fist at me.
"You'll pay for what you've done!"
My horn flared to life as I ripped the statue from the fountain off its base and hurled it at him with all I had. It crumbled to dust when it hit him in the chest.
"Is that all you have? Throwing pebbles?"
I grabbed the nearest thing with my magic, a wooden bench, and hurled it as I started a steady run towards the beast.
"That's for Twilight! And Fluttershy! And Rainbow Dash! And Pinkie!" I screamed, throwing any object I could get my magic on, finally ripping a lamp post from the ground and throwing it like a spear at his throat.
"And that's for Sweetie Belle you bucking son of a bitch!"
Tirek caught it with his hand and crushed it.
"You petulant little whelp." He said quietly, his icy voice sharp enough to cut. "I've taken great care not to kill anypony, but for you I'll make an exception. I'm going to enjoy crushing the life from you!" He roared as he charged at me, bringing his backhand down on my head.
I woke screaming, my breath heaving, my mane soaked with sweat. I couldn't breathe, I struggled for air with every gasp, but it wasn't enough as I felt my hooves begin to tingle as they started to go numb.
"Rarity!" somepony yelled as I felt somepony else get onto the bed with me, I still couldn't breathe, Oh, Celestia I can't breathe! I felt two hooves grab either side of my head making my gaze meet theirs. Oh no, they can see it, I have to cover it up! I thought as I tried to fight the grasp of whoever was holding me. "Rarity, you're having a panic attack, just look at me and focus on my voice." Sweetie Belle said. "Just breath in and hold it." I did as she told me. "Now let it out and take another deep breath. Good. Now another. You're doing great."
The numbness in my extremities faded away as my mind began to clear. I wiped the tears from my eyes as I looked at my teenaged sister, who had a worried look in her eyes.
"Still having that nightmare?" She asked, bringing her hoof to my face to wipe away a stray tear I had missed. I nodded and she pulled me into a tight hug. "Come on, let's get you cleaned up," Sweetie Belle said with a reassuring smile. It was then that I noticed, to my embarrassment, that the bed was wet with something warm.
Helping me off the bed, the young mare took my weight on the side where my foreleg couldn't bare it, and guided me to the bathroom of the quarter's Starfleet had given us during our stay at Starbase Eighteen. It annoyed me that a room so garishly decorated could be called 'guest quarters', but I let it slide. She helped me into what James had called a 'sonic shower', not really explaining to us what it was, only saying 'Turn it on, you're in for a treat.' That first night on the Enterprise on our trip from Equus had been a treat indeed. I had never felt so refreshed after bathing.
Content that I would be ok in the shower, Sweetie gave me my privacy and headed back into the room, no doubt setting about cleaning the soiled linens. It wasn't possible for me to have more pride than I had for Sweetie Belle right now. She was growing into an outstanding lady. After the crisis had ended, she started volunteering at Ponyville's seniors home, learning from the health care aides. Now she was shadowing the nurses at the hospital, and if her grades were any indication, she was well on her way to graduating school at the top of her class. Already, Sweetie was making plans to apply to Manehatten University's pre-med program. She had her heart set on becoming a Doctor, and I wasn't going to stand in her way.
"Sweetie Belle, darling, could you bring me my leg brace, I'm done in here," I called out, and right on queue, Sweetie came in with the unattractive thing in her magic and started strapping it on to my leg. The doctors had done what they could to mend the shattered limb that day, but they said that I would need this brace to walk for the rest of my life because the damage to the ligaments and nerves were too great. Even worse, the thing was just hidious.
"There you go," She said, after securing the last strap. "Let's get you up." Using her magic, she only gave me enough assistance to keep me steady as I got up onto my own four hooves, and I followed her out of the bathroom.
Stopping me in front of the mirror, Sweetie Bell started to brush the tangled mess that was my mane, and I was left to stare at my face. The reason I hadn't seen who it was when I had first woken up was that I couldn't see out of that eye. Tirek's strike had crushed my eye socket and left the eye damaged. Thankfully there was no scar, but where once there was a beautiful blue eye, there was now a sightless cloudy orb. Humming to herself, Sweetie carefully began to brush my mane into the style I now preferred. A sense of relief washed over me as locks began to cover the right side of my face.
Glancing at the clock, I gasped. "Is it that time already? We have to go, the hearing is about to begin!"
Sweetie Belle and I only just made it in time for the beginning of the hearing, thanks to a woman carrying a baby and her daughter holding the door to the... turbolift? Odd name for an elevator. All of us got off on the same floor, the woman included. After a few steps, it didn't take us long to realize that we're headed to the same destination. I politely smiled and let the lady enter first before taking our seat next to Twilight and Fluttershy. Glancing back, I saw the woman we had walked with take her seat at the back of the room.
I understood why Twilight and Fluttershy were here, but couldn't figure out why James had invited me. Twilight had volunteered to testify for him, and Fluttershy was James' closest friend from Ponyville. He only told me that he was making some calls and would let me know after the hearing was concluded. All I could do was wait and hope that my friend walked out of this legal business unscathed.
"Thank you for coming again this morning." Admiral Matthews began, ringing the bell in front of him. "I bring this hearing to order. Lieutenant, upon consideration of the oral testimony, written statements from the planetary leadership of Equus, and the evidence provided, I have reached a decision. Mr. Scott, you found yourself in a situation that I feel any officer would be ill-prepared for and did the best you could under those circumstances. There was no avoiding exposing the advanced technology in your possession to a pre-warp civilization, and thus, I am dismissing the charge of interfering in the natural development of said civilization.
"However, on the second charge, interfering in the internal affairs of a civilization, I have found cause for concern. As a Starfleet officer, you should have taken a strict non-interference stance when it came to Equus' matters of state. After going through all the documentation provided to me regarding the incident with Tirek, there is no mention of a government official formally asking for your assistance, yet assist you did.
"On this count, I was prepared to recommend that we proceed to an Article 32 trial. That is until early this morning when I was provided with incident reports dating back almost thirty years. According to these reports, there have been instances of disappearances, abductions, strange illnesses and fatalities on worlds and starships, both Federation and non-aligned, along a clear path that leads directly to the location of where you originally fell into trouble five years ago. Most, if not all, of these reports fit the modus operandi of the beings now called 'Solonae'.
"It is the opinion of Captain Picard, the Science Officers aboard his vessel and that of Starfleet Command that the incident which alerted these 'Solonae' to the presence of our reality, and subsequently their actions against the population of Equus, was caused by the actions of the ship and crew of the USS Enterprise-D between Stardates 46154 and 46191.
"Princess Twilight Sparkle, on behalf of the crew of the Enterprise, Starfleet Command and the United Federation of Planets, we apologize for the role that Starfleet played in the events that lead to the attack on your citizenry.
"Furthermore, upon review of your personal logs and previously mentioned written statements corroborating those logs, Captain Picard has recommended that you receive a commendation for valor for your actions during the Tirek incident. I concur and have since approved it. This does not, however, excuse you from your actions. You still knowingly and willfully interfered in the internal affairs of a foreign civilization, but in light of the results of said interference, I find no cause for an Article 32 proceeding at this time, and have instead opted for summary punishment fitting to this charge, allowed under Article 61, Section 5 of the Starfleet Code of Military Justice. Lieutenant James Matthew Scott, step forward." Admiral Matthew ordered, moving out from behind the table at the front of the room.
"It is the judgment of this hearing that you, James Matthew Scott, be reduced in rank two grades to that of Ensign," The Admiral said while reaching to James' collar and removing one gold pip. "and that a letter of reprimand be placed in your service jacket. This hearing is concluded, Ensign Scott, you are dismissed."
James snapped to attention, turned on his heel and walked out of the room.
"That's it?" Twilight asked.
"It went better than I expected," A young woman in a Starfleet Uniform said, a Commander Jesse Williamson, who was James' lawyer. "Captian Picard really pulled James' ass out of the fire here. Without the reports, he was looking at ten years in prison." She told us. "Thank you for your testimony, Princess, and safe journey home." She said in goodbye before gathering up her belongings and exiting the room.
"Excuse me, are you Uncle James' friends?" A young girl asked.
The four of us turned to face the new voice and found a girl about Rarity's height with long braided hair and what looked like spots going from her temples down her neck.
"Why, yes, darling, we are," I answered with a smile. "Thank you for holding the Turbolift for my sister and I, and I must say you look lovely in that dress." I told her, causing the young lady to blush. "Oh, goodness me, where are my manners? I do believe introductions are in order. This is Sweetie Belle, my sister, and this is Fluttershy and Twilight. I'm Rarity, dear."
"I'm Mellissa, I'm Uncle James' niece." She told us.
"Where is your uncle?" Twilight asked.
"He's outside the room talking with my mom."
"Oh, I do hope everything is alright," Fluttershy said softly. "They had a terrible fight when we visited before."
"Everything should be fine." Mellissa started to explain. "Two days ago my Mom got a call from some man named Thomas, he said that he had gone through something similar to Uncle James. They talked for a long while. Then my Mom, brother and I caught the next transport here." She said. "I'm just glad I have my uncle back. Do you want to go talk to them?"
The four of us followed her outside the room and into the foyer of the Starfleet JAG offices, and there was James sitting in a waiting room chair with a small human in his arms. The look of pure joy on his face was unmistakable. With his cheeks soaked in tears, he beckoned us over to him.
"Oh, he's so tiny!" Sweetie Belle said ecstatically, getting a giggle out of the infant. "What's his name?"
"James," Melanie said with a smile. "He was born two months ago, so I named him in memory of his Uncle, and now he finally gets to meet him." She said, her voice cracking as she started to cry. Passing the infant off to Mellissa, James pulled his sister into a hug. "Oh, Jim, I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have treated you like that!"
"It's ok Mel, it's ok. That was the shock talking, and I forgive you. We good?" He told her, pulling away from her and holding her at arms length.
"Yeah," She answered with a sniffle. "We're good." James pulled her into another hug and kissed her forehead.
"So..." Twilight said, a mischievous grin sliding across her face. "Jim..." She continued, her smile widening even further.
"Princess?" James said, getting a smug look from the alicorn. "Shut up." James said, sticking his tongue out at her as they both broke into laughter at their in-joke.
"So, who wants lunch?" Fluttershy said, getting the attention of everypony.
"I'm starving, we didn't have time to eat when we got off the transport this morning." Mellissa said.
"Sorry to interrupt, but are you Lieutenant Scott?" a tall Starfleet officer with black eyes wearing a blue medical overcoat asked.
"It's Ensign now, but yeah, I am." James responded.
"I'm Dr. Nikael, I'm the head of surgery here at Starbase Eighteen. You said that you had a friend who would benefit from my services."
"Yeah, I do," James said, turning towards me.
"And you are, Miss?" The doctor asked.
"Rar... Rarity." I fumbled to answer.
"Well, Miss Rarity, while I am head of surgery, my specialty is stem-cell tissue regeneration. To put it in layman's terms, I can take the base building blocks of your body, stem-cells, and with them I am able to grow replacement tissue, like internal organs such as the heart, lungs, even eyes." He explained.
I turned to James with a questioning stare. "Can he? Is that possible?" I asked.
"Yeah, Dr. Nikael is the reason I asked for the hearing to be held here." James said, answering my question. Grabbing him in my magic, I pulled him into a hug.
"Thank you," I said, crying into his shoulder.
Along the way to the Starbase Hospital complex having left Twilight, Fluttershy, and the others, James explained what happened and how I got injured. He even explained the events after I was hit. The plan was for me to distract Tirek while James' lined up a shot with his rifle to take Tirek out, and Storm Front was the back up plan, carrying a satchel of five photon grenades if either of us failed. After I was hit, James was able to lure Tirek away by shining his rifle's targeting laser in his eyes while Storm Front dropped the grenade satchel on Tirek's horns. Before he could react, James shot the grenades and that was the end of Tirek. When he died, all the stolen magical power left his body, returning to those he had stolen it from, leaving behind the body of a frail centaur.
"James, setting our ranks aside, can I say something, man to man?" Dr. Nikael asked.
"Sure, Doc," James answered, getting a swift slap upside the head as his response.
"What the hell were you thinking using a Lady as a decoy?"
"He did the only thing he could do. I was the only choice. No other unicorn could provide the distraction he needed." I told the doctor, coming to the defense of my friend. "He hurt my Sweetie Belle, Tirek got what he deserved, and I regret nothing."
"Very well, if Miss Rarity is willing to defend you, I'll forgive you, but don't let me hear about you doing this again," Dr. Nikael said. "Thank you for walking with us, Ensign, but my team and I need to examine Miss Rarity, and you don't need to be present."
"Yes, sir." He answered. "Let me know when you're done Rarity, and I'll come pick you up," James said to me, before heading off towards the food court on the Starbase Promenade to join the others.
"If you'll follow me," The doctor said, leading me into an examination room. "Now, before we begin, I have to be honest with you. I'm a Betazoid, we're a race of telepaths. Some of our race can only sense emotions, while the more powerful of us can sense the thoughts of others. I fall into the later." He told me, getting a nervous look from me. "That's generally the reaction I get. I'm very discrete with the thoughts I do read and I do the best I can to restrain my abilities. But the more powerful the emotion behind the thought, the harder it is to ignore.
"How long have you been having these panic attacks? Keep in mind that I'm bound by Doctor/Patient confidentiality and cannot tell anyone about it." He asked after a short pause. I was left stunned, not knowing how to answer, but I shook it off.
"Since it happened," I told him, meekly.
"Does your physician know about them?"
"No, I've been... too embarrassed." I answered, my voice barely above a whisper.
"There's nothing to be embarrassed about, Rarity. What you're suffering from is what we call Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. It's common among those who experience a particularly traumatic event like yours, and one I am, sad to say, all too familiar with being a military doctor." He explained. "Now, before we met, I was sent the medical database given to us by your planet's medical community, and I've found that they have a very good anti-anxiety medication that will help, and I'm prescribing it to you." He said, hitting a few buttons on a terminal in the exam room, making a piece of paper appear in the replicator. He gave it to me, and it was written in my language. "Give that to your Doctor along with the medical files I'm going to send home with you. You also need to speak with a counselor about this, promise me that, will you?"
"I will, Doctor, thank you," I answered after thinking on his words.
"Is this her?" A female doctor asked, walking into the exam room. She was tall, and covered in white fur and had a short muzzle like a cat. Like Opalescence. Exactly like Opalescence. All I could do was try and hide my laughter. "Is something funny?"
"She thinks you look like her cat," The Doctor answered before I could respond, leaving me slack-jawed, my face flush with embarrassment, but he just smiled and shrugged at me.
"Here I thought only humans got that reaction when they see a Caitian. I'm Dr. R'Miia, I'm an Orthopedic surgeon. While Dr. Nosey-pants here is going to fix up those peepers of yours, how would you like to get rid of that leg brace? Hmm?" The cat like doctor asked, her voice sounding like she was purring.
Unable to speak, all I could do was smile.
"She says yes," Dr. Nikael said, making R'Miia slap him on the back of his head.
I just laughed.
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I liked this chapter and can't wait to see what happens next
nice chapter, and good way to weave some of the skipped time back into the narrative.
Nice very well done raritys reaction to a caitian hilarious
Yaay, back story.
Is it Jaws anniversary season or something? Or is dropping 5 photon grenades on horns just too good a miss for the Booom, Headshot meme?
For Rarity, its Starfleets fault, so its Starfleets fix and bill.
Did the Solanae get to enjoy a runaway hawking radiation event at all?
5941338 Now that you say it... this June 20th will be the 40th anniversary of the release of the First Jaws movie... so yeah... It kind of is Jaws anniversary season...
As for the Solonae... Remember how Tirek treats his friends?
Nice story! I do not understand the tribunal outcome. I mean if the aliens interfering was proven to be the fault of the federation wouldn't that mean that Tirek's empowerment would also be the federation's fault indirectly and therefore would not be a violation to stop him. Also I am unclear on this, but does not the prime directive allow self defense from murder or enslavement as that is what Tirek's would do if not stopped. Thus, I do not feel that his demotion was warranted if anything he should be given a reward as he saved an entire planet from doom indirectly caused be the federation.
5943563
It does allow for self-defense, and self-defense only, and even then, only when that action doesn't interfere with another civilization, or the natural development of a pre-warp society. Officers are expected remove themselves from the situation in the most expedient way possible with the absolute minimum interference, and failing that give their lives if need be to uphold the prime directive.
To quote Captain Kirk: "Risk is our business."
In this situation, since Starfleet was partially at fault in contributing to Tirek's escape from Tartarus by alerting the Solonae to the existence of life outside their realm in subspace, which allowed them to detect the pocket of normal space where Equus resides, the punishment was lessened.
But the fact remains, James was not asked for his help, but he helped anyways and took part in what was an internal state matter and part of the natural progression of that society, and thus, violated the prime directive.
Hell, in ST Into Darkness, Kirk lost his command and was demoted to Commander for violating the PD.
Tom Paris was demoted to Ensign for doing EXACTLY this, and he got 30 days in the brig, had they been in the Alpha quadrant, he would have gotten a worse punishment, but Voyager can't afford to have a valuable officer removed from duty so long.
5943978
Ok I think I follow. Though from a legal defense perspective, I think getting a formal request written up from Celestia would be rather easy to get. I think I get the whole you have to die for it idea even if from a philosophical perspective it is a little extreme. If I was in his position I would totally resign my commission, I mean his careeer just got flushed down the toilet for doing the morally right thing, it would be like starting over at 35 in the military, and he said he wants more time with family, so now he can get that time.
5944502
img4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20130405221911/mlp/images/e/e1/FANMADE_Luna_I_see_what_you_did_there.jpg
5952347
Good Point I would just stay in equestria too!
5953648
I neither confirm nor deny that that may or may not be the direction of the story's plot.
5953655
LOL!
one error - I believe rarity could "not be more proud", not less - I'm on my phone atm else I'd copy the relevant paragraph
5955132
thanks, shite like that is bound to happen in a 4k+ chapter written mostly at 3am...
5955143
lol no problem :)
Yay, a Caitian!
Huh, cat people... Wasn't expecting that, but not overly supprised given all the weird things in stsr trek... Good work on the writing though. Color me impressed
Ahh, the Prime Directive... the biggest piece of horsesh*t in all of Star Trek.
"Nope, can't divert an asteroid that will save your civilization and billions of lives. Nope, can't give medicine to stop a plague that's killing untold numbers and causing terrible suffering. Sorry, my hands are tied. But I AM enjoying this Earl Grey."
Saving sapient lives should never come second to some bureaucrat's ass-covering regulation. "Oh, don't blame us in administration, we TOLD them not to get involved!" Bah.
You want to prevent people from setting up cargo cults or manipulating civilizations? Fine, WORD THE LAW THAT WAY. But forbidding all forms of contact that might save lives? You're a f**king monster and that's all there is to it.
7271727 Oh, agreed.
7271727
when you put it that way, it really does come out as Hypocritical..
so long as they don't know, where is the damage?