My Little Old Republic: The Ord Mantell Deception

by AidanMaxwell

Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Outer Landing Pad, Mount Avilatan

Kolto oozed from the syringe as Twilight administered first aid to a wounded Rainbow Dash, who was propped against a durasteel crate in pain. She tried her best not to look down, afraid that the sight of blood combined with the vertigo would make her lose her lunch. Despite being a medic, Twilight was partially hemophobic on account of the nasty things she learned about blood in her reading. It was very dangerous if handled incorrectly, and Dash had a small river of it pouring from the blaster wound on her chest.

However, despite the pain and the loss of bodily fluid, Dash was coherent enough to speak. “Are you almost done, Lieutenant?” she asked with a grimace.

“Yes, Sergeant,” Twilight replied, squeezing the syringe again. More kolto swam into her friend’s system, rapidly closing the wound and stopping the bleeding. “Your armor is damaged, but you’re going to be okay in a few minutes.”

“Awesome.” Dash’s head bobbed to the side, and she glared at Pinkie Pie lazily. “So, where’ve you been, Pinkie?”

“Me?” she said in her squeaky, upbeat voice. “I was trying to find you, silly! After we got separated at the base on Mannett Point, I went back to Fort Garnik and asked for you there. The troops said something about missing special forces ponies, and we eventually traced you guys here. I rallied the troops and arrived in time to save the day!”

“Good timing,” Dash murmured with a smile. “So, what happened at the Point?”

“That meanie-pants Separatist pony tried to hurt me, that’s what happened!” Pinkie threw her hooves in the air, exasperated. “He was like, ‘I’m gonna kill you, Republic scum,’ and I was all, ‘I’m not with the Republic!’, and he didn’t believe me, so I shot him in the shoulder, and after he dropped his gun, he charged me and grabbed my pistol, so I took my knife and cut his across the eye. He fled up the elevator after that, but when I got to the top, he was gone.”

“I saw him a few minutes ago,” Dash said. “He fell into the ocean.”

“HAH! Serves him right. Big meanie. He took Lemony away from me.” Suddenly, Pinkie’s eyes widened, and she gasped quickly. “Lemon Drop! We need to find my bestest friend in the whole wide universe! What if they’re torturing him, or what if they... they...”

“Pinkie, I thought you weren’t concerned for the well being of Lemon.”

“That was before I knew he was alive. But now I know he is, and we need to save him!”

“I hate to be that pony,” Twilight interjected, “but me and the Sergeant have a much more pressing issue to attend to at the moment. Missing commandos and a stolen bomb take priority over kidnapped criminals, Mrs. Smuggler.”

Pinkie stared evenly at Twilight, who was concentrating on Dash’s treatment. “But he could die in the time it will take to find him! We can’t wait!”

“I’m sorry, but we don’t have a choice. Countless more lives will be lost if this bomb isn’t retrieved, and we need the rest of our time to locate and disarm it.”

“But what about Lemon?”

“If he dies before we find him, then there’s nothing I can do. But this takes priority.”

Dash looked up at Twilight, who was glaring back at her. Then she looked to Pinkie Pie, and met her longing, tragic gaze with a look of pity and remorse. She owed her friend her life, but she owed the people of Ord Mantell, and consequently the Republic, as well. The conflict in her heart pained her greater than the blaster wound in her chest, like a knife being slowly dragged across her body. She wanted desperately to help Pinkie, but the bomb was a serious problem that, if left unchecked, would kill tens of thousands.

Deciding to trust her gut, Dash put a hoof against the metal floor under her and braced herself. “Pinkie, if we go after this bomb, will you come with us?”

“Yeah! I’m contracted to help you, Dashie. But—”

“Lieutenant,” Dash interrupted, turning her attention to Twilight, “don’t we swear under our service oath to protect the people of the Republic?”

“Of course, Sergeant, but this bomb—”

“—is only one of our priorities. We have three: find Lemon, save the Wonderbolts, and disarm that ZR-57. The Separatists won’t launch the bomb yet, and the team is tough, but this Lemon dude has been in captivity for a couple weeks now. Shouldn’t we save him first, and then get his help with tracking down the bomb?”

“What?” Twilight retorted. “Okay, firstly, this is not a debate. This bomb takes priority even over finding the missing team, and especially a captured criminal. Second, I’m in charge of this Op, and you are to follow my orders, not give them to me.”

“But—”

Right then, Twilight retracted her syringe and slapped a cooler pack against the wound. As Dash gasped in pain, the pack glued itself to her armor and formed a sealed foam capsule against her armor. Twilight stood up and raised her autocannon. “Men, we’re moving out. Rally to me and prepare to march.”

Pinkie Pie rushed to Dash’s side, putting a hoof around her neck and lifting up on her body. Together, they managed to get Dash to her hooves, at which point she picked up her rifle and smiled at Pinkie. “Thanks.”

“Sure thing, Dashie.”

“Listen... I’m sorry about Lemon. I promise, we’ll save him.”

“The Lieutenant has good intentions,” Pinkie conceded. “That bomb is very important, I know. But I’m still worried...”

Dash nodded slowly and trotted after Twilight, the wound on her chest almost completely healed, only causing her a small pinch of discomfort when she walked. As the volcano closed around her once again, she felt somewhat scared, and very uncertain. “I have a bad feeling about all this...”

“You took the words right out of my mouth, Sergeant,” Pinkie replied from behind her. “You could say it was... straight from the horse’s mouth!”

She burst into a fit of giggles, and Rainbow Dash couldn’t help but laugh herself. The troopers that marched in front of her also giggled. Twilight, however, groaned audibly from the front of the line, thinking the joke to be painfully bad. Everypony instantly hushed up, and the silence that ensued frightened even Twilight. Instantly she frowned, knowing she had destroyed a perfectly good moment of happiness at a time when happiness was hard to come by.

“Sorry,” she finally said, almost in a whisper. “I guess I’ve lost my sense of humor.”

“How can you lose something you never had, Lieutenant?” Dash called from the back of the line. The troopers roared with laughter as they marched, Pinkie included. Even Twilight couldn’t help but laugh at the joke, which she had admittedly set herself up for.

“Alright, alright, let’s cut the chatter for now. We’ll joke later, when this bomb is neutralized.”

“And after we find the Wonderbolts,” Dash reminded.

“And save Lemony!” chirped Pinkie.

Twilight rolled her eyes, but nodded. “Right, that too.” She hefted her autocannon up and pushed her back against a corner, peering around it cautiously to check for resistance. The room beyond was a massive, lava-shaped chamber, round at the top and lined from wall to wall with computer monitors and weapon racks. Separatists scurried across the room, grabbing guns and setting up barricades in anticipation of the incoming Republic forces. Twilight cursed under her breath; the alarms were already raised, and they were going to have to fight through the volcano to find the bomb.

She felt a tug on her leg plate and turned to see Private Scootaloo staring up at her. “What?”

“Lieutenant? What’re they carrying?” The filly pointed to a group of four Separatists coming into the chamber from the other side, each holding the corner of a massive torpedo shell. Flanked on either side by security personnel with flashing lights, they yelled into the crowd and halted all traffic to allow the safe transport of their cargo.

“It’s out ticket through the chamber, Private,” Twilight said with a smirk. “Form up, everypony. On my signal. One... Two...”

She pivoted, throwing her body around the corner and taking aim with her blaster cannon.

“Three.”

A volley of mortar rounds shot across the room, arcing over the bewildered and distracted crowd of Separatists and landing squarely at the feet of the ponies carrying the missile. The combination of the explosions and the warhead being dropped onto a stone floor caused a premature detonation that shook the entire canyon. Stalactites and loose sections of molten stone fell onto the unsuspecting enemy from all over the room.

Following the explosion, the soldiers of the Republic swarmed into the chamber and began leveling it with blaster fire, taking cover as they ran in. Scootaloo, the first inside, dove behind a nearby rock outcropping and took a rear position. Four soldiers formed a line closer to the action, dropping an entire squad of Seps before they even realized they were under attack. After they had secured a line, Rainbow Dash joined beside them. She chucked a thermal detonator into the dispersing crowd and took cover herself.

Pinkie Pie waited behind Twilight, who took a moment to analyze the battlefield to better give direction to her troops. Noticing Pinkie’s lack of action, she turned to her and frowned. “What’re you waiting for? Aren’t you going to run?”

“Yep,” replied Pinkie with a grin. “Just watch.”

As if on cue, Twilight turned back to the chamber and saw several gunponies exiting a side hallway, reinforcing the off-guard soldiers already inside. Both ponies took that as a signal to join, and they raced to flank the new front. Pinkie dove over a duracreet barricade and loosed two bolts from her pistols into an unsuspecting Sep, then hid behind a fallen rock as returning fire sprayed around her. Twilight moved beside her and activated a reactive shield, pouring fire into the enemy line in a sweeping spread. Using Twilight as her distraction, Pinkie raced out of cover and around the enemy, disappearing into the hallway from which they’d entered.

Rainbow Dash saw Twilight from her own front and shouted to her. “Pinkie’s breaking for it! Help her!”

Twilight focused her sight on Pinkie and advanced on the enemies in front of her. Half of them had died within seconds of her unleashing fire, but the rest had since taken defensive positions and fought back. As the reactive shield flickered, Twilight pulled the release lever on her cannon and ejected an empty explosive round, which in turn reloaded a new one. She fired it into a barricade and sent a soot cloud into the air, then, using her magic, she teleported onto the other side of it.

With their backs turned to her and zero visibility in the soot, the Seps had no hope to defend against Twilight. Blaster fire ripped through their leather combat armor and ruptured their organs, and within seconds, all of them were dead.

Turning back to where Pinkie had run, Twilight saw her retreating from the hallway, firing desperately at some unseen entity. Suddenly, Pinkie rolled back toward Twilight just as a jet of pure flame erupted from the hallway. A pony in black armor, standing on his rear legs and hoisting a large vacuum-shaped device strapped to a hose, lumbered around the corner and stopped into the soot-laden chamber.

“Imp Flamethrower!” Twilight cried. “Take cover!”

“Gee, thanks, Lieutenant Obvious,” sang Pinkie Pie as she rolled behind another barricade. A dark glow flickered to life inside the machine, followed by an explosion of flame that jetted straight toward Twilight. It was as though a Phoenix had broken through her reactive shield and tackled her in the gut. The flames licked past what remained of her shield and danced across her exposed body, most of the attack absorbed by her armor, but some singed her hair and cut into her skin like a knife.

Pinkie leapt to her hooves and charged forward, galloping on all fours with as much speed as she could muster. Taken aback, the Imperial cut the flame and brought the weapon about face, just in time to be tackled to the ground. From seemingly nowhere, Pinkie pulled a knife out and slashed a hole in the hose that connected the weapon to its power source. Liquid leaked onto the rocky floor, unbeknownst to the Imperial, who managed to grab Pinkie’s hoof and keep her from stabbing his face.

As the two ponies grappled on the ground, Twilight opened her eyes and looked down at her body. Her armor was hot, melting in some places, and her mane was singed just above the brow. Pain coursed through her body like a raging river as blood and water surged to cool the heated areas of her skin, parts of which were exposed, red, and devoid of purple hair. Able to stand, though, she determined she was fit to fight still, and picked up her cannon. It was then that she noticed the Imperial was starting to overpower Pinkie Pie, and also when the leak of flammable liquid was drawn to her attention.

“Pinkie Pie,” she croaked, painfully raising her cannon to her waiting hoof. “Move.”

Pinkie looked over at Twilight, then back to her quarry, and rolled to the right just as the Imperial’s hooves flailed in a desperate attack that would surely have shaken her from him. As he stood up, Twilight lit her plasma cell and fired two incendiary rounds into his armor, one connecting with his fuel tank, the other with the hose. Fire erupted all around him as his combustible weapon backfired and exploded into a roaring fireball that consumed him whole. After that, Twilight’s weapon dropped to the ground, and she got down on all fours, shaking from the pain.

At the sound of Twilight hitting the ground, Pinkie tilted her head and noticed the injuries for the first time. She rushed to her side and knelt down next to her. “Are you okay, Twilight? I mean, sorry, dumb question, of course you’re not alright—”

“I’ll be fine,” Twilight spat. She cough aloud and shut her eyes. “Everything hurts, but I’ve got kolto and burn cream. What possessed you to run through that hallway, anyway?”

“It’s Lemony!” Pinkie cried, frantically looking toward the door. “He’s down there. I can feel it.”

A medical probe dispatched from Twilight’s pack and scanned its owner, preparing to administer first aid. She sat down and held her hooves against her face, trying to soothe the pain. “Go, then. You smuggler types are all the same, putting your own ambitions before the safety and well being of others. Just leave if that’s all you care about.”

“Now way, Jose! You’re hurt, so I’m going to wait until somepony comes to help you.”

“No, really, Pinkie—”

A shot whizzed past both ponies and forced Twilight to snap back to attention. The fight behind them was still raging on, the Seps having finally gotten their act together and formed a measly defensive position as Rainbow Dash and the remaining troopers pushed forward. The enemy defense was crumbling fast, but the danger still existed, and the Republic forces were haphazardly positioned despite their effectiveness.

“My men...” Twilight croaked. “I can’t lead them like this.”

“Put Dashie in command, Lieutenant,” Pinkie suggested. “She won’t fail you. Besides, you need an evac, since you’re hurt and all.”

“I’m...I’m fine. I already said tha—” She screamed loudly as a needle was injected from her probe into a patch of exposed, burnt skin. Pain registered through her whole body, every limb violently shaking as it fought to heal itself with the aid of the kolto injection. Pinkie looked on in concern, not sure what kind of assistance she could be, until she finally looked over to Scootaloo, who was still positioned near the entrance. Using her hoof, she waved at the Private and got her attention.

Scootaloo saw Pinkie waving at her and was aware that Twilight was injured, but hesitated to leave her hiding spot. Blaster fire rippled through the cavern in such a way that it seemed to blanket her path. She looked to Rainbow Dash, the brave Sergeant who had saved her from Lieutenant Virk, and saw that she was on the front line, putting shots into Separatists as though they weren’t firing back at her. Then, Scootaloo decided that if Rainbow Dash could brave the fire, so could she, so she leapt over her rock and galloped to Pinkie’s side.

“Private, you need to escort the Lieutenant out of here!” Pinkie cried. “She’s been burned. It’s not safe here.”

“Yes, ma’am!” Scootaloo said quickly. She looked at Twilight, who was still doubled over in a seizure. “Do you need help walking, sir?”

“Y-yes, P-private,” Twilight said. She put her hoof out shakily and wrapped it around Scootaloo’s neck, and despite the height difference, they managed to stand up together. Once they were on their way back toward the landing pad, blaster fire still occasionally hitting nearby rocks and walls as they went, Twilight barely opened her eyes long enough to look at Pinkie. “T-tell Rainbow s-she’s in c-command now.”

Pinkie blinked at Twilight, then frowned, giving her a half-hearted salute. “Yes, sir.”

At that moment, all blaster fire ceased, and an eerie silence fell over the cavern. It was broken by a cheer, uproarious and frightening, that rose from the Republic soldiers standing on rocks and dead Separatists as they raised their guns and cried out in victory. In the time it had taken Pinkie Pie and Twilight Sparkle to eliminate the flame trooper and get themselves out of the fight, Rainbow Dash had led the troopers further against the Separatist line and broken it completely. Pinkie looked over at Dash remorsefully, who returned the gaze in a quizzical manner.

“Pinkie!” she called out. The cry reverberated off the top of the cavern, creating an echo. “What happened? Where’s Twilight going?”

“She’s been burned,” Pinkie said plainly. “Imperial flame trooper.”

“Imperial— What? Imps? Here?” The cheer ended prematurely at the word. Every soldier’s gaze and attention was now fixed on Twilight, who was being escorted by a young Scootaloo back toward the landing pad from which they’d come. None of them had ever witnessed an Imperial attack this deep in the Core Worlds. “So Twilight was right. They’re getting help from the Imps.”

“Yup. And...” Pinkie hesitated. “I... I think Lemon is down this way. By the way, Twilight said you’re in charge now, Dashie.”

Dash blinked back at her. “...Me? I’m in charge?”

“You’re in command, Sergeant.” Pinkie saluted her from the other side of the cavern. All of the remaining troopers surrounding Dash saluted as well.

“Well... I...” Dash looked down Pinkie’s hallway, then back toward where the Seps had retreated. One way led to Pinkie’s friend, the other led to the bomb, and possibly the Wonderbolts. It was her decision how to proceed now, and she was at a loss for words. “I... don’t know what to do. Men, who of you is highest ranking?”

“That’d be me,” one stallion piped up with a salute. “Corporal Flash Bang, sir.”

“Look, I’m new to commanding, so this is how I want this to go. You take these men and go deeper into the base. Radio me if you require assistance. I’m going with the smuggler to locate some fugitives. Understood?”

“Sir, yes sir!”

“Alright then.” Rainbow Dash nodded to Flash Bang. “Move out!”

The troopers all gave a mighty “HOO-rah” and marched in order through the doorway deeper into the volcano. Dash trotted up to Pinkie Pie, who looked back at her with tears in her eyes.

“Rainbow Dash, you—”

“I never leave my friends hangin’,” Dash interrupted. “I can take the heat for being a bad soldier after I’m done being a good friend.”

Pinkie Pie nodded. “Well, let’s hurry then. Maybe we can find Lemon and catch up to your troops before anything happens!”

Together they galloped down the second hallway and rounded the corner. Narrow paths lined with metal plates and eerie blue lights made up the vast majority of the journey as they raced down the path as fast as they could. Corner after corner, nothing changed, and the path seemed to go on forever, until finally a dead end halted their progress. Pinkie Pie, desperate, put her hooves against the rock wall and pushed with all her might.

“Give it up, Pinkie,” Dash said. “It’s a dead end. Let’s go back and regroup with the men.”

“No!” Pinkie insisted. “He’s here! I know it!”

“It’s solid rock, Pinkie! How are you going to move it?”

=====

Just beyond the rock was a room, very similar to the one Dash and Pinkie had been in. It was a cavern, shaped by centuries of lava flow and lined with metal beams, grates and light fixtures. An orange glow coming off the electric jail cells convinced Lemon Drop he was in hell, or if he wasn’t, this was the entrance. He was also convinced he would die here, like the other pony he’d been crammed into the cell with had.

Said pony’s corpse was lying limp on the ground, severed in half, with the front end outside the cage. After she’d dehydrated, the poor mare had fallen into the energy wall, and two hours later had been burned completely through. Lemon closed his eyes, knowing all too well what that horrific sight looked like, since several other ponies in the other cages nearby had suffered a similar fate. On the brink of dehydration himself, he feared he would meet just as gruesome a fate not long from now. Within hours, perhaps.

A door opened behind him and an Imperial taskmaster paced through the door. He could tell he was Imperial because the only thing more iconic than his black armor was his thick Imperial accent. “Lemon Drop, my friend. Still kicking, I see.”

“Nah, dude, I gave that up a while ago.” Lemon raised his back hoof to reveal a nasty burn. “Can’t kick an energy field.”

“Indeed not. All of the other captives are either dead or incoherent, yet you persist.” The stallion stepped up to Lemon’s cage and eyeballed him from under his helmet. “Why?”

“I have a reason, constable.”

“Oh?”

“I plan to see my good friend Pinkie Pie again.” Lemon lowered his head slightly. “I owe her an apology for all the suffering and pain I’ve put her through.”

“How tragic.” Lemon’s cage shut off and a hoof grabbed his throat. He closed his eyes and reached out to grab the Imperial, but grasped only air. “Because your good friend Pinkie Pie just killed one of my best commandos, and I’ve been ordered to execute the remaining prisoners while we evacuate. You understand, safety precaution and all that. Don’t want to have too many...”

Amid his choking and flailing, Lemon could feel the barrel of a blaster press into his skin.

“...Witnesses.”

The guard chuckled to himself in his sick, twisted Imperial way just as an explosion rocked the wall opposite him and sent shards of molten slag flying through the air. He let go of Lemon as a boulder from above slammed down on him and squashed him underneath. Bewildered, Lemon looked toward the source of the explosion to see Pinkie Pie with a Republic officer, tears in her eyes, tail vibrating slightly, and a detonator in her mouth.

“Lemon!” she cried, dropping the used detonator. She raced up to him and embraced him awkwardly, lifting him off the ground and choking him again. “OhmygoshLemonIthoughtI’dneverseeyouagain-”

“Pinkieyou’rechokingme,” he gagged.

“Oh, sorry.” She giggled and set him back down. “It’s good to see you again, lovey dovey!”

“I...” Lemon blinked twice and looked back at her with a blank stare, his mouth agape and one eyebrow cocked. “What?”

She mirrored his gesture perfectly. “What what?”

“You called me... lovey dovey? Since when am I like that to you?”

“Umm... Since you got captured, and... I had some time to think about you.” She gently rubbed her muzzle against his chin, then buried her face in his shoulder. “Lemon, you were so good to me. I never understood until after you were gone just how much I need you.”

“I, err, Pinkie... It’s not that I don’t, you know, love you, or anything, but this is really sudden, and... somewhat unwanted.”

Pinkie twisted her head in his shoulder to look at his face. He stared back at her, his gaze gentle and his smile warm. More tears welled up in her eyes. “W-what?”

“Listen, Pinkie.” He wrapped his hoof around her head and drew her closer. “I love you, I really do, but I don’t want us to be involved. Not now, at least. You say I was good to you. The reason is because you were good to me first. You picked me up off the streets of Coruscant, you fed me, you clothed me, and you gave me a purpose. I was nopony until you came along. I’ve devoted myself to you because I owe you everything.”

“No!” Pinkie screamed. “No, I won’t hear it! You don’t owe me a thing, Lemony! I did what I did because I needed help, and I got the best thing that ever happened to me for it!”

She sobbed uncontrollably onto his sweat-soaked leather vest as he looked desperately to Rainbow Dash, who merely shrugged and stared back. Pinkie kept talking, but her words were incoherent and jumbled. The basic message still managed to come through, though: You’re my friend, you’re my friend. Finally, Pinkie got a hold of herself and dropped her voice to a whisper, one that Dash could barely hear.

“I love you, Lemony. You don’t owe me. You’re my friend, my partner. Please... don’t leave me.”

Lemon rubbed his cheek against the top of her head affectionately. “Okay, Pinkie. I promise, I won’t leave you. Whatever debt I thought I owed you is now absolved. Just, please... stop crying. It’s killing me.” He felt himself constricted by a death grip of a Pinkie hug, and for the third time in five minutes, Lemon Drop found himself unable to breathe properly.

Comments

[bcsnakeeyes]

awww cute chptr

[DragonlordT]

Just being nit-picky here but not sure if this is supposed to be worded as metal paths or not.

"Narrow paths lined with metal paths and eerie blue lights made up the vast majority of the journey as they raced down the path as fast as they could."

[AidanMaxwell]

923341
I ask for people to catch these things for me. Thanks~

[Kaiser change name]

Hnnnngggg!!! The feels!!!
In all honesty, good chapter