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The Smuggler and the Princess

by DocDelray

Chapter 9: A Cold Night

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Part of her desperately hoped that all of this had been some kind of silly dream. That she’d let her mind wonder after reading another of her novels and that she’d wake up wrapped up in her thick comfy bed sheets. That she’d wake up to the sounds of birds chirping outside her open window accompanied by the waking hustle and bustle of Ponyvile. She’d wake up and get to work on the latest set of orders before her sister got off school and came over to spend time with her. Then perhaps Twilight or somepony would show up at the shop with some threat to the world that only the Elements of Harmony can stop. Yes, she’d open her eyes and everything would back to normal. Sadly though, she knew all too well that her eyes were already wide open.

With a ragged sigh, she forced herself out of the bed to the sounds of her bones popping as she forced life back into them. Halfway back in slumber, Rarity trotted her way through the ship. In her time on the vessel she had certainly become familiar with its layout as well as the function of some of its systems, at least the ones she was forced to use on a daily basis. Passing one door in particular, she found something rather odd.

Simon stood in front of the softly glowing hologram of someone in particular that sent a slight shiver through Rarity’s body. “Serif,” she muttered under her breath as she hugged the wall beside the door.

“Simon, it’s been a while since I’ve seen or heard from you,” the well dressed Cathar pointed out in a stern tone. “You’ve got some major explaining to do. The last thing I heard was that not only did you keep that girl alive, but you started a fight with Vrax and lost the package to the Starforge as well.”

“First off, you really think I was about to just kill someone in cold blood?” Simon asked with no shortage of sarcasm. “As for Vrax, him and his goons shot first! This kind of shit is what happens when you deal with an Ubese, Serif. Little karking Hutt-spawn was probably planning to take all the profit for himself from the beginning.”

“That aside, we’re still out one very important object, Simon.” Serif reminded him.

“What if I told you, I still had the package?”

“I’d be tempted to take back almost everything I’ve said about you.”

“Listen, Vrax was gonna be your middle man for whatever this deal is you’ve got set up, right? Well, clearly he isn’t up to snuff, so what if I completed it for you?” Simon asked with a confident smirk.

Serif visibly turned this idea over in his head, sharp feline eyes sizing the smuggler up from across the vastness of space. “These are some really cut throat people, Simon, I’m not sure you realize what you’re volunteering for.”

“Then I’ll expect hazard pay.” Simon quickly replied. “Look, get Vrax and his bounty on me and my new partner off our backs, and I’ll get the job done.”

“You’re asking for a pretty big favor, paying off the Bounty Hunter’s Guild like that.”

“Shuga isn’t paying you? Besides, you owe me this and more, old buddy.”

Serif showed a moment of hesitation “You really have the crate?”

With a wide grin, Simon lifted the box in question into view of the holo-transmission. “Would I lie to you?”

Serif eyed the case intently before tapping a few keys off screen. “I’ll be karked, that’s the real thing.” The Cathar gangster mentally turned this new information over for a moment. “Alright then, Simon, you got a deal. I’ll do what I can about the Guild, but no promises. Until then, I want you to wait for me to contact you in the usual place.”

A wide hungry grin slipped over the smuggler’s face as he reached over to end the call. “One more thing, Simon,” Serif’s interjection stopped him mid reach. “You should get rid of the girl while you still can. She’ll thank you in the long run.”

Once the hologram finally cut out, Simon let out a tired groan and let himself drop onto the couch behind him. Rubbing his temples he caught a glimpse of lavender and white from the crack in the door. “So, how much of that did you hear?”

Tentatively, Rarity entered the room with a touch of guilt on her face. “What I assume was the entire thing…”

Simon stared at the ceiling, pipes, wires and light fixtures filling his gaze. “He’s not wrong you know, would probably be better if you just left now and went home or something.”

Rarity took a seat across from him with a tired sigh. “I won’t deny that the thought has crossed my mind more than a few times. I miss my home and I miss my friends and family. I can’t stand constantly lying to them about where we are and what we’re doing.”

“With all those blaster toting whackos running around your planet now, it’d probably be the safest place to wait out this bounty thing hanging around your head.” Simon pointed out.

“Yes, it would be nice to just give up and go home, wouldn’t it?” She said with a tired smile. “But I’ve never liked the thought of giving up. Besides, you’d probably be dead within a week without me to save your flank, partner.” She added with a teasing smirk.

Simon gave her a mock glare before rolling his eyes and sitting up in his seat. “Alright then, Princess. Just don’t blame me when you either get shot or end up some slaver’s new favorite pet.”


From the cockpit, Rarity watched as the Meaningless Venture made its way through the mixture of asteroids and fields of debris towards a single dark grey orb in the black. Soon, the ship made a slow descent through the thick grey clouds that covered the planet until it finally touched down in the tiny space port of one of the scavenger towns that dotted it. As the gangway lowered, the first thing Rarity took note of was the flecks of grey that fell about like fresh winter snow. A cold biting wind drifted through her and tore at the coat around her form. As her eyes traveled upwards to watch falling flakes, her companion offered a scarf to her. Bringing her gaze to his, she found a similar one wrapped about the lower half of his face.

“Ash fall,” Simon informed her as she wrapped the scarf about her mouth, “centuries old debris that’s still floating in the atmosphere starts to fall to the planet, burns up, and turns to falling ash. You don’t wanna breathe it in.”

“Oh joy, yet another charming place you’ve brought me to.” Rarity said with a touch of sarcasm. “Do you treat all the women in your life to such exotic trips?”

“Only the ones who’re as beautiful as you, Princess,” Simon replied as he made his way through the open air landing pad.

“Oh, Simon, you are ever the charmer.” Rarity snickered as she kept pace with her human companion. “On a more serious note though. Are you sure we can trust Serif?”

“I trust Serif to double cross me if he thinks he can turn a big enough profit from it.” Simon replied as he led them through the streets of the barely alive town. “I trust him to think more about what’ll benefit him over me. But most importantly I trust him to at least not try to kill me openly. That’s why we took our time to stash the box on that moon before coming here.”

“That was a rather clever strategy, Simon.” Rarity praised him between her laughter.

“Yeah, well, get robbed while you’re off your ship enough times and you learn not to hide anything important onboard.”


From the self proclaimed safe house, Rarity watched as the already dreary urban landscape outside. Deep grey snowflakes covered every inch of ground, every rooftop and clung to the sides of buildings. A shiver ran through her, causing the Unicorn to pull her coat tighter around her body. A nudge at her shoulder drew her attention to her companion’s offering of a clear glass filled halfway with an amber liquid.

“Might wanna drink this.” Simon advised her. “Heater takes a while to kick in and it tends to get pretty cold on this planet at night.”

Taking the glass with her magic, she floated the liquor to her lips and instantly felt a quick wash of heat as it slid down her throat with a strong bite. Wincing, she nodded a thank you to him before taking another, smaller, sip to melt more of the building frost from her bones.

“This world you’ve brought us too, darling, it seems so very dreadful.” Rarity sighed as she finally settled into her seat hoping to sap some kind of warmth from the couch cushions. “Why would anypony actually choose to live on such a world?”

“Same reasons anyone sets up shop on any world, profit and freedom.” Simon answered her. “This world’s far enough into the Outer Rim that people can operate without the GA or Imps trying to claim a slice of the pie.”

“I fail to see what kind of profit this dead planet can provide.”

“Scrap,” Simon informed her, “this planet is filled to the brim with plenty of it to claim. See, a few centuries ago, this planet was fought over pretty fiercely by these two factions called the Galactic Republic and the Sith Empire. This system sat smack dab in the middle of an important hyperspace route so they both wanted it. They spent their entire war blowing each other away all over this star system, especially this planet since it’s the only one that’s remotely inhabitable. Then a few hundred years later this place became a hotspot for slaughter when a new Empire tried to take root and ended up bumping heads with the Rebel Alliance. This entire star system is littered with billions of credits worth of scrap materials and who knows what else.”

“So grave robbing, then.”

“Welcome to the galaxy at large, Princess.” Simon snickered. “Folks out here gotta make a living somehow. Not everyone gets to grow up in a perfect village on a perfect planet. Some of us started out in the trash pile and had to crawl our way out just get a glimpse of the sun.”

“It’s not as perfect as you assume.” Rarity stated flatly as she watched the amber liquid swirl about with every tip of her glass. “After all, why do you think I went through the trouble of hiring you. ‘Gotta make a living somehow,’ as you put it.”

Simon sipped on his own supply of liquor as a silence started to settle between the two of them. “So… why set up a deal with a shop all the way out on a planet like Nak Shinmor?” The smuggler asked between sips. “It’s not that well known of a planet and it isn’t exactly any place special like Coruscant. Seems like a lot of trouble if you ask me.”

Rarity was quiet for a time, staring into her drink with a frown. “Because there was nowhere else I could turn.” Was her hushed reply. “Ever since those brutes from Deathwatch attacked our capital city, Canterlot, nopony really cares all that much about getting a designer dress or suit made. Just about every able bodied stallion and mare has been enlisting with our new friends the Mandalorians.”

With a sigh she drained a bit more of her glass, the warmth of the amber liquid began to fill her stomach and head. “To be brutally honest Simon, what little money I can invest with has been sunk into this venture.” A lazy grin slid over her face as she began chuckling to herself. “And now, here I am on the planet of graves and ash hoping that the stallion who initially wanted me dead can get the bounty on my head lifted. Oh Celestia, how did things get to this point?”

Perhaps it was the liquor or maybe it was the sleep, but Simon couldn’t help but find her laughter infectious. “I dunno, Princess, you seem to be taking to the outlaw life pretty easily.” He pointed out with a wide smirk. “Ever think of giving up the quiet life making clothes and take to the stars to make deals?”

Rarity let out a snort between her fits of laughter. “Oh please, life in Ponyville is anything but quiet, especially for an Element of Harmony.” She said with a proud grin. “One day we’re helping stop some ancient evil that had been sealed away for centuries, the next the entire town is being overrun by overactive omnivore insects. If anything, the outlaw life would be a vacation, darling.” Relaxing into her seat, she fixed the interstellar rogue across from her with a thoughtful stare. “So, how did you end up like this, going from one planet to the next?”

“Good ol’ Lorn, that’s how.” Simon replied with a smirk. “The old Sullustan used to pay me and Serif a few credits to help load and unload his cargo any time he stopped at our port. One day, he offered us a more permanent position working on his ship. If it wasn’t for him, I’d probably be sitting in some spice den blowing what few credits I had just to kill myself.”

A distant smile started to form on the smuggler’s face as he began to recall things more clearly. “That first flight though, it felt so damned freeing, ya know. Like, everything wrong in my life was being left behind, like a huge set of chains were falling off me along with natural gravity. No more slums, no more scrounging for credits, the entire galaxy suddenly opened up for me.”

His musing came to a stop when he noticed caring glint and smile upon the mare across from him. “What’s with that look, Princess?”

“Oh, nothing, I just never took you for the poetic type, darling.”

“Tch, yeah, well, just the liquor talking.” Simon was quick to reply as he downed the last of his drink. “Sides, you should get some rest, who knows where we’re headed next.” He reminded her before tossing a blanket of faded brown material.

Catching it in her magic, Rarity fixed a raise brow on the smuggler. “What about you, Simon?”

The spacer reclined in his seat with a cocky grin. “I’m going to keep an eye out for Serif’s call, Princess. I’m touched that you care, though.”

Rolling her eyes, Rarity wrapped the blanket tightly around herself and laid her head upon the couch with a tired sigh.


“Be that as it may, Harrick, but as I recall, Shuga has given you and your guild ample business and more than enough contracts to replace this one.” Serif pointed out to the tiny holographic Trandoshan projected in the center of his desktop.

With a satisfied smirk, the Cathar leaned his seat back and propped his feet up on the surface of the desk. “Now, if it wouldn’t be too much trouble, call your hounds off and I’ll see that your guild is rewarded with much more enticing targets than a smuggler and… what were they called again? Oh yeah, Unicorn.”

“Being a hunter, I’m not keen on the idea of letting potential prey sssssslip away.” The well dressed reptile snarled. “However, I will not deny how much the guild reliessss on lord Shuga’sssss busssinesssss. The Ubessse’sss contract issss of little consssequence, consssider it canceled.”

“And should any of your hunters decide to pursue the pair regardless?”

“They will no longer have the protection of the guild behind them.”

“Excellent,” Serif replied with a wide smile, “we should celebrate with a drink, Harrick. How does Corona’s sound to you?”

“Asss long asss you’re the one buying my friend.”

When the transmission cut out, a triumphant smirk slid over his feline face before he swiveled his chair around to stare out across the Nar Shaddaa skyline. His razor sharp golden eyes watched the hordes of speeders zoom from one end of the city to the next.

Glancing over his shoulder at the controls to the holoprojector built into his desk, his smirk grew even wider. “I think I’ll tell Simon the good news later.” He muttered to himself. “After all, he didn’t seem to be in any rush to get into contact with me to fix this mess.”


With a thick blanket of darkness and coating of ash settling upon the outside world, Rarity laid curled up tightly upon the couch with a thin blanket to help her fight off the dull chill still hanging in the room. Even through her newly assembled clothing and fur coat, she could still feel the frigid bite and could only imagine how it must feel outside. She had hoped that being away from the constant hum of the ship engines that maybe she could finally get some sleep. It seemed she was wrong.

Cracking her eyes open against the dull light of the corner lamp, she spotted her human companion slumped in the chair across from her with his jacket pulled tightly around him. With a sluggish groan, Rarity forced herself to sit up. “Simon, darling… are you still awake?”

He regarded her with a brief glance before pulling the coat tighter around himself. “Just waiting to hear from Serif, you should go back to bed.”

“Darling, you should be getting some rest too.” She pointed out. “Besides that, it’s positively freezing in here. Don’t you have a blanket or something to keep warm with?”

“That cheapskate, Serif, only left supplies for one.”

“Simon, you’ll catch a cold at this rate!” She chastised him.

“I’m fine, Princess.” He reassured her.

The fashionable mare’s keen eyes easily spotted the slight tremor in his body as he swore up and down that was alright. Her frown only grew when she glanced down at the blanket still wrapped around her. Without another thought, she got to her hooves and crossed the room to the reclining smuggler.

“Rarity, what do you think you’re-“ Simon’s words of protest were cut short as she climbed into the chair with him.

She settled herself into the large chair beside him with a tired sigh. “Please, Simon, we’re both adults, try to act like one will you.”

He bit back a wide stream of insults at her comment before giving an aggravated growl and looking off to the side. “Fine, do what you want, not like you don’t already.”

With a flash of her horn, the blanket moved to incase the pair, side by side. “Oh, and do try to keep your hands to yourself will you.”

“Ugh, just shut up and go to sleep already.” Simon growled at her.


With the coming of morning, there was as always a losing battle for dominance over the sky being fought. The warming rays of the sun pressed into the thick grey clouds that forever covered the planet, but very little of it managed to pierce their wall. A dull grey light filtered in through the mass and began to paint the world in its drained colors. Some might assume it was fitting for an already mostly dead world like this one.

Muted light began to backlight the sharp edged mountains of ruined warships that nestled themselves into the surface of this world. The long dead and silent leviathans that now forever slumbered in a bed of cracked earth and soft ash. These massive skeletal grave markers dominated the landscape and cast their mountainous shadows upon the lands.

Not far from one of these jagged goliaths sat one of the few settlements to call this planet home. As the residents began their early morning routine and prepared for another day of salvage and picking over the hundreds of wreckage sights, a sharp cold wind kicked up through the town sending ash and other forms of lightweight debris into the air. A small piece of this debris went tearing through the air and smacked against the thick window of one house in particular.

Simon woke with a start as the sound of something striking the side of the safe house. His hand was halfway towards his blaster when he noticed a few things that were rather strange. First thing he noticed was a very warm and slightly heavy weight pressing into his body. The second was the silky soft touch of the furry limb that was between his hand and his blaster’s grip. The final thing he noticed was that this weight resting against his side and chest was rising and falling in a slow steady pace.

His eyes cast downwards to find a mixture of porcelain white and deep purple nuzzled into his chest. The posh mare breathed softly and at a steady pace as she slept away the wee morning hours. Simon could feel her oddly strong forelimbs wrapped tightly around his midsection, holding her firmly against him.

The smuggler’s gaze sharpened to a knife point as he reached out to take her by the shoulder and shove her away. The moment his hand made contact however, something happened that caused him to freeze on the spot. A soft and tired whimper escaped the mare before she nuzzled herself deeper into his chest. To Simon’s surprise, he could feel his heart slamming into his chest wall as she held onto him against whatever dreams were still running through her head. His senses were brushed by the warmth of her body and the cascade of what remained of her perfume.

With a great deal of reluctance, Simon’s hand moved from her shoulder and his arm instead rested around it. The spacer let out a ragged sigh as he let his eyes close and sleep start to reclaim him. He never noticed the blue hued light that filled the room.

Next Chapter: The Corellian Connection, Part One Estimated time remaining: 2 Hours, 5 Minutes
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