Freelancer: The Universe of Possibility

Prologue: To Begin Again

“It was the Twenty-third Century: Our darkest hour,” the tan, middle-aged mare on the screen said slowly and confidently. She cast her steely gaze through her glasses and across the many assorted ponies, griffons and zebra assembled in front of her. A sharply pressed navy-coloured jacket was buttoned around her chest, the golden trim defining each of the seams. The neatly pinned medals adorning her breast glinted in the few rays of sunlight that broke through the cloud cover.

In the city square there was no other noise apart from the sharp clicks and clacks of photographs being snapped and video footage being taken by the various news sites and companies gathered around the raised platform the mare stood upon. All of the attention was on her. She took a quick breath before continuing on with her tale. “The war had been raging for almost one hundred years. The fighting had gone on for so long, no one could remember the reason why it had all started in the first place. All that we know is that there were two sides; the Changelings and the Alliance, both fighting for control of the Celestial System. For decades, millions died for the same piece of rock, again and again.”

Taking a practiced pause to let what she had just said sink in, the mare brushed aside a lock of grey hair.

“Finally, one side managed to get the upper hoof: the Changelings. In a desperate attempt to save all our races, the Alliance launched five Sleeper Ships. The hope was for everypony to begin again, far from the war and strife that had befallen our worlds, to start free from the prejudices that had divided them for so long. Each Sleeper Ship was named after its patron nation: the Braytonia, the Gildland, the Mulon, the Zavroni and the Equality. By the time the Sleeper Ships were ready to launch, the enemy had blockaded every Alliance planet in a bid to end us, once and for all. Against all odds, the colony ships broke through the Changeling blockade and headed for this system - the Sirius System.”

“That was eight hundred years ago, when we came here to rebuild our lives. We have come a long way since then; we have grown, we have prospered, we have flourished, but we will never forget!” The mare brayed, raising a foreleg above her head and staring defiantly out at the crowds, a hint of a smile visible through her stern expression. A wave of noise slowly spread outwards as the crowds started to applaud and cheer in remembrance of their ancestors' daring escape, and in anticipation of the celebrations soon to begin. Eventually she lowered her leg, bowed and turned away, walking off the platform and past the bodyguards surrounding it.

The cheering and applauding quieted as the screen switched from the live video feed to a bright news room, where a green, smiling unicorn sat, staring at the camera. “That was the Acting President of Equality, Mayor Mare of Manehattan, speaking on the War of Separation,” she said, shuffling the papers before her with her magic. “Now, in continuation of the eight hundredth anniversary of the Separation, we'll be looking at the celebrations happening around the colonies, which continue in earnest. We'll be talking with our representative on Zevera about the festivities happening in the Zavroni colonies...”

Rainbow Dash's gaze and concentration drifted away from the large screen mounted on the wall opposite her as she tuned it out and began focusing more on her surroundings. She was leaning against a cold steel wall in the main recreation room of Freeport Seven, watching the other occupants go about their business. Some were playing pool others were chatting, watching the news or simply waiting for the next ship off the station. Freeport 7 was one of the better Freeports, but it was still a shambles compared to most other space stations; especially the Equality Navy's stations. Those were ridiculously fancy, as if Rarity had designed them all. The sudden memory of the friend Rainbow had left back home on Steeds in the Braytonia System for a life of fame and adventure brought back a severe feeling of regret and guilt. Rainbow Dash idly wondered how Rarity's joint ship repair/ship decoration business was doing while she studied the room she was in.

The large square room was covered in dirt and grime from the amount of ponies passing through. There were couches, vending machines and pool tables haphazardly scattered across the dirt-crusted floor. Griffons, zebra and ponies all chatted and interacted in front of Rainbow, but the ponies that she was waiting for weren't there. That fact was beginning to irritate her; Rainbow didn't like waiting around. Her ship's hold was crammed full of boron packages, which she had been sitting on for the past week after having overheard in a bar that two ponies were willing to pay lots of money for it. All she knew about boron was that it was used in scientific experiments and sometimes in the construction of spaceships and stations, so she had no idea why the ponies were paying so much for it. Usually boron was sold quite cheap, though Rainbow wouldn't look a gift-horse in the mouth. There had been a lot of work involved in getting in contact with the ponies and arranging a suitable meeting place and time, but finally she was here, and she was going to get a fortune for her troubles.

“Where the hay are those two?” Rainbow grumbled to herself, shrugging her flying jacket off and letting it fall to the floor beside her.  She hadn't actually flown with her own wings for a long while due to the constant travel. Her journey had taken her to the other side of the Sirius system and back, and her wings were aching from the lack of use. Rainbow stretched and slowly let her cyan wings unfurl, wincing as every kink worked its way out of her bones. After she had stretched, she shook herself gently, glad that she had finally got the time to actually rest a while and stop the constant travel. She flicked her messy, multi-coloured tail around in impatience, keeping an eye out for the other side of the deal.

“So we've been hearing that there's a young filly who's been hauling a whole ship full of boron around the system,” a voice from beside her said conspiratorially.

Another voice, slightly deeper than the other, said on her other side, “And that she's been looking for two ponies fitting our exact description to giv- I mean, sell it to.”

Rainbow jumped at the sudden voices flanking her. She quickly stepped out from between them and turned around to look up at them. In front of her were two gangly ponies clad in striped waistcoats and bow ties, straw hats perched on their scarlet and white manes, both with large grins plastered on their cream faces and eager looks in their eyes. One of them was slightly bigger than the other and he had a handlebar moustache perched above his wide grin. The one with the moustache had three quarters of an apple visible on his flank, while the other had a quarter of an apple instead. To Rainbow, it looked like the two ponies standing in front of her would be rubbing their hooves together if they weren't using them to stand. She nervously took a step back, hastily hooking her jacket with a hoof and flinging it over her back.

“Uh... yeah, that'd be me, I guess,” she said, still unnerved by their sudden appearance as questions of why they wanted the boron flashed through her mind.

“Well that's just grand!” the pony with the deeper voice and moustache said jovially. “What do you think brother?”

“Fantastic! Waiting for so long and then this mare comes along and answers all our prayers,” the other pony said over-dramatically, looking up at the ceiling and putting his front hooves together in mock prayer.

“So, who are you two?” Rainbow asked. She also wanted to ask what they were going to do with the boron, but she knew full well how often those sorts of questions soured up potential deals and got ponies in all sorts of trouble.

The brothers' smiles dropped slightly in realisation, but they quickly regained composure and returned to grinning at Rainbow and each other.

“Oh, beg your pardon, miss...” the moustached pony said, trailing off in expectation.

“Dash. Rainbow Dash,” she said.

The two brothers took a synchronised bow, levitating their hats off before returning to an upright position.

“My name is Flim,” the moustached one stated, “and his name is Flam.”

“We are the Flim Flam brothers, system-renowned sales ponies, pleased to make your acquaintance,” Flam said. “And we are very interested in that hold full of boron I believe you have in your possession. May I ask how you managed to get a hold of such valuable cargo?”

“Or should we get straight to business?” Flim whispered shiftily, as both of the brothers leaned in towards Rainbow.

The brothers' antics were steadily unnerving Rainbow more and more, and the sooner this strange deal was done and the further away from the two creepy brothers she was, the better, she thought.

“Alright, but I want to see the money before I give you the boron,” Dash demanded, remembering that she'd had ponies run off without paying her before, and more often than not, leaving a couple of thugs behind to make sure she wouldn't follow.

Flim and Flam's faces slowly sank before they spun around and started whispering to each other. Rainbow picked up a few words here and there, but before she could intrude the brothers were looking back at her with even wider grins than before, though Dash could spot their quick, nervous looks at each other out of the corner of their eyes.

“Fine, fine! Absolutely fine. Let's go have a look now, shall we?” Flam suggested, darting beside Rainbow. Dash went to take a step away, only to find Flim on the other side of her, his moustache and grin merely inches away from her face. Together, the brothers started forwards with Dash trapped between them. There was nothing she could do except try to keep pace and be guided towards their destination.

~

After many winding passages, the trio arrived at a looming metal door, which juddered open at their presence. On the other side was a hulking, beetle-like shape with fins, floating a metre above the floor. It looked to be made out of various sturdy metals and polymers and attached to it were three cannons, each looking small in comparison to the ship. There was no visible way on board the ship, but Dash knew, like most ships, with a press of a button, steps would protrude out of the ship, allowing the pilot access. Around the ship were a few ponies in overalls refuelling and repairing it. The Outside was a dangerous place, and it wasn't often that a ship would come in and not need minor repairs. Also assisting the mechanic ponies were a couple of robots, standing nearby just in case a spare part was needed.

“Here we are!” Flim and Flam announced at the same time, gesturing with their outside forelegs. Rainbow was still trapped between them, and was steadily getting more and more nervous with the brothers strange antics. Just the way they could both say something at exactly the same time really put Rainbow on edge. All the way to their ship's hangar the brothers had been constantly chatting about their various different deals they had done in the past. Most of the stories ended with the brothers being paid unrealistic amounts of money and their customers living happily ever after, while the other stories didn't end at all.

With considerable effort, Rainbow managed to use her wings to push the two unicorns on either side of her away and quickly stepped through the door and towards the brothers' spaceship. Looking the ship up and down, she noticed various burns and scrapes on its hull, as well as the several engine modifications applied to it. She guessed they had been added to help the brothers escape their unsatisfied customers. She turned back towards the brothers who were whispering frantically into each other's ears, but when they noticed her looking at them, they stopped suddenly, their large grins slipping back onto their faces.

“So you wanted to take a look at the money, eh?” Flam asked, stepping towards the ship.

“Yeah, so I know you're not just going to make a runner without paying me,” Rainbow said, turning to face Flam as he pulled a small device out of a pocket in his waistcoat with his magic. He laughed at Rainbow's comment before pressing one of the buttons on the key and sliding it back into the pocket. As he pressed the button, a small panel on the ship swung open and a long set of steps unravelled until they hit the floor with a dull thunk.

“I can see you've got good business sense there, isn't that right, Flim?” Flam asked, climbing the steps and looking back over his shoulder.

“Just so!” Flim said from right next to Rainbow, causing her to jump in shock again. “Nothing is going to get past you, I can see that.” Flim said, staring down at Rainbow.

“Stop that!” Rainbow shouted at Flim, quickly stepping away again. She vowed to never let either of them out of her sight again, just so they wouldn't sneak up on her.

“Dreadfully sorry, won't happen again,” Flim said, while Flam simply laughed as he returned, levitating a battered brown suitcase along with him. He dropped it in front of Rainbow, who quickly stooped down and opened it, eager to see the money inside. After a quick count, she slammed the suitcase shut and glared up at the brothers.

“There's only ten thousand credits in there! You said I'd be getting a million, where's the rest?” she asked, now wondering if the brothers actually had one million credits to give her. It had seemed like it was too good to be true at the time, but she'd dismissed that thought over the prospect of gaining that money.

The brothers' grins only grew larger, as Flam said, “Don't you worry, my dear, we'll show you the rest once we've seen your precious cargo,” pulling out the ship's key again and pressing another button on it. Flim quickly grabbed hold of the suitcase in his magic and threw it back through the hole in their ship just before it sealed up again.

“Hey!” Rainbow shouted in surprise, reaching forward in vain to try and stop the suitcase from escaping her. “What was the point of that?”

“We wouldn't want you running off with the money before we got our boron, would we?” Flim said, stepping forward. “So, care to show us to your ship?”

Rainbow begrudgingly nodded before turning and indicating with a hoof for the brothers to follow. “Fine,” she said, walking back towards the hangar door. “Just don't think I'm going to forget about the million credits you two owe me.”

“Of course not!” Flim exclaimed.

“Lead the way!” Flam said, the brothers' hoofsteps ringing out from behind her.

~

Rainbow and the brothers were passing the main recreation room on their way to Rainbow's hangar when the first alert sounded over the inter-station sound system.

“Warning: unidentified ships are en route to the station, their intentions are unknown,” a cool, robotic mare's voice said. ”Repeat, unidentified ships are en route to the station, their intentions are unknown. We have sent our fighter squadron to intercept them. Please be prepared to return to your hangars at a moment's notice.”

“That doesn't sound good,” Rainbow heard Flim mutter from behind her.

She looked back towards the brothers who were staring out the window beside them, and said, “Don't worry; it's probably just a false alarm. Just hurry up, the sooner this deal is done with, the better.”

“Absolutely right,” Flam said, glancing nervously into the main recreation room, hopping from leg to leg.

“In fact, why don't you just give us your ship and the deal will be done, yes?” Flim suggested, stepping forward, hoof outstretched.

“No way!” Rainbow shouted angrily, turning round to face the brothers, wings outstretched. “You're not getting the boron until I've got my money.”

“Of course you'll get your money, but you really won't be able to use it if this isn't actually a false alarm and you end up dead, will you now?” Flim said, trying to reason with Rainbow.

“Why don't we pay you later, somewhere,” Flam started to say, before a sudden explosion from another part of the station cut him off.

“Alert, Freeport Seven is under attack from unknown assailants. All personnel report to hangar three to board emergency evacuation transport. This is not a drill,” the robotic mare stated, equally as calm as before. “Repeat, all personnel report to hangar three to board emergency evacuation transport. This is not a drill.”

Amber warning lights began flashing along the floor, heading in the direction of the evacuation hangars, and a whining siren began to pierce the air.

“Give us your ship!” The brothers shouted frantically at Rainbow, both of them lunging forward, hooves outstretched, as more explosions erupted around the station.

“Give me yours!” Rainbow yelled back, leaping into the air, wings pushing her upwards, out of the brothers' reach. “You're not getting the boron until I have the money.”

“Fine!” Flam shouted, hastily pulling the small key out of his pocket with his magic and hurling it at Rainbow, who deftly caught it in her teeth. Tucking the brothers' key into a jacket pocket, she pulled out her ship's key and threw it at Flam, who caught it in his magic. Without another word, the brothers spun on their heels and began to sprint back down the corridor.

As the brothers were halfway down the corridor, an explosion shook the corridor around them, causing Flam to trip and land on his front with a sudden exhalation of breath. Flim slid to a halt beside his brother and started to hook a leg underneath Flam when a pipe in the ceiling above the both of them fell loose. Rainbow saw it fall loose and darted forward, yelling a warning in an attempt to warn the brothers, but she was too far down the corridor to reach them in time.

One end of the pipe slammed into Flim's head, sending his straw hat down the corridor, while the other end crushed Flam's rear legs. Flam let out a whinny of pain before falling into unconsciousness as the pipe rolled off him and rested itself against the wall. Flim's forelegs collapsed underneath him and his head bounced off the floor as he keeled over unconscious.

Rainbow sped down the corridor, past the recreation room, her newly-gained ship forgotten about as the brothers lay unmoving in front of her. She quickly landed beside them, checking to see if they were both still breathing, panic slowly seeping into her mind. Seeing that both of the brothers were breathing, she quickly hooked a foreleg around each of them and began to drag them towards the main recreation area, as alerts and warnings continued to be voiced by the robotic mare.

“Help! I need help!” she shouted, her voice cracking. She hoped that there were still ponies in the recreation room that might be able to help her get the brothers to an evacuation ship. “Please, anypony, help! Help!”

From ahead, she could hear faint shouts of surprise and hurried hoofsteps on their way towards her. As she neared the doorway of the recreation room, a burly violet earth pony stallion with cropped light grey hair burst through, his head turning this way and that, eyes darting around for the source of the shouting he had heard moments before. He was wearing a black vest and had a hammer proudly emblazoned on his flank. Spying Rainbow and her unconscious burden, he hurried forwards, hooked a leg under Flim and flung him over his back. The stallion looked over at Rainbow and said, “Come on, this station hasn't got long left. Whoever is attacking it isn't going to stop until they're sure everything is destroyed.” He ran back through the doorway, his gangly cargo hanging limply off his back, threatening to slide off at any moment.

Rainbow nodded after him, both in thanks and in acknowledgement, hefted Flam in her forelegs and flew after the violet stallion.

They dashed through the recreation room, Rainbow flying over the couches and pool tables, Flam's crushed hind legs banging against everything she avoided, eliciting groans from the unconscious body, while her helper darted between the obstacles. They exited into a long corridor, the lights on the floor heading round a corner at the far end. The pair sped along the corridor, following the lights around twists and turns and through doorways into more corridors, small explosions happening around them as the station began to show the damage it had taken, until eventually they arrived at a large doorway. Flashing lights surrounded it and a hulking transport ship was visible through the opening. Stepping through the doorway, Dash saw ponies darting back and forth under what looked like the ship's prongs, making sure that it was ready for a quick launch. A few ponies were trickling in from a doorway on the opposite side of the hangar, hurrying towards the ship.

A few official-looking ponies clad in navy uniforms and caps were debating in front of the evacuation ship, but they stopped as soon as they spotted Rainbow and the purple stallion. After a second of discussion, the two male officials ran off into the ship to fetch more ponies and a couple of stretchers, while the remaining official walked towards Rainbow, concern on her ruby face.

“Thanks for helping these two, we'll have some stretchers for them both shortly,” the official said, nodding towards the two brothers. “But you had better bring them to the boat, we don't have long.”

“Sure,” the violet stallion who had helped Rainbow said, panting, out of breath from the dash through the station's long corridors. He and Rainbow hurriedly followed after the official up a ramp and into the ship, where a couple of medical ponies and the two officials who had ran off before were waiting beside two floating stretchers. As Rainbow, her helper and the female official stepped into the loading bay at the top of the ramp, the large bay door behind them slowly slid shut.

“Please place them on the stretchers,” one of the medical ponies, an elderly unicorn mare clad in a pale blue lab coat said, gesturing towards the stretchers. Rainbow carefully draped Flam backwards onto one of the stretchers, while the violet stallion gently rolled Flim off his back and onto the stretcher. As soon as the brothers were on the stretchers, the medical ponies each grabbed a stretcher and guided them off across the  loading bay and through a wide doorway, the pair of male officials following after them.

The female official was the only pony remaining with Rainbow and the violet stallion, and after watching the stretchers bearing Flim and Flam go, turned to Rainbow and the stallion. “I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask what happened to the two of them, but I'll let you unwind first,” the official said, flashing a smile. “You both look knackered. I'll get the boys to find you both beds, and I'll come find you later to ask the questions, okay?”

Rainbow nodded, only now realising how drained she felt after the mad dash through Freeport Seven's corridors, carrying a pony nearly twice her size. She glanced over at the stallion who had helped her, noticing how tired he looked as he wiped a foreleg across his brow.

“One question, before you go,” the stallion said. “Where's the bar?”

The official chuckled and shook her head. “Just go down that corridor, take a left at the end and you'll find the bar,” she said, pointing a foreleg towards a corridor to the right of the doorway Flim and Flam had been guided through.

“Thanks,” the stallion said, stepping towards the corridor she had indicated, grinning. “Coming?” He asked, looking over his shoulder at Rainbow.

“Oh, yeah, sure,” Rainbow said, following after him. As they walked through the corridor, they could feel through the floor the ship taking off and beginning to fly away from Freeport 7, and a deep male voice came over the ship's public announcement system.

“This is Captain Brand speaking. We are now leaving Freeport Seven and are heading for Manehattan,” the voice said calmly. “The ship staff will be happy to assist you in any way should you need help, and if there are any injuries, please could you report to the medical bay on deck C, thank you.”

The burly earth pony chuckled before turning his head to look at Rainbow. “Good job on helping those two unicorns back there, gotta say.” he said. “Most ponies would probably have just left them behind.”

“Yeah, well, I couldn't just leave them to die,” Rainbow responded. Suddenly, the reason why she had been on Freeport 7 in the first place forced itself back to the forefront of her mind, a cold feeling of dread seeping through her body, causing her to stagger to a halt.

Noticing Rainbow stop in the middle of the corridor, the stallion quickly turned and swung a foreleg over her shoulders to steady her. “Hey, hey, hey, you're alive, you're fine,” he said reassuringly. “We're out of Freeport Seven, don't worry. Come on, let's get a drink down you, you'll feel better afterwards.”  He gave her a slight shake before gently pushing her down the corridor.

Rainbow numbly nodded and allowed the stallion to guide her to the bar, the million credits she had just left behind the only thing she could think about. She barely registered their entry into the ship's crowded bar and only managed to be dragged out of her stupor when a large mug of frothing amber liquid was slid in front of her by a purple hoof.

“Come on, drink this, you'll feel better afterwards,” she heard the stallion say from beside her. She stared at it for a moment before grabbing it in with a hoof, putting it to her lips and taking a large gulp of the drink. She sighed as the liquid flowed through her body, a warm feeling slowly spreading out from her gut. She wiped the frothy moustache that had settled above her mouth away with a hoof, before putting the mug down again.

“Thanks, I needed that.” she said, letting out a small burp.

“Sweet Apple Acres; the best cider makers in the system,” the stallion said, settling himself onto a chair next to Rainbow.

“Too true,” Rainbow replied, perching herself on a seat before taking another drink. “The name's Rainbow Dash, by the way,” she said, extending her empty hoof.

“Anvil,” the stallion responded, meeting her hoof with his own and shaking. “Nice to meet you. So, what were you doing on Freeport 7 before it all went boom, and what happened to those two ponies?” He asked Rainbow, a smile on his face, as he raised a foreleg to get the barpony's attention.

The question brought back still-fresh bitterness, evidenced by the scowl on her face as she took another gulp of her cider. She was about to tell Anvil her reasons for being on the ill-fated station but was interrupted by the barpony before she could begin.

“What d'ya want?” the ivory earth pony behind the bar asked, his black mane slicked into a flat side parting, a bow-tie neatly resting under his throat.

“Sidewinder Fang, please,” Anvil requested, pulling a cloth wallet out of his vest and flicking a couple of bits out with a hoof. The barpony wordlessly nodded, scooped the bits behind the bar with a hoof and knocked a small glass onto his other fore hoof with a light tap of his hind leg. He swiftly began to fill the glass with different measures of several different coloured liquids, smoothly spinning from bottle to tap, and a few seconds later had slid the glass off of his hoof and onto the bar in front of Anvil, who greedily took it in his mouth and gulped it down.

“Aah, that's better,” he moaned, shaking his head vigorously, before twisting on his seat to face Rainbow. “You were about to say why you were on that rust-bucket?”

Rainbow's scowl deepened, but she began to tell her tale. “I was on Freeport Seven to get paid for a deal I'd made with the two ponies we helped out,” she said bitterly. “Flim and Flam they were called. I'd heard that a pair of ponies wanted a load of boron, so I got my hands on some and got in contact with them. We made a deal that we'd meet on Freeport 7, I'd give them the boron and they'd give me a million credits for a job well done. Should have known something would go wrong. The universe just wouldn't give me a million credits for such an easy thing.”

She took another drink of her cider before continuing.

“I was waiting in the main recreation area for them, met up with them, went to their ship, they showed me a bit of the money and we were on the way to the hangar with my ship in it when the alerts started going. They panicked and started saying that I should just give them my ship with the boron in it until the first explosions happened, when they practically threw their ship's key at me. I'd just given them the key to my ship, and they were halfway down the corridor when one of them tripped. The other one stopped to help him when a pipe fell from the ceiling.”

Rainbow took a deep breath, trying to steady her emotions, not sure why what happened to the two brothers in business was affecting her so.

“I tried to warn them, but it was too late. The pipe smacked the one who had stopped to help on the head, and fell on the other one's legs. Then I flew over to help them and called for help. That was when you arrived,” she said, looking up at Anvil, a grateful smile sneaking onto her face. “Thanks for that, by the way. I wouldn't have been able to help them if you hadn't come back.”

“No worries,” Anvil replied, smiling. “I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I'd have just left you all to die. Bad luck about the deal though. I guess it would be nice to have a million credits, you'd have been able to retire early,” he said, laughing.

Rainbow snorted derisively, waving a hoof. “I doubt I'd have gotten the million anyway. Those two were acting really shifty whenever I mentioned the million. Bet the ten thousand they showed me was fake anyway,” she said sadly. She was about to continue feeling sorry for herself when somepony interrupted her.

“Um, excuse me? Are you the two who saved the beige unicorn stallions in the med-bay, 'cause you fit the description the sergeant gave me,” the voice said. Rainbow and Anvil both looked round to see a thin, earth-brown pegasus peering through a pair of thick round spectacles perched on his muzzle at them.

“Yeah, that's us,” Anvil replied, hopping off his seat to stand before the colt. “What do you need?”

“Oh, uh, well, I was asked to bring you both up to the lieutenant so she can ask you how they got injured, if you don't mind? It's just, I'll get in trouble if you don't,” he said nervously. He looked barely old enough to be of drinking age, and all of the creatures in the bar seemed to be scaring him slightly.

Deciding to get the colt out of the room quickly and eager to get her mind off of the lost money, Rainbow drained the rest of her cider, hopped off her seat and said, “Sure, lead the way.”

The colt looked visibly relieved at finally being able to get out of the bar. He span on the spot and began to weave his way out, Rainbow and Anvil following close behind him. As soon as they were outside the bar, the colt started trotting off down the corridor, back towards the loading bay.

“So, what's your name, kid?” Anvil asked the colt, giving him a gentle smile so as not to scare him.

“Oh, I'm Pinch. Private Pinch, of the Equality Navy,” he said, glancing quickly around at Anvil. “I only passed boot camp last week, got assigned out here 'cause they thought nothing would be happening on this run, only now I'm helping evacuate everypony from a Freeport. I mean, who'd attack a Freeport? Freeports are open for everypony, even pirates, hay, even...” here he quietened to a whisper, “...the Order!” He nervously looked down both ends of the corridor; as if he was afraid someone would have heard him and was going to attack him. “Though, I'm thinking it was the Order who blew it up. I mean, everyone knows they're terrorists who'll attack anyone for so much as saying their name.” Once again, his eyes scanned up and down the corridor, even sweeping along the ceiling as if somepony might be standing upside-down on it.

Rainbow shook her head at the colt's antics, though she did think that he had a point. There was no reason for anyone to attack a Freeport. Everypony was allowed on a Freeport, the owners were neutral to every nation or faction out there. The only group that Rainbow could think of who might possibly have reason to destroy a Freeport was the Order, and the only reason for that would be to send a message, but to whom, she had no clue. They already were a lethal threat in the already dangerous universe; they wouldn't really need to send a message to anypony.

She decided to put it out of her mind when the trio arrived at a door flanked by two ponies wearing peaked navy caps, who were staring rigidly at the wall opposite them. Whenever Rainbow saw ponies standing at attention, she couldn't resist the urge to mess around or pull a prank. Sadly she hadn't got a pen or anything with which to draw on them, so instead, as she was about to follow Pinch and Anvil into the room, she stopped in front of the two military ponies and pulled the silliest face she could. She stood like that for a moment, before giving up and trotting into the room, muttering to herself, “You're no fun.”

The crammed room she entered looked to have previously been a single bedroom which had hastily been converted into an office of sorts. The bed had been pushed aside and the bedside cabinet had been set in the middle of the room, a chair positioned behind it. A vanity table sat next to the door, papers and folders scattered all over it, and there was a pony hunched over one of the papers, scribbling furiously. On the chair in the middle of the room was the official who had directed Anvil and Rainbow to the bar, her cap now resting on the edge of the cabinet in front of her, revealing her orange mane, done into a tight bun. When she saw the trio enter, she smiled and motioned for them to take a seat on the bed.

“Thanks for fetching them, Private. Go wait outside, I'll call you back in when I've got more orders for you,” the official said to Pinch, who snapped a quick salute, spun on the spot and marched smartly out the room. Turning towards Rainbow and Anvil, she said, “I'm Lieutenant Cosmos, of the Equality Navy. Sorry to have dragged you here, I just need to ask you how the two ponies you saved got injured. It won't take long.”

Anvil and Rainbow looked at each other, Anvil looking in a way which said, 'You were the one who saw it.' Rainbow simply sighed, nodded and said, “Well, a pipe fell on the both of them, smacking one in the head and the other on the legs.”

“So, where were you both when this happened?” Lieutenant Cosmos asked, a pencil between her teeth.

“Well, I was just down the opposite end of the corridor, and I saw it fall on the both of them,” Rainbow replied.

“I was in the main recreation room, making sure that everypony got out, then I heard Rainbow here shout for some help,” Anvil said. “That was when I ran back and saw her dragging the both of them towards the recreation room.”

The Lieutenant simply nodded and jotted it down on the sheet of paper in front of her before saying, “Well, what you both did is admirable. Not many ponies would go back to help another pony while the station exploded around them.”

Rainbow grinned and said, “I couldn't just let them both die, could I?”

“I wouldn't have been able to live with myself if I'd have just let them all die,” Anvil said, smiling.

“Indeed,” Lieutenant Cosmos agreed. “Well, I'll just have to get both of your details and then I'll have Private Pinch show you to your rooms, does that sound alright?”

“Sounds great,” Anvil replied with a smile, while Rainbow simply nodded.

“Okay, just fill in these forms and you'll be on your way. Thank you, once again, for saving those two ponies. I'm sure they'll want to repay you in some way,” the Lieutenant said, pushing two forms forward with her fore-hooves.

Rainbow gave a hollow smile and muttered, “Yeah, they'd better.”