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The Smuggler and the Princess

by DocDelray

Chapter 4: Not so simple anymore

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You could tell a lot about person by how they kept their bedroom; at least, that’s something Rarity had always believed. The living room could be spotless and tidy to save face for company, but their bedroom was a place just for them. It was a place where somepony could truly relax, surrounded by their loves and private passions. Simon’s room was certainly telling the mare quite a bit about him.

It was tidy to the point of being nearly spotless, something Rarity could certainly appreciate and respect. It was also very simplistic; a bed in the corner, a desk opposite the bed facing the wall, closet set up in another corner. There was nothing decorative, nothing to stylize the room, making it almost feel empty to her. The one thing that truly stood out about the room was that the wall on the far side of the room had been set up with lines of shelves, each one holding what looked to be long lines of electronic storage devices.

As she drew closer to examine them further, something upon the desk drew her attention. A photograph set in a simple, black frame sat upon the metallic surface. With a touch of blue aura, Rarity levitated the picture a bit closer to get a better look. She found herself staring Simon with a young woman who had her arm tightly looped around his neck in a headlock. The woman was clearly human, dark hair and shining green eyes with a scar on her left cheek, and looked to be rather strongly built. The location of the picture appeared to be a less than welcoming and rather dirty back alley. Run-down looking storefronts and grimy walls seemed to surround the pair, but despite all that they looked to be happy. She couldn’t stop herself from staring at it; he looked so content.

Rarity couldn’t help but dwell a bit on this mystery. The Simon she had seen thus far was a rather angry and, for lack of a better word, abrasive young man. This Simon in the photograph, however, was joyful and carefree. What could have happened between landing on Equestria and when this picture was taken, I wonder? Her musings were brought to a halt as the footsteps of her host echoed from the hallway outside.

Simon trudged his way into the room with a metallic box tucked under his arm. “Alright, you can use any of the clothes I’ve got here-” He froze midsentence when he saw her floating the picture beside her. “What’d I tell you about touching the stuff in here?”

Rarity glanced at the picture before quickly placing it back on the desk with a wide, embarrassed smile as a touch of red bled through her coat. “Oh, I’m very sorry, darling. I didn’t mean to overstep my boundaries.”

She couldn’t help but glance back at the photo before looking to her host. “So, who is that in the picture with you? You both look very happy together.”

Simon gave her a hard glare before setting the box of clothes on the bed. “You don’t need to know that.”

The air in the room had quickly become very thick and uncomfortable. Her eyes quickly darted to the wall of electronics; yes, that would do for an out. “I was actually curious about these things over here.” She stated with a motion of her hoof. “I am still more than a little fuzzy on any written language outside of my own. I was hoping you could tell me what all of these are. Books, perhaps?”She inquired with hopes that a quick change in subject just might help to improve the mood of the room a bit.

“Huh? Oh, uh, no; that’s actually my holo-vid collection.” He noticed a look of confusion in her eyes. “They’re recordings of performances, like a play you can just watch at anytime. I don’t suppose you’ve got something like that where you come from?”

Rarity nearly rolled her eyes at this question. “Oh, you mean movies. Well of course we do. We might not have space travel and are a bit behind the times on the subject of electronics, but we most certainly have such a thing as movies. Sadly though, Equestria’s fledgling movie industry has not been doing so well I’m afraid. It just hasn’t been picking up like so many had hoped.”

Simon had been hesitant for a moment, but eventually he started taking her bait. “You… got any favorites?”

A hint of a smile slipped across her muzzle at the small opening she’d been given. “Well, a personal favorite of mine is a film by the name of Fleurs d'amour, a beautiful tale of a love-struck Earth Pony farmer and the noble Pegasus she pines for.”

Simon let out a chuckle. “I should’ve figured you for a fan of romances.”

“And what kinds of performances interest you, Captain Ortell?” She asked in a happy tone.

With a light grin he glanced at the wall of storage devices. “Honestly, I kind of doubt I could narrow it down. Holo-vids of just about any kind are a bit of a passion of mine.”

Rarity gave a light hearted chuckle at this claim. “Considering how much is probably contained on each of those things, I would assume you have quite the diverse collection.”

“Yeah, I guess you could say that.” He stated with a hint of pride.

That tiny voice in the back of his head came rushing back to him. It quickly reminded him about letting his defenses down, about how only trouble ever follows when he trusts someone. Simon pulled himself back into his mental shell.

“I’ll let you get to your work.” He stated in a flat even tone as he made for the door.

Rarity watched the young man’s back as he walked away from her yet again. She still couldn’t help but feel a slight twinge of sadness for the young man as she compared how he was now to the image in the photograph. Something else that plagued her curiosity was the identity of the woman he was with. Had something happened to her? An accident, or an incident perhaps?

Stop that Rarity, She chastised herself. In a few days time you’ll be back in Ponyville and he’ll have disappeared into the depths of space. Whatever it is or was, it doesn’t concern you. Don’t be such a blasted busy body.

With a ragged sigh she levitated the first thing she saw at the top of the box, giving the garment a scrutinizing eye. “Oh dear, somepony clearly has no eye for fashion.” She complained as she turned the dull, brown robe over in the air.

“Still, you have crafted masterpieces with far less before!” She cheered herself on as she began levitating the various garments from the box as she set about her work.


Nar Shaddaa, the gleaming moon of Nal Hutta. It has been known by a number of names throughout history, the Smuggler’s Moon and Little Coruscant being the most well-known. To Serif Mallary, it was simply home. The Cathar mobster loved this grimy and gritty city world. He loved the undying lights, the smog-choked atmosphere and the constant roar of speeders and ships overhead. These were sights and sounds of both civilization and progress.

Serif relaxed into the back seat of his air car as it cut a path through the upper levels of the planet-wide city. His mind ran through all the angles that were in play as of right now. His product was well on its way to Star Forge, which meant it was only a matter of hours before it was put into circulation. Soon Vrax would have this package and all the trouble Serif had gone through would be a thing of the past. Despite the setbacks from earlier, he had to say it was a good day.

As the car touched down on a landing pad, he stepped out and couldn’t help but grin at the massive tower in front of him. This was the base of operations for Shuga the Hutt and his organization. Unlike other Hutts, Shuga preferred a more businesslike approach to this lifestyle, as opposed to some opulent palace in the outer rim. Instead, he had a palace of the modern day: four hundred floors of office space and every single one of them dedicated to some aspect of his empire. Serif was going to take this empire for himself. It really was a good day.

Adjusting his suit jacket, he started towards the front doors of the massive sky scraper while flanked by his usual entourage: a collection of well-armed, well-trained and very well-dressed foot soldiers that stayed close to their boss’ side. This feeling of power only gave him even greater fantasies of his eventual rise from the bottom rung to the top of this world.

The elevator ride to the top floor had been a quick one, thanks to modern innovations in technology. Serif soon found himself stepping off alone into the penthouse suite of the massive tower. A long hallway and a cleanly-kept office led the Cathar to the rooftop garden of the Hutt gangster. The sweet scent of expensive and rare foliage and endangered flowers flooded his senses, some of which played havoc on his overly-sensitive sense of smell. At one point this area had been a massive, open patio overlooking the rest of the city. On a whim, however, Shuga had turned it into a greenhouse complete with artificial sunlight and the works.

It wasn’t too hard to find his Hutt employer. The hulking gastropod was taking care of some “business” in his beloved garden. A pair of burly guards kept a blubbering humanoid between them both as he begged over and over for mercy. Shuga showed no interest in his cries to be let loose as he continued to preen a vine of brightly colored flowers. A hungry grin slipped past Serif’s self control; he always enjoyed watching these things play out.

“Please, master Shuga, I can get the money! I swear it!” The ill-fated man pleaded.

Shuga gave him a bored glance before grumbling something in Huttese that his ever-present protocol droid quickly translated. “The mighty Shuga is disappointed with you, Lazz. He says he expected you to be far more careful when stealing from him.”

“I… I was desperate, Shuga…” He said in his defense. “My daughter needed that operation I told you about, and it was only a few hundred credits.”

Shuga gave his reply in an angry growl before it was translated. “His greatness says that even stealing one credit is a grievous insult to himself and his operation.” Another long growl in Huttese spilled out. “He says that every credit has been bought and paid for in the sweat and blood of every member of this organization.”

On an unseen cue, one of the guards pulled a blaster from inside his coat and jammed the barrel into the captive’s temple. This act caused him to lose control of his knees as tears began pouring from his eyes, and a long stream of pleadings for mercy escaped him. Before the trigger could be pulled, though, Shuga held his hand in the air, signaling his men to hold their fire. Turning to finally face his captive, Shuga drew closer as he spoke in a much more even tone.

“However, lord Shuga is not without his mercy.” The droid informed him. “He understands that a man will do just about anything to take care of his family. That is why the great and benevolent Shuga the Hutt is willing to let you keep your life.”

Falling to his hands and knees, the man crawled pathetically towards the towering Hutt as he wept uncontrollably. “Oh, thank you, thank you so much Lord Shuga, I-“

Shuga continued on quite sternly before he could continue. “The mighty Shuga will need you alive and well if you are to work off this great debt you have garnered with him.” His droid informed him. “He wants you to know that you needn’t worry about your family, either. They will all be doing their parts to pay off this most grievous debt.”

The pair of guards grabbed their prisoner by either arm as they began dragging him away as he kicked and screamed, begged and pleaded. All the Hutt did was wave this display off before returning his attention to his garden.

Having spent so much time working for the gangster had given Serif Mallary quite a few advantages and privileges. “«If you take up my real-estate any longer, Serif, I’ll start charging you rent.»” Like the chance to pick up Huttese.

“«I know better than to disturb you during your business, Boss. »” Serif replied casually as he drew closer to examine the Hutt’s latest work. “«Alderaanian Lilies, I can’t even begin to imagine what it took to get these. »”

“«Only the best for my garden, »” The Hutt replied proudly as he trimmed away the excess foliage. “«So, how did the run to break in the new pilot go? »”

“«Poorly. »” Serif spat out. “«The idiot tried to outrun a Star Destroyer, the ship was totaled and we lost one of our men. »”

“«The pilot? »”

“«Taken care of, »” was his cold reply.

Shuga shook head in disgust at this news. “«They just don’t make pilots like they used to. »” He stated sadly. “«I remember when spacers with real talent weren’t so blasted hard to find. It makes me tempted to bust you back down to deliveries just so you can show these kids how to fly. »”

“«Tempting, but I’ve become rather accustomed to my well earned position. »” Serif chuckled.

After some time, Serif was sent on his way with his latest pile of assignments from the Hutt. As he entered the elevator, he took some time to drink in the sprawling, planet-spanning city that lay before him through the glass walls of the tube. Leaning against the railing, a wide, hungry grin began to form as he toyed with thoughts of grandiose conquest. As of right now, a large portion of this city and the cartel’s power belonged to Shuga. That was going to change, very soon.


Simon tapped away at the controls of the ship as it made the next jump into hyperspace. Leaning back against the high back of his chair, he rubbed the dull pain in his temples away with a tired sigh. How long had he been out here, running from one system to the next? How long had it been since he left to make a quick profit off the Mandos and their war?

For a moment he let himself close his eyes and drift off into his thoughts. It felt like he’d been jumping from one world after another with little to no stops for rest beyond a few naps right here in the cockpit. The fatigue of it all was starting to wear on him. When he was done, he’d have to take a nice long rest, maybe a vacation. Maybe he’d head off to that Zeltron home world and get some sun, or go off to Corellia for a bit. In the end, he’d probably just find some quiet little rock, park the ship and take a long nap.

He was a long way off from that vacation though, a very long way off. There was still this current job for Serif, helping getting that loud mouth of a woman’s job finished and sending her home. After that he still had to find-

“Oh Siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimooooooooooooon.” Rarity’s singsong voice sent him tumbling from his thoughts and landed him back in the cold grip of reality.

With a tired grunt, Simon forced himself to sit up as his eyes hesitantly forced themselves open. “Whaaaaaaaaaaat?” He replied in a mocking impersonation of her calling him.

“Could you please come to the lounge for a moment?” She requested.

Grumbling in annoyance, he forced himself out of the chair with the sound of his back popping into place. Growling a few curses under his breath, he found the lounge area of the ship darkened. Whatever it was that she wanted from him now had best be important; at least that’s what was going through his mind.

On the cue of his entry, Z7 quickly went about his assigned tasks. The lighting systems affixed to his bulbous dome of a head quickly kicked on creating a multicolored light show about the room. A preselected choice in music began to play, filling the air with a high octane thumping that exuded energy. The astromech couldn’t help but hop back and forth in time to the music, beeping excitedly.

Simon stared dumbfounded at his droid’s awkward actions until all the beams of light finally converged on one area as his passenger strode from one of the side rooms. Rarity beamed proudly as she strutted her way into the lounge clad in her newly crafted outfit. The fashionable mare now wore a dull grey vest overtop of a white button-up shirt that hung a bit loosely from her, while Rarity’s lower half was now clad in a rather form-fitting pair of dark brown pants. All of which had been taken in and altered as best she could with so little to work with, even with that fact she couldn’t help but take pride her work. In her mind she congratulated herself for yet another great creation.

With a smug smile, she proceeded to pace back and forth in front of the human as the droid’s makeshift spotlight followed her movements. She wasted no time in striking every pose in her book as she modeled her creation for him.

“So, what do you think?” She asked excitedly. “Not bad, considering my lack of supplies and the second-hoof materials I had to work from. I’d dare say it was a rousing success.” She stated with a toss of her mane for emphasis.

Simon stared at her with no shortage of confusion. He could feel that pain in his temples rushing back to him as his eye began to twitch and spasm. “That was, uh, neat, I guess.”

“Neat?” She said with a sad pout. “Well, I suppose if I had access to my equipment back home and a few of my better materials I could have really given these outfit some pop.”

A wide smile that gave Simon a bit of a shiver suddenly jumped upon her face. “OH! I could give your wardrobe a much needed upgrade, you know!”

Simon quickly stepped back with his hands up in defense. “Yeah, hey, uh, how about we shelve that one for another time, okay Princess?”

“Oh nonsense, darling,” She happily cooed as she started sizing him up. “Why, it’ll be no trouble at all, I’ll even give you a discount for the work-“

A loud beeping from the cockpit brought a thankful sigh to Simon’s lips as he quickly turned around. “Welp, about to drop out of hyperspace, better go take care of that so we don’t crash into anything.” Simon stated as he made for the cockpit. Under his breath, he thanked the timing on that alarm.

“My, you weren’t kidding when you said we’d be there quickly,” Rarity stated happily as she followed close behind him, “I’m curious about this first port of call. Why do they call it StarForge Station, after all?”

Simon glanced back at her with a smirk as he motioned her attention to the view port. “You’re about to see.”

Rarity’s eyes went wide and her jaw bounced off the floor as the blue tunnel of hyperspace was suddenly replaced with a vibrant smattering of colors. Simon couldn’t help but chuckle a bit at her slack jawed expression at what she was seeing. Swirling masses of gas and color roiled and shifted in front of her.

“They call it StarForge Nebula.” Simon informed his still amazed passenger as he angled the ship to reveal a mass of mismatched metal built into a massive chunk of rock. “And that is StarForge Station.”

As the Meaningless Venture made its way through the swirling clouds and pieces of debris that littered the area, Rarity sat in awe at the sheer size of this floating monolith before her. Twilight and Sweetie Belle had both told her about the station they had visited and could not help but feel skeptical at the time. When she had heard their stories, the mare simply wrote it off as exaggerations; after all, how could anything be THAT big? But now, here in front of her was something that looked more akin to a flying continent.

Drawing closer, she was now treated with the sights of what looked to be fleets of ships coming and going from the station. The majority of the ships looked to be around the same size as their own. Cargo ships coming and going from whatever jobs had brought them out this way. A few, however looked to be closer to those she had seen orbiting her own home planet.

The key difference with these ships and the ones used by the Mandalorians was that these looked to have been built from scrap. Rarity was anything but knowledgeable when it came to Star ships, but what she did have was a very keen eye for details. She could see as they passed by that were clear distinctions between one section of the ship’s hull to the next. She had to admit, despite the sorry shape of these ships, it took impressive ingenuity to make something like that out of other ships.

As the ship passed through the blue wall of energy into one of the docking bays, Rarity found herself hit with a strange shifting. Her legs gave out from her and sending her stumbling forwards. To her surprise however, rather than the cold metal of the floor, she found herself leaning into Simon’s arm. A touch of red seeped through her coat as she stared up into his jade orbs before he helped her regain her balance.

“Shift in the gravity field.” He told her as he helped her steady. “You get used to it after a while.”

“Yes well, that is very good to know. Thank you for your assistance, Simon.” Rarity said with a touch of embarrassment.

Grabbing his coat and gun, Simon made towards the cargo bay. “This won’t take long. As soon as I drop this crate off we’ll get your thing taken care of, then I’ll get you home.”

Rarity stayed close on his heels as he moved through the ship. “You can’t honestly expect me stay on the ship after being cooped up in here for almost a whole day.”

“Cooped up or not, I just want to get this whole mess over with. So you’re staying on the ship.” Simon told her sternly.

“But this stop could make for valuable research.” She pleaded while easily keeping pace. “All these species with so many kinds of clashing cultures and fashions, I can’t pass up this opportunity. This might not be the Canterlot Elite, but there is still much I could see and learn from one walk around this place.”

“Don’t care, not my problem.” Simon retorted with no shortage of annoyance. “If you’re a good girl, then maybe we’ll make a pit stop on the way home.” He added with no shortage of sarcasm. “Until then, I’d better not see you take one step off this vessel, are we clear?”

Rarity kept her eyes locked with his while mentally trying to overpower him. It quickly became clear there would be no budging him on this subject. “Alright then, Captain Ortell, you will not see me leave this ship.”

That seemed too easy. Simon had been ready for a shouting match over keeping her on the ship. “That’s more like it.” He said cautiously while unlatching the cargo crate from its restraints. “We get our work done and then maybe, MAYBE, we’ll make a pit stop someplace.”

“Sounds lovely,” Rarity cooed with a healthy dose of honey. “Well, best not to keep you.” She said with a smile while trotting away from him. “Do hurry back, darling; we don’t want to fall too far behind schedule after all.”

Simon gave himself a satisfied smile as she disappeared back inside the ship. “That’s a lot more like it.” He congratulated himself. Had he looked over his shoulder, however, he might have caught sight of a flash of blue light from within the lounge.

With the cargo crate hoisted over his shoulder, Simon made his way down the ramp from the ship’s hold and into the mostly empty hangar bay. A number of large shipping pods were stacked around the area while droids tended to their programmed business. From behind several of these pods, a group of armed aliens of various species appeared and took up positions. Simon’s attention immediately fell upon the short figure at the center of this gathering of mercenaries. Clad from head to toe in the environmentally sealed armor of the Ubese people.

“Ortell,” he said in a low raspy voice over his breathing mask’s voice box, “about time you got here.”

Simon glanced over the mercs before settling back on the one he assumed to be his contact. “Vrax, right? I didn’t know you were expecting me.”

“More than you know.” Vrax said to him with a touch of a growl.

Before anything else could be said between the pair a hail of blaster bolts filled the air between Simon and his buyers. Death was surely about to claim him when something slammed into his side, forcing him to tumble behind a wall of large shipping pods. Dumfounded and confused by everything that just happened, Simon quickly drew his blaster and looked around franticly as the sounds of energy bolts hitting his hiding place rang in his ears. Standing over top of him was what looked like a wall of shimmering water, ethereal and ghostlike, but from the weight on his chest he could tell it had form.

“Simon, are you alright?” The ghostly vision spoke in a voice he was becoming all too familiar with.

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

Next Chapter: Welcome to Starforge Estimated time remaining: 3 Hours, 49 Minutes
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