June 4th, 2307 SET.  Apple Harvest Colony-Apple Harvest System

“Now this might hurt for just a sec’” the nurse said to Rainbow, before slowly pushing a needle into her forward leg.  Rainbow winced for a moment, but the pain quickly subsided and the machine began to chug, slowly drawing a dark red substance from her.  Being O+, Rainbow’s blood was very valuable to the small medic crew who were busily working on the survivors of the Dauntless.  As the blood began to circulate through the machine, Rainbow’s thoughts jumped back to flight school.

‘The Pegusi-class frigate is a small task-force vessel that spans 300 meters. It it 100 meters tall and 75 meters wide.  It has a standard operating crew of 71.  This number might vary based on the mission, however, and a skeleton crew of 46 is needed to pilot the ship efficiently...’ she remembered the automated voice of the computer in her head clear as day.  “Humph,” Rainbow grunted out loud, More than seventy ponies on the Dauntless, and only twenty-seven survivors, counting us pilots, she thought to herself.  Not to mention that half of that number isn’t fit to go anywhere, and we might lose some after that.  At the last thought, she glanced around the makeshift hospital.  It was a sight of grim horror, and the screams of hurt and dying ponies made her stomach churn a little.

The nearest bed held a dark blue mare who was sleeping in stable condition.  She was, however, missing a rear leg, and in its place was a stump wrapped in bloody bandages.  ‘At least she is sleeping,’ Rainbow thought to herself, a little sick.  The majority of the room wasn’t so lucky, however.  Across from the sleeping amputee was a horrid sight: a purple pony was kicking and screaming as two doctors tried to hold her down to remove a piece of shrapnel from her stomach.  One of the doctors had seen Rainbow staring and quickly jerked the curtain shut, slightly muffling the screams.

A pony with a bandage wrapped around his head covering his left eye approached her, saluting gently as he drew closer.  “ Lieutenant Dash?  I’m Ensign Portside, one of the helms ponies on the Dauntless; I just wanted to thank you for saving us from that destroyer.  If you hadn’t gone back... I dunno’ where I would be, anyways, thanks for your act of bravery.  If it wasn’t for you, I would probably be worse off than missing an eye,” the red stallion said, still slightly tipsy from his wound.

“Don’t mention it, I was just doing my job, I only regret not doing it faster,” Rainbow muffled, dipping her head slightly.

“Well you saved us,” he said, casting a hoof across the hospital behind him, “we are all in your debt.  You, and your friends from the colony,” the stallion ended, a small smile on his face.  He gave a quick nod before walking off slowly towards the barracks.

He wasn’t the first pony to thank Rainbow either.  Throughout the time that Rainbow was sitting at the machine, many ponies that were leaving the hospital had stopped to give their thanks, all of which were wearing some form of bandaging.  Rainbow began to wonder why they were thanking her, they were all clearly injured in some way, shape, or form.  She thought that, had she had been quicker, she could have saved them all of their troubles and fifty ponies’ lives.  Rainbow sat there, growing ever sadder as ponies passed their appreciations towards her.

The blue mare who was missing a leg had woken up and she quickly glanced around.  She tried waving at the doctors around her but none of them paid her much attention.  She looked around hopelessly; she called out to a passing nurse who shot her a glance before retreating back towards another operating table.  Rainbow saw this as the machine beeped, indicating that she had completed her donation cycle.  She gently bit down on the tube that was connected to the needle and slowly withdrew the point from her arm.  She quickly bandaged herself up then trotted over to the blue mare who was still lying in bed waiting for someone to help her.  “Hey, I can help, what do you need?” Rainbow asked quietly.

The mare coughed on a dry throat, then gasped out, “water.”  Rainbow nodded and grabbed a small glass on the bedside table and set off to find a sink.  Rainbow filled the glass and brought it back to the young pony, who she helped into a more comfortable position.  Rainbow then handed the water to the mare, who drank the whole glass of water with haste.  Once the blue pony had finished the glass, she reclined a bit and sighed deeply.  She turned to Rainbow, “thanks, I was hella’ thirsty,” she started, “I’m Lieutenant Stall, but my callsign is just Stall, so you can call me that if you want,” the pony was about to finish until she noticed Rainbow’s rank on her flight suit, “err... Ma’am.”

Rainbow let out a small smile, “we’re not on duty, and I hate being called ma’am, so don’t.  Also, I’m First Lieutenant Dash, callsign Bolt.”  Rainbow pulled up a small stool under the medical bed and sat down.  She was looking for a good conversation.

At the sound of Rainbow’s name, the blue pony’s eyes widened, “you’re Bolt?  The pony who beat the record obstacle course at Solstice on her first attempt?  And the one who just saved my and many others lives?”

Rainbow’s eyes grew sad upon hearing the words “saved lives.”  She looked the pony in front of her in the eyes, “well, yeah, that’s me, but I wasn’t the only one.  My squad followed me in, and not to mention the colonist pilots that came to help.  They were the ones who destroyed the enemy ship,” Rainbow said soberly.

“Well yeah, but your distraction in the first place allowed rescue ponies the time needed to pull me and a couple other pilots from space before retreating,” the blue mare said ecstatically.  Her eyes shifted to her leg, and winced.  “I was shot down when the two reb’ destroyers jumped in-system.  I had pulled my eject leaver, but only most of me ejected.  The pain was so immense that I passed out almost immediately, thank Celestia for those EV suites eh?  Sealed shut around my leg, kept me nice and warm...and alive.  I woke up to the sight of a rescue pony dragging me slowly towards a wrecked Dauntless and you and your crew giving that destroyer a run for its money all on your own.  As far as anyone is concerned, you saved the Dauntless and her crew,” Stall said confidently.  She began to yawn, and looked meaningfully at Rainbow, “sorry to say, I’m still pretty drugged up with painkillers, sorry to fall asleep on you but...” her head began to bob, and she slid back down under the covers.  She was soon sleeping soundly again, and Rainbow sat there for a moment, looking at the blue mare.

I saved her, and the rest of them, she thought to herself, and a small but satisfying smile came to her mouth.

***

Rainbow picked up her hat and trotted out of the hospital.  The sun was just starting to rise over the mountains, casting a shadow that spanned all the way to the towns edge.  ‘Not only did we save the Dauntless and her crew, we saved this,’ Rainbow thought, glancing around the town.  The ponies on Apple Harvest went about their daily business like nothing had happened.  Rainbow had guessed that most of them probably weren’t even aware that a space battle had occurred in their system. Ignorance is bliss, she thought.  She had decided to walk for a while and let her feet guide her.  After at what she had guessed were fifteen minutes of walking, she was at Applejack’s office.  Anger swelled up inside of Rainbow all of a sudden, and she busted into the small room.  A startled Applejack reeled out of her seat, taken back by her friend’s expression.

“Rainbow, what’s wrong?” Applejack asked cautiously.

“Why didn’t you offer your support earlier?  We could have used more fighters!” Rainbow yelled.

“Rainbow, ya’ll told me that you ponies were on a science mission and that you were just an escort, not an attack group,” Applejack said calmly, watching her friend closely.

Rainbow paused for a moment, considering what her friend had said for a moment and then pressed on, “Well you would have had to see that we were engaged in open conflict, how come you didn’t help us then?”

“We’re colonist ponies Rainbow, not trained pilots.  It takes us a little longer to gather our forces, not to mention that we don’t have real trainin’ like you.  In an open dogfight we would have been slaughtered.  We had to strike when we could, otherwise we would have been no more use to you then we were on the ground,” said a reserved Applejack.  She had clearly been ready for this confrontation by the way she replied.  She knew that rainbow was going to be brash about something.  She stared her friend in the face, “look, I’m sorry we couldnta’ helped ya’ll sooner, truly I am, but we had to hit them when they weren’t lookin’.  Many ponies died out there, but if we would’a done somethin’ differently, many more would be.  Besides, you’re a hero now!  The only thing us colony ponies did was made sure ya’ lived to see it,” Applejack ended confidently.

Rainbow stared at her friend for a moment.  She knew that Applejack was right; there was no other way that the battle could have gone over.  She should be thanking her friend for saving her life even, but all she could do was stand and stare.  “You’re right Applejack,” she sighed in defeat, “you helped when you could, and that’s all anyone could have asked for.  I just can’t help but feel that I could have saved more ponies.  I mean the Dauntless had a crew of around seventy ponies, and now, she is down to twenty-seven.  I don’t even know if that’s enough to fly her back to more friendly space, and I feel that it’s my fault, I let more than a hundred and fifty ponies die!”

Applejack stared at her friend in bewilderment, “Rainbow, how can you blame yourself for that.  You didn’t let any pony die, you saved twenty-seven lives!  As far as I’m concerned that makes you better than any pony out there!”

“But Applejack, why do people keep saying I did it?  Ace and Spectre followed me in, and you and your pilots are the ones who finished the destroyer off.  When I was in the hospital, I was talking to a blue mare who had a leg torn off when she tried to eject, and she thanked me for it.  In fact, tons of ponies thanked me!  All of whom were hurt, but they still thanked me!  Why would they thank me?  They’re all clearly injured and it’s because I wasn’t good enough or fast enough,” Rainbow said.  Her legs were trembling and her tail was quivering.

“Couple o’ things sugar cube: One, sit down, you look like you’re about to pass out,” Applejack started, kicking a stool towards Rainbow who slumped down on it as it hit her hooves.  Applejack turned to bare down on her friend, “and two, stop it.  Stop it now.  When you said that ponies thanked ya’, you were quick to point out that my pilots and your wing ponies were there to help, but when you look to cast blame, ya’ only look towards yourself.  It’s either you weren’t fast enough to save them all but you were fast enough to save some, or it’s we weren't fast enough to save them all but we were fast enough to save some,” Applejack finished, slamming a hoof down as she did.

The slam made Rainbow jump a bit, she looked up into her friends eyes, defeat in her own “but Applejack-”

“No buts Rainbow, its either you or we.  My ponies are humble and don’t care that ya’ are gettin’ the credit, and I’m sure your other friends think the same thing.  You’re a hero now and rightfully so.  I know what your plan was too, with that destroyer I mean.  I know a collision course when I see one, and that brings up a question.  Would that have made things better?  If ya’ would have died saving those other ponies?  Cause all that would have done is taken the life of another one, another name to the casualty list.  Not to mention what that would have meant to us down here.  I’m not trying to make you feel bad Rainbow, that would have been about at as selfless as it gets.  I guess what I am trying to say is that this way was better.  Not only were the others saved, you are still alive.  My best friend is still alive!”  Applejack said, a tear forming in her eye.  She turned away from Rainbow and wiped the tear away.

Rainbow bolted up out of her seat and threw her legs around Applejack, “I’m sorry Applejack, and I truly am.  I was going to do it for you and everyone else down here.  I wanted to make sure you were all safe, and,” Rainbow paused for a moment to let go of the embrace, “thank you, for saving me.”

Applejack wrapped her friend in a tight hug again, “no problem friend, always remember that you have friends here who will fight by your side,” she said, she pulled away and looked her friend in the eyes, “that reminds me, you might want to go talk to Scootaloo, she snagged a pilot’s uniform and jumped into the empty seat behind me.  She really wanted to be up there with you Rainbow, so I let her,” Applejack said with a grin.

Rainbow at first was shocked but then her expression quickly turned to a smile as well, “I’m not surprised, Scoots as always wanted to fly with me, depending how long I’m here, maybe I’ll teach her a few things,” Rainbow said looking out the window, almost to herself more than Applejack.

“I bet she would like that but-” Applejack was cut off by the intercom on her desk.

“Ms. Applejack?  An Equestrian Space Intelligence vessel is requesting clearance to land, says they have some high ranking official here to talk to the you and Dauntless crew.

“Alright, tell them to land at pad three, and let them know I’ll meet them there,” Applejack said, flicking a switch on her desk.  She turned to Rainbow, “well, let’s go make some new friends.”