Twilight froze when she heard unfamiliar voices up ahead. She, along with her friends, had found the scar in the ground that lead down into the cave that housed the Tree of Harmony, and the Empire has beaten them to it. Down below them, they could see stormtroopers and imperial officers setting up strange devises and equipment around the tree.
Applejack frowned as she watched. “Gosh... I sure do wish Lancer was here... She’d know what to do.”
Her friend’s honesty ignited a spark of courage inside of Twilight. “Applejack, that’s it! We just have to be like Lancer and do what she would!”
Rainbow Dash glanced her way and shrugged her shoulders. “So... What would she do?”
Twilight peered down into the cave again, silently counting the number of imperials. She remembered watching the death trooper expertly asses the terrain back in the thicket of the Everfree Woods. “Lancer would take a moment and study them, find out how many there are and where to strike first... I see thirteen storm troopers and a few others, maybe their leaders.”
Starlight leaned in close to Twilight so she wouldn’t be overheard by the others. “There’s a lot more of them than there are of us. We don’t have strength on our side.”
Twilight fired her a sly grin. “Maybe not, but they don’t know we’re here. We have surprise on our side, and sometimes, that’s just as good.”
Then, she turned to face Pinkie Pie. “Do you still have that party cannon?”
***
An imperial officer watched eagerly as the stormtroopers began connecting the tethers to the base of the tree. “Hurry, now! Captain Cavi demands results sooner rather than later. There are already troubleing reports of resistance in the area.”
A trooper approached him, saluted, and then gestured to a pair of large containers, now beginning to glow miraculously. “Sir, the first two conduits are almost fully charged. This tree seems to be a limitless source of power.”
The officer nodded his head approvingly.
“Yes, and with it, we can summon the full night of the Empire to subjugate this... what is tha-“
A trooper raised his blaster. “Contact!”
The first blast hit several stormtroopers all at once, blowing them back a ways and showering them with bits of colored paper as an ear shattering ‘boom’ echoed throughout the cave.
“Contact! Contact!”
The blasts came from every direction, and no where at the same time. Stormtroopers, caught off guard and terrified, fired blindly at the cave walls as great blasts of confetti hit them again and again. Using her magic, Twilight raised a shield to protect herself from a few stray blaster bolts. “Keep hitting ‘em, Pinkie Pie! You’re doing great!”
The pink pony didn’t need to be told twice, and like a grasshopper, she darted around the tree with her party cannon, giving every stormtrooper she could see a face full of confetti.
“Twilight, we got a problem!” Applejack managed to warn them just in time as a dozen more storm troopers appeared behind them, blasters raised and trained on the ponies.
Now, they were surrounded, and the dazed troopers by the tree began to regroup. Twilight hadn’t counted on Imperial reinforcements. She had slipped up, and now they were going to pay for it. The imperial officer approached them, brushing flakes of confetti off of his uniform. “What a spectacular display, ponies... Unfortunately for you, it will take far more than that to stop us.”
Pinkie Pie looked worriedly at her. “Twilight, what do we do?”
She didn’t know. She thought she knew, but the confidence that fueled her moments before was gone. Twilight shook her head silently as the stormtroopers pushed them against the cave wall, facing the Tree of Harmony. “Sergeant, take your men back out to the forest and look for the rest of them. Then, I want you to prepare a firing squad.”
Twilight’s eyes widened and her heart sank in her chest. She knew something had to be done, but what could she possibly do? “I’m sorry, girls... I’m so sorry I got us into this mess...”
Several stormtroopers stepped forward and aimed their weapons at the ponies.
Starlight swallowed hard. “It’s alright, Twilight... Knowing all of you has made these years the best of my life.”
The troopers placed their fingers on the triggers of their blasters.
“Ready...”
Rainbow Dash’s ears folded back as she stared down the barrel facing her.
“Take aim...”
Pinkie Pie whimpered softly. The officer opened his mouth, and the final word began to escape his lips, but he was interrupted by the sound of static from his communicator.
<Zzzzzzz... Sir! Sir, we need- Zzzzzz>
He opened the device, and a small, blue figure of a storm trooper appeared on top of it. “What is it, trooper?”
<Sir, they came out of nowhere, hundreds of them! We can’t- Zzzzzzz>
The connection was lost. The imperial officer pointed to the nearest trooper. “Uhg... Get out there and find out what’s going on!”
It was too late, however, because the sound of a thousand flapping wings began to fill the cave. Changelings, too many to count, filled the area and began harassing the stormtroopers. In the chaos, a stray hoof would catch a trooper in the side of his or her helmet and knock them unconscious. Twilight and her friends were quick to help and join the fray.
Using their magic, she and Starlight bound several stormtroopers together. Many of the changelings were now targeting the imperial gadgets and equipment hooked up to the tree, and they began dismantling them piece by piece.
Then, Twilight saw him, and a huge grin came over her as tears streamed down her cheeks. “Thorax!”
The changeling king smiled back and landed in front of her. “Twilight! Celestia, I’m sure glad we got here when we did.”
The purple pony threw her hooves around him and held him tightly. “You have no idea...”
Then, she pulled away and was relieved to see that the Tree of Harmony was safe. All of the imperials, including the officer, were subdued on the cave floor and surrounded by an army of changelings. “Discord told us what you were up to, so we just had to help. We even found Rarity and your other friend and guided them back to Ponyville.”
Thorax’s news was music to her ears. Lancer was still alive, and even better, she was safe in Ponyville. That only left...
“Chrysalis... Thorax, we have to help her.”
***Up Next: The Chimera’s Fire***