//------------------------------// // Torture and Sandcrawlers // Story: Cinematic Adventures: Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope // by extremeenigma02 //------------------------------// Darkness… despair… the only factors greeting Sunset Shimmer, the moment she finally regained consciousness after being knocked out. She quickly discovered she was in a dark, damp prison cell. Where she currently resided, she had no idea. One thing was utterly certain: She needed to get out now. She thought of calling out for help, but who would possibly be here to help her? Her friends were Celestia only knows where, they probably have no idea where she even is. It would seem that it was up to her. Walking over to the cell door, she focused all her magical ability on unlocking it. Suddenly, an invisible sensation flung her backwards and she hit hard against the cold steel wall. Groaning in pain, she looked up and none other than Galen Marek a.k.a. Starkiller stood before her, glaring at her. “Try as you may, you’ll never get out,” He spoke lowly. “This cell was designed specifically to contain even the most powerful force wielders. You’re not getting out unless you are let out… and even if you do, there’s no escape from here.” Sunset picked herself up along her wobbling legs, weakly walking forward to grip the metal bars of her prison. “Please…” She begged. “Just let me out of here. I don’t even know what’s going on.” “Do not lie to me, Jedi scum,” Starkiller said venomously. “My master and I scoured the galaxy for years hunting your kind. We’d thought we eradicated all of you, but seems you managed to stay hidden… until now.” “I told you… I’m not a Jedi!” Sunset croaked. “I don’t even know what they are; I’m not even from here!” Marek merely chuckled darkly over her response. “Typical Jedi lies… you’ll say anything for sympathy.” “No really, I’m serious!” Sunset shot back. “I can prove it… if you’ll let me out.” Starkiller stalked slowly and methodically toward her cell. Sunset stood back, as his icy glare penetrated through her very core. “You can’t fool me,” He sneered. “Now that you are in the heart of the Empire, soon you’ll be gone… the same as all the Jedie before you. To emphasize what he meant, Marek pulled the hilt of his lightsaber and ignited the blood red blade within. It pierced through the metal bars of the cell, nearly hitting Sunset’s chest. Thankfully, she had the knowledge to back away. Feeling the heat emanating from the blade, add to being locked in a cell, Sunset finally broke down as she collapsed upon the floor and cried. Seeing this actually made Marek break his menacing demeanor, if only for a split second. Instead, as he deactivated his lightsaber and returned it in his robes, he stared at the sobbing girl… and he was confused. “I’ve known the Jedi to weep,” He spoke confused. “Unless they maintain their will and strength till the end.” Sunset looked at him again, tears streaming down her face. “I told you… I’m not… a Jedi,” She spoke, between sobs. Starkiller looked at her, almost in contemplation, as she lowered her head once more. Just then, the sound of opening cell room door made Starkiller stand at attention as three figured entered the room. Based on their physique, they were all female, demonstrated by their slim, slender bodies. They all wore dark armor and matching helmets signifying them as Darth Vader’s Inquisitors. The one leading the group approached Starkiller. “Has the prisoner said anything yet?” She asked in a disguised robotic voice. “No, she has not,” Starkiller responded. “She only just awoke when I arrived, Third Sister.” The Third Sister turned back toward the other two inquisitors and nodded her head. They opened the cell door, drawing Sunset out before clamping her wrists with special cuffs that restrict force magic. The Third Sister approached Sunset and snatched her chin violently in her hand. “W-W-What do you w-want from m-me?” Sunset sobbed. “The Emperor wishes an audience with you,” The Third Sister responded simply. The three inquisitors proceed to drag Sunset from the cell block as the door closed behind them. This left Starkiller standing alone, frozen in thought. <> The inquisitors dragged Sunset through the halls of the Imperial Palace toward what could only be described as the throne room. Dragged into the room, Sunset looked up and noticed a giant throne carved into a dark rock formation. And sitting upon that sinister throne, a ghastly figured sat upon it. A figure completely covered by a robe from head to toe. But as it raised its head to look upon their ‘guest’, it appeared to resemble a rather ‘old’ man, yet his eyes scream with evil. With a silent gesture of his left hand, the Inquisitors release Sunset, bow before their master, and casually step back. Sunset looked on as a force unclipped the cuffs from her arms, the girl rubs her wrist as the figure spoke. “Take a good look around child,” He spoke sinisterly. “What do you see?” Although frightened with horror, Sunset complied and looked around the throne room. It was difficult to see inside granted it was so dark. There was barely anything that stuck out apart from the usual trimmings and walls. The doorways from which they entered… but otherwise not much to look at. “I see many ways you can try to escape from here. Walls that can be torn down, a floor to dig through, and perhaps you may try to run through that door… all of them fruitless attempts. But your bravery will not go unnoted.” “W-W-Who are you?” Sunset quivered, with fear. The old man in the black robe slowly rose from the throne, assuming his full height before her. “I am Emperor Palpatine,” He introduced himself. “Dark Lord of the Sith in the Order of the Sith Lords. But you would not know that don’t you child?” “P-P-Please… I have no idea what’s going on here. But this was all just a very big mistake. I came aboard this ship in the stars after I—“ “Stumbled here… from another world…” The way the Emperor finished her sentence before she could, as if he could read into her mind, took Sunset Shimmer aback. The emperor merely chuckled sadistically while his Inquisitors remained silent. “I’ve sensed from the moment you stepped into my galaxy that you are not like those I have come across in all my years,” The Emperor continued. “And yet I also sense something ‘special’ about you. A power even beyond my own imagination that no mere human like yourself should be able to possess, much less control… and yet… and yet you’re not even a human… are you?” Sunset Shimmer almost answered that question, but then thought against it. While she had no idea what this person was capable of, this she learned from Celestia: Anything she says could be used against her and put others at risk. Instead she just looked toward the Emperor, trying to be brave even in an otherwise chilling atmosphere. “I just… want to go home…” Sunset spoke. “I have a family… my friends… whatever you are planning, I have nothing to do with it!” “Oh young Sunset Shimmer…” The Emperor smiled evilly. “I think you know as well as I why I can’t just let you leave.” “How did—” “You’re terrible at hiding things from me, Sunset. I can sense every part of your life just by looking at you. And as I was saying, you are more than just a human girl… likewise, you never were. You came from a world that wasn’t even yours from the start; you were born in a world where power such as yours are abundant. I trust you are aware I’ve been hunting down such power, bending those who harness it to their knees and fall before a might beyond measure.” “… Are you going to kill me?” “Maybe… maybe not… you wouldn’t be brought to me personally if my apprentices had not suspected you could be of some used to me. And I wouldn’t have dropped everything else if I did not see reason to believe you are ‘special’ in a sense. So let’s make this easy: Tell me about your power, be willing to share it under my rule, and no harm will come to you.” Sunset Shimmer could feel something trying to claw its way through her mind, she grunted as she struggled to fight back against it. She gritted her teeth and stared down upon the Emperor, fighting tears threatening to come out. Meanwhile, the Emperor was completely still barely showing any effort. After a moment, something seemed to come to mind. “Interesting… I can feel that your will is very powerful,” The Emperor nodded slowly. “Oh yes… I can see why they chose to let you live. But nevertheless, Sunset Shimmer… we have ways of making you… talk.” <> Moments later, Sunset found herself strapped down to a cold metal slab in the Emperor’s Torture chamber. The sick, maniacal Emperor himself stood off to the side as he watched with a wicked smile. The inquisitors had tightened the straps to the point Sunset was completely immobilized, utterly defenseless. Sunset looked over with tears in her eyes, as Palpatine slowly made his way toward her side. “Please… please don’t do this,” She begged quietly. Palpatine raised a shriveled hand from his robe, gently dragging it down her face as her tears fell. He chuckled with evil satisfaction as he stepped back. “You have the power to make this all stop my dear,” He said gruffly. “You need only agree to be my apprentice and give in to the dark side. However much pain and torment you receive beforehand is entirely up to you. Now… you will experience the full power of the dark side.” Palpatine raised his hands and bluish-purple lightning streamed from his fingers and contact Sunset. The fiery haired teen screamed in pure agony, the bolts of force lightning ravaging her body with unbelievable pain. She allowed her tears to fall from her eyes, as the torture continued on for hours. Unbeknownst to her… this was only the beginning. <> The following day, four Imperial stormtroopers mill about in front of the half-buried lifepod that brought R2-D2 and C-3PO to Tatooine. A trooped yelled off to an officer some distance away. “Someone was in the pod,” The First Trooper reported. “The tracks go off in this direction.” A second trooper picked up a small bit of metal out from the sand and gives it to the first trooper. “Look, sir—droids,” The Second Trooper spoke. <> The Sandcrawler moved slowly along a great sand dune. Inside, C-3PO and R2-D2 noisily bounce along inside the cramped prison chamber. R2 seemed to be shut off. “Wake up!” C-3PO shouted. “Wake up!” Suddenly, the shaking and bouncing of the Sandcrawler comes to a complete stop, creating quite a commotion among the mechanical men. C-3PO’s fist banged the head of Artoo, whose computer lights popped on as he began beeping. At the far end of the long chamber, a hatch opened, filling the chamber with blinding white light. A dozen or so Jawas made their way through the odd assortment of robots. “We’re doomed,” 3PO whimpered, turning to R2. “Do you think they’ll melt us down?” R2 responds through a series of beeping sounds. A Jawa starts moving toward them with a threatening object. “Don’t shoot! Don’t shoot!” 3PO cried, raising his arms. “Will this never end?” The Jawas mutter gibberish as they busily line up their battered captives, including R2 and 3PO, in front of the enormous Sandcrawler, which parked beside a small homestead consisting of three large holes in the ground surrounded by several tall moisture vaporators and one small adobe block house. The Jawas scurry around fussing over the robots, straightening them up or brushing some dust from a dented metallic elbow. The shrouded little creatures smell horribly, attracting small insects to the dark areas where their mouths and nostrils should be. Out of the shadows of a dingy side-building limped Owen Lars, a large burly man in his mid-fifties. His reddish eyes are sunken in a dust-covered face. As the farmer carefully inspected each robot, he was closely followed by his slump-shouldered nephew, Luke Skywalker, and two of the girls, Twilight Sparkle and Applejack. Ever since Luke Skywalker lead them to where he and his family stayed, it truly took some time convincing his family (Especially Owen) to permit the group to stay with them till they could find their friend. The family would only agree to let them stay if and ONLY if they agreed to help with some of the chores. Granted most of them weren’t familiar with their work to know what was needed, but with Storm’s prior knowledge of what they do on Tatooine they managed the best they could. Least they were kind enough to offer a place to sleep, though not many beds to spare of course. One of the vile little Jawas walked ahead of the farmer spouting an animated sales pitch in a queer, unintelligible language while the girls stayed close to Luke. “Applejack! Twilight!” A voice called out from one of the huge holes forming the homestead. Luke and the girls went over the edge and saw his Aunt Beru standing in the main courtyard. “Luke, tell Owen that if he gets a translator to be sure it speaks Bocce,” Beru requested. “It looks like we don’t have much of a choice, but I’ll remind him,” Luke called back. “Thanks for the heads up, Miss Beru!” Twilight called. The three return to Luke’s uncle, as they look over the equipment for sale with the Jawa leader. “I have no need for a protocol droid,” Owen informed. “Sir—not in an environment such as this—” 3PO replied quickly. “That’s why I’ve also been programmed for over thirty secondary functions that…” “What I really need is a droid that understands the binary language of moisture vaporators.” “Vaporators! Sir—my first job was programming binary load lifter… very similar to your vaporators. You could say…” “Do you speak Bocce?” “Of course I can, sir. It’s like a second language for me… I’m as fluent in Bocce…” “All right shut up!” Owen interrupted, facing the Jawa. “I’ll take this one.” “Shutting up, sir,” C-3PO spoke meekly. “Luke, you and the girls take these two over to the garage, will you?” Owen instructed. “I want you to have both of them cleaned up before dinner.” “Sure thing, Mr. Owen sir,” Twilight replied. “But I was going into Toshi Station to pick up some power converters…” Luke whined. “You can waste time with your friends when your chores are done,” Owen retorted. “Better listen to him, Luke,” Applejack shook her head. “Let’s just get to it.” “All right, come on!” Luke ushered. “And the red one, come on.” But at first, the one red droid seemed resistant to follow. “Well, come on, Red, let’s go!” While the three make their way back to the Homestead, Fluttershy comes up from the building and looks ahead. As the Jawas start leading the three remaining robots back into the Sandcrawler, she sees R2-D2 release a pathetic little beep and starts after his old friend, C-3PO. Unfortunately, he was restrained by a slimy Jawa, who zapped him with a control box. “Aw… the poor little guy,” Fluttershy sighed sympathetically. Meanwhile, as Owen was negotiating with the head Jawa, Luke, the two girls, and the robots start off for the garage when suddenly… *BANG!* A plate popped off the head of the red Astro-droid’s head plate, sparks flew wildly out of its circuits. “What in tarnation!” Applejack shouted. “Mr. Owen!” “Yeah?” Owen called out. “This R2 unit has a bad motivator,” Luke pointed out. “Look!” “Hey, what’re you trying to push on us?” Owen confronted the Head Jawa. The Jawa goes into a loud spiel. Meanwhile, R2 snuck out of the line and moved up and down trying to attract attention. He released a low whistle, which draws the attention of the others, who peek their heads from the building. Storm Shield made his way out toward Luke and their friends. “Excuse me, Mr. Skywalker,” Storm approached Luke. “But I think that R2 unit seems to be in prime condition.” “Oh yes, indeed,” 3PO nodded, in agreement. “He is a real bargain.” “Uncle Owen…” Luke called out. “Yeah?” Owen answered. “What about that one?” “What about that blue one?” Owen addressed the Jawa. “We’ll take that one.” With little reluctance, the scruffy dwarf traded the damaged Astro-droid for R2. “Yeah, take it away,” Luke gestured. “Uh, I’m quite sure you’ll be very pleased with that one, sir,” 3PO assured. “He really is in first-class condition. I’ve worked with him before. Here he comes.” Owen paid off the whining Jawa, as Luke, the two robots, and the group trudge off toward a grimy homestead entry. “As long as he’s willin’ to help out,” Applejack assured. “Can’t see why not.” “Okay,” Luke nodded. “Let’s go.” As they near the entrance to the homestead, 3PO turned toward R2. “Now, don’t you forget this! Why I should stick my neck out for you is quite beyond my capacity!” Nearby, Rarity caught a stench in the air. Sniffing around, she turned toward the droids and cringed over how battered and filthy they are. “First thing we ought to do is get you boys cleaned up,” Rarity declared. <> Inside the Homestead, the garage was cluttered and worn. And yet, it was a friendly, peaceful atmosphere permeating the low grey chamber. C-3PO lowered himself into a large tub filled with warm oil. Near the two Landspeeders, little R2 rested along a large battery with a cord to his face. “There we go, Mr. Roboto sir,” Pinkie jokingly replied. “A nice warm bath for you… and you’ll be shiny as gold in no time.” “Thank the maker!” 3PO sighed. “This oil bath is going to feel so good. I’ve got such a bad case of dust contamination I can barely move!” R2-D2 beeped a muffled reply. While some of the girls chuckled over the robot’s comment, they turned toward Luke, who seemed lost in his thoughts. He ran his hand over the damaged fin of a small two-man Skyhopper spaceship resting in a low hangar off the garage. Finally, Luke’s frustration got the better of him and he slammed the wrench across the workbench. “Everything all right, Luke?” Spike asked curiously. “It just isn’t fair,” Luke whined. “Oh, Biggs is right. I’m never gonna get out of here!” “Never say ‘never’ Luke,” Pinkie replied. “If we started doing that, why we’d never know where to find Sun—” Pinkie stopped mid-sentence when all her friends looked at her silently. “You’re right… too soon.” “Is there anything I might do to help?” 3PO offered. Luke glanced toward the battered robot. A bit of his anger drained, as a tiny smile crept across his face. “Well, not unless you can alter time, speed up the harvest, or teleport me off this rock!” “Where we come from, we can do some of those spells,” Twilight admitted uncomfortably. “But I wouldn’t recommend altering time… it’s verydangerous.” “And I’m only a droid,” 3PO added. “Not very knowledgeable about such things… not on this planet, anyways. As a matter of fact, I’m not even sure which planet I’m on.” “Well, if there’s a bright center to the universe,” Luke replied. “You’re on the planet that it’s farthest from.” “That is the ‘nicer’ way to describe Tatooine,” Storm shrugged. “I see, Sir Luke,” 3PO nodded. “Just Luke,” Luke chuckled. “And I am C-3PO, human-cyborg, and this is my counterpart, R2-D2.” “Hello,” Luke greeted. R2 beeped in response. Luke unplugged the droid and began scraping several connectors on the robot’s head with a chrome pick. 3PO climbed out of the oil tub and began wiping oil from his bronze body. Twilight Sparkle approached R2-D2, examining the mechanical being. “Wow… you boys must have seen a lot of action,” Twilight observed. “With all we’ve been through Ms. Sparkle, sometimes I’m amazed we’re in as good condition as we are,” 3PO replied. “What with the Rebellion and all.” “You know of the Rebellion against the Empire?” Luke asked, wide-eyed. “That’s how we came to be in your service, if you take my meaning, sir.” “When you say you’ve known the rebellion, does that mean you’ve been part of many battles?” Rainbow asked. “That would be cool!” “Several, I think,” 3PO guessed. “Actually, there’s not much to tell. I’m not much more than an interpreter, and not very good at telling stories. Well, not at making them interesting, anyways.” “You mean like the eyes of the soldiers in combat?” Storm inquired. “You can say that.” Luke struggled to remove a small metal fragment along R2’s neck joint. He used a larger pick. “Well, my little friend, you’ve got something jammed in here real good,” Luke observed. “Were you on a cruiser or…” Suddenly, the fragment broke loose with a snap, sending Luke tumbling head over heels. As the group helped him up, a twelve-inch three-dimensional hologram of Leia Organa, the Rebel senator, projected from little R2’s face. The image was a rainbow of colors, flickering and jiggling in the dimly lit garage. Luke’s mouth hung open in awe. “Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi,” Leia spoke. “You’re my only hope…” “W-W-W-What’s that?” Fluttershy asked nervously. R2 looked around, sheepishly beeping an answer for 3PO to translate. Leia kept repeating the sentence fragment over and over. “What is what?!?” 3PO asked, pointing at Leia. “He asked you a question… what is that?” R2 whistled his surprise, pretending to just notice the hologram. He looked around, sheepishly beeping an answer for 3PO to translate. The Equestrians studied Leia, who kept repeating the sentence fragment over and over. “Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi. You’re my only hope… Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi. You’re my only hope…” “Oh, he says it’s nothing, sir,” 3PO assured. “Merely a malfunction. Old data. Pay it no mind.” But Luke and the group are still intrigued by the beautiful girl. “That voice…” Spike spoke softly. “I heard that before…” “Is that who you heard when the portal opened?” Rarity asked Spike. “I’m sure it is… I think…” “Who is she?” Luke asked. “She’s beautiful.” “I’m afraid I’m not quite sure, sir,” 3PO shrugged. “Hmm…” Storm pondered, wincing his eyes. “Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi…” “I think she was a passenger on our last voyage,” 3PO implied. “A person of some importance, sir—I believe. Our captain was attached to…” “Yeah, yeah… is there more to this recording?” Rainbow asked. Rainbow reached for R2, but he lets out several frantic squeaks and a whistle. Applejack pulled Rainbow Dash back. “Behave yourself, Dash,” Applejack scolded. “Whatever’s goin’ on, this is sensitive information.” “It’s all right, you can trust them,” 3PO assured R2. “They’re our new masters.” “Well, technically Luke’s the…” Pinkie began, stopping herself. “Dang it, Mudbriar!” R2 whistled and beeped a lengthy message for 3PO. “He says he’s the property of Obi-Wan Kenobi, a resident of these parts,” 3PO translated. “And it’s a private message for him. Quite frankly, I don’t know what he’s talking about. Our last master was Captain Antilles, but with what we’ve been through, this little R2 unit has become a bit eccentric.” “Obi-Wan Kenobi?” Twilight questioned. “Obi-Wan…” Storm repeated, stroking his chin. “I wonder if he means old Ben Kenobi?” Luke inquired. “I beg your pardon, Luke,” Rarity spoke up. “But do you know what little R2 is talking about?” “Well, I don’t know anyone named ‘Obi-Wan’,” Luke admitted. “But old Ben lives out beyond the dune sea. He’s kind of a strange old hermit.” Luke gazed toward the beautiful young princess for a few moments. “I wonder who she is.” “Whomever she is, sounds like she’s in terrible trouble,” Twilight observed. “But the only way to know more about the princess is to replay the whole message.” “You sure you don’t just want to compare yourself to a fellow princess?” Storm asked, smirking. “… No!” Twilight denied, turning away. R2 beeped something for 3PO. “He says the restraining bolt has short circuited his recording system,” 3PO translated. “He suggests that if you remove the bolt, he might be able to play back the entire recording.” “Sounds like a plan,” Pinkie smiled. Luke gazed longingly at the lovely, little princess. It seemed he really hadn’t heard what 3PO was saying at all. “H’m? Oh yeah, well I guess you’re too small to run away on me if I take this off! Okay.” Luke took a wedged bar and popped the restraining bolt off R2’s side. “There you go,” Luke sighed. But just as Luke looked back, the Princess immediately disappeared. “Hey, wait a minute!” Rainbow cried out. “Where’d she go?” Fluttershy asked. “Bring her back!” Luke demanded. “Play back the entire message.” R2 beeped an innocent reply, as 3PO sat up in embarrassment. “What message? The one you’re carrying inside your rusty innards!” “Luke?” Aunt Beru called out. “Girls! Come to dinner!” Luke stood up, shaking his head toward the malfunctioning robot. “All right, we’ll be right there, Aunt Beru,” Luke called out. “I’m sorry, but he appears to have picked up a slight flutter,” 3PO apologized. “It’s fine 3PO,” Storm assured. “We’ll see what we can do with him later.” “We’ll be right back,” Luke concluded. Luke tossed R2’s restraining bolt on the workbench and hurried out the room, the Equestrians following close behind. “Just you reconsider playing that message for him,” C-3PO demanded R2-D2. R2 beeped in response. “No, I don’t think he likes you at all.” R2 beeped. “No, I don’t like you either.” <> Later, in the dining area, Luke’s Aunt Beru, a warm, motherly woman, filled a pitcher with blue fluid from a refrigerated container in the well-used kitchen. She put the pitcher on a tray with some bowls of food and starts for the dining area. Luke and the rest sat with Uncle Owen before a table covered with steaming bowls of food, as Aunt Beru carried a bowl of red grain. Spike sat by the floor, munching some food in a dish made for him. “Ya know, if I didn’t know better,” Applejack replied. “I think y’all just purchased a stolen R2 unit thing.” “What makes you think that Applejack?” Owen asked. “Well, we stumbled across a recording while I was cleaning him,” Luke explained. “Says he belongs to someone called ‘Obi-Wan Kenobi’,” Pinkie added. “And I don’t mean Oobedoob Scoobi-Doobi Benubi either.” Owen was greatly alarmed at the mention of his name (The former, not the latter). But somehow, he managed to control himself. “I thought he might have meant old Ben,” Luke continued. “Do you know what he’s talking about?” “Maybe he’s related to Ben,” Fluttershy guessed. “Maybe brothers… if that’s okay to imply.” Owen breaks loose with a fit of uncontrolled anger. “That old man’s just a crazy old wizard,” Owen insisted. “Tomorrow, I want you to take that R2 unit into Anchorhead and have its memory flushed. That’ll be the end of it. It belongs to us now.” “With all due respect Mr. Owen, what if this Obi-Wan comes looking for him?” Twilight asked. “He won’t, I don’t think he exists anymore. He died about the same time as your father.” “He knew my father?” Luke asked, surprised. “I told you to forget it!” Owen scolded. “Your only concern is to prepare the new droids for tomorrow. In the morning, I want them on the south ridge working out those condensers.” “Yes, sir,” The girls and Storm spoke. “I’m sure those new droids are going to work just swimmingly,” Rarity assured. “In fact, I, uh, was also thinking about our agreement about my staying on another season,” Luke spoke up. “And if these new droids do work out, I want to transmit my application to the Academy this year.” Owen’s face became a scowl, although he tried to suppress it. “You mean the next semester before harvest?” “Why not, sir?” Storm replied. “Seems to be there’s more than enough droids around here to keep the farm in tip-top form.” “Harvest is when we need Luke the most,” Owen insisted. “Only one more season. This year we’ll make enough on the harvest, so I’ll be able to hire some more hands.” “We’d be more than glad to help out,” Applejack offered. “That’s kind of you, but no thanks,” Owen brushed off. “This is matter between family. Luke can go to the Academy next year.” Luke continued to toy with his food, not even looking at his uncle. “You must understand I need you here, Luke,” Owen insisted. “But it’s a whole ‘nother year,” Luke argued. “Look, it’s only one more season.” Luke pushed his half-eaten plate of food aside and stood up. “Yeah, that’s what you said last year when Biggs and Tank left,” Luke complained. “Where are you going?” Twilight asked. “It looks like I’m going nowhere,” Luke answered. “I have to finish cleaning those droids. Resigned to his fate, Luke paddled out of the room. Owen mechanically finished his dinner. “We’ll just go talk to Luke,” Twilight spoke. “Maybe we can reason with him.” Owen grunted, granting the group’s permission to be excused. One by one, Twilight and her friends, even Spike, made their way out of the dining area. But Storm Shield lagged behind, turning a corner and leaned an ear toward Owen and Beru’s conversation. “Owen, he can’t stay here forever,” Aunt Beru insisted. “Most of his friends have gone. It means so much to him.” “I’ll make it up to him next year,” Owen assured. “I promise.” “Luke’s just not a farmer, Owen. He has too much of his father in him.” “That’s what I’m afraid of.” Storm Shield pondered over the suggestive words shared between Luke’s Uncle and Aunt. He then looked ahead where the rest of the group were following Skywalker. His brows furrow as if something was coming up in his mind. In the meantime, the giant twin suns of Tatooine slowly disappear behind the distant dune range. Luke and the Equestria stood watching them for a few moments, silently taking in the atmosphere. Luke reluctantly entered the doomed entrance to the homestead while the rest stayed out for a while. Twilight couldn’t help but look out toward the horizon deeply concerned. “Sunset… where are you?” Twilight asked. <> Later, Luke entered the garage to discover the robots nowhere in sight. He took a small control box from his utility belt similar to the one the Jawas were carrying. He activated the box, which created a low hum. C-3PO let out a short yell, popping from behind the Skyhopper spaceship. “What are you doing hiding there?” Luke asked. C-3PO stumbled forward, but R2-D2 was still nowhere in sight. “It wasn’t my fault, sir” 3PO insisted. “Please don’t deactivate me. I told him not to go, but he’s faulty, malfunctioning; kept babbling on about his mission.” “Oh, no!” Luke groaned. Luke raced out of the garage, followed by 3PO. <> The Equestrians, with Storm joining later, were still staring along the horizon when a commotion drew their attention. They turned as Luke rushed out of the small-domed entry to the homestead. They quickly approached Luke, who searched the horizon for the small tripod Astro-robot. 3PO struggled out of the homestead and onto the salt flat as Luke scanned the landscape with his electro-binoculars. “What’s the matter, sugar cube?” Applejack asked curiously. “R2-D2’s gone!” Luke answered. “Have any of you seen him?” “No, we thought he was still in the garage!” Spike replied. “That R2 unit has always been a problem,” 3PO admitted. “These Astro-droids are getting quite out of hand. Even I can’t understand their logic at times.” “Oh no…” Fluttershy gasped. “Who knows what could happen to R2 out there? He could be crushed… or even worse!” “How could I be so stupid?” Luke berated himself. “He’s nowhere in sight. Blast it!” “Why couldn’t we just go after him now?” Rainbow insisted. “I could get him back over here in ten seconds flat!” “It’s too dangerous with all the Sandpeople around,” Luke answered. “The best thing we can do right now is wait till morning,” Storm suggested. “He couldn’t have gone far.” “Luke, I’m shutting the power down for the night!” Owen yelled out. “All right, I’ll be there in a few minutes!” Luke called back. “Boy, am I gonna get it!” “We’re all going to get it if we don’t get that droid back,” Twilight corrected. Luke took one final look across the dim horizon, but it’s clear he’d never find him at this hour. “You know that little droid is going to cause us a lot of trouble,” Luke told 3PO. “Oh, he excels at that, sir,” 3PO replied. “Let’s just hope those Sandpeople are the only creatures we have to worry about,” Twilight hoped. “That droid has the only message with a clue as to why we’re all here in the first place. The last thing we need are any more complications.” “I sure hope you’re right about that, Twilight,” Storm nodded, looking ahead. “I really, really do.”