-59-
They were still catching their breaths when Gilda came up to them looking nonchalant about their adventures in the quiet station filled with unseen horrors.
“So… how did testing the phosphorus grenade work out?” As a well known intellectual, Gilda noticed immediately that Rarity had used one of the grenades given to her by Greta and Gilda’s little research and development into not very lethal, but still damaging weapons making session. They weren’t professional weapon makers, but Greta could fake it well enough for the both of them.
“I would think they work better than you could imagine in one area, they should really be called sunlight grenades. Wished I hadn’t used the one before we left the station, I’m quite sure I was the only one that saw that monstrosity.” Curiosity and the fact that she wanted to test whether or not the grenade could be distracting had led Rarity to using it, she can’t say she was disappointed in the effects of the grenade really. “It at least lit up a whole portion of the city, didn’t attract the darkness or miasma as Ember calls it. Though I did see what she called a screamer and I’m rightfully horrified and mostly glad that it was on a lower level of the city and couldn’t have possibly caught up to us in a panic.”
“Okay so the chemical composition that made it bright worked a little too well, but it didn’t give off energy to attract any monsters.” The griffons had made those grenades for the away team under time constraints and as prototypes. It still led Gilda to wondering if they could be seen from orbit, they are supposed to be very distracting and lighting up an entire section of city was quite distracting. “Well I and Greta are professionals in vehicles, not small arms. How would it work as a flash bang?”
“There’s a lot of flash and a long lasting one at that, not enough bang though. It was quite blinding, but not enough to seriously blind someone for life.” As Rarity spoke with her mechanical engineer, Ember slowly made her way over to the Pyrrhic Victory and opened it up, only to see Coco cuddling Mr. Spew and they got to talking. “However keep the recipe for those particular grenades on hoof, it might be useful later.”
“Well we survived, so when are we going back in there? I’m game for another round and a possible chance at saving possible food sources. This infestation is endangering the future my race by proxy.” Chrysalis had been scared by that horrid noise and Changelings were quite sensitive to sonic based attacks, the vibrations from that scream made her nauseous. Unlike other Changelings who would be moaning about how painful it was, she wanted more and chalked it up to her being the Changeling Queen. Glutton for punishment was purportedly written on her resume and she would follow Rarity back inside if she needed to. That thing had issued a challenge with its scream and Chrysalis wanted to take a rocket launcher back in there to show it she meant business. Sure she was scared, but she was angrier that it would think her incapable of facing it down and showing it just what a queen of her race was capable of. “I’m assuming that this scenario is of course not indicative of what a normal space station colony looks like given the circumstances.”
“It’s the first place I’ve been to in space as well. It’s not friendly to anyone and the fact that people are dying makes me want to help save them from whatever is happening to them. I might be scared stiff, but I’d go back in there for the sake of others.” Saffron had never been off planet and now she knew exactly why she probably wouldn’t have wanted to, sure there were plenty of dangerous things on Equus, none were more dangerous than the things you could meet in space. She was quivering with fear in her suit and she didn’t want to take it off. “Does it say something about me that I’m too afraid to take off my EVA suit now?”
“You aren’t the only who’s thinking of their suit as a safety blanket at the moment, been a while since I’ve seen something like that.” Lightning got a few looks sent her way and she scoffed at them, like Chrysalis she wasn’t shivering in fear and her blood was pumping throughout her body at a good rate. She wanted to bring this infestation down for the glory of it and maybe to do something good with her life. “Checking derelict ships with the Wonder Bolts was bad at times what with Sifter Drifter problems popping up every now and then, but an entire bucking space station just going silent like that! With this Visitant infestation we don’t have a clue as to what we can do about it or entirely what it’s doing. The fact that there are horrors that we didn’t see is more chilling than the ones we did, not to mention that your friend is a freaking dragon and a bounty hunter of all things!”
“Technically she’s Princess Ember Mcflame of the Mcflame Empire run by Torch Mcflame the dragon who is the size of a small mountain. Among bounty hunters Ember is well known with a good track record for killing or capturing violent individuals and or putting down problematic monsters like the ones in there.” They turned to Chrysalis who obviously knew of Ember, yet she hadn’t said anything until now. “Yeah that’s right, she’s royalty and she’s ass kicking royalty at that. Who would spend three days in that deathtrap… alone no less? Where breathing any air outside a sealed system is a problem, the fact that she survived getting attack while using the bathroom says something about how tough she is. Nice body too… now if only it grew hair. Still don’t rightly know how her mother managed to handle Torch’s size with the information I have on her, a comparatively small biped dragon and a humongous quadruped dragon should have had size issues and I don’t think greed growth was involved, maybe lust growth? I’ve survived Torch breathing on me once, I was at least a good fifty feet from the main impact zone and I still caught on fire. That incident burned most of the fur off my carapace, not like anyone could tell at the time anyway.”
“I’d be more confused as to how Hard Throb somehow managed to get a wheelchair, his cast covered body and weapons up into a chandelier without anyone noticing in a room full of people for a counter ambush.” Rarity had wondered what Ember’s home life was like and now she had an idea as to why she had been avoiding Equus and mentioned that she didn’t like the idea of going anywhere near the planet. So if what she thought she knew to be true, then that meant Spike was a little prince. The name Spike Mcflame Sparkle sounded cute and Rarity would call him that the next time she saw him, if she ever did. “There are just some questions that were never meant to be answered, Ember exists so therefore it happened and the mechanics behind it should not be thought too hard on.”
“I beg to differ; I would have really loved to know Mrs. Mcflame’s technique if she hadn’t died of illness a long while ago. Probably shouldn’t bring that up with her daughter since she’s going to be a guest on this ship for a while.” Touring the planet of Equus had been great for Chrysalis’s ability to better understand other beings, just because she understood better didn’t mean she empathized at all with them. “That dragon sounded like a woman who knew what she wanted.”
“Opal, I would like you to schedule a series of appointments for all of us with Vera.” They needed some time to rest and not think about the horrid space station filled with monsters and people of all ages and species currently dying a slow death. “Ember needs it the most so she should go first.”
“That’s going to be hard to do because Ember fell asleep as soon as she went onto her ship, she wanted me to tell you that she’d like some peace and quiet and to keep Mr. Spew here entertained.” Coco held the sewer born squid she thought was adorable in one hoof like it was a teddy bear, Mr. Spew didn’t seem to mind the comforting position he was in. “Oh and to not wake her up or else she will beat the person responsible half to death. She sounded rather cranky and hungry. I’m guessing she had a real bad time on the station?”
“Having to shoot at what amounts to the shadows of children, I’d imagine she did. She really shouldn’t be sleeping on the floor like that.” Rarity walked up and into Ember’s ship and walked up to the sleeping dragon to help her into a bed, Ember had managed to get out of her EVA suit and switch into a pair of shorts and a tank top. Upon getting closer to the dragon her arms snapped out and wrapped around Rarity’s head to pull her down into a cuddling embrace, she even nuzzled Rarity’s neck. Ember’s body was quite warm and she was tired after her adventure, so maybe she could just close her eyes for a moment. She just eased into the warm embrace and the tail curling around her hind legs.
“Well it might be first come first serve then; Rarity has a good point in the away crew needing psychological help. However she’s currently too busy being cuddled by a sleeping dragon and I don’t want anyone to be hurt by Ember.” That and Opal thought the dragon using Rarity as a pillow was too cute to disturb. “Saffron, Lightning and Chrysalis, I’d suggest reporting to Shining Jewel medical for psychological evaluation from Vera. If you don’t know or remember, it’s on deck two in section two. Also before anyone asks, yes, I have a drone on Vera and she is visible.”
“So, we just rescued a princess?” Lightning thought out loud.
“No, it’s more like we provided backup for a princess that had handled herself quite well for the three days she was in the station.” Saffron idly wondered what kind of recipes a dragon would like, probably something spicy. “However the fact that she needed at least some help cannot be denied.”
-
“Well you’re not as bad as I thought you’d be, though your violent tendencies are to be expected given you think someone is messing with your territory. I think you have a problem with… your own self image about how you look to everyone.” Vera was trying to avoid some rather specific words; Chrysalis just tilted her head to give her a blank and rather confused look. “Okay I can’t lie, you’re a potentially highly volatile being and you have incredibly bad butt envy. You’re envious about almost every butt you come across, to a ridiculous level that most can’t even begin to conceive! Also you are way to sexually forward for being as ironically sexually deprived a being as you are, you like having someone play games with you that is not another Changeling because you crave personal attention from other beings not in your species.”
“Yeah, I can see that.” Chrysalis nodded along smiling, her wings popped out and she threw her hoof into the air as she sat up. “I plead guilty as charged! So do you happen to have a pair of handcuffs we could use, maybe a gag as well? I wouldn’t mind if you were to punish me for being a naughty girl.”
“This is not a court case Ms. Dick; please go back to lying down. This is a psyche evaluation and despite how horrible it is for me to say this, you’ve passed the inspection as someone to be safe around. Though how true that will be depends on whether or not you can drop your pride for a moment to ask someone for help with keeping you entertained. I suggest Trapeze Star if you want to spend time being entertained by someone else, maybe help her or some other crew members with minor favors here and there.” Here Vera paused and looked over her data pad at Chrysalis who was staring at her innocently. “Also I think you need a hobby that doesn’t require other people to be around you at all times and that you can do on your own that doesn’t endanger anyone on this ship, one that can curb the destructive habits that you have yet to unleash on us all. As for my professional suggestion… puzzle games or video electrical stimulating challenges, maybe learn how not to make electronics explode at your touch or just technology in general that isn’t based around weaponry. Just something to put your mind to that isn’t anyone else or how you see yourself as lacking.”
“Okay, sounds good to me. I’ve never been an entertainer before and I could possibly work with Trapeze.” Who was Chrysalis to argue, Vera sounded very professional about this and she wasn’t the leader or owner of this ship. If she can swallow her pride to put herself equal to the princesses and beneath the orders of Rarity on the crew, then she can do it again.
“Somehow I’m not absolved of feeling that you’re going to do horrible things to the crew in the future.” Vera received a simple shrug and look that said that it sounded fair to Chrysalis. She wasn’t about to touch upon Chrysalis’s masochistic tendencies until she got in a few more sessions with the queen. “Okay you’re done, you may leave. On your way out have Saffron come up next. Lightning seems to be the mentally tougher of the two.”
“Okay, thanks for the massage. I thought Changelings were good at that, but you earth ponies are wonderful at massage with those strong supple hooves of yours.” Chrysalis sauntered out while looking back at Vera Blossom with an amused grin; she liked the pony with the spa related talents that turned invisible at a blink. It reminded her of a Changeling, even logically knowing that Vera wasn’t one. “Hey Saffron, you’re next. A queen like me is perfectly mentally health and beautiful as I thought I was.”
-
“You have a very large hero complex, being Mare-Do-Well that makes complete sense and I’m not actually surprised. You won’t let fear get in the way of helping others, no matter how detrimental to your health it might be. Of course you need to consider if the person you’re helping is actually worth helping or not and if the risk is worth it for your own personal health. Rarity has a similar problem to you, only it’s mostly centered on making sure her friends are okay and she’s ridiculously generous with her friends and willing to throw herself directly into the path of danger for them. Please don’t be a reckless idiot like that. You have a good working relationship with your father and you are a wonderful pony to talk to. Brave, outgoing and even a little too humble, unlike Chrysalis who wouldn’t know the meaning of the word humble if it was a dictionary that hit her over the head with a baseball bat.” The talk Vera had with Saffron went much smoother than Chrysalis and wasn’t as filled with sexual moaning or a thinly veiled innuendo that Chrysalis had done every time she popped a muscle. Massage therapy and psychological analyzing was becoming a thing for Vera. “You’re physically very healthy, you’re mentally healthy if in need of more thought for your own needs and this is just me speaking, but you’re really good at cooking. I even heard you were going to practice knife throwing routines with Trapeze who I’m beginning to think is becoming a very good morale booster for the crew as a whole. You are mostly mentally well balanced; despite having lost your home in a giant robot attack… wow didn’t think I’d ever say something like that. I only have a few suggestions for you personally, one being take a long shower, take the time to do some feminine stuff for yourself like brush your mane and do something even remotely selfish. Think about what you want for once.”
“I think I can do that…” Saffron was trying to lie to herself more than the mare making her back sing in praise of the massage she was receiving, the massage stopped and Vera gave her a stern eye. She wasn’t selfish in any meaning of the word and like Rarity she always helped those who needed her. The people of Antilur Station really needed a hero and despite her fears she was willing to push forward into the unknown and breach the veil of darkness slowly killing those poor citizens. “Okay I will do that, something just for me personally and not anyone else.”
“Good now send Lightning in here; I did you second as a buffer because I think she’s going to be a bit more problematic.” Talking with all these patients was beginning to make Vera miss her sisters Aloe and Lotus Blossom, in particular because she could easily form a sisterly bond with Saffron.
-
“Then I… I don’t know why I didn’t blame myself! I spend a lot of my time blaming Rainbow Dash for my own faults and… and… there’s the fact that I’m a horrible pony!” Lightning flipped over and started blubbering into Vera’s shoulder, the mare started to gently pat her on the back and rub a spot between her wings that was quickly making her calm down.
“This is not going how I expected it would go at all.” Vera was learning a lot about Lightning and how her pride ruined her military career, much less her showboating and stupidity did. Lightning may act nonchalant, may be a bit rough around the edges like Gilda and had mentality for fighting others, but she was surprisingly sensitive and didn’t like knowing people thinking she was.
“We could have been sisters, we were so much alike!” Lightning continued whining into Vera’s shoulder. “I might have even loved her a little bit; I was so horrible to her though! Do you know how bitter I became when they tossed me out on the street? Nobody would hire me because I did a lot of bad things.”
“Okay, calm down, you now have a job and you’re slowly getting back on your hooves. It’s okay to have pride, but not when it’s to the detriment of your job and your job so far is to be Gilda’s hired pony.” Vera slowly started petting Lightning and working her back into a position where she could be massaged. This was by far the most emotionally unstable pony she had seen on the crew yet and she thought that would have been Chrysalis only to find the Changeling was sane if weird because she didn’t have a pony mind set and Vera had to work with that in mind. “This may sound odd coming from me, but I think you like being submissive to the desires of others.”
“Wait, what? You can’t be serious doc, if anything I’m an in your face domineering pony!” Thus Lightning entered a full on denial phase and it was up to Vera to crack her open like a nut and she was going to gladly do so to get Lightning to open up more.
“No I think you do have a problem with being submissive, you like people telling you what to do even if you pretend like you don’t and you show it without realizing it. You absolutely want to impress everyone, but you want to do it your own way while being told what to do. If I didn’t think you could be helped I would have told Gilda to kick you off the ship before we left Equus.” That little bomb Vera dropped caused Lightning to look at her with wilted ears. “All your actions are indicative of a really bad childhood; you had a lot of problems as a filly didn’t you? You just want someone to think highly of you and to comfort you and tell you that you did something good. In real life you can’t please everyone, I’m sure you were quite humbled by that crash. You need to admit that you need help and that you can ask for it and not try to handle everything by yourself, you must already be aware that your ego is your biggest problem.”
Lightning became very unresponsive and just let Vera continue the massage in silence, but Lightning didn't fight Vera on anything she said and let her finish. Lightning eventually cried into her chest and they snuggled for a bit, Lightning thanked her for the massage and left quietly knowing that she would be back for another session.
-
“So you are Princess Ember Mcflame, also known as Flamethrower by many people and bounty hunters. I can tell this is going to be interesting one, let’s start with why you are here for this session Rarity.” Vera was actually curious as to why Rarity came into medical with Ember, the dragon needed a physical checkup on top of a mental one and she’d massage the dragon into being comfortable enough to talk.
“I’m here emotional support and we came here straight away after we woke up from our… nap as it were. She woke up to find that she was using me as a pillow and she was quite embarrassed by that.” Holding up her hoof to stall an oncoming comment Rarity continued. “I have also yet to tell her about a possible lead to something of interest that she might want to know about and I wanted to address it in her psychological session, because she might have a bit of a break down when she finds out.”
“Find out what?” The tank top and shorts was as little as Ember would be caught wearing, her blush and body shy nature just reared its head as she wrapped her tail around her waist.
Rarity took out her data pad and started flipping through some pictures recorded to the device and she stopped on one particular picture. She stopped to look at Ember’s questioning face and was watching it for a reaction when she show the pictures that she took of Spike’s egg shell.
“Well I found something on Equus that led me to believe that you might recognize this?” Rarity showed the picture to Ember and she scrutinized it for a bit, a slow dawning of understanding crossed her face as if she was seeing something couldn’t be real. She looked at Rarity and then back to the picture before her of an egg that had obviously hatched.
“You found my sibling’s egg!” After her tail lashed out behind her Ember lunged and threw her arms around Rarity and brought her into a very strong hug, one that was almost a choke hold. “Oh my goodness, this is… this is unbelievable! Did you find my sibling as well?”
“I had a hunch it was your brother I met, so… if you’ll please stop killing me by hugging me.” Rarity felt the grip on her loosen up, but it wasn’t nearly enough to let her go. Ember looked like she was quite comfortable in holding her and wrapping her wings around the pony who just delivered some of the greatest news she has ever heard. Rarity started to move through the pictures until she found one of both Twilight and Spike. “This is Spike Mcflame Sparkle, your brother and his surrogate mother Twilight Sparkle.”
Nobody had ever seen actually seen a dragon cry before, it rarely happened and this was a once in a lifetime event.
“Well once Ember is done calming down, after the fact that you have just delivered some good news to her.” Vera started off slowly, with a small smile on her face. “I would like to get this session done in earnest.”
“Oh, right, I’m sorry about that.” Ember tried to wipe the tears from her eyes, only they just kept spilling from them. “It’s just that I have a little brother out there and he’s doing okay. He is doing okay right?”
“Oh he’s doing perfectly fine darling, he’s friends with all the Alicorn princesses in Canterlot. Also he’s quite the little ladies gentle stallion, though he’s not entirely beyond bribery it would seem.” Here Rarity snorted and started chuckling at the memories. “He made a few passes at me, but I’m afraid that the poor dear doesn’t understand that he is far too young for me. He’s just as nice as you are Ember and I can actually see you as being his big sister.”
Ember smiled vibrantly at that, she was willing and able to continue putting up with the hell that was Antilur Station with that kind of news she just received after being helped out. A tissue floated up to her sniffling nose and she blew into it, flaming snot caused the tissue to evaporate into the air leaving no traces of anything behind. Rarity was wary of levitating another tissue to Ember, but she did so anyway.
-
“Well Ember, you have a strained relationship with your father, but not exactly a bad one. You’re able to violently kill, but you are also someone with a mostly emotionally stable heart and strong morals that prevent you from becoming a heartless monster. Which might actually be a detriment to you being a bounty hunter in the first place, but you seemed to have done well for yourself regardless and I can’t see you as being a bad person even knowing you have had to kill sentient beings before. To be fair you are not a pony and I know this, you are both a very passionate and aggressive individual who needs more friends.” Killing wasn’t necessarily wrong, but it wasn’t necessarily right either and Vera was trying to not look at this from the angle of a pony’s perspective. Ponies were not very violent creatures, dragons were a different matter altogether and she had to adjust her personal mindset and beliefs for that to remain entirely impartial to Ember’s life choices. “You have good parents, you just found out you have a little brother that doesn’t know he has a big sister and you are pretty heroic sounding for a legalized bounty hunter. Socially you are still introverted and a bit awkward from when I last saw you, but you are coming out of the shell you have created for yourself in a slow and steady manner which is good. Being body shy is nothing to be ashamed of, though I must say that I agree with Rarity in stating that you are beautiful example of a female biped dragon”
“Oh stop, you’re embarrassing me.” Ember was clutching at her completely red face and was thankful that Rarity wasn’t here at the moment to see her like this. It took her a moment to calm down and then she got a little serious. “Is there anything I should be worried about though?”
“Your health seems perfectly fine, though I’m not exactly an expert on dragon biology your musculature is exceedingly dense and you’re wings are very tough for being so flexible.” Vera had caused Ember to squeak loudly when she got her hooves on the dragon’s wings. “Despite the emotional and physical exhaustion you went through, I think you’re okay enough to continue whatever it was you were doing on the station.”
“I was trying to find the source of the problem and I have to do it to save whomever I can, still haven’t found where all the civilians or the lost military personnel went.” A strong person Ember was, she would go back in there and do her job whether or not she had help. Her strong moral standings and the fact that she was hired for this meant that she had to succeed. “I’m not about to give up on at least saving some people.”
“I’m not about to tell you to not to go back aboard the station, Rarity seems set on doing the same as well even with how dangerous it is.” Vera paused and looked into Ember’s slightly upset eyes. “She just wants to help just like you do Ember and I don’t think you can stop her or Saffron from wanting to go back in there to find the problem and deal with it.”
“Do you have any advice for me?” Ember asked quietly.
“Yes in fact I do, take care of your friends and they will take care of you.” Vera put a hoof on the dragon’s bare shoulder and looked her in the eyes. “I think you’re a good person despite everything you’ve told me Ms. Mcflame. Have you ever given a thought to learning how to play music to express yourself?”
Stats
Page generated in 0.039 seconds
Total duration
1,041 users online
1,381,837 hits today, 1,822,946 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
I like this chapter a real lot, plenty of new insight into the protagonists' mindsets.
... Why do I imagine Chryssie picking either an insane or insanely mundane hobby? Like knitting?
Wow, Lightning has some serious issues to work out.
... Lock Chryssie and Ember in a room together for extra hilarity.
D: Where's Mr Spew's interview?
'we don’t have a clue as what we can do about' - as to
'wheelchair; his' - wheelchair, his
'do some feminine for yourself' - some feminine stuff or something feminine
'You're health' - your health
'she got her hooves the dragon’s wings' - her hooves on the dragon's