“Ah! What was that?!”
Applejack rolled her eyes and glared in Pinkie Pie’s direction. “It was me, Pinkie. Ya’ keep bumpin’ Into me and scarin’ yourself. Why don’t ya’ watch where you’re goin’?”
Twilight and her friends moved clumsily through the Everfree Forest, much to Lancer’s dismay. The death trooper shook her head and sighed. “I can’t beileve I actually signed up for this...”
A low rumble began softly and grew louder with every passing second. Lancer held up a fist, signaling for everypony to stand still. They froze. The ground was shaking now as an imperial shuttle flew overhead, soaring in the direction they were walking. As the shuttle flew further away, the rumbling fell softer until it faded away.
Lancer looked back at the ponies, and they looked at her. They couldn’t see through the trooper’s helmet, but they could tell she was clearly concerned. “It’s Cavi. He’s deploying stormtroopers to the target.” She raised her weapon. “We need to move. Double time, ponies!”
With that being said, the death trooper took off into the thicket. Twilight and her friends exchanged looks before running after her. The Everfree Forest was twisted and unforgiving to those who got lost, and now the ponies were following a stranger through the darkest part of the woods on a mission to save their world. They leaped over gnarled roots and under low-hanging branches, dodging trees left and right.
Eventually, they caught up with Lancer at the edge of a clearing. For the first time, the ponies could actually see the sky above them through the trees, but that wasn’t the most interesting sight. The shuttle had landed, and several stormtroopers stood by it, weapons in their arms.
Lancer knelt behind the brush and aimed her blaster at the troopers, observing them through the scope of her weapon. “I count three... no, four stormtroopers. Something isn’t right... Cavi wouldn’t send so few men to secure such an important target.”
Applejack joined her. “Well... Where’s the rest of ‘em?”
Lancer trained her sights on the nearest trooper. “That’s what I’m going to find out...”
Twilight gasped and threw a hoof on top of the weapon, forcing it down. “You’re not going to kill them, are you?”
Lancer looked at her, and the princess suddenly felt very small. “Is that a problem, pony?”
Though she was trembling, Twilight nodded her head. “No killing... We only need to keep them from getting to the tree...”
The death trooper stared deeply into the pony’s eyes for several seconds before letting out a groan. “Fine...”
Then, she raised her blaster again, and Twilight’s eyes widened. “Wait! I thought we just agreed to find another way!”
Lancer readied herself to fire. “They don’t need their legs to live.”
Her finger squeezed the trigger, and a red bolt of energy fired from her blasted, hitting the storm trooper in the knee and knocking him down. Twilight gasped at the spectacle. The injured trooper rolled on the ground, groaning in pain as he held his leg.
This quickly got the attention of the other three stormtroopers who began to return fire. “Get down!”
Lancer placed a hand on Twilight’s head and forced her into the brush. Then, the death trooper leaped into action, literally, diving over the brush and into the clearing. She tucked and rolled along the forest floor, blasting another unfortunate stormtrooper in her thigh. Unable to stand, she too crumbled and fell like the first, screaming and howling. “Traitor!”
The third pulled a blade from his belt and took a swing at Lancer, but the death trooper was an expert at hand-to-hand combat. She grabbed a hold of his wrist and twisted it hard, forcing him to drop the knife before kicking his knee inward.
The fourth, standing by the ramp leading into the shuttle, trained his blaster on her and fired, catching Lancer on the shoulder. Lancer cried out and clasped the wound before falling to her knees. Before the stormtrooper could deliver the killing blow, however, a bolt of purple energy came sailing out of the woods, hitting him in the chest. The trooper was knocked back against the side of the shuttle before falling to the ground unconscious.
Lancer rose shakily to her feet and turned around to find Twilight standing behind her with smoke trailing from the tip of her horn. The death trooper offered the princess a nod, and that was the end of it. “It’s just as I thought...” She looked towards a set of footprints that left the shuttle and dissapeared into the woods. “These guys were only guarding their ride out of here. The rest are on their way to the tree. We need to hurry...”
Lancer took a step forward, but she didn’t make it far. She let out a sharp hiss before falling, clutching her shoulder where the blaster left its mark. Rarity approached her. “Let me see that, darling...”
Reluctantly, Lancer removed her hand and allowed the ponies to see her injury. A gaping hole existed where her shoulder used to be, and it appeared to be very red. “Oh dear... She’s losing a lot of blood... You need lie down quickly.” Lancer protested and attempted to push the white pony away. “Darling, if we don’t do something about this, we’re going to lose you. Let us help.”
Rarity spoke with such firmness that the death trooper actually seemed to listen and obey. With her good arm, she pointed at the shuttle. “M-M-Medical kit... inside... on the wall by the ramp...”
Fluttershy was on it immediately and flew into the imperial craft. Moments later, she came back with a large white container balanced on her back. “I’m sorry if this isn’t it. I didn’t really know what to look for...”
Lancer waved her away and pulled the box closer towards her. “This is it... You did fine...”
Rarity frowned at her and opened the kit. “Let me help you with that, darling. You sound like you’re burning up.”
She placed her hooves on either side of Lancer’s helmet and began to pull it off, but the death trooper stopped her. Twilight looked worriedly at Lancer. “Please, let us help you...”
Again, with great reluctance, the death trooper allowed Rarity to remove her helmet. As the black mask came off, her golden hair fell free, and for the first time, the ponies saw the person Lancer really was. She too looked back at the ponies, blinking through her shimmering blue eyes.
Sure enough, she had been burning up under her helmet as obvious beads of sweat dotted her face. She looked up at Twilight. “This is your mission now, princess...”
The purple pony solomly nodded her head and looked at Rarity. “Don’t worry, Twilight. I’ll take good care of our friend here. You go along and keep the tree safe from those bullies.”
Everyone looked at her, waiting for her to say something. “Come on, girls. Let’s hurry to the Tree of Harmony.”
Then, she, along with the rest of her friend, left Rarity and Lancer by the shuttle and ran back into the thicket.
***Up Next: The Belly of the Beast***