R3-TY was thanking her lucky stars that she couldn't feel heat, being a droid. Otherwise, she would be absolutely suffering. Or rather, suffering a bit more than she currently was. Her silver plating would surely get caked with sand, and her shine would be reduced. If there was one thing she loved about being a Protocol Droid, it was the elegance of her design, but this trek in the desert was sure to reduce that! She was whining silently to herself about how many cleanings it would take to remove all the sand from her joints. However, the icing on he misery cake, was that she was stuck in this desolate wasteland....with P2-D2....ever since the escape pod landed...she would not....stop....talking.
"Wow! I've never seen this much sand before! Have you seen this much sand before R3? Come to think of it, I've never even seen a DESERT before! Look at it! It's like snow! Except it's more tan and grainy than snow. Plus sand doesn't taste as good as snow when you try to eat it! Then again, we're both droids, so we can't really eat...but I can just tell what things taste like because of my built-in scanners! Before I was moved to The Prince's ship and re-fitted as an astromech droid, I was a baking droid! I helped out with all the cooking and everything! I do miss baking, but I like that being an astromech droid means I get to go on all sorts of adventures! Like this one with you! I'm having fun, R3! Are you having fun, R3? Huh? R3? Ya having fun? R3? R--"
"AAAAAAAAARGH!!!!!!" The Protocol Droid screamed. "ENOUGH!!! I CANNOT TAKE IT ANYMORE!!! I am sorry, P2, truly truly sorry, but will you please, BE SILENT FOR ONE MOMENT SO THAT I MAY COMPOSE MYSELF?!?!?!"
P2 looked up at R3, a look of surprise, shock, and sadness on her face. "Hmph!" The Droid quickly rebutted with, turning in the opposite direction and rolling off that way.
"P2? R2- P2, where do you think you are going?!" The Protocol Droid demanded, following after her saddened companion.
"Away from you, you MEANIE!" P2 shouted, not looking at her, continuing on her way.
"R2-P2, I'm sorry if I offended you..." R3 began. "But I don't think you understand the gravity of the situation! Our ship has been taken over by the empire! And the poor Prince is probably dead by now...."
"Nuh uh!" P2 shouted back. "The Prince told me he was gonna be fine! I have a secret mission to do for him!"
"What mission?!" R3 shot back. "That's ALL you were talking about back in the escape pod, and you still won't tell me what it is!"
"That's because it's SECRET, you meanie mean pants!" P2 explained.
"Ooooh, I've just about had ENOUGH of you!!!" Huffed the Protocol Droid. "Fine, go that way! I bet you'll be malfunctioning within a day, you Hyperactive Can of JUNK!!!" She then proceeded to kick her former counterpart, storming off in the opposite direction.
P2 attempted to ignore this, continuing to roll off on her way....but then she turned back at R3-TY. Sure, she was mad at her....but she couldn't just let her go off on her own. A Fancy droid like her wouldn't make it out in an unforgiving wasteland like this. "R3?" She called out. "A-Are you sure you don't wanna come with me on my adventure?"
"NO MORE ADVENTURES!!!" R3 shouted, not turning back to look at her.
P2 didn't want to leave her alone....but at the same time she was still mad at her. "Fine! I didn't want you to come with me anyways! You're a meanie mean, super duper meanie mean MEAN PANTS anyway!" And with that oddly worded insult, the astromech droid rolled off.
It had been about an hour since R3-TY had left R2-P2 to go alone on her so called "secret mission", and least, that was what she estimated. The sand damage she received from un-elegantly tripping over the dunes had caused her internal clock to malfunction. She was just thankful that nopony was around to see that. The Protocol Droid was not in a particularly bad mood, and it was all thanks to that Hyperactive little scrap heap. "Malfunctioning giddy little....UGH!" The droid muttered to herself. "This is all her fault! I'm hot....miserable.....covered in sand...and it's all because of her!!! I bet she TRICKED me into going this way...." She then chuckled a bit to herself. "I shouldn't be so upset....it's not like she's doing any better than me....she's probably broken down by now!" R3 laughed at her own thoughts as she continued walking aimlessly through he sun baked desert. "Hm? What's that?" R3 muttered to herself, as she saw the glint of some strange form miles away from where she was standing. It couldn't be a mirage...as a droid, she was incapable of having such tricks of vision occur to her, thanks to her specialized sight. "Oh! A transport!!! I'm saved!!!!" R3 sighed with relief, and stood up on her hind hooves, waving her front hooves frantically. "OVER HERE!!!" She shouted. "HELP!!! PLEASE!!! I'VE BEEN STRANDED OUT HERE!!!!!!"
The sun had already begun to set as R2-P2 traversed her way through the canyons on her own. P2 had been on her own for what felt like hours, and that gave her a lot of time to think. She realized she wasn't mad at R3 anymore...she never was. She was just upset from R3 yelling at her. She didn't mean to annoy her...she was just trying to be friendly, and to keep her spirits up. She had decided once she was finished with her mission, she would return to where the Escape Pod landed, and she would search for her friend. She looked around the canyons, the shadows starting to cast over her. "I-It's alright....just remember what Granny P2 said...." The astromech droid muttered to herself. "Giggle at the ghosties...guffaw at the grossly....." she began singing to herself quietly. The feeling like she was being watched began to wash over her. "H-Hello?" She called out. "Is anypony there?" There was no answer. She assumed it was nothing, and continued on her way. However, after what felt like seconds, a hooded figure leaped out from the shadows, blasting the poor unsuspecting droid with an EMP.
"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWIE ZOWIE....MY BRAIN JUST....went......powie...." P2 giggled to herself, as all her systems immediately shut down. Once the electrical currents dispersed, she flopped over on her side, inactive.
Three robed figures emerged from the shadow, one of them holding what looked like a crude EMP rifle. They approached the inactive droid, observing their handiwork. The first of them removed her hood, revealing an orange filly with a messy purple mane. "Applebloom!" She shouted. "What'd ya do that for?!"
The figure she was referring to also removed her hood, revealing a yellow filly with a red mane, a bright pink bow tied in her hair. She quickly put down the EMP rifle she was carrying. "Ah'm sorry, Scootaloo! Ah thought it was gonna get away, an' ah panicked! Her systems ain't fried, are they?"
The third filly removed her hood as well. Her mane was a light purple, and a light pink. She tapped P2's canister twice....and the droid began snoring, causing the filly to sigh in relief. "No.....she's just in sleep mode."
"Ok...so this isn't a total bust." Scootaloo said. "Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, let's get her back to the Sand Crawler." The three then all surrounded the droid, each of them grabbing a hold of a different section of R2-P2. They each strained as they lifted the surprisingly heavy droid up on their backs.
"Mmph, this thing ways a TON!" Sweetie Belle complained.
"It'll be alright." Applebloom assured. "This'll all be worth it if we wanna earn our Cutie Marks in Droid Scavenging!"
"She's right!" Scootaloo exclaimed, a smile on her face. "Ok....let's get her in the chute!"
Once they had arrived at the Sand Crawler, they placed the droid beneath a chute that was apart of the large transport that was identified as a "Sand Crawler." The chute sucked P2 up like a vacuum, depositing her within the Droid Storage Area of the ship with a loud THUD, alerting the other droids being held captive. The sudden impact was enough to knock P2 out of sleep mode. "Wowie Zowie...huh? Where am I?" The Droid wondered out loud, looking around at all the other confused and scared droids.
"Who's there?!" A familiar voice chimed in.
"Huh?" P2 asked, looking around. "Is that....R3? Ya there?"
"P2?!" The Protocol Droid immediately made her way over to her old friend. "R2-P2, it IS you!!!" She quickly wrapped her metallic hooves around the astromech in a tight embrace. "Oh, P2, I am so sorry...I didn't mean any of those things I said....it's just...a Lady tends to get stressed every now and again, Darling...and considering the circumstances...."
P2 couldn't help but giggle. "It's alright, R3! We all get a little grumpy every now and again! But at least we're getting taken to who knows where together!"
"Yes...." The R3 said, peering about the room nervously. "Wherever it is....I just hope it's safe....
The next morning, the area where the Droids' escape pod was landed had been discovered by Stormtroopers, no doubt sent there to search the area for the missing Death Star plans.... "Someone was in the pod..." The commander said to his other troops, pointing to hoof marks in the sand. "The tracks go off in this direction!"
"Look sir! Droids!" Another trooper commented, holding up a discarded piece of metal, which had most likely fallen off one of our mechanical heroes.... The Empire now had a trail to follow it seemed.....
Meanwhile, R-3TY and R2-P2 hadn't spent a minute in sleep mode....how could they? They were being held captive inside a Sand Crawler on a planet they knew nothing about.....their fears only increased once the Crawler stopped.
"We've stopped..." R-3 muttered, looking to the hatch as it opened, and the three fillies walked into the storage area.
"Alright y'all!" Applebloom called. "C'mon out! We're gonna be sellin' y'all today!"
"Don't worry!" Sweetie Belle said shortly after. "We'll make sure you all get good homes!"
"COME ON OUT, YA WALKING TIN CANS!!!" Scootaloo shouted.
"C'mon now, Scootaloo! We don't wanna scare em!" Applebloom scolded.
"Well, finding these things was a lot of work! Maybe I'm a bit grumpy...." The filly grumbled.
"It's alright, Scootaloo!" Sweetie Belle assured. "Remember, it's all worth it!"
"Yeah yeah...." Scootaloo muttered, rolling her eyes as she and her two friends lined the droids up outside of the Sand Crawler, prepped and ready to be sold.
Two ponies were walking toward the Sand Crawler, one Stallion, one Mare. The Stallion was Nightlight, a Moisture Farmer well known around the different colonies of Tatooine, and with him was his Niece, Twilight Sparkle. A studious Unicorn mare, who had dreams of one day leaving the farm behind, and joining her friends to enlist in the Rebel Alliance and fight the Empire.
"Yer Mr. Nightlight, correct?" Applebloom asked, looking up at the unicorn Moisture Farmer.
"Yeah, that's me. And you must be the Droid traders?" He asked.
"Yup! That's us!" The filly answered with a smile.
"Well, alright then. Let's see what you have." Nightlight said, as Applebloom guided the two Unicorns to the Sand Crawler.
"TWILIGHT!" A female voice called out.
Twilight recognized this voice as her Aunt, Twilight Velvet. She quickly turned around, running back to her family's desert homestead. They had had their home build within the walls of a crater in the ground. Twilight looked down at her Aunt, who was preparing their meal for the day.
"Twilight?" Velvet asked. "Be sure to tell your Uncle that we need a translator droid that can speak Bachi! You know how forgetful he can be sometimes..."
Twilight giggled at that. "Alright, Auntie Velvet! You don't have to worry!" She responded with a smile, before turning back and returning to where her Uncle and Applebloom were negotiating the sale.
"Yeah, we'll take the red one." Nightlight said as Twilight got back.
"Good choice sir!" Appleloom answered with a smile, walking down the row of droids. "Iffen' ya need another R2 Unit, ah got this pink one right here!" She pitched, gesturing to R2-P2.
"Hi!" P2 chimed in, introducing herself to the two unicorns. "I'm R2-P2, and I have all SORTS of uses! I can bake, I can program and reprogram stuff, help you out with mechanics, and throw parties! I LOOOOOOOOOOOVE parties! Do you love parties? Because I--"
"Nah, we're fine with just one." Nightlight interrupted, looking to Applebloom.
"--Wha? Awwwwwwwwww!!!" P2 interjected, looking down slightly.
"You!" Nightlight called out, looking to R-3TY. "I suppose you're programmed for Etiquette and Protocol?"
"Oh indeed sir!" R-3 answered. "In fact, Protocol is my primary function, Darling!"
"Well...I don't have any need for a protocol droid at the moment." Nightlight answered.
"Oh...um...of course not sir!" R-3 quickly recovered with. "At least, not in a garish environment such as this...."
"What I really need is a droid who can understand the binary language of Moisture Evaporators." Nightlight explained.
"Evaporators?!" R-3 exclaimed in excitement. "Well, sir, my first assignment was programming Binary Loadlifters! Can't be any different from your evaporators...."
Nightlight put a hoof to his chin in thought, considering what this droid had to offer. "Do you speak Bachi?" He asked.
"Oh, of course Darling!" R-3 chimed. "It's like a second language to me!"
Nightlight smiled, looking to the filly he was speaking with earlier. "We'll take this one as well."
"Excellent choice, sir!" Applebloom said with a smile.
"Twilight?" Nightlight called out.
Twilight, who was examining the first droid her Uncle selected, quickly hurried over.
"Twilight, take these two to the garage." Nightlight ordered. "I want them cleaned up before dinner."
"B-But Uncle!" Twilight protested. "I was going to go to the archives and study my data holochrons! I'll be behind!"
"You can continue your studies when your chores are done." Her Uncle assured. "Now come on, get to it."
Twilight sighed, knowing there was no arguing with her uncle. "Alright...come on you two." She began walking back to her family's homestead, R-3 quickly following behind.
"Hey! What about me?" P-2 called out. "R-3? You're not gonna leave me, are you!?"
R-3 looked back at her friend, an uneasy look on her face. As much as P2 annoyed her...she couldn't just leave her behind after all they'd been through.
"And the red one." Twilight said, looking back at the droid that had yet to begin following her. "Come on Red, let's go!"
The Droid beeped a bit, and then staggered forward about three feet....before it exploded. Twilight quickly ran over to examine what exactly went wrong. From spending most of her days down in the archives studying, she was well versed in the programming of droids and how they worked. "Uncle Nightlight!" She called out.
"Yeah?" Nightlight answered back.
"This R2 Unit has a bad motivator! Look!" She gestured to a certain part of the droid that had blown right off of its body.
"Hey, just what exactly are you trying to pull here?!" Nightlight questioned, looking to the three fillies, who all had nervous looks on their faces.
"W-We're sorry sir..." Applebloom began.
"Yeah...we had no idea that was gonna happen...we assure you, that droid was in prime condition!" Sweetie Belle chimed in.
"We just find the tin cans, scruffy! We don't build em!" Scootaloo spat, rather rudely.
"Scootaloo!" Applebloom quickly scolded.
R-3 saw this as a chance. She lifted a metallic hoof, tapping Twilight on the shoulder. "Excuse me Miss...if I may....that R2 Unit is in prime condition!" She said, pointing to P2. "A real bargain."
Twilight put a hoof to her chin, looking to R-3, then looking over at P2. "Hey, Uncle Nightlight?"
"Yes Twilight?" Nightlight asked, looking back over.
"What about that one?" She asked, pointing over at P2.
"Who, me?" P2 giggled excitedly.
"Hm....how about that Pink one? We'll take it." Nightlight said to the three fillies.
"Excellent choice, sir!" Sweetie Belle chimed, relieved that he didn't appear to be angry over the malfunctioning droid anymore.
"You won't regret this decision, Darling." R-3 said to Twilight, a smile on her face. "She really is in first class condition! I've worked with her before. Oh, here she comes!"
Just as he had said, P2 was now excitedly rolling over to the two. "Hi! I just wanna thank you SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much for buying me! I thought for a second you were just gonna leave me there, but I was also excited that you might change your mind and pick me as well! I was NERVOUSCITED!!!! I'm R2-P2, and I can't wait to be your BEST FRIEND!!!!!"
Twilight couldn't help but giggle at that. "Well it's very nice to meet you. Both of you. Now come on, let's go get you two cleaned up.'" She said, beginning to walk back over the homestead, the two droids quickly following behind.
"Don't you forget this..." R-3 muttered to her counterpart. "Why I should stick my neck out for you is a mystery to me..."
"Thank you SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much, R-3!!!!" P2 exclaimed.
Rarity couldn't help but smile a bit at that. "Well....Generosity is one of my primary functions, Darling...."