//------------------------------// // Chapter 13: Ease Dropper // Story: A Forgotten Trooper // by TheIronPone035 //------------------------------// Strider was sitting on the side of the transportation bay of the gunship, his helmet held tightly in his hand. He remained this way for a while, quietly thinking to himself. He hadn't really thought about the fact that he was just another number, just another clone to get lost in the field. But now that he did think about it, the thought was more than disheartening. "Uhg, what am I doing? I need to get the gunship online." Strider told himself, setting placing his helmet back over his head as he walked over to the open panel. After a few final tweaks and twists of wires, a spark flew through the panel, jolting the gunship to life. The transportation bay lit up with green lights, signaling that the doors were ready to open, which they already were. Seeing the gunship's power restored, quickly shoved the numbers thoughts out of Strider's brain. "Haha! You bucket of bolts still has some character don't you!" Strider declared, looking at the now working lights. Strider went over to the power box and put the panel back into place. He screwed the bolts back into the panel and gave it a tap. Good as new. The trooper went over to the other side of the gunship with the broken wing and looked up at it. That wing was probably the biggest problem with the ship. With it broken, the gunship wouldn't make it four feet above the ground before tumbling to the ground. "Hmm, i'm gonna need to take the whole wing off to repair it. That's gonna take lot's of new metal, not to mention several all the replacement canons and--" CRASH!!! Strider locked up, identifying the noise to be the sound of his DC-15S blaster falling from the gunship and hitting the ground. He knew he had set it near the middle of the bay so it couldn't of fallen off by itself. He looked over in the direction of where he had set the blaster, seeing that it was no longer in the gunship. Slowly and cautiously, Strider tip toed over towards the side of the bay and looked around. He spotted the DC-15S lying on the ground below his feet. He grabbed it and switched off the safety, before taking another look around the area. After a few seconds of pure silence Strider spotted a hint of yellow fur between two crates. Slowly, Strider advanced towards crates, keeping the barrel pointed at the exposed bit of fur. Once he was right over the crates, he made his presence clear. "Who's there!? Come out or i'm gonna force you to." Strider exclaimed, pointing the DC-15S at the crates. Slowly, the pony behind the crates rose up, exposing a filly with a red mane and tail behind them. The pony was wearing a pink bow that was way too big for her head and her sun yellow eyes were looking down at the ground. Strider lowered the DC-15S at the sight of the filly, sighing under his helmet. "Who are you?" "Umm.., ah'm Apple Bloom. Sorry for mess'n with your stuff." Apple Bloom apologized, still looking down. "Why are you even here?" Strider questioned. Apple Bloom fidgeted with her left forehoof. "Well, ya ended up breaking mah sister's apple cart but she wouldn't tell me who broke it so ah wanted to know who ya were. Ah saw this strange thing and wanted ta know what it was. Ahm very very sorry!" Strider let out a long but muffled sigh, before answering; "Don't worry, just make sure that you don't sneak up on a soldier." Apple Bloom's worried look slowly faded and she smiled. "Ah promise it won't happen again!" Apple Bloom promised, before taking off in the direction of Ponyville. Strider couldn't help but sigh again, switching the blaster back onto its safety mode and went back to looking at the wing. Maybe the town has a store that sells metal, or maybe he could find a way to get it transported to him, or-- Strider's thought's froze up as he spotted Apple Bloom rushing back towards him. "Ah never caught your name!" Apple Bloom stated. "Oh, my name's Strider." Strider answered. "Nice ta meet ya Strider!" Apple Bloom claimed, still smiling. Strider wasn't sure why, but seeing that filly smile made his day all sorts of better. He felt something he hadn't since the crash. Happy. Strider didn't know why. He shouldn't be feeling happy. Apple Bloom was just eavesdropping and nearly got a plasma bolt to the face. But something felt different about this pony then the others. He knelt down so he was closer to eye level with the filly, and removed his helmet, letting Apple Bloom see his face. "Whoa, is that a suit of armor!?" Apple Bloom asked, now looking into Strider's brown eyes. "Yep, clone armor. I think it would be best if I said this with my helmet off." Strider claimed. "What?" "I'm no Jedi, but I can tell that you're gonna go far kid." Strider exclaimed. "Really?" Apple Bloom asked, her eyes widening. "You can bet on it." Strider answered. Apple Bloom's smile widened, before to Strider's shock, she wrapped her hooves around his chest in a hug. Not really knowing what to do, Strider returned the hug, smiling himself. In all his years of being a trooper for the Republic, he had never ever been given a hug. And it felt amazing. After the hug, Apple Bloom trotted off back towards Ponyville with a glowing smile. Strider continued to smile himself as he put his helmet back on and returned to the gunship. The clone trooper quickly returned to work, unscrewing a few bolts from the left wing of the Gunship. However, he was gonna need some sort of pulley system so the wing wouldn't fall and get even more damaged. Maybe Fluttershy had some spare rope. Strider paused for a moment, realizing that he hadn't seen Fluttershy all day. Where was she? "Probably getting more animal food at that market." Strider assured himself, before looking back at the wing. Before he could get back to work however, the pegasus in question appeared in the corner of his eye. Strider looked over to see Fluttershy, but something was definitely wrong. She completely ignored the trooper, galloping into her cottage in the blink of an eye. The second she was inside, she shut the door with a loud SLAM! Strider was slightly stunned at what he had just witnessed, both at Fluttershy's impressive speed, and how loud she had shut that door. Being only a few meters away from the cottage, Strider usually saw when Fluttershy left or entered her home, and had seen that she had always shut the front door slowly and carefully in order to not startle any nearby animals. But today, she had nearly swung the door off its hinges, making a nearby flock of birds scatter from their nest in a tall tree. Strider already knew something was definitely wrong, and before he knew it he was already out of the gunship and at the front door. He knocked a few times, not surprised when she didn't answer. "Fluttershy? You alright?" Strider asked through the door. Fluttershy didn't answer, not with words at least. Instead, Strider could faintly hear muffled sobbing from within the main room. That was the green light that something was definitely wrong, and the trooper was quick to try and open the door. However, Fluttershy had still managed to lock the door on her way in, the unmoving doorknob proving that. Strider didn't give up, that pegasus had already shown him so much kindness and had asked for nothing in return. Now, it was his turn. He did a quick loop around the cottage, looking for any open windows or a backdoor that might be unlocked. On the back of the house was a large window that was probably on the exact opposite side of the main room, and it was wide open. Strider made his way over to the window and looked inside, instantly spotting Fluttershy, who was face down on a green chair. Even with her mouth covered by a green pillow, he could still hear muffled sobs from the pegasus. "Fluttershy? What happened?" Strider asked, carefully stepping through the window and into the room. Fluttershy's cries continued, but she did lower the pillow from her face just enough for him to see her tear filled eyes. "I-I w-was j-just trying t-to help t-those d-ducks." Fluttershy stammered out, her words equally as muffled as her cries. Strider wasn't exactly a negotiator, definitely not as good as some of his brothers, but he needed to do something. Slowly, he extended out one of his hands and wiped some tears from Fluttershy's face. "It's ok, take some deep breaths." Strider instructed, gently removing his helmet while he was talking. Fluttershy's trembling body seemed to ease up a little, her cries slowly fading into simple yet unstable sniffles. She lowered the pillow some more, letting it glide down onto her chest before clutching it tightly once again. "Alright, can you tell me what happened?" Strider asked. "I-I was j-just g-guiding some ducks t-through t-the street a-and s-she s-shouted at m-me." Fluttershy explained. "Who?" "A G-Griffon." She finished. A Griffon? That word sounded somewhat familiar, but he couldn't put his finger on it. Out of the corner of Strider's eye, he spotted Angel Bunny, who for once wasn't glaring at him, but looking worryingly at Fluttershy. "Hey, do you think you could grab a glass of water for her?" Strider asked. Angel Bunny stood there for a few seconds, before nodding and hopping off into the kitchen. "Don't worry Fluttershy, it didn't sound like you did anything wrong." Strider claimed. Fluttershy's sniffles slowed even more, her watery eyes focused on his exposed face. Angel Bunny came back into the room with a glass of water in his paws. He passed it over to Strider, who set it down on a table next to the couch. The bunny then hopped up next to Fluttershy and went over to help comfort her. "Thanks," Strider said to the bunny, who nodded. Angel Bunny looked at Strider, then to his helmet. The bunny gave him an expression that said exactly what Strider was going to do. Teach whoever did this a lesson. Strider grabbed his helmet and put it back on. He looked back to Fluttershy, who was slowly calming down thanks to Angel Bunny. Then, he put his helmet back on and walked out the door. Strider went over to the gunship and grabbed the DC-15S and primed it. He made sure the safety was still on, before taking off towards Ponyville.