The young lavender unicorn with a star on her flank stepped with great trepidation down the dark corridor. The black metal floor echoed sharply in her ears with every step of her hoof. She knew why she was here. Rainbow Dash’s life was in danger, but Twilight had not the slightest clue of where they were keeping her. Twilight suspected it was a trap. It was.
“I have a bad feeling about this.” Twilight said to herself.
The soft orange glow of the dim lighting offered her no comfort. In fact, it only increased the sinister atmosphere. To make matters worse, steam from the exhaust vents clouded the hall in a dense fog. She could barely see the hoof in front of her face.
The slow, rasping, mechanical breath of the ventilation made Twilight’s fur stand on end. Even more so when she realized it wasn’t the ventilation at all.
“Twilight...Sparkle...” the deep, reverberating voice announced, “We meet at last...”
Twilight cringed at the voice in the darkness. Her whole body shivered when she heard a loud ‘whirr’ and then saw a bright red beam of light. A light hum echoed from the beam as it floated toward her. Soon she saw the multicolored luminescence on the chest of its wielder.
“You...” Twilight snarled, baring her teeth, “Darth Vader...”
“Celestia has taught you well...” Vader said, “Or so it would seem...”
Twilight’s horn glowed with unicorn magic as Vader lifted his free hand and began levitating large metal crates off the ground. He used the Force to shoot them across the hallway, right toward the unicorn. Twilight struggled with all her might to stop them, hardly ever having to lift such heavy objects all at one time. The crates clattered harshly on the ground and Twilight panted, breaking out into a sweat.
Before she even realized it, Vader was levitating her. He decided to knock her back and forth across the walls. Sparks flew out as Twilight’s small body crashed into the electronics. She was battered, bruised, and singed in a matter of seconds.
Blood ran from Twilight’s lips and a cut underneath her eye as tiny black marks darted across her burnt fur. Vader finally let her skid across the floor and decided to strangle her instead.
Vader released his hand, only to bring it up again, with his gloved robotic finger pointing upwards. Twilight struggled for air and clutched her throat with her hoof as her clavicle tightened inside her. Saliva ran down her jaw and her tongue protruded, her eyes starting to roll in the back of her head. Vader debated killing the young mare here and now, and finally decided to at least let her breath.
The unicorn took deep, labored breaths as she attempted to regain her air supply. Realizing that Vader was far too powerful an opponent for her to take on by herself, she tried to regain her footing, turned tail and ran.
Vader retracted his lightsaber with a sharp ‘whirr’ as he listened to Twilight’s clattering hooves, galloping away, through his cybernetically enhanced ear drums.
Twilight only made it as far as the front end of the corridor before she collapsed from exhaustion. This room was fully lit, at least in part by Bespin’s natural sunlight leaking through the octagonal window in front of her. Twilight didn’t quite know what to make of the ‘outside’ view as she peered out into the complex substructure of the gas mining facility. It was an enormous shaft, much too large to see the top or bottom out of the proportionally tiny window.
Twilight came to the epiphany that she was only one little mare in an enormous galaxy, that was part of an even larger universe, that might have even been a part of an incomprehensible multiverse. She did not have long to ponder these thoughts before the steps of a certain somepony resonated from behind her. No, not somepony, something.
“Twilight Sparkle...” Vader lectured, “It did not have to come to this. Your species could have lived in relative peace as an Imperial colony. We would have even allowed you to retain some of your power. But your species chose to align with the Rebels, thus ensuring your destruction.”
“Better to die...on your hooves...” Twilight muttered defiantly, “Than to live...on your flank...”
Both Twilight and Vader wondered where she had retrieved that particular phrase. It wasn’t in any of the teachings or sayings that either of them had studied, yet somehow both of them knew that it was not an inception of Twilight’s own mind.
Vader once again activated his lightsaber. Twilight cringed and Vader breathed in her fear. He could sense the feeling well, and she sensed that he sensed it. The Sith lord decided to give the unicorn at least a small bit of a sporting chance. He waited patiently as Twilight managed to get back on all four hooves and try to wipe away the blood that was now clotting and matting her fur.
Twilight’s horn glowed with a translucent green aura as she prepared for the worst. Vader brought his lightsaber down to cut her in half and Twilight deflected the blows by telekinetically pushing the red beam away. Sparks shot up from the floor where Vader’s blade struck. He expected no less from the unicorn.
“For the student of such a creature that might easily destroy me, you at least attempt to put up a fight.” Vader taunted, “Unfortunately, she did not last as long as this.”
Twilight wondered for a moment what ‘friend’ Vader spoke of until she gasped in horror.
“Rainbow Dash!” she shouted, “What have you done to Rainbow Dash?!!”
“Your multicolored friend has not been permanently damaged.” Vader assured her, “But in the midst of such suffering, sometimes death can be a gift.”
Upon hearing this, Twilight’s heart filled with such anger and hatred that her horn glowed with such energy it blew Vader back across the room, making him give a mechanical yelp, and clattering his lightsaber to the ground.
The dark lord’s raspy breath sounded more labored than usual and tiny wisps of spark and smoke escaped from some of his machinery. Vader struggled to his feet as Twilight collapsed again from the overuse of her magic. He lifted his hand and the hilt of the lightsaber flew directly into his palm.
“Impressive...most impressive.” Vader remarked, “I can feel your anger. It gives you strength. I can teach you to channel your anger. I could make you more powerful than even Celestia.”
“What did you do to her, you monster?!!” Twilight demanded, “ANSWER ME!!”
“You should be less concerned with the fate of your friends than that of your own, at the moment.” Vader advised.
Before Twilight could respond, Vader had managed to Force-lift another crate from nearby and fling it in Twilight’s general direction. Twilight just barely deflected it as it shattered the glass window behind her, letting in an enormous blast of air from the shaft, which vacuum-sucked Twilight right out of the room.
Twilight shrieked in terror as she started to fall to her doom, spraining her two front hoofs as she miraculously managed to catch the ledge of the outer catwalk. She worked past the pain as she lifted herself up, using her magic to help levitate her own body back up to safety.
Vader Force-jumped down from the broken window to the catwalk, landing neatly on his feet, sword still in hand. Twilight slowly backed away, beginning to wonder if a less gruesome fate awaited her had she just fell down the shaft.
Vader attempted to strike the unicorn down as she still managed to repel his blows while backing away onto an outcrop. The outcrop ended in a large beam-like construct that still barely had enough room for Twilight, even if she clutched the beam with all four legs. She did so and slowly tried to crawl away from the mechanical monster.
Twilight could not move fast enough and screamed in agony as one swift strike of Vader’s lightsaber severed the unicorn’s horn from her forehead. All that was remained was a large, sizzling burn mark from where the blade had cauterized her, and a horrific psychological recoil reeling through her mind. The loss of her horn seemed to make her entire life flash through her brain, as well as the lives of all of those she ever cared about. Her screams turned to gurgles as her eyes rolled into the back of her head and she foamed at the mouth.
Even Vader was a little surprised at this occurrence, not knowing the result when a unicorn’s horn was so suddenly and violently removed. Very few in Equestria knew of this, and fewer still had experienced it. Twilight did not fall, as the muscles in her legs locked in place around the beam, and her neural synapses attempted to compensate for the trauma.
Vader of all people felt somewhat relieved when Twilight’s pupils resumed their normal position and she looked up at him somewhat coherently. She still knew where she was, and who she was facing, but not how to respond.
“You still have a chance to live, Twilight.” the Sith lord announced, “Learn the dark side of the Force and have access to power beyond your imagining. Join me and all of your friends will be spared.”
“I’ll never join you!!” Twilight screamed as her mind snapped back into conscious thought.
“Celestia never told you what happened to your mother.” Vader said.
Vader’s words confused Twilight, but not her subconscious mind, which suddenly played out the memory before her, just as if it were actually happening.
“Celestia.” Twilight said, not using the usual ‘princess’, “I have to ask you something.”
“What is it, Twilight?” the matronly white unicorn asked.
“What happened to my mother?” Twilight blurted, “My real mother?”
“She discovered a portal to another world.” Celestia said matter-of-factly, “Another galaxy. She was most likely destroyed by a dark and terrible being known as Darth Vader.”
“What?! How?! Why?!” Twilight sputtered.
“I cannot answer that, Twilight.” Celestia explained, “I wish I knew myself. All I know is that your mother accidentally cast a long forgotten spell and was transported across the stars. I could only watch from afar, through a magic window that I could not enter. I tried to warn her, to stop him, but it was too late. A vile, sinister being introduced itself to her as ‘Darth Vader’ and then the window disappeared. I can only assume that this ‘Vader’ killed her.”
The moment dissipated just as fast as it had arrived, and Twilight found herself still clutching the beam, looking up at the thing that had murdered her mother.
“She told me enough!!” Twilight raved, “She told me you killed her!!”
“No, Twilight.” Vader replied, “Celestia killed your mother.”
Twilight’s eyes shrunk in horror and betrayal and tears flowed down her cheeks.
“That’s not true!! You’re lying!!” Twilight shrieked, “THAT’S IMPOSSIBLE!!”
“Search your feelings, Twilight.” Vader said, “You know it to be true.”
“No.....” Twilight bawled in despair, “NOOOO!! NOOOOOO!!!!”
The young unicorn released her legs from the beam and let herself fall into the chasm. She made no sound as blood mixed with tears in the wind. The gust itself lifted her back up and she somewhat gently collapsed down large tube. The tube ended in another, much smaller shaft and Twilight found herself outside, sprawled against an antenna at the base of the mining facility. Twilight was suspended once again in the air, just barely gripping the antenna with her hooves. She considered letting go, this time falling to certain death. She couldn’t even see the ground below her, just a cool, inviting mist of clouds.
“Celestia...Luna...” Twilight muttured, “Rainbow...Dash...Spike...”
Twilight was starting to remember several reasons to keep on living. Tears of joy filled her eyes as her grip weakened and she fell into the cloudy abyss...