FTRD: Faster Than Rainbow Dash

Dukes face was hot, in fact his whole body was hot.
He forced his eyes open and he was staring into a wasteland.
The ground was scorched and lava flowed all over.
It looked like the planet he had just left.
Duke tried to climb to his feet but they didn't respond.
"The buck?" He said loudly.
His voice seemed to echo.
He looked up and ahead of himself.
He heard laughter, not cynical laughter, but the laughter of a filly.
"Wha?" Duke mumbled as he strained to look forward.
He then saw it.
A small yellow filly with blue hair was running around laughing.
Duke forced himself to his feet and tried to follow.
The child ran in this vast heat as Duke strained with every step.
He was just about to reach the child, he stuck out his hoof to him.
The child turned but there was something odd.

The fillies eyes were missing and blood poured out from them, the skin on his face peeling off.
The filly screamed a scream of a banshee, and Duke fell to his knees.

He covered his ears and slowly looked up.

The filly was still screaming at him.
He saw movement behind it and he struggled to see what it was.
It moved at unusually fast speeds.
It then ran in front of Duke and pushed him to the ground.
The ground scorched his back as he screamed in pain.
The thing was know on top of him, it was the same giant spiders from his previous dream.
It's eyes raged a fire red and it shot a javelin at his chest.
It missed his heart but he was now screaming.

The spider injected something into him that made it feel like his blood was on fire, it was like being electrocuted.
He couldn't move, only scream, it was the only thing he could do now.

The spider shot another javelin straight for his head and it hit with a loud crack and everything went black.

*

Duke woke up with a jolt.
He was still in his armchair.
He panted like crazy and sweat covered his body.

The doors slid open and Presidio trotted in.
"Steel is going to be fine and our guest is situated in the..."
She stopped as she saw Duke.

"Jeeze, you look a mess, you okay."
Duke was still panting.

"Bad dream,that's all."

The room fell silent.
"So, you were saying something about our guest?" Duke said breaking the silence.
Presidio continued staring but then shook her head.

"Uh, yeah he's in the interrogation room if you want to see him."
Duke nodded and bit his tongue.

"OK,Cam do a physcology test and then research background."

"Certainly."
The screen shot several files up.

"Name: Cursum Scream, Occupation: engineer, outstanding awards: Invented FTR, presumed KIA 27 years ago while transporting antique weaponry."
Dukes mouth hung open.
He stood up and strode out the room to the interrogation room.

*

The doors slid open and Duke walked through with the same shocked expression on his face.
Presidio was in the room, sitting across from Cursum.

"Duke, just in time to join us." Presidio chimed.
Duke didn't move.

"Presidio... You do know who that is right."

Presidio looked to Cursum an then back to duke.
"No. Why?"

"That's Cursum Scream, and before you ask, yes, THAT Cursum Scream."
Presidio's mouth hung.

She turned to Cursum.
"Everypony thought you were dead!"

Cursum chuckled and continued moving his head in its odd movement.
"Never! An innovator never leaves his work unfinished."

Dukes ears pricked.
"Sorry, did you say unfinished?"

Cursums smile grew.
"No, my first invention was a test, much more ideas planned, infinite potential, very quick but very silent, tests showed promise." Cursum said with an excited tone.

"You've been gone for 27 years, a lot has changed." Duke said solemnly.
Cursum didn't hear him and continued speaking, more like rambling.
"New FTR drive, quantum energies backed by .... Dark matter and radio waves. Hmm, overload problematic, could cause gamma radiation and dematerialization, will have to increase reactor capabil...."

Presidio clapped her hooves and Cursum stopped speaking and stared at them.
He then squinted his eyes and his ears pricked, his eyes then widened to the size of saucers.

"Your engine, may I see it?"
Duke and Presidio looked at each other.
"I guess we could allow him minimal access with me around." Presidio said.

Duke frowned.
"OK, but keep your eyes on him, we still have a mission to complete."

Presidio nodded and led Cursum out of the room.
Duke took one last glance at the room before leaving.

*

Steel was lying on the white infirmary bed.
The bed was unusually hard but the soft pillows compensated for it.

A bench with many tubes, vials and other medical equipment was on the far side of the room.
The doors slid open smoothly and Duke wondered in eying the steel walls.

"How you feeling?" Duke asked

"I've been better. The new guy sure knows how to programme, bullet ripped my leg apart."
Duke looked down to his leg.

It had been covered with mechanical clasps and looked like a normal armor boot, but it was smaller and had more mechanics.

"The boot will allow me to walk until it heals up."

Duke examined the boot more.
"Well it better heal fast, I need you at your peak, the boot is pretty cool though." Duke commented.
Steel laughed.

"Pretty cool? Ha. It's a bucking pain, it's like having one leg taller than the rest."
They both laughed at this comment.

An awkward silence then consumed them.

"Well, I hope you get better Steel."

"Thanks"

Duke slowly an awkwardly left the room.
The door slid closed behind him.

Suddenly a loud clang was heard and Duke looked down the corridor.
It was coming from the engines room.

Duke ran and the door to the engine room slid open.
Cursum was sitting on the engine throwing spanners and tools around.
"Where is it? Where is it? Ah ha, found you."
Cursum pulled out a large cable.

"What is he doing?!" Duke shouted to Presidio.

"I don't know, I brought him in here and then he started saying something about finishing his work, a larger reactor and flying snakes."

Duke sighed and nodded his head.
"Cursum! What in the federations fleet are you doing." Duke shouted.

"Fixing mistakes, good engine but sloppy wiring and power, rerouting power to acceleration would show more results."
Cursum started clawing at the engine and pulling out wires.

"Get him out of there!" Duke yelled.

Presidio climbed onto the engine only to trip over loose wiring and cables.
"Move this, change that aaaannnnd add this." Cursum continued raving on.
He pulled a small device from his belt and jammed it into the engine core.
The lights flickered and the power went out.

The engine died with a slow whir.

Suddenly everything buzzed back to life.

Duke was frozen and slowly looked around the room.
"What, Did you do?" Duke asked slowly.

"A better question is, is what is outside?" Presidio said.
Duke ran to the starboard window and saw only space.

It was normal until he noticed the engines.
A blaze of rainbows shot from behind it, instead of its dull orange.
Duke looked at it with his mouth agape.

"But.... The engines only do that when in Rainbow speed, how did you?"
Duke was cut off.
"Changed reactor power distribution, moved data disc A to C, and ordered a drink."

Duke smiled.
"After what you've just done, a drink sounds reasonable."

*

They were all sitting round a table in the mess.
A bottle of vodka sat in the center and shot glasses scattered the table.
They were all chatting, loudly and they were laughing hysterically.

"So I climbed into the bed and then I realized, I was 1 floor down and my girlfriend waited all night while I was getting dragged out by security." Cursum said loudly before laughing.
They all joined in with him, Cursum banged the table with his hoof.
The laughing died down and it led to a strangely comfortable silence.
They all stared at each other in their comfortable silence.

"Do you think if we get back with this info that we can win the war?" Presidio asked silently.

"It has to, if not, well, a lot of ponies will die." Duke said stretching his hooves behind his back.
"What is the info anyways?" Steel asked.

Duke leaned forward and tapped a few keys on a console in front of him.
An Image appeared of a ship, a behemoth of a ship, one with vast weaponry and seemed to stretch on for miles.
It had the colors of the Rebellion and their insignia on the underside.

"The rebellion flagship, The Crystal Converger, the pinnacle of their fleet. This ship contains a vast amount of info on us and them, if destroyed, the Rebels will be blinded." Duke announced crossing his hooves.
Another silence enveloped them.

They all studied the images.

Duke broke the silence.

"It also is commandeered by the Rebellion Admiral, Admiral Solitarious."
The silence deepened as they gathered the news.

Presidio was the only one who had already heard the info and Steel was only just learning about their archives of info on them, Cursum looked at the pictures and continued moving his head.
"If we fail, the Rebels will crush the Feder...." Duke was cut off by the lights flickering.

A warning light appeared.

"Sir, a Pirate camouflaged ship has opened fire, ion weaponry, shields are disabled." Cam said.

They all clambered out of their seats.
As soon as they were standing they began running towards their stations before a loud explosion rocked the ship.

The lights went out completely and only emergency lighting was on.
The room was a glowing red from the lighting.

"Cam, Status report." Duke shouted.

"Missile hit, hull breach in the systems room, doors are offline."

Duke slammed his hoof on the ground.
He climbed back onto his hooves.
Another ion shot hit them sending electrical currents through the ship.

"Sir, weapons are offline, attempting anti-ion counter measures." Cam said.
They all stood around dumb struck.

"Recommended course of action sir?"
Presidio asked.

"Prepare a jump and repair vital systems." Duke said quickly.
"MOVE!"
They all scattered and manually tried to bypass the doors.
Duke walked to the window and saw the ship.

It was like an oval just with jagged edges and was painted a dark purple.
It fired another missile.
"Grab something!!" Duke shouted.

They all grabbed something before the missile violently shook the ship.
"Life-support offline sir."

"Buck, buck, BUCK!!" Duke swore.

The pirate ships bottom opened and a laser emerged from inside.
Dukes heart sank, with no shields that laser would cut through them like a knife through jelly.
It fired and Duke closed his eyes.

He felt his heart in his throat and waited to be sucked into space.
But it didn't come, instead Cams voice came on.

"Fires in medical bay, weapon control and airlock."

Dukes heart stopped.

A fate worse then death is waiting for it to happen and watching it as it gets closer to you.
Duke slowly walked backwards.

They were all still trying to bypass the doors.
"C'mon, C'MON!!" Presidio shouted.

"Presidio." Duke said quietly.
She ignored him and continued.
"It's over."

Presidio continue fiddling with the wires inside the wall.
Steel stopped and walked to her.
Her hooves were shaking inside the opening in the wall.
Tears slid down her face.

"Presidio?" Steel whispered.

"I have to try, I have to." She continued.

"Presidio." Steel said again.

"I have to try, we have to continue the missi..." Steel grabbed her hooves and slowly pulled them out of the wall.
He turned her around and hugged her.
She was crying now, she put her face into his shoulder.
"We have to try." She whispered.

Steel said nothing and just held her.
She buried her face into his shoulder.
"We have to."