Rainbow Dash's Unstoppable Ego

by MagicS

True Pegasus XVI

Crescent Moon often held the sneaking suspicion that others considered him a moron. He didn’t have anything to base this on. His soldiers listened to his orders, they respected his authority, it was more of just a general gut feeling he had. He didn’t know why or how this could be considering he followed all of Commander Blizzard’s orders and those of Captains East and West Wind. Not to mention he always tried his hardest to live up to their standards and the ideals of the true pegasus way. So why did this puzzling feeling and suspicion exist in him? Perhaps he was just being paranoid. Surely his squad appreciated him for always seeking to bring out the best in them at least.

He knew that Rainbow Dash didn’t think much of him but the two of them hadn’t actually spoken much either. Only briefly now and then, Crescent Moon was more than happy to let Wild Wind deal with the day to day managing of the squad. Truthfully Crescent Moon didn’t want to engage much with Rainbow Dash, her existence made him uncomfortable. Even though he was following orders as best as possible and trying to make her soldier life as normal as any other’s. She was a mare, she was from Equestria, she had a naturally confident attitude, she was stronger and faster than any other pegasus aside from Blizzard himself, Crescent Moon didn’t know how to deal with her. In some ways he was afraid of her. He hoped he didn’t let any of that show on the outside.

It would’ve been easy to disguise that fear with anger or distaste and he could’ve given her a much harder time at training camp, but he wasn’t supposed to do anything abnormal or extreme. Those were his orders. And he had the feeling that she was stubborn and strong enough to overcome anything he could’ve thrown at her in the first place. And that would’ve likely made his apprehensiveness around her even worse.

According to any of the sergeants who had been supervising his squad she excelled at every aspect of training. According to Wild Wind she was getting along perfectly fine with everyone else on the squad. The corporal had even described her as… what was it? Bright and magnetic? Something like that. He said there was just something about her that was special, that made them like her and gravitate around her.

Crescent Moon didn’t quite get it. The only thing he could think of was how he felt about the Commander’s strong presence and will.

“Maybe if I spent more time with her I’d understand,” he scratched his chin as he lied in bed. The lieutenant was still in the officer’s quarters staring at the ceiling. By now his squad was well into their morning training.

He turned onto his side and thought about his first meeting with her, her blatant disrespect shown to the Commander. “But she’s so… subversive.”

Crescent Moon liked to consider himself the staunchest and most loyal supporter of Commander Blizzard and the true pegasus way as any soldier could be. He didn’t want to hear about Equestria and the other traitorous pegasi and he didn’t want to deal with a mare doing such… unbecoming things for a mare to do. He didn’t want to be sullied by her or corrupted. Maybe it was just cowardly but he would continue to keep his distance for now and let Wild Wind do his thing.

What if he was personally asked to engage with her and find out how she was adapting to the Empire?

He shuddered at the thought. He knew she had gone on some patrols and learned a great deal of the inner-workings of their city through her excursions with the other members of the squad but that had mostly come as second-hoof information through Wild Wind. Or him only taking the barest amount of time to allow her out somewhere.

What her true thoughts and feelings were on anything he didn’t really know. Although he could suspect.

He hoped she was learning the errors of her ways and coming to believe in their Empire but if he had to be honest that was likely not the case. Not with the attitude she had shown since day one and the way she still carried herself even now. She hadn’t changed a bit, she was still an Equestrian mare with that cocky and boastful personality of hers. She was fighting to make sure the Empire didn’t change her and she didn’t acclimate to their ways.

Crescent Moon sighed and finally pushed himself out of bed. Regardless of anything else it was improper to be lazy and sleep so long. In a practiced second he had his armor on and was marching out the door to check up on his squad. Once that was done he could meet with the other officers and plan the next month’s training regime. Captains East and West Wind had wanted that to be done days ago but they were sidetracked by the wolf attack.

The Lieutenant flew over the clouds to where the seven ponies under his command should be. To his pleasure they were busy running laps around the cloud track, good, at least they still took their training seriously regardless of the effect this mare may have had on them.

A sudden frown hit his face as he looked closer at them though and realized that Rainbow Dash was running backwards and still going faster than any of the others. Showing off her athleticism no doubt.

“That mare needs to learn some humility,” he grumbled. Crescent Moon would’ve thought that maybe her one-sided defeat at the wings of Commander Blizzard might have damaged her pride but if that was the case she had done an excellent job of hiding it in the time since.

In fact being so easily beaten by their Commander probably just made the fire inside her burn hotter.

She should’ve known that Blizzard was invincible and she could never beat him but apparently she refused to accept that. And it’s not like any other pegasus could chastise her or physically best her in any way, she knew she was superior to anyone else here and it gave her strength.

Sergeant Iron Star was surveying his squad and a few others out on the clouds so Crescent Moon decided to fly over to him. He stood a good head taller than the sergeant, making them a bit of a mismatched pair.

“How is the morning training going?” He asked the eye-patch wearing sergeant as normally as he could.

“As good as ever with these wimps and slackers,” Iron Star spat. The sergeant was in a perpetually bad mood for some reason, none of the other officers could ever determine why. “Look at em, practically jogging around the course, I’ll make em put some real effort into it next time. Darn slugs.”

They seemed fine to Crescent Moon but he wasn’t about to say anything. Despite the difference in rank.

Crescent Moon spied Wild Wild running, he made a note to talk to him again later. His corporal was always pertinent and level-headed no matter the issue. He wasn’t the type to delve too deeply or think too hard about things but Crescent was sure he could help elucidate anything when it came to Rainbow Dash. Again, he was using his corporal as a buffer but that was his right as a superior officer wasn’t it?

He frowned and began rolling his tongue inside his mouth. “It’s not like I’m actually that busy, I could always work with them more. Or I could even go on a patrol with her myself.”

“You say something?” Iron Star glared up at him.

Crescent had no idea if the glare was intentional or if that was just how his face automatically looked. He probably genuinely didn’t hear what Crescent was saying though.

“No, nothing. I was just talking to myself,” Crescent Moon muttered.

“Hng,” the sergeant grunted and returned his angry gaze to the running ponies.

Since he was done here for now he flapped his wings again and took off to the sky, on a short flight to the main office of the base where the other ranking officers would be gathered. A small building pressed up at the corner of the base and right on the line between it and the rest of the city. He still vividly remembered the first day Rainbow Dash was officially placed under his command and all the time the other officers had spent pestering him about her.

He scowled as he thought more about that morning. He had tried to be imposing and unwelcoming to her, orders or not it was his knee-jerk reaction, and get it into her skull that he was the one in charge now and also tried to get her to see the glory of the Empire. But right from the beginning she had defied all of it and gave him lip. Maybe he was too overzealous that time…

She had somewhat humiliated him when they first met in the sky and because of that he had tried to make too hard of an impression on her when he inducted her into his squad.

It’s not like he didn’t believe everything he said, far from it, he did zealously believe it, but he wasn’t an idiot. He wasn’t. And he should’ve known better how she would’ve reacted. He also distinctly remembered dismissing anything she said about Equestria and the Empire, another thing that would’ve made her rather scornful of him.

He had to admit though that after seeing her in action and hearing about how she won everyone on the squad over that it made him curious to know about where she came from. He didn’t want to be curious but he couldn’t help it thanks to her. That was a bad thing to think about though. He was expressly forbidden from asking her about Equestria or letting her tell the others about it. It could be damaging to their way of life, as East and West Wind said. They and Commander Blizzard certainly knew best about such things, it wouldn’t do to have her make pegasi start to think that their ancestors should’ve never come up here in the first place. If the pegasi of the Empire started to get the mistaken idea that Equestria was a good place to live and that living by the old ways and traditions didn’t matter… he didn’t want to think about it. Everything would just feel so pointless. The pegasi of Equestria were wrong. They were wrong to live their flippant lives ignorant of what it really meant to be a pegasus.

Crescent Moon fervently shook his head. He didn’t want the thoughts and feelings inside Rainbow Dash to spread to the rest of the Empire.

“I don’t know if keeping her around and giving her the life of a soldier was a good idea,” Crescent Moon quietly said to himself. His eyes then widened and he nearly stopped in midair, realizing that he was doubting Commander Blizzard’s decision. “No, no, he—he certainly knows much better than me. I’m just being paranoid, with the Commander around there is no such thing as a threat to our Empire.”

He needed to believe in the Commander, in himself, in their ways. They were stronger than Rainbow Dash.

The fact that he was even thinking about this now though gave some evidence to that magnetic personality Wild Wind had mentioned. Treating her like a normal soldier didn’t mean he always had to allow her to go on patrol or go visit the farms and all the while strengthen the relationships she had with the rest of the squad. He didn’t have to talk with her personally but he could keep her around base more to keep an eye on her. Or at the worst only have her pair up with Wild Wind on any outing.

“Forget it for now, she’s not the only thing I have to deal with,” Crescent said as he arrived at the base’s office. “I’ll plan our training regime and go over anything else that’s important with the other officers. That’ll take my mind off this uncomfortable Rainbow Dash business.” He nodded and set down on the clouds right outside the office, pulling the door open with a wing and walking inside.

I’m not stupid. I know that something is going to change because of her coming here… I just don’t know what yet. With a frown he tried to push those last oppressive thoughts out of his head to get focused on his other work.

Comments

[THERDSTORYWHISPERER]

Great chapter!

[redmar]

Crescent Moon isn't all that intelligent and it's no surprise that others think him a moron. He's a simple yes-pony to Blizzard and ignorant of the problems in the empire. Blizzard ignores the problems and tells others those problems do not exist or are how things should be.