“You did what?!” Princess Celestia all but screamed at the holographic image before her.
“I found that your sister, Princess Luna, had certain talents that met my needs,” the small hologram of Inquisitor Cia repeated calmly, her hands behind her back. “So I drafted her into the Imperial military. I hope that will not be a problem.”
“OF COURSE THAT”S A PROBLEM!!!” Celestia’s Royal Canterlot Voice boomed out, shaking the durasteel building around her and temporarily deafening more than a few humans and ponies with the misfortune to be near her office at that moment.
The Chiss woman, by contrast, did not look phased. “Hmph,” she shrugged. “That is unfortunate. However, the needs of the Inquisitorius and the Galactic Empire come before the needs of your planet, Governor.”
“You have NO right to do this!” Celestia seethed, her teeth grinding together. “I demand as per Section 36, Subsection 729 of the Imperial Code of Law that the citizen of my planet be extradited back to Equus at once!”
“No,” replied Cia’s image. “Per Section 2, Subsection 31, I am well within my rights as the highest-ranking officer of the Empire to conscript anyone I choose into the military for an indefinite period. And I chose to conscript your sister. She, along with the others, are presently onboard my vessel. We will be leaving your system shortly.”
“You can’t do this!” Celestia protested, though she only half believed it.
“I can and I am,” the other woman answered.
Celestia’s ground even harder. “I will be taking this up with your superiors, Inquisitor,” she declared after a moment’s pause.
“Oh?” The corner of the Chiss female’s mouth twitched upwards into a slight smirk. “I am certain that Lord Vader will be sympathetic to your case. Would you like me to try and forward your holocall to him?” she asked with mock concern.
Underneath the ridiculous hat she had been given to wear in her official capacity as Imperial Governor, Celestia’s ears folded back at the mention of that name. Though it was impossible to see beneath her white fur, the skin of her face went slightly pale. Though her planet was too out of the way and primitive to have ever earned the dark lord’s presence or personal attention, rumors got around even to here. If even half of them were true, he could kill a dozen men by looking at them and enjoyed nothing more than strangling an unruly subordinate. Not a single one painted him as somepony who would help anypony else on moral grounds.
Still, she had to try. For Lulu.
“Yes,” Celestia said after a moment. “Send my transmission through to your master. I shall speak with him.”
The smirk was gone from Cia’s face in an instant, replaced by a wide-eyed expression of surprise and incredulity.
“Are you…” she paused, tilting her head slightly. “Are you serious?”
“I am,” Celestia said resolutely.
“You actually want me to redirect your transmission to Lord Vader?”
“Yes, Inquisitor,” the white alicorn repeated. “I want you to do that. I shall speak to him over the holonet. I shall even speak to him in person, if that is what it takes for you to return my sister.”
Cia blinked more than once, her face still looking both shocked and incredulous that a small-time governor of a backwater planet would dare to demand to speak with the fearsome black cyborg, but at last she nodded.
“Very well,” she said slowly. “But I warn you: it will be your funeral.”
“That is a chance I am willing to take,” Celestia declared.
“You’re either far braver or far more stupid than I thought,” muttered the Inquisitor, her holoimage turning.
Inquisitor Cia fiddled with something outside of her holocam’s range, her back now to Celestia. For several seconds she simply appeared to be pressing something on a console only she could see, and then without warning her image disappeared from Celestia’s projector. Multiple minutes ticked by in silence as Princess Celestia waited for the device before her to start up again. Her ear flicked nervously underneath her hat and a few drops of sweat rolled down the back of her neck. After a while, she began to fidget with her hooves slightly, ruffle her wings, and even lick her lips a time or two.
Finally, just as Celestia was beginning to wonder if the Inquisitor had simply hung up on her, the holoprojector burst into life again. A miniaturized image of what the alicorn knew from the scant reports she had to be a towering black cyborg took shape on the table before her. The sound of his loud mechanical breathing resounded throughout the confined space of the princess’ office. As he scrutinized her, Celestia had the very uncomfortable sensation of being a field mouse eyed by a hawk soaring overhead.
“Who,” said Darth Vader in his booming bass tone. “Are you?”
The white alicorn swallowed once, resisting the urge to shut down the projector and hide under a rock somewhere.
“I am Princess Celestia of Equestria, Imperial Governor of Equus, Lord Vader,” she said with a bow of her head. “And I wish to speak to you about the actions of one your subordinates.”
Vader said nothing, simply crossing his arms over his chest and waiting, his soulless lenses gazing deep into the alicorn’s eyes.
“Yes, well,” Celestia continued awkwardly, averting her gaze slightly. “Your Inquisitor Cia paid an unexpected visit to my world and in the process abducted several of my citizens, including my own sister, Princess Luna. I-” she forced her eyes back to his face. “I want them back.”
“No,” Vader said simply.
“What?” Celestia blinked.
“No,” Vader repeated. “Inquisitor Cia is undertaking a mission on behalf of the Empire, and as such had every right to conscript your entire planet if she chose.”
Celestia swallowed again, working up her courage. “Lord Vader, I must protest that- ghck!”
Darth Vader’s right hand had stretched out and made a three-fingered fist. Immediately Celestia’s throat felt like it was enclosed in bands of solid durasteel, her windpipe utterly sealed shut. She gasped and sputtered for air, a hoof flying to rub against her throat, but it was of absolutely no help.
“What about the word “no”,” Vader said, lifting his hand. Celestia’s body left the ground, hovering several feet in the air as the white alicorn clawed at her throat. “Do you not understand, Governor?”
For what seemed like an eternity but could only have been several seconds, Celestia simply hung there, clawing at her throat. Visions of another war if she resisted and the utter destruction that would surely follow filled her mind with terror, preventing her from invoking some spell to save herself. Instead, she simply gasped futilely for air like a drowning mare. She might as well have tried to ingest her own sun, for all the good it did her.
Finally, just as Celestia’s vision was fading to black, Vader spoke again.
“Consider this your first and only warning, Governor,” the black-armored cyborg declared. “Do not presume to waste my time again.”
With that, the hologram vanished. Simultaneously, the clamps around Celestia’s throat faded to nothing, and she plummeted to the office floor. The hardened durasteel might have hurt another being, but she was already far too focused on swallowing frantic mouthfuls of air to pay attention. Slowly, the alicorn’s senses returned to normal, her heartrate slowing back to its usual moderate pace.
Rubbing her sore throat with one hoof, Celestia unsteadily resumed her standing position. She was already starting to reach for her holoprojector again. There were more messages to be sent.
The other royalty had to hear about this.
“They did what?!” shouted Prince Shining Armor, pounding his hooves onto the wooden villa table.
“That was my reaction too,” noted Princess Celestia in a rather somber tone. She had replaced her ridiculous Imperial-issue hat with the golden tiara crown that she continued to favor when not on official duty.
The three remaining alicorns, one white unicorn, and one purple dragon had gathered around a circular oak table inside the villa that continued to serve as an impromptu palace at Celestia’s request. As was now the norm, the royalty had been spread out across the nation in their efforts to personally oversee reconstruction. When they had received the solar alicorn’s message, all of them had dropped everything and rushed back to Los Pegasus to hear what had happened to their fellow.
The reactions around the table had varied greatly. Shining Armor, as Celestia had expected, looked furious. Princess Cadence, by now heavily pregnant with the couple’s first child, swallowed nervously and shrank back slightly at the news, as if trying to make herself look smaller. Spike looked similarly afraid, biting the ends of his claws. Her former student, Princess Twilight, just looked sad.
“They took…” the white unicorn continued, growling. “They took Princess Luna?!”
“Yes,” Celestia said, looking miserable.
“Gah!” the unicorn slammed his hoof against the table again. “How dare they?! We’ve already agreed to everything they wanted even at our own expense, and now they just up and abduct our princess?!” his teeth clenched into a snarl.
Celestia nodded sympathetically.
“They took her just like they’ll take anything else they want from us, Shiny,” Twilight said quietly, looking at the floor.
“Grr…” the unicorn prince simply growled angrily.
His sister looked up at him. “You know what I’m saying is true. They have all the cards,” she sighed. “They can take anything they want at any time. You,” she pointed a hoof at Shining. “Me,” she pointed it back at herself.
“Never!” Twilight’s brother hissed.
The lavender alicorn pointed the same hoof over her sister-in-law without pause. “Cadence.”
“NO!” the unicorn shouted at the top of his lungs.
For her part, the pink alicorn merely shrunk further and shivered, doubtless remembering the brutal trauma of the last alien invasion. She simply hadn’t been the same since.
“Be realistic, Shining,” Twilight said sadly. “If the Empire wants any of us, it can have them. Your wife included.”
“I’ll die before I let that happen!” Shining declared.
“Then they’ll kill you,” said Twilight. “And take her if they want her.”
Cadence actually took a shaking step backwards, still not able to bring herself to say anything.
For his part, Shining could only stay silent.
“You of all ponies should know how little military strength we have next to the Empire,” Twilight continued.
The siblings locked eyes for several seconds, staring at one another across the table. Finally, Shining Armor hung his head and nodded meekly, accepting the inevitable conclusion. A few tears trickled down his cheeks.
“It’s just…” he said after some time had passed. “It’s just not fair! We do everything they say, give all the concessions they want, and still they just string us along and force us to do their dirty work! Do you know how many loyal soldiers I’ve seen coming home injured or in body bags because they had to go and collect taxes for the Empire? Do you know how many families I’ve had to inform that their parent or child or spouse didn’t make it?” he raised his head, his eyes for once visible watery. “Our ponies are spread out across foreign lands, making their people hate us! We lose more each month than we did every year before the war! And for what?” he hung his head once more. “I’m their leader! I shouldn’t have to send them away! Not like this!”
His wife nuzzled him gently on the neck. “There, there,” she said in a soft voice that had grown weak from disuse. “It will be alright. You’re not a bad pony.”
“If I were a good pony I wouldn’t be doing dirty work for a bunch of alien thugs,” he retorted.
“We all do it,” pointed out Twilight. “We don’t really have a choice in the matter.”
“We have all committed sins to protect our people’s future,” Celestia injected herself back into the conversation. “The question before us is: what do we do about it? What can we do about it?”
For a short time, there was only silence around the table. Downcast eyes stared at the aged oak as their minds processed just what kind of odds were against them.
“C-could we appeal to the higher-ups?” Cadence suggested timidly.
“I tried,” Celestia rubbed her neck. “Lord Vader was… unsympathetic.”
The mention of that name sent a chill down the spine of everypony there. Few in the Empire didn’t know at least something of the Emperor’s primary enforcer. Conversation came to a temporary halt.
“Uh…” Twilight Sparkle spoke up again when it was clear that nopony else was immediately going to.
“Yes?” Celestia asked.
“I’ve been running some numbers, and the conclusion I’ve come to…” Twilight paused, then sighed. “We simply can’t beat the Empire from Equus. It’s just not possible. Even assuming their own reports exaggerate the magnitude of their forces by a factor of two and we are somehow able to gain access to the full spectrum of their military technology in such a way as to be able to reproduce it reliably – both extremely generous assumptions, I might add – this planet alone simply does not have the resources or numbers to endure a concentrated Imperial assault.”
“I see,” Celestia said. She had known as much without running any numbers, of course, but it was still depressing to hear her most faithful student tell her as much to her face.
“But…” Twilight continued.
Everypony’s ears perked up at that.
“Yes?” prodded Celestia.
“I did… kinda have an idea,” Twilight scratched the back of her head with a hoof. “But it’s a bit of a longshot.”
“Let’s hear it,” said Cadence, her voice still little better than a whisper.
Twilight looked to Celestia, who nodded.
“I was thinking,” she said. “We can’t beat the Empire – on our own at least – but what if there is somepony else who can?”
“The Empire has just about subjected the galaxy,” Shining pointed out.
“According to the records they let us see,” Twilight countered. “In any case, I would bet that there are more than few worlds out there like ours – exploited and disenfranchised. It wasn’t so long ago that the Clone Wars tore the galaxy in half, remember? They were all about that kind of problem, and I doubt it’s gotten any better since then.”
“What exactly do you propose, Princess Twilight?” Celestia asked.
“I was thinking… maybe… that one of us could, you know, go out into the wider galaxy? Try and find some like-minded people and groups. I admit it wouldn’t be easy, but just maybe we could find enough friends to drive the Empire from our world and others like it for good,” Twilight looked at each of the other anxiously. “Does that sound stupid? It sounds stupid doesn’t it? What was I thinking?!” she buried her face in her hooves.
“That sounds far from stupid, my student,” Celestia rushed to reassure her. “In fact, I would say it sounds like the best plan we’ve come up with yet.”
“The question is,” Shining Armor said, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. “Is who is going to go? And how do we get them out? The Empire has a total monopoly on all space transport in the system.”
“I was thinking… uh…” Twilight scratched the back of her head again. “Me.”
“They’ll recognize you on sight,” Celestia pointed out. “No offense, my student, but both our species and yourself in particular are very distinct from most others that we know of.”
Twilight nodded. “Yeah, I thought of that. I’ve been practicing.”
The Princess of Friendship got to all four hooves and closed her eyes in concentration. Her glowed brighter and brighter over the course of few seconds, filling the room with a blinding purple flash. When it was gone at last, the alicorn was gone. In her place stood a two-legged creature wearing an Imperial engineer’s uniform.
“Imperial Army Engineer Ziara Blane reporting for duty,” came Twilight’s voice as her new body snapped to attention and gave a crisp salute.
“Uh, Twily?” Shining spoke up. “Your skin is purple.”
“Huh?” she looked at herself, then blushed. “Uh, whoops! Lemme fix that!”
This time, she clasped both hands together and closed her eyes again. Once more, a purple light enveloped her. This time, when it faded, her skin was white. Other than a slight streak of purple running through her black hair, which could just as easily be dye, she looked to be a relatively ordinary human.
“How’s that?” she asked the assembled ponies.
“Not bad,” Spike said, walking around the alicorn to get a good view of her. “Yeah, I can see you passing for one them.”
“Visually at least,” Celestia added. “Do you think you can accurately reproduce the knowledge and behavior of an Imperial human?”
“Long enough to get off of here and to another planet with more spaceports?” Twilight asked. “Absolutely. I’ve been through their databanks more than they realize.”
“Won’t they notice that they don’t have a record of the human you’re supposed to be?”
“Ah,” Twilight had a glint in her eye. “I thought of that too! I’ve spent a lot of time learning something of how they keep their personnel records here. I think I could insert myself into their files. It wouldn’t hold up under detailed scrutiny, but I think it would be enough.”
“I don’t know,” Shining sounded reluctant. “This all seems pretty risky to me. So many variables in the equation.”
“You’re the soldier,” his sister pointed out. “You should know that no operation ever comes without risk.”
“But there are so many ways this could go wrong!” he protested. “You could be found out… or get lost out in the galaxy… or get killed by somepony else… or get sold into slavery… or anything!”
“Do you think I don’t know the risks?” she countered. “But what’s the alternative? Stay here and continue doing what we’re doing until the Empire decides it just wants everything on the planet?”
All three of her fellow royals looked at one another, as if mentally debating amongst themselves.
“Shining,” Twilight said, more delicately, taking a meaningful glance at her sister-in-law. “Do you want your child to grow up under the Galactic Empire?”
The unicorn visibly recoiled from the suggestion. “I… No.”
“Do you have any other ideas?”
“…No.”
“Then I suppose we should make an effort.”
“I’m coming with you,” he declared firmly.
“You can’t,” Celestia said before Twilight could.
“And why not?”
“Three reasons,” the solar alicorn replied. “One, because having two of our royalty vanishing at once seems suspicious. Twilight could perhaps be excused for some time as being involved in diplomatic projects in corners of the globe far from Imperial eyes, but what excuse would there be for the sudden absence of our military commander? Two, because your wife needs you.”
The unicorn and pink alicorn looked at each other briefly, Cadence leaning slightly against her husband.
“Three,” Celestia tried to be gentler in this. “Because of your… condition.”
“Because I’m crippled, you mean,” Shining said bluntly, looking up balefully at the polished steel of the ornamental horn that covered his injury.
Twilight nodded delicately. “I’m sorry, BBBFF, but on this mission our biggest advantage is going to be magic, and…” she trailed off.
“I don’t have any,” he observed drily.
“Kinda… yeah.”
Shining Armor sighed. “Promise you’ll be careful?”
“I promise.”
Twilight’s body faded back to its natural alicorn form while the room’s other occupants watched.
“And there’s one other thing,” she said once she was a pony again. “I need a way of communicating back to you that the Empire can’t monitor.”
Everypony’s eyes shifted quickly to the small purple dragon at her side.
“Ah, what the hay?” Spike said, preempting any requests. “I’m in.”