• Published 29th Jan 2013
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The Smuggler and the Princess - DocDelray



What should have been a routine cargo job quickly escalates into a race to survive. Join Rarity and the freelancer Simon Ortell as they run for their lives from bounty hunters, hired guns and other dangers of the galactic underworld.

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Welcome to Starforge

Simon’s eyes narrowed on the shimmering form before everything clicked into place. “Rarity?”

Simon had seen and heard of some very strange things out here in the Outer Rim. He’d seen a drunk Jedi turn an entire cantina into one big dance troupe. He’d heard stories of a dirtball of a planet populated by back-woods hicks that apparently had some kind of super amazing treasure hidden somewhere on it. But this was something he was certain that no one, no matter how drunk or loaded up on Glitter Stim, would ever believe what he saw.

The liquid-like shimmer began to fall away, revealing the Unicorn in question standing over him. Her horn, which had been encased in a soft, shimmering blue, started to return to its normal white sheen. She forced a wide, toothy smile while his eyes went wide and jaw slacked.

“What in the… what are you doing here!?” Simon yelled at her.

One lucky blaster bolt managed to penetrate through the cargo container they had been hiding behind. Rarity could feel the blistering heat of the deadly projectile as it passed just inches from her back; with a surprised yelp, she buried herself tightly against Simon’s chest, trying to make herself a smaller target.

“Can we please save explanations for when we’re no longer being shot at!?” She yelled back over the sounds of their attackers firing away at them.

Simon pulled himself away from the frightened Equestrian to blindly fire a volley of his own blaster bolts back at Vrax and his men. Each shot sadly trailed off, missing all possible targets. However, it did have the satisfying effect of causing them to halt their advance on their position.

With this new opening in the fight, Simon quickly began sizing up their options as he looked the situation over. They could run for the ship? The path back is too open and it would be child’s play for them to mow the two down. Z7 could return fire from the ship? The only gun on the Venture was on the roof though, and couldn’t be angled down to hit them. Maybe fire on the roof above them? There was too high a risk of exposing this hangar bay to the vacuum if they did that. Maybe just keep blind firing and hope that one or two of them actually walks into one of his bolts? Now he was just being silly.

Hope however, returned to him as he spotted something they could use to their advantage. A grate overtop of a maintenance shaft, if they could get into that they could lose them in the maze of conduits and tunnels that ran through the station. The problem here, though, was the same as with getting back on the ship; one saving grace, though. It was closer and had a little more cover.

Rarity’s gaze followed his to the access grate and quickly understood his plan, as well as formulating one of her own. Her forehoof took him tightly by the arm to garner his attention for a moment. “Simon, I have an idea.”


Behind the breathing helmet, Vrax smirked with a strong sense of satisfaction. Everything was going to work out according to the plan: he’d soon have the crate, and those two would be dead. As an added bonus, he’d have a pretty new ship that could fetch him a welcomed pile of credits.

Speaking of credits, this firefight was wasting time and draining his wallet. “Enough of this game; lay down suppressive fire and move in. I want those two executed, NOW.”

As Vrax’s mercenaries followed their boss’ orders, Simon and his Equestrian companion darted out from behind the cargo container. The pair made a mad dash for the hangar exit through the hail of blaster fire. The Ubese began barking orders to mow them down, while quickly taking aim with his pistol and joining in on the slaughter.

The pair ran through the hail of blaster fire as bolts of energy sizzled past them. No longer willing to draw this conflict out however, Vrax took careful aim from behind his blaster. With cold confidence, he drew a bead on the quadruped running closely beside the human He gleefully hoped her corpse would fall at an angle to trip him up in mid stride as his finger eagerly squeezed the trigger and let fly a deadly projectile. With smug satisfaction, he watched as the energy bolt streaked through the air until it found its mark in the back of the four legger’s head.

His sense of victory, however, quickly turned to shock as the bolt passed through her skull and struck the wall ahead of her. Under normal circumstances this might mean that he had just caused quite a mess for some poor soul to clean up; this, however, was anything but normal. Vrax stared in disbelief at the back of her head which showed no signs of any kind of damage as she continued to run forwards.

Had he missed? No, there was no way he could have missed a shot like that. He knew he’d hit her, he just knew it. But if that was the case, then why was she still running at full speed? Why didn’t she have a burnt crater in the back of her skull?

While Vrax’s men didn’t seem to notice this odd occurrence, the Ubese quickly cycled his helmet’s HUD through various vision settings. There was no sign of them via the thermal setting; however, they showed up as various spectrums of light. He immediately assumed holograms, but that meant…

Vrax turned his attention over his shoulder and found Simon, the crate still hoisted onto his shoulder, and that four legged Thing making for the other side of the room. What’s more, there was a strange glow coming from the horn atop her head as a look of concentration scrunched up her face. Snarling several curses in his native tongue, he let fly a volley of bolts in their direction.

They were almost there. They were going to make it. These were the words Simon kept repeating to himself from within his head. As the pair closed in on the grate, a painful burning sensation tore through his shoulder and arm, causing him to lose his grip on the package. At the same time, several more energy bolts struck the floor around Rarity, bringing out a startled screech from the Unicorn as she tumbled to the ground.

The smuggler risked a glance over his shoulder to find Vrax and his men no longer chasing shadows and now fully focused on them. He then glanced to the crate; whatever was in there was worth enough to Vrax that he’d try to kill the guy bringing it to him. It was the source of all this trouble, but it had to be worth more than a few credits for all of this. Then his gaze settled on Rarity, who was struggling to get back to her hooves and continue on at a full gallop. Vrax and his men were closing in on them; he could grab both of them without getting shot.

Cursing under his breath, Simon scooped up the Unicorn with one arm while drawing his blaster with the free hand. Adrenalin and the desire to live drove the biting pain out of his mind and shoulder before he let fly a few blaster bolts. The projectiles struck true and decimated the grate, leaving a hole just big enough for the pair to dive through. His ears rang with the familiar sounds of blaster fire and the surprised shouts of the Unicorn in his arms. Just before leaping headlong into the maintenance shaft, he was suddenly aware of a squeezing pressure around his midsection.

Vrax snarled in frustration as they disappeared through the broken shaft. “Get down there and find those two, I want their corpses!”

While his hired guns took to hunting down the escaping pair, the Ubese’s attention fell upon the crate. Once his minions and mooks had cleared out, Vrax knelt down beside the box and entered the password into the electronic lock. The crate’s seal was broken with a loud hiss before he slowly opened it. Beneath his breath mask his jaw went fully slack as he took in what he was looking at. It was everything that Serif claimed it was and more. Quickly slamming the case shut and re-engaging the lock, Vrax made for the exit with his prize in tow. Now all he needed was to have that pair of loose ends tied up and the plan could truly get underway.


Simon and Rarity found themselves tumbling blindly through the darkness after making their daring escape. Before long, the pair found the solid metallic ground of the station’s dimly lit maintenance tunnels with the help of gravity. Through odd twists of fate and a touch of good luck, a pile of refuse at the bottom of the chute cushioned their impact. A cloud of dust and dirt was kicked up as they met the end of their destination rather abruptly.

The landing sent yet another tremor of pain through Simon’s body as he absorbed the brunt of the impact. This only served to worsen the pain in his arm from the grazing shot he’d taken while on the run. His mind began to clear alongside his vision until he became aware of Rarity’s frantic voice ringing in his ears. “Wha… what’s the matter?”

“I… I…” Her words came out in shaky frightened mess as she struggled to keep her control. “I was hit!”

Simon’s eyes quickly focused after hearing this, prompting him to move to her side to carefully examine her. “Ah jeez, where, where’d they get you Rarity?” Now it was his turn to sound frantic and scared. “It’ll be okay Rarity, just show me where they shot you.”

“Right here!” She blurted out in woe as one of her forehooves held up a portion of her curled mane. The violet strands had been marred and singed black as wisps of smoke drifted from the damaged follicles.

“What?” His tone had shifted to being low and even as he stared at her in deadpan disbelief.

Rarity’s lip quivered as she stared sadly at the damaged hair. “Out of all the worst things that could happen,” she sniffled as her eyes teared up at their edge, “this is THE! WORST! POSSIBLE! THING!” She blurted out with dramatic pause before fainting backwards into Simon’s chest.

Simon was having a hard time processing this. How was this the same girl from before? Back on Gaia, she faced down a room full of blasters pointed at her and didn’t even flinch. On his ship, she put him on his rear then held him at blaster point while demanding he take her home. And now here she was sobbing uncontrollably into his chest while lamenting over the state of her hairdo.

“Rarity,” It took every inch of his self control to keep himself yelling his head off at her. “How exactly is this an issue?”

“My perfect beauty has been marred!” She sobbed pitifully. “I’m a hideous gargoyle now, don’t look at me!” She cried out before hiding herself behind her forelimbs and burying into his chest again.

Simon’s patience had reached its limit. Cupping his hands on either side of Rarity’s face, he forced her to look him in the eye. “Listen to me, Princess, we do NOT have time for this!” He snarled at her. “Vrax and his goons are going to be coming down into these tunnels to find us and kill us, we have to-”

Simon stopped mid rant as something important dawned on him. His hands quickly fumbled about his jacket till finally producing a hand held comlink. “Zee, pick up!” From the built-in speaker of the small device came a cacophony of beeps and whistles. “Get the ship out of there and circle around the station.” He was answered with several more whistles from the other side of the line. “Don’t worry about that, I’ll contact you when it’s time for a pick up. We can’t afford to lose the ship to them.”

“Alright, that gives us at least some kind of an escape route.” Simon sighed in relief while slipping the com back into his pocket. It was then that he noticed the indignant glare that she was now giving him. “What is it now?”

“Oh nothing,” Rarity said with a hint of venom, “just thinking about how you could do with a little more sensitivity.”

Moving away from her human companion, Rarity took stock of their new location. Tubes and wires ran along the walls and ceilings as low grade light fixtures create long shadows and gave the place a tomb-like atmosphere. Looking herself over, she could feel her skin crawl after seeing all the dirt and grime that was clinging to her clothes and fur.

Simon rolled his eyes at her comment about his current attitude as he dusted himself off. “Look, Princess, we don’t have time for you to go through a nervous breakdown over a few split hairs.”

“Does this look like a few split hairs to you?!” Rarity exclaimed as she levitated the damaged section of her mane in frustration.

Though her teeth were bared and face set in a livid expression, Rarity couldn’t help but feel herself shaking and sobbing on the inside. It wasn’t just that her mane was ruined, it was the fact that here she was hundreds of light years from home, in a dark, dirty tunnel with a man who threatened at one point to launch her out an airlock. Making matters worse, once more there are blaster-toting aliens who want to turn her into a charred corpse on the grounds that she was in the room at the time. She had kept a brave face thus far but she could feel a few small cracks in her mask starting to form along the edges.

She could see from Simon’s gaze that he was a bit taken aback from her outburst. Taking a deep, calming breath she took control of her emotions. “I apologize, Captain Ortell; the stress must be getting to me. Once we get back to the ship and are safely away from here I will have to see about restyling my mane. Now then, shall we be off?”

Simon regained his composure after her small explosion. “Right, well, anyways, you’re going to have to hold off on the preening and prettying for a little while.”

Rarity raised her brow in curiosity, a worried chill crawling down her spine. “Simon, what are you planning?”

“Vrax still has that box and whatever’s inside it.” Simon pointed out as he started following the tunnel. “Not only that, but he didn’t pay me for it. He just broke Freelancer’s Law number One: deliver the cargo and get paid. Since I doubt he’ll be willing to discuss the contract he just violated, we’re just going to have to steal it back.”

Rarity easily kept pace beside him. “You cannot be serious, darling.” Her voice started to crack a bit with worry. “Maybe you failed to notice the large contingent of guns that were pointed at us mere moments ago, but I have my doubts we can hold our own against all of them. Besides that, from what I saw during the fight, you aren’t a very good shot with that thing.” She added with a gesture of her horn towards his pistol.

Simon gave her a sidelong glare as they continued through the tunnels at a brisk pace. “Shut up, I’m a decent shot when I need to be. Besides, last I checked, you WANTED to go around the station.”

“That was before we had armed brutes hunting us down.” Rarity was quick to counter. “Simon, just forget about this foalish vendetta of yours and let’s leave this place, please.”

He quickly looked away from her as those deep blue eyes locked with his. They were pleading and begging him to just walk away; that, combined with that pouting lip, made for a dangerous combination. A scowl firmly took root as he fought hard to will the growing red from his cheeks. Forget the Force, if the rest of her planet was like this, they could conquer the galaxy without firing a single shot.

“Rarity, we’re going to have to go through Vrax and his men at some point.” Simon calmly pointed out. “If we can get the box back while we’re at it, then that’s a bonus. Besides, I wouldn’t worry too much, Princess. I’ll keep you safe.”

With a weak smile she nodded in agreement. “Alright then, I suppose I don’t have much choice in the matter considering the limited options.” She admitted reluctantly. “At the least, I would like to vacate these dreadful tunnels.”


Time in the tunnels had passed at a crawl as Rarity and Simon navigated the dark, dingy underbelly of StarForge. The dim lighting on the maintenance tunnels combined with the ambient hum of generators and the echoes of a thousand voices from over head only helped to fuel the growing paranoia of the pair. Every sound in the darkness and movement from the corner of their collective vision caused them both to tense and slow their pace. They had narrowly escaped a few close calls as a few of Vrax’s mercenaries were still searching the shafts looking for them.

As a small sense of security started to settle on them both, Simon sought to kill some time and hopefully get a few answers. “So, mind telling me how you did all that stuff back at the ship?”

“Oh, you mean the invisibility and the mirror clones?” She asked him calmly. “Very simple applications of illusion magic, tricks of light and shadow, nothing overly impressive by anypony’s standards.” Glancing towards her companion, Rarity couldn’t help but notice the odd stare he was giving her now. “What?”

“I’d heard that a lot of your kind can use the Force and junk like that. But I’ve never heard of it being used like THAT.” He stated with no shortage of surprise in his voice.

“Like I said, it really wasn’t anything impressive.” She assured him. “Those parlor tricks are nothing compared to what my friend Twilight Sparkle can perform.”

A wry smile slipped past Simon’s defenses. “Just one surprise after another with you isn’t it?”

Before long, a growing glimmer in the darkness ahead of them finally gave way to a cascade of light from the level above them. At the bottom of a stairwell, a pool of artificial light cascaded down from the level above. Rarity’s heart leapt for joy at the sight of what could very well be their salvation. Instinctively she quickened her pace to reach the steps as quickly as she could. Her advance, however, was halted when a firm tug on the collar of her vest brought her to a stop.

“Whoa, what the heck do you think you’re doing?” Simon snarled at her.

“Leaving this dreadful dungeon, of course,” She answered back before freeing herself of his grip. “That was our plan, right?”

Simon pushed his way past her and cautiously inched towards the top of the stairs. “Vrax is bound to have some of his guys looking around the station for us in case we got past the guys in the tunnels.” He informed her.

Hugging tightly to the wall, he peeked out around the corner. They had reached the station’s market district at the heart of the facility. The stairwell he and Rarity were currently concealed within sat behind a pair of merchant stands, giving him ample cover to observe the area. Sure enough, he could see a pair of armed thugs trying their hardest to casually watch the crowds. A little further investigation turned up at least four others all spread out and armed to the teeth. Simon cast a glance at the less than intimidating pistol strapped to his hip. Perhaps Rarity had a point earlier when she pointed out the enemy’s superior firepower.

It was then that he spotted someone in the crowd. Vrax himself, marching across the promenade with his prize tucked under his arm. A confident smirk came to the smuggler’s face as he watched the Ubese enter a lift at the end of the hall.

Rarity made her way up beside Simon, catching sight of the vaguely humanoid figure before the metallic sliding doors closed behind him. “It would seem we managed to find that brute from the hangar.” She commented quietly. “I do hope you have a plan to get us from here all the way to the other side of that wide open area.”

“Why don’t we just try that illusion thingy you did before?”

“Invisibility takes a calm mind and concentration in order to bend light around one’s self and maintain the illusion.” Rarity replied reluctantly. “It takes even greater concentration when cloaking yourself and others. I don’t have the strength of will to prolong a spell like that for the two of us; I’m a fashion designer not a mage.”

Simon glanced about their alcove and the surrounding area for anything that they might be able to make use of. They didn’t have a lot of time before Vrax and the crate were too far out of reach. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted something sitting on top of a supply crate behind one of the merchant stalls: a length of rope. This gave him an idea.

Grabbing it up, he quickly took a knee to get eye to eye with her. “Rarity, I need you take your clothes off and let me tie this around your neck.”

The fashionable Unicorn’s eyes went wide and her pupils shrank to mere dots at this proclamation. Surprised was one way to describe her mood, the other was…

Her hoof swiftly flew up and struck him across the face as harshly as her forelimb could provide.

…Irate.

“What in the hay is wrong with you?” She hissed at him while glaring daggers into his eyes. “Here we are skulking in the dark and running for our lives while you want to entertain some kind of FETISH!? I shudder to think the types of mares you are used to Captain Ortell, but I am a lady, not one of your back alley harlots.”

The side of his face throbbed and ached, that arm of hers was something else. His senses returned and his anger fueled all the more, Simon brought himself forehead to forehead and glare to glare with her. “First, keep your voice down unless you WANT to become a blaster-bolt riddled corpse.” His voice fought hard not to break into a yell. “Second, they’re looking for a human and a four legged alien, if we make you look like a pet, we might not set off any red flags out there. Oh, and for the record, don’t flatter yourself, Princess, you’re not my type.”

“I can only imagine what your type is.” She stated venomously. “Some cheap bar room floozy with no standards or self control and probably a few daddy issues.”

“Oh yeah, well she sounds a whole hell of a lot more approachable than some trumped up, high class snob who thinks she stands leagues above the rest of us.” Simon retorted. “Believe me Princess, I’ve dealt with your kind before.”

Rarity raised a brow at his curt response. “My kind?”

“Yeah, your kind,” His mouth was running on autopilot now, guided by anger. “Posh pretty girls who’ve spent their entire lives living comfortably off of Mommy and Daddy’s trust fund. I’m betting this is the closest you’ve ever come to the real world in your whole damn life.”

To his surprise, Rarity said nothing in return. No argument, no shouting, all she did was stare at him. An intense anger in her eyes, no words at all, but something about that stare felt like he was being torn apart from inside out.

The moment his mouth opened to say anything she quickly cut him off. “Are you quite finished?”

Nodding a yes to her the rope in his hand was telepathically yanked from his hand. “Then give me some blasted privacy.” She snarled at him.


“There is no way this is going to work.” Rarity grumbled under her breath.

With a great deal of reluctance, she had done as Simon instructed. The outfit she had been clad in had been removed and rolled up into a bundle that her companion now carried under his arm. A loosely tied rope hung around her neck in a makeshift leash and collar that he held from the other end.

“Just stay quiet and we shouldn’t draw too much attention to ourselves.” Simon whispered to her.

Rarity’s face was beat red as he forced herself to march forwards across the promenade. Her eyes nervously darted from one strange being to the next while she braced herself for when this “brilliant” plan fell into disarray. So far, at least, it seemed to be working as barely any of the market goers or merchants paid her any mind. Perhaps they might actually make it through this.

“I do hope you have more to this plan Simon.” Rarity said under her breath.

“Real simple,” he replied confidently, “we get to that console on the other side of market. I slice the system and look for a hanger with the tightest security. That’s our best bet to find Vrax.”

“And what makes you say that?”

“That much muscle and this much trouble to get what’s in that case? Oh yeah, he’s gotta have a ship just waiting to take off with a wall of goons to make sure it does.”

“Yes, we both know how amazing you are at reading others.”

Rarity had made no attempts to conceal the venom behind her words this time, causing Simon to flinch inwardly. She was mad, that much was obvious, but there wasn’t much he could do about that now. He gave a silent prayer that whatever drama was roiling beneath her surface would hold off until they were at least off the station.

“An interesting animal you have there, human.” An eager voice behind them chimed in.

Just when things were going so smoothly too, glancing over his shoulder he found the large, blackish-blue eyes and green, scaly skin of a Rodian. “Yeah, thanks.” Simon replied with a grunt.

“It is very unique and rare looking.” The alien continued his pestering. “I represent a very rich individual who happens to collect rare and unique creatures like this one. I am very certain he would pay handsomely for this one.”

As tempting as it was to sell her off and be done with this seemingly endless headache, he did happen to make a promise to her. “No thanks friend. You wouldn’t want her anyways, see she’s got a bad attitude, not to mention she’s pretty high maintenance.”

Rarity bit down on her lip with a glare fixed dead ahead to withhold her already growing anger. High maintenance he says, she thought to herself. When this is all over with I am giving him a piece of my mind. With a few choice words in a language she couldn’t understand, Simon managed to chase off the pestering green skin, much to her relief. This is quickly replaced when Simon ties her to one of the hand railings near the information kiosk.

Catching sight of the indignant look he was now getting, Simon quietly mutters to her. “It’s just to keep up appearances, alright?” He quickly defended his actions. “Keep an eye out for any trouble while I take care of this.”

Armed with his wits and a datapad, Simon plugged the device into the wall-mounted computer and began his assault on the station’s network. He had to admit, a security system designed by pirates and outlaws was a lot more impressive than any governmental or military design. Still, he managed to find the holes in the defenses. Simon swiftly sifted through the piles of data and information till he found exactly what he was looking for and a slightly added bonus.

With the camera controls under his command, he was able to find Vrax himself in route to his ship. A cocky smirk came across Simon’s face as a rather devious idea came to mind on how to slow his progress down by quite a bit. With a few taps on his keypad, the spacer watched with no shortage of glee as the massive blast doors in front of and behind the Ubese on the screen suddenly closed. He was trapped, step one was complete. A few more taps and the protocols for the door were changed around to make sure his head start would hopefully mean close to nothing now.


Vrax stared a hole in the massive blast doors now sealed shut in his way before his gaze shifted to a wall mounted camera. “Still alive, I see.”

Behind his visor, the Ubese couldn’t help but smirk from ear to ear. “Good, I was hoping the mercs would miss you, Ortell. It would be a shame if I didn’t get to kill you myself, after all.”

Vrax lifted the case up in the air so the camera could get a good look at it. “Would you like to know a little secret about what’s in here?”


Simon stared at the screen as he watched the Ubese holding up the case and tapping the front of it. “Too bad there’s no sound on these old style cameras, would really like to know if he’s mocking me or not.”

His contemplation gained very little ground when familiar protest sounded out beside him. “Unhand me you cur!”

Simon turned around in time to see Rarity slamming her rear hooves into the gut of the Rodian from before. The alien’s body went limp as he was sent several feet across the polished floor. Just as he was afraid of, a lot of eyes were now on them as Rarity continued to verbally assault the Rodian who was nursing his now sore midsection. Even worse, several of the mercenaries they were trying to avoid were now motioning and heading in their direction.

Running completely on impulse, Simon drew his pistol and began firing rounds off into the air over the crowded market place. All of this depended on the nature of his fellow outlaws and privateers being just as trigger happy as the next. To his delight, the gamble paid off. Chaos quickly broke out within the promenade as beings began rushing in all directions for cover. Some drew their own blasters and began shouting back and forth. Grinning happily with himself, he swiftly untied Rarity and released her from the leash. Before they scurried off, he turned his attention to the Rodian giving them both a confused stare.

Kneeling down to the alien, Simon looked him right in the eye and said. “I told you she’s got a bad attitude.”

Freed from her bonds, Rarity made a mad dash for the control panel of the elevator slamming her hoof into the button. At this moment in time, she didn’t care which direction it was headed just as long as it arrived and quickly. “Simon, we have to go!” She called out to him the moment one of the doors slid open.

Hearing her call out, Simon left the dumfounded alien on the ground. Given the riot he had started, he wasted no time in joining up with Rarity before the metal doors slid shut behind him.