The small transport ship zoomed through the asteroid field. Red blaster bolts streaked past it, and the shields blipped whenever they were hit. A human in a grey uniform and cap barked orders. "CJ-125, man the weapons. Lieutenant Gilder, why haven't we cleared the asteroid field?"
"Their sonic weaponry is making more debris and thus, extending the field," he frantically responded.
A stormtrooper in dirtied and charred armor spoke up. "Maybe we should just go up," he suggested. His armor had shades of red in certain areas, faded as if someone had tried and failed to wash it off. He spoke with a Concord Dawn accent, a sign that he was one of the original clones of Jango Fett.
"Good thinking, Rancor," he said, but corrected himself after the human in the grey uniform gave him a look that mixed subtle fury and disappointment. "EB-943," he corrected himself.
Another blaster bolt barely missed them, and a sonic grenade split an especially large asteroid in half. The pilot, Zan Gilder, heeded the clones advice, and flew the transport upward and out of the asteroid field. Once they were out, another stormtrooper, JM-465, chimed in.
"Let's get the kark out of here!"
"I'm trying, I'm trying!" Gilder said in haste. "I can't target any systems. The minerals in the asteroids must be interfering!"
Suddenly, several other pirate ships decloaked and began firing volley upon volley of red blaster bolts. The Imperial ship's shields began to fall, and their weapons just couldn't pierce the mercenary's shields and advanced hull plating. But the worst was yet to come.
One of the ships fired a missile with CIS markings. It burst open halfway to the ship, revealing dozens of small droids, armed with various cutting apparatuses. They hooked onto the small transport's durasteel hull and began cutting away. Captain Faroamer began yelling at Lt. Gilder to get them off.
"I'll try, sir," she said, as he activated the anti-mynock blasters. They fired upon the buzz droids, to no avail. "It's not working, Captain!" he panicked. "They must have some sort of reflective coating. The fourth stormtrooper, TN-861, spoke up.
"Maybe, just maybe, if we ionized the hull," he theorized, "it would shut them down, at the cost of a bit of power."
"Captain, what do you think?" Gilder inquired.
"I don't care, just do anything to get these things off!" he ordered.
"Yes sir." the pilot responded cautiously, as he activated the ship's self ionization systems, usually used for deactivating flaming and radiation-producing systems, and targeted the ships hull. "Firing ionization field," he said, as he punched a few buttons. The ships hull and a few of the monitors crackled with electricity. The buzz droids powered down and floated away into deep space. Zan Gilder smiled with joy and relief, until he noticed the major drop in power.
"A bit of power? A bit!?" he screamed at TN-861.
"Okay, so I miscalculated a tad." he responded.
"A tad! The bloody hyperdrive's down!"
"Okay, okay. Just, divert power from the weapons and sensors to the hyperdrive."
The blond pilot turned around to face the Kael. "Captain Faroamer, should we do it?"
The moustached officer looked away from the window he was looking out nervously. "Yes, fine. As long as it will get us out of here!"
"Alright," he said grudgingly. He powered down the weapons and sensors, dimmed the lights, and engaged the hyperdrive. Before he had a chance to set a proper course, the pirate ships returned and began firing another volley. Zan had to very hastily set a course for a somewhat distant system. As he engaged the hyperdrive, the white dots that were the stars turned to streaks, as they entered the dreamy blue realm that was hyperspace.
"I'm glad that's over." CJ-125 said.
Twilight peered into her telescope, observing various cosmic phenomenon. Celestia had warned her that she had sensed that something, although she didn't know what specifically. It was Twilight's task to watch the skies for anomalies. She thought she had seen a strangely shaped object, but it was merely some shooting stars from the Halo of Meteors passing Surrex. She turned the telescope to the north, hoping to spot something unusual. And then she saw it. It was an extremely oddly-shaped meteor, with what looked like wings on the side. It had no recognizable tail, but it emitted an unearthly blue glow from it's back. She took note of it in her journal, and then calculated it's trajectory. Judging by her calculations, it was headed...
"Straight, for, Ponyville!" she screamed, and bolted for Spike. "Spike quick, take a letter to Celestia! And hurry!"
"What is it, Twilight!?" he inquired, sitting down at his writing desk.
"There's no time! Just take the letter!" she ordered. Sensing the urgency in her voice, her quickly grabbed the quill, dipped it in the ink, and prepared to write. "Dear Princess Celestia," she said, her voice filled with urgency. "After hours of searching the skies, I believe I have discovered the object you had sensed. It's headed straight for Ponyville, and it could be dangerous! I request that you be here as soon as possible! Your fellow princess, Twilight Sparkle." And with that, Spike wrapped it up and sent it to Celestia.
He turned to face her. "What now, Twilight?"
"Now," she ran for the door, "we must get the Elements of Harmony!"
By the time the Elements of Harmony were together, the foreign object could clearly be seen in the sky. Celestia was on her way, and Mayor Mare was at her podium, calming down the frightened crowds. "I urge you not to panic! Princess Celestia is on her way, and until then, Twilight Sparkle will use the Elements of Harmony to create a magic shield large enough to cover all of Ponyville."
"Just like the one Trixie made when she became our dictator for a few days?" a mint-green mare asked.
"Yeees, I suppose so." the mayor answered. Like many ponies, she was uncomfortable talking about the Trixie incident.
"We're ready, Mayor Mare." Twilight said, she and her five friends in position. She activated the Elements, and they all slowly rose above the ground. Their necklaces began to glow, and Twilight's eyes turned a ghostly white. The Element's signature rainbow beam shot upwards, creating a translucent rainbow bubble around Ponyville. After the last of the field had reached the ground, cutting several trees and logs in half, the crowd of ponies breathed a sigh of relief. At last, they were safe.
And then Twilight noticed something extremely strange about the object. It was slowing down. It redirected its trajectory and kept falling, albiet at a much slower pace, and then small hatches opened on the bottom of it. Out of those hatches came small metal legs, with flat, long bottoms. The object slowed, but not by enough, and then crash landed in a small clearing outside of the force field. A large door slid open, and six bipeds walked out, not unlike Spike. The first four held some sort of weapons, and had white, shiny shells. At least three of them did. The fourth's shell was burnt and charred. Then two other bipeds walked out, one clad in a black suit, the other in grey.
"My," Rarity thought out loud, "I wonder what material their uniforms are made of?"
"I hope they aren't dangerous." Fluttershy squeaked.
"Don't worry, Fluttershy," Rainbow Dash reassured her friend. "We can take 'em."
Twilight spoke up. "It's not our job to fight. It's to negotiate. Besides, now that the object has landed, we can deactivate the shield." Then, in a burst of magic, she made the entire shield disappear.
"Wow Twilight, your magic really has grown more powerful ever since you became an alicorn!" Pinkie Pie complemented.
"Oh, it's not that. It's all just hard work and practice. And lots of studying, too!"
The biped in grey walked over to the six mares, and held out his claw. "Greetings," he said in false politeness. "I am Captain Kael Foroamer of the Galactic Empire. My ship is the Noble Dewback. This is my crew.
"Hello," the purple unicorn said, "I'm Twilight Sparkle."
The officer jumped back in shock. "Good grief Gilder, you were right! They can talk!"
Twilight gave the biped a puzzled look. "Why are you so surprised?"
His left eye twitched, but barely noticeably. "Well, um, you see, where we come from, quadrupeds don't usually talk."
"Where did you come from, anyway?"
"We were on a transport mission for the aforementioned Galactic Empire. It's a collection of planets and stars ruled by the almighty Emperor Palpatine. At least until those blasted rebels killed him."
The unicorn recoiled in shock. "Killed him!? Why in Equestria would they kill their own ruler?"
He sighed. "The rebels were discontent with the Emperor's rule. They yearned for the days of the corrupt Old Republic. They were unwilling to make the personal sacrifices necessary for there to be order in such a massive Empire. They fought under the banner of lies, like democracy and 'freedom for all races.' It's all bantha fodder."
"But aren't those good things?"
"They may work on a small scale, like on a planet, but on the galactic scale, all it is is a breeding pit for corruption and malice."
"I see we have quite different moral standards. Here in Equestria, we understand that the power of friendship can overcome all problems."
"Power of friendship?" he scoffed. "Power of friendship!? That's laughable. Can friendship fire a frickin' laser beam that obliterates your enemies?"
"Yes. Yes it can."
"Really?"
"Yeah. If my five friends," she motioned to her companions, "Applejack, Fluttershy, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Rainbow Dash don our respective Elements, that, combined with our friendship, can create unstoppable power."
Kael drooled a bit. "Unstoppable power. Unstoppable power," he regained his composure. "How does that, um, work?"
Twilight gave him yet another puzzled look. "Well magic, of course! Don't tell me you don't have that where you come from!"
"Not really. Could you, um, maybe give me a demonstration of this 'magic,' please?"
She smiled. "Why of course," she told him, as her horn and a nearby pebble began glowing magenta, and said pebble rose above the dirt road. All of the bipeds expression simultaneously turned to shock and surprise.
Faroamer slowly backed away, shivering. "Sh-she's a-a J-J-J..."
"JEDI!" EB-942 broke in, aiming his blaster at the purple unicorn. TN-861 and CJ-125 followed suit, but JM-465 did not. He was aiming his blaster at the clone. "Trooper!" he yelled at him. "Aim for the Jedi, not me."
He lifted the blaster's sights to his eye. "No," he said defiantly. "I'm not a murderer." He fired at the commander's blaster, making it explode in his hands.
"Gaaah!" he screamed in pain, as the other two stormtroopers pointed their weapons away from Twilight and towards the traitor. The captain turned to face him.
"JM-465! What is this treason?" he yelled at him.
"Don't call me that," he told the moustached human. "That's not my name, and you are not my superior," he said as he removed his helmet and belt. He threw them at his feet. "Nothing personal, but it's my mission," and with that, he fired a blast at Faroamer's leg. He fell down in pain as the rebellious trooper ran away.
Twilight saw him writhing in pain and immediately ran up to him, her horn glowing. She cast a basic healing spell, and the injured area began to glow. "What the kark are you doing!?" he asked frantically.
"It's a healing spell, I'm trying to help you!" she explained, trying to hold him still. She took a quick look around, assessing the situation. Fluttershy was hiding behind a crate, Rarity had fainted, Applejack and Rainbow Dash had taken defensive stances, and Pinkie was gone. The other two troopers were assisting the one called Ee Bee Nine-Four-Two, and the humanoid in black was also missing.
Pinkie bounced around Sugarcube Corner, Zan following behind her. "Nice place you've got here," he complemented, observing the various treats around him.
"Thanks!" she responded. The pink pony had taken the arrival of the mysterious strangers as an opportunity to make some new friends. She chose Gilder because he seemed the nicest of the bunch. Looks like she was correct. She pointed to the bathtub. "And this is Gummy!" she told him.
He gave her a skeptical look. "You named you bathtub?" he asked her.
"No, silly! Gummy's in the bathtub," she said, lifting the small green reptile out of the tub.
He smiled at him. "Aww. He looks like a little dewback!" he noted, reaching over to pet him. The alligator bit his arm as soon as it was in range. "Ah jeez!" he yelled, trying to shake him loose. "Ow ow ow ow ow wait a minute," he said, as he stopped shaking his arm. "That doesn't actually hurt."
"Of course, silly! Gummy's toothless! Why else would I name him Gummy?" she explained.
He nodded. "Hm, he looks like less of an herbivore and more of a carnivore, I suppose he's less dewback-like than I thought," he said.
Pinkie turned her head to the side. "What's a dewback?" she asked him.
"Dewbacks are large, lumbering reptillian herbivores, native to Tatooine. They make great mounts."
"Where's Tatooine? I've never heard of a country by that name." she inquired.
"Tatooine isn't a county, it's a planet. The whole bloody place is a desert. Really hot too. It's got two suns."
"Wow. Celestia must work hard on that."
He gave her a puzzled look. "Who's that?"
She gasped. "You don't know who Princess Celestia is!?"
He shrugged. "Not, really, I guess."
She gasped even louder. "How could you not know who Princess Celestia is!?"
"I've just never heard of her."
"Well, in that case, I'll just have to tell you. Princess Celestia is our benevolent ruler, who raises and lowers the sun. She lives in the city of Canterlot."
"Is it on a mountain?"
"Yeah. How'd you know that?"
"Well, it's pretty big and obvious when it's on a giant mountain looming overhead!"
She began laughing. "Oh yeah! Say, I wonder where Celestia is? I thought she was coming here to help."
Zan shrugged. "Probably just slept in."
The white alicorn burst into the darkened room, a panicked expression on her face. She looked around, observing her surroundings. Three cloaked figures were seated. She approached the center of the room, regaining her composure. They all respectfully nodded at her. A striped mare in a cloak welcomed her. "Master Celestia, filled with heat, please relax and take a seat." Celestia obeyed and sat down in an empty seat.
Celestia nodded to her, and began to speak. "Master Zecora, I come with grave news. They have arrived."
They all looked worried. "The Imperials?" a mint-green unicorn asked.
"Yes." she responded, her tone deeply serious.
A brown Earth pony colt spoke up. "There are six of them. Five are natural, one is a clone," he said, shocking the Princess. Their knowledge never ceased to amaze her.
"Yes. They arrived in a small transport ship. It crashed right outside of Ponyville. Two are injured, and one ran off. I believe he is a Rebel agent." she told the council.
A navy-blue alicorn chimed in. "Does Twilight have it under control?" she inquired.
"It appears so, at least for now."
The brown colt closed his eyes and looked skyward. "I sense both good and bad shall come out of this. But I cannot sense anything beyond that."
Celestia nodded. "I sense it too. But what about the rebel?" she asked.
Zecora spoke, again in that mysterious rhyming of hers. "So that none shall be killed, we can send our apprentices, if it is willed."
"Alright, that is if they're ready." she asked.
Master Whooves nodded. "I think Derpy could use some field work to help sharpen her skills with the Force."
Lyra rolled her eyes. "Oh, you know she'll just go for the lightsaber."
"I've been training her to rely less on it," he retorted.
"I believe Octavia is also ready," Luna said.
Celestia spoke up. "Then it's settled. Derpy and Octavia shall go find the Rebel agent."
"Agreed," they all said.
"Meeting adjourned," the white alicorn said. "May the Force be with you. Always."
