MLP Star Wars: Rainbow Dash sidestory part 2

>Be Rainbow Dash, Swoop Bike Racing Pro and Jedi Knight in-training
>”Here we are!  Perfect!”
The trio stood out in the middle of the empty grimy street before a small black building sandwiched between two enormous skyscrapers that stretched upwards for many miles.
The flickering sign above the doorway said “Syd’s Cantina” in Galactic Basic, and in a couple other alien languages, one of which you’re pretty sure is supposed to be Huttese
“Gilda, this place looks like a dump!”
>”Yeah so?  You think a fancy place is going to serve us booze?”
“Why don’t we just call it quits for tonight?  I’m actually pretty beat.”
>“Oh no.  No way you’re going to get off that easy.  Come on, we’re gonna celebrate your win in style."
>”I’m with Gilda!  After winning first place in such an AWESOME race? We NEED to throw you a party!”
>”HA!  See, even SHE agrees with me.  LET’S GO!”
>You find that both Pinkie and Gilda have latched onto either of your arms and have begun to drag you forward into the seedy dive that is Syd’s Cantina
>You throw up a half-hearted resistance, your heels scraping the ground as you’re moved forward.  You know if that you’re ever going to be a real Jedi Knight that you’re going to have to swear off this kind of behavior one of these days
>But you aren’t a jedi yet.  Right now you’re a Swoop Race Champ, and you figure there can’t be too much harm in celebrating like one before getting back to your training
“Ah alright!  Let’s party!”


>The place was pretty packed for such a small-looking building
>Toward the back you could see a large holoscreen that about a dozen people were crowding around.  It looked like they were watching, and betting, on some kind of fistfight between an angry Wookie and an equally pissed-off Trandoshan
>Towards the center of the room was a large pillar that a circular bar was built around where a young Chiss bartender was absently wiping a mug and a Twi’lek girl in a leather outfit was carrying around a tray of odd colored drinks
>The walls were lined with dimly lit booths while the floor was sparsely littered with a number of tables and highchairs.  Your friends led you over to one of those empty tables as Gilda hailed the waitress behind the bar
>The place wasn’t anything special, nothing you didn’t see plenty of when you were just a kid.
>You figured that Pinkie would have felt the same way, but she seemed to be taking in the surroundings with her usual sense of enthusiasm
>After a few minutes, the Twi’lek waitress walked over to Gilda with a notepad in hand

>”Yeah I’d like to open up a tab.  Start the three of us out with a double-round of shots.”
>After the waitress walked off, Gilda turned to Pinkie with a smile that told you she was looking to start something
>“So Pinkie, you said something earlier about you being able to handle your liquor right?  Well why don’t we make a game out of it?  I wanna see if you can  match me drink-for-drink.”
’This ought to be good’
>Pinkie scratched her chin as she looked back at Gilda, looking pretty deep in thought
>”I’m not sure that’s such a good idea Gilda…”
>”Come on, it’ll be fun!  Right Dash?”
>You gave Gilda a mischievous smile of your own
“Heh yeah, it’ll be something that’s for sure.”
>Coming back with her tray, the waitress set down two shots of a clear swamp-green liquid in front of each of you
>The three of you downed your first drink together.  You nearly choke, surprised by how bitter it was, but you manage to force it down, knocking your empty glass down on the table with Gilda, the two of you forcing a grin
>Pinkie finishes hers a bit more slowly, and appears to be sporting one of her much more genuine smiles
>”Again?”


>You give it a rest after only your second drink, letting your third shot of green rest on the table as Gilda and Pinkie order their third, then fourth, then fifth shots.
>Glancing back at the Holoscreen, it looks to you like the Trandoshan’s taking a serious beating from his Wookie opponent.  Then looking back at your own table, you see your pal Gilda isn’t looking too much better.
“Hey Gild, how you holding up there?”
>”Huh?...  GOOD!  GREAT!  HA I CAN GO ALL NIGHT!”
“How bout you Pinkie?”
>“I’m having fun!  Hey Rainbow, were you gonna finish that?”
”Nah, not really.  Go ahead”
>Pinkie grabbed your shot, downing it with gusto.  Gilda’s beak hung so wide open you would think she was catching flies.
>”HOW THE HELL ARE YOU DOING THIS?”
>You chuckled as Gilda glanced back and forth between the two of you, pointing an accusatory finger at your clearly sober friend.
“You should’ve listened to her Gild?  She’s a Zeltron remember?”
>”Yeah so!?”
“So they’re born to handle this kind of stuff.  Its part of the reason Pinkie’s always so chipper; she’s born with a stronger system and all.”
>”What are you talking about?”
>”Well for starters!  I have TWO livers…”
>”Two WHAT?”
>You break out laughing when you see the look on Gilda’s face.  Pinkie stifles a giggle of her own, but it becomes clear that Gilda doesn’t find it funny at all.
>She hops off of her seat and begins stomping toward the exit.
“hehe-hey Gild?  Gilda?  Where you going?”
>She shoots you a look of pure anger
>”I need some fucking air.  What do you care?”
>She slams her fist on the door panel and heads outside

>Now its your turn to feel pissed
>She has to go and throw a hissy fit, after SHE tried to antagonize Pinkie AGAIN and failed
>She can be a real bitch sometimes
>”Hey Dashie?  Maybe we ought to check on Gilda?  She didn’t look so good…”
“Let her be.  She ‘clearly’ wants to be left alone”
>”Well… if you say so…”
>The two of you sit in awkward silence for about a minute or so
>You tap your fingers expectantly, looking back and forth from your empty glass to the door every now and then to see if Gilda came back inside
>You then feel a tapping on your shoulder, and to your unwelcome surprise an Aqualish is growling something at you
>You try to ignore him when another man with a broken nose walks up next to the Aqualish and taps on your shoulder as well
>”He doesn’t like you.”
‘...'
'Is this guy fucking serious?
“Yeah well you tell him I don’t like him either!”
>The man steps back as his eyes widen.  Pinkie’s looking pretty uncomfortable right now
>”You better watch your mouth girl!  We’re wanted men!  I have the death sentence on twelve star sys-…”
>You’re about to open your mouth to tell him where the two of them can go but you stop dead in your tracks
>You got a real bad feeling in your gut.
>Not from these guys though, you immediately start blocking this guy’s voice out of your head as he starts to talk about his 300 confirmed kills or whatever.
>Your eyes begin to dart across the room, scanning the people around you.  Everything looks pretty much just as it was before, the same old faces and all.
>You look back at Pinkie and realize she must have been thinking the same thing because her eyes are also darting all over the room.
>You open your mouth to speak but before you can utter anything to her, you hear a distinctive thud.
>You both look under the table to see a small blue orb roll up by your feet.
>”YOU’LL BE DEAD KIDDO!”

>Be Gilda
>Currently your puking your brains out into some storm drain next to a shitty cantina.
>All the while you’re cursing your ill-fortune, your good-for-nothing friend Dash, and most of all that annoying pink weirdo who never know’s when to shut up.
'Make a fool out of me?  Freakin’ bitch.  Why did Dash have to drag your lame ass with us?’
>You rest your hands on your knees, taking your time spitting into the drain to get the taste of vomit and cheap alcohol out of your mouth
‘It ain’t fair.  I just wanted to spend some time with ya Dash.  Fuck.’
>You stand up straight, taking a few steps away from the drain so you can sit on the curb.
>You start to contemplate ditching Dash and Pinkie and just heading back to the temple on your own when a huge flash of light followed by a loud ‘BANG' breaks your train of thoughts.
>You jerk your head back, staring at the cantina dumbstruck.
>Soon after the flash goes off you hear what you can only assume is the sound of a blaster going off in rapid bursts.
>A handful of people come running out of the bar in a panic as you stand up.
>Several of the people unceremoniously brush up against you as they flee, but you can only think of one thing at that moment
“DASH!”


>Be Rainbow Dash
>You’re not sure but you think you might be dead
>You can’t hear anything except for a loud ringing noise, can’t see anything except a white haze, and can’t necessarily feel anything except a heavy numbness.
>However, your senses start to slowly return, save for any feeling in your arms  or legs.
>This isn’t as great as a relief as you would have hoped though because all your senses that are currently working confirm that you are looking down the barrel of a smoking blaster rifle
>Not cool
>”You know, all I had to say was 'Where’s the blue bitch with the rainbow hair?' and eventually I found you!”
>The man behind the barrel of the rifle reaches a free hand out while still leveling his gun on you with his other arm
>He grabs you by the collar of your jacket and pulls you up, leaving you face to face with the Biker!
>That same Biker with the scarred armor chest-plate and the purple helmet that you fought and beat in your race tonight!
>”You know I was really expecting that Ion grenade to just knock you out, but you just keep surprising me don’t you?"
“What… What the Hell do you want with me?!”
>The man flips the blaster rifle in his hand and raises the butt of his rifle high to strike
>”Payback”
>You instinctively close your eyes as his rifle comes down
>Then you hear her
>The Cantina door bursts open and Gilda flies through right at you two in a yellow blur, her lightsaber raised over her head
>”What the-"
>”GET FUCKED!”


>The man drops you to the ground and hops back not a second too soon
>Raising his blaster rifle to block out of reflex, Gilda pounces on him with her saber
>Despite only wielding a training saber, the blow comes down so hard that Gilda manages to smash the rifle in two
>She follows through with this attack with a series of quick slashes and stabs which immediately puts the Biker on the defensive as he backpedals through the bar
>He flips over a table in Gilda’s path, desperate to put as much distance between himself and Gilda’s saber
>Gilda in her drunken rage hops over the table as she wildly swings her lightsaber at her opponent
>Her path becomes marked with slashmarks from her saber in the floor and in what ever furniture the Biker tries to toss in her way
>Its at this point that anyone in the bar who was brave or apathetic enough to stay in their seats promptly start to exit the bar
>A few men hurriedly step over your disabled body, as well as the unconscious bodies of your pal Pinkie and the two men who were failing to intimidate you two
>You catch sight of the Twi’lek waitress hopping behind the bar with the Chiss bartender who is frantically pounding on a console
>The circular bar becomes locked down as a thick steel shutter closes over it
>This leaves the only conscious people in the area yourself, Gilda, and that damn Biker


>His back pressed against the wall, the Biker hastily whips out his vibroblade
>Gilda leaps forward, her saber arm crossed over her chest in position for a wide slash directly for the Biker’s neck
>The Biker raises his vibroblade with both his arms, just barely blocking the blow
>He pushes his weight forward, knocking Gilda back
>You see Gilda take a number of steps back, clumsily swerving to the side as she breaks her combat stance
>She goes so far as to stretch out her arms to keep from falling over and, to your horror, she appears to be huffing and heaving
>Its become painfully clear to you, and no doubt to the Biker as well, that she hasn’t sobered up
>The Biker cautiously steps away from the wall, his hands gripping his vibroblade tightly
>He looks as if he is trying to put some space between him and Gilda who sluggishly pursues him step by step
>He makes it up to the enclosed bar, stepping back even further until he is only about ten steps or so away from where you are
>He twists his neck around, the end of his visor becoming visible to you
>Gilda, perhaps aware that he is moving towards you and Pinkie, starts to breathe faster
>She straightens her back and charges forward
>You don’t know why but it looks almost like she is running straight at the bar
>With skillful use of the Force, Gilda takes to the air and begins running along the side of the circular bar before blasting off of it toward the Biker
>Midway through her charge, the Biker changed his course and sprinted toward Gilda
>He drops his vibroknife and instead makes a fist
>He intercepts Gilda midflight, uppercutting her directly in the ribs
>Even with the ringing in your ears, you can hear her bones crack from where you’re lying



“NOOOOOOOOO!!!”
>Gilda drops her lightsaber and crumples to the ground, hunched over with her arms draped over her chest
>She moves to her knees and desperately tries to lift herself up off the ground, one arm reaching out in search of her fallen lightsaber as her other arm holds her chest
>She locks eyes with you
>Even with all the pain she’s going through, she looks as fierce and defiant as ever
>It hurts you almost as bad as the Ion Grenade when you see the look of shock on her face when the Biker shatters a bar stool against her back
“YOU BASTARD!”
>You jump up off the ground as you use the force to grasp both of your lightsabers igniting both of them in your hands
>Your vision blurs, as you see dual images of the Biker leering at you
>Your dizziness and numbness causes you to trip forward in his direction and fall onto the ground
>You remember being warned in the temple countless times to never give in to your anger, that the power it would give you would only lead to suffering
>You’re not sure this was what they meant or not, but you feel cheated either way
>Lying there on the ground starts to help fix your vision again as you see the Biker lift a handcuffed Gilda up over his shoulder as he walks over to the doorway
“HEY!  WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU’RE GOING?!  GET BACK HERE AND FIGHT!”
>The Biker stops just in front of the door, turning to face you as he sheathes his vibroknife
>”You know I was THIS close to just killing you.  There I was!  Thinking, ‘should I toss the ion grenade or the thermal detonator?!’
>"Well when it came down to it, I decided that you were worth more to me alive."
>"and then, THIS!-"
>He gestured toward the wrecked cantina
>"happened, and I got an even better idea.”
>”You destroyed my bike and humiliated me, so I’m going to make us even.”

> I’m going to sell your friend here instead of you to pay for my new bike, and I’m going to use that new bike to beat you in the next swoop race you try to crash,”
>"and when we race again, that’s when I’ll kill you.”
>The man turned away and proceeded to walk toward the exit
>You struggle as hard as you can to get up, to do SOMETHING but your body just won’t listen
>Then it clicks in your head
>’you’re worth more to me alive’
>’I’m going to sell your friend’
“WAIT!  The Jedi Hunters?  NO!”
>He steps outside, your friend slumped over his shoulder
>”see ya around”
>The door slams shut

TO BE CONTINUED