//------------------------------// // Chapter 13: Bogged // Story: Victor Squad: New Frontier // by Legofan //------------------------------// ~~~Canterlot Castle, Canterlot, 4 days, 9 hours and 30 minutes after the Ambush at Equus~~~ Magical basket in hand, munching happily on his eleventh delicious apple, Spy followed a small contingent of guards as they escorted him back to the castle’s throne room. Celestia, Rainbow Dash, and Grievous had apparently finished whatever discussion they had begun when he was taken out of the room, and now it was time to receive his final verdict. It didn’t take long to reach the throne room from the room he had previously been in, only taking a few minutes before the massive doorway and its two ever-stoic guardsponies came into view. Upon seeing them come near the doorway, one of the guards shoved open one of the doors and peeked inside the room, presumably informing the throne room’s occupants of their arrival, before returning to his original position. At the same time that Spy and his escort reached the throne room’s entrance, Celestia and Rainbow Dash exited the room, Dash carrying Spy’s helmet. They eyed the basket he was carrying suspiciously, but Celestia decided to begin with a more important line of conversation. “Spy, we have reached a decision on what to do with you. Please, walk with me, and we’ll discuss this matter. Guards, you may leave him.” The several guards that had escorted Spy saluted and turned away, leaving Spy in the company of just Celestia, Dash, and the two throne room guards. “Hey, uh, Celestia?” Spy asked, double checking to make sure his head-count was accurate. “Where’s Grievous?” “Grievous didn’t take well to my decision,” she said with a sigh, turning away and making her way down the hall, Rainbow Dash and Spy following. “He stormed out of the throne room during our talk. My guess is that he’s retreated to his room.” She turned her head to look to Dash and Spy behind her and gave them a signal to hurry up. “But I don’t think talk of Grievous would interest you at this point, Spy,” she continued. “Come to my side; it’s easier to talk that way.” Taking up her invitation, Spy moved up to be by her side and matched her pace, though Dash trailed behind by a couple of paces. “Grievous was upset that I am granting you mercy; he so desperately wants me to execute you, but I find no just reason in doing so. I also don’t find a reason to lock you up, firstly because you’re too tall to fit in any of our cells, and secondly because you seem to have had many freedoms taken from you already, and I’m unwilling to continue that trend.” They turned a corner, going deeper into the castle. “That’s very thoughtful of you, Princess, and I greatly appreciate it. So will I be staying here, then?” Spy queried. “Normally, I would say yes. However, I fear that having you in such close proximity to Grievous would put your life in great risk,” Celestia confessed. “He’s scuffled with my Captain already, and they're not even enemies; I can only imagine what he'd do to somepony that was.” They turned another corner. “That being the case, you are to be relocated to Ponyville and under the watch of the Element bearers. The droids have been instructed to listen to the bearers, so they should be able to keep you from being harmed by droids.” “Alright,” Spy agreed. “What else?” "Dash has agreed to be your primary watcher. She’ll be your caretaker as you adjust to the new setting, but in exchange, I expect you to obey her and her friends, so long as their requests are reasonable.” “Fair enough,” Spy said to Celestia before turning to Dash with a smirk. “And here I thought you didn’t like me.” Rainbow growled and crossed her forelegs over her chest. “Shut up. I’m only doing it because the Princess asked me to; I couldn’t care less about you.” “Eh; you’ll come around,” Spy said, reverting his attention to the annoyed-looking Princess. “What about my equipment?” Celestia looked to the helmet that Rainbow Dash was carrying. “Grievous tells me that the armor you’re wearing has some features in addition to protection, telecommunication being one of the examples Grievous provided.” Returning her gaze to look at where she was going, she continued. “I won’t deny that the need for your armor might occur while you’re in Ponyville, and I don’t want to take away your protection, but the fact remains that if you keep your armor, the capacity for you to conspire with any other clones in the area is present.” “That’s partly true, Princess, but aside from the gauntlet comm, all other extraneous functions are controlled with the helmet. If I don’t have my helmet, I can’t access those functions,” Spy suggested. Smiling, Celestia replied, saying, “Grievous said something similar, but it’s nice to hear you confirm it. You may keep your armor on you, though I would recommend not wearing it all so that the droids in Ponyville can easily identify you and not mistake you for a different clone. Rainbow Dash, however, will be keeping your helmet, returning it to you at her discretion. Your weapons, though, will remain here.” Concluding her offer, Celestia looked to the clone, awaiting his response, though the basket swaying at his side caught her eye. “And that basket...” she started. “You didn’t have that on you when you came here, and it just radiates magical aura. Where did you get it?” Spy took the final bite of the apple he had been eating. He opened up the basket and set the core inside, the weird void causing it to disappear while another fresh apple materialized in his hand. “I don’t know who it was that gave me this, but it was a weird looking fellow: tall; thin, brown body; yellow-” “Discord,” Celestia muttered. “I’m sorry, Spy, but I can’t let you keep that basket. I can’t trust any apparition of Discord’s magic.” “No!” Spy objected, clutching the basket to his chest, causing Celestia and Rainbow Dash to eye him warily. “All it does is make food for me,” he explained, pulling yet another apple out of the basket. “I don’t know if you’ve considered my dietary needs into your decision, but my guess is that you have no idea what those needs are. As such, this basket provides the means for me to satiate whatever I may be needing without putting any hassle on anyone.” “I wouldn’t mind him keeping it if it saves me the bits for feeding him,” Rainbow Dash agreed. Celestia considered it for a moment, then relented. “Seeing as Discord’s involved here, if things were any more abnormal, I’d be more adamant about not keeping the basket. However, I’ll trust that Discord’s not up to something just this once.” Looking to Rainbow Dash, she said, “But if anything suspicious happens with that basket, I want you to take it to Twilight immediately and inform me via letter. Understood?” “Yes, Princess!” Rainbow answered with an enthusiastic salute. “You communicate through letters?” Spy snickered, to which both ponies gave him a deadpan look before ignoring the comment completely. “So that’s shelter, dietary, and equipment accommodations accounted for,” Celestia resumed. “I believe that covers everything you need to know, Spy.” Nodding affirmatively, the three of them continued to traverse the castle’s halls in silence. After a couple of minutes of walking, Celestia began looking towards each door they passed, indicating that they were close to their destination. Rainbow picked up on this, and asked curiously, “Princess, where are we going?” Finally, she stopped in front of a door, a very unassuming one that gave no clear indication of having anything of importance behind it. Though, this place being as weird as it was, Spy was prepared for anything. “Like I said, Grievous and Captain Armor have a bit of a feud between them,” Celestia answered, seemingly speaking to the door. “Unfortunately, Armor’s feelings bested him, and he lashed out against our guest. As a consequence of this, he is being temporarily relieved of duty.” The sound of something unlatching came from behind the door, and it was slowly pulled inward, revealing the room’s interior and its occupant. The occupant was a unicorn standing about between Celestia and Rainbow Dash in height. His build was similar to that of the guards Spy had seen, indicating him to be male, and he had a two-toned blue mane and a coat that was almost as pure a white as Celestia’s. “On the bright side, though, Shining Armor has the perfect opportunity to go to Ponyville and visit his sister,” Celestia said, smiling to him. “Um, yes, Princess, that was the plan,” Shining Armor said with a salute, having shaken off the fact that the Princess had come to his room completely unannounced. Then the Captain’s eyes fell on Spy. He eyed the clone with a wary expression, brow furrowing, but expression showing no fear. After all, if he was willing to be around and even attack Grievous, a clone was nothing in comparison. “So is this the clone you told me had been captured?” Shining asked Celestia, letting his salute drop. “He is,” she answered. “I asked that you wait to leave for Ponyville just long enough for us to conclude business with him, just in case he decided to try something. Are you ready to leave for Ponyville?” “I am; been ready since yesterday evening,” he remarked, pulling a rather compact suitcase out of his room using his magic. Despite the jab at her, she maintained her warm smile. “Please, come with us,” she said, turning back in the direction she had originally come from. “The clone is to be housed in Ponyville for the time being, and I would like you to accompany him and Rainbow Dash on the train there, and for you to keep an eye on him along with the Elements.” “And why is that?” Shining asked, following Celestia as she backtracked. “Quite simply, I don’t completely trust the droids to leave him unharmed,” she sighed. “You, on the other hoof, I can trust to ensure that he is unharmed and that, in turn, he doesn't harm anypony.” “My word’s not enough for ya?” Spy asked innocently. “No.” Spy ‘awwed’ in mock disappointment. “But Grievous’ word was enough for you to trust him?” Shining questioned critically. “Grievous has protected us from a changeling invasion that would have otherwise overtaken us; that is more than enough reason for me to trust him, and it should be enough for you, too.” With that sour note, the conversation ended. The four of them walked in silence, eventually passing the throne room and returning to the castle’s main entrance. “Captain Armor, I trust you can reach the train station from here without incident,” she said as they neared the massive wooden doors. He wordlessly nodded. “There should be a train prepared to bring the three of you to Ponyville. I have things here that need to be tended to, so it is here that we part.” Shining Armor and Rainbow Dash, who had begun walking some time ago, both dropped to a bow, which Spy would have reciprocated if he had been expecting the need to. Celestia didn’t look at all offended, though. “I wish you all the best of luck and health. Goodbye, my little ponies.” With that, she departed. “C’mon, let’s go,” Shining said a few seconds later, immediately taking charge of the small party, leading them out of the castle and to the station. Continuing their trend, they traversed the distance in silence. ~~~Froggy Bottom Bog, Equestria, 4 days and 5 hours after the Ambush at Equus~~~ For Viktor and his three remaining comrades, the morning had been a slow trek through the woods bordering Ghastly Gorge. Having prepared no shelter, fire pit, or other comforts of any kind, the three clones and one droid were able to get an early start to the day’s travels. There was time to make up for, due in part to their lack of vehicular transport, and also in part to Shy’s broken limb, which Viktor hoped to make up for that day. The dense foliage was a bit of an issue for their speed, being a bit of a hindrance to R8 and more so for Shy. Unfortunately, what was before them on their path, the bog and the Everfree Forest, were bound to be worse. Viktor had taken point, with R8 following closely behind him. Shy followed a bit more distantly behind R8 than R8 did Viktor, and Gore made up the rear, his chaingun being able to provide ample amounts of cover fire in the case that it was necessary. Thanks to R8’s scanning instruments coming up negative in detecting any large extraneous electromagnetic signatures, though, Viktor had gradually relaxed, eventually opting to simply keep his weapon attached to his thigh plate as opposed to in hand, and Gore followed suit. And as the sun began to reach its midday peak, a break in the treeline became more and more apparent, eventually becoming a wide path that split the forest in two, a line of railroad tracks running through the center of the path. Coming into a couple of hundred feet of the tracks, Viktor halted their advance. They gathered in a small circle, Viktor speaking first. “There’s a railroad up ahead. Shy, can you confirm our position?” he said over a secure comm channel. Shy brought an image of the map he had scanned before onto his visor and formulated his estimate. “I can’t confirm anything,” he said quietly, “but across the tracks should be the bog.” Glancing back in the direction of the tracks provided evidence enough that that was the case. Some of the treeline was visible from their position, and it was apparent that conditions were dramatically different on the other side. The leaves of the trees, instead of being a lush green like the ones they were surrounded by, were a sickly brownish green. Vines hung from many of the trees’ limbs. In essence, it simply looked dead. “Are we sure we want to go through there, sir?” Gore questioned. “I’m sure your equipment can handle the conditions, but Shy and I only have standard gear; I know that swamp water isn’t gonna do our stuff any good,” he stated, earning a subtle but visible nod from Shy. “We don’t have much choice,” Viktor said. “It’s the quickest and safest way to reach the Ponyville and Canterlot area. If we need to, we’ll take some time to clean off our gear, but we just can’t risk taking a more open route.” “I don’t like it, but I don’t like any of the alternatives either,” Gore relented, letting it drop. “We don’t know how bad it’ll be,” reasoned Viktor. “Once we get across, we’ll determine how to best proceed. For now, I’m going to move ahead and see if we’re good to cross the tracks; stay here and wait for a signal.” With an affirmative whistle from R8, Viktor readied his rifle and cautiously moved out. He reached the edge of the brush and looked in both directions down the tracks. There was nothing he could see approaching them, and a lack of rumbling helped confirm that there were indeed no vehicles coming down the tracks. It wasn’t trains he was worried about through. Slowly, he stepped out from behind cover and into the open, raising his weapon into the air and checking the sky for any form of aerial surveillance. The way clear, he waved towards his squad, who were just visible through the foliage if he actively tried to spot them. Gore helped Shy to his feet, as he had begun to sit and let his injured leg rest some, and escorted him and R8 towards the open area. Shy had little problem making it across the small obstacles, but R8 had to be carried by Viktor, who set the heavy astromech down with loud grunt at the edge of their objective area. Without the forest immediately around them to obstruct their view, Viktor could see that the boggy area was significantly more dense than the forest they had just left. In fact, there really wasn’t any good place to enter that he could see from their position. “Gore, check left; I’ll go right. Find a point of entry.” After a few minutes of scouting, Gore finally located one. It was a tight squeeze, but nothing that none of the squad couldn’t handle. Viktor helped Shy through the treeline first, letting R8 go through next, followed by Gore, and finally himself. There was a small clear patch of ground large enough for them to huddle and deliberate, which Viktor instructed them to do. Only a few feet behind the cover of the leaves, Viktor could already feel a significant difference in the soil and atmosphere. The soil was moist; not quite mud yet, but there was definitely give as well as a slight squishing sound at every step, and he could hear his armor’s air filtration systems kick in slightly more as it filtered out just a tad more excess gas. It was evident that the others noticed at least some of these changes, too. Shy poked around with his makeshift crutch for the driest patches of land with every limp step so as to not get it stuck, and Gore’s steps became slightly more exaggerated as he no doubt tried to avoid any slick ground. Like Shy, R8 tested the ground before him before advancing any significant amount. Getting through here was going to be a pain. In due time, the squad had reached the empty ground, and procedural deliberations began. “Well, sir,” Gore began first, “this is a nice place you’ve found us in.” Brushing aside Gore’s uncharacteristic bout of sarcasm, Viktor said his piece. “Well, I doubt any seps’ll try to follow us in here. Place seems like it’d be a death trap for droids.” Looking to R8, he said, “If we reach anywhere really bad, I’ll carry you.” He addressed all of them again. “Things look pretty tight here, so stick close and speak up if you get stuck.” “Sir,” Shy whispered loud enough to get Viktor’s attention. “Sir, if I may, I’ll take point.” “You’re wounded. No.” “Sir, we can only ever travel as fast as I can,” he justified. “You might as well let me take point and take us through the driest path; it’s best for all of us.” Reaching to his back, he wielded the vibrosword he had taken from their previous skirmish. “Plus, I can cut us a path through thick vegetation.” That was justification enough to convince Viktor to agree. “Very well. As I doubt we’ll need to worry too much about being on the lookout for now, Gore, you’re helping me carry R8 when the need arises. Feel free to keep your chaingun stowed away, too; it’ll only slow and unbalance you.” “Will do, sir,” Gore happily agreed, magnetizing the rather weighty weapon onto his back and pulling out his pistol. Viktor acted similarly, placing his rifle back onto his thigh and instead wielding his modified bowcaster, which had been unused and simply slung around him on a strap during their entire deployment. It was a better weapon to use in this scenario anyway, having originally been made by a forestbound population and being more resistant to environmental conditions than even a DC-17m. Shy took the lead, as had been agreed, slowly poking his way through the easiest locatable path. For a few hundred feet into the wood’s depths, the conditions weren’t too terrible; the moisture in the soil seemed consistent enough, and maneuvering through the claustrophobic area was still manageable, even for Shy, despite being crippled. Not much farther beyond that, though, things became completely different. The group began coming upon small pockets of swamp water, the soil gradually became mud, and clearance between spaces became such that Shy had to begin hacking a path with his sword. Several times, Shy’s crutch found patches of rather clingy mud that simply refused to let go of the end of it, slowing them down some. Missteps happened every once in a while, leaving one of the clones knee-deep in mud and needing help extracting themselves. After their first hour, they were all quite worn and looked the part, panting from the effort of trudging through the swampy environment that left everything from their knees down completely brown. R8 fared no better, being caked in mud and dirt as well. Despite having been carried over the worst of things, he had still been occasionally set down by Gore and Viktor in puddles that they couldn’t tell were there, splashing mud on the droid’s chassis as well as all about their armor. They were filthy, tired, and hungry, yet there was no end in sight. Reaching the second hour of their muddy trip, conditions only worsened. Gore’s already short temper had been tried to its fullest extent, and he cursed loudly and profusely at every misfortunate step. Mud was splattered all over the four of them, and the increasingly swampy nature of their surroundings helped things none. To the annoyance of both Gore and Viktor, R8 had become so muddied that his wheels were beginning to jam, and not wanting to have more of the droid disabled, they hauled him through the swamp themselves. This, unfortunately, made recovering quickly after stumbling on the slick terrain or getting a leg stuck in a deep pit of mud, something that happened more and more frequently as they grew more and more tired, difficult. None of them were any bit happy, but they trudged on. Come the third hour, some sort of relief presented itself to them. Cutting away a final thick tree limb, Shy revealed to the squad a large open area filled with brown bogwater and decaying trees. Numerous gas bubbles popped and formed on the surface of the water, and the area reeked of decay. The treeline that they had broken through surrounded most of the water, though there were two large gaps where water slowly flowed into and out of the basin before them, indicating that they had come across a part of a river. Shy took a few steps forward, finding the ground surprisingly drier than what they had just been travelling through, a welcome comfort shared by the others as they moved into the open. Viktor and Gore set R8 down on a rather dry patch of soil. “We’ll rest here for a while,” Viktor declared, plopping to the ground beside his droid and giving his legs a much needed rest, not caring about the damp ground at all. Gore did the same, sighing contentedly as the weight was lifted from his weary legs. Unlike them, Shy continued forward, coming to the tip of a peninsular formation that jutted into the body of water. Reaching his destination, he brought up his map and attempted to confirm their position. “How much farther do we intend to go, sir?” Gore asked Viktor as they waited for Shy. “I’d like to at least get out of this bog,” he answered. “I can’t imagine any of us wanting to go farther than that without getting proper rest.” “Shy best have good news for us, then; I’d fancy some sleep and a less filthy place to eat my meager meal as soon as possible.” Viktor agreed with a nod, falling into silence as he waited for Shy to finish what he was doing. It was only a few minutes longer until that had happened, and he slowly limped back to his companions. “So?” inquired Gore as Shy settled himself down, adjusting to accommodate his broken leg. Shy removed his helmet and set it on the ground, using his science module to project an image of the map onto the ground, then grabbed some nearby twigs. He stuck an end of one of the twigs into the ground, marking their location on the projected map. Their location, as it was, was along the bank or a river that cut the Everfree Forest and Froggy Bottom Bog area in two. The map showed that there was another river, this one to the north of the Everfree that cut it and the bog off from Ponyville. Along that river, Shy marked two more spots with twigs, these two being adjacent to the section of the Everfree Forest opposite that of the twig marking their position. “This twig marks our approximate position,” Shy said, pointing to the first twig he placed, voice dry from a lack of use. “These other two twigs mark bridges that lead from the Everfree side of the river to the Ponyville side of the river.” Pointing then to the water around them, he continued, saying, “This river here splits this forest-bog area in two. We’re on the side that has no constructed connections to Ponyville. “There are two courses of action we could take: out first option is to cross this river that we’re at and travel through Everfree while ignoring the bridges. We would still be able to reach Canterlot mountain that way, and we’d likely bypass CIS surveillance, though at the cost of checking out Ponyville and seeing what the CIS is up to.” “And the other option?” asked Viktor. “Alternatively, we can cross this river, then make our way into Ponyville and try to observe CIS proceedings, and determine an objective based on that,” Shy explained. “We’re at greater risk of being caught, but we’ll at least have an idea of what we’re getting involved with, and maybe get some of the locals on our side.” Gore leaned in to get a better view of the map. He pointed to the river north of them on the map and asked, “Why go through the woods and cross the bridges, which are much too obvious, as opposed to just crossing this river and following the bank to the Ponyville area? They’d least expect us to come from that direction.” “There’s no forest cover,” Viktor explained, seeing that there was, indeed, no forest cover on the Ponyville side of the northern river. “No matter what, we’ve got to cross this murky water here, then we can decide what to do next. Like you pointed out, Shy, we don’t really have a definite objective anymore, so we need to figure that out. Not now, though; right now, we need to recuperate.” Satisfied with the answers he’d gotten, Gore leaned back against a rotting log and began to doze off slightly, his chaingun forcing him to tilt at an odd and undoubtedly uncomfortable angle. But neither Viktor or Shy were going to disturb him as he was; Shy needed to check up on his leg and Viktor had some cleaning to do to R8. And that’s what they did: Shy replaced his helmet and began checking up on his leg, taking a few x-rays to see the extent of his recovery while Viktor used his wrist mounted vibroblade to scrape chunks of dried mud off of the astromech. It would leave some scratches for sure, but it was certainly better than just leaving it there in the long run. Not long after, Shy had finished assessing himself and had begun scraping mud off of the end of his electrostaff crutch with the vibrosword while Viktor continued to toil with R8, managing to dislodge the gunk that had immobilized the droid’s wheels. “How’s the leg doing?” Viktor asked as he worked. “Fine,” Shy answered simply. Viktor waited a few seconds for Shy to elaborate, but it never came. “Care to say more?” He knew Shy would prefer not to, but would do it anyways, just for him. “I gave myself a small bacta injection last night during my watch to help accelerate healing.” “How small?” “An eighth of a full standard injection,” Shy said. “All I wanted was enough to prompt the two segments to begin reattaching to reduce pain from them jostling about and to keep them set well. Thanks to being encased in armor, the segments stayed set, and they have rejoined to a small degree.” He attempted to bend his leg at the knee, wincing in slight pain as the broken parts shifted slightly, but it was manageable. “To save bacta, that was only a one-time injection; recovery will continue at about the normal rate once the entire sample’s been expended in about a day.” Viktor removed another large piece of refuse from R8. “Good to hear, good to hear. I won’t blame you for being injured, but I can’t deny that it’s been nothing but a problem. If you’d like, I can spare some of my bacta. I still have a full field injection at my disposal, and the faster you get better, the less likely we are to need the injection anyway.” Shy nodded, but gave no verbal sign of acceptance, and Viktor missed the gesture. “Sound good?” he asked, annoyance at being ignored seeping into his tone. “Yes,” Shy answered, weakly but audibly. Viktor sighed. One of these days, he’d get an explanation for Shy’s behavior. But the priority now was to rest. As such, Viktor left things at that and resumed his brief cleaning of R8. After a few minutes, the worst had been removed from R8, good enough for the time being, and Viktor followed the example of both Shy and Gore, finding a log to lean against and let his weariness dissipate. They stayed like that for a half hour, having said nothing and having been virtually unmoved, before it was decided to keep moving. Standing was so much more tolerable for the three clones now that their legs were somewhat reinvigorated, and they made to depart. The murky river before them had to be crossed in order for them to keep to the cover of the trees, and they hesitantly moved towards the bank. Once there, Spy tested the depth with his crutch, finding it to be around thigh deep. At its narrowest point in the vicinity, the river was about 30 feet across; it was the best they’d get, and they made sure everything was ready to get wet. Shy stepped in first, continuing to take point. He used his crutch and the vibrosword to test the ground beneath the water for roots and other hazards, slowly making his way across. Fortunately, there was virtually no current to sweep him off his one good leg, which he was thankful for. Following in his steps, Gore and Viktor trailed, holding R8 above their heads as they crossed. Near the center of the river, the water’s depth had risen to waist level, but there hadn’t been any mishaps impeding their progress, and in no time they had passed through the river. Reaching the opposite bank, they stopped. R8 was set down, and the clones began unholstering their weapons and shaking what water they could get out of them out. Their pistols and Viktor’s rifle had all been completely submerged, so firing those anytime soon would be a bad idea. However, Shy’s rifle, Viktor’s bowcaster, and Gore’s chaingun were all relatively dry, leaving them with some means of defense should the need arise. Weapon shaking complete, they resumed their slow march, quickly finding themselves back into the muddy woodlands that had previously consumed several hours of their precious time and most of their energy. But it was the final stretch, and with the promise that it would be over soon, they kept on and persevered through the trees and mud. ~~~Canterlot Castle, Canterlot, 4 days and 14 hours after the Ambush at Equus~~~ “Luna?” Celestia gently asked, tapping lightly on the lunar princess’ bedroom door. There was no response. “Luna, are you in there?” Her second round of knocking was a bit more forceful. A weak response sounded from within the room. “It is unlocked, sister.” Turning the knob, Celestia slowly pushed the door open and crept into Luna’s room. Luna herself was sitting on her balcony, gazing out over the city of Canterlot under the moonless night sky. She didn’t bother to spare a glance towards Celestia as she entered as closed the door behind her. “I haven’t seen you all day, Luna,” Celestia stated as she began to slowly walk towards her sister. “Is this where you’ve been hiding?” After some delay, Luna answered. “Neither are true, sister. You saw me before you interrupted my Court proceedings, and I have not been hiding. Rather, I have been thinking.” “I’m sorry that Grievous and I had to interrupt you like we did,” Celestia apologized, coming to Luna’s side and turning to face her. “It was necessary, though, so that we could consult with the Republic soldier.” Luna did not return Celestia’s gaze. “And what came of the consultation?” “According to the clone and confirmed by Grievous, the Republic’s army consists entirely of, effectively, slaves. The clones that make up that army have no free will, no civilian rights, no family, and are considered disposable.” “That is terrible!” Luna said in surprise. “I believe so too,” agreed Celestia. “Grievous considers all clones a threat, but this specific one claimed no further loyalty to the Republic. I determined that he was truthful with his words, and so, despite Grievous’ protests and pleas to execute the clone, I have granted him mercy and promised him that any other clones who would surrender peacefully would receive the same.” “I imagine that the General did not take to your decision well?” Celestia chuckled. “No, he didn’t. The clone wasn’t present when I finalized my decision, which probably was best for his well being, as Grievous threw quite the tantrum. He stormed out of the throne room and has been hiding away like you since.” A quizzical expression crossed her face and she put a hoof to her chin in thought. “Though I did see him drag a couple of broken droids through the halls; I didn’t ask him what for, but it was certainly curious.” Finally, Luna looked to Celestia and graced her with a smile. “I am glad you made that decision, dear sister; it is what I would have done had I been there.” Casting her gaze back to the grand city before them, she continued, softly adding, “I’m glad that Grievous’ corruption hasn’t spread to you yet.” “What do you mean by that?” Celestia asked, brow cocked and tone stern, almost defensive. “Can you not see?” Luna asked. “Merely his presence affects things.” “You have something you wish to tell me, Luna,” Celestia observed. “Now is not the time to be cryptic.” Taking a minute to word her response, Luna finally said, “Things have changed ever since Grievous arrived, and for the worst, I am afraid. He is a corruption of our morality. Did you not see what he and his droids did to the changelings? Slaughtered. Mercilessly, and with no room given for diplomacy.” “Queen Chrysalis seemed beyond reason when she spoke to me that day,” Celestia defended. “That may be, but no chance for reconsideration was provided to the changelings.” Luna was now standing above her sister and looking to her as if she were staring her down. “However justified it may have been, the fact remains that we cannot allow Grievous to continue to inspire us to commit such evils. “Then there’s Captain Armor, whom Grievous managed to break. So much patience; so much self-control; so much will...all of it shattered by that alien nightmare.” Luna backed away a couple of paces from Celestia and sat herself back down. “Grievous has broken our best; how long until you or I follow?” “Luna,” Celestia comforted, approaching her and opening up for a hug, which Luna accepted. Luna sighed into Celestia’s shoulder. “I don’t know what to think,” she said. “I am conflicted. My intuition tells me to hate Grievous, but my emotions do not want another barrier put up between us.” The elder sister squeezed more tightly. “Regardless of what you think of Grievous, Luna, I will love you just the same. You’re my only sister, after all. But still, it is for the best, I think, for Grievous to be here.” “Why?” “Because he is hurt,” she explained. “And he is hurting emotionally. Those are the wounds that only time and good company can mend. Considering that he is at war with droids as his companions, I would assume that at least the company is hard for him to come by. Everyone needs a place of sanctuary, even those who don’t seem to deserve it.” “And you want Equestria to be Grievous’s.” “Precisely,” Celestia said with a smile. “In time, he’ll be better company himself, and who knows? Perhaps the two of you could be the best of friends,” she joked. The humor was lost, though, and Luna disentangled herself from the hug. Keeping her head directed to the floor of the balcony, she said, “It doesn’t sit well with me, sister,” Luna whispered, “but if it is what you want, I will not oppose.” A look of consideration flashed across Celestia’s face, but it was only there for a second before it was replaced with a serene smile. “Thank you, sister; that’s all I would ask of you.” Celestia’s attention went to the night sky. “It’s beautiful,” she said, leaning in to give Luna a loving kiss on the forehead. “Good night.” With that, Celestia rose to her hooves and left. ~~~Canterlot Train Station, Canterlot, 4 days, 9 hours and 45 minutes after the Ambush at Equus~~ Finally, after a short and silent walk through some of the city’s empty streets, the train station came into view. It was already late into the afternoon, nearly evening, and the sun was beginning to sink. It was the time of day that most ponies were getting out of work and were headed home, some of which required train service to do so. Unfortunately for those ponies, much like was the case in Ponyville, the platform was blocked off, this time by a mix of both droids and guards. “Great; more cramped seats,” Spy muttered aloud as he recalled the tight fit from the previous train ride only a few hours ago. At least my hands aren’t cuffed behind my back this time. “At least your hands are free this time,” Rainbow said, mirroring his thought. At least she was thinking optimistically, despite now having to take care of an alien! When the group finally got onto the platform, they saw that far fewer ponies were inconvenienced than had been in Ponyville, and as opposed to anger for said inconvenience, most of the small crowd stared at Spy in awe or fear or both once he was within view. It was something Spy would have to get used to, he supposed, so he did his best to ignore the glares. As they neared the awaiting transport, one of the ponies blocking off the platform broke file and approached them. This pegasus was orange as opposed to what seemed to be the standard white, and nearly matched Shining Armor in height. Said unicorn was giving the approaching pegasus a disappointed look. “Private Sentry, you’re not to break file unless ordered to; where’d your discipline go?” Armor scolded. “Sorry, Captain,” the Private replied, using a wing and an amazing amount of dexterity to open the saddlebag wrapped around his golden armor and pull out its contents: a bottle of disinfectant, and a cotton ball, “but I have orders from the Princess to treat the alien’s cut.” Spy’s hand went up to rub the cut Grievous had given him that he had somehow forgotten about. It didn’t hurt and it had stopped bleeding shortly after having opened, but it hadn’t completely closed either. Still, though, he didn’t know what kinds of bacteria was on Grievous’ hand and had gotten into his bloodstream. “All yours, Doc,” Spy said to Private Sentry. “Oh, no, I’m not a doctor, not yet,” Sentry replied as he flew up to be level with Spy. “I’m still learning to be a field medic.” He uncapped the bottle and put the cotton ball on the opening, flipping upside down to get the cotton ball wet with disinfectant solution before quickly returning it upright. Sentry dabbed the wet cotton ball along the length of the cut, which stung Spy a little, though he’d experienced far worse pain before, and once done, returned everything to his saddlebag. “Do you want a bandage?” Sentry asked, closing up his saddlebag when Spy answered no. “Was there anything else Celestia wanted done before we leave?” Captain Armor asked Sentry when he didn’t return to his place in the line of droids and guards. “Um, yes, Captain,” he answered “It should make sense that Celestia wants him patted down for any remaining weapons before moving into a civilian area.” Immediately, Spy reached for his grenade pouch and opened it, dumping his grenades into his other hand and distributing them to the ponies around him one at a time. Rainbow Dash seemed to recognize the device and glared at it angrily. Once it was empty, he returned it to his person and Shining Armor took them all in his magical grip. In a similar fashion, the clone went through all of the pockets on his belt as well as any other storage device on him, removing anything that was a weapon or was related to one. By the time he had finished his own patdown, he had dumped all of his grenades, all of the extra power cells for his weapons, and his knife onto the guard Captain. He had been honest with disarming himself, leaving himself completely defenseless, bar his armor. One of the commando droids that was blocking off the platform had broken file when he had started, presumably to do the patdown itself to guarantee that no weapons be left with him. When Spy finished, the droid didn’t even bother to do a second check, having watched Spy do all the work himself and being able to visually confirm that everything was in order. “You are clear to proceed,” the droid said to them after it collected all of the items from Shining Armor’s magical grip. The doors to their awaiting train car were open already, and the three of them entered the car. Like before, it was a simple passenger car, but it was enough. Shining Armor took a seat near the center of the car while Dash occupied the seat across the aisle from him. Seeing as there were no other passengers except for the pair of guards in the very front and very back, Spy sat in the aisle between them, where there was more room. He was regarded with odd expressions from everyone else, but he ignored them. Now situated, the door to the car was shut and the train began to move, slowly accelerating as it made way for Ponyville. The first few minutes went by with quiet amongst them and without incident. The outskirts of Canterlot came and went soon after, and the descent down the massive mountain began. Shining Armor, to his disappointment, had claimed the side of the car that gave a wonderful view of the mountain, or in other words, had no view at all. Bored, he decided to speak to Rainbow Dash. “So, Rainbow Dash...how have you and your friends been doing?” “Fine, up until the past few days,” she answered with disinterest, attention instead focused on looking through her window at the landscape and Ponyville far below near the base of the mountain, though making out anything was a chore, as the sun had mostly set by this point. “So I wasn’t given any warning about anything regarding you or the clone here-” “Name’s Spy, by the way.” “-and I’m curious to know why you were brought to Canterlot,” Shining Armor said, hoping to spark some conversation. Rainbow Dash obliged. “Because I found Spy and helped lead to his capture, and Celestia wanted to hear my side of the story.” She looked to Shining Armor. “You want to hear the story now, am I right?” To that, Shining Armor shrugged. “If you want to share, go ahead.” “Right,” she began. “So Pinkie Pie; you remember Pinkie Pie, right?” “Of course. She’s hard to forget.” “Yeah. So she wanted to have a party for the droids that were in Ponyville to thank them for helping deal with the changelings,” Dash explained. “Because they’re kinda tall, we had to have the party in Applejack’s barn, and only eight droids actually attended, but whatever. It was still an alright party while it lasted; kinda awkward, though, since the droids didn’t do much of anything, except for one apparently called Leet. “Some time into the party, I decided to go home and fetch some of my music stuff, ‘cause I thought that maybe they’d like my stuff more than what Pinkie had brought. On my way back from getting my things, I saw Spy running across a road going through the woods while carrying a huge bunch of berries, and since those wanted posters had said clones were to be attacked on sight, that’s what I did.” “Just think,” Spy interrupted, “if you had gotten there just a couple second earlier or a couple seconds later, we’d have completely missed each other.” Rainbow scoffed. “I think we’d’ve both liked it better that way.” “Nah; I was in pretty deep before you happened across me,” Spy replied. “Still am, but at least it’s a hole as opposed to a punji pit. I’ll have you know that you’ve saved me from potential starvation -hence the berries I was collecting- and immediate execution...an ‘accident’ on the droids’ part is still a complete possibility, but whatever; it’s the least I deserve.” There were a few awkward seconds of silence as they all struggled to think of something to say. Giving up, Shining Armor simply changed the topic completely. “Right, so Dash, what happened next?” “I brought him to the party hoping that the droids there would deal with him-” “You scoundrel,” Spy interjected, once again out of turn. “I knew it was a trap, but still, that’s low.” She glared at him. “I didn’t exactly have a lot of options, considering you had your shooty thing pointed directly at me,” Dash shot back harshly. Before Spy could muster a response, Dash continued to tell her story to Shining Armor. “As I was saying, I was hoping the droids would take care of him, but that backfired and he ran into the Everfree. AJ and I went after him, but he ambushed us and threatened to kill AJ unless I told the other droids in Ponyville that he was surrendering.” “I don’t know if this is a good time to mention this,” Spy tentatively began, “but I feel that I should inform you that AJ was in no danger. My blaster -that’s what the ‘shooty thing’ is called- had been EMPed just like the droids, so it couldn’t even fire anyway.” “I don’t know whether that makes me hate you more or not,” Dash grumbled. Her story continued, though. “But yeah, I delivered his message and terms, but the droids brought me along because I found him first. And now Celestia has me taking care of him and making sure he doesn’t do anything stupid.” Shining Armor took a moment to look over the clone more closely, sizing him up. Turning back to Rainbow Dash, he said, “Pardon the pun, but that seems like it could be a tall order. If you’d like, I’m sure I could help you out a bit; I plan to stay in Ponyville a bit anyhow.” Shrugging, and suddenly seeming much more relaxed, Dash said, “Sure, if you find the time.” “I like how you’re both assuming I’m going to be a problem,” Spy noted. “Would that assumption be incorrect?” Shining asked, facing Spy. A response began to come out of Spy, but Shining cut him off. “Actually, since we’re on the topic, I might as well say this now: Republic, CIS, neutral; I don’t care what faction you claim to be a part of, my allegiance lies with Equestria, and with those who also work for Equestria’s betterment.” The intensity in his voice grew as he spoke further. “But if you have ill will for Equestria, I will see to it that you are eliminated; peacefully, if possible, but I would gladly use lethal force if the defense of Equestria calls for it. So tell me: will I have to use lethal force against you?” That wasn’t an easy question for Spy answer; there were so many variables to be taken into account that a definite answer was difficult to provide. After a few seconds, though, he gave his best effort. “Shiny, that’s a tough question to answer. I no longer associate with the Republic for personal reasons, but I can assure you that the Republic and myself would mean Equestria no harm. “However, that all changes if you guys are allied with the CIS. It will look like we intend to harm you, but us clones and the Republic are the good guys in the war. To us,” he said, gesturing to himself, “you are unfortunate bystanders in our conflict, and as such, we would never intentionally harm you or put you in harm’s way; any clone hostilities would be directed at the droids and Grievous. All I want is the life that the Republic denied me, so expect to find no trouble from me.” “I’m going to hold you to that,” Shining Armor said. He then scooted over in his seat so that he was next to the window, which he rested his head on and promptly began to doze off. Dash took his cue and looked out her own window. A surprising amount of time had passed, and they were about a third of the way down the mountain side. The sun was sitting just over the horizon, indicating that it was nearly evening, and that it would likely be dark or nearly so when they finally reached Ponyville. Neither Shining Armor or Rainbow Dash seemed to have any further inclination to speak, so Spy resigned himself to following Armor’s lead and taking a nap. He leaned back and laid on the floor of the train car as well as he could. It still sucked, but it was better than anything he had slept on since leaving the LZ, and he very quickly fell into a light sleep. ~~~Ponyville Train Station, Ponyville, 4 days and 11 hours after the Ambush at Equus~~~ The train entered the station slowly, hissing loudly as the machine came to a complete stop at the platform. The platform itself was vacant aside from a few select ponies, those being the Station’s employees and the group of friends who were waiting patiently for the car’s occupants to come out. At least, all but one of them was waiting patiently. “They’re here!” Pinkie Pie called out excitedly to the rest of her friends, bouncing in a small circle before hopping her way to the door of the train car. Behind her, her friends got up from the benches they had been sitting on and followed, eventually gathering in front of the door, though they left enough room for somepony to step out without obstruction. As they passed by the car’s windows, they noticed that most of them had the blinds down, and that none of the ones that didn’t had Rainbow Dash or Shining Armor behind them. They found it somewhat odd, but simultaneously trivial. Inside the car, Rainbow Dash groggily awoke from the nap that she had succumbed to as a result of the hour and activity of the day. Shining Armor also stirred from the car’s sudden lack of motion, though Spy continued to slumber. “We there?” Shining tiredly asked, punctuating with a yawn. “Yeah,” Dash said, finding the Captain’s yawn contagious. “Help me get him up,” she requested, kicking Spy’s leg lightly. Defying expectation, that alone was enough to jar the sleeping clone awake. “Ah,” Spy sighed contentedly. “That was the best sleep I’ve gotten in days.” “We’re in Ponyville,” Dash told him matter-of-factly. “We’ll let Shining Armor get out first.” Doing as instructed, Shining Armor stepped out into the car’s aisle and past Dash, making his way to the door. He opened it and stepped out, being immediately welcomed by an excited Twilight Sparkle. “Hey, Twily,” he greeted, pulling her into a hug as she very nearly tackled him. “Hi BBBFF!” Twilight returned, letting go of him afterwards. Armor greeted the rest of the gathered friends in kind, then resumed speaking directly to his sister. “Listen, I apologize for dropping in on such short notice, and I’m sorry if I’m any trouble for you,” he said. “Things got a little fierce in Canterlot and I need some time to cool off.” “Oh, it’s no trouble, Shiny; your letter was warning enough, and you’re always welcome here,” Twilight assured. “Still, it was too short notice for my tastes,” Armor replies, frowning. “If you haven’t eaten yet, let me take you and Spike out for dinner tonight. Just...let’s leave discussing the past couple days for tomorrow, please?” Wisely not refusing the free food, Twilight agreed and left it at that. Applejack continued speaking. “Rainbow Dash wouldn’ happen ta be wich’a, would she?” “Yeah, she’s on board,” Shining answered, stepping away from the door finally. “I’m gonna have to ask you all to not freak out or anything, though; she’s brought an acquaintance along with her.” Rainbow Dash stepped out onto the platform shortly after, greeting her friends with an unenthused smile. “‘Sup, guys.” “Dashie, you don’t look too happy,” Pinkie instantly pointed out. “That would be because Princess Celestia dumped that clone guy from earlier on me to take care of,” Dash explained. “She what now?” Applejack had to ask, not quite believing what she had heard Dash say. “I know,” Dash replied, stepping away from the door herself. “Finders’ keepers’, right? Yeah, Celestia told me to take care of the clone until further notice, so...that’s a thing.” Finishing off her statement, Spy entered the car door’s threshold, though due to his size, disembarking was actually kind of a struggle. After a few seconds, he escaped the cramped car, making exaggerated stretching motions and grunting excessively loudly once standing outside the car. His magical basket was clipped loosely to his belt. “Ooh, it feels good to stand,” he said mostly to himself. He stopped stretching and finally took notice of the company around him. “Heh, small world, right?” he chuckled. “Long time no see.” All around, the ponies were all giving him disapproving glares, save for the pink one who instead backed away and gave him a sad look. “What?” he asked, as if he was completely oblivious to what was causing them discomfort. “Spy’s promised that he doesn’t want to hurt anypony, and he’s got no weapons or anything on him,” Dash told her friends. “What, exactly, was he sent here for?” Twilight asked. “For his safety, I guess. For now, we just need to keep him away from droids to avoid ‘accidents’, but otherwise, he’s pretty much to do as he told...within reason.” “And Celestia’s put you in charge of makin’ sure he doesn’t get inta trouble,” Applejack reiterated for clarification. Rolling her eyes in annoyance, Dash replied with, “That’s what I said. I gotta make sure he’s provided for, too. Food’s covered, so that leaves…” Rainbow trailed off for a second, then facehooved herself. Hard. “Gah, I’m an idiot. Spy can’t fly; how would I think of housing him in my home long-term?” “Not to mention that I’m, like, double your height,” Spy decided to add to make the dilemma worse. “Ugh, and it’s late, too,” Rainbow mused, looking up to the evening sky. “I’d offer my place for you, Rainbow,” Rarity began, “but I don’t think I exactly trust him and Sweetie in the same building.” “You can stay at my place,” Fluttershy offered, “but the ceilings are kind of low, and I don’t think he’d fit well.” “I don’t think the Cakes would be too happy about Pinkie bringing the clone with her for the night,” Twilight noted, “and I’ve already got company.” Sighing, Rainbow said, “No, it’s cool. You guys have your reasons, and Spy’s my problem anyways.” “Ugh,” Applejack groaned in disgust, shamefully pulling her hat a little lower down her face. “Ah can’t quite believe Ah’m sayin’ this, but wouldja care ta use the barn?” The amount of relief that washed over Rainbow Dash was beyond measure. ~~~Everfree Forest, Equestria, 4 days and 15 hours after the Ambush at Equus~~~ It was over. Finally, the bog had been cleared. Their march through the filth and the detritus was over, and the clones could not be happier for that fact. Figuratively speaking, of course. Nonetheless, though, the painfully slow trek was over and they could finally rest. With a loud thunk, Gore dropped himself down against a dark, looming tree. He was panting and exhausted from the exertion done to get through the deceptively massive bog. But sitting down after nearly ten straight hours of...he was hesitant to call it marching; slogging was probably a better verb...slogging through the terrain brought about a relief greater than any he’d felt before in his short life. Against a nearby tree, Viktor did the same, contentedly sighing as his and his armor’s weight was finally taken off his weary legs. The two of them were sore all over. Puddles of mud had made walking an effort during their time in the bog, and having to carry R8 for the past few hours had strained their arms. Gore additionally had a weighty weapon magnetized to his back, which didn’t help things any for him. Despite all that, though, Gore couldn’t help but feel that Shy had it worse off, having to deal with not only getting stuck in mud, but doing so with only one good leg. But Shy showed nothing of pain or exhaustion, quietly finding a place between Gore and Viktor so that the three of them formed a nice little triangle. And little it was. Being out of the bog meant that they were now in the Everfree Forest. It was late at night according to the clones’ mission clocks, but they felt that things’d be pretty much just as dark had it been midday based on how completely covering the tree canopy was. Being in such poor lighting made seeing details impossible, but the shapes of the numerous trees showed, revealing crooked, misshapen trunks and branches. Then there was the matter of simply how many trees there were. Everfree was a plentiful forest for sure, but the area the clones had finally stopped in was almost claustrophobic, it was that tightly packed. The clones’ clearing was big enough for the three of them to lay down in with a fair amount of room for each of them to shuffle around in, but not much more. Gore let out a relaxed sigh as the day’s wear began to draw him to sleep. He looked down to his muddied gauntlet, which nearly blended in with the ground under him, and began to distractedly scrape away at the clinging dirt. As he did that, Viktor removed his gauntlets, gloves, helmet, and pack, and began shuffling through the pack with his clean hands. “This isn’t good,” Viktor muttered to himself as his scrounging came to an end. “What’s not, Sir?” Gore asked concernedly, halting his scraping. Pulling three small packages from the pack, Viktor tossed one to both Gore and Shy. “These are the last of our rations,” Viktor explained. “Today was a heck of a day. I’m afraid we can’t afford to skip this meal, lest we risk some terrible consequences tomorrow.” During the time of their travelling, Gore’s increasing hunger had mostly gone ignored, as his training had taught him to do. But now, with the poor excuse for food in hand, he couldn't help but feel a little sick from the lack of nutrition compounded with the immense caloric expenditures of the past couple days. “Dig in,” Viktor morosely invited his companions to do, opening his own ration afterwards. Following his lead, Shy and Gore removed their helmets and began to eat. Gore, like Viktor, removed his dirtied gloves and gauntlets before touching his food, whereas Shy kept his right hand completely dressed. As they ate their meager meals, the clones didn’t say anything to one another or to R8, who was staying put between Gore and Viktor, right where they had set him down. Instead, the sounds of the forest pervaded their temporary camp. The chirping of crickets was chief among the sounds, though other, more intimidating sounds such as the howls of wolves, the scraping of claws against stone, and the occasional lion-like roar added to the eerie chorus. A few minutes passed before they had finished eating, feeling immensely satisfied with having their stomachs at least filled with something. Their armor was quickly replaced and silence again resumed. Gore leaned back against his tree as far he could, his weapon having been set off to the side some time ago. He stared up to the canopy above him, thinking. “Alright squad,” Viktor suddenly began, startling the other two clones and immediately garnering their attentions. “We need to work out a plan for the next few days. I think we’ve earned ourselves a day’s rest considering what we went through today. Tomorrow should be used to scout out the area, possibly locate a food and water source for ourselves, especially considering we don’t know how long we may have to take shelter in this forest, and the fact that we’re now out of food. Thoughts? Input?” “Sounds fine to me, Sir,” Gore answered for both himself and Shy. “Once we’ve ascertained those two resources,” the Captain continued, “then we’ll see about scouting Ponyville and seeing what the tinnies are up to. Then further, once we figure out what they’re here for, then we’ll determine what to do about them.” There were no objections or inputs of any other kind, and the camp once again fell quiet. Gore leaned back and resumed his thinking. “Wonder what’s become of Spy,” Gore mused to himself, though Viktor overheard. “Dead, probably,” theorized Viktor. “He’s either starved, been eaten himself, was victimized by his own stupidity, or had a run-in with the Seps.” “Yeah,” Gore agreed. “Not that I care.” Another thought came to him. “What if he was right, though, in abandoning the Republic like that? It’s not like we owe them anything, so why should we even involve ourselves with stopping the droids?” “Because the droids’d have us killed regardless of whether we claim to be Republic or not. There’s no way we could make peace with them, so why bother.” “That’s...reasonable, I suppose,” Gore agreed. Thinking on it, even considering the idea of clones and droids not killing each other while in the same area seemed sort of ridiculous. If was just too outlandish to ever be possible. Viktor took the initiative on the next line of conversation. “Alright Gore, you had me tell my story last night. It’s only fair that you tell yours. Gore shrugged. “Not much to tell there, Sir. Been 212th ever since Geonosis. Heavy infantryman; front lines. Always liked killing stuff; actual living enemies like those freaky buggers on Geonosis were always the most satisfying. The First Battle of Geonosis was my first deployment. I got through that alive and didn’t really do much of anything aside from small skirmishes until the Second Battle of Geonosis. That was a fun time. “The buggers had ambushed us good. General Kenobi’s gunship got grounded, so the entire 212th gunship force had to drop off the AT-TEs to encircle his gunship and provide cover. Most of the infantry was dropped off within the circle of tanks so that the gunships could go out, minimizing potential casualties. I was dropped off like that and immediately went to go shoot stuff. “I used the leg of an AT-TE for cover while I shot at the buggers, but after some time, the tank I was hiding behind got compromised. The gunner up top managed to leap off before the thing exploded, which gave me enough warning to back mostly out of harm’s way.” His hand went to his helmet, rubbing the part where it was cracked. “It still did explode and a piece of shrapnel clipped my helmet, cracking it and making it how it is now. Was still a hefty blow, though, and I can’t really remember what happened long after that. “I can distinctly recall an ARF trooper dragging me away from the wrecked tank, but I can’t recall a word he said. I must’ve passed out after that, and was out for the rest of the battle. Since then, though, I hadn’t had any deployments save this one.” Gore finished his story with a nonchalant shrug. “Like I said: not much to tell. Certainly nothing as prestigious as Muunilinst on my resumé.” “Still,” Viktor said, “surviving both Geonosian battles is still quite an achievement.” “Eh, maybe,” Gore replied with disinterest. Looking to Shy, he said, “Regardless, now that that’s been said, I think it’s Shy’s turn to strut his stuff.” “No,” Shy answered, uncharacteristically strongly. “Don’t worry, Shy,” Viktor assured, “you don’t need to say anything if you don’t want to. It’s not our place to pry.” There was a pause. “I still want an explanation about the magna guards, though,” he amended. Shy stayed silent for a few seconds before weakly answering with, “Later.” “It’d have to be,” said Viktor. “It’s late as it is and we’re all tired and sore. We should be resting now. Two one and a half hour lookout shifts each tonight, I’ll take first watch.” Confirming their agreement, Gore and Shy each nestled into their spots as comfortably as they could. A deep and relaxing sleep quickly overtook their weary minds, and the camp fell into a calm quiet.