Through The Galaxies

by FoolAmongTheStars

ii. Star-stuck

Author's Note:

adj. exhausted by endless reviews and secondhand impressions; itching to stumble blindly into the world and make some mistakes, to wander around opening doors to restaurants and performances and movies you’ve never heard of, without the slightest idea of what to expect.
_{From star, a standard rating unit of reviews + stuck.}

Shining and Sunburst escorted her room and down a long hall, unremarkable and old as the room she woke up in, flanking her on both sides as she limped after them. The medicine had worked and her leg was practically healed, but the pain lingered and slowed her down. The only one who seemed openly bothered by this was Shining, who was always a couple of steps ahead of them, his lips twisted in an impatient pout as he held open doors or waited for them at the bottom of the stairs.

Sunburst stuck to her side like glue and matched her pace, waiting to catch her in case the uneven floors of the building betrayed her, or at least she thought that was his intention, it wasn’t until Shining went ahead and disappeared behind the corner that Sunburst leaned in whispered in her ear.

“Don’t tell them you’re Queen Twilight’s student.”

Starlight stopped abruptly and his hoof shot out to catch her, thinking she had tripped. “What? Why?”

“It’s not safe,” Sunburst shook his head. “In fact, don’t tell anyone who you are or where you come from, especially Neighsay.”

“Who's Neighsay?”

“He's the owner of all this,” he motioned to the building and the city outside the window. “He's as slimy and greedy as they come, but luckily he only cares about himself, so as long as you don't interest him you are safe, but whatever you do, just don’t tell him the truth, the less he knows the better.”

“How can you work for somepony you can’t trust?”

Sunburst sighed. “When it comes to mercenaries offering work for drifters like myself, he’s one of the few that pay fairly, but that’s not saying much.” When Starlight gave him a strange look, he just shook his head in an exasperated manner. “Just…just do as I say, not as I do!”

She glared at him, but Sunburst ushered her towards the door and into a crowded room before she could argue.

Besides the great number of ponies of all shapes and sizes, each one fiercer and more intimidating than the last, there were dragons, griffons, yaks, and even changelings, in the midst. Starlight had never seen so many different creatures gathered around like this, hadn’t it been for Sunburst and Shining herding her further in, she would have probably stood by the entrance, frozen and mouth agape.

She was forced to make her way into the crowd, bumping into creatures and tables alike despite her best efforts to avoid them. Not many paid attention to her, except for the occasional curious glance as she accidentally bumped into them, she tried to put on her friendliest smile when she did so, remembering her teacher’s lessons about friendship and kindness, but her attempts were met with blank stares or raised eyebrows, if they even acknowledge her at all. Many paid attention to Sunburst and Shining though, especially the latter.

“Yo! Shining! Hitting the shooting range later?”

“You bet! Gotta test this baby after all!” He pulled out his weapon by bucking his hips upward, letting it twirl in the air for a few seconds before catching it and blasting a section of the ceiling to smithereens.

Starlight nearly jumped out of her skin and would have run out of the room had Sunburst not caught her and forced her to stay put, but everyone else thought it was hilarious, laughing as they brushed the debris from their heads. “Fucker! I’ll get you for that!”

“Remember that when I’m screwing you over in the locker room!” He made a few suggestive hip thrusts that made a yak snort his drink out of his nose with laughter before moving along.

Sunburst pulled her to her hooves and got her walking again, though shakily. She gave him a questioning look, but he only shook his head. Property damage seem to be the norm here, judging by the broken furniture, the worn walls riddled with holes, and the amount of rubbish Starlight had to step over made her want to gag. She kept looking down so as not to trip or step over a piece of glass, and in doing so, bumped into another creature—a dragon. He was by far the largest creature in the room, sitting lazily on a love couch that had seen better days with an electric cigar dangling from his claws. His body was covered with scars, gray scales shining dully in the light of the canteen, just as dull as his beady yellow eyes that looked down at her with a little too much interest for her comfort.

“Hmm, pretty little thing you got there, Sunburst,” the dragon said, taking a long drag of his electric cigar. “How much?”

Starlight spluttered. “Excuse me!?”

“She’s not for sale,” Sunburst said hastily. “Is Neighsay in?”

“Does he ever leave his hole?” The dragon huffed and nodded to the other side of the room, towards a set of double doors guarded by two mean-looking diamond dogs that Shining was already talking to. “You’re in luck, he just got a new cargo today, so he’s in a good mood.”

"Thanks, Steele,” Sunburst said and dragged Starlight along before she could give him a piece of her mind.

“If you change your mind you know where to find me!” Steele called out after them. “She would catch a pretty bit in the market, not that many purebred unicorns these days!”

Starlight ripped her hoof from his grip, staring at him incredulously. “You traffic ponies for a living!?”

“For Luna’s sake, no!” Sunburst ushered her past a brawl between a griffon and a changeling, raising his voice to be heard above the din of cheering voices. “I just talk to him sometimes, if I give him anything is scrapped guns and jewelry for him to snack on! But forget about that, listen,” he put his hooves on her shoulders. “I wanted to help you come up with an alibi, but we don’t have time for that, we will go with whatever story you can come up with and I’ll vouch for you, as long as you don’t mention the Ark or Queen Twilight.”

“Ok, lying by omission, I can do that better than improv.” She said with a roll of her eyes.

He gave her an apologetic smile. “I know this is very confusing for you, but no matter what happens, I promise that I have your back.”

For a moment, she was touched by his kindness. They hadn’t seen each other in fifteen years and yet he was willing to put so much on the line and look after an almost stranger, she didn’t think she could ever pay him back…if they succeeded first, that is.

The time to argue and plan past them by as they made their way through the crowd and soon the diamond dogs let them through the double doors, following them inside as they closed them behind them.

Neighsay’s office looked like someone had taken a museum's warehouse, shaken its contents, and left it as is. Ancient artifacts littered the floors and walls, clumped together in random piles like a dragon’s hoard, still images hung on the walls with no rhyme or reason, depicting strange scenes that Starlight couldn’t understand, and in the center of it all, sitting behind a large desk and plush velvet chair, was a unicorn that smiled pleasantly at them as they entered.

“Ah, Shining, Sunburst, just the ponies I wanted to see!”

Neighsay stood up and walked around the desk, his long red robes dragging across the floor. He was tall and incredibly thin, which made him look sickly when paired with his dull white coat and dark yellow eyes. He had a full head of hair though, jet black and long, brushed back to reveal a sharp face unaccustomed to smiling. “I see that your friend has finally recovered, Moondancer came to tell me all about it.”

Moondancer waved at them from the top of a mountain of cushions before going back to reading her book.

Sunburst stepped forward. “She still needs to rest.”

“Didn’t realize you were a medical expert.”

“A crash like that is no laughing manner, it’s a miracle she survived.”

Neighsay hummed, pretending to be deep in thought before turning to Shining. “What do you think?”

“Whatever you say goes, boss.” Shining took a seat on a golden chair, taking the corner of the silk sheet draped over it to clean his blaster.

He turned to her and paused, giving her a once-over. Starlight tried not to fidget, but he gave her the same stare that Steele had given her earlier—he was deciding her worth, running numbers in his head, and concluded that she must be something worthwhile. For her part, Starlight concluded that it was in her best interest to be out of his radar as soon as possible.

“What work can you do?”

Starlight blinked. “Work?”

“If you want to stay, you have to work,” Neighsay said, gesturing to the room. “Depending on your talents, something can be…arranged.”

“Oh, I appreciate the offer, but I don’t think that will be necessary,” Starlight said quickly, feeling on edge by his tone. “I just need to get to the nearest starport and I’ll be out of your mane in no time!”

“And do you have enough funds for that?”

Starlight hesitated. She had no idea how much a ticket would cost and even if she did, any money she had was left in the Ark, which now probably lined the pockets of the mercenaries that took over her home, a home that no longer exists. A place she could no longer return.

Neighsay smiled as Starlight’s expression fell. “I really do feel for your plight but we don’t run a charity here. The treatment you received, plus the damages that your forceful landing has caused on my lands, and the time these ponies here spent taking care of you, that adds up.”

“I told you I would pay for her medicine,” Sunburst intervened.

“I’m charging her for the room and the bed.”

“For that closet and cot?” He scoffed, “I’ll pay for that too.”

Neighsay’s expression soured. “I don’t think your friends would appreciate the lost wages.”

“We don’t mind; we use those days as PTO!” Shining called out from his chair and Moondancer agreed with a shrug without taking her eyes from her book.

Relief washed over her as the list went down. Starlight didn’t trust him one bit. It wasn’t simply because of the way he leered at her earlier or his lack of compassion, there was just something about him that set off alarm bells in her mind. Twilight had always praised her for her intuition and she realized that she would have to rely on it more heavily from now on.

“There’s still the manner of the ruined landscape.”

“What about the ship? The price of the scrap metal offsets the cost of a few burned trees.”

“That hunk of junk? It was burnt and ruined by the time the metal workers got to it, hardly anything worth salvaging.”

They stared down at each other for a few seconds before Sunburst conceded. Satisfied, Neighsay turned to Starlight with a smile as genuine as a kick in the teeth. “Well, you certainly got yourself a fine negotiator, Miss…?”

“Starlight Glimmer.” She answered without thinking, it wasn’t until Sunburst gave her a pointed look that she realized her mistake. But to be fair, he only forbade the mentioning of Twilight’s name.

“Beautiful name for a beautiful mare,” he winked at her and hid her shudder behind a forced giggle. “Let’s see…do you have any cooking experience? I hate sending a sweet thing like you back there, but the head chef is always complaining about being short-staffed, so it would help us out if you could go in there and shut him up with your cooking skills.”

Starlight pondered on this. She had some cooking experience, and everyone on the Ark did since chores would always be rotated, but she was only used to feeding a couple of dozen ponies once a month, not feeding hundreds of bloodthirsty mongrels daily. Besides, cooking was her least favorite chore.

“How much does it pay?”

“Ninety bits a day,” the greedy unicorn said. “I will be keeping fifty percent of your paycheck, of course, to pay for the damages your crash landing cost me, but after that, that money is all yours.”

Starlight gawked. “You haven’t told me how much I owe you.”

“It’s a hefty amount, but nothing you can’t pay off with a little time and determination…unless you want to work as one of my mercenaries instead, like your friends here.”

She could feel Sunburst giving her another look, but Starlight ignored him in favor of her curiosity. “How much does that pay?”

“Depending on your talents, I’m willing to pay anything from twenty thousand to fifty thousand bits per mission,” Neighsay took a seat in his chair, extending his hooves in a wide shrug. “I only hire the best of the best after all, for the work that needs to get done is dangerous and highly specialized, but if you prove yourself then I will look out for you like a father does to his darling girl, how does that sound Miss Glimmer? Do you have any talents like that you would be willing to share?”

Even if Sunburst hadn’t warned her, she wouldn’t take anything that he was offering, tempting as that amount of money was. She wanted nothing more than to turn around and leave as fast as her hooves could carry her, briefly, she wondered if this is how a mouse felt when it’s been cornered by a snake.

“No, sir, there’s nothing special about me,” Starlight said, with the Stone of Harmony lying quietly against her breastbone. “I’ll take the job in the kitchens.”

“Perfect!” Neighsay produced a hologram contract from his desk, along with a digital pen, sending both items floating toward her. “Just sign here and we are all set.”

Starlight sighed and wrote her name on the dotted line.