//------------------------------// // Chapter 7 // Story: A New Hope // by computerneek //------------------------------// “Brrr!  It’s cold out here!  We’re up by the Crystal Empire, aren’t we?” Fluttershy shrugs, mirroring the expression into her telepathic connection to Applejack.  “I think.  Pretty sure this…  thing went mostly west after Fort Flurry, but it feels colder outside than it did at the fort.” “Outside?  So, your moving mountain of metal has an inside?” She sends a nod.  “Yes…  It’s warm and well-lit, but I can’t find the source.  Are you doing okay over there?” She receives a nod in response.  “The explosions seem to be caused by these giant fire-propelled spear-like objects falling out of the sky.  I only saw one of them after I started running- total four explosions- and I only ran into one Centaur on the way out.  He went down before he had a chance to try cursing me. “I just hit the plains, headed in your direction.  What am I looking for?” She blinks.  “Um…  It’s huge…  You can’t miss it.  I’m on the far side of it.” “I’m on my way, then.  I’ll call when I get close.” She smiles gently as the telepathic connection finally closes, her Element returning to its normal, non-glowing status.  As much as she- and her friends- don’t like using that spell, Twilight was right.  It’s a good tool to have in the event of an emergency.  Then she freezes, almost going back for the necklace.  What about food, or water? She shudders; hopefully, this…  She pauses. Hopefully, it knows where to find food and water, but she needs something better to call it than ‘this thing’.  Perhaps she could call it… Her mountain friend? Her metal friend? None of those sound right, but it’ll have to do for now. Then she stops herself again.  What about what her new friend- assuming she can call it that- might need on its own?  Does it have everything it needs? She starts pacing animatedly across the room, puzzling.  She won’t- can’t- let Fort Flurry happen again.  Nor can she let her new friend, her savior, suffer for it. Much time passes.  She’s tempted to touch her Element again, but Applejack said she would call.  How far away was she? She makes her way outside, looks around- but nothing has changed.  The wind has picked up, though, bringing with it a gentle snowfall, freezing her through almost instantly.  Nopony is visible. Her ear twitches at a sudden gale sound- and, turning her head, she sees some kind of door in the metal not far from her slam shut, a fire-propelled spear accelerating out of it, almost directly away from her.  She thinks she sees something twitch much further away, on the far end- the front, she thinks- of her new friend. Then, with a couple momentary flashes, it makes a few more of those same gentle booms as had preceded each of the exploding buildings. Her hoof flashes up to her necklace.  “Applejack?” The response comes back instantly.  “Fluttershy- hide!  I’m being chas- AAAHH!” At the same time as Applejack’s panicked scream, she hears a few distant explosions, spaced no more than a half-second apart. “What happened?”  She begins to gallop along the thing- Applejack is in about the same direction as those blasts. “I don’t- hold on.  Uhh… Wow. I’m okay- and as a bonus, I’m no longer being chased, or even followed.  What WAS that?” She stops galloping, slowing to a stop.  “I don’t know,” she replies.  “All I know is that it saved me from Fort Flurry…  and couldn’t save any of the guards.” “Huh…  Wait, you’re on it?  Where’s the stairs?” Shrug.  “It lowered a ramp.  Try coming around?” "Okay.  See you in a second.”  The connection closes once again. She returns to the door into that room, before walking right up to the edge and gazing at the corner around which she expects Applejack to approach.  She shivers violently, but refuses to yield. She will meet her friend. She waits another long time before she spots her friend, way down at that front corner, coming around to trot towards her, along it.  She smiles and waves one ice-encrusted foreleg, before realizing that it’s only her extra-keen pegasus vision that’s letting her even see her friend from this far away, let alone recognize her through the building storm.  She almost touches her Element again- but forces herself not to. It would not be nice to bother Applejack like that. She watches her friend come- and jumps almost a foot in the air when the metal ramp suddenly extends itself, reaching down and outwards. She wobbles her way forwards on frozen limbs, peering past the ramp.  Her friend paused for a few seconds to watch the ramp come down- and is now galloping towards the base, where it touched down on the ice.  It’s not long before Applejack reaches the top of the ramp next to her. Applejack raises an eyebrow.  “You didn’t have to freeze yourself up here,” she states. Fluttershy shrugs- and shortly discovers she’s shivering too hard to talk. Applejack lets out a sigh.  “Alright, where’s the inside, before we both freeze to death?” This she manages.  Fluttershy wobbles her way back to the door, and down inside. As soon as they reach the warmth of indoors, even before the door closes behind them, Applejack begins sweeping the snow and ice off of Fluttershy’s coat.  While they were outside, it provided a rather welcome insulating effect against the cold; once inside, it’ll be better for her to be exposed to the warmth- and not soaked. It’s not long before they’re both in a corner, leaning against each other, in an effort to help Fluttershy warm back up faster.  It rather helps that the room is rather decidedly on the toasty side. I am slightly disappointed that Necklace nearly froze herself to death in her effort to meet the second necklace-bearer, who I have chosen to nickname ‘Apple’, after the apples on her flank.  Fortunately, Apple quickly convinced her to return inside- then removed all the snow and ice, allowing her to soak up the warmth in the room. This will take time; less time that it might have, though. Almost seven hours ago, I parked in the middle of what my ground-penetrating radar indicated was a geothermally active area.  Nanite manufacturing, burning almost all remaining power overnight, was able to construct a fairly basic geothermal harvesting plant.  Even now, I am almost 7.31 minutes away from activating a geothermal power plant to serve as the beginning of a new, alloy fort at this location; I’ve also discovered an ore vein nearby and, with the processor I have placed and a significant solar/geothermal/stored power supply, this base’ harvesters should be able to cover far more space than mine.  Once this base is anchored, a timeframe I estimate will take about a week, I will be able to stop by to recharge/repair; once it is established, about a months’ time, I will be able to maintain long-term communications with it- and house ponies here long-term, with defenses. After about four months, thanks to manufacturing/harvesting tasks not being reserved only to nanites, I expect to be able to park indoors at this location. Even before the generator is completed, though, I have been able to duct the gathered geothermal energy directly into Passenger 14, where Necklace and Apple are, raising the compartment to almost thirty degrees Celsius- or, if one prefers Fahrenheit, that’s eighty-six.  This is helping Necklace recover faster than she might have on her own- even though she’ll recover at what would be a normal rate anyways, thanks to the higher specific heat of her duralloy skeleton than her natural tissues. Apple might notice this- but whether or not she does, Necklace should recover fast enough to avoid getting sick. I know food will be a problem soon.  I expect about two hours until she becomes hungry once again- and I have not discovered any food at this location.  Once the base is established, it will be able to produce enough directly- and, once it grows large enough, will even contain some greenhouses for more natural production.  However, for now, I will have to travel to locate any food. My drone will dock back with me, on low power, in about an hour.  I plan to rest at this location, drawing power from the geothermal plant, until I can locate a good source of food with this drone.  The geothermal plant should produce enough for me to recharge and relaunch the drone within about ten minutes of landing. Unfortunately, at this stage, I can do little but wait. Wait one.  I alter my drone’s flight path, veering out from the expanding circle I had it resume after Apple’s rescue-by-distraction.  This… Yes, those are ponies on the walls. I have discovered another fort. This fort is enormous, by comparison to the other one.  It’s well-staffed, well-armed, and generally well-defended.  Ultrasonic, hypersonic, radar, and so on all report nothing but ponies in possession.  Unlike that first fort, this base has not been taken, I can confirm. I order my drone to orbit the base in an expanding circle, scanning the terrain around, until it runs low on power and returns.  The base is about a an hour’s journey away; I will recharge with my geothermal plant for an hour and a half, then set out for this base.  This will give me enough power to run a constant scout around myself and the base with the drone throughout this operation. I will deliver my passengers to the safety of the base, then hold position to recharge on solar for six hours before returning to this geothermal plant to resume recharging.  My drone will continue orbiting the base while I recharge, monitoring for any threats; should any approach, I will make my best speed back to the base to engage the enemy. Once back at this power plant, I will charge for a maximum of three days’ time.  I will be able to assemble a second drone before the first one must return; I will fly it out at such time that it arrives on target just in time for the first to begin the return flight.  These three days should give me enough power for several secondary Hellbore rounds- and virtually eliminate power as a problem until after I reach- and search- the third possible necklace-bearer landing zone in this part of the country.  I should be able to return to this base- which will be past its formative stages by then- and operate some repair/resupply while I recharge further before I make another foray into pony territory. “Who approaches the gate?” Applejack speaks up immediately.  “Applejack and Fluttershy,” she answers.  “Requesting entry to the fort.” The Guard on the tall wall peers through his binoculars- and identifies the gemstone necklace Applejack is holding out for him to see.  He nods to himself. “Granted,” he calls down, before turning to the other side of the wall to call for the gate to be opened. The gates grind slowly open, admitting two hungry, cold ponies.  The Guard at the bottom greets them. “Applejack, Fluttershy,” he bows- earning himself rolled eyes on Applejack’s part and a little shrinkage on Fluttershy’s.  “Our transit stone was damaged recently; we’re still working on the repairs. In the meantime, we have some armor and insulation in the armory-” he indicates the specified building with a hoof- “and food in the mess hall.”  He indicates again. “Is there anypony else with you?” He looks past them, towards the enormous grey shape in the distance- the shape they’d walked in from. Applejack takes the lead, shaking her head.  “No, we were alone.” She looks back at the shape.  “I wish we could accommodate that- it saved us both- but I haven’t a clue what it needs…  and it’s about as big as the entire fort.” He nods.  “You and me both, Ma’am.  You and me both.” The Guards at the gates close them. “So, would you like me to lead the way, or no?”