Day 13:

Rainbow Dash

Every morning I wake up in my husbands embrace. I always found myself wrapped by a gentle hug or his awesome white wings engulfing me like a warm blanket. Today was no different and he greeted me awake with a kind nuzzle on my cheek.

“Good morning Rainbow,” he spoke to me softly and continued to nuzzle and hug me.

“Your breathe stinks,” I joked around. Obviously mine did too. I returned his affection by wrapping my own wings around his back, tucking them under his wings. He started to stroke my mane and I blushed.

“Hmmm,” he hummed gently, “I love you Dashie.”

I yawned and kissed him on the nose, “I love you too Sky.”

It's an odd story about how we met in the first place. I sometimes think about it whenever I see his face and the slightest hint of pain flashes in his eyes, a pain that I hold back and replace with love and loyalty.

I had actually met Sky Buster during my days at the Junior Speedsters Flight Camp. Back then he was playful, friendly, and a tad awkward at times. Him and I shared a passion for flight and even though he was a major egghead, he was still one of my friends even from early on. Compared to the way I fly his agility is even better than my own but he couldn't keep up in a race, although he could come close. My mom, Firefly, was the director of the flight camp and she pulled me out of it to train me herself. When I stopped going I sort of forgot about the guy and he simply just faded into memory. It wasn't until my first taste of war that I saw him again. It was years ago during the Equestrian War with the Griffin Kingdom. My flight was assigned to protect an aircraft carrier from our allies, Tidas Aurora, as they sent their peacekeeping forces into the fight. As we flew in formation a lone mercenary pilot came in from the clouds to join in, his calls on the radio gave me a sense of familiarity. To my surprise it was Sky Buster and he became a pilot for the First Tidas Auroran Special Volunteer Group. That day I learned that he was the sole survivor of his unit and he'd been through a lot. He was in a state of mental agony that tore at his soul. He had watched his friends die in his hooves, his family was murdered by our last enemy, Vulcan Sol, and he'd wake up from nightmares induced by those memories. It was during one night that he suffered a panic attack in his sleep. We were bunked in the same room in our barracks and he collapsed to the floor from the top bunk. I jumped awake and saw him on the ground, squirming in deep mental and emotional trauma, mumbling and screaming out names of people he'd seen die before him. I started to cry as well and couldn't bare to watch, so I took it upon myself to embrace and comfort him. His broken heart needed to be healed. He stopped crying and looked up to me. The look in his eyes at that moment looked like he just saw his guardian angel. That guardian angel...

Was me...

“Ready to fly birthday filly?” he got out of bed and got onto the balcony, wings poised for launch.

“You bet!” I stood by his side and we both rocketed into the sky.

Taking flight we were faster than any of the predatory birds that liked to annoy our camp at times. We climbed higher into the sky. The wind in our manes, the freedom of the open skies, and just the two of us together playfully flying back and forth weaving amongst the clouds. It reminded me of our days in flight camp. It's hard to believe that was years ago when it just felt like yesterday. We descended into the treetops and started to maneuver at low altitude, topping out at I'd say 350 knots in airspeed. We were pulling a playful thatch weave as we zigzagged in and out of the forest all the while laughing and giggling to each other. We latched on and performed a rolling scissors, leaving a rainbow double helix contrail behind us. Sky pulled us upwards and we hovered in place as we reached the top of our arc. We were still spinning and near the edge of space. I could see all the stars and the planets zoom by as Sky Buster took me in his embrace. He tucked his wings in and I followed, letting gravity take hold in our freefall. The air rushed past us as we gained speed in our dive. It was exciting and I couldn't help but laugh. Pure joy and euphoria filled my heart as I looked into Sky Buster's eyes.

“You ready?” he said calmly as the ground rapidly came into view.

“Let's do it!”

“On three! One! Two! Three! Break!” We peeled away as we deployed our wings, looping around to bleed the airspeed as we landed perfectly in the center of town. We had spooked Digi as he was eating a bag of chips near the town well.

“Holy fuck! Do you guys know the word subtle? You made me spill my bag of chips.”

“Digi, you of all ponies should know by now that we ain't subtle,” Sky looked at him smugly, “And we're you get a bag of chips?”

“I got a huge stack of human food in my basement for those long hours of anime and scientific analysis. Speaking of which, I have a present for the both of you. I have it in my workshop. Come on guys,” Digi led us to the back of his house where he kept a large shed and workshop. He unveiled to us four brand new battle saddles for use in our ambush, “Built these fuckers just like your old ones. Well, the really old ones. I couldn't find a good blueprint for our more advanced designs.”

“These look great! But, I don't remember forging these wings and metal though,” Sky gave an examination of the saddles.

“I just used the 3D printer for most of this stuff. It took forever but it got the job done. I'm printing out the belts of ammo for the cannons too,” Digi gave a quick overview before turning to me, “Oh, and happy birthday RD!”

“Oh hey, thanks dude,” I smiled to him and gave my saddle a try, “Not bad. It's a little heavier than my last one.”

“We have to make due out here,” Digi was fiddling around with a weird device on his crafting table.

“These will do nicely Digi. The HDMs are working perfectly,” Sky did a systems check with his computerized helmet, “Navigation: check, master arm: link established, Control surfaces: check. All systems green! Say, what's that thing you're messing with?”

“This my friend is the distress beacon we're gonna use to lure a pirate ship down here. I got started on it last night. Hope you don't mind that I had to borrow some metals from your workshop,” Digi continued to work on it without glancing back at Sky.

“It was Twilight's orders, so go ahead I guess. Too late now.”

“Speaking of Twilight, you should probably pay her a visit. I think she wants you to go off on another mission of some sorts,” Digi turned back and helped us get out of our saddles, “It won't be long now until this beacon is done. I hope this works.”

“Alrighty then, see you later Digi,” Sky came over to me and nudged the back of my neck with his wing, “Come on, let's see what Twi wants us to do today.”

“Probably some more shopping by the looks of it,” I rolled my eyes and looked around.

“Doubt it, we got a lot of surplus. We got food, clean water, happy ponies. We just gotta concentrate on the objectives of the mission. We need steel and a dedicated metalwork station for working with any number of unknown metals. We do need to return to Equestria with something to show for,” he stepped up onto the front door of Twilight's house, “PACKAGE FOR MIDNIGHT SPORKLE!

He was flailing his hoof onto the door as Twi opened it, only to be greeted by Sky Buster's silly slapping to her face.

“Sky! Sky! Geez!” She played along and smiled, “That's enough now.”

“Watcha need Great Reader?” Sky used one of the many playful nicknames he'd given to Twilight.

“I want you to gather up Digi, Tommy, AJ, and Puzzle to build fortifications to the east. Our plan is to lure a pirate ship away from our town and ambush it with our anti aircraft base that you will supervise on building.”

“Yes ma'am Great Reader!” Sky Buster saluted and derped.

“Go on now, it's your job now.”

“Me too Twilight?” I asked.

“Mhm, you two go on. I'll need to have a town treasury for the future while you're building the outpost. Have fun you guys!”

And with that she sent us off with those matter manipulating doohickeys that could hold all the cobblestone we had mined out. We settled on a relatively flat area where we started to lay the foundation of our outpost. We were building hardened structures built to withstand air attack and we even had plans for a runway so we could make a rolling takeoff with the battle saddles. There was also the wagon full of flak cannons that we had to assemble and place on top of the bunkers. Some we had bought from the gunshop, others we made by 3D printing from blueprints. It was a mixed bag, the ones we bought were all lasers or something while our own AA turrets were the tried and truth 40mm Bofors. Slowly the base started to take shape and by the time we were finished it looked like a mini fortress.

“Well! That there looks like a mighty fine FOB to me!” Applejack wiped the sweat off her forehead.

“This looks pretty great. Hard to believe we built this in a day huh?” Tommy looked around.

“Believe it dude, technology is fucking amazing,” Digi placed his hoof onto Tommy's shoulder, “I think we're ready to kick some ass buddy.”

“You guys up for a little fun?...” Sky glanced at all of us and pointed to the AA guns, “What's say we do a little Mad Minute to celebrate!”

“Heavy machine guns, AA fire, explosions and awesomeness! I'm in!” I hugged him and trotted over to one of the guns.

“This is gonna be fuckin sweet,” Digi took his place on another gun.

“Fun!” Puzzle joined in too.

“Okay everypony! Remember, right wheel to turn, left wheel for elevation, right back hoof to fire! Puzzle! Pinkie! You ready with the balloons?!” Sky readied the team.

“Ready for fun!” I could see Pinkie stuffing a ton of balloons under a net.

“Pull!” I yelled out as I cocked my Bofors. The cloud of balloons flew up into the sky and the whole fury and hellfire of our combined tracer and flak fire erupted onto our rubbery adversaries. Lasers and puffs of black flak filled the skies. All I could hear were the explosions and gunshots of our turrets aimed skywards. I could hear somepony yell out.

“Cease fire! Cease fire! Haha!” Sky Buster waved, “Stop shooting you fucktards!”

“WOOO!” AJ hollered in excitement, “I love these six-shooters! It's like a heavy metal shoot-off!”

“Everything checks out. You guys up for some lunch?”

“Hell yeah, you owe me for that bag of chips you know,” Digi called out to Sky.

“What do you have in mind bro?” Tommy asked.

“Oh you're gonna love this traditional Filipino noodle dish I'm gonna make with the Boneboo! It's a surprise, I'll just tell you that much,” Sky Buster is a great cook. I saw him fiddling around with something in the kitchen last night and it smelled wonderful. I could hazard a guess that it was going to be served for lunch the next day.

When we all got back to town he immediately rushed into our house to bring out the large pot of broth and started reheating it in the middle of the campfire. My husband started to prepare homemade noodles as the soup sat in the fire pit and he recruited Pinkie to help him out.

“Now Pinkie, we're gonna make some noodles by rolling them out flat, take this big ball of dough and really flatten it out,” I stood there as they started to cook.

“Oooo! I've never made noodles before!” she smiled.

“Oh it's easy. You got a rolling pin?”

Pinkie pulled out a comically giant rolling pin from underneath the table, much to the surprise of Sky Buster, “Sure do!”

“I want to ask where the hell did you get that, but I fear that some wall somewhere might break open. Eh! Works for me!” I saw them roll the ball of dough flat, almost covering the whole width of the table, “Now what you wanna do is to flour this side of the dough and start folding it up like paper, each time flouring the folds. Once we rolled up the dough, we're gonna use a knife to cut it into really thin strips! Like so. Then throw it into some hot water and cook those for five minutes. Now you try with the next dough ball.”

I got bored and looked up into the sky. There were many clouds that drifted by and I wondered about home. Cloudsdale, Ponyville, Canterlot... I'm curious to see how they are doing and if our mission into the stars brought about the much needed hope of a war torn nation. We've been through so much bloodshed, so much hardships, and I know that Equestria will never be the same. But, at the same time our plight into space will be a new chapter for ponies everywhere. Speaking of chapters, I wonder when the new Daring Do book will be out? Hopefully it arrives soon by care package. I did hear that we'd have to return some samples back to Equestria to receive it though and that's why we're out here, to prove that outer space is in fact awesome enough to colonize.

“Lunch is ready!”

And with that my husband all served us another one of his strange recipes he had brought along with him from his cookbook. It was a ramen like noodle dish with a thin tasting, very flavorful meaty broth. It was warm and yummy, something you'd crave on a cold day like today. It was a great meal and Sky Buster had made the Boneboo we found into something everypony enjoyed.

“Hard to believe that's all vegetarian huh?” Sky Buster sat beside me, scooting me closer with one of his wings. In his embrace I could feel his warmth as the wind picked up, flying flower petals in the breeze.

“Hmmm...” I rested my head onto his shoulder as I took a sip of my soup, “This is tasty...”

“Happy birthday honey...” he kissed me on the forehead, “You up for some training later?”

“You bet! Let's keep combat ready when we can. You never know what we're gonna face when we lure those pirates down.”

“I feel like taking a nap first. Come on sweetheart,” Sky got up and ran the dishwasher after everypony got done eating. We both looked up into the clouds, “Pick any one you want dear...”

“Oh... Maybe... That one!” I picked the fluffiest one in the sky. We flew up to it and laid down, letting the soft and plush puffball support our weight.

“Huh, guess it still works on other planets,” Sky mumbled to me.

“Hrm?”

“Pegasi walking on clouds. I read somewhere that it's only possible on our home planet. Mmmmm... Feels good,” Sky felt warmer as I got on top of him. He was laying down on his back.

I kissed him on the nose, “Hehehe, I love you Sky Buster...”

He embraced me in his wings as he pulled part of the cloud over, encasing us in a warm blanket of fluff.

“I love you too Rainbow Dash,” he kissed me again on the forehead and stroked my mane, “Sleep tight sweetheart...”

I could feel his soft heartbeat lull me into slumber. All the while soft pets and strokes ran through my fur. I felt asleep within seconds in my husbands embrace. I dreamed of vivid landscapes of rolling hills, vast rainbow colored deserts, and vast, immortal suns as my spirit lifted away from my body. I could see all the heavens and the surreal space before me. Stars, galaxies, nebulas, and vast oceans of cosmic energy.

About an hour later I woke up to him snuggling me awake. He nuzzled my belly and started to motorboat. I laughed as I playfully slapped him in the face.

“I'm awake! I'm awake! The hell man?” I pushed him off the cloud and he returned, flying back up.

“Hehehe,” he stuck his tongue out playfully and gave me a hug, “Okay, serious time now. I'll assemble the troops.”

After some setup with the matter thingies, Sky Buster went ahead and wore his flight instructor uniform from the ship. He had a megaphone with him and yelled into town.

“All security personnel and soldiers in training, report outside the town wall for combat maneuvers! Ready up everypony! I want Kim, Antony, Puzzle, AJ, and AnY front and center!”

Within a few minutes they lined up in formation. I got in line as well and stood at attention.

“Listen up! This drill will stress test your combat abilities. I have set up an obstacle course beyond the trees. You will each have to identify, engage, and take out fifteen hologram targets that will try to attack you in the forest and you have to do it as fast as possible. Some will try to melee you, others will use ranged weapons. If you get hit you are out of the game. You may choose your weapons from the selection I've placed.”

I took a good look at the weapons. Some where our old rifles we had brought along. Others were the new guns we bought from those aliens. There were also swords, knives, and spears from our armory. I turned to Puzzle as he took a bow and arrow.

“Hey, why are you still using that thing? We've got plenty of guns you know.”

“Don't ever underestimate a well placed arrow Rainbow Dash. I almost got your husband with one and he had quite the bounty on his head during the war. It was a good thing that never happened huh?”

I looked at him with mistrust, “You... What?”

“Rainbow, don't sweat it. He was just trying to feed his family during that war. Let's not dilly dally and see who's up. Tony Pony! Let's go, you're up first,” Sky Buster put one hoof on my shoulder to calm me down. This was news to me, although I did remember that he said he was shot with an arrow once when he got home after a classified contract.

Antony stepped into the training area. I saw him take in a sniper rifle and his reliable .45 caliber.

“Alright, drill begins in three... two... one...” Sky counted down and AC rushed into the arena. He had his pistol in his mouth and rifle in hoof. He preferred long range attacks with his sniper rifle and would switch it up with his .45 at close quarters. Overall he didn't like melee, but when one hologram jumped him he returned with a swift buck, “One minute twenty two seconds! Puzzle you're up!”

“Roger,” he looked back to the wall to see Pinkie cheering on for him.

“Woo! Go Puzzly Puzz!” she cheered on with pom poms.

Puzzle started off strong with a well placed arrow at a simulated sniper hiding in the trees. With a flash of magic smoke he was gone in a flash. Suddenly reappearing behind one of the holograms with a stealthy stab with his hidden dagger, cloaked by his cape. I found it quite odd that he could pull off trick shots with a bow and arrow at ranges that an assault rifle would excel. That was until I noticed a shimmering, transparent magic telescope that floated up to his eye on every draw of the bow.

“Good! Keep going Puzzle! You're almost there!” Sky shouted to him as he neared the exit. Unfortunately, a hologram caught him off guard, hitting him from behind. The pulse of energy only knocked him back with a stunning bolt of charged particles, “You're out!”

“What?! But that was a cheap shot! How did that guy sneak up on me?”

“Situational awareness Puzzle. The holograms are always random. That may looked like it was roughly the same set as Antony, but that last guy threw you off for a curve ball. Cheer up, you did great for a trainee. And let's not forget the time you almost killed me. Walk it off soldier, you're good,” Sky Buster patted him on the back.

“Thanks I guess. Can I try again later?”

“Of course, NEXT!” Sky yelled.

“Watch and learn pretty boys,” Kim smirked.

This was gonna be good. Kim had dual silenced pistols and she wore her spy outfit that allowed her to perform her usual tricks of parkour and free running. Her time trial started, this time two snipers were in two separate trees trying to pin her down. Instead of flying she used her momentum, wall jumping, and leaping from tree trunk to tree trunk to foul the aim of the two snipers. With two forehoof mounted pistols she flipped into the air and shot both snipers while spinning. She never wasted a bit of momentum as she touched down on the ground, using her wings to keep her agile both on the ground and in the air to mix it up and confuse the enemies. Melee was nothing for KP. As one pony charged at her with a spear she deflected it away with a well timed karate block, giving her an opening for a deadly and quick stab into the unprotected neck. Her pistols ran dry and I saw her reload them with her wings instead of using her hooves, something she obviously picked up from my husband. With her last opponent she concentrated on an unarmed take down with a weapon reversal as she flipped a simulated sub machine gun into her grasp and shot point blank at her last enemy.

“Time!” KP threw down the weapon.

“One minute nineteen seconds! Last take down was flashy and cut into your time, but hell, that was impressive as always Kim,” Sky gave her an approving nod.

“Thank you sir!” she saluted.

“Dismissed, NEXT! Let's see what you can do AnY.”

“Danke Commandant,” AnY stepped up to the plate. Once the whistle blew he charged forward into the arena with nothing but a sword held in his mouth and a riot shield on his left leg. I was skeptical of his choice of weapon, until I saw him completely wreck everything in front of him. Although he wasn't as agile as Kim or Puzzle his sheer Earth pony strength was enough to plow past his melee targets and the one with guns were deflected with clever use of his heavy bulletproof riot shield. He moved almost at normal speed with the heavy shield and continued to lay waste to the enemies. He had the most trouble with the snipers in the trees. He found his solution by bucking them out and slaying them in close range. As he finished he put away the sword and looked to my husband.

“Time is one minute twenty seven seconds. I suggest you work on your marksmanship and not rely too heavily on melee. Rainbow?”

“I thought you'd never ask,” I went over to the weapons station and slung a WDM assault rifle over my shoulder and an MBS-32 machine pistol on my hip. The rifle looked fairly basic, with the mag stuck in the front like a normal assault rifle, but the bullets were tiny by comparison to our bolt actions. Same goes with my sidearm.

“You ready RD?” Sky placed his hoof near the button to start the simulation.

“Ready!”

Now it was my turn. A squad of three rifleponies appeared in front of me and I slid into the cover of a nearby tree. I turned my rifle's sights onto them and fired in short bursts, downing them in a flurry of automatic fire. I reloaded a fresh magazine and scanned around, seeing another random sniper hidden in the trees. I used my wings to dart from one piece of cover to the next as I popped my next shots at the sniper. It missed but managed to suppress the shooter long enough for me to close in and lead my shots into center mass. Sprinting to the next tree with my head on a swivel I saw more enemies as I slid into cover, reloading another mag into my rifle. One of them caught me off guard and tried to stab into me with a simulated knife which I deflected to counter knife, plunging it into their chest. I continued my cover to cover maneuvers popping in and out of cover to shoot. Before long I was at the finish line, having shown off the tactical skills my husband trained me to do over the years. I held my hoof up.

“Time!”

“One minute eighteen! That's what I'm looking for! Quick, clean, and it speaks for itself. Nicely done Rainbow,” Sky patted me on the shoulder, “Take five everypony. Puzzle, AnY you guys stay. I want more training done for you guys. Pinkie you're free to watch.”

“So I guess I'll just see you later then dude?” I smiled and approached Sky.

“Yup, I'll be home in a bit. Go and read up on the books we brought home.”

“Okay, see you later honey,” I pecked him on the cheek.

“Bye dear! Puzzle! You're up again!”

“Yes sir!” I saw Puzzle step up to the plate once more as I glanced back one last time walking into town.