Chrysalis looked back and forth between Ezra and Thrawn. Ezra looked angry, but calm and collected at the same time, like this was normal business for him. Thrawn, on the other hoof, looked bewildered. The changeling remembered the first time she was betrayed by her lackies, so she understood how he must have been feeling right about now.
The mini projection of Captain Cavi turned to face the stormtrooper holding him.
<Sergeant, I want the ponies alive. Dispose of Thrawn and the Jedi.>
Then, the projection flickered before vanishing. The stormtroopers raised their weapons, training them on Ezra and the admiral. “Fire on my mark.”
Chrysalis and Twilight exchanged looks.
“Ready...”
The princess nodded towards her.
“Aim...”
Chrysalis understood immediately.
“Fire!”
Together, she and Twilight jumped in front of them, igniting their horns and creating a magical barrier. The magic formed a bubble that completely surrounded them just as the storm troopers began to shoot. Thrawn watched with amazement as the magic absorbed the fire, shimmering and rippling wherever a shot made its mark. Whatever the troopers tried, nothing worked, and nothing got through the magical barrier.
Twilight was beginning to sweat under the strain of holding up the shield. “Chrysalis, are you thinking what I’m thinking?” In truth, the changeling queen wasn’t certain. She was actually thinking about Ezra and doing everything she could to keep him safe. “We need to get out of this mess and find a way to stop that ship before it does any more harm. Get ready to drop the shield!”
Thrawn looked up through the magical dome and stroked his chin as he watched the star destroyer sail away, towards the Everfree Forest. “I agree... Bridger, take this.”
He tossed a small blaster towards him, which Ezra caught with ease. “If we make it out of this, Thrawn, I’ll be amazed.”
Chrysalis groaned under the barrage of fire from the stormtroopers outside the shield. It was becoming harder and harder to keep the magic stable. “G-G-Get ready! We can’t hold it up any longer...”
The shield began to flicker, and Thrawn and Ezra raised their blasters. Twilight and Chrysalis both let out a cry as they poured all of their energy into the bubble, causing the shield to expand outward at an exsplosive speed. The exsplosion of magic caused the surrounding stormtroopers to stumble and fall.
Twilight pointed a hoof towards her palace at the outskirts of town. “Run!”
While other ponies took shelter, Twilight, Chrysalis, Thrawn, and Ezra made a break for the crystal monolith. The stormtroopers had begun to recover and some started firing at them as they ran. Twilight and Chrysalis did what they could to slow their pursuers down, looking back and firing bolts of concentrated magic as they could. Thrawn and Ezra did the same, stretching their arms out behind them and firing at the troopers throughout the chase.
Together, they all ran from Ponyville to the palace, quickly running inside and shutting the doors behind them, barring the stormtroopers outside. Ezra, our of breath, huffed and wheezed as he slumped against the wall. “What do we do now?”
Twilight wasted no time marching down the corridor towards the center throne room. If Chrysalis remembered correctly, that was where the map table was. “We need to make a plan if we’re going to stop that star destroyer.”
As Twilight raised a hoof to push open the door leading into the throne room, Thrawn stopped her. “Wait... I hear someone inside. I left a detachment of stormtroopers to... secure the palace before we departed.”
Ezra rolled his eyes. “You couldn’t resist, could you?”
The grand admiral glared at him as they took positions on opposite sides of the door. “Now is not the time, Bridger.”
Chrysalis looked back at the door they just came through. The pursuing stormtroopers were almost through, so they only way out was forward. “Chrysalis, we need you to open the doors while Thrawn and I clear out this room.”
The changeling understood and lowered her horn. It began to glow once again, this time discharging a bolt of magic that forced the doors open. Before the smoke had a chance to clear, Ezra and Thrawn rushed inside, blasters raised, but what they found inside wasn’t a squad of stormtroopers.
Instead, a single trooper stood before them, dressed fully in black armor with a large caliber blaster readied in her hands. The trooper looked horrifying, like the face of death itself. At the same time, the doors behind them exploded open, and a dozen stormtroopers rushed into the corridor. With her weapon raised, the trooper in black opened fire, completely missing Ezra and Thrawn.
Before the stormtroopers even had a chance to say ‘blast them!’, they had been stunned. The blasts from the lone, black trooper hit them in their chests with such ferocity that they were knocked to the grounded and rendered unconscious.
Chrysalis couldn’t believe her eyes. Twilight looked equally cautious as they slowly crept into the throne room. The dark trooper lowered her weapon and raised an arm to salute the grand admiral. “Sir!”
Thrawn managed a small smile and turned to Twilight. “Don’t worry, princess. This is one of my personal guards, loyal and a capable warrior, a death trooper.”
Standing at full height, she was as tall as Chrysalis, an observation that didn’t put the queen at ease. It was then that she noticed the unconscious bodies of incapacitated storm troopers scattered around the throne room. “Quite the fitting name...”
The death trooper cocked her head towards Chrysalis, effectively silencing her. Thrawn stepped forward. “Commander, my ship has been taken from me, and we need to stop it from leaving this world whatever the cost.”
The trooper nodded towards the magical map in the center of the room. “Sir, the dragon tells me this map shows a large portion of the surrounding landscape. We should use it to decide what our next move should be.”
Ezra looked wide-eyes. “Dragon?”
Twilight saw I’m first, hiding behind one of the thrones. “Spike!” She rushed forward to greet him, using the magic from her horn to pick him up and hold him close. “Oh, Spike! I’m so glad you’re safe...”
He struggled to free himself from the pony’s grasp. “I’m fine, Twilight! Lancer found me and protected me from those bad guys.”
The death trooper rubbed the back of her helmet absentmindedly. “Eh... I have a soft spot for the little thing...”
Seeing the reunion warmed a piece of Chrysalis. She thought about how nice it must feel to unite with friends, but there was no time to dwell on her feelings. Together, everyone circled around the map.
There was work to be done.
***Up Next: Plots, Plans, and Schemes***