//------------------------------// // The Fort // Story: What Went Wrong? // by StormbadgerXIII //------------------------------// What Went Wrong? Chapter 3 - The Fort "Big" was all Derpy managed to say. "Yep, it's big." Soarin' replied, smiling. "This is the Fort, the headquarters for all the PLR's operations." "PLR?" "Ponies' Lunar Republic. Most of us call it the Ponies' Republic or just the Republic." He started walking forward with Thunderlane and Rainbow. "Luna doesn't really like the 'Lunar' part." "Wait, Luna? As in Princess Luna?" Derpy asked, cantering towards them. "Princess Luna is here?" "Duh, that's why it's the Ponies' Lunar Republic." Dash smirked. "Hey, Rose, we're here!" A beige-yellow mare peered over the walls. "Oh, hey Dash. Took the scenic route again?" "Cockatrice ambush." She half-lied. "Now let us in already." "Fine, fine. Snowflake, get the door." After a few seconds, one of the plates on the door slid to the side with a subtle but painful-sounding grinding noise. Pushing the door was a huge, over muscled white pegasus with tiny wings. The door stopped only part-way, enough for two ponies to walk through if they were close enough. He gestured them in. "Thanks Snowflake." Dash said, patting the hulk on the side. "Welcome." Snowflake replied, looking over the group. His eyes locked on to Derpy's and hers onto his. He raised an eyebrow. "Uh, Dash?" "I'll explain later." The group of pegasi passed through another gate, once again opened by Snowflake, and the castle came into view. It was blackened from time, but some new, grey stones had been placed where old ones had fallen out. The occasional metal plate rested on the structure. Several balconies stuck out, some with giant crossbows mounted on them, others were bare. The castle itself was set on an island of land, a dark chasm separating it from the rest of the land. A giant stone/metal bridge had been laid out across it, with one rotten-wood post sticking out from away from it. Dash faltered in her step, looking at the post. "Something wrong, Chief?" Soarin' asked, trotting up to her. "Just..." Dash said, her words catching in her throat. She sighed. "Nothing, never mind. Come on, Luna's waiting for us." "Alright." Soarin' said quietly. They walked across the bridge, Dash keeping front, Soarin' next to her, Derpy and Thunderlane in tow. Derpy looked around at all the sights, her jaw hanging low. Thunderlane pushed it up. "Just so you don't breathe in something nasty." Derpy blushed. "Th-thanks..." They reached the end of the bridge and trotted up to the main door of the castle. A pair of unicorns pulled the doors apart, allowing them inside. One of them glared at Derpy, and she smiled weakly back. The inside of the castle was not like a castle at all. They were instead walking down a long arched corridor, a small section opened up with a statue of Princess Luna in the centre. Ponies walked, trotted, galloped and cantered around, each doing their own duties. Dash lead the group forward, ponies saluting at them. Eyes fell to the young grey pegasus; some with annoyance, some with confusion, and maybe one or two with some amount of attraction. Derpy didn't look back, feeling as awkward as a pony could. She recognised a few faces, but they all seemed like distant shadows of what she knew. Dash stopped in front of a large room, the door clearly marking some sort of throne room. "Well, we're here." She pushed the door open. Derpy looked in, and saw that the throne room once again defeated her expectations. It was a fragmented dome, the walls painted in a mockery of the night sky. There was no giant chair, but a big wooden table with some fancy-looking devices over it. A small section was curtained off. And in the centre of the room, leaning over some maps on the table, was a massive midnight-blue alicorn with a flowing, night-sky mane. She looked up and smiled. "Rainbow Dash, you have returned." "Sorry, ma'am, had a couple of delays on the way." Dash stepped forward, bowing. "It matters not; anything of note from the recon?" "There's full wartrain coming from Canterlot. I think they might try something in a few days." Luna sighed, shutting her eyes. "My sister grows desperate." "Don't worry ma'am," Soarin' said. "The PLR'll weather it." "PR, please..." Luna muttered under her breath. She looked up. "I don't think it should be dedicated to me, even if I do lead it." She looked at the rest of the group, then her eyes stopped on Derpy. "Uhhh... hi." Derpy meekly said, waving a hoof. "You... I've seen you before." The alicorn murmured. "You are the one they called 'Derpy', correct?" Derpy nodded. "The one who disappeared fifteen years ago?" Again, she nodded. Luna just looked at her, mixed emotions playing with her face. "I... Dash. We need to organise the defences." Dash saluted and walked forward. "You guys... show Derpy around. Or something." "Understood." Thunderlane said. "Derpy, come with me." Derpy nodded and followed Thunderlane. "Now, Derpy, you're going to have to bunk in with the younger recruits. We already have all the VIP rooms occupied." He turned to face her. "Just... try not to reference the past. Even if they do." He sighed, and continued to lead her. Eventually they reached the large room, which Derpy had seen many ponies enter and exit. Thunderlane found an unoccupied bed for her, and then left without a word. Derpy just watched him. "Hey." The grey pegasus turned, only to stare into a set of purple eyes. She squeaked. "Hey, newblood." Derpy saw the orange coat and purple mane attached to the eyes. "H-hi." "Gotta name?" the mare asked, looking bored. "I'm..." She needed to think of a name, and fast. She couldn't use her old name... she had to think of something. "...I'm... Ditzy. Ditzy Doo." "Scootaloo." the orange mare said, looking her over. "Oh, I know yo-" Derpy started saying, but covered her mouth with a hoof. Scootaloo raised an eyebrow. "What was that? "I've... heard of you before..." Derpy said, giving her best winning smile. Not winning enough for Scootaloo. "No, you said something else." "No I didn't." "Yes you did." "No I didn't." "Yes you did." "No I didn't." "No you didn't." "Yes I did!" Derpy said, then realised what she said, and facehoofed. "Aww, darn it." Scootaloo chuckled triumphantly. "So, what were you about to say?" "Um..." The orange pegasus grabbed and lifted Derpy by the scarf. "What were you about to say." She wasn't asking any more. Derpy struggled and squirmed, but to no avail. "I..." "I what?" Scootaloo growled. A small crowd was gathering around. "Scoots!" A voice called out from amongst the throng of ponies. They moved aside to reveal a light yellow mare with a red mane. Next to her was a light grey and dark grey stallion. "Ah told ya not t'mess up the newbloods!" Scootaloo dropped Derpy on the ground. "Fine. You're the sarge." She stormed off, muttering oaths under her breath. The earth pony mare pulled Derpy up from the ground. "Sorry, she's a might unpleasant. Not like last time." "It's ok." Derpy said. "Ah'm Apple-Bloom. Sergeant Major, but Ah don't really like it when ponies use mah rank t'talk to me." "I'm Ditzy Doo." Derpy lied, holding out a hoof. Apple-Bloom shook it. "Nice to meet you." The grey pegasus smiled. "I'm Rumble. Just Rumble." "You're Thunderlane's brother!" Derpy said, grinning. Then she remembered Thunderlane's warning. "I mean... you look a lot like him..." "Uh... yeah. I'm his brother." Rumble looked around, then whispered to Apple-Bloom. The sergeant major nodded. "Ditzy, we need to have a bit of a talk." "You ain't Ditzy Doo, ain't you?" Derpy shifted uncomfortably where she stood. "Y-yes I am." "No you're not." Rumble said, matter of factly. "You knew I was Thunderlane's brother." "I said you looked a lot like him..." she moaned. "I just... jump to conclusions." "Likely story." Apple-Bloom deadpanned. "But-" "Ah think I remember y'all from before..." she murmured. "Couldja take of them glasses?" "But, I need them to-" "If you needed them you wouldn't be in the army." Rumble added. "I'm not in the army!" Derpy shouted. "Y'all ain't?" Apple-Bloom asked, turning her head to the side slightly. "N-no. All the VIP rooms are taken." Derpy muttered. "So, y'all are a VIP?" "I... I think so..." Apple-Bloom sighed. "Alright. Even so, could y'all take of them glasses? Please?" Derpy reluctantly obliged. She felt the subtle magic keeping her eyes completely focused dissipate as the glasses were removed. "Eeyup, Ah knew it." Apple-Bloom looked over Derpy. "Y'all Dinky's mom, ain'tcha?" "I... um..." Derpy sighed, lowering her head. "Yes." "I knew it!" Rumble shouted. "You're that mare my brother kept talking about!" Derpy blinked in shock. "Th... Thunderlane kept talking about me?" "Well, yeah. I think he was in love with you or something." He put a hoof to his chin. "That, or it was Flitter he loved, but he did talk about you. A lot." "Wow..." She muttered, blushing a little. "So... what happened?" Apple-Bloom asked. "When y'all disappeared?" "I dunno. I was just standing there when I was teleportaled to my room, just..." Derpy hesitated. "I think Twilight missed her mark." "Ah'm sure it was an accident." Apple-Bloom said, patting Derpy on the back. "It happens." She gave a sympathetic smile, but then her wrist beeped. "Shoot, gotta go. See y'all later!" "Uh... ok, see you later!" Derpy waved a hoof to the trotting Apple-Bloom, then sighed. "So, Derpy. Wanna go see my bro?" Rumble asked, smiling. Derpy's eyes widened, a slight blush forming. "I-um..." "I don't mean it like that, geez." he laughed. "But I think you two need to talk." Derpy rapped her hoof on a door, marked with Thunderlane's cutie mark: a cloud with a lightning bolt. No response came, so she knocked again. "Thunderlaaaane...!" The door creaked open, a set of amber eyes meeting hers. "Oh, hey Derpy." "Can I come in?" "No!" Thunderlane shouted, blushing. "I-I mean, I'm a bit busy..." "Doing what?" "Nothing!" "But I need to talk to you-" "Come back in an hour, 'kay thanks bye!" SLAM! Derpy just stared in surprise. "That... was interesting..." She started walking around aimlessly; she had about an hour to kill before she could talk to Thunderlane. What the hay could he be doing? I hope it's not... boy stuff... or worse, he could be with another mare... She shook her head. Come on, Derpy, he's fifteen years older than last time. He can be with another mare if he wants. Whatever she was planning on thinking next was thrown out of her head when she collided with a solid, warm, pony-sized object. She fell to her haunches, rubbing her head. "Oww..." She looked up and saw a large orange mare glaring down at her, a worn cowpony hat resting on her head. "Watch where y'all are goin'." "S-sorry Applejack!" Derpy squeaked, standing up. "That's Lieutenant General Applejack to y'all." Applejack gave Derpy a look over. She looked a lot more muscular than Derpy remembered, her hair short-cut. She was clad in a barely-fitting olive uniform, a large duster on top of that. One of her hooves was completely covered, but Derpy could tell it didn't look entirely... normal. Unfortunately Applejack caught her looking. "Don't ask." "Ask about what? Your hoof?" Derpy asked anyway, tilting her head a little. "Is it really hurt or somethi-" WHACK! Derpy felt her hooves leave the ground (without her wanting them too), her body flying off, and then the sudden deceleration of hitting a wall. Then, and only then, did she feel the pain of the iron-hard hoof that hit her face. When she finally snapped her mind back into the real world, she put a hoof to her cheek. "Ow! Ow... Ow... Pain hurts..." "Ah said don't ask, Derpy." Applejack growled, her strange hoof returning back to its normal position. She walked off, everyone she passed giving her plenty of room. Derpy just sat there, hoof to cheek. She felt her eyes tearing up. "I'm guessing you asked her about the hoof?" A mare next to her said. A yellowy-orange hoof appeared in front of Derpy, and the grey pegasus took it, hoisting herself up. She turned to the mare, and her eyes widened; the mare's hair was on fire! Oh, wait, that was her hair. She smiled. "I guess she doesn't like it when people ask about it." "She's not proud of it." The orange fire-maned mare (a pegasus, too) muttered, then turned to face Derpy and smiled. "I'm Spitfire." "As in 'Spitfire, captain of the Wonderbolts'?" Derpy asked, her eyes lighting up. "Yep." Spitfire grinned, nodding. "Well, ex-captain of the ex-Wonderbolts, but still the same mare." "Wow, cool!" "Mhm. Hey... I remember you. You're that 'Derpy' who helped with the tornado sixteen years ago." She laughed. "You don't look a day older." "Well... um... ask Rainbow Dash about it." Derpy smiled, rubbing her foreleg. "Relax, she told me." "Oh." Spitfire turned and started walking. "Come on, I'll show you 'round." Derpy followed, happy to have found something interesting to do. Derpy had seen as much of the HQ as she was allowed, save the last location: the training grounds. As they approached, they heard the rhythmic thunks of crossbows and the clangs of swords. The two pegasi rested on a platform overlooking the training. "LC Sweettooth and Lieutenant Apple are teaching the privates how not to die." Spitfire joked. Down in the grounds, a wall of young ponies, not much older than Derpy, were firing bolt after bolt into a row of training targets. A couple were accurate, but the others needed some work. In particular, a grey-blue unicorn with short spiky orange hair couldn't hit the side of a barn, let alone his own target. "Hold fire." A soft but loud voice called from next to them. A large, heavily-built red stallion trotted up to each of them. "Good, good, very good, needs work, needs work, good, very good..." He stopped at the unicorn. "Snips, where are all your bolts?" The unicorn chuckled nervously. "Well, some are in that one-" he pointed to one of the adjacent targets. "-uhh, some are that one-" he gestured to the other one. "And uuuhhhh... one is in that one...” he pointed to a target five down. "That's... seven bolts, where are the other th-” the earth pony looked around, spotted them imbedded in the ground, and sighed. "Oh. Y'all might be better with a sword." "Heh heh, yeah..." Snips grinned awkwardly. Apple kept reporting to the recruits and privates, more being said that sword work might be better for them. "Alright, ten minute break everypony, then a station switch." Spitfire smirked. "That's my cue. You coming?" Derpy nodded, and the two pegasi landed on the training ground. Almost instantly, Apple and another mare, presumably Sweettooth, bellowed instructions and the new ponies saluted towards the pegasi. "At ease." Spitfire said, and the mass of ponies shifted back to their normal positions. "So, McIntosh, how're the recruits?" "They're good." the red earth pony said. "A bit iffy, but training'll sort it out." "Some of my lot are good with swords." Sweettooth added. "Though I can tell some of them'd be better with crossbows." Spitfire nodded. "Well, as long as they're good enough in a day or two. We're expecting another offensive." "Another?" Sweettooth gasped, and then spat on the ground. "Don't they ever give up?" "Eenope." McIntosh muttered. "Don't worry Twist, we can take it." "Yeah, we'll be fine." Spitfire added, smiling. "Oh, McIntosh, Twist, this is the time-travelling mare I told you about." Derpy blinked, and then smiled. "Howdy." McIntosh said. "Hey there." Twist smiled, holding out a hoof for the shaking. Derpy took it and felt like her leg was about to be taken off. "I... uh... see you don't have a lisp anymore." Derpy said, rubbing her leg awkwardly. "Mhm. Language coaches when I got into high school." She chuckled. "Helps with giving orders." The three ponies started chatting, Derpy just listening in. Stuff about recruits and crossbows and stuff. Soon, the ten minutes passed and the recruits went to their stations. Derpy and Spitfire decided to watch the crossbowponies first. One by one the ponies pulled a crossbow from the ranks; some mounted them on battle saddles, some used their magic, and one or two stood on their hind legs, mouth on trigger and forelegs supporting it. Twist told them not to act like zebras and they fell back into their positions. One of them, a lanky, half-lidded orange unicorn, didn't have a crossbow. "Private Slow, where's your crossbow?" Twist asked. "Sorry, Twist-" "Lance Corporal." "Sorry, Lance Corporal, but there weren't any crossbows left." Twist blinked. "What?" She looked at the rack and saw that it was, in fact, empty. "Aww, dammit." "I... uh... made my own weapons." Slow drawled. "Wanna see?" "You... made your own weapons." Twist asked incredulously. "Ok, what are they?" "They're... uh... um..." he tapped the side of his head. "Hoofcannons." "Hoofcannons?" "Yep." He levitated a pair of matching... well, the best way Derpy could describe them were tiny canons on wooden blocks with a simple mouth grip. "It took me a while to make them." "Well, ok, but don't blame me if they explode on you." Twist said. "Ok... ready and... loose!" All the ponies shot their crossbows, some hitting the target, some missing. Slow lifted a pair of matches to the fuses on his hoofcannons, just as the ponies fired a second volley. In the third the matches had managed to light the fuse. On the fourth he was aiming. The fifth volley had just shot when the cannons fired, a pair of tremendous bangs preceding the ball of fire from each. Two giant cast-iron spheres impacted into the target with deadly accuracy, shattering it completely. Snips grinned, then saw the damage and the scared ponies. "Uh... whoops." "Snails?" Twist muttered. "Yeah?" "What the hell?" Derpy had decided to join into the training, opting for a blade. The 'blades' were simply stupidly heavy wooden swords. Her target was a suit of armour over a mannequin. She held the sword in her mouth. "'Ow ah Ah suhhoseh tah uhe hihs?" McIntosh smiled. "Swing your head, keep your eye on the target. Don't swing too hard, you might break something." Derpy nodded, the sword nearly dislocating her jaw. She turned, and swung at the target, her eyes clenched shut. The sword pinged off but otherwise did nothing. "'Ow'h Ah ooh?" "Don't swing too soft either." He added. "Or y'all won't do anything." "Oh." Swing; nothing. Swing; nothing. Swing; the sword dropped out of her mouth. "Aww..." "Maybe y'all'd be better with a bow." McIntosh suggested, leading her to the crossbow station. Somepony had opted out, leaving the crossbow resting on the log separating the targets and the ponies. Derpy picked up the crossbow with her wing. "Um... how do I use this?" "Y'all need a battle saddle first. Hold on." McIntosh trotted off, returning with a olive battle saddle. "Here, slip this on." Derpy did so, squeezing her wing through the gap for pegasi. McIntosh mounted the crossbow to her side and brought the trigger bit up to her mouth. "Now, aim and shoot." "How do I aim?" McIntosh flipped up a device in front of her right eye; a monocle of sorts, with a targeting reticle on it. "Use this fancy magic targeter thingy. Ah don't use it mahself, but y'all might want to." Derpy nodded, and closed her left eye, her tongue sticking out. She moved her body until the reticle was a centred on the target as she could manage, then bit on the trigger. She felt her side lurch from recoil, and the bolt hit her target... but a fair amount off where she wanted it. It had hit just on the border of the blue outer ring. "Aww, darn it." "Well, y'all are much better with a crossbow than a sword." McIntosh muttered. "Why don't y'all try raisin' the crossbow up?" Derpy was about to speak, when her stomach growled. "H-hungry..." McIntosh looked at the clock. "Well, we all got lunch in five. You and Spitfire go ahead." Spitfire walked up, grinning. "She good?" "She's good." "I suck at this!" Spitfire chuckled. "Come on, let's get you fed." "Will there be-" "...muffins?" Derpy asked weakly, looking at the selection of foods. "Nope, no muffins today." The mare behind the counter said. "Should'a been here yesterday." "Hey, I remember you; you're that tomato salespony from the market!" "No, I'm that cafeteria mare." "But-" "That was then, this is now. No muffins today." "Aww, ok, guess I'll have the carrot salad." "Right." The cafeteria mare said, and quickly enough produced a bowl of salady goodness. "Don't complain or it'll be slop next time." "O-ok." Derpy muttered, balancing the bowl on her wing as she sat down at a bench, Spitfire opposite her. "Well, if I'd known you'd been here, I'd have saved you a muffin." "T-thanks..." Derpy weakly said, resting the bowl on the table. "So…" Spitfire said, munching on a carrot. "You're that mare Thunderlane keeps talking about." "Huh?" "Oh, right. Well, as long as I've known him, he keeps talking about you and how much he missed you when you vanished and stuff." She chuckled. "You must have done something he liked." Derpy blushed, leaning back a little. "N-no! Not like-" Spitfire laughed. "Sorry, but your reaction... anyway... heh heh heh..." she looked up at her. "But seriously, he does talk about you a lot." "Um... I see." She rubbed her foreleg. "What does he usually talk about?" "Not much. Just how cool you were, and how much he missed you." "Oh." There was a light rumbling. "Here comes everypony else." Spitfire muttered. A second later, the doors flung wide open, a large group of ponies walking or flying in. Rainbow Dash was first in, followed by Thunderlane. "Ponies!" Derpy shouted in shock. Spitfire laughed softly. After a few seconds, the resulting bedlam calmed to a minor disordered mess. Dash and Thunderlane flew over to the two other pegasi. "Hey 'Fire, hey Derpy." Dash said, smiling and sitting next to Spitfire. "Hey Dash." Spitfire replied, high-winging Dash. "How goes?" "Good, just got a flying session in with Soarin'." "Awesome. I showed Derpy around a bit." "Cool. Did you see the cloudroom?" Derpy nodded. Thunderlane sat next to her, but shuffled a little away. The grey pegasus gave him a confused look, which Thunderlane seemed to ignore. "What about the tower?" Derpy nodded again. The tower had been ok, but when she had been told what it was for she had opted to leave sooner rather than later. "And the lookout?" Derpy nodded once more. The view had been spectacular. "And the-” a hoof interrupted her. "She saw most of the base." Spitfire smiled. "Ok, ok." Thunderlane coughed. "I don't feel so good..." Spitfire just blinked. "Oh?" "Might be feather flu. Or something. I need to-" "Now wait just a darn minute." Dash retorted. "You had feather flu last week." "Uh... well..." "Look, you're hiding something, and I wanna know why." "It's private, ok?" "Then why didn't you say so in the first place?" Dash exclaimed, waving her hooves. "I thought you might have pressed it." Thuderlane sighed. "Look, whatever the case, I need a lie down." "Have you filled your training quota for the day?" Spitfire asked. "Yes I have." "Then I guess you're allowed to. We'll grab you when you're needed." Thunderlane nodded, got up and trotted woozily off. As soon as he was out of sight, Spitfire sighed. "Wonder what's eating at him?" Dash shrugged. "Who knows, who cares." Derpy blinked. "I do." "Well, ok, I do too, but unless it stops him doing his job, it's not something to worry about." She stated, and began eating her meal. Spitfire shrugged. "I guess." Derpy was about to say something, but for the umpteenth time she was interrupted; this time by a loud klaxon that carried through the base. "Aww, darn it!" Dash growled, as ponies all scrambled to their hooves and started galloping out. "What is it?" "They're attacking early."