//------------------------------// // Escape // Story: An Imperial Occupation // by part time pony //------------------------------// Houses, roads and other pieces of infrastructure were destroyed, in pieces from the constant bombing, dead ponies who were unfortunate to be caught in the bombing were dead on the ground. No damage had been inflicted to Canterlot yet, but that was about to happen. TIE Defenders from the Executor ran bombing runs along with the TIE Bombers, destroying the roads of Canterlot and the buildings. Twilight Sparkle was going as fast as she could towards the castle being escorted by 3 guards from the Ponyville Castle Guard. The roaring noise from a TIE Defender was then heard and in the sky it was visible. The TIE Defender was aiming for Twilight and fired a barrage of laser beams. Twilight was standing right in the area where the barrage would hit, if it hit the ground then she'd be dead. To her luck, a guard pushed her out of the way and in doing so sacrificed himself as he had been trained to do in life-threating situations to royalty. The Barrage hit the ground and explosions followed, Twilight was knocked down to the ground and received minor bruises on her body. A guard quickly ran over to the Princess helping her get up, in doing so catching a glance of his now dead friend. "We need to get to the castle Princess!" The guard said as he began to run again, still feeling the pain of losing a friend. But the worse was yet to come. The AT-AT's and AT-ST's had been dropped off by their transports and were now mounting their assaults. Since cities like Manehattan, Ponyville and the Crystal Empire had been destroyed; the only target was Canterlot. Unfortunately for the Empire, Canterlot was situated on a mountain so their heavy vehicles would have a hard time reaching it. As for Cloudsdale, the Empire hadn't attacked yet but Darth Vader had already prepared Imperial Jump Troopers for presumably the attack on Cloudsdale. AT-ST's were then dropped down into the streets of Canterlot by dropships followed by Sentinel-Class Landing Craft filled with the elite trained Stormtroopers. The residents of Canterlot ran from the frightening Stormtroopers, some running to the castle while others to their houses. But no building was a match for the deadly arsenal of weapons on the AT-ST's. The AT-ST's began to walk towards the castle followed by the Stormtroopers. The walkers shot and launched explosives at the EUP which was trying to defend Canterlot with no effect at all. Not a single Stormtrooper had been killed or injured so far. It was at this moment that the Star Destroyer "Behemoth" entered the atmosphere and began to hover above Canterlot to ensure no escape would be made, but even if the ponies had the technology of the Galactic Empire they'd still have a hard time to fight back against the Elite forces of the Empire. Back on the ground, the white armored Stormtroopers marched towards the palace with their blasters aimed at the castle and their eyes looking for any pony still breathing. Fortunately Twilight and her escort had already escaped into the castle where she'd be safe... For now at least. | - - - - - - - | "They're coming sister," Luna said. Even though she was the second highest ranked Princess she was still nervous and scared as Equestria had never faced something like this, no army of this scale had ever invaded them. Especially one this strong and technologically this advanced. "We must hide the Elements of Harmony," Celestia Said as she turned around to face her student and Equestria's newest Princess, Twilight. Twilight took out her book on the Elements of Harmony where she had hidden them and gave it to Princess Celestia. Suddenly though, a large bang was heard from the main entrance. The Stormtroopers had entered the castle. Following this loud bang were blaster shots and the screaming of guards falling to their death. | - - - - - - - | Above Canterlot, a Lambda-class Shuttle was approaching to land, in there was Darth Vader; Lord of the Sith. He was escorted by two Imperial Royal Guards who wore their iconic red robes and their iconic helmet with a simple black line running along where their eyes would be. On first glance, it would look easy to defeat a guard, but under those ropes was some of the strongest armor in the Galaxy, an armor so strong that even some weapons can't penetrate it. The shuttle landed, it's main front door opening with white smoke, presumably steam coming out of it. Following it was Darth Vader, slowly exiting the shuttle as the smoke disappeared. Infront of him was General Veers, a highly rated General who wore his officer uniform on top of armor to defend himself. "General Veers." Darth Vader said with his usual frightening and intimidating voice. "Y-yes Lord Vader?" Veers replied in question. "Order the Jump Troopers to attack the cloud city." "Yes, yes my lord." | - - - - - - - | "TK-762, watch your left!" Were one of the words that could be heard from upstairs followed by more chatter. "Main Entrance secured, find the leaders!" "Yes, sir!" The Stormtroopers began the looking throughout the castle, back in the throne room; the 3 princesses were deciding what to do. "I say we hide the Elements of Harmony in the secret vault North of the Crystal Empire, they'll be safe there for sure!" Luna suggested. "Well, I propose we hi-" Twilight was cut off when the doors to the throne room burst to open. A squad of Stormtroopers entered and aimed their weapons at the guards. The three Princess quickly turned around, seeing their enemy. "Surrender! We're taking you all into custody by the order of Lord Vader!" The Sergeant shouted at the princess while the whole squad had them at gunpoint. "Very well, I surrender," Celestia said calmly. She then turned her head and looked and Luna and Twilight. "You two, teleport out of here and get to the Crystal Empire now. Gather up as many guards as you can and loyal ponies to there as well!" "But!" Twilight gasped. "No buts, GO!" With that the two teleported, but it was hard not to notice that. "Where did they go?" Asked a Stormtrooper. "What do you mean? There's just me, the guards and you in this room." Celestia Said, trying to convince the Stormtroopers that Luna and Twilight never were in the room. "The purple and dark blue creature!" The same Stormtrooper shouted. "Oh, they were um. Just a spell to fool you?" Celestia said again, trying to assure them. Before the Stormtrooper could answer all of them turned facing each other and made space as a tall, dark figure entered the room escorted by two red-colored troopers. The dark man approached Princess Celestia, looking at her, Celestia could now hear the loud breathing from the figure. "What are you?" The dark man asked, looking down at the old alicorn. "I'm Princess Celestia, the ruler of this world," said Celestia. "And who are you?" The dark man raised one of his hands, suddenly Celestia was having troubles breathing. She began to hover above the ground. "I-i .. can't b-breath.." She fell down onto the ground, being able to breathe normally again. "The name is Lord Vader and from now on you are no longer the ruler of this world," Darth Vader started leaving the room before saying. "Take her into custody." The Stormtroopers approached the Princess, two blasters aimed at her to make sure she wouldn't attack them, one had cuffs in his hands while the others held the Princess pinned down against the floor of her throne room. "No way these cuffs are gonna fit in those things," XX-006713 said, referring to the hooves. "Keep it quiet before I send you back to the Cadet Academy on Lothal, Specialist!" Shouted the Stormtrooper with an orange pauldron, indicating he possessed the rank of Commander. | - - - - - - - | The two Princess who shared similar colors on their coats appeared in the Crystal Empire, fortunately, it had not been taken over yet. "I hope Princess Celestia will be okay," said Twilight as she caught her breath. Teleporting a large distance was hard to accomplish and even if you managed to do it you'd often get so exhausted that you'd be unable to walk for the rest of the day, not even the ponies or even alicorns that possessed such strong magic could teleport that far without being exhausted. "I share the same thought as you Twilight, but dark times are upon us. We must fight back this tyranny that has conquered Equestria." Luna looked up and saw the Crystal Castle, she then looked down towards the street. There she saw Shining Armour and Cadence. "We came over as soon as we saw you both!" said Shining. "Canterlot has fallen," Twilight said, then looking behind her to see if the white armored creatures were after, they were not. "We know, the Crystal Empire is the only safe place; the shield should be strong enough to protect us," Cadence said and lit up her aura to bring a letter from Celestia herself. "Read this." 'Dear Cadence I am afraid to say that Canterlot had fallen, this army has taken us by surprise and as I am writing this I feel the suffering of my subjects, especially the innocent ones. I am writing this letter to tell you that the Crystal Empire must not fall, do your best to keep it alive as long as possible. I fear that the Elements of Harmony might not be enough to defeat this tyranny if the Crystal Empire falls. Do whatever it takes to ensure your empire doesn't fall. ~ Princess Celestia.' "We have the elements of harmony with us and we agreed to hide them in the vault north of Empire," Luna said. "That's great, I'll take you there now. The faster we lock them in, the better." Shining began trotting away and was followed by Luna and Twilight. | - - - - - - - | "My lord. The attack on the cloud city was successful but." Lieutenant Menrie couldn't find the word to describe what happened. "But what, Lieutenant?" Darth Vader asked. "Um, we lost 75% of the Jump Trooper Battalion.." "Death is acceptable as long as we remain in control of this planet." Darth Vader walked off to march around the ruined streets of what once was a beautiful city with merchants selling their goods, the wonderful smell from the bakeries or brewing houses and kind ponies greeting each other. That city was now a thing of the past, something which may never return, because of the Empire. The reason for the deaths was quite an obvious one for a pony, the jump troopers weren't Pegasi so they couldn't walk on the clouds which made it harder for them to annex the city as they were jump troopers and not jet troopers. But it didn't take long for them to realize it however and when they did the battle drastically changed from the chance of a pony victory to an Imperial Victory. | - - - - - - - | "You're sure this is the vault right?" Twilight asked her big brother, making sure he doesn't do a mistake. "Yes? I am completely sure.." Shining replied with an obvious voice of uncertainty. Twilight rolled her eyes; but she was sure that Shining Armour was right, he had to be after all. "Ah, here it is!" Shining raised his right hoof and showed them the vault. The vault was covered in thick ice, according to the visitors the door is able to withstand the heat of up to 10,000° degrees Celsius. Which fortunately but unbeknownst to them; made the flame trooper units unable to burn it down with their flamethrowers. "Funny thing, only I have the ability to open this," Shining said and let out a small chuckle after. "No time for jokes, we need to store the Elements for safekeeping," Luna said with annoyance in her voice as she was getting tired of Shining Amour's arrogance. "Right, sorry Luna." Shining stuck his horn inside the lock and lit up the aura to do the correct combination, once he was done he removed his horn from the lock and let the door open itself. Twilight entered in and used her magic to put the book in the vault. "Done, let's get back now." | - - - - - - - | "Lord Vader," Captain Darren approached the dark lord. "Our probe droids have detected a city in the north as the last one remaining of this species." "Prepare the Cold Assualt Stormtroopers for an attack, and have the 6th and 7th Armoured Battalion meet up south of the city." "Yes my lord." Darren walked away to prepare the Cold Assualt Stormtroopers or as they were otherwise known as Snowtroopers. However, this wouldn't be the last attack. Lord Vader still needed to take over the other parts of the planet, not just Equestria. Otherwise, the planet would rebel against the Imperial Occupation with a stronger force than right now which would end this occupation before it could even start. "One more thing, Captain," Darth Vader looked at the Captain as he stopped and turned around. "Have the TIE Scout's explore the rest of the planet to for preparation to invade the other parts of this planet." "But my lord, the fleet has no TIE/sr's." The Captain said. "Then get some." The advantage of the TIE/sr or as it was also known as the TIE Scout was one of the few starfighters in the Imperial Navy that could travel through Hyperspace, the other being the deadly TIE/D Defender and the stealthy TIE/ph Phantom. | - - - - - - - | The Crystal Empire was the last hope for the ponies if it was to fall then the chances to save Equestria would be slim, but this wasn't the only problem to worry about for the Empire. During the Invasion, many ponies had gone to the Crystal Empire for refuge. Now there were too many refugees and causing new problems. Outside the shield, the Crystal Guard performed patrols to make sure the shield would hold and that no Imperials were in the area. But the Invasion was coming, they didn't know, unfortunately. 6 AT-AT's were lined up about 100 Kilometers from the Crystal Empire joined by 4 AT-ST's. The All Terrain Armoured Transport was the workhorse for the Imperial Army, it's strong shields deflected all hand-carried weapons and it could carry an entire platoon of Stormtroopers for Sieges. However, everything has a weakness or two, the AT-AT had two. One was that Ion Bombs from Bombers like the Clone Wars-era Y-Wing Bomber could disable the shields for a short period of time. This was a tactic that the rebellion had used to defeat the Imperials on planets like Sullust and Tatooine. The other weakness was the legs, no they weren't weak but a strong rope or wire could trip the AT-AT and cause it to fall. Something the Imperials hope that the Rebels haven't figured out yet, the question was if the ponies have. In one of the AT-AT's stood General Veers, he was awaiting orders from Darth Vader whether to attack or not, but he knew that the order would be to attack. Suddenly a blue image of Darth Vader appeared on the walker's hologram display. "Lord Vader, all the walkers are in position. We await your order." Veers said. "Commence the attack, have no mercy." Darth Vader disappeared from the display, indicating he was done. "Commence the attack." Veers ordered the pilots. In the air, the walkers were joined by TIE Bombers who were to begin their bombing run on the city to weaken the defenses if there were any. The TIE Bomber's iconic two pods passed by the Walkers in a V Formation. "What a beauty." | - - - - - - - | "See anything?" A royal guard asked his comrade whom he was patrolling with. "No, not even a single snowflake, might as well forget about patrolling if there's no-" The young guard stopped abruptly as he saw the All Terrain Armoured Transports in the distance through the binoculars. "You okay?" "They're here." | - - - - - - - | The heavy stomping sounds of the AT-AT could be heard miles away, even though it was just a step it was still enough to give the toughest pony the chills. Knowing that the ponies were useless against those walkers, Shining had ordered an evacuation of the Crystal Empire but there was one problem, her sister. Twilight was keen that she had a solution to this, she had studied physics enough to figure out a way to possibly destroy the walkers. Her idea was that a strong rope should be able to halt the walker's advance and when it tries to go forward it will trip over and end up destroyed or at least disabled. Even though she kept babbling about it, nopony except for Luna and Cadance agreed with her. The three princesses got their wish finally when Shining Armor realized that the residents wouldn't escape in time and therefore let them handle it and use 6 guards for the task. With that settled, Twilight & Co made their way beyond the city's shields and towards the intimating AT-AT walkers. Every step the walkers took wasn't just a scaring sound but it also made the ground shake, especially with all that heavy equipment onboard. Twilight took out the rope from her saddlebag and used her magic to pass it on to Luna who would run on over to the other side. As she had expected, Luna ran over to the other side with 3 of the guards, holding the rope with her magic as did Twilight. The AT-AT began approaching and due to the cockpit being so high up; the drivers would be unable see the ponies down there. Finally one of the legs made contact with the rope, soon it was the second one and with enough strength, the AT-AT's legs began making the vehicle fall. The AT-AT crashed into the ground, making the snow around the now destroyed vehicle go up 50 meters into the sky before falling back down and covering the 8 ponies in the thick and cold snow. Twilight, being her self; began celebrating as if she was a Hoofball fan and her favorite team had scored a winning goal in stoppage time. But she quickly stopped in a realization that it wasn't enough. Unfortunately, the other AT-AT's had already reached far enough to be in firing range of the Crystal Empire much to the Galactic Empire's favor. It was obvious at this sight that the small group would be unable to destroy the remaining walkers in this little time, the best option was to retreat to the Crystal Empire and hope that Shining Armour had come up with a plan. It was also at this crucial time that Twilight's Ponyville friends, also known as the Elements to the public arrived though admittedly a few hours late. | - - - - - - - | The shield of the Crystal Empire was somehow still hanging on, even if the barrages of heavy laser fire and bombing from the Empire it clearly wasn't enough. By now some of the residents had evacuated to the far northern lands where temperatures can reach a freezing -89° Celcius on the coldest day of the year. Eventually, the shield cracked and with that so did the constant firing from the Empire. The Imperial Snowtroopers entered the city followed by one AT-AT and two AT-ST's, ordering everypony to surrender and gather at the center of the city. As for Twilight and her friends they knew that they needed to leave now, but with strong resistance from Shining. His argument was that he couldn't let the residents of the Crystal Empire suffer and possibly die while he could escape. "Shining, I know you want to stay with the population but without you, we'll have a hard time trying to fight this tyranny!" Twilight said in an attempt to convince her big brother to follow her and help. "I know you care about me Twily, but this is the right thing for me. To stay with my people. Go now while you have the chance, and remember. I'll always love you Twilight." Twilight knew she couldn't do much more, with this some tears came running down her eyes as she approached to hug her big brother. She hugged him and probably clinched onto him harder than she'd ever have done in her life when the hug ended she walked away. After Twilight, came Cadance who shared a kiss with her husband before the alicorn was about to go on a journey to save Equestria. When the kiss between the married couple ended, Cadance shared a last look on Shinin before turning around and joining Twilight, Luna and her friends. | - - - - - - - | Emperor Palpatine in his old office he had when he used to be the Supreme Chancellor during the Republic days. Back when he was manipulating the Jedi Order and the Senate to make his grand plan come true which did. He had always remembered the day Mace Windu entered the same office with three other Jedis to arrest him. They were foolish enough to realize they were walking into a trap and become the first victims of the Great Jedi Purge. After some additional minutes of just thinking he decided to contact his apprentice Darth Vader. The Sith Lord walked into a chamber specially build to call people via holograms, however, he mostly used it to talk with Darth Vader who ran his errands, making sure the galaxy was in check.