Chapter 27
“It’s impossible to tell for certain when I knew I was defeated. Pain and anguish had flooded my body, and I couldn’t even think straight. But I knew. Without a shred of doubt, I knew: this was the end”
-Twilight Sparkle, On Extra-Galactic Voyages, p. 980
Blaster fire flew overhead and slammed into trees around Chewbacca, exploding the trunk and sending pieces of it flying in all directions. He picked bits of bark out of his fur as he clawed his way through the forest, leading a pair of Ewoks along a ridge. He listened and tried to find the source of the mechanical stomping in the distance. His keen hunter’s instincts told him it was close, no more than a few dozen meters away.
Suddenly, he spotted the scout walker carefully making its way through the forest toward its target in the distance: a group of Ewok warriors trying to sneak up on an Imperial squad. Quickly, Chewbacca ran along the forest floor, pausing every so often for the Ewoks to catch up. He pointed at the walker and tried to tell them what his plan was, but they scratched their heads and acted confused. Sighing, he picked them up and deposited them on his shoulders as he sunk his claws deep into the bark of a nearby tree. He ascended the trunk as quickly as a katarn, running to the edge of a branch and taking a flying leap onto a vine hanging limply off the end.
Screaming a war cry, he swung from the vine toward the Imperial walker as it swayed back and forth, his Ewok companions clinging for dear life. He let go at just the right moment, landing on the roof with a loud metallic bang and setting the two Ewoks down. Reaching to pull the latch, he felt resistance in the handle. Before he could pull out his fusion cutter however, one of the Ewoks had crawled up to the front of the walker and leaned over the edge to wave at the occupants.
Chewie smiled as he heard one of the occupants shout, “Get him off of there!” As the hatch opened and the walker pilot climbed out, Chewbacca wasted no time grabbing the man and hurling him thirty feet to the forest floor. The officer let out a horrified scream, punctuated by the sound of bones snapping, followed by silence.
As he smiled and watched the body crumple to the ground, the two Ewoks hopped inside and began beating the other Imperial to death with their clubs. Suddenly, he felt the walker shift under him, and he nearly lost his balance. He then popped his head into the cabin to scream at the little saboteurs at the controls for nearly giving him the same fate as the Imperial he’d tossed earlier. Calming himself, he climbed down into the cabin of the walker and closed the hatch, gently moving the Ewok in the pilot's seat to the back of the cabin so he could take control of the machine.
It wasn’t long before he saw another AT-ST stomping its way through the forest, blasting the Ewoks he’d saved from the previous occupants of his walker. Snarling to himself, he pointed at the walker in front of them and screamed at the Ewok in the gunner’s seat.
The crew of the other walker didn’t know what hit them when a cascade of crimson laser bolts shredded the generators and blew the control cabin apart. The cloud of plasma dissipated, and all that remained of the vehicle was a pair of legs, standing frozen in mid stride.
As the Rebel walker stomped away, Chewbacca could hear loud cheering from the surrounding Ewoks who moments ago had been cowering before the might of the Empire. Suddenly he heard a loud “Yee-haw!” Turning the head of the walker, he saw Applejack waving her hat as they walked by. He smiled, infected with her excitement.
Applejack laughed and whooped as she saw the captured walker continue on its rampage of payback to the Empire. Suddenly, the black barrel of an Imperial blaster rifle appeared in front of her face.
Ducking away from it, she prepared to buck the owner of the blaster from the top of the ridge where she was standing, but stopped when she saw who he was.
“Yee-haha!” shouted the Ewok holding the blaster.
Relaxing, she gently reached up and pushed the barrel of the gun out of her face. “Whoa there, lil’ guy!” she said. The creature muttered what she guessed was an apology, and then hopped down to continue the fight. She shook her head and chuckled at the excitable alien, then she leaped off the ridge herself and galloped off. The Empire was beginning to lose the upper hand. She could feel it, and she wanted to capitalize on it.
“Woo-hoo!” she shouted, running down the side of the embankment to join the fray, her energy levels rising anew.
-----
Bounding through the forest, Rarity launched herself over a log, landed on the other side, and tried to find the group of troopers she had been chasing. She sniffed the air, then caught the unmistakable odor of Imperial armor. That combination of neoprene and machine oil was hard to miss, and she knew neoprene like she knew prada or chiffon.
Quickly, she galloped in the direction of the smell, then spotted the three troopers who had been chasing after a group of Ewoks. Slamming her hooves into the ground, she steadied herself as she picked up several rocks in her magic.
The sound of an energetic charge filled the air, and the troopers barely had time to scream before the rocks were sent at hypersonic speeds toward their faces. They were out cold before they could even point their blasters.
Smiling at her small victory, Rarity was about to quip a one-liner, but the sound of blaster fire flying over her head made her think twice about staying in one spot too long. Quickly she hopped behind a line of bushes and retreated to better ground.
-----
In another part of the forest, Applejack was following a group of Ewoks. She didn’t know their language, but was aware of enough of their phrases to know they wanted her to follow, and that they were planning an ambush. They led her to one of the long paths that had been cut through the forest by the Ewoks. “I don’t understand… what’s so special about this?"
A few moments of explaining made it perfectly clear what they were talking about. She smiled and took her rope, then tied one end to a tree. After forming the other end into a lasso, she began twirling it in the air, gathering velocity so she could toss it. Then she heard a mechanical whine coming her way.
Acting quickly, she tossed the lasso and it caught the end of the approaching speederbike. She quickly galloped off, then turned around in time to see the vehicle wrap itself around the tree she’d tied her rope to, the centrifugal force keeping the occupant in his seat. He screamed as his bike got closer and closer to the tree. Then the bike slammed into the trunk at 200 miles per hour, the impact igniting the fuel canisters and creating an explosion that consumed the bike and its rider.
-----
Things were calming down next to the bunker leading to the shield generator, but Han still felt desperate as he continued to try hotwiring the door controls. He’d broken into hundreds of doors, from a shopkeeper’s door back when he was a street urchin to the doors in the Imperial high-security Star’s End prison. This should be way easier than it was turning out to be. He’d already bypassed the outer control circuit, so what more could there be to this thing? He carefully watched the readouts on the control panel in front of him, trying to find just the right combination of wires to touch in order to trip the door cycling mechanism. Suddenly he saw the STBY light illuminate.
“I think I got it…”
Touching another pair of wires, the OPN lights turned on.
“I got it!”
He heard the sound of metal sliding against metal and looked behind him, expecting to see the main door of the complex open up. Instead, he saw a pair of thick blast doors close over the entrance. Grimacing, he turned back around to try and figure out what he’d done wrong.
A cry of pain from Leia caused him to drop the wires he’d been holding. She collapsed to the floor, her face contorted in agony from the smoking hole in her arm.
“Oh, Princess Leia!” shouted C-3PO, “Are you alright?”
Han took hold of her hand and tried to pry it off the wound. He could feel the blood seeping out from under her fingers as he kept pulling on them. “Let’s see.”
She shook her head, her teeth set and her eyes closed. “It’s not bad,” she replied.
“Freeze!”
Han didn’t have to turn around to know who had said it. The metallic filtering gave it away. He put his hands up slowly, wishing he hadn’t holstered his blaster. Even if he had, he doubted he’d be able to turn around quickly enough to blast the trooper behind him, assuming it was just one. More than one and he didn’t stand a chance.
As his mind ran through the options, few though they be, he glanced down to see Leia had already pulled a pistol and was holding it close to her chest. He smiled. “I love you.”
She smiled back at him. “I know.”
“Hands up!” barked the trooper. “Stand up!”
As Han slowly began to rise, Leia sprang into action. Two shots rang out from her blaster, and two thuds were heard behind him. He turned around and looked at the two fresh corpses laying in the grass, smoking craters in the middle of their chests where their hearts used to be. He smiled; this woman was the most impressive person he’d ever laid eyes on.
Suddenly his attention was drawn to mechanical footsteps. He looked up in dismay as the guns of an AT-ST walker bore down on him. His luck had just run out.
He held his hand out to keep Leia from trying anything else. He wasn’t about to let her risk her life. “Stay back,” he said, wondering if this Imperial was in a bargaining mood.
The hatch opened, and as he prepared his best defense for Leia and himself, a familiar hairy beast appeared above the metal cabin. He smiled in relief. “Chewie!”
His attention was then drawn to a large rock that began floating in the air. It took him a moment to realize what was causing it. “Hey! No, stop!” he shouted at Rarity, causing the rock to stop midair mere inches from the walker’s knee joint. It fell to the ground with a crash.
“My apologies, dear,” said Rarity as she walked out from the bushes and joined him.
With as little patience as he could muster, he pointed at Leia and said, “She’s wounded, help her!”
As Rarity began tending to Leia, using her magic to fashion a crude bandage from leaves, Han waved at Chewbacca. “Hey Chewie, got room in there for two?”
-----
The joystick seemed like it weighed a thousand pounds to Rainbow. She thought that she heard the sounds of battle, generated by the cockpit’s audio feedback system, but it seemed far away. The loss of Fluttershy seemed to scoop her heart from her chest, leaving a gaping void.
She struggled to breathe, and as she did, one of the voices that she was hearing came into focus.
“Green Four! Green Four, what are you doing?!”
It was Arvyl Crynyd, her flight leader. Something about his pleading caused her to climb up the cliff leading to oblivion. Suddenly, the reason he was screaming in her ear hit her like a speeding pegasus: the wall of death in front of her.
She pulled back on the stick quickly, just in time to avoid slamming into the jagged superstructure of an Imperial Star Destroyer. She juked back and forth, avoiding gun barrels and antennas, and brought her fighter about.
Warning lights lit up in front of her on the HUD, followed by the green glow of turbolaser bolts. “Agh!” she screamed as she wrenched the stick and executed a roll to take her out of the Destroyer’s firing solution.
“Are you alright, Green Four?”
The world paused for a moment as Rainbow’s despair began to dissolve, leaving behind an iron block of determination. She shoved the throttle forward, the colors of the stripe painted up the middle of her ship’s small fuselage leaving a rainbow-colored contrail.
Flicking the switch to cycle targets, she quickly found the nearest TIE Fighter and closed in. Her instincts seem to take over as she hit the firing studs, sending beams of coherent light and plasma slamming into the enemy fighter’s ball-shaped body.
As it exploded in a shower of sparkling debris, she glanced to the left and saw another one. A quick snap-shot burst the fighter’s cockpit and shredded its wings.
“Green Four, come in!”
A primal scream came from her mouth as she chased down fighter after fighter. Even with her HUD’s threat indicator blaring warnings, she continued to blast the symbols of Imperial tyranny.
“Green Four!”
Enemy laser blasts whipped past her cockpit canopy as she landed two square hits on the nearest TIE Interceptor.
“Rainbow!”
That got her attention. “What?!”
“I don’t know if you’ve noticed, Four, but I just got three bandits off your tail! A little thanks would be nice!"
She looked at the scrolling combat information screen. Several fighters that had been chasing her earlier were confirmed killed, with Flight Leader Crynyd getting the credit for the kills.
Clearing her throat, she hit the comm key. “Sorry, sir. Thank you, sir.”
“No problem. Now let’s pair up and hit ‘em hard, Four!”
“We’ll make ‘em pay, sir!”
She throttled back a bit to let Crynyd catch up, then she matched speeds with him and hit the controls to sync their targeting computers. A new look of determination came across her face as she targeted the leader of a flight of TIE Bombers.
“I swear, Fluttershy,” she said, tears still dampening the fur on her cheeks, “I’m not gonna rest until the Empire pays for taking you from me.”
-----
Light splashed across the walls of the Emperor’s throne room as Luke and Vader’s lightsabers struck each other. Vader’s saber lashed out viciously at Luke, each blow carrying the full might of the Sith Lord’s vast depths of power. Luke blocked each strike, his blade never going for a kill. They danced around the room, a deadly tango that seemed to Twilight like a never ending exchange of power.
She watched as the two powerful warriors battled. With each crash of the blades, she became more and more anxious for Luke. He seemed so small next to Vader, who was like a tall, dark gargoyle. His skull-like breath mask was a chilling sight to behold, and it stared with empty eye sockets at Luke as they continued their duel. She had to do something to help Luke.
Quickly she built up a charge of magic, the seething energies forming into a sparking ball on the end of her horn. She unleashed it, but it merely splashed harmlessly against Vader's outstretched hand. She gasped as she realized that he’d anticipated her attack and blocked it effortlessly.
However, that was the opening Luke needed. He quickly kicked Vader in the side, sending him tumbling down the stairs leading up to the dais. Twilight looked up at his face and saw no malice or anger, just peace. She wondered how he could be so serene in the face of such evil.
Her thoughts were interrupted by the cackling of the Emperor as he sat in his throne and observed the battle, his mouth spread wide into a twisted grin. “Good… use your aggressive feelings, boy! Let the hate flow through you!”
Suddenly, a golden energy blast illuminated the throne room and struck the Emperor in the side. Celestia’s horn shone like a column of flame as it unleashed a deadly cone of pure magic at Palpatine. Her eyes burned with anger and determination and her jaw was set. But as she ended her barrage on him and the light faded, the smiling face of the monster in the throne stared back at her.
“Fool,” he said. “You think you are strong enough to defeat me?”
“I am strong enough to defeat you, foul creature!” Celestia countered, her horn lighting up again and preparing for another blast.
Before she could unleash it, the Emperor lifted his hand, and suddenly she flew backward into the railing surrounding the dais. A cry of pain sounded from her mouth as the hard metal slammed into her wing, and the blast flew out from her horn and impacted the ceiling beyond.
The resulting explosion was deafening, but Twilight’s scream could still be heard above it. “Celestia!”
Quickly, Twilight rushed to her side and knelt next to Celestia, her eyes frantically searching for signs of injury. But Celestia lifted a hoof. “It’s alright, I’m not seriously hurt. We must find a way to defeat the Emperor,” she said, glancing at the two cages sitting in the shadows and the monstrous figures snarling inside them.
As Celestia’s face momentarily betrayed her emotions, Twilight nodded. “I understand, Princess.” She leaned down and nuzzled her teacher. “I promise, I will do whatever it takes.”
But she didn’t know how she would be able to take down the Emperor. If Celestia’s magic wasn’t enough, then how could she possibly defeat him? Her talents were nothing compared to her teacher’s, and she was starting to doubt that they had a chance at all. Deep within her, something stirred and massaged her insecurities. She fought it, trying to keep it from overtaking her, but it was gaining ground, getting closer and closer to taking down her defenses.
She looked up and saw Luke standing on the staircase, his lightsaber extinguished. She wondered how he was able to contend with the despair he must be feeling, no doubt caused by the Emperor somehow. But his serene face betrayed no inner struggle as he said, “I will not fight you, father."
Vader strode toward him, his blade humming with deadly energy as the empty eyes of his mask seemed to lock onto Luke like a predator. He approached his prey, and Luke’s serenity wavered as he began to back away slowly. Fear crossed his eyes, and Vader seemed ready to pounce at any moment.
“You are unwise to lower your defenses!” said Vader as he swung his lightsaber, with Luke barely able to ignite his blade in time to deflect the attack. The two of them clashed sabers in a flurry of strikes that made Twilight’s heart race. At any point, a missed block could spell doom for her friend. She could hardly move as she watched the two glowing energy columns flash back and forth.
One thing remained constant as they attacked each other. Vader continued to attack, but Luke seemed reluctant to strike back. She watched him back away from each strike little by little, giving ground to Vader’s onslaught as he refused to deliver a killing blow to his father.
Luke’s sudden leap backwards into a security station surprised Twilight as she saw him extinguish his blade. Then even more impressively, he leaped backwards into the air and landed on a catwalk ten feet above him.
“Your thoughts betray you, father,” said Luke. “I feel the good in you… the conflict.”
“There is no conflict,” replied Vader, anger filling his voice as he pointed his weapon at Luke.
Luke continued to walk along the platform, a renewed determination on his face. “You couldn’t bring yourself to kill me before and I don’t believe you’ll destroy me now!”
“You underestimate the power of the Dark Side,” said Vader. “If you will not fight, then you will meet your destiny!” With that, he wound back, and flung his lightsaber through the air. Luke barely had time to duck out of the way of the blade as it sliced effortlessly through the metal catwalk and its supports. Sparks flew as the deck fell from under Luke’s feet, and he slipped, tumbling down and rolling into the darkness.
As Luke fell, the sound of cackling laughter echoed through the chamber. Twilight looked up at the Emperor as he stood from his chair and walked toward the edge of the dais to watch the battle proceed. The horrible grin he wore on his face gave Twilight a chill, and she realized that there wasn’t any way to defeat this villain with the power of magic.
That left the power of friendship. But would her friendship with Luke alone be enough? And how could she even channel it without the Elements of Harmony? The subtleties of the power of friendship were something she was still studying, and she didn’t know if there was a way to harness it to defeat Palpatine and his minion.
She shuddered as the Emperor gleefully chuckled. “Good… good!” he said as he drank in the malice and hatred flowing through the room. There had to be a way…
-----
Flaming debris rained on the canopy as Rainbow finished off a perfect feint and backstab maneuver alongside Flight Leader Crynyd. The other element of fighters from Red Squadron peeled off, having finished off the TIE Interceptors that Rainbow was luring into their sights.
“Thanks, Green Four,” she heard over the comm.
“No prob,” she responded, then executed a barrel roll to put her sights on a flight of TIE Fighters. Laser bolts blazed from her cannons as she strafed the element of fighters. The crimson bolts shredded their wings and burrowed deep into their cockpits, igniting their reactors and bursting them like overripe melons.
Racking up kills did little to salve her wounded heart. The image of the Redemption’s hull erupting like a volcano was still burned into her memory, and she couldn’t shake it. She banked away from her flight leader and headed toward the debris field of the medical frigate as it slowly expanded.
“Stick close, Four!” Crynyd’s voice commanded her, but she continued toward the cloud of twisted girders and burned hull plating.
“I need to check for survivors,” she said.
She didn’t wait for a response. Quickly, she dumped energy into her engines and burned toward the remains of the medical frigate. As she approached, she saw charred bodies of humanoids, which turned her stomach. But none of the bodies she saw were Fluttershy. She wove around the larger pieces, with small bits striking her shields and causing them to flare. Easing up on the throttle, she continued to search the debris field, hoping to find some sign of survivors.
The longer she stayed in it, the more she realized that there was no hope of survival for anyone on board the ship. A stray laser bolt hitting a piece of conduit near her position jolted her back to the battle around her.
Reluctantly, she turned away. A tear rolled down her cheek as she headed back into the fight, but then she saw a piece of wreckage that looked a little too perfect. It was a blocky piece, with large planes sticking out of the sides. It took her a moment to realize it was a rescue shuttle, and while its surface was charred and the hull plating looked a little warped, it was otherwise intact.
Her heart raced as she sped toward the shuttle and parked in front of the cockpit viewport. She peered into it, trying to see if anyone was on board. Her eyesight, honed from years of performing aerial feats of derring-do, allowed her to see that there were people inside the cabin. She gasped as she spied a familiar yellow pegasus floating in zero gee.
Quickly, she hit the comms. “Fluttershy! Fluttershy, can you hear me?! Say something!”
An eternity passed before she saw Fluttershy move. Her body flinched, and Rainbow could see that her left foreleg was drawn up in pain toward her chest. Fluttershy reached weakly with her other leg to grasp the handhold on the archway, then propelled herself forward toward the control panel. She activated the commlink, her voice barely registering above the background static. “R… Rainbow?”
“Fluttershy!” The sound of her friend’s voice renewed Rainbow’s courage. “Thank Celestia! Are you hurt?”
A cough wracked Fluttershy as she hit the comm key again. “I… I think my l-leg is broken… My sides hurt…”
Rainbow swallowed hard, trying to get rid of the lump in her throat. “Hold on, Fluttershy. Just hold on. Can you raise your shields?”
“I don’t know… power’s out…” Her hoof dropped weakly from the comm key, and she began floating away.
Acting quickly, Rainbow switched the frequency and shouted, “Green Five and Six, get over to the Redemption’s debris field! There’s a rescue shuttle with survivors on it and we need to protect it till another shuttle can evac them!”
“Roger, be there as soon as I can,” said Five. Six followed suit soon after.
Green laser fire flashed past Rainbow’s canopy. She looked up and saw a deadly trio of TIE Interceptors flying toward the rescue shuttle. Apparently the Imperials had heard her comm chatter.
Shoving the throttle forward, she met them head on, spraying them with laser fire. The small forward profiles of the enemy fighters meant that she wasn’t able to get all of them, but a smile came to her lips as she saw the lead fighter erupt in flames and his wingmen break off their attack. They broke in opposite directions, but she didn’t hesitate to pick one and then get on his tail. She let loose a barrage of cannon fire and the Interceptor burst like an egg.
Bringing up her targeting computer, she scanned for nearby fighter craft, and as luck would have it, the nearest fighter was one of the ships that had attacked the rescue shuttle. The dagger-shaped craft was swinging around, and Rainbow could tell from its trajectory that it was headed toward the shuttle. After balancing power between her engines and shields, she opened the throttle and careened toward the Interceptor, guns blazing. The stream of fire caught the Interceptor on its upper wing surface, blasting the solar array panel to atoms and unbalancing its thrust. She watched with satisfaction as it spun out of control and then crashed into a twisted piece of metal debris.
The pieces of the Interceptor had barely cleared before more TIEs began to swarm her. But any fear in her heart had long since been replaced by determination. She had thought Fluttershy was gone, and now that her friend had a second chance, she was going to make sure it counted.
-----
Far below the chaos of the space battle above, Commander Hewex was in the main control center of the shield generator bunker. “Continue to maintain sweeps of sector 515,” he said, pointing over the shoulder of the scanner operator. He could still feel Vader’s cold, invisible grip on his throat, and this would be the second time he’d lost control of his base. I am not going to end up a corpse over this! Quickly he walked to the control panel in order to access the command comlink, but as he reached for the controls, the wall screen lit up and displayed a walker pilot’s face. He didn’t recognize the man, but before he could ask him about his status, the man spoke into his comm. “It’s over commander. The Rebels have been routed. They’re fleeing into the woods. We need reinforcements to continue the pursuit.”
Hewex had been waiting for this news ever since the battle began. He’d had no doubt that he would be able to pull victory from the jaws of defeat, and a grin spread on his mouth. “Send three squads to help!” he said, ordering the remaining garrison of troops after the Rebels. He wasn’t going to squander this opportunity to quash the last vestiges of resistance. He might even get a commendation from the Emperor for saving the base. “Open the back door!”
He followed his troops out of the security complex toward the entrance to the bunker, the thrill of victory carrying him up the ramp and putting a smile on his face. As he cleared the door, his vision exploded in a supernova as something hit the side of his head and knocked him to the ground. Looking up, he saw the orange pony turning around from bucking him with a smirk on her face. His troops quickly pointed their weapons at her.
Hewex wiped blood from his head as he said, “You just don’t know when to give up, do you, little one?”
“Stubbornness does run in my family,” she replied. “But in this case, I think it’s warranted.” She looked up at the roof of the bunker, prompting Hewex and his troops to do the same.
His jaw dropped as he saw dozens of Ewoks pop up from behind the metal structure and point their bows at him. He turned and looked around the clearing, seeing more and more of the little demons brandishing their weapons, with Han Solo standing at the feet of the walker, still wearing the uniform of a walker driver and the biggest smirk he could muster.
“I think we’re gonna have to teach this one some manners,” said Applejack. “It’s just too bad there ain’t a wood shed around here…"
-----
“Give me another charge,” said Han as he held out his hands.
Rarity levitated another of the small cylinders that filled her saddlebag. She quickly passed it to Han and pulled out another to affix to the ceiling. It took no time at all to cover every surface with the explosive devices. “Are you sure this will work?” she said as she used her magic to twist the timing knob to the agreed upon setting.
“Yeah,” replied Han as he set the timer on his own grenade. “The blast will channel into that energy conduit – ” he pointed down a long, deep chasm lined with discharging capacitors “ – and blow this place sky high. We just don’t want to be anywhere near it when it does, so get ready to run.”
She nodded, sweating a little and wishing that she was anywhere else, but grateful that this battle would soon be over. She pulled another grenade from the bag and began placing it on another flat panel, and then smiled to herself, knowing this would be the key to victory for the Alliance.
-----
The sight of the Emperor looming over the edge of the dais filled Twilight at once with fear and rage. She’d never known such hatred of a living thing before. That man… no, she decided. He wasn’t a man. He was anything but.
He was a monster, a creature of pure malevolence who wanted to rain terror and oppression down over the whole galaxy and reap the sickening fear and anger that it grew. He saw the people under his rule as insects he could crush at a whim. Worst of all, he saw Twilight and her friends as something he could exploit to make himself an invincible army.
The thought of billions of copies of herself being used in that way, devoid of the teachings of Celestia, sickened her.
She watched him closely, observing his every move. His gaze never left the scene below him as he watched Vader taunting Luke, trying to draw him out. If he was distracted, maybe she could use that opportunity to deal a crippling blow to him. Then with him out of the way, she could escape with her friends and then find a way home.
Quietly she began charging up an attack spell, but as she prepared to unleash it, he spoke. “So quick to turn to violence, my young apprentice?”
“I am not your apprentice,” said Twilight. “I will never accept teachings from you! My only mentor is Princess Celestia!”
“Ah yes,” he said, looking back at her. “The one lying beside you. The one who failed to show you your true potential.”
Twilight frowned. “You don’t know what you’re talking about! Celestia has taught me more about magic and friendship than you ever could!”
He chuckled. “You think she has taught you everything? No, my young Jedi. She has not. Look at her, defeated… With her full power she was unable to cause the slightest discomfort to me.” He turned toward her, his voice smooth and calm. “I know you want to kill me, young one. Your hatred… your anger… you could use it to strike me down.”
“Twilight, no!” said Celestia. “Don’t listen to him. Be strong, my student!”
But Twilight wasn’t listening to Celestia, for once. The anger, the fear in her heart was growing, and she was starting to consider what the Emperor was saying. He was right. There was deeper magic inside her, magic that she had never allowed herself to take hold of. It was wild, untamed, but maybe with the proper instruction she could use it to overthrow the Emperor. Perhaps she could even rule the galaxy in his place and use the position as Empress to bring about a new regime, one where friendship and hope overshadowed the fear and hatred that now filled the galaxy.
“Good…” He seemed to be drinking in what she was feeling. “You are powerful, my young apprentice. Use your power… your hatred! Let it flow through you!”
Just then, Twilight heard a primal scream from under the dais. “Never!” shouted Luke. She heard the two lightsabers ignite, and a furious torrent of blows followed. She galloped to the edge of the dais and watched as Vader and Luke battled each other.
“Twilight,” said Celestia. “Remember who you are. You are not a Sith apprentice. You are Twilight Sparkle, my student and my friend. Listen to your heart. You can’t give in to the Emperor! Please, my student!”
Twilight looked at her. She had a look of pleading on her face, giving Twilight pause. She thought about what Celestia had said, and began listening to her heart. Long moments passed as she considered her mentor’s words.
“You’re right, Princess,” said Twilight finally. “I may not be as powerful as I’d like, but if I give in to hatred and fear, then I’ve already lost.”
She looked at the Emperor. Gone was his gleeful mirth, replaced with a cold, angry gaze. As chilling as his grin had been, it was nothing compared to how he looked now. She gasped quietly as he raised his hands toward her.
On the floor below them, Vader and Luke continued to cross blades. Green and red flashes of energy illuminated them both as they battled, with Vader giving ground. He was beginning to tire, his mechanical suit failing to keep up with the enraged Jedi before him. Luke pushed his father back toward the chasm surrounding the turbolifts, his jaw hurting from how hard he was clenching it. Only a few meters separated Vader from plummeting to his doom.
A flash of blue lightning caused Luke to suddenly look away, fearful that the Emperor was attacking him. It was the opening Vader needed. He brought his red energy blade up and it met Luke’s wrist, slicing through the robotic components within and severing the mechanical hand. Luke screamed in pain as his lightsaber extinguished and bounced away.
Twilight’s back arched and her legs convulsed as the lightning coursed through her body. She tried to gather the strength to muster an energy shield, but she was beaten down by the incredible pain she felt.
“Young fool,” said the Emperor as he lowered his attack. “You had such promise.” And with that he resumed pumping Twilight’s body with searing Sith lightning.
“Twilight!” shouted Celestia as she charged her horn, but suddenly, effortlessly, the Emperor caused the lightning to spread from Twilight to Celestia. She screamed as the burning pain filled her body and she began to writhe on the floor next to Twilight.
Luke looked up from the stump on his arm to see the Emperor pummeling them both, and as he did, his lightsaber flew from the corner of the room where it bounced and landed in Vader’s outstretched hand. The Sith Lord ignited the emerald green blade, then crossed them next to Luke’s neck.
He sighed, defeated.
Twilight and Celestia then felt the lightning cease. They slowly opened their eyes as they fought through the pain to look up at the Emperor. He stood over them, hands still outstretched as a grin spread across his face.
“And now, my little ponies… you will die.”