//------------------------------// // Chapter 9 // Story: A New Hope // by computerneek //------------------------------// Applejack only blinks for a few seconds, watching the giant metal mountain slide smoothly and silently to a halt next to them.  “Uhh,” she begins. The Sergeant forces himself to his hooves, wincing with every step, to amble his way over- and poke Applejack in the side.  “Fluttershy. Is she okay?” Applejack only stands and stares. Then, the ramp hits the ground a few strides away from them. “Wait.  This is what brought you two to Fort Dash, isn’t it?” Lightning Dust asks. Again, Applejack only stands and stares.  The Sergeant rolls his eyes and starts towards Fluttershy. He never reaches the pegasus, though; he stops halfway there to look up at the sound of galloping hooves on metal.  Two ponies, a unicorn and an earth pony, are galloping down the ramp towards them. Two ponies, wearing Royal Guard armor.  They look like Privates to him, from this distance, but he can’t be certain.  In any case, they’re running down to meet them. He elects to wait until he can see their rank for certain before he starts barking orders- then, as he turns back towards Fluttershy, a muscle spasm drops him on the ground again.  He lets out a groan, and starts forcing himself back up again. The two new ponies gallop down the ramp to them.  The Unicorn jumps off the side before she reaches the bottom, detouring towards Fluttershy; the other continues dead ahead to meet Applejack. The green unicorn then screeches to a halt next to the pegasus, horn glowing gold, and puts a hoof to Fluttershy’s neck. The Sergeant manages to right himself again- and now sees clearly that she’s a Private…  and doing exactly what he would have ordered one (or both) to do. “Private,” he calls forwards.  “Is she okay?” The unicorn glances upwards only briefly.  “Two minor puncture wounds, and a lifeforce drain about two weeks ago.  She’s been knocked cold, but I’m not seeing anything lethal- or long-term disabling.”  She shifts her hoof, indicating something on the ground in front of the pegasus. “Her Element seems to have been destroyed.” He shakes his head.  “At least she’s okay.  Any indication what-!” A female voice echoes out from the metal mountain, instantly drowning out his statement.  Unfortunately, he hasn’t a clue what is being said- and the only universal interpreter is lying on the ground in front of him, unconscious.  He opens his mouth to speak, but somepony else- the earth pony private- beats him to it. “She says there’s more coming, and we should get aboard quickly.” He looks over towards the earth pony.  “You can understand?” She nods.  “Yes Sir. It’s my cutie mark talent, Sir- I can understand any spoken language.” He nods.  “Ahh. Well, lets- Aaah!”  He lands on his side again, and starts rising upright once again as he continues talking.  “Let’s get up there.” He lets out a grunt, glancing to his sides- and Private Dust, who just failed a second attempt at standing up.  “Applejack, you’ve got Fluttershy, right?” Applejack jumps into motion, moving towards the mentioned pegasus.  “Yes sir!” He gives a nod.  “Private Strings, get Private Dust.  Private…?” “Verbal, Sir.” “Private Verbal, then, you’ve got me.  Let’s get to safety.” Private Verbal then slips under him, picking him up on her back effortlessly.  Much like any naturally strong earth pony might do with any naturally light pegasus.  In the process, he spots Private Strings levitate Fluttershy up for Applejack to step under in similar manner, before levitating Private Dust up to her own back. Finally, the trio of uninjured mares carrying the trio of injured ponies then walks quickly but steadily up the ramp.  Upon reaching the top, all three immediately turn to walk along the platform for a second, before turning again, down into a hole…  and an open door to a warm, well-lit room full of odd, thronelike seats. Private Strings then helps everypony unlimber themselves of their burdens, while inflicting the least pain in the process, before setting about treating any injuries as best she can. A quick healing spell stops Fluttershy’s bleeding and sterilizes the wounds; without proper bandaging, that’s all she can do. Her next target is the Sergeant.  She carefully removes the arrow, extracting a few extra splinters, and uses a series of spells to clean the wound.  Seconds after she starts trying to find a way to splint a damaged shoulder- at least the joint itself is okay, it’s only his mid-pelvis that broke- the room says something again.  She glances up towards Private Verbal. “She said she can fix the breaks- just set them and hold for a few seconds.” After a nod, Private Strings does just that- and, fifteen seconds later, she uses a couple healing spells to protect the wound against future infection before moving to Private Dust, leaving Sergeant Stone’s wing properly attached and completely usable.  His jaw is also hanging wide open, but that wasn’t her doing. Private Dust, however, is a different story.  She’s suffered from a shattered knee- and the same for the joint in her wing. “Uh, She says she can fix it- just to have her rest.  She’ll let us know when she can move again.” Well, that solved that problem.  Private Dust seemed disconcerted that Privates Strings and Verbal were so trusting of the strange voice- but, after witnessing Applejack’s calm acceptance of the translation, she has difficulty doubting the instruction and complies. The Sergeant rises to his hooves as Private Strings finishes up with Private Dust.  He winces slightly at the pain- but it isn’t nearly so bad, and continues to fade, so he has no trouble standing.  He stretches the affected wing out, wincing again, before refolding it and looking towards Applejack and Privates Strings and Verbal.  “How safe is it in here?” he asks. Private Verbal shrugs- but Applejack nods.  “Quite safe, I’d guess,” Applejack states. “This thing wiped out a Centauran party that was chasing me- and, if Fluttershy’s memory serves, the entire army that infiltrated Fort Flurry, in its rescuing her.”  She looks at Privates Strings and Verbal.  “How’d you run into it?” Private Strings answers instantly.  “Fort Crystal fell to the Minotaur’s use of a strange, pipe-like weapon.  The attacking army was too small, though- we were able to wipe them out.” She hangs her head.  “We were the only survivors, picking through the remains of the base, when it arrived- and sent down a strange, spiderlike machine to help us.  With its help, we were able to search the base… No survivors, save ourselves. It somehow knew that ‘a larger fort’ was being attacked by overwhelming force- and stated that it could save them, but didn’t want to leave us behind.”  She smiles, looking up. “We jumped aboard immediately… and here we are.” Sergeant Stone steps over.  “Did you ask how far?” She shakes her head.  “Private Verbal might be able to understand it, but it doesn’t seem to understand Equestrian…  and neither of us are multilingual.” “So what is it?” Shrug.  “No clue.” Applejack shifts her weight slightly, then frowns at the floor.  “Where’re we going?” she asks. Private Strings looks at her for a moment, frowns, and turns to look at Private Verbal- who shakes her head and moves towards the door.  Everypony watches patiently. Private Verbal reaches the door- which opens for her.  At the same time, it says something, but nopony understands.  Verbal nods, and proceeds outside. Once outside, Clear Verbal takes a deep breath of the fresh, icy wind blowing past, taking a moment to glance at the passing scenery before turning to look forwards, towards whatever they’re moving towards.  She raises one eyebrow, glances up at the armor, and looks forwards again, moving towards the edge to see if she could get a better look. It speaks up again.  Earlier, it had warned her to be careful; they’re moving at a decent speed right now.  Now… “You’re wondering where we’re going?” it asks. She nods, moving back towards the door at the same time. It answers.  “We’re going towards my base.  The one I stopped at before the fight; I’m reconfiguring it to support ponies.  We’ll be there in about fifty-three minutes; I expect everypony to be able to debark safely in about four hours.” She raises an eyebrow, putting on what she hopes is a worried expression, and looks towards the giant pipe things up front.  The ones that still don’t have any snow on them, even though the rest of the alloy mountain has begun accumulating snow once again after that mad dash. “Don’t worry.  This is MY base; no simple cannon will penetrate it.  You won’t need to worry about defense- even after I leave.” She nods, smiling, and heads back inside to where everypony is waiting.  “It’s building a base,” she states. “We’re headed back there. It said we’ll be completely safe there, even after it leaves.” Sergeant Stone raises an eyebrow, then looks down towards Dust.  “How fast can you fly, Private?” Dust first looks at her still-broken wing, then back up.  “About as fast as Rainbow, back in the day.” He nods.  “I’m gonna have to evaluate this base first, but we’re probably gonna need a Fort Crystal for it.” Dust raises one eyebrow momentarily, before letting it fall again.  The Fort Crystal serves as the main teleportation amplifier, allowing easy teleportation of unicorns and non-unicorns alike to Canterlot and back, without excessive mana drain on the traveler.  Of course, they’re specifically tuned to only work for ponies; if ever their enemy takes a base, the Fort Crystal inside is useless to them.  If Sergeant Stone wants one- and unlike her, he has the authority to request one- then he must be considering their conveyance’ new base as, possibly at least, a valid, pony-held fort.  “What’re we gonna call it, Sir?” He tilts his head, before looking up and down the room, and out at the door.  “Um… Hope, I think. Fort Hope, if it’s anything like what we’ve seen from this thing.”  He nods, turning back to the group- and Private Verbal in particular. “Did it say how far away we are?” She nods.  “Fifty minutes, if I remember correctly.  It said it expects four hours before we can debark safely.” He raises his eyebrow.  “Oh? There enemies nearby, or is it talking about the snow and ice?” She shrugs.  “I don’t know, Sir.” He scowls.  “Any way to ask?” A pause, then a repeat performance.  “I don’t know, Sir.” Four hours later, two ponies- Sergeant Stone and Private Dust- walk outside.  They walk up to the edge of the metal, and look down. Far below, they see a single, metal building, standing against the snow and ice.  It looks to be sized for ponies, and large enough to fit a dozen or two bunks. Sergeant Stone raises an eyebrow, and looks up at Private Dust.  “Private Verbal said this thing thought it’d be safe to debark right about now, right?” She only nods. He frowns for a second, before looking up at the ponderous weapon he’d seen the effects of at Fort Dash.  “Well… So long as it stays here, I don’t know that I’d disagree, just yet. Follow me, we’re going to check it out.”  He then leaps off the edge, spreading his wings to glide down to the building. Both pegasi land gently in front of the building, looking up at it.  As they approach the door, it slides open for them, all on its own… letting them into a small room, about three ponies long and as wide as the door, with another door at the other end.  They look at each other, then proceed forwards, into this small space. As they walk across it, the door closes behind them- and the one in front of them promptly slides open, revealing the larger room inside.  They step in side-by-side, gazing around at the content. Immediately inside the entrance, they find a raised table, with a couple rows of raised seats to either side, as if for spectators…  Or, as a semitransparent map appears above the table, he realizes they’re standing in the war room. This is separated by a wall- no door, just a curtain- from the rest of the building. Behind this curtain, they find a couple aisles of what look like storage space to either side.  A little bit of warehousing, inside the administration building… Interesting. Another curtained doorway reveals the final sector of the base- with two round tables in the middle, and several bunks set on the sides- layered three high, and packed in tight enough there’s space for a good sixty ponies, all without feeling cramped. He looks at Dust.  “Feel like running for that Fort Crystal?” She blinks, and salutes.  “Yes, Sir!” They return to the map, and study it.  Five bases are marked on it- four of them showing little mushroom clouds overtop, the last one with a green circle around it. “This must be where we are,” Sergeant Stone nods, pointing at the circled base, then points to the nearest of the mushroom clouded bases- which also happens to be the largest.  “That must be Fort Dash.” He takes a piece of parchment- very clean, well-made parchment- and the strange, stick-like writing utensil next to it and puts it to the page.  Shortly, without ever having dipped it in ink, he has the note fully written out- with lines far cleaner than any quill might make. He signs it, stows the writing utensil back in its place, and folds the page, hoofing it to Private Dust.  “Take this to Canterlot, Soldier. Return with a Fort Crystal for Fort Hope- and a map of Equestrian territories.” She accepts the page and snaps a salute.  “Yes sir!” A minute later, when Sergeant Stone returns to the compartment the other four ponies are waiting in, Private Dust has already reached cruising altitude, headed south towards Canterlot.