//------------------------------// // The Heart of Darkness // Story: Star Crossed Ponies // by MillenniumFalsehood //------------------------------// Chapter 26 “The rage and anger I felt was nearly indescribable. Years of working under Celestia's tutelage had not prepared me for dealing with the monster at the center of the Death Star. I fought desperately to control myself, to keep myself from being taken in by the creature's words. But his language was tempting, and his words inviting. And soon, I succumbed.” -Twilight Sparkle, On Extra-Galactic Voyages, p. 901 In the throne room of the Emperor, the turbolift door slid open with a hiss, admitting Darth Vader, Luke Skywalker, Twilight Sparkle and Princess Celestia. The dark Lord of the Sith stepped out of the lift, leading the ponies and the Jedi into the room. None of the Rebels dared speak as they walked into the metallic cavern, their surroundings shrouded in darkness. Twilight involuntarily shuddered, imagining the shadows as a black emptiness that could ooze out and swallow them up at a whim. She wasn’t sure if the tremor was in response to fear, or if the Emperor had somehow used the Force to enhance her terror. They approached the base of the dais where the throne sat and walked up the stairs to the upper level, each step a heavy, reluctant tread. Looking up above the throne, Twilight could see several spindly devices dangling from the ceiling. She gulped as she saw spikes, hot irons, and other objects of torture poking out from the devices. As they approached the throne, it revolved slowly to face them, revealing the shadow that sat within. The shadow spoke. “Welcome, young ones. I have been expecting you. You no longer need those.” His hand lifted off the armrests of the throne and waved slightly. The restraints on their limbs and horns fell off and clattered to the floor. “Guards, leave us.” Twilight glanced in the direction that the Emperor was looking at. On either side of the turbolift doors, two men stood in red robes, their hands holding pikes tipped with razor-sharp points. An odd feeling accompanied their departure into the alcoves behind the turbolift. It took a moment for her to place it, but suddenly she realized that she didn't want them to leave. She didn't want to be left alone with the creature sitting in the throne. She turned back to look at the Emperor as he spoke again. “I’m looking forward to completing your training. In time you will all call me... master.” He savored the last word, let it sit on his tongue like putrid wine before it rolled off into their ears. “You’re gravely mistaken,” said Luke. “You won’t convert us as you did my father.” “That’s right,” said Twilight. “We’re not your servants to do your bidding.” The Emperor stood and stalked toward them, the shadow that surrounded him in the throne seeming to cling to him like a black oil. “Oh no, my young Jedi... You will find that it is you who are mistaken. About a great many things.” “His lightsaber,” said Vader, handing the silver cylinder to his master. Palpatine took it and looked at Luke in the eye with a subtle, cloying grin. “Ah yes, a Jedi’s weapon. Much like your father’s. By now you must know your father can never be turned from the Dark Side.” His voice got deathly quiet. “So will it be with you.” The barest hint of a smile appeared on Luke’s face. “You’re wrong. Soon I’ll be dead, and you with me.” A long, quiet chuckle came from the lips of the shadow. “Perhaps you refer to the imminent attack of your rebel fleet.” The shock of the Emperor knowing about the surprise attack was enough to break the stoicism of Luke and the ponies. Twilight's own face contorted in horror. How could he know about that already? she thought to herself. “Yes,” continued the Emperor, the calmness of the his voice giving way to irritation at Luke’s continued defiance. “I assure you, we are quite safe from your friends here.” He turned around and began to walk back to his throne. “Your overconfidence is your weakness,” said Luke as he watched the Emperor, waiting for his reaction. “Your faith in your friends is yours,” replied the Emperor. Twilight could stay in silence no longer. She stamped a hoof and inched closer to the throne. “Friendship will get us through this. Princess Celestia and I are going to rescue our friends, and we’re not going to let you stop us.” As the Emperor sat back down in the polished seat, he lifted his hand and gestured to the far corner of the throne room. “They’re yours. Take them.” Twilight looked up at Celestia, her face contorted in a mixture of concern and fear. She and Celestia walked hesitantly toward the place the Emperor indicated. The shadows made it hard to determine what he was talking about, but as they got closer to the corner, shapes began to manifest themselves in the darkness. They first saw the cages. They were large, round, and seemed to be made from a combination of metal and metallic living tissue, with irregular veins of a silvery substance covering the entirety of each structure. In the center of each cage was a mass of flesh. Twilight approached the one on the left, and when she saw what was contained within, she froze in horror. Laying in the bottom of the cage was Spike, but it was not the Spike she knew. This Spike was twisted, snarling and didn’t seem to be a thinking creature anymore. It leapt up and snapped at Twilight, trying to claw its way out of the cage and sink its jagged teeth into her. As it reached out, she could see that there were bits of metal attached to it, and blood was leaking from wounds that refused to close. The worst of it was its face. Over the left eye was a small piece of sensing technology with a single lens that was burning a deep blood-red. Wires trailed from the unit to the back of its head and entered its skull through a metal grommet. The remaining eye, that once-handsome green eye that was full of life and vitality, was gray. Lifeless. The Emperor's face contorted into a sick grin. “His transformation is nearly complete. Soon he will no longer be your... friend.” Twilight backed away sharply, letting out a strangled scream. It was matched by Celestia’s own scream of horror at seeing her sister. In the cage next to Spike’s was Luna. Her body was riddled with wounds where torture droids had carried out their grim tasks. Her mouth was wired shut and her eyes were puffy and crusted over. Her breathing was ragged and irregular, and even the cries of her sister didn't stir the beaten ruler. Her mane, once bright and glowing, was dull and barely waving. Her horn was covered in a layer of jagged metal that seemed to be growing right out of the bone. Both Twilight and Celestia turned and glared at the Emperor, who wore a sick, twisted grin. “It was a mistake to do this to our friends,” said Celestia, her voice quiet but filled with rage. The shadow in the throne emitted a low chuckle. “The mistake, my dear, was your coming here to threaten me. You have no power over me.” Letting out a cry of anger, Celestia charged up her horn. For one moment the room was bathed in a golden glow that seemed to banish all the shadows. She projected a beam of pure magic at him, striking him in the center of the chest. Many moments passed as she released all her pent up anger at the malevolence sitting in his throne, and the sheer brightness of the magic was enough to make even Vader look away. As the attack died down, she opened her eyes, hoping that it had had an effect. The Emperor merely smiled at her, chuckling as the last of the magic faded. “Perhaps you wonder about your newfound magical impotence.” Neither Twilight nor Celestia gave a reply. “It was quite simple. Technology which can block Jedi can be made to attract Jedi. I had never imagined that the device I had created could wrench Jedi from other galaxies, but when you ponies had appeared in the galaxy, I knew it had worked better than I could have ever conceived.” At this, Twilight gasped. She had assumed that their being drawn in to this galaxy was a fluke, a mistake on the part of Rarity. But now this Emperor was saying that it was really his technology that caused this terrible thing to happen. She felt relief for a moment before the Emperor continued. “So you see, my young Jedi, there is no escape for you. There is no refuge. No matter where you go, I will find you and bring you back to me. You and your friends will all be my servants.” He laughed at his own machinations coming to fruition. “Everything that has transpired has done so according to my design. Your friends, up there on the sanctuary moon, are walking into a trap, as is your Rebel fleet. It was I who allowed the Alliance to know the location of the shield generator. It is quite safe from your pitiful little band. An entire legion of my best troops await them.” He leaned forward a bit in his throne. “Oh... I’m afraid the deflector shield will be quite operational when your friends arrive.” ----- In the main control bunker on Endor, Commander Hewex was leaning over the shoulder of one of his officers as he sat at his station. Suddenly the lock on the door exploded in a shower of sparks. His head whipped around just in time to see Han Solo come through the door, his gun drawn. “Alright, up!” shouted Han. “Move, c’mon! Quickly, quickly!” He held his pistol on the Imperials as the Rebels started to pour in. “Chewie!” he barked at the Wookie behind him. Chewbacca jogged up with his bowcaster drawn and held it on the officers as Leia looked at the computer monitors. One of them was displaying a graphic representing the Rebel fleet in hyperspace, and it was closing in on Endor at a rapid pace. “Han,” she said, “hurry! The fleet will be arriving any moment.” The ponies soon followed the last of the soldiers, and as soon as they noticed Hewex they all three marched up, anger blazing on their faces. Applejack was the first to speak. “You’re gonna regret messin’ with us ponies! We’re gonna take out yer Empire like it was nothin’!” “That’s right!” shouted Pinkie Pie, happy to finally be allowed to talk. “We’re gonna make you no-good meanie-mean-pants Imperials pay for the way you’ve treated us!” Despite his situation, he tried to maintain an air of arrogance. “If you think that you inferior aliens will be able to defeat the Empire, you are sadly mistaken!” Han Solo caught the remark and swung his pistol to point at Hewex’s face. “Well I’m not an alien. Wanna see how ‘superior’ you are with a laser blast to the face?” After the officer shut his mouth, Han turned his attention to the Rebel in charge of munitions. “Charges, c’mon! C’mon!” The man tossed him a small pack filled with detonators. Rarity trotted to him and said, “I can help. Let me plant some of them.” Han nodded. “Fine. You know how these things work?” He held open the bag for her to look into. After taking a look at the devices, Rarity nodded. “I think so.” “Good.” Han gave her a pair of small silver cylinders with knobs on top, and after grabbing a pair of them himself they got to work. ----- In the small clearing where C-3PO, R2-D2 and Wicket were standing, they could see down to the bunker. As they watched from above, a large group of Stormtroopers and officers rushed into the building. “Oh my!” said 3PO. “They’ll be captured!” R2-D2 warbled a reply, but before he finished Wicket ran off into the forest. “W-wait, come back!” shouted C-3PO as the Ewok disappeared into the woods, but there was no stopping him. The droid put a hand on R2-D2. “Artoo, stay with me!” Burbling a reply, R2-D2 stood where he was. ----- “Freeze!” Han looked in the direction of the Imperial officer who had appeared from a doorway and rather than obeying him, he threw one of the packs of charges at him. The officer caught them in the chest, but the weight from the explosives pushed him over the rail and he fell into the huge pit of electrical discharge capacitors. As his body was vaporized on the contacts, more Stormtroopers and officers rushed into the control room, their blasters drawn and pointed at the Rebels. “You rebel scum,” said the lead officer. Leia and Applejack were about to attack, but Han held out a hand to stop them. Chewbacca tried to wrestle the officers off him, but there were too many of them. They took his bowcaster with no small effort. As the Imperials relieved the Rebels of the last of their weapons, Applejack looked up at Hewex with a furious scowl. The Imperial officer lowered his arms and smirked at the pony. “So much for taking out the Empire like it was nothing,” he said, a smug grin on his face. Applejack only glared in reply. ----- The space around Endor was disrupted by the appearance of the Rebel fleet. The Millennium Falcon burst into realspace, followed by fighters, transports, frigates, cruisers, and the flagship Home One. Rainbow dash kept her hoof steady on the stick and gracefully maneuvered her fighter into formation with the rest of the A-wings in her squadron. Around her, friendly ships flew toward the vast Imperial battle station hanging in orbit around Endor. She looked at the immense sphere, still hundreds of kilometers away, but incredibly large all the same. She gulped. A knot of anxiety formed in her stomach. But she breathed and kept her cool. As she flew toward the Imperial station, she heard Lando in the Falcon radio, “All wings report in.” She listened as the flight leaders signaled their readiness. Then she heard Wedge Antilles, leader of Red Squadron, call out, “Lock S-foils in attack positions.” Looking around her, she saw the X-wings and B-wings spread their wings, moving their weapons into optimal positions to strike at the enemy. Watching them switch to attack mode somehow gave her a swell of adrenaline, and she pushed forward on the throttle a tad. As the distance between the Death Star and the Rebel fleet closed, Rainbow looked down at her sensor board. She scanned over the data on the station, and something seemed off about it. She wasn’t sure what, but it bothered her that she couldn’t figure it out. Suddenly, she understood what she was missing: nothing. There was nothing surrounding the Death Star. “That can’t be right,” she said to herself, and she tapped the monitor. There was no reading of any kind on the Death Star, and she should have been able to get some kind of sensor echo on the shield generator. But there was nothing, almost as though... “Break off the attack!” shouted Lando from the radio. “The shield is still up!” “I get no reading. You sure?” said Wedge. “Pull up! All craft pull up!” Without thinking, she pulled hard on her stick and hit the throttle to give herself as much engine power as was available. As she pulled, she could see in front of her a shimmer, as though there were a giant wall of invisible energy ahead of her. Small bits of random space debris hit the shield, flaring as they vaporized against the massive energy barrier, and none of it registered on her sensors. The Empire is jamming us! She had no time to think about it as she heard Admiral Ackbar on the radio. “Take evasive action! Green group, stick close to holding sector 47!” “Admiral,” said a voice in the background, “we have enemy ships in sector 47!” The Admiral’s voice responded in alarm, “It’s a trap!” As he said that, Rainbow finished pulling away from the Death Star’s shield and looked in front of her. And as she did, she felt the urge to vomit. There in before her and the rest of the Rebels was a vast fleet of Imperial Star Destroyers, all led by the mighty Executor. She tried to count them all and had to stop at 35 Star Destroyers. And still her board was empty, as though the Imperials weren’t even there. She fought the impending panic that threatened to make her bolt. On one side was the Death Star. On the other side was a wall of death. And there she and the Rebellion were, caught in the middle. The radio snapped her back from her despair. “Fighters coming in!” She squinted, and then realized that there were indeed fighters coming in, so many that it appeared to be a field of static in front of the Star Destroyers. The static soon resolved itself into a massive, countless array of TIE Interceptors and Fighters, and they opened fire on the Rebel ships. Blasts of green laser energy filled the sky, and Rainbow dodged shot after shot. “Accelerate to attack speed,” shouted Lando. “Draw their fire away from the cruisers!” “Copy, Gold Leader,” she heard Wedge reply over the comm. Rainbow nodded, then rolled and dove toward a group of TIE Interceptors hurtling toward the Rebel capital ships like a swarm of crazed banshees. They opened fire on a Rebel frigate, but were causing little damage against the bigger ship’s shields. Rainbow knew that that wouldn’t last long. She looked through her manual gunsights at the TIEs, waiting for the right moment. Suddenly a solar array wing appeared and she sent two twin bursts into it. The fighter exploded, its wing taking out a fellow Interceptor that was flying too close. She didn’t have any time to celebrate as four more took their place. She maneuvered quickly, bringing the next targets into her sights. ----- “Come... see for yourselves.” Luke and the ponies felt a compulsion to move toward the window. Whether from the Emperor’s raw will or their own sense of morbid curiosity at the battle happening beyond the transparisteel. “From here, you will witness the final destruction of the Alliance,” said the Emperor, “and the end of your insignificant Rebellion.” Whipping her head around, Twilight glared at the Emperor. “You’ll see. The power of friendship is greater than your magic! And it will see us through!” Laughing at her proclamation, the Emperor merely smiled at her. “The power of the Dark Side is far stronger than the power of friendship. Even now, I can feel your anger growing stronger. Soon you will be mine.” Celestia stepped forward, her brow turned down in anger at the Emperor. “You will not prevail here. The forces of good will triumph over you.” Instead of gloating, the Emperor looked from Twilight and Celestia to Luke. His grin grew wider. Twilight looked up at her friend and saw that his gaze kept returning to his lightsaber on the armrest of the Emperor’s throne. The dark man looked slowly from his prey to the saber. “You want this...” he said, his voice barely above a whisper. He stroked the silvery weapon. “... don’t you?” Luke quickly looked up from the lightsaber, hesitant to show any sign of weakness. But it was clear to Twilight that he was slowly loosing control of himself. His eyes were wide open, his mouth hanging, breathless as he tried to resist the will of the Emperor. “The hate is swelling in your now,” continued the dark lord, his twisted grin never leaving his face. “Take your Jedi weapon,” he said softly, his words caressing Luke’s ear. “Use it. I am unarmed. Strike me down with it. Give in to your anger.” Twilight swallowed, hoping that Luke wouldn’t give in to the Emperor’s words. Still, the evil man was having an effect on her heart, and she couldn’t help but feel her own rage growing in the face of the Emperor’s admonitions. He seemed to know what she was thinking, for he looked from Luke to her. “With each passing moment you make yourselves more my servants,” he said. “No,” said Luke quietly, his voice shaking with rage. Twilight put a hoof on his thigh to calm him, but it had no effect. “It is unavoidable,” said the Emperor, “it is your destiny. You, like your father, are now... Mine.” ----- Out of the bunker leading to the shield generator, the Imperials led the Rebel strike team up and out, keeping their guns trained on their backs. Han, Leia, Chewbacca, and the soldiers all held their hands over their heads, while the ponies walked alongside them. In the clearing in front of the bunker, they could see the rest of their team surrounded by dozens of Stormtroopers and scout troopers, with officers and commandos meandering around. Standing watch over all of it was a single AT-ST, its large main gun pointing right at them. Other walkers and speederbikes were patrolling around the area, rounding up the last stragglers. Applejack sadly shook her head. “This is lookin’ mighty familiar.” Rarity sighed and nodded. “I agree.” Raising an eyebrow, Pinkie glanced at Applejack. “I don’t think so, A.J. I mean, we're in the same place as before, but now we have ─ ow!” The Stormtrooper who had rammed his rifle into her head said, “Quiet!” Han shot him a poisonous glance, but he said nothing. “Move it!” shouted the trooper, and the group walked out of the entrance to the bunker into the clearing. Applejack looked at Rarity, her expression glum. There seemed to be no way out of this, and if they couldn’t take down the shield generator, they might as well give up. A shout came ringing through the forest. “Hello! I say, over there! Were you looking for me?” The Rebels struggled to see who it was, but suddenly Applejack realized who it was: the droid, C-3PO. “What in tarnation does that machine think he’s doin’?” she whispered harshly. She didn’t want to think that the droid had gone crazy, but he was clearly asking for trouble by drawing attention to himself. She had no doubt that he’d be useless in a fight, and she couldn’t see the use in attracting troopers to his position when they’d just capture him and bring him back. And they’d probably capture that other droid, R2-D2 along with him. “Bring those two down here!” shouted an officer standing next to her. He pointed at the golden robot and a half dozen Stormtroopers broke off from the main group and headed for him. ----- At the base of the ridge surrounding the clearing, R2-D2 and C-3PO were waiting in the place Han had commanded them to. C-3PO was watching as a group of Stormtroopers bounded through the forest toward their position. “Well, they’re on their way,” he said to R2-D2. “Artoo, are you sure this was a good idea?” He didn’t have much time to discuss it before he found himself surrounded by the troopers. They all pointed blaster rifles at the two droids. “Freeze!” said one of them, though 3PO couldn’t tell exactly which one. “Don’t move!” “We surrender!” he said, as innocently as he could muster, not having been programmed for deception. If he could have, he might have grinned when he said the code phrase that he and R2-D2 had agreed on. Suddenly a wave of Ewoks came bubbling up over the ridge and began attacking the Stormtroopers, hammering them with rocks and stabbing them in the vulnerable points between their armored carapaces. C-3PO backed away in order to keep blood from splashing on his gleaming finish. Off in the trees, a horn could be heard blaring a war cry out over the forest. As the troops and officers in the clearing looked around in confusion, a second war cry sounded. Suddenly, dozens upon dozens of Ewoks popped up out of the brush, each holding a bow loaded with a single, deadly arrow. When their leader held up his axe, they took aim, and as the axe was lowered they released, sending a hail of arrows raining down on the Imperials. Many of them either missed or glanced off their white armor, but dozens found the gaps between the plates of plasteel and buried deep into their flesh. Several troopers screamed in agony as the arrows pierced vital organs and rent flesh like butter. The clearing at once devolved into a writhing mess of troopers and formerly captive Rebels, and the Imperials found themselves having to fend off attacks from both the Rebels and the primitives surrounding the base. They fired off several shots into the forest, but few of them hit the Ewoks. Taking the opportunity amid the confusion, Han grabbed the trooper who was holding his blaster and slammed him into another trooper, knocking them both to the ground. The pistol flew out of the trooper’s hand and bounced off, and Han frantically started to look for it. To his left, Leia aimed up and shot one of the crew of the AT-ST as he peered down to survey the battle. Applejack grinned as she saw an opening, and she bucked one of the troopers hard in the stomach, sending him reeling back into the ankle joint of the AT-ST. She smiled at the effect her bucking had, and for a moment she recalled back when Spike had brought an army of Ewoks to help them. She could see the patches in the bunker where the captured Imperial walker had been used to blast a hole in the fortified structure, the surrounding paint work bearing the black marks of laser cannon hits. Her reverie was interrupted by a Stormtrooper taking aim at her. She dodged behind one of the speederbikes as his shot rang out over her head. She turned her head and saw the Ewoks running into the forest. She wondered for a moment what they were doing, then as the Imperials started to chase them she realized that they were luring the Imperial forces into the forest, where the natural features would hide them and give them an opportunity to overwhelm the Imperials. Several scout troopers mounted speederbikes and shot off into the woods while AT-ST walkers stomped off after them, the weapons bristling on their heads training on the fleeing aliens. She looked back at the carnage behind her. In the clearing, Han Solo finally found his blaster, and in one motion he scooped it up and ran off to the bunker. Leia followed him, her legs pumping. Just as they got to the door, the enormous blast doors slid in place, a dull thump sounding from the lock mechanism engaging. Rushing up to the door, Leia started to enter the code to get into the building. As she did, Han crouched and covered her. ----- In the forest, AT-STs and speederbikes were routing the Ewoks. The small creatures were running, knowing that turning their backs toward the Imperial war machines left them vulnerable to their deadly laser beams. Despite the danger, they bounded through the forest, leading the Imperials toward the traps they had spent the night and the better part of the morning setting up. The Imperial walkers stomped through the trees, their drivers smiling as they terrorized the small creatures in front of them with their laser cannons and concussion grenade launchers. They let loose random barrages, utilizing scare tactics to confuse and frighten their prey. At the edge of the clearing, while the battle around the bunker was dying down, Pinkie Pie and Rarity met up with Applejack. “C’mon, A.J.!” shouted Pinkie Pie. “Let’s go into that forest and give those Stormtroopers a taste of their own medicine!” Rarity smiled. “Yes! Let’s show those ruffians what it means to mess with the elements of harmony!” With a yee-haw, Applejack reared up. “Yeah! C’mon!” As they ran off, Rarity split from the group and headed off into the forest. Pinkie Pie followed Applejack as she led the bouncing earth pony into the trees. “This is so exciting!” said Pinkie. “Ah don’t believe Ah’d use that word exactly,” said Applejack. “Don’t worry, Applejack,” said Pinkie cheerfully. “We’re gonna win this thing! After all, we’re the good guys! And good guys always win!” Applejack chuckled as she headed toward the nearest Stormtrooper. You never can shake that pony’s optimism. ----- At the armored door to the bunker, Han was taking aim at a Stormtrooper. After he blasted him in the chest, he turned his gun toward another trooper. As he fired off another shot, Leia tried to enter the master code that the Rebels had used to get past the shield, she was disappointed to discover that it didn’t work anymore. She tried it a second time, but again the small yellow indicator lighted labeled “Locked” blinked on. “Code’s changed,” she said to Han. He stood up from a crouch and turned to open the panel on the control board. “We need Artoo!” “Here’s the terminal,” said Han, looking at the small round interface on the panel. Leia took out her commlink and held it to her mouth. “Artoo, where are you?! We need you at the bunker right away!” Shots flew past the bunker as Solo took aim at another Stormtrooper and fired. That droid’d better get here soon. ----- “Going?” shouted C-3PO. “What do you mean you’re going?” R2-D2 warbled and whistled a reply, his electronic bleating devoid of emotion to anyone who heard him. He was quite insistent however, and his companion understood the urgency in his tones. The small round robot turned on his wheels and started to quickly roll away, continuing to bleep and whir about what Leia had ordered him to do. “No, wait!” C-3PO started to trudge after R2-D2 as fast as his clumsy legs would carry him. “This is no time for heroics! Come back!” His counterpart heeded none of his pleas to stop, however. The white droid picked up speed and continued on toward the bunker. ----- In the forest, the small, furry Ewoks were trying their hardest to do any damage to the Imperial forces. In a small clearing, the native beings had set up several of their catapults. They had little in the way of military structure, but one of them managed to serve as a spotter for the primitive artillery. He stood, staying calm even as blaster fire from the dreaded Imperial walkers got closer. The stomping of their feet rang through the forest, the rhythmic, mechanical cadence of their walk mechanism echoing through the trees. He held an axe aloft, waiting for the exact moment to signal the release of the stones that would be hurled at the metal beast. The machine stomped slowly through the forest, and he watched as the gray, boxy machine walked right into the perfect spot. He dropped his arm, the axe signaling the crews of the catapults to release their deadly ordnance. The rocky missiles sailed through the air, and the spotter watched as they flew. He started to cheer as they impacted, but his face turned to dismay as each rock bounced off the light Imperial armor, not so much as a paint scratch evident on the machine. In moments his small body was filled with dread as the machine turned its ugly head to face them, and suddenly red bolts of flaming death flew toward them. Less than a second passed before they impacted the heavy artillery, shattering the logs, disintegrating rope bindings. The pieces of the catapults flew through the air, some plunging deep into the Ewok warriors who were once their crew and sending showers of red spraying through the trees. The spotter watched as the walker, seemingly satisfied with the destruction it caused, continued along its path. The spotter, momentarily stunned by the ease with which the walker dispatched the catapults, nevertheless shook it off. He climbed down the tree in which he was sitting, then ran off into the forest, hoping that there was something he could do to fight back. Nearby, Rarity was hopping through the trees, and as she ducked under a bush, she closed her eyes to protect them from the flying shrapnel from the blast. Turning her head back around, she glared up at the Imperial walker that was casually stomping away. She looked around and saw several of the boulders that the Ewoks had launched at the thing. Gathering them up, she galloped after the machine, determined to do her part. Upon seeing the walker, she stood and planted her hooves in the soil. An audible whine built up as she charged a flight spell, and soon unleashed a storm of boulders flying at the machine, hoping that she could send them hurtling at the machine faster than the Ewoks had been able to. As before, the rocks struck the mechanical monster, but as before, they rebounded off the hardened plates of armor. The machine turned its blasters on the origin of the rocks. Rarity’s eyes widened. Before the blasts chewed craters into her chest, she leaped out of the way and rolled off into the moss. Glancing up, she looked at the back of the walker. A few new dents and scratches appeared on the engine casings, but other than that she saw nothing to indicate she had done anything. Sighing, she ran into the woods. “I am not built for this.” ----- In the carnage that hung in orbit above the forest moon, the Millennium Falcon flew past a Corellian Corvette, laser blasts from TIE Fighters passing within feet of the small freighter. The ship dodged the hail of fire, passing near a trio of X-wings. In the cockpit, Lando looked up and saw which X-wing was in the lead. He also saw the group of TIE Interceptors closing in on them. “Watch yourself, Wedge!” he shouted. “Three from above!” Wedge responded, “Red Three, Red Two, pull in!” The two X-wings on his wing, the best in the fleet, pulled in closer and tightened the formation. Across the battlefield, Wedge saw a Y-wing which was pursuing a flight of TIE Interceptors, and with several well-placed shots the pilot downed both of them. In her A-wing, Rainbow Dash was aiming at a TIE Fighter which was heading for the bridge of the cruiser Liberty, rending the ship to atoms with a burst from her cannons. Over her radio, she heard Arvel Crynyd shout, “Three of them coming in! Twenty degrees!” She looked up and to her right to see the TIE Interceptors that her flight leader was talking about. Snapping her ship up, she hit the throttle and sent a hail of lasers toward one of the outlier TIEs. As her burst of fire shredded the Imperial fighter, she heard Wedge over the intercom. “Cut to the left, I’ll take the leader.” No sooner had he said that than did she see Crynyd turn sharply to port and hit the afterburner. She smiled as she saw Wedge blast the lead TIE Interceptor. As she was lining up another shot, she heard something that sent a wave of nausea going through her. Over the comm, Wedge said, “They’re heading for the medical frigate.” Fluttershy! Quickly Rainbow Dash rolled and then pulled hard on the stick, and then flooded the engines with fuel. She shot across space, dodging laser blasts and barrel-rolling to avoid careening TIE Fighters. In seconds she arrived at the long, needle-like frigate Redemption, joining the Millennium Falcon as it chased a trio of TIE Interceptors which were attempting to strafe the medical frigate. When the Falcon blasted one of them, the other two broke off their attack. Rainbow let them go, knowing Lando would deal with them, as she swung back around to take care of a second wave of fighters coming at the Nebulon-B Frigate. “I gotta protect this thing,” she said to herself, wincing a little as she looked at the thin spire that held the front end to the back end. It was the most fragile-looking ship she’d ever seen, and as she blasted one of the Interceptors strafing it, she hoped that she could keep them off of it. “Who attacks a medical ship?” she asked to nobody in particular, incredulous that the Empire would do something like that, then she pulled around in a Koiogran turn to deal with the remaining two Interceptors. ----- A blast rocked the Redemption’s medical bay, sending tools flying across the segmented room. Fluttershy caught one of the laser scalpels, setting it back on the stand near one of the surgical suites. On the surgical table, a pilot was in emergency surgery, the doctors desperately trying to tend the plasma burns and shrapnel wounds that he sustained as he launched from his doomed fighter. Fluttershy tried to avoid looking into the gaping wound caused by a flying bit of broken stabilizer. She’d tended her own animal friends when things like this happened, but it wasn’t any easier to look at with aliens. And this one had a combination of internal organs that was unsettling in color and shape. As she looked away, a pilot, his face covered in soot and his orange pilot outfit torn, stumbled into the medical bay. The chief medical officer looked up from the man she was tending. “Do you have more wounded?” He shook his head. “The shuttle I was flying was hit,” he said breathlessly. “We managed to coast into the bay on fumes, but we only managed to save a few of the wounded before the ship exploded in the hangar. It took out one of the remaining rescue shuttles.” The officer shook her head. “Shooting rescue shuttles... like a bunch of wild dogs. Get back out there, pilot. We need to be helping as many people as we can.” The man shook his head at her. “We’re lucky to get this many!” As the chief medical officer opened her mouth to speak, a blast rocked the ship, causing people to steady themselves against the bulkheads. Fluttershy took to the air and hovered near the surgical ward. It was soon followed by another blast, the ship quaking as though a giant fist was shaking it. As the ship stabilized, the CMO yelled, “Get back to work! Worry about your own safety later!” The crew all turned back to their work, then she looked at the pilot. “You. Get back out there and do your job. You joined the Alliance to help people, and right now there are pilots out there who need your help!” He nodded sadly, then turned and jogged back to the hangar. Fluttershy floated in midair, looking at the place where he was standing. “Oh... there has to be something more I can do to help!” “Fluttershy!” shouted the surgeon. “Hand me that pressor generator!” Nodding, Fluttershy grabbed the small device and handed it to the man, but inside she was wondering about the battle going on and hoping that nothing would happen to the Redemption. ----- As he finished looping the Millennium Falcon around a Nebulon-B Frigate, Lando let loose a barrage of blaster fire that ripped straight through the cockpit of a TIE Interceptor. The red lances of energy spread through the ship in an instant, obliterating it and turning the fighter into a ball of incandescent gas. As he brought the freighter about, he paused, looking out the window at the enormous fleet of Star Destroyers. He stared at them for a moment, even as a TIE Fighter buzzed by being chased by an X-wing. They should have been all over the Rebel fleet by now. That many Imperial Star Destroyers, not to mention that Super Star Destroyer, could have wiped them out in an instant, but they just sat there. “Only the fighters are attacking,” he said to himself. “I wonder what those Star Destroyers are waiting for.” Grateful for the moment that the Empire wasn't coming at them with teeth bared, he turned the Falcon around, bringing the ship back into the action. ----- Aboard the Executor, the Imperial crew were performing their jobs, casually waiting and watching their fighters as they preyed upon the Rebel ships. Nobody seemed to have more than a passing interest in the battle, save for Admiral Piett and Commander Gherant. Both of the Executor’s supreme commanders were focused intently on the battlefield, looking over it like a pair of wolves ready to spring into action to pounce on the Rebels. As the two men surveyed the devastation before them, a lieutenant walked up to them and stood before them. “We’re in attack position now, sir,” said the young man. “Hold here,” ordered Piett. Gherant looked at him quizzically. “We’re not going to attack?” Shrugging, Piett turned to him. "I have my orders from the Emperor himself. He has something special planned for them. We only need to keep them from escaping." ----- Twilight, Luke, and Celestia stood in front of the giant window, the darkness of the space beyond nothing compared to the darkness that sat in the throne behind them and flanked by Darth Vader. The battle outside, though far from where they stood, was nonetheless present before them. Flashes of light from doomed Rebel vessels lit up their faces from time to time, death ever-present in the maddening chaos beyond. “As you can see, my young apprentices,” said the Emperor, prompting Luke and Twilight to look at him in anger and horror, “your friends have failed.” Then the voice that was once oily and slick started to thicken, becoming a crescendo of evil that washed over them like abrasive sludge. “Now witness the firepower of this fully armed and operational battle station!” None of the Rebel Jedi could believe their ears. The revelation that the Death Star was not only operational, but ready to strike out at the Rebels made all three of them sick to their stomachs. The Emperor slowly turned and flipped a switch on his armrest. “Fire at will, commander,” he said into his throne’s comlink. Celestia, Luke and Twilight turned and looked out the window, wishing they could do something, anything to stop the blast. Celestia contemplated projecting a shield around the fleet, but even her might would be nothing compared to the planet-destroying power of the Death Star’s superlaser. They stood and watched, impotently knowing they were about to witness a horrible act of war. ----- In the bowels of the Death Star, the sleeping beast contained in the half-completed metal sphere was waking, groans coming from it as the various systems came online. Lights were blinking to life on the control boards of the station’s prime weapon and gunners around the weapon’s axis were flipping the switches that would prime the capacitors for firing. Moff Jerjerrod, standing on the Death Star’s overbridge, heard the order come in on his internal comlink. He turned to the main gunner and uttered a single command: “Fire.” The interior of the battle station vibrated as the energy built up along firing channels in the station’s interior. Enormous beams of green energy formed in the channels, and suddenly the beams intensified and burst forth from points around a gargantuan glowing dish in the northern hemisphere of the station. The energy beams met at a point in front of the green-glowing focusing lens, and suddenly the deadly main beam shot forth from the center. Pilots and crewmen on all sides paused as the beam lanced out like an elongated javelin, piercing one of the Rebel cruisers in the heart. The ship glowed for a fraction of an instant before it burst into a white-hot shower of molten fragments and plasma. On the Millennium Falcon, Lando Calrissian and his co-pilot Nien Nunb had front row seats to the destruction of the cruiser. “That blast came from the Death Star!” shouted Calrissian. His face betrayed the shock he felt at seeing the Death Star destroy a whole starship in a single blast. “That thing’s operational!” After the shock of the Death Star’s attack wore off, he quickly keyed his commlink to the frequency of the Rebel base ship. “Home One this is Gold Leader!” “We saw it,” replied Admiral Ackbar. “All craft, prepare to retreat!” “We won’t get another chance at this, Admiral,” said Lando as he steered the Millennium Falcon through the Rebel fleet. “We have no choice, General Calrissian!” said Ackbar. “Our cruisers can’t repel firepower of that magnitude!” Shaking his head in disbelief, Lando leaned on the comm switch. “Han will have that shield down. We’ve gotta give him more time!” ----- In the forest below, Han and Leia were still fending off attacks from a line of Stormtroopers sitting behind a log on the other side of the clearing. Han blasted at them, trying to hit one of them. Each time he fired, they’d duck and snap off a shot at him, prompting him to duck as well. Their shots went wide, but he knew all it took was a lucky hit and he’d be barbecued. He took up aim again and fired at the troopers. As he shot at them again, he saw something come up behind them. He squinted, wondering what it was, then he saw sticks and clubs being raised behind them. He smirked a little as the tiny furballs started to beat the Stormtroopers with rocks and stab at them with hard, sharpened sticks. Suddenly his attention was drawn to a beep-whistle coming from the forest. He looked up and saw R2-D2 and C-3PO rolling and shuffling into the clearing. “We’re coming!” shouted the tall golden protocol droid. A pair of blaster bolts whipped across the battlefield, prompting Han to spin and shoot the trooper right between the eyes. As the man fell, the two droids finally made it to the bunker. A blaster bolt exploded in front of C-3PO, but as he screamed in surprise R2-D2 rolled up to the computer panel to interface with it. “Come on, come on!” shouted Han as he and Leia backed away from the droid, who protested being rushed as he extended a small metal device. The conical tip extended and plugged into a round portal on the panel. It began to spin, reading the information in the computer and allowing R2-D2 access to the internal systems of the door lock. “Oh,” shouted C-3PO as his little friend worked on the Imperial lock. “Artoo, hurry!” As the little droid worked on the controls, Han took aim at another Stormtrooper and fired, blasting the soldier in the chest. When he looked up to take aim at a second Stormtrooper, a sudden blast knocked him back against the door. Before he could recover, a trooper popped up from behind a log and snapped off a shot at R2-D2. The blast created a small explosion, sending the small droid wailing and rocketing to the other side of the doorway, slamming into the wall with a loud clang. “My goodness!” shouted C-3PO as his counterpart shot past him. Taking aim at the trooper who had blasted R2-D2, Han shot him in the chest. Then he turned to see if the little droid was okay. Suddenly the droid started to spark, and flames shot out from panels that sprang open from the energy overload. Electrical arcs played over the droid’s surface as more sparks and flame sprouted from the innards of the robot. Shaking his head, C-3PO muttered, “Artoo, why do you have to be so brave?” The pitiful response from the astromech conveyed how much the blast took out of him. Han and Leia looked at R2-D2 for a moment, then Han said, “Well... I suppose I can hotwire this thing.” He turned and opened a panel in the side of the computer, then started to take smaller metal coverings off the internal components. “I’ll cover you,” said Leia as she went past Han and crouched in front of him. Her vigilant eye watched over the forest, protecting her love from all who would try to hurt him. When he got the last panel open, Han then started pulling out wires and small circuit boards, causing them to spark as their contacts snapped shut. As he fiddled with the wires and tried to find the one combination of inputs that would work, he scowled to himself. Just swell..., he thought to himself. ----- As the Stormtroopers and Imperial walkers continued to pursue the Ewoks, Applejack growled a curse at them. She was not about to let these dung-eating, armor-plated mongrels get away with all the atrocities they’d committed. She carefully crawled through the moss and detritus on the forest floor, going as fast as she could to position herself near the path the troopers were taking. As blaster fire erupted around her, she forced herself to stay put. Then she saw an opportunity. One of the Stormtroopers came a little too close to where she was hiding, and suddenly she sprang into action, quickly spinning around and planting a solid kick in side of the trooper's torso. The force of the kick knocked the trooper off the path, right smack into a tree. The man’s body impacted the trunk with so much force that a significant amount of bark was stripped away. Her mouth spread into a grin as he slumped to the ground. As she crawled away to keep the Imperials from seeing where she was, she heard a cry of pain. Crawling under the brush, she emerged on the other side to see a pair of Ewoks lying on the ground. She recognized both of them from the tribe. One of them slowly got up, groaning groggily. Applejack smiled, grateful that they were alive, but then she noticed that the dark gray one failed to get up. “Come on,” she said to herself. “Come on, you’re okay. Just get up!” The tan one leaned down and called out to the other one. Applejack’s heart caught in her throat as she saw the poor creature shake the body of the gray one when it didn’t move. Then the small creature stared for a moment, uttering a pitiful moan, and then collapsed on the body of the gray one. As the light brown Ewok mourned the loss of her friend, Applejack had flashbacks to when she and Rainbow got hit by blaster fire and how close they had been to death. “Don’t worry,” she said quietly to herself and to the Ewok, “we’re gonna get the Empire. And we’ll make sure they never hurt anypony... anyone... ever again.” ----- The sky around Endor once again was filled with the deadly green glow of the Death Star’s primary weapon. The green superlaser beam shot out of the focusing dish and obliterated another Rebel cruiser, sending starfighters fleeing in all directions, desperate to avoid being vaporized by the resulting explosion. Rainbow juked and weaved to keep from being hit by a passing girder, still glowing white hot from the blast. Then she swung around and got back into the fight. She shook her head in amazement. The ship that the Death Star had fired on was not a particularly large cruiser, despite being almost 500 meters long. “Why are they going after the smaller ships? Why not take out the big ones?” Shaking her head, she figured that they were probably just trying to draw this out as long as possible. Why? Who knows? She didn’t have much time to muse on it as a pair of TIE Interceptors rushed past her. She gave chase, and soon one of them was a flaming wreck careening toward an Imperial Star Destroyer. As she took aim at the other fighter, she heard Lando Calrissian on the commlink ordering the fleet to get closer to the Imperial fleet. “What?!” she said. Almost as though he were replying to her and not Admiral Ackbar, who had a similar reaction, he shouted, “Yes, I said closer! Move as close as you can and engage those Star Destroyers at point blank range!” “At that close range, we won’t last long against those Star Destroyers!” protested Ackbar. “We’ll last longer than we will against that Death Star! And we might just take a few of them with us!” Scowling at the man’s idea, Rainbow nonetheless complied with the order, doing a turn that put her on a direct path toward the Imperial war fleet. As she did, she saw a group of TIE Interceptors heading toward the medical frigate Redemption. Spinning her fighter into a barrel roll, she immediately attacked the trio of Imperial fighters, scattering their formation before it could get to the frigate and cause damage. She smiled as she looked at the long, spindly vessel and thought about Fluttershy. The girl was doing her part, even if she couldn’t take part in the fighting. “Fluttershy,” said Rainbow as she gazed at the frigate, “you ro─” Then the Redemption exploded. Her cockpit was lit by the fading light of the superlaser. Its harsh, painful glow seared as much as the sudden agony in her chest. Rainbow Dash stared with uncomprehending eyes on the shattered bulk of the Redemption, watching the fragments glitter and fade, shrapnel erupting in the midst of the Rebel fleet. A voice was screaming. It was, she realized, her voice. She was screaming. "Fluttershy! Fluttershy!" Her grip trembled. No, not her grip, Her whole body was trembling and she wasn't sure if it was rage, pain or some unfathomable mix of the two. ----- On the Death Star, Twilight, Luke, and Celestia were watching through the window at the carnage taking place outside, trying to ignore the sinister words being spoken by the Emperor. “Your fleet is lost,” said the malevolence, “and your friends on the Endor moon will not survive.” They turned to face him as he looked at them with mock sadness. “There is no escape, my young apprentices. The Alliance will die.” His voice became darker still. “As will your friends.” Fear and hatred coursed through Twilight as she heard the creature before them spout words designed to torment them all. She knew that he was just saying them in order to get them all to become angry and succumb to the temptation to use the Dark Side. And the worst part was, it was working. She fought it desperately, but every syllable from his mouth sent waves of wrath coming up from her heart. They crashed into her mind, eroding her will to remain calm. Yes... he’s right... They’re all going to perish! And I’m standing here, doing nothing as they fight and die... She shook her head and tried to clear out the bad thoughts, but they kept coming. Pinkie Pie... Rainbow Dash... Fluttershy... they’re all going to be killed... I can’t just stand here and do nothing, can I? “Good...” intoned the Emperor. His eyes were rolled back into his head, his lids closed, as though he were bathing in the waves of negative energy flowing off the three captives. “I can feel your anger...” Fight it, Twilight! “I am defenseless...” said the Emperor. Fight it... Her eyes were squeezed shut, and she could feel her self-control withering away. “Take your weapon, use your magic!” He stuck his chin out defiantly, as though he were exposing his throat to them all. “Strike me down with all of your hatred, and your journey towards the Dark Side will be complete!” She turned back toward the window, trying to take her mind off what he was saying. Instead she was reminded of all the death and destruction that was happening in space and on the moon below. All that carnage... all that fatality... And it can be stopped... all I have to do... is kill him... Suddenly she spun around, letting out a primal scream, and shot a blast of magic at the Emperor. Celestia cried out for her to stop, but she didn’t hear her teacher. Months of hate and anger that had been building up to this point were released in a seething, roiling purple blast of magic that splashed against the monster in the throne. As the magic rippled off of the Emperor, Luke seized the opportunity and used the Force to summon his lightsaber, intending to strike a blow at the Emperor and end his tyrannical reign. Before the saber's blade could strike the Emperor's black heart, though, Darth Vader's rose to meet it, the crackling of the two plasma blades echoing in the chamber. But above it all was heard the cackling of the Emperor, the wrath of the pony and the Jedi feeding his insatiable desires.