//------------------------------// // Chapter 9 // Story: An Alloyed Hope // by computerneek //------------------------------// “Uh, Sir?” The general raises his eyebrow at the scout. “You should probably come see.” The pegasus scout and the unicorn general then ascend the hill together- the hill behind which they know an enemy force is…  Was advancing. Now, of course, the army is in the process of being sneezed upon.  By what is quite clear. After all, each minotaur is being blown down by a hurricane of confetti, tied down with masses of streamers, anchored with party whistles.  Half of the army has been tied up, the other half is on its way. All with a strange sneezing noise- undoubtably duplicated by all the affected minotaurs’ massive sneeze attacks. The general teleports back to his army and starts yelling.  “We attack! Laughter is here!” SCHOOF! Rainbow lies still for a second before rolling upright to make her way out of the transit zone, head hanging.  It’s dangerous to stay here- new ponies could arrive at any moment, potentially landing on top of her. But her strength is failing her.  She stumbles once or twice, each time only barely staying on her hooves. But she doesn’t care. She’d been so certain- and now, if it weren’t for Princess Luna, she would have gotten herself killed.  She had gotten herself injured, and cursed.  She’d be a cripple for months. “Are you okay?” the transit officer asks her, as she steps out of the zone.  After a second’s silence, he resumes. “Did something happen to your Element?” Oh yes.  That’s another thing she’d done- she’d lost her Element of Harmony.  Hopefully, Princess Luna and her army can take it back. SCHERWOOF! Aaand, that would be the whole army, appearing in the mass transit zone.  That one’s not as dangerous; transits to it are always coordinated, rather than random.  She casts her gaze across them… No dark princess. The transit officer manning it asks the question for her.  “Where’s the Princess?” he asks the nearest soldier. “She said she’d be right behind us,” the soldier answers. Rainbow closes her eyes, focusing on the floor in front of her.  Inside, she tells herself to believe in her Princess. She’ll get her Element back, and return it to canterlot.  At least then she won’t have to find the thing. “Are you okay?” her transit officer asks again. She finally answers.  “I’ve failed.” It comes out as a mutter. The officer sighs, and repeats the question. She is tempted to yell in his face, but she lacks the strength to do that without falling on her own.  So, she walks slowly past him, head hanging. “Leave me alone.” SCHOOF! Another transit. “Sir!”  It’s a messenger.  Rainbow starts to tune him out; not like she can do anything right now.  His very next word catches her attention, though. “Laughter has been found!”  She twists in place, whirling to look at him- and ends up on the floor. Darned noncooperative muscles.  Did he just say what she thought he said? Oh- he’s not done yet, though. “General Boulder is moving to recover her as I speak!” “Who?” Rainbow gets out, even before the transit officer can react, as she hoists herself back onto her hooves. The messenger takes a second to see who he’s speaking to.  “General Boulder is moving to recover Laughter as I speak,” he says.  “We don’t know if she still has her Element, but she most certainly has her cannon.” This brings the first smile to Rainbow’s face in a whole week.  Pinkie’s party cannon relies on her innate magic to function- and if that’s working, she’s okay.  She does have to wonder exactly how she’s making use of a party cannon in a situation where an army is being sent to recover her, rather than a messenger to bring her to the army for teleportation.  That’s what had happened for her- and what Celestia had told her was standard procedure, until they could get all six back together. A nearby medical officer taps Rainbow on her shoulder.  “Rainbow?” Rainbow blinks and turns her gaze away from the departing messenger.  “Yes?” The officer sighs gently.  “You’ve been cursed, haven’t you?” She hangs her head. “Then come on.  You’re going to need a meal and rest.” “No.”  Her head rises back up into position, speaking with finality.  “I need pinkie pie.” This gets the messenger’s attention.  “It’ll probably be an hour or so,” he states. The medical officer scowls, poking Rainbow a bit harder- rewarded by a sideways stumble.  “Food, then.” SCHOOF!  “You can come back to wait for Pinkie.” The newly arrived cloaked figure trots forwards on white hooves; that’s all that’s visible.  “Ahh, that took longer than I might have liked,” she states. “What’s this about Pinkie, again?” The medical officer answers while Rainbow is still attempting to spin without falling.  She’s managing the latter part. “Pinkie has been found, and will be showing up soon.” “Ahh.  Rainbow, dear, you’ve been cursed, haven’t you?” Rainbow falls down.  Again. The medical officer nods. The newcomer sighs, a light blue magic aura wrapping around Rainbow and picking her up.  “When Pinkie arrives, tell her to meet us in the mess hall.” She trots towards the exit, Rainbow floating motionlessly- mostly thanks to shock- next to her. “Uh,” a guard utters. She pauses before she reaches the door.  “Oh, and I do believe I won’t be needing this around here, either.”  The same magic aura wraps around her cloak, whipping it off and folding it into her saddlebag.  The bag on her other side carries a golden crown with a magenta star embedded in it. But that’s not the biggest surprise in store for the guards- rather, it’s the purple diamond on the white unicorn’s golden necklace. Many had assumed her dead, after a rescue attempt directed towards her had ended badly, just over a week ago- the day before Rainbow was found. Princess Luna stands still.  Well, as still as she can stand while quaking more than the ground was a minute ago.  Fluttershy’s spider friends are driving the thing Discord called ‘Hope’. The thing that had landed on an army in front of her. Hills don’t move.  Neither do mountains.  Thus, this one has no business moving- nor looking nearly so nimble as it does so! Then, for as much as it shook the ground as it moved, it had come absolutely silently.  Even a pony couldn’t do that. That doesn’t even count the ramp that had slid out from its side, landing at her hooves- and the two armored ponies that had started down it to met her:  Applejack and Twilight. The latter is stumbling slightly, exactly as the cursed normally do immediately after the event. She also notices the absence of her crown- but that’s probably only because of her armor; it doesn’t look like it would work very well with it. Twilight stops at the sight of the necklace still hanging on Luna’s weapon, eyes going wide inside her opened helmet.  “Rainbow… Is she okay?” Princess Luna nods.  “She was cursed, but I sent her back to Canterlot before recovering her Element.” Twilight draws in a breath.  “Can you send me?” Luna shakes her head.  “I was about to teleport myself back to Canterlot, with her Element, when they managed to hit me with their curse.”  She sighs. “I managed to keep them from finishing it; I’ll be back to normal in a week.” “A week…” Twilight winces- and looks back up at the massive bulk behind her.  “You’ll probably be a better leader than me.” Luna almost laughs.  “I’m not going to mess with anything you have set up,” she states. At this, Twilight actually does laugh.  “Nothing to mess with, then; nopony’s set anything up.  We’re just a collection of survivors at the moment.” This earns a raised eyebrow.  “And the spiders?” “They seem to be responding more than anything else.” Several ponies jump at the sudden noise.  First, there’s a gentle pwing from some tiny door flying open on the side of the carriage thing somewhere.  Next, the event that draws everypony’s attention to it. Hardly half a second after it opened, a giant spear rides a pillar of fire out of it, before that door clangs back shut again.  Everypony stares at the object that came out, watching as it tilts horizontally and accelerates away. Further review of my passengers’ responses to General’s presence, and her appearance, leads me to believe she might not actually be part of the military, but a member of the ruling class.  Either way, I invite her aboard by placing the base of my boarding ramp at her hooves. A minute ago, one of my drones, the one I tasked to a perpendicular course to locate any other possible threats, identified what looks like a hostile-held fort not far beyond that hill.  It’s hardly 203.91 meters outside the range I scanned earlier, when I passed this terrain in the rush to Apple’s rescue. A closer scan has yielded no ponies; ultrasonics and high-energy radar have just shown only Centaur-shaped bodies. Thus, I unleash the most powerful of the missiles I have manufactured for my Light VLS.  I’ll see what they think of a 10-kton chemical warhead in a minute… Probably nothing, since there’s a 99.983% chance there will be no survivors. General’s new armor is almost ready.  I have engineered it to be able to go overtop her existing, possibly magical armor, or to be able to go on independently; either way, it will look like the existing armor.  Perhaps the most challenging aspect of this design was her blade; allowing her to access and sheathe it in its appropriate location on her existing armor while wearing mine overtop took some creativity, and is something I’m particularly proud of; I managed to do it without reducing the armor’s structural- or protective- integrity OR breaching the sealed environment! She will be equipped with a full weapons loadout, just like Sergeant. Princess Celestia raises an exhausted head when she hears the knock on her door.  “Enter,” she calls, praying for good news. Her sister had taken half the Canterlot Defense Force out to Fort Dash on a rescue mission almost three hours ago. The messenger that enters wears an expression of sadness, nearly driving the solar princess into tears even before he speaks.  Please don’t let her sister be defeated! “P-Princess,” the messenger begins, bowing. Princess Celestia only nods.  Her worst fears are being confirmed.  Her beloved sister, easily Equestria’s finest fighter, has been defeated. “P-Princess Luna…” “Is dead,” Princess Celestia finishes, far more calmly than she feels. He shakes his head; tears spray across the carpet, and manages to firm up his voice.  “MIA.” Celestia lets out a moan, her face driving back into her pillows.  Missing in action.  So, probably not dead, just cursed and being tortured until she finally does die.  It would be better- far better- if her sister had been struck down by an enemy blade- or even by a friendly arrow! Outside, the Sun goes dark.