//------------------------------// // The Rise of Magic // Story: Star Crossed Ponies // by MillenniumFalsehood //------------------------------// 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.