Eve Equestria

by AnnonyMouse

Not again

Eve Equestria
03
Not again

Rarity had not been keeping track of time, but thankfully, the computers were.

So far, she had been stuck in this strange wormhole space for the better part of four days.

She certainly was not bored, that was almost impossible. Well, most of the time, at least.

The mare had discovered the quaint pastime called mining.

Her little Venture mining frig was not what she would have called comfortable, though she had discovered that she could actually exit her capsule while aboard her ships. This gave her a chance to actually explore the interior.

So while she had the mining lasers pounding away, harvesting some ore that Jafrak had labeled 'potato', she was walking the corridors of the ship.

It was not a comfortable ship with a clean interior, not like Rarity One. This one was certainly built for industrial purposes.

Still, she'd cleaned up the interior with her magic, as best she could. It had been rather obvious that those two rat bastards had not cared much about keeping the place neat and tidy.

Rather, garbage and grime was everywhere, and Rarity had nearly had a heart attack when she'd first boarded it.

The rather small, fifty cubic meters of cargo space had been full of miscellaneous stuff, among those items she found a rather lovely piece of 'loot'. Something called a Super Kerr-Induced Nanocoating, with Punisher Purity of the Throne SKIN labeled on the side.

She had asked Jafrak what that strange object was, and he had been elated to explain it to her.

Well, not explain, not at all. He simply told her to hook it into the Ship Hanger's computer system, grinning like a Cheshire Cat the whole time.

It had not taken Rarity long to learn that Jafrak was out here, alone, for a reason.

He wasn't exactly the most sane of people, though he was, for the most part, somewhat affable. Tolerable even, for the most part, even though he kept the mare busy when he wasn't working in either his own personal little science lab or that massive industrial wing that took up most of the Citadel's structure.

So she activated the SKIN, and then was directed to pull her ship from storage and into the hanger. On the ship selection screen on the console, she found that Rarity One now had a new option.

She had selected that option, and her jaw nearly dropped to the floor as the entire ship seemed to almost metamorph into a whole new ship. Well, not really. The golds and soft tones changed to a striking white over black. Lines and the lovely patterns remained the same, but the armor on the ship was now, in Rarity's own words "Simply and magically marvelous."

She had taken Rarity One out a few times since, and had encountered the pair of Rat Bastards on a pair of other occasions.

Both times they had evacuated the moment she dropped out of warp. This had brought a smile to her face each time, but also a twinge of annoyance that they were still scurrying around.

And so it led to this, Rarity was looking about not just where she was relatively safe, but also the engineering rooms and cargo bays.

Currently she was in a small room overlooking the massive ore cargo hold though a reinforced window. She had the controls at her beck and call and was organizing the strange greenish crystalline ore that Jafrak called Potato. The computer called it Spodumain, and she had learned that it was a very valuable ore.

Stretching her back with a few soft cricks, she was satisfied as the staggering amounts of raw ore finally stopped streaming in. A signal chimed, indicating the hold was at maximum capacity.

Trotting past the cramped living quarters, Rarity entered the bridge. She could mentally control the ship and all its functions from the capsule, but was also taking the time to learn about actually manually controlling it.

The skills she had learned were fine to use with simple mental thoughts, but the mare decided to forgo that and hopped into the actual command chair. Her magic played over the controls with some ease. She was by far no expert, but she had been practicing a little.

She looked out the front window and spotted one of the pair of Acolyte drones fly past as they orbited her ship. She smiled at how she felt a small measure of comfort knowing that they would at least engage anything that would at least attempt to attack her.

Flicking her magic expertly over a few controls, she called them back into their hangars, mounted on each side of the Venture. Once docked, she hopped out of her chair and slipped back into the capsule.

Warp was fine and all, but outside the capsule's safety, it was not quite the smooth ride she'd been expecting. The pod was filled with a perfectly clear and comfortably warm fluid that didn't stick to her coat or mane at all, or even bothered her eyes when she had them open.

It was almost just like air, though she knew better.

Spinning her ship around, she set the navigation controls to align her back to Jafrak's citadel, and entered warp once at the required velocity.

After some minutes at warp, she exited and approached the super city sized structure.

To be honest, the entirety of the country of Equestria could literally rest on this thing's hull, with room to spare.

She plotted her course to the hanger bay entrances and set the navcom to request docking. Within a minute, her ship was docked, pod parked back at the catwalk, and Rarity emerged, shaking her mane as a matter of habit.

"Jafrak, I've mined up all that, eh-hem' potato. Could you be a dear and see about having your cargo drones moving it into storage?"

It took a few moments for Jafrak to reply. "Sorry about that, was just installing the last of the merallifullerene plating on this project. Say, would you be interested in seeing what I've just built? And yea, sure, hanger drones are now getting to work."

Rarity took one last look as the ore pods on the arms opened up, allowing those 'metal creatures' as she'd first thought of them, to get to work unloading the precious cargo. She'd sell it to Jafrak when he got the chance to check it over himself.

Exiting her quarters, Rarity boarded the transport and took a seat. "Industry Lab." A few minutes later, it stopped at her destination. She emerged from the transport and approached the large double doors.

This was not the first time she'd been here, but it was certainly the first time she was going to actually enter the place.

Jafrak popped his head out of a much smaller door. "Perfect timing Rarity. I'm just assembling the subsystems. If you thought your Punisher was pretty, wait till you get a load of this."

Rarity frowned. "Well, I am certainly getting a load of your odor. When was the last time you bathed?"

"Hmm, before I started assembling this thing I think. Took me forever to acquire or manufacture all the components. Now get in here."

Sighing and scrunching her nose, Rarity entered. The elevator took them up into a cluttered and disorganized control room. A wall of windows overlooked the massive manufacturing facility, and as Rarity approached, her eyes went wide at the massive ship she saw before her.

"What in Celestia's name is that?"

Jafrak was giddy. "That my lovely little corp-mate, is a Legion. It is a Tech Three ship. They're possibly the most advanced ships ever built by civilized human hands. Well, I control everything mentally, just like with the ships, but you catch my drift."

"If by drift you mean your smell... I certainly hope I do not catch it."

Jafrak blinked, then burst out laughing. "No, what I mean is, you get my meaning. You do get that, don't you?"

Rarity understood finally, her mouth making a small 'o' of understanding. She then hid her mouth behind her hoof and giggled. "Yes, I guess I do 'catch your drift'. Now, what can you tell me about this very impressive looking starship?"

"This ship is called a Legion, a Tech Three cruiser class vessel using the most advanced technologies available. The core of the ship is the covert reconfiguration system. That means this is a stealth ship, capable of becoming undetectable to both eye and sensor. It is more than capable of protecting itself with its liquid crystal magnifiers. Catching this ship is made more difficult with the interdiction nullifier and finally the dissolution sequencer allows her to target faster, further and with higher accuracy."

"I do not know what much of that means." Rarity replied honestly.

"Well, you don't have too, not really. What you do need to know is this. If you ever face any tech three cruiser, try to get away from it. Your Punisher would not stand a chance against one of these, not with your level of skill, at least." The human moved over to some manual controls. "I would love to take her out for a test spin, I really would, but sadly, this beauty is slated to be shipped off to a market in high security space. I'll make a lot of Isk off this baby, though the time and resources it took to make it? Not actually sure I'll be trying to mass produce them. I'll be sticking to frigs, dessies and cruisers. Cheap to make, pretty decent for making a steady income of the Iskies."

Rarity nodded. Isk was, from what she had learned, a good thing to have. The more the better. "Do tell. Why do you do it? Building these ships and weapons? It cannot just be for the money."

"Hmm, I do it to keep space safe, or I would like to think so. There's every chance that one of these ships I manufactured could actually end up blowing me out of the sky some day. To be honest, it doesn't bother me at all."

A frown played across Rarity's muzzle for a moment. "Do you not ever make use of the ships you build yourself?"

"Absolutely. I hate having to buy ships and transport them back here." Jafrak shrugged again. "Saves me time, money, and reduces the chance that some pirates or capsuleers from another corp can blow me up. This wormhole, you see, is an anomaly, more so than any other wormhole I have ever come across."

"How is that?"

The human grinned down at the unicorn who just barely reached his waist. "Simple my dear Rarity. There are no wormholes leading in, or out, of this particular subspace pocket."

Rarity blinked. She'd learned that wormholes were absolutely necessary for gaining access to such space. "But, how do you do anything if there are no exits?"

"Simple. You see, I was kidding. This is a normal class one wormhole."

Rarity levitated a coffee mug and threatened to beat the man with it. "That was not polite."

"No, but it was funny. There's always wormholes leading in and out of this place. Thankfully, it's only class one, so most who come in here just, you know, scan down an exit and move on. The typical resources here are commonly found just about anywhere else in the galaxy."

Rarity set down the mug. "If you say so." She looked out at the Legion as it was being packaged up into massive storage crates. I am curious, how exactly do you manufacture anything?"

"Blueprints." Jafrak opened a drawer and looked through a number of large crystalline and metal pads, rectangular in shape. "For example, this one here." He pulled it out and tossed it to Rarity, who caught it with her magic quote easily.

"This." Rarity recognized the ship that was displayed within the crystalline matrix. "This is a Punisher."

"Yes, that it is. I'll sell that to you in trade for, say, that spodumain you mined up earlier."

Rarity eyed the bluerprint, not even knowing where to start. "And what would I do with this?"

"You can use it, as well as the construction plant here, to build yourself more ships. In case you ever find yourself getting your current one blown up. Never hurts to have a couple collecting dust, just in case."

Rarity frowned at that prospect. "I've already been killed, twice now. Once by yourself, and again by those filthy scoundrels who are floating about out there somewhere. Though if you think about it, it was basically your fault as well. Sending me out into space in that feebly equipped Impairor the way you did."

Jafrak held up a finger. "Actually Rarity, that was your own fault for wanting to leave so quickly. I figured you may as well learn that things are not so simple in this universe."

Rarity snorted in annoyance. That was certainly an understatement. Still, she kept calm and refrained from throwing the man through the window.

"Good, calmed down I see." He pulled out a number of other blueprints and set them down side by side on the counter, after Rarity quickly levitated mugs and plates off the flat surface. He set down the blueprints neatly next to each other. "Now look here. There's weapons, propulsion, engineering, armor and more. I'll sell you this small starter kit for all that Spod you've been hoarding."

Rarity looked them over, noticing that there was also a venture and mining laser blueprints. "Well, I guess?" She pulled out the tablet she'd been using and with her magic alone, tapped away. "There, I have ordered the Spodomain to be transfered to your own storage hangers." She looked over her nice little collection of blueprints, and sighed. "And how exactly would I even make use of these?"

Jafrak smirked as one of the cargo drones flew in through the elevator door, carrying a small crate. "That's how. More skill books."

"Those are not books. Books are..."

"Something that contains knowledge." Jafrak cut her off. "Form matters little in the grand scope of things. Function is more important. Well, okay, not always. Those Amarrian ships are both combined quite nicely."

Rarity had to agree with that. She'd browsed the ship database and, with few exceptions, she found the Amarrian ships to be to her liking. Not like those hideous Minmatar ships, like what Jafrak liked to fly. The Gallente ships looked quite monstrous to her, and Caldari ships, they were not too bad actually. She could see herself making use of them if she needed too.

Other ships, like the ones that Outer Rim Exploration produced, were purely function over form, in her eyes. Yet she could not dispute that in this case, function was more important than form. For the ORE ships at least.

There were so many factions out there, many of them modifying existing ships, and some even developing their own unique designs. Some were downright terrifying looking, like that Nightmare battleship. Yet some caught her attention, such as the Sisters of Eve's Stratios. While it was mostly straight lines, with the massive ring near the rear, she could not complain that it certainly was something special. That, and the smaller Astero was simply adorable.

"Very well, function and form, I guess it matters only to the individual." Rarity replied and looked into the box. More of those skill books. "And what are these?"

"Some industrial, resource processing, science and the basic planetary management skills. These are just the bare bones you need if you want to be self sufficient. Now me, I have mastered all these skills myself, and had spares laying around collecting dust."

Rarity blew off a layer of dust and cringed. "Literally."

"Literally indeed, my equine friend. Now, let's get those cleaned up and injected. I have a small collection of the alpha skill injectors. Maybe one day you'll be able to upgrade to the infinitely better omega clone bodies. But for now, we won't worry."

A few minutes later, and a skill injection to top it all off, and Rarity was once again managing her personal skill database. She was rather impressed that this device knew what was going on in her head, and with Jafrak's assistance, she was soon finding her mind expanding with new knowledge.

If Twilight had been in her position, she would have wanted to learn everything about everything. There was no doubt about that.

"Say Jafrak?" Rarity pointed at one skill in particular on her tablet. "What is this?"

"What is what?" He leaned over and took a peek. "Ah, cybernetics. That's a good one. That allows you to utilize cerebral implants to improve various aspects of your mind."

"I didn't follow that at all."

Jafrak tapped his chin, then got to work on his tablet. A few minutes later another drone appeared, or rather, the exact same one that had been here minutes ago. Another box was set down before it left to do whatever it did when it wasn't around.

Rarity looked in and saw some narrow cylinders, almost exactly like the injectors. "And these are?"

"Implants. Just the basic five you can get for crazy cheap anywhere in New Eden."

"And what do they do exactly?"

"Why tell when I can show." Before Rarity knew what was happening, he grabbed one and inserted the needle into the port in the center of her back.

Rarity gasped, her already impressive level of perception suddenly increasing, allowing her to notice details she'd never quite noticed before. Her other senses sharpened as well.

"Oh EW! Shower, now. Your stench is overbearing my sensitive muzzle." Rarity stepped back. "And Darling, if you don't clean this room of the clutter and garbage, I will, and I won't be holding back."

"Hmm, Limited Ocular Filter. Well, that explains your increases senses and perception." He sniffed his own armpit and regretted it. "Yea, shower... and you, take your blueprints and those implants and go back to your quarters. Take your time to look them over and get a feeling for them."

Rarity nodded and backed away, levitating everything into the box. "Well then Jafrak, I shall be off."

...

Rarity's quarters, thankfully, were spotless. Dreadfully drab, but properly functional at least.

Now only of she could get what she wanted so she could give it that special Rarity touch.

She picked up the implants and looked them over. Her senses had been sharpened, but her sense of self had not diminished in the slightest. Perhaps these things could help her in her quest to find her way home.

One after another she allowed the implants to merge with her brain. She was still Rarity, but she was more now. Her thought processes and memory were improved above and beyond what they had already been before. She was calmer than ever, and she had ideas she'd never conceived of before.

She grabbed her tablet and started designing. She wanted, no, she NEEDED to make some garments. If she was going to be flying about in space, sitting in that capsule the way she was, she didn't want to be exposing her more private areas to everyone all the time.

...

Rarity reclined on her sofa, a satisfied smile on her face. She'd designed her own little blueprint and had the industrial complex make use of it.

Now Rarity had something that allowed her to truly be herself.

A sweing machine.

Oh, and she's gotten some bolts of some fabulous materials from Jafrak. He just let her have them because he didn't really care. "I'm no textile merchant. I didn't even know they were in the warehouse till you asked me about them." He had explained.

Looking over to where her new outfit lay on the back of the sofa, Rarity sighed, feeling better than she had since arriving in New Eden.

She got up and levitated the outfit to her, and got dressed.

Normally she would have made something with a more flowing design, but, well, she didn't really like the idea of having free floating fabric getting in the way when she was trying to fly around.

So now she stood in front of the mirror, with a sleek outfit that not only covered where it needed, but showed off her cutie mark. The tight yet comfortable jacket had pockets, which made it easier to carry around her tablet or a few other odds and ends, including a personal pulse laser pistol that Jafrak had been adamant about her carrying on her person at all times, in case the citadel got invaded and she needed to protect herself.

The clothes were mostly white, and form fitting, almost to the point of revealing. There were blue highlights and swirling patterns reminiscent of the designs on the Amarrian ships, just with a slightly more Rarity touch. The jacket had a low collar so it didn't mess with her mane.

"Now I look fabulous." She beamed happily. "Hmm, I wonder, should I make something for Jafrak? He's always wearing the same outfit and that long white jacket." She'd seen Twilight wearing a lab coat on a number of occasions in the past, and understood that the garment was one of those 'function over form' things she so detested.

Rarity turned around a few times to get a better look at herself from all angles. The material felt like silk, but she'd needed a laser to cut it, as normal scissors just couldn't do a thing at all.

It was, quite literally, skin tight as she got a look at her hind end. She blushed a little at how exposed she still looked, despite everything being covered up completely.

"Hmm, well, it leave little to the imagination, I guess, but that's better than actually flashing everypony... everyone." She muttered something to herself about how annoying it was being the only pony there was out here among the stars.

Her mind wondered to what her friends were doing at this very moment. She had little doubt that they were scouring all of Equestria for her, and even likely beyond.

If only they knew how small the world really was. And here she was, untold light-years away, in a closed off pocket of space.

"Rarity?"

"Yes Jafrak?"

"Oh wow, nice outfit."

"Thank you Darling. So, what would you like?"

"Ah yes, I've located a wormhole leading into high security space. I was wondering if you would like to accompany me to Jita."

Rarity had read up some on New Eden, and she had learned that Jita was by far the most active center of commerce in the entire galaxy. "Darling, are you certain? I'm no human, for certain."

"Don't worry. You'll be doing all your shopping from the quarters you'll be using there. Nobody will ever see you." He paused a moment. "Unless you happen to leave the quarters and head out into the market itself to look around."

"Well, it would be much more interesting to say the least." Rarity added.

The man chuckled. "Certainly. I'd love to see the looks on everyone's faces when they see you trotting along and examining what the merchants have to sell, especially when you talk to them for the first time."

Rarity giggled. "Say, these clone bodies, are they always identical to the original body?"

"Mostly, though some have some rather obvious cybernetics, and some have other customizations, like animal ears and tails being on the uncommon side. I have seen one where the body had been heavily modified to the fellow looked like a werewolf. I guess a fully custom 'unicorn' body wouldn't be impossible."

Rarity beamed brightly. "That is wonderful news. When do we leave?"

...

Rarity followed Jafrak's hideous Mastodon transport ship through the wormhole. She's had had some concerns about entering the strange swirling hole in space, but after watching her companion make the jump, she followed in the Rarity One.

The stars were completely different from what she had started getting used too in that class one wormhole. After following him through a dozen massive stargates, they arrived at a system that took her breath away. She set her computer to log the location of this one and looked at her navcom's readout.

"Perimeter." She checked the star maps as they suddenly updated. Her ship's long range sensors were detecting a simply staggering number of other ships and citadel structures out in space. "Oh goodness, things certainly are busy here."

"This is nothing compared to Jita, one jump away. Set your navcom for the warp to the Jita gate, and then let's get going."

"Roger, er, yes." She blushed a little and followed Jafrak as he initiated a fleet warp.

As they came out of warp, Rarity repressed the urge to scream.

Ships were flying about, lasers, bullets and missiles were everywhere, and the number of drones nearly blew her mind.

A dozen ships of all sizes and shapes were hammering a ship that dwarfed anything she'd seen before.

"Don't get involved with that Rarity. You'd just become a casualty of war." Jafrak warned. "That Providence freighter is not going to last long, and you don't want to be around with it sinks. Not unless you want to try to take the risk to dive in there to try to grab some of the loot. I doubt you'd even get a look at the manifest before the aggressors send you home in a ball of fire."

Rarity choked back her feelings. She wanted to try to help, but there was literally nothing she could do. "Wh-why isn't anyone doing anything to help?"

"Let me see here... Yea, those two factions are at war with each other. The aggressors have logged a legal request with New Eden's governments to make it legal, so Concord won't interfere. Just come and take the jump into Jita, and you won't have to watch the results, unless you really want too."

Rarity wanted to run away and hide, but this was the reality of the world she had been thrown into against her will. She watched...

...

Rarity lay on the stiff surface of the sofa in the quarters aboard the space station she and Jafrak had docked in. Her face was blank of expression.

The freighter had not lasted long. She'd forced herself to watch as the massive ship went down in an explosion that would likely have wiped out most of Equestria in an instant. Such violence.

The fleet that had attacked the much larger ship had called in one of their own Charon class freighters to gather up the spoils.

Thankfully, she'd seen the capsule eject from the Providence just before it became a momentary star in space, and had watched it warp out as fast as it could. None of the fleet had given chase.

Now, she lay there, and closed her eyes for a moment. She had cried for what felt like hours, but now she was all out of tears.

The violence of it all, how casual it had seemed.

Equestria at its worst had never come anywhere near that, even when there had been wars. They were always settled through a few skirmishes before diplomacy was employed to prevent any more harm from being done.

But this was not Equestria.

This was New Eden.

Rarity shut her eyes for a minute, taking in deep breaths and letting them out slowly. Finally she opened her eyes and got off the sofa. "Jafrak." She sent out a private communication.

"Jafrak here. Ah, Rarity. How are you holding up? I guess you hadn't really been expecting to see something like that, were you?"

"No, no I was not." Rarity replied, her emotions still being held in check for fear she might fall apart again.

"Well, I hate to say this, but you'll have to get used to it. Do you want me to stop on by your quarters?"

"Yes, please. I would like to get out of here and stretch my legs. Perhaps a trip to the market will be helpful with clearing my mind."

"I'll be there in a few minutes. Hang tight Rarity."

...

Rarity had never seen such a bustling market in her life, not even in Manehatten. Thousands of shops, with thousands of people were everywhere in the promenade.

And yes, she was getting stares from nearly everyone. She was no stranger to having eyes fall upon her, eyes that admired her elegance and beauty.

But these eyes were different.

They felt like the eyes of predators, yet nobody made any moves to attack or harm her, though Jafrak had been made over a dozen offers to purchase the unique creature.

His response each time was "I can't sell her. She's a capsuleer like the rest of us. What are you, stupid? Can't you see her implants?"

Rarity stuck close to Jafrak because of this, though not so close that she would seem like a pet or... special someone. She liked him, somewhat. Tolerated him for the most part, and on occasion had to resist the urge to simply throttle him and toss him over a railing.

She'd even on one occasion had to pull her laser blaster and shove it roughly into one man's face when he grabbed her tail, right at the base and lifted it to try to get a look at what was beneath.

He did loose a few teeth in the process, but had smartly chosen to leave without any further reactions. A blue glowing, floating laser blaster in one's face tended to be rather intimidating after all.

"Rarity, over here." Jafrak lead her to one shop in particular. "This merchant specialized in providing every skill book you can imagine. Considering I prefer cruiser classes, I suggest you look into finding something you yourself could get comfortable with."

"I don't have a whole lot of money." Rarity replied.

"Oh yea, here." He tapped away at his tablet. In response, her own tablet chimes. She examined it and blinked. "A hundred million Isk? Jafrak, I cannot possibly accept this. It's far too generous."

"Rarity, remember I told you I have tens of billions of Isk to my name?"

"Oh... so this is.. pocket change?"

Jafrak nodded. "For me, but for you, it will really help you get the ball rolling. Take your time to look over everything. I want you to be able to choose what you want to do while in New Eden."

Rarity nodded, ignoring the stares from the merchant.

An hour later, Jafrak returned, looking pleased with himself. "Well, just sold the Legion and a bunch of other things for a tidy profit."

The mare looked up and smiled. "Welcome back Jafrak. I've selected quite a few more books for myself."

Jafrak looked at her selection and smirked. "Huh, yea. I'm no merchant really. I have the basics down, but this looks like you're intending to outclass me there."

"I was a business owner before I ended up here. I guess I should be glad that you purchased me from that unscrupulous capsuleer who stole me from my home."

Jafrak patted her head, careful not to bring her wrath down upon himself for messing up her mane. One had been enough. Having the bones in his arm nearly turned to powder had given him a hint as to just how powerful Rarity's psycho-kinetic powers really were, assuming she had been going all out.

If not, then that was a VERY frightening concept.

"As well as some others to help improve my ability to handle myself in a firefight." Rarity added, her ear flicking the offending hand away.

Jafrak was about to say something else when he noticed the human shaped dents in the wall of the shop. "Um, Rarity?"

"One tried to grab me and stuff me in a sack. The other called me a freakish mule."

"Oh... Damn, you dented tritanium plating... with human bodies... Where are they now?"

Rarity examined another book as she responded. "Dom here called in a medical team to take them away.

The merchant, Dom, was an older, heavy set man. He smirked at Rarity. "A pretty thing like you Rarity, I couldn't just let those poor idiots lay there and offend you with their presence for longer than needed. You still need to tell me who designed your custom clone."

"You're looking at him right here." Rarity gestured to Jafrak, who stiffened up.

"Now hold on a moment Rarity. I don't need this kind of attention."

Dom walked over and patted Jafrak on the back with more force than the skinny man liked. "Don't be like that. You've got to be a genius to have pulled this off. The genetic expertise just staggers my mind. So, would you be willing to sell the data?"

"Sell it?" Jafrak stepped back a little. "What sort of numbers are you thinking about?"

"How about a billion."

"A billion zeros maybe." Rarity piped in. "What you see here is a one of a kind immortal clone body, thank you very much."

Dom chuckled. "I'm a merchant. I had to at least ask, but I'll respect your choice. I won't bother you with any more offers."

"Thank you." Rarity smiled, then spotted a book that made her eyes light up. "Oh, a Legion pilot's book."

Dom smiled brightly. "Can't go wrong with wanting to learn to fly a tech three ship. Though the Tengu and Loki are the top sellers, to be honest."

Rarity checked her tablet, bringing up the ship database. "Hmm, the Tengu, a Caldari ship, and the OH DEAR CELESTIA NO!" She cringed as she recognized the Loki. That looked almost identical to the ship that had ponynapped her in the first place.

Jafrak laughed at Rarity's response. "Oh come on now. The Loki may look like it's built out of scrap metal and duct tape, but it's a very dangerous ship. Still, I can respect your preference for the Legion, especially with your eye for aesthetics."

Rarity nodded. "Obviously. One must always keep to their standards and never accept anything less than the best. I do love the looks and feel of the Amarrian ships, well, those that I've looked at so far. Oh, a section on drones. I can't believe I missed that. Those darling little Acolytes on my Venture just make me feel so safe."

Jafrak and Dom smirked at each other as the mare added a few more books to her cart.

...

"A hundred and eighteen million Isk, on skill books." Jafrak muttered as he walked along next to Rarity. "You went all out back there, didn't you? Destroyer and cruisers are now on your list."

Rarity beamed a smile. "Well of course. I do understand that while my lovely little Punisher can fend off those ruffians in the wormhole, I have little doubt it would stand up to the superior firepower of a more powerful vessel. Self improvement is the word of the day. Well, two words actually, but you get the idea."

Jafrak smirked. "Oh, I got you something." He pulled out one more book.

Rarity read the label. "Legion? Jafrak, that book was so expensive. Why would you do this for me?"

"Why? Because as much as I enjoy your company, I do want you to be able to find your own way home someday. I know it's expensive as heck, but I hope you'll take the time to learn how to fly one. It will take you months, mind you, but I believe you can do it."

Rarity wiped away a tear. "Thank you so much Jafrak. You really are a sweetie."

"I'm too nice for my own good. Sides, I have more money than I really know what to do with, so why not splurge on a friend."

Rarity stood up on her hind legs and gave the slender man a hug. "And here I thought I was generous. You make me pale by comparison."

"It it gets you home to your friends and family, then I'm all for helping you out a little. Alright, now, have you injected all the books yet?"

Rarity nodded. "Well, other than this one."

"Allow me." He placed the book to Rarity's central implant and her mind registered the new knowledge.

Rarity mentally examined what she'd need to be able to not just sit in a Legion, but to fly it effectively... "Dear me. This will take me months. I would have preferred to be able to find my way home long before then. The longer I am missing, the worse I fear things will become back in Equestria."

"Trust me. You'll be fine, and if your friends are anything like you, then they will never give up on you."

"Thank you Jafrak." She patted his back one last time before dropping to her hooves. "How about we get something to eat. The paste back at your citadel is so bland."

...

Rarity slowly chewed on the strange food she had placed into her mouth. It was chewy, a little stringy, but still tender. The taste was strong, unlike the grains, flowers and pastries she was accustomed too.

She swallowed the small piece after thoughtfully taking mental note of texture, taste... and the concept that she had just eaten something that had once been a living animal.

"So?" Jafrak had watched her, like a scientist carefully watching an experiment.

"It was... tasty, I think. I mean, I didn't not enjoy it."

"Well, you ordered the stew, so you may as well eat it. Waste not want not, at least when it comes to food." Jafrak dug into his own meal. Steak, potatoes and mixed veggies.

Rarity spooned another mouthful and ate away. "We normally don't eat things like this. I mean, it is quite fatty after all."

"And a whole cake isn't?" Jafrak chucked between bites. "To be honest, from what you've told me of your friend Pinkie, I would fear for every Capsuleer who would even dare take a pot shot at her."

Rarity politely dabbed a paper napkin to wipe off some sauce from her lip. "Yes, most certainly. I have no idea how she might fit any given ship out. Rather, I dread what she would do. Fluttershy would certainly choose one of those logistic ships. Applejack? Heh, she's go for something practical, like your Mastodon."

"That beast isn't practical. Not really. It can haul a whole lot, but they're also really expensive. Still, they're really tough to kill, so they have that going for them."

Rarity nodded. "Alright, then maybe a more affordable cargo ship."

Jafrak looked thoughtful for a moment. "Hmm, the Tayra can haul a whole lot, especially with the right customization, though the Badger is less likely to get blown up in a pinch. Both are very reliable Caldari industrials."

"Yes, they do sound quite like the type of ships that Applejack would choose. Rainbow Dash would go for the fastest thing there is. What is the fastest ship there is?"

"Hmm... I think, though don't quote me on this, Interceptors. There's almost nothing they can't catch.

"I see, then she'd definitely go for something like that. Twilight, she would simply love the Stratios. She's all about learning, science and magic. A ship like that was meant for her."

"Not that I want my friends to ever come out here in the first place." She frowned and poked at her food. "I do so miss them greatly. My little sister and her friends too, the Princesses. My parents." She held back from crying. To many people watching. She glared at her food like it was a hostile for a moment, then dug in. Not like how rainbow Dash or Pinkie might eat, but still with manners.

...

Rarity locked up the trio of destroyers that were chasing after Jafrak's Mammoth, trying to blast it out of the sky.

They had nearly reached the system where the wormhole back to the class one hopefully still existed, but as they came out of the gate, they were attacked.

"Jafrak, try to get back to the gate, I'll try to distract them." She opened fire on the damn ugly ship.

The trip had been so peaceful till now that Rarity had almost all but forgotten about the fate of that Providence.

Now she was being thrown right back into the thick if it.

Her lasers cut into the shields of one offending thrasher, a ship that almost reminded Rarity of a fish for some reason. A really ugly fish, but a fish none-the-less.

To her delight, her readout indicated that the shield had taken a nice heavy hit from her searing violent lasers. She didn't want to get too close, so used her superior speed and maneuverability to keep out of range of the insane number of auto-cannons mounted on all three. It seems these ships were all bite, and had no real additional defenses.

Rarity kept at a good optimal range, cutting apart the destroyer bit by bit. She kept a close eye on the other two destroyers, making sure she didn't get close enough to get caught in their crossfire.

Before she could add a kill-mark to her Punisher's hull, her target turned and dove between its companions, forcing her to back off, loosing any good shots she could take. Those three certainly knew what they were doing to get her off their friend's back.

Rarity checked the sensors and smiled as she noted that Jafrak had indeed made the jump back through the gate. She spun Rarity One around and headed for the gate at full speed. She sent out the signal for the jump to safety.

Warning lights sounded and a voice came over her com. "Due to recent aggressive actions, travel through this gate is prohibited. Please try again later."

Rarity's eyes went wide as she tried to pull up, seeing as her attempt to escape had failed her. She felt one of the wings scrape against the superstructure of the stargate, the sharp metal on metal scraping ringing in her ears.

She felt her velocity drop rapidly as she quickly found herself snagged on the gate itself.

Rarity screamed as her ship came under extreme heavy fire, moments before it exploded. Her capsule ejected from the wreckage and slammed against the gate, the Punisher's flaming wreck pinning her against the only means she had in hopes for escape.

"Not again..." Rarity wanted to cry as she watched the insane number of turrets lock into her pod.

The vacuum of space was no kinder this time as her capsule was torn apart, the wreckage of her ship slamming her against the stargate, leaving nothing but a bloody smear on its surface...

To Be Continued...

Author's Note:

Ah yes, Rarity learns yet another harsh lesson. Gates don't let you escape if you've been aggressive.

Also, gatecamps suck. Maybe they shouldn't have taken the shorter route back to the wormhole. Lowsec sucks harder than gatecamps.

Comments

[AnnonyMouse]

9049739
Thank you for the ideas. Comments like this really do help me with bringing more life to the story.

[Skydrabruh]

I've been waiting for an eve story like this for a while, well done.

I need to get back into eve, used to be in FCON and TEST. I wonder if any big alliance names will be mentioned in your story.

[Venerable Ro]

You know, custom tailoring would probably allow Rarity to make all the ISK she'd ever want. Capsuleeers are proud as peacocks and would likely spend freighter loads of cash on such a unique opportunity. Just as long as she doesn't try making monocles...