Eli Vanto woke up. He had been sleeping in bed in the hatch. When he left the room, he didn't see Tarkin.

"Tarkin?" He called for him, wondering where he was.

He looked at the armory and saw him laying on the ground, unconscious.

"Tarkin." Vanto said, going to the armory.

Vanto then heard the sound of a shotgun cocking.

He turned his head to see Applejack at the entrance of the armory.

She was aiming a shotgun at him."Stay in there." She warned him."Stay..."

"Applejack, what are you-"

"Stay in there, Vanto!" She said to him.

"Hey, whatever's going on-"

"Look, I'm going after my sister. I'm going after my sister and nobody is going to stop me, okay?!" Applejack yelled.

"There's another way to go about this-"

"Get in the damn room!" The mare exclaimed.

"You going to shoot me, Applejack?!" Vanto asked, raising his voice. He understood why she was doing this but it was still dangerous.

Applejack looked at the computer and then back at Vanto.

"No, but I'll shoot your darn computer." She threatened."Nothin' is not what you think it is anyway. You don't understand. You don't have any idea. Now get in there!"

Vanto moved back a little."Applejack, Applejack, listen, we can do this together, okay? I'll come with you."

"No. I have to do it. Now. I have to do it alone."

She then closed the door to the armory.


Wilhuff Tarkin woke up.

"What happened?" He asked, confused.

"Applejack knocked you out." Vanto told him.

"Why would she-"

"She went after Applebloom." Vanto said."Are you alright?"

Tarkin nodded."I'm okay."

"Good." Vanto said, standing up."Give me a boost up." He wanted to crawl through the vent to get out of here.

"It's no use." Tarkin told him, getting up."I bolted it shut from the inside."

"You what?"

"No point in changing the combination if you can get in through the air vent." Tarkin said.

"That's really good thinking, Tarkin. You want to tell me why you let Applejack in here?" Vanto asked.

"She wanted a gun for shooting practice." Tarkin told him.

"Shooting practice?"

Tarkin tried to open the door."The button. How long was I out?" He asked him.

"20 minutes." Vanto said.

"We're on shift for the next 4 hours. There's nobody coming down here."


Beilert Valance was now getting better. Princess Luna was taking the cyborg down into the hatch to see if Vanto could make sure he was alright.

"This place still creeps me out." Valance said as they walked through the hatch.

"You'll get used to it." Luna said to him. Luna then saw nobody at the computer."Where is everybody? Vanto! Tarkin!" Luna called for them.

Suddenly, she heard a banging sound.

"Luna!" She heard Tarkin yell.

Luna went into the living area."Vanto!" She yelled his name.

"In here, in the armory." Vanto said."Applejack locked us in here."

"What did he say?" Said Valance.

Luna heard the timer for the computer beep."I got it." She said, going over to the computer.

"I hope you got the combo, Vanto." Valance said, looking at the lock.

"Right two times to 25." Tarkin told him.

"25, got it." Valance said.

Luna put the numbers in and the timer reset.

"Left two times to 29. Right once to 40." Tarkin said. He continued telling him the combination.

When Valance opened the door, he saw Vanto loading a magazine into a pistol. He then handed the gun to the Grand Moff.

"What are you doing, Vanto?" Tarkin asked him.

"We're going after her."

Tarkin grabbed the pistol. Vanto grabbed an MP40.

"What happened?" Valance asked Tarkin.

"Applejack went after Applebloom." Tarkin said.

"Went after Applebloom?" Valance said.

"Pulled a gun on me, put us both in there, and went after Applebloom." Vanto explained as he put some supplies in a sack.

"Well, I'm coming with you." Valance said, readying his palm blaster.


They were in the jungle, looking at Applejack's hoof mark in the mud.

"We're going in the right direction." Said Tarkin.

"There's one over here." Said Luna, ahead of them.

"That sounds like a trail." Tarkin said. They started walking.

"Do you have a gun for me?" Luna asked Vanto. She had hoped she didn't need to hurt anybody, including Applejack, but it would still be good to protect herself.

"You're not coming." Vanto told the princess.

"Excuse me?" Luna said, confused.

"You're not coming." He looked at her."Someone has to be here to take care of the button."

"So why should that person be me? I can track, I can use my magic to carry a gun-"

"You're not coming!" Vanto told her."Your staying. Alright? Let's go." He said to Tarkin and Valance.

Valance and Luna looked at each other before they left.


"What did she do to you?" Valance asked Vanto as they walked through the jungle.

"What?" Vanto asked.

"Luna. What did she do?"

"She didn't do anything." Vanto told him.

"Right, yelling at her because she wanted to help get Applejack back makes a lot of sense."

"Why don't you go back and see if I hurt her feelings?" Vanto said to him.

"I'm just saying." Valance said.

"Yeah. I know, you love her."

The cyborg looked at him."What did you say?"

Tarkin stopped walking and looked around.

"What?" Vanto asked.

Tarkin looked at Valance."Does any of this look familiar from when you were coming back?"

"Well, yeah, there's my favorite leaf. How could I forget this place?" Valance said to him.

"What's wrong?" Vanto asked Tarkin.

"When you came across the island what side was the ocean on?" The Grand Moff asked Valance. Valance pointed to the direction."You came from the east, Applejack's heading north."

"What the hell's that supposed to mean?" Valance questioned.

"It means he's not going back to where you came from. He's heading somewhere else." Said Vanto.


They continued walking through the jungle.

"Hey, Vanto, you want to slow down?" Said Valance."Take a break for a minute?"

Tarkin stopped walking."Good idea."

Vanto and Valance also stopped.

"Is she still heading north?" Vanto asked Tarkin.

Tarkin nodded."She is."

"Do you think she's lost?"

"Doesn't seem to be. The trail's straight. The path of a man, or mare, who knows where she's going." Tarkin stared at him for a moment."Where are you going, Vanto?"

"What?"

"Well, let's say we catch up with Applejack. What are you going to do?" He asked him.

"I'm going to bring her back." Vanto answered.

"What if she doesn't want to come back?"

"I'll talk her into coming back."

"She is trying to save her sister, Vanto. She knocked me out, she locked us both up. Something tells me she might be past listening to reason." Tarkin told him.

"What? You think we should just let her go?" Vanto asked.

"Who are we to tell anyone what they can or can't do?"


They went back to walking when they suddenly heard gunfire in the distance. They crouched, fearing they were being shot at.

"Applejack!" Vanto yelled, getting up.

"Vanto, get down." Tarkin whispered.

"Applejack!" Vanto yelled, running to where they heard the gunfire.

"Vanto!" Tarkin said as he and Valance followed him."Vanto!"


Vanto ran through the jungle.

"Applejack!" He yelled. He stopped."Applejack!" Valance and Tarkin caught up with him.

"Vanto." Tarkin said.

"What?" Vanto looked at him. Tarkin was pointing at a bullet graze on the tree."He's close."

"And if she was shooting at someone, you want them coming back?" Tarkin asked him.

"Personally, yes." Said Valance.

"You said these people were two days across the island." Vanto said to the cyborg.

"Yeah, and they took Flim less than a mile from our camp." Valance told him.

"Over here." Tarkin said. Vanto and Valance looked down to see shell casings.

"Shell casings. How many?" Vanto asked.

"3, Applejack's." Tarkin said.

"Are you both deaf?" Asked Valance." I heard at least 7 shots. You heard it, Grand Moff, what's your count?"

Tarkin nodded."Yeah, 7 sounds about right."

"It's getting dark. Which way did the pony go?" Valance asked.

Tarkin looked for a trail.

Vanto was staring at Valance. The Bounty Hunter noticed this.

"What?" He asked.

"You out here for Applejack or is this payback for getting shot?" Vanto asked him.

"Why are you out here? You got your reasons and I got mine."


It was nighttime now. Vanto was lighting torches so they could see.

"What do you mean you lost it?" Valance asked Tarkin.

"I need light to follow the trail." Tarkin said to him.

"Here. Light." Vanto said, handing him a torch. He then handed one to Valance.

"I think we'd better head back." Tarkin said.

"What?" Said Valance.

"Just find the trail, Tarkin." Vanto said to him.

"I've lost the trail."

"You don't just lose a trail!" Vanto yelled angrily."You just don't want to find her."

"Yeah, that's right, Vanto. I've been running in the jungle toward the sound of gunfire because I don't care about Applejack." Tarkin said before walking away.

"Don't turn around on me." Vanto said, angry with Tarkin.

"You're not going to get her to come back and you know it." He said.

"You know what happens if we just turn around and go back? We're never going to see her again. And that's going to be on us. On you, and on me."

"You're exactly right, Vanto!" A voice suddenly said near them. They aimed their weapons at the man who had talked. They couldn't see his face in the darkness but they could see he had a beard."But if I were you, I'd listen to Mr. Tarkin."

"Who are you?" Vanto asked the man.

"He's the man that shot me on the raft." Valance said, angry. He moved forward to shoot him with his palm blaster.

"Why don't you point the gun down?" The man suggested.

Suddenly, a bullet hit Valance's chest. It didn't pierce through his armor but it was powerful enough to move him back. Vanto and Tarkin looked around, trying to find the shooter, but it was too dark.

"It'd probably be best if we just keep our hands at our sides, gentlemen." The man said.

"Where's Applejack?" Vanto asked.

"Don't worry about Applejack. She's not going to find us." The man said to him.

"What do you want?" Vanto questioned.

The man looked at Tarkin."Why don't you build us a fire, Tarkin? I think it's time we all had a talk."


Tucker and Stuhlinger were in hatch, waiting for the timer to beep so they could press the button.

"Jeela's thinking about naming her baby Avvin." Tucker said to Stuhlinger.

"Well, that's nice." Stuhlinger said."Hey, what do you think of that pony, Suri?"

Tucker shrugged."I don't know, dude."

Zuud then came into the room."Where's Vanto and Tarkin?"

"Oh, they went after Applejack." Stuhlinger told her.

"Applejack?"

"Yeah, she's run after Applebloom. Everyone's gone to bring her back." Tucker said.

"Who's everyone?"

"Everyone - Vanto, Valance, Tarkin. Oh, and Luna." Stuhlinger said.


Tarkin had started a fire. Vanto, Valance, Tarkin, and the bearded man were around the fire.

"Just sit down, Vanto. Nobody's going to hurt you. I come in peace." The man told Vanto, who was worried about Applejack.

"How do you know our names?" Tarkin asked the man.

"You took Applebloom." Vanto said.

"Applebloom's fine. She's a very special filly." The man told him.

"Look, you said you wanted to talk. Talk." Vanto said.

"Let me ask you something. How long you been here on the island?"

"50 days." Vanto answered.

"Oooo, 50 days. That's, what, almost 2 whole months, huh? Tell me, you go over to a man's house for the first time, do you take off your shoes? Do you put your feet up on his coffee table? Do you walk into the kitchen, eat food that doesn't belong to you? Open the door to rooms you got no business opening? You know, somebody a whole lot smarter than anybody here once said: "Since the dawn of our species man's been blessed with curiosity." You know the other one about curiosity don't you, Vanto? This is not your island. This is our island. And the only reason you're living on it is because we let you live on it."

Vanto smiled."I don't believe you."

"You don't believe what?" The bearded man asked.

"I think you've got one guy up there with a gun." Vanto said."I think there's more of us than there are of you. I think if you had any real strength, you wouldn't have had to send a spy, Ethan."

"That's an interesting theory." The man said. He raised his arms up."Light 'em up!" He yelled.

Suddenly, torches were lit around them. People appeared out of the jungle.

"We've got a misunderstanding, Vanto. Your people, my people." The man said."So listen carefully. Right here, there's a line. You cross that line, we go from misunderstanding to something else. Now, give me your weapons, turn around, go home."

"No." Vanto said to him.

"Vanto, maybe-" Tarkin said.

"No!" Vanto interrupted him.

"I hoped it wouldn't come to this." The man said."Bring her out, Alex!"

Princess Luna, who had a bag over her head, was then shoved to the bearded man. The bearded man grabbed her.

"She was following you. Like I said. Curiosity." The man said. He pulled the bag off of Luna's head.

Vanto was angry that Luna had followed them.

Valance was moving to kill him but the man pulled out a pistol and pointed it at Luna's neck.

"Don't." He warned. He looked at Vanto."Vanto, the decision you gotta make right now is this. Can you live with the fact that I shot this mare right in front of you when you could have saved her life by giving up and going home? Or are you going to give me your guns, turn around and walk away? It's your call, Vanto."

"You touch a hair on her head, I'll-" Valance said.

"Shut up!" The man yelled."I'm going to count to 3. 2, 1-"

"Stop." Vanto said, throwing down the MP40.

"Now you." The man said to Tarkin.

Tarkin threw down his weapon.

"Give me the other one, too."

Tarkin took out a pistol and put it down on the other guns.

"You and I aren't done yet." Valance said to the bearded man.

The bearded man grabbed all the guns. All the torches went out. The bearded man let go of Luna and walked away into the jungle.

Luna looked at Vanto."Vanto, I, uh-"

"You alright?" Vanto asked coldly.

"Yes, I am." Luna said.


Vanto, Valance, Tarkin and Luna walked back to the camp.

Luna looked at Vanto."I was just trying to help, Vanto. When you told me not to go, I just...I made a mistake." She said to him.

Vanto said nothing.

"Hey, could you just talk to me for a second? I'm sorry." Luna told him.

"Yeah, I'm sorry, too." Vanto said.


They arrived at the beach. Luna wanted to say something to Vanto but Vanto just walked away from her.

Valance looked at Vanto."Don't beat yourself up. If he'd told me to stay behind, I'd have done the same damn thing." Valance told her.

Luna smiled a little at him.


Vanto went over to Olee Starstone, who was sitting at her shelter and was near Winona. Winona was trying to eat her mango.

"Hey, go away." She said to the dog."I barely have enough food to feed myself." She cut a piece of the mango off and threw it."Here." She said, throwing it. Winona chased it.

"I see you found a new friend." Vanto said to her.

"Progress. I hear you were out looking for Applejack."

Vanto nodded."Yeah."

"She ran off looking for her sister again?" Starstone asked.

Vanto nodded again.

"Not much you can do about that then." She said.

"Is it true that you killed one of them?" Vanto asked.

"One of who?" Starstone asked.

"Them." Vanto said, talking about the Others."You were a Jedi. You fought in the Clone Wars."

She nodded."Yeah.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"How long do you think it would take to train an army?"