Luke Skywalker leaned over his navigation droid. Sparks flew out of the neck joint. The lights in his eyes were fading. “L2M4,” he said, “don’t fail on me now!” He took a screwdriver out from his utility belt and opened up the panel on his front. A quick adjustment to the power cables and power was restored to his processing unit.
“Oh, master,” said the droid. “That landing was not up to your usual standard.”
Luke ignored the understatement. “L2M4, what planet is this? It wasn’t marked on any of the charts.”
“This planet’s name is Equestria. It is scheduled to be charted in three galactic…” L2M4’s voice trailed off as his power failed again.
Luke readjusted the power cables, but to no avail. “Blast it!” he shouted, pounding his fist on the chassis of his wrecked X-wing fighter.
He groaned and hopped out of the wreck, spotting a paved road just a short distance from the crash site. “Looks like this planet is civilized,” he muttered to himself. “Perhaps I’ll find tools and parts to fix up the fighter.” He checked his light sabre was still in its scabbard and strode towards the road, looking for signs of a village or other settlement.
He noticed hoof prints on the road the moment he set foot onto it and immediately thought that this civilization—whoever inhabited this planet—must have a large amount of horses nearby so they could get to other places faster than on foot.
He took another step forward, ignoring the scenery around him, worried more about L2M4 than the strange planet he landed on. What did he call it again? Equestria? Certainly an odd name for a planet like this, he thought.
“Hiya!” A cheery voice made him jump out of his thoughts and come back to reality. He looked down to see a pink horse with a dark pink mane and huge eyes gazing up at him. “You're a strange looking pony,” the horse continued, “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you around these parts before. Where are you from? How did you fall out of the sky? Did it hurt? What’s your name? Mine’s Pinkie Pie. I saw you fall from the sky and I was like:” Pinkie took in an unrealistic amount of air, at the same time using her tail to propel her into the air so she was face to face with Luke. “Then I saw that you weren't hurt or anything—I mean, you don’t seem hurt—so I came up to introduce myself to you!” She ended her sentence with a blinding grin.
Damn, this horse is annoying… Luke scowled down at the creature and decided to ignore it. He had to move into the grass to bypass ‘Pinkie’ and continue on his way. But she didn’t take the hint.
“Oh, I see. You're in a rush, aren’t you? We can talk on the way. Are you hungry? Falling out of the sky can make anypony hungry. I should know, I’ve learned from experience.” She lets out a bubbly laugh that made Luke even more annoyed at her. “Let me take you to Sugarcube Corner. They serve the best cakes in all of Equestria there! I—”
“Wait, this is a town you’re talking about? Will I be able to find places to trade?”
“Suuuure,” Pinkie drawled. “There’s a big market on every day in Ponyville!”
“How much to take me there?” Luke asked, getting out his wallet. (idk if he has a wallet. i’ll check later)
“Put your money away, silly!” Pinkie squealed. “I’m going there anyway. Just follow me!” She bounced down the road in a manner Luke had seen no horse move before.
Luke raised his eyebrows and followed.
The market in Ponyville proved to be barren of all the supplies Luke needed. There were no sonic screwdrivers, no proton torpedoes, not even a single flux capacitor. Luke hung his head and sighed. “Pinkie, I need a way to repair my ship so I can get home,” he explained. “I need some highly specialist pieces of technical equipment. And some big sheets of metal.”
“Technical, eh?” Pinkie asked. “I think I know just the pony.” She bounced off again, leaving a dumbfounded Luke with no choice but to follow her.
* * *
“Your friend lives in there?” Luke asked Pinkie the moment he saw the giant, crystal castle. “Are you positive she doesn't like to be treated like royalty?”
“Absoposilutely!” Pinkie smiled. “Let’s go inside. I’m sure she’ll be happy to see us!” Pinkie bounced up to the doors, holding one open, waiting for him. He walked in, Pinkie bouncing after him, closing the door behind her.
“Wow!” exclaimed Luke, marvelling at the room around him. “This reminds me of the Crystal Caves of Ilum!”
Pinkie stopped bouncing and looked at him quizzically. “The crystal caves of what-what?” she asked.
“Ilum,” Luke answered. “It’s a planet of ice and snow, but under the surface… beautiful crystalline caves just like this. I’ve never visited, but I read about them in books as a boy, growing up on Tatooine.”
“Now you’re just making up words,” Pinkie commented. “But that’s okay because I like to make up words, too!” She took a breath, then opened her mouth, probably to give him an example, but thankfully changed her mind, giving her attention to the hallway instead, probably hearing something he couldn't.
“Hi Pinkie,” came a young-sounding voice as a door opened and shut at the other side of the hall.
“Stand back!” yelled Luke, drawing his light sabre and raising it defensively. “It’s some kind of lizard creature!”
“Oh, don’t worry about him,” Pinkie assured him. “That’s just Spike!”
“A human? How did he get here?” Spike asked.
Luke sheathed his weapon. “I crash-landed,” he stated without offering any further explanation. He turned to Pinkie. “This is the princess of whom you spoke?”
“Oh, no-no-no-no-no!” she said, shaking her head. “That’s Spike. The princess is Twilight!”
“So you want to see Twilight, eh? Why didn’t you just say?” Spike led them to the castle’s library.
Inside, books were on any and every surface that was possible to keep a book on. They littered the floor, windowsills, shelves, chairs, and a huge heap of them covered the table in the center, a small purple tip popping out from behind it.
“Twilight?” Spike called, not seeing her behind the stack of books, “Twi, are you in here? There's a human here that wants to speak with you.”
“A human?” Twilight repeated. “How they hay can a human come to Equestria without the portal? And I thought they turned into a pony when they came through.” She emerged from her pile of books to see that Spike wasn’t kidding her. There was, in fact, a human standing in the doorway of the library.
“Errrm… greetings, Pri— Twilight Sparkle,” Luke said, remembering not to call her ‘princess’.
“What do they call you?” Twilight asked.
“Luke Skywalker,” he answered.
“Skywalker… nice name. Luke is fairly exotic-sounding though,” Twilight said, more to herself than to anybody else in the room. “So… Luke Skywalker, what is a human doing in Equestria? We have to get you back to Earth!”
“Earth? Luke asked.
“Yes, that’s your planet, right? Or do you call it by another name? La Terre? Erde? La Tierra? Nuna?”
Luke shook his head. “My home planet is Tatooine, but I was travelling from the forest moon of Endor to Hosnian Prime, and my ship hit an uncharted asteroid belt. We almost made it through unscathed, but a large rock took out one of our engines and we had to make an emergency landing. This was the closest planet.”
“Forest moon,” Twilight muttered. “I’ll have to talk to Princess Luna about that.” She walked up to Luke. “Are you sure you’ve never heard of Earth? There are lots of humans there. You’d fit right in… I know a school where you could make friends easily. And it would be soooo easy to send you there.”
Luke shook his head. “School? Earth? No, I need to get to Hosnian Prime. A new republic is being formed, and I and my sister needs me to be there.”
“What’s a republic?” Twilight asked him, having never heard that word in her life.
“He likes to make up words,” Pinkie informed Twilight before he could answer. “He was talking to me about Ilum and Tatooine and all this other crazy mumbo jumbo. I think he might have hit his head a bit too hard when he landed.” The last sentence she spoke was meant to be a whisper, but Luke heard it all the same and scowled at her. Every time she talked, his annoyance for her grew more and more.
“A republic,” Luke answered defiantly, “is our best defence against the Empire!”
“The Crystal Empire?” Twilight asked. “Why would you need to defend against them? We disposed of King Sombra years ago.”
“I— it doesn’t matter” Luke sighed. “Perhaps if you could just come back and see my ship, that would help explain everything.”
* * *
“Wow.” Twilight marvelled at the spaceship. “This is way beyond our technology. Even the technology on Earth doesn’t rival it.” She ran her hoof over the underside of the Luke’s cockpit. “How powerful is the magic of the ponies that built this?”
“Magic? We have no magic. This was built through precision engineering,” Luke countered.
Twilight raised her eyebrows but said nothing. She took a few steps back and eyed the droid sitting in the navigator’s seat. “This is some kind of mechanical assistant? Very interesting.”
Spike stared daggers at Luke.
“I guess you can say that…” Luke said, “it helped me know what this planet is, that’s for sure.”
“It did?” Twilight asked, even more fascinated, looking over L2M4 more carefully. “How? Does it have a map, or a… what's it called… GPS?”
“No, I just asked it before it died,” Luke explained.
“Died? I thought it was a machine.”
Luke thought for a moment. “It’s complicated.”
Twilight wasn’t satisfied with that answer, but she let it slide. “What did it do before it died?” she asked, “besides, you know, telling you what this planet is.”
“He was my co-pilot, my navigator… even a friend, in a way. That’s why I hope I can get not just my ship, but also L2M4 up and running.”
Twilight looked away from it, gazing up at Luke instead. She could see he was serious and wasn’t going to say that this whole thing had been a prank by Pinkie Pie or something. She looked back at the broken ship and co-pilot then back at Luke. “Do you think magic would work on it?” She asked him, “I mean, I know it wasn’t made with magic, but maybe one of my spells can help fix it?”
“I really wouldn’t know,” Luke said. “The only ‘magic’ I’m familiar with is the Force. Not that that’s really magic, though those unfamiliar with it often claim it is.”
Twilight approached the ship. “Well, I’ve experimented a little with human technology and magic,” she said proudly. “And magic can certainly be used to repair blown circuits, restoring them to their original manufactured state. It can also provide a clean, long-lasting alternative power source.”
“Really?” Luke asked. “Because I’m pretty sure that a few blown circuits and a punctured battery are the only problems L2M4 has. His primary memory stores seem undamaged.”
Twilight nodded, a satisfactory smile on her muzzle. “I’m sure it’ll fix L-whatever up like new!” She hesitated, taking a couple steps back from the ship. She lowered her head so her horn was horizontal with the ship and let out a small sigh. “I just need concentration.”
As Twilight’s horn glowed, Luke stepped away, trying to keep a safe distance. L2M4’s body started to glow the same colour as her horn, a sort of delicate magenta. Wires that were hanging out threaded themselves back inside his chassis, and the punctures in his surface seemed to heal.
“Master Luke,” came the voice of the droid.
Luke stared in awe. “It’s… it’s… how did you…?”
Twilight shrugged. “Alicorn magic.”
Luke stood lost in thought for a moment before nodding in acceptance. Even as a Jedi master, it was clear there was a lot he didn’t know about the mysterious principles that underlay life, the universe, and everything — magic, the Force, whatever you chose to call it — it was a source of immense power to those who spent the time studying it and learning how to bend it to their will. It seemed there were things he could learn from this purple pony.
An owl hooted nearby.
Twilight looked around. “It’s getting late. We should head back to the castle. I’ll have Spike make up the guest room for you.”
Luke shook his head. “That won’t be necessary, Princess Twilight. I can spend the night in my ship. I need to make sure L2M4’s power units are fully charged anyway.”
Twilight looked at him uncertainly. It hardly seemed the most comfortable place to sleep. But perhaps this was just the custom in whatever world he came from. “Okay, if you’re sure,” she said. “I’ll come by in the morning to see how you’re going.”
“Again, you really don’t need to,” Luke said.
“Did that sound like a question?” Twilight asked. “I’ll come by first thing tomorrow, and that’s settled. I’ll have Spike bring you some breakfast.”
“Well…” Luke stood humbled. “That’s very kind of you.”
“That’s what friends are for,” Twilight replied, already turning around to head back to her castle.
* * *
Birds sung as dawn’s first rays woke Luke from his slumber. He bent his neck to the side, trying to eradicate one of the worst cricks in a neck out of the entire history of all cricks in necks that had been studied in charted star systems. Failing to do so, he focussed his attention on stretching his arms and legs. A pilot’s seat was not designed for sleeping in.
He knelt on his chair, facing the navigator’s section of the plane, towards the rear, and leaned over to check on L2M4’s battery levels: fully charged. He uncoupled the droid from the charging cables and turned back to sit on his chair, almost jumping out of his seat in surprise when he saw a purple face in front of him. “P-Princess!” he yelped.
“Luke, I told you not to call me that,” Twilight Sparkle said with a smile. The golden rays of the sun played off the blue, purple, and pink strands of her mane in a way that Luke could only describe as beautiful. Her eyes sparkled in the half light of dawn.
Luke straightened his jacket and composed himself. “I’m sorry, Twilight. I… I just didn’t expect you here so early.”
“Well, it didn’t look like your ship had much of a galley, so I thought I’d bring you some breakfast.” As she spoke, a picnic blanket floated down onto the grass, surrounded by a pink magical aura. Breakfast foods, crockery, and cutlery floated down to land upon it.
Luke licked his lips. “That’s very kind of you, but you didn’t need to.” A rumble from his stomach betrayed his insincerity. “It looks delicious… two plates? Will you be joining me?”
Twilight nodded her head. “Yes, if you don’t mind. Spike and I got up first thing to prepare all this, so I haven’t had time to eat yet.”
“So Spike will be joining us too?” Luke asked with a little disappointment.
Twilight rolled her eyes. “No, he gorged himself on pancake batter while we were cooking. He’ll be along once the stomach ache has worn off.” She muttered something about Future Spike, which Luke didn’t quite catch.
Luke pushed himself out of his chair and hopped out of the X-wing. He and Twilight walked towards the picnic blanket.
As he sat down, he tried to snap his neck back into place again. Twilight regarded him with some concern. “Are you okay, Luke? You need a neck massage?”
Luke looked at Twilight’s hooves, for the first time noticing how soft they looked, unlike equine creatures on other planets. The thought of those delicate purple hooves on his neck almost brought a blush to his cheeks. “That’s a very kind offer of you, Twilight, but—”
“Because I could take you to the Ponyville Day Spa, if you like. They’d make you feel a lot better.”
“Oh,” Luke said, trying to mask his disappointment. “Yes, Twilight, that would be nice.”
The pair ate their breakfast of pancakes, syrup, and freshly churned butter, followed by fruits of various kinds that Luke had never seen nor tasted before. As Luke was eating the last of what Twilight has told him were called “grapes”, Spike arrived.
Spike eyed Luke suspiciously. “Well, this looks very cosy.” Seeing the empty plates, he spoke to Luke angrily. “You didn’t save me any? That’s just typical!”
Twilight pulled Spike aside. “Calm down, Spike. You were ill. I didn’t think you’d want anything else to eat.”
“Well, I don’t,” Spike admitted, “but it would have been nice if he’d saved some.” He turned and glared at Luke.
“Look, Spike, don’t blame Luke. I ate some of the food too.”
Spike turned back to Twilight. “Still… I bet he ate more of it.”
Twilight thought for a moment. “Wait… do you… do you have some kind of problem with Luke?”
“It’s just… it’s not natural, is it?” The baby dragon folded his arms. “Humans live in the human world, through the mirror. They don’t belong in Equestria.”
Twilight opened her mouth in surprise. “Are you being speciesist?” she asked. “I would have thought a dragon living in Equestria would be able to see beyond such differences…”
“I’m sorry, Twilight. I’m just a bit uneasy about this… this man.”
“Well, maybe you should go away and think about why that is,” Twilight said.
Spike unfolded his arms. “Fine.” He headed off in the direction of Ponyville.
Twilight walked slowly back to where Luke was still sitting. “So, you want to go get that massage now, or should I fix up your ship first?”
“Wait a minute, Twilight,” Luke said, standing up. “I appreciate the breakfast, but I can fix the ship myself. I’m pretty handy around an engine.”
Twilight smiled. “I’m sure you can. But it will be much faster with a little alicorn magic. Just show me which parts are damaged, if it’s not obvious, and I’ll restore them to how they once were.”
Luke stood his ground. “Twilight, no. I want to do this properly. The Jedi way.”
Twilight’s ears drooped. “O-okay…” she muttered.
Luke could tell that he’d upset the lavender pony. He walked towards her, about to apologize.
Suddenly a blue blur shot past him, and a pony with a brightly coloured rainbow mane was standing between them. “Watch out, Twilight! Run!” shouted the rainbow-maned pony.
“Rainbow Dash!” Twilight scolded. “What do you mean?!”
“Never fear, your friendly neighbourhood Rainbow Dash is here! I’ll protect you, Twilight! I’ll lay down my life if I have to!” she enthused, before adding quietly, “though I’d rather it didn’t come to that.”
“What do you mean?” Twilight asked.
“I mean, another monster has invaded Ponyville, like they do every Saturday, and I’m going to protect you from that… that thing!” Rainbow Dash gestured in Luke’s direction with a wing.
“Firstly, it’s Wednesday. And secondly, he’s not a monster… he’s called Luke!”
Rainbow regarded the creature with suspicion. “You named that thing?”
“No, I just have a name,” Luke said, standing up for himself.
“It can talk?!” Rainbow asked.
“Yes, it… I mean he, is a human. Humans can talk,” Twilight explained.
“You don't need to talk about me as if I'm not here,” Luke said crossly.
“Oh,” Rainbow replied to Twilight. “I've never actually seen a human. They're nothing like how you described. Where's the brightly coloured skin?”
“I've had enough of this!” Luke complained. “Will you two just leave me alone so I can finish repairing my ship?”
“I don't need to be asked twice,” Rainbow said, and was gone in ten seconds flat.
“I'll stay,” Twilight said. “I'm sure I'll be able to help.”
“Just go!” Luke shouted.
“But what about the massage?” Twilight asked sadly.
“I don't want your freaky pony massage!” he yelled, turning back to his ship.
Twilight hung her head. “Okay. Goodbye, Luke.” She walked back towards her castle.
Luke turned towards his ship and paused. He sighed and turned back. “Wait!” But it was too late. She was gone.
Luke sighed again and got back to work.
* * *
Twilight sat in the castle, her mane hanging limply, her tail between her legs, and a sorrowful look on her face.
“Good riddance is what I say,” Spike said, bringing her a cup of tea.
“No, Luke is a good man, and Rainbow and I treated him terribly.”
“Still, I—” Spike was interrupted by a knock at the door. “I guess I'll go get that.”
Moments later, he returned, a nervous looking Luke following him.
“I'm sorry…” Twilight started.
“No, it's me that should be apologising!” Luke said. “I could have fixed my ship in half the time with your help.”
“Oh, so you fixed it?” Twilight asked.
“Yes.” Luke grinned proudly.
Twilight stepped forward, her usual smile now back on her face. The two embraced fondly and something in Luke’s mind changed.
“I was wondering,” he said, “if I might remain in Equestria a bit. You could teach me about magic and I could teach you about The Force. But mostly” — he blushed —“I want to get to know you, Twilight Sparkle, you fascinating pony.”
Twilight turned her head to hide her blush. “That would be nice actually. You can join my other student, Starlight Glimmer.”
“Oh, you have another student?” Luke asked.
“Yes, I think it's important to pass knowledge along to others who have natural talent.”
Luke thought for a while in silence. This made sense to him.
“Are you going to show me this ship or what?” Twilight asked to break the silence.
“Of course, of course!”
* * *
“Isn't she a beauty?” Luke asked, showing off the X-wing fighter.
“Ummm… yes,” Twilight agreed.
“Ooh! Shooting stars!” Spike said, pointing to the pretty lights overhead.
Luke looked up, squinting. “Those aren't shooting stars,” he said. “It looks like the First Order have arrived. There's a battle being fought up there between the New Republic and the remnants of the Empire.”
Twilight looked at him curiously.
“I cannot stay here,” Luke said. “I'm needed up there.” He pointed to the sky.
“But don't you want to see more of Equestria? Learn more about alicorn magic?”
Luke sighed sadly. “Without me up there, there might not be an Equestria for much longer.”
Twilight gulped. “Well then, I guess you have to go. I'll miss you, Luke.”
“Me too,” Luke said, hugging the pony again and burying his face in her soft mane. He held her for a few moments before pulling away. “Twilight…” He leaned forward, kissing her softly on the lips.
Twilight blushed deeply as Luke climbed into the pilot’s seat and the hatch closed over him.
With tears in his eyes, he saluted the pony and started his engines. “L2M4, set a course to leave this planet’s gravity.”
* * *
As Luke entered battle, he thought about what Twilight had said about taking on a student. As the last Jedi, it was his responsibility to pass on knowledge of The Force to a new generation. His nephew Ben had shown promise. Perhaps he would make a good Padawan learner.