Chapter 17
“Pounding our hooves on the dank, greasy metal that made up the streets and sidewalks of Nar Shaddaa was incredibly painful at times. I recall many moments where I longed for the soft dirt roads and grassy plains of Ponyville which didn't hurt quite so much to run on. Of course, Ponyville didn't normally have people chasing me and my friends with the intent to sell us to the Empire, either.”
-Twilight Sparkle, On Extra-Galactic Voyages, p. 583
Panting and gasping for air, Twilight and Rarity burst from a crowd and collapsed next to the base of a large, broken down spire. Aliens stared at them as they caught their breath, happy to have a place to rest despite the black liquid which was dripping into a puddle next to them. They looked up as speeders raced through the air, fearful that one of the noisy contraptions would land and disgorge armed men to capture them.
After resting for several minutes, Twilight stood up and offered Rarity a hoof. “Come on,” she said. The white unicorn helped herself up and stood next to Twilight. Looking at her friend’s mane, Twilight winced. I hope she doesn’t get a good look at her hair any time soon.
“Let’s get out of here,” said Twilight. They turned and walked back into the crowds.
Neither of them noticed an armored figure watching them through the shadows.
-----
The two unicorns walked through the throng of aliens for several minutes before Twilight felt a tap on her shoulder. “Twilight, when is Junas going to talk to us on that little box thingy? I’m positively fed up with waiting on that human to find some way off this planet!”
Twilight looked back at her. “I don’t know, Rarity. I’m sure that he will let us know when he’s ready.”
“Well, I hope he’s ready soon. I don’t know if I can stand another minute in this dreadful place.”
Twilight shook her head. Rarity was a nice pony, but she could really get on one’s nerves with her complaining. However, Twilight was patient. She could ignore her friends’ quirks, especially in a place like this with all its wonders. Despite all that had happened, Twilight was always hungry for knowledge, a hunger that could never be sated. She was constantly making mental notes about the architecture and fauna of this universe, the sheer variety giving her a focus that took her attention away from the depressing nature of their situation.
She needed a short break from the walk, however. “Rarity, let’s stop for a second. I need to rest my hooves, and I really want to take some of this in while I can.”
“Alright, Twilight. I suppose I need to take a break myself.”
The purple unicorn smiled at her friend, then began admiring some beautiful metalwork on the side of a door that stood out due to its polished surface. It contrasted with the surrounding grime, drawing Twilight toward it.
She noticed something in its shiny surface.
Someone was watching them. The alien looked as tall as many humans, but wore green and red armor, with a helmet on his head that had some sort of antenna on it. The most frightening however were the reactions of those around him: anyone who saw him quickly got out of his way, a look of panic on their face.
She knew exactly what kind of person he was: a bounty hunter.
“Rarity.”
The ivory unicorn looked at her. “Yes?”
“Don’t look, but there’s someone following us.”
Instinct overrode reason as Rarity looked toward the alien.
“Rarity! I said don’t look!”
“Don’t look at what?”
Twilight frowned, then looked in the direction where she saw the armored alien. He was gone.
“Rarity, we need to get out of here now!”
As she turned to run, she saw a streak of flame through the air which was careening toward their position. Her eyes went wide with terror as the flame ended up in front of them and evaporated to reveal the armored figure. He pointed a blaster in their direction as he spoke. “Don’t move.”
Deep-rooted instinct however took over the ponies’ senses, and they bolted into the crowd, the blue rings of a stun shot missing them by mere centimeters.
-----
A low-flying starship shot through the alley, causing Celestia, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie to glance up at it. Celestia in particular wondered in annoyance if the pilot had chosen to imbibe something intoxicating before he stepped into the cockpit.
“Oh, I wish that we could find a nice place to visit for once, somewhere where we can lie down in some grass, and maybe have a nice tea party.”
“Oh Fluttershy, c’mon! We can have fun here if we want!”
The pegasus looked at her friend. “I don’t see how, Pinkie Pie.”
“Like this: I spy with my little eye something that begins with ‘a’.”
Fluttershy could only think of one thing. “Aliens?”
Pinkie beamed at her friend. “Correct-a-mundo! Your turn!”
The yellow pegasus glanced around nervously. “Um, okay. I spy . . . with my little eye . . . something that begins with – oof!”
Pinkie frowned in confusion. “I don’t think ‘oof’ is a letter, Fluttershy.”
The alien she ran into glanced down at her with multifaceted black eyes and an angry expression on his green, scaly face. “Oota gatra mego makacheesa?!”
Fluttershy backed away slowly, her fearful eyes locked on the hard face of the being. “Oh, I’m sorry, I was—”
“Som be chalay! K’upach! Mekato a-pa pampas!”
Fluttershy looked back and forth, her heart racing in a panic as the alien drew a blaster pistol.
Suddenly Pinkie Pie angrily popped up over the alien’s shoulder. “Hey! You can’t pick on my friends like that!”
The alien suddenly looked at her with surprise, wondering how the creature had suddenly appeared next to his head. “Gah? Ubana me hota?!” he said, punctuating his words by pointing his blaster at Pinkie Pie’s nose. She stopped her rant, then he shook her off and fired a warning shot next to her. As the duracrete rained down on the ponies, Fluttershy gasped, then shot angrily into the air and got right in the alien’s face. “Now listen here, mister! I may not understand what you’re saying, but I think you need to get your act together right now!”
The crowd around the alien started watching as the yellow pegasus lectured him.
“You might be bigger and tougher than me, but that doesn’t give you the right to hurt my friends!”
Snickers were heard in the crowd as many stopped and listened to the small creature giving the Rodian a piece of her mind. The alien for his part tried to maintain his tough-guy routine, but Fluttershy’s verbal barrage was leaving no quarter.
“And what would your mother think about you bullying helpless ponies? You think she would be proud of her son? You need to go home right now and think about what you’ve done.”
The alien, realizing that he looked like a coward for bullying the ponies and an idiot for not controlling his temper, growled out a few muffled curses, then strode off into the crowd. As Fluttershy calmed down, she was relieved to see several people start clapping at her bravery for standing up to the Rodian. Pinkie Pie then leaped up and wrapped her legs around Fluttershy’s neck in a heartfelt embrace, nearly choking her in the process. “Fluttershy, that was super duper amazing! It was like that time with the dragon! That was really cool when you got up in that mean guy’s face and let him have what for!”
The little pegasus blushed through her fur, looking up at Pinkie with a grateful expression. “I’m just glad he didn’t try to hurt you anymore.”
Celestia walked up and put her wing over Fluttershy with a kind expression. “You did very well, my subject. Defending your friends is one of the highest honors you can have in life.”
Fluttershy looked up at her ruler in humble adoration, then the three of them walked on through the crowds.
-----
“Just a few more minutes, preciouses. Yes!”
Rainbow Dash and Applejack watched as the alien ran around the house from cupboard to cupboard, gathering ingredients and dumping them in a large cast iron pot filled with some sort of greenish liquid. The contents of the cauldron boiled and churned, reminding the ponies of the potions that the zebra Zecora would create in her hut. The similarity was at once frightening and comforting, and was bolstered by the alien humming and chanting incantations in some old tongue.
He suddenly turned and looked at his houseguests, prompting the both of them to jump slightly. “My brew is coming finished, my preciouses! Yes, hmm. Nearly finished!”
Rainbow forced a smile as she gulped. “Heh, yeah. Thanks!”
The alien’s faceplates moved in the semblance of a smile. “It is my pleasure to serve the Master, my precious. Soon thou will know the joy of service to Master!”
The blue pegasus smiled and nodded, then when the alien’s back was turned she bent down and whispered to Applejack. “A.J., I think we should go. This guy is seriously creeping me out!”
“Ah know, Rainbow Dash,” whispered Applejack. “But we gotta get healed, and Ah don’t think we’re gonna get anyone better ta fix us up.”
Her words were punctuated by the sound of something plopping into the boiling pot. The alien smiled and hummed, tossing more and more ingredients into the boiling concoction. “Soon, yes. Soon, my precious. We must wait till soon!”
They both looked at each other, wondering what the alien meant, and then suddenly a large puff of smoke and a burst of purple flame belched out of the thick liquid in the pot. “Ah!” exclaimed the creature. “My brew is finished now, yes! Come, yes, my preciouses! Drink of it and know the power of the Master!”
Cautiously, the two ponies walked toward the cauldron, the alien beckoning them impatiently as they did. Then with excitement he grabbed two small goblets off a shelf hanging above the fire pit and ladled a small portion of the green, cloudy mixture into them. “Drink, my preciouses! Drink and be healed!”
Gulping nervously in unison, the ponies took the steaming cups of potion. Applejack stared down at her cup with nervousness, the smell of the liquid sending her stomach reeling. Rainbow Dash sniffed hers and had to force down her lunch.
“Drink, my ponies!”
The insistence of the alien was concerning, but realizing that they had little choice, they both gulped down the brew.
As soon as the contents of the goblets hit their stomachs, they both retched violently, but the desire to be healed won out and both of them managed to avoid vomiting.
Then a new sensation got their attention.
Applejack was the first to notice a peculiar burning in her shoulder where the Imperial laser blast had dug out a chunk of her flesh. She looked at her bandage as smoke started to pour from under it. She gritted her teeth as the wrapping burst into flame, the flesh beneath it glowing bright orange and belching smoke and flame.
She screamed and collapsed as the pain became unbearable. The sides of the wound slowly closed up, with small cinders flying up and away on the column of smoke. Her eyelids ached from being squeezed, her teeth from the clinching, and her throat from the screams that she was unable to control.
After an eternity of burning agony, the pain subsided, giving Applejack a desire to look at her back. She was amazed to discover that the wound was gone, with only a small patch of white skin where the charred flesh once was. “Well Ah’ll be a cored apple!” The words burned her raw throat, but the amazement was plain in her speech. She looked over to Rainbow Dash, who was sitting on the floor, her jaw dropped in amazement in spite of the tears of pain which still stained her cheeks.
“That . . .” The cerulean pegasus struggled to find the words to describe her feelings. “That . . . was . . . awesome!”
The alien clasped his clawed hands and emitted a buzzing sound that carried a distinctly happy tone. “Good, my ponies! Good! Master will certainly be pleased!”
Rainbow chuckled nervously. “Yeah, well it’s been real, but we gotta get going.”
Suddenly the alien’s demeanor changed.
“Go? No, ponies, no. There is no go.”
Dash looked at Applejack, who cocked an eyebrow at the alien. “What’re you getting’ at, mister?”
“Thou must complete thy pledge to Master, yes!”
A chill swept over Applejack and Rainbow Dash. The pegasus gulped. “Pledge?”
“Yes,” intoned the alien. “Thy flesh being made whole, thou must now sacrifice to thy new Master, for only whole flesh is acceptable to Master!”
Their hearts racing, the two ponies began backing away toward the entrance to the alien’s hovel, only to feel resistance where the doorway should have been.
Rainbow whipped around, feeling the black energy wall with her hooves. “Hey! What gives?!”
The pinprick eyes of the alien gleamed dementedly. “My door is only one way, precious. One way, yes. Thou may enter, but Master requires sacrifices of thy flesh, so I provide no exit for thee.”
With quickness that surprised and terrified the ponies, the alien reached out his clawed hands and grabbed their throats with an iron grip that not even Applejack, with her earth-pony strength, could break.
He drew them toward his face, his mouthparts sliding around unsettlingly into a wicked grin.
“And now, my preciouses . . . it is time for thy sacrifice . . .”
He drew them even closer.
“Yes . . .”
-----
Laser blasts flew through the air and blasted chunks of duracrete out of buildings in front of Twilight and Rarity as they ran full tilt through the crowds. Gravel and steel chunks rained down on them, threatening to blind their eyes and crush their spines.
Weaving and dodging through the streets, they searched for reprieve from the pursuing bounty hunter.
“Twilight! We’ve got to stop him somehow!”
The purple unicorn agreed, but she didn’t see a way out.
Their hooves pounded the streets, their manes illuminated by the holosigns they passed as they ran desperately. Heat from laser bolts was felt as they dodged aliens and ducked under low-flying droids.
Twilight looked back to see the bounty hunter flying through the air on his jetpack, a blaster pistol leveled at her head. She ducked just in time to avoid being speared by the red-hot blast of energy, then angrily fired one of her own. The armored man easily dodged the magical wave of purple energy and returned fire.
Suddenly he pulled back, which caused the unicorns to whip around out of curiosity. They looked in horror as the man ducked his head to reveal a rocket on his backpack. The missile shot out on a column of white-hot flame, racing over their heads and impacting a low-hanging bridge over the alley they were running through.
Twilight watched in disbelief as the structure collapsed into the street, the rubble providing just enough of an impediment to stop the ponies dead in their tracks.
They looked desperately for an exit as the bounty hunter swooped in on a column of hot flame, then alighted in front of them, holding his arm out like a weapon. “Don’t move, ponies,” he said through his filtered helmet.
Twilight saw that the gauntlet he was pointing at them had a small cone-shaped device on top. She guessed that it was a small missile. Her options limited, she lowered herself into a fighting stance.
The bounty hunter bowed his head toward them menacingly, his right hand moving up to touch a stud on the side of his gauntlet. “Don’t try it.”
She pawed at the ground and snorted, then began charging a spell.
“Your funeral.”
With a small beep, the rocket flew off the man’s wrist.
Twilight was counting on that.
As soon as the small warhead was ignited she threw up a force field in front of the bounty hunter. He barely had time to put up an armored hand to protect his face as the small charge impacted the force field and exploded, sending a pulse of stun energy outward and enveloping the armored man.
Before the blue glow of the stun wave dissipated, Rarity and Twilight had already ascended the pile of rubble behind them and run into the stunned crowds on the other side.
-----
“You really have a way with people, Junas!”
Spike and Junas wove back and forth to throw off the aim of the angry bar patrons, the stray blasts heating the air and filling it with the smell of ozone.
“Can I help it if he took issue with the fact that I’m Corellian?”
The little dragon rolled his eyes as he hopped over a freshly blasted chunk of duracrete.
When the street in front of them was clear, Junas took a moment to look at the comlink in his hand. He had programmed it beforehand to let him know where the ponies were at all times so he could keep track of them while he looked for a ship, and now that he had one he needed to round them up so they could get off this rock. Strangely, one of the blips had disappeared altogether, which would only happen if one of the groups was out of range.
But the range was many thousands of kilometers, which the ponies couldn’t have traveled in the short amount of time they had been on Nar Shaddaa.
The concern spread on his face, which Spike noticed. “Junas? You okay?”
He shook his head. “I don’t know.”
A blast of red laser energy flew past his head.
“Let’s just ditch these guys, Spike.”
-----
Several twists and turns later, Junas finally lost his pursuers when they realized that it wasn’t worth the trouble to chase him all across the face of the moon. As Spike leaned against a wall in the dirty alley Junas had managed to find, the human scout examined his comlink.
A small round screen dominated the top of the little device, and on it was displayed a small map with three little blips, indicating the position of all the groups.
All but one.
The blip which was supposed to represent Rainbow Dash and Applejack was absent, which meant they were in some location where comlinks were disabled.
This was disconcerting.
The only reason someone would want to completely disable comlinks was if they were hiding something, and A.J. and Dash were not trying to hide themselves from Junas. He doubted they even knew how to turn off the passive transmitter.
This meant a comm-shield was in place.
“Spike,” he said, looking down on his little companion. The dragon looked up amid his panting.
“I think Applejack and Rainbow Dash are in trouble.”
-----
Crude leather straps rendered Rainbow Dash and Applejack immobile on the rusted, fluid-stained table they were strapped to. When they had tried to gnaw them off, their alien captor had put a metal frame on their heads.
“We mustn’t try to escape, preciouses. No, no escape. The Master will not be pleased.”
Applejack strained her eyes to look at the creature hovering over them as he moved about to gather the tools for his gruesome task. “Doncha think ya’ll need ta check with ‘im first? Mebbe he don’t even want ponies.”
“But thou pledged thyself to Master. He accepted thy sacrifice when he healed thee, precious.”
The ponies struggled to find some reason, any reason for the alien to let them go, but they palpably felt the time moving inexorably toward the terrible fate that awaited them.
Finally the alien stopped moving about and pushed a rattling cart between the two tables upon which the ponies laid. Applejack looked at the cart and stifled a scream.
Laid out in exacting order was a set of what had to be surgical tools. Below the top surface of the cart, a set of jars with alien text on them resided, and Applejack suspected they were organ jars for some sort of ritualistic sacrifice.
Her heart raced as the alien started to pray in a strange dialect. Panic set in as she imagined what the alien was about to do and the fact that she and Rainbow were powerless to stop it.
The fact that she had no way of escaping this creature they had so foolishly trusted was what really frightened her.
She desperately hoped that her friends would somehow know they were in trouble and come and rescue them, but reality prevailed and told her that because nobody knew they were in trouble, nobody would come to rescue them until it was too late.
As she thought with dread about her hopeless situation, she heard the alien finish his prayer with relish. He breathed a sigh of relief.
“Now, my precious,” he said, looking at Applejack. “Let us begin the glorious sacrifice that thou might be one with the Master.”
-----
After fiddling with the comlink’s display for a few minutes, Junas had configured it to display the last known position of Applejack and Rainbow Dash and was walking toward the signal.
Spike was walking beside him, twiddling his fingers worriedly. “Junas, do you think we’ll find them?”
“Well, we’ll find out where they were last. I’m pretty sure they’re still there, because the signal hasn’t emerged from the com-shield.” He decided against mentioning that the lack of signal from the comlink might mean that they were captured by the Empire or slavers, or that they were dead, but he figured it would be better not to get Spike worked up with worry.
He strongly hoped that was not the case as he wended his way through the crowded streets toward the blip on the map.
-----
“Gaaah!!”
Applejack gritted her teeth as the alien sliced gingerly into her side.
“Please! Stop!”
He continued his gruesome task. Blood from the incision started to pool under the orange pony as the creature finished his initial cut.
As he put his tool away, Applejack watched as he ran his finger over the instruments on the cart, as though he were unsure which one to use.
“Hmm. Many choices there are, little one. But I shall find the correct one, yes.”
Rainbow Dash was still struggling, rubbing her legs raw against the leather. “You leave her alone! If I get outta here, I’m gonna buck your face in!”
The alien paid no attention to her.
“Ah!” He picked up a small electronic device with a tiny aperture on the tip. Flicking it on, the ponies saw that it was a miniature plasma torch with a very fine, focused beam. Rainbow Dash watched as the alien held the beam to the wound, cauterizing it. The flesh sizzled as the heat forced blood vessels shut in an effort to stem the bleeding. Through it all, Applejack’s eyes were squeezed shut, the pain bringing her to tears.
Please, she silently pleaded. Let someone find us.
-----
Junas and Spike looked into a dark alley set between two buildings, the last known location of Applejack and Rainbow Dash. Junas’ spine chilled a bit at the sight of the place. Something didn’t feel right about it, but he couldn’t quite place the feeling.
“Are you sure they went in here?” Spike’s voice trembled.
“Yeah, this is the place. I don’t know why they would end up in here, though. Looks like the last place you’d go in any situation.”
The scout examined the walls around him for clues as to the ponies’ whereabouts, hoping to spot something. Soon he saw a vaguely familiar logo located on the arch above a black hole in the wall. Something about it sparked trepidation.
Spike noticed him focus on the arch. “You find something?”
“Yeah,” he said, pointing at the strange symbol. “I’ve seen this somewhere before, but I’ll be damned if . . .”
Squinting, he got a closer look at it, then his eyes went wide. “Oh god.”
-----
“Ah. Thy flesh is good, little one! Yes! Very good! Master will surely be pleased with thy sacrifice.”
Applejack barely heard any of what the alien was saying. All she could think about was the searing pain in her side where the alien was examining her innards. She was feeling faint, she guessed from the blood loss and shock. Please, she thought. Anypony . . . please . . .
While she pleaded to anyone who might hear her thoughts, the alien had found an extraction tool. He paused, then bent down to look Applejack in the face with a macabre grin. The orange pony looked up at him with pleading eyes and whispered, “I’m beggin’ ya . . . please stop . . .”
The alien either didn’t hear her or didn’t care.
“Soon, my precious. Soon thou shall be one with Master!”
Applejack started openly weeping. Rainbow Dash had watched all this, having stopped her struggling against the iron grip of the leather straps, and was crying right along with her friend. She watched as the alien bent close to Applejack’s incision, savoring every moment of his sick, twisted ritual.
He raised the extractor.
Before he began his gruesome task, a large metal pipe violently knocked the instrument from his hand, shattering his exoskeleton in the process. As green fluid leaked from the wound, the creature whipped around to see what had stopped his ritual, only to come face to face with Junas and Spike.
He started to go for a blaster hidden in the wall, but Junas raised the pipe in an attack stance.
“Go for it and you’ll have to deal with more than a broken wrist. Let them go.”
The alien considered his options, then his face contorted into a sinister scowl. “The Master will not be pleased with thou interrupting my ritual.”
“He can take it up with the Rebel Alliance.”
The alien growled a curse, but then moved to loosen the harnesses holding Applejack and Rainbow Dash to the metal tables. The pegasus tensed her body. Before he could react, she whipped around and bucked him in the face hard enough to knock him unconscious. The pegasus looked down at the collapsed alien with a positively evil expression, then sniffed and wiped her tears away. “I told you I’d buck your sorry face in.”
She turned to look at Junas. “Thanks, buddy. We owe you one.”
But he wasn’t paying attention to her. He was leaned over Applejack, examining the incision in her side. “He really did a number on you, A.J.” Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a small medical kit. Rainbow watched as he delicately sewed the wound up with a needle and thread, then applied a bandage. “That will have to do until we can get to a bacta tank.”
Hoisting Applejack up and over his shoulder, her blood staining his tunic, he turned and grabbed the blaster the alien had hid in the wall cabinet, then pointed it at the one-way force field and fired. The bolt blew out the power relays, dropping the shield, and Junas strode out with Spike and Dash in tow.
“Let’s go,” he said, then pulled out a comlink.
-----
Twilight and Rarity were in the middle of navigating a small maze of parked speederbikes when they heard a beeping from the comlink. Twilight picked it up and hit the comm. key. “Yes?”
“Twilight, it’s Junas. Listen, I found a ship. Where should I meet you?”
The unicorn looked around, but didn’t see anything that might be used as a landmark. “I don’t know. Do you want me to use my magic to show you where I am?”
“I don’t think so. Just wait there. I can see you on my screen and I’ll meet you where you are now.”
She nodded. “Alright. I’ll see you in a few minutes.”
“Junas, out.” The comlink chirped as the human terminated the transmission. Rarity moved up alongside her. “Do you think we’ll be at the Rebel Alliance soon, Twilight?”
Her friend shook her head. “I don’t know, Rarity. I think so, but we can’t be too sure.”
Rarity nodded. “Well, I hope this ship we’re getting has something resembling a bathtub. I need to soak for a week to get the smell of this place out of my coat.”
-----
After meeting with Twilight and Rarity, then picking up Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy and Celestia, Junas and Spike led the way to the place where he had laid Applejack down. The grungy alley looked like it hadn’t been touched in years, which Twilight guessed was the reason Junas picked it. As they walked up to Junas’ hiding place Rainbow flew out from behind a crate, a fierce expression on her face. “Touch her and I’ll—oh, it’s you guys.”
“Hey Rainbow,” said Junas. “How’s our patient?”
She visibly swallowed a lump in her throat. “Not good. She’s lost a lot of blood.”
“What?!” exclaimed Twilight, who rushed to her friend’s side. The orange pony was sleeping, but when Twilight walked up to her the sound of hooves on pavement awakened her. She smiled weakly at the unicorn, who was suppressing tears at how pale and weak Applejack looked. “Oh, hey Twilight.”
“Applejack, are you alright?”
“Dunno . . . Ah don’t think Ah’m gonna be ridin’ in any rodeos any time soon.”
Twilight blinked a tear away, then forced a smile. “Don’t worry, everything will be fine.”
“Ah hope so, sugar cube.”
With that, Applejack laid her head back down on the makeshift bed. Twilight was ready to scream about how unfair this whole situation was, but right now the team needed a leader.
“Let’s go, everypony. We need to get to that ship before the bounty hunters on this planet find us.”
They all nodded, then Twilight levitated Applejack and led them out of the alley.
-----
“About how far is the hangar from here?”
Junas looked at his holographic map reader, the back at Twilight. “About half a klick. We should be there in a few minutes.”
The group was walking calmly down a winding street that was next to an enormous chasm which stretched for miles. Crowds of aliens thronged around them, but their presence was betraying no ill will from the denizens of the city-planet. Still, Twilight felt like somebody was watching their every move, silently biding their time until the ponies let their guard down. She hoped that a feeling was what it would stay.
The street soon gave way to a large outdoor plaza, with two enormous, dilapidated towers in the middle of the courtyard. Twilight followed the lines of the towers with her eyes, watching as they stretched into the heavens. It might have been a beautiful sight at one point.
Suddenly running into an alien, Twilight nearly lost her grip on Applejack. She looked up at the large creature apologetically. “I’m sorry, sir.”
The bulky man leveled a blaster at her. “Not yet.”
Out of the corner of her eye, Twilight saw two more large men with guns step out of the crowds.
The first man gestured with his gun. “You’re coming with me, pony.”
He reached out to grab her mane. Before his hand got within six inches of her hair, she whipped around and bucked him in the kneecap, sending him reeling back in pain. The other two fared no better, having been on the receiving end of Rainbow Dash’s hooves and Junas’ blaster pistol.
Before the thugs could recover, the group bolted.
-----
The metal and duracrete vibrated as the group raced through the streets of Nar Shaddaa, red bolts of death lancing overhead. It was all they could do to avoid being skewered by those deadly beams of energy as they dodged people and technological outcroppings.
Jump. Duck. Weave. Duck again.
Twilight decided she had just about had enough of running, especially in a world which seemed to avoid smoothness in every conceivable way.
She leaped over a large pipe in the road, her hooves crashing into the ground on the other side. The others were keeping neck and neck with her.
So were the thugs.
More red beams lanced out, and Twilight maneuvered Applejack out of their way.
“Twilight!”
The cry came from Spike.
She whipped her head around and saw that he had tripped, and now one of the thugs was carrying him away. The unicorn came to a full stop, but Junas held her firm.
“What are you doing?! Let go of me!”
“Twilight, they’re after you as well!”
Tears streamed down her cheeks. “But he needs me!”
Rarity had caught up to them. “Junas! Let me go after him!”
“I can’t. They want him alive or else they would have shot him. I’m not going to lose any more of you!”
Twilight struggled a moment more, but the pounding of boots on pavement brought her back to the reality of the situation.
They continued on, pain wracking their legs and guilt churning in their stomachs.
-----
A large spacecraft blasted hot air down on the group as they neared Zackis Docks. The smell of grease and burnt metal greeted them. Junas held out his hand. “You guys better let me talk to the dock master.” Walking up to the main entrance, the Zabrak dock master met him at the vestibule.
“This is private property of the Zackis shipping corporation. State your business.”
Junas holstered his blaster. “I’m here for a ship.”
The shifty man squinted his eyes. “What makes you think you can find one here?”
Junas gave him a cocky half grin. “Davorak sent me.”
“Davorak, eh?” The man shook his head. “He didn’t tell you he still had ships working this port, did he?”
A sinking feeling materialized in Junas’ stomach. “As a matter of fact he did.”
“Yeah, well, don’t look so depressed. He ran out of here with what was left of his shipping fleet earlier today. Bastard didn’t even give me the rent he owed me for taking care of those sorry crates he called ships.”
Junas looked apologetic. “I don’t suppose you have a ship I might use.”
The Zabrak put a finger to his chin. “I might. For the right price, of course.”
Junas scowled. “You’re kidding.”
“What?”
“I’m left high and dry on this stinking moon with a wounded friend and bounty hunters on my tail, and you want to talk money?”
The alien held up his hands. “Hey! I didn’t know about all that. But I need to make back what that nerf herder owes me, and I ain’t gonna deal unless I get what’s mine!”
Junas gestured pleadingly. “But I don’t have that kind of . . .”
Suddenly he had a thought. “Wait right here.”
He jogged back to Pinkie Pie. “Hey Pinks, you still have that credit chit you got on Lahopa II?”
“Yesserie-bob, Junas! Right here!” The pink party pony produced the holographic card.
“Pinkie, when this is all over, I owe you a party.”
He turned around before he could see Pinkie Pie rocket into the air in an explosion of happiness.
-----
The money contained on the card was more than enough to cover the expenses. Unfortunately, after paying off the debt, the only thing they were able to buy out of the abandoned ships at the dock was an old Subpro JS-77B shuttle. But with thugs pounding the pavement after them they weren’t in a position to argue.
The small ship lifted off from the planet just before a group of armed men burst into the Zabrak dock master’s office and took their anger out on his head.
-----
Cold.
Spike awoke to find himself shivering, but realized that he was not physically cold. The chill had come from within, as though the place he had been taken to was draining the very life from his body.
He opened his eyes.
The room he was in was blue-black, and striped.
No. The stripes were metal bars.
Frightened, he stood up and blasted the bars with his fire breath, but they didn’t even glow when he finished.
A low chuckle filled his heart with dread.
He turned in the direction of the laugh and saw nothing but shadow.
The shadow spoke.
“I’m afraid you won’t be able to penetrate the durasteel bars holding you there, my little purple friend.”
“Don’t listen to him, Spike!” Spike looked away toward a large, round cage with glowing elements in it which cast a pale blue glow on the surrounding black metalwork. Inside the cage stood Princess Luna with a worried expression on her face.
“Princess Luna!” exclaimed Spike.
“Yes . . .” said the shadow coyly. “Your princess is here, little dragon. And soon, the rest of your friends will join her.”
For a moment the knowledge of his friends coming to rescue him filled him with hope, only for the hope to come crashing down as he realized that the voice meant that his friends would likely be captured or killed.
The thought was depressing enough that it caused his eyes to well up.
“Oh, my poor child. You needn’t worry. I have no intention of killing your friends.”
The dragon looked up at the shadow.
“In fact, you should rejoice.” The shadow’s voice lowered to an almost sensual whisper. “I have great plans for you and your friends.”
A confused expression took over Spike’s face. “Plans?”
“Yes . . .” the voice continued. “You and your companions will be the last link in the chain I will use to strangle the Rebellion once and for all.”