//------------------------------// // Chapter 2 // Story: My Little Old Republic: The Ord Mantell Deception // by AidanMaxwell //------------------------------// Chapter 2 Fort Garnik, Avilatin’s Rest Cantina entrance It had been several hours since Dash last saw Pinkie Pie. When asking around had turned up no results, Dash had stalked the listless Fort in search of the smuggler, the Ord Mantell sun bearing down on her the whole time. After checking several shady areas of the fort and both sides of the refugee camp, she decided to try the local cantina. When she arrived, she noticed it was devoid of activity, which was odd, considering how late in the day it was.The bartender looked up at the sergeant quizzically from behind the counter. “Hey, trooper. We're closed right now.” “Sorry,” Dash replied impatiently, shaking her shoulders in an attempt to get comfortable in the incomplete armor set. “I'm looking for somepony.” “Well, their ain't no pony here, so beat it.” “Hey! Watch your tone around me. I'm a Wonderbolt!” The bartender made an unpleasant face at Dash before bending down to grab some plates. When he rose up again, he pointed a hoof toward the stairs. “She's up there.” Dash tilted her head. “Who?” “The smuggler y'er looking for. She said somethin' about a Wonderbolt comin' to meet her.” Rainbow paused for a moment in confusion. Was he talking about Pinkie? How would she have known Dash was coming? She slowly walked over to the stairs and ascended them, where at the top she found a long black table sitting in the center of a dimly lit room. A large holovid screen projected the latest sports match from Coruscant for anypony to watch. Drinks had been placed in front of every chair, and plates of food had been prepared as well. Sitting at the far end of the table was Pinkie Pie. When Dash came up the stairs, she turned her attention from the sports game to the trooper. “Hiya!” she said happily. “What is this?” Dash asked in disbelief. “A meeting room, silly! I had the bartender prepare you some dinner.” “How did you know I was coming?” “I didn't.” Pinkie didn't stop smiling, causing Dash to stir uncomfortably. “But I knew you were going to come find me, so I waited in the place I figured you'd look first.” “I-...but-...you-...” “So, let's talk business.” The smuggler pulled a chair out from under the table and tapped the seat. Dash hesitated at first, but eventually resigned herself to the humiliation and sat down. “Here's the deal, Pinkie, if that's even your real name. I hire you to...travel with me, and when I don't need you anymore, I never want to see you again. Understand?” “That's all I wanted anyway!” Pinkie exclaimed. “Now, I want half of your earnings for the duration of my services-” “HALF? What, seriously?” “Half is reasonable, isn't it?” “No!” “I'll throw in a suit of armor,” Pinkie offered loftily. Dash stopped. “And a new rifle. I'm sure the one you have is getting a little worn out, right?” “Wait,” Rainbow interjected, “I thought you didn't have any money!” Pinkie pointed a hoof to the corner of the room. Hanging on a metal stand was a complete set of armor, fully decorated with the Republic colors and a hulking blaster slung over the shoulder. “My business often leaves me with several...high value payouts,” she said suspiciously. “You didn't steal that, I hope.” “Of course not, silly. That'd be dishonest.” “Coming from a smuggler, that isn't very comforting.” “Are you interested, or not?” Rainbow put a hoof to her chin in thought. She needed that armor, regardless of whether it came attached with a shady smuggler or not, but half of her commission was a lot of money. “And I can break this agreement at any time?” “Of course! I won't force myself on you.” Dash wasn't convinced. She wasn't a charity case, after all, and surely Pinkie could see the same angle she saw. “I don't get paid until the end of the month. You'll have to wait for payment.” “No I won't. You'll pay me up front.” “Oh, so don't trust me, then?” “I like having insurance, in case you decide to ditch me five minutes from now.” “Alright...fine. I probably won't need you after tomorrow, though.” “We'll see,” said Pinkie smugly. “I might just have enough money by then, anyway. Who knows?” Dash silently shook her head and forked over a credit chip, the pride she had held onto so dearly shot to pieces in the face of the cold, hard reality of life. After examining it, Pinkie determined how much it was worth and bit down on it affectionately before stuffing it into her pocket. “Try on your new armor, Sergeant. I'm sure it'll fit you really well.” “Yeah, yeah, whatever.” After a few minutes of fumbling with the armor, and reinstalling Twilight's camera, Dash finally managed to pull it all on. The standard Republic designs weren't as vibrant or fearsome as the Wonderbolt colors, but that didn't matter as much when it served such a useful purpose. “Did you get a helmet with this thing, Pinkie?” asked Rainbow once she had finished. “Nope,” said Pinkie plainly. “They didn't give me one.” “Who's 'they'?” “My previous employers, silly. I mean, duh! The ones who gave me that suit.” “Who gives a smuggler a suit of trooper armor as payment for a job?” “The ponies responsible for the suit's previous owner.” Dash instantly extended her front leg and looked over at the shoulder. Sure enough, to her horror, a Republic trooper's operating number was embedded into the plate. “Pinkie, did this belong to somepony else?!” “Sure! That's why it was free.” “Whose was it?!” “Some poor trooper who defected to the Separatists. I got hired by a Republic spy to track down a turncoat, and as payment, he let me keep the armor. Sadly, I wanted credits, and I was going to sell that back to your good friend Lieutenant Sparkle for a meager profit.” Pinkie put a hoof to her chin and stared thoughtfully at Rainbow. “But you know, that color suits you.” “Not as much as that blue Wonderbolt suit would have,” Dash muttered unhappily. “Ready to go?” Pinkie asked cheerfully. “Go? Go where?” “To Talloran, silly! We have a spy to track down!” “How do you know about my mission?” “I was right outside the door, remember?” “Oh yeah.” Dash took her new rifle in her hoof and loaded it. “I'll lead.” “That's the plan, Sergeant,” said Pinkie merrily. Rainbow shook her head in disbelief as she descended the cantina stairs. She had gone back on her word that she didn't need this smuggler's help. Having to associate herself with somepony as annoying and shifty as Pinkie Pie caused Dash to seethe with frustration. On top of that, she had also just been coerced, basically, into forking over half of her month’s commission. As Rainbow stepped out into the warm sunlight, still fuming over the idea of working with Pinkie, a sudden force from behind her knocked her down to the unforgiving cement. Blaster fire erupted from somewhere nearby. Dash got back to her hooves and looked back to see a few shady figures inside the cantina firing at her. Pinkie Pie was lying next to the outside door, clutching her hat with one hoof and moaning painfully. Unsure of whether the smuggler was wounded or not, and not caring enough to check, Dash merely leveled her gun with the enemies and started firing. They instantly dove for cover inside. Rainbow rushed up to the doorway and was met with returning fire, to which she quickly ducked away to avoid. She opened the grenade launcher attachment under the barrel of her gun and spun into the doorway, firing a round right into a tabletop. It shattered into splinters of wood, sending a gunpony behind it flying into the adjacent wall and leaving the other two confused and temporarily motionless. Dash stepped inside once more and leveled the cantina with blaster fire, putting smoking wounds into the two remaining combatants. Pinkie Pie was still moaning quietly when the fighting ceased. Dash leaned down to check on her, putting a hoof against her jugular instinctively. “I'm okay, Sergeant” the smuggler replied groggily. “...I'm not hit.” “Then why are you on the ground?” Dash replied. “I hit my head against the stone steps when I pushed you out of the way. I'm just...dazed.” “What happened?” “They were waiting downstairs for us, I think.” Rainbow looked through the door and noticed one of the assailants was the bartender. He was holding a simple hold-out blaster in his lifeless hoof. It finally dawned on Rainbow just how widespread the Separatist influence was, where any citizen could be a combat ready rebel. “This wasn't an accident,” she said bitterly. “I think somepony wants you dead, Sergeant,” Pinkie replied drowsily. “The Republic shouldn’t stand for this. Can you stand?” “I'll be okay, don't worry.” The smuggler blinked a couple times and got to her hooves without any trouble. “See?” “Umm...thanks for saving my life again,” Dash conceded. There was no denying this time that she was alive due to the actions of Pinkie Pie, even if she could deny the previous two instances. “I owe you one.” “That's three, actually,” Pinkie pointed out. “Those don't count. I was just being stupid those times.” “What's different this time around?” “Ha ha, funny.” Dash took a few steps forward and reloaded her rifle. “Can you walk?” “I told you already, I'm fine. Let's go to Talloran!” Pinkie bounced past Rainbow while the trooper was busy shoving another grenade into the launcher. Together they walked down the rocky canyon path leading to Talloran Village from Fort Garnik. At the front gate, Dash looked ahead and saw several patrols of ponies, wielding military grade weapons and sporting matching tan uniforms. Parts of the town were burning, with billows of black smoke pouring from some of the smaller houses near the gate, but civilians wandered the town despite the brutal occupation and the fire hazard. “What's going on here?!” exclaimed Dash. “Why are there Seps running around?” “Silly, the Separatists ransacked this village not too long ago! Don't you pay attention to the headlines? I mean, this happened waaaaay back.” Pinkie made an arching motion with her hoof. “I'm new to Ord Mantell, alright?” Rainbow replied acidly. “No need to rub my ignorance in my face.” Pinkie Pie merely blinked in confusion as a rebuttal. She had not meant to be offensive, yet the sergeant had been very clearly showing signs of loathing toward her. In her mind, her actions had not warranted such hostility from Dash. “I’m under the impression you don’t like me very much,” she noted to her companion. “Why would I like you at all? You stalked me for nearly an entire day and forced me into signing you on as my babysitter for half my pay! I think I have a right to be upset with you!” “I didn't make you do anything. You hired me willingly.” “The armor was the only reason I did that. Half my pay for a new set like this a really good deal. You, on the other hand, I plan to ditch as soon as we get back to the fort.” “Whatever you say, Sergeant,” Pinkie replied simply. Dash, livid, walked through the gate of Talloran and lobbed a grenade into the midst of the patrol. The ponies hit by the blast were sent in all directions, dead or otherwise incapacitated. As if by some magical force, additional Separatists were summoned from out of hiding, and within seconds the courtyard was enveloped in blaster fire. Dash was nearly caught in the middle, but was pulled behind a barricade by Pinkie Pie at the last second. She shook her head rapidly in an attempt to clear her thoughts. “What just happened?” she asked. “You rattled the beehive, so to speak,” replied Pinkie, firing off two quick shots from behind cover. She felled a pony in civilian clothes that had been firing on their position. “You almost got shot again.” Dash took her new rifle and hoisted it over the barricade, firing off a spray of shots in a general area. The majority of them missed, but a few met their marks and dropped two Seps. Once they were down, she jumped out from behind cover and dashed over to a nearby house, rolling right through the front door. Two very surprised gunponies turned to face the crouching trooper, who launched another grenade round into one of them, killing them both in the explosion. From the house, Dash had a clear view of the courtyard. Two ponies were moving closer to Pinkie, so she took aim and let loose another volley. One fell over on the other, alerting the smuggler to their presence, and she quickly dispatched the remaining assailant. Four more ponies continued the assault from afar, and Rainbow couldn't see them from behind their cover. She did notice, however, a series of back alleys that ran throughout the entire courtyard. The entrance to one such alleyway began just behind the house she was in. Beating her wings to change directions, Dash whipped through the door and around the corner of the building just as two shots blazed past her and discharged harmlessly into the concrete wall. She ran as fast as her four legs could carry her until she reached another alley leading to an enemy fortification. With one movement, the trooper lifted herself onto her hind legs, pulled her rifle out from behind her back, and fired three quick shots into one of the ponies taking cover there. Three more instantly turned to face her, and Dash rolled back behind the wall of the building. Fire poured down the alley in near continuous bursts for a few seconds, but then suddenly ceased all at once. Dash slowly peered the corner to see Pinkie on the rooftop of the adjacent house. She was smiling pleasantly at the Sergeant, holding two smoking pistols in her hooves. “Good job, Dashie!” she said happily. “We totally took 'em by surprise.” “You mean I took 'em by surprise,” Rainbow said coldly. “I had the situation under control, thank you.” “But I had them distracted over there,” said Pinkie, pointing a hoof to the town gate. “Oh, by the way, that's four you owe me now.” Rainbow was about to fire off a rude remark when she tapped something with her hoof. It was a dead pony, sprawled out unpleasantly on the side of the alleyway. When she inspected the body a little closer, she noticed a patch of cloth was peeling off of his shirt. The trooper removed the patch to reveal a Republic insignia. “Is this...Bellis?” Dash said in disgust. “Must be,” said Pinkie Pie from above. “He's got a Republic badge.” Dash opened her comlink and dialed base. Twilight answered the call. “Yes, that is Bellis.” “How do you know?” said Rainbow, surprised. “I can see him through your armor cam.” “So, what does this mean?” asked Pinkie, who was clearly eavesdropping from on high. “It means Sergeant Dash spent too much time arguing with you and got one of our best spies killed,” came Twilight's reply. “Good work, Sergeant.” “Me? I didn't get this guy killed! He's obviously been dead for at least a day.” Twilight seemed to ignore Dash. “Well, protocol would dictate that you recover his intel. It’s probably back in his house in the village. Go see if he filed his reports like he should have.” Dash shut her comlink and looked up at Pinkie contemptuously. “Sergeant, why are you staring at me like that?” asked the smuggler. “You know it's not polite to stare at other ponies.” “You know where Bellis' house is, don't you?” Dash asked angrily. “Yup! I can see it from here-” “Then why are you just sitting there? Do what I paid you to do and follow me!” Then the trooper marched away, gun across her back, without another word. Rainbow had no real reason to be angry at Pinkie – she was more upset at Twilight for blaming this death on Dash, when it clearly wasn't her fault – but she was an easy target for her anger because the smuggler never retaliated poorly. The one exception from earlier that day had not been scary enough to warrant fearing Pinkie. The courtyard of the town was deathly silent. Bellis' house was the only one with lights on in the top window, not far from where the two ponies were. Dash galloped up to the front door and knocked rapidly, and when no response came, she pushed it open. A flight of stairs led to a lit bedroom just inside the doorway. “Pinkie, you wait here,” Dash said sternly as she entered the house. “I don't need you screwing this up for me.” “Okie dokie lokie!” Pinkie replied, leaning nonchalantly against the outer wall next to the door. Rainbow grumbled all the way up the stairs until she noticed that somepony was home. A mare, young in years but still older than the sergeant, turned and faced her with a stern expression. “Excuse me?!” the mare exclaimed, standing up from behind the desk she had been sitting at. “What are you doing in my house?!” “Ma'am,” Dash began, “I have something to tell you...” “...Is this about Bellis? He isn't here. Come back some other time, after he gets back.” Dash cleared her throat. She knew this wasn't going to be easy, but she had a mission to do. “Ma'am, I need your husband's reports and his field box. It's of...vital importance to the Republic that I get-” “Oh, no. I'm not just handing you his box! He told me no Republic people would come for it unless he was...” Then her eyes widened in shock. “No...” “Ma'am, I really need that box-” “Is he...dead? What have you done to him? My husband is dead, isn’t he?!” Dash cringed. This woman was upset, and rightfully so, but she was lashing out at the sergeant when it wasn't her fault. “There wasn't anything I could do, ma'am! I only just arrived on Ord Mantell today, and...I'm very sorry...” “You should be more than sorry! Bellis was a wonderful stallion, so kind and caring...and now you and your stupid Republic have gone and killed him! What am I supposed to do now?!” Then she began wailing like a banshee, her head buried in her foreleg. “...Please, ma'am, the longer we wait, the more innocent people suffer. We need that box.” “Why should I give it to you?” the mare screamed through tears. “You and your Republic got my husband killed! You killed him!” “He died a hero!” Dash argued. She hated being talked over. “You should be proud that he gave his life serving the Republic!” “You’re wrong! He was no hero, he was just another pony trying to make a meager living for his family on some backwater planet! He didn’t care about your cause at all!” “His information could save lives! Good, innocent ponies!” “Oh, don't feed me that garbage...” The mare walked across the room, her head held low, crying tears through her spasms of uncontrolled, irregular sobbing. Dash started to realize exactly what had happened. She'd lost her husband; the stallion she'd pledged to love and cherish until they died. The Republic had not wanted Bellis to die, but the sergeant knew the mare was not going to be compensated by anypony else about this. The worst part was, this mare was not the only one who'd lost a loved one in this conflict, nor would she be the last, and Sergeant Rainbow Dash of the Wonderbolts was powerless to stop it. Dash's thoughts were rudely interrupted when a large red box slammed into her unhelmeted head. She turned to glare at the assailant, but softened her gaze when it was only the newly widowed mare. “You want his field box?” she screamed at the trooper. “Fine. Take it! Take it and get out!” As the mare started to move away, Dash lightly gripped her shoulder. She turned to see the trooper shedding a tear. “Ma'am, there is no greater a death than the one he had. If I could have, I would've gladly died in his place.” “Just go,” said the mare bitterly. She shook free of Rainbow's grip and moved back to her desk, where she dropped her face into her hooves and wept. “Oh, Bellis...” Dash picked up the field box with all the care in the world and slowly walked out of the house, listening to the mare upstairs crying for no other reason than that she felt indirectly responsible for this. Pinkie Pie was waiting right where she'd been before, only grimacing rather than smiling as usual. “Nasty bit of work up there,” said the smuggler evenly. “You did the right thing, and you did try to reason with her.” “I'm not in the mood, Pinkie Pie,” Dash retorted, unable to retain any anger. “I hate doing Casualty Notification. I'm not a very supportive pony, if you haven't noticed.” “It's not that you aren't supportive, Dashie, it's just that you don't have any past experience with death. If you understood what she was going through, you probably could've been a bigger help.” Dash looked back at Pinkie with a confused frown. “And you? You have past experience with death?” “Of course, silly!” Pinkie giggled. “When you're in my line of work, you get used to ponies dying for no good reason. It's only sad when they die for a noble cause, like your friend Bellis.” “I didn't know Bellis. I've been on Ord Mantell less than a day, and I've already seen enough to make me sick of it. First chance I get, I'm going back to Coruscant.” “Let's find a place to bunk for the night,” Pinkie suggested. “You look kinda sleepy weepy.” Dash merely nodded lazily as a response. As Pinkie bounced past her toward Fort Garnik, the bedraggled and disheartened trooper followed in silence up the hill. The death of a loved one was something she'd never experience firsthand, and the Sergeant simply thought that, if she had that experience, she could've comforted the mare in Talloran better. Dash walked the distance between the town and the fort with nothing but her heavy heart and a bouncing smuggler to keep her company. When they arrived in Fort Garnik, Dash shuffled into the command center while Pinkie deviated to the cantina to arrange for sleeping quarters. Twilight and Fuse were waiting for her next to the communications console against the back wall. “Oh, Sergeant, hey!” said Fuse in a friendly manner. “For the record, we’re really sorry about what happened in Talloran. We know it wasn’t your fault-” “I don't wanna talk about,” Dash interrupted coldly. “I know that wasn't easy, Rainbow,” said Twilight, her face betraying a hint of concern, “but we really needed that fieldbox. You have it with you, don't you?” “Yeah.” The sergeant pulled the fieldbox out of her saddlepack and frowned. “I can't get over the widow. She was so...sad.” “If it makes you feel any better, Sergeant,” Twilight said remorsefully, “we've arranged for Bellis' wife to be compensated. His information will save countless innocent ponies, and he died to help us get it. They deserve better, but it's all we can do.” “It's more than she will expect,” Dash whispered. “...Are you alright, sergeant?” “I will be, after I get some sleep.” “There's no time for that. Every second we waste is another second longer the Separatists have to arm that bomb. Lieutenant Fuse has a critical mission for you, and I have to decode Bellis' data, so we can't go to sleep yet.” “Oh, uh, right, yes,” stuttered Fuse as Twilight started to walk away. Dash put a hoof out to stop her, but was too late to catch her attention. “Dash, if you could, we need you to go hit on a new lead tonight. We’ve got one that might lead us closer to the answer to our little...well, big, problem.” “I'm not in the mood to go chasing after more spies today, Fuse,” said Dash unhappily. She stretched her hooves in the air and yawned. “Besides, it's late. Can't I go to sleep yet?” “Uh, well, this isn't so much a lead as it is...a bomb threat.” Suddenly Rainbow was very awake. “The ZR-57?” Fuse shrugged as best a pony could. “Well, see, this refugee came in and said something about bombs being placed by Seps. We didn’t have time to ask for details 'cause he was thrown out of the fort before we could get him. All we know is that the pony’s name was Mirru.” “The grunts out front typically throw the refugees out,” explained Twilight from the other side of the room before Rainbow could respond. “They come in and try to trade us typically falsified information for a sum of credits.” “Anyway,” Fuse interjected, “we looked into it, and Mirru is staying over in the refugee camp. See if you can find him there.” “...Like, right now?” Dash responded slowly, eyes still slightly red and baggy. “It's long after dinner time, and I'm hungry. And sleepy.” “Do this for us, and you can go to bed,” Twilight called. “I'll go with you, if it makes you feel better.” “Naw, it's cool. Pinkie Pie can come with me; she probably already booked a room, anyway.” “You sure you don't want the help?” “No offense, Twilight,” Dash started as she walked out of the command center, “but you don't seem to be much of a ' field work’' type. You stay here and...feed me intel, or something.” Then the Pegasus galloped out, leaving a very irritated Twilight with a slightly worried Fuse.