//------------------------------// // Chapter 8: Fear And Foreboding // Story: All Hail The Dark Lord // by RainbowBob //------------------------------// The Everfree Forest had a certain tranquility at night. Winter’s white blanket had only partially arrived here, the trees above still retaining leaves on it and fresh snowfall rarely reached the ground Stars still shone brightly if one managed to catch a glimpse at them past the foliage and snow in the treetops, their weak light the only illumination in the darkness of the forest. Being the dead of night and middle of winter, the temperatures had dropped into the freezing conditions, icicles quickly forming overhead in the branches. The combination of little to no light, and way too much plantlife to navigate at the insufferable conditions of winter quickly put Rainbow Dash in a sour mood. Plus, the four bumps to her head from running into trees was another important factor. Dash grumbled under her breath, barely able to make out the steam rising from her mouth from the bitter coldness in the air. “Hey, AJ, you and Fluttershy still back there?” she yelled out over her shoulder, making out the loud noise of both her friends walking behind her, crashing through bushes and plant life much like she did. “Yeah, we’re on yer tail!” Applejack called out, nudging Fluttershy’s side to make sure she was keeping up. The pegasus eeped softly, shivering in the near darkness and chilled air of the forest. “Where's Vader?” Fluttershy asked, squinting to catch a glance of their guide. Though he wasn’t really guiding them at the moment. More like they were following him the best they could. “Up ahead... I think,” Dash muttered, reaching out a hoof and thankfully catching a feel of a stump in her path. She was definitely glad she wasn’t going to trip over another. “I don’t know how he can walk through here without a light.” “What I’m wonderin’ is how the hay can he walk so quietly?” Applejack added, ducking under a branch as the ponies went single file behind Rainbow Dash. “He’s taller than the princess and must be even heavier. Yet he ain’t makin’ no racket at all.” “Maybe it’s magic?” Fluttershy guessed. Dash chuckled under her breath, throwing a sideways glance behind her that was pretty useless since she couldn’t even look at her friend in the darkness. “Oh come on, Fluttershy. Only unicorns and alicorns can use magic. Vader is neither. Whatever he did before with the camera is probably some trick or something.” “What about dragons? Spike can send letters through fire,” Fluttershy reminded her. “Don’t forget about Discord either,” Applejack said. “He can bend reality itself and do whatever the heck he wants. If that ain’t magic, then I don’t know what is.” “Okay, okay, dragons can use magic too,” Dash admitted, rolling her eyes. “And I don’t even want to know how Discord manages to do what he does. But Vader is an alien. Does he even know what magic is?” “He has some fancy technology from the looks of his ship. Maybe that’s his magic?” Applejack guessed. “That doesn’t even make any sense!” Dash said, catching a far off shadow briefly illuminated by the light beaming down from the spaces between the foliage overhead. “How can technology be magic?” “Maybe it’s just different fer him. Fer all we know he can shoot lasers out of his eyes and fly. We don’t know what he can do.” “He can show us the way to his ship,” Fluttershy said, noticing how Vader was no longer in their vicinity. “Which would be very useful right about now.” Scowling in the direction Vader was just at, she took to the air and shouted, “Hey jerk, mind waiting for us?” She kept low under the branches, the only hint that Vader was up ahead being the whispering sound of him breathing. No amount of sneakiness on his part could make up for the fact he sounded like a drowning vacuum most of the time. Dash led her friends through the hazardous trips and turns of the forest from her position overhead. She spotted an opening in the trees, as they finally reached the clearing where they once were at only hours before. Vader’s boots crunched on the hard-packed snow, which had built up in their absence. The pile of dead manticores was already partially covered by the snowfall, making it easier for the ponies nearby to not gag at the sight. The ship was still spewing out smoke from the hull, and as Vader inspected it further, he didn’t have much hope in his chances. Both wings were out of commision, which meant no engines for liftoff. The hull was barely hanging on, which meant no air or pressurization for space travel. He didn’t even want to know the conditions of the hyperspace drive. If that was damaged in the slightest, he didn’t have a chance at fixing it with the lack of advanced technologies on the planet. Rainbow landed in next to the others, trudging her hooves through the snow as Applejack and Fluttershy followed suit. “Back away,” Vader warned, lifting both his hands slowly upward so that both his arms were spread wide apart. The trio stopped near the edge of the clearing, Dash furrowing her brow at Vader. “And why should we?” she asked, taking a step forward despite his warning. “Because if you get in my way and die, that would be inconvenient,” he spoke sharply, not a trace of emotion appearing in his mechanicalized voice. “Kinda gruesome to mention,” Applejack said, Fluttershy nodding her head in agreement. The timid pegasus was on edge, the close proximity to the Dark Lord, along with the animals he’s brutally slaughtered, making her normally shy attitude upped to new heights. Vader was ignoring their voices, instead focusing his attention to the task at hand. The Dark Lord was quite adept in the Force, so moving his ship back to the town shouldn’t be too difficult of a labor. The more tedious part would be pushing the ship before him to clear a path through the forest. Staring intently on the downed wreck of his ship, he reached out with one gloved hand and channeled the Force. While moving an entire spacecraft was not the most difficult task for a Force-wielder, moving it across long distances, and through a forest no less, would be challenging for even the most practiced master. But Vader emptied these thoughts from his mind, instead only focusing on the ship. Telekinesis was one of the pinnacles of both Jedi and Sith teachings. The size and weight of an object made little difference whether you could move it. Once you didn’t pay attention to the thought of how big or heavy something was, the practitioner can use the Force to move objects regardless of what size they were. At first nothing was amiss, but then it happened. The massive wreckage groaned, the soot covered metal grinding against itself as the ship straightened out. Ice cracked from where it formed on the hull as snow dislodged from the sides. Ever so slowly the ship started to levitate, inches quickly turning to feet as it was lifted in the air. Vader smiled behind his mask, his breathing the same and his body relaxed. Most of the weaker Jedi fools wouldn’t have been able to pull this off after what he had just been through. The dark side was truly powerful in him for such easy will over the Force. While Vader was mentally gloating and preparing for departure, the trio of ponies off to the side all had their collective jaws hanging to the ground. Eyes large, pupils small, and disbelief painting each of their faces. After a few moments of shocked silence, Applejack was the first to speak. “Hot damn... he ain’t kiddin’ ‘bout the stand back part.” “He can... can do magic,” Dash mumbled, the words resonating in her mind and sending her head in a tizzle. “Oh man, no wonder Twi was freaking out before.” “But where’s his horn?” Applejack asked, the craft floating in the air with no colorful magical aura surrounding it. “Ain’t that how magic works?” “I dunno. Maybe his claw or something?” Dash guessed, still trying to wrap her mind around what was happening. “Dang, that thing must weigh a ton.” It actually weighed several, but the Dark Lord didn’t bother to mention that. Soon he’ll be able to transport his vessel to the square, hopefully make the necessary and get off this blasted rock. During the entire spectacle Fluttershy stood off to the side, Vader’s power causing a familiar coldness to enter her heart. Just being close to the black-clad figure sent shivers down her spine. He seemed to dispel an air of such an insidious nature that the temperature dropped several degrees whenever he laid those soulless eyes behind the lenses of his mask on you. Her eyes quickly moved to the immobile heap of corpses. A pang of regret for not being there sooner to save those poor animals went through her heart. They didn’t deserve to die, and especially in the terrifying way Vader seemed to go about his executions. Forcing herself to shift her view to avoid anymore horrific scenes, her eyes caught a small dip in the snow near the edge of the clearing. Curiosity and an urge to deal with anything but what Vader was doing caused her to inch closer to the hole in the hard packed snow. On further inspection, she noticed three small bundles, huddled together underneath a blanket of snow. Glancing back at Applejack and Dash, they were still still staring intently on Vader lifting the ship higher and higher through whatever use of magic he possessed. Going back to the bundles, she slowly inched herself closer to them, reaching out with a hesitant hoof to poke one. Backing away quickly in case whatever it was burst out of the snow, she poked it once more. Growing bolder, Fluttershy started brushing away the piled on snow. Once a good deal of the snow was cleared off, she had a better chance to see what the bundle was. To her horror, she discovered the frozen over body of a young manticore cub, the animal’s eyes having a glossy look to them that spoke of death. Seeing the other two bundles, Fluttershy realized these must have been the nest of the cubs for the manticore pack. And without the adults around to keep them warm, they died from the freezing temperatures and snow. Her breathing quickly flustered, and the second time during that night she felt the overwhelming urge to empty her stomach in the snow. But she gagged and swallowed whatever was about to come up, tears sprung in her eyes as her entire body shook. Quelling the urge to just lay down in the snow and cry herself to sleep, she slowly turned her head to gaze upon the one responsible for this. Vader was slowly backing forth with his spacecraft following suit, still rising steadily in the air. Since he was the one who brutally killed the manticores, it was his fault for the cubs’ deaths. They were only baby animals, dying all alone in the snow and cold. Fluttershy felt a great heat building up in her chest. Her eyes furrowed, a blazing inferno of hate sparking in her pupils. Gritting her teeth hard and flaring out her wings, she felt an overwhelming hate overtake her for the being known as Vader. Never had she ever felt this way for villains such as Nightmare Moon, Discord, Chrysalis, or even the slavedriver Sombra. But now facing someone who kills animals in such a nonchalant way without a thought to what his actions would entail sent her mind to a rage. “Hey, Vader!” she screamed, catching both Applejack and Rainbow Dash off guard. Rarely did either pony hear Fluttershy use such a tone of voice, and the times she did use it usually meant some really bad events were about to take place. Vader didn’t bother turning around to face Fluttershy, going by his usual route of ignoring his hapless pony companions and focusing more on the job at hand. He had already gotten his ship out of the crater in the ground without any further damage, and now he was moving it to higher land to begin the process of transporting it back to town. Fluttershy was becoming more and more furious with the way he never answered them. Treated them like dirt he could simply walk on. Like he was their better and he could treat them however which he pleases. That ends now. “Hey, I’m talking to you!” Fluttershy practically yelled at the top of her voice, trudging through the snow at what she hoped appeared to be an intimidating walk. “When somepony talks to you, you answer back!” “I am not a pony,” Vader replied curtly, annoyed to no end by the insufferable pun on words there ponies used. “I don’t care who you are!” Fluttershy shouted, standing near the tall bipedal with a look of fury etched on her face. “You do not come crashing down in your ship, kill a bunch of innocent animals, treat the rest of us like trash, and expect to get away with it!” Fluttershy was breathing heavily at this point, a bit spent from her large shouting barrage. “Along with the fact some cubs died because of what you did,” she said with a large wave of malice backing her words. “Those animals attacked me,” Vader spoke, still not bothering to answer her directly. “If you expect me to just sit and die, then you ponies are more incompetent than I imagined. Those cubs died because they were weak. Which is why I didn’t bother to kill them myself.” An unbelievably tense silence befell the area, all ponies staring at Vader with wide eyes. “Y-you knew the cubs were there?” Fluttershy asked, her lower lips trembling. He remained silent, that being all the answer Fluttershy needed. “You... you monster,” she whispered, now fully grasping the evil intent of the Dark Lord. He really didn’t have any morals or emotions for others, even defenseless cubs left out in the snow. Fluttershy felt physically sickened at how someone could be so cold-hearted and cruel. “Fluttershy...” Dash spoke, edging closer to her friend. Even though Rainbow felt a small bit of satisfaction for being right about Vader’s true nature, she definitely didn’t want her friend so close to him. There was no telling what Vader was capable of, including what he could do with that magic of his. Fluttershy breathed in and out more rapidly, hyperventilating at this point. Her emotions were like a runaway barreling off the tracks and into a crowded city. Gulping hard to calm her nerves, she stared hard at Vader, and attacked. Well, it wasn’t so much as attacked, as in her jumping at him yelling at the top of her lungs with a crazy expression on her face. Without even turning, Vader lifted up his right hand, his other being used to focus the Force on the ship. Flicking his wrist, Fluttershy was violently knocked backward like an invisible hand just slapped her. She was hurled to the ground, the snow managing to lessen the impact of her fall. “Fluttershy!” both Applejack and Rainbow Dash yelled out simultaneously. Fluttershy picked herself off the ground, snow clinging to her matted coat. Trembling a little, she wobbled a bit before she came right back at Vader. Both the mares watching were surprised that Fluttershy would go back at someone like Vader who so easily backhanded her away, but she was not backing down. Sighing in contempt for having another distraction to deal with, Vader set his ship carefully down on the ground. Once Fluttershy was in reasonable distance, he merely pulled off the same trick as before—a Force Push that sent her sprawling back into a hard crash with the ground. That was enough to snap Applejack out of her dazed state. The farmer would not have her friends being hurt in such a way, ever. Galloping in a charge with Vader in her sights, she yelled, “Ain’t no one gonna mess with my friends!” Turning around smoothly, Vader didn’t even bother to move his hands. He didn’t bother utilizing any hand motions now, seeing how he was only using his telekinetic grip on much lesser life forms. Much like Fluttershy, Applejack was pushed backwards, though managed to remain upright by digging her hooves in hard to the snow. Dash wasn’t far behind her, racing at Vader through the air with a rainbow trail following close behind her. Now was the point that Vader was beyond irked and was just annoyed. Suddenly, a red, faint energy field surrounded him, a barrier of some sort. Which Rainbow simply crashed into headfirst, faceplanting with the ground beneath. Lifting her head out of the snow, Dash was greeted by with Vader’s boots stepping on the ground not inches away from her face. Staring up at him, she saw him slowly reach for a shiny, cylinder object at his side. “Stay away from her!” Applejack roared, both her and Fluttershy leaping to the fray to protect their friend. Their actions were futile and quite pathetic at the end, since Vader merely lifted them both up using a Force Grip and slammed their heads together. Not enough to kill, but enough to leave two unconscious ponies. If it came time to end them, then incapacitating them makes the process easier. Reaching out a hand downward, it almost seemed that Vader was trying to help Dash up. But instead, a tight grip of an invisible nature wrapped itself around her body, lifting her up in he air while squeezing most of the air out of her. Struggling against his magic—or whatever it was that was holding her—Dash flailed her forelegs and kicked out her back legs in a desperate attempt to be freed. Though it was apparent pretty soon that her actions were all in vain. Limping in the air, she glared at up Vader. “You think you can get away with something like this?” “Yes,” he answered back quickly. “With you three dead, I will be left in peace to move my ship back to town. Along with my needed parts, repairs shall commence at once.” “Oh yeah, well, Twilight will stop you!” Dash assured him, what he just said about her and her friends dying not yet sinking in. “She can out-magic you any day!” Vader had to hold back a laugh. Magic? Is that what they thought he could do was simply magic? “You fool,” Vader began, increasing the power of his grip on Dash, and getting a satisfactory cough for air from her. “You don’t even realize what you are threatening. If I need to, I will eliminate Twilight and the rest of you insufferable ponies when you are no longer useful. When my ship is repaired, that will be the moment.” Dash gasped weakly for air, feeling like a rope was tightening around her, threatening to burst open her chest. Looking back at Vader with weak eyes, she whispered, “The princesses... can beat you. You’re nothing... compared to them.” Just for a moment Vader lessen the Force Grip he was subjecting her, his curiosity peaking at what she just said. “How so?” he asked, having a rare chance to humor himself at the mare’s expense before he killed her. “Celestia controls the sun. Luna controls the moon.” A wicked smile appeared over Dash’s face, her smirk reminding the Dark Lord much of his past persona. Cocky, over-egotistical with a confidence that proved more harmful than beneficial. “Pretty sure you can’t pull off something like that.” Dash, of course, was going on pure speculation. If he was able to move a planetary or celestial body, then Equestria was most certainly doomed. Vader in turn remained silent for several moments, still holding Dash up with a telekinetic grip. Then in a sudden twist of fury he grabbed her by the neck and pulled her in so that she was face to face with his mask. “Tell me everything,” he demanded, adding a bit of force to his grip to show he meant business. “Go jump off a cliff,” was Rainbow’s only response. Her loyalty to her friends and the princesses was enough to quell her fear and prevent herself from saying a single helpful word to the Dark Lord. “There’s nothing you can do to make me talk!” Not that Vader really needed words anyways. There was more than one way to garner information from someone. Those other ways just happened to be against the subject's consent, and would end with the user to steal memories or information in a violent and often times merciless way. Along with the fact that the fact the victim would often times have a psychological breakdown from all the mind meddling. So Vader was very much looking forward to using the dark side ability of Drain Knowledge on Dash. Holding a fingertip to Rainbow’s temple, Vader prepared to disrupt the Force to extract the knowledge he needed from her mind. Dash’s eyes went wide as she felt an unknown entity enter her mind. “I find your lack of faith disturbing,” Vader said, digging right into Dash’s mind to rip out the information he needed.