Star Crossed Ponies

by MillenniumFalsehood

Rating: teen
Tags: Violence, Princess Celestia, Crossover, Human, Main 6, Princess Luna, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Dark, Adventure
Length: 200180

The Mane Six are pulled into the Star Wars universe

The Mane Six, Spike, and the two alicorn princesses are sucked into an alien world. They soon discover that they have been transported to a galaxy far, far from home. A galaxy which is under the control of the evil Galactic Empire and where Emperor Palpatine knows of them and wants to use them for his own nefarious purposes.

Twilight must lead her friends on their journey through a cruel and hostile galaxy, avoiding the Imperial forces and bounty hunters sent after them, trying to find the Rebel Alliance.

They may be the ponies' only hope for getting home . . . .

Bonus: here's the main title music for this story https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QB4xZpWumYg

Published 2012-08-07 10:24:03 UTC
Last updated 2023-07-22 20:41:31 UTC

Annoyed

Chapter 2

“My experiences with Pinkie Pie have told me that spending any amount of time with that pony can be… distracting when it comes to any sort of serious work. Despite the best of intentions, Pinkie’s idea of helping can be, at once, both beneficial and detrimental to any efforts toward productivity. However, no matter how frustrating she can be, I find that her unlimited energy and unbounded enthusiasm is always enough to make me smile.”

-Twilight Sparkle, On Extra-Galactic Voyages, p. 96

A blinding pain filled Twilight’s head as she reached up to massage her horn, which had impacted a branch when she crossed the spell’s event horizon and spilled out onto the forest floor. She groaned and gritted her teeth as the pain slowly subsided, and she gradually opened her eyes to observe her surroundings. The trees here were utterly massive, possibly related to the redwood tree on the eastern coasts of Equestria. Plants resembling ferns covered the forest floor, along with several other varieties that she wasn’t familiar with. This had to be the Everfree Forest, and she shuddered at the thought. The autonomy of all the flora and fauna here was unsettling to any pony, and in spite of her logical mind and sound judgement, Twilight was no exception.

Gingerly picking herself up off the forest floor, Twilight sighed. “Great. How am I supposed to get home from here?” After brushing the leaves and sticks from her coat and shaking the detritus from her mane, she looked around and tried to figure out if there was a path of some kind that would lead her out of the forest.

Her eyes scanned over the forest, but in any direction she could see nothing but an unending jumble of trees, bushes, and vines that all seemed to blend into a single green mass. If only she were a pegasus pony. She could fly into the atmosphere and get an idea of where she was, not to mention where her friends were. She sighed, resigned to her earthbound status.

“Well, I’d better get moving,” she said to herself. “If I just head in one direction, pretty soon I’ll stumble on something that will lead me home.” She gulped down her anxiety. “I hope.”

The dense, loamy underbrush sank under her weight as Twilight walked through the forest. It felt good on her hooves, which was the only comfort she truly felt at that moment. Her brow furrowed in consternation as she looked up at her surroundings, wondering why she had the nagging suspicion that she was in an alien world. The trees were roughly familiar. The underbrush wasn’t strange to her, despite the plant life being of no kind that she’d ever read about in any of the nature and floral books in her library. But something still nagged at her that she wasn’t home.

As she contemplated the forest, a sudden cracking noise was heard above. She whipped her head up just in time to see a blob of purple and green falling through the branches just a few feet ahead.

“Aaaaaahhhh!”

Instantly she recognized the voice that was coming from the blob. “Hold on, Spike!” Instinctively she projected an aura around him as he plummeted from the tree, halting his fall only a few inches from the ground. She galloped toward him as he came to a rest on the forest floor. “Are you okay?” she said breathlessly.

With a groan, Spike gingerly stood up and brushed himself off. “Yeah, I’m okay, Twilight.” He frowned as he started to get a better look at his surroundings. “Where are we? This doesn’t look like any place we’ve ever been to before.”

Twilight looked up around her, frowning and darting her eyes. “I don’t know, Spike. I thought it might be the Everfree Forest, but I’ve been there several times on visits to Zecora. It’s similar, but there are subtle differences between the Everfree and wherever this is.”

That was not what Spike wanted to hear. “Do you know how to get us home?”

Shaking her head, Twilight said, “No, I don’t. This place might not even be in our country.” She didn’t want to contemplate the possibility that they were any further than a few thousand miles from home.

She started to walk, picking a direction that seemed relatively clear of trees. “C’mon, Spike. Let’s get going. Hopefully we’ll come across a road, or a river, or something to take us to civilization so we can get back home.”

Spike nodded, then jogged to catch up. “I hope we find our friends,” he said, putting his claws together and twiddling them.

“I’m sure they’re fine, wherever they are,” replied Twilight. Her voice didn’t carry the sureness that that statement demanded, and her face echoed the trepidation in her words. With a sigh, she continued to walk through the forest. Spike jogged by her side, privately hoping that Twilight was right.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

The skies soon grew dark as Twilight and Spike tried to find a place where they could bed down for the night. The forest so far had been unforgiving in that regard, with many moss-covered logs and brambles in their path. As Twilight helped Spike over a large chunk of wood, he scowled. “I hope we can find some place to stop soon, Twilight. My feet are sore from all this walking!”

“I’m sorry, Spike,” said Twilight as she picked up the pace. “But I can’t see any place that looks like it would even be comfortable to sit down on, much less sleep on.”

Spike sighed when he heard that answer, but continued on with Twilight. As he walked, his mind started to wander. Shadows began to look more ominous. The darkness began to gain fluidity, and several times he would have sworn that the shadows had begun moving. “S-sure hope we f-find a place soon,” he said, nearly biting his lip.

“If we don’t find one soon, we’ll just have to make camp anyway,” said Twilight.

This answer didn’t really satisfy Spike either, but he swallowed and continued to walk with Twilight.

All the while, the darkness continued to grow. Spike strained his eyes, trying to make out the shapes around him, but then a gentle purple glow grew around them. He looked up to see Twilight looking down at him with a comforting smile. It forced the anxiety in his stomach to subside, and he even managed to smile back at her.

Soon the path widened to form a small clearing, and to Spike’s delight, it was covered in a fine layer of soft moss. “This looks like a good spot!” he said as he felt the undergrowth.

Twilight was about to object to stopping, wanting to continue her search for their friends. But the fatigue that flooded her body at the suggestion won out, and she acquiesced to Spike’s desire to stop. “Alright, Spike. We’ll stop here for the night.”

The words had barely left her lips before Spike was on the ground, curled up in a ball. She chuckled and used her magic to levitate a blanket of moss over his body. “Goodnight, Spike,” she said. Then she laid down on the underbrush and closed her eyes. With a yawn, she relaxed and slowly drifted off to sleep.

The combination of the strange surroundings and the rustling coming from the nearby forest caused Twilight’s eyes to shoot open. They darted back and forth as she kept still, not daring to move lest she attract the attention of whatever it was that was making the commotion. It wasn’t apparent what was making the noise, but she knew that it was approaching.

“Wha…” she heard from her left. “What’s making that noise, Twilight?”

“Hush, Spike!” she hissed.

The noise got closer in the bushes.

“Sh-shouldn’t we b-be m-moving?” he whispered.

Twilight lit her horn faintly, trying to see what it might be, but she couldn’t make out much and she didn’t want to brighten her horn’s glow any further, lest she attract whatever creature that was approaching.

The bushes in front of them rustled.

Twilight and Spike could take it no longer. They both started to scream in terror.

Just then the bushes parted and a familiar Earth Pony walked out into the clearing. “Hi, guys!” said Pinkie Pie with a grin. “I just figured out that a mane twitch, knee shake, and hoof jiggle all mean that my friends are close by in a dark forest! How cool is that?!”

“Pinkie Pie?” said Twilight as Spike slid off her back. The surrounding brush grew brighter as she turned her horn up to full brilliance. “What are you doing here?”

Trotting over to them, Pinkie said, “I was trying to find you and the other girls. But so far my Pinkie Sense just told me where you were.”

This brought no comfort to Twilight. “Well, it’s still the middle of the night. We should probably get some sleep so we can search some more tomorrow.” She sighed and laid back down on the forest floor. Just as she started to dim her horn, she felt something crawling up next to her. She looked down and saw Spike curled up beside her. She smiled. “Goodnight, Spike,” she said, giving him a nuzzle.

Glancing up, she said, “Goodnight Pinkie P…” Her friend was already sound asleep across from her, legs sticking up in the air and twitching as she snored quietly. Sighing again, Twilight lowered her head down on the moss below her and closed her eyes, letting fatigue claim her.

Blobs of color resolved themselves in Twilight’s vision, her mind’s eye giving her an odd display of mostly pink hues. She frowned as she slowly cracked her eyelids to find a mass of pink and two huge eyes. “Morning, sleepyhead!”

“Gah!” Twilight instinctively backed into a tree at the sight of Pinkie Pie in front of her face. As she rubbed her head from the impact, she frowned at Pinkie. “Ugh… morning, Pinkie Pie.”

“We’d better get an early start if we wanna find our friends,” said Pinkie as she pulled a large leaf topped with a stack of pancakes into view and held them in front of Twilight’s face. “Better eat up, Twilight!”

Twilight stared at the delicious smelling pastries, wondering how Pinkie had managed to gather the ingredients needed for them in the forest. Then she looked over at Spike, who had rolled away in his sleep. She smiled. He was so cute when he slept. She gently nudged him, and his eyes slowly opened up. He was in mid-yawn when it occurred to him that there was a stack of pancakes in front of him. “Um, Twilight? Where did you get pancakes?”

“Pinkie Pie made them for us,” said Twilight, and then she lifted one of her pancakes up and experimentally sniffed it. “I can’t imagine what out of, though.”

Spike took a bite of his, then said, “Mmm! Not bad! Some kinda berry flavor!” Then he dove in and started chowing down.

Twilight looked at her pancakes again, then shrugged and started to eat them. To her delight, they were indeed quite edible. She’d never eaten a berry like this one before. It might have been the way they were cooked, but it was a strange combination of sweet and sour that was unlike anything she’d ever tasted before. She managed to eat the entire stack, smacking her lips and making pleasurable sounds the entire time. The only fly in the ointment was the lack of water to drink, and she attributed that to a similar lack of proper cups.

As she finished up her breakfast, Pinkie Pie walked up and said, “Ready to go find the girls?”

Twilight stood up and nodded. “Yep. C’mon, Spike.” After he hopped up and mounted her back, Twilight started to walk alongside Pinkie Pie in the direction they’d been heading the previous day.

Birds chirped overhead as the trio of friends continued on their journey toward wherever the path led them. Pinkie Pie bounced along, a nearly constant grin on her face. Her enthusiasm was not shared by her companions. Spike was getting slowly more and more frustrated at Twilight, who had stopped to examine yet another species of strange plant. “C’mon, Twilight! We need to pick up the pace!”

Twilight didn’t avert her gaze from the small fern that was growing beside the path. “Hold on, Spike. This is fascinating! This plant resembles an Athyrium filix-femina, but the leaf structure is all wrong! It should be vascular, but there are no veins to speak of at all!”

With a sigh, Spike grabbed her mane and tugged her along. “Hey!” she exclaimed. “Alright, I’m coming!” She shook her head as she jogged with Spike to catch up with Pinkie Pie. “It’s just weird… there are so many species here that are brand new to Equestrian biology. When we find civilization, I plan on asking Princess Celestia to fund an expedition to this place.” Then she gulped. “If she’s not furious at me for bringing her to see Rarity’s spell.”

Rolling his eyes, Spike said, “Twilight, I think we need to be focusing on finding our friends first. It’s really weird here, and I wanna go home.”

“Oh Spike,” said Twilight gently. “I’m sure we’ll be home before you know it.” She smiled and nuzzled him, then her voice became resolute. “But we still need to be focused on finding the princesses. They’re the most powerful beings in all of Equestria! If they can’t get us home, I don’t know who can!”

Spike nodded and continued on with his two friends. “I dunno, Twilight. I don’t think we’re even in Equestria anymore. Just look at all the strange creatures here!” He pointed at a small lizard that had six legs and a pair of antennae resting above three bright blue eyes. “Weird monsters and combinations of things that shouldn’t exist!” The small lizard slithered away into the underbrush, then Spike gasped. “Do… do you think it might be Discord?”

Twilight shook her head and said, “Spike, that’s simply not possible. The girls and I sealed him in stone ourselves! Besides, if he were really on the loose, I’m sure we’d have chocolate milk rain by now.”

“Chocolate milk rain?!” Pinkie Pie’s tongue hung out of her mouth as she panted at the thought of pure, sweet deliciousness pouring from the sky.

Laughing at their friend’s preoccupation with sweets along with Spike, Twilight said, “Sorry, Pinkie. No chocolate rain on the horizon today.”

“Awww,” said Pinkie Pie as she bounced back ahead of Twilight.

As she pronked on, Spike sighed and frowned, not wanting to consider the thought that popped into his head a few minutes back. But the prospect was getting more and more likely, and he was running out of more reasonable explanations.

Noticing his frowning, Twilight said, “What is it, Spike?”

“Nothing,” he replied.

“No, c’mon, tell me,” said Twilight. “What are you thinking about?”

“Well,” said Spike slowly, “I was just wondering… Y’know how there are all these weird animals and plants and things around us? Well, what if we’re on some kind of…” He hesitated to say the next word. “…alien world or something?”

Sighing, Twilight said, “Spike, you know that aliens and spaceships are all just make-believe. It’s too far-fetched to even consider.”

“But what if you’re wrong, Twilight?” said Spike. “What if we’re on some other planet? Or in another galaxy, or universe?!”

Twilight rolled her eyes. I really need to put a limit on how many comic books he’s allowed to read in one sitting. “Look,” she said, “it’s simply ridiculous. After all, what are the odds that we’d land on a planet that not only had the same gravity as Equestria, but had a breathable atmosphere, too? Besides, no Equestrian astronomer has even seen another planet outside the solar system, even with our most powerful telescopes.”

Spike tried to think of a rebuttal to Twilight’s statement, but nothing came to mind. With a sigh, he replied, “I guess you’re right, Twilight.”

Alien sounds and sights continued to plague Spike as he walked with Twilight. He cringed as he spotted a small, brightly-colored insect with a neck the same length as its body fly up and land on his nose, and he brushed it off with a scream. He looked up at Twilight, who had a passive look on her face. Shaking his head, he said, “Twilight, c’mon… we need to face facts that we’re not in Equestria! Look at all the weird stuff around us!”

“Weird stuff is not evidence that we’re not in Equestria, Spike.” Twilight’s implacable willingness to cling to her world view was getting on Spike’s nerves a tad.

“But we don’t even see any Pegasi flying around! Don’t you think that the princesses going missing would have them up in arms, searching for any sign of them?”

This argument seemed to penetrate Twilight’s ironclad stubbornness. She was silent for several seconds as she pondered his reasoning. Then she nodded, her eyebrows turning down and her ears folding back. “Yeah, you might be right, Spike.” She then stopped walking and said, “Pinkie Pie?”

Pinkie stopped her bouncing and turned her head toward Twilight with a smile. “What can I do ya for, Twilight?”

“Do you think that you can help me climb up into the trees and to see where we are?” She pointed up into the boughs of one of the gargantuan trees in front of them.

Giggling, Pinkie said, “I can do you one better!” She reached into her mane and extracted a long, shiny rod with hoofholds and a spring on the end. “I always carry a pogo stick in case of bouncing emergencies!”

As Twilight and Spike wondered how the toy managed to remain hidden in Pinkie’s mane all this time, Pinkie Pie mounted the silver contraption and then began to bounce. The spring squeaked as she got it going, and in moments she was shooting through the canopy, crashing back to earth with each bounce. Twilight was sure the pogo stick would break as she bounced up and down, but it somehow held together with each impact.

“Twilight,” said Pinkie on the way down from a bounce. The contraption collapsed and sprang back up, propelling her into the air with a schock-a.

“I think…”

Schock-a.

“We have…”

Schock-a.

“A problem!”

“What? What is it?” Twilight called after the pink blur as it ascended back into the trees. In seconds, Pinkie Pie managed to slow herself and stow the pogo stick back in her hair.

Her eyes were as big as dinner plates. Her brows were raised. The sight of Pinkie this shocked was enough to cause Twilight’s anxiety levels to shoot through the roof. Pinkie reached out and grabbed Twilight, shoving her face into Twilight’s and shouted, “There’s nothing but trees out there, Twilight! No Ponyville! No Canterlot! No mountains! Just trees!”

“Trees?” repeated Twilight.

“Wh-what are we gonna do, Twilight?” said Spike as he twiddled his claws.

“I…” Twilight backed away from Pinkie, sitting down heavily on the moss and breathing heavily. “I don’t know!”

Insufferable

Chapter 3

“After returning from the mission and getting a shower to clear both the sweat and her mind, Rainbow Dash visited me while I was studying and confided in me the thoughts that she had toward Rarity as they both trekked through the forest and tried to find us. She described their struggles, detailing their efforts to not become prey for some vicious creature. But she emphasized that for a while, she was the most dangerous creature as she concentrated on not erupting into a volcano of curses at Rarity’s incessant complaining.”

-Twilight Sparkle, On Extra-Galactic Voyages, p. 108

“Rainbow Dash…”

Rainbow had been gliding gently through the trees, charting a path for them to follow, when she heard the call that caused her coat to stand up right between her shoulder blades. A call that she had heard many, many times since she had tumbled down out of the void and landed face-first into a bush. “What, Rarity?”

“This walk is taking simply forever. How much longer till we reach the edge of the forest?” Rarity was looking up at her, eyes full of annoyance at having been made to walk for this long without a break.

“Just a bit longer, Rarity,” she replied. Her teeth hurt from the gritting.

A scowl came out of Rarity as she said, “Well, I’m getting incredibly tired from this trek. I can’t believe nopony has been here to clean up, either.” She looked around her at the detritus on the forest floor, avoiding the larger pieces of debris and cringing at the state of her hooves.

Rainbow meanwhile was wishing that she had a pair of earplugs. In truth, she had come to the conclusion that this couldn’t be the Everfree Forest when she had swooped into the air to get a good look at her surroundings. The forest stretched for miles, way past the horizon with no end in sight. As she glided above Rarity, this thought gave her another reason for the hairs on her back to be standing up. It meant they were likely in another part of Equestria, if not another part of the globe. She’d never circumnavigated the globe – though, come to think of it, that would be a really fun test of her long-range flying at top speed – so she wasn’t sure just what part of the world they were in. She just knew it wasn’t home.

Dash was not looking forward to having to inform Rarity of this. If Rarity even suspected that they were in for a hundred mile walk through an apparently unending forest, she’d likely start freaking out about it. She just hoped that they would eventually come across some sign of civilization, and she hoped it was pony. She especially hoped it wasn’t griffon. Her former friendship with Gilda had seen to her developing a dislike of that particular species.

“Rainbow?”

A shudder passed through Rainbow’s back.

“Rainbow, it’s been simply forever since we rested. Can we please stop for a few minutes? Please?”

Rainbow sighed, then said, “Alright, we can stop for a few minutes if you want. Let me scout ahead and see if I can find someplace where we can rest up a bit.”

Before Rarity could reply, she shot off into the forest at full speed, sending leaves falling from the trees and animals scattering away. Weaving and bobbing through the trees and scanning the ground for anything that didn’t look like a pile of sticks or a rock, she eventually came across a small clearing in the forest that looked comfortable enough to sit down for a bit. She glided down gently to the forest floor, a beam of light from the canopy illuminating the patch of soft moss like a spotlight. She sniffed the moss, tested it with her hooves, then smiled. “Whew! Glad I found this place! Feels like the perfect spot for a nap!”

Rainbow was tempted to just lay down right there and nap, but she couldn’t just leave Rarity to fend for herself in the woods, plus she was expecting Rainbow to be back soon anyway. Flapping her wings, she lifted herself into the air and took off toward where she left Rarity. A few minutes later, she was setting down in front of her friend. “Hey Rarity, I found a place to rest up about a half-mile from here.”

“Oh goodness,” said Rarity. “That sounds like a rather long way to walk through the forest… I hope that we get there before dark!”

“We won’t if we don’t hurry. C’mon.” Without waiting for an answer, Rainbow whipped around and started to fly off through the woods. She was only a few hundred yards ahead before she looked down and saw no sign of Rarity below her. With a scowl, she flipped around and shot back to where she’d left her friend in a cloud of dust and loose twigs. “Rarity! C’mon, we need to get there before the sun gets too low or I forget where it was!”

Rarity looked up at Rainbow with a scowl and said, “I’m trying, Rainbow Dash! But a unicorn can’t travel as fast as a pegasus in the forest with all these awful logs and roots to hop over.” As a way of hammering home her point, she hopped over a log that was in her way.

“Ugh, fine,” said Rainbow as she sighed and resigned herself to trudging along at the same pace as Rarity. This managed to stoke the fires of irritation she felt in her gut, causing her to almost lose her cool at her friend.

It’s your darn fault we’re stuck in this place, Rarity. She furrowed her brow at the thought of just why they were in this forest at this moment. She could have been taking a nap, or practicing her signature moves, or getting through the latest Daring Do novel. A brand new one had arrived in the mail just that morning, and she hadn’t even had time to smell the fresh-from-the-press scent that a new book carries before she was dragged to the boutique to check out a spell that she had no real interest in viewing. Or at the very least, her interest in it paled in comparison to the interest she had in seeing how Daring was going to defeat Ahuizotl’s latest attempt to rule over the Tenochtitlan Basin with an iron fist.

And now she might never get to find out what happens.

All because of Rarity.

Sure, she was concerned about getting herself and her friends back to Equestria, not to mention reuniting them with their respective families and returning things to normal back home, but this is Daring Do. Very few things in life mattered to Dash more than that, and she was incensed that she hadn’t even had a chance to read so much as the prologue before she was ripped away to another country. That thought was more irritating at the moment than the grating noise of her whining. Or complaining. Or whatever she insisted it was.

But fatigue was starting to claim her. Even if she was angry at Rarity, her wings were starting to get sore, and she needed a nap. This would be about the time she’d normally drift back down to her favorite napping tree in the park, fluff the pillow on the branch that perfectly cradled her body, and sink into a glorious snooze under the mild summer sun. And so she was looking forward to laying down on the soft moss and catching a few z’s.

It took a few minutes to find the clearing, but once she did, Rainbow swooped through the air and landed on the moss. “Ta-da! Am I awesome or what?”

“Oh, thank you, Rainbow Dash!” said Rarity as she pranced onto the raised mound of moss, its bright green leaves set aglow by the beam of sunlight filtering down through the canopy. As she was examining the small hill of green, she frowned. “Hmmm… Oh! Rainbow? Can you be a dear and fly up to get me some leaves so I may make us some pillows?”

“Sure,” said Rainbow as she spread her wings and flapped into the air. She came back moments later with hooffuls of leaves and branches. “How about this?”

“Perfect,” replied Rarity. “You can set them down over there.”

After Rarity had used her magic to warp and fold the soft leaves into a pair of pillows, she levitated one over to Rainbow Dash and said, “There! All done!”

Rainbow smiled as she took one of the pillows in her hoof. She held it up, examined it, and saw the care with which Rarity had created them. They were simple, but fluffy and soft, and hers was even monogrammed with grass thread. “Wow! Thanks, Rarity!” She fluffed it up and dropped it on the moss, then she laid down on the thick, soft underbrush. She was about to comment on how comfortable it felt when sleep overtook her and she drifted off into a deep sleep.

Hot mugginess washed over Rarity’s face, accompanied by a funny moist feeling on her nose. She frowned in her sleep, dreamily brushing the slimy substance from her muzzle. “Mmmph… Don’t do that, Rainbow,” she mumbled in her sleep. Then she heard a low rumbling noise. She slowly cracked one eyelid, and was surprised to see a long, red tunnel lined with sharp teeth.

Her eyes shot open and took in the creature standing before her. It looked like a wolf with no hair save for a large mane around its neck. She gasped at the sight of two enormous tusks set into its lower jaw, with tips that looked as though they would make short work of a pony’s belly. Its hot breath washed over her face as it slowly walked toward her.

With a scream of terror, Rarity quickly backed away, prompting the wolf to pounce. She put up her hooves, lifting the creature up into the air and sending it crashing on its back.

Rarity didn’t hesitate, taking the moment to dart toward a nearby rock, hoping to make it around or over the formation before the creature recovered.

It wasn’t but a moment before the creature had gotten back up and started to stalk her again. Strained squeaks escaped her mouth as her eyes darted back and forth. But she could see no way to escape the creature.

Just as it was getting into a position to pounce on her, an azure blur shot into its side, sending the creature rolling off into the bush. Rarity watched as the creature picked itself up off the ground and sent a bone-chilling roar resounding through the forest. It glared at Rainbow Dash as she hovered over it. “You want some more?!” she said as she glared back at it. “Come and get it, ugly!”

Shooting out of the way of the creature as it leaped up to bite her, Rainbow stuck her tongue out at it. “You gotta do better than that to keep up with Rainb- whoa!” She barely made it out of the way of the sharp tusks as the wolf thrust itself up at her. Quickly she darted back into the trees.

The creature began to pace back and forth, trying to see where she had gotten to. As she did, Rarity’s irises shrunk. “Dash?!” she exclaimed as Rainbow disappeared.

Her cry of fear got the attention of the beast. It whipped its head around, red-tinted eyes boring into her brain and filling her with dread. She stared at those eyes, unable to break her gaze as her entire body was paralyzed with fear.

Slowly it started to stalk toward her, saliva dripping from its jagged teeth. A rumbling growl emitted from deep within its throat.

“No…” Rarity squeaked. “No, please…”

Moments later, a blue dart pierced through the forest clearing, connecting a hoof with the wolf’s jawbone. Cartilage snapped as the creature’s head reeled from the assault, barely recovering before Rainbow landed another blow to the other side of its head.

She hovered above it, a cocky grin spread from one side of her head to the other. “There’s more where that came from, baldy!”

It looked up at her and roared, but Rainbow lunged forward a bit, feigning an attack. It instinctively ducked, then snapped up at Rainbow. She floated above the creature as it stood there, growling up at her. Neither creature looked away. Finally, it grunted, then slinked off into the forest, its tail between its legs and its stomach growling.

“That’s right, you’d better run!” hollered Rainbow as she landed, wings outstretched, chest pumped out, a smirk playing on her lips.

The smirk disappeared in an instant as two hooves wrapped themselves tightly around Rainbow. She wheezed as the air was squeezed out of her lungs by the embrace. Squirming and wriggling, Rainbow struggled to free herself as Rarity expressed her gratitude. “Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you Rainbow Dash!”

“Rarity…” croaked Rainbow, “…leggoahme!”

Blushing, Rarity released Rainbow and said, “I’m sorry, I just can’t express my gratitude enough for you saving my life like that!”

Cocking an eyebrow, Rainbow said, “Eh, no big.” She gave Rarity a wink.

Composing herself, Rarity took a deep breath and said, “Well, then. I think it’s time to get going. My hooves are getting filthy and I don’t think that I can take a single second more without a decent pedicure.” She began to trot down the path they had been traveling on a few minutes ago, her head held high as she continued to maintain her spirits.

Rainbow, however, didn’t follow her. She hovered there, rubbing the back of her neck as she looked off to the side. Her mind was not on the trek they were on. Instead, it was wandering back to what she was doing by keeping the truth from Rarity. It would find its way out eventually, once she discovered that the forest was too big, too wild even for the Everfree, and nowhere near Ponyville, she’d know that Rainbow had been hiding the truth from her.

As she trotted, Rarity came to the realization that Rainbow Dash wasn’t following her. She looked up where she expected Rainbow to be, and when the air above her turned out to be empty, she looked behind her to see Dash hanging in the air, having not moved an inch. Quickly she trotted back to Rainbow and said, “My dear, we must continue if we’re to escape the Everfree Forest before nightfall. I don’t want to imagine what sort of demonic creatures lurk in the shadows when the night is there to camouflage them.” She gulped down a terrorized lump in her throat as she considered her own words.

“Uh, yeah…” said Rainbow as she continued to rub her neck, “about that… I think it’s gonna take a little longer to get home than we planned.”

“How much longer?” said Rarity as she began to realize what Rainbow knew all too well.

“I think we may be on the other side of the world. Maybe not even on our world.”

“Oh, don’t be ridiculous,” Rarity said as she rolled her eyes. “I might have messed up that spell to view the past, but I hardly think I have enough magic to teleport us all across the world.”

“Well, all I can tell you is, when I look around up there, all I see is forest. That’s it. And the Everfree is not anywhere near this big.” Rainbow crossed her hooves as though that was all there needed to be said.

Rarity’s mind began to work as she struggled to rationalize what she just heard, to make it fit what she knew about the Everfree Forest. But the more she wrestled the facts to make them fit, she couldn’t come to any other conclusion. “This… this isn’t the Everfree Forest?”

“Nope.”

“Sweet Celestia…” Rarity began to pace back and forth, her eyes going wide with terror. “What will we do, Rainbow Dash? I can’t stay here! You saw that wolf-thing that tried to eat me! What if he comes back, or what if there are other creatures out here who are far worse than that horrid thing? Plus, what about my shop? Or Opalescence?” She gasped. “I was supposed to take care of Sweetie Belle this weekend! I can’t just abandon my duties to my little sister!”

Rainbow sighed and put up a hoof to stop Rarity from talking. “Relax. We’ll get to the end of the forest eventually, and when we do, we’ll be able to find somepony to help us get home. I’m going to fly up and get a better look at things. Be back in a flash.” She shot up through the trees and disappeared beyond the canopy.

Rarity watched her as she disappeared, and as the loose leaves Dash knocked down began to flutter around her, she began to think about her situation. Twilight had been right. She should never have tried to perform that spell at full power, in front of the princesses, no less. She sighed and sat down. This was all her fault, wasn’t it? Being trapped here in this awful place. Pretty as it was, it was still dangerous. What if her friends had been seriously hurt by being hurled into this forest? She was sure Twilight and the royal sisters could handle themselves, but what about Pinkie Pie? Or Fluttershy? She couldn’t bear the idea that any one of them could be hurt by her actions.
She sighed again and then looked up at the canopy again from where she sat. Hopefully Rainbow Dash could find civilization soon. If she could, then they stood a better chance of getting home.

Hovering above the treeline, Rainbow scanned the horizon, her hoof above her eyes to shield them from the noonday sun. She was trying to get a better look at the objects on the horizon that she’d seen when she first popped up here.

They were definitely fliers of some kind, but she’d never seen anything like them before. Most Equestrian craft were made from brown wood, or white, or some other friendly looking color. But this craft was bluish gray and black, hard-edged, and definitely not friendly-looking. They danced through the air in a lazy ballet of swoops and dives, like a swarm of dangerous bees around a hive.

The worst part was the sound.

Rainbow has never heard something so mournful, yet so chilling. It was a faint roar that sounded more like a wail, as though a thousand ghosts were just behind it, crying banefully at their torment. It sent waves of uneasiness down her spine, and made her want to drop back down below the treeline, but she stayed up long enough to determine that the weird flier was hovering around something pretty massive.

It was a massive tower, with several curved ribs above it in the general shape of a dish, though at this distance it looked very wispy and gossamer, as though it could blow away in a stiff breeze. She’d never seen anything quite like it.

One thing was for sure, though: it meant that civilization was in that direction.

She shot back down through the trees and landed next to Rarity, then explained what she had seen. “Perfect! Let’s be off, darling!”

“Right behind you, Rarity!” said Rainbow uneasily. As she trotted behind Rarity, she couldn’t help but feel like they should be heading anywhere but toward that thing she saw in the distance. Something about it and those weird flying things gave her a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach. But it was the only sign of civilization, so they had to head toward it.

She just hoped it wasn’t a decision she was going to regret.

Alone

Chapter 4

“I had come down to the cargo bay to help with the unloading. After all, as the personal protégé of Princess Celestia, I couldn’t pass up an opportunity to impress her. As I passed off a few dozen crates with my magic, thinking that it was an impressive display of magical prowess, I noticed Applejack trotting along and pulling a floating platform full of boxes, easily twice as many as I had just helped load. I stood there for few moments, staring at her, thinking about how lucky I was to have such a strong, dependable friend like her around.”

-Twilight Sparkle, On Extra-Galactic Voyages, p. 213

“This just ain’t normal.”

Applejack was working her way through the forest, warm sunlight filtering down through the chartreuse canopy and the cool breeze blowing an earthy fragrance past her which reminded her of the Everfree forest. She was trying to wrap her head around her surroundings, and more importantly, what the hay had happened to her.

She had been in Twilight’s library, watching Rarity perform some spell. Truth be told, that magic stuff had always been over her head. She just had no use for it, so why bother learning anything about it? But she did appreciate its uses for ponies like Twilight and Rarity. Unicorns were natural magic users, and boy howdy, when they do something amazing with magic, even a farm-pony like Applejack is impressed.

Still, maybe if she’d let Rarity concentrate on that spell she wouldn’t be stuck out here in the middle of nowhere, dodging low-hanging branches and avoiding rocks that sprang up in her path. She had seen Twilight trying a new spell before, and that pony always had to focus her attention on what she was doing.

Thwack! A small branch smacked her in the head. She raised a hoof to rub the spot it had fallen on, only see one of the strangest animals she’d ever laid eyes on. It was about her size, and its face seemed contorted into a perpetual grin, with large incisors and black, beady eyes. What annoyed her the most was that this thing appeared to be enjoying the fact that throwing that bit of wood had gotten her attention; the creature was apparently just out to annoy her.

Deciding that giving attention to this thing would just provoke it further, Applejack just kept walking, ignoring the periodic bits of thrown twig. But with each object that bounced off her head her patience got worn thinner and thinner. Finally she whirled around as fast as she could and shouted, “Alright, you nasty varmint! You’re gonna...”

The creature was gone. It couldn’t have moved that fast, though. No creature Applejack had ever seen could move that quickly, not even Rainbow Dash.

Suddenly she felt another stick hurled at her backside. She whipped around, only to be pelted again. Were there more than one of these things?

No matter. She picked up a stick of her own, intent on bucking it into that creature the moment it showed its face. “Show yourself, you half-pint halfwit!” she spat around the branch in her mouth. After a moment it popped up in a nearby tree, giving her what might have been considered a lewd gesture. Gotcha. She dropped the stick, then bucked it hard, sending it flying at the creature at incredible velocity.

It never made contact. The small creature had stepped out of the way, but it wasn’t nearly as simple as that. It had done so fast enough that Applejack had never seen it move, with the only sign that movement had taken place being the small cloud of dirt and moss kicked up along its trail.

Her jaw dropped at the sight. “That can’t be!” In desperation, she picked up a mouthful of sticks and used her tail to wallop them all toward the creature, and somehow it managed to avoid the barrage, all the while giggling maniacally as the sticks splintered against tree trunks and embankments.

Applejack was getting angrier than she had any right to be. This little demon was maddening. It just kept annoying the horseapples out of her, which was diverting her from her main purpose.

“Looks like somepony’s afraid of gettin’ their hindquarters bucked by Equestria’s finest apple-bucker! You afraid ta come down here and face me pony ta... monkey?” It looked almost offended at being called a monkey, but it obliged, scampering down the tree in a blur of light gray fur.

There it stood, taunting her. Applejack’s raw, seething anger at this thing was boiling over, and pretty soon she pawed at the ground and began to charge. Why he’d just hold still for a whuppin’ was not something she considered, as all she could think of was showing that little creature who was boss, but even so as soon as she got within a few inches of it, he sprinted off, then stopped fifty feet away in the blink of an eye.

Applejack charged even harder, breaking into a full gallop, but it was no use. The creature was simply much faster than she was.

She watched as the monkey-thing waved at her and scampered off, then resumed her long trek in the woods. She was a bit upset at how pointless that whole encounter had been.

Just then, something occurred to her. This wasn’t any sort of creature she’d seen before, even at the zoo. Could this be... no, A.J. That’s not even possible. She shook her head. The very notion that she’d been transported to some bizarre alien world was simply too outrageous to consider. “Heck, this ain’t like one of Spike’s comic books, where weird spaceships fly around with aliens onboard and other such nonsense. It’s just a weird forest.”

She swallowed hard.

“Ah hope.”

The trek was getting more and more tiring. Applejack was a strong pony, even by earth-pony standards, but she’d been at this since she’d first landed here. The tousle with that annoying monkey-thing sure didn’t help matters.

She looked around for a nice clearing to rest for the night. She’d been on plenty of camping trips since she was a filly, and knew that the best locations had a fresh water supply and plenty of cover to keep wild animals at bay.

For a few moments she wished she was a pegasus so that she could simply fly up and look for a suitable location. However, as soon as the thought entered her mind she pushed it out with a vengeance. She was an earth-pony, and proud of it! Ain’t nopony that can beat an earth-pony at growing things or performing feats of strength and endurance, and the thought that she needed wings to find a place to sleep was just insulting, or would have been if somepony else had said it to her.

She hopped over a log, and then through the trees. Despite the dim light, she found a small lake with a clearing next to it, surrounded on three sides by a squat mountain. It filled her with such relief that for a moment she allowed herself the luxury of feeling joyful. But she sobered up immediately. For the time being she needed to keep her wits about her and her mind focused on what she was doing. If she didn’t, it might jeopardize the chances of finding her friends again.

Looking around the oasis of grassland, she took a moment to notice just how beautiful this place was. Warm, orange-yellow sunlight streamed down from the top of the mountain, itself framed by the verdant forest and the calm, clear lake. Birds glided above her, no doubt heading to their nests to take care of their youngins, or else simply to rest after a long day of hunting for meals. She allowed herself the luxury of a smile and then settled down on the soft grass for the night.

As she blinked, bleary-eyed after a long night camped next to the lake, she dreaded what she might see in front of her.

Before she had opened her eyes, she had heard a faint breathing noise, and it had taken all of her effort not to scream or run. She didn’t want to look, but she knew she’d have to sooner or later.

When she did, she felt ashamed and angry at herself.

Standing in front of her was… a pony. Though it was certainly not quite the same as the ponies she was used to. The creature’s coat was dingy brown and its eyes were small and beady. Its muzzle was long and ugly, and Applejack had no idea where in Equestria it could be from. Nevertheless, she knew that if she wanted to find her friends, her best bet would be to enlist the help of this pony. She put on a friendly smile and approached the creature.

“Finally, somepony to talk to! I was beginnin’ to get a little worried that there weren’t no other ponies ‘round these parts. I’m Applejack. What’s your name?”

The creature looked at her, then made… what was that noise exactly? Certainly nothing she’d ever heard before. Applejack was starting to feel a little frightened, but decided to press on and hope that this pony understood her. “Uh, listen. I’m tryin’ to find a group of my friends. They’re about as tall as me, one’s an earth-pony, two are unicorns, and two are pegasi. I’m sure they’ve asked about me.”

The pony just stared at her.

Applejack was getting impatient. “Look, I don’t have time for any shenanigans. I’m tryin’ to find my friends, and if all y’all’re gonna do is sit there and stare without so much as a word, then maybe I’d better try to find help somewhere else.”

It held Applejack’s gaze for a moment longer, and then bent its neck down to eat a tuft of grass. Applejack sighed, and then decided it was time to take her leave of this strange pony.

As she walked out of the clearing and into the forest, she looked back forlornly at the creature, then started walking in the same direction she had been the previous day.

Most ponies would have given up hope by now. But Applejack was no ordinary pony. She was tough. Resilient. Still, this trek past tree after tree was beginning to take its toll. She knew she’d run into her friends eventually, but thoughts of her friends hurt, or dying, were beginning to creep into her mind. They were clawing at her subconscious, and being alone in this big forest certainly wasn’t helping matters any.

Suddenly her ears picked up a faint noise. It wasn’t the sound of an animal. It was mechanical, and had a cadence to it as well, which suggested that it was probably some kind of machine. A wave of disgust rose up in her gut as she was reminded of the Flim Flam Brothers and their crazy apple cider-making contraption. But it didn’t sound like that thing did. Maybe it was… what was the term? A combine harvester? Those machines were used by farm ponies, and she swore she’d heard them before when she’d visited her relatives down south, who grew grains. If farm ponies were nearby, that meant civilization was, too!

The sudden surge of hope flooded her, releasing waves of adrenaline and happiness. She went straight from a standstill to a gallop in less than two seconds. If only Rainbow had seen the sudden burst of athleticism!

But she didn’t have time to think about what Rainbow Dash was doing. The one thing that consumed her mind was that this new sound meant ponies, and where there were ponies, there was hope.

She got closer and closer to the edge of the clearing. Openings in the trees were getting wider, and pretty soon she was able to-

Her legs planted themselves in the ground, and she scooted to a stop, frozen in terror at the sight of the fearsome machines she saw walking in the clearing.

“What the bucking hay are those things?!”

The Magic

Chapter 5

“Being a student of Celestia afforded me a special place in the kingdom, I’ll admit that much. But what made it special was not the privileges I had or the access I was given to restricted areas of the castle. It was the closeness I had with my mentor. Celestia was in many ways closer to me than even my own parents. She kept me going in the darkest times of my life, when nothing seemed to be going right, and my courage and determination in the face of adversity would be nonexistent if I hadn’t seen the same courage and determination from Celestia.”

-Twilight Sparkle, On Extragalactic Voyages, p. 325

Princess Luna, Goddess of the Moon, Keeper of the Night… was not happy.

She knew Rarity didn’t mean for the spell to go like it had, but having it go that badly meant she had not practiced the magic nearly enough to try it on such a large scale. Foalish girl... being a unicorn, she should have more respect for the power she wielded. She should know that to fool with something capable of causing such harm could be detrimental. What if she hadn’t stopped pumping the spell with energy when she did? What if the magic had been so unstable that it hadn’t matched up with the time flow precisely, causing them to be spread throughout time.... an atom here, a molecule there…

She shuddered at the thought.

But she was wise enough to know that this line of thinking would do her no good. Worrying about the past was other ponies’ business. Right now, she needed to locate the bearers of the Elements of Harmony. It was unfortunate that the elements themselves had not been drawn in as well. Their power might be useful in escaping their current predicament.

“Come sister. We must locate my faithful student and her friends if we are to have any hope of escaping this world.”

Luna nodded toward her sister and trotted over to her location.

Celestia, the regal and majestic ruler of Equestria and the keeper of the day, was slightly less unhappy than her sister. Her thousand-year reign had taught her many things, among them patience and levelheadedness when things go wrong. Still, this world was utterly alien to her, and both she and Luna knew immediately that something was wrong.

Their constitutions were made up of elements from all three major species of pony: earth, pegasi, and unicorns. As such, they had a unique connection to the universe around them in ways that even ponies as magical as Twilight Sparkle were unaware of. This connection had informed them that they were thrown much, much further than merely another country.

They were in another galaxy.

This revelation was initially disconcerting for both alicorns, but they quickly overcame their shock and distress and set out searching for their little ponies.

Luna however still had a few twinges of uncertainty. “My sister, we must be careful. This world is not our own, and we have lost our connection to the earth. I cannot sense the moon, nor can I sense the presence of any ponies nearby.”

“I understand the threat this poses, sister. Yet we must bear in mind at all times that six ponies, and a baby dragon, will need our magic to get them home.”

Luna nodded in agreement. “Sister, may I suggest we take to the skies? Perhaps from there we may be able to locate a sign of Twilight and the other Elements.”

Celestia gave her approval, and then the two alicorns spread their magnificent wings, flapping gracefully and powerfully until they were aloft, their ethereal manes fluttering in some intangible wind.

As they swooped around the clouds, they were both startled to discover that this world was not as empty as it seemed. The grey metal box that nearly hit them was a shock to both sisters, and they barely had time to avoid being splattered against the front of it. As they struggled to recover, they watched it recede into the distance, the loud sound it made almost deafening them and the choking ozone that followed it giving them a wracking cough.

“What was that thing?” gasped Luna between fits of coughing.

“I’m not sure, Luna. Whatever it was, it was not natural, and I don’t believe it was made by ponies.”

“Not made by ponies? What makes you think so?”

Celestia paused, unsure. “There was a figure at the controls of that object. I’m surprised you didn’t notice.”

Luna shook her head in irritation. “I’m afraid I was a bit busy trying to avoid decorating the front of that thing with my royal hide.”

“The creature was . . . well, I’m not even sure what. It couldn’t be what I think it is, because those creatures have been extinct for thousands of years, before you or I were born. Furthermore, we’re not even on our world, so that reduces the probability to zero.”

Luna nodded. “Perhaps we should take to the ground, in order that we may avoid being impaled should that metal box return.”

Celestia agreed, then the two sisters dipped back down, taking one last look at the landscape for any sign of the Elements, and finally returning to solid earth once more.

They walked for merely an hour before Luna began to wear out. She was usually fast asleep by this time, and the physical exertion was making her very drowsy. “Please sister, let us rest beneath a tree for a while. I am usually sleeping in my bedchamber before now, and this trek is quite exhausting to me.”

Celestia’s face morphed into a mixture of empathy and compassion. “Do not fret, young sister. Here, rest for a while until your strength returns.”

With a nod of thanks, Luna knelt down beneath a tall tree on a bed of grass. Celestia knelt beside her, and allowed her sister to rest her head on her forelegs.

She watched as Luna, exhausted, quietly slept.

It had been truly an eternity since they had bonded quite like this. In the days before Celestia had been forced to banish her to the moon, they at least shared a sisterly love, but they were not truly on good terms with one another. Even after the curse of Nightmare Moon was broken, Celestia had to busy herself with not only raising the sun, but courtly matters, and of course keeping an eye on her faithful student, Twilight Sparkle. But by the time her duties were over and Luna began to assume control of the night, she was simply too tired to do anything other than greet her sister, share any interesting stories of the day, and then retire.

But here things were different. The planet beneath her had no need of ponies to care for it, and certainly no need for Celestia to raise the sun every morning, and she suspected that whatever moon this planet possessed would not need Luna’s help to cross the field of stars.

As unnerving as this had been to discover, she was grateful. It meant that she and Luna may begin reforging the link that they had been forced to break when Luna was banished.

No… not just reforge. She would harden it so that it may never be broken again.

But she must be careful. Even after a year of healing, Luna’s spirit was still bruised. She was outwardly happy and content to resume her duties. However, Celestia was perceptive. She still detected a hint of sadness for all the pain and suffering she had caused, the tip of an enormous black ice berg floating below a sea of outward tranquility.

This saddened the older alicorn.

Celestia’s empathetic spirit reached out to her sister. Don’t worry, my young sibling. Somehow, I’ll find a way to ease your pain and allow you to truly feel you are home.

She sighed quietly. If we ever return home.

Celestia was naturally hopeful, but even so, she had her doubts. Her connection to the earth was severed here, and though her magic was still available to its fullest extent, she had no idea if it would build back up on its own. Only time would tell. And if she wasn’t able to build up enough magic…

No.

Those thoughts were rubbish, useless for helping anypony out of such a predicament as this, and if Celestia were to retain any hope of returning to her world, she must keep a level head, despite the growing sensation of panic.

She knew that without their alicorn magic, the sun and moon back on Equi would remain locked in their place. The side of the planet with the sun would burn, while the side with the moon would freeze. The process would take days, but even so, she knew time was of the essence. The thought of thousands of creatures burning and thousands more freezing was so depressing that she silenced the thought and turned to a more pleasant memory.

Long ago, before ponies had come to the world, Gaea, the spirit of Equi, had used magic to keep the planet spinning rather than inertia like so many other gods had chosen to use for their worlds. The great pantheon of old questioned her wisdom in doing this, but the logic was impeccable: because she was responsible for raising the sun and the moon, or rather for rotating the earth in its orbit around the sun, her ponies would be grateful and continuously worship her. She had seen other gods retain followers for a few decades or centuries, only to lose them with the next generation. Being younger and willing to learn from the mistakes of others, she conceived this plan and made sure every generation of ponies knew and loved her. When she eventually grew old and near death – for all things, even goddesses, must wane – she sought an apprentice to replace her. The unicorns had helped for many centuries after it was discovered that her magic was getting weaker, but Gaea felt guilt from the fact that to do so, they would lose their powers for many years. Many would lose their magic altogether from exhaustion. Even with the great Starswirl the Bearded assisting them, it was still a great challenge to raise the sun and the moon every day. So Gaea sought another solution, a pony who was powerful and gifted, and who would be able to take over her duties. She searched throughout the land for somepony worthy of the honor of raising the sun and the moon.

She was overjoyed to find not one, but two spirits with the loyalty and dedication to the planet that might replace her. Celeste, a white alicorn, and Lun, her dark blue sister, were mere fillies when she found them. However, the magic spirit of the earth had touched them.

Alicorns are not born every day, and when they are it is a special day that is honored by the spirit of Equi blessing them with an unusually strong connection to itself.

On that fateful day, the two siblings were playing in the field outside their mother’s modest home when suddenly a visitor arrived, wearing a white hood. The fillies had stopped playing when they noticed that this hood was not just white, but brilliant. It shone in the day, as though it were woven from pure joy itself. The visitor momentarily turned and looked at the two sisters, a gentle, motherly smile playing on her lips. The fillies were in awe, for they had never seen anything, or anypony, so beautiful as this.

They watched as the mare knocked gently on their cottage door, which was opened by their mother. They observed the mare enter the house, and through the window into their humble abode they saw their parents talking with this lovely and captivating visitor. The husband and wife both had looks of shock on their faces as they listened to what the mare was telling them, then burst out with happiness.

Celeste and Lun had no idea what was going on, but when their parents called them into the house, they ran toward it, the joy on their parent’s faces a contagious thing.

As they were told the specifics of the mare’s visit, they were shocked. They had been chosen for the highest honor in all Equi? The shock turned to happiness, for every child on the planet was raised to appreciate what the goddess did for them every day of every year, and they all dreamed of one day flying off to live with her on another plane of existence. To have this day come so soon in their young lives was enough to warrant a celebration.

They feasted for three days. On the third day, Gaea revealed the implication of this honor. Because the fillies would now be, for all intents and purposes, immortal, they would outlive any pony they came across. Most ponies lived a handful of decades, and because of this Gaea reluctantly had been forced to give up forming attachments to her subjects, as difficult as that had been to do. Losing them was painful, and so it was easier on her spirit to simply watch them from afar.

But with another goddess to share in this pain and bear it, Celeste, who Gaea now referred to as Celestia, would be able to form emotional bonds with her subjects and rule them with a kind and compassionate ear because of it, as would Lun, who Gaea had renamed Luna. With their sisterly bond, they could comfort one another when their subjects, who they would grow to love, passed from the earth.

For the next few years, Gaea watched over the sisters, guiding them in their royal duties and providing them with the insights that she had garnered over the millennia.

Finally, it was time for Gaea to relinquish control over the sun and moon and put it in the hands of the now fully grown mares that she had taken under her wings. She entrusted the world to them, and made them swear an oath to never forsake their duties.

And they didn’t. For centuries after the great earth-spirit passed on, the two sisters kept their vows.

But within their spirits, things began to grow dark. The younger sister began to grow resentful, jealous that the ponies that they both worked hard to please were unappreciative of her work, yet reveled and celebrated the work of her sister. Celestia, however, didn’t notice how upset Luna was at her. Even when Luna brought up her feelings, Celestia was always too busy to do more than brush them aside, causing the resentment Luna felt to fester and grow. One day, her sister rebelled, refusing to lower the moon so that the day may return.

And so, Celestia had been forced to banish her.

The elder sister still found pain in that memory. She had tried reasoning, but something had been keeping her sister from seeing beyond her own selfish jealousy.

And now, with Luna resting her head peacefully on her sister’s forelegs, Celestia saw her chance to gain the sister back she had lost so long ago. Luna wasn’t truly back, even now. There were still pangs of guilt and sorrow for what she’d become and the deeds she’d done while under the spell of Nightmare Moon.

But Celestia knew that, despite the dire situation presented before them, she would use this time wisely to mend her sister’s spirit and forge a new bond that would last for generations.

“Awaken, dear sister.”

Luna stirred. She knew this wasn’t the proper time to raise the moon, and so was fully prepared to accept her brain’s insistence that this was merely a dream, flop over into a new position, and go back to sleep.

“Sister, please wake. We must continue our journey.”

Luna once again moved, then dreamily opened her eyes. “Do you know what time it is?”

Celestia smiled; clearly her sister had forgotten where they were. “My dear sister, you must awaken, for if we don’t finish our quest we may never get home.

The younger of the two groaned slightly, irritated at having only caught maybe an hour or two of sleep, but grateful that Celestia had remained there at her side, probably fighting the urge to straighten her legs to prevent cramps in order that her sister might sleep peaceably. Luna stretched a bit, then arose to her full height. Celestia joined her, wincing a bit at the pain in her forelegs.

“Let us be off, younger sister.”

Luna smiled up at Celestia, and the two began to walk.

“Luna . . . do you remember when we were fillies, playing in the field, and a stranger walked up to our house?”

Celestia and Luna walked and talked for several hours. Luna was surprised at how open her sister was. Celestia was normally content to share a bit of castle gossip, or the latest adventure Twilight and her friends had been on, but this was different. They were talking not as monarchs, but as sisters.

Luna had forgotten what this felt like, and it warmed her soul.

Celestia was normally quite friendly, but they never really opened their hearts to each other like this. There simply wasn’t enough time between Celestia relinquishing control of the day and Luna taking command of the night to hold a meaningful conversation.

But with this quest, there would be time to do some real healing.

Luna admitted to herself that she had never really gotten over the damage she’d caused as Nightmare Moon, both to the citizens of Equestria and to her sister’s spirit. Despite the spell having been broken, Luna still felt ashamed and distraught at having crushed her sister’s heart.

She still recalled Celestia’s attempts to plead with her, to get her to understand the harm she was causing not just to ponykind, but to Celestia herself. Yet she had been too consumed by jealousy and hatred to listen. And it had cost her.

Not just in terms of her freedom, but respect from ponies and her sister, as well as herself.

She’d had a lot of time to contemplate what had happened, yet because of that horrible curse she had never seen past her own selfish desires. Luna realized all too well that she had been under some evil influence, yet that did little to assuage the guilt and shame she felt, as well as the sadness at the thought of crushing her sibling, who only wanted to see harmony restored and her sister happy.

So the conversation she was having at present was both an incredible relief, and a source of great joy for the younger princess.

After the conversation had ended, Luna had kept silent, processing all that had been said. Finally she spoke.

“Sister . . .”

Celestia turned her head.

“I’m quite happy that you chose to initiate this conversation. I had been quite depressed regarding my inexcusable behavior, and I must admit when I emerged from the spell and into your open forelegs, I was prepared for another thousand years in my prison. To have you accept me back was... something I wasn’t prepared for at the time. But this talk we had made it so much clearer.”

Celestia smiled. “I’m glad you think so, sister. Truth be told, the matter had weighed quite heavily on my own heart. I’m just happy you and I finally had a chance to rebuild our bonds and, frankly, to get to know one another after such a long absence.”

Luna returned her smile.

They walked some more, enjoying the sounds of the birds singing in the trees and the scent of moss and undergrowth.

“Sister... something has been bothering me.”

Celestia was intrigued by this new direction in their conversation. “Have I been unclear in some way, my sibling?”

“Oh no, nothing like that. What bothers me is that with our connection to the earth severed, we shouldn’t be able to sense anything. Yet I do sense something around us, a great power that we might be able to tap.”

The older sister had sensed this as well, but passed it off as merely an aftereffect of the teleportation. The fact that Luna sensed it too meant that there was something more, something lingering that could not be explained by the teleportation itself.

“Do you suppose it could be connected to our magic in some way?”

“I would hope so, Luna. If it can be harnessed somehow, then we might not be trapped here.”

Luna let the conversation go at that.

Soon the day ran out, and night fell for the two princesses. Stripped of their duties, they savored the chance to sleep and then wake together, a rare opportunity that would never have happened had their duties not been so abruptly taken away from them.

Luna knew she’d have a bit of trouble getting to sleep. Centuries of sleeping in the day and being awake at night would be a hard habit hard to break. Yet, perhaps her long walk and conversation would allow her to get the rest her body craved.

She was asleep within ten seconds of lying down.

Celestia was concerned, however. This forest was alien, and as such she had no idea what kind of dangers awaited them. They had their magic of course, but if they should be taken advantage of while they slept, they might be truly defenseless.

Normally one of the two princesses was awake, and so was able to safely guard an entire world with her magic. But now they were exposing their bellies, as it were, inviting any horrible creatures desiring their flesh to dine upon them.

But her top priority was to find her little ponies so they could return home and prevent the destruction that a stilled sun and moon would cause, and she could not do that bereft of energy.

So reluctantly, Celestia knelt down next to her sister, closed her eyes, and entered a dreamless sleep.

As soon as she regained consciousness Celestia knew something was wrong. There were hooves all around them.

No, not hooves. All the lower extremities that she saw through her half-open eyes occurred in pairs, so they must be feet instead.

But the feet of what?

She didn’t have time to formulate an answer to herself, for she felt the press of cold metal against the back of her head and heard a filtered voice barking at her.

“On your feet, animal. The commander would be most interested in having such fine horses in his collection.”

Discovering the Empire

Chapter 7

“As ponies go, Applejack is one of the toughest as well as the strongest, both emotionally and physically. I have worried about her plenty of times. Once when she was helping me defend the others from Imperial Stormtroopers, she took a bolt for me … another time, she kicked a trooper in the face, sending him flying across the room. It made me feel as secure as a foal in its mother’s care to be around her.”

-Twilight Sparkle, On Extra-Galactic Voyages, pp. 282, 285

Applejack was stunned.

These... well, she didn’t rightly know what they were, but they were intimidating to say the least. They were a good 25 feet tall, made of a dull gray metal with two spindly legs attached to a bumpy box, and on top was another big metal box that looked like a skull, with two tiny eyes and a mouth full of what looked like long, pointed teeth.

That wasn’t the only thing Applejack saw in the clearing.

Walking alongside the big metal beasts were some kind of creatures that Applejack was quite sure were mechanical in nature as well. They stood on two legs and were covered from head to toe in some kind of hard, white material. It looked like it might be some kind of armor, but there were no holes for the eyes, so they must be some kind of machines, too. Either that, or they were creatures bred by the ponies in this world to do their fighting for them. Some of them were sitting on some kind of brown and dark gray floating device that every once in a while took off to move rapidly through the forest. How they were floating though was a mystery. It was obviously magic, but there was no aura around it. Maybe it was a type of magic that she was not aware of.

All of this activity surrounded a small, blocky building, but she suspected this building was bigger on the inside somehow. Maybe it was the entrance to an underground structure, judging by the number of creatures entering and exiting.

Applejack jumped a bit and looked up as yet another machine flew overhead, producing a roar that sounded like the gates of Tartarus itself. As it receded into the distance, she got a better look at it. Two large vertical panels made up most of it, both connected by thick pylons to a single metal sphere. The sphere had a hole in the back and two glowing red dots that she might have guessed were eyes, save for the fact that they were facing away from the direction it was moving.

There was no telling what else might be around here, but Applejack wasn’t about to stay and find out. She turned and ran, not stopping until she was a good hundred yards from the edge of the forest. This definitely wasn’t Equestria!

“I gotta find my friends! Twilight’ll know what all this means and how to get back home!” What Twilight could possibly do about this situation was something Applejack couldn’t fathom, but she had to find her friends no matter what. Being out here all alone, even for a tough earth-pony like Applejack, was disconcerting and frightening, and she needed to find somepony she knew.

Applejack ran for an hour before she finally stopped looking over her shoulder to make sure no one was following her. When she was fully satisfied that nobody was, she stopped and sat down, then breathed a long sigh of relief.

That’s when the disappointment really began to sink in. She’d assumed that all she needed to do was find civilization, but then these metal monsters showed up and all of the sudden “finding civilization” had turned into “finding civilization that was anything close to familiar.”

How in Equestria could such things exist?

She thought first that perhaps it was some country that they hadn’t been to or heard of, but that made no sense at all. Then she considered maybe this was an alien world after all. But how Rarity of all ponies had caused them to end up here was anypony’s guess. Twilight or the princesses she could understand, but Rarity? That pony barely had enough power to find gemstones, and was certainly not a practitioner of magic the way somepony like Twilight was.

But putting aside the bizarre circumstances of their arrival, the fact remained that she was on an alien world.

At least the rest of her friends had probably been transported here, too.

A cold fear then gripped her when she realized that they may not all be in the same place or time! Such a hopeless concept was enough to send her mind reeling, but she threw a metaphorical lasso around it and pulled it back into her head.

It won’t do me any good to think such things, least of all when I’m caught in the middle of this awful forest.

A mechanical whining noise interrupted her inner monologue. It started off quiet, barely audible above the bird calls and wind that surrounded her. But it quickly grew in intensity, and she barely had enough time to jump out of the way of one of those floating contraptions she’d seen earlier as it barreled through the forest. She watched as it flew off into the trees, made a slow loop, then came back around. Applejack was frozen in terror, her eyes widening as she watched the thing head straight for her. Bolts of what looked like yellow glowing packets of magic flew toward her, accompanied by sharp twangs that snapped her out of her paralyzing fear.

“Jumpin’ jackrabbits!”

Applejack took off running as fast as her legs would carry her.

Hooves pounded undergrowth as Applejack struggled to keep ahead of the thing chasing her. She dodged and weaved as yellow energy bolts flew past her, impacting on trees ahead of her and exploding, sending shards of splintered and burnt wood showering all over her. Every once in a while a bolt would get a bit too close, the heat from it radiating and confirming that what it did to trees it could easily do to a pony.

She rounded a bend, watching behind her as the thing banked toward her with as much ease as a pegasus clearing a cloud. Her heart pumped hard, each thump booming in her ears.

AJ hoped that the thing following her would tire, or run out of fuel, or whatever the buck would cause it to slow down. Yet, like a persistent wasp, it stuck to her tail.

She had to think of something quick. If she didn’t, her body would give out, or she’d miss a step and break an ankle, or any of a hundred other ways this chase could end. Then she’d be at the mercy of whatever it was that was following her with such tenacity.

Another bolt flew past her head, nearly igniting her mane in the process.

She was running out of time and luck.

Her strength was no match for that of a machine, and she knew it. So when she saw her opportunity, she knew it was all or nothing, and she leapt whole-heartedly into all.

The Imperial Biker Scout smiled to himself.

This was almost too easy.

This pony, wherever it had come from, wasn’t much of a challenge to route. He had no doubt the laser blasts he was letting loose were causing her to panic, and even though he could open the throttle up and overtake her, he had orders to pursue and detain any ponies he came across, which meant routing them to a location where the Stormtroopers could entrap them. He chuckled for a moment at the thought of the oh-so-superior Stormtroopers reduced to the role of mere animal handlers.

The scout took a mental break from his humorous aside to wonder why his commander would be interested in such beasts. They already had their pick of horses and ponies domesticated by the indigenous Ewoks. But he was a soldier, and soldiers do not question the motives of superior officers. Soldiers follow orders, always. And this order was specific: capture all ponies you see which are not ostensibly domesticated and which are not accompanied by Ewoks or other sentient creatures.

He continued the pursuit, sending a few more blaster bolts flying toward her. This pony was hard to miss in the forest with her orange fur. It was quite interesting to him that the animal was wearing a hat and had her mane and tail tied in ribbons. Perhaps her owner had done so, maybe to shield his steed from the sun. But it also meant that this pony was probably not wild. All the same it would be better to capture and release it than to have to explain to his commander why he had chased her all the way into the forest only to turn around and come back to base empty-handed.

He was focused on the task at hand, deftly dodging trees and rocks, making sure to box the pony in on the trail he knew would lead straight to–

The pony was gone.

She had rounded a rock mound, then when he had flown past the same mound, she had vanished. “Sithspit, what now?” He had no time for this. He was given an order, and he’d be damned if some animal was going to outsmart him.

He slowed down and stopped as he put his speederbike into hover mode, then reached down to pull his blaster from its holster.

Suddenly his world turned upside down and he saw nothing but stars.

The pain in his side from the fall was nothing compared to the throbbing knob on his skull, and he thanked the Nine Spirits that he had been wearing his plasteel helmet. He groaned, and as he slowly got up he noticed the orange pony standing on the other side of his drifting speederbike, her hat on the ground where it had apparently fallen off her head. Was she actually smirking at him?

He knew he had to be careful. Any type of horse was dangerous to cross, even with armor on, and this one had already demonstrated a brassy streak. He raised his hands up, trying to look as friendly as possible. “Easy girl, no one’s gonna hurt you.”

“I think I’m smart enough to know that you ain’t exactly the peaceable type, mister.”

He paused, then shook his head. That kick must have jarred his brains loose. He could have sworn that pony had just spoken to him. The trooper began easing his way around his speederbike, and as he did the pony entered what could only be called an aggressive stance.

“You take one more step closer’n I’ll buck you so hard your grandchildren’ll feel it!”

This time he was sure he’d heard her speak.

“I have orders to take you in.”

“Ha! You think you can scare me that easily? I’m the best apple-bucker in all Equestria, and nopony’s gonna make me go nowhere’s I don’t wanna go!”

The scout had no idea what she was talking about, but he had a job to do.

“Dead or alive, you’re comin’ with me.”

This seemed to give the creature pause, as though she hadn’t taken the blaster bolts flying past her head seriously while she was being chased through the forest. She narrowed her eyes. “You wouldn’t.”

He slowly reached down to grab his blaster, never taking his eyes off the pony. His mind however went from determination to confusion as his hand hit the empty holster, and he looked down for just a moment to see why his gun wasn’t there.

That was the window Applejack needed.

She head-butted the trooper, sending him rolling down into the forest. Before he could recover, she galloped toward him and bucked him in the head again, sending it reeling.

Despite the helmet, which now bore two chips, it was more than his brain could handle. He made a feeble attempt to get back up, then with a sigh he collapsed into a pile of leaves and moss. Grateful that the first buck had sent his weapon flying, giving her that golden opportunity, Applejack trotted over to the mound that the trooper had fallen on and glared down at him.

“Think you can tango with a member of the Apple family and get away with it? Well you got another thing comin’, mister!” Her confidence boosted, she walked back to where she’d dropped her hat. After picking it up and dusting it off, she plopped it back on her head.

Now the real problem had begun: how to find her friends now that she was effectively lost in the forest.

Oh, well. It’s not as though she had known where she was this morning either.

She trotted off, keeping her eye out for signs of ponies.

Finding Her Friends

Chapter 8

“Enormous ships that travelled not from coast to coast, but from planet to planet, spoke to me of an ancient and advanced civilization. But what I'd seen at that point brought to mind anything but civilized people. They used their power to dominate each other, using destructive potential I'd seen only from the most talented and powerful unicorns in the world. It was a living nightmare at times, and I feel like it couldn't be overstated how unfathomable the depths they sunk to were plumbed.”

-Twilight Sparkle, On Extra-Galactic Voyages, p. 188

Human.

The revelation about this species dominating most of the galaxy was startling to Fluttershy. She had heard about bipedal apelike creatures, but they had died out a long time ago, while ponies had ascended to be the dominant species on the planet. The news that humans here were not only dominant, but had conquered most of their galaxy was surprising, because Fluttershy had assumed that here, like on earth, the dominant species was the pony.

But then she could see why they would be dominant, with four fingers and a thumb on each hand, enabling them to grasp objects more efficiently. She was still proud of her heritage, with her species’ ability to manipulate their environment without the benefit of grasping appendages, but still, she had to admit having fingers would be useful. Not that she was about to trade her hooves in.

This revelation about humans paled in comparison to what R2-D8 had to say about galactic history, however.

For thousands of years, this galaxy had been at war, with massive spaceships fighting each other using horribly destructive weapons, and troopers wiping each other out by the dozen with energy rifles. Whole species had been wiped off the face of their worlds, and in some cases the worlds themselves had been reduced to slag by orbiting fleets.

It was all so much to take in, and Fluttershy was overwhelmed. Her existence in Equestria was peaceful. Most of the time. Sure, she had confronted a dragon, and a dragonequus, and Ponyville had had its share of mayhem. But even the Changeling incident was but a flash in the pan compared to what this galaxy had faced, and indeed what was going on right now.

The most shocking and horrible thing the droid had told her was about a starship called the Death Star. This gargantuan spherical vehicle had wiped out two whole worlds. Not just stripped them of life, but obliterated them. Smashed them. Killed them.

When she had heard that, she’d sunk to the ground, horrified at all the countless people that suffered for the briefest of seconds before being incinerated, and all the trillions of innocent creatures that no doubt suffered the same fate. She took a modicum of solace in the knowledge that it had been a quick death, but that it happened at all was enough to cause her eyes to well up with sorrow.

R2-D8’s holoprojector dimmed. For a moment the two of them sat in the dark, in silence, the droid saying not a word and Fluttershy trying to digest all that she had learned in the brief history lesson the droid had given her.

Finally one of them spoke.

“It’s all just so . . . horrible.”

The droid’s holoprojector flared to life again. “War is horror.”

She nodded. “Still, the taking of lives, innocent lives, is something nopony should stand for. I am glad that people rebelled, though I hate that they had to resort to violence to do it. Couldn’t they have pleaded with the Emperor?”

The droid rotated its head back and forth in an attempt to mimic a head shake. “No. He will not listen to reason or diplomacy. When a star system objects, the Emperor sends a fleet of Star Destroyers to -”

The droid waited, as though it were having a hard time choosing the right word.

“ . . .pacify them.”

Fluttershy dared not ask what he meant by that.

She sat in the dark with her new companion, their faces lit by the pitiful light cast from his still floating text message.

When she finally spoke, her voice betrayed a hint of determination.

“We’ve got to find my friends and warn them about the Empire. Then we need to find a way out of this terrible place!”

The droid chirped in response. “I agree, but we should wait till morning so you have a fresh start. I must shut down for the night, as my batteries will only last so long before they need a charge, and the reason I’m up here in the first place was I needed to find shelter in order to conserve energy.”

She nodded. “Then I suppose we both need to sleep. Goodnight my new friend. Sleep well.”

The droid beeped a goodnight of his own, then his external lights dimmed and all noises in his body ceased. Fluttershy then laid down next to the metal machine, put her head on her forelegs, and went to sleep.

Blasts of energy hurled past her.

Fluttershy ran for all she was worth, dodging left and right to keep from being incinerated by the red packets of glowing plasma that chased after her. She heard the humans in white armor behind her giving orders, the image of their white skull-like helmets chilling her spine. “Don’t let her get away! If you can’t capture her, kill her!”

She didn’t care what they were saying though. Her mind was focused on a single task: escape her pursuers.

Her droid companion had already been shot, his metal body blasted apart. She had mourned her loss briefly, but then refocused her mind on getting away from the horrible men at her back.

A searing pain pierced her side.

She fell.

As she raised her head amid the torrent of pain washing into her mind, she noted the grapefruit-sized hole that the blast had carved into her side, bodily fluids rushing through the areas that had failed to cauterize completely, pooling in the base of the crater that had once been her ribs and dripping onto the green moss, turning it brown.

She was past the point of tears as the pain overwhelmed her.

Finally, a white armored trooper walked up, and as she looked at him with a pleading expression he calmly pointed his blaster at her head and pulled the trigger.

Fluttershy awoke screaming, her instincts taking over and propelling her into the side of the cave. She hoped nightmares like that would not follow her the rest of her life after hearing such terrible stories, but she had a feeling that she would eventually encounter this Empire, and when she did she had little doubt the encounter would play out similarly.

Which was all the more motivation to get out of this cave and find her friends.

She walked back uneasily to her cylindrical companion and gently nudged him. “Wake up, sir.”

The gentle whir of cooling fans filled the small cave and the lights on R2-D8’s head illuminated their surroundings with the pale blue-and-red glow of his status indicator. The light increased as he projected a text message in front of her. “Are you ready to begin our journey?”

She nodded. “Yes, but first I need to find some breakfast. Do you want anything?”

The machine waited for her to remember what he was. “Oh that’s right. I’m sorry.”

She walked out of the cave and down the side of the mountain, sliding down on the loose rocks and reaching the bottom quicker than her fear of heights would have liked. But she determinedly shunted aside her phobias. This was an emergency, and she would not let her fears get ahead of the one thing that mattered.

She trotted into the forest and found a patch of green leaves. They were not quite like the ones that she had spotted before, but there were enough of them here to make a meal, so she did a quick test to determine their toxicity, and when they passed she hurriedly consumed them.

Licking her lips at the lovely aftertaste they left behind, she returned her gaze to the cave. “I better help R2-D8 get down from-”

Her sentence was interrupted by the sight of the droid rocketing out on jets of blue flame projecting from his legs.

As he landed, Fluttershy’s jaw dropped. “How did you think I got up there in the first place?”

She smiled to herself at how silly she had been to assume that the droid was as helpless as she. “Well I’m glad you’re able to get around so easily, friend. Let’s go.”

They trotted and rolled off on a path that took them deep into the forest.

The trek was not easy, but it was certainly better than when Fluttershy had first arrived here. Before, she had been completely alone and had no idea how to find her friends.

But now, she not only had a traveling companion, but one that was fully equipped to find her friends. The rotating IR sensor on his head was alerting him to every sign of life within a hundred meters, and the lifeform scanner built into his radar eye was telling him that the five other ponies and two alicorns were scattered over a one kilometer diameter area. The size of the search perimeter didn’t matter, though. She knew where her friends were.

This shining ray of hope amidst the sea of despondency was enough to give Fluttershy an extra bit of bounce in her step and put a smile on lips that hadn’t curled upward this much in quite some time. She hummed a merry tune as she trotted alongside the rolling droid, pulling ahead of him without realizing it. R2-D8 burbled a negative tone. She looked back at him.

“I understand your happiness, but I can only roll so fast without tipping over.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t realize I had left you behind.” Her smile vanished from her face as her kind spirit took over, and she felt a bit uneasy with having left her friend in the dust.

The droid saw her dismay. “It’s alright, Fluttershy.”

She smiled, not as much as before however. But her spirits were too high for her to remain apologetic, and before too long she was back to humming and smiling. She minded her speed, glancing at her companion every once in a while to make sure she didn’t overtake him again.

Their journey had barely begun before Fluttershy was alerted by her friend. “We must be careful. I detected a TIE Fighter overhead not too long ago.” Fluttershy nodded. That must have been what had caused that roaring sound she’d heard a minute ago. “Are they very dangerous?”

“Only if you consider twin laser cannons dangerous. Don’t worry, there is too much life in the forest for their thermal sensors to detect you.”

Fluttershy was relieved at reading that.

“Oh I do hope we catch up with the others soon. I miss them dearly.”

The droid beeped a cheery tone. “We will reach them. It is only a matter of time with my scanners tuned to their life signature.”

Fluttershy nodded, then smiled to herself. This new hope had given her a wellspring of happiness that put a bounce in her step and a song in her heart, which she began to hum again.

Their journey had taken them far from the cave where she’d met R2-D8, and soon she got close to one of the lifesigns on R2-D8’s scanner readout. This one had been running not too long ago, and just now stopped. Her companion had detected another signature along with it, however: a repulsorcraft, possibly a speederbike judging by the small size and speed at which it traveled.

“Oh my. Are they dangerous?”

The droid whistle-chirped back at her. “Yes, in the hands of a trained Scout Trooper. But its signature hasn’t moved in a while, so it is safe to assume that the driver is either incapacitated or dead.”

“Oh no, not dead. None of my friends would kill anypony.” She wasn’t entirely sure this was the case, however. She had been frightened into causing serious harm to a giant, who she had recently learned was called a Gorax, and if a pony as kind and loving as Fluttershy could be driven to that, there’s no telling how her other friends would handle themselves. But she hadn’t become such good friends with Twilight, Rarity, and the others only to now think the worst of any of them, and she was certainly not going to assume the worst just because this droid had brought it up.

They continued, following the signal as it wandered through the forest, getting closer and closer with each step.

Eventually they got very close to the signal, about fifty feet according to R2-D8. “I’m so excited, I could just scream.” R2-D8 was about to reprimand her, to tell her that screaming in the forest was inherently a bad idea, not just because it would spook every creature within a hundred feet, but it might bring in Imperial patrols. His fears were put aside when Fluttershy released what might have passed for a light breeze, if not for the clearly formed “Yay!”

The droid thought to himself how odd this pony was. In any other part of the galaxy, he would have been treated as a mobile piece of equipment. Droids were given personalities and the ability to make decisions, but nobody ever assumed they had any more intelligence than a starship or a landspeeder. Everyone knew that droids were just machines, built for a single purpose, and when they eventually get worn out and cease to function, they are tossed in the garbage bin or disassembled and the parts bought off for scrap.

But this pony assumed that just because he had stroked her mane and emulated sympathy that he was alive. It was very odd indeed.

“I can almost see who it is.” Fluttershy was approaching more cautiously than before, not wanting to startle whoever it was she had found. She knew that if she was too gregarious in her approach that she might spook one of her friends into running, and though she might be able to keep up for a while, every one of her friends could outpace her on the ground, and R2-D8’s sensors would be needed to find them again.

So with her goal so temptingly close, she endeavored to approach with all caution.

Suddenly she passed enough foliage to get a good look. “Applejack!”

The orange pony whipped around. “Fluttershy?!”

The two ponies ran toward each other, not caring how much the brush whipped their faces. When they met, they both shared in a warm embrace. “Oh Applejack, thank heavens I found you!”

“Ah’m mighty glad ta see you too, Fluttershy. Ya don’t know how much Ah missed seeing a familiar face, especially with all Ah’ve been through.”

Fluttershy smiled at her long-lost friend. “I would love to hear all about it.”

“Well Ah -” Applejack’s expression turned from relief to shock and anger. “What’re you doin’ here, you mechanical monster?” Fluttershy turned to look at what she was seeing. The orange earth-pony was pawing at the ground, looking right at the radar eye of R2-D8, who was visibly nervous, with his head moving back and forth quickly, frantic beeping emitting from his vocabulator. “Iffen you don’t turn and leave raht now, Ah’ll buck you so hard -”

“Applejack! No, stop! Don’t hurt my friend!”

Applejack turned from the strange contraption to her friend, stunned. “Yer . . . yer friend?”

“Yes. If it weren’t for R2-D8, I would never have found you! Please, don’t do anything to hurt him!” The pleading in Fluttershy’s eyes was so strong it was almost tangible. Applejack was hesitant, but she knew Fluttershy was extremely shy, and when she was friends with somepony, or some droid, it usually meant she had been around them long enough to know whether they were dangerous.

“Alright, sugarcube. I believe you, though I must say ya have an awful funny taste in friends.”

Fluttershy blushed with a smile, then turned and motioned the droid forward. “It’s alright. Come on, don’t be bashful.”

The droid looked at Fluttershy, then at Applejack, and finally rolled slowly over. “Hello,” was all it projected toward Applejack.

Applejack was a bit confused. “Don’t he know how ta talk?”

Fluttershy looked away for a moment, confused. “Well, no, I guess not. When I first met him, all he did was whistle and make funny noises, but then I taught him the Equestrian alphabet, which let him talk to me.” She seemed a bit proud of that last accomplishment.

“Well Ah’ll be a suck-egg mule! Fluttershy, if Cheerilee ever steps down as teacher, you’d make a great substitute.”

The yellow pegasus blushed through her coat. “Thank you.”

“C’mon everypony, let’s go! Time’s a-wastin’!”

Fluttershy beamed, and with that the pegasus, the earth-pony, and the droid all set off to gather the rest of their friends.

The three of them walked for what seemed like ages before they came across the closest of the three groups of signals. Applejack was in the lead, keeping an eye out for trouble, R2-D8 was in the middle acting as their guide, and Fluttershy brought up the rear, making sure she didn’t overtake her droid friend again.

“Ah sure cain’t wait ta see Twilight, Rarity, Rainbow and Pinkie again! It’s a great feelin’ ta know that we’ll find ‘em.”

R2-D8 chirped. “Technically I’m the one who’s finding your friends.”

Applejack was a bit taken aback by that comment, and apparently her expression showed it for the droid erased the message and wrote a new one.

“Sorry. Sarcasm and humor are hard to convey when one’s speech is limited to text form.”

Applejack chuckled. “Oh, sorry.” She laughed again, this time at how much this machine sounded like Twilight when it “talked”.

The droid let out what could have passed for laughter, and the trio continued on.

Eventually they found their way to a small clearing where the droid’s scanners had indicated the position of their friends. Applejack nosed a tree limb out of the way, just in time to hear a familiar voice.

“Oh come on, Rarity! It’s not like you can keep dirt from building up in your hooves! Just deal with it until-”

“You’re a pegasus! You don’t have to put up with dirt in your hooves ever!”

Fluttershy and Applejack tossed each other a look and giggled.

“Rainbow Dash! Rarity!”

The pegasus and unicorn turned suddenly and looked in their general direction. “Applejack?” they said at once.

The four ponies reunited in a warm embrace that even Rainbow Dash partook in. She was so happy to see her friends that she suspended her “No mushy stuff” rule. Temporarily.

A sudden whistle-beep alerted Rarity and Rainbow Dash to the droid in the back of the group. Rainbow swooped down and got right in its face. “Okay, metal-head! Who are you and what do you want?!”

Applejack grabbed Rainbow Dash’s dangling tail, holding her back. “Easy there, Rainbow. He’s a friend.” The rainbow-maned pegasus relented, though not without giving the droid the stinkeye.

Rarity smiled at Applejack. “Oh Applejack! You don’t know how much I missed seeing you!” She shot a look at Rainbow Dash. “Especially considering who I’ve had to put up with for the past two days.”

“Who you’ve had to put up with?!” Rainbow looked like she could have sawn Rarity in two with the laser-like glare in her eyes. “I’ve listened to you moan and groan since I woke up here!”

“Girls! Please, don’t fight!” Fluttershy was a bit louder than normal, but still the two were still at each other’s throats.

“Well at least I don’t constantly berate and belittle my friends!”

“At least I don’t constantly complain and -”

“GIRLS!” Rarity and Rainbow Dash turned and looked at Applejack. “Ah think we need ta quit grumblin’ and get back to findin’ Twilight ‘n Pinkie Pie!”

Rarity took a deep breath. “You’re right, Applejack. Let’s go! The sooner I get to a salon the better.”

Rainbow stuck out her tongue at Rarity behind her back, but then fell into line with the rest of them. Fluttershy looked up at her pegasus friend. “It really is good to see you and Rarity, Rainbow Dash.”

Dash looked down from where she was gently floating and smiled down. It really was great to see her friends again, even if they did happen to bring a machine along she didn’t fully trust yet. The four ponies and the droid started toward the next signal.

Twilight was getting so frustrated.

This world was not only unyielding, but it had such a sameness about it that she felt like she was going in circles, even though she had the sun as a guide. The fact that they were not in Equestria was disconcerting for a while, but after the initial shock she regained her composure and set out to find her friends. She was most concerned with finding the princesses, however. The powerful alicorns that ruled Equestria had access to magic that even Twilight was unaware of and couldn’t hope to understand with her current level of understanding. They must know some way to get off this world and back home.

“Hey Twilight!”

Ugh. Pinkie Pie was a great friend, but even so she had certain irritating personality quirks that made spending a great length of time with her without a break taxing to one’s nerves.

“Yeah, Pinkie?”

“D’you think that if I hold my breath and then hiccup that my head will explode?”

“I don’t know Pinkie.”

“Well what if I hold my breath and sneeze?”

“I don’t know, Pinkie.”

“What if I held my breath and yawned?”

“I don’t think that’s physically possible, Pinkie.”

“What if . . .”

The relentless questioning had been going on since Pinkie had reported the alien world to Twilight, and even though she was flattered that Pinkie considered her knowledgeable enough to answer every question (though who else would she ask right now?), the fact was she didn’t know everything. To be constantly pelted with questions was quite irritating, and even a pony as nice as Twilight had her limits.

“Pinkie!” It came out a little more forceful than she wanted. “Pinkie, I appreciate that you wish to pick my brain and get answers to your questions, but right now I’d like to think.”

“Okay Twilight. But you shouldn’t let ponies pick your brain. That’s just gross!”

The reaction caught Twilight off guard, but she was glad for the break in the barrage. She had no doubt that it would resume as soon as Pinkie got tired of being silent.

“Hey Twilight!”

She thought the diplomatic approach would have bought her more time. “Yes, Pinkie?”

“I think someone’s following us.”

Spike piped up. “Yeah Twilight, I’ve been hearing a group of . . . well, I don’t know what, coming after us.”

This made Twilight slightly nervous. There were wild animals in this world, and some hunters travel in packs. Of course, prey animals did too, but it paid to be cautious.

“We better be careful. We don’t know if they’re friendly.”

Spike nodded. “Based on the creatures we’ve encountered so far, I’d say the odds are they’re not.”

Pinkie Pie looked in the direction of the sound, then a sneaky look appeared on her face.

“Uh, Pinkie, what are you thinking?”

“I was just thinking that maybe all they need is for me to give them a nice welcome. Pinkie Pie style.”

The unicorn, earth-pony, droid, and two pegasi marched through the forest toward the location indicated on the scanner. Suddenly R2-D8 bleeped a warning. “One of the ponies moved away from the other two signals and then vanished.”

The rest of the pack looked at him. “Ah thought that thing of yers would track anathing, anawhere!” Applejack looked as worried as the rest of them.

The droid remained silent for a bit. “Well, I haven’t been in for my scheduled maintenance. Perhaps it just -”

“SURPRISE!!”

Every member of the small group jumped back as Pinkie Pie and a cloud of confetti and streamers burst out of a stump in the middle of the forest. Fluttershy and Applejack helped R2-D8 regain his balance as Rainbow Dash and Rarity recovered from the heart attacks that resulted from Pinkie Pie’s sudden appearance. Dash was the first to react, and hers was not a pleasant reaction.

“PINKIE PIE!!” Her annoyance was not mirrored by the rest of the group however as Applejack and Fluttershy trotted over to join Rarity in greeting their party-loving friend.

Applejack gave her a hug. “Pinkie Pie, it sure is good ta see ya!”

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “Yeah, thanks for shaving ten years off my life.”

“Whatever are you doing here, darling?”

“Well, me and Twilight and Spike heard something in the forest and we didn’t know what it was, and I was all like “I need to give them a welcome, Pinkie Pie Style”, then I- GASP!!!”

Her attention was now drawn toward the droid at the back of the group, and being Pinkie Pie, she immediately ran over to get a better look at the new thing in her vision.

“OOOoooooh! Hi! I’m Pinkie Pie! Who are you? What are you? Are you a machine? Are you alive? Can you believe the size of this forest, it’s like SO BIG!! What about all these animals-”

“PINKIE PIE!” This time all of them called her name to break up her hurricane of questions.

Rainbow Dash swooped over to the pink party-pony, an annoyed expression on her face. “Hey Pinkie, ya think you can knock off the questions long enough to show us where Twilight is?”

She looked at Rainbow with a huge grin. “Oh, sure! Follow me, everypony!”

They all hopped, walked, rolled and flew over to meet up with Twilight and Spike, weary from their travels, yet simultaneously relieved that they had finally found each other.

This whole situation made Twilight uneasy.

Sure, she valued the help this droid, who she learned was an astromech unit called R2-D8, offered. She had to admit that the technology this machine possessed was nothing short of incredible; the ability to detect ponies at incredible distances and even separate them from the wildlife around them was miraculous, not to mention all the other functions he possessed.

Still, there was something . . . off about him.

The purple unicorn didn’t know what precisely, but there was definitely something odd not only in the way the droid behaved, but the circumstances surrounding the discovery of the machine by Fluttershy. She looked at him from across the carefully built campfire where they made their camp for the night. Was the droid staring at her? Did he suspect something? She confided her feelings in the most level-headed pony she knew.

Applejack agreed with her. “Well, Ah do see yer point Twilight. This machine just happenin’ ta be in the same place as one of our friends is jest mighty peculiar to me, too. And after that chase through the forest, Ah’m a mite hesitant ta trust machines in this world. But ya gotta admit, if it hadn’t been for this little fella bein’ there when Fluttershy needed ‘im, we might never have found each other.”

Twilight reluctantly agreed. “But I still think we should keep an eye on him. It’s probably nothing, but it’s better to be safe than sorry.”

Applejack nodded her approval. Twilight smiled at her, but as soon as the orange pony’s back was turned her smile dropped to a concerned frown. The issue with the droid was still bothering her.

After a few moments of consideration, she decided to put it out of her mind. It wasn’t doing anypony any good to be concerned about it, especially since she couldn’t prove that the droid was doing anything wrong. Experience had taught her that accusing ponies without proof was trouble, so this would be filed away for now.

Twilight trotted over to the campfire where Pinkie Pie was scaring the living daylights out of everypony with a ghost story. She smiled. At least with her mind on other things she would get a far better night’s sleep than her friends.

They all awoke at roughly the same time. They had been very grateful that R2-D8 was capable of defending them, and so slept easier with the droid standing guard. However, that didn’t mean everypony slept easy.

As soon as she was fully awake, Rarity marched over to Pinkie Pie. “My dear, the next time you decide to grace us with a ghost story, please have the presence of mind to prepare a bit of brain bleach so we may have a good night’s sleep, will you?”

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “Oh c’mon Rarity! It was fun, and besides, nopony else had nightmares.” Well, it wasn't a total lie; she did have fun.

“Ugh. Not all of us are so graceful under terror, Rainbow Dash.”

“Girls, please!” Twilight walked up after freshening up at a nearby stream. “We need to get moving and find the princesses soon.”

They all agreed, and soon everypony was pitching in and getting everything ready to leave. Rarity and Applejack doused the ashes of their campfire, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy retrieved their food bag from an overhanging limb, having filled it the previous afternoon with a surprisingly aromatic array of edible plants and fungi, and Twilight, Spike and Pinkie Pie did a quick check of the surrounding area to make sure no predators were lurking. R2-D8 stood by, conserving energy.

Finally, Twilight made it back to camp. “Is everything all set to go?”

“All set with us, dear,” said Rarity.

“Ready ta go, boss!” was Rainbow Dash’s reply.

“Then let’s head out!”

The eight of them started toward the final signal, which Twilight was most anxious to arrive at. It was the most valuable asset they had on this planet, and the one hope they had of ever returning home. The last signal was undoubtedly the two princesses, Celestia and Luna.

The trek to the last signal lasted several hours. In that time Fluttershy had filled them in on what she knew of galactic history.

For millennia, the Republic had kept the peace in the galaxy. Systems were prosperous, and there hadn’t been anything approaching a full scale war since the Republic’s formation.

But prosperity often brings corruption, and this was no different. It was made worse by the fact that the Galactic Senate was far too large to handle matters efficiently, for issues that were important to one system wouldn’t be important to the ten systems waiting behind it to be heard on the senate floor. So favors were called in. Bribes were traded. Threats were made, and sometimes carried out. All of this was under the lax eye of the Supreme Chancellor.

After he had been elected to the chancellorship, the senator from Naboo, Palpatine, had promised to bring an end to this corruption and return the Republic to a state of peace and prosperity in the process.

Unfortunately war broke out.

Thousands of star systems announced their intentions to leave the Republic and form the Confederacy of Independent Star Systems. At least, that was the name they called themselves. The chancellor had simply called them Separatists. With negotiations failing, the Chancellor was given emergency powers to create the army needed to defeat these Separatists, a navy to back them up, and a force of starfighters to engage the enemy from above, all of which the Republic had gone without needing for centuries.

The war lasted three years, with a bittersweet end. The Separatists were defeated, but it ravaged and consumed the Republic in the process, and from the ashes of the burned out Republic rose the First Galactic Empire.

The Empire was a far worse proposition than anything any being in the galaxy had ever conceived. Not since the Sith ruled the galaxy had people seen such callous and fearsome behavior from their government under the guise of preserving law and order. Local problems were delegated to corrupt and ambitious sectorial governors because the Emperor didn’t care about anything other than consolidating his rule, and when systems rebelled against this unfair and brutal treatment, they were met with a lashing in the form of Star Destroyers and Stormtroopers beating them into submission.

Eventually, some would say inevitably, a rebellion broke out. Isolated pockets of resistance soon grew to what the Emperor would term a cancer. Soon they had the resources to not only defend themselves using starships and planetary shield generators, but they could even strike blows against the Empire, tarnishing it’s self-made reputation as a stalwart and invincible defender of peace and harmony.

The hostilities truly escalated to horrific proportions with the advent of the Death Star, an armored space station which had in its possession a super-laser capable of reducing a planet to nothing more than a field of scattered asteroids.

The rebels were able to destroy it due to an incredibly lucky shot made by a pilot named Luke Skywalker, but had been on the run ever since. With the destruction of the Death Star, they had awakened a sleeping giant, and the Emperor was now devoting all of his resources to crushing this resistance once and for all.

When Fluttershy finished relaying this tale of woe, the ponies walking with her were stunned into silence. None of them spoke, for they had never imagined disharmony and destruction of this magnitude was even possible. The thought of thousands of people being wiped out by a single ship being destroyed, not to mention the notion that a weapon capable of obliterating a world had not only been built, but used more than once, and against a backdrop of pure, unadulterated evil, was so saddening and terrifying that none of them could form a coherent sentence describing what they thought of it.

Finally, Rainbow Dash broke the silence. “Well I for one can’t wait to get home. This place is just one big galaxy-wide war zone, and I’m awesome, not suicidal.”

“RD’s right,” piped Applejack. “We gotta get out of this world before somepony gets hurt. Ah was lucky when Ah got the best o' that human chasin' me, but Ah ain’t about ta try mah luck agin.”

Rarity nodded her agreement. “While I was rather looking forward to getting a better look at their fashions, I must agree. This place is simply too dangerous for six unarmed ponies and a baby dragon to stay in very long.”

“There’s an even bigger problem, girls.” Twilight had a look of determination on her face. “Without the princesses to raise and lower the sun and moon, the earth will simultaneously freeze and burn, and with each passing day the temperatures will rise on one side of the planet and lower on the other, eventually culminating to a world that’s a desert of heat on one side and a desert of ice on the other.”

They all took a moment to let that sink in. Finally Spike spoke. “Then it’s settled. We gotta get to the princesses, and fast.”

“Excuse me . . .”

Twilight looked at her small companion. “Of course we do Spike, but we must also conserve our energy. The princesses may need our help to complete the spell to return us home.”

“Um, I beg your pardon-”

Rainbow piped up. “Well you can bet if they need my help, I’ll do my best to beat the horseapples out of whatever’s attacking them.”

“Uh, girls, I just wanted to-”

“And Ah’ll be mighty glad ta buck those Imperial fellers inta the middle o’ next week. If the first one was any indication, they’ll go down easier than an apple pie after a long day ‘o apple-buckin’.”

“Girls, please, if you would just listen-”

R2-D8 made a frantic trill and the ponies all turned and looked at him. “What is it, R2-D8?”

The droid looked at Twilight, then projected the holographic map, highlighting their current position, and the position the princesses were supposed to be. She gasped as she realized why the droid had been panicking.

The signal was in the middle of a large group of metallic blips which had significant energy signatures. They all looked at Twilight for an explanation.

“The Empire must be holding the princesses. That’s why their signals are in the middle of this formation of machines!”

The rest of the ponies, including the normally energetic and bubbly Pinkie Pie, gasped collectively. Spike appeared the most concerned. “What’re we gonna do Twilight?”

She was worried. This presented a huge problem. The Imperials were armed, armored, and trained for war, while they were none of those things, and even though Twilight was able to form a shield, they couldn’t very well use it to fight their way to the princesses. But they had a job to do, and Equestria was depending on them to get their monarchs back home.

She steeled herself, then looked determinedly toward their goal. “We’re gonna rescue the princesses, Spike. That’s what we’re gonna do.”

They started off down the trail. I just hope we’re not too late.

The pain was intense.

So intense in fact, that she was blinded by it for the time being. But Celestia remained steadfast, unmovable. They would not break her so easily.

She had no idea what they were doing to her sister, and she hoped her younger sibling would be able to handle it. She took comfort in the fact that if her sister had succumbed to the torture, she would have felt it by now.

The red glowing panels beneath the grating that surrounded her gave her coat a pink sheen. It did not however affect the color of the black uniforms the officers around her wore or the armored plasteel shell of the torture droid hovering over her, its pulsating, deep warble sending pangs of fear coursing through her brain, its single red glowing eye giving her a cold chill. Yet she resolved to remain unflappable in the face of this brutal treatment.

She looked up, mentally burning through the pain to glare at the officer standing over her.

“You would treat members of royalty with such flagrant disrespect?”

The officer sneered. “You are alien, and therefore undeserving of respect from the Empire. The only reason you are alive at all is that you are a previously hereunto undiscovered species, one which may prove useful to his majesty, the Emperor.”

“Do your worst. I will not cooperate, nor will I give in to your attempt to belittle my royal heritage.”

He quietly chortled. “My dear, you will soon regret your choice to remain silent.” He paused. “After all, we have two of you. And we really only need one.”

The look in her eyes was all the confirmation he needed that his words had hit a nerve.

The officer flicked a gesture toward the hovering black sphere. It complied by activating an electrical arc between a set of pincers mounted on its side.

He turned his attention back toward the white alicorn. “Let’s see how well your stubborn constitution holds up under 30,000 volts of electricity.”

The droid closed in, and Celestia closed her eyes, bracing for the inevitable.

Attack

Chapter 9

“I have to say, among the decisions we made on our journey, attacking the Galactic Empire was one of the most frightening experiences of my life. Their war machines were powerful and terrifying displays of military might the likes of which I'd never seen and hope to never see again.”

-Twilight Sparkle, On Extra-Galactic Voyages, p. 302

Twilight stared at the dark gray building surrounded by what R2-D8 had called Imperial AT-ST Scout Walkers, Stormtroopers, and Scout Troopers mounted on Aratech 74-Z Speederbikes. This was going to be far more difficult than she imagined, and she had imagined a difficult challenge indeed.

“Yessir, this is the same place Ah was at b’fore.” Applejack was visibly nervous, not that Twilight blamed her.

Rainbow Dash was getting impatient. “Well we gotta get in there somehow! The princesses need us and we’re not doing them any good just sitting around on our flanks!”

Even Pinkie Pie was getting into it. “Yeah! Let’s quit the jawwin’ and get goin’!”

Twilight held up a hoof. “Wait everypony. We need to think this through. It won’t do the princesses or us any good to head in there blindly.”

They all nodded, and then walked back to their little camp and gathered into a huddle to start their planning.

The plan was simple, but not because of Twilight’s preference for simplicity. Rather, it was necessary in light of how none of them knew the interior of the base, and R2-D8’s sensors were not powerful enough to penetrate the hardened jammer the base contained.

She knew going into this blind could get them all killed, but the risk was nothing compared to what would happen should Equestria never get its monarchs back. Therefore she was going to commit every available mental resource into planning the rescue.

“Okay guys, this is not going to be easy, but I’ve come up with a plan that should give us a reasonable chance of success.”

Rarity and Applejack exchanged worried looks, but Rainbow Dash saluted her. “We’ll do our best, boss!”

Twilight smiled, then returned to her task of briefing her comrades.

“The plan is divided into four phases.

“The first phase is to get past all of the troopers and vehicles guarding the base. It will be difficult, because we’ve got to hold them off long enough for R2-D8 to make it to the door, but we’ve got to get past them in order to storm the base and free the princesses. Rainbow Dash, you and Fluttershy will fly past the AT-STs and keep them busy.”

Fluttershy was looking down as she pawed the ground. “I dunno, Twilight. That doesn’t sound very -”

“We’ll do our best, Twilight!” Rainbow Dash shot a look at Fluttershy.

“Thanks, and I know you will. In the mean time, Applejack, you and Pinkie Pie will be responsible for running around and keeping the Stormtroopers and Scout Troopers distracted.”

“Will do, Twi.” Applejack sealed the promise with a tilt of her hat.

“It’ll be easy as baking cupcakes! Which is actually a good idea now that I think about it. OOOh! We should have a party to celebrate our victory! And you know what would be great to go along with it? A big batch of -”

“Uh, Pinkie,” Twilight looked at her gently. “D’you think you can save the party-planning for after we win the battle?”

The pink pony beamed. “Sure thing, Twilight!”

“As for the rest of us, I and Rarity will use our magic to take out the machines, and I will try to protect us by casting shields when I can.

“After we make it to the door, we’ll begin phase two: Infiltration. We have no idea what the inside of that base looks like, but with R2-D8’s scanners we should be able to get a clearer notion once we’re in. We can assume that the whole place will be guarded. Rainbow, you will be tasked with flying ahead because you’re the fastest -”

“Whaddaya mean, fastest?!” Applejack looked a bit perturbed by that assessment.

“Uh, I didn’t -”

“She means the pony who can get from point A to point B in the shortest amount of time, namely me.” Dash was now smiling with a half-cocked grin.

“Well if Ah recollect, we tied at the Runnin’ of the Leaves.”

“Only because my -”

“Girls! Please stop!”

Applejack and Rainbow looked at her, then stopped their bickering, remembering suddenly the gravity of the situation.

“Thank you. Now, Applejack, I was going to say that I needed you to stick around in case someone sneaks up behind us. You’re the strongest of us, and with Rainbow busy scouting ahead I’ll need your legs to defend us.”

“No problem, Twilight!”

“Once we get to the holding cells where they’re keeping the princesses in custody, we’ll begin phase three: breaking them out.

“This won’t be easy. Anything that can hold an alicorn must be strong indeed. That’s where our secret weapon will come in. R2-D8?”

The droid beeped.

“You will interface with their devices and see if you can bypass whatever security systems are in place to hold the princesses.”

He chirped and buzzed. “You can count on me.”

“After the princesses are free, escape should be no problem. Celestia and Luna possess powerful magic, so they’ll take the lead while we bring up the rear and keep them safe from flanking maneuvers. Once we’re clear of the base we’ll split into pairs and meet at the edge of the forest. Rainbow will pair with Fluttershy, Pinkie will pair with Applejack, and Rarity, you’re with me. R2-D8, you will be on your own, but they should be concentrating on us, so your chances of escape will be higher than otherwise. Once we are clear of the base we’ll rendezvous here in the clearing. Are there any questions?”

Spike nudged Twilight in the side. “What about me, Twilight? What do I do?”

Twilight looked at him apologetically. “I’m sorry Spike, but you’re too young and vulnerable to risk taking along. I’m afraid you’re going to have to wait here.”

“But I can -”

“No, Spike.”

Spike looked like he was ready to cry, but he swallowed and looked at Twilight. “Okay. Be careful, alright? The library wouldn’t be the same without your organizational skills.”

She smiled at him, then turned to face the rest of them.

“Okay everypony, you know what to do. Let’s rescue the princesses!”

They all shouted a cheer, then headed off into the woods, leaving behind a sad and somewhat frustrated little purple and green dragon behind.

The small group trotted toward the large clearing where the Imperial base was located. Each knew their job, yet each knew that the risk was real and their lives were going to be in danger the moment they stepped into the clearing.

But this was their duty to the rulers of their land, and they would sooner die that let anything happen to them.

Rainbow Dash was the first to arrive. She let out a quiet whistle and whispered to herself. “There sure are a lot of pon-, er, people in there.” She looked behind her. “Come on, Fluttershy,” she whispered harshly.

The yellow pegasus gently floated up behind her. “I’m sorry. I just don’t like flying, that’s all.”

“Well you’re gonna have to pick it up if you want to keep those things from hitting Twilight and the others!”

Fluttershy was a bit put out by Dash’s scolding, but she knew the cyan pegasus was right. They were probably the most vital part of the team since they would be distracting the biggest and most powerful of the enemies, and she needed to get her act together now before Twilight gave the signal.

Applejack was just as nervous as Fluttershy at that moment, but she would never let it on. She knew the rest of them team saw her as a pillar of strength, and to show weakness at this point might have a demoralizing effect on her friends. Still, she’d dealt with these things before. She knew that their machines were fast and powerful, and that their weapons were more than enough to kill any of them in an instant. Despite this, she steeled herself for battle. She was worried that Pinkie Pie couldn’t keep her mind off baking and parties long enough to do her job, but past experience taught her that even with Pinkie’s cuckoo-lander brain, she was quite capable in a scrap.

Twilight and Rarity were standing at the edge with their friends, watching the Stormtroopers and walkers milling about, darting their eyes every once in a while toward the sudden acceleration of speederbikes racing off into the forest. Rarity was visibly quite nervous, and Twilight couldn’t say she blamed her. This Empire was far more ruthless than any of the enemies they’d faced together, and she knew they wouldn’t hesitate to kill her and her friends with their horrible weapons.

She was waiting now. Waiting for the final piece of the team to fall into place. She looked over at R2-D8, who was slowly rolling into position, trying to avoid being seen. When he finally made it to the edge of the forest on the opposite side of the clearing, he projected the image of a Gorax crashing through the forest, roaring loudly enough to cause the birds around the droid to burst into flight.

The Imperials all turned their heads in the direction of the hologram. One of the troopers screamed “What the hell?!” as the rest of them scrambled to take cover from what they assumed was another Gorax attack. That was all the distraction Twilight needed.

“CHARGE!!”

The six brightly-colored ponies galloped and flew out of the forest, crossing and weaving in front of each other to confuse the Imperials even more. The confusion lasted but mere seconds as the Stormtroopers and AT-ST pilots recovered from the shock and began to fire red bolts of energy.

They were being careful to observe friendly fire protocols, but still their blasts were getting close, way too close for Twilight.

She and Rarity hurled magic missiles at the walkers and speederbikes, blowing one of the bikes up and melting the knee joint on one of the AT-STs. They smiled with satisfaction, then galloped around the stalled walker, shooting magic bursts as they went.

Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy buzzed an AT-ST. In the cockpit, the driver was startled. “What in blazes was that?!”

His copilot calmly armed the concussion grenade launchers. “It doesn’t matter. Major Hewex said to distract them for as long as possible.”

The pilot nodded as his comrade fired a couple of bursts into the air.

As Rainbow and Fluttershy zoomed and weaved they felt the effects of the blasts directed at them as concussive waves. Dash was concerned that this would spook Fluttershy, but the yellow and pink pony was still flying, even managing to keep up with Rainbow.

Another blast rang her ears. She decided to try a different tactic.

The AT-ST pilot was concentrating on not stepping on the troopers under his machine’s feet when he saw a blue shape appear in front of his cockpit window.

It stuck its tongue out at him. “Nyah, nyah, nya-nyah, nyah!”

“Get rid of it!” The copilot nodded and then sent a volley of blasts from the main guns toward the pegasus, being careful not to kill it. An explosion ripped through the clearing, and as the pegasus shot off the two Imperials watched in dismay as a scout walker across from the them toppled over, its left leg blown clean off by the volley of laser blasts meant to spook the pegasus.

On the ground things were a bit easier, but only marginally. Applejack was ramming as many troopers as she could, using her hat to provide some protection against the hardened armor the troopers wore. She weaved through the camp, avoiding as many of the laser blasts as she could. It didn’t keep some of them from singeing her back, however.

She grimaced at the slight pain this caused, but kept running.

Pinkie Pie was having a blast. These guys knew how to party! She hopped around, dodging and moving, avoiding the blasts with ease, singing a nameless and wordless tune consisting of nothing more than “La, la-la, la-la, la-la!”

Eventually she came face to face with a trooper. He pointed a blaster at her, but that wasn’t the first thing she took notice of.

“Oooo! Nice party outfit! Where’dja get it?!”

The trooper looked confused for a second. “Uh, it was standard issue?”

Pinkie gasped and smiled. “D’you think I could get one in my size?”

“Er, no.”

“Well that’s just not fair!”

She head-butted him, sending him tumbling down, unconscious, then continued prancing about the clearing, singing as she went.

Twilight and Rarity were both struggling to keep their friends safe. Because only Twilight could cast a shield, Rarity had to resort to flinging rocks and debris at the troopers telekinetically and hurling more magic blasts toward her attackers. That didn’t mean Twilight had it any easier. She could only cast the spell around herself, having never learned how to cast it around somepony else. Despite this, she was able to get near the other girls and keep bolts from hitting them. It was hard work, but she was able to do it. “I just hope that R2-D8 can get to the door without being seen!”

The battle was lasting much longer than Twilight was comfortable with. Every second that passed the odds of surviving dwindled down. But staying inside the group of Imperials was giving them an edge, for she could see that they were hesitant to hit their own troops. They were ruthless, not homicidal.

She looked over to see Applejack running through the legs of an AT-ST, using it as temporary cover as she leapt into the air and came crashing back down on a Stormtrooper. Twilight gasped as she saw another trooper level a blaster bolt at Applejack and galloped as fast as she could to intercept it. Luckily her shield spell was at full strength, and she was able to deflect the blast, turning her head as her shield flickered off to fire a low-power magical volley of her own at the trooper. He was knocked off his feet, burn marks all over his armor. Twilight was thankful her blast hadn’t penetrated; she was a scholar, not a soldier, and she wasn’t about to take lives when she could incapacitate just as easily.

Finally, she noticed R2-D8 enter the bunker, and she breathed a sigh of relief.

Then she saw the blast door close over the portal, and a thickly armored hatch cycle shut over that.

Her heart sank. Now there was no way they’d be able to rescue the princesses.

“Girls! We can’t get into the base! Fall back!”

They all snapped their heads in Twilight’s direction, then looked at the doors of the base and saw why she called off the attack.

Rapidly they all got the hay out of there.

They had discussed the possibility of a mission failure, and if they couldn’t get to the princesses, the next thing to do would be to split up and meet back at the camp.

Easier said than done.

Applejack was running from a trio of speederbikes. Jes’ like b’fore. ‘Cept this time Ah have a feelin’ they won’t be as easy to fool.

The orange and blonde pony was galloping as fast as her legs would take her, but she had already expended a heck of a lot of energy fighting the Imperials. It was now a battle against her own body. She knew that those guys wouldn’t fall for the same trick she’d tried last time, but she needed to slow or stop her pursuers somehow so she could find her way back to the campsite without leading the Empire right to their doorstep.

She maneuvered around the trees, desperate to avoid being hit by the yellow packets of thermal energy hurled at her. As she ran she looked back at the Imperial scout, hoping he’d make a mistake and hit a tree.

A sudden sharp pain shot through her head. As she slumped into unconsciousness, she had but one thought on her mind. “Dumb tree . . .”

The two pegasi flew above the canopy as fast as their wings could carry them. Fluttershy had wanted to stick with Twilight, but Rainbow reminded her that they needed to split up to minimize the possibility of capture.

Suddenly a pair of TIE Interceptors buzzed them, sending them tumbling about in their hot engine wash, an ozone smell invading their nostrils. The ghostly wailing emanating from their engines sent chills down the ponies’ spines, but it was nothing compared the horror they both experienced as the highly maneuverable starfighters whipped around and sent blasts of green energy their way.

“WOAH!!” Rainbow Dash missed being vaporized by those cannon blasts by mere inches. She and Fluttershy dove toward the cover of trees, using their branches to obscure the pilots’ view and keep them from getting a good shot.

It didn’t prevent the TIEs from boxing them in with green laser bolts.

“We can’t keep this up much longer, Dash!” Fluttershy was getting tired. Her body simply was not used to this much punishment, not from a Gorax, and certainly not from a pair of Imperial TIE ships which threatened to overtake them at any moment.

“I have an idea!” Rainbow flew over to Fluttershy and whispered into her ear.

The TIE pilot in TIE Interceptor Delta 2 was calmly maneuvering his fighter over the tops of the trees. He had to keep these ponies – winged ponies he might add, which had initially thrown him completely for a loop – from getting too far away from the bunker.

They were the primary targets, and he wished that his ship had been equipped with ion cannons. It would have made the job of capturing them that much easier.

Being that starfighter-mounted ion cannons were capable of disabling capital ships, it also might have killed them, and if that hadn’t done the job the fall from 100 meters would certainly finish them.

But keeping them boxed in like this was hard without actually hitting them. He had no doubt that they were frightened enough, but being spooked like this they may accidentally fly right into one of his bursts, and he just knew the Major would chew his backside for killing a target he was specifically sent to capture.

Suddenly, both ponies broke left and right in a violent maneuver. Those animals must be made of iron. He brought his interceptor around, keeping the blue pony in his sights. As he was getting a few shots off, he saw, too late, that she had led him right into the flight path of Delta 1.

He barely had time to scream as his ship collided with the other interceptor in a conflagration of burning fuel and ignited blaster gas.

As Rainbow Dash completed the maneuver, she looked up just in time to see the two Imperial ships blow apart in a shower of plasma and shrapnel. She realized too late however that the blast wave was fast approaching her and Fluttershy, and neither one of them was able to avoid being knocked out of the sky by the concussion wave from the blast.

Dash and Fluttershy tumbled to the ground, both of them having achieved a stall and unable to maneuver to right themselves.

They crashed into several branches, the only things that broke their fall, before landing in a clump of bushes. “You okay, Fluttershy?”

The yellow pegasus shook the pine needles out of her coat and mane. “Yes, but let’s not do that again anytime soon.”

Rainbow Dash smiled, just before she was knocked out cold by a stun blast.

Fluttershy gasped, then turned to look in the direction the bolt had come from before she was hit herself. As she slipped into unconsciousness, she heard the approaching footfalls of Stormtroopers.

This is simply unacceptable! Rarity was huffing and puffing, having never expended quite this much energy. I’m a fashionista, not a foot-soldier! For the moment though, she and Pinkie Pie were hoofing it back to camp, but every second one of the speederbikes chasing them blasted laser energy at them.

“Hey Rarity!”

The white and purple-maned pony looked at Pinkie Pie.

“Look, no hooves!” The pink pony was bouncing along on her back, a huge grin playing on her face! Rarity didn’t bother to comment, though she wished Pinkie Pie could concentrate on the task at hand for more than two seconds. She had to get rid of these guys, and fast!

Sensing an opportunity, she ducked behind a nearby rock.

She waited with baited breath, hoping that the Imperials would overshoot and lose track of her.

“Hey Rarity! Whatcha doin?!”

“Get down Pinkie!” Rarity reached out and grabbed Pinkie Pie, holding her head near her chest, one hoof over her mouth. “Do you want them to . . .”

She looked up from her pink friend as she noticed three speederbikes pull up around her, their under-slung blaster cannons pointing straight at her head.

She laughed nervously. “Um, I don’t suppose you’d let me do your manes in exchange for letting us go?”

The center trooper pointed his speederbike upward and blasted the rock above her, sending pebbles and loose dirt crashing down on Rarity’s exquisitely groomed mane.

“Maybe not.”

Twilight’s hooves pounded the ground so hard that they ached, but she had to keep going. She had no doubt other speederbikes were chasing after Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Applejack. Only Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy had any hope of escape, but if Imperial fighters had found them as well . . .

They would make it. They had to. They hadn’t all come this far to be blasted or captured by this Empire, and she’d be damned if they would be now, after all they’d been through.

She pressed on, dodging tree and brush and evading blasts of energy flying past her every second. She barely managed to avoid being knocked out cold by a large branch that had been blasted off a tree towering above her. The purple unicorn had run races, like the Running of the Leaves, but this was far more strenuous than that had ever been.

She had been able to pace herself, and had had time to stretch her legs before she ran.

This time she wasn’t able to do either, and her lower extremities were paying the price. She could feel her shoulders and flanks burning in protest, but she pressed on. It was do or die.

Her mind was just as active as her legs, sending bolts of pure magic back at her attacker. She didn’t wish to cause anypony harm, but these were dire circumstances, and she doubted the Imperial biker scouts following her would show her the same courtesy. They traded bolts of yellow and purple energy, and suddenly Twilight heard one of them connect. She turned back quickly and saw the bike explode under the trooper, sending him hurtling into a nearby tree. She said a quick prayer that he was alright, even though she knew that flying into a tree at these speeds could easily break neck bones and crack skulls.

There were still two more of them following her.

She rounded a bend in the path. Suddenly what had been a level path transformed into a deep chasm, big enough to swallow all of Canterlot. She whipped around just in time to see the remaining two scout troopers encircle her. They gunned their engines, inching closer and closer.

Twilight was being forced toward the edge. She was hoping she wouldn’t fall, but knew that one false step could send her tumbling into the crevasse, and no amount of magic could arrest such a fall.

Suddenly one of the troopers flicked a couple of switches on his bike and hopped off, drawing his sidearm in the process. He flicked the safety and aimed at Twilight’s head.

Instinctively she set up a force field, hoping that they would become distracted somehow so she could teleport. She might have done so by now, if it weren’t for the adrenaline coursing through her veins and the fact that this world was still alien enough to make teleportation unsafe. But with a quick break in the action, she might be able to get a few feet of distance, perhaps land far enough away that they would have no way of tracking her. If only she could lower her shield.

She wondered why the trooper had not fired. Perhaps he was afraid that his weapon’s energy blast would be deflected back at him. Perhaps not.

He took aim and fired.

What Twilight had been expecting was the blast to ricochet off her shield and impact a tree.

What she hadn’t counted on was the trooper using a stun blast. The rings of blue energy enveloped her shield, causing feedback which zapped her with electromagnetic forces powerful enough to knock out her nervous system.

“That was weird” was all her addled brain could form as a response before the blackness engulfed her consciousness.

Twilight woke up to find herself bound and tied to the back of a speederbike. Wind whipped her mane as she struggled to undo the fibers holding her legs fast, but her struggles were met with failure. She tried again, this time preparing a spell to blast the cord, but then stopped as she saw the barrel of the other trooper’s bike-mounted cannon pointing at her. She doubted it had a stun setting.

She resigned herself to waiting for the trooper to get her to wherever the hay he was heading. Perhaps an opportunity would present itself on the way there to escape.

Her chances dwindled down to zero as she saw the trees part to make way for a clearing, the same clearing she and the others had just managed to escape from. Patrolling AT-STs swung their cabins to ‘look’ at the pair of speederbikes gliding into camp with their prize. Twilight was far less confident now that all the guns in camp appeared to be pointing in her direction.

As the speeder pulled up she could see her friends being rounded up just outside the entrance to the bunker. Rainbow Dash was being led alongside Fluttershy toward the bunker, their wings bound by the same nigh-unbreakable cord that currently held Twilight in place. “Lemmie go! If I get free I swear I’ll buck every last one of you!” Twilight sadly shook her head. Rainbow was fierce, but this was hardly the time to put up resistance. The rest of them, Rarity, Pinkie Pie and Applejack, were trussed up like Twilight, their legs bound, a few extra guns pointing towards Rarity, probably because of the unicorn’s demonstrably powerful horn.

The only member of the party missing was R2-D8. Twilight sadly realized that since he was a droid and therefore a mere piece of equipment to the Empire, they would probably just deactivate him rather than bother with keeping him prisoner. She shed a tear at that thought.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the speederbike pulling up and parking next to her friends.

“Sorry, Twilight.” Rainbow Dash wore a defeated look. “Guess they got the jump on us.”

“Be quiet!” The lead trooper barked at Rainbow, and then to drive the point home he butted her with his rifle. She looked at him with a death glare, but then hung her head, shamed that she was unable to escape.

The scout trooper and his partner worked together to lift Twilight off the back of the speederbike, then deposited her unceremoniously at the feet of the others. She struggled to right herself, but then felt a blue aura envelop her and set her on her feet. She gave a look of thanks to Rarity, careful not to say a word lest the troopers use that as an excuse to abuse them further.

How could things have possibly gone so wrong? Twilight wondered. It was all just one horrible blunder after another. At least, she figured, things couldn’t get too much worse.

The ponies were led at gunpoint into the base. Twilight observed on the way down the lit grating forming the downward-sloping ramp leading into the labyrinthine facility that even if she had been successful at breaking past the guards, the sheer number of blast doors interrupting their path was large enough that they would have been slowed immensely, assuming the Imperials hadn’t simply locked them all and trapped them.

The path they took was winding, going around pipe and equipment too large to simply hide behind a wall. Every once in a while they would pass a more open area with consoles manned by technicians, doing Celestia knows what. Twilight thought perhaps that she might at least get a sympathetic look from them, but all she got was a good look at their backsides.

As they passed a wall which had yet to be completed, with a large section missing, Twilight looked into it to observe vast pipes and pieces of electronic equipment, with lights illuminating them so the workers surrounding them could see to weld new sections. She wondered what they were for. A few bends in the corridor and blast doors later, she had her answer.

They rounded a bend and went through a large pair of double doors, and as they were herded into the room Twilight saw on her left a huge tunnel filled with large orange and silver cylinders. Electricity arced between them and an ozone smell permeated the air. This must be an enormous power generator! As the last of her friends were shoved into the room, the guards exited the room and locked the door behind them.

“This is awful! Simply awful!” Rarity would have had a hoof to her head if she hadn’t been bound like this. “How can they treat us this way? It’s simply inhumane!”

“Yeah! They’re all just a bunch of big meanie-mean-pants!” Pinkie was incensed. She could handle being pushed around, but nopony messed with her friends.

“Well I say we get rid of these cords and bust outta here while they’re gone!” Rainbow Dash began to gnaw at her bindings.

“No!” Everypony looked at Twilight.

“But darling, we have to get out of here! There’s no telling what they might do!”

Twilight looked at her friends intently. “Look, even if we somehow manage to get these bindings off, there’s no way we can make it out of this base alive! There are too many of them, and they’ve all got guns. Besides, even if we didn’t have to worry about the soldiers, we would be trapped by the fact that all the doors lock as soon as someone closes them, and I don’t know how to pick locks with my magic. So the best course of action is to simply wait and see what they want with us. They obviously want us alive for some reason or else they would have killed us by now.”

Her friends all looked at her with downtrodden faces. “So you’re saying we should just give up? Go home? Toss in the towel?” Rainbow Dash sounded more hurt than angry.

“Yes. Until we can use our brains and think of a way out, our only hope is to cooperate and find out what they want with us.”

No sooner had Twilight finished speaking than the door to the room opened with a hiss. In walked a young officer, wearing a black uniform and a fresh face and escorted by a pair of Stormtroopers. But something about him betrayed his authority. Perhaps it was the way he carried himself, or maybe it was the fact that she could see his face, since he wore his arrogance like a princely robe. As soon as he was in the room, the two guards left him and closed the door, locking it in the process.

The young officer spoke, his aristocratic tenor clashing with his air of authority. “I am Major Garrett Hewex of His Majesty Palpatine the First’s Imperial Navy. I’m sure you are wondering why you’ve been brought here.”

“Ya might say that.” They looked at Applejack, fearful that she might say something to offend the major.

“Where’re the princesses?!” This time they looked at Rainbow, and knew she’d say something to offend the major.

Fortunately, Hewex appeared to be in good spirits. “Ah, you must be referring to those two horses we captured yesterday.”

“They are not horses.” Twilight spoke calmly, but the edge in her voice could have split a hair.

The officer cocked an eyebrow. “You must be Twilight Sparkle. The one known as Celestia told me a bit about you. Of course, it did take some . . . persuasion.”

The ponies gasped, a wave of anxiety washing over them all. Twilight was aghast. “What have you done with them?”

“Oh, nothing permanently damaging, I assure you. However, if you do not cooperate, I will ensure their next session with the torture droids will be far more harmful.”

Twilight almost collapsed at the last word.

“Now, you six have caused quite a bit of damage to my men and my equipment. I have been given strict orders by Lord Vader to capture you and keep you alive until he returns to inspect our little orbital construction project. He did not however specify in what condition you were to be in.”

The ponies remained silent. Hewex smiled arrogantly.

“Good. You understand my meaning.” He paused, a demented gleam crossing his eyes. “I suppose you’re wondering how Lord Vader even knew you existed. Well, I don’t pretend to be privy to all that the Dark Lord does, but he did make me aware that you eight were somewhere here on Endor. I was worried that I would have to commit a large number of resources to tracking you down, but then I remembered something I learned fighting dissidents on Farstine: send in a potential ally, gain their trust through this ally, and when they are at their weakest, pounce on them. Of course you ponies were so easily fooled that I thought perhaps you suspected something. But as it turned out, you were just as foolish as the Rebels.”

Twilight knew exactly what he was talking about, but refused to believe it. “What are you saying?”

Hewex walked over to the door and opened it. He motioned, then into the room came rolling an all too familiar form.

“No!” Fluttershy was in shock.

There before them stood R2-D8.

“Capturing the princesses was even easier.” He turned from the droid to Twilight. “All we had to do was stand over them with a few dozen blasters pointed at their heads as they awakened.” The arrogance on his face had mutated into outright deviousness.

Twilight looked at Fluttershy, who had slumped to the floor in tears, then turned back to Hewex, flame burning behind her eyes. “You’re a monster.”

“Perhaps. But this monster has you right where he wants you. I would be circumspect if I were you, my dear. This base is home to an entire legion of Stormtroopers, not to mention TIE pilots, scout troopers, and many officers like myself. There are also laser traps buried in the walls every few meters that can be locked onto your unique body type signature. You can thank our astromech friend here for the data.”

Twilight felt sick to her stomach. All this time the droid had been working for the Empire, using their life signs to gather them all up so the Imperials could capture them easily.

She looked at it, betrayed. The fact that it was a machine was immaterial; she knew that there was something about that machine, something which was off the mark. Yet she’d said nothing.

No. She wasn’t betrayed by the droid. She was betrayed by her own inability to voice her opinion when she needed to.

“You six will be escorted by my men soon enough. For now, I’ll leave you to contemplate whatever fate Lord Vader has in store for you.”

With that, Hewex and the astromech unit exited the small gray room, leaving Twilight and her friends to shudder in fear of this Vader individual and what he wanted with them.

Slaves

Chapter 10

“The destruction and terror caused by the Empire were nothing compared to the suffering endured at the hands of their cruel taskmasters. I shudder to think of what I was forced to deal with when under their control, though I can only imagine what Princess Celestia herself must have gone through.”

-Twilight Sparkle, On Extra-Galactic Voyages, p. 223

Twilight soon discovered what Hewex had meant by “condition”.

Her hooves ached, but it was nothing compared to the pain emanating from her horn. She and Rarity were being forced by the Imperials to help construct the shield generator base on Endor. When the Imperials realized that the two unicorns were capable of telekinetically lifting heavy objects, they pressed them into slavery, putting slaver collars on them and placing armed guards next to them to ensure that they didn’t resist.

All this in the single afternoon they’d experienced since they were captured. Twilight had expected to be tossed into prison immediately, but apparently Hewex wanted to get the most out of them before he turned them over to Darth Vader. As bad as her current living conditions were, she knew they would pale in comparison to whatever the Dark Lord had in store for her.

She began lifting a huge power converter into position so the welding droids could tack it in place. Her magic was getting weak, however. Drawing on her magical stores of energy during the battle had drained her, and even though telekinesis was a basic spell any unicorn could perform, it was still taxing to lift the twelve ton unit into place.

All it took was a single instance of letting her mind wander for the unit to come crashing down, and the only thing keeping it from crushing them beneath its enormous bulk was Rarity holding it in place with a telekinesis spell of her own. Twilight looked at her with thanks just before the black metal butt of a laser rifle slammed into her shoulders.

“Let another multi-million credit part fall and I’ll do worse than that.”

She looked at the white-armored Stormtrooper with contempt, but took no actions against him. She sighed. “I’m sorry, sir.”

The trooper’s only response was to bark, “Get back to work!”

Rarity looked at her friend with sadness, but knew better than to speak out for her. She’d been in a similar situation with the Diamond Dogs, though those imbeciles were much easier to deal with than the Stormtroopers.

She’d tried the same tactic of whining and complaining, only to be met with a shock to her neck by the slaver collar’s stun system. After she recovered, she realized this was a truly hopeless situation, and that her friends were not coming to the rescue this time.

Twilight and Rarity walked back to the cart the droids had deposited at the beginning of their work cycle and mentally lifted another large power converter unit. They carried it together over to the large hole in the wall, this time lowering it into the kilometer-deep pit and holding it in place on its mounting brackets, waiting for the droids to begin the agonizingly slow process of tacking it in place.

They watched as the mechanical workers inched along the mounting brackets, a trail of brilliantly white hot sparks shooting out their backs. Rarity was anxious for them to finish, but she knew this process would take at least twenty minutes. She was getting exhausted herself, not because she had expended too much energy during the battle, but because she had been secretly helping Twilight with her share of the work. Her friend was exhausted, and they still had a few hours to go yet before they would be escorted to the brig for the night. Twilight might collapse, and Rarity knew that failure in any way meant . . . punishment.

So she continued to assist her friend, thankful that her magic’s blue aura was close in color to Twilight’s purple, lest their guards discover that she’d been assisting Twilight and use that as an excuse to separate them. As long as they thought that the two unicorns worked better together, they wouldn’t be separated. Rarity just didn’t know what she’d do if they were not together. Twilight was her friend, and her pillar of strength, but right now the lavender pony needed her more than ever, and Rarity was not going to do anything to jeopardize their already precarious situation.

After over half an hour, the droids had finished their labor and the unicorns went back to the cart to retrieve another power converter. Rarity looked at Twilight out of the corner of her eye. She looked horrible: huge bags under her eyes accented their bloodshot rims, her indigo mane, once carefully preened, was completely disheveled, her fur was matted with sweat, and her hooves were chipped and red, possibly swollen as well. Rarity felt about as bad as Twilight looked, but she resisted any temptation to rest. There would be no rest until they were done with this work. She hadn’t been told that specifically, but she had no reason to hope for breaks, either.

History had shown that when sentient beings were enslaved by other sentient beings, they were almost never treated as anything other than intelligent machines. This realization brought with it a disgusted feeling. This universe was crawling with automatons that were capable of not only understanding speech, but following out with the commands of their masters, and even thinking creatively enough to work around obstacles. Why did they need ponies to do the work machines could do?

Rarity sighed, projecting a metaphysical hand around the power converter, this time taking all the weight herself. Twilight glanced at her, wondering why she was doing this, but Rarity shot back a glance. You need rest, Twilight! I will not simply stand by and let them work you to death! Rarity made sure to pantomime working in tandem with Twilight to lift the load, as Twilight pantomimed assisting Rarity.

As they arrived at the hole in the wall and Rarity lifted it into position, she glanced again at Twilight. Don’t worry, dear. You just use this as a break. You deserve it far more than I.

In another part of the facility, Applejack and Pinkie Pie were pulling loads.

Well, loads may be too light of an expression. They were attached to repulsor carts that were piled high with thick pipe and conduit to be taken to another part of the base where they would be hooked up to the power generator and laid in a square tunnel leading to the enormous dish that was the shield projector. They might have been on floating carts, but getting them going was still a chore for Applejack.

She was still being cautious, however. She knew that if they knew how strong she really was, they would probably work her to death. She’d been close to that once or twice back on the farm, due to her own stubbornness than anything else, and she wasn’t about to experience that again here, where the guards would just let her die where she was. They could always find more ponies.

So she pulled slowly. She just wished she could get Pinkie Pie to understand how serious the situation was. But the bearer of the Element of Laughter was hardly the serious type. She bounced along with her load, and started singing. “La, la-la, la-la, la- OOOoooh!!” A shower of sparks emanated from her collar.

Of course, being Pinkie Pie, she actually enjoyed it. “Wow! It’s like a sonic rainboom being done on my neck!! How’dja do that?!” The trooper appeared shocked, then did it again.

“Yeah! Keep it up! That feels great!” Applejack was perplexed. When she’d stumbled and the trooper with her controller had zapped her, it felt like every muscle in her body wanted to contract at the same time, threatening to rip themselves from her bones. To see that Pinkie not only tolerated it, but enjoyed it, went against all sense of reality. But then, that’s what Pinkie did best.

The trooper was hardly amused, however. “So, you think that’s fun, do you?”

She popped up behind his shoulder, startling him. “Sure, silly! It’s awesome! You should try it!”

He growled, then grabbed her by the neck. “You want me to do something to you that you will actually regret?”

Pinkie smiled at him. “Well, I don’t know what you can do to me to make me regret something! I don’t ever regret!”

He threw her to the ground, but she landed on her feet and bounced in place. “C’mon! C’mon! Zap me again!”

The trooper nodded to his partner. The next thing she knew, Applejack was on the ground convulsing and screaming in agony, smoke pouring from the collar as the electrical contacts burned and charred the hair around her neck. Pinkie Pie looked shocked. “HEY! Stop!”

The trooper held up a hand to his partner and the painful electrocution ceased. Pinkie gave the trooper with a horrified look. “Why did you do that? She wasn’t doing anything! I like it, but it hurts Applejack!”

The trooper took a few steps closer and leveled his blaster at Pinkie. “You want to keep her from any more harm? Do as you’re told and keep working.”

She was quite sober by this point, yet still had to ask. “W-what about singing?”

“No singing. No talking. No nothing. Just keep working and don’t make a sound, or else your friend will keep getting painful lessons on the subject of keeping her friends in line.”

“But-”

“It’s alright, Pinkie Pie. Ah’m fine. Let’s jest keep on workin’.”

Applejack managed a half smile, her muscles still aching from the assault on her nervous system. Pinkie Pie looked ready to protest, but she resisted. She looked at Applejack, then down at the ground with a furrowed forehead. “Big meanie mean-pants . . .”

Applejack was grateful the trooper hadn’t heard Pinkie’s muttering. Now she just had to help her friend pull the cart. As she did, she wondered how the rest of her friends were handling things.

Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy were in a rather large vertical shaft, hanging cables, which wouldn’t have been a big deal if Fluttershy didn’t have an overpowering fear of heights. Normally she could simply muscle her way past them with some effort, but in this horrifying environment she was unable to concentrate on her job. The yellow pegasus was struggling to keep up with Dash as they gripped a rather heavy bundle of sensor data bus. Rainbow Dash was doing well for being forced to work, especially considering her lazy nature, but she was being held up by Fluttershy’s nervousness.

“Come on, Fluttershy! We’ve got to keep up the pace or else they’ll shock us with these collars!”

Fluttershy looked up at Rainbow Dash behind a hank of her pink mane. “Oh Rainbow Dash, this is just too hard! Every time I get higher than a few feet I get lightheaded and dizzy.” She squealed slightly, then squeezed her eyes shut.

Rainbow was concerned, genuinely concerned for Fluttershy’s safety. She wasn’t that worried about her friend falling, though Fluttershy did lock up her wings whenever she was scared. What worried her was that the Imperials would see her and assume she was just slacking off. Rainbow could handle the punishment, but Fluttershy was a softy. She would never be able to handle the kind of abuse that these troopers seem to be fond of inflicting on their charges.

“What’s taking so long?”

Rainbow looked down the tube at the trooper who was calling after her. “We, uh, we’re trying to get this cable unstuck!”

“Well hurry it up! I don’t have to give you any motivation to work, do I?”

The cyan pegasus stifled a sarcastic remark. “No, we’ll get it in a minute!”

She flew down to Fluttershy and gently put her hand on her friend’s shoulder. “Look Fluttershy, I know it’s tough. But you gotta do this! I promise, after this is all over, we’re gonna laugh our flanks off! Okay?”

Fluttershy’s eyes opened gently and looked at her friend with a pleading expression.

“Please, Fluttershy.” Rainbow was a tough pony, but even she knew that in times like this, kindness and encouragement could go a long way.

Fluttershy waited a few tense seconds, then nodded. Rainbow sighed in relief and got a hold of the cable. “Come on. I bet we can get fifty of these things hung by bedtime!”

The yellow pegasus smiled at her cocksure friend, then followed her up the shaft to where the bracket to hold the cable was hanging. Rainbow Dash took the weight of the cable as Fluttershy used her hoof to close the latch and her teeth to fasten it with a small clip.

Rainbow had outward bravado. But inwardly, she was a swirling mass of questions. Where were her friends? Were they okay? What about the princesses? These and more swam through her head like so many fish, always changing and always bumping into her conscious mind, threatening to tear it apart through worrying. But she knew she had to keep up her brave facade, at least until she could sleep. Fluttershy was depending on her to be a pillar of support and strength, and she couldn’t let her down by falling apart on her.

They reached the bottom of the shaft, where the Imperial Stormtrooper in charge of them was waiting. “You two better keep working hard. Wouldn’t want one of you to suffer an . . . industrial accident, would we?”

Rainbow Dash glared at him, her protective instincts flaring. But she bit her lip and grasped another black cable in her teeth. “Let’s go, Fluttershy” she said through a mouthful of rubber. We’ll get through this, Fluttershy. Don’t you worry. We’ll get through.

Somehow.

When they heard the buzzing noise signifying that all slaves were to report to their holding cells, Twilight felt relief that she didn’t even know was possible. All her life she’d been . . . sheltered. She didn’t like to think of herself like that, but it was true. She’d never really been anywhere except Canterlot, never did anything except read books and study, right up until she’d come to Ponyville and met her friends. Sure, she’d taken risks and such since then, but she’d never experienced anything that could be remotely described as suffering, at least in comparison to what was happening right now. Even when Shining Armor disowned her temporarily at his wedding, she’d been devastated, but she hadn’t suffered.

Now she understood the full meaning of the term.

Her body was wracked with pain, her mind throbbing from the mental exertion. She no longer had any feeling in her hooves from all the work she’d been doing without so much as a rest.

No, not without rest, she realized. Had the pain and suffering she’d gone through today made her forget so quickly that Rarity had risked her life to make her feel more comfortable and get a bit of reprieve from the torment the Stormtroopers seemed to joyfully inflict on her?

She felt shameful at the thought, but then remembered that slavery often had a demoralizing effect on ponies, and she supposed that was the point: beat them down so that they’d never consider forming a resistance and starting an uprising.

Regardless, she vowed never to forget Rarity’s generosity again. The fashionista might appear on the outside to be materialistic and self-centered, but if you stop and get to know her, you’d find a pony who is more generous than most and one of the best friends a girl could ask for.

The purple unicorn joined her friend as they walked wearily down the corridor to the main holding area for slaves, where they would be sorted into their cells. As she entered the room, she noticed that it wasn’t just ponies being used for labor. Aliens of all kinds were being forced into performing whatever cruel tasks their human masters saw fit to bestow upon them. She saw mouse-faced aliens with big black marble eyes, tall aliens with shaggy fur from head to toe and a face that was a cross between a gorilla and a puppy, and aliens whose heads resembled squid with big bulging eyes on short stalks and flippers for hands. She worked her way into the group, trying to find her friends before whoever was in charge started sorting them. They may not be in the same cell, but if they were together they might stand a chance of keeping each other’s spirits up. It wasn’t much, but it was all they had for now.

“Twilight! Over here!” Applejack motioned the unicorn over to where the rest of them had found each other. Twilight fought tooth and hoof to get to them, and was rewarded by one of the large hairy aliens roaring at her. A shock to his collar quieted him. Twilight shuddered at the thought of what that beast would have done to her if the guard hadn’t stopped him. Finally she made it to her friends, and not a moment too soon.

A large klaxon wailed, and the guard shouted, “You will all come one at a time so we may tag you and send you to your detention cells. Any attempt to resist tagging will be dealt with by administering high-level shocks via your collars. You will survive, but you will not sleep very well tonight. Now, move!”

All the aliens in the room shuffled toward the door. As they passed the guard, he jabbed them with a large prod, eliciting a yelp of pain each and every time, even from the towering hairy ones. This sent a wave of fear washing over Twilight, but she swallowed hard and prepared as she stepped up to the guard, bracing for the painful sting.

Yeowch!! Sting had obviously been an underestimation of how painful it would be. It felt like somepony had rammed a railroad spike into her spine, and she felt a trickle of blood flow down from the entry point. Why would a subcutaneous tag have to be big enough to leave a large hole in her skin?

She had no time to figure it out as the guard shoved her out of the way so she could tag Rainbow Dash.

Soon she was filed into a row of detention cells by a Stormtrooper, who shoved her in by the heel of his boot. She was lucky the cells were of a more old-fashioned variety, with metal bars rather than solid walls. She watched as Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Applejack, and Fluttershy were herded past her cell into adjacent cells. They were within speaking range. That was good. It meant they might be able to talk to each other.

As soon as the herding process was complete, the guards exited the room, then shut off the lights, leaving only a single red lamp in each cell to give them light enough to use whatever facilities were available.

Twilight was much too exhausted to do anything at the moment. Her horrible afternoon was just too much for her broken body, and so she laid down for a dreamless, pain-wracked sleep.

A sudden buzzing noise awakened Twilight. She remembered all that had happened the previous day, and closed her eyes again, hoping that it was all just a nightmare. The squeaking of the iron cell door told her it wasn’t.

She got up groggily, which was met by a slight shock to her neck. The alien in the cell next to her laughed to himself. “The Imps don’t exactly like it when you aren’t up and at ‘em when they look in your direction.”

Twilight was too exhausted to say anything in reply, sarcastic or otherwise.

Another buzz sounded, and all the slaves started filing out of their cells, lining up outside them. Twilight decided it was better to play it safe and act like the rest of the slaves. She walked out of her cell and got in line. “How’re ya doin’, sugarcube?” Applejack looked at Twilight with concern. Apparently the night’s rest hadn’t improved her looks any.

“I’m fine, Applejack.”

“Well if it makes ya feel any better, you get used to hard work after a while. Pretty soon it’s jest another day on the job, heh.” She was trying to sound reassuring, and was failing miserably.

One more buzz, and they were herded off again.

Twilight was grateful that the next destination was breakfast, but she wasn’t prepared for what she was about to receive.

As she grasped a plate with her mouth, a cook with a large belly and an attitude plunged a ladle into a steaming pot and produced a gray, lumpy substance that closely resembled molded mashed potatoes. The smell matched the image.

She wasn’t about to complain. Poor food was still food, and she would need all she could get if last afternoon’s work schedule was anything to go by. She walked over to the table where her five friends were sitting and set her plate of food in front of her. Rainbow Dash was picking at the gray goop, Fluttershy was staring at hers, Applejack was muscling through it, and Rarity was visibly disturbed by every bite she took, suppressing an “Ugh” with every morsel. Even Pinkie Pie had turned visibly green.

“Come on, guys. We’ve got to eat so we can get our strength up for today’s work.”

Twilight levitated a spoon and scooped up a mouthful to demonstrate.

The only thing that kept her from spewing out the slop was the knowledge that it must contain some nutritional value, and that she would need every ounce of it to get through the day. She only hoped her stomach was strong enough to handle it.

She swallowed hard. “Try girls. I know it’s awful, but they won’t give us all day to eat it, and working on an empty stomach is asking for trouble!”

“Twilight’s right,” said Applejack. “We’ve gotta git our strength up if we hope ta make it through the day.”

They all looked at each other, but then started eating the mush. As though on cue, just as the last bite was gone from their plates, a buzz permeated the room, prompting all of the slaves to get up and head for the door. Twilight resisted the urge to take her plate to the . . . well, there was no sink, but still she felt the urge to clean up after herself. Blame an entire childhood in Canterlot for that.

She hurried to join the others, not from sense of duty, but out of fear of her captors and what they might do to whoever was last out of the mess hall.

Today’s regimen: lifting durasteel beams in place to weld.

If the power converters had been bad, these were far worse. The beams must have weighed twenty tons apiece, and were a good fifty meters in length. Unicorn magic was strong, but this was almost comically ridiculous. Yet her taskmasters were ordering it, and Twilight and Rarity had to obey.

Their purple and blue auras were enveloping the beam, which was being levitated into position to complete another section of a long service corridor accessing the backup power generator. A small team of welding droids moved along the beam, securing it at various points to the ribs that projected up from the floor and would eventually form the backbone of the walls.

At least this time Twilight would have energy to spare. Sleeping had recharged her magic, and she was more prepared this time to handle the heavy workload.

As soon as the welders were finished, she and Rarity went over to the large flatbed repulsor cart and lifted another beam with their magic. Carrying it over to the work site, they carefully lifted it up until it was resting against the opposite row of ribs. At least with this out of the way, the only heavy lifting left to do would be to lift the much smaller braces into place between the beams.

The work was still taxing to both ponies. But Twilight and Rarity both knew they had to press on. They couldn’t forget their mission, or the fact that Equestria needed them. If they were too late, if Equestria were a ball of blistering desert and freezing ice plains, the she doubted all the magic in the world would be able to save it.

In another part of the base, Fluttershy was once again teamed up with Rainbow Dash. The yellow pegasus was lifting more cable with her friend, this time up a gargantuan tower that supported the main shield projector dish. The inside of the tower seemed as big as the sky, even though Fluttershy knew it was only a hundred meters wide at most. Rainbow Dash thought it would have made an interesting place to test her agility, with all the cables and support beams littering the interior.

They were being watched by two Stormtroopers however, making any prospect of doing acrobatics in here a mere pipe dream.

As they lifted, Rainbow Dash noticed that Fluttershy was looking especially glum and downtrodden. The work was intense and the conditions terrible, but Fluttershy looked like . . .

Like she’d lost a friend.

Dash realized what had been bugging Fluttershy. She’d been quiet and sullen since they had begun working as slaves, but Dash assumed it was because of all the poor treatment. They hadn’t done anything today however to cause the troopers to shock them or taunt them, so it had to be the fact that the astromech droid R2-D8 had turned out to be a traitor.

I knew that thing was trouble. She had suspected him from the beginning, and never really let up on that suspicion, even when he’d helped find the princesses in the Imperial base and assisted in planning their escape. She’d been wrong before about suspecting someone to be a traitor, the time with Twilight being the most embarrassing considering their strong friendship, but this time she’d been right.

For all the good it did now.

She and Fluttershy finally got the cable up to the enormous gray box where the plans said to attach it. Once again playing the role of sky-crane, Rainbow held the cable in place while Fluttershy used her teeth to tighten the nut that screwed the cable into the box. The taste of the metal in her mouth sent shivers down her spine, but she dutifully completed the task.

And then she sighed.

Rainbow’s heart melted for the poor girl. She knew what had caused the sigh. It was the same thing that had caused her grim expression all day. Rainbow may be tough, but she had a heart, and it went out for her friend. Nopony deserved to have a friend betray them, least of all Fluttershy. The kind and warm pony was friends to all living creatures, even if it took her a while to warm up to ponies she didn’t know, and the thought of someone betraying her was so utterly disgusting that Rainbow Dash swore.

“Huh?” Fluttershy looked up at Rainbow.

“Nothing, Fluttershy. Let’s just get back down there and see what else they have for us to do.”

They both glided gently back down, taking note of the droids that had been following them and connecting the cable to a support beam.

As they glided, Rainbow swore again, this time a personal oath that no matter what, she’d try to find a way out of this stink hole and get her friend back home, no matter what it took, even her life.

“Come on, Pinkie Pie. You gotta help me git this one up the ramp!”

Applejack and Pinkie Pie were hooked up to a repulsor cart again. Stick with what you’re good at, Ah s’pose. This one was loaded down with an enormous orange cone-shaped device that looked like it weighed thirty tons, and probably did judging by how hard they were working to pull it. Even though there was no friction to fight, that did leave inertia and gravity, and right now gravity was working against them.

Not to mention a certain pink pony that had trouble focusing.

“Hey Applejack! You know what that thing reminds me of?”

“A giant ice cream cone?”

“BINGO!! Ooooh! You’re good!”

The trooper following them had had enough. “Alright, that’s it! If you don’t keep quiet, I’ll give you something to keep you quiet!”

Applejack figured he was a different trooper who hadn’t seen Pinkie Pie before. At least he wasn’t the same one they had yesterday.

“OOOh! Does that mean you’re gonna zap me in the neck?!”

“Yeah, that’s exactly what it means.”

Foreseeing a similar situation developing like what happened yesterday, Applejack unfastened the cart, grabbed Pinkie Pie by the neck and dragged her to the side, looking at the trooper with an apologetic expression.

“Please excuse us.” Her smile melted into a concerned expression as she looked at Pinkie Pie right in the face.

“Pinkie, do you remember what happened yesterday?”

“Yeah! I was hopping and singing, and then that big guy in white zapped me in the neck and it felt like a sonic rainboom on my neck and, OOH, Applejack, you gotta-“

“And remember what happened when he zapped me?”

“Yeah! And . . . oh, yeah. Sorry, Applejack.”

“It’s alright, sugarcube, but please try to keep it in mind, will ya?”

Pinkie Pie nodded, then they walked back over to the cart and hooked themselves back up. “She won’t be any more trouble, mister.”

The trooper relaxed a bit. “Good. Now get back to work!”

Son, yer lucky Ah don’t have a taste for bein’ shot . . . Applejack started heaving against the cart again. Her little talk with Pinkie had cost them distance, as the cart had slid back a ways when she’d unhooked herself. But at least she’d taken measures to ensure that Pinkie would cooperate. Well, until the day was over, anyway.

At the end of the day all the slaves were called back to the holding area to be filed into their cells. Twilight hoped that she’d get the same cell. She didn’t know if it was her OCD-like need for consistency or simply the fact that consistency in a place like this was all she had to keep her sane, but she still wanted that same cell, especially since she’d gotten separated from Rarity on the way into this room and was desperate for a modicum of familiarity. At least this time she wouldn’t need to be tagged.

She still wondered what purpose the tag served. It was far too large to be a simple tracking device, if the electronics of this world were anything to go by. A squid-alien was standing next to her. After watching the different species for a day she’d come to conclude that these were particularly placid and helpful aliens, and if she were going to pick someone to bother with a question, that personality type made the most sense. She tapped him on the arm.

“Excuse me, sir.”

“Eh? May I help you?”

“I was wondering if you could tell me what those tags they put in our necks were for?”

The alien looked puzzled, as though she should already know, but still answered her question. “They’re slaver tags. They bind to your bones with a special polymer that cannot be removed, and they contain a small charge of baradium-trantrate, just enough to sever your spinal column should you try to escape. I’ve heard that, despite what you might think, death is not quite instantaneous. At least for the brain.”

Twilight felt ill. The alien noticed.

“I do not wish to frighten you, young one, merely inform.”

He turned around and waited for them to begin the processing. Twilight frantically looked for her friends, but couldn’t find them before she heard the buzzer indicating that they were to start moving.

Rainbow considered herself fortunate to have been herded into a cage next to Fluttershy. She looked with a pained expression as Fluttershy walked over to the far corner of her cell, curled up, and laid down on the floor.

“Hey, Fluttershy?” She was careful to avoid attracting too much attention to herself. The lemon-colored pegasus remained silent.

“Fluttershy, it’s me. Rainbow.”

Still silence.

“Please talk to me!” The pain she was feeling at seeing her friend like this had finally seeped into her voice, which elicited a reaction.

“I don’t want to talk right now, Rainbow Dash.”

“Listen, I know what you’re going through.”

“No you don’t!” Fluttershy turned and looked at Rainbow with a painful expression and tears running down her cheeks, which shocked and hurt the cyan pony. “You can’t know what it’s like to lose a friend due to betrayal.”

Rainbow was silent for a few seconds. “Look, I may not know what it’s like, but I still can’t stand seeing you like this.”

Fluttershy looked away for a moment. “You just don’t understand.” She put her head back down and curled up even tighter.

Rainbow sighed, then resigned herself to the hopelessness of getting Fluttershy to feel better. She wanted to help her friend, but when her friend was shutting her out it was impossible to help her.

She just hoped the poor girl could cope for now. I’ll get you out of here, Fluttershy. If it’s the last thing I do.

Twilight was depressed to discover that because she was one of the last to be herded in, she would get a cage that was second-to-last at the end of the cell block. But at least next time she would know how to increase her odds of getting the same cell tomorrow night.

She walked glumly into the durasteel cage and waited for the door to close behind her. She was exhausted, mentally and physically, but not nearly as much as she was last night. So this time she set about trying to see if any of her friends were nearby. As she scanned the cages, she hoped she would see somepony she recognized.

When her eyes reached the last cage, she did a double take. There was something familiar about the white form laying down on the floor of the cage.

Suddenly Twilight gasped.

There before her was the body of Princess Celestia. At least, what was left of it. Twilight fought back tears as she looked over her teacher’s beaten and bruised form. Her once-flowing mane now lay still, her white fur caked with blood. Her horn was burned, but Twilight couldn’t imagine how or why.

“Princess Celestia!” Twilight didn’t care if the guards heard her.

The body stirred. Celestia raised her head to look at Twilight, eliciting a horrified squeal. Her face was emaciated, her eyes sunken as though she hadn’t eaten in days. Her lips were dry and cracked, and her nostrils had flecks of blood where she’d obviously been hit. Twilight hoped that wasn’t a missing tooth . . .

“My faithful student.” Her voice was weak.

“Princess, what did they do to you?”

She smiled weakly. “I should think the answer would be obvious from my physical appearance, Twilight Sparkle.” She attempted to inject the grim situation with humor, but Twilight was not laughing.

“Where is Princess Luna?”

This time a look of pain crossed the ancient alicorn’s face. “I don’t know. We were separated and have remained so ever since we were captured.”

Twilight was beginning to understand the gravity of the situation. Yet she still had questions.

“Princess, how could they have captured you? Surely you could have escaped!”

“So many questions, my faithful student." Her teacher shook her head sadly. "I’m afraid though that any attempt to escape would have been foolhardy. These Imperials,” that word was particularly poisonous, “had many weapons trained on me and my sister. We might have fought them off temporarily, but they had enough men with arms pointed at us that any attempt to escape would have been met with a long and painful death.

“Once we were here, they began to . . . torture us.” She stopped there, the memory of what they’d done to her too violent and painful to bring back.

Her student shook her head. “But you can use your magic to blast out of here!”

Celestia shook her head. “There’s a field of some kind blocking my magic. I’ve tried everything I know to break it, and every time it backfires. I’m sorry, my student. I cannot help you.”

Twilight was horrified and devastated. This was her mentor, and the most powerful pony in all Equestria.

If she’d been defeated, then there truly was no hope.

Escape

Chapter 11

“I would be remiss if I failed to properly credit Spike for all he's done to help me not just my journey through that galaxy far, far away, but from the moment he took up a role as my assistant. He has been unfailing in his dedication to not just serving me, but advising me and being the best friend a pony could ask for. I can honestly say, if it wasn't for him, I don't think I'd be alive today to write this book.”

-Twilight Sparkle, On Extra-Galactic Voyages, p. 521

Back and forth.

Back and forth.

Spike had paced in one spot ever since Twilight and the rest of his friends had left, stopping only to eat and sleep and take care of other bodily needs. His friends had been gone for an entire day, and he was worried out of his mind.

Did something happen to them? Did they get killed, or captured? He shuddered at either thought. It was too horrible an end to think about, yet he had to consider the possibilities.

He had done a bit of growing up since he’d crashed in the forest with Twilight and Pinkie Pie. In the last day he’d spent a fair amount of it sobbing, but snapped himself out of his doldrums. He couldn’t fall apart, not when his friends might need him.

But Twilight had told him to stay right there.

So he went back to pacing.

Back and forth.

Back and forth.

By now he’d worn a nice-sized trench in the undergrowth. “Where are you, Twilight?” He missed his other friends too, but Twilight was like a big sister to him. Some might look at their relationship and see a master and a servant, and he couldn’t deny that his main purpose was to serve Twilight, even when she had lost her mind over some trivial thing.

But it was so much more than that. Twilight loved him, and he loved Twilight, not in the romantic way (blech!), but in the way that a brother might love a sister. He was so grateful that Celestia had given him to such a kind, compassionate pony as Twilight.

Which is why right now, he was fighting an inner battle between what he had been told to do and what he knew he needed to do.

He looked forlornly in the direction Twilight and the others had left to fight their battle. He had heard plenty of explosions and had seen some kind of fighter (had R2-D8 called it a TIE Fighter?) fly overhead.

But the battle had ended yesterday, and so far they hadn’t made their way back. R2-D8 might have gotten shot, but at least one of them should remember the way back to camp.

Spike’s face contorted to a look of determination.

“That’s it. Twilight, I know you said to stay put. But you and the others need my help, and I’m not gonna sit on my tail waiting for you to return.”

He ran off in the direction he’d see them leave. He just hoped he wasn’t too late to save them.

“This forest is a lot bigger than I thought it was.”

Spike was walking calmly. No sense in wasting energy running around. Or alerting any nearby predators to his presence. He was hoping he’d have ended up at the Imperial base by now. As he thought this, he realized that they might not have taken a straight path so as to keep the Imperials from discovering their camp. “Stupid, Spike. Really stupid.”

He shook his head, then began walking back to camp. He’d have to figure out another way to find the base.

A roar off in the distance made him snap his head in that direction. “What the hay?!” Twilight might have scolded him for cursing, but right now the unicorn’s moral standards were the last thing on his mind. He would have turned and ran if it weren’t for the other sounds coming from the same direction.

“Well if this isn’t a great way to die!”

“Echuu-cha! Yub-Nub G’nip-dock!”

He had no idea who they were, but perhaps they would know where the base is. He ran toward the sound, hoping that he wasn’t heading toward some sort of Imperial trap.

“Fine way to end up, in the belly of some Force-forsaken beast!”

Junas Turner, Rebel scout sent to locate the Emperor’s new Death Star, had only succeeded in finding a Yootak. Well, that wasn’t all he’d found. Alongside the dangerous green lizard-thing was an Ewok, apparently hanging from his own trap. The little guy had ostensibly tried to avoid spearing Junas as he attempted to kill the beast, only to step into his own snare and end up hanging a good three meters in the air. But Junas couldn’t pay attention to that right now. He had bigger matters to attend to. Bigger, hairier matters.

The huge, green-furred creature in front of him was intimidating to say the least. Two meters tall, it was child’s play to keep Junas pinned down in front of it. It roared at him angrily. Perhaps it was trying to scare him to death. “Well if this isn’t a great way to die!”

“Echuu-cha! Yub-Nub G’nip-dock!”

Junas was about to pull his blaster and end the creature when something caught his eye.

“Aahhh!!!”

“What the Force?!” Junas watched in disbelief as a tiny reptile, less than half a meter tall, leapt up and bit into the neck of the Yootak, causing it to scream as blood spurted from the wound. It swiped its claws at him, trying to get rid of him, but all it got was a handful of air. Then an even stranger thing happened: the reptile spewed a pillar of green flame at the creature, igniting its fur and sending it into a frantic tizzy.

The tiny creature dropped off the Yootak’s back as the huge creature ran crashing into the forest, its eyes wide with terror, its back alight with green flame.

Junas’ jaw was hanging. “I don’t know what just happened.”

“Utata uname guntay.”

Junas looked at the little Ewok hanging from the snare, trying to cut the ropes binding his legs. The furry alien cut himself free, dropping to the ground with a thud. Junas turned toward the reptile. “Looks like I owe you a debt of thanks, little guy.”

“Eh, don’t mention it.”

Junas jumped. He was familiar with all sentient life on this world, none of which consisted of reptilian types. The closest thing was the Duloks, who were barely sentient anyway and were hardly reptiles.

“Er, you can talk?”

“Duh.”

Junas wasn’t sure what that last comment meant.

“Look, I’ll be honest, I’ve never met a lizard who could talk.”

“Dragon, buddy, not lizard. Do you see me flicking my tongue out and eating bugs?”

“Well whatever you are, I am thankful that you attacked that Yootak.”

The little creature’s face screwed up in confusion. “That what, now?”

“Yootak.” Junas got a funny look on his own face. “You’re not from around here, are you?”

The little purple dragon sighed. “Man, you have no idea.”

After cooking a meal for the scout and the Ewok, Spike spilled the whole story: Rarity getting her spell wrong, everyone trying to find each other, then the attack on the Imperial base. As he told it, he felt himself getting more and more concerned, which worked its way into his voice as he spoke.

“I have no idea what happened after they left, though. I heard a lot of explosions and stuff, but that was yesterday and they haven’t returned.”

Junas looked solemn. “Have you considered the possibility that they were killed or captured?”

Spike looked at him angrily. “Of course I have!”

Junas held up his hands. “Hey! Settle down, kid! Look, I’ve dealt with the Empire before, and trust me, they’re nobody to mess with. From what you described, it sounds like your friends embarked on a suicide mission.”

Spike sighed glumly. “I just wish I knew what happened to them.”

The scout rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “Maybe there’s a way we can find out.”

The little dragon eyed him suspiciously. “How?”

“I’ve scouted for the Rebels for a while now. I can get close enough to the base to determine whether they’re still alive. Assuming it’s an above-ground base.”

“I sure hope so. I don’t know what I’d do if I never saw Twilight again. I mean, they’re all my friends, but Twilight and I are close.”

Junas nodded, then after a few seconds of reflection he furrowed his brow. “Your world sure sounds strange. You say all intelligent life is made of . . . ponies?”

Spike shook his head. “No. There are other dragons like me, only much bigger, plus there’s cows, donkeys, some birds, and a bunch of other species.”

“Fascinating. I didn’t become a scout for nothing. There was a time where I wanted to be an explorer, to get off that rock and check out what was out there. Then the Empire came.” A dark expression took over his face.

“They sound like a real bad bunch.”

Junas looked him straight in the eye. “They are. The worst. They razed my home town, destroying everything and everybody, supposedly because there was rebel activity.” He scowled, his voice inching toward anger. “There was no ‘rebel activity’. Never was! The only reason my town was hit was because some Imperial captain held a grudge against one of the business owners in town and wanted to pay him back a hundredfold for cheating him, or what he claimed was cheating.”

The human violently threw his collapsible mug against a tree, breaking it in the process and causing Spike and the Ewok to jump.

Spike was unsure of what to say next, afraid of offending him with his ignorance. Junas saved him the trouble. “I’m sorry. I just hate the Empire and what it stands for.”

“It’s okay, I understand.”

“Do you?”

“Yes!” Spike now wore a determined expression of his own. “An evil creature called Discord wanted to turn all of Equestria into a world of eternal chaos. My friends defeated him with their magic, but before they did he had turned all of them into total opposites. Fluttershy, the kind one, was turned into a brute, Rarity was turned into a hoarder, and the others were just as badly affected. If Twilight hadn’t found a way to remind them of who they were, they would still be lost, and my world would be entirely enveloped in a perpetual state of disharmony.”

After that little outburst, Spike took a deep breath. “And now my friends are probably gone because of this Empire.” He suppressed a tear; he wasn’t about to start crying in front of a total stranger.

Junas looked at him sympathetically. “I’m sorry. I suppose you do understand where I’m coming from.” He took a deep breath of his own. “I’ll help you rescue your friends. No matter what it takes. Anyone as special as those six ponies and your monarchs deserves to be free, not enslaved by the Galactic Empire.”

“What if they’re -”

“NO!” Junas stuck his finger in Spike’s face forcefully. “Don’t say that! Don’t even think it! If you go down that path, you’ll lose yourself. You’ll start second-guessing yourself, wondering if the effort is worth it, because they may not be there.”

He inched closer, his voice building in an energetic crescendo. “But they are there. I can feel it. They’re out there somewhere, and they’re looking for you. You say you’re close to this Twilight Sparkle? Prove it. Let’s go out there and find your friends!”

Spike leaped up, pumping his tiny fist in the air. “YES!! Let’s go rescue my friends!”

“Gee gunda oo nanu natche!” Even their Ewok companion was catching their contagious energy.

“Then it’s settled,” said Junas. “We begin at dawn.”

Spike, Junas and the Ewok had all slept soundly, gathering their energy for what was about to come. As they walked through the forest toward their goal, Junas was getting nervous. Talking about a battle and getting energized for it was one thing. Realizing that you were about to walk into a crossfire was quite another entirely.

Twilight and her friends had been foolish to go after their princesses with just the six of them. Now Junas was going in with half that number. This sobering realization hadn’t crossed Spike’s mind apparently, because he had a look on his face that spoke of his determination and loyalty, as well as his readiness to fight the Empire.

But maybe it wouldn’t be so bad. After all, the Imperials were notoriously sloppy after major battles, so perhaps the security would be lax enough to allow them to mount a sneak attack.

As they approached the base, Junas discovered that his optimism had been sorely misplaced.

Not only had they not recalled their security force, but apparently they had air patrols going as well. A pair of TIE Interceptors roared overhead, and he could see at least two more TIE elements off in the distance, flying a lazy circle around the perimeter.

Then he heard a sound that sent a chill down his spine. Somewhere in the forest an All Terrain Armored Transport was moving. Its footfalls could be felt where he was standing, and he could hear the mechanisms of its four legs moving within their armored casings. He’d never seen them in action, but he had heard tales of soldiers trying to retreat and AT-ATs cutting them down like a lawn-care droid, their enormous height giving their guns plenty of coverage.

“Hey Junas.”

He looked down at Spike. “Yeah?”

“Didja hear that rumbling noise?”

“Yeah, kid. It’s an Imperial AT-AT, a giant walker with a pair of laser cannons and two blaster cannons that can give you a bad day in a big hurry.”

The lavender dragon looked visibly disturbed. “Sh-shouldn’t we get out of here, then?”

“I was just thinking the same thing.”

“Atcha, naboo aku tak-tak!”

They turned and looked at their Ewok companion who had remained silent up till now. Spike was just as confused as Junas. “What’re you saying?”

The Ewok growled a frustrated groan, then mimed thrusting a spear into a Stormtrooper. After a few minutes of charades, Junas and Spike finally understood what he was talking about.

The taller of the pair wore a bemused expression. “I think he means that he wants to attack them. But surely he understands that it would be suicide.”

Spike considered this. “Yeah. Hey Ewok, what do you suggest we do?” He shrugged his shoulders in an exaggerated fashion to show his confusion.

The Ewok then motioned to his companions for them to follow him. When they stood around looking dumbly at him, he growled a command in Ewokese, then motioned again. Spike started after him. Junas however wasn’t so sure.

“Hey kid! Where are you going?!”

The baby dragon turned and look at the human. “I’m gonna follow him. He’s obviously some kind of Ewok warrior. Maybe he knows where we can get some reinforcements.”

Junas was about to protest, but then scowled and jogged to catch up with them. Short help’s better than no help at all, I suppose.

The trek to the Ewok’s village was long, but fortunately they didn’t run into any Imperial patrols. Junas didn’t believe in any otherworldly deities, yet he still felt grateful that they’d made it past the Empire’s minions. Not that Stormtroopers were particularly bright, but if they did happen to run into them, they would probably not only be outnumbered and outgunned, but would have no support either.

When they did finally get to the village, their Ewok companion gestured for them to remain at the edge while he went to make sure they could enter. At least, that was what Junas surmised from observing the little guy’s actions. The creature walked up a long flight of stairs, or rather split logs fused to the side of a tree, on to a small platform, then grabbed a vine and swung from one platform to the other until he reached the center. Junas wasn’t able to see all the way, so he got out his electro-binoculars to get a better view. He had just gotten them to his eyes when they were knocked from his hand by a well-thrown spear from a nearby Ewok guard.

“Holy guacamole!” Spike had been standing next to Junas, but when the spear was tossed he jumped a good four feet back. He dared not tick off the other Ewoks though, for he suspected that they could have hit Junas’ head just as easily as they had hit his binoculars.

Junas for his part was being surprisingly calm about his equipment being knocked out of his hand. “Okay, okay.” Spike hoped the calm in his voice would transcend the language barrier. Fortunately, the Ewoks visibly relaxed as he put his hands up and spoke in a reassuring tone. “I’ll just watch, alright?”

The wait for their companion to return was agonizing. Primitive tribes often strongly believed in omens, and if they thought the strangers represented some kind of evil spirit, they’d surely turn them away, or else kill them. This combined with the lack of information made for some very interesting scenarios playing out in both Junas and Spike’s minds.

Finally, Junas spied a small form swinging through the trees toward the tree where the Ewok had left them. The little guy made his way all the way down, had a short exchange with the guards, then gestured for the two vagrants to follow him.

Swinging through the trees was not Junas or Spike’s preferred method for travel, but to get to the village center it was necessary. Spike in particular was very nervous about the prospect of swinging through the air with nothing more than a vine and a tight grip keeping him from dropping a hundred feet to the ground below. “Uh, you don’t suppose they could use magic to get us there?”

Junas looked down at Spike. “Kid, I don’t think even the Force could help us in this situation.”

Spike sighed with a resigned attitude, then grabbed the nearest vine. “Let’s get this over with.”

His tall companion did the same, then they hopped off the edge, clinging to the green cords for dear life.

Spike was glad that the village was relatively small. Only five ‘flights’ through the trees had taken them to a small courtyard surrounded by huts built right into the trees themselves. As they landed on a small outcropping, they were escorted to a rather ornate hut, stopping at its entryway by a pair of crossed spears. Their Ewok friend headed inside, motioning for them to stay put.

They listened as the Ewok talked to someone in the hut, someone who sounded rather important. They exchanged worried glances, wondering if they were about to be skewered and served as a sacrifice to some war god.

They stood suddenly at attention as a powerful looking grey-furred Ewok stepped out. He had an air of authority, with a long furry cape, a staff made of bones and several small animal skulls, and a headdress constructed out of some dragon head. The last part of the costume was a cause of concern to Spike, but he resisted the impulse to run.

The chief started talking in a surprisingly aristocratic tone, gesturing grandly all the while. Neither Junas nor Spike knew what he was talking about, but then he gestured toward a large hut on the opposite side of the village square. A guard entered, then after a few moments came back out with several Ewoks, each armed with a nasty-looking serrated spear.

The chief pointed at Junas and Spike, uttering grand-sounding words which had no meaning, then pumped a fist into the air.

“What’s he saying, Junas?”

The human looked down at Spike with a quizzical expression. “I think he’s giving us . . . backup.”

“On your feet!”

The Stormtrooper was barking at Fluttershy, who was cowering in fear, her eyes screwed shut. She had been helping Rainbow Dash run a line from the beginning of the primary inspection tunnel to the junction at the midpoint when she had just stopped. Rainbow had tried to get her to get up before their Stormtrooper guards saw her, but she had become so depressed that nothing was getting her moving. Now the trooper was standing over her and yelling in her face.

Rainbow couldn’t stand it. “HEY! Leave her alone!”

She received a boot in the jaw for her bravery. The trooper then turned back to Fluttershy. “So you think you can just slack off and let this one do all the work for you?” He pointed at Rainbow Dash, who was wiping a bit of blood from her mouth where the boot had cut her lip, then turned back to bark at the cowering pegasus on the floor. “We’ll see how willing you are to work after our IT-0 interrogation units take care of you.” He gestured to the other trooper.

“Wait!” Dash was holding out a hoof.

The trooper held up his hand. “What do you want?”

“She’d never be able to take it. Let me! Please.” The look in Dash’s eyes shocked Fluttershy. She’d seen Dash angry and arrogant, determined, and defeated. But this was new.

Dash was crying. Not just getting misty-eyes, but actually crying. Tears slid down her cheeks, dripping to the floor. Her lower lip quivered. Her gruff voice was also different; she was choking up. It jarred Fluttershy from her depressed state.

The trooper had now moved over and was standing over Rainbow Dash, a sadistic and threatening tone in his voice as he looked down at her. “You’d like to take her place?”

“No!” The sun yellow pony was looking at the trooper. “I’ll get back to work. Just don’t take her away.”

The trooper bent down and grabbed Fluttershy by the muzzle. “You better, or I won’t even look for an excuse to send you to the interrogation room.” He shoved her head back hard enough to give her a slight whiplash, then moved back so they could finish up their work.

Rainbow Dash picked herself up off the metal floorplate and joined her friend, wiping her tears away in the process.

They both picked up the cable and flew it over gently to where they would hook it up to the junction box. The demure yellow pegasus looked at her friend. “I can’t believe you’d do that for me.”

Rainbow looked at her intently and cleared her throat before speaking. “You’re my friend, Fluttershy. I would never let something happen to you.”

Fluttershy’s heart warmed for the first time since they’d been led into the base. As they walked back toward the opposite end of the corridor to grab another set of cable, Rainbow Dash put on a wry grin.

“By the way: you tell Applejack that I cried and I will personally hunt you down and kick your flank.”

They continued to work, their hearts both lifted from the experience.

Junas and Spike were standing at the edge of the clearing again. This time however they were surrounded by a good two hundred Ewoks. The Rebel scout didn’t know what that Ewok had said to his chief, but clearly it had done the job.

Spike looked over their personal army. “I gotta say, when we pick allies, we really pick allies.”

Junas nodded. “Let’s just hope they understand that they’re supposed to be rescuing your friends and not just shooting up the place.”

Before they left the village, Spike had drawn a battle plan, literally, on a piece of stretched skin. The Ewok warriors had watched him and had nodded every time the little dragon made a gesture, with their furry friend helping out by translating as best he could what Spike was saying. He just hoped that charades was a universal language.

At least they weren’t just using stone knives and bearskins. Prior to their arrival at the bunker, the Ewok warriors had set up a few dozen traps, such as stretched ropes, deadfalls, log pincers, and spike-lined pits. They had also attained permission from their chief to utilize a small group of catapults, which were top-of-the-line Ewok artillery. They were not much in the face of the armored Imperial war machines, but they might make a good area-denial weapon for the Stormtroopers and Scout Troopers.

Spike was not worried, though.

Well, not too worried. He had never been involved in a battle, much less the planning for one, even when Twilight and the rest of his friends had fought enemies like Discord and Nightmare Moon. He had played strategy games, like Peril, with its armies of ponies and artillery that you moved around a map of the earth to take over the world, and he’d won a few times against Twilight. How much harder could it be to plot a real battle?

“You sure that plan of yours will work, kid?” Junas was understandably a bit nervous.

“Sure I’m sure! You just get ready on my signal.” Spike hoped the apprehension in his gut wouldn’t work its way into his voice.

Suddenly a light bulb went on in Spike’s head. He held up a claw. “Hold that thought.”

As the little dragon started to run off into the woods, Junas grabbed his shoulder quickly and whipped him back around. “Just where do you think you’re going?!”

Spike shoved the massive hand off his shoulder. “I’m going to scout around and see if I can find a sign of Twilight and the others.”

Junas looked reluctant, but he saluted Spike. “Okay. Just make sure you’re back soon. I don’t know how patient these Ewoks are when they’re raring for battle.”

Spike nodded, then raced off into the forest.

Twilight was in yet another hallway with Rarity, lifting metal panels into the ceiling so they could be bolted in place from behind by worker droids. At least this area was partially above ground. It did her spirit some good to see the forest beyond the edge of construction of the corridor leading to the base of the shield projector.

As she stood there with her friend, she noticed a small purple shape running through the line of trees at the edge of the clearing surrounding the facility. The Stormtroopers would never have made anything of it, but it caused Twilight’s heart to skip a beat.

Spike was out there!

At first she was relieved, then started panicking. Why was that dragon here? Didn’t he know this place was dangerous? She didn’t realize she was staring, and as she did, her end of the metal plate started to sag.

“Twilight!” Rarity caught it before the Stormtroopers spotted her friend’s lapse in concentration. “Do you want us to be separated?! Or worse?”

Twilight shook herself out of her trance and looked at Rarity out of the corner of her eye. “Just look at the forest. Tell me what you see.”

Rarity was perplexed, but she complied. “O . . . kay. I see some trees, some bushes, some logs, some more trees, some . . .”

She squinted.

“Oh . . . oh my. Is that . . . Spikey-wikey?” The fear and worry in her voice betrayed her concern. “What is he doing here? I thought you told him to stay put!”

“I know! I did! But apparently he got tired of waiting. Oh, I hope he isn’t thinking about assaulting this place alone!”

Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the troopers behind her chatting. Their backs were turned. If they would stay that way for a few seconds . . .

“I’ll be right back, Rarity.”

“Wait! Twilight! Don’t . . .”

The lavender unicorn’s forehead glowed momentarily, and she vanished in a flash of magic.

Spike was trying to sneak around the base, hoping to get a glimpse of the interior somehow. Lucky for him he had found a bit of corridor that was coming out of the ground and hadn’t been completed yet. He might be able to see far enough inside to tell whether this would be a good spot to stage a rescue.

Suddenly, without warning, a bright purple flash appeared in front of him.

“Have you lost your mind, Spike?!”

“Whoa! Take it easy Twilight, I was just . . .” He suddenly realized who he was talking to. “Twilight!” He ran up to his friend and embraced her, unwittingly grabbing the one part of her neck where the slaver had jammed her tag. She jumped back. “Yeow!! Let go!”

He dropped off immediately, a sheepish grin playing on his face. “Uh, heh, sorry Twilight. Hey, what’s with the weird collar-thing?”

“Listen, I don’t have much time.” The unicorn shot a nervous glance toward the unfinished corridor. “Go back to camp, Spike! You can’t attempt a rescue! You’re just a baby dragon!”

Spike shook his head, then grabbed his friend by her shoulders. “Twilight, listen to me! I’ve got an army!”

This part caught her completely off guard. “Huh?”

“I met this guy, a big weird-looking alien named Junas, and a furry alien called an Ewok, and the Ewok talked to his chief and got him to give us some warriors so we could stage a rescue!”

Twilight was stunned. “I, um . . . are you sure this will work?”

Spike shrugged. “It’s the only chance we’ve got.”

The mare shook her head, but he was right. “Fine. But you make sure you stay at the back. I don’t want to have to come looking for you just because you were dumb enough to let yourself get captured.” A grateful smile played on her lips.

The little dragon winked at her. “Hey, you know you can’t survive without me.”

She knew what he meant, but she still did a double-take on the word ‘survive’. “Okay, my number-one assistant.” She looked back at the base, hoping the troopers were still gabbing. “Listen, I’ve got to go.”

“Okay. I’ll meet you when we’ve busted you out.”

Twilight nodded, then lit her horn, and in a flash she was gone.

The trooper standing closest to Rarity looked in her direction first. “Hey!”

He marched over, pointing his blaster at the white unicorn. “You have exactly three seconds to explain where your friend went, or I dye that pretty mane a nice shade of red.”

Rarity’s eyes flew wide. “You will not TOUCH my mane!”

The barrel of the trooper’s gun being pointed directly at her face brought her back to reality.

“Uh, I mean, I have no idea what happened! She was standing there, and then all of a sudden she vanished.”

“Yeah, and Banthas fly.” He pressed the muzzle hard against her head. “I won’t repeat my question again.”

Rarity’s eyes began to mist, her voice reaching a panicked soprano. “Please! I don’t know! I don’t know!!”

“One.” He flicked the safety off. “Two.”

Rarity closed her eyes, squeezing tears out and down her cheeks.

“Thr -”

A flash of purple magic and white sparkles interrupted his macabre countdown. He turned a looked at the new sight, and resisted the urge to check his helmet’s electronic displays for defects. There before him was the lavender unicorn, apparently having arrived out of nowhere.

He recovered his composure, then slowly and dangerously walked over to the now cowering pony, brandishing his blaster. “Looks like you decided to return. I suppose you thought I might kill one of your friends if you didn’t?”

“Er, yes. I was worried that you might -”

“Shut up!” The trooper grabbed her by the mane, getting a firm grip that threatened to rip the hairs right out of her neck. He wound up his arm and hurled her toward Rarity, sending her into a roll that just about broke her neck. “Get back to work! You pull another stunt like that again and I’ll decorate this construction site with your friend’s guts, you got that?!” A finger pointing at her drove the point home.

Twilight fearfully nodded, quickly getting on her hooves and joining Rarity by the repulsor cart that held the stack of plate work. As soon as she was sure the trooper was not listening, she whispered in Rarity’s direction. “Rarity, I saw Spike.”

The white beauty looked at her friend with concern. “Is he okay?”

“He’s fine. In fact, he’s better than fine. He says he’s got an army and that he’s going to get us out of here.”

“Er . . . what?” The disbelief was apparent in Rarity’s voice.

“You heard me. I don’t know where or how he got it, but I think we’re going to get our rescue.”

Rarity’s eyes brightened, a cautious smile curling her mouth. They were going to go home!

The battle started off innocuously enough.

A trio of Ewoks sneaked up to an AT-ST docked at the side of the bunker and watched as two uniformed men climbed into the cabin and closed the hatch. They knew they would have one shot at this, so they climbed up the metal structure and ascended the side of the walker’s cabin, then waited. After a few minutes, the walker began to move, its gait swinging the cabin left and right and nearly shaking the furry aliens off the top. When they were sure they had a safe grip on the handrail encircling the hatch, they swung over the edge and waved to the men inside.

The driver stopped the walker, then looked at his gunner. “Take care of him!” The man nodded, standing up to open the hatch. As soon as the metal door was open, he took his hand off to grab his blaster rifle, which gave the third Ewok warrior the chance he needed. He slammed the hatch violently over the gunner’s head with a sickening crunch, then called his comrades.

All three of them rushed the driver, bashing his skull with their weapons, and then turned their attention to the control console in front of them. After fiddling with the controls for a few seconds, they managed to get the walker moving again. A few more seconds, and they had figured out how to turn the cabin and move left and right. Finally, they found the controls that operated the weapons.

Hewex was in the central control room discussing a situation with the slaves. Apparently one of the ponies he had captured was capable of teleportation, a fact that he was addressing with the trooper in charge. “Did you see how far she was able to teleport?”

The white-helmeted Stormtrooper shook his head. “No, sir. She just suddenly reappeared out of nowhere. The other slave told me she had teleported, but she didn’t know where the other had gone to.” He was a bit nervous; the lack of information would look bad to his commander. Nevertheless, Hewex was intrigued.

“If she teleported, that could prove a useful fact to relay to Lord Vader. Thank you, sergeant. You are dismissed.”

The trooper nodded, then exited the room. Hewex was about to call in a report on the southeast service tunnel’s construction when his attention was called to the security console.

“Yes?”

“Sir, Scout Transport unit Epsilon-D34 has failed to check in after they began their patrol of sector 004. Should I ping them?”

Hewex was concerned; that was less than a hundred meters from the base. “Yes.” He looked at the communication’s officer. “Have the nearest unit converge on their position. Relay their current coordinates and tell them to proceed with caution.”

The communications officer complied, then the security officer looked up from his console. “Sir, they’re failing to respond. It seems sabotage is -”

And enormous explosion rocked the facility. Hewex grabbed the nearest stable object, the main console, and shouted at his security officer. “What the hell is going on out there?!”

“I’m not sure. Hold on, sir.” Hewex waited with a look of concern on his face. With no security measures other than the fighters, walkers and troopers, he would be sorely outgunned if the Rebels had discovered them and had sent in an attack force.

“Sir, it looks like local wildlife has hijacked an AT-ST and blown a hole in the side of the secret entrance on the ridge west of the landing platform. It is heading out into the forest.” His control board suddenly lit up with red. “Sir, two scout units went down and several troopers’ life sensors have gone dead!”

This couldn’t be happening, not to his base! “Send two squads of men and have them fan out and kill anything that moves! Now!”

“Y-yes sir!” The security officer opened a line to the barracks as Hewex turned to his communications officer. “You! Tell TIE Interceptor units Delta Three and Four that they are to immediately break off patrols and search for that rogue scout walker!” The young man nodded, then started punching buttons and twisting dials on his console. Hewex nervously shifted weight from one foot to another. This was supposed to be a cushy assignment . . .

The explosion was all the signal that Spike needed. He blew hard into a trumpet made from some animal horn and suddenly all of the Ewoks that were in their attack force jumped out of their hiding points and began to storm the facility. A veritable flood of fur raced toward several freshly opened holes in the side of the building in the center of the clearing. The tiny Ewoks determinedly fought off the guards, spears outstretched, looking for the points between the armor plates in order to pierce the soft flesh within.

Spike averted his gaze. He wasn’t sure what he’d thought he would feel, but he was sure it wouldn’t have been revulsion. After all, the Imperials had captured his friends and made them into slaves to do their work. But he had no stomach for killing, no matter who was doing it or was a victim of it. Junas noticed.

“I know it’s rough kid, but this is a kill or be killed situation.”

Spike looked at him with determination. “I know.”

They watched as their personal army flew into the base, hoping that they would find Spike’s friends.

“Yee-haw!!”

Applejack never felt so alive as when she felt her hooves connect with her overlord’s chin, sending him crashing into his partner, their remotes flying off and bouncing down the unfinished corridor. Just a few seconds before, she had been cowering in fear, then saw the strangest thing: a pair of . . . teddy bears running through the compound, waving spears and clubs and shouting war chants in a language she couldn’t understand. But they did give her a much needed diversion as she reared back and bucked her former masters harder than anything she’d ever bucked in her life.

As she trotted past the white-armored, knocked out troopers, the orange cow-pony motioned to her own partner, who was busy gawking at Applejack’s fine display of bucking. “C’mon, Pinkie Pie!”

“Right, boss-lady!” Pinkie raced past the fallen troopers and joined her friend at the junction, then the two of them entered the frenzy.

In the large support column for the projector dish, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy were hanging up more cable when a klaxon wailed. They looked down at the floor to see the troopers glance down the corridor at something.

Dash wasn’t about to let this opportunity go to waste.

She nosed into a dive, pumping her wings for added speed, then at the last second she flipped around and slammed her rear hooves into the armor of the nearest trooper, knocking him into the metal floor with in a clatter of white plasteel. The other trooper whipped around, just in time for Rainbow to buck him in the helmet, sending him reeling backward.

Her need for vengeance momentarily sated, she looked up at Fluttershy, who was still hovering a good sixty meters in the air. “Come on, Fluttershy!” The yellow pony floated down, joining her comrade, and they both flew out the access door into the long corridor leading to the facility.

Hewex was spinning and turning, shouting orders and threatening his subordinates.

This shouldn’t be happening. Not on his base.

He whirled around to face the security station. “Security! I want more troops at the rear entrance! Keep those blasted Ewoks from getting in!” The man in black sitting at the console nodded and started issuing commands to the men under his command, and Hewex turned back to look at the main situation monitor. He watched as the red indicating enemy forces slowly bled into the base, flooding the corridors and shoving back the green. He scowled, disgusted that his men were not handling the situation better. Perhaps if he hadn’t ignored the previous commander’s advice to train the men for fighting Ewoks in favor of spending as much time possible on the construction of the base he wouldn’t be in the pickle he was in at the moment.

The past was the past, though. Right now, he had to get this situation under control.

He just didn’t know how in the hell he would do it.

Twilight Sparkle blasted another Stormtrooper with a burst of purple magic energy. The man in white armor fell, a blast mark turning the gleaming armor from white to black. She didn’t kill him; even in this situation she was not going to allow herself to stoop to their level. She was in a corridor with Rarity, fending off laser attacks with her shield, dropping it only to fire off another magenta discharge. They both inched their way toward the junction at the end. Even though they had only been here a couple of days, they knew the base layout well enough to know that a right turn followed by a left and down a couple of corridors would lead them to the prisoner holding cells, where they would find Celestia. As Twilight blocked another deadly barrage of laser fire, she thought about how horrible her teacher had looked that night, how her features looked like they had aged another thousand years. Would the ancient alicorn be able to travel? The lavender unicorn was uncertain, but she was certain that she had to get to Celestia now, while their luck held.

As they blasted the last trooper guarding the corridor and made it to the junction, they looked down the hall and saw Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy fighting off a group of Stormtroopers. Well, Dash was fighting them. Fluttershy was busy trying to avoid being pierced by a stray laser blast. Twilight watched in amazement as the cerulean pegasus swooped and wove through the air, using her extensive knowledge of acrobatics to keep the troopers off-balance and land several well-placed kicks in their heads. As the last trooper fell, the two unicorns galloped over to their pegasi friends.

Twilight looked from one floating pony to the other. “Rainbow Dash! Fluttershy! Have you seen Applejack and Pinkie Pie?”

The lemon pegasus shook her head. “No, we haven’t!”

“Well we gotta go find ‘em! Then we find the princesses!” Dash clopped her hooves together for emphasis.

“Right!” they all said, then the pastel quartet raced down the corridor leading to the prisoner’s quarters.

On the way to the brig, the group ran into Pinkie Pie and Applejack, who had been making their own way there. The two earth-ponies had been battling their share of Stormtroopers, and Pinkie Pie had just bucked the last of the armored men when Twilight rounded the bend and spied them. As soon as they saw each other, Twilight explained the situation, then the six of them raced down the final corridor leading to the prison complex.

Since she was the only one who knew which cell princess Celestia was in, Twilight led the way, racing past iron bars until the group got to the last one. Seeing that the door to the alicorn’s cage was locked tight, the lavender pony began bucking it as hard as she could. Applejack and Rainbow Dash joined her, and soon the joints on the metal lock gave way and the door swung free.

As they all piled into the cell, all of them except Twilight gasped at Celestia’s condition. She wasn’t moving.

Twilight ran up and nudged her teacher with her forehead. “Come on, princess! You can do it! Get up!” She pushed and pushed. Finally, she looked up at her friends. “Don’t just stand there! Help me out!”

The six of them worked together to get Celestia on her hooves. As they did, they felt the great princess add her own strength to the mix, and finally the white beauty was up. The smaller ponies looked up at her with a mix of sadness at her condition and happiness at the thought of their freedom being so close at hand.

She looked down at her subjects. “Thank you, my little ponies. Now, let us find my sister and leave this cursed place!”

They all galloped out of the cell block, making sure to keep pace with the weakened princess.

The group of ponies searched for another cell block amid the fighting going on between the Ewoks and the Stormtroopers, but as their search progressed they found themselves revisiting the same territory several times, checking every door and hatch in case the guardian of the night was being kept in a special place. Eventually they ran out of places to look. Twilight sighed with a distinctly defeated tone.

“It’s no use. There are no other cell blocks. Luna must not be on the base.”

Celestia squeezed her eyes shut to deal with the pain coming from her heart, but when she opened them she wore a look of determination. “They will pay for this.”

She turned and looked down at the bearers of the Elements of Harmony. “Come, my subjects. We will pay a little visit to the base commander and convince him to hand over my sister.”

Hewex was in the middle of issuing a command to double up the forces on the east platform when the door to his command post blew open in a gargantuan ball of magical golden-white energy. The blast knocked him off his feet, and as he looked up he saw the white alicorn he had captured, still weak, but with a look of fire in her eyes rivaling the wrath of Darth Vader himself. As she marched forward, his subordinates raced out of the room, their faces contorted in fear. Hewex fumbled for his blaster, but when he grasped it he found himself being telekinetically hurled with great force against the wall, the irregular features of it bruising his back and threatening to crack his spine.

He groaned in agony at the horrible pain emanating from his backside, pain which was worsened by him being lifted magically off the ground in a gilded aura. He struggled amid the aching to look down at the princess, who was staring at him with focused intent. She brought him right to her face, speaking slowly and dangerously.

“I will only ask this once: where is my sister, Luna?”

The fire burning in her eyes and her voice was made manifest in the form of heat washing over him as the fire of a thousand suns burned in her heart and threatened to consume him in a destructive conflagration which would have put the destruction of Alderaan to shame.

He shook his head. “I-I don’t know!”

“Answer me!!"

The aura was fast becoming a furnace as her anger funneled into it. Sweat poured off his forehead and stung his eyes, and his clothing was starting to smolder in places.

“Please! I don’t know! The Emperor commanded me to send one of you to him! But His Majesty travels the galaxy! I can’t know where . . . he . . . “ The young officer was starting to succumb to the thermal barrage assaulting his body.

Suddenly, the heat faded away and the man was allowed to drop to the ground with a dull thud.

The six ponies stared at their ruler, apparently never having witnessed such pure anger being focused onto a single point like that. Celestia turned and started walking away, her loyal subjects following her. But as she arrived at the former threshold, she paused, then turned and looked at Hewex with eyes that could have flash-vaporized durasteel in a microsecond.

“If I find that you are deceiving me, there won’t be an end to my wrath for you.”

She left him there, smoke rising from his tortured body.

Avenger was not a large Star Destroyer by Imperial standards. In fact, the Imperial-class, to which she belonged, was considered a medium-scale warship in the New Order’s revised fleet catalogue system. Yet she was still a full mile from stem to stern, a slim wedge shape which was capable of focusing all the firepower at her disposal onto a single point in front of the dagger-like prow. Ships of her class were capable of subjugating entire worlds on their own, using their destructive power to threaten them into submission and their enormous size to intimidate dissidents into surrendering themselves out of fear.

Yet still, she was dwarfed by the massive Imperial flagship which she was tasked to escort.

The Executor, the lead starship of the fearsome arrowhead-shaped command ships whose class bore her name, was a monstrous vessel, the longest warship in the Empire save for the Death Stars themselves. A mighty war elephant amongst a flotilla of wolves, she was equipped with the latest deflector shields and was armed with enough weapons to turn a sizable starfleet into a shimmering field of debris in a matter of seconds.

Despite all of this, the people of the galaxy did not fear this ship nearly as much as her master.

Darth Vader was brooding on the command bridge, looking out into space at the greenish marble floating there against a backdrop of a gas giant which gave this star system its name. He could make out the wispy structure floating next to it, the spherical metal shape almost a twisted parody of the beauty of the globe around which it orbited.

Vader mused to himself about how such vessels of destruction were almost quaint in light of the power he and his master possessed. Sith were capable of killing men with a thought, of leveling cities with a whisper, crushing whole star systems with a mere wink. Yet he also understood the need to control the population, and having visible symbols of power could do that better than any single demonstration of Sith might.

As he stood on the command walkway, he thought eagerly about his purpose here.

These eight creatures that he and the Emperor had sensed through The Force mere days ago would be quite useful.

Yes.

Very useful, indeed.

The ponies raced toward the exit of the base. With Celestia on their side, no trooper stood a chance. Every one of them was blasted on sight, a smoking crater being the only thing left of their chests. Twilight was a bit frightened; she had never seen her teacher so vengeful, and it conflicted with the lessons on harmony that Celestia had bestowed on her over the years. It was enough to give her the chills, but she swore to put it out of her mind. This was no time to be worried about her teacher. She and the others had to get out of this place.

When they flew and galloped out of the secret entrance, which was not so secret anymore, they looked and saw Spike motioning them to the edge of the forest. Quickly the seven magnificent ponies moved as fast as they could to meet him, blaster bolts flying past them as the Imperials put up a last-ditch effort to stop them. Suddenly Rainbow Dash let out a painful yelp. Twilight and the others looked back at her to see a massive burn in her side, missing her cutie mark by inches. The rest of them stopped and tried to help her up, but she waved them off. “I’ll be fine! Let’s get out of here!”

As if to punctuate her frantic tone of voice, Applejack took a hit in the shoulder. “Dadgummit! This hurts like Tartarus!”

“Come, ponies!” cried Celestia. “We must make haste before those humans kill one of us!” Twilight and Rarity levitated Rainbow and Applejack, then the group ran as fast as they could to their little purple friend.

As they caught up with Spike, Twilight embraced him in a warm hug. “Spike, thank you so much!”

“Yeah,” said Rainbow Dash, wincing at the pain in her side. “We really owe you one!”

He blushed through his cheek scales. “Ah, c’mon guys! You know you would have done the same for me!”

Junas approached the group. “Look, I love a tearful reunion as much as the next guy, but right now the Imperials probably have reinforcements on the way, so I’d say it would be a good idea to get off this rock and back to the Rebellion.”

Celestia looked at him. “I am quite open to suggestions as to how to accomplish that.”

He looked at her with a half-cocked grin. “How do you think I got here in the first place?”

They followed him through the brush, looking over their shoulders every once in a while as a sound would startle them. Their recent battle to escape their captors had made everyone quite nervous, and their minds were trying to convince them that the Empire was hot on their tails, which may not have been far off from the truth.

Finally Junas led them into a clearing where a huge saucer ship with two wedge-shaped projections and an offset cockpit was sitting, camouflage netting all over the top to keep people from spotting it from the air. With Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy’s help, Junas quickly removed it, then had everybody board his ship for takeoff.

As the metal vehicle took to the skies, the seven ponies rested in the lounge, taking a much needed break from the carnage they so narrowly escaped from. Junas walked into the lounge area carrying a small package and sat down next to Spike on the divan. “This first aid kit has some Bacta patches to tide them over until we can get them to a Bacta tank.” The little dragon opened the package and pulled out some small white squares, and after figuring out how to apply them, he gently adhered them to Rainbow Dash and Applejack, tossing the wrappings in the garbage bin next to the lounge table.

The human scout looked them over. Their faces were worn and their bodies were weary, and he wouldn’t have placed bets on the big one surviving very long with all those wounds. This is why we’re fighting: to keep this from happening to anyone else. He got up off the couch and headed toward the entrance. “Well, if you guys don’t have anything else, I’m going to go initiate the jump to lightspeed.”

“Jump to lightspeed?” Even amid the intense situation, Twilight’s scientific mind was working. “Isn’t it impossible to cross the lightspeed barrier? Equestrian scientists have been quite clear that no particle can go faster than the speed of light, never mind anything as large as your ship.”

Junas scratched his head. “I dunno. I’ve never really thought about it, other than remembering to pull the initiation levers after the coordinates are set.”

“Do you mind if I come with you and watch? I’ve never seen anything go faster than light, and I assume the cockpit has windows.”

He shrugged; he never really let people into his cockpit, but he figured this little pony could use all the distraction from the day’s events that she could get. “Sure. Why not?”

Happily Twilight got up from Applejack’s side and joined Junas as he made his way through the tunnel leading to the cockpit. As he sat down in the chair, he patted the seat next to him. “Come on. I know it’s not really designed for a pony, but you really need to strap in before we make the jump.” She nodded, and when she was seated Junas hit the comm key. “Hey guys, you need to strap yourselves in before we make the jump.” As he waited for the passengers to get buckled in, he began entering a set of coordinates into a small keypad with unfamiliar characters on it.

Twilight watched with intense curiosity, then turned her attention to the controls in front of her. The sheer number of buttons and switches was overwhelming, even for a scientific pony like Twilight. She watched some of the monitors for a couple of seconds. One of them caught her eye.

As she looked at it closer, she realized what it was she was looking at: a threat monitor. The green dot in the center of the screen was obviously the ship, and the red dots quickly approaching it appeared to be anything but friendly.

“Uh, Junas? Are you about done?”

“Just two more numbers to enter, shouldn’t take longer than a few seconds. Why?”

She pointed a hoof at the monitor with a worried look. “Because I think we’re gonna need more than a few seconds.”

He took a closer look at the screen, then swore under his breath. “I don’t suppose you’ve ever operated a laser turret before?”

She shook her head. He grabbed the mike. “Spike! I need you up here now!”

He turned to Twilight. “Sorry kid, but Spike’s gonna have to sit there. Nothing personal, but he's got thumbs.” As Twilight got herself unbuckled and hopped down, Spike came in, panting. “You called?”

Junas pointed at the chair. “Get in and flip that set of switches over there!” The little purple dragon did as he was told, and suddenly the big screen in front of him switched to a view of the stars with a pair of crosshairs, a small laser charge indicator, and a diagram of an approaching TIE Fighter. Spike looked up at him, confused. “What the hay am I supposed to do with this?”

“Keep our tail in one piece until I can enter the last two coordinates!”

Immediately Spike understood. He grabbed the silver control column in front of him, and suddenly the screen shifted its field of view as the turret on top of the hull swiveled in response to his commands. As he got used to it, a beeping noise alerted them to the presence of four Imperial fighters, the cockpit speakers mimicking their wail to compensate for the lack of sound in space.

Spike tracked one of them with his gun, lining up his sights. As he did, laser bolts flew past the canopy, accompanied by a report that sounded a lot like the laser bolts they’d heard back on the ground. The little dragon jumped back in his seat, startled by the sudden appearance of deadly laser energy. Junas however was short on patience. “Kid, get back on the controls! You gotta keep us alive long enough for me to finish the calculations for the jump to lightspeed!”

Spike nodded, swallowed hard, then grabbed the controls. He maneuvered the gun to line up the sights with an incoming fighter. The H-shaped machine was letting loose a barrage of green bolts which were missing the ship by only a meter. Quickly Spike opened fire on the tiny spacecraft, and as his blasts connected he was rewarded by the sight of the little ship exploding into a billowing cloud of incandescent gas and shards of metal.

He smiled, then turned his focus to another ship coming in to their position. The fighter was closing fast, its guns blazing green. Spike carefully lined up his shot, then was surprised when the ship lurched, sending him out of the seat, the gun swinging wildly in response to his attempts to right himself by grabbing the controls. He glared at Junas. “You wanna keep her steady, dude?”

“It wasn’t me! They hit us!”

Spike cringed with embarrassment at his misplaced anger, then got back in the seat. He started firing wildly, and when his barrage impacted the aggressor and sent it hurtling into space, he let out a cheer.

“Don’t start celebrating yet, kid. There are still two more of them out there.” The baby dragon rolled his eyes, then started maneuvering his gun around, trying to located the other ships. As he did, Junas hit the “Enter” key on his keypad. “Now we just gotta wait to get the coordinates from the navicomputer.”

Twilight watched as Spike wrestled the controls, having found another target. The screen flared red as bolts of laser energy lanced out, and suddenly the center of the screen erupted in a blaze of thermal energy. She was a bit concerned that this human was using a baby dragon to do his fighting, both here and on the ground below, but as they were being chased by an enemy determined to end their lives, she was going to hold back her diatribe about using children in warfare for the time being.

The cockpit shuddered with a tremendous thud. As they recovered, Spike looked at his screen in alarm. “Uh, Junas? Why is the screen all fuzzy?”

Junas looked at the static on the monitor, and uttered another curse. “The gun’s gone. Flip those controls down again and hit that switch there. It’ll give you control of the ship.”

“ME?!” Spike’s eyes went wide. “I’ve never flown a ship before!”

“Good time to learn. Besides, I still need to finish these calculations, and you’re in the co-pilot’s seat!” The lurch of a laser blast punctuated his words.

Spike reluctantly nodded, then did as he was told.

The dragon guided the ship like a child behind the wheel of his first landspeeder, bobbing and weaving, lurching and dodging, keeping the last fighter from scoring another hit. Junas for his part was biting his lip at the curse that threatened to escape it and cut at Spike, as his hands were being shaken hard enough to make entering anything into the keypad extremely difficult. But he knew that all this maneuvering was keeping them alive, so he kept his composure and finally got confirmation from the computer that the coordinates were all set.

“That’s it! Get in the seat, Twilight, I’m about to make the jump to lightspeed!”

Twilight hopped up and braced herself. As she did, Junas grabbed a set of silver levers in the center of the console, initiating the jump process.

Suddenly a burning, stabbing pain hit her horn. She muscled past it long enough to see the stars elongate into streaks, melding and melting into a beautiful blue display: a hyperspace tunnel.

The beauty of the scene was tempered by Twilight’s curiosity about her horn’s sudden burst of pain. Why would it flare up like that during a . . . what had Junas called it? Jump to lightspeed? Was it an effect of crossing the lightspeed barrier? Neither Spike nor Junas seemed to be affected by it, so that was ruled out. Maybe her magic was somehow responsible, but how or why she couldn’t tell.

She sighed quietly, then resigned to being in the dark until she had more information.

After staring at the swirling realm of hyperspace for a few seconds more, the purple pony got up out of the flight couch and walked back to the lounge area to join her friends. After days of torturous slavery, it was good to finally be reunited and able to relax with the best friends a pony could ask for.

Hewex was aware of a presence over him.

After being nearly roasted alive by that horse, he had fainted. Hardly the actions of a brave officer in the Imperial Navy, but then again, he did manage to lose an entire base.

So when he looked up and saw the foreboding figure of Darth Vader standing over him, that black mask and mechanical breathing sending chills down his spine, he knew his fate was to join his ancestors in whatever afterlife awaited him.

“Get up.” The command was growled out, the timbre of the voice darker than he remembered from past encounters with the Dark Lord, indicating his displeasure at Hewex’s conduct.

The young officer rose to his feet, coming to attention. As he did, he felt pressure on his throat from some invisible force, which got tighter and tighter until he was no longer breathing. He fought to get oxygen to his lungs, but to no avail.

“You have failed me, Major. I do not tolerate failure in the Emperor’s Navy.”

Hewex was clawing at his throat, his vision getting blurry and his lungs burning.

Just as suddenly as it began however, the grip ceased. He fell to his knees, sucking in sweet air like he had never taken a breath in his life. He looked up amid his gasping as Vader stared down at him. “However, I am more forgiving than the Emperor. I will let you live.” The black-clad cyborg paused. “If you tell me why you let them escape.”

Hewex was perplexed and a bit insulted. Let them escape? But he guessed that a humble attitude would be more prudent than giving Lord Vader a piece of his mind. “I apologize, Lord Vader. I was attempting to detain them in order to present them to you, rather than killing them. My men did manage to wound two of them, and the fighters under my command tried to disable their ship, but they jumped to lightspeed shortly after their shields were defeated. We have an escape vector, but as the Rebels are known for micro-jumping multiple times to avoid capture, it would most likely be futile to pursue them.”

The Dark Lord made no sound for several tense seconds.

“Very well. But know this: the Emperor wanted those creatures. The reason is not something for you to know. Continue to repair and rebuild this base, Major.”

He turned and strode out of the control room. As Hewex was breathing a silent sigh of relief, Vader coldly uttered, “But do not fail me again.”

Refugees

Chapter 13

“Junas Turner was the first indication that the galaxy was not inhabited solely by thugs and soldiers. He helped us when nobody else would, offered the use of his spacecraft, and it was his blaster that defended us on more than one occasion. He absolutely deserves a stained glass portrait in Canterlot Castle, though I'm not sure I trust the glasscutters to get his appearance right, since they've never seen a human.”

-Twilight Sparkle, On Extra-Galactic Voyages, p. 275

Trips through hyperspace are a regular occurrence in the galaxy. Even before the formation of the Republic, ships blazed great hyperspace routes from star system to star system, like ancient mariners trying to find faster routes through the seas of their worlds in order to make commerce cheaper and more efficient.

But like roads on terrestrial worlds or skyways on gas giants, there were major highways through the galaxy: the Corellian Run, the Perlemian Trade Route, the Hydian Way. These well-traveled hyperlanes are the fastest way to get from point A to point B in the galaxy.

Which is why Junas was avoiding them like the plague.

For those routes, and others which were less-traveled but still important, were sure to contain Interdictor Cruiser patrols. Junas had been in the Alliance long enough to know that the captains of those ships were not known for their patience, and were always thorough when searching a captured ship. He’d heard plenty of tales of captains who were unexpectedly pulled out of hyperspace by the enormous gravity-well projectors on the Interdictor, which would trigger the failsafe system on the hyperdrive and cut it out prematurely. Their ships would be towed into the hangar bay on the wedge-shaped warship via tractor beam and gone over by the Imperials with a fine-tooth comb, their goal usually to locate and seize contraband.

Ponies wanted by the Galactic Empire would probably fall into that category.

Junas was in the pilot’s seat, his control board colored blue by the swirling vortex of the hyperspace tunnel they were occupying, his mind going over every star chart he had ever read, trying to think of a suitable route to Bestine from Endor. With over twelve million inhabited star systems though, finding a route that would not take them past an Imperial-aligned world was a major challenge indeed.

His computer was of no help. All navicomputers manufactured in the galaxy, no matter how old, were invariably linked via subspace radio to BoSS, the Bureau of Ships and Services. While BoSS was not technically an Imperial ministry or department, it was still locked into the most well-traveled routes, and those routes inevitably took him past an Imperial world at some point. No matter how he phrased his query, the computer would always take him to the Empire, and since his ship’s type, the Corellian Engineering Corporation YT-1300f, was known to be used frequently by the Rebellion for smuggling and gun-running due to its speed and agility, he would surely be stopped and searched.

No, he would have to do this the old-fashioned way.

Luckily part of his training as a Rebel scout was how to plot routes through hyperspace. It wasn’t complicated, just very, very tedious. The idea was to compute backwards the location of the stars around the ship in order to compensate for the time lag between where the star was when the light was transmitted and where it was currently, using the star maps to get the exact distance and using that to calculate the jump coordinates.

But still, there were over 400 billion stars in the galaxy, 180 million of which were inhabited and 12 million of which were part of the Empire. He truly had his work cut out for him. He took another sip of the now cold caf that he had the auto-chef make for him and went back to his flimsiplast map, using a grease pencil to mark out possible routes.

“Let’s see . . . I could . . . no, that system’s got three asteroid belts. Too hazardous for me. Maybe . . . yeah, I could swing past . . . no, that’s too close to Bespin . . .”

He scratched his head. He never had to do this usually, so he was a bit out of practice. Alliance Intelligence usually provided him with a route. But now he had people . . . er, ponies depending on him. He had to get this right.

The first time.

As he erased the latest error in planning, Twilight Sparkle joined him in the cockpit, hopping up in the copilot’s chair. He looked over at her, noting how the blue maelstrom outside the canopy intensified her pale lavender coat and indigo mane, elevating her already pretty appearance to a level rivaling Rarity.

She looked at the map he had spread over the console. “Are those star charts?”

He nodded. “Yeah, and right now I’m wracking my brain trying to plan a route to Bestine. That’s a planet in the Inner Rim of the galaxy, right up next to the Core. The proximity to the Imperial throne worlds isn’t important. They’ve got a cell on that world that I know of, and we can use them to find my home base.”

The unicorn’s brow furrowed. “Can’t you just call your home base on your radio?”

“No. The Empire would intercept any transmissions. I could actually send messages through this hyperspace tunnel using the Holonet, but the equipment to do that is controlled by the Empire.”

Twilight nodded, then turned her gaze toward the hypnotizing blue display in front of her. She watched as the swirling colors flew past, their shapes resembling a cross between crumpled paper and azure clouds of gas. “It’s so beautiful.”

He nodded. “Many a spacer has been hypnotized by it. In fact, early ships had shields over the windows to keep hyperspace scouts from becoming enraptured and refusing to exit hyperspace.”

The unicorn slowly shook her head, marveling at the revelation, yet understanding completely why they would choose never to exit such a place. The two of them looked out the window for a long while, letting the beauty of the otherworldly realm melt over them, a stark contrast to the last few horrible days.

Finally Twilight got up. “I better go check on Rainbow Dash and Applejack.”

“And I better get back to calculating our route.” Junas turned around and began plotting again, and Twilight walked out of the cockpit toward the main hold.

“Let’s see, if I . . .”

He paused.

Then he set his pencil down and looked back up at the vortex.

“Hmm . . . it really is beautiful.”

Twilight stepped down out of the concentric corridor and into the large main hold which doubled as the ship’s lounge area. She rounded the table in front of the couch and sat down next to Celestia on the hard metal grating making up most of the floor. Pinkie Pie was off in another corner of the ship, exploring and taking everything in like a filly, making sure to heed Junas’ warning not to touch anything. Rarity was in the ‘fresher, getting her mane and hooves back to acceptable standards by using the tools she found in the maintenance bay as best she could to accomplish the task. Fluttershy was sitting alone in a corner of the room, wearing an expression of sadness and betrayal on her face, which Twilight was sure had to do with that droid’s betrayal. Applejack and Rainbow Dash were taking up the couch, doing their best to maintain a facade of toughness, but a careful glance would reveal how much pain they were in. As a practitioner of magic, Twilight had been the recipient of many back-blasts and ricochets, and she imagined a gunshot wound in this universe was similarly painful and just as difficult to heal.

She stole a look at their bandages. Even though they had been changed recently, they were now almost soaked with blood. Twilight knew that if they didn’t get medical attention soon they would probably perish from loss of blood. She had asked Junas why he didn’t have more extensive medical facilities on his ship, but he apologetically explained that because the Rebel Alliance was always a credit or two short, they didn’t always have the equipment to spare from the front lines.

As long as her friends didn’t move very much though, they would be okay until they arrived at their next destination.

Which would be acceptable to anypony but Rainbow Dash. When Twilight had explained that she would have to lay still in order to keep the wound from opening up any more than it had, the blue pegasus had protested profusely, and it took Applejack bringing up the fact that she needed to heal in order to have a hope of flying with the Wonderbolts when she got back home to get her to calm down enough to sit on the couch at all.

Twilight sighed. They were together, but the situation was anything but victorious.

Luna was gone, two of their team were seriously wounded, and without the princesses to raise the sun and moon their world would soon be uninhabitable.

Still, she had to keep her spirits up. So she did was she did best. She started talking.

“I wonder how long it’ll be before we get there.”

Nobody responded to her feeble attempt to begin a conversation. She couldn’t blame them, but they needed to cheer up so that they wouldn’t fall into despondency.

“Come on, guys. We need to cheer up a bit, don’t you think?”

This attempt had no more success than before.

Twilight sighed, then got up and addressed them all. “Look, I know we’re all worn and weary, but we need to keep our spirits up!”

“That’s easy for you to say, Twilight.” Rainbow Dash lifted her head to look at her friend. “You didn’t just get shot by an Imperial goon.”

Pinkie Pie, who had just bounced back from her little exploratory mission, nodded in agreement. “And look at poor Fluttershy! She’s barely said a word since we left! It’s like her mouth doesn’t work anymore!”

“And I know exactly why,” said Dash with a flare of anger. “It was that traitor, R2-D8.”

By this time Spike had awakened from his nap and was walking through the main corridor toward the lounge area. “What was that about R2-D8?”

“He betrayed us! That thing was working for the Empire the whole time! Of course, I knew he couldn’t be trusted.”

Applejack rolled her eyes at Rainbow. “Ya coulda brought it up, y’know.”

“Yeah? And who would’ve believed me? You were all just fine with letting that thing lead you around the forest!”

Spike raised his hands. “Hold on! Hold on! You mean R2-D8 was working for the Empire?”

“Didn’t you hear me? The little pile of horseapples was a bad guy the whole time!” She winced a bit as the pain in her side kept her from launching into the air in anger.

Twilight shook her head. “It just doesn’t make any sense! He didn’t have any reason to betray us!”

Dash scowled. “Twilight, come on! He didn’t need a reason! He was a spy!”

“Girls! Please!”

They all turned and looked at Celestia as she spoke. “I think our time would be better served discussing the present rather than the past.”

“I can help a little with that,” said Junas, who had returned from the cockpit. “We’re presently on course toward Bestine by way of Qat Chrystac. I don’t expect you to know what I’m talking about, but suffice it to say that we can get your friends to a medical facility soon.”

“Yeah, and I bet we’re on every wanted poster in the universe at this point!” Dash slumped. “All because of that stupid droid.”

Spike was still confused. “I still don’t understand how R2-D8 could have betrayed us. I mean, he seemed alright.”

Junas was apologetic. “If that droid was aligned with the Empire they could have programmed him to betray you very easily.”

“But darling,” said Rarity. “Fluttershy made friends with him!”

The Rebel scout took on a serious expression. “Let me explain something to you about Imperial droids. They are bound by the strongest programming in the galaxy to obey their Imperial masters. They are mind-wiped frequently in order to keep them from developing a personality, and in all likelihood that machine was wiped the moment it rolled into their base after bringing you six to the Empire’s doorstep. Despite your friend feeling like she was having a conversation with a living, breathing thing, all she did was lead you all straight into an Imperial trap.”

They all wore shocked and horrified expressions. Twilight was especially downtrodden. “How can they just wipe their minds? Those machines have personalities! They have feelings!” She paused. “Don’t they?”

Junas shook his head. “I’m afraid not. Imperial droids are usually devoid of personality. The one you encountered though was an infiltration unit. R2-units are an astromech droid, a type of computer-repair and astrogation droid, but this one was reprogrammed to be a spy. They probably picked it because the R2-series droid has an aesthetically pleasing shape and a vulnerable appearance.”

They all let the information sink in. Twilight then glanced at Fluttershy, a sympathetic expression forming on her face. That poor pony. How can anypony do something like this to somepony like Fluttershy? She forced back a wave of revulsion and anger, then turned around and sat back down next to Celestia. The older pony nuzzled her student. “Do not let the need for vengeance cloud your judgment, my little pony.”

Twilight looked up at her teacher and nodded with a weak smile. As soon as Celestia had turned her head however, Twilight let her smile fade into a sad frown, then laid down for some much-needed sleep.

Space was parted in a microsecond and time was folded in on itself as the YT-1300 within which the nine rebels were traveling burst from hyperspace into realspace. The saucer-shaped vessel sped through the system, burning its engines until it came to a small planet with a moon orbiting it. The planet had no name as far as Junas knew, just a number assigned to it by ancient cartographers, and it had a highly toxic and corrosive atmosphere, so it was unsuitable to land on. The moon was airless, but it would prove easier to alight.

Guiding the small vessel over the terrain, Junas extended the landing pads and set the ship gently at the bottom of a giant crater, the gray surface providing camouflage for his ship.

As he switched off the cockpit controls, he headed back into the engineering section. He wouldn’t have needed to stop at all if the primary coolant tank didn’t show pressure loss. Without that coolant, the engine would overheat and they would either explode as the reactor went super-critical, or the hyperdrive would be lost and they would be stuck in hyperspace forever, unable to engage the engine and cross the hyper-plane into realspace.

On the way back he stopped by the maintenance bay to retrieve his tool belt, which shouldn’t have taken more than a few seconds. It wasn’t where he left it, however. “Pinkie Pie . . .” he muttered. That airheaded pony probably grabbed the tool belt and did something with it. He went back through the concentric corridor to the main hold where the ponies were sleeping and approached the pink party pony.

As she woke up she looked up at him with a smile. “Oh! Hi, Junas!”

“Pinkie, do you have any idea where my tool belt is?”

She looked confused. “Tool belt? I haven’t seen any tool belt.”

“Well you were hopping around the ship yesterday. I thought perhaps you might have taken it.”

The pony looked slightly offended. “I wouldn’t take your tool belt! You should ask Rarity. She was using some of the tools on her hooves, trying to get them pretty again.”

He sighed. “Thanks.”

Turning toward the other end of the hold, he walked toward the starboard crew cabin, where the white unicorn was using the captain’s bed, the most comfortable bed on the ship, to get her beauty sleep.

He walked down the corridor, past the cockpit, turret ladder, and boarding ramp until he got to the door next to the engineering section, which was where his personal quarters were. He didn’t mind the pony using his bed, provided she didn’t touch anything else. Like his tool belt.

He opened the door and strode over to the cubby in the wall containing the bed and its occupant. He gently shoved her shoulder. “Rarity?”

The pony turned her head to look at him.

What stared back at him was a horrifying, wrinkly green face with blank, light-green eyes. “What the FORCE?!” He jumped back so suddenly that he lost his balance and ended up sprawled on the floor, backing up as quickly as possible toward the wall.

Rarity removed the cucumbers from her eyes and looked at him with a bemused expression. “Honestly darling, haven’t you ever seen a lady with a mud mask on?”

Junas shook his head, trying to make his eyes believe that the voice he was hearing belonged to the same pony he had seen before. “Er, uh . . . no. Why are you doing that? I thought you spent a good hour in the ‘fresher yesterday trying to scrub the mud out of your coat.”

She rolled her eyes. “My dear, there is a difference between a mud mask and just plain old mud.”

“Fair enough, but how did you get mud out here in the middle of nowhere?”

She smiled excitedly. “Oh, it was nothing really! I just took a few basic ingredients from that wonderful machine in the lounge and found some cucumber slices in the refrigerator.”

Junas raised an eyebrow in disbelief. “So basically you’re wearing our food supply?”

Rarity’s face switched from excitement to sarcasm. “Well it’s not like I used the entire supply. One’s face simply can’t go –”

“Okay, fine. But what did you do with the tools you borrowed?”

“Oh! Silly me! I have them right here.” She hopped off the bunk, trotted to the closet, then opened the door and retrieved the tool belt. “You really should keep these clean, darling. I spent a good five minutes spitting out grease and oil after I grabbed the rasp with my mouth to file my hooves.”

Junas bit back a retort about how tools don’t generally need to be kept sparkling clean, then headed back to the engine room to deal with the coolant tank.

After wrestling with the tank and its pumping mechanism before discovering that the problem was with the pressurizer, Junas headed back to the cockpit to get back in the skies, passing Twilight Sparkle on the way there. “Hello, Junas! Why did we stop?”

“Had a problem with the engine cooling system, but I took care of it.”

“The cooling system, eh? Is it a Freon-based system, or something utilizing a glycol product?”

He looked at the pony, surprised that the she would know anything about starship cooling systems. “Um, actually my ship uses non spin-sealed Tibanna gas. But it’s related to glycol, being an organic compound.”

“Fascinating!” The twinkle in her eye amused him; this pony was really intelligent!

She continued. “So where are we headed next? I’m kind of anxious to get out of this ship.”

“Me, too. Out next stop will be on a refueling outpost where we’ll refill the tanks, then we’ll be off to Qat Chrystac.” They rounded the bend and entered the cockpit. Junas sat down in the pilot’s seat and Twilight hopped into the copilot’s chair and buckled herself in.

As the human started initiating the ship’s startup sequence, Twilight gazed out the window to the stars surrounding them. “This is one of my favorite things to do.”

Junas looked up at her. “What’s that?”

“Stargaze. I can name every star in the night sky back home, and the planets in our solar system.” She put her elbows on the console and her hooves up to her chin to support it as she continued staring out into space. “But even on the clearest summer nights the stars don’t shine with this amount of clarity.”

He smiled at her enthusiasm. “A lack of atmosphere tends to have that effect. But once we take off, the glare from the sun will wash out the stars, so I would enjoy this while you can.”

She nodded.

After several minutes of waiting for the engine systems to warm up and the reactor core to get up to full reactivity, Junas released the landing claw that had been keeping them from bouncing along the moon’s low-gravity surface and hit the repulsorlifts, sending the ship rocketing toward the edge of the system for the jump to lightspeed.

“Looks like the navicomputer has finished the calculations. You ready for the jump, kid?”

A look of concern shot across Twilight’s face.

“Hey. You alright?”

She nodded. “Yes, I’m fine. Let’s get under way.”

He paused, unsure if she was holding back something, but then he shrugged and pulled the levers to initiate the jump to lightspeed.

Immediately Twilight grabbed her forehead with her hooves, squeezing her eyes shut at the intense pain in her forehead. “Agh!”

Junas grew concerned. “Hey, kid! Twilight!”

She waved him off. “I’m fine. This happened the last time we jumped to lightspeed. I’ll be alright in a minute.”

He frowned. “Hyperspace jumps don’t normally affect people like this.”

She managed to open one eye through the massive migraine she was suffering. “You mean this isn’t normal?”

He shook his head. “No, it’s not. I mean, yes, some species have problems with hyperspace, but they don’t usually cause pain like this, merely discomfort.”

As the pain faded to a level which she could deal with, she wondered if the princess would know something about this. “I’ll be right back. Celestia could help me understand what’s going on.”

Twilight gingerly got up and out of the copilot’s chair and walked back to the main hold.

The sun goddess was currently projecting a healing aura on Rarity, which she had just gotten through with using on herself. This was the second time a searing pain had entered her forehead through her horn, and it happened whenever this human’s vessel made a jump to lightspeed.

This was a bit of a concern. Was this an effect of a pony going faster than light? Did it pose a risk to their ability to use magic?

She looked up from her healing spell to see Twilight Sparkle entering the room. The student looked at her teacher. “You guys too, huh?”

The white alicorn nodded. “Yes, Rarity and I have been experiencing intense pain whenever this ship jumps to hyperspace. In all my years, I have never encountered anything like this.”

Rarity rubbed her forehead, glad that the princess knew of a healing spell. “Neither have I. It’s a most dreadful phenomenon.”

Twilight rubbed her chin thoughtfully. “I wonder what could possibly cause this.” She looked at her mentor. “Princess, do you have any idea why jumping to hyperspace would give ponies a headache like this?”

The great alicorn shook her head. “No, I’m afraid not, my student. I truly have never heard of a phenomenon such as this. But you would be wrong to assume it affects all ponies.” She pointed to Applejack and Rainbow Dash, who were napping on the couch. “Earth ponies and pegasi are not bothered at all by it, so I conclude that it only affects practitioners of magic.”

Twilight narrowed her eyes and nodded thoughtfully. “Yes, and that must be why Spike wasn’t bothered either.” She looked back up at the princess. “Could it be that going faster than the speed of light hurts our magic in some way, like maybe a drain in our potential?”

“I do not think so, my faithful student, but we must consider all possibilities.”

“I should certainly hope not,” said Rarity. “I don’t think I could stand it if this happened every time we did that!”

“Me too, Rarity,” said Twilight with a hint of concern. She shared her teacher’s fear that this might hinder their ability to use magic. What if every jump drained them somehow of magical power?

Then again, this might just be a baseless concern. It might simply be a side effect of their technology. But the fact that it only affected unicorns still bothered her.

She shook it off, then decided to make a few laps of the ship. The exercise would do her some good and clear her mind a bit. Besides, she was getting a little stir-crazy being bottled up in this metal canister for days on end, and the activity would take her mind off the monotony.

As she walked the circular path that led to every part of the ship, she began to wonder, not about her current magical conundrum, but the whereabouts of Princess Luna. Hewex had said she was bound for the Emperor himself. It was clear why he wanted the princess: if reports of their magical abilities had reached him, he would stop at nothing to control them, and Luna, being one of the most powerful alicorns who ever lived, would certainly fulfill whatever devious plan he had in mind for them.

Twilight began to mull over what she’d heard of him as she walked.

Apparently he was a human senator from a world known as Naboo who was elected to the most powerful position in the galaxy, then declared himself Emperor and took control of the population by force. This alone was enough to give Twilight a bit of trepidation, but she had read some books in the limited ship’s library contained on the main computer, and the history book mentioned speculation that the Emperor was a member of a cult known as The Sith. Sith were able to use a metaphysical entity known as The Force to manipulate their environment, not for good, but for evil. They were selfish, cold, calculating, and ambitious, and their aim was total galactic domination.

This Emperor had apparently achieved such.

Twilight shuddered. This galaxy was such a terrible place! And its ruler was as ruthless as Chrysalis and as powerful as Discord.

Oh Luna . . . may whatever gods operate in this universe watch over you.

She had long since stopped bucking at the dense durasteel walls that made up her prison.

Not only did her hooves ache, but her leg muscles were burning as well.

But still, she remained resolute and determined to resist succumbing to her intense feelings of loneliness and hopelessness.

Luna paced back and forth in her small four meter square holding cell aboard the Imperial prison ship Damnation. She was quite confident that she would be rescued by her sister and the bearers of the Elements of Harmony, but for the time being she endured the cramped cell and lousy food.

The destination was not known to her, only that someone who called himself Emperor Palpatine wanted her, for purposes unknown.

The pain from her interrogation had thankfully ceased. These Imperials were going to pay for what they’ve done to her and her sister Celestia.

Oh Celestia . . .

They’d had such a short amount of time to spend together before being brusquely awakened and brutally tortured for information. And now they were separated by who knows how much distance.

She shed a tear at the thought. Nopony should have to be separated from their sister like this.

Nopony.

Luna’s rage at her captors built up in the form of a navy blue aura at the tip of her horn, and then lashed out.

The only thing keeping her from becoming the victim of her own barrage was the quick shield she threw up to catch the blast. She of course knew it would happen, but needed the release.

Something had been blocking her magic since she was first captured. Even when they were awakened she could feel that something was amiss and that she wouldn’t be able to use her magical abilities to defeat this Empire. But she could not figure out how these non-magical humans had managed to develop technology to defeat magic.

It was no matter now, though.

She was still in a prison ship, and was still being hauled toward an unknown destination for an unknown purpose.

And no matter how royal you are, no matter how old or regal you may be, fear of the unknown is one of the most powerful of them all.

As the YT-1300 transport popped out of hyperspace, Twilight noted that the pain was less intense than before. This was a good sign. Perhaps she was getting used to whatever ill effects the jump to hyperspace produced. She took comfort in the fact that her magic was still just as strong as ever, which meant that whatever was causing the pain just needed to be muscled through.

She watched Junas as he deftly maneuvered the spacecraft through an asteroid belt, its lazy occupants drifting serenely through the black ocean upon which he sailed, and then as suddenly as they entered, they exited and headed toward a bright dot far toward the middle of the system. Twilight noted that the dot was not something she was actually looking at, but rather a projection of some sort of building or maybe a machine floating in the void. She figured Junas would know what it was.

“That? That’s fuel station Ergo, where we’re going to top off the tanks before we head to Qat Chrystac. It is under Imperial control, but security is a bit lax, so we shouldn’t worry about them searching the ship or anything. I’ll just play it cool, get some fuel, and get out. No worries.”

She nodded in agreement, but still caught the edge of concern in his tone, and she could guess why. In her time at Canterlot, with her special relationship with princess Celestia and he brother being Captain of the Royal Guard, she knew enough about security procedures that there would be a “Be On Look Out” for all of them after that incident on Endor.

Still, she had to trust that Junas knew what he was doing. This was his galaxy, after all. Maybe the Empire didn’t send out reports this far out of the way, or maybe they thought that the ponies were in another portion of space. Whatever the case, Twilight trusted the human to get them safely to the Rebel Alliance, where they would have the firepower and resources to rescue Luna from whatever evil plan the Emperor had in store for her.

As she was pondering this, she watched as the station got bigger and bigger, and she could see that it was shaped roughly like a giant spoked wheel: three inner arms surrounded a massive core with fuel tanks exposed and hanging underneath. A ring wrapped around those arms, and six docking bays resided along the edges of that. Above it all a control center watched over everything.

“I sure hope you know what you’re doing, Junas.”

He gave her a cocky grin. “Don’t worry, this isn’t the first time a Rebel ship has landed here.”

The docking controller asked for identification, which Junas provided (faked, of course), then after clearance was granted he gently guided his spacecraft toward the designated hangar, right up until the tractor beam locked on and started towing them in. Twilight gasped as the energy beam gave the hull a shudder.

“Relax, it’s just the automatic landing system.”

She gave him an apologetic grin, but still wish he had given her at least a little warning that that would happen.

The Rebel spacecraft was guided past a small menagerie of vehicles and vessels toward a bare parking spot in the fuel stained landing bay, and a slight shudder shook the ship as the landing gear made contact and depressed. Junas flipped a few switches and shut down the ship, then turned and headed toward the entry ramp. As he did he turned his head toward Twilight. “Better get in the engine room. The residual heat from the reactor should mask your signature. Tell Celestia and the others to do the same.”

She nodded, then started walking to the main hold.

Junas paced a bit as he waited for the fuel pumps to deliver precious liquid metal to his starved baby. He had been flying on fumes since he left Endor, which was the only reason he had chosen an Imperial fuel depot. Ergo may be in the middle of nowhere and the home of smugglers, but it was still the only place within range of the last of his fuel supply. Nevertheless, beginning to pace after only just starting the fuel transfer process might look a bit suspicious, so he mentally forced himself to calm down, choosing instead to focus his attention on the designs of the ships in the hangar bay with him.

He was in the middle of examining an old Verpine Adventurer when he heard the fuel pump shut off. He frowned; it usually took at least five minutes to fill up the tanks on his ship.

He walked over to the pump machinery and hit the call button. A young voice answered.

“Yes?”

“Station control, I’ve got a fuel pump malfunction here. Can you send someone to check on it?”

“Uh, yes, that appears to be a computer problem, pilot. We’ve got someone working on it right now. Just hold still until we get it solved, okay?”

The tense tone of the young man on the other end told him that he was probably being forced to say that at gunpoint. Junas knew better than to simply fly out of the hangar; patrolling Star Destroyers would surely make mincemeat out of his vessel. Still, it was either that or stay here and pray the Imperial interrogation officer would be in a good mood. He pressed the comm. key.

“No problem, control. Just let me know when you get it fixed, okay?”

He threw up his hands in a gesture he hoped looked like a frustrated spacer tired of getting the short end of the Imperial stick, then walked up the ramp. As soon as he was clear of the entryway and any prying eyes that might look up the ramp, he raced back to the engine room. Twilight and Rarity were helping Rainbow Dash and Applejack to get as close to the reactor as possible, while Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and Celestia were already kneeling next to it. Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow at his sudden appearance. “What’s going on? I thought you were supposed to be getting fuel for this thing!”

“There’s been a change of plans. Apparently the Empire knows who we are, and are preparing to seize this ship. I gotta get us out of here, but it may be another bumpy ride.”

Applejack nodded. “As long as we get to safety,” she said with a wince, “and preferably to some sorta hospital, it don’t really matter how bumpy the ride is, sugarcube.”

He nodded, then raced back to the cockpit.

As he sat down, he noticed a pair of Stormtroopers at the entrance to the hangar bay, gesturing at his ship. Apparently his guess had been right, but they were not moving particularly quickly so maybe they didn’t know that he knew. That gave him an edge.

After initiating the startup sequence, he quickly ran back to his quarters where he kept his personal weapons collection. It wasn’t much, but it did have a small selection of hand grenades.

The two Stormtroopers at the entrance, who were waiting for reinforcements, never knew what hit them. The concussion grenades that Junas threw at them from the boarding ramp landed just inches away, and the troopers barely had time to scream before the charge blew and everything within a five meter radius was flattened by the blast wave produced by the grenades, including some fusion generators lying around. Their magnetic bottles decoupled, and the highly energetic contents within them made contact with the atmosphere, detonating in a white-hot explosion that sent shards of metal as well as gamma radiation flying all over the hangar. Luckily, Junas had ducked back into the ship before the resulting shrapnel tore through him as well.

He raced to the cockpit, passing Rarity on the way. “I don’t mean to be rude, darling, but could we have done without the explosion? My nerves simply can’t take much more of that.”

He shot her a sarcastic look. “Lady, you’re definitely going to experience a few more of those before we get to the Alliance.”

The scowl she huffed at him fell on deaf ears as he rounded the bend in the corridor and leaped into the pilot’s chair, flipping switches and initiating systems as quickly as he could.

Twilight and Rarity joined him in the cockpit, getting into the chairs and fastening the safety restraints clumsily. “I sure hope you know what you’re doing,” muttered Twilight.

Junas ignored her as he waited for the main reactor to ignite. He did a bit of calculation in his head and figured that he didn’t get more than a couple dozen liters of fuel before the Imperials shut off the pumps. Still, it was more than he’d had at Endor, and the hyperdrive would barely sip the fuel compared to how the ion drives gulped it.

As soon as the readout indicated that the fuel mix was balanced and the reactor output was at peak, he hit the repulsors and shoved the throttle forward violently, and they were all forced back in their seats as the acceleration compensator struggled to cancel out the sudden onset of inertial resistance.

The small freighter shot out of the hangar bay, its engines flaring white hot as Junas put the pedal to the metal. Yet again he was being forced to wait on the navicomputer to finish calculating a safe trajectory and feed him a set of coordinates.

“Do you think we’ll make it?” The fear in Twilight’s voice was evident.

“Not if they have anything to say about it.” Junas pointed out the cockpit window toward two Imperial Star Destroyers on an intercept course.

“There’s another one coming up behind us. He’ll be in weapons range in a few seconds.”

The sentence was punctuated by a loud thump on the hull as a shot from their pursuer impacted their aft shields.

“Or not.”

Junas scowled; these guys sure didn’t give up easy.

He spun the ship violently, then banked away, causing the Imperial cruiser’s guns to go wide. Their aim was quickly corrected, and several shots flew past the canopy.

“Come on you damn machine! Where are those coordinates?!”

Right on cue, the screen in front of him lit up with a list of numbers. “Just needed some love.” He turned to the pony sitting next to him. “Twilight, I need you to take control of the ship while I enter these into the computer.”

She nodded nervously, but if Spike could do it, she could too. She wrapped her hooves around the silver yoke, wedging the sticks into her fetlocks, then placed her rear hooves on the rudder pedals. She had to stretch a bit; the cockpit was designed with the humanoid frame in mind. But she was able to get into a reasonably comfortable position before a few close shots lit up her dashboard with a green hue, an event which elicited a scream out of Rarity.

The purple pony shot a look at her friend to quiet her, then concentrated on maneuvering the vessel, keeping the Imperial gunners guessing. Junas was still entering numbers into the computer, but she had no idea how much time it would take him. “Any guess on when you’ll be finished?”

“Just three more, kid.”

She wished he would stop calling her that. It was a bit disconcerting, especially considering she was probably more intelligent than he’d ever be. But still she weaved and bobbed through empty space, all the while trying to avoid being blasted apart by turbolaser fire.

Suddenly the two cruisers in front of them opened up, generating a deadly crossfire that both surprised and alarmed Twilight.

Junas sensed her fear. “Just keep weaving. They don’t want to hit their own ships, so if you keep between them they shouldn’t get too many hits.”

She nodded again, then concentrated on flying a winding path between the three great starships closing in on them. As she passed between the gargantuan destroyers, she made sure to keep the ship as level as possible, giving the gunners as small a target to shoot at as she could.

It worked. While sporadic shots did lance out at them, it was clear the gunners on those ships were reluctant to hit their own comrades. Her relief turned to nervousness as she remembered that once she was past them they would have a clear shot.

Luckily, it wouldn’t come to that.

“Okay everybody, hold on to something!” yelled Junas into the comlink. He pulled down on the levers and suddenly their world was enveloped by streaks of white.

The small ship made several micro-jumps through hyperspace. It wasn’t a complicated idea, and was one which was standard operating procedure for anyone trying to evade Imperial authorities: jump to lightspeed as quickly as your navicomputer allows, travel for a few brief seconds, jump back to realspace, then repeat until your peace of mind is achieved.

Unfortunately, Twilight’s mind was anything but peaceful. Even though she was learning to control the pain, it still hurt to go to hyperspace, and being bombarded by wave after wave of migraines was driving her batty. So when they made the last jump to an old system in the outer rim containing an asteroid belt, Twilight trotted up to the cockpit to speak with Junas.

“Junas? I was wondering why we had to make all those jumps to hyperspace. Can’t the Empire track us anyway?”

He shook his head. “Sensor technology can track an object faster than light, but you have to be in pretty close proximity to get a good reading on someone’s escape vector due to issues with accuracy and parallax.”

The studious unicorn nodded in understanding, then decided to change the subject. “So why are we here?”

He pointed toward a faintly visible field of asteroids. “See that patch? There are plenty of places in there to hide from the Empire until I can find a better location to get fuel and supplies.”

“I thought you said the Empire couldn’t track us.”

“They can’t. But a random Imperial patrol might just happen to stumble on us, and it would be better to use the natural metals in the asteroids to mask our signature than sit out here in the middle of space for all to see.”

“Oh.”

That was twice she foolishly assumed too much about the Empire. She didn’t desire to repeat the experience any time soon.

“Besides that, my old girl here needs to rest her legs a bit, let the reactor cool, y’know? She’s been run hard and fast, and I need to go through her systems and make sure everything is ship-shape.”

Twilight nodded, then something occurred to her. “So what is your ship’s name?”

“Oh, I guess I never formally introduced you, did I?” He chuckled. “Twilight, meet the Maximum Thrust. Not really a fitting name considering she’s still got her stock engines, but she’ll still get you from point A to point B and save your skin in the process.”

Twilight nodded. “Sounds like a name someone would give a pony.”

“I’ve noticed that,” he nodded. “You guys have weird names, if you don’t mind me saying so. Rarity? Pinkie Pie? Rainbow Dash? Heck, if I had it to do over again I’d name my ship with her name. It’s got a sort of speedy, yet flashy sound to it.”

Twilight chuckled. “That’s Rainbow, alright. She’d leave you in the dust in a heartbeat, but would never abandon you when it counts.”

A beeping sound interrupted their reverie. Junas checked his monitors. “Looks like we’re coming up on orbital insertion. I’ll have to take over from here; the auto-homing system depends on the destination being in possession of a tractor beam. So if you’ll excuse me . . .”

He deftly guided the ship around one of the larger asteroids, which might have passed for a moon around any planet in the Equestrian system, then as soon as he spotted a suitable crater to shield him from enemy probes, he set her down. A gentle thump reverberated through the ship as a whining sound indicated the activation of the landing claw system.

Junas unbuckled his restraints and headed back toward the engineering section. “Okay baby, time to check you out and see how much damage the Empire has inflicted on you.”

After a thorough examination, Junas discovered several oil leaks, hydraulic fluid spills, as well as some minor structural damage from the destruction of the ship’s one and only laser turret. That was the part that hurt the most: his ship now had no teeth. And if they should get into another dogfight with TIE Fighters he didn’t know whether he would be able to defend them.

Now was not the time to worry about that. They were in the middle of nowhere, and right now the top priority was to find a suitable place to get fuel and maybe even a new laser cannon. He just hoped he would be able to charge it to his Alliance credit account; there was no way he’d be able to afford one on his meager salary as a scout.

Once the inspection tour was out of the way and he got all the minor fixits completed, he set about plotting a new course.

It wasn’t as easy as that, though. Now that the Empire knew exactly who they were and his ship’s markings, they would be easy prey for any Imperial captain who spotted them. Before, he had a better-than-average chance of sneaking into Imperial docking ports for R&R, but now he would have to avoid them completely. He sure wish Kyle Katarn had let him borrow Jan for this. She would have known every Imperial port that would be least likely to recognize him and his ship.

He looked through all his star charts, which were a tad out of date, and finally found one that showed this quadrant of space. Pencil in hand, he started working, plotting a new course to their next destination: Qat Chrystac.

Qat Chrystac

Chapter 13

“Planets in that galaxy ran the gamut from glistening jewels of splendor to rugged, barren wastelands. I recall visiting planets made entirely of ocean, with their surface covered in water deep enough to contain massive creatures that could swallow a dragon whole; planets that had cities on them which had towers of glistening gold and marble that dwarfed the largest towers in Manehatten; planets so small that they could no longer be considered planets, but asteroids and planetoids, with gravity barely sufficient to hold on to a wisp of an atmosphere. If we hadn't been so concerned with running from the Empire, I would have visited them all and seen everything that galaxy had to offer.”

-Twilight Sparkle, On Extra-Galactic Voyages, p. 332

Flashes of white and blue gave way to a familiar curtain of pin-pricked night as the view in the cockpit of the Maximum Thrust switched from the realm of hyperspace to that of realspace. Junas flipped a few switches and opened circuits, and suddenly the entire ship went quiet. Twilight noted that it was so quiet that she could hear the other ponies in the ship moving around through sound conduction in the walls of the ship itself. Junas shutting the ship down was a little perplexing, however. "Junas? Why did you shut down the ship?"

"Well, we're not exactly alone in this system. The Empire and the Rebels are constantly contesting it, and even though there's a base here, it's not likely to welcome a newcomer and I don't exactly carry Alliance ID with me, being a scout and all."

"They why are we here?"

He gave her a half grin. "I didn't say that we were heading to a manned base."

Twilight understood immediately. An abandoned base would contain secret hiding places full of supplies and fuel that the Empire might have missed when they raided it, plus heading toward an inactive base would ensure that they didn't land in the middle of a war zone.

The saucer-shaped spacecraft glided on inertia through space, lazily drifting. Junas watched the sky, noting small flashes which appeared intermittently. "Looks like they're at it again." He pointed a finger at the small flashes. Twilight couldn't make out individual ships; even in a universe where ships could be miles long, she knew that at these distances they would be infinitesimally small. But the explosions produced by the deaths of such large metal behemoths could be seen for many thousands of miles. She sat back in her chair, at once in awe and terror at the sheer level destruction taking place in orbit.

She turned and looked at Junas with concern. "Are you sure they can't detect us as we glide in?"

"Their sensors will pick us up, but we'll look like a rogue asteroid or meteorite. It's a classic smuggler's trick, and always works because nobody would want to waste time and fuel chasing after thousands of rocks on the off chance that one of them might be a smuggler's ship."

Twilight nodded, then turned her head back to look at the display of carnage which grew larger as the ship approached the planet.

With no ion engines burning to propel the ship through space, the trip from the hyperpoint to the atmosphere took a lot longer than normal, which gave Twilight plenty of time to reflect on the current situation.

She desperately wanted to know what had become of Luna. Ever since that particular Nightmare Night where she had rescued Luna from her own sense of self-doubt, she had kept the navy blue alicorn in mind. The ancient princess wouldn't have changed after one incident like that, and with the current predicament she probably was in a state of worry and fear. But even so, Twilight had faith that Luna would not succumb to it. Her constitution was strong, and her will stronger, and if Twilight knew the princess, she would be focusing her fear and worry into finding a way out of whatever prison she was being held in, though if what Celestia had said was true, there was no chance of escape through magical means.

That fact was interesting to Twilight.

She had seen magic being blocked, even back in magic kindergarten when filly unicorns were struggling to understand how to control their magic and the teacher would put up a force field to deal with the occasional burst flying through the room and knocking the building blocks and books off the shelves.

But these humans couldn't do magic. Even though there were once thousands of people who called themselves Jedi and used the Force, though the facts she was able to glean about them from the library were few and far between, that was still not enough to explain how the princesses were not able to break through the Imperials' technology.

These questions would have to wait for the time being. Junas was preparing to enter the atmosphere and start the landing cycle.

The ride through the atmosphere was bumpy and intense due to the lack of engine control and the unavoidable thermal updrafts caused by the molten parts of the planet's surface, and the ship's outer hull and armor were glowing red hot from the friction that would normally have been negated by the aerodynamic shield. But three minutes into their free fall Junas cut in the repulsor drive and gently set them down at the base of an obsidian crater.

Twilight unbuckled her seatbelt and breathed a sigh of relief. "I’m really glad your ship survived the descent. I've seen meteorites burn up in the atmosphere of Equestria dozens of times."

Junas nodded. "Yeah, but ships are generally built to be landed without shields if necessary. The structure is strengthened with certain alloys like Molybdenum-Duranium and the outer hull armor will absorb the heat, which allows you to land safely in an emergency, but you don't want to do it more than a couple of times."

The lavender unicorn's relief was tempered by the idea that they might easily burn up or the ship might break up around them if they have to do that many more times.

The pair exited the cockpit and walked down the corridor.

"You know Twilight, you're a pretty good person to have in the cockpit with me."

She blushed. "You really mean that?"

"Sure. You're smart, good at the stick even in a combat situation, and can read a star map. You mind being my copilot? At least until we get to my home base."

She stopped, looking at him with an unsure expression. "I dunno, Junas. You sure you want me?"

He stopped with her and nodded. "Absolutely, kid. Besides, who else am I gonna ask? Spike?"

She giggled at him. "Well, he does have thumbs."

"True. But what do you say? I could really use the help up there."

She considered the responsibility for a second, then looked up at him with a small smile. "I'll do it."

Junas grinned. "Good to hear."

They got to the lounge, where Rainbow Dash and Applejack were sitting at the table, which had small transparent figures on it, apparently trying to figure out how to play the game which was contained in the table. Rainbow looked up at Junas confusedly. "Hey Junas? How do you work this thing?" She punctuated her sentence with a shake of the table, causing the figures to momentarily disappear in a field of static.

"Look under the table."

She frowned, but did as he said, then came back up with a manual in her teeth and an embarrassed expression on her face.

"It should have both Aurebesh and High Galactic lettering in it."

"Heh, uh, thanks Junas." She set the small booklet on the table and began to read it. As she did so, Applejack motioned to Twilight, her body language suggesting that she didn't want Rainbow Dash to hear what she had to say. The lavender unicorn walked over to her friend and sat down next to her. "Twi, Ah think we need ta git to a hospital soon. Ah'm gettin' mighty sore under this here bandage. Ah think it might be infected."

Twilight shook her head. "But you've been changing the bandages!"

"No, Ah haven't. Ah've been given most of 'em ta Rainbow Dash. T’weren't many of them in there ta begin with, and Rainbow is mah friend. You do the math, Twi."

"Applejack! Why would you do that?"

"Ah jest toldja, Twi! Ah'm not about ta let Rainbow bleed out in this here hold! But don't you say a word ta her."

Twilight opened her mouth for a moment as though she were going to object, but then closed it again and nodded. "My lips are sealed. But you need to take care of yourself, A.J. I don't think Big Macintosh can handle the farm without you."

She blushed. "Well, he is the strongest earth pony Ah know, but he's too shy ta sell apples. We'll probably have a pile o' rotten apples when we git back."

They both giggled a bit. Rainbow looked up at them. "Hey, what're you guys whispering and laughing about?"

Twilight shook her head. "Nothing, Rainbow."

Rainbow rolled her eyes and looked over at Junas, who was fiddling with some spare oxygen tanks. "Hey human! This lettering is all gibberish!" He scowled. "Just play with the controls until you figure it out." She stuck her tongue out at him when his back was turned, then started flipping the switches, getting more and more violent with each flick, then finally she slammed her hoof down on the table, causing the holographic figures to disappear, a burst of static to play through the speaker, then a wisp of smoke to trail up from the ruined processor. Junas turned back and glared at her with a "You better not have broken my game table" look. Rainbow's eyes bugged out, and she ducked under the table, a slight yelp of pain emitting from her lips as she did so.

Twilight shook her head at her friend's antics, then got up and walked over to the storage cabinet where Junas was pulling out all the ship's enviro-suits. "Um, Junas? Do you think those will fit us?"

He shrugged his shoulders. "I think with a little ingenuity and some syntherope we can get them to fit you guys."

As he was saying this, Rarity, who had overheard them in the corridor, trotted into the room, levitating a suit and hauling it after her as she did. Junas noticed. "Hey! Give that back!"

She looked back at him with a deadpan expression. "Darling, I may not be a soldier or a pilot, but I am good at one thing: making clothes."

He wondered for a second where she was going with this, then gasped as she used her magic to separate the fabric of the suit at the seams. "Hey! Those suits cost a thousand credits apiece!"

She rolled her eyes at him. "Ugh, honestly darling. It's not like I don't know exactly what I'm doing. I don't have my dress form, but I should be able to remember the patterns from memory."

His heart skipped a beat at the word "should", but he watched as she deftly bonded the cloth with a magical flourish, and in minutes the suit was no longer in the shape of a humanoid, but that of a pony. He admired the craftsmanship. "Well I'll be a son of a gundark."

Rarity smiled and winked at him. "Yes, quite remarkable, wouldn't you say?" She left the newly-completed pony suit on the floor and trotted over to the pile to make more.

After ten minutes of crafting, Rarity had managed to rebuild two more suits in order to fit ponies, even adding in an adjustable set of sleeves that the original designers had failed to include and crafting hoof-shaped boots out of spare material left over from the creation of the suits. Junas' jaw was slack by the time she had finished. "Well I'll say this for you, Rarity: if I ever need someone to fix my clothes, you'd be the first person I'd call."

She blushed a little. "I might have rushed things a bit, and I really wish you had some purple and red ribbon and gems to give them a little flourish, but I am glad you appreciate my hoofdiwork."

He nodded, once again doing a slight double-take at the juxtaposition of "hoof" into a word in place of "hand." He probably would never get used to it.

The Rebel turned and looked at Celestia and Twilight, who had finished putting their suits on and were levitating the helmets into position. "Okay you guys, you know what to do. Rarity and I will scout to the north of where the scanners indicated the base was, and you two will scout to the south. One of us should eventually run into it, and when they do, the unicorn in the group will send a signal using their magic. The helmet comlinks will have only a few meters of range due to the radiation in the atmosphere, so that will have to work. Can you guys use your magic through those helmets?"

Celestia and Twilight looked at each other momentarily, unsure if it would, but then clicked the seals on their helmets into the locked position and fired off a magical burst which materialized out of thin air above their heads and exploded harmlessly in a shower of sparks which appeared to be a pair of gold and purple fireworks. Celestia looked at Junas. "Will that suffice?"

He nodded. "I'll keep an eye out for it. In the mean time, watch yourselves. Qat Chrystac is a Rebel holdout for a reason. The world is a radioactive ball of wasteland and volcanoes, and it was a miracle that we could find a safe landing spot here. The Rebels who manned the base were usually ferried in on a ship, then the ship would take off without landing. So make sure you play it safe. Stick with your partner, and keep an eye out for each other. You don't want a bit of lava spurting up and burning a hole through your suit."

They all looked at one another nervously, then back at Junas. Rainbow Dash looked like she was about to explode. "I still don't see why you don't let me go with you! I could scout from the air and find the base in no time!"

Junas sighed. "First of all, for that to work you'd need to compromise the suit with holes for your wings, which makes the point of a hazard suit kind of moot. Second, the base is buried beneath the rocks and only someone on the ground has a chance of seeing it. Finally, the bacta patches on your blaster burn are impregnated with a local anesthetic to take away the pain, which makes it feel better than it actually is. If you get up and fly, you'll re-injure yourself and possibly harm your body even more. Understand?"

Rainbow huffed, then plopped back down grumpily on the sofa, forelegs crossed, muttering something sarcastic about how the Element of Loyalty sure is demonstrating her loyalty right now. Junas ignored her, turning back to the other ponies. "Anyway, be safe out there. Keep an eye on your partner and your environment, and don't get cocky. This planet is a monster, and even with enviro-suits, it's still a nasty place. Are there any questions?"

They kept silent.

"Let's go."

As the airlock door closed behind them and the boarding ramp lowered, Twilight saw clearly that she had gravely underestimated just what Junas had meant by "hostile". Even as the ramp lowered to the ground she could feel the heat through her suit, the cooling systems struggling to keep up with it. She lead the way down the ramp, looking over the angry red and black landscape, observing the steam vents and the occasional lava flow with nervous trepidation. Her boots touched the ground, and she said a quick prayer that Rarity's crafting would hold up in this nasty landscape.

Junas followed behind her, with Princess Celestia and Rarity bringing up the rear. The white and purple fashionista was visibly nervous. "A-are you sure we have to do this? I mean, surely there are other bases we could visit."

Junas was not looking at her, but answered anyway. "Yes. Not only do I need to get some materials to repair the ship, not to mention a new laser cannon, but we didn't get much fuel when we docked at Ergo either."

The unicorn nodded in understanding, but still thought this was too risky. "I still think we could find a more . . . friendly location from which to find supplies," she muttered under her breath.

The ponies and the human fanned out. Junas scanned the horizon, then looked down at the two datapads in his hands to get his bearings. He held out one to Celestia, who enwrapped it in a bright yellow aura.

"We'll rendezvous here in four hours. May the Force be with us."

As he said this, a column of lava shot up into the atmosphere a mere fifty meters away. "Please be with us . . ."

Twilight and Celestia walked at a careful pace. They kept an eye out for the base, as well as volcanic activity and steam vents. As they walked, Twilight was thinking.

She was thinking about what happened back at the Imperial base during their escape. The lavender unicorn had put it out of her mind during the past couple of days since they blasted away from Endor, but now that they were relatively relaxed, not to mention alone, she could let her mind drift back toward the behavior her princess had exhibited during the battle to free themselves from their captors.

Twilight remembered with slight dread the dramatic change that had come over her teacher, the fire that burned in her eyes and the ferocity with which she had dispatched their aggressors. It was so shocking because of what she had been taught all those years by Celestia: fear and anger lead to nothing but suffering and hatred. No good can come from violence, much less war, and when a problem is solved through discussion and friendliness that great bonds can be forged and ponies who were once enemies could become allies. It was how Celestia had kept the peace through Equestria and the world during her reign, and even though some shunned her friendship and wished to take over their prosperous nation, such as the Changeling queen Chrysalis, most who came in contact with Equestria throughout the millennia held good relations and were good friends with Celestia and her subjects.

Which contrasted so heavily with the way their first contact with the Galactic Empire had gone. It was something Twilight was desperate to understand. Even the direct attack by the Changelings had gone unanswered, Celestia feeling that the Changelings would eventually overcome their hunger and jealousy and see the benefits of alliance. Her behavior in the battle to escape had been the exact opposite. She had a vengeful attitude, her magical bursts designed not stun or wound.

But to kill.

Upon reflecting on this fact, Twilight looked up at her teacher and shuddered. If such a wonderful pony as this could succumb to such rage, could it happen again? To her enemies, or . . .or even her own subjects?

Celestia seemed to sense her student's concern. "My dear, what is troubling you?"

Twilight wasn't sure how to answer her.

"You are concerned about my behavior during the battle to escape the Empire, aren't you." It was a statement, not a question. Twilight nodded.

"I thought you would eventually bring this up."

Twilight looked up at her. "Please, princess. I want to understand."

Celestia sadly looked at her student, then took a deep breath. "I do not believe in violent solutions, Twilight. You know that. But my experience with the Imperials and their henchmen led me to conclude that they were beyond reason, beyond friendship. They saw me as nothing more than a common animal, my subjects as less than animals. On our world, I and other monarchs treat each other with the utmost respect, even if we do not like each other. We can sit down and discuss our problems and come up with reasonable solutions. But with these humans, we have no voice. Our rights are nonexistent, our thoughts on the matter irrelevant, regardless of how intelligent we are. Any pleas for mercy and a safe return to our world would be met with sneers, followed swiftly by rapid re-enslavement. Therefore, there is no recourse but to meet fire with fire, if only to protect ourselves from the flame."

It took a few minutes before Twilight fully processed what her ruler was saying, but in the end, she saw her teacher's point. If the Empire wouldn't see reason, then the only response was to ignore what they knew and stoop to conquer.

It didn't mean she had to like it.

"Princess, I understand why. But I still don't want to use my magic to kill. They may be evil, but they're still living things."

Celestia eyed her student. "Do you suggest that I was too harsh in dealing with the Imperials?"

Twilight shook her head. "No, nothing like that. I'm just not comfortable taking a life, that's all."

The great alicorn nodded her head in understanding, then smiled down at her student kindly. "Then perhaps it would be best, my student, if you use your abilities only in ways which you are comfortable with. I do not wish to impose upon you something which you would not agree with."

The little pony smiled back at her loving teacher, grateful that she understood her position on the matter, and continued walking, searching for any sign of the rebel base they had landed here to find.

"Darling, do we have much further to go?"

"I told you, Rarity, I don't know where the base is. We'll find it when we find it."

"Ugh, well we better find it soon. My hooves are killing me!"

Junas was thankful he didn't have his blaster handy, or else he might have to explain why he returned without Rarity. "Look, you were the only one who could accompany me, and I need the extra set of eyes. Fluttershy had to stay behind and look after Applejack and Rainbow Dash, and, well, would you want Pinkie Pie helping you look for something?"

Rarity thought about the time she had to help Pinkie Pie propel a hoof cart down the railroad track to Ponyville and how she almost went completely crazy listening to the ditzy pony debate endlessly about names for her newest confectionary treat, then she decided to refrain from making her physical condition known for the time being. "I suppose I see your point. But my dear, I must once again remind you that I am a fashionista, not a mountain climber."

"I know. Believe me, I know." He sighed. "Just keep an eye out for the base, will you?"

She rolled her eyes, but continued to scan the horizon. It wouldn't be such a bad place really (the red of the lava sort of complimented the black of the volcanic glass, in a grim, dark sort of way), if it weren't for the constant rumbling and such from the ground. Not to mention the oppressive heat and radiation.

Rarity quickened her pace a bit to keep up with Junas, who had pulled ahead of her momentarily. She wished that human would remember that her legs were shorter than his and she couldn't walk as fast as he could. But she mused that at least she didn't have to worry about keeping her balance with four legs to provide stability. She stole a few glances at those gangly appendages. Why would any sane creator make his creation walk about on two legs? Wasn't it safer having four? At least stairs would be easier to traverse with only two legs; simply put one in front of the other. But other than that, Rarity saw no immediate advantage to fewer than the quartet that graced her undercarriage.

Her stomach rumbled. She hadn't eaten much in the last few days. Humans seemed to have an affinity for meat, and she couldn't stomach most of what the food locker contained. She made do with the supplies he had, though apparently he was mostly carnivore, but she sincerely wished they could stop on a more lush world.

At least the rumbling of her belly was masked by the constant vibration produced by the magma flows underneath their boots. It wouldn't do for a lady to constantly allow her bodily functions to make themselves apparent.

Wait.

Something was off about the way it sounded.

She tried to concentrate on the sound and isolate why it was bothering her, then she realized it was a build up to an eruption.

Before she could warn Junas, the ground a dozen meters away exploded in a shower of red hot glowing grenades, each the size of an orange and each quite capable of melting through the suit and cooking the occupant alive. She acted quickly. Using all of her mental might she grabbed each rock as it fell and deflected it. Some of them escaped her notice and scorched their suits, but she kept them from being pelted by the molten lava raining down around them.

As the last of it subsided, Junas, who until this point had been sheltering himself with his arms, looked at Rarity in surprise. "Whoa. Thanks!"

She gave her mane a fling to get it out of her face. "Don't mention it darling. I'm just glad I had the reflexes to catch that shower before it landed on the both of us."

Junas looked at the steaming piles of still-glowing rock and breathed a sigh of relief. "So am I. Let's get going before that volcano decides to erupt again."

Rarity nodded, and then the two of them walked off together, their pace quickened by the sudden reminder of the dangerous nature of their current location.

The swirling currents of blistering heat were beginning to take their toll on the cooling systems in Twilight's environmental suit. She was confident that she and Celestia might be able to compensate with magic somewhat, but eventually their reserves would run dry.

She looked up at her teacher with a worried expression. "Princess Celestia, this heat is really getting to our suits' systems. I fear that it will soon overtake them."

The great alicorn nodded. "Indeed, my student. We must find that base as soon as possible."

They both walked along the base of a crater, noting the slight glow of the surrounding rock. Twilight was grateful that this universe's materials science was as far along as it was to allow heat-proof boots. Even though she had hooves, walking on such rock without the benefit of boots would surely have caused great pain, even without the oppressive heat and deadly radiation.

If Twilight was honest with herself, she would admit she was not hopeful. A base which was meant to be hidden would not be easy to see, either from the ground or from the air. There would be measures in place, the purpose of which was to conceal and deceive, and when somepony really doesn't want you to find something, they usually pull out all the stops to ensure that their efforts are as successful as possible.

Then again, this world was hostile to sensors and masked even natural features with radiation and heat. Any ships that hoped to land at the base would need a guide of some kind, even if they had precise coordinates. They would have to have a physical object to guide them to the landing pad or docking collar, and that being the case, it would have to be visible somehow.

But there were no technological devices visible from orbit, and even their descent through the atmosphere revealed nothing which might indicate the base.

This meant the marker was geological in nature.

"Princess Celestia? I think we need to look for a distinct geological feature which would indicate a place to set down. Radio signals wouldn't be able to burn through this radiation without being so strong that they would broadcast the base's location, and sensors are useless for detecting anything."

Celestia's face morphed into a contemplative expression. "Yes, my student. That seems to be a logical conclusion. Have you seen anything that might be the feature meant to guide pilots?"

Twilight shook her head slowly. "No, I haven't. But it should be visible from the ground, because soldiers from other bases might need to find this one."

"I agree. Let us continue. Perhaps we will locate it soon."

They continued walking, the orange and red glow of the surrounding terrain giving their surroundings a hellish glow, the smoke from freshly opened volcanoes making the sky as black as the iron gates of Tartaros.

Junas was getting worried.

They should have found the base by now. If their speed were holding steady at 4 klicks per hour, which was his normal walking speed, then they should have seen something to indicate the base: an antenna, a scanner dish, heck even an anti-collision light for incoming traffic. Yet nothing was presenting itself. Rarity was apparently getting concerned as well, as the look on her face was showing.

"Junas, do you think we've come too far?"

"I don't know, Rarity. We might have, but we also might be ignoring something, too."

She nodded. "Well, I hope it doesn't take much longer. I can feel the heat coming through my suit."

Junas had noticed this a few minutes ago, but hoped it was just his brain telling him that the environment surrounding his suit was hot. However, a look at the sensor display panel confirmed that the internal temperature was indeed increasing.

"Let's keep looking. I know this base has to be around here somewhere. Just think about how cool it will be inside and how nice it will be to rest our feet."

He hoped that would reassure Rarity. It wasn't doing much good to reassure him. He knew how close he was to death here.

Suits like these were designed to resist heat and radiation, not hold it back indefinitely. Even if they made it back to the ship, they had little fuel left in the tank, so if they didn't find the base they would be stranded on this planet. The worst part was that he was supposed to relay the location of the new Death Star to the Rebels, and he couldn't do that if he were an irradiated corpse on some Force-forsaken world in the middle of the Outer Rim.

So he pressed on.

The heat was becoming unbearable. Twilight desperately wished she could wipe the sweat from her brow and keep it from trickling down into her eyes. Even her magic wasn't enough, as she wasn't able to see the sweat and telekinetically banish it, and she wasn't about to blindly use magic, risking pulling out her coat or even her skin just to relieve some discomfort.

So she put up with it for the time being.

Celestia for her part was tolerating it, but even a sun goddess is not immune to heat and pain. The great alicorn was obviously getting exhausted, and Twilight figured that the torture inflicted on her by the Imperials must have left some permanent damage.

"Princess? Do you need a break?"

"No, my student. Finding this base is the only thing that will keep us alive on this world, and the sooner we find it the sooner we may leave this wretched place."

Twilight understood, but she still wished Celestia would take it easier. She didn't want the greatest pony she'd ever known to risk injury or death, for if she succumbed, then their world was doomed.

They kept walking despite the growing discomfort that was rapidly becoming intolerable. Twilight gazed around the landscape, desperate for some sign that they were getting near their goal. A drop of sweat fell into her eye, causing it to tear up and burn. She squeezed it shut hard to force the offending liquid out of her eye, then continued looking across the alien world around her.

She thought to herself how the color of this landscape was playing a similar trick on her eyes that snow did in wintertime. Her vision was getting highlights of blue-green as her retinas were struggling to cope with the overwhelmingly orange landscape. Again she wished she could rub her eyes so that the strain would go away, and mentally cursed the clear lens in front of them.

Twilight wondered how long they had been walking. The display indicating the time was in that alien script, and without a lexicon it was hard to remember what the symbols meant. She had an electronic version which used visual cues to help her understand what they meant that she found in the library (she guessed it was there in case a freighter captain also happened to be the parent of a young child still learning their written language), but she hadn't had time to outright memorize it.

Still, judging by how the numbers had ticked by at the same rate a similar clock in Equestria would, she estimated they had been out here for several hours, and her oxygen supply was limited. She couldn't tell by the gauge, which was also in alien letters, but it did appear to be near the PNR: the point of no return. It didn't take a magical genius to know that once you crossed that red line there was no going back.

And the needle was dangerously close to that red line.

Twilight was trying to keep a level head, but it was getting harder to banish self-destructive thoughts from her mind. What if she didn't make it to the base before her air supply ran out? What if they encountered a volcano with no warning? What if . . . they all died here?

The growing anxiety was becoming manifested in her pace and breathing. Celestia took notice. "Calm yourself, my student. You mustn't breathe up all your air in a fit of hysteria."

Twilight however wasn't able to concentrate on her teacher's voice. Her breathing was intensifying, and as she listened to herself breathing she realized that it meant she was consuming more precious oxygen, which made her hyperventilate even faster, causing a vicious cycle to form.

"Twilight?"

The purple unicorn didn't acknowledge. Instead, she ran off.

"Twilight!"

The young student however was not listening. She ran hard and fast, and Celestia ran after her. Eventually Twilight tripped and rolled several times, allowing Celestia to get close enough for her magic. The alicorn telekinetically lifted her student up and quickly brought her in front of her face. "Calm yourself!"

The shock of hearing Celestia raise her voice at her snapped Twilight out of her panic attack. Her eyes darted momentarily, then she refocused on the beautiful, yet stern, face in front of her.

"I'm sorry, Celestia."

Twilight looked at her teacher with a shameful expression as she felt her hooves make contact with the hot obsidian beneath her.

"It is alright, Twilight. Just don't let your fears get the best of you again."

Twilight took a deep breath, aware that it was an expensive luxury to spend one's atmosphere on. "I promise."

"Good. In the mean time, I believe we have found our destination."

She pointed to a spot on the horizon. Twilight squinted to see what it was that Celestia had been pointing at. Off in the distance, she saw three stone columns. They didn't appear to be any different from other projections of rock she had seen back home in Equestria, and then it hit her: that's what made them distinct! Every other rock on this planet was black obsidian or pumice, not granite. Yet here was a trio of granite columns that were not native to this planet! They must be the markers!

Her eyes grew large. "Is that what I think it is?"

"Yes," said Celestia with a smile. "I believe it is."

A beam of reddish orange light blasted through the dark as Celestia and Twilight forcibly opened the unpowered door to the base. As they peered through the door, it was apparent that the base had been deserted for some time. That didn't mean it was actually bereft of danger.

Twilight looked nervously at her teacher. "Princess . . . do you think it's really deserted?"

Celestia didn't say anything for a few moments. "I don't know, Twilight. But we must make sure the base is clear before we signal Junas and Rarity. There is no reason to endanger them, and I am sure I can handle anything the Empire can throw at us."

Her student nodded nervously, then followed after her teacher, casting a glow on the walls with her horn as she went.

Several tense minutes of searching later, they found no trace of intruders. Celestia turned to address Twilight. "I think it is safe to say that this base is well and truly deserted, my student. Let's go back to the entrance and send up a signal for Junas."

After sending up a burst of magical energy into the air, Celestia and Twilight waited patiently at the entrance for Junas and Rarity to find their way to the base. They sat there for what seemed like an eternity in the oppressive heat, but eventually their friends made it to the Rebel holdout. As soon as they were inside, Junas closed the door with a manual system designed to work in the absence of energy from the power generators. When it was sealed, he turned to the trio of ponies standing in front of him. “We’re going to have to find the power generator, but in order to turn it on we’ll have to have someone in the control booth operating the main switches and someone hitting the corresponding activation switch elsewhere. They both need to be turned on at the same time, so we’ll have to coordinate.”

Twilight held up a hoof. “Why would they design a system to only work when two positions are operated?”

“Because if the base is infiltrated you don’t want to make it easy for the enemy to shut down your power, the same power that is driving the air scrubbers and light sources.”

The lavender pony nodded in understanding, then turned to her comrades. “Come on, everypony. Let’s get to that generator and turn it on so we can get those supplies and get out of here.”

They all shouted affirmation, then headed deep into the base to find the power core.

“This base is a lot bigger than I thought it was,” said Twilight.

“It’s a supply depot. It’s got to be big to house all the supplies that the Rebels would need. Trouble is, it’s designed so that we can’t open the doors unless the power core is functioning and at full capacity. Otherwise, any old pirate or Imperial might be able to access the cargo bays and raid them for supplies and equipment.”

Satisfied with the answer Junas provided, Twilight returned her gaze to the corridor in front of her. The lamps on either side of her helmet provided plenty of light with which to see by, with the lamps of Rarity and Celestia in front of her and Junas behind her adding to the light to illuminate the dark gray corridor, almost as though the overhead lights were functioning. She knew however that she had a limited amount of power left in her batteries. Just as she thought this, she saw a small red light appear on the console and a small klaxon sound through her helmet’s speaker system. “Junas? What does this red light mean?”

He jogged to her position and looked into her helmet. “Low power cells. You’re gonna have to find a power source.”

Rarity and Celestia stopped and turned back to look at Twilight, the smaller of the two wearing an expression of concern. “Don’t you have any spares?”

“No, never did. I didn’t think I’d need any.”

Celestia raised an eyebrow. “Do you have any suggestions as to where we might find power cells with which to power Twilight’s suit?”

Junas thought for a second. “Look for a small gray and green cylinder with a glowing red light. That should be a power cell. A droid would also have power cells.”

They started looking in every nook and cranny to find any object matching Junas’ description. They knew that without that power cell, Twilight’s oxygen scrubber and pump system would fail, and it would only be a matter of time before she succumbed to CO2 poisoning. Celestia overturned a box to peer inside while Rarity hopped up into a small cubby hole and looked around. Twilight popped her head into several small storage cylinders, and Junas pried open loose panels on the wall in the hopes that they contain secret areas where Rebels would store emergency supplies. Suddenly Rarity called the team over to a crate she had opened. “Everypony, look! Is this something that might contain a, what was it called?”

Junas didn’t bother to supply the phrase she was looking for. He raced over and looked in the box at what Rarity was pointing at. “I think that might work!”

He reached in and extricated a small, yellow boxlike contraption with a glass lens on the front and several silver bits connected to the surface. “It’s a scrubber droid. Looks like it’s never been activated, either. It should have a power cell we can use.”

The ponies watched as he flipped it on its back and pried open a panel on the belly, revealing a small cylindrical device with a group of glowing green lights on the side. “Look at that! Full power readout! Come here, Twilight.”

She trotted over, and as she did she could hear her suit’s cooling fans and oxygen scrubber cycle off, and then her lights flickered out. Finally, the console in front of her face went dark.

She was without power.

“Junas!”

“It’s okay, don’t panic. Just let me exchange the old power cell for a new one.”

He began working on the small metal backpack on Twilight’s shoulders, trying to get the power pack opened so he could exchange the power core. However, the hatch was jammed. Try as he might, he could not get the metal panel to budge. He looked at the backpack. It was covered in scratches and abrasions. “Twilight, I can’t get the power cell door open.”

“WHAT?!”

“Calm down! It’s okay! Did your suit get damaged somehow?”

“No, it’s NOT okay!”

“Twilight, you’ve got to focus! You’re using up your air!”

The unicorn appeared ready to run off, but she calmed herself. “Okay . . . okay, I’m good.”

“Now, did you damage your suit?”

She thought for a couple of seconds. “Yes. I tripped earlier and rolled along the ground.”

“That must have been what did it. I’ll have to force the door open. Hold on.”

He searched his pocket and produced a small kit which he opened, revealing a set of tools. He passed his hand over them, trying to find the correct one. In the mean time Twilight was beginning to breath more heavily. Rarity and Celestia looked at each other with concern, and Rarity put her hoof on Twilight’s shoulder. “Are you alright, dear?”
Twilight looked at her, trying to get precious oxygen as she did. “I . . . I don’t . . .”

Her eyes rolled back and her legs gave way, and it was through sheer determination that Rarity was able to keep her from hitting the floor hard as she collapsed. The white unicorn turned violently to look at Junas. “Hurry up!”

“I’m trying!” He dug around, then found a small pry bar. “Got it!”

He scrambled to Twilight’s backpack and jammed the small metal bar into the hatch. He tried to force it open with all his might. “It’s jammed pretty good. Can you two help me?”

Celestia stepped forward, then projected an aura around the hatch. She was careful not to blow apart the backpack in the process, but it was difficult all the same to find that sweet spot where the metal would give way without destroying half the backpack in the process. Rarity was peering into the glass faceplate over Twilight’s helmet, trying to assess her condition. “She’s turning blue! Oh Celestia, please!”

The alicorn didn’t answer. She just concentrated.

Almost . . .

“She’s not going to last much longer!”

Almost . . .

Celestia’s eyes were squeezed shut in concentration. If she could just find that spot . . .

Got it!

The small door flung open and Junas quickly removed the old power cell and popped in the new one. Nothing happened.

“Well?!” Rarity was looking at Junas expectantly. “Why isn’t it working?”

Junas then remembered. He pushed the system reset, and suddenly the lights and mechanisms on Twilight’s suit came back to life. Twilight herself however remained still.

Junas wasted no time. He flipped Twilight on her back and began doing slow chest compressions on what he hoped was her lungs. After several tense seconds Twilight gasped hard and then started coughing. She looked up at everyone surrounding her with a dazed expression on her face.

“What are you guys doing in Canterlot gardens?”

They looked at each other, momentarily perplexed. Rarity gave her a quizzical look. “Darling, what’s the last thing you remember?”

Twilight thought for a second. “Oh dear. What happened to me? Why am I on my back?”

“Darling, Junas saved your life!”

Twilight was startled by this, but then the memory of what had happened finally returned to her. She looked up at her savior, giving him a grateful smile. “Thank you.”

He shook his head. “Don’t mention it. But we need to hurry and get the base’s power core back up and running so we can get to the supplies before everyone else’s power runs out.” He extended a hand and helped Twilight back to her hooves.

After Twilight shook off the slight wooziness from the sudden onset of oxygen to her brain, they all trotted and walked down the corridor to find the base power core.

Many twists and turns later, Junas, Celestia, Twilight and Rarity found the power core.

As the manual control for the door creaked into an open position in Junas’ hands, the giant metal door slowly cycled open, revealing an immense metal cavern covered in pipe and conduit. At the center of it all was a huge metal cylinder with a central ribbed section and twin bulges at the top and bottom. A single catwalk encircled the structure, leading to a control room at the far side of the massive chamber.

They all carefully made their way around the catwalk, and after nearly slipping to her death fifty meters below, Twilight wondered grumpily why anypony with any sense would build a catwalk with no rails.

As they piled into the room, it was clear that they had their work cut out for them. There were several banks of consoles with holographic displays, but the holograms were dark, bereft of power.

“There’s got to be an activation lever somewhere,” Junas observed. “Fan out and search for it.”

They all started examining the consoles, using their helmet’s glowlamps to shine bright beams of light on them, but a familiar problem reared its ugly head: save for Junas, none of them could read the alien script scrawled on every button and switch. “Junas, darling,” said Rarity. “I don’t suppose you could describe this switch we’re looking for. None of us know what any of these letters mean.”

He shook his head. “I have no idea what it looks like. Just look for a big, important-looking switch. Once we locate that, we can look around for the other one and then activate the power core.”

Twilight for her part was doing her best to recall the letters and what sounds they stood for. She hadn’t taken much time to learn the alphabet these people used, but some of the letters were close enough to Equestrian that she could recall a little of what she learned. The T was basically the same letter but upside-down, the A was like a capital A turned on its side, and so forth. Using this knowledge, she looked over every console, searching for familiar letters amongst the controls.
Suddenly she came across a large metal box. The lettering on it was not understandable, but the switch looked big and important. “Junas! Over here!”

The human walked over to the box and read the label, a smile bursting on his face. “Good work, Twilight! Rarity, let’s go look for that second switch.” He turned to the purple unicorn. “Twilight, you stay here with Celestia and man the switch. I’ll give a count of three, and on three we throw them simultaneously. It should restart the reactor core and get the power generator up and running.”

“Right!”

With that Junas turned and motioned for Rarity to follow.

The hunt for the other switch lasted longer than Junas had anticipated. He knew the importance of making sure other people couldn’t use the base if it were abandoned for some reason, but it would have been nice if they’d left some kind of a code or signal to point him in the right direction.

“Junas, do you have any idea where this other switch is?” said Rarity.

He shook his head. “I’ve never been to this depot, and no two bases have the same layout.”

“But there must be something to indicate where it is, shouldn’t there?”

“I don’t know. They would probably have a handful of engineers in charge of the power core who know where it is, but as this is war and the Empire favors torturing its victims, they would probably be the only ones who know precisely where it is.”

Rarity shuddered a bit, a sudden wave revulsion at how the Empire had treated her and her friends washing over her. “Well, I do hope we find it soon. This is simply a dreadful place which I would like to leave as quickly as possible.”

Junas thought to himself how much he agreed with that sentiment.

They headed around another bend in the corridor, being careful to mind the odd floor panel that had come loose and threatened to trip them. Junas knew that the switch had to be close enough to their location that it didn’t need to rely on comlinks to get the signal, yet far enough away that it wouldn’t be found before whatever defenders the base had on hand had beaten back their opponents.

Yet all the doors in all the corridors leading to the reactor proved fruitless, without so much as a door chime. And that was just the ones that had a manual override.

He thought to himself for a moment. This didn’t make any sense. Why would they put it in a location that . . .

He paused his train of thought, an idea suddenly springing into his mind. “Of course!”

Rarity watched dumbfounded as Junas immediately whirled around and ran back to the reactor chamber. She had barely gotten through the door to the control booth when she saw Junas at a small computer console, Celestia and Twilight standing there staring at him with bewildered expressions on their faces. He had taken his datapad out and plugged it in, using the small device’s power supply to feed the computer behind the console and bring up a map of the air ducts.
“I say, darling, whatever are you up to?”

“I’d kind of like to know that, myself,” said Twilight with a hint of sarcasm.

Junas didn’t answer, but instead ran his finger over the readout on his screen, then smiled to himself. “It’s got to be that one.”

He unplugged the little machine and stowed the cord in a compartment in its side, then walked quickly out of the room, beckoning the white unicorn with a finger. “Come on, Rarity. I think I’ve found the switch room.”

She shook her head and trotted to catch up to him, muttering, “When we finally get back on the ship I am taking a five-hour beauty nap . . .”

They ended up back at one of the rooms they had been to previously, a fact noticed by Rarity. “Darling, I hate to break this to you, but you seem to have led us to a place we’ve been to already.”

He rolled his eyes. “I know that, but now that I know what to look for, I can narrow the search down.” He turned and reached up with his datapad and rapped on the vent cover. “Did you hear that, Twilight?”

A faint yes was heard over the comlink. Junas smiled to himself. “Okay, great! Now here’s what I want you to do. Pull on the switch, and I’ll see if anything in this room turns on.”

The concept hit Rarity like a ton of bricks: the switch was hidden somehow, keeping the Imperials from seeing it if they attacked the base! As she was marveling at the ingenuity, a small wall panel opened up revealing a small metallic lever with a knob on the top. Junas grinned and pulled the switch, and suddenly a low thrum followed by a metallic grinding noise filled the base. Eventually the grinding ceased, and suddenly lights all over the base turned on, flickered for a bit, then glowed steadily.

Rarity found herself smiling, the completion of their immediate goal flooding her with a feeling of accomplishment. Junas’ expression matched her own. “My goodness, Junas! We did it!”

“Looks like it, sister! Now, let’s go get the atmosphere purifiers going and then we can begin looting the leftovers.”

After meeting up with Twilight and Celestia and then activating the air purification system, they all stripped themselves of their enviro-suits and stretched a bit. Twilight then got a surprised look on her face and then started violently scratching her nose. The rest of them turned and looked at her as she finished relieving the irritation, then she looked up dreamily and said, “I’ll never take the ability to scratch my nose for granted ever again.”

They all rolled their eyes as Twilight blushed. After having a little chuckle at Twilight’s expense, Junas looked around the corridor, surveying the situation. “Well, I suppose the first thing we need to do is find a repulsor cart. I think this base should have several. Let’s head back to the cargo bays and see if they left us much of anything.”

The quartet of Rebels walked down the corridor and eventually ended up at the first cargo bay. As Junas opened up the door, they all held their breath, but the breath turned to disappointment as they discovered that the bay was almost completely empty. The only thing in the cavernous room was a small group of repulsor carts and a few stray cargo crates. As the ponies displayed their dismay, Junas walked over to the crates, popping out a vibro-knife. “Well c’mon girls, there might be something useful in these.” Not likely, thought Twilight. She knew that if these crates were left behind they were most likely filled with common items like water canisters and foodstuffs. But she complied, using her teeth to cut the seal on the crates and popping open the lid. As she suspected, it was just grains, useless for their purposes. She nevertheless took a bite out of them, a small reward for the effort to open the crate in the first place.

As she replaced the lid, she noted that the others were having similar luck. Rarity was making a face at hers. “I think I might have stumbled upon fertilizer.” Junas got up and looked at what she was staring at, and recoiled in disgust. “Looks like we have an infestation of Womp Rats, and this one didn’t make it.”

Celestia put the lid back on her crate, then looked at Junas with a deadpan expression. “Perhaps we should explore the other cargo holds and see if we may find something useful.”

Junas nodded in agreement, then they all headed to the next cargo storage hold.

The next four cargo bays were either empty or had nothing but useless items. Junas had been hoping for something, anything useful, but he began considering the idea that this base was abandoned simply because the supplies ran out.
“I really don’t have much faith that this bay will contain anything worth toting back to the ship, Junas,” said Rarity.

“We’ve got to at least find the fuel pods. The Empire will surely be watching ships coming in for fuel, and if we land at a fuel depot I have this sneaky suspicion that we’ll be shot on sight.”

Twilight looked at Junas worriedly, hoping that he was simply exaggerating to keep Rarity from complaining. She couldn’t deny the logic of his conclusion, though.

As Junas opened the bay door, he was prepared for another empty hold. Instead, he found a large stack of containers. His excitement was palpable, and his companions mirrored his state of mind. Celestia, master of understatement, said, “It would appear that our problems are solved.”

Junas didn’t pay attention to her, his focus being directed at the nearest crate. He pried it open, and was pleased to discover a stack of raw armor plate. It was generic stuff, nothing designed for his YT-1300, but it would serve to replace some of the panels that were blown off by TIE Fighters. He turned and looked at the ponies excitedly. “Come on, open some more crates!”

They all rummaged through the stack of crates, looking for anything useful, and they found plenty: a welding kit, several crates of fresh vegetables in stasis (Rarity insisted on bringing them back to the ship), a crate of blasters, and the item Junas was most anxious to find: a brand new double laser cannon, which would increase the former firepower of his ship twice over. The most exciting find however was sitting in the corner of the cargo bay. “Junas,” said Celestia, “I believe these canisters will prove most useful.”

He ambled over to where she was standing and examined the labels on the canisters. His expression immediately went to joy. “Fuel canisters! Enough to fill the ship at least ten times over!” The ponies looked at each other, sharing in his excitement.

One by one the crates and canisters were loaded on to the repulsor carts. Junas was quite grateful that the ponies were capable of telekinesis, as this made the job of loading the carts that much quicker. As the last canister of liquid metal fuel was loaded into the cart, Junas wiped his brow with a rag he found draped inelegantly over the handlebar of the cart. “Looks like this is everything we need, ladies.” Rarity and Twilight nodded with a “Mm-hmm.” Celestia meanwhile projected an aura around the cart and looked at Junas. “And now it would be prudent for us to be on our way, wouldn’t you say?”
“Certainly do, Celestia.” They all pulled their helmets back on, then grabbed a cart, metaphysically or otherwise, and headed toward the entrance at a brisk pace. As the huge metal door creaked open, Junas held the ponies back. “I need to check and make sure the Empire hasn’t planned a welcome party for us.”

He looked upward, scanning the heavens for signs of starships, hoping that his eyes wouldn’t make contact with an Imperial TIE Fighter. Luckily, no ships could be seen in the sky for miles around.

Satisfied for the moment that they were still incognito, he turned back to his pony companions.

“Let’s go.”

The walk back to the Maximum Thrust was relatively uneventful, a rare moment of peace in what Twilight had a deemed a thoroughly unpleasant and turbulent experience. My gosh, I hope we get home soon, she thought to herself. Things were never this bad at home, even during the Discord incident. She shook her head, marveling at her own foolishness at thinking that such encounters with evil were anything compared to the horror of war.

She counted herself incredibly lucky not only to have survived their Imperial internment, but that her friends were all alive.

I hope Applejack and Rainbow Dash are alright. The thought of the Empire wounding two of the best friends, indeed the only friends, she had ever known was enough to cause feelings of anger and resentment to churn and boil in Twilight’s stomach. She tried to suppress it, to push it away.

No. She mustn’t let that feeling go away. It was driving her, giving her motivation to find Luna and return home. She wasn’t going to let it go completely to her head, but she had to hold on to that fire so that she had the passion to continue.

They all arrived at the base of the boarding ramp as the sun had begun its wane toward sunset. As Twilight looked up at the reddish-orange orb, her heart felt strangely saddened and empty. She tried to understand why, and in a moment the reason presented itself. It was a stark reminder that they were far, far away from home, perhaps even in another time period entirely. Equestria, with its natural beauty and pleasant environment, contrasted so sharply with this hellish landscape, and the last few days aboard a starship staring at rusty, oil-speckled metal walls hadn’t helped her feelings of homesickness.
She was the last to push her cart through the airlock and into the engine room so Junas could fill the fuel tanks manually. As she put her cart down beside Celestia’s, she began to turn and walk toward the lounge, a tear rolling down her cheek in response to her heartache.

She felt a hoof on her shoulder, and then turned and looked up to see Celestia looking at her with concern. “What’s wrong, my student?”

Twilight fought to control herself, knowing that the main corridor would conduct sound and transmit it to her friends in the lounge area, but it was hard to keep her voice from cracking.

“I . . . I’m scared, Celestia. I don’t know where we are, or even if we can get back home! I just . . . I want to go home!” The tears started to flow more freely, and Celestia bent her neck to gently nuzzle her heartbroken subject.

“I know you feel saddened, Twilight. But you must remain strong. Regardless of your own sense of self-worth, you have been thrust into position as the leader amongst your friends, and despite your sadness, you must remain in control. Any sense of doubt or fear will bleed into your friends and cause them to feel similarly, and we cannot afford to allow this to happen, for the sake of the group. Do you understand?”

Twilight quickly nodded. “I understand. But I still feel so hopeless.”

“I know, Twilight.”

They continued their embrace, time stopping for a moment as Twilight let loose a torrent of tears and sobs. Celestia felt badly for her young student. The introverted unicorn never showed this much emotion, preferring to keep her feelings bottled up inside. To be driven to break down and cry like this indicated a soreness of heart comparable to when she had been forced to banish Nightmare Moon to her lunar imprisonment. Her empathy with her little pony was strong enough that Celestia allowed her to remain at her side, letting all the pain and anguish the last several days had caused to flow out of her.

After a few moments more, Twilight calmed herself through no small effort, then wiped the moisture from the fur on her cheeks. She cleared her throat and looked up at Celestia. “Thank you. I guess I better go check on Rainbow and A.J.”
Celestia nodded, then watched as she walked out of the engine room. After she was certain Twilight was out of earshot, she spoke. “You may come out now, Junas.”

The scruffy human ambled from the other corridor entrance on the opposite side of the engine room and stood next to the white alicorn. “Was it that obvious I was listening?”

“I would were I in your position. Besides, I saw your shadow on the deck.”

He chuckled to himself at Celestia’s perceptiveness, then looked toward the portal to the corridor Twilight had used to walk back to the lounge, a mixture of concern and empathy playing on his face. “Poor kid. She doesn’t deserve this war.”
Celestia nodded. “But she must remain strong, if only outwardly, in order to survive this expedition.”

Junas nodded back, then walked over to the bulkhead and pounded a fist into it. “Dammit, you shouldn’t have to know the Empire and what it’s like!”

Celestia looked at him. “I appreciate your concern Junas, but it is not necessary. We have dealt with evil governments bent on our destruction, and I’m sure you’ve noticed that I and my subjects can handle ourselves in a firefight.”

“I’ve noticed. But it just isn’t fair to you. You never asked to be sent here.”

“And yet, here we are. We must look past fairness and think about how we might return home. Life is not fair in the best of times, Junas.”

He closed his eyes, accepting the truth of that simple truism. “I know.”

He breathed deeply, then let it out in a sigh. “I suppose I should go start the repairs. Could you put the fuel in the tanks for me?”

“I think I can manage that,” she said with a wry smile.

He returned the expression, then headed to get some help in repairing the ship.

With Applejack and Rainbow Dash out of commission, Twilight was the best choice once again to help Junas. They had finished patching the battle damage to the armor and were on top of the hull, Twilight levitating the new laser turret while Junas finished connecting the data lines and power cables. He was immeasurably grateful that systems like this were relatively modular, and if the connectors weren’t compatible, he could simply cut the connectors off and hard-wire the systems. Twilight for her part was remarkably patient, looking on as Junas finished buttoning up the connections.

“Okay, now lower her slowly while I guide it on to the bolts.”

Twilight nodded, then started slowly lowering the half-ton weapon into the socket, with Junas guiding it by hand on to the attachment bolts sticking up out of the weapon mount. He’d had to do a bit of machining with a rotary tool to get the bolts in the correct configuration, but it appeared his measurements were not off by more than a millimeter or two. Black, viscous sealant oozed out from between the plates as the cannon’s base plate made contact with the hull formers.

With a few turns of the hydrospanner and the snap of the hull panels, Junas finished attaching the gun and stood back with Twilight to admire their handiwork. “Sure looks pretty, don’t it?”

Twilight’s face contorted. “Um, ‘pretty’ isn't the word I’d use to describe it.”

Junas mentally kicked himself for forgetting that these ponies were usually pacifists. “I mean, it’s great to see our work complete.”

She mentally conceded that it was a job well done. “I agree. Now, let’s get back to the top hatch and get off this rock.”
As soon as the words left her mouth, she heard an all-too-familiar wail in the atmosphere. Junas heard it, too. “We just can’t catch a break, can we?”

The raced over to the metal hatch in the docking arm as a TIE Fighter roared overhead, doing a flip and heading back to its origin to report the discovery of the Rebel ship.

“Everybody get strapped in!”

Junas was running through the ship toward the cockpit, Twilight close behind him in a steady gallop. Of course, it wasn’t a straight line to the cockpit access tube, and they nearly tripped over Pinkie Pie, who had become bored again and had begun bouncing along the interior of the ship.

She shouted a “Hey!” in their direction, but neither Twilight nor Junas was in any mood to apologize for knocking her over. They flew into the cockpit and quickly plopped into the chairs. Junas began flipping switches and hitting buttons. “At least it won’t take long for the engines to warm up in this heat.”

The joke was lost on Twilight as she strained to look out the window for Imperials, hoping that their base was far enough away that they wouldn’t be back until she and her friends were long gone, but fearing that they would be fast enough to be back in time to get a few shots at them. Her fears were confirmed when she saw two H-shaped dots on the horizon which were slowly becoming bigger. The ships fired several green energy blasts at them as the Maximum Thrust slowly climbed into the atmosphere and began accelerating into orbit.

Junas banked and weaved to keep the Imperials from getting a solid lock on him, then flipped some switches on his console. “Let’s see how well those new guns perform.”

On the outside of the ship, the main turret zipped around, pointing at their pursuers. Junas hit a command key, then the turret started firing wildly, showering the Imperial fighters with blasts of energy. Neither of them were able to maneuver away in time.

“Woohoo!” exclaimed Junas, seeing the huge clouds of glowing debris. Twilight wasn’t quite as enthusiastic, but she was glad that they had some form of protection from the Imperials.

Their minor victory was quickly overshadowed however by a new sight on the horizon. An Imperial Star Destroyer was heading right for them, its engines flaring and accelerating the massive warship to intercept them.

“Junas!”

“I see him! I see him!” Junas flipped the ship violently and tried to get away from the mile-long behemoth. But the Star Destroyer was getting steadily closer.

“How can that huge ship possibly be gaining on us?” Twilight exclaimed.

“They may be big, but they’ve got the engines to match. We still need to wait on the coordinates.”

Twilight’s body was tense. Before, she’d never encountered an Imperial ship and wasn’t aware of what they might be capable of. Now she was terrified, for she knew exactly how dangerous those things were. Energy shots were now flying all around them, and any moment one might collide with them and destroy them.

A huge hit impacted the ship, sending it reeling. In the lounge, everyone felt it, including Applejack and Rainbow Dash. The pegasus however was in no mood for action, especially action she wasn’t taking part in. “HEY! Can you keep this thing steady?”

Fluttershy looked up from attending to Applejack’s bandage. “They’re doing their best, Rainbow.”

“Ugh, I know, but I just wish I could get out there and kick their human butts!”

Applejack rolled her eyes. “Darlin’, ya do realize there’s no air out there in space, right?”

Rainbow let out a low growl, then angrily laid back down on the couch.

In the cockpit, things were getting more tense as Junas checked the shield indicator. “Looks like that last hit almost knocked out the shields.” He hit a few controls to reroute the shield power to the rear grid, then looked at the navicomputer readout. It displayed a reading of 89%, though he knew that a computer’s estimation sometimes was not exactly indicative of its true progress. “Come on!”

Another hit on the back quarter coupled with a huge lurch intensified Junas’ sense of urgency, and he desperately wished that he could simply will the computer to go faster. Luckily, he didn’t have to.

“That’s it! The calculations are done!” He entered the coordinates into the computer as Twilight juked the ship around, then just as a new barrage of energy shots was released at them, Junas pulled the silver levers and the surrounding space was transformed into a billowy tunnel of blue-white energy.

As the ship drifted lazily in hyperspace, Twilight allowed herself a moment to relax.

It wasn’t easy. After all this experience with the Empire, she was beginning to wear thin. Her nerves were shot, and she desperately wished that she could grab a few days’ worth of sleep back home in her library.

Home.

The tiny four-letter word was deceptively simple, yet contained so much meaning to Twilight. She hadn’t considered what her home truly was until she had been forcibly ripped from it. Her heart was in Equestria, and she desperately wished to return there.

But she realized that now her reason for returning wasn’t the same as the reason she had been thinking about during her time as an Imperial slave. All this fighting and warfare was draining, and she just wanted to step into a magical portal and get back home.

She had considered trying to make the spell happen again that transported them here, but several considerations had stopped her. For one, it was a total accident, and not even Rarity could fathom what she had done to make the spell suck them into this universe. For another, even if they could return, they were still missing Princess Luna, and if they did travel back home they might not be able to find the exact universe were they were at that moment, trapping Luna here to meet her fate.

Besides that, she was losing hope that they would even have a world to return to.

They had been gone for over two weeks, and she knew that in that time the sun being locked overhead would surely turn the side facing it into a barren wasteland. She hoped against hope that Ponyville and Canterlot had somehow been trapped near the terminator, thus ensuring that they never experienced the full potential of the sun’s lethal energy.
It was only after she had considered all of that that she realized how hopeless their situation truly was.

If Equestria was destroyed, then there was no reason to return. All her friends were probably . . .

She fought back tears, and succeeded only in making Junas look over to her with concern. “You alright, Twilight?” The fact that he used her name indicated how much concern he had for her.

“No . . . no, I’m not alright. I’m stuck in a universe where evil people want me and my friends dead, I can’t return until we find Luna, and even if we could return my home world is probably a ball of fire and ice by now.” She sniffed, then wiped the tears from her eyes.

“I know how painful that must be, Twilight. The Empire destroyed my home a long time ago.”

She looked at him, surprised. “Really?”

“Yeah. They razed my town, took away everything I held dear. All because of some stupid Imperial captain who had nothing better to do.”

Twilight considered this. It wasn’t like his whole world was destroyed. However, the destruction of his town was just as senseless and was still a terrible tragedy.

“I’m sorry to hear that.”

“It’s in the past. I still get angry thinking about it, but if I can somehow help the Alliance destroy the Empire then maybe that will be of some small comfort.”

“I hope so,” said Twilight. She looked at him with understanding for a moment, then went back to staring out the cockpit window.

Squeaky clamps loudly clanged against the hull as the prison ship docked to the mooring tower.

The sounds reverberated through the hull, and Luna guessed that they might even have been enhanced somewhat to generate a modicum of fear in the prisoners’ hearts. She was above such things, however. She was a princess, a member of royalty, and would not cow down to these Imperial ruffians.

That didn’t mean she didn’t have fear.

There was a ball of it in her stomach, which was generated by the fact that she had no idea where she was or why she was here. Or what they had in store for her.

Yet she was determined to keep her dignity, or what was left of it, and so held her head high as the Stormtroopers opened the door. When they reached inside, she dodged and flew up into the air, and in the Royal Canterlot Voice she exclaimed, “THOU WILT NOT TOUCH ME! I AM NOT AFRAID OF THEE, THOU INSOLENT INSECTS!”

The sheer force from the blasting voice was enough to overwhelm the internal speakers in the Stormtroopers’ helmets, and as they fought to stop the ringing in their ears Luna calmly walked past them toward the door and into the corridor, holding her head up and wearing an expression of arrogance.

As she approached the door, two more Stormtroopers met her, but having seen what happened to their partners, they were content to walk alongside Luna to escort her to her cage for transport.

They allowed her to step into the energy cage, closing the door behind her. As she laid down in the center, a single thought occupied her mind: Where art thou, Celestia?

Lahopa II

Chapter 14

“It was unfortunate that a good deal of our time was spent wondering whether my two friends - Applejack and Rainbow Dash - would make it or not. I still feel like what happened to them was unjust and unfair, and I will never forgive the Empire for it.”

-Twilight Sparkle, On Extra-Galactic Voyages, p. 443

The Maximum Thrust glided through the atmosphere like a falcon, weaving around clouds and maneuvering at the whim of her skilled master. Junas was looking down at the ground, scanning his destination for a landing zone.

The door to the cockpit opened, and Twilight, her mane messy and her eyes still heavy from a long sleep during the hyperspace transit, climbed into the copilot's seat and yawned. “Oh Celestia, that was a good sleep.”

He turned his head at that. “Celestia?”

“Hmm?” Twilight hadn’t been paying attention to him. “Oh, well Celestia is sort of our god. She, along with her sister Luna, rules over Equestria, but she’s also very powerful, and there’s sort of an old pony tradition where we say her name when making requests or observing something exceptionally good, because she might be listening.”

“Sounds a bit creepy actually, but I suppose considering how nice of a mare she is, I wouldn’t mind her listening to me from afar and helping me out of a jam every now and again.”

Twilight wasn’t quite sure how to take the sentiment of “creepy”, but the rest made up for it, and she was still a little too sleep-addled to take anything very seriously. She instead turned her attention to the slowly ascending ground, which she realized meant the ship was descending, and saw that they were heading toward a rather large city. “What city is that?”

Before Junas could answer, pounding on the deckplates was heard and suddenly a disheveled Rarity, her mane still a frizzy mess, burst into the cockpit. “Did I hear someone in here say, ‘city’?!”

Junas and Twilight were both shocked into momentary silence, and the human answered, “Er, yes, a city. Jaharabim, to be specific.”

The name meant nothing to Rarity, but she put on her prettiest puppy-dog eyes and looked right at Junas. “Do you think it would be too much to ask to look for a salon? My coiffure is simply horrid, and the lack of proper styling equipment is making it worse by the day.”

He cleared his throat. “Well, I’m not sure if we can-“

“WHAT?!”

“Take it easy, Rarity! I was just about to say we’re not stopping here very long. Just long enough to do a quick systems check and refuel. Besides, I don’t know if it’s a good idea to split up with the Empire chasing after us.”

“I dunno, Junas.” This time Twilight was the one who voiced an objection. “We’ve been running for days. Shouldn’t we, I dunno, stretch our legs a bit? It’s not exactly easy being cooped up in this ship, and I know we all need a break.”

He opened his mouth to object, but then sighed. “I suppose we can afford a small break. Jaharabim is a big city, and I guess we can spend a little bit of time doing something fun. Only thing is, I don’t have much money, so the best we can probably do is window-shop.” He shuddered at the thought.

“Why that sounds simply divine!” exclaimed Rarity. “I know I wouldn’t be able to find anything that would fit a pony, but I can still use their styles for inspiration. Do you have a quill and parchment I could borrow perchance?”

“Uh, no. But I do have a datapad and a stylus.”

“A who with a what, now?”

He rolled his eyes, turned on the autopilot, and produced the datapad that he had used to get into the base computer on Qat Chrystac, from which he retrieved a small pointed rod. “Go into the programs and use the one with the . . .” He could see Rarity had gotten lost at the word “programs”. “Look, follow my hand.”

Junas hit a couple of symbols on the device with his stylus, which opened up a blank page. “Use this to write on.” Rarity was unsure, but she grabbed the stylus with her magic and began doodling on the blank page. Her eyes lit up. “Oh darling! This is simply fabulous!”

“And if you want, you can add layers to the drawing so that you can switch colors.”

She looked at him with surprise, then let out a squeal and began randomly clicking buttons and using various tools in the toolbox area, experimenting like mad to test the program to its very limits. He noticed how much fun she was having and gave her a half-grin.

“When you’re done, hit this button.” He pointed to a small icon which looked like a disc with a triangular raised area on one side. “That will save your work.”

Her eyes got big and she looked at him with a very grateful expression. “Thank you so much!”

And with that she trotted off down the corridor, humming happily as she did. Once she was out of the cockpit, Twilight and Junas looked at each other and laughed. “Rarity does love to design.”

Junas nodded. “I noticed. Anyway, we’re not just here to window-shop. I think we can find a med-center for Applejack and Rainbow Dash which can give them a full Bacta immersion. Thing is, the Empire shot them, so they know that we need a medical facility and they’re going to be checking every hospital in the galaxy for ponies. I think we can get by with cloaks. There are a lot of equinoid species, like the Thakwaash and Bothans. Hell, someone might even mistake you for a Chironian, if they don’t notice that you lack arms and come in other colors besides reddish brown. But we still need to be extra careful. The Empire is thorough, and doesn’t respect doctor-patient privileges.”

Twilight understood fully what he was talking about. “Do you have any cloaks?”

“No, and I doubt they have cloaks designed for ponies. But I can probably buy a bolt of fabric, and then Rarity can make some for you.”

Twilight nodded. “Sounds like a good idea.” As the ship started gliding in for final approach, she looked out the canopy, inadvertently catching a glimpse at her messy mane. “Whoa! I, uh, I think I need to go take shower.”

He watched her trot out the cockpit toward the fresher and its shower unit, then turned back around to monitor the controls as the ship banked in a lazy arc toward the landing zone.

Hydraulics compressed and the boarding ramp lowered as the Maximum Thrust touched down on the duracrete landing pad, jets of gas spewing from decompression vents all over the underside. Inside the ship, Junas was flipping switches and closing down the systems. He had told the ponies to hide near the reactor for the time being in order that the residual heat would mask their signatures, so he didn’t have to worry about a passing probe droid picking up on the fact that seven ponies and a dragon were hiding out on his ship (though Spike, being cold-blooded, could afford to roam the ship without being picked up by thermal imagers).

As soon as he had completed the post-landing checklist, he headed out of the cockpit so he could look in town for some fabric for Rarity. It wouldn’t be quite so easy, unfortunately.

Before he had made it out of the cockpit access tube, he was stopped by Rarity, who had a slight gleam in her eyes. He tried to get past her, but she stuck a hoof out and stopped him. “Do you mind, Rarity? I need to go get that fabric.”

“Yes, well, I was wondering what kind of fabric you had intended to purchase?”

He blinked. “Um, I dunno. Whatever is cheap, I guess.”

She gasped. “You mean you expect me to sew brand new cloaks from just any old rag you happen to stumble upon?”

“That’s pretty much it, sweetheart.”

“I, uh, don’t suppose you could get a few ribbons, or maybe a secondary color?”

He sighed. “Rarity, this needs to be functional, not formal.”

“Right.” She looked a bit disappointed as he walked by.

“Well, I suppose if they have any scraps of another color I can see if they’ll throw it in for free.”

“OH WOULD YOU?! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!” The white unicorn leaped up and embraced him, and try as he might he couldn’t release her forelegs from his waist.

“Doncha think you oughta get a room, first?”

They both turned and saw Rainbow Dash looking at them, leaning against the padded walls of the corridor with what could only be described as a demented gleam in her eye. “I don’t mind ‘n all, I just thought you two would have the decency to spare Fluttershy. You know how sensitive that pony can be.”

Rarity whipped around and glared at her blue friend. “Rainbow Dash!”

“That’s the name, don’t wear it out.”

Junas would have loved to watch the admittedly humorous exchange, but he decided it would be better to head into the city and get the supplies so that they could continue their mission here.

After returning to the ship with a couple of bolts of fabric and needle and thread, then watching as Rarity again performed wonders with cloth, they all headed out into the city. They all marveled at the architecture: though it was simple, it still had fancy artwork and carefully carved ornamentations, with vaulted arches and a few gilded parapets. Twilight was pleasantly surprised at how much it reminded her of Canterlot. “It’s so beautiful here!”

“Yes, I quite agree!” Rarity, too, was admiring the scene, as were the rest of the ponies.

“It shore does beat out that ship we been travelin’ ‘round in.”

“Yeah, and I bet there’re fliers like me who would wanna race!” gushed Rainbow Dash.

“Oh, I dunno, girls. I think we might want to keep our heads down.”

“Oh c’mon, Fluttershy!” exclaimed Pinkie Pie. “We gotta see if they’ve got any party shops around here!”

“Uh, girls?”

They all stopped and looked at Junas. “I know you’re excited about being in a city, but we still need to remember that the Empire is after us. Lahopa has managed to resist Imperial takeover, but that doesn’t mean they won’t have spies.”

They all looked disappointed, but remained quiet. “Now, the first thing we need to do is locate a suitable medical facility for Applejack and Rainbow Dash.”

“Yeah,” said Spike. “I don’t think we need to wait around for something serious like a gunshot wound.”

They all nodded, then started walking after Junas. Pretty soon however they all started giggling and talking amongst themselves. Junas took notice.

“I will never understand women.”

“I hear ya, bro,” Spike agreed.

Walking through the city, all of them except Junas stared and marveled at the sheer variety of alien life. Twilight’s mind was ablaze; she desperately wished that she had a quill and some parchment to make notations about the creatures she was seeing. To her left she saw an alien which closely resembled a starfish, while to her right a human was arguing with a hammer-headed creature. She wanted to stop and ask each and every one of them about their home world, their species, their technology. However, she knew that her purpose here was more important than a mere search for knowledge.

As she was walking next to Applejack, she could see her wince in pain at the infection that was no doubt working its way through her system, threatening to give her blood poisoning or gangrene. The fear of losing her best friend to some disease was worsened by the unknown diseases and ailments that no doubt roamed this galaxy. At least they had the medical technology to combat such illnesses. She was still marveling at hearing about the wonder drug known as Bacta.

This substance would be a welcome sight in Equestria, if not the world. If she understood the short entry in the dictionary contained on the ship, Bacta was some sort of gel that soaked into the body and not only removed infections but healed the body in record time. She had managed to find a medical book with basic treatment options listed, and Bacta was said to be able to heal even terminal internal injuries in mere hours.

She hoped they would be able to find a medical facility with a Bacta tank. She wasn’t sure how common they were, but since Lahopa II was supposed to be a mining planet, where accidents happen daily, she was sure they had one somewhere, and if they did, Applejack and Rainbow Dash were in luck.

At least they were blending in fairly well. In such a species-diverse place as this, nobody looked twice at them, or even ignored them completely, their business taking precedence.

And Twilight was especially grateful that they hadn’t seen a single white-armored human, which meant they could concentrate on the task at hand: find a medical facility to treat Rainbow Dash and Applejack.

They walked for several blocks before finding a kiosk which displayed a holographic map of the city, with various buildings already highlighted. After a few seconds of searching, Junas pointed to a small symbol which was not familiar to Twilight.

“That’s the only medical center in the city.”

“So they don’t have any others? Not even a clinic?”

“No need for one; emergency medical airspeeders can get to someone in less than a minute, then get back to the hospital in about the same amount of time.”

She nodded in understanding. “So how far is it from here?”

Junas did some quick mental calculation. “About an hour’s walk. I would suggest renting a speeder, but I don’t have enough in my credit account for something like that.”

“Then how were you planning on getting the hospital to treat AJ and Rainbow?”

He shrugged. “Ever heard of ‘dine and dodge’?”

She face-hoofed.

As they all neared the hospital, Twilight got the feeling that something was wrong. It wasn’t something she could put her hoof on, however. She just had one of those feelings.

When they rounded the corner and saw the medical center, they all ducked behind the nearest building. Her fears were confirmed.

Standing outside the hospital entrance was a pair of Stormtroopers at attention.

She looked up at Junas with an annoyed expression. “I thought you said this planet repelled the Empire!”

He got a fierce look on his face. “I guess the local governor made a deal with Vader.”

“It makes no sense, though. Why would they deliberately expose themselves if they knew we were going to a hospital?”

“Probably to make us panic or get desperate, then we either make a mistake and get ourselves captured or we turn ourselves in so we don’t have to run anymore.”

She scowled, then turned around and started walking.

“Hey, where are you going?”

She turned back and looked up at him. “Well it’s not like we can get my friends healed here. We need to go back to the ship, get off this planet and find a place where we can get some medical attention for Rainbow and A.J.”

He looked reluctant, but then realized that she was right. He and Twilight walked over to where the others were standing.

“Well?” asked Applejack anxiously.

Twilight hung her head. “I’m afraid it’s no use, girls. The hospital is guarded by Stormtroopers, and it’s the only one in the city. We’re going to have to go back to the ship and fly to another city.”

Rainbow Dash and Applejack looked at each other worriedly for a moment, then all of them walked out of the alleyway and into the main street. Twilight reflected that their luck seemed to be running out. They had run out of Bacta patches a day ago, and Applejack was looking a bit pallid. Rainbow Dash was doing fine, at least on the outside. Twilight however had developed a non-intrusive scanning spell, and she could see that Dash was putting on a brave face despite growing pain in her side. Twilight looked at Fluttershy next, her sad face betraying thoughts which were returning to the droid which had proved a traitor. Rarity for her part was still marveling at the beautiful architecture, commenting every so often about its ornate decorations, yet Twilight knew that she was worried about their companions. Pinkie Pie-

Wait. Where was that party pony?

Twilight stopped in her tracks and glanced around. There was no sign of the incessant chatterbox anywhere. She looked at her companions frantically. “Have you guys seen Pinkie Pie?”

They all looked at each other, shocked that they just now noticed that Pinkie Pie was missing. “I didn’t even notice she was gone!” said Junas.

“Well we’ve gotta find her!” shouted Spike.

“Yes,” agreed Rarity, “there’s no telling what kind of trouble the poor dear could get herself into!”

The trouble was, Jaharabim was a big city, and Twilight knew finding a little pony would be a difficult task. Still, they had to find her before they took off.

Junas was a bit perturbed. “Considering how that pony loves to sing, I would think we would have noticed her absence.”

They ignored him. “Fan out,” said Twilight. “We’ve got to find her before she gets herself in trouble!”

Finding anypony in Ponyville could prove to be a problem. Finding a single pony in a city like this one was proving to be impossible. Twilight wished they could simply ask if a pink pony was hopping around nearby, but she knew that any one of the citizens of the city could be an Imperial spy. Furthermore, it would most likely be just as slow asking everyone in the city as it would be to simply look clandestinely, and Twilight wasn’t about to risk the Empire discovering where they were and sending in a strike force to find them. So she and the others decided to split up and then meet back at the ship at sunset.

Their methods for searching for Pinkie Pie were as varied as their names.

Rainbow Dash decided that since she couldn’t fly, the next best method for finding her would be to simply go to the top of a high building and look down at the city. “There’s gotta be a building tall enough to get a good look at this place.” She sneaked around like a ninja, spy music playing in her head, and tried to wind her way through the crowd. She kept an eye out for anyone that could be a spy (and after the R2-D8 incident there was no convincing her that not everyone in the city was one), and headed toward the tallest building in the city. She looked up at the structure: it was approximately a hundred meters tall, shaped vaguely like a hexagonal tree trunk, and was covered in wooden trim with gilded details. She carefully sneaked around to the back where the air conditioning and power supply interfaced with the building and looked around. She needed to find some way to scale this building. Putting her hoof to her chin, she looked over the side of the building. There were no ladders or other escape systems, but there was some sort of door or hatch next to the equipment on the back of the building. It was angled down and might be hard to ascend into, but it looked like it merely slid back into the wall, providing easy access to the interior. A big grin popped up on her face and she trotted over toward it and tried to figure out a way to get into the door. The pain in her side kept her from trying the obvious, so she stuck out all four hooves and slowly spider-walked up the alcove leading toward the hatch, gritting her teeth as her wounds complained loudly at the new torture she was inflicting on them. Balancing precariously on her back hooves, she stuck out her right hoof and gently slid the door into its alcove. Her immediate obstacle overcome, she determinedly shimmied up into the hatch, minding her wound, and then closed the door behind her.

Taking the opportunity to rest her hooves a second, she looked up the shaft. It appeared endless. She was, however, committed, and began climbing up the shaft, wedging her hooves in small grooves set into the walls. After ascending nearly twenty meters, she noted with curiosity that there were bits of paper, food and debris in the grooves, as though . . .

As though people tossed garbage down this chute!

She frantically tried to shimmy back down the shaft, then her eyes shifted upward as she heard a hundred tiny mechanical doors open up above her.

“Oh horsefeathers.”

The garbage droid under the refuse hatch didn’t know why one of the objects that landed in its collection hopper began kicking and banging around, but it didn’t have the intelligence necessary to ask the question in the first place. All it knew to do was drive away toward the city dump to unload its smelly cargo.

Fluttershy wanted to fly up and look around to look for her friend, but she knew it would draw too much attention toward herself. Besides that, she hated making a spectacle of herself, so she gently trotted along the street, peering into any windows or open doors, looking for any shade of pink she could find.

Suddenly she saw something in the crowd that caught her attention. A pink blur, about the size of a pony!

“Wait! Pinkie!” She tried to get through the crowd as quickly as possible, ducking past Wookies and Zabraks, and trying to get as close to the phantasm as she could. All the time she was doing this, she found herself constantly apologizing. “Oh! I’m sorry! Don’t mind m- Excuse me, sir, I was just- I beg your pardon!”

Finally she shoved past the last alien in her way, and fleetingly saw a pink shape move into a building. Fluttershy could have sworn she heard Pinkie’s trademark “la, la-la, la-la,la-la” over the din of the crowd. She trotted toward the door, being careful to avoid galloping lest her cloak fly up and reveal her shape and color. She finally approached the door and found that it was closed. She stepped up toward it, but it wouldn’t open like the automatic doors on the Maximum Thrust. Confused, she looked around for someone who might be able to open the door for her. Her eye fell upon a small electronic panel next to the door. “Ah! That must be the door switch!”

She pressed the biggest button with her hoof, and the door opened to reveal a small clothing shop. It also revealed a yellow and blue-spotted alien with spindly legs and arms, a fat, round body, and eyestalks which sat above a long, thin stalk pointing straight out from the body. The lips on the stalk moved. “How can I help ya, hun?”

Fluttershy was a bit taken aback by the appearance of the strange alien, but she smiled nervously. “Um, yes, I was looking for a friend, and I think she walked in here a moment ago.”

The alien smiled, or at least Fluttershy thought she was smiling. “No problem, hun, she’s just back here.”

The yellow pony smiled wide, glad that her search was relatively short. Her smile however melted into a frown when the alien brought back a mousy alien wearing a hot pink tunic and magenta cap. “This your friend, honey?”

Fluttershy shook her head sadly. “No. Thank you for your time.”

The bright yellow pegasus walked glumly out the entrance to the shop.

To Applejack, the bazaar seemed like the most logical place to find Pinkie Pie. “After all,” she’d said, “that pony sure does love apples.” The fact that apples probably didn’t exist in this universe was irrelevant; she knew that a market was bound to have good food and maybe even carnival rides, and that pink party pony was not going to pass up something like that.

With a bit of direction from Junas, she managed to find her way to the city bazaar. When she saw it however, she gasped.

This weren’t no farmer’s market. This was an entire section of the city devoted to trade and profit, and it rivaled Ponyville in sheer size. But Applejack wasn’t about to let that deter her. She was stubborn, and she was going to use her tenacity to her advantage to find her friend.

The orange earth-pony weaved through the crowds, past all the metal and wood carts filled with everything from broken droids to fresh produce, and looked desperately for Pinkie Pie. The smell of all the fresh vegetables and fruits however was incredibly distracting. She wanted to keep looking for her friend, but being a farmer she couldn’t help but be drawn to one of the fruit carts. The sight of all the fresh fruits before her made her stomach growl. She hadn’t had anything approaching a good meal, or rather what she defined as a good meal, since she’d come crashing into this universe.

As she looked over the produce, the alien behind the cart noticed her interest. “Ah, a creature with excellent taste in fruit! Have you ever had Ithorian starfruit before?”

She shook her head.

“Well then, let me give you a taste of our fine wares and give your taste buds a real thrill!”

He took a sharp knife, hit a tiny stud, and the humming silver cutlery sliced effortlessly through the fruit. After cutting several slices he handed them to Applejack, who took a bite.

Her mouth exploded with flavor. She’d raised some mighty fine produce in her time, but even her best apples had nothing on this fruit. She tried to suppress her hunger, but her base desires won out, and she scarffed down the slices of fruit like her last meal. As she licked her lips, she noticed the vendor leaning in, apparently anxious to reel her in. “Well? What do you think?”

“Ah think that fruit’s tastier’n an apple pie!”

“Oh, uh, well . . .” He clearly had no idea what she was talking about, but wasn’t about to lose a customer over cultural disparities. “I’m glad to hear of it! That fruit was a prize-winning breed of my own design! Won three culinary awards in excellence in genetic engineering!”

Genetic engineerin', thought Applejack. That must be fancy-talk fer a kind o’ fertilizer. Being a farmer, Applejack couldn’t help but satiate her curiosity surrounding the oddly shaped fruit. “So how do ya use, er, genetic engineering?”

The alien looked a bit uneasy. Applejack figured that most farmers wouldn’t want to share family secrets, so she decided to reassure him. “Ah wouldn’t worry none. Ah’m a farm pony. Been one since Ah was a little filly. Ah swear, yer secret’s safe with me.”

The alien relaxed a bit. “Well, since we’re of the same breed, I suppose it couldn’t hurt to share a little of my technique with you.”

He went behind the curtain at the back of his stand and produced a small machine with several buttons and lights, all surrounding a large screen. He flipped a switch, and the display lit up with fancy graphics and text that Applejack couldn’t read. “This is the GenTech AG-220 agricultural engineering station. Have you ever seen one before?”

She shook her head. “No, but what does that thing have ta do with farmin’?”

“Well, I just told you that I genetically engineered these fruits to be that flavorful. Starfruit of any kind is usually sour, but I was able to bypass the gene that causes the plant to generate high levels of acid in the juice-“

“Now hold on a cotton pickin’ minute! You sayin’ that that fruit was just popped out o’ some kinda machine?!” The idea that a farmer of any kind would take such an easy way out to get the perfect fruit was unfathomable to Applejack. She’d been brought up to believe that hard work and determination, not to mention blood, sweat and tears, was what produced good produce, and she couldn’t believe a fellow farmer would stoop to such a low as engineering fruit.

“Of course not! It takes work to break down a gene sequence-”

“Just hold on there, buddy! That there’s cheatin’!”

Now the vendor was starting to get incensed. “Young lady, I am this close to kicking you out of my stand and calling security! If I were you, I would turn around and leave while I’m still in a charitable mood.”

As much as Applejack wanted to wring the neck of this fake farmer, she knew she had bigger fish to fry. She snorted, then turned and left the stand, but not before turning back and saying, “Jes’ be glad Ah’m in a charitable mood, mister.” And under her breath she muttered, “Er else Ah’d have bucked you and yer cart all the way ta Equestria.”

Rarity for her part was searching as hard as she could.

And her definition of hard involved trying to tear her eyes from all the beautiful clothing that she saw. Her eyes were glued to the odd-yet-flattering clothing that adorned many of the women of the city. It may be a mining planet, but landing at one of the larger metropolitan districts has its advantages.

She looked left, right and center, taking everything in. She was quite impressed that even the aliens whom she considered ugly were rendered less so by their choices in clothing. Oh, how she wanted to watch them all day. But she had a mission.

Wait a minute! There’s no reason I can’t do both!

After mentally patting herself on the back for her ingenuity, Rarity started watching the fashionable aliens, taking everything in. She knew how distinctive Pinkie Pie’s hot pink coat and mane were; she’d stick out like a sore thumb.

She was just glad that she’d had time to do her mane and tail before leaving the ship. Despite that human trying to rush her. Stallions . . . they’re the same in any universe.

But why let all that hard work go to waste? Surely the Empire couldn’t be everywhere, and she didn’t think it could hurt to let her hood down at least. For a little while.

Not one minute after she exposed her shimmering purple coiffure, she started getting looks. Not sure if the aliens were surprised at her appearance or just shocked that an . . . animal could look so good, she smiled nervously. “Um, hello.”

The aliens continued staring at her, then a thin human female with short cropped black hair and a delicate facial tattoo approached her. “My dear . . . “

Rarity was getting more uncomfortable; she liked attention, but not when she wasn’t sure if this was the good kind. “Yes?”

“I simply love your hair! Could you tell me if that is your species’ natural color, or did you dye it such an exquisite shade of purple?”

Her fears subsided, Rarity composed herself. “Why, it’s my natural color, darling! I’ve had it since I was a filly!”

The human seemed in awe, as did the other aliens, even the hairless ones. She gestured as though she wanted to touch it, and Rarity couldn’t help but oblige, sticking her head out toward her new admirer. The human woman ran her fingers through Rarity’s mane. “Why, it’s simply breath-taking!”

Rarity withdrew her head. “Thank you, darling! I make do with what I have on the ship, but it’s amazing what you can do with a few natural ingredients.”

The phrase “natural ingredients” caught the human by surprise. “You mean you didn’t use some kind of treatment?”

“Mm-hmm.”

“Could you share your recipe, please? I simply must let my stylist know!”

Rarity was struggling to keep the fillyish squeal from escaping her lips. Oh yes, she thought to herself. This is definitely the good kind of attention!

The sun had almost finished setting by the time Twilight and her friends had returned to the ship. Her own efforts at finding Pinkie Pie bore no fruit, but she had hoped that the others had had better luck.

Alas, their searching had produced no Pinkie Pie. Junas’ attempts to covertly search the city had failed. Rainbow Dash had spent all afternoon swimming through garbage and then trying to convince the garbage collectors that she wasn’t trying to steal something. Fluttershy had tried as many shops as she could. Applejack had gone through the entire bazaar. Rarity had tried every beauty shop in the city, though she evaded any attempts to get her to explain why Pinkie Pie would visit a beauty shop when she was barely able to sit still long enough to get her hair done for the royal wedding. Twilight was a bit discouraged, but remembered her teacher’s advice: You must remain strong. Any sense of doubt or fear will bleed into your friends and cause them to feel similarly. “We’ve got to keep searching for her! There’s no telling where she ended up, and every minute that goes by is another minute that Luna is under the control of the Empire!”

Rainbow Dash shook the last of the garbage out of her mane. “Well I’m not gonna rest until we find her!”

“Me neither,” said Applejack. “That pony may be annoyin’, but she’s still our friend.”

“I appreciate that,” Junas said, “but the sun has set. We might as well -”

“Hold it!”

They turned and looked at Fluttershy. She was concentrating. “Do you guys hear that?”

They all strained, swiveling their ears until they were pointed in the direction Fluttershy’s own ears were pointing, and suddenly Twilight’s eyes lit up. “Only one pony I know laughs like that!”

Junas was struggling, but coming up empty. “Um, what are you talking about?”

As they galloped away, leaving Junas behind with the ship, Twilight hollered back, “I think we know where Pinkie Pie is!”

They followed the laughter to a large building with fancy holograms. Amongst the holograms was one which looked like balloons and party streamers. Aha, thought Twilight. She must have thought this was a party store. Or maybe just the galaxy’s biggest party. The six ponies all walked into the building, then it immediately hit them: this was a casino, with huge chandeliers hanging in midair, large mauve columns supporting the ceiling, and a plethora of aliens roaming about, depositing money into machines and playing games. There were a few establishments like this in Equestria, but most of them were not very successful. Most pony’s minds usually wouldn’t allow for such wasteful spending unless it was bred out of them. They might gamble a bit, but they seldom went broke doing it, which meant that most gambling houses in Equestria were small affairs with few repeat patrons. But here there seemed to be no end to the number of aliens willing to take hard-earned money and throw it all away on the hopes of getting back at least what they spent. Twilight admitted to herself that she occasionally gambled, but she knew she’d never bet everything she owned.

Applejack looked positively disgusted. “I cain’t believe pon-, er, people would be this willin’ ta throw away their money like this!”

“Aw, c’mon A.J., it’s all in good fun!” Rainbow Dash’s eyes lit up at the sight of a table with colorful holographic characters dancing about, showcasing some kind of card game with electronic cards.

“Yes, I agree,” said Rarity. “This place looks simply divine!” Her own eyes were drawn to the aliens in fancy clothes from the Core worlds, all of them travelers and all of them wearing elaborate outfits.

“Girls, we need to focus.” Twilight gestured around the room. “Pinkie Pie could be anywhere in here!”

They all nodded, then heard a high-pitched laughter coming from a table in the far corner of the casino. The five ponies raced toward the noise, and then came to a stop in front of a table.

There was Pinkie Pie, sitting on a stool in front of an astonished crowd of onlookers with a huge pile of gold coins in various denominations stacked to one side. The pink pony was laughing at the droid in front of her, who was obviously getting a bit irritated.

“Please miss, you must control yourself. You are causing a scene.”

The scene in question was Pinkie Pie barely able to contain her laughter at the fact that the droid had an electronic face.

“But it looks so funny when you’re mad!” And with that she doubled over, falling off the chair in a fit of giggles that only the Element of Laughter could conjure up.

“Miss, I’m afraid if you do not pull yourself together at once I will be forced to-”

“Wait!” Twilight held up a hoof.

Pinkie turned her head, wearing a broad grin and two streams of laughter tears. “Twilight! Rarity! Dashie! Fluttershy! What are you guys doing here?”

Ignoring Pinkie for the moment, Twilight continued to address the droid. “Please sir, she meant no offense.”

The droid’s electronic display generated a dismayed expression. “Be that as it may, your friend seems unable to control her-”

“Bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha!! He’s doing it again!”

The droid and the unicorn both looked at Pinkie with exasperated expressions. Twilight turned back to the machine. “I apologize for her behavior. It won’t happen again.”

“I’m afraid that’s not all. You see, security believes she is counting cards.”

“What?!” exclaimed every pony.

The droid put on a smug expression. “We’ve been monitoring her, and it seems that she has above average luck. Far above average. The odds are completely out of her favor, yet she continues to keep getting the Idiot’s Array, which is the highest hand in sabacc. A rather fitting name considering her behavior, but the point remains that she must be cheating in order to get that result so many times. The odds of that happening are astronomical. Finally, she was somehow able to place a bet when she ostensibly had no money to begin with, which indicates that she might have been stealing from our patrons.”

Rainbow Dash was incensed. She galloped past Twilight and got within two inches of the machine’s display. “Listen you droid! Pinkie Pie is my friend, and I won’t let you accuse her of cheating without any proof!”

The machine hesitated. It knew it had no real, hard evidence Pinkie was cheating or stealing. And so did Rainbow Dash.

“However,” she said with a demented gleam in her eye, “I could just take my friend and forget this whole thing ever happened.”

The droid looked at her with a suspicious look. “What’s the catch?”

“You let us leave with all her winnings.”

The droid was getting nervous, as people were looking at him as though they knew the cyan pegasus was right. He finally emitted a noise that sounded like a sigh. “Fine. Keep your winnings. But do not return to this establishment ever again. My manager has a holorecording of that pink pony, and he will not hesitate to show her what we think of cheaters in our casino.”

“Don’t worry. We wouldn’t want to set hoof in here ever again.” She whirled around, then Twilight and Rarity levitated the pile of coins and they all trotted out the door, each of them wearing a smug grin at the thought of something finally going their way.

Junas was pacing in the main hold, with Celestia watching and wearing a concerned expression on her face and Spike sitting on the bench, concerned for his friends. “Junas, I really think you need to calm yourself. You’ll do no good to Twilight and her friends if you’re agitated,” said Celestia.

He didn’t look at her as he responded. “But we saw Stormtroopers outside the hospital. Lahopa is supposed to be independent of the Empire, which means that the governor has made a deal with them. That in turn means that we stand a good chance of getting caught and enslaved. Or worse.”

The white alicorn made not a sound for a few seconds. “Well then, if that’s the case, it would be better for us to be away from the ship. It is a large object, and it would be easier to hide if we were not within it.”

He stopped pacing and looked up at her. “You think so?”

“Yes. Also, if we meet Twilight and her friends, it would put your mind at ease.” She looked over at the purple dragon sitting on the couch. “As would it put yours to rest, Spike.”

The little reptile looked hopeful. “You mean we can go meet them?”

She nodded. The baby dragon hopped up off the lounge and ran toward the corridor. “C’mon, you guys!”
Junas gestured toward the corridor. “After you.”

The alicorn nodded in thanks at the gesture of chivalry, and they walked together toward the hallway.

Twilight and the others were trotting in the general direction of the landing pad where the Maximum Thrust was parked, excited that they had found their friend and were again going to be on their way. They trotted across the well-lit landing pad, the cool night air causing their breath to fog. Twilight had just caught sight of Junas, Celestia and Spike when she heard a filtered shout across the starport. “Blast them!”

Red laser energy flew from the barrels of the Stormtrooper’s guns as they tried to box in the ponies. Celestia flew up and sent several shots of magic flying their way, but she saw something that made her heart skip a beat. The Imperials were setting up a large gun. She had no idea what it was capable of, but Junas did. “E-WEB repeater!” he shouted.

The big black gun was assembled in seconds. Junas barely had time to shout, “GET DOWN!” before the air was filled with laser energy. Twilight projected a giant shield wall, but the Imperials laid into it, sending thousands of bolts of laser energy hurling at her. Each shot was absorbed by her shield, but cracks were quickly forming in it. Celestia added her own shield to the mix, but the Imperial gun was too much. “Go!” yelled Twilight. “I’ll hold them off!”

“No, Twilight!” exclaimed Applejack. “They’ll kill you!”

“No time! Get going! Celestia and I can hold them off long enough to escape, but not for long!”

Taking the message, the Rebels ran into an alley and Celestia and Twilight followed them, only lowering their shields at the last second before disappearing into the darkness.

They didn’t move for an hour.

Junas had led them all into an alley where they could cover up with packing crates and keep the Imperials from seeing them. After Junas was sure that the Stormtroopers had stopped looking, he sneaked out of the alley and back to a spot where he could get a look at the landing pad, just in time to see an Imperial Heavy Lifter hauling his ship away with a tractor beam. “Sithspit!” he muttered under his breath.

He headed back into the alley and back into the hole where the ponies were hiding. “Ship’s gone.”

The all gasped. “What’re we gonna do?” Applejack asked worriedly.

The scout took a deep breath. “Survive. There are plenty of tunnels and sewer systems where we can get around the city in, and I know there are some smugglers who make their runs through this system.”

Rarity raised an eyebrow. “Smugglers?”

“People who move illegal cargo from one place to another,” replied Twilight with a twinge of disgust.

“It’s not a perfect option,” said Junas, “but for now it’ll have to work.”

Twilight hated the idea of flying in the same ship as a criminal, but for now she had no choice. With the Rebels working to overthrow the Empire, they and the criminal underworld were reluctantly on the same side. It didn’t mean she had to like it.

Luna’s cage was hauled by a pair of Stormtroopers through a pair of double doors into what appeared to be some sort of grand suite, with blood red carpet, glow lamps along the wall, and an enormous window overlooking a city. She tried to see beyond it, but the edges of the city disappeared past the horizon. She couldn’t imagine how these savages had managed to build up such a city at all, considering how they treated her and her sister.

The cage glided to a stop in the middle of the room, suspended on repulsor coils, and the Stormtroopers withdrew through the door.

The room was eerily silent and empty for an eternity.

Luna had begun pacing by the time the door to the chamber opened. She turned and looked disdainfully at the figure who walked into the room: a tall, gaunt man wearing long purple robes and what Luna guessed was some sort of turban or headdress. The man calmly strode through the doors, wearing an expression of arrogance, but Luna saw that he carried himself as though he were more than simply in charge. If she was reading his body language correctly from her centuries of honing the art, he was a person of very high power, possibly some sort of vizier or general.

The man circled the energy cage like a vulture, his grayish skin and cold eyes evaluating its contents. Finally, he took a seat in one of the many plush chairs around the office and spoke.

“I am Sate Pestage, Grand Vizier to the Emperor. I am here to evaluate you and your potential.”

Luna raised an eyebrow. “Potential?”

“Yes. You see, you and the others from your galaxy are of interest to the Emperor.”

“How so?”

He got up and began slowly pacing again, as though he were unsure how to properly word his response. “You and your species have interesting abilities, yet you are apparently neither Jedi nor Sith, as you clearly originate from outside our galaxy. The Emperor believes you would prove useful in his plan to cleanse the galaxy from the threat that is the Rebel Alliance.”

Luna struggled to understand what he was talking about. Jedi? Rebel Alliance? Her confusion was apparently visible on her face, for Sate Pestage began speaking again. “You are obviously confused, and I’m not surprised. I’m sure you’re quite aware that we believe you, being an alien, would not be able to comprehend what I’m talking about.”

Her anger boiled over at his subtle implications. “You fool! I am Princess Luna, Guardian of the Night and the second most powerful ruler on the entire planet Equi!”

“And yet, here you are. Clearly you’re not the most powerful alien in this galaxy, and certainly no match for the superiority of the Galactic Empire. You are but an animal. You may be able to speak, but you are inferior to humankind nonetheless.”

She continued to fume, but realized that her anger was getting her nowhere. This was pointless; she needed to get this conversation moving, if only to escape this monster’s cruelty. “Will you at least tell me what has become of my sister?”

“Oh yes.” His voice softened to a silky tone, as though this were an intimate conversation between two lovers. “I’m afraid the torture units were not as merciful to your sister as yours were to you. She was pushed further than she could handle, more likely due to inferior alien physiology than anything else.”

“Nay! ‘Tis a lie!”

“Oh, I’m afraid it is very true, my dear. I have a hologram if you wish to see.”

Without waiting for her to respond, he went into his cloak and produced a small circular device with a mirrored surface. He pressed a button and immediately a small, blue-hued image appeared above it. It was clearly Celestia, but her body was still. Her eyes were staring and empty, and her tongue hanged out of her mouth limply. There were several bruises and bloody burns all over her body, with several areas that had flesh brutally torn to expose muscle and organs. Luna stared at the image with a mixture of shock and horror.

“You . . . thou art a monster!” A single tear rolled down her cheek.

“Perhaps. But I am still in control here, my dear. You will learn your place in the Emperor’s scheme. Even if we have to take you to the brink of death, even if we must kill you and then bring you back from the grave, you will learn how insignificant and pathetic you are. Take this as a lesson in humility, creature.” He held the electronic image closer to the bars of her cage for a moment, then left it on the floor in front of her. She stared at it with an empty expression.

Satisfied that he had broken the alicorn, Sate Pestage walked calmly toward the door to the chamber. Before he got to the threshold, he paused and turned his head back toward Luna, who had not yet broken her shocked gaze. “You should really thank me, creature. I have just shown you that you are the stronger of the two, and soon you shall bear witness to the benefits of serving his majesty Emperor Palpatine.”

And with that, he exited the room.

Luna stared at the image until she heard the door close behind her. She knew these humans had very advanced technology, and probably had imaging equipment in this room. After all, they obviously had means to create such an accurate, if horrifying image of her sister.

This image Luna had known to be a lie from the moment she saw it. What gave the image away was that Celestia’s mane and tail, though stilled, were luminescent and transparent. She knew that her and her sister’s manes were sky blue and pink without magic flowing through them. Furthermore, she and her sister shared an intimate bond that transcended flesh. If she had been killed by the Empire, especially under the kind of physical duress that was inflicted upon them during their torture sessions, she would have felt it strongly. And yet, she felt nothing. Her magic was strong as ever, and she was still able to sense things outside her energy cage, but she had sensed no death. Clearly her sister was alive, but she decided it would be best to allow these people to think they could manipulate her, so they would be lured into a false sense of security and give her a greater chance of success should she eventually attempt to escape.

With this idea cemented in her head, Luna was mindful to keep up her façade. She kept her face blank, her eyes emotionless except for the tears which she willed into existence. She almost wanted to laugh at these human’s foolishness in thinking they could manipulate her that easily.

But she didn’t. She kept up appearances, never moving for several hours. She used this time to prepare for her inevitable meeting with this “Emperor Palpatine” that Pestage had spoken of. Luna knew that this person had to be at least as evil as Pestage, since Pestage was his advisor and spoke of Palpatine with the tone of someone who was good friends with the Emperor. With that in mind, she set about mentally exercising her willpower. This conversation with the Emperor’s vizier was merely a sample of the kind of treatment she expected she would receive from Palpatine.

Luna carefully sneaked in a deep sigh.

She knew what kind of treatment she would receive, but she knew she could handle it.

She had to.

The fate of her entire world depended upon it.

Finding Passage

Chapter 15

“I can't recall too many times in my life where I had felt that my life was in danger to the same degree as it was when I was running from the Galactic Empire and their Stormtroopers. True, fighting Equestria's greatest villains put me in great danger of being killed by some magical blast. And I also was at risk from having the love drained out of me, making me wish I was dead. But that was short term. In retrospect though, I think that it was the near constant state of danger for months on end that makes me count our time trying to escape the Empire and return home as being the worst time of my life.”

-Twilight Sparkle, On Extra-Galactic Voyages, p. 627

Thunder rolled in the distance as the planet mirrored the disposition of the group with a downpour of rain. After witnessing the impounding of his starship and realizing that all their food and equipment were onboard, Junas had given a nearby garbage bin a solid kick, uttering a few Corellian curses in the process, and then sauntered back to their camp.

Taking shelter under a small tent made of a discarded tarpaulin and some lengths of rusty pipe they found lying in the alley, Junas had used one of the emergency flares in his survival kit to start a garbage can fire to keep them all warm and dry. None of them said a word for some time as they all struggled to cope with how hopeless their situation was: they had no support, no friends except each other, no food, no water and no ship. They all knew they had the option of traveling with a smuggler or gun-runner, but the odds of them making it out without being robbed and shanked were slim. The idea of stealing a ship was brought up by Junas, but Twilight dismissed it, citing the fact that not only would the Imperials be likely to find a stolen ship if the captain reported it missing, but it was unethical, and she would not allow them to stoop to the Empire’s level.

“Well we gotta do something! We can’t just sit around while the Empire has our princess!” exclaimed Rainbow Dash, stomping a hoof in protest and then wincing from the resulting pain. “Besides,” she continued, “my side is killing me.”

“Yeah, me too,” said Applejack, taking a glance at her own wound. Fluttershy walked over to take a look, but Applejack waved her off.

Junas opened his mouth to speak, but was silenced by the sound of a TIE Fighter roaring overhead. Fine time for you to show up, he thought. They all huddled under the tent, using it as camouflage until the dark craft had disappeared over the horizon.

When it had left, Junas looked over his shoulder to make sure he didn’t have any of his buddies in the area, then turned back to the ponies. “Okay, he’s gone. Look, we need to get out of here. There’s no telling how long it will be before they find us, and we need to find a ship and get off this planet.”

They all nodded in agreement. “Junas is right,” added Twilight. “We’ve got to look for a way off this world if we are to find Princess Luna.”

“Twilight,” asked Spike. She looked down at him. “When are we gonna eat?”

Rarity looked at him with a high degree of sympathy. Twilight sighed. “I’m sorry, Spike. We can’t eat until we get to a ship of some kind, or else we find some food somewhere along the way.”

“Why?”

She shook her head. With his usual level-headedness, it was easy to forget sometimes that Spike was just a baby dragon. “Because the Empire is after us, and we might be seen if we hang around a restaurant.”

He looked glum, but nodded. “I understand, Twilight.”

“Let’s go,” said Junas.

They all left the shelter just as a crack of thunder sounded overhead, the cold rain draining the warmth of their fire away as they walked into the darkness.

The group exited the sewer system they had to trudge through in order to get around the Stormtrooper patrols. Thankful that her cloak had kept a majority of the awful fluids contained in the sewer away from her fur, Twilight looked up at Junas. “Junas, do you have any idea why the sewer is big enough for ponies, much less people? The ones on Equi are usually too small for even a rat to get through.”

“It’s probably a hold-over from the Sith War. Many cities erected around that time used their sewers as secret passages in order to get around the city without being seen by the Sith.”

Twilight smiled at the ingenuity. Even with a war going on around her and general hopelessness weighing on her shoulders, she still had an appreciation for cleverness and intelligence.

“So why are we here?” asked Applejack.

“That.” Junas pointed at a small building on the outskirts of the city. It had a flickering hologram with a word in bluish-green alien text none of them could read, but below that was a glowing tankard filled with some sort of bubbly substance.

Twilight blinked. “A bar?”

“Yep.”

“Sweet!” exclaimed Rainbow Dash. She glanced at Applejack, and they both shot over to the bar as fast as their legs could carry them. Junas and Twilight smiled and then motioned for the rest of the group to follow them.

They met Dash and A.J. at the door to the tavern, then looked around inside. It was not up to the same standards as the rest of the city, but they all knew this meant that the type of people who wouldn’t be on good terms with the Empire would hang out in a place like this, and what they observed confirmed it. Sitting in the booths and standing by the bar were seedy individuals, and few of them were without a firearm of some kind. A bar with a lit cabinet full of drinks was on the back end of the building, and the low lighting, smoke and dim, flickering holograms along the wall completed the image.

Twilight was eager to get out of this establishment, but she knew they were there on a mission. Junas however held out his hand. “You guys find a booth. I’ll ask around and see if I can find someone to take us to Bestine.”

Twilight gratefully nodded, and the seven ponies and baby dragon all headed to a booth near the back of the bar. Twilight was relieved that the cloak around Celestia managed to hide her flowing mane. While awe-inspiring to behold, it would draw attention in a place like this, though there was little they could do to hide its ethereal glow.

They all kept relatively quiet. None of them wanted to draw attention to themselves, and even talking amongst themselves might cause a few glances to be sent their way. Well, almost none of them. Rainbow couldn’t stop tapping her hoof on the table. Applejack, who was sitting next to her, took notice.

“Rainbow, can ya quit tappin’ yer hoof?” she whispered harshly.

The cerulean pegasus scowled. “But I’m so bored!”

“Ah don’t care, you’re gonna draw attention to us. Besides, it’s getting on mah nerves!”

Rainbow shot her an angry glance. “Well buck your nerves! If I don’t get up and do something I’m gonna explode!”

“Girls,” said Celestia with a quiet but authoritative voice. “Please stop. It serves us no good to bicker like this.”

The two ponies looked at their ruler with a mixed look of surprised and shame, then Dash set her hoof back on the seat. Applejack looked at her apologetically. “Ah’m sorry, Rainbow. Ah shouldn’ta gotten on ta ya.”

“No problem, A.J.”

Twilight smiled. She was so grateful for friends like these who could get past their own pride and forgive each other. She had seen many relationships which were rocky due to ponies who were seemingly incapable of uttering a simple apology. Her smile however was tempered by the uncertainty about their future. Feelings of despair were starting to creep back into her mind now that things were relatively calm, and she was struggling to hold them back. Her teacher’s words of wisdom were well understood, yet the lavender unicorn was still having trouble keeping her mind on the prize. Thoughts of her princess of the night as well as the fact that they were now stranded on an alien world were swirling in her head, and as much as she knew she had to keep a level head, she was far too intelligent to be able to ignore the consequences of their circumstances.

By now Equestria was certainly gone. She was aware of how long the atmosphere and natural magnetic shield of the planet could last under the intense barrage from the sun, especially with the planet no longer rotating and replenishing the magnetic field, and it was certainly less than the two weeks that they had been on the run from the Empire. She wasn’t very worried about that, though it pained her to think how ponies would have suffered before their inevitable deaths. She had been working on adding a time element to the teleportation spell that had delivered them here in the first place, and it wouldn’t be long before the formula was complete.

What was truly occupying her mind was the knowledge that Luna was certainly being interrogated by her Imperial captors.

Twilight was not certain how well the monarch might be able to handle that. Physical torture could be ignored if you have the magical ability to banish pain. Mental torment on the other hand was something no magical incantation could ward off. Princess Luna was strong, but Twilight knew that strength had a limit, no matter who you were. If the Emperor could get to her, pry open her mind and turn it inside out, they may be dealing with more than a simple rescue mission.

This frightened Twilight. The idea that someone she knew was turned against her was nothing new. Discord had attempted successfully to turn her own friends against her, but she had been able to use a memory spell on them. She would have no such luck with Luna. The navy blue alicorn would be able to shield herself against such manipulations with her magic, and if she were now their enemy she would most likely hit them all with deadly magical beams, similar to the ones that Princess Celestia had used to blast Stormtroopers during their first escape. Moreover, if they were unable to turn her back to good, then their expedition was doomed.

Celestia seemed to know just what Twilight was thinking. “My student,” she said. Twilight looked up at her with a worried expression. Celestia smiled down at her with a look that calmed Twilight’s anxiety. “Do not worry about my sister. She may be my younger sibling, but she is powerful and clever, and the Imperials will certainly fail at any attempt to control her.”

As she finished speaking, Junas walked up to the table. “I think I found some transportation.” They all looked at him anxiously as he jerked his thumb toward the back of the room. “There’s a guy at the bar who told me that a pirate who frequents this establishment operates near the Inner Rim. He doesn’t often hit Bestine, but he could be persuaded to head that way.”

Celestia raised an eyebrow. “In what way might he be persuaded?”

Junas shrugged. “He loves novelties. If you and Twilight could give him a good magic show, he would probably be willing to drop us off.”

Twilight fought the urge to throw up. Ever since Trixie had come to town the term ‘magic show’ had left a sour taste in her mouth, and the idea of parading her magic powers around for the entertainment of anyone, much less a pirate, was enough to cause her to give Junas a dirty look. “You want us to just show off our powers to some stranger?”

Celestia held up a hoof. “Do not worry, my student. The price of getting help in this case is trivial compared to the stakes.”

The unicorn looked surprised, but relented. “Of course. I’m sorry, I just forgot our circumstances for a second.”

Her teacher nodded in understanding, then turned back to Junas. “When do we meet this pirate?”

“Right now. He’s over there, at the end of the bar.”

Sitting on a stool next to the bar was a humanoid alien seemingly drowning himself in alcohol, if the number of empty goblets in front of him was any indication. Yet he didn’t seem to exhibit the normal signs of being drunk, something Twilight attributed to his alien physiology. The man wore a long coat, under which was strapped a blaster pistol. He had a dark gray complexion closely resembling rough hewn stone, with dreadlocks tied up in the back, and his head was topped off with what Twilight assumed was some sort of turtle shell. Fluttershy noticed this, and out of the corner of her eye Twilight saw the yellow pegasus look at it in horror.

Slamming down the rest of his drink, he wiped his mouth, then turned and looked right at Celestia. “So you are the ones that the Empire hunts, yes?”

Celestia nodded.

“I’m not surprised. I’ve been along the length and breadth of this galaxy, dealt with the enslavement of many species, and I’ve never come across or even heard of creatures such as yourselves. You would be quite valuable, being as how there are only seven of you.”

The ponies recoiled at the term ‘enslavement.’ Twilight stepped out with a look on her face that might have fused durasteel. “You mean you sold pon-, er, people into slavery?”

He waved his arms at them in alarm. “Oh no, no, no! Well, not anymore.” He laughed nervously. “These days I mostly just go about the galaxy, trying to make a living on a day-to-day basis, trying to take care of my men . . .” He indicated to the bartender droid that he wanted another round, which it promptly deposited in front of him. “At least the ones who stuck around after the Empire began really cracking down on my trade.” He took a bitter swallow of the drink in his hand.

Celestia raised an eyebrow. “Your trade is illegal, is it not?”

“Eh, I prefer the term ‘entrepreneurial’.”

“Regardless of how you define you occupation, you realize that we are in dire straits. We need transportation. It is this reason alone that we would even consider casting our lot in with the likes of you.”

He rolled his eyes. “My dear, I do not care what you think of me or my trade. As long as the credits are good, that is.”

He drank what remained of the brew in his goblet, then swaggered casually toward the door. “Pay the droid,” he said over his shoulder.

Junas shook his head, then took the credit chit that Pinkie Pie’s winnings were holographically inscribed on and inserted it into the bartender droid’s credit slot. Twilight watched the arrogant alien walk out the door, a quizzical expression on her face. “Is he really the best you could come up with?”

“He’s been in the business for decades. If anyone can get out from under the Empire’s radar, it’s him.”

“Does he have a name?”

“Yeah. Hondo Ohnaka.”

“Are you sure he said to meet him here?”

Twilight was looking all around the place where Hondo had scheduled to meet and feeling less and less happy about their decision to travel with this pirate. What stood before them was a barren, greasy landing pad and a bunch of service droids and machines for pumping fuel and coolant, all wet with the recent downpour that hadn’t managed to clear out the gray overcast sky. The smell of ozone and cleaning fluids permeated the air, making her nostalgic for the pure atmosphere of Equestria, and she was sure they could be seen through the open roof of the docking bay if any Imperial patrols happened to pass by. Her friends apparently had the same idea. Rainbow and Applejack were watching the sky nervously; Rarity, Fluttershy and Spike were sitting together in a huddle; and Celestia took a position between the two groups as though she might shelter them with her magic. Junas looked down at her as she asked. “I’m sure,” he said. “We’re paying him quite a bit for the pleasure of his company, so he’s not going to double-cross us.”

Twilight couldn’t be so sure. In Equestria, she could usually count on ponies to be pretty up-front about their intentions, whether or not they were your friends. In this galaxy however, she had to be very careful about who she chose to trust. Humans and other aliens were apparently willing to stoop to any level to gain the upper hand if they were so inclined, and only the Changelings of her world were anything like that.

This pirate however was still the only way off this world. At least, the only way they had at the moment. So despite her misgivings, the only thing she did was look back at Junas with a concerned expression.

All of the sudden a door on the other side of the docking bay opened up and out strode Hondo, a strange, lizard-like monkey sitting on his shoulder. Holding up his arms in the air in a grand gesture, the pirate jovially shouted, “Welcome to my little piece of this world! Please feel free to make use of the facilities and enjoy yourselves!”

Junas scowled. “What are you talking about, Hondo? This is a public docking port.”

The mangy pirate bellowed a laugh. “Well, if you want to believe that, you may. But I’ve had some dealings with the owner of this spaceport, and he’s made sure that I never have to worry about Imperial scum screwing with my ships.”

Junas was not impressed. “So if this is your docking port, where’s your ship?” he asked, crossing his arms skeptically.

“Oh, it’ll be here, don’t you worry about that.” Hondo’s voice grew a defensive edge. “You think I would keep a ship parked here twenty-six hours a day?”

Junas rolled his eyes, and Twilight couldn’t blame him. This pirate either had a tenuous grasp on reality, or he had some sort of hold over the spaceport’s administrator, most likely by bribery or other such unsightly methods of control. Neither option appealed to Twilight, though she strongly hoped that the latter was true.

Hondo scanned the skies, apparently looking for his ship. Twilight watched him as he seemed to grow concerned, then her apprehension grew as he checked the device on his left wrist and frowned at it. Suddenly a beep was heard from his belt. He grabbed the tiny device on his hip and held it to his mouth. “Yes, what is it?”

A few seconds passed by. “What are you talking about? You should have been here—” He listened to the device. “Oh, you’ve got to be—”

He never got a chance to finish the sentence. Blaster fire filled the docking port as Stormtroopers began piling into the bay, guns blazing and causing the ponies to scream and scatter. Hondo produced a blaster of his own and began firing back, and Celestia and Twilight joined him. Junas however desperately wished he still had his gun.

Hondo ducked behind a nearby packing crate, popping up every once in a while to pop off a few shots at the Stormtroopers, then turned and smirked at the ponies. “Well, it would appear they want you guys pretty badly, eh?”

Twilight looked at the pirate in astonishment at the grin playing on his face, dreading the idea that maybe he was nuts. He began backing away slowly, never taking his eyes off the Imperials. She watched as Hondo got near the wall and began feeling around. As soon as his hand reached a small metal stud on the wall he pressed it, and suddenly a small piece of machinery on the wall retracted with a confirmatory beep and revealed a small corridor. He waved them over with his blaster. “Come on!”

They all dodged blaster fire as they headed toward the small doorway, and it was only by Celestia projecting a powerful shield around them that they were able to escape the Stormtroopers.

As they ran through the street and dodged blaster bolts, Twilight realized that she had been premature to assume that ducking into that corridor would provide a way of escape from the Empire.

A near miss tore a chunk out of a nearby building, raining pieces of wood and concrete down on the ponies. “We need to split up!” shouted Twilight. “We’re too big of a group to move through the crowd!”

“I agree!” yelled Celestia.

Twilight turned her attention to the pirate at her flank. “Hondo!”

“I’m busy, little one!” He punctuated his sentence with a few shots from his blaster.

“Will your ship come back to the docking bay?”

“They were chased away by TIE Interceptors. But they will be back when they dispatch those bastards. There’s a large duracrete landing pad on the outskirts of the east side, right next to a communications tower. We can meet them there.”

They all nodded, then Twilight broke to the right, which was all the signal the group needed that it was time to split up.

Applejack headed into a small department store, running at full tilt past the displays of jewelry and other niceties and thinking how Rarity would be sorely tempted to stop and gander at them. Lucky for her, she had no such desires for pretty things.

She dodged and wove through the aliens populating the store and nearly knocked over a woman carrying a stack of packages. She was immensely grateful that the Stormtroopers were hesitant to fire on her in such a packed location, but she knew she would run out of crowd eventually and have to get back out in the open.

The orange cowpony hopped over a small floor-cleaning droid and banked around a set of clothes hangers, then bolted down a long stretch of path in the floor. She ran past alien after alien, weaving around them in order to confuse the Stormtroopers; lucky for her the store was reasonably busy.

Suddenly a group of Stormtroopers appeared in the crowds before her. She didn’t have time to think. Quickly she hopped up and in one swift motion used a Stormtrooper’s shoulders as a springboard, leaping through the air and landing on the other side of the group of Imperials.

Good thing Ah practiced every day for that National Equestrian Rodeo Championship in Canterlot.

As soon as her hooves made contact with the tiled floor she galloped as fast as her legs would carry her in the direction of the store’s exit.

Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash raced through the streets, crimson energy bolts whizzing past their heads, and as usual Pinkie struggled to take the situation seriously and hopped along the road. Rainbow glanced at her and wondered how she hadn’t been hit yet, then chalked it up to Pinkie Sense.

They dodged a particularly close volley of energy blasts, then rounded a corner. As soon as they did they realized their mistake.

Ahead of them was nothing but brick wall.

They were still a few seconds ahead of the troopers, however.

As soon as they were around the corner Rainbow whipped around and waited for the troopers to round the bend. Pinkie Pie saw what she was doing and immediately turned around as well. When the first pair of Stormtroopers appeared in the alley both ponies bucked as hard as they could, sending the men flying into the troops behind them, armor clattering and guns flying out of their hands. As the men landed hard on the pavement, Rainbow let out a yelp, the effort of kicking exacerbating the now constant pain in her side.

As soon as the troopers fell, Rainbow and Pinkie Pie ran as fast as they could to an ally on the other side of the street, grateful for the moment that it was without obstruction.

Red-hot blasts of laser energy were gouging holes in nearby buildings as Junas and Celestia scrambled through a landspeeder parking lot, with Spike clinging to the alicorn’s back for dear life. The trio leaped over duracrete barriers and dodged parked vehicles as they struggled to avoid being blasted apart by the deadly energy beams flying past their heads.

“You’d think they would at least check our ID,” Junas muttered under his breath.

The three fugitives raced past a long line of parked speeders and down a street lined with industrial buildings as they maintained a lead on the large group of Stormtroopers hot on their tail and searched for some way to evade their pursuers. Suddenly an opportunity presented itself in the form of a low duracrete tunnel through the side of a wall.

“This way!” shouted Celestia.

Junas looked in the direction she was heading and sprinted alongside the galloping alicorn, reaching the tunnel just as a blaster bolt would have drilled a hole through his head. As they cleared the threshold, they could hear the clatter of armor and pounding of boots on pavement. Celestia’s breath was hot on his neck as they both whipped around to face their attackers. Out of the corner of his eye Junas noticed a pale yellow glow as the princess said calmly, “Get down.”

Junas barely had time to duck before the Stormtroopers poured into the tunnel, only to be met by a golden wave of pure, magical energy. As the armored men were blasted against the building on the other side of the street, the three comrades shot out of the tunnel, simultaneously relieved to have dispatched their pursuers and nervous that others might be called in to join the chase.

Riding on the back of a passing speeder truck, Twilight, Rarity and Fluttershy flattened their bodies as much as possible against the tarpaulin covering the load, hoping that the Imperials hadn’t noticed where they had disappeared to. The wind whipped their manes and tails as the truck moved quickly through the street, the exhaust from the front-mounted jet engines blowing hot against their skin. Rarity coughed disgustedly at the offending emissions. “I hope this vehicle gets where it’s going soon. This smoke is going to damage my mane!”

Twilight rolled her eyes as her friend struggled in vain to shield her mane from the exhaust. Fluttershy for her part was handling the situation fairly well, though Twilight suspected it was because the timid pony was too scared to do much more than huddle with her friends.

Suddenly the truck slowed to a halt. The three ponies looked at each other in horror as they heard an all-too-familiar clattering of armor and a filtered voice demanding that the driver of the truck exit the vehicle so that it may be searched. Tension in their chests grew as the Stormtrooper ordered his subordinate to search the bed of the truck. Fluttershy let out a tiny squeak, prompting Rarity to hold her hoof over the pegasus’ mouth. Frantically Twilight tried to think of a spell to use against the Imperials. She thought about an invisibility spell, but it would take too much time to prepare. Suddenly, she remembered one that would alter their appearance into anything the caster thought of.

When the trooper looked into the bed, all he saw was a pile of piping and some coils of wire.

Hondo checked his wrist chrono, looked up in the direction that the ponies were most likely to come from, and then began pacing again in front of the boarding ramp of his starship, the grey sky casting an uncertain atmosphere on the whole situtation. He had just patched up his ship from a run-in with CorSec, and it would be all-too-easy for the Empire to set up an EWHB heavy repeater and blast his ship to pieces as it sat on the landing pad. There was good money to be had here, though. He’d wait a few more minutes yet before he took off.

Besides, they’d promised him a genuine magic show, and outside the Jedi he had tangled with during the Clone Wars there were few people around anymore that were even capable of actual magic.

Just as he’d started a third circuit, he heard the pounding of hooves on pavement and looked up to see Junas and Celestia running and galloping toward him, with Spike hanging on to a hank of the alicorn’s mane. He waved at them to make sure they knew it was him.

The human scout stopped and began breathing heavily while Celestia calmly stood next to him. The baby dragon tried to hold on, failed, then fell to the pavement in a heap.

Junas bent down to stand him up as a speeder truck drove by and a trio of ponies hopped out of the cargo bed, then Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie burst from between two buildings, and finally Applejack ran out of an alley behind a large collection of mechanical pumps and tanks of fuel.

The relief they felt was punctuated by the sight of a group of Stormtroopers shooting out from where Pinkie and Rainbow had popped out. “There they are! Stop ‘em!”

Celestia saw them, then stood in front of Hondo and spread her magnificent wings and projected a magical barrier between her ponies and the men who sought their deaths. They fired several shots into it, which caused Celestia to wince, but she held firm. Hondo however was rather put off by the creature’s wing blocking his line of sight and brusquely shoved it out of the way. “Do you mind, Princess? I would very much like to get a clear shot at those boys in white.”

She eyed him dangerously. “I would rather you didn’t endanger my ponies’ lives with a stray bolt from your weapon.”

He rolled his eyes, then headed up the ramp. “I’ll be in the cockpit getting the engines primed.”

Junas looked after the mangy pirate with a look of disdain, an expression which was matched by Spike. “If he wasn’t our ride off this world, I’d have lit his shirt on fire.”

“I would have held him for you, Spike,” said Junas with a twinge of regret, “But like you said, he’s our ride.”

Spike scoffed as the ponies finally made it to the ramp and shot up into the starship. As the group headed into the bowels of the ship, Applejack stopped and nodded toward Celestia. “Thank ya kindly, Princess.”

“You’re welcome, my little pony. But make haste into the ship so we might escape those who wish us harm.”

Applejack bowed slightly, then ran up the ramp, followed by Junas, who waved Spike toward him. “C’mon, little guy! We gotta get the hell off this planet.”

Spike ran after him, leaving Celestia at the bottom of the ramp. When she heard the engines ignite, she lowered the barrier and began backing up the ramp, which retracted beneath her. As the ship lifted off, the Stormtroopers let loose with all their might, but the shields blocked most of the deadly energy as the ship’s primary drives lit, igniting oil and grease as it flew up and away into the charcoal atmosphere to escape into the inviting darkness of space.

Author's Note

The fur is flying again in this chapter!

For some reason the action was hard to write this time around, so hopefully you guys like it. And yes, I love Clone Wars, and Hondo Ohnaka is probably my favorite character on the show. He reminds me a lot of Don Karnage from Talespin, only better. He's pretty funny in the show, and I love how they've added a lot of dimension to him since his first appearance. So I just had to include him here. Hopefully he doesn't get killed off in the show, but since this is somewhat of an alternate universe for both MLP and Star Wars, it doesn't really matter, does it? ;)

I'm also in the middle of editing my older chapters to make them conform to EQD's standards so my story will garner more attention, so chapters will be longer in coming. I know I said I was on hiatus until I got chapters 1-14 edited, but I sensed that if I didn't pick up Chapter 15 and finish it I might not ever get to it. So here it is. As always, I hope you enjoy, and I invite criticisms and comments. :)

Escape from Nar Shaddaa

Chapter 17

“Pounding our hooves on the dank, greasy metal that made up the streets and sidewalks of Nar Shaddaa was incredibly painful at times. I recall many moments where I longed for the soft dirt roads and grassy plains of Ponyville which didn't hurt quite so much to run on. Of course, Ponyville didn't normally have people chasing me and my friends with the intent to sell us to the Empire, either.”

-Twilight Sparkle, On Extra-Galactic Voyages, p. 583

Panting and gasping for air, Twilight and Rarity burst from a crowd and collapsed next to the base of a large, broken down spire. Aliens stared at them as they caught their breath, happy to have a place to rest despite the black liquid which was dripping into a puddle next to them. They looked up as speeders raced through the air, fearful that one of the noisy contraptions would land and disgorge armed men to capture them.

After resting for several minutes, Twilight stood up and offered Rarity a hoof. “Come on,” she said. The white unicorn helped herself up and stood next to Twilight. Looking at her friend’s mane, Twilight winced. I hope she doesn’t get a good look at her hair any time soon.

“Let’s get out of here,” said Twilight. They turned and walked back into the crowds.

Neither of them noticed an armored figure watching them through the shadows.

The two unicorns walked through the throng of aliens for several minutes before Twilight felt a tap on her shoulder. “Twilight, when is Junas going to talk to us on that little box thingy? I’m positively fed up with waiting on that human to find some way off this planet!”

Twilight looked back at her. “I don’t know, Rarity. I’m sure that he will let us know when he’s ready.”

“Well, I hope he’s ready soon. I don’t know if I can stand another minute in this dreadful place.”

Twilight shook her head. Rarity was a nice pony, but she could really get on one’s nerves with her complaining. However, Twilight was patient. She could ignore her friends’ quirks, especially in a place like this with all its wonders. Despite all that had happened, Twilight was always hungry for knowledge, a hunger that could never be sated. She was constantly making mental notes about the architecture and fauna of this universe, the sheer variety giving her a focus that took her attention away from the depressing nature of their situation.

She needed a short break from the walk, however. “Rarity, let’s stop for a second. I need to rest my hooves, and I really want to take some of this in while I can.”

“Alright, Twilight. I suppose I need to take a break myself.”

The purple unicorn smiled at her friend, then began admiring some beautiful metalwork on the side of a door that stood out due to its polished surface. It contrasted with the surrounding grime, drawing Twilight toward it.

She noticed something in its shiny surface.

Someone was watching them. The alien looked as tall as many humans, but wore green and red armor, with a helmet on his head that had some sort of antenna on it. The most frightening however were the reactions of those around him: anyone who saw him quickly got out of his way, a look of panic on their face.

She knew exactly what kind of person he was: a bounty hunter.

“Rarity.”

The ivory unicorn looked at her. “Yes?”

“Don’t look, but there’s someone following us.”

Instinct overrode reason as Rarity looked toward the alien.

“Rarity! I said don’t look!”

“Don’t look at what?”

Twilight frowned, then looked in the direction where she saw the armored alien. He was gone.

“Rarity, we need to get out of here now!”

As she turned to run, she saw a streak of flame through the air which was careening toward their position. Her eyes went wide with terror as the flame ended up in front of them and evaporated to reveal the armored figure. He pointed a blaster in their direction as he spoke. “Don’t move.”

Deep-rooted instinct however took over the ponies’ senses, and they bolted into the crowd, the blue rings of a stun shot missing them by mere centimeters.

A low-flying starship shot through the alley, causing Celestia, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie to glance up at it. Celestia in particular wondered in annoyance if the pilot had chosen to imbibe something intoxicating before he stepped into the cockpit.

“Oh, I wish that we could find a nice place to visit for once, somewhere where we can lie down in some grass, and maybe have a nice tea party.”

“Oh Fluttershy, c’mon! We can have fun here if we want!”

The pegasus looked at her friend. “I don’t see how, Pinkie Pie.”

“Like this: I spy with my little eye something that begins with ‘a’.”

Fluttershy could only think of one thing. “Aliens?”

Pinkie beamed at her friend. “Correct-a-mundo! Your turn!”

The yellow pegasus glanced around nervously. “Um, okay. I spy . . . with my little eye . . . something that begins with – oof!”

Pinkie frowned in confusion. “I don’t think ‘oof’ is a letter, Fluttershy.”

The alien she ran into glanced down at her with multifaceted black eyes and an angry expression on his green, scaly face. “Oota gatra mego makacheesa?!”

Fluttershy backed away slowly, her fearful eyes locked on the hard face of the being. “Oh, I’m sorry, I was—”

“Som be chalay! K’upach! Mekato a-pa pampas!”

Fluttershy looked back and forth, her heart racing in a panic as the alien drew a blaster pistol.

Suddenly Pinkie Pie angrily popped up over the alien’s shoulder. “Hey! You can’t pick on my friends like that!”

The alien suddenly looked at her with surprise, wondering how the creature had suddenly appeared next to his head. “Gah? Ubana me hota?!” he said, punctuating his words by pointing his blaster at Pinkie Pie’s nose. She stopped her rant, then he shook her off and fired a warning shot next to her. As the duracrete rained down on the ponies, Fluttershy gasped, then shot angrily into the air and got right in the alien’s face. “Now listen here, mister! I may not understand what you’re saying, but I think you need to get your act together right now!”

The crowd around the alien started watching as the yellow pegasus lectured him.

“You might be bigger and tougher than me, but that doesn’t give you the right to hurt my friends!”

Snickers were heard in the crowd as many stopped and listened to the small creature giving the Rodian a piece of her mind. The alien for his part tried to maintain his tough-guy routine, but Fluttershy’s verbal barrage was leaving no quarter.

“And what would your mother think about you bullying helpless ponies? You think she would be proud of her son? You need to go home right now and think about what you’ve done.”

The alien, realizing that he looked like a coward for bullying the ponies and an idiot for not controlling his temper, growled out a few muffled curses, then strode off into the crowd. As Fluttershy calmed down, she was relieved to see several people start clapping at her bravery for standing up to the Rodian. Pinkie Pie then leaped up and wrapped her legs around Fluttershy’s neck in a heartfelt embrace, nearly choking her in the process. “Fluttershy, that was super duper amazing! It was like that time with the dragon! That was really cool when you got up in that mean guy’s face and let him have what for!”

The little pegasus blushed through her fur, looking up at Pinkie with a grateful expression. “I’m just glad he didn’t try to hurt you anymore.”

Celestia walked up and put her wing over Fluttershy with a kind expression. “You did very well, my subject. Defending your friends is one of the highest honors you can have in life.”

Fluttershy looked up at her ruler in humble adoration, then the three of them walked on through the crowds.

“Just a few more minutes, preciouses. Yes!”

Rainbow Dash and Applejack watched as the alien ran around the house from cupboard to cupboard, gathering ingredients and dumping them in a large cast iron pot filled with some sort of greenish liquid. The contents of the cauldron boiled and churned, reminding the ponies of the potions that the zebra Zecora would create in her hut. The similarity was at once frightening and comforting, and was bolstered by the alien humming and chanting incantations in some old tongue.

He suddenly turned and looked at his houseguests, prompting the both of them to jump slightly. “My brew is coming finished, my preciouses! Yes, hmm. Nearly finished!”

Rainbow forced a smile as she gulped. “Heh, yeah. Thanks!”

The alien’s faceplates moved in the semblance of a smile. “It is my pleasure to serve the Master, my precious. Soon thou will know the joy of service to Master!”

The blue pegasus smiled and nodded, then when the alien’s back was turned she bent down and whispered to Applejack. “A.J., I think we should go. This guy is seriously creeping me out!”

“Ah know, Rainbow Dash,” whispered Applejack. “But we gotta get healed, and Ah don’t think we’re gonna get anyone better ta fix us up.”

Her words were punctuated by the sound of something plopping into the boiling pot. The alien smiled and hummed, tossing more and more ingredients into the boiling concoction. “Soon, yes. Soon, my precious. We must wait till soon!”

They both looked at each other, wondering what the alien meant, and then suddenly a large puff of smoke and a burst of purple flame belched out of the thick liquid in the pot. “Ah!” exclaimed the creature. “My brew is finished now, yes! Come, yes, my preciouses! Drink of it and know the power of the Master!”

Cautiously, the two ponies walked toward the cauldron, the alien beckoning them impatiently as they did. Then with excitement he grabbed two small goblets off a shelf hanging above the fire pit and ladled a small portion of the green, cloudy mixture into them. “Drink, my preciouses! Drink and be healed!”

Gulping nervously in unison, the ponies took the steaming cups of potion. Applejack stared down at her cup with nervousness, the smell of the liquid sending her stomach reeling. Rainbow Dash sniffed hers and had to force down her lunch.

“Drink, my ponies!”

The insistence of the alien was concerning, but realizing that they had little choice, they both gulped down the brew.

As soon as the contents of the goblets hit their stomachs, they both retched violently, but the desire to be healed won out and both of them managed to avoid vomiting.

Then a new sensation got their attention.

Applejack was the first to notice a peculiar burning in her shoulder where the Imperial laser blast had dug out a chunk of her flesh. She looked at her bandage as smoke started to pour from under it. She gritted her teeth as the wrapping burst into flame, the flesh beneath it glowing bright orange and belching smoke and flame.

She screamed and collapsed as the pain became unbearable. The sides of the wound slowly closed up, with small cinders flying up and away on the column of smoke. Her eyelids ached from being squeezed, her teeth from the clinching, and her throat from the screams that she was unable to control.

After an eternity of burning agony, the pain subsided, giving Applejack a desire to look at her back. She was amazed to discover that the wound was gone, with only a small patch of white skin where the charred flesh once was. “Well Ah’ll be a cored apple!” The words burned her raw throat, but the amazement was plain in her speech. She looked over to Rainbow Dash, who was sitting on the floor, her jaw dropped in amazement in spite of the tears of pain which still stained her cheeks.

“That . . .” The cerulean pegasus struggled to find the words to describe her feelings. “That . . . was . . . awesome!”

The alien clasped his clawed hands and emitted a buzzing sound that carried a distinctly happy tone. “Good, my ponies! Good! Master will certainly be pleased!”

Rainbow chuckled nervously. “Yeah, well it’s been real, but we gotta get going.”

Suddenly the alien’s demeanor changed.

“Go? No, ponies, no. There is no go.”

Dash looked at Applejack, who cocked an eyebrow at the alien. “What’re you getting’ at, mister?”

“Thou must complete thy pledge to Master, yes!”

A chill swept over Applejack and Rainbow Dash. The pegasus gulped. “Pledge?”

“Yes,” intoned the alien. “Thy flesh being made whole, thou must now sacrifice to thy new Master, for only whole flesh is acceptable to Master!”

Their hearts racing, the two ponies began backing away toward the entrance to the alien’s hovel, only to feel resistance where the doorway should have been.

Rainbow whipped around, feeling the black energy wall with her hooves. “Hey! What gives?!”

The pinprick eyes of the alien gleamed dementedly. “My door is only one way, precious. One way, yes. Thou may enter, but Master requires sacrifices of thy flesh, so I provide no exit for thee.”

With quickness that surprised and terrified the ponies, the alien reached out his clawed hands and grabbed their throats with an iron grip that not even Applejack, with her earth-pony strength, could break.

He drew them toward his face, his mouthparts sliding around unsettlingly into a wicked grin.

“And now, my preciouses . . . it is time for thy sacrifice . . .”

He drew them even closer.

“Yes . . .”

Laser blasts flew through the air and blasted chunks of duracrete out of buildings in front of Twilight and Rarity as they ran full tilt through the crowds. Gravel and steel chunks rained down on them, threatening to blind their eyes and crush their spines.

Weaving and dodging through the streets, they searched for reprieve from the pursuing bounty hunter.

“Twilight! We’ve got to stop him somehow!”

The purple unicorn agreed, but she didn’t see a way out.

Their hooves pounded the streets, their manes illuminated by the holosigns they passed as they ran desperately. Heat from laser bolts was felt as they dodged aliens and ducked under low-flying droids.

Twilight looked back to see the bounty hunter flying through the air on his jetpack, a blaster pistol leveled at her head. She ducked just in time to avoid being speared by the red-hot blast of energy, then angrily fired one of her own. The armored man easily dodged the magical wave of purple energy and returned fire.

Suddenly he pulled back, which caused the unicorns to whip around out of curiosity. They looked in horror as the man ducked his head to reveal a rocket on his backpack. The missile shot out on a column of white-hot flame, racing over their heads and impacting a low-hanging bridge over the alley they were running through.

Twilight watched in disbelief as the structure collapsed into the street, the rubble providing just enough of an impediment to stop the ponies dead in their tracks.

They looked desperately for an exit as the bounty hunter swooped in on a column of hot flame, then alighted in front of them, holding his arm out like a weapon. “Don’t move, ponies,” he said through his filtered helmet.

Twilight saw that the gauntlet he was pointing at them had a small cone-shaped device on top. She guessed that it was a small missile. Her options limited, she lowered herself into a fighting stance.

The bounty hunter bowed his head toward them menacingly, his right hand moving up to touch a stud on the side of his gauntlet. “Don’t try it.”

She pawed at the ground and snorted, then began charging a spell.

“Your funeral.”

With a small beep, the rocket flew off the man’s wrist.

Twilight was counting on that.

As soon as the small warhead was ignited she threw up a force field in front of the bounty hunter. He barely had time to put up an armored hand to protect his face as the small charge impacted the force field and exploded, sending a pulse of stun energy outward and enveloping the armored man.

Before the blue glow of the stun wave dissipated, Rarity and Twilight had already ascended the pile of rubble behind them and run into the stunned crowds on the other side.

“You really have a way with people, Junas!”

Spike and Junas wove back and forth to throw off the aim of the angry bar patrons, the stray blasts heating the air and filling it with the smell of ozone.

“Can I help it if he took issue with the fact that I’m Corellian?”

The little dragon rolled his eyes as he hopped over a freshly blasted chunk of duracrete.

When the street in front of them was clear, Junas took a moment to look at the comlink in his hand. He had programmed it beforehand to let him know where the ponies were at all times so he could keep track of them while he looked for a ship, and now that he had one he needed to round them up so they could get off this rock. Strangely, one of the blips had disappeared altogether, which would only happen if one of the groups was out of range.

But the range was many thousands of kilometers, which the ponies couldn’t have traveled in the short amount of time they had been on Nar Shaddaa.

The concern spread on his face, which Spike noticed. “Junas? You okay?”

He shook his head. “I don’t know.”

A blast of red laser energy flew past his head.

“Let’s just ditch these guys, Spike.”

Several twists and turns later, Junas finally lost his pursuers when they realized that it wasn’t worth the trouble to chase him all across the face of the moon. As Spike leaned against a wall in the dirty alley Junas had managed to find, the human scout examined his comlink.

A small round screen dominated the top of the little device, and on it was displayed a small map with three little blips, indicating the position of all the groups.

All but one.

The blip which was supposed to represent Rainbow Dash and Applejack was absent, which meant they were in some location where comlinks were disabled.

This was disconcerting.

The only reason someone would want to completely disable comlinks was if they were hiding something, and A.J. and Dash were not trying to hide themselves from Junas. He doubted they even knew how to turn off the passive transmitter.

This meant a comm-shield was in place.

“Spike,” he said, looking down on his little companion. The dragon looked up amid his panting.

“I think Applejack and Rainbow Dash are in trouble.”

Crude leather straps rendered Rainbow Dash and Applejack immobile on the rusted, fluid-stained table they were strapped to. When they had tried to gnaw them off, their alien captor had put a metal frame on their heads.

“We mustn’t try to escape, preciouses. No, no escape. The Master will not be pleased.”

Applejack strained her eyes to look at the creature hovering over them as he moved about to gather the tools for his gruesome task. “Doncha think ya’ll need ta check with ‘im first? Mebbe he don’t even want ponies.”

“But thou pledged thyself to Master. He accepted thy sacrifice when he healed thee, precious.”

The ponies struggled to find some reason, any reason for the alien to let them go, but they palpably felt the time moving inexorably toward the terrible fate that awaited them.

Finally the alien stopped moving about and pushed a rattling cart between the two tables upon which the ponies laid. Applejack looked at the cart and stifled a scream.

Laid out in exacting order was a set of what had to be surgical tools. Below the top surface of the cart, a set of jars with alien text on them resided, and Applejack suspected they were organ jars for some sort of ritualistic sacrifice.

Her heart raced as the alien started to pray in a strange dialect. Panic set in as she imagined what the alien was about to do and the fact that she and Rainbow were powerless to stop it.

The fact that she had no way of escaping this creature they had so foolishly trusted was what really frightened her.

She desperately hoped that her friends would somehow know they were in trouble and come and rescue them, but reality prevailed and told her that because nobody knew they were in trouble, nobody would come to rescue them until it was too late.

As she thought with dread about her hopeless situation, she heard the alien finish his prayer with relish. He breathed a sigh of relief.

“Now, my precious,” he said, looking at Applejack. “Let us begin the glorious sacrifice that thou might be one with the Master.”

After fiddling with the comlink’s display for a few minutes, Junas had configured it to display the last known position of Applejack and Rainbow Dash and was walking toward the signal.

Spike was walking beside him, twiddling his fingers worriedly. “Junas, do you think we’ll find them?”

“Well, we’ll find out where they were last. I’m pretty sure they’re still there, because the signal hasn’t emerged from the com-shield.” He decided against mentioning that the lack of signal from the comlink might mean that they were captured by the Empire or slavers, or that they were dead, but he figured it would be better not to get Spike worked up with worry.

He strongly hoped that was not the case as he wended his way through the crowded streets toward the blip on the map.

“Gaaah!!”

Applejack gritted her teeth as the alien sliced gingerly into her side.

“Please! Stop!”

He continued his gruesome task. Blood from the incision started to pool under the orange pony as the creature finished his initial cut.

As he put his tool away, Applejack watched as he ran his finger over the instruments on the cart, as though he were unsure which one to use.

“Hmm. Many choices there are, little one. But I shall find the correct one, yes.”

Rainbow Dash was still struggling, rubbing her legs raw against the leather. “You leave her alone! If I get outta here, I’m gonna buck your face in!”

The alien paid no attention to her.

“Ah!” He picked up a small electronic device with a tiny aperture on the tip. Flicking it on, the ponies saw that it was a miniature plasma torch with a very fine, focused beam. Rainbow Dash watched as the alien held the beam to the wound, cauterizing it. The flesh sizzled as the heat forced blood vessels shut in an effort to stem the bleeding. Through it all, Applejack’s eyes were squeezed shut, the pain bringing her to tears.

Please, she silently pleaded. Let someone find us.

Junas and Spike looked into a dark alley set between two buildings, the last known location of Applejack and Rainbow Dash. Junas’ spine chilled a bit at the sight of the place. Something didn’t feel right about it, but he couldn’t quite place the feeling.

“Are you sure they went in here?” Spike’s voice trembled.

“Yeah, this is the place. I don’t know why they would end up in here, though. Looks like the last place you’d go in any situation.”

The scout examined the walls around him for clues as to the ponies’ whereabouts, hoping to spot something. Soon he saw a vaguely familiar logo located on the arch above a black hole in the wall. Something about it sparked trepidation.

Spike noticed him focus on the arch. “You find something?”

“Yeah,” he said, pointing at the strange symbol. “I’ve seen this somewhere before, but I’ll be damned if . . .”

Squinting, he got a closer look at it, then his eyes went wide. “Oh god.”

“Ah. Thy flesh is good, little one! Yes! Very good! Master will surely be pleased with thy sacrifice.”

Applejack barely heard any of what the alien was saying. All she could think about was the searing pain in her side where the alien was examining her innards. She was feeling faint, she guessed from the blood loss and shock. Please, she thought. Anypony . . . please . . .

While she pleaded to anyone who might hear her thoughts, the alien had found an extraction tool. He paused, then bent down to look Applejack in the face with a macabre grin. The orange pony looked up at him with pleading eyes and whispered, “I’m beggin’ ya . . . please stop . . .”

The alien either didn’t hear her or didn’t care.

“Soon, my precious. Soon thou shall be one with Master!”

Applejack started openly weeping. Rainbow Dash had watched all this, having stopped her struggling against the iron grip of the leather straps, and was crying right along with her friend. She watched as the alien bent close to Applejack’s incision, savoring every moment of his sick, twisted ritual.

He raised the extractor.

Before he began his gruesome task, a large metal pipe violently knocked the instrument from his hand, shattering his exoskeleton in the process. As green fluid leaked from the wound, the creature whipped around to see what had stopped his ritual, only to come face to face with Junas and Spike.

He started to go for a blaster hidden in the wall, but Junas raised the pipe in an attack stance.

“Go for it and you’ll have to deal with more than a broken wrist. Let them go.”

The alien considered his options, then his face contorted into a sinister scowl. “The Master will not be pleased with thou interrupting my ritual.”

“He can take it up with the Rebel Alliance.”

The alien growled a curse, but then moved to loosen the harnesses holding Applejack and Rainbow Dash to the metal tables. The pegasus tensed her body. Before he could react, she whipped around and bucked him in the face hard enough to knock him unconscious. The pegasus looked down at the collapsed alien with a positively evil expression, then sniffed and wiped her tears away. “I told you I’d buck your sorry face in.”

She turned to look at Junas. “Thanks, buddy. We owe you one.”

But he wasn’t paying attention to her. He was leaned over Applejack, examining the incision in her side. “He really did a number on you, A.J.” Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a small medical kit. Rainbow watched as he delicately sewed the wound up with a needle and thread, then applied a bandage. “That will have to do until we can get to a bacta tank.”

Hoisting Applejack up and over his shoulder, her blood staining his tunic, he turned and grabbed the blaster the alien had hid in the wall cabinet, then pointed it at the one-way force field and fired. The bolt blew out the power relays, dropping the shield, and Junas strode out with Spike and Dash in tow.

“Let’s go,” he said, then pulled out a comlink.

Twilight and Rarity were in the middle of navigating a small maze of parked speederbikes when they heard a beeping from the comlink. Twilight picked it up and hit the comm. key. “Yes?”

“Twilight, it’s Junas. Listen, I found a ship. Where should I meet you?”

The unicorn looked around, but didn’t see anything that might be used as a landmark. “I don’t know. Do you want me to use my magic to show you where I am?”

“I don’t think so. Just wait there. I can see you on my screen and I’ll meet you where you are now.”

She nodded. “Alright. I’ll see you in a few minutes.”

“Junas, out.” The comlink chirped as the human terminated the transmission. Rarity moved up alongside her. “Do you think we’ll be at the Rebel Alliance soon, Twilight?”

Her friend shook her head. “I don’t know, Rarity. I think so, but we can’t be too sure.”

Rarity nodded. “Well, I hope this ship we’re getting has something resembling a bathtub. I need to soak for a week to get the smell of this place out of my coat.”

After meeting with Twilight and Rarity, then picking up Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy and Celestia, Junas and Spike led the way to the place where he had laid Applejack down. The grungy alley looked like it hadn’t been touched in years, which Twilight guessed was the reason Junas picked it. As they walked up to Junas’ hiding place Rainbow flew out from behind a crate, a fierce expression on her face. “Touch her and I’ll—oh, it’s you guys.”

“Hey Rainbow,” said Junas. “How’s our patient?”

She visibly swallowed a lump in her throat. “Not good. She’s lost a lot of blood.”

“What?!” exclaimed Twilight, who rushed to her friend’s side. The orange pony was sleeping, but when Twilight walked up to her the sound of hooves on pavement awakened her. She smiled weakly at the unicorn, who was suppressing tears at how pale and weak Applejack looked. “Oh, hey Twilight.”

“Applejack, are you alright?”

“Dunno . . . Ah don’t think Ah’m gonna be ridin’ in any rodeos any time soon.”

Twilight blinked a tear away, then forced a smile. “Don’t worry, everything will be fine.”

“Ah hope so, sugar cube.”

With that, Applejack laid her head back down on the makeshift bed. Twilight was ready to scream about how unfair this whole situation was, but right now the team needed a leader.

“Let’s go, everypony. We need to get to that ship before the bounty hunters on this planet find us.”

They all nodded, then Twilight levitated Applejack and led them out of the alley.

“About how far is the hangar from here?”

Junas looked at his holographic map reader, the back at Twilight. “About half a klick. We should be there in a few minutes.”

The group was walking calmly down a winding street that was next to an enormous chasm which stretched for miles. Crowds of aliens thronged around them, but their presence was betraying no ill will from the denizens of the city-planet. Still, Twilight felt like somebody was watching their every move, silently biding their time until the ponies let their guard down. She hoped that a feeling was what it would stay.

The street soon gave way to a large outdoor plaza, with two enormous, dilapidated towers in the middle of the courtyard. Twilight followed the lines of the towers with her eyes, watching as they stretched into the heavens. It might have been a beautiful sight at one point.

Suddenly running into an alien, Twilight nearly lost her grip on Applejack. She looked up at the large creature apologetically. “I’m sorry, sir.”

The bulky man leveled a blaster at her. “Not yet.”

Out of the corner of her eye, Twilight saw two more large men with guns step out of the crowds.

The first man gestured with his gun. “You’re coming with me, pony.”

He reached out to grab her mane. Before his hand got within six inches of her hair, she whipped around and bucked him in the kneecap, sending him reeling back in pain. The other two fared no better, having been on the receiving end of Rainbow Dash’s hooves and Junas’ blaster pistol.

Before the thugs could recover, the group bolted.

The metal and duracrete vibrated as the group raced through the streets of Nar Shaddaa, red bolts of death lancing overhead. It was all they could do to avoid being skewered by those deadly beams of energy as they dodged people and technological outcroppings.

Jump. Duck. Weave. Duck again.

Twilight decided she had just about had enough of running, especially in a world which seemed to avoid smoothness in every conceivable way.

She leaped over a large pipe in the road, her hooves crashing into the ground on the other side. The others were keeping neck and neck with her.

So were the thugs.

More red beams lanced out, and Twilight maneuvered Applejack out of their way.

“Twilight!”

The cry came from Spike.

She whipped her head around and saw that he had tripped, and now one of the thugs was carrying him away. The unicorn came to a full stop, but Junas held her firm.

“What are you doing?! Let go of me!”

“Twilight, they’re after you as well!”

Tears streamed down her cheeks. “But he needs me!”

Rarity had caught up to them. “Junas! Let me go after him!”

“I can’t. They want him alive or else they would have shot him. I’m not going to lose any more of you!”

Twilight struggled a moment more, but the pounding of boots on pavement brought her back to the reality of the situation.

They continued on, pain wracking their legs and guilt churning in their stomachs.

A large spacecraft blasted hot air down on the group as they neared Zackis Docks. The smell of grease and burnt metal greeted them. Junas held out his hand. “You guys better let me talk to the dock master.” Walking up to the main entrance, the Zabrak dock master met him at the vestibule.

“This is private property of the Zackis shipping corporation. State your business.”

Junas holstered his blaster. “I’m here for a ship.”

The shifty man squinted his eyes. “What makes you think you can find one here?”

Junas gave him a cocky half grin. “Davorak sent me.”

“Davorak, eh?” The man shook his head. “He didn’t tell you he still had ships working this port, did he?”

A sinking feeling materialized in Junas’ stomach. “As a matter of fact he did.”

“Yeah, well, don’t look so depressed. He ran out of here with what was left of his shipping fleet earlier today. Bastard didn’t even give me the rent he owed me for taking care of those sorry crates he called ships.”

Junas looked apologetic. “I don’t suppose you have a ship I might use.”

The Zabrak put a finger to his chin. “I might. For the right price, of course.”

Junas scowled. “You’re kidding.”

“What?”

“I’m left high and dry on this stinking moon with a wounded friend and bounty hunters on my tail, and you want to talk money?”

The alien held up his hands. “Hey! I didn’t know about all that. But I need to make back what that nerf herder owes me, and I ain’t gonna deal unless I get what’s mine!”

Junas gestured pleadingly. “But I don’t have that kind of . . .”

Suddenly he had a thought. “Wait right here.”

He jogged back to Pinkie Pie. “Hey Pinks, you still have that credit chit you got on Lahopa II?”

“Yesserie-bob, Junas! Right here!” The pink party pony produced the holographic card.

“Pinkie, when this is all over, I owe you a party.”

He turned around before he could see Pinkie Pie rocket into the air in an explosion of happiness.

The money contained on the card was more than enough to cover the expenses. Unfortunately, after paying off the debt, the only thing they were able to buy out of the abandoned ships at the dock was an old Subpro JS-77B shuttle. But with thugs pounding the pavement after them they weren’t in a position to argue.

The small ship lifted off from the planet just before a group of armed men burst into the Zabrak dock master’s office and took their anger out on his head.

Cold.

Spike awoke to find himself shivering, but realized that he was not physically cold. The chill had come from within, as though the place he had been taken to was draining the very life from his body.

He opened his eyes.

The room he was in was blue-black, and striped.

No. The stripes were metal bars.

Frightened, he stood up and blasted the bars with his fire breath, but they didn’t even glow when he finished.

A low chuckle filled his heart with dread.

He turned in the direction of the laugh and saw nothing but shadow.

The shadow spoke.

“I’m afraid you won’t be able to penetrate the durasteel bars holding you there, my little purple friend.”

“Don’t listen to him, Spike!” Spike looked away toward a large, round cage with glowing elements in it which cast a pale blue glow on the surrounding black metalwork. Inside the cage stood Princess Luna with a worried expression on her face.

“Princess Luna!” exclaimed Spike.

“Yes . . .” said the shadow coyly. “Your princess is here, little dragon. And soon, the rest of your friends will join her.”

For a moment the knowledge of his friends coming to rescue him filled him with hope, only for the hope to come crashing down as he realized that the voice meant that his friends would likely be captured or killed.

The thought was depressing enough that it caused his eyes to well up.

“Oh, my poor child. You needn’t worry. I have no intention of killing your friends.”

The dragon looked up at the shadow.

“In fact, you should rejoice.” The shadow’s voice lowered to an almost sensual whisper. “I have great plans for you and your friends.”

A confused expression took over Spike’s face. “Plans?”

“Yes . . .” the voice continued. “You and your companions will be the last link in the chain I will use to strangle the Rebellion once and for all.”

Author's Note

I think if these characters were my children I'd be arrested for child abuse.

Or at least child endangerment.

Anyway, this latest chapter is quite a downer, but I promise things will be looking up from now on. And yes, I totally stole the healing mechanism of the alien's concoction from Iron Man 3. ;)

Battle Over Bestine

Chapter 18

“The enigmatic bounty hunter Boba Fett was someone I studied as much as I could when I was able to finally reach a library. But in all the books in the massive collection that I was able to find, not much was available to read up on. The man was very private and kept his personal life well-hidden from the rest of the galaxy. But from what I could gather, we were lucky to have a person like him chasing us through the galaxy.”

-Twilight Sparkle, On Extra-Galactic Voyages, p. 679

Blue swirls of energy coursed past the small shuttle as it made its way through hyperspace. With the computer doing most of the work, Junas was free to sit back and enjoy the ride.

If he could.

The fact was that he had sensed a frigid shoulder from Twilight, which even her teacher had noticed. The normally kind and curious pony was now totally silent, and it bothered him. Didn’t she realize that he couldn’t let any more of them get captured or killed by the Empire and the thugs it hired to do its dirty work?

He got up out of the chair and walked down the short hall and through the door on the side into the passenger cabin. “Well,” he said, addressing the ponies. “We’re going to be at Bestine in two days, if the engines hold out.”

Silence. Apparently Twilight wasn’t the only one negatively affected by Spike’s kidnapping. He couldn’t blame them; he felt just as bad as they did. But he knew that going back would have been suicide.

“Thank you,” replied Celestia. Damn, he thought. Even she’s mad at me.

“Listen, guys . . .” he began, but as soon as he spoke, Twilight scowled and trotted past him briskly and rounded the corner into the cargo bay.

Junas hung his head and slumped into one of the chairs around the table in the center of the room. Then Celestia got up from where she was sitting and walked over next to him. “I am sorry, Junas. You must be carrying a heavy burden.”

He looked up at the wizened old alicorn pleadingly. “Celestia, I wanted to go back and save him as much as Twilight, but I couldn’t risk the rest of you being captured!”

She smiled sadly at him. “Then perhaps you should explain that to Twilight.”

He looked at her in surprise.

“Go on,” she said, gently nudging him with her wing.

Nodding, he slowly got up and trudged toward the door leading to the cargo bay, wondering what kind of reception he would receive.

The door opened with a snap-hiss, revealing a mostly barren cargo area, with the exception of a small purple lump lying curled up in the corner of the room.

Junas swallowed a lump in his throat. She doesn’t deserve this.

He walked carefully toward her. “Twilight—”

“Go away.” The pain and anguish was evident in her voice.

“Twilight,” he began again. “I’m sorry that this happened.”

She looked up at him, her face looking as though she had aged a thousand years. “I could have saved him. Or done something, I . . .” A torrent of tears kept her from speaking further.

Junas sighed, then walked up next to her and sat down on the deck.

For a while, all was silent save for the gentle thrumming of the engines. Then he put a hand on her shoulder.

“Twilight, I’ve been in the Alliance for a while now. It seems like forever, actually. In that time, I’ve lost friends, and even a few relatives, to the Empire and its minions. I know the pain you’re going through more than I want to.”

She curled even tighter, refusing to even acknowledge what he was saying.

He continued: “The fact is, you guys are important to me.”

She stirred. Turning to look at him, he saw the sadness and anger in her eyes. “Then why did you let Spike get kidnapped? You know I could have saved him!”

“I wasn’t about to risk it. What if they had shot you as you were going back for him? Or Rarity? Rainbow and A.J. were incredibly lucky that they weren’t killed by the Empire on Endor. I’m not about to test that luck any more than I have to.”

She opened her mouth to speak, but said nothing.

“Twilight . . .”

She looked at his eyes, and he met her gaze with an intense look.

“I am not going to lose any more of you to the Empire. Okay?”

The violet unicorn nodded sadly, then sniffed back the sorrow. “I miss him, Junas. He was my responsibility, and I let him get captured.”

“No, Twilight. It just happened. But we’re going to get him back.”

She nodded, and tried to smile weakly, but failed.

He held her as she cried into his chest.

Nar Shaddaa was a place where most didn’t care whether you lived or died in the street, especially if you were a bounty hunter. But Boba Fett didn’t need the sympathy of others, or their help.

Still, he wished someone had gotten him out of the way of whatever vile liquid had splashed on him while he was knocked unconscious by his own stun missile.

Standing up groggily, he checked the chronometer built into his helmet and cursed that it had been three hours since he had attempted to capture the ponies. If I hadn’t used the long-term setting on those stunners. . .

This was not the time for regret. He needed to get back to tracking these creatures down. Ten million credits is hard to ignore, and besides that his own code of honor dictated that any creature that caused so much devastation should be incarcerated anyway.

Striding down the street away from the pile of rubble he’d caused and brushing aside the angry owners of the building he’d damaged, he made his way toward his starship, Slave I, in order to pick up the trail.

He had never lost a bounty.

And these creatures would not elude him so easily.

The beautiful disk of Heloan Yagen hung in the sky above the barren moons which orbited it, providing an awe-inspiring backdrop for Junas’ shuttle as it dropped from hyperspace. The gas giant was unaligned in the galactic civil war, which made it the perfect choice for him to hide in while he repaired the aged engines in their ship, which had begun fluctuating during the transit in hyperspace.

Gliding in on the prescribed approach vector, he deftly guided the ship in between canyons that jutted up from the dark gray surface of the planet’s innermost moon, looking for a flat surface to alight on. He was about ready to take off and find another moon to land on until he spotted a large plain of volcanic glass, apparently caused by the gravitational tide of the gas giant.

As he activated the landing claw and made sure it engaged with the surface, he thought about how close they were to their goal. One short hyperjump, if the engines held, and they would be in the Bestine system which was home to at least two dozen Rebel cells. They might even be able to help him find his home ship.

Smiling, he stood up and headed back through the corridor into the passenger cabin toward engineering so he could start repairs on the engine. If it was anything like a YT-1300’s propulsion system, this should be relatively easy to fix.

As he walked through the compartment toward the door at the other side, he bumped into Rainbow Dash.

“Hey! Watch it!” she snapped.

Turning in surprise, he stared incredulously at the blue pegasus. “What?”

“Watch where you’re walking! You almost stepped on my hoof!”

“Rainbow Dash!” shouted Rarity, “Calm down! He didn’t mean to bump into you like that!”

Dash turned angrily toward the fashionista. “Yeah, well, I’m tired of this bucking universe! We’ve been running from the Empire for weeks, with no sign of it stopping!”

Rarity looked at Dash sympathetically. “Darling, we’ve almost made it to the Rebel base. They’ll help us find a way home.”

“And what if they can’t? We’ll be stuck in this universe forever!”

“Then we’ll just have to find a way home without them.”

“Y’know,” said Dash with an edge to her voice, “we wouldn’t even be in this mess if it weren’t for you!”

Everyone looked at her in shock. “Rainbow Dash!” admonished Twilight. “You know she didn’t mean to send us to this place!”

“Yeah? Well, we’re here, aren’t we?” Dash swiftly shot into the air, hovering over Rarity and pointing an accusing hoof at her. “And it’s all thanks to Miss Fashionista over here!”

“Now let’s not let this sink to petty insults,” retorted Rarity with a trace of uncertainty in her voice.

“I’m sick to death of this place, and if it weren’t for you, Rarity, we would be back home!”

“Well why don’t you just fly us all there!” Rarity’s voice rose to an angry crescendo. “Oh, that’s right! You can’t fly in space!”

“GIRLS!!”

They both looked at Princess Celestia. “You all represent the Elements of Harmony. I would hope you would remember that during our stay in this galaxy, and if you cannot, then do not let our enemies see your disharmony and use it against us.”

Looking into her eyes, Rainbow and Rarity saw the seriousness of their deity. The blue pegasus lowered herself to the deck, and when Celestia’s head was turned, she thrust her own into Rarity’s face. “I’ll put on a show for Celestia,” she said quietly and dangerously. “But I’m not going to forget whose fault it is that we’re stuck here.”

Before Rarity could respond, Dash shot into the air and flew into the sleeper cabin at the front of the compartment, the door hissing shut behind her.

As the room cooled down, they all heard Rarity sobbing and saw the tears running down her cheeks as she laid on the floor. Twilight walked up to her and put a hoof on the unicorn’s shoulder. “Don’t be sad, Rarity. Rainbow’s just a little stressed.”

“No,” sniffed Rarity. “She’s absolutely right. If I hadn’t been so arrogant none of this would have happened.”

“But—”

“I appreciate what you’re trying to do, Twilight. But right now I think I need to be alone.”

With that, she stood up and walked sadly into the cargo bay. Fluttershy glided after her, ignoring her friend’s desire for solitude in order to offer her own brand of consolation.

Pinkie Pie got up from Applejack’s sleeping body and walked past Twilight toward the sleeper cabin where Dash was sulking. “I better go see if she needs someone to help her paw angrily at the ground.”

Watching all of her friends walk or fly out of the passenger compartment, Twilight sunk to the deck and sighed. Celestia watched her student as she laid on the metal floorplates, then walked over and placed a wing over her shoulder.

“Don’t give up hope, my subject.”

“But Princess, how can I have hope? This galaxy is tearing our friendships apart at the seams!”

“I have faith in you, my student. You have shown great courage and determination in the face of impossible odds. I know you can do this.”

The little pony looked up at her mentor with sadness in her eyes and gave her a half-smile. Then she got up and trudged toward the remaining pair of sleeping bunks. “I sure hope you’re right.”

“What a mess.”

Datapads and plastiform sheets littered the dock master’s office at Zackis Docks. Fett however was not referring to the huge pile of debris, but to the Zabrak dock master’s head, or rather what was left of it. He nonchalantly stepped past the red spatter on the wall and over the bloody pile of brain matter in the floor to look at the computer screen in front of the corpse.

Discovering where the ponies had gone to in order to get off-planet was easy enough. Slave I’s hypercomm system picked up local chatter about a group of fugitives being chased toward the docks by goons hired by the Empire.

Logging into the computer was no more difficult; the dock master apparently thought his favorite pet’s name was good enough for a passcode. Fett hoped he could find some sort of shipping or passenger manifest that would tell him where to look for the ponies and that Rebel scout.

After digging through the records of ships landing and taking off from the port, he found no traces of passenger manifests. The dock master didn’t keep very stringent records.

Frustrated, Fett paced a bit, trying to think of a new lead. Subsequently he decided to try the ship registry. There were three dozen or so ships that were currently parked. Maybe one of them had been either bought or stolen by the Rebels.

After uploading the information to a datapad, he went into the starship garage and manually checked the ships parked there against the registry.

The task took longer than Fett was comfortable with, considering the time-sensitive nature of bounty hunting, but he finally noticed a discrepancy. In the middle of a long row of ships was a grease spot where an old JS-77B was supposed to be docked.

When he had made sure that all the rest of the ships were there, he headed back to Slave I to begin talking with the local Comm-Scan station to see where the shuttle was headed.

They won’t elude me twice.

After trying three times to get the engines to start, Junas finally slammed his fist into the console and the converters finally initiated. The low whine built to a high-pitched crescendo as the engines kicked into gear, sending the ship floating up off the surface of the moon and into the inky blackness of space.

As he guided the ship into an approach vector for the jump the hyperspace, Junas sat back in the chair and let the autopilot do its job.

He thought about how this war was affecting the seven passengers in the cabin. One of their princesses and the baby dragon Spike had been taken alive by the Empire. He almost wished with a nihilist tone that they had been killed instead. He’d heard about the experiments that the Empire did on aliens. Brutal experiments designed to exploit their biology and figure out how to turn them into weapons for the Imperial war machine.

He’d even seen some of the Cyborrean War Dogs that the Emperor had commissioned. The poor beasts were stripped of their personality and had cybernetic devices implanted into their bodies to turn them into horrifying weapons of terror.

He shuddered to think about what fate the Emperor had planned for Spike and Princess Luna.

His reverie was interrupted by a beeping on the console, the signal that he was approaching the hyperspace buoy and the hyperspace lane that would take them to Bestine.

As the holographic apparition shot past the ship, he pulled a set of levers to his right and watched as the hyperdrive’s whine built to a crescendo and the stars elongated to reveal the familiar blue tunnel of hyperspace.

He sighed.

This war was taking a toll on all who fought it. But he had to get these ponies to the Rebel Alliance.

Their world, and his, depended on it.

Slave I hovered next to one of the many floating platforms in the smoggy atmosphere of Nar Shaddaa, her boarding ramp latched securely to the greasy magnetic clamps on the side of the deck. The platform was connected via turboshaft to a small office which was home to one of Nar Shaddaa’s Comm-Scan facilities, and it was this particular facility which was going to give Boba Fett his next lead.

The bounty hunter stood silently in front of the desk, behind which sat a small, spindly alien with eight arms which moved over the control board as though he were playing an exotic musical instrument. He adjusted the eyepiece over his left eye, his concentration never deviating from the myriad screens which cast a pale bluish green glow in the otherwise dark room, the only source of light other than the indicator lights on the control board.

“Um, would you like a bit of refreshment while you wait?” asked the alien.

Fett said nothing as he personally wondered how a creature who had a modicum of kindness or consideration for others wound up on Nar Shaddaa, much less survived here.

As he stood stoically waiting on the nervous creature, he saw him wipe his brow and glance intermittently in the bounty hunter’s direction with a nervous smile. Fett was just fine with the creature’s skittish behavior. His reputation depended on others fearing him, a characteristic that would often cause his quarries to make mistakes and get themselves caught, so the more creatures that feared him, the better.

Silently he stood by, waiting on the confirmatory beep that told him and the operator that the Comm-Scan’s computer had finally finished combing the untold trillions of data entries for the characteristics of a JS-77B interstellar shuttle.

Soon his patience was rewarded by a chirp as the computer displayed a short list on one of the larger screens. The operator’s arms deftly moved over the controls as he brought up the heat signatures, energy patterns, BOSS I.D., and many other characteristics of the ships on the screen. After separating the data into manageable sections, he turned to the bounty hunter. “Uh, is this, uh, what you’re looking for, Mr. Fett?”

He walked slowly past the screens and scanned over the information floating before him. Two of the ships were droid-controlled mail ships, so they were eliminated. One only had three passengers, so it was also out. That left the two which had eight occupants apiece. He had thought the bounty was for nine, plus a Rebel operative, so he assumed one or two had been captured already.

He looked over the fine points. The hulls were normal, the shields were fully functional . . .

What was the difference?

Suddenly he noticed that the heat signatures in the passenger compartment had significantly different appearances. The one had humanoid shapes lounging in the chairs or walking about the deck. But the other had shapes which could only be equinoids, like the ponies he was after.

The creature jumped when Fett spoke. “This one. Give me the hyperspace trajectory this ship used and any possible destinations along the vector.”

The poor alien nodded his head so vigorously the Fett thought it would fall off his shoulders. “Yes, sir!” He looked over the panel and simultaneously flipped several switches and punched in commands in the console. The majority of the ships on the screen disappeared, to be replaced by two spheres representing Nal Hutta and Nar Shaddaa. As the two spheres came to a stop in front of Fett, a small dot which evidently represented the shuttle flew up and away from the planet’s moon. Then a small paragraph containing a list of planets along the trajectory and a percentage which represented the likelihood of that planet being their destination popped up along the white line representing their escape vector.

“Um, it appears that Bestine has the highest probability of being their destination. Would you like me to upload the information to your ship’s computer?”

“No. Put it on a data disc and encrypt it to me.”

The alien nodded, then inserted a blank disc into a drive on the side of his console. After putting an encryption on the disc, the operator waited a few seconds, and then the computer ejected it and a small tag which would allow the data to be read by Slave I’s computer.

The operator handed the disc and the tag to Fett with a nervous smile. “Would that be all, Mr. Fett?”

The bounty hunter didn’t answer as he took the disc and tag and strode out of the operator’s office and into the turbolift that would take him back up to the platform and his waiting starship.

The calm black of space in the Bestine system was interrupted in an instant by the JS-77B shuttle popping out of hyperspace. Junas guided the tiny craft through the void, following the holographic path set before him by the computer.

He experienced an unusual sense of urgency. Maybe it was because of the fact that they were wanted by the Empire. Or maybe it was because he knew that there were bounty hunters who were willing to pursue them across the galaxy for a profit.

Whatever the cause, he goosed the throttle and squeezed every ounce of speed from the engines, the constant acceleration cutting their flight time down considerably.

Behind him he heard the door to the cockpit corridor open up. Twilight Sparkle walked slowly through the corridor and into the cockpit, then sat in the copilot’s seat. Junas looked over and saw the look on her face, the expression speaking volumes about her depressed state of mind.

“Y’know, we’re going at a speed of around thirty thousand kilometers per second.”

The attempt at getting her attention off of what was bugging her didn’t have the intended effect. “I’m not really in the mood for science right now, Junas.”

He looked at her with a raised eyebrow. “You? Not in the mood for science?”

She glanced at him, irritated. “I’m still mad at you for not going back for Spike.”

“I know,” he replied. “And I don’t blame you at all.”

“It’s just that he’s only a baby dragon. I don’t know what the Empire has planned for him, and I don’t want to think about it.”

Junas said nothing.

“I’m responsible for him!” continued Twilight. “Celestia gave me the charge of taking care of him. And I owe him so much. He’s been my assistant since I was a filly, always doing what I asked without thought of reward.”

“He’s a good kid, Twilight,” said Junas. “I feel horrible about leaving him behind.”

“As well you should,” she napped. Then she sighed and looked over to him sympathetically. “I’m sorry. I know you must feel as badly as I do about losing Spike.”

“You’re not the only one responsible for him, Twilight. He was under my protection, as are all of you. I’ve got to do my duty to you and the others, and that means doing what I think will ensure the survival of the group.”

“Yeah,” said Twilight, then she sighed. “I know you’re just doing what you think is right. I just wish there had been another solution.”

“So do I. But we can’t do any good for Spike or Luna if we dwell on the past. I’ve seen soldiers killed because they kept second-guessing their decisions. The ones who survive don’t ever question themselves. They make mistakes, but they learn from them and then don’t make them again.”

The unicorn nodded at him, then laid down in the seat and stared out the window at the deep blackness of space.

Soon the blue disk of Bestine, the planet which gave the system its name, appeared out of the void. Twilight watched as the small blue dot grew into a marble, then a ball. As she watched the planet get closer and closer, she noticed something odd about the stars around it.

One of them was slowly moving. She thought it might be a small moon, but then the tiny dot changed course and then stood still: a ship was moving to intercept them.

“Junas? There’s a ship moving toward us.”

“I see it,” he said. “I just need to get close enough to scan it and find out what it is.”

Twilight nodded, then watched the screen the Junas was monitoring. The scanner was tied directly into it, and she followed the numbers as the counted down the distance to scanning range.

Soon the computer screen displayed a diagram of a ship of some kind. I consisted of a large oval shaped skirt with two wings on either side and a tail underneath, with a large black canopy in the middle. When Junas looked back at the monitor, his demeanor changed to nervousness.

“I wonder what a Firespray is doing out here? They’re pretty rare.”

He continued to stare at the monitor. “Wait a minute,” he said softly.

He never got the chance to explain before the other ship started firing long purple blasts of energy at him, forcing him off course.

“Junas,” shouted Twilight, “who is that?!”

“Boba Fett.”

Twilight had no idea who he was talking about, but if she was reading his voice correctly, Boba Fett was one of those names to run away from very fast.

Junas threw the ship into a nosedive, but by this time Fett had caught up to them and matched their maneuver perfectly. The Rebel scout made several maneuvers, but nearly all of them were easily matched by Fett, who continued to spray them with ion cannon fire.

“Twilight!”

She looked at him expectantly.

“Get to the turret and get him off our tail!”

The unicorn nodded, then hopped out of the copilot’s chair and ran down the corridor to the seat. It was hanging by an armature from the transparisteel dome, outside which was a gun. She sat in the seat, then stared at the myriad controls. “Junas! How do I work this thing?!”

He held the controls steady as he leaned back to shout, “Flip all the switches on the right-hand console, then hit the red buttons on either side of the screen!”

A shudder brought his attention back to what he was doing. He pulled the ship into a hard right, evading yet another hail of ion blasts.

Fett wrestled with the controls of Slave I, weaving his ship to and fro to keep up with the Rebel shuttle. He sent wave after wave of ion bolts toward them, hoping to score a hit.

He was good, and he knew it. Therefore it was only a matter of time before they succumbed.

Suddenly he was surprised by a direct hit from their laser cannon. The blast blinded him for a moment, but it was enough for them to slip out of his line of sight. Cursing, he maneuvered Slave I back on their six, then released another hail of ionizing energy toward their stern.

“Yaaahhhh!!!”

Twilight fought to get control of the chair she was sitting in while simultaneously trying to get another hit on Fett. Her first score had largely been a fluke, an accident caused by the fact that Junas had rolled the ship just as she was activating the chair controls, causing her elbow to bump the firing stud on the hand controls. But she knew that her luck wasn’t good enough for another hit.

However, she didn’t count on the chair’s controls being so darn sensitive! She wrestled with the yaw lever as she struggled to get Slave I back in her sights.

An opportunity: she saw Fett drift back into the crosshairs. With the flick of a hoof, she sent a volley of laser energy careening toward him. But he did a barrel roll around it, then sent a barrage of his own into their tail section.

“Twilight!” shouted Junas. “Keep that guy off my six! Another hit like that and we’re dog food!”

“I know!” she shot back. But it wasn’t easy for somepony as uncoordinated as Twilight to simultaneously aim and fire a laser turret. Her next few shots went wide; the bounty hunter didn’t even flinch.

All of a sudden they felt a large impact on the hull, then all the instruments went dead, electricity playing on the switches and contacts. Twilight knew better than to touch it, but she couldn’t figure out why the ship suddenly died. Panicking, she leaned back in her chair to look at Junas, who was pounding the console and cursing in Corellian.

“Junas? How come my controls won’t work?”

Sighing, he turned to look at her. “Fett hit us with ion cannons. Our ship’s electronics are pretty much toast.”

He looked up through the canopy of the tumbling shuttle to see Slave I coming in to dock for boarding.

“And it looks like we’re gonna have company . . .”

A low bump resounded through the hull when the bounty hunter’s ship made contact with the docking collar. As the ponies and Junas gathered around the cylindrical door to the docking vestibule, they heard the low whine of the latching mechanism followed by the screech of the rusty door retracting into the hull.

For a moment all was silent as they stood with baited breath, waiting for the door to open.

With a hiss that sent a shock through their spines, the door opened, revealing Boba Fett, his worn battle armor gleaming in the dim lighting offered by the overhead glow-lamps.

He slowly lowered a blaster toward them.

“Wait!” shouted Twilight.

He didn’t. Junas and Celestia were hit with stun blasts in less than a second, and when Rainbow Dash came out of the sleeping quarters and shot after the bounty hunter, she took a stun shot in the chest and crashed unceremoniously to the floor. Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie huddled together under the table while Rarity hid in the sleeping quarters with Applejack, who was still recovering on the bunk. Only Twilight remained to confront the bounty hunter. Fett lowered the gun toward the violet unicorn. “I’m not gonna tell you more than once. Move into the docking tube.”

“Please,” said Twilight. “Don’t take us to the Empire!”

“Why not? You’re a disruptive force, causing trouble for the galaxy.”

“We don’t mean to,” pleaded the purple unicorn. “We just want to go home.”

“What are you talking about?” asked the masked bounty hunter.

“We’re not even from this galaxy. The Empire wants to kill us, but we just want to get our princess and dragon back, then go back home!”

He waited a moment, seeming to contemplate what she was saying.

“If that’s true, then why have you attacked Imperial outposts and killed over a hundred troopers and officers?”

“We were enslaved by the Empire. We had no choice!” She blinked tears away. “Believe me, sir, if we could have pleaded for our lives, then we would have. But the Empire wouldn’t listen to us. We never did anything wrong! We landed here because of a magical accident!”

The dark green armor betrayed no emotion, but Twilight felt like he was considering her words.

“They told me you were all an invasion force from another galaxy and used Endor as a staging ground. You were planning on taking over the Empire by force, if necessary, if the Emperor himself didn’t surrender to you.”

“What?” asked Twilight incredulously. “That’s absurd! Why would we even think about doing that? We have no desire for more territory! Our army is barely two hundred strong, and our technology is so inferior to yours that it would take thousands of years before we even came close!”

“You could have fabricated that story.”

“Then let me prove it to you.” Twilight lit her horn in preparation for a memory spell, like the one she had used on her friends during the Discord incident.

Quick as lightning, Fett drew and cocked his blaster. “Don’t even think about it, pony. Come aboard Slave I. I’ll let you do whatever you’re going to do up there.”

As she started to follow the bounty hunter into the docking tube, Pinkie Pie grabbed her ankle with tears in her eyes. “Don’t go, Twilight! I don’t want to lose another friend!”

“I have no choice, Pinkie,” she replied. “I’ve got to convince him to let us go.”

The bounty hunter’s ship wasn’t the cleanest in the galaxy, but Twilight had seen worse in her travels. As they traveled up the backside of the ship through the airlock and into the cargo hold, Twilight got the distinct feeling that she was walking on very thin ice with Boba Fett.

He stopped in the middle of the small compartment, then turned toward the pony. As she stopped, he pressed a small button on his armor.

Three tiny droids popped up from behind him and aimed small blasters at her.

“If my vital signs waiver in the slightest, these droids will fire on you. If I don’t report back to the cockpit in the next six hours, the ship will self destruct, taking you and your shuttle with it. If you try to undock your ship from mine or operate any of the controls, the droids will kill you and my ship will blast yours to atoms. Do you understand?”

She nodded. “I need to contact your head with my horn.”

He nodded, then removed the helmet to reveal a scarred, hardened face with black, curly hair. His brown eyes focused intently on her as he knelt down to eye level. “Proceed.”

She nodded again, then charged her horn and pressed it to his head.

Instantly the bounty hunter was mentally assaulted with countless memories and feelings from Twilight’s life. She made sure he knew exactly who they were and what place they came from, and she could see the man’s eyes go wide as he struggled to keep up with the mental deluge.

She finished as suddenly as she began, the shock of the cessation of memories causing him to lose balance momentarily.

He sat for a moment, the intensity of the magical act being difficult to process. Finally, slowly, he stood up and replaced his battle helmet. It was a long moment while he considered what she had showed him.

Finally he spoke: “It seems that I will have to disappoint my employers.”

She smiled gratefully at him. “Thank you, sir.”

“Just don’t let anyone know that I let you go so easily. Now get off my ship.”

Twilight bowed slightly in thanks, then retreated down the docking tube toward the shuttle.

A snap-hiss was heard as the docking clamp disengaged, freeing the disabled Starhound from Slave I’s grip. The Firespray glided away on a trail of dissociated ions as the shuttle drifted toward Bestine on inertia.

Luck however seemed to be turning for the ponies. A few replaced circuit boards later, and the ship was back on course for Bestine. As he slid the last CPU into position, Junas remarked, “It’s a good thing this old crate was pretty insulated from ion blasts.”

As he sat in the cockpit and guided the starship toward the blue marble floating in space before him, he heard the door to the cockpit corridor open and one of the ponies walk toward him.

Princess Celestia sat down in the space behind the copilot’s seat. “Do you mind if I join you?”

He smiled back at her. “Not at all, your highness.”

She rubbed the back of her neck absentmindedly.

“I take it you’ve never been hit with a stun blast before,” he said.

“I can’t say that I have, Junas.”

He looked at her sympathetically. “It’ll take a minute, but the effects should wear off in time.”

Bestine grew closer and closer, the planet now appearing to be about the size of a landspeeder. Junas turned and looked the ancient alicorn in the eye.

“Celestia, can I ask you something kind of personal?”

She cocked an eyebrow.

“Why do you let Twilight handle so much on her own? I mean, she did a pretty good job handling Fett, but you’ve given her a lot of responsibility.”

Celestia thought for a few moments, choosing her words carefully. “It’s to help her fulfill her destiny.”

He looked at her quizzically.

“What I mean is,” she continued, “Luna and I are Equestria’s rulers, but we can’t always rule and defend our nation at the same time. So I searched for an apprentice that could serve as someone who would be the nation’s defender, a ‘warrior princess’ if you will. I even established a school for gifted unicorns who might be suitable candidates for Equestria’s next princess. One day outside my academy, I saw an unprecedented display of magical potential. When I rushed up to the room where the magic outbursts were coming from, I saw a very young filly, no more than perhaps eight or nine years old, producing magic such as I had never seen.” Her voice quieted to an amazed whisper. “It was like seeing myself as a filly, before Gaia chose me to be the goddess of Equestria along with Luna. I invited her to be my personal protégé at the academy, and made it my mission to watch over her from that day forward. If she had the characteristics of a princess as I saw it, she would be crowned as Equestria’s newest member of royalty.”

Junas held his chin, contemplating what she told him. “So she will eventually be Equestria’s defender? Don’t you have an army of some kind to do that for you?”

“Yes,” she said. “The Royal Guard, of which Twilight’s brother is captain. We also have an air force in the form of the Wonderbolts and the Thunderhawks, in addition to several other squadrons of pegasi. But none of them are prepared for the kind of magical enemies which threaten Equestria. Only somepony who is brave and a powerful magic user can hope to stand up to them, and I believe Twilight is that pony.”

He nodded. “Sounds like you have the whole thing pretty well planned out.”

“That was before we were stuck here, though with each test that Twilight passes, I’m more sure than ever that I made the right choice in a warrior princess. But we must return to our world, with Luna and Spike, in order for her destiny to be fulfilled.”

“Well,” said Junas, “I’m hoping that the Rebel Alliance can help you guys find those two.”

“As do I,” replied Celestia.

The two of them sat in the cockpit for what seemed like ages as the small shuttle glided toward the cerulean planet below. Their future was uncertain, but now Celestia felt something that made her glad for the first time in days . . .

Hope.

Author's Note

Here be another chapter! :)

I promise things would look up from here, and even though Dash is being her usual arrogant and brash self, I think you'll agree this chapter is a little lighter than previous ones.

I haven't mentioned this in Author's Notes before (because who really reads these things?), but this novel is divided into three sections, like a sonata. The first is meant to establish the theme of the work and give you a mostly complete story. The second is more muted, but still has a lot of action. The third is the finale, where everything that has built up till that point will burst into a glorious spectacle. The original Star Wars trilogy was structured like that, with A New Hope being the "A" section and The Empire Strikes Back being the "B" section, and TESB was arguably the most depressing of the three. Since I wanted this story to resemble the structure of the original trilogy, the middle section would also be the most depressing. With that in mind, I'll tell you that the next two chapters will be the last in the middle part, so after that, be prepared for a wild ride. :)

Finding the Rebels

Chapter 19

"It was lucky of us that we happened upon the Rebels when we did. Our ship was almost out of supplies, our crew tired of trekking through the stars to find them. However, the galaxy is full of surprises, and the ones we encountered as we searched for the Rebel base were almost enough to end our journey right then and there.”

-Twilight Sparkle, On Extra-Galactic Voyages, p. 626

Clouds parted as the shuttle shot through the atmosphere, its repulsors keeping it on a controlled reentry and the shields gently parting the air before it. Junas delicately maneuvered the ship toward one of the small dots on the horizon which floated on the enormous ocean: an island. His scanner told him that the island had no technology, so it must be uninhabited and therefore an excellent place to start searching for the Rebels.

He had to be very careful. The Imperials had a construction yard on this planet which built Acclamator-class Star Destroyers, and they were sure to threaten a ship which got too close, or even destroy them outright if the gunners were bored.

But there was nothing preventing a search of their vessel. In that case, he had a backup plan. Hundreds of people vacationed to Bestine in order to fish. Why wouldn’t they use an older ship to get here which was small and more “rustic”? He didn’t have a pole, but he figured that at least some fishermen forgot their gear every once in a while.

If the Imperials didn’t try to follow him back, then he could just bug out and try another world where the Rebels were strong.

A clopping noise behind him alerted him to the presence of Applejack.

He turned and looked at her. “Shouldn’t you be recovering in bed?”

“Us earth-ponies’re tougher’n nails, Junas. Ah’m feelin’ much better and wanted to get a look outside is all. ‘Sides, I couldn’t take another minute o’ Fluttershy ‘n Rarity fussin’ over me”

He chuckled a bit at her strange accent and strong constitution. “Well, I’m glad you’re feeling better.”

“Thank you kindly, Junas,” she said with a tip of her Stetson.

It was a moment before the orange work horse broke the silence. “Junas, Ah was wonderin’. Why didja leave Spike? Didn’t ya even want to go back for ‘im?”

The man sighed as he thought back to that moment. “I would have, if I felt like it would have been worth the risk. But there were at least thirty or forty bounty hunters on our tail, and if you saw how easily Boba Fett overtook us in close quarters, then you can imagine how easily that many bounty hunters could have either captured or killed you and the rest of your friends.”

She put her hoof on his hand. “Well Ah’m glad you care, sugar cube.”

He smiled at her, grateful that someone understood why he did what he did. “Most people outside the military don’t understand why a person would sacrifice someone to save the group.”

“Ah didn’t say Ah was happy about’cha leavin’ Spike, Junas.”

He cocked an eyebrow.

“But Ah am glad ta have ya as a loyal friend.”

The man nodded at her with a grim smile. “Thanks.”

The two rode together in the cockpit as friends, keeping each other’s hearts warm as Junas guided the small spacecraft toward the island and gently touched her down on a small clearing in front of a forest of palm trees and tall grass.

Steam vented from louvers next to the engines as the main boarding ramp lowered to the ground in front of the ship. Twilight was the first to trot down the ramp, followed by Applejack and Rainbow Dash. Then Pinkie Pie came bouncing down with a goofy grin on her face, who was followed by Rarity, Celestia and Junas.

Rainbow Dash noticed that there was still one pony who hadn’t come out of the hull. She flew up the ramp and hovered in the cabin, looking for the straggler. “Come on, Fluttershy! You need to get out of this ship and stretch your hooves! It’s awesome out there!”

Nobody answered. Dash let out an exasperated sigh, then flew over to the refresher and threw the door open. “Let’s go, Fluttershy!”

The yellow pegasus shrank back toward the shower stall. “Um, that’s okay, Rainbow Dash. I’ll be fine in here where it’s nice and dry . . . and safe.”

“Now come on, Fluttershy,” she said with a bit more compassion in her voice. “We need to be with our friends. Besides . . .”

She leaned in with a sly smile. “There’s sure to be cute critters out there for you to talk to.”

Fluttershy considered what Dash said, then stood up with a slight grin. “Well it has been a while since I petted a cute little bunny rabbit.”

“That’s the spirit!” said Rainbow Dash with exuberance. Fluttershy gently propelled herself into the air, then the two of them glided out of the ship and into the fresh air and sunshine.

While this had been going on, Twilight examined the beach, looking for signs of potential threats or danger. But so far the only thing she saw was a few seashells and some strange-looking crabs with air bladders on their backs which would float up from the ocean, stare at her with black, beady eyes, then sink down into the sea again.

It was slightly unsettling, but she was quite glad that the greatest danger she had on this planet was falling asleep on the beach and getting a bad sunburn.

She looked around. If it weren’t for the starship parked on the beach, she could have mistaken this place for one of the many vacation spots in Equestria. The sight pleased her, and she smiled.

“Come on, Twilight!” shouted Pinkie Pie as she waved the purple unicorn toward the beach. “Let’s go play in the water!” Twilight looked at the other ponies: Applejack was swimming in the tide and Rainbow Dash was using a spare hull plate as a sunbathing reflector; Rarity was planting a makeshift umbrella in the beach, while Fluttershy was lying in the sand and talking to crabs and birds which had flocked to her from nowhere. “Come on!” repeated Pinkie. “It’ll be fun-a-riffic!”

Despite the lateness of the day, Twilight decided that she could afford a bit of levity. Her smile widened and she shot toward Pinkie Pie, tackling her and rolling in the sand. The pink pony threw herself completely into having fun with her friend, and the both of them laughed until it hurt.

Junas in the mean time had finished locking down the ship so that curious critters wouldn’t try to build a nest in the power converters and was walking down the ramp with Celestia.

They both watched as the ponies played in the water or sunbathed on the beach. “It’s amazing that these girls were enslaved by the Empire, shot at, chased around the galaxy, and still know when to relax and have fun,” said Junas with admiration as he reached the base of the ramp.

“They are representative of the kind of ponies that we all should be,” said Celestia. “They do get into arguments, fight, and cause each other sadness, but they also know how to forgive and forget, and how to heal the wounds they cause. They try to be good ponies, and that is their greatest strength in this evil universe.”

“I hope you don’t think it’s completely evil, Celestia.”

The alicorn looked at him flatly. “And I hope you didn’t take offense at my choice in words. This universe is full of evil, that is true. But I have seen good in it.”

She looked him right in the eye. “Junas, I want you to know how much I appreciate the fact that you took in these six ponies, a baby dragon and a princess. You didn’t have to, but you did anyway, risking your life and your ship to get us home. If you represent the Rebel Alliance and what it fights for, then I would be proud to call your Alliance an ally of Equestria.”

She wrapped her great white wings around him. “I am eternally grateful for your kindness, generosity, and loyalty. It will be remembered even after I am long dead and Equestria is but a memory in the hearts of ponykind.”

He returned her embrace, then gazed into her eyes. “I’m just a soldier, ma’am. All I know is to take care of people who need it and defend the ones who want it. But I am glad you appreciate my help.”

She looked at him with a kindly smile, which he returned. “Well,” he said, “it’s pretty late. We’ll wait till morning to search for the Alliance.”

Celestia nodded her approval, then joined Junas in walking toward the beach to watch over the ponies.

The evening passed with the ponies genuinely enjoying themselves. They finally arrived at a world where no Imperial Stormtrooper would try to blast them, nor would a bounty hunter attempt to capture them, and they wanted to savor every moment of it.

But even the best of days must eventually come to an end, and soon it was nightfall. Rarity helped Twilight gather leaves to fashion some beds while the rest of them played a game in the Starhound’s lounge. Junas wanted to sleep on the ship, but Rainbow Dash made it plain that they were all tired of being cooped up in a tin can and wanted to enjoy the great outdoors.

As the two unicorns were walking back with a pile of leaves to transmute into beds, Rainbow Dash glided past and knocked her hooves into Rarity’s head, causing her to lose her concentration and drop the load. As the leaves fluttered to the ground, Twilight looked up to see the blue pegasus give Rarity a nasty look. The ivory unicorn didn’t even glance at her rainbow-maned friend as she started picking up the leaves.

“She still blames me, doesn’t she?”

“No, uh . . .” Twilight fumbled for words, trying to come up with an excuse for her friend’s behavior.

“That’s alright, Twilight,” sighed Rarity. “She’s perfectly within her rights to be angry at me. I should have realized that trying such a complex spell, especially when I’m not nearly as gifted as you are, would end up causing me trouble.”

She finished stacking the leaves, then levitated them.

“If you need me, I’ll be by the light, working on the beds.”

The white unicorn walked slowly toward an exterior lamp on the side of the ship to begin making beds for the group, the heartache she felt weighing heavily on her shoulders. It pained Twilight to see her friend so sad, especially since she appeared to be beyond consolation.

“That’s it,” she said.

Turning around, Twilight marched over to where Rainbow was sitting on the beach. All the other ponies were off doing other things, so it was just the pegasus and the unicorn. As Twilight approached Rainbow, the blue pegasus looked up toward her. “When’s Rarity going to be done with the beds? Or is she gonna mess those up, too?”

Twilight put down her load of leaves as she lectured her friend. “Rainbow Dash, that’s not fair. Rarity had no idea—”

“No idea how to cast that spell,” finished Dash, “and you knew it, Twilight!”

“Yes, I knew it,” said Twilight firmly. “It’s my fault, as much as it is hers. But there’s no reason for us to fight! We’re all friends here, Rainbow. We’ve fought villains and won, and you’ve stood by Rarity up till now.”

“Yeah, I did,” Rainbow said with a sigh. “You’re right, I guess. It’s just that this place is has been out to get us from day one, and as much as Rarity means to me, she still caused all of this.”

“I know. But just promise me that you’ll be a little more understanding. Rarity feels just as bad as you do about this, and she’s been beating herself up over it.”

Rainbow opened her mouth to speak, but instead sighed exasperatedly.

Twilight looked at her friend sympathetically. “I know you’re upset, Rainbow Dash. But right now we need to put our frustrations aside and work together to defeat the Empire. We’re almost at the Rebel base, and once we get there we’ll have a fighting chance to rescue Princess Luna and Spike.”

The pegasus nodded. “Okay, Twilight. I’ll try to apologize to her tomorrow. Right now I need to sleep on it.”

Realizing that this was as much as she could hope to get out of Dash for the moment, Twilight simply said, “Okay, Rainbow. Just please try to apologize tomorrow.”

The pegasus nodded again, then waved off Twilight as she laid back down in the sand.

Twilight went back to the side of the ship with her load of leaves to help Rarity make beds. She knew it had been a bit too easy to convince Rainbow, so she had little doubt she was hoping Twilight would forget the promise she made. I’ll make sure she apologizes to Rarity tomorrow, thought Twilight as she sat down next to Rarity and started transmuting the greenery.

No . . . Rainbow, please!

I’ve had enough, Rarity! You’re gonna pay for what you’ve done to us!

But Rainbow . . . Twilight, you’ve got to get her to—

No, Rarity. I’m sorry, but this is how it needs to be.

Please! Don’t leave me here! Wait! Don’t go!

Rarity woke from the nightmare to discover that the sound she thought was the engines of the shuttle was actually Rainbow Dash and Applejack snoring in stereo.

Shaking her head to clear it, she laid down and tried to go back to sleep. The adrenaline was still coursing through her veins however, and she found that it was impossible to fall asleep.

Sighing, she stood up and began to walk in the moonlight.

She didn’t know how long she had been walking before she decided to turn back, but she knew that it hadn’t done her nerves any good. She was still thinking about the fight with Rainbow Dash and how the pegasus had blamed her. Rarity realized that she had been blaming herself the entire time for her mistake, despite early convictions not to let it bother her. She’d repressed it beneath the urgency of the situation, which had been easy so long as aliens were chasing after her, but when Dash flew up and pointed her hoof in Rarity’s face, the unicorn knew that it was true. The fault lay with her.

But if she wished to have any hope of getting a good night’s sleep, she needed something to calm her nerves.

The sound of a wave crashing over the beach gave her an idea. It couldn’t hurt to have a little midnight swim.

Casting a glance toward the ship parked not far from where she was and the ponies sleeping peacefully a few yards further – Rainbow and Applejack’s tandem cacophony notwithstanding – she walked toward the water and cast herself into the calming liquid.

The light of the moon created an ethereal, otherworldly atmosphere as she laid in the water, allowing the coolness of the ocean to sooth her soul and wash away the horrid thoughts she had been having. I knew this was a good idea.

For a long while she drifted, not caring where the current took her.

Then she looked up and realized that she was in the middle of the ocean, with no sign of the island or her friends.

“Skknnnnnxxx!

“Skknnnnnxxx!

“Skknn – Huh! Wha?”

It wasn’t the first time in her life that Applejack had woken herself up snoring. But it was the first time she had accidentally inhaled sand in the process.

Hacking and snorting to get the offensive substance out of her nostrils, she decided to get up and make breakfast for her companions.

After she had gone into the forest and retrieved some eggs from a native bird, she headed into the galley onboard the ship and, while avoiding making too much racket to keep from waking Celestia and Junas, she began cooking a modest meal for the group.

It wasn’t until she was walking down the ramp to wake everypony up for breakfast that she noticed that one of the beds was empty.

Frowning, she looked left and right, trying to see if Rarity had just gone out for a stroll, but didn’t see her. Knowing better than to ask Rainbow Dash to help find her, Applejack trotted anxiously over to Fluttershy’s bed and roused her.

“Huh?” said the yellow pegasus sleepily, “Oh, it’s you Applejack.”

“Fluttershy, I need ya to help me find Rarity.”

“She’s not in her bed?” asked Fluttershy as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes.

Applejack gave her a blank stare. “Yeah, she’s in her bed. Ah just like goin’ on random searches for mah friends in order to get mah mornin’ exercise.”

“Oh, okay,” said Fluttershy as she flopped back on the bed.

“Ah was bein’ sarcastic, Fluttershy!” shouted Applejack. “Come on! She might be in trouble!”

Blushing, Fluttershy hopped up and flew into the air, and the two of them ran and flew down the beach, searching for their friend.

After making a circuit around the island, they found no trace of Rarity on the beach.

Applejack started waking up the rest of the ponies while Fluttershy flew into the ship to awaken Junas and Celestia, and then they all fanned out to search for Rarity, with Applejack, Twilight and Pinkie Pie on the ground and Junas, Celestia, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy covering the air.

“Rarity!”

Applejack’s voice was getting hoarse from calling for her friend, but she had to be somewhere on the island. She didn’t want to think about the possibility that the poor girl had been swept into the ocean.

She jumped over tree roots and dodged rocks as she made her way through the forest. She didn’t know much about geography or geometry, so she trusted that the direction Twilight gave her was the one which would have the greatest chance of finding her friend.

But she had a feeling that in this jungle they might never find her.

“Okay, I think I’m definitely not cut out for exploring.”

Twilight carefully lowered herself to the ground off a small rock outcropping, then immediately tripped and fell into a mud puddle.

“Ugh! Gross!” She got up and shook her coat free of the offending liquid. “Yes, I do think this is definitely not my strong suit,” she said with annoyance.

Ducking under a branch, she walked past several large plants, all the while shouting Rarity’s name. Then without warning she felt the ground give way beneath her and she slid down an embankment, straight into the face of a giant spider. The black and yellow creature immediately emitted an angry hiss.

“Aaaaaaaahhhhhhhh!!!”

Twilight backed away as quick as she could, then tripped and rolled right into a small pond. Before she could get her bearings however, a large crustacean raised up out of the water and held a pair of snapping pincers above her head.

“Yaaaaaaahhhhhhhh!!!”

The unicorn galloped as fast as she could to get away from the unsettling creature, and ended up running straight into a tree.

As she sat there, sap dripping on her from the crack in the trunk she created, she said to herself, “Yes, Twilight. I definitely think this is not the career for you . . .”

In another part of the jungle, Pinkie Pie was swinging through the air on a vine. She’d started reading Daring Do after Dash got her interested in it, and while she could barely sit down long enough to read more than a chapter at a time, she still thought the books were as awesome as Dashie said they were.

Which is why at this time, she had chosen to don the explorer’s cap and shirt that she’d read about in the book.

“Aaaaaaaa-ei-ya-ei-yaaaaaaa-ei-ya-ei-yaaaaaaa!” she hollered as she swung through the trees.

“Oh man! This is so much fun! I gotta show my friends how to do this! Weeeeeeee!”

Despite her fun, she did manage to look at the ground a few times, but never spotted Rarity. So she kept swinging, laughing gaily as she did.

The feeling of water splashing on her face awakened Rarity. She wondered for a moment if the events of the previous night had really been a dream, but then she felt a rubbery texture under her head.

She got up and looked around. “Yep,” she said. “Still lost in the ocean.”

Then she looked down and saw one of the most remarkable creatures she’d ever seen.

It was long and thin, with mottled white skin and two pairs of cobalt blue eyes. All along the sides of the beast were thin flaps that undulated to propel it through the water, with a couple of steering fins underneath and a dorsal fin on top. The nose was long and pointed, and its head was topped by a blowhole which sprayed water vapor every so often.

Rarity’s first reaction was fear, and she wanted to bolt, but being as how there was no place to bolt to, she sat down and then began admiring the beast’s coloring.

“You really are quite a beautiful creature, aren’t you, darling?”

It chirped in response.

“You know, if you were from my world, I would love to work with you, maybe even create a whole new line of underwater fashions!”

It seemed to like what it was hearing as it made a slight leap into the air, causing Rarity to scream and grasp hold of the dorsal fin for dear life.

“Well, I hope you don’t do too many more of those leaps before we reach our destination.”

She paused.

“And just what is our destination, anyway?”

The creature chirped again, and Rarity looked where it was heading. Off in the distance was a small island, maybe even the one her friends were on.

“Oh my goodness! You’re taking me to that island!”

Chirp.

She smiled at the creature. “You’re quite the knight in shining armor, aren’t you?”

It opened its mouth, perhaps trying to imitate her smile, then sped on toward the small bit of land in a desert of water.

The sea creature couldn’t get very close to the island without risking being beached, so it dropped Rarity off in the water, allowing her to swim the rest of the way. Before she did, she swam over to the beast’s head and planted a large kiss next to its eyes.

“Thank you so much for what you did,” she said with a smile. “I will be forever grateful.”

As the creature swam away into the ocean, Rarity turned and made her way toward the sandy embankment. She knew that the chances of finding some civilization were slim, but she also knew that if the ponies were searching for her in the ship that they would likely search the nearest islands, and that creature couldn’t have swam very far in the amount of time she had been riding on it.

The thought energized her, and she paddled toward the small isle, knowing that her friends would be coming for her.

After they had spent all morning searching the tiny island and finding nothing, they met back at the ship and decided to try a new approach. Pinkie Pie’s new attire had prompted a curious glance from Rainbow Dash, but she said nothing, attributing it to Pinkie Pie being Pinkie Pie. Twilight then noticed a set of hoofprints that were quite old, and when they followed them they discovered that they led straight into the ocean. Once they discovered the true direction Rarity had taken, they all piled into the shuttle and flew off to search for her.

Junas deftly piloted the ship in a spiral pattern that Twilight calculated as being the most efficient search pattern for locating Rarity, and they all crowded into the ship’s cockpit and kept their eyes glued to the surface, hoping for some sign of the unicorn. They knew that she would be easy to spot with her white coat, which gave them hope that they would locate her.

“I hope we find her soon,” said Pinkie Pie. “She’s not going to like being all wet and sticky!”

“It’s more than that, Pinkie,” Twilight replied. “If we don’t find her soon, she could drown in the ocean from exhaustion.”

They all gasped, and then Rainbow Dash surprised them all by galloping out of the cockpit. “What did I say?” asked Twilight.

Applejack left the seat she had been sitting in and trotted after her. “Ah’ll go talk to her, sugar cube. Y’all jes keep on watching fer Rarity.”

Alone in the darkness of the dimly lit passenger compartment, Rainbow Dash sobbed into her hooves. Not loudly; she had a reputation to maintain. But she did allow tears to fall from her face.

She knew this was all her fault. After treating Rarity so badly, she probably ran off to get away from her. And why not? Dash had driven friends away before, like the time she pushed Fluttershy so hard that she ran away from tornado drills in tears.

Some Element of Loyalty I am . . .

As she sat in the chair and wallowed in self-pity, she felt a hoof on her withers.

“Anythin’ you wanna talk about, suger cube?”

Dash looked up at her friend, and suddenly remembered that she had tears in her eyes. Quickly wiping them away, she pulled her shoulder away from Applejack and walked over to the corner. “Nothing,” she said curtly. “I’m fine.”

“Ya sure don’t look ‘fine’ ta me, Dash.”

For a moment Rainbow Dash said nothing, then turned and snapped at Applejack. “Okay, Applejack, I’m not fine! I haven’t felt this lousy in all my life! I let my big mouth hurt one of my friends, and now thanks to me, she’s lost somewhere!”

Her voice broke.

“And it’s all my fault.”

Applejack walked toward her, a sympathetic expression on her face “No, it ain’t. Rarity is tougher than ya think, Dash. She might be hurt by what ya said, but that don’t mean she’d get so upset that she’d run away.”

“But I treated her so horribly! And now she’s probably out there somewhere, lost, confused and alone, and because of me she might even drown in the ocean!”

“Listen to yourself, sugar cube! Ya think Rarity would want you to be beatin’ yourself up like this over nothin’?”

For a while, Dash said nothing, then she hung her head. “No, she wouldn’t.”

“Then ya got to quit doin’ it and get yer head on straight.”

She turned Dash’s head so she was looking right in her eyes. “She is your friend, Rainbow. I’m sure she understands that your big mouth sometimes speaks b’fore yer brain engages.”

Dash looked at Applejack after a moment and saw the wry smile on her face, then chuckled a bit. “Yeah, you’re right. If my mouth were enough to drive that pony away, she’d have left a long time ago.”

Applejack shared a laugh with her, then embraced her and squeezed gently. “We love you Dash, and we know Rarity does, too. So stop being a Negative Nancy and come and help us look for her.”

The orange work pony started to trot into the cockpit, then she noticed that Rainbow wasn’t following her. “Dash? You comin’?”

“I think I’ll stay back here. It’s pretty crowded in there.”

“Oh. Okay.”

Before Applejack trotted away, Dash quickly said, “But I wouldn’t mind some company back here. Y’know, to keep things from getting too boring.”

Smiling in understanding, Applejack turned back around and walked over to Rainbow Dash, then sat down on the deck with her friend.

And while they chatted, Rainbow Dash trying to take her mind off the guilt and Applejack trying to make her friend feel better, Celestia stood in the doorway and smiled.

“Friendship truly is a wonderful thing,” she said to herself.

The salty smell of the ocean refreshed Rarity as she roamed the beach, looking for any sign of civilization. So far however, she hadn’t even seen so much as a candy wrapper as she walked along the beach.

Then she saw a glint on the horizon.

She ran over toward it, and saw that it was indeed a small bit of metal, with a surface so polished that she could see herself in it. Her eyes were immediately drawn to her mane.

She screamed. “My mane! Oh dear, just look at it! Look at it!”

Nobody was around to glance in her direction, but she didn’t care. All she cared about was the fact that her hair was a mess.

“Oh, this will take ages to scrub out! I forgot how damaging sea water can be to one’s coiffure. I do hope I can find somepony in this dreadful world with a bottle of conditioner, maybe even a decent . . .”

Her voice trailed to nothingness as she noticed a churning sound in the water behind her. Slowly turning around, she looked toward it to see a pair of enormous black eyestalks jutting up from the ocean surface, followed by a large air bladder and a giant crab shell. Connected to the shell were four pairs of legs, and in front of the monstrous crustacean were two large pincers that looked like they could take her head off easily.

It raised a claw at her. “No! Back! Back, I say! Get away from me, you monstrosity!”

She tried to run, but her way was blocked by the crab’s claws. She tried hopping over them, but the two-meter appendages were simply too large to clear.

Screaming, she attempted to run under the crab’s body and escape, and in doing so almost got cut in half by the razor sharp edges of its legs.

Frustrated, she telekinetically grabbed the first object she saw: a large, sharp piece of rock. Hurling it with all her might, she watched as the stone flew through the air and impacted the crab’s armor. It shrugged off the injury without so much as a flinch.

In desperation Rarity tossed more objects at it, all the while dodging the claws and legs of the monster.

Then she tripped.

Rolling to a stop in the sand, she looked up, and her irises contracted as she saw the horrible claw of the creature come crashing down. She closed her eyes, bracing for the inevitable.

The inevitable never came.

She heard a blaster shot ring out, and suddenly the creature’s claw came crashing down in the sand next to her.

As she struggled to see what had blasted the crab, it turned and started snapping its one remaining claw at the attacker, stubbornly refusing to give up its meal. But as it stood waving its enormous appendages, over a dozen more bolts screamed through the air and slammed into it. Rarity scooted out from underneath it just in time to avoid be squashed flat by the enormous hulk.

Panting, she closed her eyes and laid in the sand, grateful that the attack had been stopped. Then she heard the sounds of footfalls in the sand.

Weeks of running from two-legged aliens made her freeze in terror, but then she heard two friendly voices.

“See Jak? I told you it was one of ‘em!”

“Okay, so I owe you twenty credits. Next time though, try to simply hurt the sink crab rather than killing it so it doesn’t squash the person you’re trying to rescue.”

She opened one of her eyes, and saw two humans standing there. The shorter of the two offered her a hand, which she gladly accepted.

“Thank you for rescuing me,” she said to the blonde-haired human, bowing courteously.

He cocked an eyebrow and assumed a very Rainbow Dash-like pose. “Aw, it was nothing. Just my unerring accuracy and awesome skills with a blaster.”

“Take it easy, Trenner.” Said the heavier of the two. “She don’t want to hear yer braggin’.”

“Why not? All the ladies love a man who brags a little.”

The other man with the brown hair chuckled a bit. “Always the ladies man. Anyway, I’d be proud to rescue one of the most famous Rebels in the galaxy.”

Rarity frowned a bit. “You know who I am?”

“Well,” he said scratching his head, “I don’t have a name to go with the pretty face, but that face and the faces of the other seven equinoids are on every wanted poster in the galaxy at this point. You’ve built up quite a reputation in the Alliance as a bunch of real hell-raisers.”

“Aw, c’mon Jak! She don’t want to hear ‘bout her reputation.” He extended a hand. “Come on, gorgeous. I’ll take you to our little outpost.”

Clouds parted ways as the Starhound sped through the atmosphere. Junas, his eagle eyes never leaving the water, kept the ship on the spiral course Twilight had plotted, while the others took turns watching out the small windows on either side of the cockpit.

As they searched, a thought nagged at the back of Twilight’s mind. After a while, she could stand it no more and looked over to Princess Celestia. “Princess, do you think we could talk?”

“Of course, my student.”

“Could we maybe talk in the cargo bay?”

The great sun goddess bowed once, then followed her student into the small storage bay on the side of the ship. Celestia sat down in the middle of the room as her student closed the door behind them. When the lock was set, Twilight turned and sat in front of her teacher.

“Princess, I really need some help. I’ve been working on a spell to take us home, and there’s a problem.”

Celestia raised an eyebrow. “Could you be more specific?”

The unicorn began to pace. “I’ve been trying to modify the time element associated with the spell, so we can return to a point before the vortex sucked us into this universe, but by my calculations we won’t have enough power between us to activate such a spell. Apparently time travel of that magnitude has never been attempted before, and I doubt even your own magical potential could accomplish not only a travel length of a month, but transport Luna, my friends and Spike.”

Celestia put a hoof to her mouth. “Could you give me the spell so I may see what you have accomplished already?”

Twilight nodded, then as Celestia bent down, the unicorn touched horns with her teacher. After a brief moment of contact, Celestia raised her head again and mentally examined the spell. “I see what you mean, Twilight. My magic is powerful, to be sure, but I doubt even Luna, myself and you could generated enough power to transport us such a distance in time.”

She put her foreleg around Twilight’s shoulder. “But I will endeavor to find a solution to this conundrum.”

As Twilight was smiling up at her teacher in thanks, a crackle was heard on the ship’s intercom. “Guys, we’ve found an island.”

After traveling down a rather long corridor which led deep into the earth, Rarity was taken to a room which seemed to sparkle with jewels. As the doors closed behind her, she realized that what she was looking at was some sort of control room, though she had no idea what half the equipment was responsible for.

“Hey guys,” shouted Trenner. “Look what I found on the beach!”

Some of the men at the consoles turned, and a few of those gasped, which prompted the rest of the room to look in Rarity’s direction.

“She’s one of the equinoids that the Empire is after!”

The ivory unicorn bowed her head. “How do you do?”

“Young lady,” said a rather important looking man, “I am honored to make your acquaintance. I am Captain Sardis of the Rebel Alliance. I trust you’ve already met my two scouts, Jak and Trenner.”

“Yes,” said Rarity, “I was in quite a bit of trouble when these two assisted me. I am very grateful that fate saw fit to send these two my way.”

“It was hardly fate,” said Sardis. “Sink crabs of that size pose a threat to the island’s defenses and communications arrays. They were sent out to either drive it off, or kill it and shove the carcass into the ocean so the empire doesn’t get wind of our activities.”

He looked up from Rarity at the two scouts. “You guys did remember to shove it into the water, right?”

Jak looked up at the ceiling while Trenner rubbed the back of his head.

“You two do realize that if a random Imperial patrol boat happens to see a crab with blaster holes in it, they might—”

“Sir!”

Sardis held up a finger. “Hold that thought, gentlemen.”

Turning toward the consoles behind him, he walked toward one which had a large round screen on it, and Rarity followed him. Several glowing circles and lines that she couldn’t make heads or tails of dominated the screen, and a small red dot appeared to be coming in pretty quickly.

“There’s a small ship with no markings approaching the base. I identify several passengers, though their species are not clear.”

“Give me an ID on the ship type.”

The technician brought up an image on a viewscreen off to the side. As the techs and Captain Sardis stared at the screen, Rarity gasped. There on the screen was the very shuttle that brought her to Bestine.

To her right, before she could tell Sardis that she recognized the shuttle, she heard something that chilled her to the bone.

“Bringing blaster cannons to bear.”

Above her, blunted by the earth, she heard mechanical devices activating, and she knew exactly what they had to be.

“Wait!” They turned and looked at her.

“That’s my ship!” she continued. “They must be trying to find me!”

“Are you sure?” asked the captain.

“Yes. That’s the same ship that brought me here.”

Sardis squinted at her. “It could very well be an Imperial trick. They’ve been known to capture our ships then return them with a cargo bay full of baradium, exploding and killing everyone in the base.”

“I know it’s them,” said Rarity with finality. “If you don’t believe me, send a couple of fliers out to investigate!”

“It’s not a bad plan, boss!” chimed in Trenner.

Sardis didn’t make a sound for several tense seconds. “Very well. Send out a flight of Headhunters to investigate. But if they see anything that resembles Imperial trickery or if the shuttle acts suspiciously, I authorize them to destroy that ship before it lands.”

Twilight looked at the island they were approaching, hoping that they had found the place where Rarity had washed up. She also hoped that what they would discover, if anything, wouldn’t be a drowned body.

As the ship flew toward the small bit of land, they saw two objects come up out of the water next to the island, a jet of ocean spray blasting up after them. Junas watched as the two objects got close enough to identify. “Looks like a welcoming party.”

“A party?!” shouted Pinkie Pie as she jumped in place. “Where?!”

They all ignored the hare-brained pony as the two fighters pulled up in front of them. Knowing better than to keep going, Junas killed the engines and coasted to a stop.

For a moment, all was silent as the three ships sat in the air and waited for the other to make a move. Then suddenly the fighter on the right began flashing lights on the leading edges of its wing roots.

Junas looked over the console. “Oh, where’s the headlight switch?”

“Headlights?” asked Rainbow Dash.

“Yeah. Number one rule in wartime is don’t use the radio if you can help it.”

Before he found it, the fighter started flashing his lights again.

“Hold you horses,” Junas said as the flashes continued, then he looked at the ponies. “No offense.”

“Don’t you worry ‘bout that, pardner,” said Applejack. “Jes do whatever it is you plan on doin’.”

He nodded, then went back to searching, hoping he could find the switch before the fighters carried out their threat to destroy them.

Frenzy Two sat in his cockpit, watching the shuttle intensely. He was nervous. Their first attempt to get them to answer failed, and he had already given them a second warning. That left the third and final warning, and if that shuttle turned out to be full of some sort of explosives, they might just blow themselves up if they had to fire on it. At this close of a range, there would be no chance for survival, even if they did punch out. But he needed to be close enough that they couldn’t escape, and they had to make sure that if this shuttle was a threat, that it wouldn’t be a danger to the base.

Over the secure channel, he heard Frenzy Leader. “They still haven’t answered. Give ‘em one more signal, and this time warn them if they don’t answer, we’ll open fire.”

Frenzy Two nodded, then started flicking the headlight controls.

Attention . . . unidentified . . . shuttle. This . . . is . . . your . . . final . . . warning. State . . . your . . . business . . . or . . . we . . . will . . . be . . . forced . . . to . . .

Before he could finish the last message, the ship in front of them began flashing a message of its own:

This . . . is . . . Junas . . . Turner . . .of . . . the . . . Rebel . . . Alliance. Please . . . escort . . . us . . . to . . . your . . . base.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Frenzy Two began hurriedly flashing his headlights again.

Roger . . . shuttle. Follow . . . us . . . to . . . the . . . base. We . . . will . . . escort . . . you . . . to . . . the . . . command . . . center.

On the shuttle, Junas read the last bit of the message while wearing a small grin. “Well, it seems like they’re going to let us land.”

“Maybe they know what happened to Rarity!” piped Pinkie Pie.

“Yeah!” said Twilight. “With their sensor technology, surely they’ve seen something!”

“Maybe, girls,” replied Junas as he followed the starfighters. He wasn’t at all confident that their scanners could pick up a pony in the ocean, especially if she was below the horizon, but there was no reason to bring their hopes down.

However, he didn’t have much time to worry about the ponies’ feelings on the matter as he guided the ship through the air, following the Z-95 Headhunters toward the surface of the ocean. The ponies watched as the ship headed straight toward the water.

“Uh, Junas?” asked Rainbow Dash. “You do know that we’re flying toward the water, right?”

Before they knew it, they were plunging into the sea and heading toward the Rebel base, the repulsor drive creating a current as it propelled them deeper and deeper into the abyss.

Battle With The Imperial Navy

Chapter 20

"The Empire's warships were some of the most frightening sights I ever laid eyes on. Bristling with weapons, enshrouded in an envelop of shielding and armor, and possessing crews that numbered in the tens of thousands, we had been running from them since we first broke atmosphere on Endor. But to face them in battle? Even Princess Celestia confided in me how much she had feared the day we would be forced to engage the might of the Empire's navy.”

-Twilight Sparkle, On Extra-Galactic Voyages, p. 385

Junas guided the small vessel under the sea, following the two starfighters in front of him. Without their ion drives glowing, it was difficult to see where they were headed, but after a few minutes he saw tiny glowing dots arranged in a rectangle. As the ship approached the dots, it became apparent that it was some sort of enormous underwater docking port.

He maneuvered the shuttle through the sea, watching the doors get impossibly big, then suddenly they split apart to reveal a massive undersea complex. As they moved through the electrostatic field which was keeping the water out, the ponies gasped in awe at what the complex contained. Several kilometer-long ancient capital ships were parked in the cavern, with work crews scurrying around them like ants on a watermelon. Between the ships were a large number of fighters and small craft, of all manner of size and type. Work lights and welding torches sparkled as they passed, seemingly with a magical glow. They watched out the cockpit viewports as the fighters guided them through the maze of machinery and starships toward a small patch of barren duracrete near the back of the complex.

Junas had noticed a peculiar blue glow around his ship the moment it entered port, concluding that it was some kind of containment field. Guess they don’t completely trust me yet. He wasn’t about to complain about finally arriving at a Rebel base, however. He had been away from the Alliance for far too long, and it was nice to be in a place he could call home.

As the ship touched down and the metal feet of the landing gear made contact with the deck, the two fighters flew back to their landing zones. The boarding ramp of the Starhound clacked against the metal floor of the hangar, and soon the ponies began disembarking the ship, starting with Rainbow Dash.

Before she had gotten ten inches away from the bottom of the ramp, she and the other ponies heard something that sent a pulse of happiness coursing through their bodies.

“Girls!”

They looked up toward the familiar voice and saw Rarity on a catwalk above their ship.

“Rarity!” they shouted in unison.

The white unicorn shot toward a small lift in the middle of the gantry, and before it even made contact with the ground she leaped off and ran toward the group, embracing all of them in a hug.

All, that is, except for Rainbow Dash, who hung back in shame.

Rarity released her grip on the other ponies and walked timidly toward the blue pegasus. “Rainbow?”

Dash pawed nervously at the deck. “Yeah?”

Without saying a word and before her friend could react, Rarity wrapped her forelegs around Dash’s neck, squeezing tightly. The pegasus was surprised by the sudden emotion, then smiled and immediately returned the hug. “I’m sorry, Rarity. I shouldn’t have said the things I said to you.”

The white unicorn looked at her friend with teary eyes. “I forgive you, Rainbow Dash.”

Before any more could be said, an alert klaxon rang through the hangar, accompanying flashing red warning lights. The ponies looked up as many of the workmen raced toward the ships and any doors they happened to be standing near. “What’s going on?” asked Fluttershy.

A passing technician said, “There’s an enemy contact coming in.”

When Junas heard that, he grabbed the sleeve of the tech to stop him. “Take us to the command center! Now!”

“I can take you there,” said Rarity, then the ponies all followed her toward a turbolift alcove on the wall.

The group burst into the control room just as the communications system was being activated.

“This is the Imperial Star Destroyer Inflexible. We are currently in orbit above your world with our weapons pointed at several key islands. We have reason to believe that a group of equinoid aliens which the Emperor desires greatly is being held by members of the Rebel Alliance.”

Applejack and Fluttershy looked at each other worriedly as Twilight listened to the rest of the message.

“If they are not brought to us via shuttle within the next two hours, we will bombard every island on that miserable world into a lake of molten rock every hour, on the hour, until the entire world is consumed. We will start the clock as soon as this message ends.”

An audible click was heard as the Imperials signed off, then the whole room started to murmur. Captain Sardis held up his hands. “Settle down, people. Settle down.”

He turned and looked at the group of ponies. “I’m afraid I’m going to have to place you in custody until I can determine that this isn’t some kind of Imperial trick.”

“What?!” shouted Junas. “We’ve been chased by the Empire for over a month! We’re lucky that we were able to escape with our lives!”

“And yet you have no evidence to back up such a claim. Our computers have gone through your ship’s log. It’s been sitting on Nar Shaddaa for five years.”

“What about us?” asked Twilight. “We’re obviously not from your galaxy.”

“You showed up here and the Empire came in right behind you. You might be a bunch of brainwashed spies who have been given a drive to find hidden Rebel bases, or you could be innocent. In any case, I’m not going to release you until I’m reasonably sure you’re not Imperials.”

“What?!” Twilight couldn’t believe the paranoia of these people.

He gestured to a pair of guards, who walked up to them and motioned with blasters toward the door. “Please understand,” he said with a hint of regret, “I am only thinking of the safety of my base.”

A light blue glow emitting from the force field at the entrance to the cell cast a depressing color on the ponies, but Twilight was at least grateful that this time they weren’t being forced to build some Imperial base. That thought didn’t stop Rainbow Dash from zooming around the cell and trying to fly through the force field.

“Gah!” she exclaimed at her latest attempt at forcing her way through the field. “We’re never gonna get back home!”

“Easy there, pardner,” said Applejack as she laid on the cot. “We cain’t do anythin’ about our predicament, so why don’cha jes’ sit a spell?”

“Why?” asked Rainbow as she rubbed her head, “So I can be comfortable while I wait for that guy to finally figure out that we’re innocent?”

“That’d be the general idea, yes. And at least then you’d stop tryin’ ta bust through that there field with yer head.”

As Rainbow sank to the floor and crossed her forelegs, Twilight looked up at Junas. “He will eventually discover that we’re telling the truth, right?”

“I’m sure he will eventually,” said Junas as he leaned back against the wall, his arms folded behind his head.

“Whatever the case may be, Twilight,” said Celestia, “We’re finally at a Rebel installation and almost in a position to rescue my sister and your baby dragon.”

“Yeah, but there’s a bigger issue than that.” Junas sat up as the unicorn and the princess listened closer. “I was originally sent to Endor because it was a possible location for the Emperor’s new Death Star.”

“They’re building another one?” asked Twilight, a slight trickle of dread invading her tone.

“Yes, even more powerful than the first one. This one won’t have the exhaust port weakness, and once it’s completed it will spell doom for the Alliance.”

He shook his head. “But there’s nothing I can do about it now. The guard won’t listen to us, and until the captain decides we’re not a threat, we’re stuck here.”

His words hung in the air for a short while as the ponies contemplated the implications of what he was saying. If the Empire was allowed to complete this new Death Star, then they would have an invulnerable weapon which could roam about the galaxy at will, destroying any planets that dared defy the Empire and plunging the galaxy into a state of perpetual fear.

Finally Twilight spoke. “Well regardless of what the Empire is building or doing, we’ve got to find a way to rescue Princess Luna and Spike. The fate of Equestria depends on it.”

Captain Sardis’ disposition was one of a mouse caught in a trap. He knew the ships in the small fleet he oversaw alongside Admiral Garna were no match for an Imperial battle fleet. The enormous freighters whose captains pledged themselves to helping the Alliance were a fine gesture, but he knew that the firepower a single Star Destroyer carried would be enough to wipe out his fleet.

And the Empire had brought in three of them, plus a few minor support vessels that seemed to be window dressing compared to the mile-long behemoths that made up the bulk of the squadron.

But he had a responsibility to ensure that the people under his command were not killed by Imperial forces, and that meant they needed to evacuate the base and meet up with the main fleet.

“Sir, they’re forming a blockade around the planet.”

Sardis walked over to the scanner technician and watched with dismay as the Star Destroyers spread out into an orbit which would keep them pinned down while he and his fleet tried to escape.

Nevertheless, his first priority was evacuation.

“Get everyone to the ships. We’re evacuating this base. And make sure the ponies are on my dreadnaught. I want to keep them handy in case they happen to be telling the truth.”

“Yes, sir.”

The communications officer activated the main intercom and began informing the base personnel of the captain’s intention to leave, and Sardis began planning the route that would take them past the Imperial forces and hopefully toward a hyperspace route to the standard meeting place.

Minutes felt like hours in the confined space of the detention cell that held the ponies captive. And for somepony like Rainbow Dash, places that were this boring were a worse prison than anything the Empire was capable of constructing.

“Oh man,” she said with extreme agitation, “If I don’t get out of this cell soon, I’m gonna start climbin’ the walls!”

They all ignored her, which only served to provoke more complaining. “Don’t you guys understand? I gotta stretch my wings! I’m no good cooped up in a place like this!”

“Rainbow Dash, give it a rest,” said Applejack with annoyance. “We all hate bein’ cooped up in here, but there ain’t nothin’ we can do about it, so ya might as well sit down and stop bein’ such a loud-mouth.”

The blue pony plopped down on the deck with her forelegs crossed, then stuck out her tongue at Applejack and blew a raspberry.

The orange work pony ignored her friend, then asked Junas something that had been bugging her. “Hey Junas, Ah heard that Imperial on the radio talkin’ ‘bout bombarding this place. What the hay was he talkin’ about?”

“Well,” he began, “That’s the standard Imperial procedure for rebellious worlds. They park in orbit and begin firing on the planet. The weapons on a Star Destroyer are powerful enough that within hours they can completely level a planet’s surface, turning it into a radioactive wasteland.”

Applejack let out a low whistle. “Ah sure hope it don’t come ta that.”

“Me, too,” he replied softly.

Suddenly the force field in the entrance to their cell was turned off. The ponies stood up in confusion and alarm, and then a guard stepped from behind the archway and beckoned them. “Come on. We’re evacuating the base. You are to be transferred immediately to one of the escape ships.”

Anxious to get out of the cell, they quickly began following the guard as another armed man stepped up behind them to cover the rear.

The enormous doors to the hangar slowly opened up and spilled brilliant white light into the dark water surrounding the portal. Before they were even fully retracted, ships began pouring out of the hangar: first the starfighter screen, then the patrol boats that could fit in the narrow opening, and finally, once the doors were completely open, the enormous bulk freighters and warships began to float out of the aperture and into the murky water beyond.

Soon they broke the surface, sending enormous sprays of water into the air as the fleet shot up out of the depths and into the atmosphere beyond.

On the bridge of the old Dreadnaught-class vessel which served as their command ship, Captain Sardis paced. He knew this ragtag fleet of civilian ships and ancient military tubs was no match for the awesome power of a mighty Imperial Star Destroyer, but he had no choice except to run the blockade and hope that most of the fleet survived.

Suddenly an alarm sounded on the board to his left. He strode over to the control panel as the operator looked up at him in alarm. “Sir, they’ve got an Interdictor cruiser. She’s got her gravity well projectors warmed up and they’re keeping us in the system.”

Sardis internally cursed, but he kept his composure. “Charge up the main batteries. We’ve got to provide cover for the freighters until they can make it through the blockade.”

The gunner nodded, but as he flipped the switches that activated the laser capacitors, Sardis knew that it would be of little use. Dreadnaughts were fine ships in their day, but against a Star Destroyer they might as well be flying a T-16 Skyhopper.

Nevertheless, he had sworn an oath to protect those in his fleet, especially the civilian pilots, and he would do just that.

Or die trying.

Aboard the Imperial Star Destroyer Inflexible, her captain smiled smugly. He was in charge of a powerful warship, more than capable of destroying the approaching Rebel fleet, and he knew that there was little chance that they would make it past his ship. They likely had aliens aboard those ships, which meant that they would have a natural handicap against his superior human-only crew.

Unfortunately, it also meant that he would need to carefully disable their ships before they made it to a hyperpoint, a decidedly tedious task that he personally found beneath him. But he knew his orders, which stated in no uncertain terms that the ponies were to be captured alive. Their intelligence pointed directly at this planet being the location to which the ponies had fled, intelligence that had been gathered from a rather reluctant Comm-Scan operator on Nar Shaddaa. It was a pity that he didn’t survive his interrogation.

No matter, he thought. I will capture these pesky animals and present them to the Emperor personally. I might even get a commendation from the Emperor himself!

His smile widened.

“Captain, the Rebel ships are coming into our sector! Prosecutor and Admonisher are altering their orbits and should be here to reinforce our position in thirty seconds!”

“Good,” he replied. “Destroy the starfighters, but disable the transports. I want those fugitives alive.”

The Weapons Control Officer nodded and then relayed his command to the gunnery bridge, and the captain clasped his hands behind his back. This was going to be as easy as shooting flop-fish in a barrel.

“I’m hit!”

The Y-Wing which was making an attack run on the Interdictor took several direct hits on the engines from an escorting Assassin-class corvette. Its systems failed, and the misfiring propulsion system sent the fighter careening straight into the powerful shields of the Imperial cruiser.

As the fighter-bomber’s debris cooled and spread in the vacuum, its place was taken by a cloud of TIE Fighters and Assault Gunboats which were spewing out of the Star Destroyer and its Escort Carrier and heading toward the Rebel fleet.

The Imperial starfighters spread out into attack elements, drawing the fighters away from their charges so the gunners on board the Star Destroyer could have a clear shot at the freighters.

The powerful weapons on the Imperial battle cruiser tracked several targets at once, first blasting an old CR-90 corvette, then a System Patrol Craft which was trying to make an attack run on the Imperial escorts. The gunners of the Imperial warships were the best in the fleet, but they were having a hard time disabling the Rebel ships. Without a huge number of ion cannons and with the Rebels staying mostly below the upper plane of the Imperial Star Destroyers in order to avoid the massive heavy ion cannons, the gunners were forced to carefully aim the light guns at the freighters and warships in order to knock out their engines without also detonating their reactors. But despite their disadvantage, the Imperials were still scoring hits on the Rebel capital ships, blasting their propulsion systems to atoms.

Aboard the Dreadnaught, Sardis was watching a tactical readout. Fighter after fighter made a run against the Interdictor, each one blinking out like a candle as they tried to get past the ships serving as anti-starfighter platforms. He maintained a stoic attitude. Those pilots knew the risks when they joined the Alliance, and their sacrifice was buying valuable time to get the smaller vessels into hyperspace.

But he knew that that time was still borrowed. The Interdictor was going to keep them all here in the meat grinder as the Star Destroyers pounded their meager fleet to dust.

It was only a matter of time.

He wracked his brain trying to think of a way out of this battle. He had sworn to Mon Mothma herself that he would keep these people safe to the best of his abilities, but that wouldn’t matter if he lost everyone to the Empire, either through turbolaser blasts or interrogation droids.

The aging captain looked at every course of action, eliminating one after another as either ineffective or suicide.

Suddenly a thought occurred to him. He had heard that the ponies in the brig had attacked and defeated a force of Imperial troops on Endor, yet they had had no weapons on them at the time, which meant that they somehow were able to defeat them using their innate abilities. And according to what his scouts had told him about the white one, they were capable of doing magic with their horns.

“Lieutenant, bring those ponies to the bridge immediately.”

The young blonde man standing watch at the blast door saluted, then smartly turned on his heels and ran down the corridor to the turbolift.

Vibrations from stray weapon hits made their way into the brig, sending Fluttershy scurrying under the bed.

“Sounds like the Imps are really trying to keep you guys here,” said Junas with a hint of bitterness.

Suddenly a breathless young officer with corn blonde hair burst into the control room of the brig and talked with the officer in charge. In moments, the force field lowered and the blonde man jogged to their cell. “Come on,” he said, waving them toward the turbolift. “Captain Sardis wants you on the bridge!”

Twilight and Junas looked at each other as Pinkie and Applejack shrugged, then all eight of them followed the young man toward the turbolift. As they galloped across the security foyer, he looked at the small alcove with worry. “I hope we can get all of you in here.”

The turbolift doors hadn’t completely opened before the ponies burst from the small lift car. Rubbing her head, Rainbow Dash looked up at the young officer. “Ya couldn’t have found a bigger elevator?”

He looked at her apologetically as they raced down the short passageway to the bridge and saw the same thing everyone in the control room was looking at: an enormous skirmish between Rebel and Imperial forces, and the Rebels were losing.

Badly.

The small herd of ponies moved toward the captain as he ordered his crewmen about, with the lieutenant in front of them and leading the way. “Sir, the prisoners are on the bridge.”

Sardis turned around and stared at them with a hard expression. “I have little time. We need to get through this fleet, but three ImpStar Deuces are blocking our path. I have heard about your abilities, and I need to know if you can take one of them out.”

The small aliens looked at each other nervously. Finally Celestia spoke up. “We are not warlike by nature, captain.”

“I’m not asking you,” he said with a tone that carried over his seriousness. “I’m telling you. If you have the power to destroy one of their ships, then we stand a chance of forcing them to back off. Blasting one of the ImpStars should send the message that we will not hesitate to blow up the entire fleet if it means our survival.”

Twilight shook her head. “Sir, we can’t be asked to take out their entire fleet! We’re not killers!”

“That wasn’t your attitude on Endor,” he countered.

“That was different—”

“It’s no different,” he snapped impatiently. “That was a wartime condition, as it this, and if you care about your own survival you will destroy one of the Star Destroyers. Now.”

Grimly scowling, he turned his back on them, returning to his command. “I don’t have time to wait,” he said. “If you don’t agree, I’ll put you back in the cell and try to fight my way through this blockade.”

As they considered his words, he glanced back at the ponies. “Please help us. You’re our only hope.”

A moment of silence, pricked by the occasional laser bolt impact, passed between them. Finally Celestia spoke. “We are not weapons for you to order around, captain. However, I see your point. I agree to combine my magic with that of my student, Twilight Sparkle, and attempt to destroy one of their ships. As a show of force. But I can’t promise that I or my student will comply if asked to do it again.”

He nodded. “Get to the hangar bay and put on oxygen masks. We will open a small hole in the shield and maglock for you to fire through, though you must be quick. Vacuum is still dangerous even if you’re wearing a mask, and you’ll only have so long before the air completely evacuates.”

The great alicorn bowed, then led her student toward the turbolift, with the Lieutenant escorting them. Rainbow Dash watched them walk out. “Hey Twilight,” she blurted. The purple unicorn paused and looked over to her friend. “Good luck.”

Clouds of glowing plasma and shimmering debris lit up the hangar in intermittent flashes of destruction, with the turbolift alcove illuminated by a particularly close blast as the lift opened up and admitted Celestia and Twilight. They were followed by a technician who had a small box in his hand.

Standing near the hangar aperture, the two ponies stood by as the tech opened the box, revealing humanoid oxygen masks. He reached to hand them to the two equines, but they telekinetically maneuvered them out of the box and onto their faces before he could grasp them. “These are designed for humans, but they should still fit over your muzzles. There is a two-way radio in each mask. The captain will give you the signal to fire.”

They nodded, then returned their gaze toward the battle in front of them as the technician buckled their safety harnesses to eye bolts inset into the deck, then he made his way toward the turbolift.

The door hissed closed, and then the ponies were completely alone, the cavernous hangar feeling eerily empty.

Teacher and student stood at the aperture, calmly watching the brutal carnage taking place outside the invisible barrier in front of them, the white light of the magnetic field generator casting a sterile glow on the scene. All other illumination was extinguished in an effort to direct as much energy to the guns as possible, leaving them in virtual blackness.

Blasts of energy and flashes of destruction bloomed before them in an eerie silence which contrasted with the devastation of the scene before them. Celestia’s magenta eyes gazed stoically at the battle, seeming to take it all in with a serenity only made possible from millennia of rule. Twilight for her part was handling the situation with a concerned expression on her face, but privately she was wrestling with her own sense of self-doubt. It was said that the problem with the world was that ignorant ponies were full of certainty while the intelligent ones were full of doubt, and that expression couldn’t have been more true in the case of Twilight. What if she and Celestia weren’t capable of generating enough magical potential to penetrate the shields and hull of that Destroyer? What if in opening the shields they unwittingly opened themselves up to the destructive energies being hurled about outside? What if something unforeseen occurred and the plan backfired?

As the seconds ticked by, Twilight watched the stars shift as the dreadnaught maneuvered to point the hangar bay toward the lead Star Destroyer. She swallowed in nervousness, a drop of sweat dripping down and stinging her eye. In her ear she heard the comlink crackle to life.

“Unicorns,” said Sardis, “you have thirty seconds to prepare. We will then open the hangar shield, after which you will have approximately 45 seconds before the air in the hangar completely evacuates.” His voice lowered to a grave timbre. “You two have only one shot at this. If you cannot destroy the Star Destroyer, we will be forced to engage them directly, and I don’t have to tell you that a run against three Star Destroyers of that size is sheer suicide.”

“We understand, sir,” replied Twilight.

“Good luck.”

With that, the comlink went dead, returning them to a world of silence.

Time seemed to slow to a crawl as Celestia and Twilight waited for the bridge crew to reorient the shields and open a hole in them.

Finally, the comlink sputtered to life again. “Ponies, prepare for shield drop.”

Twilight braced herself against the coming rush of atmosphere.

“Three . . . two . . . one . . . drop.”

Instantly the serene hangar bay transformed into a hurricane as a hole opened in the invisible force field before them. Air rushed past at incredible speed as the near-absolute vacuum pulled on it, the roar threatening to deafen the alicorn and her student.

Struggling to open her eyes, Twilight saw that the ship had stopped turning, and before them was the gargantuan, wedge-shaped Imperial Star Destroyer they were sent to destroy.

She was hesitant. Thousands of people crewed those vessels, and despite their status as enemies, the violet unicorn still felt extremely guilty about the task that was set before them. But she knew that this show of force was the only option besides confronting the Empire directly, and for all her wisdom and intelligence she could find no alternative to obliterating the massive man-o-war to force the Empire to withdraw.

She looked up at Celestia, who glanced down on her student. “Are you ready, Twilight?”

She nodded.

Immediately both unicorns started charging a spell. It was not an especially difficult one, just a burst of raw magical energy, magnified to the limits of their ability to control. Soon the charges had built up to their fullest potential in the form of blindingly bright spheres of energy that clung to the tips of their horns. The light from their magical energies lit up the hangar like the surface of the sun, leaving no corner in shadow.

Just when Twilight thought she could bear the heat from her charging spell no longer, Celestia uttered a single command: “Fire.”

The spheres of light on their horn tips seemed to compress for a moment, then suddenly the magic lashed out, twin bright beams of purple and gold energy violently ripping through space at incredible speed toward the Imperial Star Destroyer.

Within seconds the beams impacted the Destroyer’s shields, and for just a moment it seemed as though the invisible energy barriers would hold.

The magic of their beams played on the hull, causing ripples of energy to cascade over the surface of the shield. A bead of sweat trickled down Twilight’s brow as she watched the spectacle, fearing that they would fail and the Empire would come back with a vengeance.

Then suddenly the shield collapsed.

The destructive potential of the magical energy was unleashed directly upon the hull, ripping through the neutronium-impregnated armor plating and underlying structure as though it were constructed from tissue paper. The energies ricocheted throughout the interior, carving it up like a roast turkey, and soon found their way into the vast chamber in which the gargantuan starship’s main reactor core resided.

The armor surrounding the ship’s main power supply buckled, and the energy of a thousand suns was suddenly released, blowing through the remainder of the ship in a titanic blast which ripped the behemoth to a thousand glittering pieces, the resulting shrapnel consuming the starfighter screen and several small corvettes in escort formation.

The battlefield suddenly went silent in an instant as pilots and soldiers on both sides of the war paused in awe and terror at the sight of one of the Empire’s premier warships being utterly obliterated in an instant by the ponies.

As the light from their blast died down and the hangar took on the former darkened atmosphere, Twilight and Celestia breathed a tremendous sigh of relief, saddened that they had once again been forced to use their powers to kill, but relieved that their task was done.

Now it was time to see if their attack had the intended effect.

On the bridge of the dreadnaught, Captain Sardis was staring at the viewport with a slack jaw. He had just seen something he would have thought impossible: an Imperial-class Star Destroyer blown apart in a single blast. Clearly these ponies were a force to be reckoned with.

As he composed himself, he heard the door to the turbolift open. He glanced behind him to see Twilight and Celestia walking calmly toward him, their horns slightly darkened from the blast they unleashed on the Star Destroyer. Their pony friends, who had been sitting in the corner of the bridge, watched their ruler and their friend walk by.

“Captain,” said Celestia serenely, “my I speak with the captains of the remaining Star Destroyers?”

He nodded, then gestured to his communications officer. The Sullustan at the controls of the communications board flipped several switches and then punched a frequency into the computer. “You’re on.”

Celestia quickly put on her best regal posture, then spoke. “Captains of the Imperial battle fleet, I am Princess Celestia of the planet Equi and the sovereign country of Equestria, home of the species known as Little Ponies. Several of us were transported to your universe through a magical accident. When we arrived in your galaxy, we were enslaved and treated as though we were inferior. You can see from the destruction we are capable of that we are not.”

She paused to let her words sink in, then continued.

“You all have a choice. Either stay and risk the further destruction of your fleet, or else flee and live. I would think carefully before testing us any further. We are powerful, and we will destroy you.”

She nodded at the communications officer, who cut the transmission, and then all the people on the bridge waited tensely as the Imperial captains processed the message that Celestia had transmitted.

For an eternity, they watched as the two remaining Imperial-class Star Destroyers sat in space, with their escorts sitting alongside them like a pair of wolves and their pups.

Twilight held her breath.

Finally, after an agonizing wait, the bridge crew watched in disbelief as the two monstrous Star Destroyers rotated, then their engines flared as they escaped into hyperspace. The tenders and corvettes that had accompanied them collected the remaining TIE Fighters, then jumped as well.

After the last starship jumped to hyperspace, the bridge crew all cheered, the relief from the battle’s conclusion suddenly being released. Rainbow Dash swooped up and clasped her forelegs around Twilight. “Twilight, that was truly awesome!”

“You were fantastic, darling!” exclaimed Rarity.

“That was super-cool! Didja see that big ship blow up! I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like it! I mean, maybe once when—”

“Pinkie!” they all shouted in unison.

“Sorry,” she said with a sheepish smile.

Captain Sardis walked over to Princess Celestia, a huge smile on his rough, scarred face. “You two did good. All enemy ships have retreated and we’re free to join up with the Rebel fleet.”

“I’m thankful that we weren’t required to use our powers like that again,” replied Celestia in her usual serene voice.

“So am I,” he said. Then as he turned back to his bridge crew, who were sitting or standing at their stations and watching him with ecstatic grins, he gave the command. “All craft, prepare to jump into hyperspace on my mark.”

As he waited for the other ships to signal their readiness, the ponies all fell into a warm embrace, with Junas and Celestia watching.

“It really makes it all worth it to see friends reunited,” said the human. “I don’t always get to see my own friends return from their missions, but as long as I remember what it is I’m fighting for, it’s worth all the heartache.”

“Yes,” agreed Celestia. “I do not approve of utilizing deadly force and don’t enjoy killing Imperials, but I do think that what your Rebellion is doing is the right thing. I had my doubts about you and this universe, but I think that as long as love and friendship still exist within it, it is most definitely worth saving.”

He smiled at her, then looked at the ponies, who were standing on the bridge, talking to one another.

Without knowing how he knew, he got the feeling that they would eventually triumph over the Empire, and what’s more, they would rescue Princess Luna and Spike from the clutches of Emperor Palpatine.

Then suddenly the captain gave the order, and soon the ship was enveloped in the blue blanket of hyperspace.

Captain Harkess of the Imperial Star Destroyer Prosecutor was sweating bullets as his ship dropped out of hyperspace.

He had been given explicit instructions by Darth Vader personally to oversee the capture of the ponies, and he had failed in his mission. He knew that when the dark lord was on a personal vendetta mistakes had a zero-tolerance policy, and now that the ship had moved out of lightspeed and was able to open communications, he had to make an official report directly to him. But perhaps he would catch Lord Vader in a good mood.

That is, if he ever had one.

He walked along the catwalk that oversaw the two crew pits on the bridge of his ship and headed back toward the holographic communications console. As if he had been waiting for the officer to begin his report, the shimmering image of Darth Vader faded into view right when he stepped in front of the control panel.

“L-lord Vader!”

The ghostly image seemed to stare directly into his soul. “I trust that you have had enough time to fulfill your mission.”

He nervously tugged at his uniform’s collar. “My lord, I’m afraid that the equines were able to destroy one of our Star Destroyers instantaneously, and in the interests of protecting my crew and the crews of all the other ships in the squadron, I elected to flee the area and regroup.”

No sound was made as the dark lord processed what he had just heard. Then suddenly an invisible hand closed around the captain’s neck. He fought to breathe, and as the last vestiges of his life faded from his body, he heard Vader promoting his subordinate to the position of captain.

Somewhere in the Wild Space region of the galaxy, near a peculiar double-pulsar, a Rebel fleet floated lazily through space. If one had not known they were Rebels, one might have assumed that they were a floating museum of old and outdated starship designs, with patched-together starfighters patrolling the space between them like decrepit moths amongst a flock of elderly eagles.

The serenity was broken as the Bestinian Rebel cell burst from hyperspace, causing a momentary panic, but the Alliance leaders onboard the flagship, Home One, knew better than to simply destroy a target indiscriminately.

After much finagling, Junas was able to convince Captain Sardis to allow him to fly a shuttle with the ponies to the flagship, and as soon as he docked he was greeted by a throng of people wanting to meet the ponies, who were surprised by Rainbow Dash swooping through the hatch of the shuttle and flying into the air.

“Rainbow Dash,” said Twilight with a hint of irritation, “quit showing off!”

The blue pegasus flew down and landed next to the unicorn, a wry smile on her face. “Aw, c’mon, egghead. These people have never seen a pegasus before, and wouldn’t you know it, the very first one they happen to meet is the most awesomest pegasus pony in Equestria.”

Twilight rolled her eyes at that irritating nickname.

“Yeah,” said Applejack. “Too bad it wasn’t the humblest pegasus pony in Equestria.”

The blue pegasus rolled her eyes at Applejack as Pinkie Pie popped out of the hatch and started going from alien to alien. “Hi! I’m Pinkie Pie! You guys must be the Rebels! OOohh! I’ve heard so much about you! Do you guys like parties?” The breathless introduction left many of the crew of the flagship a bit dazzled.

Fluttershy and Rarity were the next to arrive, followed by Junas and Princess Celestia. As they all reached the bottom of the boarding ramp, they were greeted by the sight of a Mon Calamari standing in front of them, his walleyed gaze fixed on the group of ponies. Twilight wasn’t familiar with Rebel rank insignia, but judging by the way he carried himself he was someone of extreme importance. He walked up to Celestia and held out a flipper.

“Welcome to the Alliance flagship, Home One. I am Admiral Ackbar, and I must say, your reputation is quite remarkable. The ability of a single individual to destroy an entire Star Destroyer in one blast is something I haven’t seen or heard the likes of in all my days.”

Celestia bowed, then held out a hoof, which the admiral took and gently kissed. “I thank you sincerely for giving us sanctuary.”

He returned her bow, and then turned to Junas. “And you must be the human scout who rescued these ponies from the Empire.”

The man shrugged sheepishly. “Sir, I was just doing what any good Rebel would do.”

“As well you should have,” replied the admiral with a grin. “You’re a great example of bravery and selflessness.”

“Thank you sir,” said Junas. “There is something I need to discuss with you immediately.”

The admiral cocked his head slightly. “And what might that be?”

“It’s in regard to the new Death Star.”

Instantly the hangar dropped to a deathly silence at the mention of the Empire’s new superweapon.

“I was sent as an advanced scouting force to find the location of the battle station. Well, it so happens that it sits in orbit above the sanctuary moon of Endor. It was still under construction a month ago when we escaped the Empire.”

The Rebels began looking at one another nervously, with Ackbar nodding in understanding. “Then we must prepare a strike immediately.” He leaned closer and put a flipper on Junas and Celestia’s shoulders. “But first, I think you two need to get some well-deserved rest from your travels.”

The ponies all smiled gratefully, then followed one of the protocol droids toward their new accommodations aboard the Mon Calamari cruiser.

Many thousands of lightyears away, another sort of meeting was taking place.

Light shone through an enormous spider-web window into the dark chamber that was the Emperor’s throne room aboard the Death Star. Attending Star Destroyers were patrolling nearby, and intermittently a flight of TIE Fighters would swoop past the window, tirelessly patrolling the space around the tower upon which the throne room was built. Their small size seemed to be mere window dressing for the hundreds of turbolaser towers that peppered the hull of the Death Star around the throne room, each one capable of tracking even starfighters with ease. But their destructive potential was insignificant compared to the true power which the being in the room wielded.

Sitting in his chair, Palpatine watched out the window, grinning wickedly at all he had built and the thought that soon he would have the Rebel Alliance right where he wanted it. The cogs he had set in place were in motion, turning ever so slowly and aligning themselves, and once everything was in place he would release the catch, trapping the Rebels like the insignificant rodents they were. He had foreseen this apex of destiny since before he was even a senator for Naboo, and would see this plan through to the end, for once the opposition to his rule was eradicated, he would be the sole wielder of power in the galaxy. As he reveled in euphoria, he suddenly felt a presence in the room, besides that of his guards.

“Rise, my friend,” he said without turning to see Vader kneeling before him. The Dark Lord of the Sith rose from his knee and stood before the throne. The old man sitting in the throne looked a thousand years old to Vader, but he knew that this was merely his physical form, and that the man inside was just as potent now as he was in the days before the rise of the Empire.

“My master,” he began, “I have just received word that the equine creatures have escaped us. I have dealt with the failure of my men personally, but we must resume our search for them.”

The man in the throne spoke. “I sense that you have more pressing concerns about this battle, Lord Vader.”

“Yes, my master,” replied the dark lord. “I have personally examined the flight recorder data from the battle, and it seems that the equines were able to completely destroy one of the Star Destroyers sent to capture them.”

“Excellent,” said Palpatine with relish. “They are far more powerful than even I had anticipated.”

Vader hesitantly replied, “Will this not be a danger to us, my master?”

The black throne rotated, causing Vader to straighten up instinctively, and Palpatine looked at him with an expression that Vader was unable to read. “Do you doubt my power?”

“No, my master.”

“Then your concern is unfounded, my friend,” said Palpatine with a nonchalant wave of his hand. “These creatures will no doubt prove instrumental in the destruction of the Rebel Alliance.”

He rotated his chair back to face the window. “From my own interrogation of that tiny dragon, I have found that these ponies have capabilities that will be useful to me. The earth-ponies are capable of controlling life, the pegasi capable of controlling weather, and most interestingly the unicorns are capable of controlling magical forces. And what’s more, they are capable of doing this naturally, from birth.”

Vader was beginning to see what his master was planning.

“We will use the cloning technology found on Kamino as well as Spaarti cloning cylinders to create the most formidable army the galaxy has ever seen.”

A pause.

“But we must not fail to capture them, my apprentice. They are more dangerous than even the son of Skywalker.”

“Yes, my master.”

“Do not be concerned,” said Palpatine. “Soon the Rebellion will be crushed, young Skywalker will be one of us, and I will have a fighting force that will rival even the Sith armies of old. Go out to the command ship and await my orders.”

“Yes, my master.” Vader bowed, then turned and headed toward the door. He was concerned about whether his master was able to do all of this. Any being capable of generating enough raw energy to destroy an Imperial Star Destroyer was a force to be reckoned with.

But then again, Palpatine did manage to not only usurp the Chancellorship, but create his own galaxy-spanning Empire in the process. And that was nothing compared to the fact that he had personally dispatched four of the greatest Jedi who ever lived when they tried to arrest him for treason against the Republic, his blade felling them as easily as if they were mere padawans.

Vader smiled under his mask, the scarred tissue around his mouth protesting. He knew how great and powerful his master was.

And he knew he would not fail.

Author's Note

Finally, some payback for the ponies!

As you might have imagined, I thoroughly enjoyed giving Twilight and Celestia a chance to get back at the Empire for all the heartache they caused.

Now that they're finally in a position to strike back at the Empire, I plan on having a little more fun with them before they have their final confrontation.

To quote Q, "The hall is rented, the orchestra engaged . . . it's now time to see if you can dance."

New Friends

Chapter 21

“Perhaps the most talented flier I know is Rainbow Dash. Since the first moment I met her, she has continued to impress me with her flying abilities, though I try not to remind her of this fact any more than necessary, lest her ego inflate to the point that it explodes. Still, the Rebel Alliance was lucky that we joined, because I can't think of a pony more qualified than her to handle their fighter craft.”

-Twilight Sparkle, On Extra-Galactic Voyages, p. 255

All worries seemed to melt away as Rarity soaked in the massive, steamy pool onboard the Calamari warship. She had counted her chances of actually getting the hot bath she desperately craved as being next to nil, but the commanders on the ship informed her that the physiological requirements of the Mon Calamari demanded a pool of water to soak in, or else they would be driven insane with homesickness.

It was no concern of hers whether the creatures who crewed these ships needed this pool or not. The fact remained that she hadn’t had a good soaking for over a month, and she was going to capitalize on the opportunity.

They even had a thermostat that allowed the temperature in the pool to be turned up to a level resembling that of the hot tub at the spa she frequented at home.

As she allowed the hot liquid to soak through every pore of her body, she noticed someone walking into the room.

“Hello, Rarity,” greeted Fluttershy as she laid a towel on the ceramic tile surrounding the pool.

“Why hello, Fluttershy!” she returned. “I take it you came to enjoy this luxurious bath, too?”

“Yes,” said the yellow pegasus. “Well, it’s more than that. You see . . . we used to go to the spa every Wednesday, and even though we don’t have Lotus and Aloe here to pamper us, I figured we could at least take a hot bath together so we can feel a little more at home.”

“Oh my . . .” A tear formed in Rarity's eye.

“Oh! Um, is it something I said, Rarity? I can come back if I’m bothering you.” The demure little pony started backing away.

“No, no, no!” Rarity quickly said before Fluttershy got out the door. “I was just so happy that you remembered.”

“Of course, Rarity,” replied her friend with a slight smile. “What are friends for?”

Rarity returned her grin, smiling as Fluttershy walked down the gentle slope leading into the pool and joined her.

The rounded door to the Admiral’s quarters hissed shut behind Ackbar as he crossed the room toward the desk at the opposite end. Junas was sitting in the chair in front of the desk, wiping the latest drops of condensation from his forehead and wishing that Mon Cals didn’t need such a humid atmosphere in order to be comfortable.

The Mon Calamari admiral walked around the curved, stark white desk that blended in with the bright white color of the walls, then sat down in the conformal chair and crossed his flippers.

“So, Captain Turner . . .” he said, his eyestalks pointing directly at Junas. “What can you tell me about the Death Star?”

“Sir, I was sent by the Alliance Dreadnaught Grendel to scout systems in the Moddell sector for the construction site for the new battle station. I happened upon the skeleton of the Death Star about a month and one week ago, and I assume that the station is further along in its construction by now. The site is in orbit above the sanctuary moon of the gas giant in the Endor system.”

Ackbar nodded as Junas finished speaking, then leaned in. “And you’re sure that this is the new Death Star? There are still explorers and astrographers in that sector who construct large space stations which are designed to chart new systems.”

“Sir,” replied Junas, “it’s hard to mistake that dimpled sphere.”

The Mon Calamari nodded. “I see. I’m sure I do not have to tell you that this is a disturbing development. Elements of Rogue Squadron, led by Luke Skywalker, have captured a computer core which our scientists are working on decoding. If information provided to us by the Bothans proves to be correct, it should contain complete technical readouts to the battle station. However, I fear that this one will not be as easy to defeat as the first Death Star.”

He stood up and began slowly circling the room. “The first of those dreadful stations was destroyed by a lucky shot from Commander Skywalker through a secondary exhaust port, and the fighters that accompanied him were able to survive for a surprising amount of time simply because the turbolasers were not accurate enough and Tarkin ordered the massive fighter compliment of the station to stand down. Only Vader’s personal squadron was able to launch from the station to defend it.”

He stopped and looked pensively into space. “These oversights are not likely to carry over to the second of these monstrosities. They will likely have fixed the exhaust port problem, as well as the turbolasers, and since there is no Tarkin aboard the station this time, they likely will launch everything they have at us.”

The admiral stopped talking for a moment in order to allow that to sink in.

After a moment, Junas spoke. “I sure hope they’re as dumb as Alliance propaganda says they are.”

Ackbar grimly nodded in agreement.

“As do I.”

Fresh caf poured from a polished metal spout set into an alcove into the wall. The steaming brown liquid splashed into a white ceramic cup which Rarity levitated to her lips, sipping it with a relish that she thought she would never experience again.

“Oh my,” she intoned happily. “This is simply divine. I mean, it’s not quite like the coffee I can get from Sugarcube Corner, but it’ll do.”

Twilight, who was sitting on a plush mattress at the end of the room, giggled at her friend. “I’m glad you can enjoy yourself here, Rarity.”

“Thank you, Twilight” said the white unicorn pleasantly as she levitated the teacup and saucer alongside her while she walked toward her bunk on the opposite side of the cabin. Being half the size of a full-grown humanoid, the ponies found that the beds were luxuriously large and comfortable, and Rarity allowed all the anxiety generated by the last several weeks to drain away as she reclined on the bunk with her caf.

She had just started to take another sip when an alarm sounded, causing her to spew it from her mouth in shock. Unfortunately Twilight had been in just the right position to catch it with her face.

Rarity gasped, raising a hoof to her mouth. “Twilight, I’m so sorry!”

“No, no,” reassured Twilight as the bitter liquid dripped from her mane onto the pristine white bedsheets, an annoyed tone slipping into her voice. “I’ll be fine. It’s just a little coffee.”

Trying to change the subject, Rarity said, “Um, let’s go to the bridge and see if we can find out what caused that awful racket, shall we?”

Her cheerful tone, which was meant to draw a smile from her purple friend, didn’t seem to have the effect she had intended. She giggled nervously, then trotted out of the room and down the corridor. Sighing, Twilight magically cleaned her mane, then trotted off after her.

The two ponies arrived on the bridge just in time to see a Cloakshape fighter explode in front of the window, raining shrapnel and plasma against the transparisteel. Laser blasts flashed outside the ship as Twilight and Rarity joined their friends on the bridge.

"What's going on?" asked Twilight.

Junas leaned his head toward the ponies, never taking his eyes off the battle. "The Rneeki Pirates have decided to pay us a visit and give us this lovely little welcome party."

"A party?!" exclaimed Pinkie Pie with extreme irritation. "Why wasn't I invited?"

The ponies ignored her as they watched starfighters and even a few light freighters bob and weave in front of the bridge window, the carnage narrated by radio transmissions coming in over the comlink.

"I can't shake him!"

"Hold on, Red 2!"

"They're all over me!"

The ponies cringed as a Y-wing pilot's ship flew apart around him, his death scream piercing the back of their skulls. Rainbow Dash fidgeted as she listened to the Rebels trying to hold off the pirates until they could get to the hyperspace buoy.

Suddenly she shot into the air. "They're getting creamed out there!"

"They're doing the best they can," admonished Twilight Sparkle.

"But if I was out there I could help them!"

"Yeah," said Twilight sarcastically. "That is until you passed out from the lack of oxygen."

The blue pegasus sighed in frustration, then sank back down to the floor, her forelegs crossed angrily.

They all watched and listened as the Rebel defenders blasted the pirates, the ragtag group of fighters weaving about and the Rebel X-wings blasting them to atoms. It was clear that the Alliance fighters were the better pilots and gunners, but they still suffered casualties. Twilight glanced over at Rainbow Dash as she fumed on the deck, angry that there was a major tousle outside the window and she wasn't able to do anything about it.

After an eternity of warfare, the last Rneeki fighter was obliterated and the Rebel fighters started to land in the hangars of the larger warships. While the formations of fighters and bombers flew past the bridge window wearing fresh battle scars, Rainbow Dash walked over to the captain and tapped him on the hip. He turned around in a clipped, military fashion to look down at the cerulean pegasus.

"Yes? What is it?"

"Sir," began Rainbow Dash, "I want to fly one of those machines."

He seemed at a loss for words, but Twilight and her friends were quick to rush to her side and shout, "What?!"

"I want to join the squadron, sir."

The captain looked down at the determined little pegasus pony. "I don't know, kid. You're not humanoid, so I don't know if you could even operate one of our fighters."

"I don't care!" she shouted, stamping the deck with her hoof for emphasis. "I want to fly! You guys don't understand; I've got to be a part of the fight!"

"But darling," said Rarity as she put her hoof on Rainbow's shoulder. "What if you get injured? Or killed? I couldn't bear to live without one of my best friends being there with me!"

"That's right!" agreed Pinkie Pie. "What if you got hurt and I didn't have a pranking buddy anymore!"

"Rainbow," said Twilight with a concerned tone, "I know you want to help, but this is just too dangerous. You should just forget it."

"No!" shouted Dash as she rapidly whipped around, making everypony jump. "I've got to do this. The Empire has chased us around the galaxy, and it's time for some payback!" Turning toward the captain, she gave him the most serious expression she could muster. "Where do I sign up?"

The captain scratched the back of his head. "Well, we're always looking for volunteers. Go talk to Chief Darnyn. He should be in the ship's library. If you –"

"You have a library?!" exclaimed Twilight with a sparkle in her eye.

"Um," replied the captain, "yeah."

With a squeal, Twilight rushed out of the bridge and down the hall. After a few seconds, she walked back on the bridge and looked at the captain with an apologetic expression. Jerking his thumb in the direction of the turbolift, the captain replied, "Go down six levels, head down the corridor and take the fourth left. Should be the fifth room on the right."

After giving the captain a sheepish grin, she trotted back down the hall toward the lift. Shaking her head, Rainbow Dash and the rest of the ponies watched her go, then the blue pegasus turned to look at the captain. "I think I better follow her down there and look for that chief you were talking about."

The captain nodded his approval, then Dash trotted after Twilight.

After talking with the deck chief, Rainbow decided that she wanted to fly one of the Alliance's new RZ-1 A-wing interceptors. The speed and maneuverability were her primary concerns, and the chief agreed that she was best suited for that sort of fighter.

The pegasus was then led to the warship's machine shop so that she could help the craftsmen aboard the ship fashion her a set of controls. Weaving around computer-operated milling machines and rapid-prototypers, she finally found the head machinist, a blue-skinned Duros.

"Okay," replied the machinist as he made notes on his datapad. "How do you propose to control the fighter?"

She tapped a hoof to her chin. "Well, what about a set of hoof-holds on the stick? That would allow me to pilot the ship without fingers."

"What about firing the weapons?" asked the Duros as he noted more ideas.

Dash squinted, trying to think up a way she could use the weapons, then shrugged impatiently. "I've used my mouth all my life to bite stuff, so maybe I could use it for controlling the guns."

"You also have missiles," replied the machinist. "How about that?"

"Gah! I don't know!" shouted Dash in frustration. "All this technical mumbo-jumbo is giving me a headache!"

Sighing, the Duros put his datapad down and his hand on Dash's withers. "Look kid, I know this is boring to you, but I really need all this information, and the only person who can tell me what you want out of this is you."

The blue pony nodded. "I understand. It's just that Twilight is better at stuff like this than me."

"I don't know who Twilight is," replied the Duros, "but I still need to get these modifications done, and I really do need your input."

The blue pegasus nodded again, then took a deep breath. "Okay."

Grinning, the Duros picked his datapad up. "So, about those missiles?"

After many hours of work and several modifications to the original design, the mechanics were ready to present the fighter to Rainbow Dash. She was led to the hangar by a protocol droid and stopped in front of a large shape with a gray tarpaulin covering it. The mechanics had decided not to tell her they were finished, so when she got to the hangar she had no idea why she was there.

"What's going on, guys?" she asked. "You need more measurements of my hoof?"

"Not exactly," replied the human head mechanic, Zcecka Gyne. "Guys?"

With a grand flourish, the mechanics grabbed the tarp and pulled it away, revealing a gleaming white A-wing fighter. Rainbow Dash's jaw dropped as she saw that the mechanics had even gone to the trouble of meticulously painting her cutie mark on the starboard dorsal control fin, and the green patch on the nose which indicated the squadron color had a secondary stripe of blue within it, capped by a short section of rainbow stripes. Zcecka watched as the pony slowly circled the fighter, her jaw hanging.

He cleared his throat. "She's not a new ship, of course. We had to patch her together from a few different fighters and then clean up the blast marks and oil stains. Jarvey thought you'd like your mark on the fin there so he and the guys borrowed some paint from maintenance and decked her out. So what do you think?"

Dash finished circling the fighter, then stood in front of the pointed nose and stared at it. "This . . . is . . . awesome!!" she shouted with gusto as she shot into the air, doing a lap around the hangar and causing a few floating droids to hurriedly fly out of her way. As she touched down on the deck next to the gleaming starfighter, the mechanics exchanged happy grins and handshakes. "I'm glad you like your new ride, Rainbow Dash," said Zcecka.

"So this is my ship?" she asked with a huge grin.

"Yep, she's yours. In fact, she's fueled and ready to launch if you want to take her out for a spin."

The pegasus' eyes went wide. "You mean right now?!"

Zcecka looked up at the control room hanging from the roof and got a thumbs up from a man sitting behind the control console, then looked back at Rainbow Dash with a grin. "That's affirmative. As long as you promise to go easy the first time out. A-wings are notoriously hard to control, but once you get the hang of flying one of these bad boys you'll probably be able to go faster."

He reached over to the small arrowhead-shaped vessel and grabbed the flight helmet off the nose. Rainbow grinned at the cutie marks painted on top of the Alliance logos on the crown, as well as the special ear holes the mechanics had cut for her. A small tear formed in her eye, which she struggled to wipe away. Zcecka frowned. "You okay, kid?"

"Yeah," she replied. "I'm fine. This is just the awesomest gift anyone's ever given me."

"Hey," he said with heartfelt conviction, "you're a Rebel now, and that means you're one of the family."

She reached up and gave him a hug, then grabbed the flight helmet and put it on her head. It fit like a glove.

"So you ready to go?" asked the human mechanic.

Looking up at him with a determined smile, Dash said, "Let's do this!"

The ion drives burned bright as the green and white A-wing shot out of the hangar aperture, followed closely by a red-striped X-wing fighter. As the older ship struggled to keep up with the nimble interceptor, the man at the controls, Hobbie Klivian, keyed his mike. "Hey Dash, take it easy. You need to maintain control of your craft at all times. Those A-wings are tricky beasts, and one false move can send you careening into the side of your home ship."

Hitting the comm-key with her left hoof, Rainbow retorted, "Look, I've been flying since I was a filly. I think I know how to – whoa!”

Rainbow wrestled the control stick with her other hoof to avoid smashing right into a communications blister on the surface of the Mon Calamari cruiser she had taken off from.

"See what I mean?" said the voice on the comm, causing Rainbow to glare up at the long-nosed snub fighter to her left. "Now, just ease up on the throttle a bit as we go through some basic maneuvers," he continued. "I know you think you're good, but you've probably never flown something as responsive as the A-wing, and the acceleration compensators can make you feel like you're not even maneuvering at all. If you don't watch out, you could find yourself heading straight into some starship's hull. Got it?"

She nodded involuntarily. "Got it, boss."

Soon, she had gained control over the fighter, faster than Hobbie had thought was possible, and he grinned widely as she looped and weaved in the nimble little interceptor, almost as though she and the machine had become a single creature, ready to take on the best the Empire could throw at it.

"Looks like you're a natural at this, kid," said Hobbie with an impressed tone. "Now, I'll talk you through the procedures for landing and then well get you started on your simulator training."

The little fighter in front of him waggled its hull in affirmation, then they both headed toward the hangar aperture.

"Hoo-wee! I am hungrier than a cowpoke at the end of a trail drive!"

Applejack smacked her lips as she walked with Fluttershy down one of the ship's many corridors toward a mess hall in hopes of finding a meal. Joining them was Kyle Katarn, mercenary and former Imperial Stormtrooper, and Jan Ors, his friend and mission officer.

"Well, don't expect much from the chow here," replied Kyle. "It's all done by Mon Cal cooks, and they have a thing for seafood."

"Seafood?" echoed Applejack skeptically.

"Yeah," replied Kyle, "Y'know, clams, fish, oysters, that kind of thing."

Fluttershy gasped at being reminded of the omnivorous diet of most humanoids.

"Ah imagine seaweed's on that list, too" said Applejack in disgust. "You think they might have anything like apples and whatnot there?"

"I think they have vegetarian meals," said Jan.

"Well Ah hope so," replied the orange work pony. "Ah ain't about ta chow down on some animal they dredged up from the ocean."

As they walked, they happened to pass by a white and green astromech unit. Before the droid got within five feet of them, Fluttershy began to whimper and sniff.

Jan leaned in to whisper in Applejack's ear. "What's with her?"

The earth-pony took her time as she carefully chose the right words. "Well, it's like this. She was friends with a machine like that on the planet we first set hoof on here, and then it turned out to be an agent o' the Empire."

Nodding in understanding, Jan looked at the little yellow pegasus with sympathetic eyes. "Hey," she said kindly, "It's okay. He's one of ours."

"I know," sniffed Fluttershy as she turned her head away, "but I keep thinking about R2-D8 and how he betrayed us to the Empire."

They looked at each other, then Applejack walked closer to Fluttershy. "Look, sugarcube, that thing might have betrayed us, but at least now we're with the Rebels, and their droids aren't evil."

Fluttershy looked back at Applejack for a moment, then nodded. "I understand."

It was clear that she wasn't totally convinced, but for the moment Applejack wasn't going to push the issue. She just shook her head sympathetically as the four of them continued walking toward the mess hall, hoping to find a good hot meal.

A slight hissing sound was heard behind Rainbow Dash as the A-wing's main reactor warmed up. While she waited for the power systems to fully engage, she took a moment to focus on what she was doing. The hangar surrounding her was bustling with activity, or it would have been had it been real and not a simulation, but she had her mind on one thing, and that was the mission at hand.

Soon the simulated ship's reactor was at full burn and she instinctively hit the ion drive startup sequence. "This is Green Two. I have two starts and am go for launch."

She heard her wingman, a human male from Corellia, buzz in the comm system. "This is Green Five. I'm go."

The other six members of the small group in the attack squad all signaled their readiness for launch, and Rainbow felt a slight trickle of sweat roll down her forehead. Relax, Rainbow. No need to worry about this. It's nothing like trying to perform a Buccaneer Blitz or a Sonic Rainboom. Just jump in, hit the convoy, and jump out. It's just a simulation. No big, right?

She wished that she felt as confident as she was psyching herself up to be, but that didn't matter as she flipped more switches and made sure all systems were go. Absentmindedly, she scratched at the flight suit the Rebels had given her. Even though it was the smallest one, it still didn't fit quite right. The control box hanging awkwardly on her chest was something else she would have to get used to. Soon she heard the flight leader on the comm. "This is Green Leader. All my boys are ready, tower."

A moment of silence, then: "This is tower. You're good to go, Green Squadron."

"Okay boys, you heard the man," said the brown-haired Corellian. "Hit the repulsors and let's get going."

Rainbow looked to her right and moved a black lever forward, resulting in the small ship slowly levitating off the deck. As soon as the landing gear was fully retracted into the hull, she joined her wingmates in a delta formation.

"Go to lightspeed and rendezvous at the cargo fleet."

As Rainbow engaged the ship's hyperdrive, the stars elongated and bent around the ship, their glow coalescing into the familiar hyperspace tunnel. She fought the urge to roll to the right as space seemed to twist around the ship.

Soon long streaks of light appeared ahead of her and returned to the pin-pricked night of space, with a small group of bright white specks appearing ahead of her: the convoy.

"Throttle up, Greens. Hit 'em with all you've got."

Rainbow grinned as she opened up the throttle, shooting past her squad-mates and heading straight toward the small fleet of defenseless ships.

Almost defenseless.

One of the ships didn't look quite like the freighters she was sent to destroy. Bringing up her Combat Multiview Display and cycling through the target profiles, she saw that this was an Imperial Strike-class cruiser, and it was already unloading its compliment of TIE Fighters.

Rainbow, already ahead of the pack, knew she would be playing bait to the TIE Fighters while her wingmen would be hitting the convoy. But she didn't care so long as she was doing something to strike back at the Empire.

Space became crowded as she closed in on the enemy fighter group. When she got within to two klicks, her HUD painted a yellow box around the lead TIE Fighter, letting her know that it was in range. Dash nudged the throttle back to give herself a bit more maneuverability as the squadron of Imperials buzzed past her, then she rolled and pulled up on the stick to point her ship's nose directly at lead ship's tail. When she heard the characteristic chime of the targeting computer, she opened fire. Three of her volleys missed, but the fourth connected, turning the Imperial "Eyeball" into a glowing sphere of simulated plasma.

"Aw yea!" exclaimed Rainbow as she pulled out of the flight path and back toward the convoy, but her elation was soon dampened by a cry on the commlink: "Guys, I'm in trouble over here!"

The communications screen told her it was Green Three who was crying out, and soon she saw why. Two TIE Interceptors, deadly bent-wing cousins of the TIE Fighter, were trailing close to her squad-mate, sending green needles of death stabbing toward him. She bobbed and weaved, trying to get a firing solution, and as soon as she got a tone lock she hit the trigger and blasted the closest Imperial fighter to smithereens.

Before she could hit the other fighter, a high-pitched warning in her headset forced her attention away from the dogfight, and she saw that she had drifted into the Strike cruiser's firing solution. Large green beams of destruction lanced up at her, and she quickly hit the throttle and screamed away from the warship before it could turn her into a flaming ball of plasma.

As she did, she heard a screaming voice on the comm system: "I'm hit!"

She turned her head just in time to see Green Three's gleaming A-wing being ripped apart by the TIE Interceptor she had failed to destroy.

Muttering a curse under her breath, she flipped her ship around and headed for the lone "Squint", sending a volley of red laser bolts toward the target.

She was rewarded by the sight of the Imperial ship being blasted apart, only to hear another warning chime in her headset and see a volley of green lasers flash past her canopy.

Four TIE Interceptors were now on her tail, and she juked hard to try and shake them off. But for all her maneuvering, they stuck on her like flypaper, all the while sending volley after destructive volley of laser energy toward her tail.

A high-pitched whine accompanied each blast of energy, and soon several of them connected. The simulator couch shook as hit after hit pummeled her backside, and then all went black.

"I've been hit!" shouted Dash into the comm system. "Guys, help me! I'm stranded out here!" Nobody answered, but then she remembered that she wasn't really in space and was instead sitting in her simulator pod, waiting on the other pilots to finish the mission.

Before too long a streak of white light appeared in the seams around the pod's entrance as it cracked open. The canopy retracted, and as soon as it was up Rainbow Dash hopped up and vehemently threw her flight helmet into the seat.

Other pilots gathered around her as she made her way out of the pod, but she brushed them off. "Hey," said one in a decidedly angry voice.

"What do you want?" she spat as she turned around, only to be met with a stern expression from the man she recognized as her flight leader, Arvel Crynyd. Her eyes went wide with terror as she realized who it was she had just treated so insultingly.

"You better show more respect to your superiors than that if you want to be a part of the Alliance Fighter Corps, private."

Rainbow Dash hung her head and swore under her breath, then looked up to meet Arvel's death glare. "I'm sorry, sir."

"Look, kid," he said, his expression softening slightly, "you did good. But you need to pay attention to your surroundings or else you're gonna be mynock bait."

She nodded. "Yes, sir. I wanted to save my wingmate, but I would have been blasted by that cruiser."

"I know. I was there, Dash. But in the Alliance, we're all family here. We don't ever abandon our teammates if we can help it. You could have saved him if you had stayed away from that cruiser. Next time, think about more than just your own ship. Got it?"

Rainbow reflected for a moment, then looked up at him again. "I understand, sir."

"Good," he replied flatly. "Now get back in there and do it again, and this time stay out of the Strike cruiser's firing solution."

"Yes, sir," replied the blue pegasus as she climbed back up the ladder and into the simulator pod.

"And Dash," said Arvel.

She turned back to look at him.

"If I ever catch you tossing your flight helmet in anger again, you're gonna be scrubbing the flight deck with a toothbrush until I can see myself in it. You got that?"

Her eyes going wide, Rainbow quickly nodded in agreement and hopped back into the sim-couch.

A shadow fell across the surface of an airless moon as the engines of the mighty Executor pushed the warship through space on patrol near the Arrakis sector, her attending flotilla of Star Destroyers seemingly a farce in light of the enormous size of the vessel.

On her bridge, the dark figure of Darth Vader stood on the command walkway, looking out the windows. The bridge crew nervously went about their tasks, fearful that the dark lord might decide to use the time to make an inspection and perhaps find one of his subordinates lacking, but the Sith Lord's mind was on other things.

Specifically, he was thinking about the ponies that his master had decided to capture. He knew they were powerful, and that they would make excellent additions to the forces of the Empire, should he and his master be successful in converting them to the Dark Side.

But if the battle he'd had with his son was any indication, they would be hard to convert indeed.

Luke was pure and had a good heart, which was proving difficult to penetrate, and if he couldn't bring him to the Dark Side the Emperor would surely destroy him.

He looked out the bridge windows at the lifeless planetoid beyond. Those ponies will be just as hard to turn. But it must be done if my master is to have any hope of cloning them.

"Lord Vader."

He turned to look at the junior officer who was standing behind him. "What is it?"

The fear behind the young man's eyes was evident. "My Lord, the Emperor commands you to move Death Squadron to Brentaal in order to make an example of them."

"Very well," replied the masked cyborg as he strode past the officer and back toward his meditation pod. "Inform Admiral Piett."

"Yes sir," replied the officer with a clipped military tone, the relief he felt spilling into his voice.

Vader in the meantime had already moved off the bridge and was on his way to the private chamber in which resided the hyperbaric meditation pod he used for communing with the Dark Side of the Force. We will convert these ponies, he thought.

Or they will die.

The crystal planet Mygeeto is a chunk of solid wealth. Its crust , composed almost entirely of crystals, forms a jagged lattice that has lured the greedy since the world's discovery over six thousand years ago.

The atlas Twilight held before her was a treasure trove of information on the universe she was now inhabiting, and she was truly fascinated by the sheer variety of planets and societies that made up the civilized portions of the galaxy.

On Dathomir, Force witches roamed about, riding ugly, horrible monsters called rancors which they were able to tame into mounts. Rattatak was home to many brutal gladiatorial arenas and a species that was in an almost constant state of warfare. The planet Naboo was a lush world of rolling grasslands and incredible artistry, and Twilight desperately wished she could go there, except for the fact that that world was now aligned with the Empire.

The other books she'd found were no less impressive. She'd encountered a book on the technology of the galaxy, and was astounded by the plethora of ways that aliens had found to accomplish tasks like growing plants, levitating mile-long starships, and even creating whole planets from scratch. One book even mentioned a place called Centerpoint Station that was responsible for constructing entire planetary systems, including the famous Corellian star system.

As she read however, she felt a twinge of something. It took a moment to place it: regret that she would not be able to explore this great galaxy.

Twilight had had a few meetings with Celestia since they joined the Rebel Alliance, and they came to the conclusion that it would be best to return as quickly as possible, regardless of whether they could stop at a point soon after they left and get the world spinning again. Celestia had reminded her student that since they didn't know whether the portal to this world would remain accessible indefinitely, they might be trapped here, if they weren't already.

It was not enough to erase Twilight's regret over her inability to explore this awesome and rich galaxy.

As she read further about the Intergalactic Banking Clan's purchase of Mygeeto, she heard hoofsteps behind her.

"I hope I'm not bothering you, Twilight," Rarity said gently.

"Not at all," replied the purple unicorn, putting down the datapad she had been reading the electronic book on. "What brings you down here, Rarity?"

"Oh, nothing much. I just wanted to see what you were doing," she replied casually. “After all, your studies are just so . . . interesting to me.”

Twilight raised an eyebrow, not buying it for a second. "Oh?"

"Okay, okay. I was bored." Rarity sat down on the deck and leaned against a shelf of reference book datacards. "There's just not much to do on this ship. After weeks of being chased about by that dreadful Empire, it feels like I should be actually doing something!"

"I know what you mean, Rarity." Twilight sat down next to her. "It's like you know you need to be doing something, but you don't know what."

"Yes, that's it exactly." The ivory fashionista let out an exasperated sigh. "At least you found something interesting to do."

"Yeah," said Twilight. "There's a wealth of information here. Just look at this information I found on star systems." She shoved the datapad in Rarity's face. "It's got every system they've ever charted or explored, and I just finished looking through a book on alien cultures and customs!"

Rarity looked at the electronic screen with a mixture of confusion and feigned interest. "Heh-heh, interesting!"

"It really is, isn't it?" She levitated the book back, then Rarity noticed a subtle shadow of melancholy fall over her face.

"Twilight? Is something wrong?"

She looked at the datapad pensively for a moment, then glanced back at Rarity. "It's just that there's this whole universe of planets and civilizations I could explore and discover, and I probably won't be able to see any of it."

"I don't really understand why anypony would want to see more of this place," replied Rarity with a tone of disgust, "but I understand."

"As do I."

Both of the unicorns gasped and then bowed. "Princess Celestia!"

"I couldn't help but overhear your lament, Twilight," said the magnificent ruler. "Is it something you wish to talk about?"

"Well," replied the young student, "I just wish I could have more time here to explore and do research. This galaxy is truly fascinating, even if it's at war."

Celestia nodded. "It is a good thing that you want to expand your mind, my young apprentice. That same intellect is the one I chose to be my personal protege' all those years ago." She put a hoof on Twilight's shoulder. "But keep in mind your responsibility to your home. Equestria is in terrible danger unless we can rescue Luna and Spike from the evil Emperor."

"I understand, your Highness," said Twilight with a bow.

Celestia nodded in return, then turned around and headed back out the door. As she watched her liege calmly glide out of the library, Twilight thought about her predicament. Despite her desire to gain more knowledge about this universe, she knew Celestia was right. She needed to be mindful of the world she called home, and the fact that unless they can return to Equestria and undo the damage, their planet would remain consumed by fire and ice.

"Twilight," said Rarity, "I think I'm going to go see if there's someplace I can use as a dress shop. These people probably don't care a wit about fashion, but I need something to do with my hooves."

"Of course, Rarity." The purple unicorn smiled at her friend. "I'll be fine here."

"See you later." The white pony followed Celestia, leaving Twilight Sparkle to her studies, and then a small smile crept onto the lavender unicorn's lips. She may have regretted being unable to explore the galaxy, but she did take comfort in the fact that she was now a member of the Rebel Alliance, and had access to the kind of technology she needed to rescue not only her Princess of the Night, but her best friend in the universe.

As Rainbow Dash walked down the corridor of the massive Calamari warship wearing her brand new, custom-tailored pilot's uniform and holding her flight helmet under her wing, she had an extra spring in her step. Following a crash course in flying one of the most temperamental starfighters in the Alliance arsenal and excelling in every possible field, the blue pegasus had finally been assigned to a real mission, and what's more, she was sure that she would be the flight leader, or else would be second in command. And why not? She took to flying her starfighter like a duck to water. She excelled in every possible field. And she was naturally awesome. How could she not be a top-ranking flier? A grin splashing across her face told everyone she passed in the corridor that she was a mare who was walking on cloud nine, and she was proud to let everyone know just how happy she was.

The message on her personal account had told her that mission assignments would be available shortly before the briefing, so she was now trotting toward the pilot's lounge to find out where she fell in the squadron's lineup. When she arrived at the door to the lounge, she looked up at the name of the place hastily painted above the entrance, suppressing a squeal of delight that she was finally invited into the area where the real pilots hung out. It wasn't as cool as being asked to be a Wonderbolt, but it did give her a sense of validation for her accomplishment.

"Hey, boys!" she shouted over the din. Many heads turned, and some of the friends she'd made during training waved at her with a smile, or what passed for a smile on their alien faces. She smiled back at them, then trotted toward the pilot roster.

That deceptively small bit of floating blue hologram was something she'd been looking forward to seeing ever since she woke up that morning and began counting down the hours till the briefing, and her excitement was building with each step toward that list.

"So," she said to a couple of pilots who had just walked away from the roster. "How are you guys gonna handle being under me?"

The human male pilot gave her a look of confusion. "I think you'd better check the roster, Dash."

She frowned a bit, then trotted toward the hologram and read down the list.

"I'm the fourth?!"

The shout drew the attention of most of the pilots in the lounge. "Hey," said Djack H'mnib, a Sullustan, from the nearest lounge chair. "Don't take it personally, Rainbow. We're all wingmen here."

Despite an outward acknowledgment of the man's advice, Dash felt the weight of disappointment form in her stomach. She dejectedly walked over to a couch and played with the straps holding her chest control box in place, trying to focus on the good. At least I'm a real pilot now, she tried to tell herself, but she still felt like she had been punched in the stomach.

As she wallowed in self-pity, she heard a familiar voice on the other side of the room.

"Listen up," said Arvel with an air of authority. "We've been assigned to investigate an Imperial listening post. A lot of you are green, having never seen combat, but the Imperials aren't expecting us to even know this place exists, much less show up." His voice softened a bit as he gave them a warm smile. "I know you guys are gonna do great. You're some of the best of the best, and I know each and every one of you will be awesome out there. We'll be heading to the briefing in a minute, but I just wanted to give you guys my vote of confidence right now, while we have a moment of peace."

Dash listened with a half grin. She had to admit, hearing the man who was in charge of her squadron letting herself and all her wingmates know that he believed in them did lift her spirits.

Still, the idea that she was not higher in rank was bugging her. Was she not good enough? Did they think that just because she was a stranger she didn't couldn't be trusted to take command? She was about to ask Arvel about her assignment when the chime sounded for the pilots to enter the briefing room. Grabbing her helmet and shoving it under her wing, she joined the other pilots as they headed into the theater adjoined to the lounge, shaking the doubts from her mind.

She wasn't happy with her assignment, but she had a job to do.

The cockpit canopy on Rainbow Dash's green-striped A-wing fighter slid back and locked down into the hull, sealing the blue pegasus in her small starship. Butterflies fluttered about in her stomach as she mentally went through the preflight checklist. Hydraulics online . . . laser capacitors charged . . . shield projectors warmed up . . .

As her eyes scanned the dashboard, they belied the excitement she felt, a sentiment echoed by the enormous grin on her lips. Not thirty seconds ago, all the flight time she'd had to her name, besides a short hop in her fighter when they'd given it to her, was a series of simulator missions. But as the maglocks engaged on the canopy with a click and the ship's various systems came online, it hit her like a ton of bricks: This is my first real mission! She couldn't help but feel elated that she was finally going to fly a real mission against a terrible enemy, an emotion that caused her to squeal with joy.

“What was that, Four?”

Scrambling to hit the comm key, she replied, “Nothing,” in as professional a tone as she could muster, but her excitement was hardly lessened. The Empire had harmed her friends. Her friends. And nobody messed with Rainbow's friends and got away with it. She flicked the reactor powerup switches, and after the small powerplant was at full output she hit the engine starters.

"Green Squadron," squawked Arvel Crynyd over the comm, "all wings report in."

Rainbow keyed the comm switch. "Green Four, I have two starts. Ready to go."

"This is Green Two, standing by."

"Green Six, all systems ready."

One by one all the squadron members acknowledged their preparedness. As soon as the last member of Green Squadron called in, Dash heard the flight leader report their readiness to the tower, and soon found herself rocketing out of the hangar and joining her squadron members in their raid on the Imperial communications outpost.

“Okay pilots,” she heard over the comm as she passed one of the Assault Frigates, “Stay sharp. Let's do this one by the numbers. Head to the hyperspace point and prepare to move out.”

Rainbow nodded involuntarily as the small group of A-wings headed toward the hyperspace buoy, just beyond the edge of the Rebel fleet. Within seconds the familiar beep of the proximity indicator sounded in her headset, and with the pull of the silver initiation lever she felt her ship violently accelerate and fall into the multihued realm of hyperspace.

The swirling blue tunnel parted as the six A-wings arrived at the Imperial listening post. A deep orange glow cast by the red giant star at the center of the system gave it a hue of perpetual sunset. The scene would have been lovely to Rainbow Dash, if it weren't for the gray Imperial space station looming ahead. Immediately however she noticed something wrong: the forward sensor display was lit up with at least fifty signatures, and the briefing had explicitly mentioned only a handful of satellites, a fighter hangar, and a control station.

The comm unit crackled to life with the voice of her squadron leader. “Looks like they've got a minefield protecting the satellites.”

“Well that's just fantastic,” muttered Rainbow Dash under her breath. As she started to throttle up to eliminate the mines, Commander Crynyd again called in on the comm. “Take care of those fighters first, then go after the mines.”

Reluctantly, Dash corrected her trajectory, then mashed the throttle forward. The thrust from her A-wing's twin J-77 Event Horizon engines pushed her back into the seat as she shot toward the large obelisk which the CMD identified as a hangar. Squinting at the gray structure, she saw a small cloud of objects pouring out of the apertures at its center, and she knew what they were: Imperial TIE Fighters. Relax, Dash, she said to herself. They're probably green, since they're out here in the middle of nowhere. Nevertheless, she steeled herself for the imminent confrontation, and soon her vision was filled with a shower of green laser blasts.

Struggling to keep her cool in the midst of the swarm as it passed her, she quickly pulled the stick up and then rolled to bring herself behind the fighters. A small grin played on her mouth as she mowed down two of them in a hail of rapid-fire laser blasts. But before she could finish up the squadron it broke into a starburst, forcing her to choose one of them to pursue.

Quickly Rainbow picked one of the TIEs at random and began to chase it, only to be jolted by a blast from a mine she had flown a tad too close to. “Nuts!” she shouted as she jinked away, losing her target lock in the process. But she didn't have to wait long to reacquire it as the inexperienced TIE pilot drifted back into her sights. “You're mine now, buddy,” she said to herself as she sent several scarlet bolts of energy into the TIE's tail and solar array, consuming it in a fiery conflagration.

It wasn't long before Dash and her wingmates had taken care of the entire squadron, allowing her to attack the minefield. She wasn't so sure about this; mines were not susceptible to a game of chicken, and Rainbow was pretty sure they could rip her fighter to glittering pieces if she wasn't careful.

“Hey Four,” she heard in her commlink's speaker system, “You want some help over there?”

“Nah,” she replied to Djack, “I'll get rid of these things in ten seconds flat.”

“Bet you fifty credits you can't.”

A wry grin took over Dash's face. “You're on, flyboy.”

After transferring power from the engines to the shields, she hit the throttle and shot toward the small, black spheres that were sending green lances of energy at her. She dodged and weaved as she raced toward the first group of mines, sending laser energy flying at them. “Use caution when firing around those mines, Four!” Crynyd apparently had caught a glimpse of her showboating. “You don't want to hit one of the satellites.”

Dash rolled her eyes as the last of the mines around the satellite in front of her disappeared in a ball of glowing debris. “No problem, sir. And Djack . . .”

She paused for dramatic effect as she checked her mission clock. “You owe me fifty credits when we get back to the ship.”

A scowl resounded on the speaker, followed by jeering and laughter from her comrades. Soon the last mine was obliterated, prompting a cheer of elation from Rainbow Dash. “Excellent,” said Crynyd as the light from the fireball faded, “All the mines have been destroyed. The modified corvette Python is on the way. Stay alert.”

Hearing the name of the Assassin-class corvette reminded Dash that she would need to protect that ship while the slicers aboard her infiltrated the Imperial computers on the space station and tried to locate the data they were after.

With the minefield gone, Rainbow and her squadron were able to start inspecting the satellites. Noting that there were only a few, she picked the closest one and sped toward it. Bits of debris from destroyed fighters were the only thing which indicated that Rainbow was rapidly closing the vast distance between herself and the small, spindly device hanging in space, but soon she saw the glint of metal in front of her. She barely had time to blink before the targeting computer told her what the sensor system was seeing, and after the report had finished scrolling across the screen she radioed the information to her group leader. “Very good, Four,” replied Crynyd. Other reports were heard over the radio, and as soon as the last one came through the squad leader piped into the channel. “That's it; all satellites have been inspected.”

Seconds after he finished speaking, Dash heard an alarm, indicating that a new ship was entering the system. Cycling through the targets in her CMD, she found the new ship: the Python had arrived.

She smiled at the thought that all she had to do now was hang around and wait, but her attention was drawn to a new dot on the forward sensor readout. She wouldn't have worried, except the threat identifier colored the dot red, and she knew that meant an Imperial craft.

Targets flashed by on her CMD as she cycled through them, and then she finally saw what it was that had jumped into the system: an Imperial Escort Carrier. She wasn't sure how many TIE Fighters it could hold, but judging by its size of 500 meters, she figured it could probably carry at least a squadron. She swallowed hard.

“Looks like we've worn out our welcome here,” muttered Crynyd.

Soon Dash's fears were confirmed: dot after blood-hued dot flooded the screen, and her communications board informed her that TIE Fighters and TIE Interceptors were launching into the fray from the Escort Carrier. “They're launching fighters!” shouted Crynyd. “Green Group, intercept!”

Barrel-rolling toward the newcomers, Dash shoved the throttle all the way forward, flooding the engines with energy and blasting toward the swarm of enemy fighters. They might be small, but she knew that in those numbers they posed a significant threat to the corvette.

As soon as she had range, the blue pegasus hit the firing studs, sending bright red rain hailing on the group of TIEs, and she was rewarded by a brilliant fireworks display of fighters detonating.

Soon however a new problem arose. “Hey Four!” shouted her wingmate, Carrie Harkness, “There's a bandit on your tail!”

Sure enough, Dash heard a tone which told her someone had a lock on her, which was confirmed when she felt several blasts impact her fighter. Flicking a few switches to transfer partial power to the shields, she flipped her fighter to face her enemy. Out in space, one of the TIE Interceptors was banking, and soon she saw in her HUD that it was heading right for her.

Both of the small starfighters began a deadly game of chicken, and Dash wondered who would make the first move. She didn't have long to wait; bolts of green destruction spewed from the Imperial ship's wingtips, but at this distance they were flying wide.

Then an interesting idea occurred to her.

She knew that the only way for the enemy pilot to know that she was firing a missile were if he got a target lock warning from his ship's computer. But if she didn't lock on, he wouldn't see the missile until it was too late.

Flipping her CMD to another enemy target, she brought up her missile circuit and squinted as she tried to manually aim the small warhead. The touchy control systems of the A-wing made it hard to steady the fighter long enough and accurately enough for her plan to work, but in the briefest of moments she saw the center of the targeting reticule pass over the Interceptor. Without thinking, she hit the firing stud.

A small yellow bolt flew out of the starboard missile tube, careening toward the TIE Interceptor. Green lasers were still flying from the tiny craft, and Dash silently prayed that they wouldn't accidentally contact the warhead before it delivered its deadly payload.

What felt like hours was more like seconds as Dash waited for the concussion missile to impact the Interceptor, but in no time she saw the TIE suddenly try to maneuver out of the way of the missile. His efforts however were too little, too late. Rainbow pulled away with a cocky grin as the ordinance burrowed through the transparisteel windscreen of the TIE Interceptor, detonating inside the luckless pilot's cockpit and ripping the advanced fighter to shreds.

“Message from vital craft: they've started their boarding operation.”

Dash craned her neck to see that the Python had parked next to the space station and extended her boarding tube. Sparks flew from the cutting torches as they tore through the metal skin, and in moments the capital ship's docking mechanisms were interfaced with the station. “This is the Python,” said the captain of the Rebel spacecraft, “We're starting the download now.”

Pulling on the stick, Dash reoriented herself and immediately felt an impact on her ship. Glancing at the rear sensor readout, she saw a couple of blips that were directly behind her. She hit the targeting button until she saw that two TIE Fighters were trying to take her out, bolts flying from the cannons like a fountain of green energy. She juked to throw off their aim, then pulled into a lazy circle around the space station dominating the center of the battlefield. The TIE Fighter pilots tried to copy her maneuver, which she was counting on. Their flight path took them right in front of one of Dash's wingmates. “All yours, Gavin.”

As the pair of TIE Fighters disintegrated in the barrage of red laser fire, Rainbow Dash heard a cry on the headset: “Someone get these guys off my tail!”

She checked the comm screen to see who it was, then made a sharp turn toward Green Six. The pilot, Ternin Farr, had painted racing stripes on his fighter's upper fuselage, but they were being boiled away by the heat from laser blasts. A trio of TIE Interceptors were closing in on his aft, each one firing its deadly quartet of laser cannons.

Hitting the throttle for maximum thrust, Rainbow shot toward the enemy group like a bullet, the acceleration pushing her into her seat as though an elephant were sitting on her chest. She flew past several TIE Fighters who tried to take pot shots at her, then abruptly pulled up to put herself on the tail end of the Interceptors.

She bit her lip. It would be hard to get a shot at the Interceptors without risking a hit on Ternin. Flashes of her previous failure in the simulator were also distracting her. But she steadied her hooves and flicked the firing stud. Several red lances were produced by her laser cannons, impacting the trailing Interceptor and exploding the cockpit ball.

The other two ships stuck to her wingmate's tail like gnats to flypaper however, the destruction of their own wingmate barely fazing them.

“Come on, Four! Get these bandits off me!”

She screamed into the comm, “Hold on, Six! I'll get these guys!”

Wrestling the control column to keep behind the Interceptors was a real challenge. To keep them from getting a good shot, Ternin had to weave and bob his ship, meaning that Rainbow Dash had to match his moves perfectly in addition to trying to get a lock on the Interceptors. Every turn they did threw off her aim, and between trying to stick to the Interceptor's tails and avoiding hitting Ternin, it was all she could do to keep up.

Suddenly another of her volleys connected with an Interceptor, severing one of the wing pylons and sending the solar radiator careening into the other Interceptor. The impact tore apart the remaining ship and detonated the reactor core, the small solar engine going up like a supernova.

Rainbow peeled off and saluted Ternin through the canopy. “Thanks, Rainbow,” replied the relieved pilot.

“No sweat,” she said, her usual cockiness seeping into her voice.

Her smile faded as she turned her attention to the message coming through her headset. “This is the Python. We're picking up a strange signal here. It's an Alliance frequency, but one we haven't used for a while.”

“That could be our anonymous informant,” she heard from her flight leader. “Save it to your data log. We'll analyze it when you return.”

“Roger, Green Leader.” Dash looked up just in time to see the boarding tube's explosive bolts fire, propelling the capital ship away from the station. The tube retracted into the hull as the massive ion drives fired, propelling the spacecraft away from the station on eleven pillars of blue-hot plasma. They continued to burn, turning the ship toward the point in space where the stellar radiation was low enough for the hyperdrive to engage.

But they were not out of the woods yet. As soon as the Python cleared the station, a message flashed in Rainbow Dash's HUD: “Four new craft – TIE Bomber Gamma.”

“This is the Python. We've finished the download. We're headed to the hyperpoint. Keep our tail clear!”

Dash growled under her breath. Can't we catch a break?

Putting her craft into a wide turn, she brought herself behind the group of TIE Bombers, their bent wings sheathing their twin cylindrical hulls which were starting to unload their proton torpedoes. Bright purple and blue streaks of light shot from their ordinance bays, streaking toward the corvette at breakneck speeds.

What do I do, she asked herself. If she went after the bombers, the torpedoes might hit. But going after the torpedoes meant that more would be launched from the bombers. Either way, she was risking the lives of everyone aboard that corvette.

Quickly she made a decision. She lined up her crosshairs on the lead bomber and unleashed a pair of concussion missiles. Instantly the deadly tips of the warheads made contact with the bomber and detonated the ordinance load, sending pieces of the ship flying in all directions. The proximity to the blast forced the other bombers to break off, leaving Dash to pursue the nearest one.

After eliminating the remaining bombers, she boosted her engines and started toward the line of torpedoes which were still heading right for the corvette. Pulling up and then looping around, she managed to line herself up perfectly with the lead torpedo, then sent a burst of laser bolts toward it. The volley impacted the small weapon, causing it to explode in spectacular fashion. But it was just one of several torpedoes, and they were seconds from detonating.

Rainbow hit the afterburners and swooped toward the front of the line, then performed a perfect Koiogran turn and started up the procession of warheads, firing as she went. One by one the missiles detonated against the barrage of laser fire. Finally the last one blew, illuminating her ship in a yellow-white glow. “Aw yeah!” she cheered.

As soon as the flash died down, the blue pegasus felt a vibration. She looked up just in time to see the Python engage her hyperdrive and disappear in the blink of an eye.

When it was gone, Rainbow let out an energetic whoop. Cheers resounded as the rest of her flight group joined her in celebrating their victory. Looking at her CMD, she saw the Imperial Escort Carrier retreat into hyperspace, having called back all its fighter groups which hadn't been destroyed. Over the comm she heard her flight leader chime in. “Good work, Green Group. Return to Home One. Hopefully that data will turn up some valuable information.”

“Roger that, flight leader,” responded Rainbow, then taking one last look at the comm station, she pulled a small silver lever. The sky filled with blue, and relief filled her soul.

A high-pitched whine slowly died down as Rainbow's A-wing fighter shut down. As soon as the cockpit canopy was retracted, she hopped out of the fighter, glancing at the new battle scars her craft wore and smiling at the thought that she had done good in the name of justice and freedom.

Climbing down the boarding ladder, she was greeted by the smiles of her commander and wingmen, as well as her Ponyville friends, who had been watching the battle in the long-range sensor lab.

“Rainbow Dash,” said Crynyd. “You did awesome out there today. If you hadn't blasted those proton torpedoes, the Python might not have made it out of there.”

“I just did what anypony else would have done, sir,” said Dash, her face a mix of pride and relief.

“Be that as it may, I was really impressed with your flying, and so was everyone else. I'd be proud to have you flying with me any time.”

Rainbow smiled up at him, the gratitude she felt palpable. Then after a small round of compliments from the other pilots, she joined her friends for an after-dinner celebration, courtesy of Pinkie Pie.

The cold of the metal cage and the pitch black of the surrounding room were the only two things Spike could feel in the physical sense, but inside he was seething.

This man, the Emperor, had been at him for days, poking and prodding at him, trying to drive his spirit away.

But Spike had not given in. After all that he had gone though, all that had happened to him and his friends, the little dragon was not about to give in to some old man, no matter how much magic he had.

As he brooded, his eyes were assaulted by a sliver of bright light, the stabbing pain from the sudden change in brightness shooting straight into the back of his head like a dagger. Squinting, he saw that the light was spilling from a doorway which led into a corridor, illuminating two shadowy figures standing beyond.

One walked into the dark room toward Spike's cage, allowing him to see his face. “What do you want?” he asked the Emperor.

“Is that any way to treat your host, little one?”

Spike rolled his eyes. “It is if you're as bored as I am.”

“Tsk, tsk,” chided Palpatine. “We can't have that, my pet.”

The purple dragon shot a look of pure venom at the old man in front of him. “Why don't you just let me out of this cage, you old goat? Are you afraid to take me on dragon to . . . uh, human?”

The Sith Lord paused. “Hmm. I think I will, young one.”

Spike raised an eyebrow skeptically.

“But first,” continued the Emperor, “let me show you to something.”

He raised a hand and beckoned toward the other figure in the corridor. Spike leaned forward and tried to make out what it was, then when he got a better look he shrieked and scrambled toward the other end of the cage.

Shuffling toward him on two metallic legs was the most grotesque creature he had ever seen. It was about as tall as a human, but the similarities ended there. Its entire body was composed of sheets of metal hammered into the basic shape of humanoid body parts, which were covering a skeleton which seemed to be made partly of metal and partly of bone. Diseased musculature clung to it like a mass of red slugs. The head was only partly formed, with a face which had only one glowing red eye and a mouth that was missing its lower jaw. The worst part was that where it should have had hands there was only a pair of jointed, serrated claws which were dripping with a liquid that Spike could only guess was some kind of poison.

The creature emitted a low moan with each exaggerated step, filling Spike with pure terror. The Emperor appeared pleased with the effect his creature was having on the poor dragon.

“What is that thing?” asked Spike, his voice trembling in fear.

“They have many names, but the one I favor is 'Technobeast.' You might say they are imbued with magic, and are capable of transforming you into one of them . . .” he gently caressed the beast's appendage, “merely by slicing into your flesh with their claws.”

Spike's eyes went wide with terror. As they did, he let out a frightened squeak, which was enough to draw the attention of the beast and cause it to shuffle toward him menacingly.

“And now,” said the Emperor casually, “I'm going to let you out of your cage, as you requested.”

“What?!” shouted Spike.

He watched as the old man calmly turned and walked out of the room, then closed the door behind him. As the darkness enveloped Spike, his attention was drawn to the only sense he had: sound.

The low moan and the shuffle of the Technobeast's feet were causing his chest to go tight and his breathing to become shallow.

He wanted to scream. He wanted Twilight. He wanted to go home.

But reality hit him squarely in the chest as he heard the metal bars of his cage retract into the ceiling, getting the attention of the monstrous golem that occupied the room with him and making it shuffle toward him more briskly.

Again, he tried to scream. But the only sound heard was the terrible noise of the beast that occupied the pitch black room with him, its shambling steps sending waves of terror coursing through his body, the fear gripping him and making him cower in the corner like a trapped animal.

As he sat in the darkness waiting for the inevitable, a whispered plea escaped his scaly lips: Help me, Twilight. You're my only hope.

Author's Note

Wow . . . how long has it been since I updated this thing?!

But as you can see, I'm still working on this story, bit by bit. Currently I'm in school, and I hope I can get this story updated as soon as I can, but I'm not making any promises, unlike last time. If I recall correctly, Pinkie Pie jumped out of my computer monitor and made me apologize to the internet.

So this time I'm not going to make any promises, Pinkie or otherwise.

I hope you enjoyed what I wrote, though. This time I wanted to focus a bit more on Rainbow Dash, and naturally I wanted her to be back in her element. She's been cooped up inside starship corridors for ages, and it's high time she get back in the air. Or space, in this case. And being one of the team's bruisers, I thought she'd be anxious to help out in the Alliance Starfighter Corps.

Magic and the Force

Chapter 22

“The ponies of Equestria are unique in that they each have a special connection to the world through magic, and of the three pony races I believe it's fair to say that none of them can use magic like the unicorns can. Pegasi and Earth Ponies alike have their own brand of magic, but unicorns are unique in that they can directly control it. However, I never imagined that magic itself was but a part of an even broader and deeper ether that connects all of space and time. This ether is known to the Jedi simply as the Force.”

-Twilight Sparkle, On Extra-Galactic Voyages, p. 773

Thunder rolled as lightning periodically illuminated the black night sky on Dagobah. The swampy, marshy world was not a popular destination; most crews which landed there were usually eaten by the local wildlife. But on this particular night a small ship was parked on a rare patch of solid ground which the pilot was fortunate enough to find. This ship, a T-65 X-wing fighter, belonged to Luke Skywalker, hero of the Rebellion and Jedi Knight, and at the moment R2-D2 was sitting beneath the wing, doing maintenance on the craft and mumbling to himself.

The droid was performing basic diagnostics on the forward landing gear, and was having a hard time concentrating on his work. He wanted to know what was going on in the small hut which was not ten meters from where the X-wing was parked. He tried to use his sensorscope to see into the window, but his master, Luke, was not in a position that would allow R2's sensor to detect him.

If he had, he might have seen Luke sitting next to a small bed, no longer than a meter in length, a pensive, worried look on his face. The concern came from the sight of the small creature before him.

Yoda, the ancient Jedi Master, one of the founding members and survivors of the Jedi Council, was slowly shuffling toward a fire pit in the middle of his small hut. The glow of the fire washed over the old master's face, highlighting the wrinkles and paleness of his green skin. Most concerning to Luke was the lack of energy, as though the life were draining from him. “That face you make,” said Yoda without turning around, “Look I so old to young eyes?”

“No,” Luke quickly interjected. He wasn't going to insult his master by commenting on his looks, nor was he going to succumb to a shallow mindset. He was a Jedi, so he was above such things as that. “Of course not.”

“I do,” replied Yoda, a suppressed cough interrupting him. “Yes I do.”

Luke hung his head momentarily.

“Sick have I become,” continued Yoda. “Old and weak.” There was a hint of regret in the old master's voice, which Luke clearly heard. There was once power in this being, great power that was capable of directly challenging the Emperor himself if he so chose. Now that power, that life, was fleeing, and both of them knew it.

“When nine hundred years old you reach, look as good you will not! Hmm?” The comment elicited a small grin from Luke, but the coughing fit that followed it reminded him how grave the situation truly was for his teacher. “Twilight is upon me,” said the creature as Luke helped him get into his bed, “and soon light must fall. That is the way of things . . . the way of the Force.”

The truth of those words hit Luke like a sledgehammer. Yoda was going to die. As he had intoned, it was a natural part of all living things, but that made the simple fact of his master's mortality no less painful to bear. “But I need your help. I've come back to complete the training.”

“No more training do you require,” replied Yoda. “Already know you that what you need.”

Luke's breath left him. “Then I am a Jedi.”

“Oh!” said Yoda, his voice giving way to another coughing fit. “Not yet. One thing remains . . . Vader. You must confront Vader. Then – only then – a Jedi will you be. And confront him you will.”

With that, Yoda rolled over and pulled his bedclothes closer to his body. But Luke still had something he wished to ask. “Master Yoda,” he began, almost afraid to say what was on his mind. “Is Darth Vader my father?”

The old master didn't answer immediately. “Rest I need. Yes. Rest.”

Luke could tell that he was hiding something.“Yoda, I must know.”

An eternity went by without a word being uttered, but finally Yoda spoke: “Your father he is.”

Lightning seemed to course through Luke as the shock of the confirmation hit him fully. He had hoped it was all a lie, a horrible untruth that Vader was using to tear him apart. How could he be the son of such a monster as Darth Vader?

“Told you did he?”

Luke nodded gravely. “Yes.”

The tiny green master closed his eyes. “Unexpected this is. And unfortunate.”

“Unfortunate that I know the truth?” asked Luke bitterly.

“No,” replied Yoda as he rolled over to face his apprentice. “Unfortunate that you rushed to face him. That incomplete was your training. That not ready for the burden were you.”

“I'm sorry,” said Luke.

“Remember: a Jedi's strength flows from the Force. And beware . . . anger, fear aggression. The Dark Side are they. Once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny. Luke . . . do not . . .”

Luke leaned closer.

“Do not underestimate the powers of the Emperor . . . or suffer your father's fate you will. Luke, when gone am I, the last of the Jedi will you be. Luke, sense the other presences in the Force, do you?”

This question was a surprise to the Jedi student. He had felt the eight ripples in the Force many weeks before, during his training period. He hadn't mentioned it, because he felt that Yoda would have brought it up were it important. “Yes, master.”

“Important to the fate of the galaxy are they. Also important . . . your family is. Strong in the Force it is. Pass on . . . what you have learned. Luke . . .” The pain of death was becoming unbearable to the ancient Jedi.

“There is . . . another . . . Skywalker . . .”

With that last breath, Yoda faltered, then his spirit left him. The man at his side felt a giant weight fall on his shoulders at that moment. He had been given a great command, to restore the glory of the Jedi. As the thought of this responsibility hit him with full force, he saw Yoda's body fade from sight, becoming one with the Force.

As he walked through the marsh and passed under the wing of his starfighter, he saw the light from the fireplace in Yoda's hut fade, seeming to symbolize the passing of one of the galaxy's last great lights from this existence. Luke bent down next to R2. He felt as though he were cast into an ocean, adrift with no rudder or sail. “I can't do it, Artoo,” he said with melancholy. The small machine emitted an inquisitive note. “I can't go on alone.”

“Yoda will always be with you.”

Luke turned in the direction of the voice. “Obi-Wan.”

An apparition floated through the mists, and coalesced into the spirit of his first master. It walked, ghostlike, toward a small clearing and stood, expectantly. Luke cast his memory back many years ago, when he first learned of the Force from the old man in the desert of his home planet. Obi-Wan Kenobi had taught him about this energy field which was created by all living things, then revealed to him that his father, who had been dead since he was a small child, was killed by one of the greatest villains in the galaxy: Darth Vader, Dark Lord of the Sith. Luke's blood had boiled and his hatred for the Sith Lord grew until he had confronted him at Cloud City. A furious lightsaber battle had ensued, resulting in Luke losing his right hand and learning a terrible truth: that Darth Vader was really his father.

It had to be a lie, and Luke assumed as much, but Yoda had just confirmed that Vader had been telling the truth. And now, he was standing in front of the spirit of the man who had told him that Vader had killed his father.

“Why didn't you tell me?” he demanded as he stepped under the laser cannons and walked toward the ghost. “You told me Vader betrayed and murdered my father.”

“Your father was seduced by the Dark Side of the Force,” replied Obi-Wan. “He ceased to be Anakin Skywalker and became Darth Vader. When that happened, the good man who was your father was destroyed.”

Kenobi paused. “So what I told you was true. From a certain point of view.”

“A certain point of view?” repeated Luke incredulously.

“Luke,” said Obi-Wan with the exasperation only a teacher can properly express, “you're going to find that many of the truths that we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view. Anakin was a good friend.”

The old master smiled as he remembered happier times. “When I first knew him, your father was already a great pilot, but I was amazed at how strongly the Force was with him. I took it upon myself to train him as a Jedi. I thought that I could instruct him just as well as Yoda.” A hint of regret slipped into his voice. “I was wrong.”

“There is still good in him,” insisted Luke.

“He's more machine now than man,” replied Obi-Wan bitterly. “Twisted and evil.”

The young student shook his head. “I can't do it, Ben.”

“You cannot escape your destiny. You must face Darth Vader again.”

“I can't kill my own father.”

Obi-Wan breathed in and let it out slowly and sadly. “Then the Emperor has already won. You were our only hope.”

“What about the presences in the Force? I felt that one of them will prove important soon.”

“They are not meant to be here, Luke. Their presence here will not affect what is to come. Only you can do that.”

Luke nodded, then another thought occurred to him. “Yoda spoke of another.”

“The other he spoke of is your twin sister.”

“But I have no sister.”

Obi-Wan nodded thoughtfully. “To protect you both from the Emperor, you were hidden from your father when you were born. The Emperor knew, as I did, if Anakin were to have any offspring, they would be a threat to him. That is the reason why your sister remains safely anonymous.”

The young student of the Force suddenly realized exactly who his master was talking about. The answer was so obvious. He had felt her presence many times, and the familiarity with her had always confused him because he never considered kinship to be the reason. But now it was all so clear.

“Leia,” he said. “Leia is my sister!”

“Your insight serves you well,” replied Obi-Wan, then he leaned in. “Bury your feelings deep down, Luke. They do you credit, but they could be made to serve the Emperor.”

Leia Organa, former princess of Alderaan, stood watching two of the ponies competing with one another in the gym. As she watched, she marveled at how such tiny creatures could survive so long on their own against the tyranny of the Empire. Their story had touched her, because it reminded her of so many she had heard as a leader of the Rebel Alliance. The Mon Calamari, the Wookies, the Aqualish . . . they all had similar tales of Imperial authorities swooping in and enslaving them, then escaping to join the Alliance's fight for freedom.

But these ponies were different. They came from another galaxy entirely, and there was something about them that intrigued her. They weren't like any alien she'd ever come across before. Their kinship was unshakeable, and from what she'd understood after talking with their leader, this was something which permeated their entire society. Yes, some species like the Camaas were naturally peaceful and detested violence, but the ponies seemed to behave more like humans in their way of thinking, and this made their connection that much more impressive.

As she leaned against the wall, her arms crossed against her tan tunic and her brown hair braided and pinned into a bun, she noticed a presence to her right. She turned and looked at the man who had walked up next to her. “They're really something, aren't they Captain Antilles?”

The black-haired Corellian, Wedge Antilles, nodded. “I'd heard about them through several channels. I still can't believe they survived five weeks against the Empire.”

“Neither can I. But I'm glad they were able to make it to Bestine.”

Wedge rubbed his chin. “I kind of wish I'd gotten to the blue one before Crynyd. I've heard she is as good as Luke.”

Leia smiled at him, then went back to watching the two ponies, marveling that they had kept up their workout this long. They had been doing pushups for several minutes, and she would have thought they would have stopped by now. But they kept at it, the orange one keeping count.

“Eighty-nine . . . Ninety . . . Ninety-one . . .”

Their counting continued, the strain evident on their faces and in Applejack's tense speech.

“Ninety-three . . . ninety-four . . . ninety-five . . .”

The counting slowed, but the two ponies kept at it.

“Ninety-seven . . . ninety-eight . . . ninety-nine . . . one hundred!”

As soon as the syllable left her lips, Rainbow Dash shot into the air. “I won!”

“No,” retorted Applejack. “We tied!”

“What?!” Dash swooped down and got in her friend's face. “How do you figure?”

“Because we finished at the same time and both made it through the whole set!”

Rainbow opened her mouth to rebut, but then she realized Applejack was right. “Okay. Next time, I bet I'll beat you by ten.”

The orange work-pony smiled. “You're on, Dash.”

As they turned to leave, they were met by the sight of a large group of men and aliens in orange flight uniforms. The insignia on their flight helmets told her it was the entirety of Red Squadron. “Uh, howdy,” said Applejack as she smiled sheepishly. “Been watchin' us for a while?”

Wedge nodded. “Just wanted to get a good look at the new arrivals. It's not every day we get to see beings from other galaxies.”

“Yeah,” said Rainbow Dash, looking at Applejack with a wry expression. “They needed to see my awesomeness in person.”

“We both made it through the set, Rainbow.”

Blowing a raspberry, Rainbow flew up into the spacious gym and started doing aerial flips and somersaults, then landed in front of Red Squadron, bowing before the applause she generated. “I wasn't talking about pushups, Applejack.”

Her auburn friend rolled her eyes, accepting Dash's narcissism in stride.

“Well,” replied Wedge, “if you two are nearly done with your competition, we've got a briefing to attend in fifteen minutes. I'd suggest arriving early. The admiral likes punctuality.”

The two ponies perked up, then trotted off to the shower to get cleaned up before attending the briefing for a mission which would decide the fate of the galaxy.

An excited buzz hummed in the air as the senior staff on board Home One gathered in the war room where the mission briefing would be presented. All present knew how important this mission was, and the tension was palpable, but those who believed in it knew that the Force was on their side, and those who didn't still had plenty of confidence in the abilities of the pilots, gunners, and soldiers who had gathered here.

The drone quickly fell to a whisper as the regal Princess Celestia entered the room, followed by Twilight and her friends. They watched as she walked around the large holoprojector sitting in the middle of the room and stood in front of the lowest bench, her head held high. Twilight and her friends took seats next to her, and the lavender student knew this was the beginning of the end for their adventure in this galaxy. She looked up at her teacher. The outward facade of stoicism was convincing everyone else, but Twilight had known Celestia long enough to detect a hint of determination and anger. She had been tortured, chased, shot at, and belittled by the Empire.

And they had taken her sister. She was not going to sit idly by while others fought this battle.

In her own head, Celestia's thoughts were dark. Normally she was content to let Twilight and her companions handle problems such as the Changeling incursion and the battle against Discord, because she knew that they could handle it and it would cause them to grow as individuals and their relationship to strengthen.

But this was personal.

She was going to make them pay for what they had done, to herself, her sister, her subjects, and the people of this galaxy.

The white alicorn turned and looked at the six ponies. She saw the scars on Applejack and Rainbow Dash. She detected the anxiety on Twilight's face, the trepidation in Fluttershy, the anxiety in Rarity. The exception was Pinkie Pie, who was her usual optimistic self.

With a half smile, she turned back to look at her young student. “No matter what happens, Twilight, I hope you know how proud I am of you.”

The purple unicorn smiled back up at her. “Thank you, Princess Celestia.”

“Well, look at you! A general, huh?”

They turned to look at the man who had said it: Han Solo. He was tall and handsome as humans went, and he was addressing a dark-skinned human.

“Someone must have told them about my little maneuver at the Battle of Taanab,” said the other. Lando Calrissian, another smuggler like Han, had been content to run Cloud City, a mining facility. But the Empire had betrayed him, and he was here to get some payback. And a little notoriety couldn't hurt, either.

“Well don't look at me, pal, I just said you were a fair pilot. I didn't know they were looking for somebody to lead this crazy attack.”

“I'm surprised they didn't ask you to do it.”

Putting on a big, cocky grin, Han said, “Well who says they didn't? But I ain't crazy. You're the respectful one, remember?”

Lando matched his beam as the chime sounded to begin the briefing. All fell silent as the lights dimmed and one of the great leaders of the Rebel Alliance, Mon Mothma, stepped forward. “The Emperor has made a critical error.," she said. "The time for our attack has come. The data brought to us by the Bothan spies pinpoints the exact location of the Emperor's new battle station.”

As she spoke, a holographic projection of a green planet appeared in the middle of the room, around which a small red globe orbited: the Death Star. Twilight gasped as she recognized Endor, the place she'd fled so long ago.

“We also know that the weapon systems on this Death Star are not yet operational. With the Imperial fleet spread throughout the galaxy in a vain effort to engage us, it is relatively unprotected. But most important of all . . .” A grave tone slipped into her voice. “We've learned that the Emperor himself is personally overseeing the final stages of the construction of this Death Star. Many Bothans died to bring us this information.”

She glanced behind her. “Admiral Ackbar, please.”

The aged, battle-hardened veteran stepped forward. “You can see here the Death Star orbiting the forest moon of Endor," he wheezed. "Although the weapon systems on this Death Star are not yet operational, the Death Star does have a strong defense mechanism. It is protected by an energy shield which is generated from the nearby forest moon of Endor.”

He indicated to the holographic projection, and a yellow field of energy enveloped the red holographic Death Star.

“The shield must be deactivated if any attack is to be attempted. Once the shield is down, our cruisers will create a perimeter, while the fighters fly into the superstructure and attempt to knock out the main reactor.”

The crimson hologram flared to brilliance, then vanished. “General Calrissian has volunteered to lead the fighter attack.”

“Good luck,” said Han to his friend. Lando looked at him incredulously, marvelling at the Corellian's apparent selflessness. “You're gonna need it," added Han under his breath.

Ackbar turned back and gestured toward a bearded man behind him. “General Madine"

The middle-aged officer transposed himself with Ackbar, an air of authority permeating his every move. “We have stolen a small Imperial shuttle. Disguised as a cargo ship and using a secret Imperial code, a strike team will land on the moon and deactivate the shield generator.”

“Oh my,” said Fluttershy. “That sounds very dangerous!”

“I wonder who they found to pull that off?” wondered Leia aloud.

“General Solo,” said Madine, “is your strike team assembled?”

Leia looked at Han in surprise; he would be leading the team? He quickly turned and looked at the officer. “Uh, my team's ready. I don't have a command crew for the shuttle.”

Chewbacca, who had been sitting next to him, growled and shook his hairy arm at Han. “It's gonna be rough, pal. I didn't want to speak for you.”

The Wookie barked and bellowed in response, giving Han a determined grin. The Corellian returned it, then glanced back at Madine. “That's one.”

“General,” said Leia, “count me in.”

“I'm with you too!”

At the sound of Luke Skywalker's voice, all his friends turned and grinned at him. Bounding down the steps leading from the corridor at the top of the auditorium, he met Leia with a warm embrace. Her eyes met his, and there was something strange in them, like she was staring into the eyes of someone who had heard she had died and was resurrected. “What is it?”

“Ask me again sometime,” he said.

Leia's head was flooded with questions, and she wanted to demand that he answer, but something told her the answer to that simple question was much more complex and personal than he would want answered in a public place.

“Luke!” shouted Han, interrupting Leia's thoughts.

“Hi, Han. Chewie.” Luke's greeting went past Leia's ears, her mind on the secret he had brought back from wherever he'd been. As she contemplated why he seemed so different, Luke's attention turned toward the presence in the Force that he'd felt for some time. He inched toward the group of ponies, his heart racing. These alien beings were glowing with such brightness that his mind was reeling. He had never felt such light, even from Obi-Wan or Yoda. He vowed to speak with them as soon as he was done talking with his friends.

In the mean time, Applejack's ears were tuned to a pair of commanders discussing the up-coming battle. “S'cuse me.”

The two men paused in their conversation.

“Did Ah hear y'all mention mah name?”

The taller of the two frowned. “I don't think so. What's your name?”

“Applejack,” she said with a bow.

“Oh,” said the other officer. “I think you heard me talking about the Ablajeck Sector, which is next to the Moddell sector where the Endor system is located.”

Suddenly Applejack blushed, then trotted over to Rainbow, who was snickering under her breath.

“Don't you say a word, air jockey.”

“I didn't say anything, Ah-blah-jeck.”

Growling in frustration, Applejack trotted out of the briefing room for some air. She passed Pinkie Pie on the way out, who was pawing the deckplate with her hoof, a deeply-set frown on her face. “Pinkie? Y'all right, girl?”

“No, I'm not. That guy over there is just a big meanie-mean-pants!” She pointed a hoof in the direction of Han Solo, who was leaning lazily on the holographic projector and talking to Chewbacca. Before Applejack could ask what Han had said, Pinkie Pie stormed out of the briefing room.

Cocking her hat forward, she marched over to Solo, who looked at her with casual regard. “You got a reason for starin' at me like that?”

“You said somethin' to mah friend, Pinkie Pie. Ah wanna know what it was.”

Uncrossing his legs and folding his arms, Han looked down at Applejack. “You mean that pink pony?” He rolled his eyes. “Look, all I did was tell Chewie here that I thought she was kind of annoying.”

“Well, you hurt her feelin's!”

“Hey, it's not my fault she overheard us talking. Besides, she is annoying.”

Scowling, Applejack trotted away before she said something she would regret. Before she got ten feet from Han, she was stopped by Twilight. “What's wrong, Applejack?”

“That guy over there.” She jerked a hoof in Han's general direction. “He insulted Pinkie Pie, then refused to apologize for it!”

“You know as well as anypony that not everyone is amicable, Applejack. Not even in Equestria.”

“Regardless of what fancy words you want to use,” said Applejack, “he's still a great big –”

“A.J.!”

“Okay, okay.” Sighing, Applejack began moving toward the archway where Pinkie Pie disappeared. “Ah better go see if Ah can find Pinkie.”

Twilight watched her trot out of the briefing room, nearly knocking over a couple of aliens in the process. Breathing a sigh, she shook her head and decided a nice cup of tea would be enough to take her mind off the situation between her friends and their hosts.

“Excuse me.”

She turned to look in the direction of the calming voice that had tickled her ear and saw an average-sized blonde human wearing black and carrying some sort of silver baton on his hip. He extended a hand. “Would you please accompany me to an area where we can discuss something?”

Twilight was about to object and tell him that she needed to meet with Princess Celestia, but something about his voice and mannerisms was inviting. She hesitated, looking up at her mentor.

“It's okay, Twilight," said Princess Celestia. "I'm sure you have some time before we are required to be at the shuttle.”

Nodding in thanks, she turned and followed Luke through the crowd and past her friends. Rarity and Rainbow Dash watched her leave. “Now where it she off to?” asked Rarity

“Probably has to talk about books or something with that weird guy,” mused Rainbow Dash.

Walking into the room, Twilight oddly felt a sense of panic. She wasn't entirely sure why, but she guessed it was because this meeting between herself and this stranger reminded her strongly of times when she visited the principal's office in grade school. Not that she visited that place very often. It was actually the lack of visits which made them stand out, because she had tried so hard to keep out of trouble. The double doors closed behind them as Twilight and the stranger entered the small white room. He walked around the small computer terminal and sat on the chair on the other side, then indicated to the floor next to it. "Please," he said calmly, "sit down."

She walked forward and sat in front of him.

"Perhaps we should introduce ourselves," she said. "I'm Twilight Sparkle, protégé to Princess Celestia."

"I'm Luke Skywalker," he replied in kind, "Jedi Knight."

Twilight nodded. "What is it you wished to speak to me about, Mr. Skywalker?"

"Please, call me Luke."

Again Twilight nodded. "Alright, Luke. And you may call me Twilight."

"Twilight," he repeated. "I am sure you are aware by now that some beings in our galaxy, and many others, possess an ability to manipulate an energy field that surrounds them. This energy field is known as the –"

"The Force," finished Twilight.

"Ah, so you know of it?"

"Yes."

The blonde man nodded. "I suspected as much. You seem to have a very strong aura in the Force. It's like nothing I've ever seen, apart from the masters under which I've learned much, as well as Darth Vader."

Twilight raised an eyebrow. "I'm not sure why that would be, Luke. I've never used it to my knowledge. But unicorns like myself are gifted from birth with the ability to use magic. We can manipulate matter, teleport, project shields, and many other things. Equestrian science is still not entirely sure how it works, but it's not limited to unicorns, though they are the most prominent members of our society to use magic. Earth ponies and pegasi have more limited magic, as do many species other than ponies."

"Interesting," Luke intoned. "The Force can take many forms in our galaxy. The witches of Dathomir can manipulate it, but they also refer to it as magic. Other species hold similar views on the Force."

"Are you saying that magic is actually this 'Force'?" asked Twilight incredulously.

"I don't know," admitted Luke. "It might be a holdover from your world, or it may be an as-yet unknown manifestation of the Force."

Twilight nodded thoughtfully. "May I touch my horn to your head? I have a spell that might tell me more about this."

Luke nodded, then Twilight walked around the terminal and gently touched her horn to the human's temple. Immediately upon activating the spell, she was inundated by a magical field of such high power that she almost couldn't bear it. The white energies flowing through this man were opened before her, like a swirling cloud of pure starlight. She wrestled with the ethereal portal she had created in his aura. Fighting to maintain control, she closed the portal quickly, then sat back in a daze from the experience. It was like looking into Celestia's soul. His 'Force' and her magic were obviously one and the same.

"What did you see?" he asked, though she suspected he knew the answer.

"Great power," she replied. "As well as a bright source of pure magic."

"Then it's true," he said, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "The two are one."

She nodded. "I wonder if this has anything to do with those headaches I get during hyperspace jumps."

Luke squinted in thought. "It might have to do with the nature of hyperspace. Even today we do not understand hyperspace. Some say it is an extra dimension of realspace, while others contend that it is simply the universe as it appears when traveling faster than light. But the Jedi suspect that it is the realm of the Force. It was first traveled by ancient Force-enabled hyperdrives, and as the Force does not interact with technology the same way it does with living matter, this has led some to conclude that it is a Force manifestation. But most humanoids don't experience any discomfort when traveling to it."

"My horn!" exclaimed Twilight. "It focuses and channels magic. What if it's responding to the crossing of the barrier between realspace and hyperspace?!"

The man smiled, his excitement building with Twilight's. "Yes! Maybe it's a side effect of crossing the plane and disturbing the Force itself!"

He and Twilight sat for nearly an hour, discussing the implications of this discovery and how it might affect everyone's understanding of the Force and the nature of hyperspace, then they went on to talk about how similar and different magic and the Force were.

"This is so incredible," said Twilight. "Most unicorns take magic for granted, so it's great to run into someone who studies it as seriously as I do!"

"Likewise," said Luke. "In fact, that reminds me." He got up and circled around Twilight. She turned in place, following him with her head until he stood at the other side of the room. He folded his hands, a hopeful look on his face. "Would you like to learn some more techniques for manipulating the Force from me? My master, Yoda, told me to pass on what I had learned, and I can't think of another person who would benefit from instruction more than you."

Her eyes lit up. She was about to be taught magic from one of the most powerful Force-users in existence? "Yes!!" she exclaimed, then began to jump in a circle around him. "Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes!!"

"Okay!" he said with a chuckle. "Then I accept you as my first student of the ways of the Jedi. This will have to be sort of a crash course in Jedi techniques, but I have no doubt you'll be able to master them."

She grinned. "Shall we begin?"

He nodded, then proceeded to relay every lesson Yoda taught him in his months of training on Dagobah.

Soon the Rebels' preparations were complete. All the fuel ships were ready, the starfighters loaded with ordinance, and the capital combat ships were all fully staffed, their crews confident in the plan presented to them. In the main hangar of the Alliance headquarters frigate Home One, many ships were parked, including a stolen Imperial Shuttle and a certain YT-1300 freighter, the Millennium Falcon. The saucer-shaped freighter was sitting across from the tri-winged shuttle, its ramp lowered and its crew doing final checks.

"Look," said Han, "I want you to take her."

Lando looked at his friend suspiciously.

"I mean it! Take her! You need all the help you can get," he said, gesturing to the Falcon, "She's the fastest ship in the fleet!"

"Alright, old buddy!" said Lando. "Look, I know what she means to you! I'll take good care of her. She won't get a scratch. Alright?"

Taking a quick look at his beloved Millennium Falcon, Han said, "Right."

Lando watched as he walked off toward the shuttle. Any moment now . . .

Han turned around as he got to the ramp. "I got your promise, now: not a scratch!"

"Would you get going, you pirate!" said Lando with a laugh. "Good luck," he added.

"You, too," said Han with a grimace, then the smuggler walked up the ramp to the stolen shuttle. As his friend entered the vessel, Lando turned and walked toward the starship which had once been his. He knew better than to expect Han to return, though that man did have a way of getting out of tight spots. But he had a funny feeling that this was the last time he would see his friend alive.

"Eh, I'm getting too old for this stuff . . ."

As Han entered the main hold of the shuttle, he met his friend, Chewbacca. The Wookie growled and gesticulated at his friend. "You said it," said Solo as he thought about the ponies with a mixed feeling of confusion and disgust. They were brightly colored, diminutive, and worst of all . . . adorable. He had a hard time believing they had not only survived Imperial internment – despite the evidence in the form of slaver tag scars – but had even managed to live through a day on Nar Shaddaa without any sort of weapons and with several hundred bounty hunters on their tail. "Gotta be luck. That's the only explanation." His friend shrugged, then headed to the cockpit. Han sighed, then felt a brush against his leg, and saw the pink one that he had accidentally insulted earlier. He shook his head at the bouncy pony, watching her gaily make her way to the back of the ship, wondering how she hadn't gotten them killed before now. "S'cuse me," said a voice at his hip. He looked down to see the orange one looking up at him. "Pardon," he muttered as he stepped out of her way. Before the small equine had walked two feet into the crew compartment, she turned around and glared at Han. "Ah still think ya need ta apologize to mah friend."

Han rolled his eyes. "I didn't do anything!" he said, holding his hands apart broadly.

"Yes, ya did. Regardless of whether it was intentional. It sticks in mah craw that you won't even consider apologizin' to her! It ain't gonna kill ya!"

The tall human sighed. "Look, I'll say I'm sorry when we land. Okay?"

"That's all Ah ask," said Applejack.

He grimaced, then shook his head at Pinkie Pie. "I still can't figure out how you guys made it without that one" – he pointed at the pink pony – "getting you killed."

Applejack looked at her with affection. "You'd be surprised. She may march to the beat of 'er own drummer, but she's capable of holdin' 'er own in a scrap."

Han privately suspected this was more her blindness to her friend's faults than a proper assessment of her combat abilities, but he decided it wasn't worth his time to argue. He walked into the cockpit. None of his friends were sitting there, so he decided to amble down the boarding ramp, where he saw the hold-up: Leia, the white pony, and the droids were waiting on Luke and that purple one to get to the shuttle. "Don't those two know they're gonna miss the flight if they don't hurry up?" asked the Corellian impatiently.

"They'll make it," said Leia. "Luke and Twilight Sparkle both know how important this battle is, and neither would miss it."

In the mean time, Rarity was standing next to the Rebel leader, admiring her locks. "I must say, darling, your hair is simply divine!"

Leia looked down at the ivory unicorn. "What?"

"I mean, humans do have such limited colors to their skin and hair, but yours is such an appealing color! And I love what you've done with it. Those braids are simply lovely!"

Leia hadn't heard such flattery since she'd met Xizor, the prince Vigo of the Black Sun criminal organization, when he'd tried to seduce her. But she guessed this pony was a smidge more genuine than that reptilian criminal had been. "Thanks," she said. She hadn't really tried to make it fashionable. She'd just braided it and pinned it up to keep it out of the way during the upcoming confrontation, but she appreciated the gesture.

"Yeah," said Han, "you almost look respectable!" His infuriatingly smug grin made her blood pressure rise, but she kept her cool, the only reaction being to roll her eyes and return her gaze to the door Luke should have come out of by now.

As Han walked back up the ramp, Leia saw her friend and his small companion walking into the hangar. The taller man and the unicorn both bore contented smiles, and Leia wondered why they were so happy. But her attention was drawn to another door behind them. Leia still found herself in awe of the majestic Princess Celestia. The regal leader of the Equestrians was only an inch taller than herself, but she had a demeanor about herself that captivated Leia. If I looked like that, I bet the Senate would have had more respect for me when I was still a senator. The alicorn walked up to Leia and inclined her head. "Your highness," she said kindly. "Wow," said Leia, "That's the first time in a while I've heard that phrase said without irony."

Celestia raised an eyebrow. "A strange galaxy you have," she replied, then she walked up the ramp and entered the shuttle. Leia could have sworn she heard the soldiers inside the cargo bay quiet down just a tad as she did so. As Luke and Twilight finally made it to the shuttle, they greeted Leia warmly, then headed into the ship themselves. Finally, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy showed up, gliding on their wings and then alighting on the deck in front of her. "Well," said Rarity, "I see you two finally decided to show up."

"Um," said Fluttershy, "I don't know how to say this . . ."

"We're not coming," said Rainbow Dash.

"What?" asked Rarity.

"I'm gonna be a pilot in the upcoming battle, and Fluttershy's gonna tend to the wounded." The yellow pegasus nodded sadly.

"Then that means we'll be separated," said Rarity.

"Way to state the obvious," replied Rainbow.

Rarity rolled her eyes. "Just be careful, okay?"

"Hey," said Dash, striking a pose, "I'm probably one of the best pilots they've got! Don't worry about me."

Smiling, Rarity hugged her friend, then turned to Fluttershy. "I wish you didn't have to stay, dear."

"Oh, it's okay," she said. "I'm needed on the medical frigate, and I don't want to let the Rebels down."

"I admire your courage, Fluttershy," said Rarity.

The yellow pegasus blushed crimson. "Well, I figure I'll be safer on that ship than a cruiser or in the battle on the planet."

Rarity chuckled at Fluttershy's actual reason for staying behind, but still swallowed her apprehension. "Take care, Fluttershy," she said, leaning in to embrace her. Returning the hug, Fluttershy squeezed back and sighed. "I will, Rarity."

The ivory unicorn took one last look at her friends as they waved at her from the deck, hoping this wasn't the last time she'd see them, then she walked up the ramp to the ship and through the entryway.

"Got her warmed?" asked Han as he stepped into the cockpit.

"Yeah, she's coming up," replied Luke as he flipped the reactor ignition switch. Chewbacca growled and gestured at the low ceiling. "No, I don't think the Empire had Wookies in mind when they designed her, Chewie."

As the power systems of the shuttle whined to life, Han looked out the window of the cockpit at his ship. The Millennium Falcon sat on its landing pads in front of them, and Han wished he could fly her for the mission. Something was bugging him, however.

"Hey," he heard Leia say from his right as she shook his shoulder. "You awake?"

"Yeah, I just got a funny feeling, like I'm not gonna see her again," he replied, voicing his concerns.

Leia took a look at the ship, then smiled at him. "Come on, general. Let's move."

"Right," said Solo, snapping to action. "Chewie, let's see what this piece of junk can do. Ready everybody?"

"All set," said Luke. As the ship lifted off the deck R2-D2 beeped and whistled. "Here we go again," said C-3PO to no one in particular. The shuttle gracefully lowered its wings as it glided out of the hangar and into the vacuum of space. It banked away from the Calamari warship, its engines flaring a brilliant blue. "Alright," said Han as he pulled the hyperdrive levers. "Hang on."

Somewhere in the back of the ship, a whining noise built up to an explosion of energy as the ship accelerated and flew off into the night.

Author's Note

Wow, it's been waaaaaaaay too long since I updated this thing!! I bet you guys thought I was dead or something . . .

Sorry, everypony!

But as you can see, I wasn't totally dormant. The story is now officially crossing over with the original films, too! Only seven more chapters to go.

Return to Endor

Chapter 23

“Through my research, I have determined that galactic historians had long considered Tatooine one of the most disproportionately important planets in the galaxy. This is due to its central role in many of the galaxy's most important events, including being the place where the great hero Luke Skywalker was born. However, for my friends and I, Endor seemed to be the locus of everything we experienced, and we ended up being drawn back to this planet where we were enslaved and tortured in order to help bring an end to the reign of the Empire."

-Twilight Sparkle, On Extra-Galactic Voyages, p. 876

The Imperial Shuttle glided through space with all the grace of a white swan, its three wings arrayed in an inverted Y. Despite its Imperial affiliation, the ship's cargo was decidedly Trojan. Filled to the brim with Rebel soldiers, the vessel was on its way to the greenish blue orb that hung in orbit of a white-gray gas giant: the sanctuary forest moon of Endor. Twilight Sparkle was staring at it through the large canopy, the sight of the moon filling her with a sense of dread. Here was a place that represented the worst experience of her life, a time when she and her friends were treated like animals and forced to work in wretched conditions.

This time though, things were different.

This time she had a militia behind her, with soldiers, fighters and warships, all ready to fight and die to wipe out the Galactic Empire. Tens of thousands of lightyears away, the Rebel fleet hung in space, poised for the attack on the Imperial battle station which now floated lazily in orbit around the moon. Its hull was much more complete than it was when they had left so many weeks ago and was now guarded by a small flotilla of Star Destroyers, including Darth Vader's personal command vessel Executor.

"There it is," said Han Solo as he looked at the Death Star. "Big as life and twice as ugly."

"We have to be careful not to tip off the Imperials," said Twilight.

"Relax," he replied. "I've flown through more Imperial blockades than you can imagine. Trust me, this'll be a cakewalk."

Twilight nodded, but she didn't feel any less anxious. Han's own nervousness bled through his voice when he said, "If they don't go for this, we're gonna have to get outta here pretty quick, Chewie." The Wookie grunted back his agreement.

Suddenly the communications system sounded a whistle, indicating that the Executor was contacting them. "We have you on our screen now," said the security officer on the other end. "Please identify."

Han pressed the comm key. "Shuttle Tyderium, requesting deactivation of the deflector shield."

There wasn't an answer for a moment, then the officer replied, "Shuttle Tyderium, transmit the clearance code for shield passage."

"Transmission commencing," said Han, then he activated the transmitter.

As the system hummed, Leia muttered under her breath, "Now we find out if that code is worth the price we paid."

"It'll work," said Solo with a smirk. "It'll work."

Luke looked at the Executor floating with its attendant Star Destroyers. "Vader's on that ship," he intoned. Twilight glanced at him nervously.

"Now don't get jittery, Luke," said Han. "There are a lot of command ships." He then looked at his Wookie copilot and said, "Keep your distance though, Chewie. But don't look like you're tryin' to keep your distance."

Aroooogh! said Chewie.

"I dunno! Fly casual!"

Twilight wasn't really paying attention to them. She was concerned because she had felt what Luke did when he announced the presence of Darth Vader aboard the enormous navy blue vessel in front of them. The techniques she'd learned from Luke, though they were limited, were nonetheless useful, and she'd detected the dark lord shortly after Luke did. She shifted as she wondered with dread whether Vader possessed the same talent.

All seemed normal aboard the Executor as the massive vessel lazily glided near the Death Star in its patrol orbit. However, one figure aboard it knew things were not as they seemed. Vader strode over to the communications console. Admiral Piett was standing over the shoulder of the operator and monitoring him like a gaunt vulture. "Where is that shuttle going?" asked Vader.

Piett pressed the comm key. "Shuttle Tyderium, what is your cargo and destination?"

The scan report scrolled by on the screen displaying schematics of the passing ship while the captain of the vessel said, "Parts and technical crew for the forest moon."

Admiral Piett leaned back and gave Vader a silent Satisfied?

"Do they have a code clearance?" pressed Vader.

"It's an older code, sir. But it checks out," said Piett. "I was about to clear them."

Vader was about to tell the admiral to lock a tractor beam onto them and pull them into the hangar bay, but something nagged at the back of his mind. He felt several presences in the Force, and he also felt something else. Something that stilled him and told him not to interfere with them.

Aboard the shuttle, Twilight glanced to her right as Luke said, "I'm endangering the mission. I shouldn't have come."

"It's your imagination, kid," said Han with a twinge of worry in his voice, as though he were trying to dispel Luke's suspicions. "C'mon, let's keep a little optimism here!"

When Twilight tapped Luke on the shoulder, he turned to look at her, his face a mixture of confusion and trepidation.

"What is it?" asked Twilight.

He looked a thousand yards away. "I'm not sure. I felt a disturbance in the Force from ... from a man I have faced before."

"Darth Vader," said Twilight flatly.

He nodded, his eyes locked on the dreadnaught. "A few years ago, I had a battle with him. He gravely wounded me, but he spared my life in order to offer me the chance to join him."

Twilight nodded in amazement. She'd read many tales about Lord Vader and how dangerous the dark lord was. That man had been responsible for many atrocities, and his own personal power was so great that he had been able to take down many Jedi over the years since the rise of the Empire.

"And you think he will come after you?"

"He senses me with the Force. He must, if I can sense him."

Twilight looked away from him toward the enormous blue arrowhead floating before them. "Then I hope we can complete the mission before he does anything to stop us."

Luke just sat and stared out the window.

Aboard Executor, Vader was still thinking about what to do with the shuttle and its occupants. "Shall I hold?" asked Piett. He waited a few moments for the dark lord to answer.

"No," said Vader finally. "Leave them to me. I will deal with them myself."

Piett looked surprised, but replied, "As you wish, m'lord." Then he addressed the communications officer. "Carry on."

Vader looked at the communications screen long enough to make the man sitting at it sweat visibly. Then suddenly he strode into the corridor toward his quarters, where he would sit and brood until the Force told him it was time.

On the shuttle, Han Solo shared a worried look with Chewbacca. The Imperials were taking far too long to respond. Han and Chewie had sneaked past many Imperials in the past and had conned their way into and out of many situations, and usually when they took this long to say anything they were readying some kind of ambush. "They're not going for it, Chewie."

As he weighed his options, the communications system sounded. "Shuttle Tyderium..." He reached to set a course back to the Rebel fleet. Maybe if he─ "Deactivation of the deflector shield will commence immediately. Follow your present course."

"Okay," he said, his voice filled with relief. "I told you it was gonna work! No problem!"

Twilight looked up at Luke and saw that the tension had not drained from his face. He must have felt the same thing she had: Vader had not been convinced. He was merely waiting, like a black panther readying to pounce on its prey.

She sat back and reflected on the meaning of this while the ivory shuttle slipped out of orbit and fell down into the moon's gravity well.

The ramp of the shuttle lowered, its tip made contact with the damp soil, and the Rebel commando team disembarked the stark white Imperial ship, its paint job contrasting sharply with the browns and greens of the forest around them. Grim expressions were on every face in the team. Each one of them knew the danger surrounding their mission to the forest moon, but they knew the consequences of failure meant an almost certain Imperial victory and the utter destruction of the Rebel Alliance. Somewhere in the dense forest was a base containing the main power generator for the enormous deflector shield projector towering in the distance. Its 500 meter dish was pointing up and wrapping the Imperial battle station overhead with a powerful shield which could annihilate a starship on contact and protect its charge from the most powerful of assaults. The very same base Twilight and her friends all helped construct. Unless they could destroy the generator, the Rebel fleet would have no way of engaging the Death Star and ending its threat before it was completed.

Twilight and Princess Celestia both shuddered as they disembarked the Imperial transport, memories of their time here flooding back to them like a shadowy, black wave. In the distance, Han Solo lead the strike team. Twilight was wary of that man and his hairy companion, but if Luke Skywalker trusted him, then she did as well. As he signaled them all to get on the forest floor, she heard C-3PO say to R2-D2, "Oh! I told you it was dangerous here!"

You have no idea, she thought to herself as she knelt down into the moss. She felt a presence sidle up next to her. "Ah sure hope this works," said Applejack. "This ain't gonna be no Spring picnic."

"I know," said Twilight. "But we have to try. Princess Luna and Spike are both counting on us."

Applejack nodded. "We'll save 'em, Twilight. Don't you worry none." Twilight smiled at her, happy to have somepony nearby to at least try and make her feel better. They all started to follow along with the Rebel troopers as they began to walk along the forest floor again, whatever danger Han had sensed having passed. After walking through the woods for nearly half a kilometer, they all stopped again as Luke and his friends saw something ahead of them. Twilight and the other ponies carefully walked up the line of Rebels, curious about the reason for them stopping.

"Should we try to go around?" said Leia.

"It'll take time," replied Luke as the ponies silently approached and wondered what was stopping them.

"This whole party'll be for nothing if they see us," said Han. Chewbacca growled in agreement. Twilight approached the log they were kneeling beside and peered over. In the clearing beyond were two Imperial Scout Troopers. Applejack saw them at the same time Twilight did. "Hey," she whispered, "Them's the same kinda troopers we saw before!"

"Chewie and I'll take care of this," said Han quickly. "You stay here."

"Quietly!" admonished Luke. "There might be more of them out there."

"Hey," said Han with a smirk, "it's me!" Then he disappeared off into the woods with his Wookie companion. Rather than try and stop the man, Luke simply looked at Leia and sighed. Twilight shared his discomfort with the situation, but there was nothing to do but watch. She knew that the best chance they had was to simply let those two take care of the problem as quickly and quietly as possible.

Down in the clearing Han and Chewie sneaked behind a small stand of trees, inching their way toward the pair of Imperials. Twilight watched as they gingerly made their way over to a pair of redwoods that were right behind the two scouts, and then Chewbacca gestured at them. Han nodded and started to move toward them with his blaster drawn.

Then a twig snapped beneath his foot.

He glanced down long enough to give the trooper he was tailing a chance to turn around and quickly knock him to the ground, his blaster hitting the forest floor and going off. "Go for help! Go!" shouted the scout. The other trooper sprinted off toward his speederbike.

"Great," groaned Luke as he gestured to Leia and the ponies. "Come on!"

As they all made their way down to the clearing, Han shot up off the ground and grabbed the scout trooper's arm. He swung him around into the trunk of a tree, the trooper's armor crunching into the bark and cutting into him.

While Han dealt with that trooper, the other one mounted his speederbike and quickly activated its repulsors, sending it careening through the forest like a bullet. There was little time. Chewie rapidly raised his bowcaster and fired off several shots at the speederbike, scoring several hits and causing it to explode under the trooper and send him crashing to the floor in a neck-breaking fall.

As Han slammed the trooper into the tree again, Luke, Leia and the ponies arrived in the clearing. But Leia's eyes were alerted to a streak of white. "Over there!" she shouted, pointing at the two scouts on speederbikes. "Two more of them!" In an instant they were both shooting through the woods to warn their superiors.

"I see them," said Luke, then Leia ran toward the remaining speederbike. "Wait! Leia!" he shouted at her.

They both mounted the speeder bike, with Luke struggling to maintain a hold on Leia's waist. Applejack saw them both and took off after them. "Wait! AJ!" shouted Twilight as the cowpony streaked off. Years of practice for rodeos made it a simple matter to leap into the air and grab hold of Luke.

"Hey, wait!" said Han as he raised his hand at the quickly shrinking speederbike. He was cut off by the scout trooper, who reached up and grabbed his shoulder. But the Imperial found himself being flipped over and slammed into the ground by Han, his back hitting the forest floor with great force. As the unconscious trooper rolled to a stop at Twilight's hooves, she worriedly looked up from him and off into the distance as the speederbikes shrank to a pinprick.

Navigating through the trees at two hundred miles per hour was not an easy challenge. Leia and Luke flew through the trees on their speeder, their wake pressing down on the bushes and moss as it streaked past them. The trio of Rebels struggled to catch up with the scout troopers.

"Quick," said Luke, "jam their comlinks! Center switch!" Leia hit the lever quickly, and then ducked beneath a fallen tree. He felt a squeeze on his waist as Applejack struggled to keep hold of him. Whipping his head back toward the troopers in front of him, he had an idea. "Move closer!" he shouted above the whine of the bike's engine. They slowly pulled up toward the enemy bike, and Applejack strained to look ahead at the scout and see if she could do anything to him.

As the bikes screamed through the forest, Applejack soon saw an opportunity. Slowly standing up on the back of the bike, she carefully balanced on her two back legs, the wind whipping by and threatening to send her crashing to the ground at any moment. She crouched for a moment, then took a flying leap toward the repulsorcraft. The Imperial didn't know what hit him as Applejack's hooves made contact with his midsection and ignited an explosion of pain. She barely managed to hold on as the speederbike careened through the forest, and for a moment Luke thought she would hit a tree. But she maintained control long enough to fly next to Luke and Leia's speeder. She was unable to hit the accelerator with her hooves however, and she was forced to leap off the doomed bike. Luke caught her outstretched hoof and helped her back onto their speederbike just before the other craft slammed into a tree.

While Applejack situated herself on the back of the bike, Luke looked up at the other Imperial scout. "Get alongside that one," he said. Leia did her best to comply, inching closer to the trooper. Luke watched, waiting for the right moment to strike. But the scout noticed them, and as they approached he started to slam his bike into theirs, trying to knock them into a tree. Leia fought to keep the bike steady, crying out as an impact nearly sent their bike into a log. Luke then leaped onto the other bike and shoved the trooper off. They both heard a loud crack as his body hit a tree at more than two hundred miles per hour.

"Yee-haw!" shouted Applejack. Luke couldn't share in her enthusiasm, his mind concentrating on not colliding with the surrounding brush.

An explosion rocked his bike as a blaster bolt hit it from behind. Luke, Leia and Applejack looked behind them to see two more Scout Troopers tailing them on speederbikes. "I'll take them!" shouted Luke as he hit the brakes and shot backwards. The troopers both whipped their heads around as he did so.

Luke shot at one of the troopers, who veered off into the forest. The other one kept going after Leia and Applejack. Realizing that the escaping trooper would likely reach his base if he didn't pursue him, Luke reluctantly peeled off and went after him.

Leia and Applejack wove through the trees, trying to evade the Scout Trooper behind them. The soldier was not easy to shake, doggedly staying on their tail as they bobbed on their bike. Yellow blasts of energy ripped past them, slamming into trees and spraying them with showers of bark and timber. "We gotta do somethin'!" shouted Applejack as she held up a foreleg to shield her eyes.

"I know, I'm trying!" said Leia as she pulled the speederbike into a new course through the trees.

More laser blasts shot past them as the scout maintained pursuit. Applejack looked back at him, hoping none of those blasts would score a hit on them. She thought for a second about jumping from the bike and trying to land on the trooper behind them, but all he'd need to do was brake and she'd end up skewered on the forks in front of his vehicle. She needed another plan.

As the trooper sent another volley of lasers flying at them, she had an idea. "Leia! Ah'm gonna jump!"

"Are you crazy?!" shouted the princess as she juked the bike.

"Trust me! Ah'm gonna hop off, and you're gonna lead him back this-a-way! Ah have an idea!"

Leia shook her head, wondering if the little pony truly had lost her marbles, but she nodded. "Okay, I'll swing back around. Be ready!"

Applejack nodded, then leaped off the bike into a roll through the forest. Leia looked back for a moment, then hit the accelerator pedal, sending more fuel to the engines and causing the bike to rocket forward. The scout had little trouble keeping up with her, but she was counting on that. She led him through a winding path through the forest, and hoped that her sense of direction was good enough that she was leading him toward Applejack.

As she led the scout trooper, Applejack looked up into the trees. "Come on... one o' y'all needs ta have somethin' Ah can use!" Suddenly her eyes lit up as she noticed something in the trees, and she looked off in the distance, hoping Leia could see her.

Leia scanned the forest, trying to spot the orange blob that would be Applejack. Soon she found the little pony, and shot toward her at high speed in a straight line.

The scout noticed her slip up, and smiled beneath his helmet. "Rebel scum," he muttered to himself as he gripped the trigger, sending an unending stream of laser blasts rocketing through the forest. Leia hoped Applejack's plan, whatever it was, would work.

As she passed Applejack, she watched her get up on her forelegs, then buck the tree she was standing next to. A crack resounded through the forest, followed by a snap and several more cracks. She didn't have to turn back to see the massive branch fall out of the tree and hit the scout in the face.

Bang! She felt the impact of the laser on her speeder and cried out, then leaped off the bike into the forest. Hitting her head on a rock as she landed, she maintained consciousness long enough to see her bike crash into a tree, vaporizing as the fuel cells detonated.

Two speederbikes pulled into a loop, one of the riders trying to evade the other. Luke jerked his speeder around, trying to shake the scout. The scout hit him with his bike, ramming with the engine housing and trying to force Luke into a tree. Luke gave as good as he got, slamming his own bike into the scout.

A tree split them up, forcing Luke to take the path on the left and the scout to go to the right. The Jedi dodged trees and pulled his bike into a path that would take him back toward the scout. He knew if the trooper got too far from him he would get out of range of Luke's jamming field and report back to his base, giving away the Rebels' position. Soon he caught up with the trooper and began to ram him again, pressing his attack and trying to force him to crash.

The trooper however was not going to back off without a fight. He slammed his own bike into Luke's, making new dents in its casing.

Without warning the steering vanes on the front of the bikes interlocked. Luke tried to pull the bike away, coming within centimeters of catching a loose vine or a tree trunk. Just as the bikes separated, Luke and the scout both saw a tree coming toward them. Luke leaped off his own bike, sending it slamming into the tree and hoping it would take the scout with it.

He had no such luck, however. He saw the trooper shoot through the forest and swing around to come after him again. He ignited his lightsaber.

The scout bore down on Luke, centering the digital sights in his helmet on the Rebel. He tightened his grip on the trigger, sending a volley of yellow bolts flying straight at Luke. Luke brought up his saber, deflecting each shot as though it were never there. As the trooper flew by he brought his blade straight down, separating the steering vanes from the front of the bike and sending it into a flat spin toward a tree. The trooper couldn't even jump off his bike as the vehicle slammed into the trunk in a fiery conflagration.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Luke extinguished the blade of his sword, then set off into the forest to find the Rebel encampment.

Han and Chewbacca both stood next to a tree with the other Rebel troopers, worried and bored. Han, a man of action, thought there couldn't possibly be a worse combination of emotions. He was used to being able to do something, and up until he met Luke Skywalker all those years ago he hadn't really been worried about anyone except for Chewie and a few choice people he'd met along the way. Lando, Bria, that kid who called himself "Solo" on the off chance that Han might fall for it and think he really was related to him... he'd worried about them all at one point or another. But this was a different sort of worry, though the worry he'd felt for his old girlfriend Bria Tharen came close. He just knew something terrible had happened to Leia. He didn't know what exactly. Maybe the troopers had shot her down, or she misjudged the distance from one of the myriad trees in this gods-forsaken dump of a moon and died on impact. As he thought about her fate, he felt the brush of something hard, yet soft against his thigh. He turned to see one of the horses who had accompanied the team looking up at him sympathetically. It was the purple one with a large horn on its head like some mythical animal. "Yeah?" he asked, a little more brusquely than he'd intended.

"Are you okay?" asked Twilight gently.

Han sighed. "Yeah, fine," he said quickly, not even convincing himself, then turned away again.

Twilight glanced away, as though she wasn't sure if she should press the issue on her mind. Looking back up at him, she said, "Are you worried about Leia and Luke?"

Han didn't answer as he leaned forward and shoved his hands in his pockets. He didn't like this at all, but there was little more to do than wait. Suddenly, R2-D2 started beeping and warbling. Rarity looked up from where she was sitting on the moss. "What did he say?" she asked, her eyebrow raised. C-3PO looked at her. "Miss Rarity, Artoo says that somebody is coming!"

That got Han's attention. He pointed at the guards who were stationed at various points around the edge of the clearing, gesturing at them to raise the alert, then got into position with the rest of the soldiers to attack whatever might be heading their way.

He watched for what seemed like minutes, but soon his patience was rewarded by the sight of a familiar man jogging toward them on one of the few clear paths through the forest. "Luke!" shouted Han with a wide grin as his friend walked up and greeted him, but the smile quickly disappeared as he realized Luke was alone. "Where's Leia?"

Luke looked as surprised as the rest of the party. "What, she didn't come back?"

"I thought she was with you," said Han, the concern he felt slipping into his voice.

"We got separated!" said Luke defensively. "Hey, we'd better go look for her."

Han motioned a commander over. "Take the squad ahead," he said as he started to walk off with Luke. "We'll meet at the shield generator at oh-three-hundred."

"Come on Artoo," said Luke, "we'll need your scanners." The Rebel forces all started to pick up their gear and move out, following along close behind them.

The barrel-shaped astromech bleeped in response. As the ponies joined Han and Luke, C-3PO waddled along behind them with R2-D2 in tow, gesticulating at his master. "Don't worry, Master Luke. We know what to do!" Turning to look at his companion, he muttered, "And you said it was pretty here. Gah!"

"Leia!"

Applejack had been searching for the princess, but there wasn't much to go on. She didn't even know which direction they'd come. Suddenly she smelled something that reminded her of the battle she'd had with the Empire months ago. Turning her head left and right, she spotted a few wisps of acrid smoke trailing through the forest. She hoped it didn't mean what she thought it meant.

Trotting gently so as not to disturb the trail, she followed the smoke to a smoldering tree. A fairly large chunk had been blasted out, and mechanical parts littered the ground, but there was no sign of Leia. Applejack started to get worried as a search of the immediate area turned up nothing. "Leia!" she cried as she looked around frantically. "Oh, this ain't good." She glanced in random directions, calling her name out, but nothing answered. Darn those camo-pattern dusters they were wearin'!

After what felt like hours of searching, Applejack spotted something that didn't belong laying next to a moss-covered log. "Leia!" she shouted as she knelt next to the princess. She started to nudge her. "C'mon! Get up!" But before she could arouse the princess, she felt an impact on her head and slumped to the ground.

The cloudiness in her head started to clear as Leia awakened to the sound of a strange alien dialect being spoken. As she looked up, she saw what her addled brain first assumed to be a stuffed toy leaning over a bright orange lump of fur in the moss. The toy started to poke at the lump with its spear. "Hey!" she shouted.

The toy turned around, and Leia saw that it was some kind of short, furry alien armed with a spear and wearing a leather hood. The dark brown fur on its body contrasted with the cream-colored fur on its face, and its big, wide eyes were admittedly disarming. Are we just attracting all the cute critters in the galaxy to our cause now?

As she signed with relief, she looked over at Applejack and walked over to pick her up, but the alien growled at her and held her at bay with its spear. "I have to help her," said Leia gently, trying her best to appear as non-threatening as possible. The alien didn't back down.

Leia looked at Applejack. She didn't appear to be seriously hurt. Sighing again, Leia sat on the log next to her. "Well," she said to the creature, not really expecting him to understand her, "looks like I'm stuck here. Trouble is, I don't know where here is. Maybe you could help me."

The alien cocked its head.

Leia patted the moss next to her. "C'mon. Sit down."

The creature pointed his spear at her and growled low.

"I promise I won't hurt you, now come here!" He growled louder and again shoved the weapon toward her. Leia smiled at the little creature in front of her. It reminded her of a pet Jarkeel she'd had as a little girl. It would sit in her lap, its enormous brown eyes staring quizzically up at her. It would tilt its furry little head from side to side when she made unusual noises, making its big, floppy ears flip up and down. And when she wanted it to come to her, she always knew the trick to get it to obey. "Alright," she said to the creature. "You want something to eat?" She dug into her rations kit and pulled out one of the small food disks from a pouch in the side, then held it out to the creature. The little furry alien looked at the piece of dried ration and started to move cautiously toward Leia. "That's right," she said as he made his way up onto the log. She took a bite from it to prove that it was harmless. He inched closer. "Come on," said Leia gently, as though she was talking to her pet. Getting as close as he could without daring to get next to her, the creature grabbed the piece of food from her hand and started to sniff it, then he took a tiny nibble of it. When he was sure it wasn't a trick, he sat on the log and began to munch on the disk. "Goonda," he said. Leia wasn't sure what it meant, but judging by the tone he used it meant that he liked it. Satisfied that he wasn't going to run off, she started to remove her helmet.

"Aaaiiee!!" screamed the creature. He jumped off the log in a flurry and again pointed his spear at her with a growl. The sudden jumpiness of the critter startled Leia, but she guessed why he was upset. She held out the helmet so he could examine it. "Look, it's a hat. It's not going to hurt you. Look."

With trepidation, the creature slowly walked back over and climbed back on the log, then he took the helmet in his hands and started to look it over. "You're a jittery little thing, aren't you," said Leia, more to herself than anything else.

Suddenly the alien became alert, dropping the helmet with a cry and grabbing his spear. Leia looked at him in surprise. "What is it?" she asked in confusion. He replied, "Ah Kyah-tah."

Leia scanned the forest, trying to ascertain what it was he had seen or heard. She looked between the trees and into the bushes. The damp, earthy smell of the forest filled her nostrils. She strained her eyes, trying to see what had alerted the little guy. Seeing nothing, she turned to look at the alien. He seemed to still be on alert, meaning that whatever was out there was still─

A sudden blast of laser energy exploded against the log they were sitting on. Both of them tumbled back behind it and crouched. The alien was the first to raise his head up to peer over the log. "Eee-cha wamma."

Leia drew her blaster and popped up over the log, squinting her eyes to see who had fired at her. Try as she might, her attacker was too camouflaged to make out. Another shot rang out in the clearing, hitting the log and causing them both to duck again. This time the creature rolled under the log and hid himself away.

"Freeze!"

Leia whipped her head around to face the scout trooper who was pointing his blaster at her. "Come on, get up," he commanded, taking her blaster as she stood. He glanced over at the still-out Applejack laying in the grass. Below them both, under the log, the alien was waiting for an opportunity. Off in the clearing, the scout's partner who had been shooting at them walked into view. "Go get your ride and take 'em back to base," he said. "Yes, sir," replied the other trooper as he went back to his bike. Then the scout turned back to watch Leia and make sure she didn't try anything funny.

They both stared each other down. Leia hoped the trooper would make a mistake, but she knew better than to expect or count on it. Still, something had to give.

That something was a spear coming out from under the log and smacking into the trooper's ankle. "What the... ?"

Acting quickly, Leia grabbed a broken limb laying next to the log and brought it upside the trooper's head, knocking him unconscious. As he fell she grabbed her pistol out of his hand and started to fire at the other scout, trying to score a hit. Suddenly the bike exploded, thrusting the trooper who was riding it into the air and onto the ground, the impact snapping his neck. Slowly the remains of the bike settled in the forest, the skirmish over.

The creature then slid himself out from under the log and saw the exploded speederbike and the downed troopers. He gave a cry of victory, pumping his spear into the air.

"Come on," said Leia as she helped him down off the log and walked over to Applejack. Bending down and hoisting the pony up and over her shoulders, she looked down at the alien and said, "We gotta get out of here." She started to walk in what she thought was the direction of the camp, but before she got far, she heard the little creature start to chatter at her insistently. He pointed in another direction. Her curiosity piqued, Leia decided to follow him.

Aboard the Death Star, Lord Vader was stepping out of a turbolift into the dark chamber in which the Emperor brooded. Striding across the catwalk leading away from the lift and up the stairs, his chest was tightened and his mind filled with fear. His master would not be pleased that he had disobeyed him and left the Executor. But he had a concern, a matter that he thought would only be appropriate to discuss in person.

He stood across from the throne, its back facing him. He waited.

The shadow in the throne spoke. "I told you to remain on the command ship."

"A small Rebel force has penetrated the shield and landed on Endor," said Vader.

"Yes, I know," replied the shadow impatiently as the throne rotated to face him.

"My son is with them."

Palpatine's eyes squinted ever so slightly. "Are you sure?"

"I have felt him, my master," said Vader.

"Strange that I have not," said the Emperor. He leaned forward. "I wonder if your feelings on this matter are clear, Lord Vader."

Vader's anger rose at the implication. He was the Dark Lord of the Sith, and his control over the Force was matched by no one save the Emperor himself. He sated the fires burning in his chest and calmed himself enough to speak. "They are clear, my master."

"Then you must go to the sanctuary moon and wait for him," the Emperor said as though it were obvious.

"He will come to me?" asked Vader. The last time Luke and he met, the boy had lost a hand and chose death over joining Vader and the Empire.

The Emperor leaned back in his chair. "I have foreseen it. His compassion for you will be his undoing. He will come to you, and then you will bring him before me."

The condescending tone with which he was being addressed, as though the Emperor were speaking to an underling instead of a friend, was causing Vader's anger to rise again ─ which he supposed was the point ─ but he calmed himself and said, "As you wish." As he left the throne room and his master, his mind was on his son. He desperately wanted his son to join him, and he knew that with the proper ... persuasion, he would.

Walking through the woods, Luke spotted something unnatural in the ferns next to a large fallen tree. Bending down to pick it up, he saw that it was a helmet, and not an Imperial one. It was the one that Leia had been wearing when he last saw her. Immediately his mind conjured up images of Leia in an Imperial holding cell, a torture droid hovering over her and doing unspeakable things to her. His vision was thankfully cut short as he heard Han cry, "Luke!"

He ran toward Han's voice and passed the droids. C-3PO said, "Oh, Master Luke." The tone 3PO used was melancholy, and when he looked where Han was standing he could see why. There in the clearing was the mangled wreckage of a speederbike. Rarity and Twilight were standing next to Han and looking at the crashed bike with concern. Chewbacca moaned balefully.

"There's two more wrecked speeders back there," said Luke, then he held up the helmet. "And I found this." He tossed it to Han.

The smuggler's face grimaced, his forehead furrowed. "I'm afraid the Artoo's sensors can find no trace of Princess Leia," said C-3PO, R2-D2 mournfully wailing beside him.

"I hope she's alright," Han said. Twilight put a hoof on his thigh, sharing his concern, and Luke nodded in agreement.

Suddenly Chewbacca howled and walked off into the woods. "What, Chewie?" said Han, wondering why his friend was suddenly not concerned with Leia's whereabouts. Chewbacca didn't stop, however. "What, Chewie?" repeated Han, his voice raising to get the Wookie's attention. But Chewie didn't stop. Luke, Han and the ponies all followed him into the woods, where he eventually happened upon a large branch jammed into the ground. When Han saw it, he immediately knew why Chewie hadn't stopped. Wedged into the crook of the branch was the remains of an animal of some kind, its meat exposed and the smell of its flesh wafting into the air.

Han's face was a mask of confusion. "Hey, I don't get it. It's just a dead animal, Chewie."

As he said that, the Wookie grabbed at the hunk of meat on the branch, not realizing it was connected to a cord of hemp. Luke, however, noticed. "Chewie, no! Wait, don't!"

His words were drowned out by the noise of the mechanism holding the net down as it retracted up into the canopy, hoisting Luke, Han, Chewbacca, the droids, and the ponies into the air.

"Nice work," said Han, the sarcasm cutting into the air like a knife. "Great, Chewie! Great, always thinkin' with yer stomach!"

"Will you take it easy?" said Luke. "Let's just figure out a way to get out of this thing! Han, can you reach my lightsaber?" He knew he could get them out of this mess if he could just grab his weapon, but his arms were caught in the net and there was no way he could free them.

"Yeah, sure!" said Han, anxious to get out of the net. He reached around and tried to maneuver Luke's waist around so he could extricate the metal baton at his hip.

Wedged between R2-D2 and Twilight, Rarity was slowly freeing herself from the trap. Wriggling her way out from between the droid and her friend, she suddenly snapped free. "Ha! Worry not, my friends! I shall free us from this abominable device!" As she examined the mechanism of the trap, Artoo popped out a small circular saw out of one of his many compartments. When Rarity saw this, she bopped the droid on the head. The audacity of the gesture caused Artoo to pause what he was doing and slowly turn his head to look at her with his radar eye. "This requires a more delicate touch," she said simply, then began to charge her horn and aim it at the system of pulleys at the top of the net.

Twilight happened to look down just as she was doing this. "Rarity! No!"

Rarity however had already released the spell. It impacted the wooden pulley and turned it into a small sculpture of a pony. Suddenly there was no more support for the net. "Uh-oh," said Rarity.

With a crack, the entire assembly plummeted to the forest floor, with everyone sprawling over the moss and ferns.

Groaning, they all glared at Rarity, who was standing up shakily, a sheepish grin on her face.

Before they could mob-rush her, she spotted something moving in the bushes. Squinting, she realized that she recognized what they were: Ewoks. "Oh! It's our friends!"

Her welcome was not matched by the Ewoks as they surrounded the Rebels and pointed spears at them. They all had a decidedly aggressive look on their faces and muttered amongst themselves as the moved in. "Okay," she said as she backed up into the small huddle of ponies standing next to the other Rebels, "maybe they're not our friends." Celestia laid on the grass next to them, her flowing mane waving past the ponies. She extended her wings to cover them.

Luke and Han both started to sit up. Having never seen Ewoks before, they both reacted with bemusement at the small creatures who wore animal skins and skulls. As Han started to pick himself up off the grass, an Ewok with dark grey striped fur and an animal skull on his head shouted, "Ee-cha eh!" He thrust his spear into Han's face.

"Hey!" said Han as he shoved the spear to the side, "Point that thing someplace else!"

An Ewok with a tanned leather headdress started to argue with the grey-striped one, and then he pointed his spear at Han again, repeating his warning.

Han shouted, "Hey!" again and grabbed the spear, drawing his blaster in the process. Before he could fire off a shot, Luke said, "Han, don't! We'll be alright."

The grey Ewok wrestled with Han for a moment before common sense won out and Han let go of the spear. As he did, one of the Ewoks came up behind him and grabbed his blaster. "Chewie," said Luke, "Give 'em your crossbow." Reluctantly, and not without growling out a stern warning not to mess with it, Chewie handed over his weapon, an act which appeared to satisfy the Ewoks.

Suddenly C-3PO sat up, his systems finally having kicked into gear after the impact. "Oh, my head," he exclaimed, which caused all the Ewoks to gasp and take a step back. "Oh my goodness," said 3PO. He turned slowly and looked at all the tiny creatures around him, wondering why they were reacting that way.

Two of the Ewoks started to chatter, and when they reached a conclusion all of them started to chant a mantra and bow to the droid. Twilight and Rarity both looked around at Ewoks, as did Pinkie Pie. Celestia maintained a stoic attitude. Luke frowned at the Ewoks as Han sat and smirked at their behavior.

"Treetoh dograh," said 3PO. "Ee-soyotoh abunah nokup." Two of the Ewoks nodded in agreement.

"Do you understand anything they're saying?" asked Luke.

"Oh, yes, Master Luke!" said C-3PO proudly. "Remember that I am fluent in over six million forms of com─"

"What are you telling them?" asked Han.

3PO paused for a moment. "Hello, I think." He cocked his head. "I could be mistaken ─ they're using a very primitive dialect ─ but I do believe they think I am some sort of god."

Luke had to suppress the grin on his face at the thought of anyone mistaking a droid for a god, which was more than Chewbacca was capable of. He snickered and laughed to himself as Twilight and Rarity giggled. Even Celestia chuckled at the idea. Han put on his "forced patience" face and looked at 3PO with a rather frustrated grin. "Well, why don't you use your divine influence and get us outta this?" he said.

"I beg your pardon, General Solo," said 3PO in his usual insufferable snootiness, "but that just wouldn't be proper."

"Proper?" repeated Han.

"It's against my programming to impersonate a deity," replied C-3PO.

Han shot up off the ground, his anger at the droid flaring up. "Why you... " He was cut off by a half dozen spears being pointed at his face, each one tipped with a razor-sharp stone head. Putting up his hands and freezing where he was, he said, "My mistake." He looked at one of the Ewoks and gestured at 3PO. "He's an old friend of mine."

Author's Note

Heh, it's been a while since I updated this thing, huh? Sorry about that. Been quite busy with real life problems, not to mention the fact that I had to rewrite it twice. Both times were because I had forgotten that I left Fluttershy, then Rainbow Dash on the command ship in the last chapter! Silly me... that's what happens when you leave a story for too long, I guess.

But I hope you're not too upset with me for leaving you hanging. Hopefully it won't take this much time to write the next chapter.

Short Help

Chapter 24

“The diminutive species called Ewoks by taxonomists - I'm sadly unfamiliar with the term they used to describe themselves - were a curiosity for me. In many ways, we are alike. We are small by human standards, we try to live in harmony with nature, and we tend to have our own family units that mean the world to us. But we area also quite different... aside from their obvious physiological differences, Ewoks also have something we don't: a standing military. The Wonderbolts are of course good fighters and the princesses have their royal guard. But the Ewoks were all capable warriors, and thanks to their ingenuity, resourcefulness, and determination, they were some of the best allies that we had during our fight for freedom.”

-Twilight Sparkle, On Extra-Galactic Voyages, pp. 797, 823

Tied to various lengths of log, the Rebels were all carried to the Ewok's village. They all knew better than to protest. Despite the creatures' short height, there were many more of them and they were all armed with sharp tools. Hanging by her bound-up hooves from a pole leaning up against the largest hut, Twilight looked around at their surroundings and tried to make out what the Ewoks intended to do to them. Judging by the large bonfire being built and what looked like the rests for a roasting spit being set up on either side of it, she had a feeling that they would soon become meals for the Ewoks. Swallowing hard, she looked to the right of her at Rarity’s flanks swaying side to side as the little aliens hauled her next to Twilight and stood her up beside her. To her left, Princess Celestia was also tied up, her wings strapped to her sides by ropes and her crown, breastplate and greaves put into a makeshift basket. Twilight’s jaw dropped as she craned her neck and suddenly saw that C-3PO had not only been allowed to remain free, but now sat upon a wood throne that three of the Ewoks carried using poles on either side.

R2-D2 emitted an annoyed warble as the makeshift frame he was tied to was set upright next to the large dias where 3PO was set down. Soon after, Pinkie Pie was set down next to him. Two Ewoks stood beside, holding the excitable pony still. She had been gagged soon after the Ewoks discovered her talkative nature. It did little to muffle her whining noises, however.

“Well,” said Rarity, “This is most unpleasant!”

“No kidding,” said Han Solo, who was being taken toward the fire pit. As the pole he was tied to was hoisted up and set upon the spit rests, he looked up and saw that a rather important-looking Ewok was now approaching the dias where C-3PO sat on his throne. He shook his head. “I have a really bad feeling about this,” he muttered.

Twilight looked up at 3PO, who was saying something important-sounding to the Ewok with the headdress. The chief responded, waving a silver object that she recognized as Luke’s lightsaber like he was emphasizing his point.

Han craned his neck to look directly at C-3PO. “What did he say?” The irritation at his predicament was heard clearly in his voice.

“I’m rather embarrassed, General Solo,” replied the golden droid. “But it appears you are to be the main course at a banquet in my honor. Furthermore, the ponies are to be domesticated as pack animals for the tribe.”

As soon as he concluded the statement, Rarity started to strain against the bindings on her legs. “I demand you ruffians unhoof me this instant! I will not be domesticated like some sort of horse! If you don’t let me go immediately, I’ll...” Her words trailed off as the point of a spear was thrust into her face. Having seen the kind of damage those spears were capable of inflicting on Stormtroopers, she knew better than to pursue the matter further. She merely swallowed hard, then chuckled as sweat glistened on her forehead. “I-I was merely suggesting that you all, erm, reconsider your position on using us as pack animals, heh-heh.”

Chewbacca howled in protest at the idea of the Ewoks eating his friend, but they did little good as the diminutive villagers began building the pile of logs under Captain Solo.

Rarity’s eyes were locked on the massive bonfire that was being assembled. She had no desire to see a human, even an uncouth brute like Han Solo, roasted alive in a fire. Her stomach turned at the thought of seeing him, screaming in agony as the flames licked him and seared his flesh. She squeezed her eyes, wishing she could banish that thought from her mind.

As the drums were beaten, a commotion was heard over by the main house. Craning her neck, Twilight strained to see what was causing the Ewoks to make such a fuss. Their chorus of “Oohs” seemed to suggest someone important was approaching. When the gathering of aliens parted, she could see that it was the human princess. Surprise and relief flooded her as Leia came out of the hut. She was now clad in a plain tan gown, and her hair had been taken out of the bun it had been arranged in and hung about her like a veil.

“Leia!” said Luke as he saw the Rebel princess.

Han Solo echoed his happiness at seeing Leia. Shortly after she appeared, Applejack trotted up behind her. When they tried to approach their friends, the Ewoks all held up spears and knives. Try as they might, neither of them could get through the small group of tribal warriors. “Hey!” shouted Applejack. “Y’all were all hospitable-like before! How come you’re actin’ like this?”

“Yes,” said Leia, “these are our friends!” Their protests fell on deaf ears. The small beings remained steadfast despite Leia and Applejack’s pleas. “Threepio! Tell them they must be set free!”

The golden droid tried to convey Leia’s words, but as he spoke, the leader of the tribe debated him and ordered more logs for the bonfire.

Han Solo watched the Ewoks pile more wood, then looked up at C-3PO with a scowl. “Somehow I got the feeling that didn’t help us very much!”

“Threepio,” said Twilight, “can you tell them that if they don’t let us go that you’ll use your magic and rain death and destruction on them?” Luke and Rarity glanced at her in confusion, both wondering what she had planned, but then realization dawned on them.

“Magic?” repeated C-3PO. “What magic? I couldn’t possibly do anything like─”

“Just tell them, Threepio,” said Luke. He looked intently at the droid, then glanced at Twilight and gave her a subtle wink. She smiled back at him, hoping that what she had planned would work.

C-3PO thought for a moment about what he would say, then suddenly he exclaimed a rather dangerous-sounding phrase in Ewokese. Every Ewok in the village turned and stared in silence as the droid made many gestures to accompany the dire warning he was giving them, ending it with the sound of an explosion. All of the Ewoks let out a shriek.

For many moments the crowd was consumed in muted conversation as the tiny aliens considered what he said. Twilight swallowed, hoping that that would be enough to get them to release them. She watched as the village elders talked amongst themselves, and it seemed like they were going to decide to let them go.

Then the chief gestured out and commanded them to continue. The drums and the music swelled again and the Ewoks resumed building the bonfire. “You see, Mistress Twilight? They didn’t believe me! Just as I said they wouldn’t!”

Twilight just closed her eyes and concentrated, then suddenly several colorful explosions lit up the night sky. Spirals of light, blooms of color, and rays of sunshine turned the drab browns and greens of the forest into a sea of colors. They were all harmless, but the sight of the magic caused the village to panic. Luke smiled and then closed his own eyes and levitated C-3PO.

“Help!” shouted the droid as he began to spin around and waved his hands. “Somebody help! Master Luke! Mistress Twilight! Ah, ah!” His shouts of panic only served to make the Ewoks even more afraid, and as Twilight and Luke opened their eyes to observe the chaos, they both smiled simultaneously. Celestia beamed at her student, pleased that she had been so clever.

While the show of magic was going on, Twilight watched the chief shout orders to his villagers, and quickly they came out from where they were hiding. They went about the village, cutting the Rebels’ bindings. Rarity rubbed her ankles as she was slowly helped down. “Alright!” she said, marching toward the chief with a dangerous scowl on her face. “I have had just about enough torment from you, and if you ever, ever tie me up like that again I will personally hunt you down and make you wear the most hideous shade of neon your primitive little eyes have ever seen!” The tan colored Ewok did nothing as he was lectured, his eyes glued to the white pony in front of him.

Twilight giggled, then trotted up next to Rarity and smiled at her. “Um, Rarity? I think he gets the message.”

As Rarity nodded in acknowledgment, they both heard a shout from across the village square. When they glanced over, they both saw R2-D2 chasing after a black-and-gray striped Ewok shooting bolts of electricity into him and making him hop and shriek. They both shared a laugh at the small alien’s expense.

After Han’s bindings were cut, Leia ran up and embraced him with a passionate kiss, causing the Ewoks to “Ooh” and “Aah”.

As C-3PO was gently lowered to the dias again, he slowly dropped his arms and stared out blankly. “My goodness...” he said to himself, his voice carrying the relief he felt at being alive.

Luke, Han, Chewie and Leia all embraced each other, thankful to be free again. Applejack ambled over to her own friends, a grin on her face and her hat cocked to the side. “Golly, that was some fancy magic you did there, Twilight,” she said as she walked up to her purple friend. “Ah didn’t know ya could levitate that droid and do them fireworks at the same time!”

“That wasn’t me,” replied Twilight humbly. “I mean, I did the fireworks, but Luke levitated C-3PO. I’m just glad it worked.”

“As am I,” said Celestia as she wrapped a wing around her student. “Your cleverness has helped save the day, my young student. I’m glad my lessons have taught you so well.”

The praise from her teacher caused Twilight Sparkle to grin from ear to ear, and soon Celestia’s words of esteem were joined by her friends’s own cheers.

As Luke and his companions finally released each other, the young Jedi turned and looked at his droid, who was still sitting dazed on the litter. “Thanks Threepio,” he said with a smile.

“I...” said the droid as he shook his head, “never knew I had it in me.

Later that evening saw the start of a celebration. Not the one the Ewoks had intended to start, but a small party nonetheless. Rather than cooking the Rebels for dinner, they had decided to give them a chance to tell their harrowing story. The humans talked with each other for some time about who would regale the Ewoks with their tale, and while Han was quite experienced with spinning tall tales about his own exploits, he was still upset at the aliens for nearly roasting him alive. “Besides,” he said, “I don’t want to have to go through a droid to tell the story. It looses something in the translation.”

So it was decided that C-3PO would deliver the tale of how the Rebel Alliance had arisen to defeat the evil Galactic Empire. The Ewoks were not unfamiliar with the Imperials, having had many encounters with their walkers and troopers, and the story Threepio told about the civil war confirmed to the Ewoks that the Rebels were indeed good.

He began by telling them about a battle that happened years ago above the desert world of Tatooine. He talked about how Princess Leia hid the plans to the Death Star in R2-D2, who along with C-3PO stowed away in an escape pod to land on Tatooine and find Obi-Wan Kenobi, an old Jedi Master who had served in the Clone Wars with Leia’s father. Instead, they found Luke Skywalker, and together they joined Obi-Wan on a journey with Han Solo and Chewbacca aboard their freighter, the Millennium Falcon. Threepio told them about being captured on the Death Star and rescuing Princess Leia, but then escaping at the cost of Obi-Wan, who battled Darth Vader and gave his life for them to get away. He talked about the battle of the Death Star and the station’s subsequent demise, and then about the assault on Echo Base by Imperial walkers. He told them of how Luke Skywalker flew a snowspeeder to defeat them, and how Threepio, Han, Leia and Chewie all flew to Cloud City, where they again encountered Darth Vader. The story continued as C-3PO told them how Han was frozen in carbonite, and then later rescued by his friends from Jabba the Hutt around the maw of the Sarlaac. He concluded his story and bowed to the village elders.

No sooner had C-3PO concluded than did Pinkie Pie jump up and shout, “My turn!”

“Pinkie!” shouted Twilight. “Sit down!”

Celestia leaned toward her student. “I think that the village elders would love to hear our story as well,” she said, then looked at Threepio, who translated her unspoken request.

After a moment of debate between the senior Ewoks, he turned back and looked at Celestia. “Yes, Your Highness. The chief and his ruling council would be most pleased to hear your story, and I will provide the translation, of course.”

Upon hearing this, Pinkie squealed, then said, “Okay! So there we were, in Twilight’s library, when boom! Rarity’s spell made us all go woo-woo-woo! Around and around in a big, swirly thing! And then we somehow ended up here, on this very planet! I dropped in next to Twilight and gave her a great big scare! Ah-ha-ha-ha, she was so scared!”

Twilight blushed, her crimson cheeks nearly matching the redness on Rarity’s face. C-3PO spoke as fast as his translation circuits could give him words, but he was clearly struggling to convey Pinkie Pie’s story.

“Anyway,” said Pinkie as her laughter died down, “then we came across this robot who led us to an Imperial base, and we tried to fight them so we could rescue Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, but they caught us and made us do all these awful things! Dumb, meanie-mean-pants bad guys! Then we got rescued by you cute little furry guys, and met up with this human named Junas Turner, who took us away in a starship! We had to go to a space station, an asteroid, a super-hot place, and then we went to this planet with a cool building with all these awesome games in it, and I won a lot of money there, but the robot guy told me that it wasn’t mine because he said I cheated, and then Rainbow Dash said ‘No way!’ and got us the money. Then the big mean Imperials stole our ship, and we had to find this pirate guy to give us a ride, but then he betrayed us and tried to sell us to these guys who wanted to take us to the Empire! We ran and ran and finally got away in a ship, then we got captured by this guy called Boba Fett, and I thought he was a bad guy, but then he turned out to be a good guy. And then we went to this planet with a great big ocean, and we lost Rarity for a second, but then we found her again when we went to this big underwater Rebel base thingy, and then the Empire came and tried to get the Rebels to hand us over, but they took us into space, and then Twilight and Celestia took out one of those big Imperial ships with their magic, and then we met these weird fishy aliens and then had to do a lot of missions for the Rebels. Those were super fun! But then we had to come back here to take out the Death Star, and here we are!”

As she finished her story, Threepio staggered a bit and held a hand to his golden head, relieved that she had finally stopped. I might need a tune-up for my central auditory processor and vocabulator after dealing with that pony’s motormouth!

As the droid walked to the edge of the room and sat down so his circuits could cool, the tribal leaders began talking amongst themselves. Many gestures and shakes of the head came from the small aliens and their voices, while quiet, were insistent. One Ewok would appear to be arguing against something, and then two others would argue back at him.

Han and Leia watched as they debated. “What’s going on?” asked Han.

“I don’t know,” replied Leia.

“Maybe they’re trying to decide if they should just shoo us away,” said Rarity.

Twilight said, “I don’t think so.” Then she looked at Luke to ask his opinion, but upon seeing him she stopped. The Jedi seemed to be a thousand miles away, not paying any attention to his surroundings. This was curious, but maybe he was just thinking about the mission that had brought them here.

Soon the chief quieted the others and stopped the debate. He raised his hands and shook his staff as he said something to the other members of the council. When he finished speaking, a drummer banged on his drum, apparently as a way of sealing what the elder Ewok had said. As soon as he did, the rest of the gathering of diminutive creatures began to talk amongst themselves, apparently happy with their decision.

“Wonderful!” said C-3PO. “We are now a part of the tribe!”

As soon as he said this, an Ewok walked up to Applejack and Rarity and hugged them both in a warm embrace. “Um, thank you,” said Rarity, wishing that the creature had bathed properly before he got that close to her.

“Yer too kind,” said Applejack as she tried to get away, experiencing the same nasal discomfort that Rarity was.

After a hug had been given to Twilight as well, she looked back at Luke, only to see that he had disappeared into the forest. She frowned. Why would he walk off like that? Was something bothering him? Had he sensed something in the Force? She hadn’t felt anything, but maybe he was more sensitive than she was to the disturbances in the current. In any case, something had sufficiently bothered him that he decided to leave, maybe to find a quiet spot. Apparently Leia had noticed the same thing, for Twilight saw her walk out and follow the man. She wanted to leave them alone, but something told her to follow him. She considered ignoring her intuition, but considering how disastrous that had been in the past, she decided to go with her gut and see what was up.

Making sure no one saw her, she quietly backed out of the crowd and followed the Jedi Master wherever he was going.

Han Solo walked up to Chewbacca, trying to get away from all the small celebratory creatures who tried to welcome him to the tribe. The Wookie growled out a low complaint, to which Han replied, “Well, short help’s better’n no help at all, Chewie.” His attempt to escape his newfound friends proved futile as one of the little aliens grasped his hands and started to dance with him to the music.

“He says the scouts are going to show us the quickest way to the shield generator,” said C-3PO, who was translating what the chief was saying to Han.

The smuggler quickly peeled the exuberant Ewok off his leg and then said, “Good. How far is it?”

The droid just stared blankly.

“Ask him,” said Han, pointing impatiently at the chief. As Threepio began to translate Han’s request, the man spun him back around. “We need some fresh supplies, too.” Again Threepio started to translate, but Han spun him around once again. “Try and get our weapons back.” With a third attempt to translate, Threepio again found himself whirled around to face Han. “Hurry up, will ya? I haven’t got all day.”

The droid did a double-take, hoping that this was the last time he would be interrupted, and after biting off a comeback regarding his job and how Han was interfering with it, he turned back around to continue the translation.

“Well,” said Applejack, “Ah sure am glad we got outta that mess.”

“And these little guys are so cute!” Pinkie Pie was looking at a small Ewok infant sitting in a basket. She tickled it under the chin. “Who’s a cutie patootie? You are! Yes you are!” The little creature appeared to be enjoying her treatment, giggling and gurgling at her antics.

“I have to admit,” said Rarity as she watched Pinkie Pie, “they are rather adorable.” She d’awwed at the infant as it played with Pinkie’s hoof. “Aww, he’s quite cute, isn’t he, Twilight?” As she looked in the direction her friend had been in moments before, she was surprised to discover the seat empty. “Twilight? Where did that mare go?” Then she noticed something else. “Princess Celestia? My goodness, where are those two?”

“Who cares?” said Applejack as she smiled down at the baby. “They’re probably just enjoying the night air and having one o’ their talks. I say let ‘em have a minute to themselves.”

Rarity began to protest, but she thought better of it and then put on a smile as she looked at the adorable infant in the basket.

Luke stood for a long time on the bridge outside the main plaza, far away from the music and merriment, the dark, misty forest a mirror of his own black thoughts. His mind was a soup of emotion and tortured feelings. Vader had been telling the truth about their relationship when he had claimed to be his father. Yoda said as much, and Ben confirmed it. The thought however was weighing on him, filling his soul with a black inkiness that wouldn’t go away. He pushed it out, tried to think about the mission and how the Empire’s day was at an end. But it persisted. And now it threatened to turn from a shapeless dread to real danger. He knew that Vader knew they were there. There was no secret to their plans anymore. And he could see into the future far enough to know that soon the dark lord would be visiting the moon in order to confront him.

And if the man encountered Luke while he was near his friends, they would be caught in his blazing wake and be killed or captured. There would be no mercy. Vader would use his love for his friends to force him to join the dark side.

As he contemplated the danger he had put everyone in, he felt a presence in the Force coming up behind him. A soothing, familiar presence.

“Luke, what’s wrong?” said Leia as she walked up to the intersection where Luke stood.

He turned to face her, unsure of what words to use to explain what he was thinking. “Leia,” he began, trying to find a way to talk to her about what was on his mind. He sat down on a nearby bench and looked her in the eyes. “Do you remember your mother? Your real mother?”

“Just a little bit,” she replied, sitting beside him and shrugging. “She died while I was very young.”

“What do you remember?”

“Just... images, really. Feelings,” she said, thinking back to a time long ago.

“Tell me.”

The look on his face told her that nothing would stop him from dredging up these memories of a time when she was but a toddler. She thought about the old holograms that her parents used to show her. About the descriptions and stories her father told about the young senator he had known who gave birth to her. “She was... very beautiful. Kind. But... sad.” She frowned at him. “Why are you asking me this?”

He stared off, his voice as though he were deep in thought. “I have no memory of my mother. I never knew her.”

She waited for him to go on, but something was clearly wrong and Leia didn’t know what it was. “Luke, tell me. What’s troubling you.”

Suddenly he seemed to return to the here and now. He locked eyes with her. “Vader’s here. Now. On this moon.”

“How do you know?”

“I felt his presence.” He leaned in a bit. “He’s come for me. He can feel when I’m near. That’s why I have to go. As long as I stay, I’m endangering the group and our mission here.” He paused. “I have to face him.”

“Why?”

Luke took several seconds to answer, and looked down as he did. He didn’t want to look her in the eye when he told her, and as he stared at the ground he heard himself say, “He’s my father.” When he looked up, her face was a mixture of confusion and horror.

“Your father,” she whispered.

“There’s more,” he said. “It won’t be easy for you to hear it, but you must. If I don’t make it back, you’re the only hope for the Alliance.”

“Luke, don’t talk that way,” she said. “You have a power I don’t understand, and could never have.”

He shook his head slowly. “You’re wrong, Leia. You have that power, too. In time, you’ll learn to use it as I have.” Again he looked away as he thought about the words he was about to say. “The Force is strong in my family. My father has it. I have it. And m...” He trailed off, but then looked at Leia intently and said, “My sister has it.” Moments passed as Leia slowly realized the implication of what he was saying and the look he gave her. “Yes,” he said. “It’s you Leia.”

“I know,” she said to herself. Then she looked at him and said, “Somehow... I’ve always known.”

“Then you know why I have to face him.”

“No!” she exclaimed, then stood up and looked at him angrily. “Luke, run away! Far away! If he can feel your presence, then leave this place! I wish I could go with you.”

He stood up and smiled at her. “No you don’t. You’ve always been strong.”

Her voice cracked. “But why must you confront him?”

“Because there is good in him, I’ve felt it,” said Luke, holding her hand. “He won’t turn me over to the Emperor. I can save him, I can turn him back... to the good side.” He shook his head insistently. “I have to try.”

With that, he gave her a small kiss on the cheek, then slowly turned around and began to walk off. Leia held onto his hand as long as she could, then suddenly he let go. She just watched him walk, the weight of what he’d said about Vader and herself finally hitting home as he walked down one of the bridges into the night. As she stared into the darkness, she heard someone walk up behind her.

“Hey,” said Han as he glanced from looking at Luke to Leia. “What’s going on?”

She turned to look at him, and wanted to tell him everything, but she knew if she did she would likely break down in front of him. “Nothing,” she said, then she turned away. “I-I just want to be alone for a little while.”

“Nothing?” said Han, not believing her for a second. He walked up and sat down on the bench next to her. “C’mon, tell me. What’s going on?”

She looked at him for a long moment, her face seeming to have aged a thousand years. She tried to work up the courage to say what was on her mind. “I... I can’t tell you,” was all she could say without her voice cracking again.

He pointed off in the direction Luke was walking. “Could you tell Luke? Is that who you could tell?!” he said.

She turned away, choking on the snappy comeback she tried to say. She couldn’t let him see her break down. She was Leia Organa, leader of the free peoples of the Rebellion. She wasn’t about to cry like some little girl.

Han threw up his hand at her and began to walk off. She gazed at him for a moment, hoping he’d come back, but then dropped her gaze as she realized her emotions were starting to get the better of her.

As he got to the center of the bridge, Han stopped and turned around, then he walked back to her side and looked at her with an apologetic expression. “I’m sorry,” he said quietly.

She turned slowly to meet his gaze, not knowing what to say. Then suddenly she reached out and enveloped herself around him. “Hold me.”

Without saying a word and feeling awkward, Han reached around and returned her embrace.

A few meters away, Twilight Sparkle was watching the whole affair, her face contorted in horror. She’d heard Luke talk about Vader, and then she’d heard him say the awful truth about himself: that Darth Vader, dark lord of the Sith... was Luke’s father.

The news of Luke’s heritage hit Twilight hard. Her knees buckled and her jaw dropped. How? How could that evil corruption of humanity possibly be related to Luke? How could that Jedi keep something like that to himself?

She began to breath hard, edging close to hyperventilation. Her eyes darted as she tried to make sense of it all.

Could Luke Skywalker, the most kind man she knew, really be related to Darth Vader?

And if he was...

Could she ever trust him again?

Author's Note

More Star Wars MLP goodness! I sort of had a flash of inspiration today and managed to get the next chapter finished! Here's hoping I can finish the next chapter soonish. :)

Capture

Chapter 25

“The Imperial Star Destroyer, as it was called, was a fearsome war machine capable of leveling a planet. It contained thousands of soldiers, hundreds of weapons, and there were over 25,000 of them spread over the galaxy to instill fear in the Empire's subjects. However, as I learned in the last days of being trapped in that galaxy, their power was but an inkling of the true power lurking in the center of the black web of the Galactic Empire.”

-Twilight Sparkle, On Extra-Galactic Voyages, p. 712

The darkness seeped into Twilight’s soul as the full realization of what Luke had revealed hit her, and she stuck out a hoof to balance herself as she stood on the wooden walkway. He was Darth Vader’s son. Vader, the most evil man in the galaxy, had fathered Luke Skywalker.

“How could he have kept this from us?” she said to herself. She frowned as her anger boiled at him for keeping this a secret from herself and her friends, then began to pace back and forth. Her eyes were locked on the wooden walkway as she let her anger fill her, and her hooves dug divots in the surface of the planks as she stomped.

Her focus was such that she didn’t notice her mentor standing behind her. “What’s troubling you, Twilight?”

She whipped her head around to face Celestia. “I’m mad at Luke for not telling us.”

“That is apparent.” The graceful alicorn ambled up next to Twilight, but she started to pace again. Celestia watched as the small pony marched back and forth, her eyebrows pointing angrily.

“I mean, why would he? Vader’s only the most evil man in the universe! No reason he should trust us with such a trivial bit of information, is there?”

Celestia put out a wing to stop her. As Twilight glared up at her, she stared right back, her expression stern. Twilight was the first to break eye contact, but she still huffed at Celestia.

“My student, perhaps you are not giving him enough credit.”

“That’s not it at all,” said Twilight, but she didn’t sound entirely convinced of that.

Giving her a little nudge, Celestia prodded her toward the main village square. “Come. Let’s leave him to his own devices.”

Twilight shook her head, then shoved Celestia’s wing off her back. “No. I’m going to go talk to him.” And with that, she headed off in the direction that Luke took.

A hand reached out and parted the forest. Luke stepped through the bushes, off the beaten path. Thin slits of light cut through the inky forest from the moons above, giving him just enough light to keep from walking into a tree trunk. He hadn’t seen the Imperial outpost. He didn’t need to. He could feel the evil taint of the Emperor on everything he touched, and the Imperials all carried the stink of oppression that was all too easy for his Jedi senses to pick up.

As he made his way through the forest, he looked around him at the blackness. There was something out there, watching him. His hand went automatically to the lightsaber at his hip, but he didn’t draw the weapon. Instead he reached out through the Force and felt a familiar presence. “You don’t have to hide, Twilight Sparkle.”

A flash of purple light briefly illuminated the dark forest as Twilight appeared before him. She looked up at him with an angry expression on her face. He gave her an embarrassed half grin. “I take it you’re not here to bid me good journey.”

“How dare you not tell us that your father is Darth Vader?”

His grin vanished to be replaced by a look of remorse. “I kept it from you and the others because it’s a private matter.”

Twilight stepped forward and looked him square in the eye. “And how do we know we can trust you anymore? You’re related to Darth Vader! The dark lord of the Sith! For all we know you’re an Imperial agent that was sent here to ─”

The snap-hiss of his lightsaber silenced her. “Please,” he said, “don’t be so hasty to judge me.” He shut off the green blade of light, then hooked the device securely to his belt.

“What do you expect?” said Twilight, a little more quietly now. “You were so secretive about it. You never told even your closest friends.”

“I never told them because I didn’t want to burden them with the knowledge that I was the son of Vader.” Luke sighed. “You now distrust me because of my revelation; do you think that my reticent behavior was unjustified?” He paused for her to answer, but she said nothing. “I tell you, I didn’t know until I confronted him the first time. And now I have to confront him again, because I want to rescue him from himself. Surely you understand where I’m coming from.”

“I understand,” said a voice from the darkness. They both turned and saw Celestia stepping out from the forest. She looked at Luke with sad eyes. “My own sister was consumed by the forces of evil. Once they left her body, I was able to welcome her back. But it was Twilight who rescued her from that evil.” She looked at Twilight. “And I’m sorry that you’ve forgotten your very first lesson, my student.”

A shock went through Twilight’s body as she realized that Celestia was right. When Nightmare Moon had begun her rule of everlasting night, Twilight and her friends had followed her to the old castle and used the elements of harmony to rid her of the evil within her. “I’m sorry,” she said to Luke. “I shouldn’t have jumped to conclusions about you.”

“Apology accepted,” he said. “Now, I must go. I have to face my destiny.” As he started to walk off, he heard hoofsteps behind him. With a sigh, he looked back at the two ponies. “Please, don’t follow me. I know you mean well, but this is personal, between myself and Vader.”

Twilight stared intently at him. “It’s personal for us, too. My baby dragon, Spike, was captured by the Empire and delivered to the Emperor.”

“As was my sister,” said Celestia. “We will not stand by when we have a chance to do something about this.”

Luke looked away for a second as he considered this, then he started walking again. “Just be careful. The Emperor is cunning, and Vader is dangerous. I don’t want to risk your lives, but you must do what you feel is right.”

As they followed him into the woods, Twilight and Celestia both wore looks of concern. The danger that lay before them was all too real, and they knew that their chances of escaping this unharmed were slim. But they also knew that they had to do this, for Spike and Luna.

Their world depended on it.

A lone Imperial All-Terrain Armored Transport lumbered through the dark forest. Its drivers worked hard to carefully place its feet, compensating for the fact that they had shut down their scanning equipment in order to prevent possible Rebel saboteurs from detecting them and launching a missile at them. They were approaching an enormous landing platform where an Lambda-class shuttle was landing, its wings folding gracefully up into a trident and its landing gear extending to support the ship. As the gear and the boarding ramp touched the deck, a lone, dark figure strode out from the main cabin and down the ramp. Lord Vader walked across the otherwise empty landing platform, his movements betraying his intense focus on the task at hand.

Below the platform, the giant Imperial walker slowly made its way up to the dock and maneuvered to position one of the smaller secondary hatches so that the passengers could disembark. The hatch lifted up into its vestibule and the occupants of the walker exited the vehicle. Two Imperial Stormtroopers were the first to walk out of the hatch, followed by their captives. Luke, Twilight, and Celestia all marched out of the gangway and into the corridor beyond. They all saw Vader standing there, escorted by a pair of troopers. The Imperial officer accompanying them approached Vader. “These are Rebels that have surrendered to us. Although the human denies it, I believe there may be more of them and request permission to conduct a further search of the area.” As he spoke, Vader looked on at Luke, and the young man met his gaze, an intent, focused look on his face. Twilight glanced up at them both, and knew exactly what was going on in their minds. “The human was the only one armed, with this,” continued the officer. He lifted Luke’s lightsaber up and handed it to the dark lord.

Vader stared at the weapon for a moment, then looked back at the officer. “Good work, commander. Leave us. Conduct your search and bring his companions to me.”

“Yes, my lord,” snapped the officer, and after a quick bow of respect, he turned on his heel and walked back into the Imperial transport along with the escorting Stormtroopers. As soon as he was alone with Luke and the ponies, he turned and walked back toward the elevator.

Twilight looked up at him with a defiant expression. “You’ll never win, Vader.”

“Perhaps you think so now, but soon my master will show you where true power lies, young one,” he said, his voice low and assured. “He is expecting you.”

“I know,” she said.

“Your master has no power over us, father,” said Luke.

Vader glanced at him. His mask continued to bear the same grim, skeletal countenance it always bore, but his body language told them he was shocked to hear that word. “So. You have accepted the truth.”

“I have accepted the truth that you were once Anakin Skywalker, my father,” said Luke.

The dark lord whirled around quickly and faced Luke. “That name no longer has any meaning for me,” he said, shaking Luke’s lightsaber at him, emphasizing every syllable.

Luke stood, implacable. “It is the name of your true self. You’ve only forgotten. I know there is good in you. The Emperor hasn’t driven it from you fully.” He slowly turned around and walked stoically to the handrail. “That was why you couldn’t destroy me. That’s why you won’t bring me to your Emperor now.”

Twilight watched the whole scene alongside Celestia. Neither of them wanted to interrupt, for both were fascinated by the exchange taking place. The two men stood in their place for a long moment. One was staring at his son, the other staring into nothing and waiting for a reaction from the former. Soon a snap-hiss was heard and the area was bathed in a soft green light.

“I see you have constructed a new lightsaber,” said Vader casually. He held the weapon, toying with it. The energy blade was brought close to Luke for a moment, and Twilight resisted the urge to charge up a shield. “Your skills are complete.” Vader shut off the thrumming energy blade and then turned to walk to the opposite side of the catwalk. He stared out into the dark forest beyond. “Indeed you are powerful as the Emperor has forseen.”

A spark, existing but a moment, leapt in Luke’s eyes and he slowly turned his head to look at his father. “Come with me,” he said, the hopeful, imploring tone reaching out to touch the cold steel heart of the monster.

“Obi-wan once thought as you do,” muttered the beast, and he turned around slowly. “You don’t know the power of the Dark Side,” he said. “I must obey my master.”

Luke subtly shook his head. “I will not turn. And you’ll be forced to kill me.”

“If that is your destiny.”

Marching over to Vader, look looked at him pleadingly. “Search your feelings, father. You can’t do this. I feel the conflict within you! Let go of your hate!”

No emotion played in the dark lord’s body language, no sign of any effect of the young man’s heartfelt words. “It is... too late for me, son.” He gestured at the door, opening it with a flick of his fingers. Luke looked at the Stormtroopers coming to escort him and the ponies with a mixture of fear and horror. “The Emperor will show you and your companions the true nature of the Force. He is your master now.” The Imperial soldiers boxed in Twilight, Celestia and Luke, clumping them together.

Luke nodded, resigned. He shook his head sadly. “Then my father is truly dead.”

Looking up at Luke, Twilight wanted to ask him what was going on, to get some reassurance that there was some way they could survive this. But the man said nothing as the turbolift door swallowed them up.

The Rebel strike team slowly approached a hill, the noonday sun bathing them all in a warm glow. Beyond the hill was the landing tower, with an Imperial shuttle parked on it. Han, Leia, Applejack and Pinkie Pie approached the hill and looked over it. Leia held out a small terrain scanner. As the shuttle lifted off and extended its wings, she looked at the readout on the screen. “The main entrance to the control bunker is on the far side of that landing platform. This isn’t going to be easy.”

“Well don’t you worry none, princess,” said Applejack with a wink. “We’ll handle those Imps like we handled ‘em b’fore!”

As she spoke, Rarity was joining the group. “I do hope this doesn’t take too much longer. My beautiful mane can’t take much more abuse, and all these sticks and rocks are chipping my hooves!”

Han rolled his eyes. “Nobody asked your opinion, sister.”

Rarity rolled her eyes back at him as Wicket, the Ewok who had rescued Leia from the scouts when she had crashed her speederbike, tapped C-3PO on the arm. When the golden droid gave him his undivided attention, he started to speak his strange, tribal language.

C-3PO responded back, prompting the little creature to say something else and point off in the distance. Han looked at the alien, confused. “What’s he saying?” asked Princess Leia.

“He says there’s a secret entrance on the other side of the ridge.”

In the female fighter pilots’ locker room, Rainbow Dash was getting suited up. As she struggled to get her wings through the holes in the back of the flight suit, she felt someone grab them and push them through. She looked back at the human pilot that she’d gotten to know over the weeks they’d been aboard the Home One. “Thanks, Carrie,” she said.

“Any time, Dash. You ready to kick some Imperial tail?” she said, beaming down at her with her trademark grin.

“Don’t you know it!” said Rainbow, her expression fierce. “We’re gonna crush the Empire! And the best part is, they’ll never seen it coming!”

Carrie slapped her on the rump. “Hoorah!”

She blushed a bit at the smack on her hindquarters. She didn’t think she’d ever get used to that. Her attention was drawn to the overhead speakers.

“All flight groups, man your stations. All flight groups, man your stations.”

Rainbow looked back at Carrie with a huge, cocky grin. “This is it! Let’s get to the hangar!”

“Yeah!” said the brash human. She and Rainbow grabbed their helmets and jogged out of the locker room toward the hangar to begin final preparations for launch.

The medical bay on the frigate Redemption was bustling with activity. Surgeons were cleaning their tools and putting them in anti-shock cases, and nurses were prepping various vials of painkillers and sterilization chemicals. Fluttershy was moving a cart full of antibiotics to a locker near a surgical table, maneuvering it beside the large curtain that was attached to the ceiling. Lights shone down from the bright surgical suite above her, and she glanced up at the various sharp tools hanging on droid arms that would assist the surgeons in performing whatever grim tasks were ahead of them.

She sighed as she put the vials into the shock proof racks. The chief surgeon, a human with graying hair, was standing nearby, cleaning her glasses. “You scared, little pony?”

Fluttershy looked up at her for a moment, then looked away and nodded.

The surgeon walked over to her and put a hand on her withers. “Don’t worry, honey,” she said with a kindly grin. “Just keep your wits about you and give everyone who comes in your full attention and do everything the surgeons say. They’re the specialists, and know what they’re doing, okay?”

The little yellow pony nodded, but then sighed again as she continued to put away the medication. She knew as well as anypony that the Imperials wouldn’t hesitate to destroy the Redemption and kill everyone onboard, regardless of the fact that it was a medical ship. And because she was deep in the bowels of the vessel, she had little hope that if the ship did get hit that she would survive. But she pushed that thought out of her mind and got back to work. “My friends are counting on me,” she said determinedly to herself. “I need to do my best to help them, no matter what.”

As the people on the bridge of the Home One prepared for battle, Junas stood by near a communications console. He wasn’t really supposed to be here, but after pleading with Admiral Ackbar and cashing in a few chips, he had managed to negotiate his way to manning one of the comms panels so he could monitor the battle.

Specifically, he was concerned about the ponies, and he wanted to monitor their comm transmissions during the battle. He didn’t want to admit it to himself, but those aliens had grown on him, and he considered their safety his prime responsibility, even now as they were off on their own missions for the Alliance.

During the last several weeks aboard the Alliance’s flagship, they had gone on several offensives against the Empire, pricking the beast in once place or another, giving it small wounds here and there whenever they had an opportunity.

This time, they were attacking the heart of the beast.

The original Death Star, a 160 kilometer metal sphere capable of destroying an entire planet, was not as well defended as it could have been. Back in those days, the Empire didn’t care about the Alliance. They figured that their pitiful forces wouldn’t stand a chance against the most advanced war machine ever built.

And the Rebel Alliance had destroyed it with a single pair of proton torpedoes.

Now the Empire knew that they were a legitimate threat. Ever since then, they had treated the Rebels like a legitimate enemy. Every time they discovered a Rebel base or flotilla, they swooped in with Star Destroyers and heavy walkers to annihilate them. He hadn’t been at the Battle of Hoth, but he’d seen gun-holocamera footage from the speeders that participated in that battle, and the number of walkers that the Empire had sent was staggering.

Despite the assurances from the tactical officers that the Empire had no idea they were coming, he couldn’t help but have a deep-seated feeling that they were about to hyperjump into a trap specifically designed for them. It would be just like the Empire to make themselves look like a wounded animal in order to lure the Alliance into a pitched battle to eliminate them once and for all.

Still, luck seemed to be on their side so far. Despite the defeats they’d suffered, they had given the Empire a bloody nose on several occasions. Nobody would ever forget the mission where Ace Azzameen had dared to attack the Imperial research ship as it swarmed him with advanced remote-controlled TIE Fighters and their fearless pilots, or when Keyan Farlander flew into a swarm of TIEs to attack and destroy the Imperial Star Destroyer Intrepid in nothing more than an X-wing snubfighter.

He smiled to himself as he thought about countless victories the Alliance had scored. This might be a trap, and they would probably suffer heavy losses, but he had a feeling that they would win this one.

A hiss was heard all around her as the canopy closed on Rainbow’s A-wing and the cockpit life support charged the small capsule with fresh atmosphere. She breathed in and out, trying to calm herself so she could complete the preflight checklist. Flipping switches and setting dials to the correct positions, she couldn’t help but feel the nerves building up inside her.

She’d gone on several missions as an A-wing pilot, from scouting runs to assaults on Imperial fortresses. She’d put new scars on her ship’s hull, but she’d always gotten home in one piece. Now she was about to take off and go on a mission that would be an all out battle between the forces of good and evil and decide the fate of the galaxy. Looking out the main aperture of the hangar, she couldn’t see all of the fleet, but even the small patch of sky that she could get a glimpse at was filled with cruisers, frigates, gunboats, and several dozen fighters already patrolling around their mothership, Home One. If the Empire was going to throw a similarly sized force at them, then this would be a huge hairball that would likely result in the destruction of a significant chunk of Alliance forces, if it didn’t wipe them out entirely.

And here she sat, in a small fighter that was one of the most lightly armored ships in the galaxy. A single hit from a stray blast would knock her out of commission and likely vaporize her ship around her.

She breathed as she brought up her reactor. “This’ll be a piece of cake, Rainbow. They Empire doesn’t even know we’re coming. Just in and out.”

“Attention Green Squadron,” said Arvel Crynyd, “prepare to launch. Form up on me as soon as you exit the hangar.”

She glanced over at her flight leader’s A-wing, its gleaming surface repainted in red despite the name of their squadron in honor of the heroes who were lost in the first Death Star assault. Her own ship’s nose was painted in red as well, though she still kept her rainbow stripes and cutie mark. She watched as the captain’s fighter rose from the deck, and as he headed out of the hangar she hit the repulsors and smoothly shot out into space, maneuvering her vessel so she would slip into a tight formation along with the rest of Green Squadron. Their ships were soon joined by flights from other squadrons: Y-wings from Gold and Grey squadrons, X-wings from Red Squadron, B-wings from Blue Squadron, and countless other fighters all formed into a massive cloud of metal birds of prey. In the lead, a few klicks away, the Millennium Falcon led the charge, guiding them between the enormous behemoths that were the Rebel capital ships. The sight of the massive fleet all gathered together made Rainbow Dash’s heart swell with pride. She may be an Equestrian, but right now she was a Rebel, and seeing so many heavily armed starships gathered together to strike at the Empire was enough to make her think that they would be able to pull this off.

As she glided between the cruisers, she heard her comm unit crackle to life. “Admiral, we’re in position,” said General Calrissian over the open channel. “All fighters accounted for.”

“Proceed with the countdown,” replied Admiral Ackbar, supreme commander of the Rebel forces. “All groups assume attack coordinates.”

Rainbow looked down at her mission timer. The small digital display had white numbers that were scrolling down to 0:00, indicating when they were all to make the jump to hyperspace. She watched them tick by at rapid speed, closing in on the moment they would initiate the hyperjump.

She glanced up around her. Other ships in formation with her were matching speed with the Millennium Falcon, and she waggled her ship at them. The ones who could see her waggled back, and again she felt a surge of adrenaline and sisterhood.

“All craft,” said Ackbar over the radio, “prepare to jump into hyperspace on my mark.”

As Rainbow waited for the moment to jump, she also heard Lando say, “Alright, stand by.” When he said this, the entire fleet of starfighters began to jump. Rainbow glanced down at her clock and saw that it was indeed blank. She grabbed her hyperspace initiation levers and pulled hard, sending herself and her small vessel spiraling into the blue vortex of hyperspace.

“Yub-nub.” One of the Ewok’s scouts was standing near a small stand of bushes in front of a group of Imperial scout troopers. He whistled at the Rebels off in the distance and waved them over.

Han Solo was the first to arrive of the group and he looked from the small building in the clearing to the Ewok in front of him. “Back door, huh?” he asked the small creature.

Despite not really understanding what he said, the alien nodded at him.

“Good idea,” said Han. He crouched near the bushes and started to assess the situation. Four scout troopers were meandering around in the small area in front of a short armored bunker, their speederbikes floating in place a couple meters away from them.

Applejack, Pinkie Pie and Rarity crawled up next to Han and looked past him to the bunker, and were joined by Leia and Chewbacca. “That’s the dreadful place we were taken prisoner!” said Rarity. She was elbowed in the side by Applejack. “Hey! What was that for?!”

“For bein’ a loudmouth!” replied Applejack. “We cain’t let the Empire know we’re here or else this whole thing is blown!”

Harrumphing to herself, Rarity rolled her eyes and settled down next to the others. Behind her, Wicket was talking to the Ewok who had led them there. The chattering was a slight distraction to the Rebels, but they all ignored the noise in order to focus on how to eliminate the scout troopers. Suddenly Wicket turned around and tapped C-3PO on the shoulder to tell him what he and the other Ewok had decided to do. The droid cocked his head and questioned what he had heard.

“It only takes one to sound the alarm,” said Leia as she looked on at the troopers.

“Then we’ll do it real quiet-like,” said Han.

Suddenly C-3PO cried out, “Oh... oh my! Princess Leia─” The princess’ hand slapping over his mouth quieted him down. “I’m afraid our furry companion has gone and done something rather rash.”

Chewbacca and Applejack both saw it at the same time. “Oh great...” said the pony.

“What?” said Leia. She glanced over and saw what Applejack and Chewbacca were looking at. “Oh no.”

Han sighed. “There goes our surprise attack.”

Off in the clearing, the scout who had led them to the bunker was sneaking up to the speederbikes, keeping low in the grass. Slowly, carefully, he crawled up to the bike that was nearest to the treeline. The scout troopers didn’t see him as they stood in the doorway to the bunker, his fur blending in perfectly with the surrounding forest. His movements were careful, so much so that he didn’t disturb any of the bushes near the bike as he crawled up on it and started to fool with the switches. One of them started the engine, emitting a low whine that built up to a crescendo that got the attention of the scout troopers.

“Look!” shouted one of them as he noticed the Ewok, “Over there! Stop him!”

They ran as fast as they could to the bikes, but before they could get to him, he finally hit the right switch to activate the main repulsor drive. The bike, its passenger significantly lighter than a full sized human, shot out at high speed. By this time three of the scouts had gotten to their bikes, and after a moment of waiting for the engines to start they shot off, leaving the fourth one at the base.

His jaw hanging in surprise, Han looked back at the group and said, “Not bad for a little furball. There’s only one left.” He pointed at the two droids. “You stay here. We’ll take care of this.”

As he and the other Rebels headed off to sneak around to the other side, C-3PO walked over to where R2-D2 and Wicket were standing. He turned around and planted his feet. “I have decided that we shall stay here.”

Off in the forest, the Ewok was struggling to hang on to the bike. It was traveling so fast that he wasn’t sitting, but was rather dangling off the ends of the handlebars, crying out and struggling to get back in control. After several panic-stricken moments, the creature finally managed to get seated and take a modest amount of control back from the bike.

Before too long the scout troopers caught up with him and fired off a shot or two to get him to stop. Rather than stopping him, all it managed to do was induce more panic in the Ewok and cause him to tilt the bike to such a degree that it began to spin out of control.

After what seemed like an eternity to the little alien, he finally got the bike to stop spinning around, and he began to look for a way to get off. Suddenly he saw several vines ahead. As he passed them he grabbed one and was launched up into the trees as the scout troopers shot ahead, hoping to get the bike to stop and get it back to the base.

Meanwhile, Han Solo was sneaking up behind the scout. He carefully walked up to the man’s shoulder, then tapped it hard and took off to the other side of the bunker.

“Hey!” shouted the scout as he ran after Han. The armored trooper drew his gun, but just as he got to the other side of the bunker he froze. In front of him were several Rebels, their weapons pointed right at him. Rather than put up a fight, he laid his gun down and put his hands behind his head.

Their path uncontested, the Rebel strike team approached the main armored entrance to the bunker. “Ah sure hope this works,” said Applejack as she joined them. “Last time we was here, they had a whole passel of Stormtroopers and officers everywhere in the place.”

“Don’t worry,” said Han. “Chewie ‘n me have broken into places more heavily guarded than this.”

She nodded, but his attempt at reassuring her wasn’t as effective as he’d probably hoped.

As Chewbacca blasted the lock and the doors slid open, Han walked up and surveyed the tunnel leading down into the facility. The rest of the team walked up behind him, and nervously they all made their way slowly down into the bowels of the facility.

The high, polished chamber of the Imperial landing bay was filled with the noise of repulsorlifts as the Lambda-class shuttle touched down on the gleaming deck of one of the Death Star’s main landing ports. The ramp extended and made contact with the metal floor, and after a small group of Stormtroopers clattered down the ramp, Darth Vader appeared. He walked down the metal gangway, followed by Luke Skywalker, Twilight Sparkle, and Princess Celestia, each of them wearing restraints that allowed movement. The ponies each had a small electronic device on their horns that prevented magic. The remaining Stormtroopers brought up the rear.

None of them said a word as Darth Vader led them to one of the main turbolifts that would take them the hundreds of kilometers up to the main tower where the Emperor’s lair was located. As they arrived at it however, Vader looked back at them. “Soon you will see who holds true power in the galaxy.”

Again they kept silent, not wanting Vader to know whether his words were having an effect. But they did, and as she stepped into the waiting turbolift, Twilight wanted to cry. She remained steadfast though, despite the feeling of dread at what she might discover at the top of the globe where the Emperor resided.

Would Luna and Spike be there? Would they be alright? Had the Emperor done anything to them?

She didn’t know, and couldn’t know.

And she wasn’t sure if she wanted to know.

Author's Note

I had a whirlwind of writing this weekend. Not only did I finish the chapter you just read, but I also completed a rather significant chunk of the next chapter. About half in fact! Woo-hoo!

Only about five chapters to go before the end, readers. Will our heroines and heroes manage to defeat the oppressive might of the Galactic Empire? Will the ponies be able to get home? Will the Emperor get dental surgery to fix those crooked teeth?

Tune in next time! Same pony-time, same pony channel!

The Heart of Darkness

Chapter 26

“The rage and anger I felt was nearly indescribable. Years of working under Celestia's tutelage had not prepared me for dealing with the monster at the center of the Death Star. I fought desperately to control myself, to keep myself from being taken in by the creature's words. But his language was tempting, and his words inviting. And soon, I succumbed.”

-Twilight Sparkle, On Extra-Galactic Voyages, p. 901

In the throne room of the Emperor, the turbolift door slid open with a hiss, admitting Darth Vader, Luke Skywalker, Twilight Sparkle and Princess Celestia. The dark Lord of the Sith stepped out of the lift, leading the ponies and the Jedi into the room. None of the Rebels dared speak as they walked into the metallic cavern, their surroundings shrouded in darkness. Twilight involuntarily shuddered, imagining the shadows as a black emptiness that could ooze out and swallow them up at a whim. She wasn’t sure if the tremor was in response to fear, or if the Emperor had somehow used the Force to enhance her terror.

They approached the base of the dais where the throne sat and walked up the stairs to the upper level, each step a heavy, reluctant tread. Looking up above the throne, Twilight could see several spindly devices dangling from the ceiling. She gulped as she saw spikes, hot irons, and other objects of torture poking out from the devices. As they approached the throne, it revolved slowly to face them, revealing the shadow that sat within.

The shadow spoke. “Welcome, young ones. I have been expecting you. You no longer need those.” His hand lifted off the armrests of the throne and waved slightly. The restraints on their limbs and horns fell off and clattered to the floor. “Guards, leave us.” Twilight glanced in the direction that the Emperor was looking at. On either side of the turbolift doors, two men stood in red robes, their hands holding pikes tipped with razor-sharp points. An odd feeling accompanied their departure into the alcoves behind the turbolift. It took a moment for her to place it, but suddenly she realized that she didn't want them to leave. She didn't want to be left alone with the creature sitting in the throne.

She turned back to look at the Emperor as he spoke again. “I’m looking forward to completing your training. In time you will all call me... master.” He savored the last word, let it sit on his tongue like putrid wine before it rolled off into their ears.

“You’re gravely mistaken,” said Luke. “You won’t convert us as you did my father.”

“That’s right,” said Twilight. “We’re not your servants to do your bidding.”

The Emperor stood and stalked toward them, the shadow that surrounded him in the throne seeming to cling to him like a black oil. “Oh no, my young Jedi... You will find that it is you who are mistaken. About a great many things.”

“His lightsaber,” said Vader, handing the silver cylinder to his master.

Palpatine took it and looked at Luke in the eye with a subtle, cloying grin. “Ah yes, a Jedi’s weapon. Much like your father’s. By now you must know your father can never be turned from the Dark Side.” His voice got deathly quiet. “So will it be with you.”

The barest hint of a smile appeared on Luke’s face. “You’re wrong. Soon I’ll be dead, and you with me.”

A long, quiet chuckle came from the lips of the shadow. “Perhaps you refer to the imminent attack of your rebel fleet.” The shock of the Emperor knowing about the surprise attack was enough to break the stoicism of Luke and the ponies. Twilight's own face contorted in horror. How could he know about that already? she thought to herself. “Yes,” continued the Emperor, the calmness of the his voice giving way to irritation at Luke’s continued defiance. “I assure you, we are quite safe from your friends here.” He turned around and began to walk back to his throne.

“Your overconfidence is your weakness,” said Luke as he watched the Emperor, waiting for his reaction.

“Your faith in your friends is yours,” replied the Emperor.

Twilight could stay in silence no longer. She stamped a hoof and inched closer to the throne. “Friendship will get us through this. Princess Celestia and I are going to rescue our friends, and we’re not going to let you stop us.”

As the Emperor sat back down in the polished seat, he lifted his hand and gestured to the far corner of the throne room. “They’re yours. Take them.”

Twilight looked up at Celestia, her face contorted in a mixture of concern and fear. She and Celestia walked hesitantly toward the place the Emperor indicated. The shadows made it hard to determine what he was talking about, but as they got closer to the corner, shapes began to manifest themselves in the darkness.

They first saw the cages. They were large, round, and seemed to be made from a combination of metal and metallic living tissue, with irregular veins of a silvery substance covering the entirety of each structure. In the center of each cage was a mass of flesh. Twilight approached the one on the left, and when she saw what was contained within, she froze in horror.

Laying in the bottom of the cage was Spike, but it was not the Spike she knew. This Spike was twisted, snarling and didn’t seem to be a thinking creature anymore. It leapt up and snapped at Twilight, trying to claw its way out of the cage and sink its jagged teeth into her. As it reached out, she could see that there were bits of metal attached to it, and blood was leaking from wounds that refused to close. The worst of it was its face. Over the left eye was a small piece of sensing technology with a single lens that was burning a deep blood-red. Wires trailed from the unit to the back of its head and entered its skull through a metal grommet. The remaining eye, that once-handsome green eye that was full of life and vitality, was gray. Lifeless.

The Emperor's face contorted into a sick grin. “His transformation is nearly complete. Soon he will no longer be your... friend.”

Twilight backed away sharply, letting out a strangled scream. It was matched by Celestia’s own scream of horror at seeing her sister.

In the cage next to Spike’s was Luna. Her body was riddled with wounds where torture droids had carried out their grim tasks. Her mouth was wired shut and her eyes were puffy and crusted over. Her breathing was ragged and irregular, and even the cries of her sister didn't stir the beaten ruler. Her mane, once bright and glowing, was dull and barely waving. Her horn was covered in a layer of jagged metal that seemed to be growing right out of the bone.

Both Twilight and Celestia turned and glared at the Emperor, who wore a sick, twisted grin. “It was a mistake to do this to our friends,” said Celestia, her voice quiet but filled with rage.

The shadow in the throne emitted a low chuckle. “The mistake, my dear, was your coming here to threaten me. You have no power over me.”

Letting out a cry of anger, Celestia charged up her horn. For one moment the room was bathed in a golden glow that seemed to banish all the shadows. She projected a beam of pure magic at him, striking him in the center of the chest. Many moments passed as she released all her pent up anger at the malevolence sitting in his throne, and the sheer brightness of the magic was enough to make even Vader look away. As the attack died down, she opened her eyes, hoping that it had had an effect.

The Emperor merely smiled at her, chuckling as the last of the magic faded. “Perhaps you wonder about your newfound magical impotence.”

Neither Twilight nor Celestia gave a reply.

“It was quite simple. Technology which can block Jedi can be made to attract Jedi. I had never imagined that the device I had created could wrench Jedi from other galaxies, but when you ponies had appeared in the galaxy, I knew it had worked better than I could have ever conceived.”

At this, Twilight gasped. She had assumed that their being drawn in to this galaxy was a fluke, a mistake on the part of Rarity. But now this Emperor was saying that it was really his technology that caused this terrible thing to happen. She felt relief for a moment before the Emperor continued.

“So you see, my young Jedi, there is no escape for you. There is no refuge. No matter where you go, I will find you and bring you back to me. You and your friends will all be my servants.”

He laughed at his own machinations coming to fruition. “Everything that has transpired has done so according to my design. Your friends, up there on the sanctuary moon, are walking into a trap, as is your Rebel fleet. It was I who allowed the Alliance to know the location of the shield generator. It is quite safe from your pitiful little band. An entire legion of my best troops await them.”

He leaned forward a bit in his throne. “Oh... I’m afraid the deflector shield will be quite operational when your friends arrive.”

In the main control bunker on Endor, Commander Hewex was leaning over the shoulder of one of his officers as he sat at his station. Suddenly the lock on the door exploded in a shower of sparks. His head whipped around just in time to see Han Solo come through the door, his gun drawn.

“Alright, up!” shouted Han. “Move, c’mon! Quickly, quickly!” He held his pistol on the Imperials as the Rebels started to pour in. “Chewie!” he barked at the Wookie behind him. Chewbacca jogged up with his bowcaster drawn and held it on the officers as Leia looked at the computer monitors. One of them was displaying a graphic representing the Rebel fleet in hyperspace, and it was closing in on Endor at a rapid pace.

“Han,” she said, “hurry! The fleet will be arriving any moment.”

The ponies soon followed the last of the soldiers, and as soon as they noticed Hewex they all three marched up, anger blazing on their faces. Applejack was the first to speak. “You’re gonna regret messin’ with us ponies! We’re gonna take out yer Empire like it was nothin’!”

“That’s right!” shouted Pinkie Pie, happy to finally be allowed to talk. “We’re gonna make you no-good meanie-mean-pants Imperials pay for the way you’ve treated us!”

Despite his situation, he tried to maintain an air of arrogance. “If you think that you inferior aliens will be able to defeat the Empire, you are sadly mistaken!”

Han Solo caught the remark and swung his pistol to point at Hewex’s face. “Well I’m not an alien. Wanna see how ‘superior’ you are with a laser blast to the face?” After the officer shut his mouth, Han turned his attention to the Rebel in charge of munitions. “Charges, c’mon! C’mon!”

The man tossed him a small pack filled with detonators. Rarity trotted to him and said, “I can help. Let me plant some of them.”

Han nodded. “Fine. You know how these things work?” He held open the bag for her to look into.

After taking a look at the devices, Rarity nodded. “I think so.”

“Good.” Han gave her a pair of small silver cylinders with knobs on top, and after grabbing a pair of them himself they got to work.

In the small clearing where C-3PO, R2-D2 and Wicket were standing, they could see down to the bunker. As they watched from above, a large group of Stormtroopers and officers rushed into the building. “Oh my!” said 3PO. “They’ll be captured!”

R2-D2 warbled a reply, but before he finished Wicket ran off into the forest.

“W-wait, come back!” shouted C-3PO as the Ewok disappeared into the woods, but there was no stopping him. The droid put a hand on R2-D2. “Artoo, stay with me!”

Burbling a reply, R2-D2 stood where he was.

“Freeze!”

Han looked in the direction of the Imperial officer who had appeared from a doorway and rather than obeying him, he threw one of the packs of charges at him. The officer caught them in the chest, but the weight from the explosives pushed him over the rail and he fell into the huge pit of electrical discharge capacitors.

As his body was vaporized on the contacts, more Stormtroopers and officers rushed into the control room, their blasters drawn and pointed at the Rebels. “You rebel scum,” said the lead officer. Leia and Applejack were about to attack, but Han held out a hand to stop them.

Chewbacca tried to wrestle the officers off him, but there were too many of them. They took his bowcaster with no small effort.

As the Imperials relieved the Rebels of the last of their weapons, Applejack looked up at Hewex with a furious scowl. The Imperial officer lowered his arms and smirked at the pony. “So much for taking out the Empire like it was nothing,” he said, a smug grin on his face.

Applejack only glared in reply.

The space around Endor was disrupted by the appearance of the Rebel fleet. The Millennium Falcon burst into realspace, followed by fighters, transports, frigates, cruisers, and the flagship Home One.

Rainbow dash kept her hoof steady on the stick and gracefully maneuvered her fighter into formation with the rest of the A-wings in her squadron. Around her, friendly ships flew toward the vast Imperial battle station hanging in orbit around Endor. She looked at the immense sphere, still hundreds of kilometers away, but incredibly large all the same. She gulped. A knot of anxiety formed in her stomach. But she breathed and kept her cool.

As she flew toward the Imperial station, she heard Lando in the Falcon radio, “All wings report in.”

She listened as the flight leaders signaled their readiness. Then she heard Wedge Antilles, leader of Red Squadron, call out, “Lock S-foils in attack positions.” Looking around her, she saw the X-wings and B-wings spread their wings, moving their weapons into optimal positions to strike at the enemy. Watching them switch to attack mode somehow gave her a swell of adrenaline, and she pushed forward on the throttle a tad.

As the distance between the Death Star and the Rebel fleet closed, Rainbow looked down at her sensor board. She scanned over the data on the station, and something seemed off about it. She wasn’t sure what, but it bothered her that she couldn’t figure it out. Suddenly, she understood what she was missing: nothing. There was nothing surrounding the Death Star. “That can’t be right,” she said to herself, and she tapped the monitor. There was no reading of any kind on the Death Star, and she should have been able to get some kind of sensor echo on the shield generator. But there was nothing, almost as though...

“Break off the attack!” shouted Lando from the radio. “The shield is still up!”

“I get no reading. You sure?” said Wedge.

“Pull up! All craft pull up!”

Without thinking, she pulled hard on her stick and hit the throttle to give herself as much engine power as was available. As she pulled, she could see in front of her a shimmer, as though there were a giant wall of invisible energy ahead of her. Small bits of random space debris hit the shield, flaring as they vaporized against the massive energy barrier, and none of it registered on her sensors. The Empire is jamming us!

She had no time to think about it as she heard Admiral Ackbar on the radio. “Take evasive action! Green group, stick close to holding sector 47!”

“Admiral,” said a voice in the background, “we have enemy ships in sector 47!”

The Admiral’s voice responded in alarm, “It’s a trap!”

As he said that, Rainbow finished pulling away from the Death Star’s shield and looked in front of her. And as she did, she felt the urge to vomit. There in before her and the rest of the Rebels was a vast fleet of Imperial Star Destroyers, all led by the mighty Executor. She tried to count them all and had to stop at 35 Star Destroyers. And still her board was empty, as though the Imperials weren’t even there. She fought the impending panic that threatened to make her bolt. On one side was the Death Star. On the other side was a wall of death.

And there she and the Rebellion were, caught in the middle.

The radio snapped her back from her despair. “Fighters coming in!”

She squinted, and then realized that there were indeed fighters coming in, so many that it appeared to be a field of static in front of the Star Destroyers. The static soon resolved itself into a massive, countless array of TIE Interceptors and Fighters, and they opened fire on the Rebel ships. Blasts of green laser energy filled the sky, and Rainbow dodged shot after shot.

“Accelerate to attack speed,” shouted Lando. “Draw their fire away from the cruisers!”

“Copy, Gold Leader,” she heard Wedge reply over the comm.

Rainbow nodded, then rolled and dove toward a group of TIE Interceptors hurtling toward the Rebel capital ships like a swarm of crazed banshees. They opened fire on a Rebel frigate, but were causing little damage against the bigger ship’s shields. Rainbow knew that that wouldn’t last long. She looked through her manual gunsights at the TIEs, waiting for the right moment. Suddenly a solar array wing appeared and she sent two twin bursts into it. The fighter exploded, its wing taking out a fellow Interceptor that was flying too close. She didn’t have any time to celebrate as four more took their place. She maneuvered quickly, bringing the next targets into her sights.

“Come... see for yourselves.”

Luke and the ponies felt a compulsion to move toward the window. Whether from the Emperor’s raw will or their own sense of morbid curiosity at the battle happening beyond the transparisteel. “From here, you will witness the final destruction of the Alliance,” said the Emperor, “and the end of your insignificant Rebellion.”

Whipping her head around, Twilight glared at the Emperor. “You’ll see. The power of friendship is greater than your magic! And it will see us through!”

Laughing at her proclamation, the Emperor merely smiled at her. “The power of the Dark Side is far stronger than the power of friendship. Even now, I can feel your anger growing stronger. Soon you will be mine.”

Celestia stepped forward, her brow turned down in anger at the Emperor. “You will not prevail here. The forces of good will triumph over you.”

Instead of gloating, the Emperor looked from Twilight and Celestia to Luke. His grin grew wider. Twilight looked up at her friend and saw that his gaze kept returning to his lightsaber on the armrest of the Emperor’s throne.

The dark man looked slowly from his prey to the saber. “You want this...” he said, his voice barely above a whisper. He stroked the silvery weapon. “... don’t you?”

Luke quickly looked up from the lightsaber, hesitant to show any sign of weakness. But it was clear to Twilight that he was slowly loosing control of himself. His eyes were wide open, his mouth hanging, breathless as he tried to resist the will of the Emperor.

“The hate is swelling in your now,” continued the dark lord, his twisted grin never leaving his face. “Take your Jedi weapon,” he said softly, his words caressing Luke’s ear. “Use it. I am unarmed. Strike me down with it. Give in to your anger.”

Twilight swallowed, hoping that Luke wouldn’t give in to the Emperor’s words. Still, the evil man was having an effect on her heart, and she couldn’t help but feel her own rage growing in the face of the Emperor’s admonitions. He seemed to know what she was thinking, for he looked from Luke to her. “With each passing moment you make yourselves more my servants,” he said.

“No,” said Luke quietly, his voice shaking with rage. Twilight put a hoof on his thigh to calm him, but it had no effect.

“It is unavoidable,” said the Emperor, “it is your destiny. You, like your father, are now...

Mine.”

Out of the bunker leading to the shield generator, the Imperials led the Rebel strike team up and out, keeping their guns trained on their backs. Han, Leia, Chewbacca, and the soldiers all held their hands over their heads, while the ponies walked alongside them. In the clearing in front of the bunker, they could see the rest of their team surrounded by dozens of Stormtroopers and scout troopers, with officers and commandos meandering around. Standing watch over all of it was a single AT-ST, its large main gun pointing right at them. Other walkers and speederbikes were patrolling around the area, rounding up the last stragglers.

Applejack sadly shook her head. “This is lookin’ mighty familiar.”

Rarity sighed and nodded. “I agree.”

Raising an eyebrow, Pinkie glanced at Applejack. “I don’t think so, A.J. I mean, we're in the same place as before, but now we have ─ ow!”

The Stormtrooper who had rammed his rifle into her head said, “Quiet!”

Han shot him a poisonous glance, but he said nothing. “Move it!” shouted the trooper, and the group walked out of the entrance to the bunker into the clearing. Applejack looked at Rarity, her expression glum. There seemed to be no way out of this, and if they couldn’t take down the shield generator, they might as well give up.

A shout came ringing through the forest. “Hello! I say, over there! Were you looking for me?”

The Rebels struggled to see who it was, but suddenly Applejack realized who it was: the droid, C-3PO. “What in tarnation does that machine think he’s doin’?” she whispered harshly. She didn’t want to think that the droid had gone crazy, but he was clearly asking for trouble by drawing attention to himself. She had no doubt that he’d be useless in a fight, and she couldn’t see the use in attracting troopers to his position when they’d just capture him and bring him back. And they’d probably capture that other droid, R2-D2 along with him.

“Bring those two down here!” shouted an officer standing next to her. He pointed at the golden robot and a half dozen Stormtroopers broke off from the main group and headed for him.

At the base of the ridge surrounding the clearing, R2-D2 and C-3PO were waiting in the place Han had commanded them to. C-3PO was watching as a group of Stormtroopers bounded through the forest toward their position. “Well, they’re on their way,” he said to R2-D2. “Artoo, are you sure this was a good idea?” He didn’t have much time to discuss it before he found himself surrounded by the troopers.

They all pointed blaster rifles at the two droids. “Freeze!” said one of them, though 3PO couldn’t tell exactly which one. “Don’t move!”

“We surrender!” he said, as innocently as he could muster, not having been programmed for deception. If he could have, he might have grinned when he said the code phrase that he and R2-D2 had agreed on.

Suddenly a wave of Ewoks came bubbling up over the ridge and began attacking the Stormtroopers, hammering them with rocks and stabbing them in the vulnerable points between their armored carapaces. C-3PO backed away in order to keep blood from splashing on his gleaming finish.

Off in the trees, a horn could be heard blaring a war cry out over the forest. As the troops and officers in the clearing looked around in confusion, a second war cry sounded. Suddenly, dozens upon dozens of Ewoks popped up out of the brush, each holding a bow loaded with a single, deadly arrow. When their leader held up his axe, they took aim, and as the axe was lowered they released, sending a hail of arrows raining down on the Imperials. Many of them either missed or glanced off their white armor, but dozens found the gaps between the plates of plasteel and buried deep into their flesh. Several troopers screamed in agony as the arrows pierced vital organs and rent flesh like butter.

The clearing at once devolved into a writhing mess of troopers and formerly captive Rebels, and the Imperials found themselves having to fend off attacks from both the Rebels and the primitives surrounding the base. They fired off several shots into the forest, but few of them hit the Ewoks.

Taking the opportunity amid the confusion, Han grabbed the trooper who was holding his blaster and slammed him into another trooper, knocking them both to the ground. The pistol flew out of the trooper’s hand and bounced off, and Han frantically started to look for it. To his left, Leia aimed up and shot one of the crew of the AT-ST as he peered down to survey the battle.

Applejack grinned as she saw an opening, and she bucked one of the troopers hard in the stomach, sending him reeling back into the ankle joint of the AT-ST. She smiled at the effect her bucking had, and for a moment she recalled back when Spike had brought an army of Ewoks to help them. She could see the patches in the bunker where the captured Imperial walker had been used to blast a hole in the fortified structure, the surrounding paint work bearing the black marks of laser cannon hits. Her reverie was interrupted by a Stormtrooper taking aim at her. She dodged behind one of the speederbikes as his shot rang out over her head.

She turned her head and saw the Ewoks running into the forest. She wondered for a moment what they were doing, then as the Imperials started to chase them she realized that they were luring the Imperial forces into the forest, where the natural features would hide them and give them an opportunity to overwhelm the Imperials. Several scout troopers mounted speederbikes and shot off into the woods while AT-ST walkers stomped off after them, the weapons bristling on their heads training on the fleeing aliens. She looked back at the carnage behind her.

In the clearing, Han Solo finally found his blaster, and in one motion he scooped it up and ran off to the bunker. Leia followed him, her legs pumping. Just as they got to the door, the enormous blast doors slid in place, a dull thump sounding from the lock mechanism engaging. Rushing up to the door, Leia started to enter the code to get into the building. As she did, Han crouched and covered her.

In the forest, AT-STs and speederbikes were routing the Ewoks. The small creatures were running, knowing that turning their backs toward the Imperial war machines left them vulnerable to their deadly laser beams. Despite the danger, they bounded through the forest, leading the Imperials toward the traps they had spent the night and the better part of the morning setting up.

The Imperial walkers stomped through the trees, their drivers smiling as they terrorized the small creatures in front of them with their laser cannons and concussion grenade launchers. They let loose random barrages, utilizing scare tactics to confuse and frighten their prey.

At the edge of the clearing, while the battle around the bunker was dying down, Pinkie Pie and Rarity met up with Applejack. “C’mon, A.J.!” shouted Pinkie Pie. “Let’s go into that forest and give those Stormtroopers a taste of their own medicine!”

Rarity smiled. “Yes! Let’s show those ruffians what it means to mess with the elements of harmony!”

With a yee-haw, Applejack reared up. “Yeah! C’mon!”

As they ran off, Rarity split from the group and headed off into the forest. Pinkie Pie followed Applejack as she led the bouncing earth pony into the trees. “This is so exciting!” said Pinkie.

“Ah don’t believe Ah’d use that word exactly,” said Applejack.

“Don’t worry, Applejack,” said Pinkie cheerfully. “We’re gonna win this thing! After all, we’re the good guys! And good guys always win!”

Applejack chuckled as she headed toward the nearest Stormtrooper. You never can shake that pony’s optimism.

At the armored door to the bunker, Han was taking aim at a Stormtrooper. After he blasted him in the chest, he turned his gun toward another trooper. As he fired off another shot, Leia tried to enter the master code that the Rebels had used to get past the shield, she was disappointed to discover that it didn’t work anymore. She tried it a second time, but again the small yellow indicator lighted labeled “Locked” blinked on. “Code’s changed,” she said to Han. He stood up from a crouch and turned to open the panel on the control board. “We need Artoo!”

“Here’s the terminal,” said Han, looking at the small round interface on the panel.

Leia took out her commlink and held it to her mouth. “Artoo, where are you?! We need you at the bunker right away!”

Shots flew past the bunker as Solo took aim at another Stormtrooper and fired. That droid’d better get here soon.

“Going?” shouted C-3PO. “What do you mean you’re going?”

R2-D2 warbled and whistled a reply, his electronic bleating devoid of emotion to anyone who heard him. He was quite insistent however, and his companion understood the urgency in his tones. The small round robot turned on his wheels and started to quickly roll away, continuing to bleep and whir about what Leia had ordered him to do.

“No, wait!” C-3PO started to trudge after R2-D2 as fast as his clumsy legs would carry him. “This is no time for heroics! Come back!” His counterpart heeded none of his pleas to stop, however. The white droid picked up speed and continued on toward the bunker.

In the forest, the small, furry Ewoks were trying their hardest to do any damage to the Imperial forces. In a small clearing, the native beings had set up several of their catapults. They had little in the way of military structure, but one of them managed to serve as a spotter for the primitive artillery. He stood, staying calm even as blaster fire from the dreaded Imperial walkers got closer. The stomping of their feet rang through the forest, the rhythmic, mechanical cadence of their walk mechanism echoing through the trees. He held an axe aloft, waiting for the exact moment to signal the release of the stones that would be hurled at the metal beast.

The machine stomped slowly through the forest, and he watched as the gray, boxy machine walked right into the perfect spot. He dropped his arm, the axe signaling the crews of the catapults to release their deadly ordnance. The rocky missiles sailed through the air, and the spotter watched as they flew. He started to cheer as they impacted, but his face turned to dismay as each rock bounced off the light Imperial armor, not so much as a paint scratch evident on the machine.

In moments his small body was filled with dread as the machine turned its ugly head to face them, and suddenly red bolts of flaming death flew toward them. Less than a second passed before they impacted the heavy artillery, shattering the logs, disintegrating rope bindings. The pieces of the catapults flew through the air, some plunging deep into the Ewok warriors who were once their crew and sending showers of red spraying through the trees. The spotter watched as the walker, seemingly satisfied with the destruction it caused, continued along its path. The spotter, momentarily stunned by the ease with which the walker dispatched the catapults, nevertheless shook it off. He climbed down the tree in which he was sitting, then ran off into the forest, hoping that there was something he could do to fight back.

Nearby, Rarity was hopping through the trees, and as she ducked under a bush, she closed her eyes to protect them from the flying shrapnel from the blast. Turning her head back around, she glared up at the Imperial walker that was casually stomping away. She looked around and saw several of the boulders that the Ewoks had launched at the thing. Gathering them up, she galloped after the machine, determined to do her part. Upon seeing the walker, she stood and planted her hooves in the soil. An audible whine built up as she charged a flight spell, and soon unleashed a storm of boulders flying at the machine, hoping that she could send them hurtling at the machine faster than the Ewoks had been able to.

As before, the rocks struck the mechanical monster, but as before, they rebounded off the hardened plates of armor. The machine turned its blasters on the origin of the rocks. Rarity’s eyes widened.

Before the blasts chewed craters into her chest, she leaped out of the way and rolled off into the moss. Glancing up, she looked at the back of the walker. A few new dents and scratches appeared on the engine casings, but other than that she saw nothing to indicate she had done anything. Sighing, she ran into the woods. “I am not built for this.”

In the carnage that hung in orbit above the forest moon, the Millennium Falcon flew past a Corellian Corvette, laser blasts from TIE Fighters passing within feet of the small freighter. The ship dodged the hail of fire, passing near a trio of X-wings. In the cockpit, Lando looked up and saw which X-wing was in the lead. He also saw the group of TIE Interceptors closing in on them. “Watch yourself, Wedge!” he shouted. “Three from above!”

Wedge responded, “Red Three, Red Two, pull in!” The two X-wings on his wing, the best in the fleet, pulled in closer and tightened the formation.

Across the battlefield, Wedge saw a Y-wing which was pursuing a flight of TIE Interceptors, and with several well-placed shots the pilot downed both of them.

In her A-wing, Rainbow Dash was aiming at a TIE Fighter which was heading for the bridge of the cruiser Liberty, rending the ship to atoms with a burst from her cannons. Over her radio, she heard Arvel Crynyd shout, “Three of them coming in! Twenty degrees!”

She looked up and to her right to see the TIE Interceptors that her flight leader was talking about. Snapping her ship up, she hit the throttle and sent a hail of lasers toward one of the outlier TIEs. As her burst of fire shredded the Imperial fighter, she heard Wedge over the intercom. “Cut to the left, I’ll take the leader.” No sooner had he said that than did she see Crynyd turn sharply to port and hit the afterburner. She smiled as she saw Wedge blast the lead TIE Interceptor.

As she was lining up another shot, she heard something that sent a wave of nausea going through her. Over the comm, Wedge said, “They’re heading for the medical frigate.”

Fluttershy! Quickly Rainbow Dash rolled and then pulled hard on the stick, and then flooded the engines with fuel. She shot across space, dodging laser blasts and barrel-rolling to avoid careening TIE Fighters. In seconds she arrived at the long, needle-like frigate Redemption, joining the Millennium Falcon as it chased a trio of TIE Interceptors which were attempting to strafe the medical frigate. When the Falcon blasted one of them, the other two broke off their attack. Rainbow let them go, knowing Lando would deal with them, as she swung back around to take care of a second wave of fighters coming at the Nebulon-B Frigate. “I gotta protect this thing,” she said to herself, wincing a little as she looked at the thin spire that held the front end to the back end. It was the most fragile-looking ship she’d ever seen, and as she blasted one of the Interceptors strafing it, she hoped that she could keep them off of it. “Who attacks a medical ship?” she asked to nobody in particular, incredulous that the Empire would do something like that, then she pulled around in a Koiogran turn to deal with the remaining two Interceptors.

A blast rocked the Redemption’s medical bay, sending tools flying across the segmented room. Fluttershy caught one of the laser scalpels, setting it back on the stand near one of the surgical suites. On the surgical table, a pilot was in emergency surgery, the doctors desperately trying to tend the plasma burns and shrapnel wounds that he sustained as he launched from his doomed fighter. Fluttershy tried to avoid looking into the gaping wound caused by a flying bit of broken stabilizer. She’d tended her own animal friends when things like this happened, but it wasn’t any easier to look at with aliens. And this one had a combination of internal organs that was unsettling in color and shape.

As she looked away, a pilot, his face covered in soot and his orange pilot outfit torn, stumbled into the medical bay. The chief medical officer looked up from the man she was tending. “Do you have more wounded?”

He shook his head. “The shuttle I was flying was hit,” he said breathlessly. “We managed to coast into the bay on fumes, but we only managed to save a few of the wounded before the ship exploded in the hangar. It took out one of the remaining rescue shuttles.”

The officer shook her head. “Shooting rescue shuttles... like a bunch of wild dogs. Get back out there, pilot. We need to be helping as many people as we can.”

The man shook his head at her. “We’re lucky to get this many!”

As the chief medical officer opened her mouth to speak, a blast rocked the ship, causing people to steady themselves against the bulkheads. Fluttershy took to the air and hovered near the surgical ward. It was soon followed by another blast, the ship quaking as though a giant fist was shaking it. As the ship stabilized, the CMO yelled, “Get back to work! Worry about your own safety later!” The crew all turned back to their work, then she looked at the pilot. “You. Get back out there and do your job. You joined the Alliance to help people, and right now there are pilots out there who need your help!”

He nodded sadly, then turned and jogged back to the hangar. Fluttershy floated in midair, looking at the place where he was standing. “Oh... there has to be something more I can do to help!”

“Fluttershy!” shouted the surgeon. “Hand me that pressor generator!”

Nodding, Fluttershy grabbed the small device and handed it to the man, but inside she was wondering about the battle going on and hoping that nothing would happen to the Redemption.

As he finished looping the Millennium Falcon around a Nebulon-B Frigate, Lando let loose a barrage of blaster fire that ripped straight through the cockpit of a TIE Interceptor. The red lances of energy spread through the ship in an instant, obliterating it and turning the fighter into a ball of incandescent gas. As he brought the freighter about, he paused, looking out the window at the enormous fleet of Star Destroyers. He stared at them for a moment, even as a TIE Fighter buzzed by being chased by an X-wing. They should have been all over the Rebel fleet by now. That many Imperial Star Destroyers, not to mention that Super Star Destroyer, could have wiped them out in an instant, but they just sat there. “Only the fighters are attacking,” he said to himself. “I wonder what those Star Destroyers are waiting for.”

Grateful for the moment that the Empire wasn't coming at them with teeth bared, he turned the Falcon around, bringing the ship back into the action.

Aboard the Executor, the Imperial crew were performing their jobs, casually waiting and watching their fighters as they preyed upon the Rebel ships. Nobody seemed to have more than a passing interest in the battle, save for Admiral Piett and Commander Gherant. Both of the Executor’s supreme commanders were focused intently on the battlefield, looking over it like a pair of wolves ready to spring into action to pounce on the Rebels.

As the two men surveyed the devastation before them, a lieutenant walked up to them and stood before them. “We’re in attack position now, sir,” said the young man.

“Hold here,” ordered Piett.

Gherant looked at him quizzically. “We’re not going to attack?”

Shrugging, Piett turned to him. "I have my orders from the Emperor himself. He has something special planned for them. We only need to keep them from escaping."

Twilight, Luke, and Celestia stood in front of the giant window, the darkness of the space beyond nothing compared to the darkness that sat in the throne behind them and flanked by Darth Vader. The battle outside, though far from where they stood, was nonetheless present before them. Flashes of light from doomed Rebel vessels lit up their faces from time to time, death ever-present in the maddening chaos beyond.

“As you can see, my young apprentices,” said the Emperor, prompting Luke and Twilight to look at him in anger and horror, “your friends have failed.” Then the voice that was once oily and slick started to thicken, becoming a crescendo of evil that washed over them like abrasive sludge. “Now witness the firepower of this fully armed and operational battle station!”

None of the Rebel Jedi could believe their ears. The revelation that the Death Star was not only operational, but ready to strike out at the Rebels made all three of them sick to their stomachs.

The Emperor slowly turned and flipped a switch on his armrest. “Fire at will, commander,” he said into his throne’s comlink.

Celestia, Luke and Twilight turned and looked out the window, wishing they could do something, anything to stop the blast. Celestia contemplated projecting a shield around the fleet, but even her might would be nothing compared to the planet-destroying power of the Death Star’s superlaser.

They stood and watched, impotently knowing they were about to witness a horrible act of war.

In the bowels of the Death Star, the sleeping beast contained in the half-completed metal sphere was waking, groans coming from it as the various systems came online. Lights were blinking to life on the control boards of the station’s prime weapon and gunners around the weapon’s axis were flipping the switches that would prime the capacitors for firing.

Moff Jerjerrod, standing on the Death Star’s overbridge, heard the order come in on his internal comlink. He turned to the main gunner and uttered a single command: “Fire.”

The interior of the battle station vibrated as the energy built up along firing channels in the station’s interior. Enormous beams of green energy formed in the channels, and suddenly the beams intensified and burst forth from points around a gargantuan glowing dish in the northern hemisphere of the station. The energy beams met at a point in front of the green-glowing focusing lens, and suddenly the deadly main beam shot forth from the center.

Pilots and crewmen on all sides paused as the beam lanced out like an elongated javelin, piercing one of the Rebel cruisers in the heart. The ship glowed for a fraction of an instant before it burst into a white-hot shower of molten fragments and plasma.

On the Millennium Falcon, Lando Calrissian and his co-pilot Nien Nunb had front row seats to the destruction of the cruiser. “That blast came from the Death Star!” shouted Calrissian. His face betrayed the shock he felt at seeing the Death Star destroy a whole starship in a single blast. “That thing’s operational!”

After the shock of the Death Star’s attack wore off, he quickly keyed his commlink to the frequency of the Rebel base ship. “Home One this is Gold Leader!”

“We saw it,” replied Admiral Ackbar. “All craft, prepare to retreat!”

“We won’t get another chance at this, Admiral,” said Lando as he steered the Millennium Falcon through the Rebel fleet.

“We have no choice, General Calrissian!” said Ackbar. “Our cruisers can’t repel firepower of that magnitude!”

Shaking his head in disbelief, Lando leaned on the comm switch. “Han will have that shield down. We’ve gotta give him more time!”

In the forest below, Han and Leia were still fending off attacks from a line of Stormtroopers sitting behind a log on the other side of the clearing. Han blasted at them, trying to hit one of them. Each time he fired, they’d duck and snap off a shot at him, prompting him to duck as well. Their shots went wide, but he knew all it took was a lucky hit and he’d be barbecued. He took up aim again and fired at the troopers.

As he shot at them again, he saw something come up behind them. He squinted, wondering what it was, then he saw sticks and clubs being raised behind them. He smirked a little as the tiny furballs started to beat the Stormtroopers with rocks and stab at them with hard, sharpened sticks.

Suddenly his attention was drawn to a beep-whistle coming from the forest. He looked up and saw R2-D2 and C-3PO rolling and shuffling into the clearing. “We’re coming!” shouted the tall golden protocol droid. A pair of blaster bolts whipped across the battlefield, prompting Han to spin and shoot the trooper right between the eyes.

As the man fell, the two droids finally made it to the bunker. A blaster bolt exploded in front of C-3PO, but as he screamed in surprise R2-D2 rolled up to the computer panel to interface with it.

“Come on, come on!” shouted Han as he and Leia backed away from the droid, who protested being rushed as he extended a small metal device. The conical tip extended and plugged into a round portal on the panel. It began to spin, reading the information in the computer and allowing R2-D2 access to the internal systems of the door lock.

“Oh,” shouted C-3PO as his little friend worked on the Imperial lock. “Artoo, hurry!”

As the little droid worked on the controls, Han took aim at another Stormtrooper and fired, blasting the soldier in the chest. When he looked up to take aim at a second Stormtrooper, a sudden blast knocked him back against the door. Before he could recover, a trooper popped up from behind a log and snapped off a shot at R2-D2. The blast created a small explosion, sending the small droid wailing and rocketing to the other side of the doorway, slamming into the wall with a loud clang.

“My goodness!” shouted C-3PO as his counterpart shot past him.

Taking aim at the trooper who had blasted R2-D2, Han shot him in the chest. Then he turned to see if the little droid was okay. Suddenly the droid started to spark, and flames shot out from panels that sprang open from the energy overload. Electrical arcs played over the droid’s surface as more sparks and flame sprouted from the innards of the robot.

Shaking his head, C-3PO muttered, “Artoo, why do you have to be so brave?”

The pitiful response from the astromech conveyed how much the blast took out of him.

Han and Leia looked at R2-D2 for a moment, then Han said, “Well... I suppose I can hotwire this thing.” He turned and opened a panel in the side of the computer, then started to take smaller metal coverings off the internal components.

“I’ll cover you,” said Leia as she went past Han and crouched in front of him. Her vigilant eye watched over the forest, protecting her love from all who would try to hurt him.

When he got the last panel open, Han then started pulling out wires and small circuit boards, causing them to spark as their contacts snapped shut. As he fiddled with the wires and tried to find the one combination of inputs that would work, he scowled to himself. Just swell..., he thought to himself.

As the Stormtroopers and Imperial walkers continued to pursue the Ewoks, Applejack growled a curse at them. She was not about to let these dung-eating, armor-plated mongrels get away with all the atrocities they’d committed.

She carefully crawled through the moss and detritus on the forest floor, going as fast as she could to position herself near the path the troopers were taking. As blaster fire erupted around her, she forced herself to stay put. Then she saw an opportunity.

One of the Stormtroopers came a little too close to where she was hiding, and suddenly she sprang into action, quickly spinning around and planting a solid kick in side of the trooper's torso. The force of the kick knocked the trooper off the path, right smack into a tree. The man’s body impacted the trunk with so much force that a significant amount of bark was stripped away. Her mouth spread into a grin as he slumped to the ground.

As she crawled away to keep the Imperials from seeing where she was, she heard a cry of pain. Crawling under the brush, she emerged on the other side to see a pair of Ewoks lying on the ground. She recognized both of them from the tribe. One of them slowly got up, groaning groggily. Applejack smiled, grateful that they were alive, but then she noticed that the dark gray one failed to get up. “Come on,” she said to herself. “Come on, you’re okay. Just get up!”

The tan one leaned down and called out to the other one. Applejack’s heart caught in her throat as she saw the poor creature shake the body of the gray one when it didn’t move. Then the small creature stared for a moment, uttering a pitiful moan, and then collapsed on the body of the gray one.

As the light brown Ewok mourned the loss of her friend, Applejack had flashbacks to when she and Rainbow got hit by blaster fire and how close they had been to death. “Don’t worry,” she said quietly to herself and to the Ewok, “we’re gonna get the Empire. And we’ll make sure they never hurt anypony... anyone... ever again.”

The sky around Endor once again was filled with the deadly green glow of the Death Star’s primary weapon. The green superlaser beam shot out of the focusing dish and obliterated another Rebel cruiser, sending starfighters fleeing in all directions, desperate to avoid being vaporized by the resulting explosion. Rainbow juked and weaved to keep from being hit by a passing girder, still glowing white hot from the blast. Then she swung around and got back into the fight. She shook her head in amazement. The ship that the Death Star had fired on was not a particularly large cruiser, despite being almost 500 meters long. “Why are they going after the smaller ships? Why not take out the big ones?”

Shaking her head, she figured that they were probably just trying to draw this out as long as possible. Why? Who knows? She didn’t have much time to muse on it as a pair of TIE Interceptors rushed past her. She gave chase, and soon one of them was a flaming wreck careening toward an Imperial Star Destroyer.

As she took aim at the other fighter, she heard Lando Calrissian on the commlink ordering the fleet to get closer to the Imperial fleet. “What?!” she said.

Almost as though he were replying to her and not Admiral Ackbar, who had a similar reaction, he shouted, “Yes, I said closer! Move as close as you can and engage those Star Destroyers at point blank range!”

“At that close range, we won’t last long against those Star Destroyers!” protested Ackbar.

“We’ll last longer than we will against that Death Star! And we might just take a few of them with us!”

Scowling at the man’s idea, Rainbow nonetheless complied with the order, doing a turn that put her on a direct path toward the Imperial war fleet. As she did, she saw a group of TIE Interceptors heading toward the medical frigate Redemption. Spinning her fighter into a barrel roll, she immediately attacked the trio of Imperial fighters, scattering their formation before it could get to the frigate and cause damage.

She smiled as she looked at the long, spindly vessel and thought about Fluttershy. The girl was doing her part, even if she couldn’t take part in the fighting. “Fluttershy,” said Rainbow as she gazed at the frigate, “you ro─”

Then the Redemption exploded.

Her cockpit was lit by the fading light of the superlaser. Its harsh, painful glow seared as much as the sudden agony in her chest. Rainbow Dash stared with uncomprehending eyes on the shattered bulk of the Redemption, watching the fragments glitter and fade, shrapnel erupting in the midst of the Rebel fleet. A voice was screaming. It was, she realized, her voice. She was screaming.

"Fluttershy! Fluttershy!"

Her grip trembled. No, not her grip, Her whole body was trembling and she wasn't sure if it was rage, pain or some unfathomable mix of the two.

On the Death Star, Twilight, Luke, and Celestia were watching through the window at the carnage taking place outside, trying to ignore the sinister words being spoken by the Emperor. “Your fleet is lost,” said the malevolence, “and your friends on the Endor moon will not survive.”

They turned to face him as he looked at them with mock sadness. “There is no escape, my young apprentices. The Alliance will die.” His voice became darker still. “As will your friends.”

Fear and hatred coursed through Twilight as she heard the creature before them spout words designed to torment them all. She knew that he was just saying them in order to get them all to become angry and succumb to the temptation to use the Dark Side. And the worst part was, it was working. She fought it desperately, but every syllable from his mouth sent waves of wrath coming up from her heart. They crashed into her mind, eroding her will to remain calm. Yes... he’s right... They’re all going to perish! And I’m standing here, doing nothing as they fight and die... She shook her head and tried to clear out the bad thoughts, but they kept coming. Pinkie Pie... Rainbow Dash... Fluttershy... they’re all going to be killed... I can’t just stand here and do nothing, can I?

“Good...” intoned the Emperor. His eyes were rolled back into his head, his lids closed, as though he were bathing in the waves of negative energy flowing off the three captives. “I can feel your anger...”

Fight it, Twilight!

“I am defenseless...” said the Emperor.

Fight it... Her eyes were squeezed shut, and she could feel her self-control withering away.

“Take your weapon, use your magic!” He stuck his chin out defiantly, as though he were exposing his throat to them all. “Strike me down with all of your hatred, and your journey towards the Dark Side will be complete!”

She turned back toward the window, trying to take her mind off what he was saying. Instead she was reminded of all the death and destruction that was happening in space and on the moon below. All that carnage... all that fatality... And it can be stopped... all I have to do... is kill him...

Suddenly she spun around, letting out a primal scream, and shot a blast of magic at the Emperor. Celestia cried out for her to stop, but she didn’t hear her teacher. Months of hate and anger that had been building up to this point were released in a seething, roiling purple blast of magic that splashed against the monster in the throne.

As the magic rippled off of the Emperor, Luke seized the opportunity and used the Force to summon his lightsaber, intending to strike a blow at the Emperor and end his tyrannical reign.

Before the saber's blade could strike the Emperor's black heart, though, Darth Vader's rose to meet it, the crackling of the two plasma blades echoing in the chamber.

But above it all was heard the cackling of the Emperor, the wrath of the pony and the Jedi feeding his insatiable desires.

Author's Note

Well, that was pretty intense...

And unfortunately, that will be it for a long while. I'm going to return to this story, and I definitely have a few more surprises waiting for you guys. But I have decided that the story needs another revamp. The first one worked well enough, but the more I think about it the more I need to take my story to the next level as far as writing goes. You guys deserve the best for sticking with me for as long as you have, so I've gotten a talented friend to help me re-write the whole thing.

But don't worry, I will return one day. Till then, may the Force be with you!

The Battle of Endor

Chapter 27

“It’s impossible to tell for certain when I knew I was defeated. Pain and anguish had flooded my body, and I couldn’t even think straight. But I knew. Without a shred of doubt, I knew: this was the end”

-Twilight Sparkle, On Extra-Galactic Voyages, p. 980

Blaster fire flew overhead and slammed into trees around Chewbacca, exploding the trunk and sending pieces of it flying in all directions. He picked bits of bark out of his fur as he clawed his way through the forest, leading a pair of Ewoks along a ridge. He listened and tried to find the source of the mechanical stomping in the distance. His keen hunter’s instincts told him it was close, no more than a few dozen meters away.

Suddenly, he spotted the scout walker carefully making its way through the forest toward its target in the distance: a group of Ewok warriors trying to sneak up on an Imperial squad. Quickly, Chewbacca ran along the forest floor, pausing every so often for the Ewoks to catch up. He pointed at the walker and tried to tell them what his plan was, but they scratched their heads and acted confused. Sighing, he picked them up and deposited them on his shoulders as he sunk his claws deep into the bark of a nearby tree. He ascended the trunk as quickly as a katarn, running to the edge of a branch and taking a flying leap onto a vine hanging limply off the end.

Screaming a war cry, he swung from the vine toward the Imperial walker as it swayed back and forth, his Ewok companions clinging for dear life. He let go at just the right moment, landing on the roof with a loud metallic bang and setting the two Ewoks down. Reaching to pull the latch, he felt resistance in the handle. Before he could pull out his fusion cutter however, one of the Ewoks had crawled up to the front of the walker and leaned over the edge to wave at the occupants.

Chewie smiled as he heard one of the occupants shout, “Get him off of there!” As the hatch opened and the walker pilot climbed out, Chewbacca wasted no time grabbing the man and hurling him thirty feet to the forest floor. The officer let out a horrified scream, punctuated by the sound of bones snapping, followed by silence.

As he smiled and watched the body crumple to the ground, the two Ewoks hopped inside and began beating the other Imperial to death with their clubs. Suddenly, he felt the walker shift under him, and he nearly lost his balance. He then popped his head into the cabin to scream at the little saboteurs at the controls for nearly giving him the same fate as the Imperial he’d tossed earlier. Calming himself, he climbed down into the cabin of the walker and closed the hatch, gently moving the Ewok in the pilot's seat to the back of the cabin so he could take control of the machine.

It wasn’t long before he saw another AT-ST stomping its way through the forest, blasting the Ewoks he’d saved from the previous occupants of his walker. Snarling to himself, he pointed at the walker in front of them and screamed at the Ewok in the gunner’s seat.

The crew of the other walker didn’t know what hit them when a cascade of crimson laser bolts shredded the generators and blew the control cabin apart. The cloud of plasma dissipated, and all that remained of the vehicle was a pair of legs, standing frozen in mid stride.

As the Rebel walker stomped away, Chewbacca could hear loud cheering from the surrounding Ewoks who moments ago had been cowering before the might of the Empire. Suddenly he heard a loud “Yee-haw!” Turning the head of the walker, he saw Applejack waving her hat as they walked by. He smiled, infected with her excitement.

Applejack laughed and whooped as she saw the captured walker continue on its rampage of payback to the Empire. Suddenly, the black barrel of an Imperial blaster rifle appeared in front of her face.

Ducking away from it, she prepared to buck the owner of the blaster from the top of the ridge where she was standing, but stopped when she saw who he was.

“Yee-haha!” shouted the Ewok holding the blaster.

Relaxing, she gently reached up and pushed the barrel of the gun out of her face. “Whoa there, lil’ guy!” she said. The creature muttered what she guessed was an apology, and then hopped down to continue the fight. She shook her head and chuckled at the excitable alien, then she leaped off the ridge herself and galloped off. The Empire was beginning to lose the upper hand. She could feel it, and she wanted to capitalize on it.

“Woo-hoo!” she shouted, running down the side of the embankment to join the fray, her energy levels rising anew.

Bounding through the forest, Rarity launched herself over a log, landed on the other side, and tried to find the group of troopers she had been chasing. She sniffed the air, then caught the unmistakable odor of Imperial armor. That combination of neoprene and machine oil was hard to miss, and she knew neoprene like she knew prada or chiffon.

Quickly, she galloped in the direction of the smell, then spotted the three troopers who had been chasing after a group of Ewoks. Slamming her hooves into the ground, she steadied herself as she picked up several rocks in her magic.

The sound of an energetic charge filled the air, and the troopers barely had time to scream before the rocks were sent at hypersonic speeds toward their faces. They were out cold before they could even point their blasters.

Smiling at her small victory, Rarity was about to quip a one-liner, but the sound of blaster fire flying over her head made her think twice about staying in one spot too long. Quickly she hopped behind a line of bushes and retreated to better ground.

In another part of the forest, Applejack was following a group of Ewoks. She didn’t know their language, but was aware of enough of their phrases to know they wanted her to follow, and that they were planning an ambush. They led her to one of the long paths that had been cut through the forest by the Ewoks. “I don’t understand… what’s so special about this?"

A few moments of explaining made it perfectly clear what they were talking about. She smiled and took her rope, then tied one end to a tree. After forming the other end into a lasso, she began twirling it in the air, gathering velocity so she could toss it. Then she heard a mechanical whine coming her way.

Acting quickly, she tossed the lasso and it caught the end of the approaching speederbike. She quickly galloped off, then turned around in time to see the vehicle wrap itself around the tree she’d tied her rope to, the centrifugal force keeping the occupant in his seat. He screamed as his bike got closer and closer to the tree. Then the bike slammed into the trunk at 200 miles per hour, the impact igniting the fuel canisters and creating an explosion that consumed the bike and its rider.

Things were calming down next to the bunker leading to the shield generator, but Han still felt desperate as he continued to try hotwiring the door controls. He’d broken into hundreds of doors, from a shopkeeper’s door back when he was a street urchin to the doors in the Imperial high-security Star’s End prison. This should be way easier than it was turning out to be. He’d already bypassed the outer control circuit, so what more could there be to this thing? He carefully watched the readouts on the control panel in front of him, trying to find just the right combination of wires to touch in order to trip the door cycling mechanism. Suddenly he saw the STBY light illuminate.

“I think I got it…”

Touching another pair of wires, the OPN lights turned on.

“I got it!”

He heard the sound of metal sliding against metal and looked behind him, expecting to see the main door of the complex open up. Instead, he saw a pair of thick blast doors close over the entrance. Grimacing, he turned back around to try and figure out what he’d done wrong.

A cry of pain from Leia caused him to drop the wires he’d been holding. She collapsed to the floor, her face contorted in agony from the smoking hole in her arm.

“Oh, Princess Leia!” shouted C-3PO, “Are you alright?”

Han took hold of her hand and tried to pry it off the wound. He could feel the blood seeping out from under her fingers as he kept pulling on them. “Let’s see.”

She shook her head, her teeth set and her eyes closed. “It’s not bad,” she replied.

“Freeze!”

Han didn’t have to turn around to know who had said it. The metallic filtering gave it away. He put his hands up slowly, wishing he hadn’t holstered his blaster. Even if he had, he doubted he’d be able to turn around quickly enough to blast the trooper behind him, assuming it was just one. More than one and he didn’t stand a chance.

As his mind ran through the options, few though they be, he glanced down to see Leia had already pulled a pistol and was holding it close to her chest. He smiled. “I love you.”

She smiled back at him. “I know.”

“Hands up!” barked the trooper. “Stand up!”

As Han slowly began to rise, Leia sprang into action. Two shots rang out from her blaster, and two thuds were heard behind him. He turned around and looked at the two fresh corpses laying in the grass, smoking craters in the middle of their chests where their hearts used to be. He smiled; this woman was the most impressive person he’d ever laid eyes on.

Suddenly his attention was drawn to mechanical footsteps. He looked up in dismay as the guns of an AT-ST walker bore down on him. His luck had just run out.

He held his hand out to keep Leia from trying anything else. He wasn’t about to let her risk her life. “Stay back,” he said, wondering if this Imperial was in a bargaining mood.

The hatch opened, and as he prepared his best defense for Leia and himself, a familiar hairy beast appeared above the metal cabin. He smiled in relief. “Chewie!”

His attention was then drawn to a large rock that began floating in the air. It took him a moment to realize what was causing it. “Hey! No, stop!” he shouted at Rarity, causing the rock to stop midair mere inches from the walker’s knee joint. It fell to the ground with a crash.

“My apologies, dear,” said Rarity as she walked out from the bushes and joined him.

With as little patience as he could muster, he pointed at Leia and said, “She’s wounded, help her!”

As Rarity began tending to Leia, using her magic to fashion a crude bandage from leaves, Han waved at Chewbacca. “Hey Chewie, got room in there for two?”

The joystick seemed like it weighed a thousand pounds to Rainbow. She thought that she heard the sounds of battle, generated by the cockpit’s audio feedback system, but it seemed far away. The loss of Fluttershy seemed to scoop her heart from her chest, leaving a gaping void.

She struggled to breathe, and as she did, one of the voices that she was hearing came into focus.

“Green Four! Green Four, what are you doing?!”

It was Arvyl Crynyd, her flight leader. Something about his pleading caused her to climb up the cliff leading to oblivion. Suddenly, the reason he was screaming in her ear hit her like a speeding pegasus: the wall of death in front of her.

She pulled back on the stick quickly, just in time to avoid slamming into the jagged superstructure of an Imperial Star Destroyer. She juked back and forth, avoiding gun barrels and antennas, and brought her fighter about.

Warning lights lit up in front of her on the HUD, followed by the green glow of turbolaser bolts. “Agh!” she screamed as she wrenched the stick and executed a roll to take her out of the Destroyer’s firing solution.

“Are you alright, Green Four?”

The world paused for a moment as Rainbow’s despair began to dissolve, leaving behind an iron block of determination. She shoved the throttle forward, the colors of the stripe painted up the middle of her ship’s small fuselage leaving a rainbow-colored contrail.

Flicking the switch to cycle targets, she quickly found the nearest TIE Fighter and closed in. Her instincts seem to take over as she hit the firing studs, sending beams of coherent light and plasma slamming into the enemy fighter’s ball-shaped body.

As it exploded in a shower of sparkling debris, she glanced to the left and saw another one. A quick snap-shot burst the fighter’s cockpit and shredded its wings.

“Green Four, come in!”

A primal scream came from her mouth as she chased down fighter after fighter. Even with her HUD’s threat indicator blaring warnings, she continued to blast the symbols of Imperial tyranny.

“Green Four!”

Enemy laser blasts whipped past her cockpit canopy as she landed two square hits on the nearest TIE Interceptor.

“Rainbow!”

That got her attention. “What?!”

“I don’t know if you’ve noticed, Four, but I just got three bandits off your tail! A little thanks would be nice!"

She looked at the scrolling combat information screen. Several fighters that had been chasing her earlier were confirmed killed, with Flight Leader Crynyd getting the credit for the kills.

Clearing her throat, she hit the comm key. “Sorry, sir. Thank you, sir.”

“No problem. Now let’s pair up and hit ‘em hard, Four!”

“We’ll make ‘em pay, sir!”

She throttled back a bit to let Crynyd catch up, then she matched speeds with him and hit the controls to sync their targeting computers. A new look of determination came across her face as she targeted the leader of a flight of TIE Bombers.

“I swear, Fluttershy,” she said, tears still dampening the fur on her cheeks, “I’m not gonna rest until the Empire pays for taking you from me.”

Light splashed across the walls of the Emperor’s throne room as Luke and Vader’s lightsabers struck each other. Vader’s saber lashed out viciously at Luke, each blow carrying the full might of the Sith Lord’s vast depths of power. Luke blocked each strike, his blade never going for a kill. They danced around the room, a deadly tango that seemed to Twilight like a never ending exchange of power.

She watched as the two powerful warriors battled. With each crash of the blades, she became more and more anxious for Luke. He seemed so small next to Vader, who was like a tall, dark gargoyle. His skull-like breath mask was a chilling sight to behold, and it stared with empty eye sockets at Luke as they continued their duel. She had to do something to help Luke.

Quickly she built up a charge of magic, the seething energies forming into a sparking ball on the end of her horn. She unleashed it, but it merely splashed harmlessly against Vader's outstretched hand. She gasped as she realized that he’d anticipated her attack and blocked it effortlessly.

However, that was the opening Luke needed. He quickly kicked Vader in the side, sending him tumbling down the stairs leading up to the dais. Twilight looked up at his face and saw no malice or anger, just peace. She wondered how he could be so serene in the face of such evil.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the cackling of the Emperor as he sat in his throne and observed the battle, his mouth spread wide into a twisted grin. “Good… use your aggressive feelings, boy! Let the hate flow through you!”

Suddenly, a golden energy blast illuminated the throne room and struck the Emperor in the side. Celestia’s horn shone like a column of flame as it unleashed a deadly cone of pure magic at Palpatine. Her eyes burned with anger and determination and her jaw was set. But as she ended her barrage on him and the light faded, the smiling face of the monster in the throne stared back at her.

“Fool,” he said. “You think you are strong enough to defeat me?”

“I am strong enough to defeat you, foul creature!” Celestia countered, her horn lighting up again and preparing for another blast.

Before she could unleash it, the Emperor lifted his hand, and suddenly she flew backward into the railing surrounding the dais. A cry of pain sounded from her mouth as the hard metal slammed into her wing, and the blast flew out from her horn and impacted the ceiling beyond.

The resulting explosion was deafening, but Twilight’s scream could still be heard above it. “Celestia!”

Quickly, Twilight rushed to her side and knelt next to Celestia, her eyes frantically searching for signs of injury. But Celestia lifted a hoof. “It’s alright, I’m not seriously hurt. We must find a way to defeat the Emperor,” she said, glancing at the two cages sitting in the shadows and the monstrous figures snarling inside them.

As Celestia’s face momentarily betrayed her emotions, Twilight nodded. “I understand, Princess.” She leaned down and nuzzled her teacher. “I promise, I will do whatever it takes.”

But she didn’t know how she would be able to take down the Emperor. If Celestia’s magic wasn’t enough, then how could she possibly defeat him? Her talents were nothing compared to her teacher’s, and she was starting to doubt that they had a chance at all. Deep within her, something stirred and massaged her insecurities. She fought it, trying to keep it from overtaking her, but it was gaining ground, getting closer and closer to taking down her defenses.

She looked up and saw Luke standing on the staircase, his lightsaber extinguished. She wondered how he was able to contend with the despair he must be feeling, no doubt caused by the Emperor somehow. But his serene face betrayed no inner struggle as he said, “I will not fight you, father."

Vader strode toward him, his blade humming with deadly energy as the empty eyes of his mask seemed to lock onto Luke like a predator. He approached his prey, and Luke’s serenity wavered as he began to back away slowly. Fear crossed his eyes, and Vader seemed ready to pounce at any moment.

“You are unwise to lower your defenses!” said Vader as he swung his lightsaber, with Luke barely able to ignite his blade in time to deflect the attack. The two of them clashed sabers in a flurry of strikes that made Twilight’s heart race. At any point, a missed block could spell doom for her friend. She could hardly move as she watched the two glowing energy columns flash back and forth.

One thing remained constant as they attacked each other. Vader continued to attack, but Luke seemed reluctant to strike back. She watched him back away from each strike little by little, giving ground to Vader’s onslaught as he refused to deliver a killing blow to his father.

Luke’s sudden leap backwards into a security station surprised Twilight as she saw him extinguish his blade. Then even more impressively, he leaped backwards into the air and landed on a catwalk ten feet above him.

“Your thoughts betray you, father,” said Luke. “I feel the good in you… the conflict.”

“There is no conflict,” replied Vader, anger filling his voice as he pointed his weapon at Luke.

Luke continued to walk along the platform, a renewed determination on his face. “You couldn’t bring yourself to kill me before and I don’t believe you’ll destroy me now!”

“You underestimate the power of the Dark Side,” said Vader. “If you will not fight, then you will meet your destiny!” With that, he wound back, and flung his lightsaber through the air. Luke barely had time to duck out of the way of the blade as it sliced effortlessly through the metal catwalk and its supports. Sparks flew as the deck fell from under Luke’s feet, and he slipped, tumbling down and rolling into the darkness.

As Luke fell, the sound of cackling laughter echoed through the chamber. Twilight looked up at the Emperor as he stood from his chair and walked toward the edge of the dais to watch the battle proceed. The horrible grin he wore on his face gave Twilight a chill, and she realized that there wasn’t any way to defeat this villain with the power of magic.

That left the power of friendship. But would her friendship with Luke alone be enough? And how could she even channel it without the Elements of Harmony? The subtleties of the power of friendship were something she was still studying, and she didn’t know if there was a way to harness it to defeat Palpatine and his minion.

She shuddered as the Emperor gleefully chuckled. “Good… good!” he said as he drank in the malice and hatred flowing through the room. There had to be a way…

Flaming debris rained on the canopy as Rainbow finished off a perfect feint and backstab maneuver alongside Flight Leader Crynyd. The other element of fighters from Red Squadron peeled off, having finished off the TIE Interceptors that Rainbow was luring into their sights.

“Thanks, Green Four,” she heard over the comm.

“No prob,” she responded, then executed a barrel roll to put her sights on a flight of TIE Fighters. Laser bolts blazed from her cannons as she strafed the element of fighters. The crimson bolts shredded their wings and burrowed deep into their cockpits, igniting their reactors and bursting them like overripe melons.

Racking up kills did little to salve her wounded heart. The image of the Redemption’s hull erupting like a volcano was still burned into her memory, and she couldn’t shake it. She banked away from her flight leader and headed toward the debris field of the medical frigate as it slowly expanded.

“Stick close, Four!” Crynyd’s voice commanded her, but she continued toward the cloud of twisted girders and burned hull plating.

“I need to check for survivors,” she said.

She didn’t wait for a response. Quickly, she dumped energy into her engines and burned toward the remains of the medical frigate. As she approached, she saw charred bodies of humanoids, which turned her stomach. But none of the bodies she saw were Fluttershy. She wove around the larger pieces, with small bits striking her shields and causing them to flare. Easing up on the throttle, she continued to search the debris field, hoping to find some sign of survivors.

The longer she stayed in it, the more she realized that there was no hope of survival for anyone on board the ship. A stray laser bolt hitting a piece of conduit near her position jolted her back to the battle around her.

Reluctantly, she turned away. A tear rolled down her cheek as she headed back into the fight, but then she saw a piece of wreckage that looked a little too perfect. It was a blocky piece, with large planes sticking out of the sides. It took her a moment to realize it was a rescue shuttle, and while its surface was charred and the hull plating looked a little warped, it was otherwise intact.

Her heart raced as she sped toward the shuttle and parked in front of the cockpit viewport. She peered into it, trying to see if anyone was on board. Her eyesight, honed from years of performing aerial feats of derring-do, allowed her to see that there were people inside the cabin. She gasped as she spied a familiar yellow pegasus floating in zero gee.

Quickly, she hit the comms. “Fluttershy! Fluttershy, can you hear me?! Say something!”

An eternity passed before she saw Fluttershy move. Her body flinched, and Rainbow could see that her left foreleg was drawn up in pain toward her chest. Fluttershy reached weakly with her other leg to grasp the handhold on the archway, then propelled herself forward toward the control panel. She activated the commlink, her voice barely registering above the background static. “R… Rainbow?”

“Fluttershy!” The sound of her friend’s voice renewed Rainbow’s courage. “Thank Celestia! Are you hurt?”

A cough wracked Fluttershy as she hit the comm key again. “I… I think my l-leg is broken… My sides hurt…”

Rainbow swallowed hard, trying to get rid of the lump in her throat. “Hold on, Fluttershy. Just hold on. Can you raise your shields?”

“I don’t know… power’s out…” Her hoof dropped weakly from the comm key, and she began floating away.

Acting quickly, Rainbow switched the frequency and shouted, “Green Five and Six, get over to the Redemption’s debris field! There’s a rescue shuttle with survivors on it and we need to protect it till another shuttle can evac them!”

“Roger, be there as soon as I can,” said Five. Six followed suit soon after.

Green laser fire flashed past Rainbow’s canopy. She looked up and saw a deadly trio of TIE Interceptors flying toward the rescue shuttle. Apparently the Imperials had heard her comm chatter.

Shoving the throttle forward, she met them head on, spraying them with laser fire. The small forward profiles of the enemy fighters meant that she wasn’t able to get all of them, but a smile came to her lips as she saw the lead fighter erupt in flames and his wingmen break off their attack. They broke in opposite directions, but she didn’t hesitate to pick one and then get on his tail. She let loose a barrage of cannon fire and the Interceptor burst like an egg.

Bringing up her targeting computer, she scanned for nearby fighter craft, and as luck would have it, the nearest fighter was one of the ships that had attacked the rescue shuttle. The dagger-shaped craft was swinging around, and Rainbow could tell from its trajectory that it was headed toward the shuttle. After balancing power between her engines and shields, she opened the throttle and careened toward the Interceptor, guns blazing. The stream of fire caught the Interceptor on its upper wing surface, blasting the solar array panel to atoms and unbalancing its thrust. She watched with satisfaction as it spun out of control and then crashed into a twisted piece of metal debris.

The pieces of the Interceptor had barely cleared before more TIEs began to swarm her. But any fear in her heart had long since been replaced by determination. She had thought Fluttershy was gone, and now that her friend had a second chance, she was going to make sure it counted.

Far below the chaos of the space battle above, Commander Hewex was in the main control center of the shield generator bunker. “Continue to maintain sweeps of sector 515,” he said, pointing over the shoulder of the scanner operator. He could still feel Vader’s cold, invisible grip on his throat, and this would be the second time he’d lost control of his base. I am not going to end up a corpse over this! Quickly he walked to the control panel in order to access the command comlink, but as he reached for the controls, the wall screen lit up and displayed a walker pilot’s face. He didn’t recognize the man, but before he could ask him about his status, the man spoke into his comm. “It’s over commander. The Rebels have been routed. They’re fleeing into the woods. We need reinforcements to continue the pursuit.”

Hewex had been waiting for this news ever since the battle began. He’d had no doubt that he would be able to pull victory from the jaws of defeat, and a grin spread on his mouth. “Send three squads to help!” he said, ordering the remaining garrison of troops after the Rebels. He wasn’t going to squander this opportunity to quash the last vestiges of resistance. He might even get a commendation from the Emperor for saving the base. “Open the back door!”

He followed his troops out of the security complex toward the entrance to the bunker, the thrill of victory carrying him up the ramp and putting a smile on his face. As he cleared the door, his vision exploded in a supernova as something hit the side of his head and knocked him to the ground. Looking up, he saw the orange pony turning around from bucking him with a smirk on her face. His troops quickly pointed their weapons at her.

Hewex wiped blood from his head as he said, “You just don’t know when to give up, do you, little one?”

“Stubbornness does run in my family,” she replied. “But in this case, I think it’s warranted.” She looked up at the roof of the bunker, prompting Hewex and his troops to do the same.

His jaw dropped as he saw dozens of Ewoks pop up from behind the metal structure and point their bows at him. He turned and looked around the clearing, seeing more and more of the little demons brandishing their weapons, with Han Solo standing at the feet of the walker, still wearing the uniform of a walker driver and the biggest smirk he could muster.

“I think we’re gonna have to teach this one some manners,” said Applejack. “It’s just too bad there ain’t a wood shed around here…"

“Give me another charge,” said Han as he held out his hands.

Rarity levitated another of the small cylinders that filled her saddlebag. She quickly passed it to Han and pulled out another to affix to the ceiling. It took no time at all to cover every surface with the explosive devices. “Are you sure this will work?” she said as she used her magic to twist the timing knob to the agreed upon setting.

“Yeah,” replied Han as he set the timer on his own grenade. “The blast will channel into that energy conduit – ” he pointed down a long, deep chasm lined with discharging capacitors “ – and blow this place sky high. We just don’t want to be anywhere near it when it does, so get ready to run.”

She nodded, sweating a little and wishing that she was anywhere else, but grateful that this battle would soon be over. She pulled another grenade from the bag and began placing it on another flat panel, and then smiled to herself, knowing this would be the key to victory for the Alliance.

The sight of the Emperor looming over the edge of the dais filled Twilight at once with fear and rage. She’d never known such hatred of a living thing before. That man… no, she decided. He wasn’t a man. He was anything but.

He was a monster, a creature of pure malevolence who wanted to rain terror and oppression down over the whole galaxy and reap the sickening fear and anger that it grew. He saw the people under his rule as insects he could crush at a whim. Worst of all, he saw Twilight and her friends as something he could exploit to make himself an invincible army.

The thought of billions of copies of herself being used in that way, devoid of the teachings of Celestia, sickened her.

She watched him closely, observing his every move. His gaze never left the scene below him as he watched Vader taunting Luke, trying to draw him out. If he was distracted, maybe she could use that opportunity to deal a crippling blow to him. Then with him out of the way, she could escape with her friends and then find a way home.

Quietly she began charging up an attack spell, but as she prepared to unleash it, he spoke. “So quick to turn to violence, my young apprentice?”

“I am not your apprentice,” said Twilight. “I will never accept teachings from you! My only mentor is Princess Celestia!”

“Ah yes,” he said, looking back at her. “The one lying beside you. The one who failed to show you your true potential.”

Twilight frowned. “You don’t know what you’re talking about! Celestia has taught me more about magic and friendship than you ever could!”

He chuckled. “You think she has taught you everything? No, my young Jedi. She has not. Look at her, defeated… With her full power she was unable to cause the slightest discomfort to me.” He turned toward her, his voice smooth and calm. “I know you want to kill me, young one. Your hatred… your anger… you could use it to strike me down.”

“Twilight, no!” said Celestia. “Don’t listen to him. Be strong, my student!”

But Twilight wasn’t listening to Celestia, for once. The anger, the fear in her heart was growing, and she was starting to consider what the Emperor was saying. He was right. There was deeper magic inside her, magic that she had never allowed herself to take hold of. It was wild, untamed, but maybe with the proper instruction she could use it to overthrow the Emperor. Perhaps she could even rule the galaxy in his place and use the position as Empress to bring about a new regime, one where friendship and hope overshadowed the fear and hatred that now filled the galaxy.

“Good…” He seemed to be drinking in what she was feeling. “You are powerful, my young apprentice. Use your power… your hatred! Let it flow through you!”

Just then, Twilight heard a primal scream from under the dais. “Never!” shouted Luke. She heard the two lightsabers ignite, and a furious torrent of blows followed. She galloped to the edge of the dais and watched as Vader and Luke battled each other.

“Twilight,” said Celestia. “Remember who you are. You are not a Sith apprentice. You are Twilight Sparkle, my student and my friend. Listen to your heart. You can’t give in to the Emperor! Please, my student!”

Twilight looked at her. She had a look of pleading on her face, giving Twilight pause. She thought about what Celestia had said, and began listening to her heart. Long moments passed as she considered her mentor’s words.

“You’re right, Princess,” said Twilight finally. “I may not be as powerful as I’d like, but if I give in to hatred and fear, then I’ve already lost.”

She looked at the Emperor. Gone was his gleeful mirth, replaced with a cold, angry gaze. As chilling as his grin had been, it was nothing compared to how he looked now. She gasped quietly as he raised his hands toward her.

On the floor below them, Vader and Luke continued to cross blades. Green and red flashes of energy illuminated them both as they battled, with Vader giving ground. He was beginning to tire, his mechanical suit failing to keep up with the enraged Jedi before him. Luke pushed his father back toward the chasm surrounding the turbolifts, his jaw hurting from how hard he was clenching it. Only a few meters separated Vader from plummeting to his doom.

A flash of blue lightning caused Luke to suddenly look away, fearful that the Emperor was attacking him. It was the opening Vader needed. He brought his red energy blade up and it met Luke’s wrist, slicing through the robotic components within and severing the mechanical hand. Luke screamed in pain as his lightsaber extinguished and bounced away.

Twilight’s back arched and her legs convulsed as the lightning coursed through her body. She tried to gather the strength to muster an energy shield, but she was beaten down by the incredible pain she felt.

“Young fool,” said the Emperor as he lowered his attack. “You had such promise.” And with that he resumed pumping Twilight’s body with searing Sith lightning.

“Twilight!” shouted Celestia as she charged her horn, but suddenly, effortlessly, the Emperor caused the lightning to spread from Twilight to Celestia. She screamed as the burning pain filled her body and she began to writhe on the floor next to Twilight.

Luke looked up from the stump on his arm to see the Emperor pummeling them both, and as he did, his lightsaber flew from the corner of the room where it bounced and landed in Vader’s outstretched hand. The Sith Lord ignited the emerald green blade, then crossed them next to Luke’s neck.

He sighed, defeated.

Twilight and Celestia then felt the lightning cease. They slowly opened their eyes as they fought through the pain to look up at the Emperor. He stood over them, hands still outstretched as a grin spread across his face.

“And now, my little ponies… you will die.”

Author's Note

Firstly, I wanted to apologize again for leaving you all hanging for so long. Hopefully this chapter was worth the wait! I put everything into it, and it'll be the first in the thrilling conclusion. So stay tuned!

The Rise of Magic

Chapter 28

“My experiences with the magic of friendship have been broad and deep. I have seen it help my friends through great sadness, as well as help them deal with their trials and tribulations. From this I concluded long ago that the magic of friendship can solve many problems. But as much as it helped me deal with the problems that existed between my friends and I, it was all the more astonishing the power it could exert over my greatest foes.”

-Twilight Sparkle, On Extra-Galactic Voyages, p. 799

“Move! Move! Move!”

Racing up the ramp leading out the back door of the shield bunker, Han and Rarity could hear the faint beeping coming from the proton grenades placed deep in the main energy control chamber. Each beep was like a pulse of lightning that coursed down their spines and seemed to energize their legs. The metal deck reverberated as they struggled to make it up and out of the bunker before the timers ran out completely.

They ran past a set of columns and then burst out of the main door of the bunker. As they raced across the clearing in front of the entrance, they could no longer hear beeping, but the silence was even more motivating. They made it to the edge of the clearing and leapt into the bushes, spinning around just in time to see a massive fireball burst from the bunker. The force from the explosion almost knocked them down, but a stability spell from Rarity’s horn kept them upright.

A low, deep rumble sounded from underground, and Rarity swiveled her ears toward it. She traced the sound as it headed toward the massive shield projector dish in the distance. Suddenly a wall of fire erupted from the ground, spearing the dish and shattering it as the massive fusion core went through its final conflagration.

As the fireball tore through the heavens, Rarity’s jaw fell. “Sweet Celestia…”

Han smiled wryly at her. “Beautiful sight, huh? C’mon, let’s get out of here before the last of the troopers get any bright ideas about coming after us.”

The two of them ran off to join the rest of the squad, certain that the tide had just turned in the Rebels’ favor.

The comm unit in Rainbow’s A-wing crackled to life. “The shield is down!” shouted Admiral Ackbar. “Commence attack on the Death Star’s main reactor!”

“We’re on our way,” she heard Gold Leader respond. “Red Group, Gold Group: all fighters follow me!”

Rainbow sighed. She was relieved she didn’t have to choose between staying near the debris field to protect the rescue ships and heading into the bowels of the behemoth floating in the depths beyond her canopy. Flipping her ship and yanking the throttle down into a drift, she acquired a new target: a TIE Fighter heading toward the damaged shuttle housing Fluttershy and Celestia knew how many other survivors from the Redemption. She shoved the throttle forward, and twin columns of yellow-white exhaust shot from her engines. The A-wing leapt toward Rainbow’s quarry at breakneck speed and she let loose a barrage of red cannon fire.

The enemy pilot snapped to port, sending her shots flying wide, and Rainbow rolled and pulled up to match his trajectory. “Tryin’ to get away, huh?” she said as she strained the control column. The other fighter pilot was good, however. He yanked his fighter left and right, looping the small craft around the debris and keeping her shots flying wide. Despite Rainbow’s superior speed she found that keeping up with the TIE Fighter was taking everything she had.

A red warning light flashed on the console just as she felt a pair of laser hits slam into her shield. Quickly pumping laser energy into them to keep her tail intact, she performed a barrel roll to take herself out of the firing solution of the enemy fighters while keeping her target in front of her nose.

Snapping off another pair of laser bolts, one of the crimson darts speared the cockpit ball of the TIE Fighter. She watched the ship drift forward, and despite its engines flaring red it continued in a straight line, her shot apparently having killed the pilot. She looped around just as the fragile starfighter slammed into a passing chunk of the exploded Nebulon-B frigate and joined Green Five and Six as they flew a wide circle around the area.

A weak voice crackled from the comms unit. “Rainbow…”

She hit the comm key. “Don’t worry, Fluttershy. I’m not gonna let those fighters get you!”

“Rainbow, it’s okay... I’ll be fine. You need to join your squadron and help them defeat the Empire…” She sounded incredibly weak.

Punching the comm key again, Rainbow shouted, “No! I almost lost you once. I’m not gonna lose you again!”

A quick jerk on the stick and she found herself staring down the sights of a TIE Interceptor careening toward her. She hit the triggers, letting loose a quick volley of laser bolts that tore through the windscreen of the Interceptor. The resulting explosion sent the wings flying outward in opposite directions.

“Woohoo!” she said as she saw the fireball consume what was left of the Imperial fighter craft. Pulling up and into a loop, she spotted another flight of ships in the distance: TIE Bombers, bearing down on the rescue shuttle. To her dismay, she saw the blue-white glow of proton torpedo launches as the entire flight seemed to unleash their payload at the same time.

“Green Five, Green Six! On me now!” Her chest was coiled tight like a mainspring as she pumped energy into her engines, trying to urgently close the distance. The other two A-wings joined her flanks and matched speed with hers. As soon as they closed within firing range, they unloaded their laser capacitors into the barrage of torpedoes.

The blast waves of several nuclear explosions rocked her craft as torpedo after torpedo detonated in front of her. Her shield display went from green to yellow to red as the energy waves slammed into her. She grimaced, not from her dangerously low shields, but from the fact that three of the torpedoes slipped past her flight group and headed toward the rescue shuttle. Throttling down and performing a Koiogran turn, she kicked the engines into high gear and shot toward the remaining warheads at breakneck speed, her snap turn difficult to follow even for the experienced wingmen at her sides.

The distance closed between her and the torpedoes as she felt laser blasts pummel her backside, threatening to eliminate her already depleted shield banks. But she couldn’t redirect energy behind her. Even at this range, proton torpedoes packed a mean punch, and A-wings weren’t known for having a well-armored hull.

Biting her tongue, she juked and wove between the green Imperial laser bolts as she targeted the furthest torpedo, which was the one that was closest to Fluttershy’s vulnerable shuttle. It would only take one of those missiles striking the craft for it to be blown to atoms.

Unleashing a wild salvo of lasers to pop the torpedoes was out of the question, however. Any stray laser bolt could puncture the fragile hull of Fluttershy’s rescue craft and doom her and anyone else aboard the ship to a painful, suffocating death in the vacuum of space.

She fought to remain calm as she performed a tight S-turn that brought her sights passing over the lead torpedo while still keeping her tail from being shot off by the bombers. The display blinked green as it passed over the missile, beeping tauntingly with each pass. Her Combat Multiview Display showed the distance between the torpedo and the shuttle ticking down quickly. Gritting her teeth, she waited for just the right moment to strike.

The display flashed green, and a sudden burst from her cannons detonated the torpedo early. It rocked the rescue shuttle, but causing no further damage.

Relaxing a bit, she brought up the next torpedo just in time to see it disappear under a barrage of lasers from Green Five. The other torpedo soon met a similar fate. “Thanks guys!”

“Anytime, Four!”

Switching to the nearest TIE Bomber, Rainbow pulled up on the stick and then side-slipped her craft to bring him into her sights. She quickly closed the distance and shoved a pair of concussion missiles down his throat, detonating his remaining load of torpedoes. As the blast wave from the bomber rocked her A-wing, she hit the energy distribution system to give her shields a boost and then glared out into space. “Where the hay is that stupid rescue ship?!”

Pain.

Searing, unending pain.

Twilight felt like she had been plunged into the hot, dense depths of a star. The muscles in her legs and back convulsed, and groups that would normally work together to move her limbs were pulling all at once. It felt like her entire body wanted to rip itself apart from the inside out.

She screamed louder than she’d ever screamed in her life, scouring her throat raw. She cried tears of hot, stinging pain as she bellowed for the torture to end. She instinctively tried to project a shield, sending magical tendrils of defense into the air. But even as it formed a barrier around her, the unyielding barrage of Sith lightning shattered it and the torment resumed.

How long she would last, she didn’t know.

She knew only pain.

Near the massive shaft that cut a path directly to the station’s main reactor, Luke panted. His right arm ended in a shattered mechanical stump where his artificial hand had been. He looked up at the massive, hulking form of Darth Vader standing before him. His eyes searched that black mask for some sign that his father was there. True, he felt that the heart of a Jedi still beat within that dark mechanical chest. But as long as the Emperor’s will dominated his father, he would never allow himself to feel the light again.

“Father…” he said quietly. “Father, please… look at what’s happening around us.”

Vader continued to stare down at him, the crimson and emerald energy blades of the lightsabers he held inching dangerously close to Luke’s neck. He could feel their humming, pulsing energy columns as they threatened to sever his head.

“Please,” continued Luke. “Please just let me save my friends from the Emperor. They don’t deserve this.”

“You will submit to the will of my master,” replied Vader. “You will all submit, or you will suffer the same fate as all the foolish Jedi who fell before you. You don’t know the power of the Dark Side... but if you continue to resist, you soon will.”

Luke sighed as his face fell. The screams of Twilight Sparkle and Princess Celestia echoed throughout the dark, cavernous throne room and he swallowed down the sorrow he felt for those two creatures. He couldn’t imagine the pain, the suffering they were going through right now at the hands of the Emperor.

He looked up again at Vader. “Father, please… be the great and noble Jedi you once were. I don’t know what happened to turn you to the Dark Side, but I know that you feel the good that I still feel buried deep in your heart. Look at what your master is doing. Is that who you really are underneath?”

“I…” For the first time since he’d encountered Vader, Luke saw the cloak of self-assuredness falter. The energy blades in front of Luke’s neck dipped down just slightly. The black metal helmet turned slowly toward the dais, toward the storm of lightning that flashed at the top.

Vader looked at the grim spectacle before him, and many seconds slipped by as he considered Luke’s words.

Luke watched his father. He didn’t shift his gaze in the slightest. His breath stilled in his throat and time seemed to slow to a crawl.

Suddenly, he could feel the conflict in Vader’s heart evaporate and give way to conviction. The green blade of Luke’s lightsaber retracted into the hilt, and he reached out with his remaining limb and took it from Vader’s outstretched hand.

Vader marched toward the stairs leading up to the dais with more conviction than Luke had seen from him before. He seemed determined, and the light of justice within his chest seemed to light up the room around Luke brighter than any sun.

That light suddenly went out as a barrage of lightning caught Vader in the chest. He screamed in pain and tumbled down the stairs. As he crashed to the floor below, the Emperor walked to the edge of the dais. Luke could feel the anger rise within him, a feeling that played out plainly on the Emperor’s face.

“You think that you, my servant, can overthrow your master so easily?” he spat at Vader. “I will deal with you later. For now, I must continue to teach this arrogant Jedi a lesson in the nature of the Dark Side.”

“I yield!”

Luke gasped at what he heard, and as he stood up he looked at the top of the dais and saw Twilight, her ears folded back from the pain of moving, struggle to stand. Her coat was blackened all over and smoke poured from dozens of small wounds all over her body. She struggled to breathe, and her voice was raspy as she continued. “I yield, my lord. I will commit myself to the Dark Side. Just don’t harm my friends. Let them go, and I will be yours.”

A deep chuckle rose from within the Emperor’s chest which erupted in a gleeful cackle. “You young, foolish pony… you think you can fool me with your pitiful attempt at deception? I know your heart. You are a weak, pathetic creature… a Jedi. You have no real interest in becoming my servant, in ruling the galaxy. You are unworthy of receiving the teachings of the Dark Side of the Force, and unworthy of a continued existence. I shall destroy your insignificant friends, your doomed Rebellion, and everything you hold dear.” He gritted his crooked teeth as he said, “And finally, I shall destroy you.”

He raised his hands. Lightning once again spewed forth from them as he pelted Twilight with crackling Sith energy.

Luke couldn’t afford time to think, only to react. Quickly he hurled his lightsaber through the air. It activated mid-throw, and plunged through the Emperor’s black heart.

A horrible scream came from the monster’s mouth as white energy spewed from the wounds in his chest and back. His hands suddenly lifted into the air, lightning pouring from them like a damaged power conduit, seeming to seek anything it could destroy. Sparks showered over the dais as the Sith energy blew out every control panel and power cable it touched. Everyone in the room scrambled away as the Emperor’s horrifying shriek of anger reverberated across the deck.

Suddenly, everything went white.

Luke covered his head with his arm as the vast stores of Dark Side energy contained within the creature were suddenly released. Waves of heat and pressure washed over him and knocked him back to the floor. The deluge of energy continued for several long moments, but soon died down. He looked up as the last remnants of energy flashed around the room like ghosts of all the Jedi that monster had killed.

As he stood up, he could find no trace of the Emperor. He then heard labored mechanical breathing from a dark mass in front of him. He rushed over to Vader and looked down at him. The black robes enshrouding him were smoking, and Luke could tell that his mechanical breather was damaged.

“Father!” he said as he tried to help him up. He looked up and saw Twilight and Celestia slowly rise to their hooves, their bodies both charred from the barrage of lightning they’d suffered.

“Princess Celestia,” cried Twilight as she saw her teacher’s burned coat. “Are you alright?”

“I’ll be okay, Twilight. Let us rescue my sister and your friend, Spike.”

Vader and Luke tiredly walked up the stairs to see where Twilight and Celestia had gone. Luke noted that his father had a noticeable limp as he walked, and needed support. Twilight and Celestia then appeared from a dark corner of the room with two energy cages, each of which contained a snarling beast.

“They cannot be saved,” said Vader quietly. “They have been made into technobeasts by my… by the Emperor.”

“We’re not leaving them behind,” said Twilight. “Their fate will be the same as ours!”

Luke felt Vader stiffen as he heard this and wondered what his father was thinking.

“Yes,” replied Vader. Then he hesitated. “I feel a disturbance in the Force.”

“I feel it, too,” said Luke. He suddenly felt a flash of… something. He couldn’t quite place it. A… feeling. A feeling that everything was about to be consumed in a titanic explosion rivaling a supernova in scope.

“There is a shuttle in bay 327,” said Vader, pausing a moment as his damaged breather began making a horrible grinding noise. In moments, it ceased grinding and resumed normal operation.“I suggest we head there now.”

“Then there’s no time to lose,” said Celestia as she pulled the floating energy cage and tried to ignore the snarls of the creature within it. She grunted as she struggled to bear the pain of movement, but the resolve to save her sister seemed to keep her pressing toward the stairs leading to the turbolift.

Luke nodded and followed her, and Twilight brought up the rear. The group of them crowded into the turbolift and as the door closed and the turbolift car rushed down into the bowels of the station, a momentary sense of relief washed over them.

As Rainbow swatted another starfighter out of space, she heard a crackle come from her comlink. “We’ve got to give those fighters more time! Concentrate all fire on that Super Star Destroyer!” said Admiral Ackbar over the wideband frequency.

Her eyes bugged out. “He wants us to attack… that?” she said as she pointed her craft toward the massive Imperial flagship at the center of the starfleet. The blue-gray behemoth before her was as large as an island, and its surface belched a shower of green energy blasts that made it seem as though it was surrounded by dozens of serpents striking anything that dared approach it.

“Yeah, c’mon!” she heard her flight leader say over the comms. “Look, everyone’s joining in!”

Reluctantly, she pushed the throttle forward and shunted power from weapons and shields to her engines. Even with her craft going at maximum speed, the massive warship in front of her grew slowly, its sheer bulk so great that it dwarfed all others in its presence.

She watched as Calamari cruisers, frigates, and corvettes began swooping toward the massive iron-gray warship. Clouds of turbolaser fire pummeled its shields, and even with the Imperial fleet scrambling to protect the command vessel, Rainbow could see that the attack was having an effect. Small areas of the shield were opening up and occasional turbolaser bolts were taking chunks from the surface cortex.

“Green group, this is One. The Executor’s shields are failing” said Arvel Crynyd. “Form up on me and begin attacking targets of opportunity. Make that ship bleed!”

Something about the way he spoke invigorated Rainbow, and a smile crept back on her muzzle. As they approached the surface structures, she let loose a barrage of laser fire, strafing the skyscrapers that dotted the surface of the ship’s cityscape. Gouts of flame erupted from wounds she inflicted on the massive vessel. “Green Four, on my three. Let’s take out the scanners. Switch to missiles.”

“Yes, sir!” she said, then flicked the switch that enabled missiles. As she sped past the cortex, she brought up her targeting computer and cycled the components list till she found the target called out by Crynyd: one of the massive globes on top of the bridge. She and her leader flew as one, swooping past the dorsal cortex and then up toward the command tower. The targeting computer beeped a confirmatory tone, and Rainbow hit the firing studs, unleashing a barrage of missiles under the failing bridge shields. The yellow bolts flew toward the unprotected metal sphere and pierced its armored casing.The warheads detonated, vaporizing the internal components and causing a massive explosion that ripped the sensor globe assembly apart.

“Wooo!” she cheered, the feeling of hurting the Empire’s flagship giving her a rush of euphoria. Quickly pressing the attack, she began firing the rest of her missiles on the cityscape. Blooms of fire and energy burst into the air, and even with multiple laser bolts flying up to intercept her craft she was able to avoid them, using her ship’s superior maneuverability to her advantage.

Winding around to strafe the ship again, she switched over to lasers and hit the energy gates, flooding the laser capacitors with fresh power from her reactor. As the laser cannons reached overcharge, she bore down on the massive armored hull of the vessel, releasing a devastating attack the ripped hull panels off their frames and melted equipment behind them.

As she finished her attack and made her way to the underside to strafe the engines, she heard a scream. Craning her neck to see behind her, she could see Arvel Crynyd’s A-wing spinning out of control, a trail of smoke coming off the rear stabilizer. He continued to scream as she dove under the wing of the Executor, and as she weaved her ship between the ion trails she heard the scream cut off in a burst of static.

Choking back her pain at losing her flight leader, she focused on causing more damage to the weakened Imperial flagship. Pivoting her laser cannons upward, she began strafing the underside, but suddenly she had the odd sensation that she was slowing down.

The realization of what was actually happening hit her like a ton of bricks. Quickly she barrel-rolled out of the way as the Executor rushed past her, its massive engines misfiring from the internal damage caused by the combined assault. Later she would learn that Crynyd had deliberately aimed his dying fighter toward the bridge in hopes of knocking out the control systems. The resulting fireball had blown through the bridge tower and out through the massive pylon holding it proudly above the hull, vaporizing the control systems that kept the ungodly energies of the engine assembly reigned in.

As she gave herself distance from the vessel, she watched it careen past her. It tumbled toward the surface of the Death Star. She watched in disbelief at the sight of the monstrous vessel plunging into the surface, it’s pointed prow gouging a hole through the armor belt. Suddenly her vision was blinded by a cloud of vaporized durasteel as the ship was consumed in a titanic fireball that enveloped the massive command ship and ripped it to atoms.

“Goodbye, sir,” she said quietly. “We got ‘em.”

Turning her ship, she headed back into the fight, taking advantage of the confusion sown in the ranks of the Imperial forces at the loss of their flagship. She smiled as she saw TIE Fighters and Interceptors flying in wild, panicked flightpaths that made them easy pickings for her laser cannons. She hit the throttle assembly and unloaded her laser capacitors into the frenzy of Imperial fighters. A war cry howled from her mouth as the hapless fighters burst into flames and crashed into one another, and the sight of the carnage before her gave her a renewed energy to take down the mighty Galactic Empire.

The pounding of footsteps from panicked Imperial station personnel were heard all around them as Twilight, Luke, and Celestia headed toward the waiting Imperial shuttle. Vader clung to his son’s shoulder, trying to keep his balance as he trudged along.

Celestia and Twilight grunted and groaned in pain as they walked, both from the Emperor’s attack and from struggling to pull the heavy cages. It was made worse by the fact that the technobeasts that had once been Spike and Luna clawed and thrashed inside their cages, but they stolidly pressed on, knowing that it was only a matter of time before the Alliance penetrated the Death Star’s core and unleashed the star within it.

As they approached the shuttle, frantic officers rushed past them to their own escape craft, pushing and shoving, knowing as surely as Twilight and her friends that their station was doomed.

Celestia was the first to reach the base of the ramp, and she walked up the sloped surface, gritting her teeth as she pulled the mass of the energy cage up into the cargo bay. She felt the weight lessen, and when she looked back she saw Twilight pushing the other end with her magic, offering a smile to her teacher which was returned. “Thank you, Twilight,” said Celestia as the cage came to rest next to the metal bulkhead.

“You’re welcome, Celestia,” said Twilight as she headed back to get Spike’s cage.

As soon as the cages were secured in the cargo bay, Luke walked up the boarding ramp and joined them. “Are you ready?”

Twilight frowned. “Where is Vader?”

Luke frowned in turn, and then looked over his shoulder to see that Darth Vader had not followed them into the vessel. He walked into the neck of the ship and down the ramp, and when he reached the bottom he saw Vader standing before the shuttle. His hands were resting on the control boxes on his belt, and he stood with as much control as he could muster with his damaged limbs.

“Come, father,” said Luke, beckoning.

“No,” replied Vader.

“What?” Luke’s eyes bulged in surprise. “Don’t you feel it? This station is about to blow! We’ve got to get out of here now!”

“I’m staying,” replied Vader. “The reign of the Sith must not be allowed to continue.”

As he said this, Celestia and Twilight joined Luke. “Father, please,” he continued. “Come with me.”

“I cannot.” A world of sadness and regret permeated his baritone voice. “I am not worthy to be saved, my son. My sins are too great to be forgiven. I want to remain here, and die with the Empire I helped forge. It is my destiny.”

“It doesn’t have to be that way!” said Twilight as she walked next to Luke. “My mentor, Princess Celestia, nearly lost her sister to the Dark Side. But we saved her with the magic of friendship!”

“That’s right,” said Celestia. “You do not have to follow that destiny, Vader. You can make your own destiny, forge a new path. It is yours to control, and we will help you come back fully into the light.”

“Just let us help you, father,” said Luke, emotion trickling into his voice. “I know you have done terrible things. But I love you, and I won’t let you simply die here.”

Vader stood silently, implacably. Luke’s eyes pleaded with him, and he outstretched his hand. Then Twilight walked up to him and put her hoof on Vader’s hip, and then she looked up at him with her big, violet eyes. “Nobody is beyond saving. They need only desire the light.” Then she reached around him and hugged him. Celestia and Luke joined her.

They shared an embrace for several moments. Finally, as rumbles from within the station were felt, they all began walking up the ramp, preparing to leave the station to its final doom.

Author's Note

Hey, another chapter! Shorter than usual, but I thought this was a good stopping point for the action. Hopefully the new work is satisfactory! New chapters to follow!

The Return of the Jedi

Chapter 29

“Forgiving oneself is something that isn’t an easy thing to do, and I find that it's proportional to the crime one commits. Accidentally take a cookie your friend wanted to eat? Easy to forgive yourself for that. Accidentally switching your friend’s cutie marks and altering their destinies for all time? That’s a little harder to forgive yourself for. Still, it’s important to learn this skill and apply it, because you’ll never be able to move on from mistakes otherwise.

-Twilight Sparkle, On Extra-Galactic Voyages, p. 455

Bright white flashed by Wedge Antilles’ canopy as he deftly guided his X-wing through the bowels of the Death Star, past large, glowing planes of some kind. He guessed they were capacitors for charging an enormous section of the machinery surrounding him, or maybe even the station’s prime weapon itself. If he hadn’t been focused on his task, he’d have sent a volley of missiles at them to at least buy the fleet a little more time, but the mission at hand kept his focus on the target: the massive reactor at the core of the battlestation. He kept his hand steady, working on not colliding with some random structural member and exploding. As he continued through the tunnel, he could see the terminus ahead of him: a yawning portal that opened up into an enormous cavern that housed the black heart of the station.

Only a few scant meters behind him, Lando Calrissian was flying the Millennium Falcon. Having already knocked the ship’s sensor rectenna from its turret, he was concentrating hard on not losing more components of the ship to the structures that poked out from the sides of the tunnel. Proximity indicators on his control console flashed, the single-digit numbers on them making him anxious. The Falcon was not enormous as far as freighters went, but she was no starfighter. Lando gingerly feathered the control column as he piloted the ship behind Wedge’s X-wing. To his right, Nein Nunb managed the ship’s shields and subsystems. Lando was grateful for the help. Flying the Falcon through such a tight corridor was hard enough without having to worry about angling the deflectors. Suddenly his ship was engulfed by the massive gaping expanse housing the core of the Death Star.

The Falcon burst from the tangle of piping that comprised the core housing, flying into the space surrounding the station’s main reactor. The massive bulb hung from the ceiling like a gothic chandelier, suspended above the top of the power column and funneling its vast energies into the receptor. A glowing light show of destructive plasma energy whirled around the tip of the reactor bulb, dancing and flowing through the entangled magnetic fields around the power transfer gap. Lando guessed that a few salvoes of concussion missiles would destabilize the reactor, if the systems that regulated its power supply were knocked out. He looked up at the reactor bulb and saw a large electromechanical assembly hanging in the breeze off to the side. He glanced at the combat multiview display, which identified it as a power regulation subassembly. “Alright Wedge,” he said, keying his comm system. “Go for the power regulator on the north tower.”

“Copy, Gold Leader,” came the response from the comms. “I’m already on my way up.”

Lando watched the engines on Wedge’s X-wing flare in brightness as the fighter swooped up toward the power regulator. A pair of proton torpedoes flashed from the launchers on its nose. The explosives coursed through space toward the ugly spire hanging off the side of the reactor as Wedge peeled off in order to clear the structure. He barely managed to avoid being incinerated by the massive fireball that resulted from his torpedoes slamming into the regulator.

As the plasma from Wedge’s torpedoes faded away, Lando steered the Millennium Falcon toward the main power emitter. He brought up his targeting computer and locked onto the strongest power signal, and then sent a volley of concussion missiles screaming toward the reactor. They slammed into the pointed structure hanging below the reactor, piercing the armor surrounding it. A massive explosion burst from the power emitter, almost blinding Lando with its brightness. His CMD flashed: “WARNING: INSTABILITY DETECTED”.

Quickly he swung the Falcon around toward the direction he’d come from. As he guided the ship toward the outer wall of the chamber, a momentary sense of panic came over him. He realized that the wall of machinery in front of him was mazelike, with no discernible entrances or exits. He didn’t see the tunnel at all, and he knew if he didn’t find it in the next few seconds he and his ship would both be flash-broiled by the fires released from the core of the station. But as Wedge’s X-wing disappeared into the structure, Lando’s eyes settled on a small hole in the wall where the pink exhausts of the starfighter had disappeared. He steered the Falcon toward that point, and suddenly the service tunnel he’d used to enter the station became crystal clear. He plunged the Falcon into the tunnel just as he felt a massive blast wave from the destabilized reactor core breaking free of the ceiling and plunging into the power distributor below.

—--

The dogfight in space above the Death Star had taken Rainbow from weaving between the capital ships to avoiding turbolaser towers on the surface of the station. The remains of the Executor were still traveling outward away from the hole that the massive command ship had bored into the surface of the station. She yanked her stick forward and back as she kept her tail out of the firing solution of the three TIE Interceptors behind her. At the same time, she sent volleys of red laser bolts stabbing toward the Interceptor ahead of her. Its wing had a glowing hole in it where one of her shots had penetrated the heat exchanger matrix a few seconds ago.

She didn’t have a single drop of sweat on her forehead. In the time she’d spent with the Rebellion, she’d become one with her A-wing fighter, and it was child’s play to avoid laser fire as she chased after the TIE Interceptor. It rolled to the left and right, sending her shots flying wide.

“C’mon, stand still so I can blast you!” she shouted. Her A-wing’s lasers were placed perfectly along the centerline of the vessel so that whatever was in front of the ship would be easy to hit, but this Interceptor pilot was good. He deftly avoided her lasers as he wove his fighter through deflection towers and surface buildings.

Rainbow pulled her throttle back a hair, trying to maximize maneuverability while also maintaining pursuit speed with the Interceptor. Suddenly her craft seemed to rock back and forth. Frowning, she looked around outside to see what had hit her. She was stunned when she saw the surface of the Death Star buckle. Physically buckle! Several buildings on the surface collapsed and construction gantries fell into the cavernous pits where work was still being done, pulled in by the gravity generators below the surface.

Her comm unit crackled to life. “Move the fleet away from the Death Star!” she heard Admiral Ackbar say.

That must mean…. Oh horseapples! Quickly she yanked her stick back, then shoved the throttle forward and transferred laser and shield energy into the engines for maximum thrust. She was pushed back into her chair by the force of her engines as her ship shot toward the Rebel fleet. “They hit the reactor!” she heard from her comm unit, this time from one of her squadmates. She smiled. The station – and the Empire – was as good as gone.

—--

In the docking bay of the Death Star, the Lambda-class shuttle carrying Luke, Twilight, and their friends was lifting off. Slowly – too slowly if you asked Twilight – the repulsor drive levitated the ship off the flight deck. Instinctively, she lit her horn and projected a forcefield around the ship, sheltering it from the debris pinging off the hull. The docking bay was already showing signs of the station’s demise. Flames licked the walls as electrical conduit overloaded and sent sparks flying onto the black metal below. Bolts holding the ceiling girders in place turned red hot and melted off, sending the flaming structures crashing down.

Twilight suddenly looked up in fear at Celestia. She looked back down at Twilight and put a wing around her. “We’ll be okay,” she said, trying to reassure Twilight. The unicorn didn’t feel very reassured as her shield was hit by a chunk of girder being ejected from the exploding hangar bay. Luke kept his gaze fixed on the control panel, focused entirely on flying the ship. The sound of groans and the shrieking of twisting metal pierced the cabin and intensified her feelings of dread.

As the shuttle rotated to face the entrance of the docking bay, her heart leapt in her chest from the sound of clanging metal as more of the station’s structure began to fail around them. She saw Luke’s hand move the throttle assembly forward, and the engines began pushing the transport out of the hangar and into open space. The ship was barely clear of the hangar when suddenly a concussion rocked the ship. Gouts of flame shot past the shuttle and dissipated, and the group gave a collective sigh of relief as they realized they had escaped being consumed by the fireball by mere seconds.

The shuttle rocketed away from the doomed space station, its wings folding down like a graceful swan in front of a monolith of evil. As the ship raced away from the Death Star, Twilight relaxed in her seat and looked over at Darth Vader.

Anakin, she reminded herself. He’s no longer Darth Vader, and no longer a Sith.

Anakin, his suit covered in smoking burn marks from the Emperor’s assault, sat in his seat, slumped forward. His breathing was heavy. Occasionally the mechanism in his chest would seize and a horrible screech would emerge. She could only wonder what was going on in his head.

She guessed that he was thinking about the acts of evil he had committed as an agent of the Emperor. He must be contemplating the great cataclysms he had orchestrated as a show of power and authority, and the many dozens of Jedi he’d murdered.

This thought made her brow furrow slightly. Should he even be forgiven for all that he’s done? True, Princess Luna had been similarly lost to the dark side, but her list of sins was so much shorter than Anakin’s. Nightmare Moon had devastated only one world; Vader had ravaged dozens of planets and killed trillions of people. Can someone capable of so much evil also be capable of good? He’d been a good man once, if Luke was to be believed, but there was so much for him to atone for. Even if he shed the persona of Darth Vader and vowed to remain a servant of light, there was still the matter of the galaxy’s citizens.

They would not forgive him, she was sure.

—--

Girders and piping flew by the glazing of Wedge’s cockpit canopy. His eyes were locked ahead of him. Beads of sweat dribbled down his forehead as he began to feel a slight panic build up in his chest. The tunnel ahead was longer than he remembered. Had he taken a wrong turn somewhere? His computer was not perfect, and it might have misidentified a piece of machinery as a landmark it had used to mark his flightpath. He gritted his teeth and guided his X-wing through the ragged tunnel of the Death Star’s service sector.

The grip on his control column turned his knuckles white as he deftly guided the fighter through the tunnel. In an instant, he recognized the circular entrance to the corridor, and he locked his body as the X-wing fighter shot toward it. In moments he crossed the threshold and released the breath he hadn’t been aware he’d been holding.

Kilometers behind him, Lando Calrissian was performing a similar feat of acrobatics with the Millennium Falcon. He and his copilot Nien Nunb were silent, concentrating on the task before them, aware that a TIE Interceptor was trailing them.

Fool shoulda stayed in open space, thought Lando. There’s no way he’ll-

A bright flash on the CMD indicated that the Interceptor had suddenly exploded. That, along with the rumbling series of concussions and the rising temperature inside the cockpit, told him that the results of the Death Star’s core rupturing were quickly catching up to him. His heart raced as he kept an iron grip on the control horns.

Outside the cockpit canopy, he could see the terminus of the Death Star’s maintenance shaft in the distance. He unconsciously moved his hand to the throttle and pushed it forward, only to be met by resistance as the lever was already as far forward as it would go. He bit his lip as curls of flame gathered around the edges of the transparisteel windscreens. Warning lights flared up on the console, indicating that the hull temperature was rising to critical.

Just as the ball of flame threatened to completely envelop them in an embrace of pure starfire, the Millennium Falcon blasted from the entrance of the shaft. Flames dissipated, and the ship shot toward the retreating Rebel fleet.

—--

“Yee-haw!” came a cry over the open comms. Rainbow Dash heard it clear on her headset, and she recognized the voice as belonging to Gold Leader, the man flying the Millennium Falcon. She smiled and said, “That must mean…”

She turned and craned her neck just in time to see the massive spherical station blow apart in a spectacular explosion. The visor on her helmet momentarily darkened when the brightness of the fireball threatened to blind her. As it began to dim, she could see chunks of the Imperial battlestation flying away. Pieces that were as big as whole cities tumbled in all directions.

And for once, Rainbow Dash was at a loss for words.

—--

A new star burned brightly in the blue sky above as the Death Star’s remains began to expand outward. On the forest floor, Leia winced as Han tied a bandage around her wounded shoulder. They both looked up at the explosion in wonder. Sitting next to them, Applejack and Rarity also noticed the expanding gas cloud that was once the battlestation.

“D’ya think that Twilight and the Princess were able to rescue Luke ‘n Spike ‘n Luna?” said Applejack. She looked at Rarity, her brow furrowed and her mouth drawn to a thin line.

Rarity gave a small chuckle that didn’t sound at all sincere. “I’m sure they’re fine, darling. They’ll be back before you know it!”

Nodding, Leia added, “They’re all okay… I can feel it…” Her expression subtly changed, her face making her seem like she was a thousand miles away.

Exchanging glances, Applejack and Rarity looked at her. “You feel what?” said Rarity, cocking her head.

“I feel them through the Force,” explained Leia. “I’m so relieved!”

Han furrowed his brow, and after several moments he said, “You love him, don’t you?” A forced smile appeared on his face.

Leia said, “Well, yes.”

At that, Han sighed and seemed to swallow a lump in his throat. He nodded and said, “Okay. Fine. Y’know, if you want, I’ll… go off someplace and be out of your hair.”

Frowning in confusion, Leia said, “What are you talking about, Han?”

“C’mon, Leia, I wasn’t born yesterday,” replied Han, seeming almost defensive. “If you two want to be together, I won’t get in the way.” He leaned back, giving her some space.

It took Leia a few moments to understand what he was talking about, and when she did, she laughed and shook her head. Then it was Han’s turn to be confused. He frowned and cocked his head, wondering when she would let him in on the big joke. “It’s not like that at all,” said Leia. She leaned toward him and smiled. “He’s my brother.”

When she said this, their eyes all went wide. Applejack and Rarity look at each other. Han looked at the ponies. They looked at Leia.

She smiled and leaned forward, then planted a big kiss on Han’s lips. It seemed to last an eternity to Han, a beautiful moment of pure bliss that his brain didn’t quite register at first. As she let him go and their lips parted, he looked at her a few moments, then his mouth cocked up in a half-grin.

And suddenly, like a firework, the two of them leaned forward in a passionate kiss. Rarity and Applejack both smiled. Applejack said, “Seems to me you two lovebirds are gonna be real happy together!”

Rarity sighed and leaned back against a nearby moss-covered log. She put one hoof in the air and one on her forehead dramatically and she said, “Isn’t it romantic when two people fall in love and spend the rest of their lives together?” She looked right at Applejack with a dreamy expression.

With a chuckle, Applejack said, “Don’t you go gettin’ any ideas, Miss Romantic.”

The two of them began laughing, and were joined in their laughter by Leia and Han. Nearby, Chewbacca cocked his head as he watched the group laugh themselves silly, and he looked over at the nearby C-3PO. He uttered a question to the golden droid.

“I haven’t the foggiest,” said C-3PO. “Even for a protocol droid, human – and I suppose pony – behavior can be quite unfathomable at times.”

—--

The evening waned into darkness as the Ewok village erupted in a celebration. Amid pieces of the Death Star’s shattered hull exploding on contact with the atmosphere, the smoke of celebration fires rose into the sky. Rebel starfighters shot through the atmosphere, flying over the festival below, their pilots giving the party-goers an impromptu air show as they joined in with the merriment.

As the music of celebrating Ewoks carried through the forest, as well as the music coming from the DJ stand Pinkie Pie pulled from who knows where, a lone, black figure stood gazing into the darkness. The sounds of his mechanical breathing mechanism were punctured by the occasional grinding malfunction, but he remained otherwise still and silent. Anakin Skywalker’s mind was free of the noir veil of the Dark Side of the Force, but the oppression of evil was replaced by the uncertainty of fear.

He felt like a being suddenly cast into a flat, gray sea. All around he could see the horizon, an overcast sky above him, without a single star or sun to point the way he should go. When he was the Dark Lord of the Sith, his path was clear, his ascendency to the throne to rule the galaxy in the stead of Palpatine as sure as the ground he stood on. But now, as Anakin, he experienced a wave of confusion the likes of which he hadn’t known since he was a child, staring at the funeral pyre of Qui-Gon Jinn and wondering what was going to happen to him.

A gentle breeze jostled his smoky, weathered cape, carrying with it the sound of celebration. Somehow that jovial music made him feel even more alone and unsure. The Rebels who danced around the campfire, sharing their war stories and enjoying the defeat of their mortal enemies were good men and women. They would not understand his pain or the torture of the agonizing suit he wore. They’d never condone the unforgivable mistakes he’d made. They’d never see him as the man, Anakin. They’d only see him as the monster Darth Vader, the creature in a fearsome mask, unleashed by his master when he wanted someone to die a horrible, grisly, and merciless death.

Perhaps he was truly the one who deserved such a demise. He looked up as another burning section of the battle station’s hull burst like an egg upon the upper atmosphere of Endor. He wished he was amid the wreckage at this moment. Death would be so much easier than facing the horrors he’d committed as Darth Vader.

As his artificial heart longed for release from life, he felt a hand on his shoulder. Mechanical servos whirred under its surface as it gripped his dark armor. “You should have left me on the station, son.”

Luke said, “I could never have done that, father. I am a Jedi. I must protect life, especially the lives of my family.”

“I do not deserve your love,” said the machine man, his quiet, mechanical voice nonetheless echoing in the forest.

“Love is not a thing that is earned,” said Luke.

The cyborg remained quiet. Luke continued, “And I love you, father. You are a Jedi Knight once more.”

“I am no Jedi.”

“You are,” insisted Luke, squeezing his father’s shoulder. “You are once again Anakin Skywalker, and you are my father.”

“You speak of the dead,” came the reply. “Anakin is no more.”

Luke frowned and walked in front of his father. “But I can feel him. Even as you try and bury him in guilt and sorrow, I feel him! And he is no more dead than I!”

“My son…” He sighed as he looked down at Luke. “My son… how you have grown. I cannot help but see the man you have become, and wonder how he could have come from one such as me.” He gently pulled from Luke’s grasp. “Anakin... is dead. And I, Darth Vader, wish with all my being that you had left me on that station to be consumed by the cleansing fires of its dying reactor. My sins are my own, and they are unforgivable. And though your love be admirable, it is not something you should bestow upon a creature of darkness like myself.”

Vader sighed again. The breath was punctuated by a grinding as the machinery in his chest began protesting the damage it had sustained. He began to walk into the darkness of the forest.

Luke watched him go. As his father disappeared further into the night, he cried out, “You’re wrong, father!”

In the thick gloom of the forest, he could hear Vader’s steps hesitate for a moment, and then continue into the shroud of night. With a sigh, Luke repeated to himself, “You’re wrong, and somehow I’m going to make you see it.” And with that, he turned around to join his sister, leaving his father to brood in the darkness.

—--

Two more figures stood in the darkness of the forest, avoiding the celebration. One, a tall alicorn princess, held a wing over a diminutive purple unicorn in a warm embrace. She looked down at her pupil. “Well, Twilight. The war to defeat the Empire is over for us.”

“Yes,” replied Twilight. She gave a long, deep sigh which seemed to carry with it memories of all the times she’d nearly been shot or sold into slavery. She nodded. “I for one am grateful that we no longer have to fear the Emperor or his minions. Though, it’s not over for the citizens of this galaxy. The Imperial forces still control a big chunk of it, and aren’t going to give up their power even if their ruler is gone.”

Nodding, Celestia said, “Yes, Twilight. I wish we could stay and help the Rebellion form a new government, but our home calls to us, and we must answer that call.”

“Equestria isn’t the only thing that needs us,” said Twilight quietly. She looked across the clearing to the Imperial Shuttle that was parked there, its ramp extended. Inside, she could see a faint glow of red light from the technobeasts that were once Luna and Spike. “Our friends need us now more than ever.” She looked up at Celestia. “We must find a way to restore Spike and Luna to their former selves.”

“I wish I knew how,” said Celestia. Then her brow scrunched in anger and regret. “I wish I’d been there for my sister when she needed me most.” A tear fell from her face.

Twilight’s eyes also began to glisten. “I wish I’d been there for Spike…” She sniffled and then said, “We will find a way to restore them, Princess. The Emperor said he’d brought us here using some kind of machine. Wherever it is, it must be able to reverse the process that brought us here and take us back to where we came from. If we can find that machine, we can find a way home. And maybe if we find out where it is, we can find some information on reversing Spike and Luna’s transformation.”

“Luke Skywalker seems to think it’s not possible,” said Celestia. “At least, he alluded to as much when I asked him about it. But I refuse to give up. If that monster Palpatine had found a way to create such beasts, he must have written it down, and if he did, there’s a chance we could reverse-engineer it to bring Spike and Luna back.”

“I hope so,” said Twilight. She sighed, looking again toward the shuttle and its occupants. “I dearly hope so.”

Author's Note

Hey there, friends! Hope you liked the newest chapter!

I'm also hoping to update this story more quickly, but if hopes were horses, beggars could ride, as the saying goes. Still, that's my intention going forward. I already have the rest of the story outlined and ready to scribe down for you, my lovely audience. All that remains is to actually sit down and write it. And write it, I shall! So please stay tuned, and I promise I'll reward your patience!

Aftermath

Aftermath

“History books often gloss over the realities of engaging in warfare. In the case of Equestria’s military history, one will often read books that coldly describe the tactics used and who the most prominent leaders and strategists were. They’ll talk about weapons used in each battle, vehicles that charged over land and sea and air, and the innovations that granted the finest of edges to one side that led to victory. Commander Hurricane, of Hearth’s Warming Pageant fame, is often cited as one of history’s greatest military minds. His campaigns against the Gryphon Kingdom are of particular note, as they were the clout he’d used to gain the Pegasi Praetor’s permission to represent his nation in the negotiations with the Unicorns and Earth Ponies. As accomplished as he was though, I am now curious about how many hidden scars he had which he carried to his grave.”

-Twilight Sparkle, On Extra-Galactic Voyages, p. 455

Above the emerald surface of Endor, Rainbow Dash guided her A-wing starfighter around the wreckage of the intense battle that had been waged to win freedom for the galaxy. She deftly maneuvered the nimble little craft around a large chunk from a Nebulon-B frigate’s spindly midsection. Shaking her head, Rainbow wondered how that ship design had ever made sense to any engineer. She imagined the conversation went something like:

“Are you sure this design is what you want?”

“Yes, because it will save our company millions of credits if we only have to design the front and back ends of the ship.”

“Hot damn, you’re right! You get a promotion, Jones!”

Currently, Dash was flying CAP – Combat Aerospace Patrol – around a certain area of space. In lieu of displaying targeting data, the CMD was now showing her a 3D representation of her sector of the battle zone where she was expected to fly around and look for survivors. Her A-wing had some of the best sensors in the fleet, as befitted a starfighter meant for scout operations in addition to its role as an interceptor. But even so, her computer was having a hard time picking out survivors amidst the wreckage of starfighters, cruisers, and battleships, and so she was taking it slow and easy to be sure she didn’t miss anyone.

Having to fly this slowly was making her antsy. Even if she wasn’t craving speed like the daredevil she was, she was anxious to finish her CAP in order to get back to the hangar bay of Home One and see if Fluttershy was alright. They likely had already towed her shuttle back to the hangar by now, and she needed to see if her friend had made it out okay. Her thoughts were drawn back to her cockpit as she heard a tone sound from the main console. The CMD had switched over to a wireframe representation of a humanoid form, with a distance and coordinate displayed under it as well as information on the health of the individual. The wireframe had a helmet on its head, with a light blue glow around the front indicating a depleting atmosphere containment field. “Green Four to Lead, I have another pilot on my scope. I’m sending you his location now for extraction.” She took a hoof off the control column and hit a series of buttons on the comms unit to transmit the information to her flight leader.

“Copy that, Four. Marking location for SAR,” came the reply from…

She realized at that moment that she didn’t actually know who the flight leader was. In the confusion of battle, she had forgotten just who had taken position as lead after Arvel Crynyd gave his life to take out the Executor.

It bothered her somewhat that she couldn’t place the voice. But she had a job to do. She’d figure out the new duty roster when she got back to the pilot’s quarters.

After she confirmed the data had been received by her lead, she brought the CMD back to the search grid and continued following the flightpath laid out by her guidance computer. A few moments later, the cockpit went dark as something big blotted out the sun. She looked up.

A building-sized section of starship floated above her in the vacuum of space, tumbling slowly end over end. It was hard not to recognize it as the bridge tower of an Imperial Star Destroyer. The portholes were dark, and its neck terminated a few dozen meters below the bottom of the trapezoidal structure. A tangle of conduits and shattered structural members poked out from below the twisted metal armor surrounding it, and the overall shape of the module seemed to be slightly warped as a result of being shorn off the hull.

Slowing her craft even further to get a good look at the thing, Rainbow sighed. The sheer bulk of the ship boggled her mind. It made even less sense to her than the Nebulon-B frigate. According to her ship recognition holos, the Impstar Deuce was 1,606 meters long. It massed out at a dry weight of over 40 million metric tons. It had a crew complement of over 36,000 officers and men, as well as a contingent of almost 10,000 Stormtroopers. It housed an entire squadron of 72 fighters and bombers, as well as a host of shuttles, transports, and landing craft. Its weapons consisted of over 60 turbolaser batteries, 60 ion cannons, and eight octuple heavy turbolaser barbettes.

All that, and a handful of fighters could wipe it out with a few well-placed torpedo strikes with some assistance from capital ships.

She chuckled bitterly at the fact that this particular Star Destroyer had been beheaded, with its command center severed and leaving the rest of the ship to drift without its command staff, assuming it was still in one piece and this wasn’t just the largest surviving section of the massive cruiser. The bridge of the Imperial Star Destroyer, like most Kuat Drive Yards designs, was hanging in the breeze, sticking out on top of the ship on a relatively thin stalk of a neck, as though it were daring a Rebel bomber squadron to give it their best shot. And judging by the tumbling bulwark above her, the Rebels indeed gave it their best shot and then some.

It really seemed to encompass all that was wrong with the Empire, when she thought about it. Its arrogance. Its reliance on fear and intimidation, not to mention overwhelming firepower. Most of all, it indicated the pervasive, languid wastefulness.

Rainbow nudged the throttle back up to where it had been and continued her search for more survivors, but she couldn’t stop thinking about how even against a fleet of Star Destroyers as well as a Death Star, the Rebels still managed to pull off a victory. This would be one for the history books.

The rainbow-striped green A-wing rocketed into the main fighter hangar of Home One, its landing gear already extended. Hitting the repulsors and arresting her speed, Rainbow slammed her fighter onto a free spot on the deck, causing several technicians to dive for cover or sprint out of her way. She popped the canopy as soon as the red “touchdown” sensors were all lit. Bursting from the fighter like a firework, her wings popping open and flapping like crazy, she surveyed the status of the hangar.

It was pandemonium. Crews were rushing left, right, forward, and back with various tools and boxes of equipment as fighters were brought into the hangar in various stages of damage. Rainbow felt lucky looking at them. Her own fighter barely had any carbon scoring on it aside from the fresh burns on her concussion missile launchers and laser cannons and a couple of near-misses. In contrast, she could see an A-wing from Red Squadron with almost an entire engine blown off only a few meters away. An X-wing from a squadron she couldn’t identify was being towed in on a repulsor sled due to damaged aft landing gear and engine nacelles. She ducked instinctively as a B-wing flew overhead, seemingly out of control and definitely on fire internally, and it was only due to the hangar’s tractor beam that it managed to land safely and not careen into the wall at the back of the massive hangar.

She searched the hangar, buzzing back and forth between the ships parked on the deck and trying to find out where the rescue shuttle was. It seemed like the deck was plastered in starfighters, but no shuttles. With a growl, she dropped to the deck and grabbed the nearest mechanic. “Where’s the rescue shuttles? I need to find my friend, Fluttershy!”

He responded with a gruff, “Get your hoof off me!” as he yanked his arm out from her grasp. “Hangar Three! Other side of the ship!”

Rainbow gave a quick, “Thanks!” and was off to the turbolift. The motorized car was quicker than any elevator she’d ever ridden in Equestria, but even so it felt agonizingly slow to get from one side of the massive ship to the other. As soon as the car docked and the door opened, she burst out, flying past two Sullustan mechanics discussing a problem with a CR-90 corvette’s hyperdrive. “Sorry!” she shouted behind her as the two men picked up their caps and shouted curses at her.

This hangar was not quite as jam-packed and seemed a little more organized, with the rescue shuttles roughly lining up in a grid formation on the hangar deck. A semi-organized flow of medical traffic was ferrying the wounded and dead from the small ships. She couldn’t tell which shuttle was carrying Fluttershy at first, but then a boxy craft cleared the magnetic containment shield around the hangar aperture and glided past her. She flapped her wings to match speed with it and peered into the windows, surprising everyone in the main cabin within as her large magenta eyes popped up in every porthole. “Fluttershy?!” she shouted through the transparisteel. “Are you in there?!”

She finally spotted Fluttershy on a floating repulsor gurney, a breath mask over her muzzle and several bags of bacta wrapping around her torso and legs. “Fluttershy!” shouted Rainbow as she flew next to the shuttle. It found its way to a clear spot on the deck, hampered somewhat by Rainbow flitting up in front of the cockpit canopy and shouting, “Can’t you land this thing any faster?!” But as soon as the ship touched down on the deck and the ramp extended, Rainbow flew into the main compartment so quickly she left a rainbow-colored trail behind her. She zoomed over to Fluttershy and hovered above her as she said, “Fluttershy! Fluttershy, speak to me!”

Fluttershy weakly tugged the oxygen mask down and said, “H-hello, Rainbow.”

As the medical team started to push the gurney and filed in behind the other wounded combatants, Rainbow kept pace with it and hovered next to her friend. “How did you survive the Death Star? I saw that thing blow up your ship!”

“Oh…,” croaked Fluttershy. Her voice was barely above a scratchy whisper as she struggled to get air into her damaged lungs. “…felt useless in the medical bay… had to… do something… joined the rescue crew, right before we were hit… had to… do… someth…” She passed out mid-sentence, prompting one of the medical crew to replace her oxygen mask.

Rainbow hovered at the airlock and watched them push the gurney across the deck toward the medcenter on Home One, her face a mask of anguish. Even though Fluttershy survived, she was still badly wounded. Rainbow didn’t know whether she would make a full recovery, but she sighed in relief that her friend was still alive.

A glint of white, contrasting with the dark gray of the Alliance rescue craft, appeared in Rainbow’s peripheral vision. She turned her head to see a graceful Lambda-class shuttle alight on a free spot on the deck. She was confused. Wasn’t this hangar supposed to be reserved for rescue ships? Then the boarding ramp lowered and she could see why this ship was parking here.

Slowly coming down the ramp and favoring her injured legs, Twilight Sparkle held her head up with dignity. Rainbow’s chest tightened and she forced herself to swallow down a lump of anxiety as she saw that her body was crisscrossed with black scorching and blistered, bare skin. She was followed by Princess Celestia, who was similarly injured and covered in burn marks. The crowd around them hushed, with one of them whispering about “the creatures that blew up a Star Destroyer with one shot from their horns”. Rainbow swooped up and landed next to Twilight, then gave her a timid hug. She responded anyway with a yelp in spite of Rainbow’s careful embrace. “Heheh,” chuckled Rainbow sheepishly. “Sorry!”

“It’s okay, Rainbow. Let’s just get to a bacta tank, okay?” Twilight smiled at her friend and leaned against her for support. Rainbow was all too happy to oblige, taking as much weight as Twilight needed her to. As they walked away from the shuttle, a collective gasp emerged from the crowd. Rainbow turned her head to see what they were gasping at and immediately her eyes laid on a familiar cyborg in black armor and a skull-like mask. “What the hay… what is he doing here?”

Celestia looked at Rainbow and said, “He helped us to escape the Emperor’s wrath. He is turning himself over willingly to the Rebel Alliance for interrogation.” As she said this, a dozen Alliance marines ran up in formation and surrounded Darth Vader. They all drew their blaster carbines. The sounds of multiple weapons being cocked at once caused the medical staff that were transporting patients to pause momentarily in their duties and watch the spectacle. One of the troopers holstered his weapon and brought out a pair of magnacuffs, then after opening them he forced Vader’s wrists into the locks and bound them. The entire time, Vader was completely still and silent, save for his mechanical breather.

Rainbow watched as the marines led Vader toward the turbolift cluster. Her eyes narrowed and her mouth drew to a grim line. That guy was trouble, she just knew it. Vader’s evil was something she’d heard discussed multiple times during R&R in the pilot’s lounge, and she wanted to end him personally for all he’d done to the people of the galaxy.

The doors closed around the group of marines, and she growled as she, Twilight, and Celestia boarded their own turbolift car. Just once, she hoped that this would be a villain they didn’t end up reforming.

A whiff of seawater and earthiness hit Twilight as she walked closer and closer to one of the central features of Home One. The ship was a battleship and the Alliance’s flagship, so when she initially arrived on the ship and learned that the heart of the vessel housed a massive lagoon surrounded on all sides by vegetation and stocked with a variety of exotic fish, she had been rather shocked. She’d made a mental note to eventually visit the lush location and lounge near its waters, after she found some free time. Working for the Alliance hadn’t left her with very much of it before the battle to destroy the Death Star, so she was very much looking forward to having some time to relax on the beach.

At least, she hoped she’d be able to relax. Her muscles still had occasional spasms, leftovers from the barrage of lightning the Emperor had unleashed on her body. Even after a couple of days in a bacta tank, she hadn’t completely gotten rid of them. The medical droid on staff had told her he was unsure why the treatment didn’t work to cure her spasms, but in her heart she knew why.

It was the Dark Side.

She was sure that the Emperor’s wrath was so powerful and vengeful that even now, when his body was reduced to atoms and he was no longer a threat, he was still able to cause some form of harm to her. She found herself completely unsurprised that the Emperor would be able to hurt people, even from beyond the grave.

Twilight passed around a bend in the corridor, and then she stopped in her tracks. Her vision was dominated by a huge, placid lake, ringed on all sides by pristine white sand and trees that looked similar to palm trees from Equestria. The water of the lake was tinged a deep blue-green and she could see fish swimming in it under the surface. A salty breeze washed over her, carrying the scent of the ocean. Even the roof had been equipped with a holoprojector to create a simulacrum of an open, clear sky with a single blazing sun overhead that seemed to produce real heat. Her heart swelled as she felt for the first time like she was truly back on her home planet. Moisture gathered in her eyes as homesickness she’d felt but had precious little time to properly express suddenly overwhelmed her, and she sniffled.

“You alright, hun?” said a familiar voice behind her.

“AJ!” said Twilight as she turned around to give her friend a hug, her emotions allowing her to push back the muscle aches caused by embracing her friend. “I’m fine. I’m just really, really happy that we’re so close to returning home.”

Applejack chuckled as Twilight released her. “I hear ya. I’ve been trying to ignore it for months now, that feeling of homesickness. But the Empire’s gone, and we’re about to go home! I’m gonna see my family again! I bet they’ve been worried sick about me!”

Nodding, Twilight said, “I bet they have, though Princess Celestia and I think we might be able to return to the moment in time we left Equestria!”

This broadened Applejack’s smile. “Really?! That’s great! Do you know when we’ll be headin’ back?”

“No, not yet,” said Twilight. “But rest assured, Applejack, we’re going home!”

Applejack reared back on her hooves and shouted, “Yee-haw!” as loud as she could, then galloped out of the corridor onto the beach. Her tail whipped in the air as she bucked and jumped, happiness bursting from her in an explosion of glee that rivaled the destruction of the Death Star.

Twilight joined her a few minutes later, wincing as another spasm of pain shot through her back legs. “Urgh…” she muttered, the remnants of the Emperor’s barrage of lightning ruining the perfection of her mood. The feeling didn’t last long, however, as her hooves hit the sand. It felt warm and soft, and pushed back the negative feelings in a wave of euphoria.

As she got closer to the beach, she saw Leia Organa and Han Solo walking hand in hand together on the edge of the water. Their mouths were curled up in a smile, and even somepony as socially stunted as Twilight could tell the two were deeply in love with each other.

She heard somepony walk up beside her. Turning, she saw Rarity, a similarly dreamy look on her face. “Ah me…” she breathed. “It is so wonderful to see love blossoming. I do hope they get married before I have to go back home. I would adore the opportunity to design Princess Leia’s wedding dress! I’ve never worked with humans before! It would be so exciting!”

“I bet you’d do an amazing job, Rarity!” said Twilight.

“Thank you, Twilight! But where are my manners? How have you been? You were in quite a bit of pain after the Emperor did…” Rarity struggled a moment to find the right words as she glanced over the still blackened fur all over Twilight’s body. “…whatever it is he did to you.”

“I’m alright,” said Twilight, who winced as another shot of pain rippled through her back. “Just wish these spasms would stop.”

“Have you talked to a doctor about it?”

Sighing, Twilight replied, “Yes, but that droid has no idea what could be causing it. Maybe I should find a flesh and blood doctor to ask.” She chose not to reveal her suspicions about the effects of Force lightning, out of concern for making Rarity worry too much about her.

“Perhaps that would be better, dear,” said Rarity.

As they walked along the sand and enjoyed the feeling of their hooves sinking into it, they saw two more of their friends on the beach. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy were walking slowly up to them. As they got closer, Rainbow said, “See? I told you they’d be here!”

Fluttershy looked puzzled. “Didn’t the protocol droid we passed in the hallway tell us they were here?”

“I already knew, I was just getting confirmation!” said Rainbow in a tone Twilight found less than convincing in its sincerity.

“Ladies!” said Rarity as she trotted up to them.

“Hey y’all!” said Applejack, who had finished frolicking in the sand and was trotting up to meet them. “Fluttershy! I didn’t expect you to be out of bed this soon!” She walked up to Fluttershy and looked her up and down. “Whew! You look just dandy! How’d you get well this quickly?”

She smiled with a blush and said, “I just remember being lowered into a bacta tank and then pulled out a while later feeling just fine, with only a few scars here and there that it didn’t heal.” With a snort, she added, “I really wish I could get the smell of it out of the back of my nose.”

“It sure seems like a miracle drug,” said Twilight. “I was pretty banged up from being assaulted by the Emperor, but after the bacta dip I feel great!”

“That’s awesome!” said Rainbow. She grinned, and Twilight enjoyed seeing her cocky expression. “Man, I am so glad I got to fly in that battle! I shot down so many fighters they’re not gonna have enough room on my A-wing to fit all the kill marks!”

“Yeah?” said Applejack. “Well, I’m gonna have to get a jacket made so I can put a patch on it with all the Imperial walkers I tripped up during the forest battle!” She gave a few mock bucks. “Those Imps never saw me coming!”

“Well,” said Rainbow with a touch of defensiveness in her voice, “I didn’t just take down fighters! Me and my flight leader managed to nab a Star Destroyer! And not just any Star Destroyer, either. It was Darth Vader’s command ship, the Executor herself!”

“You’re kiddin’!” said Applejack. “You mean to tell me you in your little A-wing fighter managed to take out a ship the size of Manehatten?!”

Rainbow beamed at this, shooting up into the air and flipping around in a loop. “Yeah! It was awesome, like taking out a dragon!”

As her smile threatened to split her head in two, a human man walked up to them on the beach in Alliance pilot fatigues. He smiled up at Rainbow Dash and said, “You sure pulled some fancy flying out there today.”

The sight of the man caused Rainbow to gasp and then alight next to him. “Captain Antilles! Thank you, sir!” She saluted him and he returned the salute. “But I can’t take all the credit. My squadron really did most of the heavy lifting, and my flight leader was…” The gusto seemed to leave her as she took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “He was a great man, sir. Best in the fighter corps. He took out the Super Star Destroyer’s bridge, sir. Gave his life doing it.”

Nodding solemnly, Wedge Antilles said, “I knew Captain Crynyd, and he was a good pilot, and a good friend. Rest assured, he will be remembered with honors.”

“Good. And sir? It was an honor to fly with you, sir.”

“Likewise,” he said. “You flew like you had the Force on your side today, Rainbow. You had one of the highest kill ratios in the fleet!”

“Well,” said Rainbow with a blush, “I had great motivation.” She glanced at Fluttershy with a smile, who also blushed as she looked away with a grin.

The moment was burst like a balloon as Pinkie Pie bounced up to the group and shoved a branch full of little white, poofy cylinders nestled between its leaves toward them. “Check it out, you guys! They have plants on this ship that totally grow marshmallows!”

Applejack gave them a sniff and recoiled a bit. “Pinkie, are you sure them are safe to eat?”

“Of course, silly!” said Pinkie. “I mean, look at them! They look just like marshmallows!” She opened her mouth wide and chomped down on a cluster of the fruits. “Mmmmm, see? They’re… uh…” Her eyes went wide, her throat emitted a muted gagging noise, and then she bent forward and spewed masticated white mush from her mouth. She held her tongue with one hoof and scraped the surface with the other, not seeming to care that there was still sand stuck to it. “Gaaaggghhh! Ay’ ’aste ’ike ’oap! An’ ’and!”

She ran off gagging as the rest of her friends shared a collective laugh at her expense. Twilight watched her run off to wash her mouth out with fresh water from a refreshment station set into the wall of the massive chamber. Then she noticed Princess Celestia laying on the sand a few dozen meters away, a serene expression on her face as she stared out at the surface of the lake. Eager to spend some time relaxing with her teacher, Twilight trotted along the sandy beach toward Celestia with a grin.

“Princess Celestia!” she said as she approached the alicorn. Celestia turned her head and smiled at Twilight as she sidled up and laid down next to her.

“Twilight Sparkle,” said Celestia as she draped a wing over Twilight, “my most faithful student. How are you feeling?”

Stretching her neck a bit to head off another muscle spasm she’d felt coming on, Twilight said, “About as good as can be expected. I hope these spasms go away eventually, though.”

“I hope so as well,” said Celestia, nuzzling her student momentarily before going back to gazing at the water before them. The two of them stared at the water, and as they did Twilight found her thoughts slowly being pulled from the beauty of the artificial lagoon in front of her toward her home. She began to think about the heat of the sun, the now-parched landscape, and the chaos that would likely ensue from that. It briefly crossed her mind that Discord would have been reveling in the destruction caused by the lack of magic rotating the planet, and she was thankful she and her friends were able to use the Elements of Harmony to imprison him in stone once again.

She sighed heavily as she thought about the task laid out before her. The galaxy was massive, and while she knew of a few planets that she thought likely to be a place the Emperor would store his secrets, they were still planets. Any one of them would have hundreds of millions of square kilometers of surface area – assuming they were roughly the size of Equii – which would take decades to search even given the best possible advantages. She felt her heart begin to sink, which was when Celestia nuzzled her and said, “Twilight, what’s wrong?” Her tone sounded as though it were meant to convey comfort, but Twilight was anything but receptive to being comforted right now.

“The Emperor brought us here, Princess,” said Twilight. “But he didn’t tell us anything about how he did that. It could have been some kind of machine, but it could have easily been a spell he himself created that only he could cast. It’s…” She sighed heavily. “It’s a big problem that we need a solution for, and I’m not even sure there is a solution to be found.”

Nodding, Celestia said, “I understand how you feel, Twilight. There have been many challenges throughout my life that I felt were impossible to solve, even if I had all eternity to solve them.” She chuckled sadly. “Many of them revolved around my sister. Luna was such a little prankster. She would often pull tricks on me or the castle staff, just because she could. It took many moons to figure out how to explain to her why she couldn’t just transform the lavatories into monsters that swallowed ponies, even if it just ended up transporting them to the castle sewage system instead of actually eating them.”

Twilight looked up at Celestia with equal parts amusement and disgust. “She did what?!”

Laughing again, Celestia said, “She was quite the little rapscallion, as I said.” The grin faded from her mouth as she echoed Twilight’s sigh from a few moments ago. “I find my thoughts occupied by her safety. I only just got her back, Twilight. I don’t want to lose her again.” Her features hardened into resolve.

“We’ll get them both back,” said Twilight. “Luna and Spike. I know the Emperor said they were beyond help, but I can still feel them.” She suppressed a wave of emotion, a crest from a vast reservoir of pain that had been slowly growing ever since she had first been separated from Spike.

“I can as well. They must still be alive, somehow. Their bodies are consumed by the energies of the Dark Side of the Force, but I know Luna and Spike are still clinging to consciousness, somehow.” She frowned. “I don’t know how. But I know they are still there.”

“Do you think it’s because Luna is able to resist the Emperor’s power? She was once a victim of the Nightmare Forces. Perhaps her experience with that is helping her drive off the Dark Side magic and keep Spike from falling victim.”

Celestia appeared to consider Twilight’s words. “It’s possible. It’s also possible that the Emperor merely slowed the growth of their technobeast form in a ploy to lure us both to the Death Star in order to either force us to join him or die. Or perhaps he thought they would be so broken mentally by this process that they would be willing to join him in order to get the entechment reversed.

Twilight nodded, then she stood up slowly, a groan rumbling out of her throat at her leg joints protested being forced to deal with standing her up and putting up with the remains of the Force lightning barrage simultaneously. “I think I’d better stretch my legs a bit. Maybe if I get some exercise these spasms will stop pestering me.”

Celestia smiled and said, “If you find a solution to that, Twilight, please inform me at your earliest convenience. You’re not the only one suffering from the ill effects of the Emperor’s wrath.” As if to punctuate the sentence, her muscles writhed under the surface of her skin, and she stretched in order to ward off the worst of them. “And perhaps you might visit the ship’s library again soon. There may be clues as to where the Emperor is hiding the device he used to abduct us.”

With a quiet gasp of realization, Twilight said, “I think I know who I can talk to about how the Emperor transported us here! If you’ll excuse me, Princess?” She gave her body a shake to get rid of the sand as Princess Celestia nodded her assent, and then she started to trot toward the entrance to the lagoon. Annoyingly, not all of the sand had come off her coat, and she could feel it in crevices she really wished it hadn’t gotten into. It really gets absolutely everywhere…

She explored the maze-like corridors of the ship, grateful the Mon Calamari had a sense of ergonomics with the gracefully curved features in the walls and gentle slopes of the deck. It helped her to deal with the aching she still felt, both from the lightning barrage and her lingering homesickness. She meandered along the never-ending avenues of the ship and tried to figure out where the brig was located. But eventually she gave up trying to find her way around and hailed the nearest service droid.

The barrel-shaped robot rolled up to her and bleeped and booped in what sounded an awful lot to Twilight like it was annoyed at her. “I’m sorry, I just wanted to know if you could point me in the direction of the brig?”

Another series of electronic noises emitted from a grille in front of the droid’s casing, and it sounded both shocked and inquisitive.

Using her best guess as to what the droid had said, Twilight responded, “I wish to talk to a prisoner we just took into custody. I have the necessary clearance.” In truth, she didn’t rightfully know if her status as ‘rebel hero’ was enough rank to gain access to Vader, but this robot didn’t need to know that.

Hooting in an unsure tone, the droid hesitantly rolled around and began to trundle down the corridor toward a cluster of turbolifts. Twilight smiled and said, “Thank you!”

The little unit blurbled in a rude sounding tone, but Twilight decided discretion was the better part of valor in this case. Besides, even if these machines were intelligent, she still felt awkward at the idea of getting into an argument with a maintenance droid.

As the door to the brig hissed open, Twilight was struck by how clean and, frankly, luxurious the brig looked. Even if the cells themselves were small, every surface of the brig was adorned with curved corners and polished white paint. She looked down at the maintenance droid and said, “Thank you, sir!”

Blurbing another rude remark, likely a complaint about being diverted from its programmed tasks, the little droid sped off down the corridor seemingly in an effort to get as far from the annoying purple quadruped as possible. Twilight rolled her eyes and then walked up to the security console in front of her, smiling up at the armored alien standing on the elevated platform behind it as she did so. Twilight wasn’t sure what species he was, but he had a round, wrinkled head and an entirely unreadable expression on his face. “Hello! I’m Twilight Sparkle, and I was hoping I might have a word with Darth Vader.”

The guard looked down at her, his prune-like expression not changing. “I’m sorry, but that prisoner is extremely dangerous. I’m afraid I can’t allow you to visit him without an armed escort.”

This annoyed Twilight. She was the one who brought him in, for pony’s sake! “Listen, I know he’s dangerous, but Princess Celestia and I were instrumental in his capture. In fact, he went with us willingly. I assure you, there is no danger in allowing me to have a few words with him.” This was true not just because he’d gone with them of his own accord, but she also gambled that being reintroduced to the Light Side of the Force would be more than enough to prevent any sort of treachery on his part.

Appearing to consider this for a few minutes, the prune-faced guard said, “Alright. But I’ll be right here. Just call out if you sense for even a moment that you’re in danger. We have stun cuffs on him, and the room can be filled with nerve gas to stun the both of you if it comes to that.”

She nodded, then after being told which cell he was in, she thanked the guard and began walking down the corridor of cube-shaped rooms. She eventually came to the one Darth Vader was in.

She frowned. No… not Darth Vader. He’s Anakin. Anakin Skywalker. Even if he still looks like an evil Sith Lord, he is no longer a Sith, and should not bear the name of one. Nodding to herself and then taking a deep breath to steady her nerves, she hit the illuminated blue square on the control panel that was labeled as the force field control. The white lights surrounding the cell suddenly dimmed and the humming emanating from it died. Then she stepped through the entrance and into the cramped room within, where Anakin sat on a cot which seemed entirely too narrow for his great size.

“Um… Anakin?” she said as she walked up in front of him.

He didn’t seem to notice her at first, his black mask seeming to be focused on a spot on the floor in front of him. After several seconds, he muttered, “Is there something you wish to say?”

“No,” said Twilight. She lowered her rump to the floor and said in a casual manner, “I just wanted to talk and see how you’re doing.”

Anakin’s shoulders momentarily lifted in a quiet chuckle. “You address the dead and ask how they’re doing,” he said quietly. “As I told my son, Anakin is no more. He died when I killed him all those years ago, and I cannot bring him back.”

“That’s not what Luke tells me,” said Twilight.

“Then he is –” began Anakin, but he cut off what he was about to say and lowered the volume of his voice. “Luke is mistaken. I am Darth Vader.”

Twilight resisted the urge to roll her eyes. This man was even more stubborn than Rainbow Dash. “Well, I’m going to call you Anakin since that is your true name. And I don’t care if you like it or not! You’re Anakin Skywalker, father of Luke Skywalker, and you can tell me you’re Darth Vader till you’re blue in the, er, helmet, but I’m going to call you Anakin. Alright?”

The mask turned up from the spot on the floor it had been pointed at and then looked in Twilight’s eyes. “You are quite a stubborn Jedi.”

“I get it from my brother,” said Twilight.

Sighing, Anakin growled, “Well, call me whatever you wish. It no longer matters. My life has been forfeit ever since I was first seduced to the Dark Side by Palpatine. I have done so much evil in the name of furthering my power in the Force that I have no more good left in me. It would have been preferable for you to have left me on the Death Star so I may die where the last remnants of the Dark Side died.”

“That’s not true!” said Twilight. She suddenly put her forelegs on Anakin’s knees and leaned forward to look directly at his helmet. “You’ve got a second chance now! Your son rescued you and broke the Emperor’s yoke from your neck! Even if the galaxy doesn’t believe that you’re different, Luke knows that you are, and so do I!” Her voice slipped into a pleading tone, now no longer caring about interrogating him for information and just focused on helping him discover a modicum of self-worth. “I know you hate the things you did as Darth Vader, but you’re no longer that person! You’re Anakin Skywalker, Jedi Knight!”

For a few long moments the only sound in the tiny cubicle was the whirring of the air conditioner and the mechanical breathing of Anakin’s helmet. Then he said, “You have a good heart, Twilight Sparkle. But your confidence in me is misplaced. I am not the good person you think I am. Please, just leave me alone.”

Twilight opened her mouth again, preparing to berate him for being so stubborn, but then she closed it and said, “Fine. But I know the truth, and I hope you’ll eventually let me show it to you.”

With that, she took her hooves off his knees and stood up, then she exited the cell and activated the forcefield on the way out. As she walked back toward the lagoon, she passed Luke Skywalker in the corridor, apparently on his way toward the brig to talk with his father. “Hi, Luke,” she said. She felt like she had to drag the greeting from her throat, as though the emotional outpouring she just gave to Anakin drained her of every last ounce of energy.

He looked at her with concern. “Are you okay?”

“Well, if you must know, I just had a talk with the most stubborn man in the galaxy,” she said, unable to keep the sarcasm from slipping into her tone. “But other than that, I’m just peachy!” She exhaled forcefully and quietly said, “I hope you can convince him that he’s no longer Darth Vader. He’s practically suicidal.”

Luke said, “I’ll try, but he was one of the most powerful Jedi of the Clone Wars, and part of that was the fact that he was too stubborn and single-minded to ever give up once he set his mind to something. At least, that’s how Obi-Wan put it.” He chuckled lightly at that.

Twilight just lowered her head a tad with a sigh and said, “I’m going back to the lagoon to relax. Maybe the waves will calm my nerves.” As Luke bade her farewell and resumed his trek to the brig, she walked down the corridor toward the hallway that led back to the turbolift alcove and hoped she’d find a more agreeable droid to guide her this time.

As the six ponies and Celestia disembarked the turbolift, they gasped at the beauty of the blue-green marble of Endor floating in space outside the hangar of Home One. “Whoa,” said Rainbow Dash. “Y’know, even though I was flying out there during the battle, it’s still really cool to see that moon hanging out there in space.”

“It really is lovely,” said Fluttershy as they walked along the metal deck plating toward a sleek-looking blue-striped craft parked in the middle of the hangar. Something about the ship seemed vaguely reminiscent of both a fox and a bird of prey at the same time, and Twilight found the design quite pleasing to the eye.

Applejack smiled and said, “It’s really a shame that we have to say goodbye to him, isn’t it? I mean, he saved our flanks a hundred times on the way to the Rebellion.”

The six ponies said, “Mmhmm!” in unison as they approached the birdlike spacecraft. Then Pinkie Pie said, “Wait… we are talking about Junas, right?”

“Yes, Pinkie, we’re talking about Junas,” replied Applejack with an annoyed tone.

As they approached Junas’ vessel, he appeared from behind the radiator fins at the back and said, “Oh, hey fillies. Come to see me off?”

“Of course!” said Twilight. She ran up to him and wrapped her hooves around him in a hug. The other ponies soon followed suit, and all of them began to nuzzle him. Even Celestia joined in, wrapping her massive wings around them all. “We owe you so much!” said Twilight, “And we might not ever see you again!”

He chuckled, and Twilight thought she could hear him holding back emotion in his voice. “Shoot, girls… I don’t know what to say.”

“Just shut up and take the group hug,” said Rainbow with a grin. They all snuggled him hard, and he returned the hug. None of them broke the embrace for several moments.

Finally, Pinkie Pie said, “Wait! I have something for you!” From out of nowhere she produced a large cake with writing on it. “It says, ‘Farewell from your Ponyville friends and I hope you never, ever, ever, ever, forget about us and that you find a way to come visit us someday’!”

Twilight squinted as she looked at the hot pink icing. It had apparently started out with words, but eventually it ended up being scrunched up into a jumbled mess that continued down the side of the cake. “It does?”

“I, uh, kinda ran out of room,” said Pinkie with a blush. “But it tastes good, at least!” Then she unhinged her jaw and took a massive bite from the side of the cake. “Mmmmm!” she said as she chomped the bite she took.

The rest of the group laughed at her antics, and then Junas said, “I think I’ll pass. I had a big lunch.” Then he let them all go and said, “Okay, well, I hate to cut this goodbye short, but I have a launch deadline to meet.” He took a small datapad out from his utility belt and waved it at them. “There’s some activity near the Unknown Regions that I gotta go check out.”

With a smile, Twilight said, “Thank you so much, Junas. We’d never have been able to make it without you. We owe you our lives. And I hope we can see you again someday.”

“I hope so too, girls,” he said, then he added softly, “And I hope you can find a way to restore Spike. He doesn’t deserve what he got from that black hearted monster.”

Twilight felt a pang of emotion as he said this, then swallowed the lump in her throat and said, “I promise, we will do everything we can.”

He gave her one last hug, and then turned around and walked up to the back of the ship’s beak. He reached up and pulled open the hatch, then extended a set of footpegs to climb into the cramped interior of the ship. “Better stand back,” he said from the entry port. “These HWK-290s pack quite a punch.”

The ponies all took a few steps back as Junas closed the hatch and retracted the footpegs. Moments later, from inside the HWK’s aft section, a hissing sound gave way to a loud whine, followed by even more mechanical noises in an orchestrated cacophony. A turquoise glow then bloomed from the engine nozzles as plasma flooded the manifolds, and then the ship floated gracefully off the deck and folded its landing gear up into their housings. Slowly the ship rotated till it faced the hangar aperture.

“Huh,” said Rainbow. “Doesn’t seem like it’s got that much of a – ”

She didn’t get to finish her sentence as the ship’s engines flared to life, sending a wave of hot gasses and ozone blasting past them. It quickly shrank to a glowing blue dot banking away from Endor, leaving them all braced against the deck with their manes blown back by the force from the ion drives.

With a cough, Rainbow squeaked, “Okay, I need one of those ships!”

Rarity growled as she maneuvered her hooves under her barrel and righted herself, then brusquely whipped her mane away from her face. “He… did that… on purpose.”

“Wait, where’s Celestia?” said Twilight. The alicorn had disappeared, and the ponies all looked around but didn’t see her anywhere.

“Maybe she went to the infirmary,” said Applejack. “Even a princess needs treatment from time to time, and she did get into a mighty big tussle with the Emperor. And as I recall, so did you, Twilight.” She looked at Twilight with a smile and put a hoof on her withers. “Why don’t you go join her? You’ve been actin’ like you got ants crawlin’ up and down your legs all day. Maybe the doctors can do something about it.”

Twilight thought about objecting, but as soon as she opened her mouth to do so, her legs locked up in another spasm. After fighting it off and brushing aside concern from her friends, she said, “Yeah, I think I’d better go see if they can do something about this.” She knew they didn’t really know what was causing it, but maybe the doctors had some kind of numbing salve that she could use to suppress the worst of it. “Thanks, Applejack.”

“No problem, Twilight.” Applejack smiled and nuzzled her friend.

After returning the nuzzle, Twilight headed back toward the turbolifts. She sighed to herself as she opened up the door leading to the car, hoping that Junas would be alright. She knew they had little chance of really seeing him again, but a part of her still thought maybe someday they’d meet again. She punched in a command to take her to the nearest medical bay, then plopped her rump on the floor as the door closed and the car shot off into the bowels of the ship.

As she rode the turbolift, she leaned against the inner wall and allowed her mind to wander. Fragments of memory floated in her mind like leaves on the wind, and she didn’t seem to have the energy to form more concrete thoughts than that. Eventually, her mind slowed down and things coalesced to thoughts of Spike, and how he had been corrupted and mutilated by Palpatine. She tried to push those thoughts away, but only succeeded in leaving room for thoughts of how the baby dragon had been entrusted to her by Celestia, and how he had grown to be more than just an assistant. He was her best friend.

He was her little brother.

Then her mind drifted to how she had been unable to save him from the clutches of the Emperor. Her mind’s eye unwillingly showed her the memory of hearing him cry out as they were running to flee Nar Shaddaa. She replayed turning her head and seeing him grabbed and taken by the Empire’s thugs. She saw his face, contorted to unimaginable fear as he was separated from the pony who had raised him. She could feel Junas holding her back and forcing her to abandon him. She couldn’t stop the feeling of failing her little brother, the baby dragon who was entrusted to her protection. And now he was in a cage, encrusted with Sith technology, and she didn’t even know if it was possible to bring him back. Overwhelmed by a sudden wave of emotion, she slammed her hoof on the stop button, and then slumped to the floor as she wept loudly and uncontrollably.

The Mon Calamari ship, Princess Celestia found, was an agreeable design. Compared to the tramp freighters they’d spent a majority of their time in, the Mon Cala designers seemed to spare no expense in luxury. She was aware that these ships had started life as star cruisers, flying along the spaceways as exploration vessels, which accounted for most of their interior design, but she suspected even if that wasn’t the case that the Mon Calamari would still try to incorporate beauty and curves into their designs.

Thus, she was a bit surprised at the fact that the cargo bay was so utilitarian. Even if the landing bay was a blocky, bare-bones affair, she had assumed all areas of the interior were white and rounded, not at all like the slab-sided room before her that seemingly housed hundreds of thousands of containers and barrels. It was eerily quiet, with the night workers all on their mid-shift meal break, and she could hear her golden accouterments clacking noisily against the deck as she walked purposefully toward an area near the back of the compartment.

The tall stacks of boxes that formed a narrow corridor soon parted to reveal an area that was clear save for two black, spherical cages. Their jagged edges made the constructs seem less manmade and more like something pulled from the bowels of a swamp. The interior of the cages glowed with a faint ethereal light, a manifestation of the forcefields that served to contain the creatures within them.

The sight caused Celestia’s heart to break. Luna and Spike – or what was left of their bodies – were huddled up inside the cages as though they were asleep. But Celestia knew better. She could see the muscles under the cybernetic attachments go tense, and as she approached closer the two creatures suddenly unfolded themselves into a pair of snarling whirlwinds of raw, animalistic rage. They threw themselves at the bars of their cages, the faint glow suddenly flaring to white-hot brilliance as the forcefields released the energies contained in their capacitors.

Celestia instinctively put up a wing, but as the light from the fields died back to a faint glow once more, she sighed and folded it back against her body “I am so sorry, Luna,” she said as she approached her sister’s cage. The creature inside it paced back and forth like a hungry lion.

The sight of the blue alicorn princess encrusted by cybernetic devices was sickening to Celestia. Luna’s once brilliant blue left eye was smothered beneath black metal, with some kind of sensor that glowed a dull red dominating the center of the device and surrounded by ugly, sharp antennas. Wires trailed off it and were haphazardly stapled down the side of her head and neck. Her wings were augmented with technology that Celestia couldn’t deduce the purpose of, with wires and cables on it flopping around with each movement of her lithe body. Celestia could see hard edges poking up under her skin, in some cases causing bruising to appear under the fur and in other cases outright erupting from the surface of her skin. She swallowed a lump forming in her throat, and wiped away moisture which was quickly collecting in her eyes.

“My sister…” she said quietly. “I’m so sorry. I wish I’d been stronger. I could have saved you if I’d been stronger than the Emperor and his minions.”

She put a hoof up on the cage, causing Luna to snarl and snap at her. “I promise, I’ll find a way to restore you and Spike. I will not rest until you are both your former selves.”

Author's Note

Sorry it took so long to get this chapter up. I promise I'm not dead, I just have a lot going on lately. But I remain dedicated to finishing this novel! See you in the next chapter!

A New Path

Chapter 31

“I have been a student of Princess Celestia for many, many years. I say this not to boast - though I also recognize the high honor it is to be her student - but as a preface to say that her influence on me over the years has given me a great appreciation for how eloquent and wise she is. I’ve been lucky enough to witness her giving addresses before diplomats and dignitaries, as well as giving counsel to distressed ponies, including myself. She seems to have a real knack for knowing just what to say to diffuse negativity, no matter the situation.”

-Twilight Sparkle, On Extra-Galactic Voyages, p. 455

Hissing and whirring from the infusion machines that were hooked up to Twilight Sparkle’s legs and torso invaded her thoughts and created a sense of uneasiness. Clear tubes twisted and wound their way from the white, boxy unit and delivered a chemical that Twilight couldn’t remember the name of from a set of chrome cylinders directly into her skeletal system. She grimaced and then shifted around in her medbed, trying to find a comfortable position to lay in as she waited for the treatment to be concluded, but the needles stabbing into her bones were interfering with that somewhat.

“Miss Sparkle, please try to relax,” intoned the silvery blue medical droid next to her.

“Sorry,” replied Twilight. “Are you sure this will work?”

“As your condition does not match any of the seven million diseases, infirmities, and injuries stored in my databank, I am forced to try unorthodox treatments. I predict with a confidence of 82.385% that this treatment will improve your homeostatic condition, and a confidence of 21.741% that it will eliminate your symptoms entirely.” The machine turned away from her for a moment to look at the control panel on the side of the infuser, then it turned back toward her and said, “It will only be a few more minutes till the drug has been fully administered. Do you require anything at the moment?”

“No, thank you.”

“Very well,” replied the droid. It extended its manipulators and grasped the side of the cart full of strange metallic tools, then it clunked off to check on the next patient and left Twilight alone with her thoughts.

A horrible cackling rang out in her head, a memory of the Emperor assaulting her with Force lightning. She flinched involuntarily, and despite her efforts to will those thoughts to go away, they persisted in her subconscious and brought back the memory of her muscles contracting violently and the feeling of her bones being cooked inside her body. A whimper escaped her lips.

She wished her friends were here. She wished Princess Celestia was here.

She wished Spike was here.

Taking in a deep breath, she let it out slowly to try and drive off the anxiety she felt. She cast her thoughts far away, back to her lessons on the Force from Luke, but her mind still clung to the realm of evil. She found herself trying to recall anything about the Dark Side and its nature. From what she could remember, it was the result of turning inward and allowing selfish desires to turn into obsession, and by doing so feeding the monstrous forces within till it grew out of control and consumed the wielder. But what if there was more to it than that? What if it was something bigger than mere selfishness?

Did the Emperor’s evil have something to do with his desire to rule over the galaxy? She thought about it and tried to answer the question of why anyone would desire to take control of a population that numbered in the trillions. The Emperor didn’t seem interested in money or territory except for what was necessary to achieve his ends. No, first and foremost, he wanted power over the population. But power for power’s sake is merely a means to an end, so what end was he seeking out for himself? Could he have derived his dark energies from the very people he ruled over? It certainly would explain why there was so much criminal activity and why he allowed the Hutts to reign over their territory, not to mention why he encouraged the cruelest of officers by granting them higher and higher ranks in his military. Perhaps this evil truly was a miasma, a cloud of dark energy generated by hatred and suffering that transcended the physical plane. That being the case, it might have been something he could siphon to sate his thirst for control over the Dark Side, and if it really was some kind of miasma, perhaps it might even be something that he could transfer through violent, evil acts. Maybe it even explained why the effects of being assaulted by the Emperor and blasted with lightning were so persistent.

Maybe it… infected her somehow.

A shudder passed through her body at that thought. She sighed deeply and relaxed the muscles in her back that had tensed up, and then she slowly allowed herself to sink back into the soft mattress on the medbed. It was hard to make any sort of concrete inference without more information to go off of.

Regardless of the nature of the Emperor’s evil, the fact remained that she needed to get over whatever residual energies were still trapped in her body. Taking a deep breath, holding it, and then letting it out slowly, she returned to laying on her back and tried to get in a quick nap while she waited for the machine to finish its infusion process.

Deep in the hull of Home One resided the conference chamber, a round room thirty meters in diameter that had several rows of benches which surrounded a central holoprojector. Currently the benches were full of military and political leaders, as well as Twilight Sparkle and her friends, and her withers twitched from how many times she’d bumped up against someone’s shoulder. Her attention was drawn to a door on the other side of the chamber which opened to admit Mon Mothma, the top leader of the Rebel Alliance. She walked up to the holoprojector and met everyone’s gaze, then she said, “I now call the meeting to discuss the treatment of the political prisoner, Darth Vader, to order.”

Twilight sighed as the entire room erupted in shouting the moment the words left Mon Mothma’s lips. She couldn’t hear herself think, and she struggled to make out at least one individual voice in the maddening crowd of aliens. Even steering her ears directly at one individual or another didn’t seem to help matters.

“It would seem that this could get rather heated,” commented Celestia rather dryly as she sat next to Twilight.

When it became clear that the crowd of politicians and leaders had no intention of calming themselves, Admiral Ackbar shouted, “Order! We will have order in this meeting!”

A few moments of shouting followed his call to order, but the crowd soon began to quiet themselves. The silence didn’t last long. “I say we take him to Coruscant right now and execute him ourselves from the tallest public square on the planet!” shouted someone who Twilight didn’t recognize.

“But we would lose a vital intelligence opportunity if we simply killed him!” said someone else, a furry alien with a long face, who slammed his hands on the top of the thick railing in front of him. “The Imperial fleet is scattering as we speak, and he holds vital information that could allow us to round up the remaining Imperial military leadership before they disappear into deep space forever!”

Next to where the ponies were seated, a Mon Calamari interjected. “Blast intelligence! We need justice, not data!”

This seemed to spark even more debate with the people present, and Mon Monthma and Admiral Ackbar found themselves once again struggling to calm down the crowd.

When the hollering finally calmed to a low murmur, Twilight spoke up. “I would like to say something.” Any remaining voices of dissent quickly quieted themselves as one of the heroes of the Rebellion commanded attention. After a moment of gathering her thoughts, she continued. “Princess Celestia and I were on the Death Star with An- er, Darth Vader, and we both bore witness to his actions. He allied himself with us against his master, and in the end it was his weapon that dealt the killing blow and ended Palpatine’s tyrannical reign!”

“Indeed,” added Princess Celestia. “My student is correct. Darth Vader has done many horrible things, and he should face justice, but we both ask that he not be executed for his crimes. He recognizes his evil, and regrets all of his actions since the formation of the Galactic Empire. Perhaps we should put aside our desire for vengeance, for the moment, and recognize the value of allowing him to live.” A few members of the crowd added quick notes of assent to what Celestia had said. Twilight noted, however, that she deliberately left out his death wish. She was grateful for this, as it might add fuel to the argument for simple execution.

“Princess Celestia,” gurgled Admiral Ackbar, giving the princess a walleyed stare, “we are all very grateful for the many exploits of you and your subjects. Your own Rainbow Dash is one of the best pilots in our fleet, and we have not forgotten your contributions at the Battle of Bestine. But by the same token, I must remind everyone present that my own people were subjugated by Darth Vader and his henchmen. He, his Emperor, and his minions forced my species into slavery to build their war machines and starships, including the Death Star.”

Princess Leia raised her hand and interjected, “And speaking of that horrible weapon, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention what the first Death Star did to my world. Alderaan was a center of learning, peace, and culture. It was a shining jewel of the galaxy and a place where democracy was considered a treasure that must be guarded from attack without and within. Darth Vader sank his claws into my shoulder and held me fast as he forced me to watch the Death Star’s superlaser obliterate my world and my family.” She faltered a bit at the words ‘world’ and ‘family’, but quickly regained composure. “I am fortunate that I discovered a brother I never knew I had in spite of that tragedy, but Darth Vader is responsible for scarring me with a memory that I can never be rid of, nor would I want to. I cannot allow this meeting to conclude without speaking on behalf of the Alderaanians who can no longer speak for themselves because of that monster.”

Reaching out and taking his lover’s hand, Han Solo leaned forward in his seat and pointed a finger at Mon Mothma. “Yeah. That scum-sucking sonuvabitch froze me in carbonite just to get Luke to come and listen to his spiel about ruling the galaxy and whatnot. Anyone who’s ever been frozen never forgets it, and I was already the kinda guy who held grudges.” His other hand instinctively went to the blaster on his hip, but he stopped short of unsnapping the retainer.

“Now wait a minute!” Rainbow Dash flapped into the air, ignoring Twilight’s hoof tugging on her tail to get her to sit back down. “I know this Vader dude is a bad guy. Believe me, I wanna kick his teeth in as much as the next pegasus. But I’ve known Twilight a lot longer than I’ve known Darth Vader, and I know she’s not a liar. If she says that he’s changed, then he’s changed. End of story!” She plopped back down, looking grimly satisfied with what she said.

“Yeah!” said Applejack, in a more measured but still adamant tone of voice. “Twilight is one of the most honest and trustworthy ponies I know! She’s not just a hero in this galaxy. She’s a hero back home in Equestria, too! She used the Elements of Harmony to transform a wicked mare named Nightmare Moon from a monster who wanted to create a world of eternal night into the co-ruler of Equestria, Princess Luna, not to mention defeating the Spirit of Chaos himself, Discord. She’s told me and the others, as well as all of you, that Darth Vader helped her escape the Death Star. He also assisted your own hero, Luke Skywalker, in escaping that station, iffin’ you recall. If that don’t tell ya he’s turned over a new leaf, then nothin’ will!”

Admiral Ackbar drew in a wet-sounding breath, then said, “We only have your word that this happened the way you said it did.”

Applejack’s eyes went wide, then narrowed as she said, “Are you callin’ my friend a liar?!”

The small display of aggression seemed to trigger the debate from everyone at once all over again. Twilight attempted to interject numerous times, but found herself drowned out each time from the cacophony of voices. She slumped back into her seat and sighed, musing to herself that this must be what Fluttershy feels like whenever she tries to speak up.

Eventually Mon Monthma held up her hands and again called for silence. “As much as I sympathize with Admiral Ackbar and our esteemed Princess Leia, I’m afraid I must agree with others in this meeting that Darth Vader serves our purposes better alive than dead. While execution is an appealing punishment for his crimes, I cannot ignore the fact that he would be a very valuable political tool for the Alliance. Many Imperial sector fleets and planets still exist which pose a danger to our efforts to restore the Republic. They will not simply lay down arms just because the Emperor has been killed, and indeed many might not even believe that he is truly dead. They may argue that it’s a trick on our part to get them to surrender. However, if what these ponies say is true, then Darth Vader may be willing to speak on our behalf. If he personally addresses these governors and military commanders, he stands a good chance of convincing them to lay down their arms without further bloodshed, being one of the highest ranking military leaders in the Imperial forces. We should speak to him when he is willing to talk to us, and then ask him to call for peace from the remaining Imperial loyalists.”

A murmur of unrest ebbed and flowed through the crowd, but Mon Mothma’s status as supreme leader of the Rebel Alliance didn’t allow for much more opposition to her declaration than that. However, Princess Leia spoke up. “I will acquiesce to your decision, madam. But I fear that the galaxy won’t rest until they see Darth Vader hang publicly for his crimes.”

As the snarling, twisted form of Spike gnashed his teeth at her from inside his cage, Twilight wondered why she was subjecting herself to this torture. It was different from visiting a relative in the hospital or checking on a sick friend during a period of bedrest. Spike was… wrong. He was barely in a form that she could even still call him Spike, and the longer she sat there, flinching from his aggressive snapping, the harder she found it to continue having faith.

She still felt that there was a way to help him, but she couldn’t think of what it might be and it made it difficult for her to keep telling herself that she would be able to pull him out of this predicament. She felt a hoof on her shoulder from Princess Celestia, who sat next to her and stared into Luna’s cage.

Twilight looked up at the princess, and could see the worry and pain on her teacher’s face. A pulse of anxiety burst into her chest at seeing her like that, and she quickly pushed it aside as Celestia said almost inaudibly, “It will be okay, my faithful student. We can handle this.”

Doubt came at that moment into Twilight’s mind. “How do you know?” she said, her brow creasing.

“I don’t,” said Celestia. “But I know that you and I and your friends are resilient. We’re unbreakable in the face of the unknown. No matter what happens, we will learn all we can about the Emperor’s magic and find a way to help Luna and Spike.”

With a subtle shake of her head, Twilight replied, “I dunno, Princess. It’s one thing to believe that when it’s more nebulous, but when I look right at Spike and Luna, it seems next to hopeless that we’ll be able to save them. I’ve studied magic under you for years. I’ve dedicated my life to it. But nothing in my studies has given me a clue as to where to even begin to help them.”

“My dearest student,” said Celestia, kindness slipping back into her voice, “I have been alive for many centuries. There are many aspects to magic that you are still unaware of. I promise, we will not return home until we find a way to restore our friends.”

Twilight sighed and felt energy drain from her as she slowly lowered herself to the deck below her. Celestia followed suit and laid down next to Twilight, then draped a wing over her. This was of little comfort to the small unicorn next to her, however.

Quiet footsteps approached them in the dim cargo bay. “I’m sorry you’ve been so badly affected by the Emperor’s evil,” said Luke as he walked up beside them and sat down cross-legged on the deck next to Twilight. He put a hand on her withers and squeezed her gently.

“Thank you,” she said quietly. Then she looked up at him and said, “You’ve been through Jedi training. Did any of it give you insight as to how to restore Spike and Luna?”

He frowned and said, “Unfortunately, no.”

Twilight didn’t respond. She just turned her head back toward the force cages and sighed with a shudder.

Luke continued, “But I do know of rumors that the Emperor had vast storehouses scattered across the galaxy. They stored his personal collection of plundered Jedi trophies that he stole from their temples. If we looked through the stolen manuscripts, I’m sure one of them will reveal the information you need.”

The suggestion of research piqued Twilight’s interest, and she suddenly felt an infusion of energy. Immediately she bolted up off the ground, her ears pointed straight up and her determined gaze locked with his. “Well then, let’s go! There’s no time to lose!”

“That’s the down side,” said Luke from where he sat. “We have no idea where the storehouses are located. The Emperor didn’t exactly want the galaxy to find out where he kept all his Jedi artifacts.”

“Then we’ll just have to ask someone who would know,” she said with a grin.

Celestia stood up next to Twilight and said, “I think I know who might be in possession of the information we seek.”

Anakin Skywalker sat on his cot, not bothering to look up at Luke, Twilight, and Celestia as they stood in front of him. Twilight couldn’t help but hear the slight rasping in his mechanical breather unit, likely residual damage from the Emperor’s attack. Luke said, “Are you alright, father?”

Anakin shrugged. “It isn’t quite as rigorous as Sith training, so I am not bothered. The quiet allows for rather deep meditation.”

Luke smiled at this, then Twilight said, “Anakin, do you know of any way we can turn Spike and Luna from technobeasts back into their original forms?”

The sound of Anakin’s breather slowed its cadence, seemingly imitating a deep sigh. “I know of no way to restore a technobeast once it has been converted wholly into its beast form. The technobeast was meant to serve as a war machine for the ancient Sith, and my former master used the technique to punish certain enemies of the Empire.” He paused a moment, then said, “This must be why they were not fully transformed. Palpatine thought they deserved punishment for their defiance of his will and cursed them with a half-life as machines.”

“But we know that Spike and Luna’s minds are still in there, somewhere,” said Twilight. “It must be possible to restore them!”

“The alchemy used in their creation is infused with the Dark Side of the Force,” replied Anakin. “Attempting to separate the technology and its influence from their bodies will have dire consequences for them. It was meant to be a punishment for the victim, and as such the ancient Sith Empire created it with a failsafe to keep Jedi from restoring them.”

“Well, maybe we can use the Emperor’s own alchemy against him,” said Twilight. Her chest swelled as she began to allow herself to be hopeful again. “He was so powerful, he must have had a spell or incantation or something that we could use to restore our friends!”

A low growl suddenly came from Vader, and he muttered, “I tried using Sith teachings to prevent the death of my wife. The ways of the Sith will help no one but those who follow the path of the Dark Side. And even if I thought they would help, I was not entrusted with the knowledge of the locations of the Emperor’s storehouses.”

The feeling of hope that had filled Twilight began to deflate at this. She sighed in disappointment and hung her head. If Anakin Skywalker, one of the most talented and powerful Jedi who ever lived, couldn’t use the powers of the Sith to save the one he loved, what chance did she and Celestia have of restoring their friends with the same magic? He didn’t even know where to look!

“However,” said Anakin, “I will do all in my power to help you. It is a fool’s errand, but I will not simply allow your friends to slip into oblivion without at least trying to help you save them.”

Twilight smiled at him as Celestia said, “Thank you, Anakin. We will be grateful for whatever assistance you can give us.”

The hangars of Home One were mostly empty as the majority of fighters that had participated in the Battle of Endor had returned to their home bases and ships. A few of them remained, attached to Home One’s own fighter wing, but were moved off to the side as the main landing zone was occupied by a certain Corellian YT-1300f/p. The Millennium Falcon sat with many of its armor panels pulled off so repairs could be made to the systems underneath. An assortment of tables piled with starship components and manned by technicians surrounded the ship as the landing area it occupied had been transformed into a makeshift repair bay. Chewbacca was moving from table to table, occasionally roaring at a tech who didn’t seem to respect his status as the ship’s first mate or his ability to keep the ship in working order. An overhead crane was lifting the remains of the main sensor rectenna from the rotational base, but the crews handling that repair job were having trouble freeing it from the bent planetary ring gear assembly. On the overhead gantry, Han Solo’s face seemed to be made of case-hardened durasteel. He slowly turned his head and glared at Lando.

“I know, I know…” Lando said, putting up his hands. “It’s more than a scratch.”

Han opened his mouth to speak, but his words came through gritted teeth. “Lando, do you have any idea how long it took me to get that dish?” He felt like reaching up and throttling his friend. That dish had been an extremely lucky find, and he remembered all the times it saved his bacon as he made smuggling runs to Imperial worlds.

Lando cringed. “Look, I know, old buddy. I’m sorry! I’ll send you some cash to cover the repairs as soon as I’m able to access my funds again.”

Pointing a finger at Lando’s face, Han said, “You’re going to pay me every decicred it costs to get her back in working order! Not a single panel out of place, not even a single broke wire! Understand?”

Laughing and adopting his most charming tone of voice, Lando said, “Don’t worry, you know I’m good for it! I have plenty of money the Empire had no idea I had. You’ll get paid what I owe, I assure you.”

Han sighed and lowered his finger, then went back to leaning on the guardrail surrounding the catwalk. “Y’know, the stabilizer’s been acting funny ever since you brought it back.”

Raising an eyebrow, Lando maintained eye contact with Han as he pointed at the partially disassembled light freighter. “I happen to know that this ship hasn’t left the deck since I touched down except to move it to the repair area.”

“Well, it looks like it’ll act funny if I try to fly her anywhere,” grumbled Han. “I’m still not sure this isn’t part of some scheme to make off with the ship. I know you still love her as much as I do.”

“True, I do love that ship,” said Lando, his face adopting a more wistful expression. “But believe me, there were plenty of opportunities to make off with her. If I wanted to, I could have left any time during the battle, jumped for the Colonies, and never looked back. But I know how much she means to you, Han. She’s your ship, fair and square.”

“Fair and square,” repeated Han.

“Are you two finished acting like children over that junk pile down there yet?” Leia walked down the gantry, a smile on her face as she approached the two men.

Han cocked his lips into a wry grin. “It’s fun to act like children occasionally, sweetheart.”

“I suppose it comes more easily to some than others, flyboy,” she said. Sidling up to Han, she rested her arms on the railing and looked down at the partially disassembled Millennium Falcon. “It really was a lucky break that you made it out of there alive, Lando. Wedge told me what it was like trying to navigate his X-wing into that station, and the Falcon is a tad bigger than a snubfighter. I’m glad you got out of there. It’s just too bad not everyone escaped the station unscathed.”

Han looked at her, puzzled. “What are you talking about, Leia?”

“Spike and Luna,” she replied. “Oh, you don’t know who they are. They’re friends of the creatures that helped us defeat the Empire. They had been captured and held by Palpatine aboard the Death Star, and he’d done terrible things to them. They had been transformed by him into hideous monsters.”

Grimacing, Han said, “I’m glad that bastard’s dead. Nobody should suffer the way he made people suffer. Are those horses gonna be able to turn them back to the way they were?”

Leia looked back at the Falcon and said, “I don’t know. Luke thinks they might be able to. He says that if they can manage to find one of the Emperor’s storehouses, it could hold the information they need to reverse the damage.” She shook her head. “But nobody I know from the government has any idea that the Emperor even had storehouses, much less where they are. You’d think official government channels would have something, but every avenue I’ve tried has yielded zip. No senator, representative, or secretary had any idea what I was talking about.”

With a chuckle and a cocked eyebrow, Lando folded his arms and said, “You shoulda tried the less official channels.”

She leaned past Han to look at Lando and said, “What are you talking about, Lando?”

“Well, you didn’t hear it from me,” he said, lowering his voice and grinning rakishly, “but I may know someone who can help us locate the Emperor’s storehouse. He’s a bit of a rogue-”

This caused Leia to snort.

“-but,” continued Lando as though she hadn’t said a thing, “he is one of the best information brokers in the galaxy. The man is a legend in smuggler circles. I’ll put out some feelers and see if I can get him to allow us an audience with him. If you’ll excuse me, Princess. Han.” With that, he turned around and walked off, his blue and gold cape waving in his wake.

The force field lowered and Princess Celestia walked into the small cell where Anakin still sat. He sighed quietly, wondering what this pony wanted. Wasn’t it enough that he was helping them? He preferred to spend his time meditating on his sins, not debating whether he should be accepting some horse’s opinions on them, or his son’s for that matter. He couldn’t make peace with what he’d done if they kept annoyingly interrupting his thoughts. On the other hand, he couldn’t really object, since prisoners didn’t get to lock their doors to prevent someone from just walking into their presence. He looked up at Celestia and said, “Have you come to deliver news of my imminent execution, Princess?”

“Oh, yes, I was hoping we could get right to the point,” said Celestia. She maintained her placid expression, then said, “I’m sorry, but I’m afraid I’m supposed to drive my horn straight through your stomach in front of a roaring crowd on Coruscant, then before you perish from shock and blood loss, I am to toss you into a pit of ravenous lions.” She put her hoof to her mouth and looked up at the ceiling, seemingly to consider a thought that occurred to her. “I do believe lots will be drawn for your helmet.”

He couldn’t help but allow himself a laugh at this, an action which caused the uncomfortable metal interface sockets all along the interior of his suit to pull painfully. He stifled his laughter, allowing the pain to renew his sense of self-loathing. “I suppose you think I should reconsider my desire to die.”

She sat down next to him and said, “I had hoped to help you realize your own self-worth and reconsider that, yes.”

He sighed again, looking away from her. The presumption of these ponies was beyond him. What could they possibly see in him? He’d killed billions. He murdered the Jedi and their younglings. He’d also seen to punishment carried out on a planetary scale and become the most feared man in the galaxy. Even the Hutts, corpulent and greedy as they were, knew better than to cross him in spite of all their power. So how could they just ignore all that and forgive him, as though he’d done nothing more criminal than stealing a fruit from a stand?

“Do you often engage in chasing after lost causes, or am I just a special case?”

She chuckled at that, then said, “As a monarch who has ruled my country for over a thousand years, I think I’m entitled to chase the occasional rabbit now and again, yes.”

This caught his attention. He turned his head back toward her, then looked her up and down. She didn’t look any older than a few decades at most. Yet, she claims to have ruled her country for over a thousand years? “Well,” he said, shifting focus back to his own situation, “you’re more foolish than I thought.”

“Perhaps,” she said. “But I still think there is more to you than being a mere puppet of Emperor Palpatine.”

He opened his mouth, preparing to disagree with her, but the words died on his tongue before he could object.

“Y’know,” she continued, “I think that my sister would understand your position more than anypony I know.”

He rolled his eyes, not that she could see it under his helmet. “How could anyone possibly understand, much less your sister? Has she destroyed whole planets? Has she crushed the windpipe of her enemy as they begged her for mercy?” He grew more quiet. “Has she failed to save the ones she loved because she trusted a monster to help her?”

Princess Celestia remained pensive for a moment. Her mane flowed next to them, framing her face as she stayed quiet. Then she said, “My younger sister was once co-ruler with me. She was a very good ruler, and gave every consideration to our subjects just like me. And like me, she was entrusted with half of the day/night cycle. I oversaw the raising of the sun every day and managed all of the daytime activities, and she oversaw the raising of the moon and stars, as well as night court.

“I didn’t know what was really happening with her, though. She felt that the ponies of our land didn’t appreciate all her hard work. No matter how hard I tried to get her to understand that her subjects loved her, she didn’t see the truth in my words, and before long she had turned into a wicked mare of darkness: Nightmare Moon.

“One day, she refused to lower the moon, threatening to plunge the whole country into eternal darkness unless it were lowered. But she wasn’t interested in listening to me. I knew that my subjects couldn’t survive unless they had the sun to grow their plants and keep them warm.

“I tried reasoning with her. I pleaded with her to accept her duty as a princess of Equestria. I couldn’t get her to listen to me, however. She transformed before my eyes, and then we had a battle where I was grievously wounded.

“I did the only thing I could. I called upon the magic of the Elements of Harmony, a group of artifacts that gives the wielder incredible power. Using this power, I…”

Her voice trailed off, and he allowed her time to gather the will to finish her thought.

“I banished her to the moon for a thousand years. A thousand years of loneliness for both of us. I had a difficult time ruling the kingdom by myself with all those regrets I felt. But eventually, the stars aided in her escape and she was able to return. This time, Twilight Sparkle and her friends were able to use the elements to restore her to her former self, an action I wish I’d been able to do myself.

“Eventually Luna began to recover. She ended up returning to the form I knew her to have, and she regained her majestic full power. However, I noticed that she still wasn’t happy. She still experiences self-loathing, but she understands now that she is surrounded by ponies that love her and want her to be happy, and it gives her the confidence to begin accepting her wrongdoing and move past it. She knows that what she did to Equestria and to me was horrible, but now she can accept it and embrace her future. Do you find any wisdom in this?”

He turned his head away for a moment, thinking about his own actions. They were unforgivable, but he also knew that he loved his son and wanted him to be happy. Could he allow someone to redeem him, even after all that, and continue living? He looked up at her and said, “You’ve given me a lot to consider during my meditation, Princess Celestia.”

She smiled and then reached up to hug him. “I’m glad we could have a productive talk.” Then she released him and stood with all four legs under her and smiled at him. “Farewell, Anakin Skywalker.” With that, she turned around and walked off into the corridor, activating the forcefield with her magic as she passed it.

Anakin sat back against the cell wall. Princess Luna’s actions certainly paled in comparison to his own. The threat of planetary ecosystem collapse versus the destruction of Alderaan was, by itself, a terribly mismatched pair. Throw in the oceans of Gholondrein-B, the poisoning of the Falleen homeworld, and countless other heinous acts and it might as well have been a simple sibling quarrel.

And yet, he could see her point. To her, it wasn’t about the act. It was about the declaration of sincerity and the love they shared. No matter what Luna did, she was redeemed in the eyes of her sister. Even if the ponies of Equestria hated her, Celestia would always be there for her. He leaned back against the wall and pondered this, the difference between forgiveness and redemption. Something about this thought sparked a realization in him.

“Maybe there is hope for me after all.”

And for the first time in years, Anakin Skywalker smiled.

Scared

Chapter 1

“We had no idea where we were, what would happen to us, or how to get back. But somehow, despite the incredible dangers we faced, we all made it back home.”

-Twilight Sparkle, On Extra-Galactic Voyages, p. 597

Blue light spilled out from Rarity's horn as her magic flowed from the tip to the vortex in the middle of the floor. It cast long shadows all over the library's main atrium, spreading them over Rarity's friends, who stood by and observed the casting. Rarity looked up just long enough to glance at Twilight Sparkle. “Not bad, wouldn't you say, Darling?”

Twilight merely raised an eyebrow at her friend. “Are you sure you know how to do this, Rarity? It's a very difficult spell. Even higher level unicorns have trouble getting the forces balanced.”

“I've practiced this spell for days, Twilight,” said Rarity, a slight scowl crossing her face. “I should think I have the technique down well enough to perform it for royalty.” She looked behind her at the princesses, who were sitting calmly behind her.

Twilight also glanced in their direction. Princess Celestia was her normal, placid self, her lips curled up in a Pony Lisa smile. A teacup hovered in front of her, suspended in a golden aura. Next to her sat Princess Luna. Her eyes were narrowed, her brow set into a frown. Twilight couldn't tell if the princess was feeling put upon, or if she was concerned with the experiment.

“What's so special about this spell, anyway?” asked Rainbow Dash as she hovered above the group.

“I think it's a time-viewing spell,” said Fluttershy. “Rarity said she wanted to show us old fashions so we could see the dresses she plans on making us.”

“Well, Ah don't see what the big deal is,” said Applejack as she leaned against the wooden horsehead statue in the center of the room. “It's not like we're really needed in this.”

Pinkie Pie said, “Aw, c'mon, Applejack! This could be fun! I've never seen the past before!” She bounced in place, her constant movement making Twilight a bit unsettled. What if the frizzy-maned pony distracted Rarity at a critical moment and disrupted the spell? Or worse, knocked one of them into the spell's event horizon? Or maybe she was just being too nervous.

“Well, Ah suppose you're right,” said Applejack. “Ah guess it would be sort of interesting to see what ponies wore in the olden days. Still, Ah thought this wasn't gonna take too long. Ah need to meet Big Mac in fifteen minutes to help him unload his cart.”

“Just a few moments, Darling,” said Rarity, her voice tense in concentration.

Twilight sighed, trying to put her mind off how she felt about this. Rarity could do this. She was certain. Maybe.

The spinning mass of energy in the center of the room coalesced into a tunnel that seemed to be at one a thousand miles long and a millimeter deep. Multicolored hues swirled about the hole that was now torn in reality, and the ponies peered into it. They gasped as they saw one of the street corners of Canterlot, only the style of clothes the ponies on the sidewalks were wearing was something nopony had laid eyes on in a hundred years.

“Isn't it marvelous?” said Rarity as she pumped more energy into the spell to zoom in. “You can see that they once had... uh...” She frowned as the sides of the tunnel started to bend and warp. The distortions were subtle at first, but then they started to build in intensity and escape the vortex. Lightning began to erupt from the edges of the cyclone. The ponies started to scream as tendrils of energy snaked out of the energy whirlpool and ensnared their hooves. Twilight, Celestia and Luna blasted at them with their magic; Rainbow and Fluttershy beat their wings as fast as they could; and Applejack and Pinkie Pie were grasping at anything they could grab hold of with their hooves.

At that moment, Spike walked out of the kitchen with a tray of tea and cookies. “Hey, guys. What's going...” He gasped as he saw Twilight struggling to get out of the magical trap. “Twilight!”

“Spike!” said Twilight as she grunted and groaned against the magic. “Run! Now!”

But she was too late. The magic had already snaked around Spike's legs and jerked him hard enough to make him lose hold of the tray.

Tea and cookies flew into the air, and when they landed all that remained of the carnage was a burned stain on the rug.

A shout of energy echoes through the nether. It awakens the awareness of the entity, unbalancing him. He gathers himself, composes his essence. His awareness sublimes in the nether, searching, trying to discover why the disturbance occurs.

He is at the source of the disturbance. The disturbance is such that he is not able to examine it directly, but he can feel its power. Feel the thrumming energy within it. The sheer magnitude of its breadth.

Time stops at a moment. He wills it so.

Energy from within the disturbance catches his attention. It flows through him, wrapping him in its power. A burst of life that envelops him in a surge of essence.

He feels the other entities.

His curiosity is aroused, and he extends himself into the maelstrom. He can feel their energies pulsing, modulating. Their own essences are projecting throughout the nether, which surprises him. Creatures that come from elsewhere that somehow can connect to the netherworld?

He is particularly surprised by the fact that one of the more diminutive members of the group seems to have an even stronger connection to the nether than the rest. It is most curious.

Most curious indeed.

Deep in the forest, a lump of fur was sprawled on the loam and brush. The pale yellow and pink contrasted sharply with the dark greens and browns, almost as though a weaver had been carrying a basket of bright yarn and had dropped a few bundles. The forest was still, the winds not reaching this deep into the trees. Small animals were gathering, but as the bundle of fur stirred, they darted back into the darkness. Fluttershy's eyes then shot open, and began to dart back and forth.

Her breathing, which was calm and even only a few moments before, suddenly quickened. She stood up and shrank as she looked about her. “Oh no... the... the Everfree Forest.” Her voice came out as a choked squeak.

She put a tentative hoof in front of her, hesitant to take even one step. Unconsciously, she swallowed the lump of fear that was building up in her throat as she took the step. Then another. Each step sent a wave of pain as achiness began to filter through her senses.

Why am I achy? she wondered to herself. She thought back to the moments before she woke up. Blackness. Cold and hot existing together. The distinct feeling that she had been torn apart to the smallest level and scattered across the universe, only to be put back together a few feet off the ground. A shiver passed up and down her back and she shoved the idea out of her mind.

Sighing, Fluttershy started to walk through the trees. She thought about flying to the canopy, but when she looked up into the trees she got the feeling that not just creatures in the boughs, but the trees themselves were staring back at her. Better stay on the ground for now. She looked around, trying to find something familiar.

The forest, however, was not something she was familiar with. Her fear of the Everfree, or any forest for that matter, usually kept her well outside the bounds of the treeline, and any critters she managed to find from the Everfree were usually found outside of that depressing gloom. Fear crept into her mind as she realized that nothing at all was recognizable to her. Even the small creatures she was seeing were completely alien to her.

The fear began to manifest itself into panic. Her pulse quickened, her walking become erratic, and her throat was suddenly very dry. Her eyes darted about, and –

A prick to her backside from a low-hanging tree branch was like an explosion in her head, and she let out a piercing scream. She continued to shriek as her legs pumped faster and faster, carrying her past trees, moss, and detritus. She wasn't thinking, her body operating on pure instinct and adrenaline. Soon her meager energy gave out and she slowed to a crawl and flopped on the moss.

“Oh, get ahold of yourself, Fluttershy,” she muttered. “If you want to get out of this mess alive and see your friends again, then you need to quit being such a scaredy pony.” She sighed and laid on the grass for quite some time, thinking about her friends. A quick pang of anger flared at Rarity. Why did she have to cast that spell and send herself and her friends who knows where? She assumed that she was in the Everfree Forest, but she realized that she could be any number of places in Equestria. Or Equii... She hoped that she wasn't trapped in the Dragon Lands, though she guessed that that awful place didn't have many standing forests, if any.

The anger she felt at Rarity gave way to panic as she considered the possibility that she wasn't just in a new place, but a new time as well. Another shudder rippled down her back.

“Oh dear...” She stood up and started to walk again, her aches and pains worsened because of the moment of panic she'd experienced. “I hope the others have been sent here, too.”

Thoughts of her friends being dumped in this place drifted through her mind. She saw Twilight being chased by some nightmarish creature. Rarity cowering under a bush in the rain and sobbing. Rainbow Dash pinned in some ravine. “No!” she said, shaking her head to clear those horrible fantasies from her mind. “They're okay. They're all okay.” She kept telling herself this as she walked, despite a little voice in her head telling her that they weren't. That they were all hurt or dying. She ignored the voice. Her friends were competent and brave. They'd make it.

A low rumble sounded in the forest from her stomach, and Fluttershy felt a pang of hunger. She hadn't eaten for several hours now. Her eyes darted about as she looked for a sign of something to eat. Suddenly she spied a plant with thick, juicy-looking leaves. It might be safe to eat. She leaned her head down and sniffed it, then took a bite.

She was rewarded for her impropriety by a sting on her tongue that felt like someone had set her tongue on fire. “Bleh!” Quickly she spat out the plant and started to brush her tongue off with her hooves.

“Okay, that one won't do.”

Fluttershy walked through the forest, trying to find something that she could satisfy her growing hunger with. She tried several varieties of plants. Each one was a new torture on her tongue: nettles, bitter leaves, acidic roots... Each was more unpleasant than the last.

She had almost given up hope when she found a rather unassuming plant nestled in a cluster at the base of a tree. She didn't want to try it. Her tongue was protesting any more tortures. But her stomach had also cast a vote, and at the moment her stomach had majority rule. She leaned down and bit the plant.

Immediately a flood of mint and salt washed over her tongue. It was a mundane flavor, but at the moment it might as well have been a royal banquet in the halls of Canterlot Castle. She snapped up each leaf with a moan of pleasure. The meal itself was small, but it still left Fluttershy with a smile on her face.

After licking her lips, Fluttershy started to walk again. She made a mental note to walk in the same direction. She knew that no matter how big the forest was, she had to keep going in the same direction. Eventually she would hit the other side of the forest and then make her way back to Ponyville. She hoped. Her memory of the geography of the Everfree Forest was limited to her cottage and the surrounding area, plus the secluded path to Zecora's hut. But she figured that eventually, if she just followed the edge of the forest, she would encounter some sign of civilization, even if it was a town she wasn't familiar with. Even if this wasn't the Everfree, she'd still find something, surely.

As she walked, she noticed herself getting more and more exhausted. The light from the trees was getting more and more dim, and she couldn't tell whether it was because the canopy was getting more dense or if it was getting closer to nightfall. She suspected the latter.

Sighing, she decided that the best course of action would be to get some rest and then pick up her journey in the morning. She looked around until she saw a relatively flat area of the forest floor, then she laid down on the soft loam and moss covering it. With a sigh, she curled up her body to preserve her warmth, then she drifted off into a rough, nearly dreamless sleep.

Rarity.... no, don't!

Take my hoof, Fluttershy!

Can't... make it!

No!

Fluttershy's eyes shot open as she fought to get her breathing under control. “Oh my... what a nightmare!” she said. “I sure am glad...” Then she got a better look at her surroundings. It was still the early hours of dawn, but she could tell that she was still in the scary forest that she had found herself in yesterday.

She sighed and stood up, a whimper escaping her lips as she felt her stiff, cold muscles protesting every move. Her belly growled, and she began to hunt for more of those leaves she had eaten the previous evening. Slowly she walked through the forest, acutely aware that there were many pairs of eyes looking over her. She hoped none of them were connected to a hungry wolf or bear.

The dark blue-green of the early morning forest was making it difficult to find some breakfast, but she eventually found a small clump of the delicious leaves she had found before. Quickly she snapped them up and ate them, giving a little sigh and a delicate burp as she finished her meal. Then she spread her wings and took off from the forest floor.

As she rose toward the canopy, she could feel her anxiety building up at the thought of the creatures that lived in the boughs of the trees. They might be friendly. But then again, they may not be. Her mind's eye painted a picture of a massive black hand reaching out and grasping her around the barrel to deliver her to a gaping maw full of razor sharp teeth. She let out a little scream at that, then for a moment fought to regain composure. As soon as she banished the negative thoughts from her head, she resumed flying through the upper tree branches, and soon burst through the canopy.

She gasped.

There was nothing below her but an unending forest.

Finding a Friend

Chapter 6

“The feelings of loneliness that we all experienced crossing the galaxy were real, much more real than anything we’ve ever encountered throughout our travels here in Equestria. The galaxy was several hundred thousand lightyears across, and was home to twelve million inhabited star systems and several trillion sapient beings. The sheer size of everything around us was enough to make us all feel sheer terror, and the fact that there were no ponies around and very little hope left for us just made everything that much harder to endure. But my friends were there beside me, and having a friend near you can make even the most hopeless of situations feel that much more bearable.”

-Twilight Sparkle, On Extra-Galactic Voyages, p. 306

Fluttershy was so panicked that she almost dropped like a stone. This wasn’t the Everfree Forest. This wasn’t even Equestria! She hoped her memory of what she learned in geography was wrong, that the Everfree wasn’t the biggest forest in the world. But she had seen a world map too many times to think otherwise.

She glided back down to earth and landed gently beside a tree. As she knelt down on the soft moss growing beneath it, a cruel realization suddenly cemented itself within her skull.

This isn’t her world. This isn’t home.

Fluttershy began to sob uncontrollably. As she laid and wept, the fearful thoughts that she had been working to keep away started flooding into her mind with a vengeance: how she was now without friends, how her friends might be hurt or drying, and how there wasn’t a thing she could do about it. It just made her cry harder.

She continued to sob until she ran out of energy and was reduced to uncontrollable spasms. After a while, she just lay beneath the tree and stared blankly into space.

Soon Fluttershy got her wits back. It wasn’t easy. It was especially difficult to fight her mind’s insistence that there was no hope. But she reasoned that as long as her friends were trapped here with her and at least one of them escaped harm, she would be okay. So she set about getting some breakfast.

She hovered a few feet in the air, looking in all directions for more of that wonderful green plant she’d eaten yesterday. She really didn’t want to have to taste-test everything in the forest, but as long as she could find that plant she had eaten earlier, she knew she’d make it.

Suddenly Fluttershy was hit on the head by a falling branch. Well, more of a twig really. Regardless, her gut instinct took over and she gasped, then flopped over on her back, legs sticking straight up into the air. She mentally chastised herself, then took note of what had caused the stick to fall in the first place. Above her, hanging from a tree branch, was one of the strangest creatures she’d ever seen. It had the body of a sloth, but the head of a goat, and what made it even more interesting was that this creature appeared permanently twisted out of shape, so that the head remained level with the ground as the arms and legs, pointing straight up and hanging on the branch above, propelled it at a snail’s pace in the ever-present quest to eat leaves. Fluttershy was astounded; this definitely confirmed that she was not in Equestria anymore. She watched the creatures for a few minutes, then called up to them. They lazily turned their heads and looked down at her.

“Um, excuse me, sirs... would you be so kind, y’know, if it isn’t too much trouble, to please point me in the direction of some sort of civilization? You see, I’m alone here and I’d very much like to find my friends, and if you could help me I would be most appreciative.”

The sloth-goats continued to stare at her for a few seconds, then went back to ambling along the branches toward whatever goal had entered their minds that morning. Fluttershy was perplexed. Had the trip through the portal somehow stripped her of her special talent? She looked at her flank; it still bore the trio of pink butterflies, so that was a good sign. However, it also meant that, despite her way with animals, they most likely weren’t able to understand her. Since she suspected every other creature on this world was as alien as the sloth-goats, she would be equally unlikely to understand them should they attempt to communicate with her.

The thought depressed her, but then she decided to lighten her spirits and try to find new and fascinating fauna. The sloth-goats were, admittedly, a curious and most interesting sight, and she wondered what other marvels this world had in store for her.

She wasn’t disappointed. Soon she encountered a beautiful red bird with a large horn on its head which seemed capable of accurately imitating anything it heard. She made a mental note to ask Twilight about transporting a few of these back home so she could add them to her bird choir. They might even be able to learn a few tunes, if she worked with them and learned their language.

As she continued, she saw a cute little furry creature about the size of a squirrel, with big bulbous eyes, a snout-like proboscis, and a pair of skin flaps which served as a set of wings. The little creature was unafraid of Fluttershy, and approached her, cooing and looking at her expectantly. Fluttershy wondered if perhaps this creature was begging for food. If it was, it meant that it was used to ponies, and that there had to be some sort of civilization here! At long last, she was beginning to get her spirits up with genuine hope for finding a way home. Perhaps the people on this world practiced magic, or even knew of a way to teleport to any desired location! No, Fluttershy, she mentally scolded herself. Best not get ahead of ourselves here. All this means is that there is probably a civilization somewhere on this world. It doesn’t mean they’d be able to help, or even that they know magic at all. But they must be friendly, or else this animal wouldn’t be so gregarious. She gently patted the little creature on the head, watched as it scampered off, and then continued on her way.

Perhaps this world isn’t such a bad place, she thought to herself. The idea brought a smile to her lips and a spring to her step. She was just about to allow herself the luxury of humming a tune when she noticed something amiss.

The animals in her immediate vicinity were no longer making any sounds. This chilled her, for she knew it could mean only one thing.

They sensed danger approaching.

It wasn’t just Fluttershy’s presence; she had been walking slowly in the forest up till now and very few animals even took notice of her, save for the little rodent-like creature. She froze, her ears scanning for any sounds that might be the footfalls of a predator. Suddenly she heard it: an ear-splitting roar. She turned around with fearful eyes to see a gigantic creature at least half as tall as the trees themselves, with a monkey-like face, pointed ears, and a black furred-body standing on two long legs. It was carrying a club which might once have been an enormous tree trunk. It had seen her, and Fluttershy wasn’t sure if it was angry because she had interrupted its hunt, or if it just wanted her to run. She was off and running before the creature had taken a single step.

She galloped as though her life depended on it. The giant crashed through the forest after her, picking its way past trees as though they were no more than inconvenient grass stalks. At least they provided a modicum of impedance to the creature, though that did little to calm Fluttershy’s pounding heart.

She must have run for a mile before she felt her legs and lungs burning, but the giant continued unabated. Fluttershy knew if she didn’t do something it would eventually overtake and capture her. She looked around. They were near a mountainous area, which suggested perhaps that there were caves she could hide in until the monster got tired of chasing her. She headed straight toward them, not pausing to rest, for she could hear the monster’s footsteps getting louder with each passing stomp. She looked up the mountainside and tried to spy a cave, but she couldn’t find one. Panicking, and she ran up the side of the mountain, her burning muscles flaring hotter in protest at the new incline. Eventually she found a cave. It was small, embedded in the rock face above her about at the giant’s eye level, but if she got far enough inside she might be able to escape the giant’s reach.

She slipped on some loose rocks as she took to the air. Diving into the depths of the cave and gliding in on her wings, she hit the side of the tunnel and bounced across the floor, grinding to a stop about fifty feet from the cavern’s entrance. She saw an enormous eyeball peer into the cave and hoped she was far back enough that the giant wouldn’t be able to see her for the sunlight reflecting off the surrounding rock. But the creature was smart. It reached a giant hand into the cave, feeling around for the pony morsel it wanted to consume.

“Go away!” she shouted as the fingers probed deeper and deeper into the cave. The giant didn’t even grunt in response. As the hand neared her, she realized she would have to give it a solid buck to the knuckles to get the message across.

As the hand got closer, she reared up, did a brisk turn, and bucked as hard as she’d ever bucked in her life. As her hooves made contact with the creature’s outstretched hand, she heard an ear-piercing bellow from the entrance, magnified by the cave’s small dimensions. She covered her ears with her hooves and turned around to see what kind of damage she had inflicted.

It was obvious why the creature was bellowing so loudly. Her buck had ripped one of its nails clean off so that it was hanging by a grisly hunk of flesh, and the end of the finger next to it was smashed hard enough by her hoof that the bone had pierced the tip. The creature continued to scream in agony for a minute or two, then gingerly retracted his hand from the small cave, blood trailing from the wounds she had inflicted.

Fluttershy was relieved, but also ashamed. She merely wanted to dissuade the creature, not hurt it. She hated the idea that she could be pushed to such lengths, but then the awful burning sensation in her legs and throat reminded her that moments ago she had been inches from death. Even Grizzly Bears back home respected her enough that they didn’t attempt to eat her alive. Still, she limped toward the entrance of the cave and called after the creature, “I’m sorry for hurting your fingers like that, but you should know better than to try and eat a helpless pony!” The creature’s only response was to turn around, swing the club over his head with his good hand, and bellow so loudly her mane was straightened.

Well, at least she apologized.

Fluttershy sighed, then limped back to the interior of the cave. It might not be a house, but it was protection enough. Ponies in prehistoric times were thought to live in caves for protection, so perhaps it would be just as good as her little cottage.

Looking back toward the entrance, she sighed again, more out of self-loathing at what she’d done to a creature just trying to eat than out of a longing for home. Then she collapsed, exhausted from what she’d just been through.

Fluttershy didn’t know how long she’d been out, but it was nearly noon when the giant had found her. But when she looked out of the entrance to the cave, she saw the navy blue of dusk. She knew the chase had taken a lot out of her, but she had no idea it would be this late when she woke up. When she stood, a new sensation flooded her brain: pain. Her legs were on fire, still tender and sore from having run from the creature. She looked at her hooves. They were badly chipped. This was not good; if she were caught like this, or worse, if the creature decided to come back and get revenge for its wounded fingers, Fluttershy would be unable to defend herself without tearing her leg muscles apart. Mentally she cursed her fear of heights. Because she had committed herself to being earthbound, her first instinct had been to run instead of take off, where she might have evaded the creature’s claws. If Rainbow Dash had seen her running like that, she would first have laughed her flank off, then would have probably flown down and snarkily reminded her that she had a pair of wings. She rolled her eyes, annoyed at the thought, but annoyance quickly reverted back to pain. Fluttershy needed to relieve it soon, or else she’d never be able to get to sleep. She might be able to find some herbs to reduce the swelling, if she could find ones with the right characteristics, but her legs hurt too much and the sky was far too dark to go traipsing through the forest on a hunt for proper vegetation. Her only choice was to find a river or pond to cool off in and, if nothing else, rid her legs of the terrible achiness.

She walked gingerly, taking each step toward the entrance with care so she wouldn’t do any further harm to her limbs. She mentally cursed; this hurt like a son of a buck! She’d felt pain before; nopony who’d ever taken a fall in Cloudsdale escaped a few bruises. Her adventures with Twilight and her friends had given her a remarkable array of cuts and scrapes. This however was the first time she’d truly exerted herself past her tolerance for pain. She was no athlete; she considered her job plenty of exercise on its own. She’d even participated in the Running of the Leaves a few times, but that was completely different: she hadn’t had to run at full tilt to avoid a horrible monster.

She took great pains to ensure that her hooves didn’t hit any slight outcroppings of rock. She had to hurry. First aid for swollen muscles was to soak them in cold water, and she had passed out for Celestia knows how long, so it was imperative that she get into some cold water as soon as possible. Of course, first aid for swollen muscles was also to apply compression, but as she had no bandages she would have to make do with merely soaking.

As Fluttershy reached the edge of the cave’s entrance, she realized she had a new problem: how to get from the mouth of the cave to the base of the mountain so she could search for water. It was relatively easy going while she was on the mostly smooth, level floor of the cave, but the ground outside was at a steep, almost vertical incline and hardly smooth. She could just use her wings and glide down, but there was not enough room in this tiny cavern to spread them fully. When she had glided in, she was already at full speed, so it didn’t matter if her wings were fully extended. She couldn’t very well hop down the mountain, either. She realized that she’d have to just jump out and hope she could get her wings deployed before she crashed into the side of the mountain.

She took a step back, breathed deeply, then did a light hop out of the cavern’s mouth into the air. As she flew out she flexed her wing muscles until they were fully extended, catching the wind as she did and using her momentum to gain a little altitude. She breathed a sigh of relief that she hadn’t caught her hoof on the edge of the mountain. When she stabilized, she realized that she’d never be able to search for water on the ground with her legs in their current condition. Reluctantly, she began to climb so she could scout from the air.

As she glided, she looked around for some sign of water. It wasn’t easy; this entire world seemed to be covered in trees as far as the eye could see. But eventually she spied a small lake about a mile from the cave.

She swooped in and landed gracefully on the water, letting its cool, refreshing temperature soak into her body and soothe her aching muscles. She didn’t bother to keep watch; she just let the coolness numb her to the pain and let her mind drift into nirvana.

Fluttershy soaked in the lake for a solid hour, snacking every once in a while from some beautiful fruit growing on what could have passed for lily pads back in Equestria, save for the bright red pome resembling an apple that grew in the center of the pads’ flowers, but by that time the sun had already set and she knew if she didn’t fly back to the cave now she wouldn’t be able to find it until morning. She started ambling out of the lake, giving her body a light shake when she set hoof on the beach. Taking her bearings before takeoff, she spread her wings and started pumping them, slowly gaining altitude. She could have climbed faster, but she was genuinely exhausted, and that relaxing bath had told her body it was time to rest. Nevertheless, she needed to get airborne and find that cave before the twilight disappeared. Luckily, the mountain chain was hard to miss, and she eventually found her way back to the entrance to her new abode.

As the last vestiges of light faded to be replaced by a field of stars, Fluttershy took notice of a peculiar sight: the lack of any sort of moon. Back home if it was the correct time of the month, the full moon could provide enough light to read by, especially now that Nightmare Moon was gone and the dark spots that had made up the Mare in the Moon had vanished to be replaced by white regolith. But here, when darkness fell, everything was pitch black. It was a little depressing, but the stars at least were a familiar sight.

As she lay down for the night, she imagined how nice it would be to finally get home and see Angel Bunny and to tend to her animals, and as she drifted off to sleep, she imagined herself reuniting with her friends once more.

For having slept away nearly the entire previous day, Fluttershy was still exhausted enough to keep from waking until dawn. When she did finally wake, she decided to see just how far back the cavern extended. If there was another attack by some wild beast, it would be best to know if there were any hiding places she could make use of.

A crack in the ceiling provided marginal light for at least fifty feet, so Fluttershy was able to see all the way back to where the cave shrank into a small crack even a mouse would be hard-pressed to fit into.

As she made her way to the entrance, all the while nursing her still-sore legs, she noticed a peculiar object resting against the wall in the back that she hadn’t noticed before, perhaps for lack of light. It was about as tall as she was and made of metal. As she got closer and stood in front of it, she could see it was a cylinder with multiple hatches and vents. It had two stubby legs on either side and a once-silver dome on top which played host to several more hatches and various bits and baubles that she couldn’t imagine the purpose of.

It was obvious this thing was a machine, but she had no idea what its function was apart from taking up space. She supposed it would make a good barricade if it came to that. With that thought she decided to move it so that it would provide a better hiding place, at least until her body healed enough to take an extended flight; there was no way she was chancing being chased by another of those hideous giants.

As she moved the thing, she heard a peculiar whirring noise inside it, followed by some beeping. It was utterly unlike anything she had ever heard before, even on phonographs. As the whirring ramped up, several of the dark panels on the dome began to illuminate. Fluttershy was becoming terrified; the only time something ever lit up on its own back in Equestria, it was magical in nature, and foreign magic was not to be trusted.

She scampered out of the cave and flew off to where she could watch the cavern from a safe vantage point at the top of a nearby tree. So far the cave was the only shelter she knew, and she didn’t want to give it up just yet, but she had to make sure that... whatever it was, wouldn’t explode or cause harm to anypony.

So she waited.

After several minutes had passed, she was wondering if it had simply jammed. Suddenly she heard a mournful whistle, like a bird who was wounded or saddened by the loss of its partner. This simple sound touched her heart. She whistled in a similar tone, and the voice whistled back to her, accompanied by a tone that she swore sounded like it was asking a question.

Slowly, cautiously, Fluttershy ascended back up the mountain toward the sound, answering each whistle with a tune of her own, and then came to the realization that the sound was coming from her cave.

She entered the tiny cavern to discover the machine had rotated its dome so that a boxlike projection on top was facing her. Since it had nothing else which might be described as such, she surmised that it was what the machine used for an eye.

But this didn’t make any sense. Machines, even magic-powered ones, weren’t self-automating, except for a machine which was under a “come-to-life” spell, and Fluttershy couldn’t have conjured one even if she wanted to or knew how, as she lacked a horn to focus the magic. That left only one conclusion she could think of: that this thing, whatever it was, was alive in some way.

Perhaps this is what the inhabitants of this world looked like. Of course, Fluttershy had never seen an animal or pony who was made of metal, but in the grand scale of the universe she supposed anything was possible.

She slowly approached the machine. As she did, it began whistling excitedly, in what was a distinctly happy tone. Fluttershy made her way to what she supposed was the front of the machine and sat down. All the while that box-eye thing tracked her, confirming what she suspected.

She sat for a minute or two, wondering how one would address a living machine. Finally, she settled for a simple, “Hello, there.”

The machine beeped.

She continued, “Are you alone here?”

The machine chirped and whirred. Fluttershy wasn’t sure what it meant, but she guessed it meant yes judging by the forlorn tone of the whir.

“I’m Fluttershy. What’s your name?”

The little machine beeped a string of tones, but Fluttershy wasn’t sure how to interpret them.

“I’m sorry, I really can’t understand you. Is there some way you could write down your name for me?”

The machine beeped a confirmatory tone, then a device on its head lit up, projecting an image in midair. Fluttershy was shocked and jumped back a bit, but didn’t leave. So it is a magical device! But who charmed it? As she watched, the machine spelled out a string of unfamiliar letters.

Fluttershy was more confused now than before she’d asked. This language was far from Ponish and made no sense at all. The letters were simply alien to her.

“I’m sorry, but I really don’t know what that means.”

The little machine beeped an interrogative.

“Hmm? Oh, I suppose you’re asking me if I’m from around here?”

The machine chirped.

“Well, the answer is no, I’m from nowhere near here.”

The machine, knowing that projected words and its natural speaking voice would be useless, formulated its next question by projecting the image of a star system, then another and another, in rapid fire succession, overlaying it with the image of a human shrugging his shoulders.

Fluttershy had no idea what message or question the machine was trying to convey. The strange figure was the most confusing bit, as she had no idea what it could be.

The machine then stopped the hologram for a second, seeming to be doing some internal calculations, then wiped out the human and replaced it with an image of Fluttershy shrugging her shoulders.

Now she understood. It was asking her which one of these was her system. But as she had never seen her planet from space, she could no more tell the machine which was her world any more than she could explain how unicorns could do magic.

“I’m sorry sir, but I don’t know which of these is my home. I do know it’s far away from here, but other than that I can’t be sure.”

The machine’s next projection was of another machine Fluttershy didn’t recognize, which didn’t surprise her. Then another, and another. Each of these machines had a small area with a window and the figure of a pegasus pony with its hooves on a mechanism in front of it. She wasn’t sure what it was at first, but then decided it was the machine asking her if she had come on one of these... well, she had no idea what to call them, but they seemed big enough that “ship” would be an appropriate word to describe them.

“Oh, are you asking me if I came on a ship? I’m sorry, but no. You see, my unicorn friend Twilight-“

The machine stopped her with an interrogative whine.

“What? Oh. You do know what a unicorn is, don’t you?”

The machine made a raspberry sound.

“Oh, I’m sorry. Unicorns look like me, except instead of wings they have a horn on top of their head.”

The machine projected an image of Fluttershy, then removed her wings (something Fluttershy found oddly unsettling to see) and plopped a curved horn like that of a Rhinoceros on the crown of her head, between her ears.

“No, I’m sorry, but you have it wrong. You see, the horn is straight, about this long -” she held out her front hooves about six inches apart, “- and it sits right above the eyes.”

The machine beeped in understanding, erased the curved horn and replaced it with a straight one, placing this one about an inch above virtual-Fluttershy’s eye line.

Fluttershy was excited. “Yes! That’s a unicorn! Now, about how we got here. Twilight gave my friend Rarity, another unicorn, a spell she could perform to see into the past, but then-“

The machine again interrupted her with some beeps and whistles.

“Please sir, let me explain, and I promise I’ll answer all of your questions, okay?”

The domed machine made a quiet buzz.

“Thank you. Now as I was saying, Twilight gave my friend Rarity a spell to see into the past, but then when it was cast we all got sucked into a vortex that pulled us into this universe. I have no idea where my friends are or whether they’re... whether they’re still...” Fluttershy trailed off as a wave of emotion overwhelmed her.

The machine made a mournful sound, as though to comfort her, then it opened up a metal panel, extended a clawed hand, and began gently stroking her mane. She looked at the little machine, wondering whether it could truly be called that after displaying such empathetic emotion.

“Thank you.”

After talking with the machine for an hour and getting a few false starts, Fluttershy was beginning to understand the scope of what had happened. As it turned out, she was not only far away from her world, but she and her friends had been thrown across space to another galaxy entirely. This was sorrowful news, but at least it meant that she knew where she was, and perhaps if she could get this information to Twilight Sparkle, they could use it to teleport home.

Before long however, she was starting to get mentally exhausted. Talking to this machine, while pleasant enough when she could interpret its beeps and whistles, was still a chore. Suddenly, she had an idea.

“I was wondering something. Would you like me to teach you the Ponish alphabet so you can ask me questions and answer mine?”

The machine chirped excitedly.

“Oh good! Now let me see, what can I use to write with?”

Fluttershy looked around and found a small rock that fit perfectly between her teeth. She tested it out and found that it produced a nice white line when scraped against the side of the cave, then she turned around to face the wall opposite the machine, made two angled, downward strokes, then a single horizontal stroke in the middle.

“Okay, here’s the A, which can stand for an ‘ay’ or ‘ah’ sound.”

After going through all twenty-six letters and ten numerals, she felt confident enough in her teaching job to ask the machine to try it out. It beeped and whirred, then projected a text message in the air.

“Is this satisfactory?”

Fluttershy was ecstatic. “Oh yes! Yes, indeed! Now then, before we go any further, can you please tell me your name?”

“My official designation is R2-D8-113-B-26, but you may call me anything you like.”

Fluttershy looked at the designation for a moment. It made absolutely no sense, but then she read it aloud. “How about I just call you Artoo Dee-ate? Would that be alright?”

The machine chirped, then displayed the text, “Yes, that would be satisfactory. Most droid owners prefer to call their property by a shortened variant of their full designation to make it easier to verbally address them.”

Fluttershy did a double-take over the word ‘droid.’ “Is that what they called living machines here?” she asked.

The droid ‘looked’ at her with its eye, paused for a bit, then started displaying a new line of text. “I am not alive. I was activated in the Industrial Automaton factory at 03:27 hours on-“

“No! You must be alive! You stroked my mane!” Fluttershy couldn’t see how this machine could exhibit pony characteristics and not consider itself alive!

It stopped the line of text, erased it, and began again. “But I possess no flesh. My mind is merely a set of carefully written programs designed to mimic human behavior in order that I may serve my masters more efficiently.”

This both shocked and saddened Fluttershy. Where she came from, anypony who was capable of not only carrying on a conversation, but actually empathizing with another pony, would be considered perfectly normal, and certainly alive.

“Well I don’t care how you define it. If you can talk to me like this, if you can stroke my mane and make me feel better, then you’re alive, no matter what you say.”

R2-D8 made a contemplative tone, but generated no more holographic texts. Fluttershy then began to go over that sentence again in her mind more carefully this time. Something had stuck out at her.

“Wait a minute . . .”

She looked at the droid with a suspicious eye.

“Human?”

Detour to Nar Shaddaa

Chapter 16

“I mentioned in chapter 12 that many planets my friends and I ended up on had glistening appearances thanks to the tall, shimmering buildings, glistening from the cleaning fluids that were applied daily, the holographic advertisements projecting into the air, and the hundreds of thousands of windows on them. Nar Shaddaa looked exactly like one of those planets from the air, but up close the lights and glistening were just pyrite and dirty glass, and through the glass you could see the worms crawling through it.”

-Twilight Sparkle, On Extra-Galactic Voyages, p. 525

Blue swirls of energy flew past the ship as it coursed through the ethereal plane of hyperspace. Compared to the cacophony outside the ship, the interior seemed almost placid to Twilight. She paced in the enormous main cargo hold, alone with her thoughts.

The events on Lahopa II were a stark reminder of how dangerous the Empire was. Despite the tension they had felt on the Maximum Thrust, that ship had seemed like a welcome abode, a place of security.

Now even that had been taken from her.

The interior of this ship, whatever its name, was as cold as the space surrounding them. Its green-accented corridors were empty and barren, and the closeness they had all felt on the Thrust’s deck stood in sharp contrast to the way they felt on board this freighter. The dim spotlights which peppered the floor contrasted with the blackness that surrounded her, a blackness which mirrored her disposition.

But she wasn’t going to give up hope. Not yet.

Her status as the group leader, despite the presence of Celestia herself, meant she must keep her head on straight. Cadance had been giving her lessons on controlling stress before she was hurled across time and space. Though they had been few in number, Twilight had enough information to figure out how to calm herself, at least when things were still. And now that they had all the time in the world, she decided to work on them as she paced the deck.

She was practicing her breathing techniques when Hondo walked up behind her, his arms crossed but with a calm demeanor about him.

“Yes, Hondo?”

He hesitated a bit, startled that she knew he was there. “Are you some kind of Jedi?” he asked, squinting his eyes ever so slightly.

The lavender unicorn turned and looked at him. “Sensitive ears.”

“Ah.”

She stopped walking, giving him a chance to get whatever was on his chest out in the open, and he obliged. “You’re a very interesting species, little pony. No matter what happens you always seem to have an optimistic attitude.”

She shook her head sadly. “Why does everypony assume that about us?”

When Hondo didn’t seem to grasp what she meant, she looked up at him with a sad expression. “We’re not perfect, Hondo. We have disappointment, sadness, and even anger, just like anypony else. We’re just as real as you, and it would be a mistake to assume we’re constantly happy and satisfied.”

He blew air impatiently through his lips. “So you aren’t perfect. Hmph. I didn’t mean that. I meant that you always keep yourselves from going into depression, despite all the things that happen around you. That intrigues me, little pony.”

She cocked an eyebrow.

“You see, many so-called humanoid species would have simply given up and turned themselves in to the Empire, or else sought out a criminal life. But you have that rare combination of boldness and tenacity that keeps you going, no matter what. That surely counts for something.”

Twilight smiled a little at what he said.

“But,” he continued. “I wouldn’t be opposed to you joining my little empire. Y’know, whenever you get done saving the princess.”

She rolled her eyes. “I’ll keep that in mind, Hondo.”

He shrugged his shoulders a bit, then turned and walked out of the cargo hold. As the pirate closed the door behind him, another one opened up on the other side of the hold. She turned to look as Junas ambled over toward her.

“Hey, Twilight.”

“Hey.”

She sat down on the deck next to a large cargo crate as Junas crossed the distance between them. As he sat down next to her, she looked at him uncertainly. “Junas? What do you know about Hondo Ohnaka?”

“You mean besides the obvious, that he’s a pirate? Not much. I do know that he’s probably not going to turn you over to the Empire. He and the Imperials are not exactly on the best of terms, so I’m pretty sure he’ll keep his word to deliver us to Bestine.”

Twilight squinted suspiciously at Junas. “Pretty sure?”

“Yeah. I don’t fully trust him, and neither should you.”

“I don’t. But I have to put up with him until we get to Bestine.”

Junas nodded. He and Twilight sat in silence for a few minutes, then the human rose to his feet and walked back toward the turbolift. “I’m gonna go up to the common room. The others have made up a pretty good meal. Come up whenever you feel like it, and remember that you owe Hondo a magic show.”

The young student nodded in acknowledgement, swallowing the bile kicked up when she heard the phrase magic show, and then watched as he crossed the dozen meters to the turbolift doors and entered the chamber within. As the door closed and she heard the machinery take him to the upper level of the ship, she went back to her earlier pacing and breathing exercises.

Suddenly she stopped, then trotted over to the turbolift, a grin playing on her lips. She could think of no better way to relieve stress than to share a meal with her friends.

Celestia paced in a circle around a coffee table in the starboard accessory arm of the ship, which in this particular model had been adapted into a lounge area. The large spider-web window dominated the far wall, illuminating the darkened interior with a deep blue glow from the hyperspace outside the ship. The great sun goddess glanced every once in a while at the swirling display outside the window as she waited for Hondo and Junas to meet her in order to discuss the three-day journey to Bestine.

Three days.

Three days until she was in a position to rescue her sister from the Empire.

She was elated at the thought that in mere days she would be able to finally have a way to find Luna and deliver her from her Imperial captors. Celestia knew that those humans would be ruthless in their pursuit of knowledge of their species, and she could feel even across the tens of thousands of lightyears separating them the trepidation and fear that coursed through her sister. Even without the empathic nature between them, the ruler had experienced the torturous interrogation techniques that the Empire used. Such incredibly invasive and painful lessons in the evil side of humanity had not been lost on her, and she still bore the scars, both physical and mental, of the ordeal in the Imperial torture chamber.

Celestia had always been compassionate and kind, while at the same time wielding great strength and a stalwart nature. But the Imperials had seen her compassion as weakness, her kindness as exploitable. They had pried past her mental shields and probed into the depths of her mind which, though it may be everlasting and of a higher plane than a mere mortal, was nonetheless vulnerable. They had used their terrible knowledge of psychology in an attempt to destroy her resolve.

And they had almost succeeded.

If it hadn’t been for Twilight and her friends freeing her from her prison, she would likely have succumbed to the torture. She shuddered as she thought of it, for she knew that Luna would likely be experiencing something similar from her captors. They didn’t value life the same way ponies did. They were cold, calculating and cruel, and were willing to stoop to any level to get what they wanted.

Humans built Star Destroyers to subjugate worlds, trained Stormtroopers to control populations by force, and constructed torture droids to break beings and force them to reveal all they knew and more.

So she knew they would likely attempt to break Luna in order to discover whatever secrets she knew about ponies and their nature, especially in the area of magic. Celestia stopped, then turned and stared angrily out the window.

“Curse you, Emperor Palpatine.”

As she voiced her vitriolic thoughts, the curved door to the chamber opened to admit Hondo and Junas. “Talking to yourself, princess?” asked the mangy pirate.

She said nothing.

“Well,” he continued, “let’s get down to business, shall we?”

He and Junas took seats on opposite sides of the coffee table as Celestia sat down at the end between them. “Now,” said Hondo, “as I’m sure you’re aware . . .”

Celestia barely paid attention to him as she thought about Luna and whatever horrible tortures the Empire was unleashing on her. I will find you, Palpatine, she thought to herself. I will find you . . . and I will end you.

When the door to the turbolift opened up and Twilight trotted into the common room, she stopped before she got very far. The sight that greeted her eyes was one of happiness. She looked at the relatively sumptuous meal set before them, noting how rich this meal was compared to the ration packs she’d consumed onboard the Maximum Thrust. She then set her eyes upon the ponies surrounding the table. Applejack was playfully annoying Rarity by throwing bits of food at her. Rainbow Dash was discussing something with Pinkie Pie, likely a prank. Fluttershy was smiling contentedly as she peacefully ate her meal, with Spike sitting next to her, eating a pile of vegetables. The warmth of the gathering was tangible, and Twilight’s spirits were lifted by it.

The lavender unicorn walked calmly toward the table, then sat down and levitated a plate toward her. She was magically filling her plate with an exotic-looking vegetable when Celestia exited the turbolift door, followed by Junas and Hondo. The student watched as her teacher strode into the room and sat down, and could tell that the sight of all her subjects sitting and eating happily was just as heart-warming to her as it was to Twilight.

The young student looked on as her ruler, the human scout and the pirate all sat down to eat with them. She noticed that Rainbow Dash eyed the Weequay with suspicion, and she couldn’t say that she blamed her. The pirate had been shifty ever since they met him, and she got the distinct feeling that he was hiding something from them.

But she couldn’t figure out what.

Twilight knew better than to just call him out on a hunch. Her relatively recent experience with the Changeling queen Chrysalis had taught her the value of collecting evidence before making drastic accusations. But there was no evidence to collect, at least none that she could find. She couldn’t use a computer to an extent that she could figure out whether he had been communicating with the Empire, nor was she experienced enough with their written language to know whether the crates in the cargo hold were Imperial in origin (though she strongly suspected Junas would know whether they were).

Despite the feeling in her gut, she found it hard to concentrate on her suspicions because of the wonderful atmosphere created by the meal she was enjoying. Her friends having fun for the first time in what seemed like an eon was giving her waves of warmth and happiness, and it was intoxicating. The best part of it all was Celestia was actually smiling, a sight that caused Twilight to sprout a grin of her own. Her ruler was still talking with Hondo, but the small smile on her lips, perhaps at the thought of being so close to rescuing her sister, refused to leave her mouth.

As Twilight was piling on a second helping of vegetables, Hondo stood up and held up his hands to get the ponies’ attention. “Well, my little ponies, I hope you have been enjoying yourselves. Ships don’t normally stock such fine foodstuffs as this, but being the leader of a pirate gang does have certain advantages. And now . . .” He turned and looked at Twilight with an expectant grin. “We shall be entertained by our very own Twilight Sparkle.”

She grimaced, but stood up and looked intently at Hondo. “I hope you realize that I’m only doing this because we need passage.”

He nodded at her impatiently, then gestured for her to begin.

The next half hour was filled with Twilight going through her repertoire of tricks and skills. She teleported around the room, caused the fruit in a bowl on the table to perform a dance, floated the water in their glasses above their heads, and performed many other tricks for the amusement of Hondo. The Weequay clapped and hollered with great gusto, enjoying every minute of the performance.

After she banished the group of animals that she’d conjured from thin air, she blew her horn to cool it down and wiped the sweat from her eyes. She then looked at Hondo expectantly.

Before a moment had scarcely passed the pirate was laughing and applauding loudly. “Bravo!” he shouted. “Bravo, little Twilight!” The unicorn took a small bow, a bit proud of herself despite the alien who was complimenting her.

Suddenly he stood up. “I propose a toast: to your continued health and rule, Princess Celestia.”

They all raised a goblet and chanted their approval, then downed the sweet and spicy liquid within. Junas in particular relished his, letting it pool on his tongue and then slide down his throat with a satisfied sigh. “I’d almost forgotten what a good Corellian Ale tasted like.”

Applejack slammed her own mug on the table with a satisfied belch. “Man! That there’s better than fresh-squeezed apple cider!” Suddenly getting a concerned expression, she leaned over to Rainbow Dash. “Don’t tell Granny Smith Ah said that.”

The rest of the meal went very well. Twilight finished her dessert consisting of some kind of exotic ice cream, but she felt something was amiss.

Maybe it was her dealings with humans and humanoids in this galaxy, but she had a bad feeling about her seemingly gracious host. As the server droids cleared the table and the mares and humanoids milled about the ship, she sought out Junas, wondering if he felt the same way. She eventually ran into him in the ship’s cargo hold and expressed her concern.

“Yeah, I know what you mean,” he said as she finished. “He set out a bunch of quality food, and that’s a real luxury on a starship, but he barely knows us. He may be trying to make a good impression, or . . .”

Twilight swallowed hard. “Or he might be trying to lure us into a false sense of security.”

The human nodded in agreement as Hondo walked over to them jovially. “Well, my friends, did you enjoy your meal?”

“It was very good, Hondo,” replied Junas. “I really appreciate the gesture. It’s not often a Rebel scout gets the royal treatment.”

Grinning with satisfaction, the Weequay turned to Twilight. “And you, little pony?”

Twilight nodded politely. “It was delicious.”

Hondo bowed. “I’m glad you were as satisfied with my humble gesture as I was with your stunning performance, my dear. If you will excuse me, I must tend to the bridge.”

As the pirate walked toward the doors at the far end of the hold, Rainbow Dash and Applejack stepped out from behind a pair of crates. “I don’t believe that creep for a second,” said the cerulean pegasus with a frown.

“Ah agree, Rainbow Dash. He’s shiftier’n a coon in a henhouse.”

“I’m with you girls,” said Twilight. “But he’s at the controls and this is his ship. He’s got a crew, and I’m sure if we try anything he wouldn’t hesitate to shoot us down. We’ve just got to wait it out and see where he’s taking us.” With that she turned and walked toward the turbolift.

“Where are you going?” asked Dash.

“To the cockpit,” replied Twilight over her shoulder. “Maybe observing him will give me a clue as to his true intentions.”

The door to the cockpit slid into its alcove and admitted Twilight into the blue-hued cabin. A pair of aliens was at the controls, guiding the ship through hyperspace as Hondo stood behind them, his arms clasped behind his back and a confident look about him. I’ve got to tread carefully, thought Twilight. She walked slowly to his side, taking a seat next to him.

“I never tire of watching a hyperspace tunnel,” said Hondo.

“Oh?”

“It has an uncommon beauty about it.”

She looked out the windows at the cyan clouds of cosmic background radiation and star dust. It was quite beautiful to her eyes, but she had more pressing matters. “So how long until we get to Bestine?”

“Oh, a few days. We’re going to be making a slight detour. Not to worry, little one. We shall be but a moment.”

She eyed him suspiciously. “Why are we going to make a detour?”

He shrugged. “Just a cargo drop.”

“Cargo drop?”

“Yes.” The pirate looked down at her and spoke with a tone similar to a parent explaining something to a child. “We’re going to drop off some elicit cargo, an operation which will only take a few minutes, then be on our way.”

A red light glowed on the navigator’s console, accompanied by a quiet beeping noise. The man at the controls pushed a set of silver levers forward, and the blue melted into white streaks, which condensed into a star-specked backdrop of black behind a gray, light-speckled ball with thick clouds of smog and traffic.

Hondo grinned in satisfaction, then turned and strode out of the bridge. “If you will excuse me, pony, I must get my crew ready for the cargo drop.”

She watched him walk out, her face contorted by uncertainty and suspicion. She went over several courses of action, but all of them led to the ponies getting shot if Hondo’s intentions were less than wholesome. The only one which led to even the remotest chance of survival was still “wait and see.” She closed her eyes and sighed, hoping that her suspicions were wrong, and that he was going to keep his word.

But as she walked out of the control center, she couldn’t shake the feeling that this would be a new set of horrors awaiting her and her friends.

A creaky sound reverberated through the hull as the rusty landing gear unfolded and deployed to support the large freighter as it descended onto a floating landing platform surrounded by large skyscrapers and innumerable starships flying through the air with no discernible pattern. Puffs of steam emanated from the pressure relief valves on the underside of the ship as the loading ramp lowered to the ground. It groaned under the weight of the Weequay pirate as he walked down the ramp, leading a small group as he went.

Twilight led the pack of equines down the ramp after Hondo, who had insisted they accompany him outside the ship, claiming it was a standard security precaution. Junas had followed the ponies, and as he stepped out from under the ship and got a look at the dirty, neon-studded buildings and air traffic his jaw dropped.

He marched up to Hondo. “What’s the big idea, Hondo?” he asked as he flailed his arms at the pirate. “Why have you taken us to Nar Shaddaa?!”

Twilight was shocked at the anger in Junas’ voice.

Hondo looked at him with a steely expression, his nostrils flaring. “I don’t make it a habit to explain myself to people, human. But if you must know, I’m dropping off some contraband. It’s burning a hole in my hull, and I want to be rid of it as quickly as possible.”

His sentence was punctuated by the whine of repulsors as a brown and white starship landed on the opposite end of the platform.

“Looks like my contact has an appreciation for punctuality,” said the pirate with a satisfied grin.

The foreign ship’s landing pads compressed as its loading ramp lowered to the ground and admitted several armed men who formed a line in front of it. As they assumed their positions outside the ship, a large, muscular man with a crew cut and a cigar walked down the ramp carrying a large blaster rifle. As he approached the group he looked right at Hondo and opened his mouth to speak. “The great Gurka the Hutt greets you Hondo and will pay you the reward of one hundred thousand credits.”

Reward? thought Twilight. She began to glance back and forth between Hondo and the armed man, then felt a wing on her shoulder.

“Be calm, my student,” whispered Celestia. “But be prepared to run for your life.”

She nodded, then turned her attention back to the exchange of money taking place before her. The large man handed Hondo a massive bag of money, then walked back to the ship. The pirate jerked a thumb back. “All yours.”

The armed men then began to form a circle around the group. As the last of the men reached their positions, Junas turned and looked at Hondo. “What the hell is going on, Hondo?”

The Weequay took on a dark expression, then pulled out a small datapad from his long coat with a chuckle. He tossed it to Junas, who read what was on the glowing screen with an increasingly horrified expression. He didn’t even wait till he got to the bottom before he looked at Hondo with pure malice. “You set us up!”

The pirate shrugged. “I suppose I did. But the credits were just too good. You shouldn’t have paid me up front, but I wasn’t about to complain about getting a bonus from the very cargo I was delivering.”

Celestia and Twilight started to charge their horns, but clicking safeties brought their attention to the guns being aimed in their direction and they discharged their attack. Applejack and Rainbow Dash huddled next to each other with frightened expressions. Pinkie Pie stood behind them with Rarity, and Fluttershy cowered on the metal deck with her forelegs over her eyes and Spike standing next to her, trying desperately to comfort her. Twilight looked around at the thugs surrounding them, and then glared maliciously at Hondo. “You won’t get away with this!”

He looked at her with a smug expression. “Oh, but I already have, my little pony.” The Weequay then turned and strode casually toward the loading ramp of his starship. The ponies looked up sadly as the repulsors kicked in and the boxy freighter took to the heavens.

As the ship receded from view, the thugs surrounding them started to close in, their weapons pointing at the ponies. Spike looked up from Fluttershy and stared at Twilight with a frightened expression, who in turn looked up at Celestia. The ancient alicorn looked down at her student. “Shields up.”

With that both of them instantly projected a shield around the group, and as soon as the aliens started to shoot, Celestia shouted, “Run!”

After several minutes of running through the streets of Nar Shaddaa, they had become separated into groups, but they all carried a small comlink which Junas had used to tell them that they should lay low while the heat wore off.

Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy had wound up with Princess Celestia, who had chosen to stay in back alleys, and were walking alongside a large, grimy building with blue and green holographic signs hanging on the side and the stench of burnt oil wafting through the air. Smoke rose out of the streets from vents as the three equines walked through the crowds.

“I’m so nervous,” muttered Fluttershy.

“Fear not, my little pony,” said Celestia. “I will protect you from those who wish you harm.”

“Yeah! Don’t worry, Fluttershy!” The pegasus looked at her bubbly earth-pony friend. “Celestia’s super-awesome at showing those meanie-mean-pants aliens what-for!” Pinkie Pie punched the air for emphasis.

Fluttershy smiled weakly, but still wasn’t completely assured. However, she knew that Celestia would do her best to protect them. If a sun goddess couldn’t defend her, then hope was indeed lost.

They passed a metal cart and a Klatooinian vendor who was dealing some sort of white powdery substance, a material that Celestia didn’t quite know the identity of. Fluttershy saw it and wasn’t quite sure what she was looking at either, but Pinkie Pie shot over to it with a huge grin on her face.

“Ooo! Look! Powdered sugar!”

The vendor grinned at her. “Yeah, sugar. Would you like to buy?”

“Would I?!” Pinkie was practically bouncing in place.

The vendor held up a small bag of the substance, letting the pony look it over. “Notice the purity? You’re not going to find anything more pure in the entire moon.”

By this time Celestia and Fluttershy had caught up with Pinkie Pie, who was staring at the substance with glee.

“How much is it?” asked Pinkie.

“A very reasonable sum of three thousand credits.”

Pinkie Pie became indignant. “Three thousand bits, er, I mean credits for that measly little baggie is outrageous!”

The vendor huffed. “If you want it you’ll have to pay the asking price.”

Celestia looked at the vendor suspiciously. “And what, pray tell, is this substance?”

The Klatooinian looked shocked. “I didn’t think anyone in the galaxy was unable to recognize Spice when they saw it.”

The alicorn used her wing to steer Pinkie Pie away from the cart. “I don’t think we’ll be buying any today.”

She led the two ponies away from the cart before the vendor could raise an objection at losing a potential customer. Pinkie Pie looked up at the princess. “Why did you stop me from buying that sugar? I could have used that to make a yummy, hoof-licking good cake!”

“I doubt you could have used that particular sugar for cake, my subject.”

Pinkie was about to raise an objection, then thought better of it. They continued to roam the streets, hoping that Junas would call them with news of having found a way off this planet.

A large platform lowered from the upper levels into the darker areas under the city. Rarity and Twilight stepped off as various creatures scattered from their presence like roaches. The pair walked along a dank wall that was covered in a black slime mold of some kind which seemed to project tentacles in their direction, as if it were a living creature. The stench of sewage and rot permeated the air, prompting Rarity to hold a hoof to her nose.

“My goodness,” she said. “You would think they would take a little more pride in their city. All this muck and grim is positively unacceptable!”

They walked along the tunnel, avoiding hanging cables, until they found a room in which they could rest. Twilight sat down next to a large valve structure, while Rarity chose to sit next to a portal on the wall.

“Twilight?” Rarity’s voice had an undercurrent of fear.

“Yes?”

“Do you think we’ll ever find our way home?”

The question was something Twilight had been pondering herself for some time. “I think so. We made it here, so there has to be a way back.”

Rarity seemed relieved, but Twilight knew that her words were optimistic at best. Magic which is powerful enough to transcend universes is usually unstable. They might be trapped here forever, even if she were able to complete a spell which could take them home and reverse time.

A sudden, faint splashing sound in the tunnels connecting to the valve room alerted them.

“Twilight! Do you hear that?” asked Rarity in a fearful whisper.

“Yes.”

They looked fearfully at the openings leading to different areas of the city, hoping that they could find a way out should a group of Imperial Stormtroopers or pirates come running through them.

Standing up, they prepared to run, and when a pair of blaster bolts flew through the air with a terrible whine, they bolted into the tunnel ahead.

Hooves pounded on metal tunnel segments as Twilight and Rarity bounded through the tunnels. They dodged machinery and sensor masts, their manes and tails whipping in the wind. Rarity cried out as a bolt of energy flew through the air and vaporized a chunk of the tunnel ahead of them.

The chase couldn’t last forever. As the two unicorns rounded a corner, they slammed straight into a massive alien, his reptilian features twisting into a terrible smile and causing them to cower in fear of him.

“Quite an impressive display of athleticism, little creatures. I’m afraid however that you are just too tempting a target for me and my friends to ignore. I’m sure you will make fabulous additions to my . . . collection.”

Rarity and Twilight were escorted through the tunnels of Nar Shaddaa, surrounded by thugs who were pointing blasters at them. Creatures watched them as they were shoved and pushed whenever they didn’t walk fast enough, and smiled evilly as rifle butts made contact brutally with their withers.

“Move it!” shouted the thug right behind them, emphasizing his command with a knock against Rarity’s shoulder. Suddenly she stopped right in her tracks.

“Alright!”

Everyone stopped and turned to look at the white unicorn, including Twilight, who wore a look of alarm and confusion on her face.

The fashionista marched right up to the thug who had struck her, jumped up on his chest and pushed him down into the filthy street. He struggled against her hooves but she pressed him down with all her weight.

“I have had quite enough of you jabbing that dreadful gun into my back! I can put up with you shouting at me, and I will tolerate your insults, but I will not, I repeat: will not be struck in that manner! I am a lady and I will be treated as such!”

She went on for a solid minute, and all the while the thug’s cohorts stood by, snickering at the victim of Rarity’s verbal barrage.

Twilight wondered how long she could keep it up before the leader of the gang grew bored and decided to get back on their journey.

“And I’m sure Twilight will agree with me . . .” The unicorn looked at her friend.

The librarian pony noticed a particular look in Rarity’s eye: she was about to bolt.

Twilight readied herself.

“This treatment is positively unacceptable, and I—”

She never finished that sentence. She slammed her hooves in the thug’s face, which was all the signal Twilight needed to run.

The slavers didn’t even have a chance to ask themselves what had happened before the two unicorns disappeared into the crowds.

Putrid liquid dripped from large overhead pipes onto the filthy pavement as Rainbow Dash stooped to avoid hitting her head on a low-flying probe droid. Applejack followed suit, watching the droid as it flew past them. “Ah hope that thang wasn’ sumthin’ the Empire’s usin’ ta track us.”

“I don’t think so, A.J.,” replied the rainbow-maned pegasus. “It’s too rusty and gross, and besides, I haven’t seen a Stormtrooper anywhere on this planet.”

“Ah sure hope yer right, Rainbow.”

They continued on past the towering buildings surrounding them. The sounds of crying children reached their ears, and even the normally nonplussed Rainbow Dash was unsettled by it. She imagined a foal wanting its mother, or perhaps a hungry baby griffon. She looked over at Applejack, who seemed to be similarly affected. “You hear it too, huh?”

“Yeah.”

They wended their way through all manner of alien beings. Some were rather normal-looking, but others looked like something a fisherpony might dredge up from the depths of the ocean, and they couldn’t gaze upon them very long without experiencing that ancient pony instinct to bolt.

As one of the aliens brushed against Applejack, she cried out in pain. “What is it?” asked Dash.

“It’s mah wound. It feels like someone’s stickin’ a knife right into it whenever it hits sumthin’.”

Rainbow grew concerned. “Let me see.”

Applejack stopped and turned her body so that Rainbow Dash could get a look at her shoulder. As she got a better look at it, she saw why Applejack was in so much pain. The bandage surrounding the open wound was starting to leak a brownish fluid, and the flesh around it had taken on a sickening pale green tone. She fought a wave of nausea as she gently peeled back the bandage.

Applejack winced. “Hey!”

“I gotta check it out, A.J.! Don’t be such a baby.”

The orange earth-pony gritted her teeth as Rainbow finished pulling the bandage off the wound. The pegasus gasped as she saw the sorry state of her friend’s injury. It was covered in some sort of gray slime and pus, and looked to be extremely infected.

She knew that her own blaster burn was probably in a similar state. Neither of them had thought to change their bandages on board Hondo’s ship, and because they looked white during their transit nopony else thought to remind them.

“Applejack . . .” she began.

“Yeah?”

“Are you feeling okay? I mean, do you feel like you’re on fire, like a fever?”

Applejack hesitated to answer. “Uh, yeah. Why?”

The pegasus uttered a short curse. “I thought so.”

“Why?” repeated Applejack.

“Because I do, too.”

The earth-pony knew there was something else that her friend wasn’t telling her. “Rainbow Dash, spit it out.”

“Look, I once knew a pegasus who got hurt during a stormball game and refused treatment out of pride. He later died from his infection, and I heard that it was caused by blood poisoning. He had symptoms like a high fever, heart racing, and other stuff. I think we’ve got that.”

Applejack looked stunned. “Well, do ya know how ta fix it?”

Dash closed her eyes. “That’s just it: I don’t think there’s a cure after it gets this bad.”

But the farm pony shook her head. “Uh-uh. Ah ain’t gon’ take this lyin’ down, R.D.! This place has stuff we pony-folk could only dream of. There’s gotta be some sorta docter er sumthin’ that can cure us.”

The pegasus opened her eyes, then nodded grimly. “Well, I sure hope we find one before this gets too bad. I’m already feeling my heart racing.”

After Rainbow reapplied the bandage to Applejack’s withers, they started walking again, and this time turned into an alley. It seemed as though the world had gone from a sprawling techno-sphere to a dark, twisted jungle, with vine-like power cables arcing up and down the sides of the buildings and strange, plant-like creatures growing out of the duracrete and moving slowly along the walls. The black-green setting caused both their hearts to skip a beat, but as they turned to trot away they heard something.

Rainbow turned back and looked toward the sound. Applejack took notice and walked up alongside her.

“C’mon, R.D. We gotta get to a doctor.”

“Hang on, I thought I heard something.”

The brave pegasus walked slowly and cautiously into the grotto, her eyes never deviating from the darkness. Then she heard it again. It was a strange voice, one which sounded like an old pony.

“That’s it. Come closer, precious. We want to see thee.”

No, thought Rainbow Dash. More like the Diamond Dogs.

“Who are you?” she asked.

“A friend, precious. A friend who wants to help thee.”

Applejack cocked an eyebrow. “Why would you wanna help us?”

Again the voice silkily slithered out of the darkness. “Because, my dear, thou art a pair of poor, puny ponies who need help, yes.”

Rainbow and Applejack looked at each other nervously, but then their attention was drawn to a slender, clawed arm beckoning them into the dark cave. A pair of tiny, shimmering eyes pierced the black veil. “Yes, please come, my precious. We will help thee. We will heal thee, precious. Yes.”

The pegasus looked at Applejack. “Well, he is offering to heal us. And I don’t think there are many doctors on this planet.”

“No!” said the creature. “No doctors, just poor old Kredo, yes. Please, please come!”

They hesitated, wondering why this alien wanted them so badly, but then they walked slowly with much trepidation toward the grotto. The arm started beckoning them with more urgency. “Yes! Yes, that’s right! Closer, yes! Closer! Yesss . . .”

Entering the darkness, they hadn’t gone five feet before they passed through an electronic barrier and saw a small home carved into the duracrete, lit by small yellowish lamps and filled with an aroma wafting through the air which was a mixture of perfume and some sort of baked goods. The two ponies walked past small, oddly shaped tables and assorted furniture, not all of which they could identify, and then saw the alien.

The creature was at least twice as tall as a pony, with a red, chitinous face which tapered into a mouth covered with shiny tentacles. He had a twinkling in his eye that the ponies found inviting, despite the frightening appearance of his hard-plated visage. He extended a long, clawed hand toward them. “Kredo greets thee, guests, yes. Thou art welcome in our house.”

“Let’s cut to the chase,” said Rainbow Dash. “You said you could heal us.”

“Heal you!” exclaimed the alien. “Yes, yes! Kredo has many potions and incantations which can heal thee, creature. Thou must only submit to the one true Master, and thy flesh shall be clean and whole once again.”

The two ponies looked at each other, wondering how Celestia would feel about pledging themselves to some other god. But in the end the pain and fever won out.

“Yeah,” said Applejack. “Ah submit ta the Master.”

“Good, yes! Good! And what of thee, winged one?”

Rainbow nodded impatiently. “Yeah, yeah, I do to.”

The alien clasped his claws together in what seemed to be an expression of happiness, the exoskeleton sending a sharp crack through the apartment. Applejack could have sworn that she saw the plates of chitin on his face move into the vague approximation of a smile. “Yes! Good, yes! ‘Tis very good, my precious. Now, follow Kredo and soon you shall feel pain no more!”

“Corellian Ale. In a clean glass.”

The smelly bar where Junas and Spike had chosen to hole up could hardly be called an establishment. It was painfully obvious that the owners either didn’t know how to deal with rock mites, or else didn’t care. Holes where the little buggers had burrowed into the duracrete pocked the walls, and the durasteel supports looked like they hadn’t had an anti-corrosion scrubbing since the formation of the Republic. Still, they needed to evade those slavers, and the best way to do that according to Junas was to find a local watering hole and shack up till the heat wore off.

“Ain’t no Corellian Ale here, pal. You’d have better luck finding some in the Corellian sector.”

Junas rolled his eyes. “Well we’re nowhere near the Corellian sector now, are we?”

The alien bartender sneered with a growl.

“Look,” said Junas. “I just want a drink.”

“What ‘bout your little lizard chum?”

Spike’s face contorted angrily at being called a lizard while Junas held him back. “He’s not going to have anything.”

The alien shrugged. “Fine. You have something you’d like?”

“Besides the Corellian Ale? Not really.”

The alien gave him a rude gesture, and then slithered on a gastropod body toward the other customers at the bar. Fighting off the urge to hop over the bar and introduce the alien’s face to his fist, Junas slinked over to one of the empty booths along the wall, a flickering holoimage hovering over it providing the only light with which to see by.

“Junas,” said Spike. “I think we better avoid any trouble.”

He nodded. “I agree, little guy. There’s a fellow I know in this part of town who can help us find a ship. But we gotta wait until he shows up.”

For several minutes the two of them waited. Suddenly Junas’ head whipped toward the door. Spike watched as his eyes followed a man who looked like a normal human other than the enormous pair of horns poking out of his head and the razor sharp teeth. The little dragon was reminded of a demon, like the ones in Tartaros.

The man walked up to the bar and sat down, then began scanning the room. His eyes fell on Junas, and his mouth contorted into a devilish grin. Junas waved him over and he sauntered up to the table and plopped into the seat across from the human. “It’s amazing what kind of lowlifes they allow in fine establishments like this.”

Junas belted out a laugh, then shook the alien’s hand with gusto. “How are you doing, Davorak?”

“Just fine, Junas. You still in the, uh, spy business?”

The human chuckled. “You might say that. Listen, I need a favor.”

The horned man licked his lips with an unsettlingly long tongue. “Do you, now?”

Junas smiled and leaned in closer, prompting the Devaronian sitting across from him to do the same. “I need a ship off this planet.”

Davorak cocked an eyebrow. “You have any special destination in mind?”

“Bestine.”

The Devaronian’s demeanor changed dramatically. “Junas, you know that’s a hot area for me. I can’t have my ships seen traveling to a known Rebel world.”

“You don’t understand. An entire world will be destroyed unless I get my companions to the Alliance.”

“You mean those ponies the Empire is after? That’s even worse!” he hissed.

“Nevertheless, I need passage. Do you have a ship I can borrow or not?”

The Devaronian considered what Junas was saying for several minutes, with Junas wondering if he would say yes or not. Finally, he looked Junas in the eye. “I might have a ship at Zackis Docks. You know the place?”

“Yeah, I’ve been there a few times.”

“Okay, just give them my name and tell ‘em I sent you. They’ll show you the ship I mean.” They both got up and Junas shook Davorak’s hand. “I really owe you one, pal.”

The horned man laughed and shook his head. “Junas, you’ve owed me one since we were kids. Just don’t get your head shot off in the mean time.”

The human smiled and nodded. “Take care, my friend.”

Junas watched as Devorak left the bar, and was just about to leave himself when a tall alien in durasteel armor sauntered over to him.

“So you’re a Corellian, huh?”

Junas looked at him with an expression of ambivalence. “Yeah, so?”

“Well, I don’t like Corellians, not since that son of a chen’dor Corran Horn arrested my partner.”

“What do you want me to do about it? Leave?”

The alien tensed. “I think you’d better. I’d hate to have to cause any trouble.”

Three more aliens joined the thug. Junas sat upright and balled his fists. “I don’t think you’ve got enough guys to handle me.”

Spike’s eyes went wide at that statement, but the large alien inched closer. “Oh, I think we are more than enough, human.”

Junas sighed. “And this was turning out to be such a nice afternoon, too . . .”

Author's Note

Yet another chapter to my little epic. :)

I'm currently (as of 4/29/13) working on the editing of my previous chapters still. The first four chapters are still only the second drafts, and the rest are untouched as of now. I'll get to them soonish, but I need to finish up a few things in school. I've only got a few weeks left, the I can concentrate on finding a job and getting a nice little apartment. I already know of a good public library where I can have internet access, so I'll still be able to upload updates and future chapters after I move out of the school apartment complex.

Until then, enjoy! :)

UPDATE: I needed to establish a reason for certain actions in the next chapter, so I added a little bit at the end of the chapter to help with the action in the next chapter. :)