Throwing herself into an alien abduction beam thing was probably the most ill-advised idea that Rarity had ever thought of. The other option, however, was just letting her diamond - the gem she desperately needed in order to return home - get abducted with Teal Jack and his gang.
At least she had asked Frank before charging in with him on her back. His insistence on going along was not what Rarity had expected, but she was grateful to not have to go alone.
However, as the bright light lifted them into the air, Rarity realized the true reason Frank might have agreed to this plan. If she disappeared, he would be stuck in the middle of the desert without a mount or any of his supplies. He had no other choice but to go along for the ride.
A moment of guilt over dragging him into this situation passed, but Rarity didn’t have any choice, either. This might be her only shot at saving herself.
The familiar, but still very disconcerting feeling of being hauled inside the spacecraft passed, and the two of them found themselves once again standing in a small metal room. Teal Jack and his gang were fortunately not present, although it wasn’t obvious where they had gone.
Frank stepped out of the saddle and drew his pistol. Rarity unholstered her guns and gave them a quick check.
With any luck, these aliens hadn’t gotten the message about the dangers of picking up strange life forms. Frank and Rarity moved carefully, watching for any signs of life.
The room was different than in the last ship. It was larger, fitting, as the entire ship was larger than the last. The only entrance seemed to a single panel on the wall. However, when Frank touched it or Rarity used her magic, a small light would glow red beside the door and it would stoically refuse to open.
“Well, this is a fine mess,” Frank muttered. His gun hung limply, but he didn’t stow it away just yet.
Rarity nodded in agreement. “I suppose so.”
There was a moment of silence. Frank had just opened his mouth to speak again when a faint scream carried through the air. It was impossible to hear the direction it had come from, but it sounded like a man.
Frank immediately tensed. Rarity’s ears flicked with worry. The noise was not repeated, and that was perhaps more ominous than if it had been.
There was another faint sound, this one coming from directly outside the room’s door. The small light changed to green.
Frank and Rarity had both flattened themselves against the wall before the door opened. A long, unearthly shadow spread across the floor from the light outside. That was all Rarity needed to act.
She whipped one of her guns forward, pistol-whipping the alien across what passed as its face. Staggered, the creature reeled back and Frank leveled his gun. BANG
The two of them advanced into the hallway, pleased to be free of their captivity. They both stepped carefully over the dead alien, Frank pausing to kick its shiny weapon away from its appendage. One could never be too sure.
The layout of this spaceship was different. Carefully moving with their guns out, Frank and Rarity swept down the hallway. It ended in a small room that was lined with glass prison cells. Or they would have been, had this been a prison and had it been made of earthly materials.
Frank’s jaw tightened as he saw each member of the abducted gang sprawled in their respective containments. Most had tubes or wires protruding grotesquely from their bodies. Some were missing clothing. Some were missing limbs.
A jarring churn of his stomach nearly brought Frank to his knees. Rarity took a quick step forward and braced her shoulder against Frank’s hip as he swayed.
A deep breath seemed to steady him. Frank shook his head. “This is wrong. What sons of bitches would do something like this? You can do a lot to a man, but this is just plain against nature.”
Rarity had faced all manner of magic and maniacs during her service with the Elements of Harmony. She had never seen anything quite like the scene before her, but at least she had some idea that it could happen. “Frank, you need to come around. The same will happen to us if we don’t stay sharp.”
He nodded and squared his shoulders. “I reckon so. Let’s...see what we can do.”
The two of them slowly reviewed the captives. Most didn’t stand a hope of salvation. At the end of the line of cells was Teal Jack Smith, and despite the wounds on his body and the equipment attached to him, he was breathing.
Frank smacked the butt of his gun on the transparent material that blocked the entrance of the cell. There was a dull thunk, but no visible effect.
Rarity stepped back as Frank aimed his pistol. He was positioned off to the side, so any ricochets would fly away down the hall. Just in case, he raised an arm and shielded his eyes while he pulled the trigger.
The bullet smacked into the barrier and left a small scuff on it. Astonished, Frank raised the gun and emptied it. The result was barely anything progress at all.
“What shall we do?” Rarity asked, raising her voice over their ringing ears.
Frank paused, and then stepped towards her, reaching for the Sharps rifle hanging in the saddle scabbard. He ran his hands over the weapon and then took one of the enormous shells out of the saddlebag, loading it.
“If you would do the honors?” Frank handed the weapon over. Rarity nodded and held the rifle perpendicular to the transparent pane so the bullet would transfer the maximum amount of force. She backed away several steps for safety.
The rifle going off was like a cannon, and the .50-90 round delivered a 600-grain punch. No glass could have survived the strike, and the clear wall only fared slightly better. Spiderweb cracks spread across the surface, and Rarity was able to exploit the weakness, using magic to bend the pane and push it out of its frame.
Frank knelt beside Teal Jack, touching his shoulder. The man’s eyes fluttered open, although that was probably more due to the gunshot than anything. He murmured something.
“Speak up,” Frank demanded.
Teal Jack’s eyes went past Frank, focusing on the mare behind him. “That one...stole my hat.”
“You stole my diamond,” she retorted.
Teal Jack appeared to consider the idea of a unicorn talking to him and apparently disregarded it as less interesting than what else had happened recently. He moved his hand, although it was restrained by a tangle of wires that looked like the guts of Satan’s telegraph. He tried the other hand, managing to get into his coat pocket and retrieve the large gem Rarity had been after for so many miles.
She took it, giving the diamond a discerning examination. Despite a little lint, it still looked all right.
The wounded man made a small noise and broke into a coughing fit that wracked his whole body. Drops of blood appeared on his lips.
He drew a stuttering breath and looked at Frank. “Dan down there has some dynamite. Those...things open the windows with a touch.”
Frank thought he understood. The aliens didn’t seem to carry keys, so the barriers must be operated some other way. He started to get up, but Rarity knelt close to Teal Jack.
“Is there anything else?” she asked gently.
The effort of speaking seemed to drain Teal Jack even further. “This is not how I expected things to happen.”
Rarity nodded. Teal Jack closed his eyes and a few seconds later he stopped breathing.
“I suppose that’s that,” Rarity said quietly. She got up. Frank went with her back to the dead alien and they stood over it for a moment.
Frank took out his knife and offered it to her. “Would you do the honors?”
“Why can’t you?” she asked, nose wrinkling.
“You don’t have to actually touch it.”
Rarity sighed in resignation, taking the knife. With a quick movement, she cut off the end of the alien’s forelimb. Carrying it back to the cells, it was quick work to use the severed appendage to open the doors.
None of the others could be saved. It was grim work, picking through the remains of men. They did find a stick of dynamite, however.
The fuse was short, perhaps only a few seconds of burn. They had matches to light it, but a worthy target would be desirable.
Rarity could have teleported out at any time with the diamond, but she shared Frank’s feeling that something needed to be done about this extraterrestrial injustice. And, she realized with creeping dread, she didn’t know if it was possible to take Frank with her.
But while they were still together, she was going to make the most of it. The two of them left the cells behind, searching for a place to stick the dynamite.
There were a few unnatural pieces of equipment to be seen. They passed into another long hallway that had a window halfway down. Frank and Rarity both paused to gaze outside, or as much as it could be called that. Most of the field of view was a solid cloud of stars. Vaguely near the bottom of the window a small blue ball could be seen.
Rarity gasped. “We’re very far from the planet.”
The idea of traveling away from Earth was highly unsettling to Frank, and he fought to keep from thinking about what that might mean for his future life expectancy. They still had a job to do.
Approaching the end of the hallway, a door suddenly slid open to reveal Teal Jack Smith. He looked healthy, whole, and aggressive. He was also stark naked and held one of the alien weapons.
Frank and Rarity both had their guns up and firing before the door was properly open. The figure at the end of the hallway jerked, spurts of green blood going on the walls as it fell.
“Oh my,” Rarity exclaimed. “Is this why they’ve been capturing people? To impersonate them?”
Frank’s lip curled in disgust and he shoved the body out of the doorway with his boot. “I say we light this dynamite now and aim for the window. I can’t think of any other weak points.”
Rarity hesitated for a moment and then nodded. Frank gave her the explosive and a box of matches. He hauled the limp body of the disguised alien up, positioning its hand near the door’s activation area.
Lighting the fuse, Rarity tossed the stick of dynamite down the hallway. Frank slapped the panel with the alien’s hand and the door closed. A moment later they heard the explosion of the dynamite and the sounds of wrenching metal.
The illumination flickered and a second later the door popped open again. The sudden rush of air shoved Frank off his feet and sent him tumbling towards the hole the blast had torn in the side of the ship.
Rarity screamed and dove forward, sailing with the gale force winds blowing out of the hole in the pressurized space ship. She grabbed onto Frank, wrapping her hooves around him. There was a flash as she activated the diamond, focusing on the first place that came to her mind.
The two of them fell in a heap, a solid floor beneath them. Frank groaned and rolled out of Rarity’s embrace. Both of them looked around.
The walls were decorated with color and scraps of fabric. A few pony-shaped dress forms stood around. The tables were filled with scissors, sewing machines, and all manner of supplies.
Frank took it all in. “Where are we?”
“This is the inside of my shop,” Rarity said, standing up giddily. “We’re in Ponyville! We’re home!”
She stopped suddenly, mouth frowning. “Er, I’m home, I suppose.”