//------------------------------//
// Chapter 5: The Black Griffons(Rewrite) 
// Story: Star Wars: Ponies of the Old Republic 
// by BlueSun52 
//------------------------------//


CHAPTER 5 THE BLACK GRIFFONS


After deactivating the force field, Garret and the rest of the group made their way towards the Griffons' base where they plan to take the accelerator prototype from them. Along the way, Scootaloo was asking Applejack a bunch of questions.

"So you really are a captain?" Scootaloo asked.

"Well, no. Ah'm a commander of my own fleet," Applejack replied.

"Wow! That sounds so amazing!" Scootaloo awed. "Do you think your fleet can help out with the Imperial blockade?"

Applejack cringed as she heard that. She suddenly remembered the battle that took place overhead and all the lives that were lost during the fight. She looked down to Scootaloo to see a innocent and bright smile on her face. She didn't want to make Scootaloo feel terrible for asking that. "Ah'm afraid that the fleet won't be able to come and help. It maybe a while for reinforcements come and we don't really have the time to wait," she replied. Lying wasn't one of Applejack's great traits as she was the opposite of it, but she learned to get around the truth without really lying to anypony.

"Well that sucks," Scootaloo said. "Still, it must be cool being in charge of all those ships." She then turned her attention towards Fluttershy. "So Fluttershy, what do you do?" she asked.

“Well um, I'm a medic like my mother. I was assigned to the Solar Spire soon after my training," Fluttershy replied.

"Hold up, Ah just thought of something," Applejack said. "Ah know medics are trained to use a blaster, but have you ever used yours yet?"

Fluttershy shook her head. "No, I never had the chance to. But to be honest, I really don't want to," she replied, timidly.

"Ah'm sorry ta say this, hon, but there is a difference between 'want' and 'have to'," Applejack began to explain. "As the medic, it's your responsibly to keep the team healthy and ta make sure are wounds are healed. If Garret, Ah, and anypony else got hurt, y'all be the only one to heal us and would have to use a blaster to protect yourself from anypony they would want to hurt us." After she got done explaining, she noticed that Fluttershy's eyes widen at the realization.

"I don't think that's the only problem," Garret interjected. "I lost my blaster when I was trying to safe Pinkie from those ponyghouls and all I have left are my bare hooves."

Zaalbar talked in his people's language and said something to Garret.

"Good point. The Griffons would have more than enough equipment for me to use," Garret replied.

"And hopefully some information on where my sis, Rainbow Dash is," Scootaloo gleefully added.

"What makes you think they have anything on her?" Garret asked.

"The Griffons have a grudge against Blueblood and the Exchange for making them pay up credits and giving them some of their supplies. So they've been keeping tabs on him and I think they may have some spies in the Exchange as well," Scootaloo explained.

"You know, I have heard his name a few times, but I have no idea who he is really," Garret said.

"Glad that you mentioned it. I'm pretty much the best informant in all of Hoovris," Scootaloo said with confidence and then continued, "He's pretty much the top crime lord in Hoovris and is a member of the Exchange, a criminal organization that pretty much is spread out through the entire galaxy. From what I've heard about him, he's very uptight and acts like his has royal blood in him. There are even rumors that he's related to Celestia herself, but I bet he started those rumors just to get attention from potential clients or allies."

"He may be uptight, but he does sound dangerous though," Garret commented.

"No kidding. He is one of the richest and most powerful ponies in this region of the galaxy, maybe even the entire Rim. And working for him means a lot of credits. It's why Dash decided to work for him and be his pilot."

"Alright then, if I find anything about Rainbow Dash, I'll give it to you. I promise," Garret said to Scootaloo.

"Thanks I really appreciate that," Scootaloo replied with a smile.

Zaalbar was speaking in joy with his native language.

"How much further are we from the base?" Fluttershy asked.

"Not too far. Just a few more turns here and there and we should be there in no time," Scootaloo replied.

After some time and several turns, they were coming very near to the base, until they went into a large room that was filled with bones and rotten corpses. Fluttershy was shaking with fear while the rest of the group stayed alert.

"Ah have a bad feeling about this," Applejack said, inspecting the room for anything suspicious.

"This is weird, I thought their pet rancor died a long time ago, but some of these corpses are new, I don’t remember ever seeing some of these corpses, like that one over there" Scootaloo said pointing to a particular purplish coated, decapitated corpse in the corner of the room lying down next to many dozens of Hoovrisian ale bottles, many of which apparently stood empty.

"WAIT, RANCOR!?!" Applejack shouted, pulling out her blaster and pointing it at every direction as she searched around the room in a panic.

"Yeah, but don't worry. It died a long time ago. Heard that it choked to death when it eat a pony or something." Scootaloo paused for a moment as she was looking around the room. "At least, that's what I thought happened."

"If it's dead, then what could have made all these new corpses?" Garret asked.

"That's a good que-" Before Scootaloo could finished, a nearby pile of bones started to rustle.

It was giant Manticore. A creature with the head and body of a lion, leather wings of a bat, and a long scorpion's tail. The group was caught off guard and the creature attacked. Applejack pointed her blaster at it, but the creature swung one of its claws at her and sent her flying against the wall. Zaalbar let out a threatening roar and jumped on top of the beast beating on it. The manticore was trying to get Zaalbar off its back and throw him off, a task he succeeded in just a few seconds of rocking himself around. Zaalbar landed on the ground safely, but the manticore was charging right at him. Zaalbar let out another roar and charged with his horns pointing at it. Garret and Fluttershy quickly ran over to Applejack to see if she was okay.

"Applejack! Are you okay?" Garret asked, holding her in his arms.

"Yeah, Ah'm okay. Just a little headache," Applejack replied. "But what the heck is that thing?" She pointed over to the manticore.

"Oh, that's a manticore. They're very rare to find and they mostly live in the large jungles," Fluttershy answered. "They normally don't attack ponies, unless they get too close to their territory." She took another look at the manticore and had a puzzled look on her.

"Is there anyway to take down that thing?" Garret asked.

"Ah have a solution to that," Applejack said. She raised up her blaster and aimed it at the head of the manticore. Just as she was about to fire, Fluttershy flew right in front of her.

"WAIT!" Fluttershy shouted.

"WHAT THE HECK ARE YA DOING!" Applejack shouted. "GET OUT OF THE WAY!"

Fluttershy didn't answer and started walking towards the still enraged manticore. Zaalbar was holding on tight onto the back of the manticore, while Scootaloo was nibbling one of its back legs and was being shaken off. The creature threw both Scootaloo and Zaalbar off of it and saw Fluttershy walking towards it. It was about to attack, until Fluttershy said, "Don't worry I'm not going to hurt you."
The manticore hesitated to attack Fluttershy and the group was shocked at what Fluttershy just did. Then Fluttershy nuzzled her muzzle against its paw to show that she was friendly and asked the creature "Is there something wrong with you?"

The creature nodded hesitantly.

"Can I see what's wrong?" she asked.

The creature held out its paw and showed Fluttershy that it had a sharp bone in it. "Oh you poor little baby. This will only hurt for a moment" Fluttershy grabbed the bone with her teeth and pulled it out quickly. The creature let out a cry of pain for a second, but was glad to have the bone removed and started hugging and licking Fluttershy. Fluttershy then asked the creature, "Now you promise not to hurt anypony else?"

It nodded. It went away into a nearby tunnel and disappeared in the shadows. Everypony gathered around Fluttershy and were asking her questions.

"How did ya know that was the problem?" Applejack curiously asked.

"Well, before I joined the Republic, I was really good at helping animals," Fluttershy answered. "I tended their wounds, kept them fed, and made sure that they stayed safe. In fact, it's how I got my cutie mark."

"I still can't believe that you were able to calm it down," Garret said.

"You have to be sweet and gentle, even in the most unexpected ways," Fluttershy responded, having a warm smile on her.

"Well I'm impressed, but we still need to get inside the Griffons' base before they find out what happened here," Scootaloo pointed out.

Everypony nodded in agreement and continued towards the Griffons' base. After having to go through the former manticore's nest and the remains of several corpses, they found another elevator and took it. It was about to play another, until Applejack quickly grabbed her blaster and blasted the speaker. Everypony winced at the scene, except Zaalbar and they all looked at Applejack.

Applejack blow the tip of her blaster and placed it in her holster. "Ah really hate that music," she commented.

The elevator stopped and Garret and Applejack peeked around the entrance to see if there were any guards nearby. It was just a hallway filled with a few doors and signs of any griffons or guards. Applejack motioned the group to follow her as she pulled out her blaster. While looking around the hallway, she noticed that there was a door that had the label that said 'Supply Room.' Garret got to work on hacking the door's system and was able to open it for the others.

The room was filled with medpacks, blasters, blades, armors, and all sort of other things somehow combat-related. The group quickly went in and Garret closed the door behind them. Garret grabbed a blaster rifle, a vibroblade, and he put on a light-combat vest to protect himself from blaster fire or anything that could harm him. Applejack had gotten some upgrades for her blasters like a new scope and new barrels to make the blaster fire straighter. She also put on a battle armor that was silver. Fluttershy restocked on medpacks and some other supplies to help the group. She was hesitant on picking up a blaster, but she remembered what Applejack said and decided that it was better safe than sorry. Zaalbar was looking around unamused, until he saw a bowcaster in a pile of old weapons. He picked up the weapon and checked to see if it was good to use. It was and he guessed that Griffons didn't know what they had or they didn't like it because the way it looked. Scootaloo wasn't able to find any vests that could fit her or any blasters that weren't too heavy for her to lift.

Applejack noticed the little filly trying to find something. "Ah think it would be best if ya stayed out of the fighting as best ya can. We don't want a little kid like ya getting hurt or nothing," she said.

"Hey!" Scootaloo shouted. "I'm not so little! I'm twelve years old and I can take care of myself just fine." She then gave out a pouting face.

Applejack furrowed her eyebrows and got a bit angry. "Ya have this big fella here that takes care of ya and had another pony that took care ya as well," she pointed out.

"Okay, ONE! I take care of Big-Z more than he takes care of me. TWO! Rainbow Dash is like a sister to me, but I had to care for myself way before I met her. And THREE! You’re not my mom, but you sure look very old to be one," Scootaloo snickered

Applejack was getting furious at this pointed. Zaalbar wanted to say something, but Applejack gave him a glared and the large minotaur gulped. She then looked back at the little filly. "Now listen here little lady! I'm trying ta keep ya safe! There's no reason to get all lippy with me now! My little sister would always.....would-"

Applejack closed her eyes and had her head lowered in a deep depression. Everypony was confused at why she was acting like she is and were shocked to hear that she has a sister. Scootaloo couldn't explained it, but she felt a touch of guilt in her as she saw a tear come out of Applejack's eye. "I'm sorry about that. I tend to get upset whenever someone calls me little," she said in a low tone voice.

Applejack looked up to Scootaloo and showed a warm smile on her. "It's okay, sugarcube." Applejack then reached out and hugged Scootaloo. "Ah was only wanting ta make sure you were safe."

"Thanks, I really appreciate it," Scootaloo said, hugging Applejack back.

A little time had passed and the gang were fully equipped, including Scootaloo who had a custom made blaster that Applejack put together for her.

Garret leaned over Applejack. "Are you sure it's okay to give her a blaster?" he whispered.

"Ah don't like the idea anymore than you do, but we are going to be in a heap of trouble and she needs to be ready," Applejack pointed out.

"Okay if you say so, but there was one thing I was wondering about. What was up with you when you mentioned your sister? I didn't even know you had a sister," Garret said.

Applejack took a moment to think and showed signs that she was uncomfortable with the subject. "How about Ah tell ya about that another time. It's a very sensitive subject and this isn't the time for it." Garret nodded understanding Applejack's discomfort about it.

When they opened the door it was full of griffons in rugged armor that were either playing cards, drinking at a salon, or just standing guard. The griffons looked over to where the gang was and it was nothing but awkward silence. Fluttershy was feeling the tension and was beginning to feel nervous.

Without thinking, Fluttershy quietly spoke up, "Um...Hi?"

Applejack smacked herself in the face.

"INTRUDERS! BLAST THEM!"

"EEP!" Fluttershy squeaked.

The griffons opened fired on them. The gang quickly took cover and started blasting back. In the middle of the battle, Applejack looked over to Fluttershy and asked, "Hi? That's all ya can think of?"

"I'm sorry, the tension was too much," Fluttershy replied.

Applejack rolled her eyes and kept on firing her blasters. Zaalbar got out his bowcaster and fired a shot. The blast hit a griffon that sent him flying against a wall, dead. Garret turned to Zaalbar and said, "Wow! Nice shot."

Zaalbar talked in his native language with appreciation and continued firing his weapon.
One of the griffons tried to get to the alarms, but Scootaloo shot the alarm before the griffon could reach it and Garret had a clear shot at the griffon and blasted it.

"Nice one Scootaloo," Garret complimented.

"Thanks, by the way you can call me Scoots for short," Scootaloo said.

"Okay Scoots," Garret replied.

After the last griffon was killed, the group checked to see if the room was cleared. They then continued on checking the rest of the base. There was hardly any resistance within the base as the group was looking around, until they came across a computer terminal. Garret went up to the terminal and said, "Let me see if I can find anything about the prototype here in this terminal."

After waiting a few minutes, Scootaloo asked, "Did you find anything yet?"

"Not yet. I'm having hard time getting past the encryption. If only there was a-" Garret said until he was interrupted by Scootaloo. Scootaloo walked next to the terminal and after pushing Garret a little away bucked it. After that, Garret took another look at the terminal and he was in. "Thanks," Garret said to Scootaloo.

"I am a pro at this after all," Scootaloo said, pridefully.

"Alright the prototype is in....it's in the garage down below us," Garret replied.

"That's good, how do we get in?" Applejack asked.

"There's an elevator near where we came from, but we need a keycard to open it. The terminal can give us one, but we need to be a member to-" Garret said until he was interrupted again by Scootaloo.

Scootaloo simply went to the terminal and punched in some buttons, until a card came from the terminal and she said, "Here you go, one keycard ready to be used."

"Scoots you are one impressive filly," Garret complimented again.

"It's what I do best," Scootaloo said.

"Okay then everypony, let’s get down there," Applejack said leading the group to the elevator.

They made their way towards the elevator and Garret used the key card to open it. The door opened up and they started making their way down. After a few minutes, the elevator opened again and a large group of both griffons and battle droids pointed their weapons at them. The group was caught off guard and were at the mercy of the Griffons.

"Drop your weapons on to the ground now!" one of the Griffons demanded.

The gang compiled and dropped all of their weapons on the ground.

"Take that one and the orange pony too. Put the rest in cells."

Garret and Applejack were taken to one side of a hallway, while the others were being taken to another.

'Where are they taking us?' Garret thought to himself. 'I have a bad feeling about this.'

Garret, Applejack, and the guards who escorted them entered into a room. There was a tall griffon in the room, he had an eye patch, scars all around his face and body, and was obviously in charge. He walked up to Garret and Applejack and said, "Well, well, look what we have here. Two little namby-pamby ponies that cost me a lot of griffons. You two better tell me why I shouldn't kill you right here and now?"

"Do we have to give you an answer now or can we answer it later?" Garret said sarcastically.

"Oh a wise pony eh? I guess we’ll do this the fun way."

The griffon quickly pulled out a shock stick and jabbed it up against Garret's chest. The shock was agonizing for Garret and he tried his best to resist being subjugated by the pain, but it ended up being anything but successful. Applejack tried to get free from the guards that were holding her back, but there was nothing that she could do to help Garret. The griffon pulled away the stick and Garret fell to the ground. He was trying to get back up, but the pain was too intense for him.

"I think I'm just going to torture you both slowly. Of course, yours is going to be different from what this mare here is going to endure," the griffon said. He then turned his attention at Applejack with lustful eyes a licking his beak. "Yes I think your little friend here would do just-" Before he could finish the door behind them blew up and fell over, crushing the two guards behind Garret and Applejack.

Coming out of the smoke, Zaalbar came rushing in with his head down and impaling one of the Griffon guards. The other guard was about to pull his blaster out until a blaster fire hit him in the torso causing him to fall down dead.

When the smoked cleared, a very familiar pony came out and said, "Hello!"

"WHAT THE-" Before the griffon could finish, a piece of pie struck on the face and he stumbled back. He accidentally stepped on a pipe on the ground and slipped backwards into a incendiary trash compactor and he let out an agonized pain.

Garret and Applejack looked back to see Scootaloo and Fluttershy standing beside Pinkie Pie. “Eehhhh, I didn’t mean for it to go that far,” Pinkie said in defence.

“PINKIE?!” Applejack and Garret shouted in unison.

“That’s my name, don’t wear it out,” Pinkie said, having her trademark smile on.

Applejack helped Garret get back on his hooves. And went over to Pinkie. “Thanks for the help, Pinkie but when did you get here?” she asked.

“It’s a long story,” Pinkie answered. “Now come on, we better get out of here or more guards might show up.” Pinkie then started leading the way and the others soon followed.

As they were running, a thought popped into Garret’s mind. “Wait, what about the prototype?”

“Oh, you mean this thing?” Pinkie asked and pulled out an engine like device out of her fluffy mane.

“Kay, Ah’m goin to ask how ya got it that fast, but I’ll save it for another day,” Applejack commented. “But for now, let’s just get to the elevator.”

They were making their way to the elevator, until blaster fire was coming right behind them. It was battle droids that were firing at them and chasing them down. When past through a doorway, Garret quickly pressed on the control panel causing the door to close and blasted the controls. Scootaloo and pressed on the elevator’s controls trying to open the door, but nothing happened.

“Why is the elevator still closed?” Applejack asked.

“Ah Blast! They have it under lockdown! There’s no way around it,” Scootaloo explained.

“What do we do now?” Applejack asked in a panic.

“Let me have a look at it,” Garret said. He went over to the controls and removed the panel’s cover off and started rewiring it.

“Are ya sure? You were badly hurt back there,” Applejack said.

“I work better through pain,” Garret commented.
As he was continuing working on the elevator controls, the door that he shut earlier continued sparking from the droids trying to cut it open.

"Oh nelly! They’re cutting the door open," Applejack said, getting nervous at each passing second.

"What do we do?" Fluttershy asked frantically.

“Ah guess we make a stand,” Applejack said, pointing her two blasters at the door. Everypony were grabbing their weapons as well and were taking cover incase Garret wasn't able to open the door in time. Applejack looked back at him. “How are we doing?”

"Not good. I don't think I can-," Garret was replying, until all of a sudden, the elevator doors were opened and Pinkie was already in the elevator. Everypony was completely confused on how she got in, each jaw comically hanging and eyes widening.

“How did...when did you….HOW DID YOU GET IN THE ELEVATOR?!?” Applejack shouted.

“Well, duh silly. I used the air shaft over there.” Pinkie pointed to where the airshaft was with its cover hanging below it with one screw in it.

“Oh, well….That was clever,” Applejack commented.

They all quickly got in the elevator and frenetically mashed the up button, a few droids already poking their appendages through holes made in the rocking door. As soon as they got to the top, they made their escape through the front door of the base and started making their way back to the Beks' base.

“Does anypony know where we can get a ride?” Garret asked.

“Found one!” Everypony looked over to see Pinkie in an abandon speeder that had enough room for everypony, including Zaalbar. They all climbed on and Pinkie was driving them all the way back to the Beks’ base. With a side stop by a fast food restaurant by Pinkie's request.





Their way back to the Beks’ base was relatively calm, nothing of note except for Pinkie’s unstoppable talking and bouncing, and so they quickly arrived at the Beks’ base. Garret and Applejack came through the door of Gadon's office and gave him the prototype. Gadon was amazed and impressed at their accomplishment and ordered his best mechanics to look over the engine and install it in one of their swoop bikes.

After Garret and Applejack told Gadon everything about their adventures through the sewers and the Griffons' base, they rejoined the rest of the group to discuss about something.

"So Pinkie, now that we finally have a break from all the' shooting and escaping. Tell us why ya came back? Did something happen back at the village?" Applejack asked.

"Well, after we got the journal and went our separate ways, I returned to the village and gave it to Rukil. He was super happy that we got the journal and was able to convince the leaders of the village to go and find it. Everypony packed their things and started heading out immediately. I was about to go with them, but Rukil told me that my destiny was somewhere else and he had a feeling that it was being with you guys. So after they left, I was super happy that I was able to join you guys again and hoped to have many more adventures," Pinkie explained, her smile never faltering.

"Pinkie you are more than welcome to join us, though I'm not sure if Scootaloo and Zaalbar would want to stick around," Garret said and looked at Scootaloo and Zaalbar.

"Are you kidding? We’d love to come along with you guys. We are more than happy to join you guys too," Scootaloo said.

Zaalbar gave a happy roar to show that he was interested too.

"But what about Rainbow Dash? Ya still wanted to find her right?" Applejack asked.

Scootaloo and Zaalbar’s smiles quickly went away after realizing what Applejack said, but Pinkie smiled and pulled out a datapad and handed it over to Scootaloo.

"What's this?" Scootaloo asked.

"While I was saving you guys, I pulled out some data and found something to do with Rainbow Dash," Pinkie replied.

Scootaloo was overjoyed and quickly looked over on what the datapad said. Unfortunately the joy on her face went away as she started to cry.

"What's wrong? Does it say anything about her?" Pinkie asked while she tried to cuddle next to Scootaloo.

"It does, but Blueblood has her as a personal captive," Scootaloo said while she was sniffing and fighting back the tears. "It said that she tried to steal one of Blueblood's ships, got caught and he had her tortured because of it."

"That's horrible! Why would she try to steal it?" Fluttershy asked.

"I don't know, but she wouldn't do something like that if she had a good reason," Scootaloo replied and started crying more frequently.

Garret felt awful that Scootaloo had to find out about Rainbow Dash this way. He then sat up and said to Scootaloo, "Scoot, I promise that no matter what, I will find your friend Rainbow Dash and make sure that Blueblood pays for what he has done."

Scootaloo looked up at Garret and felt better about what he said. "You would do that for me?"

"Yes, because like Rainbow was like a sister to you. You’re what I would expect if I had a little sister," Garret replied, smiling at the little filly.

Scootaloo wiped away her tears and walked over to Garret to give him a tight hug, eliciting a chorus of “d’aww” from the rest of the group. Everypony was touched at what Garret said and they all came together for a group hug. Gadon then walked in the group and wanted their attention.

"I have some good news. The prototype is in and it's ready for the Galloping Swoop Race," Gadon said. They were glad to hear the news, but Gadon had more to say. "And I'm going to make the deal better. I was hoping one of you would race in the swoop bike that is using the prototype."

The group was confused on why Gadon would give such a valuable thing to a bunch of ponies that never drove a swoop bike before. Garret walked up to Gavin and asked, "Why would you give us your best swoop bike?"

"I'll be honest with you. The prototype is good to go, but there is a chance that the engine might over accelerate and blow up both the bike and the rider. I can't just ask one of my own to ride it and lose their lives over it," Gadon explain.

"So ya rather have us taking the burden, after going through th' trouble of getting it for y'all?" Applejack asked, giving an angry glare at Gadon.

"I know what I'm asking is too much, but since you're in this to save your friend. I thought that you guys would want the opportunity to help. And even if you do die from the explosion, you can be damn sure that I'll rescue your friend with all I got," Gadon explained.

Garret thought about it for a moment and said, "Alright, I'll do it."

The group was shocked that Garret would volunteer; of course to Fluttershy it was obvious that he would be brave enough to do it.

"Good to hear. We'll get started with your training and get you ready for the swoop race next week. We have a lot to planning for," Gadon said as he walked out of the room.

Applejack walked up to Garret "Are ya CRAZY?! You're going to get yourself killed if ya do this," she pointed out.

"Don't worry Applejack. He said that there might be a chance for it to explode. A chance. As long as I'm careful, I should win the race in no time and without exploding," Garret replied.

Applejack sighed and said, "I sure hope ya know what you're doing."

"I hope so too," Garret whispered under his breath.


End of Chapter