//------------------------------// // Chapter 3: Fleeing from the Mephiles Alliance // Story: Equestria Wars Episode XIV: The Friendship Awakens // by sonicdash123 //------------------------------// Lucina continued polishing BB-8 as she noticed some strange battle damage and moved on to cleaning that spot. "You've got a lot of carbon scoring here," she said as she worked. "It looks like you have been through a lot of action, huh?" BB-8 beeped an explanation on what it went through before he ended up with her. "I'm sure that the Tusken Raiders were a lot of trouble as you passed by." BB-8 gave a few beeps as Lucina continued to clean its domed head. "Well, my little friend, you've got something jammed in here." A fragment suddenly broke loose and sent Lucina tumbling head over hooves. She sat up to see a three dimensional piece of the map of Equestria that looked similar to the one she saw back at Twilight's castle. "What's with the map of Equestria?" BB-8 beeped a reply as she took a closer look at it. She sees tiny dots like a map on a piece of paper blinking a trail one by one and stops at the edge of the map where it is cut off. "Is there more to this map?" BB-8 beeped again and nodded its head. "I think you lied to me about your creator. Whoever left this in you, somepony wants to find someone or something." The droid then did a series of beeps which sounded like a confession, but was interrupted when they heard chatter going on outside. Lucina looked out of the window to see two tall creatures holding weapons talking to a citizen. The citizen pointed to their direction and the creatures began to approach the house she is in. "Friends of yours?" BB-8 nodded and began to shake a little. "Don't worry, little guy. I'll get you safely back home at Ponyville away from these guys and keep you safe." A knock was heard on the door and Lucina removed the restraining bolt on it then gestured BB-8 to follow her throught he back door and started to go through the side of the house. She peeped her head to see the two creatures waiting at the front door and kicked the door down to enter. The creatures searched the house and found the restraining bolt on the ground then turned to see Lucina along with BB-8 running away from the house. The creatures gave an order in a strange language and aimed their weapons at Lucina and BB-8. Lucina and BB-8 hid behind a barrel as the creatures ran past them. "Never seen these creatures before," Lucina whispered. BB-8 beeped something important to her about those two creatures. "Mephiles Alliance? Here? That's not good then. We need to get out of here pronto then. But we need a ship." Lucina and BB-8 walked out of hiding and used her magic to make a mask magically appear on her face. Her mane had been adjusted to hide herself as well. "I know just the one that I have enough credits for. Follow me." --------------------- Arriving at a Docking Bay after paying for the ship, Lucina and BB-8 got a glimpse at the YT-2000 freighter . BB-8 beeped a comment about the ship as it followed Lucina. "She'll make point five beyond the speed of light," Lucina said. "She may not look like much, but she's got it where it counts. The previous owner made special modifications to it. Let's get on board and leave." BB-8 gave a series of beeps as they boarded the ship. "Braeburn already knows that I'm leaving so soon." She then sat on the pilots seat and pressed some buttons to get the ship started up. She then noticed the same creatures from before and started to open fire at the ship. Lucina raised the shields on the ship and its engine roared to life as it rose above the dingy slums and began to disappear into the morning sky. "Hang on, BB-8." She then noticed something on the ship's radar. "Looks like an enemy cruiser. You must be really important, buddy. Hang on. I'll try to loose them." Lucina piloted the ship through the desert as a dozen of fighters began to pursue. She activated the ships defense systems and the guns began to fire at the pursuing fighters. In the cylindrical corridor, BB-8 rolls to the ceiling as Lucina piloted the ship. She did the best she could avoiding the laser fire from the fighters and flew through the desert canyon hoping to loose them. The guns continue to fire as the ship flew through the canyon. She then flew inside the cave and avoided obstacles. One of the fighters crashed into a rock formation in the cave while the other fighter was careful enough to fly past the rock formations. The freighter was the first to leave the cave and pulled up. The fighter flew out of the cave and fell for the trick Lucina pulled as she aligned the ship to fire at the fighter. She fired at the fighter's wing which caused it to spin out of control and crash on the ground. Lucina cheered as she did a u-turn and plotted a course to Ponyville. --------------------- The Protoss commander; who returned from Appaloosa approached Twivine; who was gazing out of the window of the ship's bridge. It was nervous about how she will react as it reported, "We were unable to acquire the droid we found at Appaloosa." Twivine slowly turned to face it. "It escaped capture aboard a YT-2000 freighter." "The droid....stole a freighter?" Twivine asked calmly. "Not exactly, sir. It had help." Twivine activated her turqoise bladed trident lightsaber and used the long end of the hilt to slice down a console next to her. The commander got nervous even more as he watched. The rage stopped when she deactivated her lightsaber and placed it back on her back. She then turned back to the commander; who was still nervous. "Anything else, commander?" The commander gulped and wiped off its sweat off its forehead. "It was accompanied by a mare." Twivine used her magic vine to violently pull the commander towards her and lifts it off the ground. "What mare?"