//------------------------------// // Chapter 4: Progress // Story: StarChaser // by StarChaser01 //------------------------------// ‘Well, at least we’re making SOME progress,’ StarChaser thought after about a half hour of charades. It was almost immediately apparent that that the Pegasus was horrible at charades, of course, he wasn’t very good at it either… It took all of that half hour just to get the message across that he wanted some paper and something to write with. ‘First thing’s first, I need to get some food, I have no idea how long I was out for but it was definitely long enough for me to get hungry!’ StarChaser thought when the Pegasus left to get some writing supplies. ‘After that, I’ll see if I can get my armor back, or at least my helmet, I would really like to know how long I’ve been out for…' StarChaser’s soon-to-be mental rambling was cut off by the Pegasus returning with a piece of parchment, a quill, and an inkwell. ‘Seriously? No pens? Wow… talk about rapid technological backsliding… I suppose since those things are difficult to make without practice no new pens would be made, the Resistance has more important things to worry about than writing convenience…’ Quickly drawing a picture of an apple with a bite out of it on the paper, he really hoped it looked like an apple, StarChaser showed the quick drawing to the Pegasus to indicate that he wanted food. It was almost comical to see the Pegasus’s reaction. StarChaser could almost swear that the Pegasus was about to face hoof! ‘I really need to figure out some other form of identification for him other than just ‘the Pegasus’,’ StarChaser mentally muttered to himself as his host hurried out of the room, hopefully to get him something to eat. When Twilight Sparkle had heard that the strange Pegasus had woken up, she had, once again, essentially dropped everything and headed for Canterlot General Hospital. However, upon reaching it, she was almost immediately stopped by Nurse Soothing Touch. “With all due respect Princess, I don’t believe that seeing him right now would be the best idea…” Soothing Touch informed Twilight “Why?” Twilight asked, slightly confused. “When I went to check on him recently he was awake and reacted poorly…” Twilight’s mind was able to fill in the gaps. “He didn’t attack you, did he?” “No, but the instant he saw me he went right into some sort of fighting stance.” “So, he might not react well to the presence of an Alicorn due to the similarities to Unicorns…” Twilight thought out loud. “Exactly, we currently have a Pegasus acting as a contact and his reaction has been much more favorable. However we have discovered that he can’t understand our language and vice versa…” “I might be able to help with that!” ‘Thank goodness that some things are universal!’ StarChaser thought as he ate one of the best apples he ever had. Just as he finished the apple, the door opened again. Instinctively turning, the first thing he thought when he saw the pony in the door way was: ‘GOD DAMN IT INSTINCTS!!! DON’T YOU DARE ATTACK THE RANDOM PURPLE UNICORN!!!’ The next was: ‘Wait… a horn and wings… that means… oh shit… I am SO doomed if I piss it off…’ Standing in the doorway was a purple Alicorn, who was shorter than any Alicorn that StarChaser had seen, but that didn’t really mean much as he had only seen one other, and that was one pony he did NOT want to get angry… Not knowing what else to do, StarChaser just locked up while starring at the newcomer. ‘Well, at least he’s not bowing like some of the ponies I encountered on my way here…’ Twilight noted. ‘Well, here goes nothing…’ “Hello? Can you understand me?” Twilight asked in Ancient Equestrian. That seemed to snap him out of it as he instantly dropped into a bow and said something in a language that sounded strangely like Ancient Equestrian. Yet while Twilight knew how to speak Ancient Equestrian, she couldn’t understand what he was saying. ‘I just had to go and jinx myself didn’t I’ Twilight thought ‘That language has about the same amount of similarities to Ancient Equestrian as Ancient Equestrian does to Modern Equestrian…’ “I’m sorry; I don’t understand what you’re saying” As the Pegasus slowly got up, she thought she saw a flash of fear on his face before changing into confusion. “I was hoping that you spoke Ancient Equestrian, then we might have been able to understand each other…” Twilight muttered to herself before seeing that the Pegasus was drawing something on a piece of paper. When he showed it to her it looked like a strange kind of helmet. Suddenly she realized that it was HIS helmet that he had drawn, he wanted his armor back. Shaking her head she said “I’m sorry, but you can’t have your armor back at this time.” He seemed to understand the gesture as he looked somewhat downcast… StarChaser initially was mentally freaking out when the Alicorn asked him what sounded like a question. Deciding to play it safe he went with bowing. “I’m sorry; I don’t understand what you are saying,” he said while bowing. ‘Please don’t think that I’m insulting you please don’t think that I’m insulting you please don’t think that-‘ his mental freak out was interrupted by the Alicorn saying something that he didn’t understand, but it sounded like it didn’t understand him either and was… sorry? With is terror quickly turning into confusion he risked looking up. Upon seeing that the Alicorn wasn’t angry, if anything it looked like it was somewhat disappointed… When the Alicorn started muttering to itself, StarChaser figuring that he wasn’t going to be annihilated, grabbed the paper and quill and drew a picture of his helmet. ‘If I’m going to have a chance for verbal communication I need to get ahold of my helmet and set the AI on figuring out their language.’ While he was drawing, he noticed that the Alicorn had stopped muttering to itself and was looking curiously at what he was drawing. Upon completing his drawing he showed it to her, he decided for now to call it a her as it didn’t APPEAR to have a male body shape, she first had a look of confusion that morphed into understanding, then she looked directly at him and shook her head while saying something he didn’t understand. StarChaser did not need to understand what was said to understand the meaning. His request was being denied. ‘She probably doesn’t know why I want my helmet, just that I want it…’ StarChaser thought glumly… ‘But why would he want his helmet?’ Twilight wondered for the umpteenth time since starting to try and figure out his language. She was back at the library, looking over the reports that she had requested from the team that she had put in charge of trying to figure out the strange set of armor that the mysterious Pegasus was wearing. It had been quickly obvious that it was more than just physical protection, if the primary analysis was anything to go by. Physically, it shouldn’t provide much protection, yet a soldier had gone out into battle with it. There was the fact that all of the scan spells cast upon it were blocked somehow. And now the Pegasus wanted it back! And not the whole thing either, just the helmet! So naturally she instructed the team to focus their efforts on the helmet. However it appeared that the helmet was the most resistant to the spells. It didn’t help that Celestia had requested a report when some progress had been made. ‘But… why the helmet?’ She mentally asked again. StarChaser was bored, after getting his request for his helmet back denied, the purple Alicorn had apparently decided to try to figure out his language, but she had left hours ago, leaving him alone with just his thoughts. After spending a few hours thinking about the Alicorn he decided that she wasn’t as impulsive as “Handsome Jack” was, ‘Even looking at him wrong was a good way of getting yourself killed,’ StarChaser had mused. After that, he decided to take a nap. “Come on StarChaser! Let’s go and play!” A black unicorn filly with blue streaks in her mane and tail called excitedly up to a window on one of the many houses. “I have to ask my parents first! You know how they are…” A black pegasus colt with an all back tail and silver streaks in his mane replied from said window. StarChaser knew this dream, and he loved it. It had been so long since he hadn’t had a nightmare. “Hey Mom! Can I go out and play with StarLight?” a young StarChaser asked his mother. “I don’t know, CAN you?” his mother responded smiling. “MAY I go out and play with StarLight?” “Yes you may, just be careful.” “We’ll be fine!” StarChaser replied while exiting the house. “Well?” an excited StarLight asked. “Let’s go and explore!” StarChaser replied. Off they went, a pegasus and unicorn, into the nearby forest, off to adventure. The scene shifted to a slightly older StarChaser and StarLight running across a field towards the village to escape the sudden thunderstorm that had unexpectedly come out of the forest, one of the few places that the weather couldn’t be controlled. Just as they started going down the last hill on the way to safety, a lightning bolt shot down from the sky and struck the young Pegasus without any warning. “AAAARRRGG!” StarChaser cried out as electricity arced all around him. All StarLight could do was watch as the electrical energy concentrated to her only friend’s wings and fired back up into the sky, clearing the sky directly above. The last thing StarChaser saw before passing out was his best friend rushing towards him… Waking up, StarChaser smiled as he thought about that last dream, that was the night that he had gotten his mark, he had “chased the stars” out from behind the clouds that night, or so they said at the celebration. ‘That celebration was… interesting,’ he thought with a grin, ‘too bad I can’t remember most of it…’ He then thought of something, ‘I had never actually gotten a look out that window…’ Getting out of bed, he walked over to the window and opened it. What he saw on the other side stunned him. He was on at least the fifth floor of some building, which he had begun to suspect was a hospital, but it was not the height that had stunned him. In the streets below were ponies from all three tribes, getting along as if it were the most natural thing in the world! StarChaser could hardly think. ‘Tha… that hasn’t been… I… how? Even in the Resistance there had been at least SOME mistrust between tribes! Yet here there is NONE!!! Where am I??? Just… just how long have I really been out?’