MLP Star Wars: Rainbow Dash sidestory part 1

>Be Rainbow Dash
>Only about a year ago or so you were just scraping by with your winnings from your swoop bike races
>Life was tough but never boring, and now things were starting to become REAL awesome
>The Jedi Order discovered you had been using the Force to push your own body to its limits as a racer, and promptly took you in as one of their own
>Now you had a big future ahead of you, you were on your way to becoming a Jedi Knight and you had big dreams of being one of the very best.
>Still, aside from all the fun you had training with your lightsabers and making new friends, life in the temple could get dull
>Like right now, you are just sitting around in one of the Temple’s mediation chambers, trying to clear your mind and all but lately you’ve been feeling a bit too restless
>”psst. Dash, Yo girl you with me?”
>Opening your eyes and cocking your head, you see the familiar sight of your feathered Shashay friend Gilda
“Yeah I’m with ya Gild”
>”How much longer we gotta sit here, I’m starting to lose it!”
“Heh, you and me both.”
>Gilda and you became fast friends when you first started out in the academy
>You had never really seen a Shashay before, but you were used to seeing species of all kinds back in the slums, and Gilda always reminded you a bit of the old friends you had growing up down there.
>”Hey I’ve been thinking of sneaking out tonight. I heard there’s supposed to be a swoop race going on only a few hours away from the temple. I’ve never had a chance to actually see you race, I wanna see if you live up to all those stories you told me.”

“That sounds awesome! I am so there!”
>”OH! OH! CAN I COME TOO? I HAVEN’T SEEN A SWOOP RACE IN LIKE FOREVER!”
“SHH! Pinkie Pie quite down!”
>That was another of your friends, a pink haired and pink skinned Zeltron shakily hovering in a meditative stance to the other side of the chamber. You were surprised you didn’t notice the bubbly girl earlier.
“Listen you can come along too. Just promise me you won’t let anyone else know alright? I don’t want to get chewed out AGAIN for sneaking off after dark. You promise?”
>Pinkie Pie grinned joyfully as she pursed her lips and passed her fingers over her mouth in the motion of zipping her mouth shut, followed by a series of hand gestures.
>“Dash, what the hell is she doing?"
“She’s zipping her mouth closed, locking it with a key, digging a hole, burying the key, building a house on top of the hole where she buried the key, then moving the house on top of the hole.”
>”… The fuck?”

>You meet up with Gilda down by the steps right around sunset
>For the two of you slipping outside without being obvious had become fairly easy by now, you were just waiting on Pinkie
>”Come on Dash, let’s just go already."
“You come on! She’s only a few minutes late, cut her some slack”
>”Hmph! How much ya wanna bet she’s gonna stick out like a Wookie? Seriously”
>”Girls! GIRLS!”
>You look up and see Pinkie bouncing down the steps toward you and Gilda.
>She hops down in front of you with a big friendly grin on her face. You see that she’s left her student robes behind and is instead wearing a rather revealing tube top that bares her midriff and a pair of loose bottom pants. Gilda rolls her eyes at you.
“Oookay then, lets get a move on! We got a lot of ground to cover and I want to get there early so I can pick out a decent speeder”
>”Are we taking a shuttle?”
“Yeah but only about halfway. We need to take a shuttle, then walk a few miles, take a platform elevator down a few dozen levels, and then walk another few miles.”
>”Wow we’re really going out there huh?”
>”Yeah, it ain’t going to be easygoing. Still think you’re up to it Pink?”
>“YUP! Let’s go!”
>Pinkie starts skipping away toward the shuttle station, with a groaning Gilda stuffing her fists into her jacket as she walks after her.
>This time you roll your eyes at Gilda, but you get over it pretty quickly. You know she’ll brighten up once you all make it there, and besides you need to start getting in the zone if you really plan on competing tonight.
>You can’t wait

>A few hours of traveling later and you find yourself in pretty familiar surroundings.
>Walking down a dark alley way, you and Gilda lift open a grate to an abandoned tunnel system. Its pretty dim and you can tell that it drops down quite a bit, around 10 ft or so.
>Back in the old days it was always a bit tricky for you and your biker buddies to drop in, but thanks to your training in the force the three of you were able to drop down in style.
>The three of start to walk down the tunnel, the sound of bike engines and the voices belonging to entire crowds of people speaking all manner of languages echoing down towards you with each passing step.
>Unconsciously you start to speed up your pace, even overtaking Pinkie as you hop off the short ledge at the end of the path and arrive in an absolutely MASSIVE tunnel where hundreds of people crowd around a runway lit up various flares.
"AW YEAH! Rainbow's back!”

>The three of you split up from there pretty quickly
>Gilda was a bit eager to check out the odds on the races that were already lined up, hoping to score a few easy credits
>Pinkie, despite your warnings, went to go check out the food vendors and see if she couldn't find something sweet to munch on
>As for you, you walked straight over to a large caged up office where a wiry Twi'lek sitting behind a rigged up blaster proof barrier
>He looked up and stared at you as you walked on up to his desk
>"Yooooouuuuu. Heh Heh welcome back RD, I haven't seen your face in a loooooong time."
"Yeah well, I've been... busy for a while. Haven't had much time for racing, but tonight I'm back in the game!"
>"You don't have to tell me your personal business young lady. I'm just happy to see one of my old favorites came back. I remember which speeder model you prefer; take this number card and walk over to the Zabrak lady over there. I'll sign you up for race 19. There'll be some experienced bikers in your circuit, I hope you're not too rusty friend.
"HA! Not a chance. You'll see."
>You grabbed the key and swung around only to bump your head right into someone else
>Clutching your forehead you looked up to see a tall person clothed in scratched up armor outlined with wornout purple paint looking down on you
>The sight itself catches you a bit offguard as you slide past him and he trudges over to the Racing Booth.
>For the first time that night, something is starting to make you feel uneasy

“Alright Rainbow, its Go-Time…”
>Your bike’s engine sputters for a few moments before roaring to life, lifting up off the ground by a few feet
>You pull up out of a side corridor into the main tunnel-way, some heavy set men wielding clubs parting the crowd for you so you can get onto the track
>The track was a pretty straight forward roadway, over a thousand yards long and about fifteen feet wide. Scanning down the passage, you anticipated there being a decent amount of trash and debris along the trackway. It was the promoters’ way of making the race more hectic for us and more entertaining for the crowd.
>But it never was a problem for a top-tier racer like yourself!
>Never was
>you size up the other two racers on the track beside you
>A big Gamorrean piloting an equally hefty speeder, and a short one-eyed ugnaught on a flimsy looking craft
>The sight of your competition brought a smile to your face
>’Heh want am I getting so worked up about. I can handle these clowns’
>The sound of a new fourth engine roared to life, and like that Rainbow’s heart sank as she saw the purple-hued armored man from earlier pull up on the opposite end of the starting line
>From the looks of it he was piloting his own custom made bike. The engine sounded new, and its front aft looked jagged like it was made for ramming other bikes - or running people over
>The shouting from the crowds of people were starting to be drowned out, and all that Rainbow Dash could hear was the sound of her own heart beating.

>”rainbow! Rainbow Dash! DASHIE!”
“Wha-“
>looking over to the crowd you see Pinkie Pie hopping up and down from amongst the crowd, frantically waving at her. Beside Pinkie, a frustrated Gilda was shoving past the aliens around her to get a good look at you. She cupped a hand around her mouth and cawed out over to you.
>"YO RD! WE’RE GONNA WAIT FOR YOU BY THE FINISH LINE! TRASH THESE LOSERS FOR ME!”
>Your friend gave a thumbs up to you before begin shoved back by the track workers who could barely keep the crowds from spilling out onto the track
“DON’T YOU WORRY ABOUT ME! I GOT THIS!”
>Revving up your engine and raising a thumbs up right back at them, you set your eyes back onto the track
>You can still hear your heart beating, only this time its beating out of excitement.
>"RACERS! ON YOUR MARK!”
>For the first time in a while
>”GET SET!
>You truly feel at ease
>”GO!”

>The swoop bikes blast out past the starting mark down the tunnel as you blitz past the roaring crowds of spectators
>You can hear the announcer shouting something, but you block it out, focusing entirely on the track before you.
>You zoom past some trash, which you faintly make out as the wreckage of what looked like a prior swoop bike crash
>Glancing to the side you see that the Ugnaugt racer has noticeably lagged behind the pack while the Gamorrean and the armored man seem to be struggling against one another
>A few brief moments go by and you can see the finish line
>You jump on the pedal, eager to claim your win but the armored man from earlier zooms up right by your side, slamming his own bike into yours
>Your quick reaction time just barely saves you from spinning out, but it doesn’t stop the armored man from inching past you slightly
“NO YOU DON’T!”
>You return your opponent the favor, denting his own bike when your swoop smacks his.
>Your two bikes seem locked in struggle, each one attempting to overpower the other. Somehow your beat up old swoop is managing to stay neck and neck with his.

>”You’re out of your league kid!”
>The armored man then brought up his free hand, Rainbow saw it raise up almost as if it was in slow motion and she could tell that he was about to backhand her. She briefly wondered if this ability of hers to anticipate what this racer was about to do was what the Jedi saw in her when they first decided to take her in
>Wasting no time, you struck out at his arm with your own, countering his strike before it could connect just as you had practiced many times before at the temple. Shoving his arm to the side, you smacked him your elbow causing him to slide through a piece of wreckage which tore up the underside of his vehicle, as it spun out wildly hurling its rider off into the crowd as his vehicle swerved into an access tunnel and exploded
>Not a moment sooner you had crashed through the finish line
>Sloppily slamming on the breaks and veering around you pumped your fist into the air while taking in the adoration of the crowds, and more importantly, that of your two friends who had cheered you on from the start

“I’D NEVER SEEN SWOOP RACING LIKE THAT! I MEAN WHEN I WAS LITTLE I SAW SWOOP RACES ON ZELTROS BUT THEY WERE NOWHERE NEAR AS CRAZY AS THAT! I CAN’T BELIEVE PEOPLE ARE ABLE TO SET THIS UP LIKE-…”
>”Well I guess you live up to the legends after all RD. Remind me to treat you next time we sneak out”
>Gilda bended her stack of Credits as the three of them walked on through the tunnel, the noise from the track growing fainter and the light growing dimmer
"So you guys want to head back to the temple now? I could actually use some sleep”
>”You win a race like that and you want to celebrate by going to bed early? Its only midnight for crying out loud! I say we take some of these creds and hit a bar.”
“Hey getting caught sneaking out is one thing but they’ll kill us if we come back smashed!”
>”I’d be up for a drink!”
>”Wait, you? YOU want to go out for drinks?”
>”Uh Huh, I haven’t been to a bar since I was a little kid!”
>”Really?”
>Gilda gave you an incredulous look, evidently trying to decide whether or not Pinkie was messing with her.
>”Alright Pink. You know I used to handle pretty strong stuff back on my planet, why don’t we make a game out of it and see how well you can hit that shit?”
>”SOUNDS FUN! Lead the way Gild!”
>You put your arms around the back of your head as your two friends become locked in conversation for the rest of the walk out of the tunnel. You can’t tell if Gilda is warming up to Pinkie or not, but you figure if this’ll help it might be worth the risk of getting caught.
>You give one last glance down the tunnel toward the track before climbing up back to the surface. While Gilda’s idea of a celebration does sound like fun, right now you can’t help but think about going back to training tomorrow. One of these days you’re going to be a Jedi Knight, and you’d rather it be sooner than later.

>”What a waaaaaaaste.”
>The Twi’lek crouched down next to the new set of wreckage that was added to the track. It had been one of the finest bikes he had seen, and he knew that any parts of it that could still work would fetch a heft amount of credits.
>It seemed a shame about the racer too. His races had been starting to add new life to this circuit, but it didn’t seem like he’d be in racing condition for a while.
>He thought about going back to the infirmary to make sure that he wasn’t conscious yet. Hopefully he would stay knocked out long enough for him to properly loot what remained of his ride.
>He wasn’t so lucky
>an armored fist clasped around the Twi’lek’s head tendril, raising him off the ground as he struggled and kicked.
>”AH SIR! I WAS MERELY ATTEMPTING TO SALVAGE YOUR BIKE FOR YOU. NO NEED TO-“
>”Shut up”
>the armored man raised a short vibroblade up to the Twi’lek’s throat with his free hand
>”You’re going to tell me where that blue bitch who totaled my bike went”
>”ACK! SHE LEFT NO MORE THAN FIFTEEN MINUTES AGO!”
>”Where?”
>”FOURTH ACCESS TUNNEL TO THE RIGHT OF THE STARTING LINE!”
>”Thank you.”
>The armored man tossed the Twi’lek aside and stomped out in the direction of the access tunnel
>’It wasn’t my imagination’
>His mind reverted back to when that girl had knocked herself to the ground.
>That metal cylinder she kept in her coat
>The man raised his vibroblade up by his helmet, the sparks from which helped him see the way to his prey
>”Fucking Jedi Scum'

TO BE CONTINUED