“I know y’all just heard Stern’s big spiel ‘bout how Fillydelphia is her town, well the Bumper-Plow Pit is our domain!”
Bullies.
They pick on you, they try to break you until you can't and won't fight anymore, until you're nothing but an object to toy around with. They're the cruelest kind of people you could ever face.
I'd had to deal with angry looks and remarks when the ponies of Stable 2 thought I'd helped Velvet Remedy escape, I'd been insulted and dehumanized by the alicorn in Old Appleloosa, I'd been beaten senseless by the raiders at Fillydelphia, and I, along with my friends, were harassed by the plants and monsters of the Everfree Forest.
So far, I'd been used to getting hurt and beaten by bullies on the block, and this time, I'd be ready for the ones I would see on the Star Forge.
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We had continued onwards through the large station that was the Star Forge, miraculously, no one crossed our path as we ran. After a moment, we decided to slow down and watch the battle in space as we trotted on, even when on a mission, we needed something to kill time.
As I tapped my Pipbuck to activate the holoscreen, I was tapped on the shoulder by Velvet Remedy as we walked. "Um, Littlepip? Do you think that Red Eye will be waiting for us up there? Ready for a fight?"
I nodded slightly as I spoke. "Yes, I heard he beamed over here from his flagship, he said he was going to ensure it's safety."
"Red Eye has a flagship, now?" Calamity asked in surprise as I nodded in response. We then stopped as we watched the two fleets battle from the Chestnut's viewscreen, her and the Harmony being at the center of it all.
"Status?" I heard the Chestnut's captain say as one of the ship's officers replied.
"Shields at 47%, hull integrity is good. The enemy fleet has been diminished to only a third of its former strength." A female voice said as we heard a gruff male voice speak up.
"Captain, I'm detecting another vessel on sensors."
"Bring it onscreen, Kapor." The ship's viewscreen changed to show another Sech class arriving on the field, along with something large behind it. The large object was long, it had a blue shell and a maw of fire so big it could swallow over a dozen starships! The inside of the maw looked like I was staring into hell itself.
"It's a planet killer!" Kapor said as the large weapon's maw glowed brightly, it was getting ready to fire!
"Evasive maneuvers! Now!" The admiral said as the Harmony turned to the right, speeding away from the large weapon. I heard a loud pulse of energy from my Pipbuck as the planet killer fired, destroying several ships around it, the Harmony and its fighter escorts getting clear of the blast.
I heard Twilight speak up through the small Pipbuck. "Harmony to Chestnut, do you read?!"
"Yeah, we're badly hurt here! Our engines are offline, hull is down to 20%!" The admiral said as the princess replied.
"We're coming around with a tractor beam, we'll pull you out!"
"No, we'll overload the warp core, it'll take the planet killer with the explosion. Beam the crew off once I give the signal." Twilight's close friend said as she replied sternly.
"Understood, Admiral, and don't think I won't be beaming you off as well, you and your crew are too important to lose." Twilight said as the Chestnut's captain replied once more.
"Alright, we've almost got it, just wait until we're ready, Stone out."
As the transmission cut out Twilight sat in her chair, looking to Rainbow Dash before speaking. "Rainbow, take us around and tell all our transporter rooms to wait for the signal." Rainbow Dash nodded as she tapped her console, the Harmony flying to the left as the burning hulk of the Chestnut came into view.
"Transporter rooms, prepare for emergency beam-out of U.S.S. Chestnut's crew." The rainbow-maned pegasus said as the ship sat near its allied ship.
"The core's ready to blow, we're ready for transport!" Another female voice on the Chestnut said as the doomsday machine came closer, the giant maw only mere seconds away.
"Now!" Twilight said as the planet killer started to glow again.
"We've got 'em!" Rainbow Dash said as the Harmony sped away at full impulse, leaving the Chestnut and cornucopia of destruction behind.
"Aft viewer." The princess said as the screen changed to show the small hulk of the Chestnut drift into the maw of the planet killer before exploding, the energy of both the explosion and the planet killer spraying out into the battlefield. As the spraying ceased, the planet killer was left as nothing but a dead, grey shell. The Chestnut, of course, was gone, destroyed by the warp core detonation.
We all gasped in shock as the Alliance fleet lost one of its best ships, Calamity wincing as we heard Twilight speak up again.
"It... was a hard thing to watch, but she didn't go down without a fight." She said sadly before shaking her head, remembering the mission. "No time to worry about that now, we've got a battle to win. Rarity, how's the fleet?
"We... lost a third of our fleet in the blast, Twilight. But we should be able to hold them off for the moment." Rarity said as the Harmony turned around, rejoining the fleet as the two continued clashing again.
I turned off the screen as we approached another division in the hallway, a left path and a right between us. I looked at my Pipbuck again as it said to go right. I pointed to our next destination as we kept going further, the short hallway ending in a door. As we walked through the door, we saw a bluish-grey room, the walls adorning six glass cases with several metal sticks inside, one of them containing a strange pistol within it, the amount varied in each one, but the average amount in them was three.
In the middle of the room were two ponies, one in reddish-black armor and the other in goldish-black armor, both wearing helmets matching their armor's color. Between them were two humanoids in similar armor, however their armor was just black. As they saw us, the two humanoid warriors pulled out sticks similar in design to the ones in the cases, the devices turning on as red beams of energy shot out from them.
"Well lookie here, our guests have finally arrived! You two, sic 'em all except the grey unicorn and the zebra! They're ours!" The red one said as the two raced towards us, the two jumping high in the air as I heard glass breaking. I heard the blue alicorn speak to her sister as the green one stood by Velvet, Calamity and Steelhooves, a shield forming around the group.
"You, assist me in fighting the warriors, you, protect our friends!" The green one nodded as the two other alicorns activated the energy swords they grabbed from the cases, their blades clashing with the two warriors' own swords as Xenith and I raced towards the two pony warriors.
I went for the red one while Xenith struck at the gold one, I jumped over the armored mare as she made a kick, myself landing as I bucked her into the air. Her helmet flew off upon hitting the floor, her face lifting as I recognized her. She had a red coat with green, frazzled hair and orange pupils. "Blood? What the hell are you doing here?! I though you were killed in the Pit!"
"Oh please, pipsqueak, Red Eye was brought back just as easily as we were!" She said as she charged at me, myself spinning to perform a flying hoof-kick before she jumped and bucked, myself being knocked into a wall. "When you have the power to go through time, you can do anything!"
As she sped towards me, I could get a better look at her face. It was mostly the same, though her eyes weren't yellow anymore, she must've been fixed up or cloned or something before today. I jumped as she came at me, trying to kick before I ducked, bucking her into the wall behind me as I saw Xenith standing over who I assumed was Daff, he kicked the zebra into the air as he flipped and bucked, knocking her into the left wall.
I turned around again as Blood got herself out of the wall, grabbing her with my magic and throwing her over me, hitting Daff as the two collapsed to the ground. I looked up to see the two warriors jumping and striking as they tried to hit the alicorns, who were striking back with their own blades as they flew to the air. One of the warriors ceased his strikes and lifted a hand to the air, the purple alicorn gasping for a moment as she fell to the ground, the warrior striking her horn. She hissed in pain as her broken horn fell, the warrior raising his blade to strike. I grabbed the blade of the downed alicorn, turned it on and swung at the warrior, his torso splitting as I cut him in half.
I was knocked back against the wall again as Blood pinned me, looking me dead in the eyes. "Well, it was nice knowin' ya, old friend." Before she could strike at me, I mustered all my strength and smacked my head hard against hers, dazing the armored mare as she stumbled back. I took the advantage and spun my legs around, smacking her to the wall to my left. I sped towards her as I pulled the energy sword to me, impaling Blood in the chest as she gasped for air. I looked to Xenith again to see her punching Daff several times as he grunted with each hit, the zebra ending the fight by bucking Daff in the chin, his body flying into the air before hitting the ground, unmoving.
I looked up to see the blue alicorn striking the last warrior's blade with her own for a few more seconds until she brought up her shield, spinning the single blade as fast as a motorized fan. Her energy sword struck the warrior's several more times until it struck the hilt, the weapon shutting off as it split in two. The blue alicorn took the advantage and struck the now disarmed warrior, his body falling as he died.
I pulled the laser sword out of Blood's chest as she coughed, myself turning to face her as Xenith trotted up to us. "Ack-... Ju-just like at Fillydelphia...Ack! Except.... e-even better..." The former slave of Red Eye's Fillydelphia said as the light in her eyes went out, her body going limp as she passed. Out of respect for the dead, I shut her eyes, Xenith and I trotting over to the injured alicorn as the blue one spoke to her.
"Sister, are you alright?"
"I'm fine, but... my horn." The purple one said as her sister replied.
"We'll get you all fixed up when we return to the Harmony." As the green alicorn lowered her shield, she and my friends all trotted over to help our friend.
After Velvet put her alicorn friend's broken horn in her medical boxes, she looked at Blood and then to Daff for a moment before speaking to me. "You know those two?"
"Yes." Xenith said as she explained our story with them. "They were slaves in Fillydelphia, Littlepip encountered them during her mission there. Blood was killed in the first round of the Pit while I fought and defeated Daff with ease." Velvet nodded as she understood our relations to the two former slaves.
Steelhooves spoke up as I grabbed Daff in my magic and placed his body next to his fellow slave and friend. "Well, it's good that we've cleared the path, I believe now's our chance to reach the core. Littlepip, how far are we?"
I looked to my Pipbuck as I checked the map, we were only a few more minutes away from the center of the station! I smiled as I looked to my friends before speaking. "We're almost there! Just a little further, and we'll be stopping Red Eye in no time!"
"Awesome! But, one little thing Ah'd like t' ask." I nodded as Calamity pointed to the six cases of energy swords. "Can we take those with us?" I nodded as I grabbed all 15 hilts with my magic, the sound of glass breaking as I removed them from their slots and put them into my saddlebags. My Pipbuck revealed them to be "Lightsabers" as I looked at the one with the gun inside, my friends and I walking over to it was we examined it. It was a small pistol with a handle and a cylindrical section with glowing blue lines around it.
"What kinda gun is it?" Calamity asked as I pulled the gun out of its slot, six cylinders laying inside the case. I removed them and put them into my saddlebags as I replied to my friend.
"I have no idea, though I'm guessing we'll need it for what's coming next." I said as we made our way to the door at the end of the room, taking a look for patrols as we stood in front of it. Seeing no patrols, we made our way through the hallway, keeping our weapons at the ready. We we're going into the heart of the Star Forge now, and wherever that was at, that would be where Red Eye would confront us.