The cantina was loud and bustling. Ponies of all shapes and sizes were mingling idly. There were ponies blasting music from the stage along with many, obviously drunken, ponies dancing wildly. There were hooded ponies selling stims and other drugs outside the entrance. The whole atmosphere was musty and many ponies seemed on the brink of fighting.
“Beautiful isn't it?” Archangel asked. “looks like a lot of fun!” Final replied cheerily. Even being apart of the exchange she had never really been inside cantinas many bar managers let underage ponies in, but due to Final’s naturally small frame she would never have been let in. besides she never really had a purpose to go inside. All the noises were knew to Final and she wanted to hear them all.
The two mares trotted over to the counter.The bar tender immediately questioned Final due to her small frame. Final moved to retrieve her holo-I.D. from her bag but Archangel stopped her.
“She’s with me. she is old enough and don’t question it.” Archangel said calmly to the bar tender. The bar tender looked terrified that he had just crossed a Maredalorian. He knew all to well that it was the last mistake that many people made when dealing with them.
“Extremely sorry miss didn’t mean to upset you.” The bar tender pony said while getting two glasses out for Archangel and Final. Archangel took a seat and motioned for Final to do the same
“So what do you want, its on me.” Archangel said looking over a menu. Final peeked over the side of the menu looking at the choices. She was already very fond of zap apple cider, so hard zap apple cider was a good place to start. Archangel ordered a glass of java juice.
Final toke a sip of her drink. It brought a warm feeling about her and it tasted just as good as Zap apple cider. She looked around the cantina observing the other patrons of the bar. She made note of a group of cloaked figures in the corner of the room. the music filled her ears it was loud but enjoyable. She continued to sip her drink thinking idly of what her and Archangel could do after they talked to the Chancellor about the war. She didn’t realize it at first but she felt at home in dangerous situations and liked the adrenaline they gave.
Final and Archangel trotted over to a corner of the room so they could talk in private. Final had seen a troubled look on Archangel’s face and realized her friend needed to talk about something. At first Final thought it was about the cloaked ponies but quickly realized this was a personal thing that she just needed to get off her chest.
“Listen Final I’ve got something to tell you and its gonna be hard for you to hear and I’m not exactly loving the idea of telling this story, but its time I told you.” Archangel said “Sure anything Archangel.” Final said wondering what her friend was getting at.
“I knew your mother, it was very short and sad but I knew her for a time.” Archangel began. The first sentence had Final hooked on Archangel’s every word “It was back in the Maredalorian wars near the beginning. It was my last battle in that war, If you could even call it a battle. Kex was ordering the destruction of the planet and all of the people on it. I was leader of the Guardian Angel an elite group of Maredalorian snipers.” Archangel explained. Final nodded she had knowledge of the Guardian Angels like most people but wasn’t sure if any of them were still around.
“Kex ordered us to keep watch and kill any one who opposed us. All the other squads started open firing my particular squad however held our fire. We actually cared about who we were killing. Your mom was a jedi Serving with the republic to destroy the Maredalorians. She was on the planet when Kex ordered us to open fire. I had the iconic armor of the leader of the Angels so she went after my squad.” Archangel continued. Final was taken aback by the news of her mother and was now more than ever listening to Archangel’s story fearful of how it could play out Archangel was here and as far as she knew her mother wasn’t.
“My squad never fired a shot but your mom knew if the Maredlorian leaders died the ranks would quickly become confused and disorientated. She had half my quad taken down by the time I had even turned around. She knocked it down to the two of us in a second, she was impossibly fast. She knew of the decision matches of Maredalorians and she requested peacefully for a chance to best me or die. We fought for the better part of an hour, back and forth no one really gaining ground over the other.” Archangel continued. Final was completely engrossed in the story picturing it in her mind as Archangel described it.
“After that long period of time i seemed to be able to, well focus better. I saw her moves coming and deflected them. We were both extremely tired after fighting for so long and i could see it in your mom. After a short time I got a cut in on her side. At this time we had a small crowd of Maredalorians. They knew not to interfere with the match. At that point I sheathed my sword and started walking away.I got a glimpse of Kex moving at the last second. I got my sword in the way of hers at the last second. The match was mine and I decided to spare her and I was not going to let Kex kill her in cold blood and then spread tales that she could kill jedis. I challenged Kex to a match right then and there. Normally if someone challenges the Alpha mare and wins they are declared Alpha mare. No one challenged Kex because she ruled by fear not by example. Many people were taken aback by my challenge, especially you mother.” Archnagel said focusing on the memory. Final nodded, great full for the news that Archangel didn’t kill her mother.
“Kex accepted, she was confident she could win after the battle I just had. However the battle went on the opposite for her. That scare on her eye and the one along side her entire body? They were both caused during that battle. I had Knocked Kex’s sword off the cliff we were on and I held my sword up to her neck. I didn’t however expect her damn quartermaster to interfere, just like she did on Dxun. She bucked me in the ribs and then stomped on my fetlock to make sure i couldn’t stand.Then th-then...” Archangel’s voice trailed off tears forming in her eyes. Final stared at her friend feeling that she was pained by the memory
“You don’t have to finish if you can’t.” Final said trying to calm Archangel “No no. I told you so I’ll tell you. It wouldn’t be fair if I just choked up half-way through. They forced me to watch as they beat you mother within inches of death. Then they toke my sword and ran her through with it. They cleared out as if nothing had happened. I crawled over to your mother when I heard her voice calling to someone. She was calling to me actually. She handed me a holotape and was only able to speak the word “please” before she died.” with the final words Archangel broke into sobs that racked her entire body. Tears were streaming down Final’s face as she hugged her friend
“Thank you for telling me the truth.” Final said into Archangel’s ear. Archangel answered with a nod. The bar tender picked that time to bring a glass of hard zap apple cider to the table “I didn’t order a second drink.” Final said wiping her tear stained face. “Courtesy of the gentleman over there the bar tender said pointing over to the now uncloaked ponies. “Said it looked like you could use it.” the bar tender siad backing away
Final nodded her thanks and took a long draft from the drink. She insistently felt light headed and woozy. The world spun around her and she struggled to kept the contents of her stomach down. She knew that this was a different feeling than being drunk. She was drugged! She looked over at the ponies who sent her the drink just in time to notice the blasters they were pulling out.
Final tackled Archangel to the floor just in time to avoid the onslaught of blaster shots that were being fired from the cloaked men. Final waited to get up until the blasters were done shooting.she drew the lightsaber as she stood up and held it in front of her face. She wavered slightly on her feet as the drug was still taking effect.
“Oh look a drunk filly with a lightsaber! maybe she will barf on us to death.” One of the hooded men laughed “You drugged me.” Final managed. Talking toke a great effort on her part. She took the conversation as time to focus on on of the ponies to stopped the world from spinning. It worked effectively from Final to the point were everything was solid.
“Of course we drugged you we planned on killing you so why not drug you for a little fun?” One of them answered. With that one drew a lightsaber and the other two vibroswords. Archangel was next to Final at this point her vibrosword drawn too. The one with a lightsaber stepped towards Final while the other two walked towards Archangel. The pony danced around Final but Final was focused now ready for a fight. The pony jabbed at her with his weapon and Final blocked it easily. The pony seemed to realize that Final had regained her control and backed away slightly.
Final saw a blue light emanating from the earth ponies head. Then lightning shot out at Final and she intercepted it with the lightsaber she was holding. The electricity coursed throughout the blade as if it was apart of it. Final began to attack gradually with the now deadlier weapon she held. With each blow she landed the pony seemed to weaken. However she felt herself gradually weaken with each strike as it she was holding the lightning in the blade. She felt that she should let the electricity got but she just didn’t know how. As she thought of a way the saber did it for her it shot the lightning from its blade into to three ponies that had attacked her and Archangel. They convulsed heavily and then went rigged and died. Archangel stared at Final in disbelieve and in thanks as the two ponies she was fighting were beginning to were her down gradually hit after hit
“I think its time we paid the chancellor a visit don’t you?” Archangel asked