Once again, such a great experience working with background and building the scene as a whole. Not to mention a wonderful plot basis!
For the ones of you who are not familiar with this story, it’s a MLP/RWBY crossover. The scene I was commissioned features Rainbow Dash and General Ironwood and is for a fact very emotional. I’ll leave all possible links to the fanfic below, as well as the excerpt from the chapter where this very scene is taking place. So if you’re interested in the story, please go check it out!
SAPR sources:
Fimfiction
Spacebattles
Fanfiction
Fanfiction (SAPR Rewrite)
ArchiveOfOurOwn (SAPR Rewrite)
ArchiveOfOurOwn (SAPR Rewrite Volume 1.5)
SufficientVelocity (SAPR Rewrite)
Tvtropes
“So, you had your first taste of action earlier than I would have liked,” General Ironwood said as he stood with his back to Rainbow Dash, looking out of the window of the plain, old-fashioned wood-paneled office as the White Fang captives were loaded up onto transports to take them to processing. His hands were clasped behind his back. “How was it?”
Rainbow hadn’t had time to change out of her bridesmaid’s dress yet: the white lace bodice and the rainbow-coloured skirt, with the white hemline of more fluffy white lace. Of course, the whole thing was kind of dirty by now, the lace at the hem was torn, and there was a little blood on the skirt and the bodice, and Rarity would have been having a fit under less serious circumstances.
Rainbow sniffed. With the back of her hand she wiped away the tears that still descended down her cheeks. She wished that the General hadn’t wanted to talk to her right now; she didn’t really want him to see her like this, and she wasn’t talking about the dress either. And yet, at the same time, she couldn’t lie. Not to the general, not after all he’d done for her. Even if he thought that he’d made a mistake in backing a coward like her, he deserved to know the truth.
“I… I was scared, sir,” she admitted in a very quiet voice.
General Ironwood was silent for a moment. Rainbow could only imagine how disappointed he must be in her. After all of her tough talk, after promising - promising him and promising herself - that she would never let him down. And it had come to this: standing in front of him with tears in her eyes admitting that she was nothing but a coward.
“Scared of dying?” General Ironwood asked softly.
“Scared of losing everything that matters, sir,” Rainbow replied. “I… I don’t know if I’m cut out for this after all, General.”
“Because you have something to lose?” General Ironwood asked. He paused. “Tell me something, Rainbow Dash: if only those with nothing to lose went out to fight, what would they be fighting for?”
Rainbow blinked. “For the glory of Atlas, sir?”
General Ironwood sighed. “Glory is all very well, but it won’t hold a man when the fear sets in, the fear like you felt today. Everyone has something to lose, Rainbow Dash; it’s just another way of saying you have something to protect.”
“But… but I was scared, sir,” Rainbow repeated. “You don’t need a soldier who gets scared when the fighting starts.”
General Ironwood turned around, and Rainbow Dash could see his face. It wasn’t stern, as she’d imagined. Rather, as the General advanced upon her, casting a shadow over her, Rainbow almost thought that he looked sad.
Her eyes widened in surprise as he wrapped his arms around her and clasped her to him, her head resting on his chest.
“The lives of your family were in danger today,” General Ironwood said, his voice soft and tender. “I don’t know a single man in this army who wouldn’t be scared in a situation like that. But you kept your head, kept everyone alive in spite of your fear, even Luna. You’re just a child, but you fought an adult’s fight today; you should be proud of that, and tell your friends that they should be proud too.”
“Y-yes, sir,” Rainbow murmured. “Thank you, sir.”
“There’s no shame in being scared, Rainbow Dash,” General Ironwood declared. “Only in letting the fear rule you.”
Wow, I Really Like This Nicknames