//------------------------------// // Chapter 5 // Story: Star Wars, Episode Pony: Friendship is Magic // by Kendallonian //------------------------------// Rainbow’s ship drifted lazily through the asteroid field, dancing neatly between floating chunks of rock like a princess on the ballroom floor. Rainbow was, however, still going a little fast for Twilight’s liking; She wanted to defeat Darth Nightmare more than anyone, but getting to Everfree II sooner was moot if they didn’t get there at all.  Nevertheless, Twilight did feel confident enough to let Rainbow and Applejack handle it for now, and knew that strangling the back of Rainbow’s seat at the sight of any close calls wasn’t really going to be helping anypony, so she eventually walked back into the cargo area to check on the others. Twilight immediately heard Spike’s characteristic beast-like snoring, and found that he had fallen asleep in the port-side booth. Fluttershy, of course, had migrated next to him to make sure he didn’t fall over, and she might also have been humming a quiet lullaby that barely registered in Twilight’s ears. Rarity was in the back of the room among the cargo crates, fiddling with the lids of a few. Strangely, Twilight didn’t see Pinkie around. “What’s… uh- What’s going on here?” Twilight said hesitantly as she approached Rarity. “Oh! Hello! Pinkie and I were just poking through here to see if we could find anything useful.” Pinkie spontaneously emerged from a sealed crate amidst an explosion of confetti and a chorus of noisemakers. “So this is where Rainbow Dash was keeping my ammunition shipment!” the pink pony squealed. Twilight squinted her eyes at Pinkie. “How did she…” Rarity shrugged. “She does that sometimes.” It wasn’t really an answer, but Twilight got the sense that nopony ever got answers from Pinkie; or not ones that made sense, at least. “Uh… right.” Twilight said. “Have you found anything useful?” “Eh, not particularly.” Rarity said. “We’ve found some rebreathers, just in case a few of us want to take a short trot outside. I was hoping for blasters, but I suppose Rainbow isn’t really a smuggler, is she?” “Coulda fooled me;” Twilight said; “she’s certainly crazy enough.” Rarity gave a polite chuckle at that last statement. Twilight began opening crates alongside Rarity, but the white unicorn was soon a bit distracted. “I do wish you’d let me try to improve on that ensemble.” Rarity said, gesturing towards Twilight’s jedi robes. Twilight took a deep breath before asking “What’s wrong with it?” She did her best to keep the annoyance out of her voice. “Oh, nothing wrong with it, necessarily, but… well let’s just say that beige and brown is a rather limiting color palette.” Twilight shook her head as she resealed a crate of exotic fruits. “Jedi aren’t concerned with how we look so much as we are concerned about getting things done.” Rarity frowned. “Well… that’s one way to look at it, I suppose.” Twilight scrunched up her nose. “What other way is there to look at it?” she asked. Rarity cracked another crate open before planting her chin on her hoof. “Well… let me ask you something first. Do you often get a lot of free time, as a Padawan?” “No, I don’t” Twilight said, almost reflexively. “So… you master Celestia, she has a lot of important missions for you all the time?” “Uh- no.” Twilight said. “But I’m always studying for my exams, meditating, researching…” “But… those are all just personal projects; right?” Rarity questioned. “I… guess so.” Twilight said. “But as a Jedi I need to be doing everything I can to help everypony.” Rarity hesitated a moment before continuing. “... including yourself?” Twilight squinted in confusion. “Well… no, I don’t think so. That’d be kinda selfish, right? How I feel isn’t important. Jedi are the ponies who make sure everypony else can be happy.” “Well that just seems… rather unfair, if you’ll forgive my candidness.” Rarity said. Twilight shrugged. “That’s just the way it is.” she said; “The Jedi continually look outward. looking inward leads to selfishness… pride… the Dark Side.” Rarity took a long look at Twilight before saying “I suppose.” A brief moment later, Fluttershy appeared out from behind the crates, startling Twilight a bit. “Oh! Fluttershy! I wasn’t expecting…” Twilight’s voice faded when she saw Fluttershy’s expression; the best word that Twilight could think of was haunted. Fluttershy was keeping an abnormal amount of eye contact, but when she wasn’t, her gaze seemed to extend out for miles into the nonexistent distance. In addition, Twilight began to notice that Fluttershy’s legs were beginning to quiver like she had been bathing in a snowdrift. “Fluttershy!” Rarity said as she noticed the creamy yellow pegasus. “Are you alright?” Instead of responding to her friend, Fluttershy flew up to Twilight and grabbed her shoulders. She spoke in a shuddering, yet certain whisper that chilled Twilight’s blood. “Twilight… something is very wrong.” she said.  “Is… something wrong with Spike?” Twilight inquired. Fluttershy had been looking after him while he was napping, after all. Fluttershy shook her head. “No. No! Something is very wrong out there.” she reiterated, pointing towards the cargo bay door. “It’s- It’s- well don’t you feel it, too?” Twilight almost reflexively said “no,” but just as she was about to, she began to sense what Fluttershy was talking about. Through her connection to the Force, Twilight began to sense a presence, or perhaps a group of presences; she wasn’t sure. What she was becoming more and more sure of with each passing moment was, one, it was getting closer, and two, it was angry. Twilight bolted for the cockpit, but before she could reach it, the ship shook, causing her to stumble. Twilight practically leapt the rest of the way to the cockpit, where she found Rainbow Dash and Applejack struggling with their controls. “What happened?” Twilight demanded. “I dunno!” Rainbow said. “I think Something might have hit us! Controls aren’t responding!” “I think we’re slowing down!” Applejack said as she Took a look at her side of the control panel. Then everypony’s eyes were drawn back to the window as a large shadow passed over them. Said shadow was cast by a single, large tentacle that was wrapping itself around the nose of the ship. Soon afterward, the ship began to tilt to the side, allowing the ponies within to see what had imprisoned them. It began with a multitude of yellow, glowing eyes, all of which were looking directly into the cockpit and filling it with baleful light. The eyes were affixed all around the circumference of a huge, gray bulbous mass that could have contained a score of ponies. Four long arms Sprouted from the tip of the creature’s head, offset by what must have been a dozen tentacles sprouting from the opposite end, one of which was currently coiled around the ship’s nose. After a few milliseconds of staring back at the abomination, Rainbow began pounding the accelerator, simultaneously wrenching the pilot’s controls in seemingly random directions. The only apparent effect of her actions was to bob the ship back and forth within the creature’s grip. Soon afterward, the creature began extending more tentacles forward, and began entangling the ship further. A single arm from above began to worm it’s way toward the cockpit, and after a moment, it pushed towards the glass, hitting it with a resounding clash. “No, no, no!” Came Rainbow Dash’s exasperated exclamations. “Shields are going; fast! We’re dead in the water! I got nothing in here!” Twilight frantically searched for a solution. “Are the thrusters damaged?” she asked. Rainbow too a quick moment to check a diagnostic screen to her right. “Uh... no, but if this ship gets squeezed much tighter they might be.” “So if we can get it to let go, you can fly?” Twilight continued. “Well, yeah.” Rainbow said. “But how-” “Leave that to me.” Twilight said. “Just be ready to get out of here once it happens.” Twilight swiftly trotted back into the cargo area, followed, to her mild surprise, by Applejack. “What’s the plan?” Applejack asked, businesslike. “It’ll be dangerous.” Twilight said; “But I don’t know what else we can do.” As Twilight spoke, Fluttershy and Rarity approached, followed closely by Pinkie, who had somehow gotten herself covered in stray bits of confetti. “Some creature has taken hold of the ship.” Twilight said for those who didn’t know. “Rarity, you said you found some rebreathers?” “Well, yes, darling.” Rarity said. “Good.” Twilight responded; “Then I’m going to be going out.” “Oh, my…” Fluttershy said quietly. “I’m going to be attacking this thing’s arms.” Twilight said. “Hopefully we can convince it to let go so we can get away.” “I’ll go wit’ cha!” Applejack said. “Two’s better’n one, right?” “We’ll have to get back inside before Rainbow hits the accelerator.” Twilight stipulated. “Think you can do that?” Applejack nodded confirmation. Twilight then turned to Fluttershy.  “You should get Spike into the cockpit. Once everypony is inside, tell Rainbow to depressurize the cargo bay; Applejack and I will get this done as quickly as possible.”  Fluttershy looked like she was going to argue for the briefest of moments, then galloped over to the booth where Spike was still sleeping and scooped him up. “Rarity, where are those rebreathers?” Rarity quickly led Twilight back among the crates piled on either side of the exit ramp, checking a few before finally rediscovering the devices; Each one consisted of a solid, black section designed to fit over a pony’s muzzle attached to a large transparent pane that acted as a visor to protect the pony’s eyes from the vacuum of space. Twilight was also grateful for the inclusion of a short-range comm system so they could communicate with each other and the ship through the vacuum of space. To Twilight’s mild surprise, Rarity immediately began strapping one of the masks onto her own muzzle. After a brief moment of thought, Twilight decided not to comment; She’d need all the help she could get outside. Once Twilight, Applejack, and Rarity each had their masks on, Twilight nodded to Fluttershy in the cockpit. The cockpit door sealed itself soon afterward, and the cargo ramp gave out a hiss as air began to escape. The ramp only rotated 45 degrees, however, before grinding to a screeching halt. Through the gaps Twilight could see a massive gray tentacle wrapped around the other side of the door, keeping it closed. Well, I guess now’s the time to see if the principle of the plan is sound; Twilight thought. She charged the door at full gallop, simultaneously drawing her lightsaber with her glowing horn. As she hit the barrier, she simultaneously slipped her saber through the gap in-between the door and the hull of the ship, giving the tentacle a nasty, meter-long scar. The ship shook, but Twilight was able to force the ramp open as the tentacle recoiled. For a terrifying moment, Twilight began drifting away from the ship now that she was outside the effect of the ship’s  artificial gravity. Luckily, Applejack was quick to reach out a hoof and pull twilight back towards the hull, enabling her to get a grip on the safety handles. After nodding a quick thanks to Applejack, Twilight pulled herself up and over the ship to inspect the situation. Twilight perhaps hadn’t fully appreciated the size of their opponent until she saw it outside the ship, with nothing between her and it. She had very little doubt that it could swallow her whole, given the opportunity. Tentacles wider than her barrel were slowly snaking around the nose and midsection of the ship, and a few were snaking around to attempt recapture of the back end. After a second of calculation, Twilight decided to give the comms a test. “Rarity, keep the thrusters and the boarding ramp free; make sure we’re ready to leave. Applejack, you concentrate on the wings. I’ll take the nose.” “And hurry up, you guys!” Dash’s voice said into Twilight’s ears afterward; “Shields can’t take much more of this!” Twilight took a bit of a risk and propelled herself forward, leaping toward a relatively stationary asteroid nearby. Mid-flight, she spun herself so her back hooves hit the rock first. Once they did, she bucked, redirecting her momentum so she landed on top of the cockpit window. Once she was there, a quick slash from her lightsaber loosened the creature’s grip. Soon afterward, though, several new appendages shot at her from multiple directions. Twilight leapt forward, in-between the assaulting bulbous arms and landing on the creature’s body, just above its eyes. Before she could reorient herself, however, an arm from above smacked Twilight across the face, sending her reeling uncontrollably into the void. After a moment of panic, Twilight reached out with the Force, pulling on a nearby rock that was about her size. As a result, the two objects drifted gradually together and finally her hooves were able to find purchase on its surface. Twilight took a quick moment to survey the battlefield from her new viewpoint; Rarity and Applejack were proceeding as she had directed, each of them bucking at any tentacles that came too close. However the creature’s attention was soon being directed back toward them, and the number of appendages directed towards them multiplied. “Whoa! I think this might be gettin’ a bit much!” Applejack said over comms. Twilight’s mind moved at lightspeed. “I’ll try to distract it.” she said; “Once the ship is clear, you go in; I’ll be behind you.” Twilight then launched herself towards the nose of the ship again. This time, however, she didn’t linger. She bounced off of the glass, propelling herself towards the writhing mass of tentacles between her and the creature. The first two tentacles that came near were hit by her lightsaber, and they recoiled away. The third was hit with her back hooves, which was more to redirect her momentum than anything else. She flung herself past the thing’s body, taking a slash at a large, yellow eye as she passed. That oughta get his attention. Twilight could faintly hear Fluttershy’s distressed gasp over the radio as ochre fluid began to seep from the tentacled creature’s new wound. she landed on another passing asteroid as the gigantic creature convulsed in pain. Nearly all of his tentacles detached from the ship’s hull, leaving only one, massive arm around it’s center. “That’s it!” Rainbow shouted over comms. “We’re almost free!” Applejack bucked at the final arm, but it remained resolute in it’s grip, even as the creature’s eyes all focused on Twilight. “Consarn it!” Applejack’s voice said. “Still won’t let go!” “Then we’ll just have to make it.” Twilight said. “Rarity, get to the midsection and help her!” In the meantime, Twilight launched herself towards the creature again. It had learned from it’s previous encounters, however, and kept it’s appendages well out of her flight path. Twilight didn’t want the pass to be a total loss, hoverver, so as she flew by, she threw her lightsaber towards the creature’s eyes, missing one and causing the blade to sink into the gray flesh up to it’s hilt. Twilight half expected a wound that deep to kill the beast, but the only effect she seemed to have was to anger the beast further, not to mention a faint whimper from Fluttershy. Before Twilight could land on another asteroid, another tentacle grabbed her from behind. It snagged one of her back hooves, arresting her forward momentum, then pulling her back towards the creature’s eyes. Twilight began to kick at the appendage with her other hoof, but another tentacle soon came to imprison that one as well. Soon afterward came arms that wrapped around her forehooves, leaving only her horn free. No.. no, not now! Not when we were so close! Out of the corner of her eye, Twilight could see the final arm loosening its grip on the ship. Applejack and rarity then stared helplessly as Twilight was brought closer to the creature. “Twilight!” Applejack shouted over comms. “Hang on!” Applejack pushed off of the ship, followed closely by Rarity. Without Twilight’s Jedi agility, they were somewhat slower and less accurate than her, but they each managed to grapple one of the appendages that had her bound. Soon afterward, The creature began to lower them beneath itself, where Twilight saw, for the first time, it’s mouth. In-between where the thing’s tentacles sprouted was a gaping, round hole, like a fleshy funnel. Only this funnel was lined with numberless, jagged teeth. They pulsed in and out, reaching outward to claim their prize. Twilight struggled to get herself free; Her horn glowed, wrapping the tentacles that bound her in lavender light. Applejack and Rarity simultaneously bucked at each of their handholds, But to no apparent effect. It was then that Twilight remembered her lightsaber; it was still stuck above the creature’s eyes. She called upon her horn, and then upon the Force, reaching out to touch her discarded weapon. It struggled in it’s new sheath as The creature’s arms pulled her toward the pulsating pool of teeth before her. After a few seconds fo struggle, Twilight could feel the saber come free; with another telekinetic jerk the saber came flying back to her in a round arc. Twilight struggled to hasten its journey, but just before it could hit, a jagged tooth caressed Twilight’s mane… “STOP!” Twilight heard the voice, but she had been far too preoccupied with reobtaining her lightsaber to pay any attention at the time. However, after another moment Twilight realized that the appendages wrapped around her had slackened their grip; they still held her in place, but she thought that maybe she could free herself now if only… “Just, stop.” came Fluttershy’s voice again, cutting off Twilight’s thoughts. “Twilight, stop struggling.” Twilight froze. It was then that she noticed that she was no longer being pulled towards the tentacled beast’s nightmarish maw. She was taxing her rebreather, as her lungs were still hyperventilating. Fluttershy spoke again. “Applejack, Rarity, stop hitting her.” Applejack shot a strange look towards the cockpit, where Fluttershy was located. “Consarn it, Fluttershy, now isn’t the time to-” “Applejack!” Fluttershy shouted, louder than Twilight had ever heard her speak. Applejack’s eyes widened immensely and, though she couldn’t turn around to see, Twilight somehow knew that Applejack and Fluttershy were maintaining eye contact. Applejack froze, just like Twilight had a moment ago. “Everypony, just remain calm.” Fluttershy said again. “Rainbow, I’m going outside. Cycle the airlock.” “What?!” Rainbow said. If Fluttershy gave a response, Twilight couldn’t hear it. Over the next eternity of silent seconds, Twilight did her best to steady her quivering limbs, just in case it might violate Fluttershy’s directive not to struggle. She failed spectacularly, but it didn’t seem like anyone noticed or cared, including the massive creature that was keeping her captive. Fluttershy finally floated slowly into view, her face covered in a rebreather and her wings flapping uselessly in the void. Applejack managed to catch her and pull her in. Applejack spoke up, her voice shuddering slightly before she could get it under control. “Sugarcube… what’s going on?” “Just… Trust me,” Fluttershy said. She kicked off the tentacle, propelling herself upward. She caught another tentacle and wrapped herself around it, eventually shimmying herself onto the creature’s body. Once there, she gently placed a hoof below one of the creature’s eyes and closed her own. The world stayed that way for a while; a yellow pegasus resting her hoof and her brow upon the colossal creature’s skin. Twilight was slowly gaining enough control of her limbs to keep them still, if a bit stiff. Fluttershy eventually broke the silence; “I’m so sorry.” She said, “May I see them?” After a moment, the creature’s maw began pulsating more vigorously. Twilight began to worry that it had decided to eat her after all until she felt the tentacles around her hooves begin to loosen and slide away. Once that last, slimy touch faded, Twilight was able to massage her forehooves to get the feeling back into them. Simultaneously she began to hyperventilate, now that she could breathe properly. Her breathing began to slow once Fluttershy’s calming presence settled in beside her. “Fluttershy… what was that?” Twilight asked breathlessly. Fluttershy looked Twilight over briefly before casting her gaze back to the creature. “She was protecting her babies.” Fluttershy said. A moment later, a small cluster of yellow-green emerged from the creature’s maw. Fluttershy soon afterward pushed off of Twilight and Applejack, simultaneously propelling herself towards the mysterious, glowing mass and pushing her friends back toward Rainbow’s ship. “Fluttershy!” Twilight shouted, worried the creature might eat her if she got too close; but Fluttershy arrived at the glowing mass uneventfully, save for a single tentacle appearing to steady her. Twilight looked closer at the yellow-green mass, and briefly discerned movement within it. After another second of watching, she could make out several small, squid-like shapes swimming around in tight circles. Eggs; the thought came into Twilight’s mind. It’s a cluster of eggs. It’s… a mother. Fluttershy caressed one of the glowing spheres in the cluster, which was nearly as large as herself. She looked up at the massive creature above her, still holding the egg. Fluttershy spoke quietly, almost nonexistently, but Twilight could just about make out the words “They're beautiful” over comms. Twilight squinted at the cluster of eggs. She supposed, perhaps, they were beautiful, from a certain point of view. She thought back to cutting out one of the creature’s eyes and bit her lip. Twilight wanted to tell Fluttershy to hurry it up; there was no telling how long this creature would remain pacified, and they were on a quest after all, but another part of her told her that this was something that couldn’t be rushed; they way fluttershy touched the eggs made them almost sacred. After an eternity and no time at all, A tentacle gently pushed the cluster of eggs back into the creature’s gaping maw, which enveloped and concealed the precious cargo. Another appendage wrapped around Fluttershy’s barrel, pulling her back to the ship. After another moment, it let go, letting her drift the rest of the way back to her friends. “Let’s go.” Fluttershy whispered. “It’s about time for their nap.” Twilight wanted to say something; an apology, perhaps, or a rebuke that Fluttershy would ever do anything so dangerous. A thousand remarks passed through Twilight's mind, but none of them were uttered. Apparently, everypony else felt the same. Fluttershy led the way back to the boarding ramp, with Applejack and Rarity following closely behind. Twilight remained a second longer, realizing Fluttershy wasn’t the one she ought to be speaking to. I’m sorry. Twilight thought; and she projected her thoughts toward the creature in front of her through the Force. The creature responded a second later by kicking it’s tentacles and floating away, leaving behind a tiny, silvery object that Twilight soon identified as her lightsaber. Twilight felt an odd apprehension at seeing her weapon; perhaps she should have waited a bit longer before deciding to use it in this case. Nevertheless, it was nigh irreplaceable, and Twilight knew that she may have need of it again very soon. She pulled it to herself with the Force and strapped it back to her belt under her robes. Then she pulled herself back towards the boarding ramp. As soon as Twilight reentered the ship, the ramp closed behind her and the cabin began to repressurize from storage. “How did you know?” Twilight asked Fluttershy while they waited. Fluttershy’s gaze had returned to flitting back and forth nervously between Twilight and the deck.  “I didn’t.” She said simply. Twilight decided not to press further. “Hang on!” Rainbow’s voice said from the cockpit. “We’re almost out of here!”