Chapter Forty-Nine: Morale
Location: Everfree Imperial Garrison
Local Time: 19:24
Aerin didn’t make a sound as the medic pulled the shards of transparisteel out of him. Gavrisom briefly considered a few explanations as he watched. Perhaps the general’s nerves hadn’t grown back quite right after his flesh had burned off, and he didn’t feel pain like most humans did. Maybe the hate that was clear on his face was acting as some sort of natural painkiller. Or maybe he just didn’t want to show any weakness in front of the object of his gaze. The admiral followed it to the prisoner. Her legs were bound together with six sets of stun cuffs, a new shock collar was wrapped around her neck, two CompForce troopers pointed heavy repeating slugthrower rifles at the back of her head, and the Inquisitor had summoned his four MagnaGuard training droids, which now held their electrostaffs scant millimeters from her spine. She was as secured as she could be in the command center, but Gavrisom suspected he wouldn’t feel comfortable until the Prisoner Retention Protocols – the PRPs, or “Perps,” as the men had taken to calling them – were enacted on her. Preferably, as far away from him as possible. Unlike his Army counterpart, he didn’t feel any desire to torture her for torture’s sake. However, it was abundantly clear that it was impossible to be too careful when it came to restraining her, and he didn’t want to be in the same room as her if all precautions failed. But as of now, that wasn’t an option. Her presence was still needed.
The technicians finished replacing the tactical display just a few minutes before the medic extracted the last shard of transparisteel from Aerin’s back and started wrapping his torso in bandages. Gavrisom never would have said so aloud, but he was relieved to see his friend’s chest disappear under the bacta-soaked cloth. The general’s face was almost inhumanly pale, and his body was even more so, placing his scars and blisters in particularly sharp relief. A gesture summoned a lieutenant with a bowl of soapy water and a towel forwards, and Aerin rubbed his right hand raw before dismissing the lieutenant with another gesture. Gavrisom let out a long-suffering sigh as the young man walked away. A waste of a perfectly good bowl and towel in his opinion, not to mention the water, but Aerin had insisted that they all be incinerated once he was done with them, and it was hardly such a big waste that the admiral was willing to press the issue in front of the men.
Still glaring daggers at the prisoner, Aerin pulled on his replacement uniform, transferred his letter-opener to his new sleeve, and motioned for another lieutenant to take the tattered remnants of his old tunic away – also to the incinerator, of course. Then he walked up to Gavrisom, his mouth twisting into a cruel grin. “I think it’s time to send these creatures a message.”
The admiral sighed, but nodded and turned to his comm officer. “Patch us through.”
Canterlot Castle
7:29 P.M.
Twilight landed on a balcony and immediately turned to one of the two guards standing at attention in front of the large glass doors leading into the castle. “I need to talk to Princess Celestia immediately. Is she back yet?”
“No, Your Majesty.”
Twilight frowned, her eyes narrowing into slits. “The humans have done something to her. I just know it.”
The other guard cleared his throat. “If you’ll excuse me, Your Majesty. Zem’s haulo… hole-o… his talking disc started making noise just a few minutes ago, and it hasn’t stopped. He said it’s probably a message intended for you.”
That certainly didn’t alleviate her concerns. “Where is he?”
“The Throne Room, Your Majesty.”
“Thank you.” She hurried down the halls to the Throne Room, where she found her brother, a few members of his command staff, and Orramas gathered around the dais. Upon noticing her, they all bowed.
“Your Majesty.” Orramas straightened as much as he could, wincing and placing his right hand over his gut. In his other hand, he held out his chirping holocomm. “Seeing as my fellow Imperials believe me dead – or I assume they believe that, as there have been no further assassination attempts – I presume this call is for you. I fear it has something to do with Celestia’s diplomatic mission… and perhaps whatever it was you were doing with that AT-ST?”
“Probably,” she replied, ignoring the implied question, and levitated the device out of his hand. “How do you use these things?”
He smiled faintly. “Let me get out of range first. Don’t want them to see me, after all.” He walked over to a pillar and leaned against it. “Just press the yellow flashing button to answer it. Press the blue button right below it to cut the signal. And make sure you do that even if you stop receiving, or you’ll keep transmitting.”
“Is that it?”
“Hmm… Don’t take a bath with it.”
“Good to see you haven’t lost your sense of humor,” Twilight muttered. She sighed, took a deep breath, and pressed the button. A translucent, blue-tinged image of Gavrisom, standing tall and with his hands clasped behind his back, appeared above the disk. He stared at her with a deep frown for a moment, then looked at someone or something off to the side.
“Cut through this interference,” he snapped. He looked back at her, and after a few seconds, his frown shifted into a somewhat sardonic grin. “Really, Your Highness? Did you really think that shining a light on the sensor would be enough to block out our image of you?”
“What are you talking about? I’m not… Oh.” She looked at the aura surrounding the holocomm, and at the same time, Gavrisom noticed the aura around her horn.
“‘Oh,’ indeed. No matter. I must say, Your Highness, your recent behavior very much confounds me. Your psychological profile indicates that you are a being of not insignificant intellect. But sending a walker to attack my men while Celestia was inside our base? Incredibly foolish. Tell me, did you think that she had already left? Or that we wouldn’t find out before she escaped? Or were you really so overconfident that you thought she would be able to fight her way out?”
Twilight’s eyes narrowed. “What have you done to her?”
“At the moment, she is our prisoner, and largely unharmed. How long she remains that way depends entirely upon you. If you wish to save her from a slow death by torture, you will immediately offer us Equestria’s unconditional surrender.”
“I don’t believe you. There’s no way you could capture Celestia.”
“I thought you would say that.” He stepped to the side, his image disappearing. In his place stepped forward two tall, gray, skeletal creatures with glowing red eyes and what Twilight could only assume to be third eyes on their chests. Each held a staff with both ends emitting a purple light. And in between them they dragged forward their tightly bound prisoner.
“Celestia!” Twilight couldn’t keep herself from calling out.
Celestia looked up at Twilight and gave her a small, sad smile. “Twilight, I –” She cut off with a scream as arcs of electricity coursed over her body. An agonizingly long second later, the electricity faded away, and the skeletal creatures dragged her off again. Gavrisom returned to his original position.
“As you can see, Your Highness, we are both willing and capable of putting your old mentor through a great deal of pain. I know you don’t want that to happen, and I don’t want to give that order. So please, do both our consciences a favor and surrender. I promise that if you do, we will not cause her any more pain.”
Twilight stared at him, silent, for almost a minute. “No,” she finally said, shaking her head. She heard the gasps of shock from the other ponies in the room, but she ignored them. “You won’t keep your word. And even if you did, I can’t just stand by and let you take over Equestria. I’ll fight you to the end, no matter the cost.”
Gavrisom seemed just as surprised by her response as the guardsponies. “I see we will have to update your profile. Your prior actions indicated that you would do anything to save those you consider your friends, even if you condemned countless others to death by doing so. Clearly, that is no longer the case. Very well. I’m afraid, then, that Celestia will find her time in our custody most unpleasant. Should you ever wish to change that, you know where we are. Farewell, Your Highness.” The image disappeared, and Twilight barely remembered to press the blue button. She looked up from the disc to see the guardsponies in the room staring at her with horror.
“Well? Don’t you all have something to be doing?” Except for her brother, the guardsponies saluted and hastily returned to their posts. Shining approached her, a worried look on his face.
“Twily… You aren’t acting like… Well, like you.”
“And it isn’t like Equestria for aliens to invade, kill Luna and millions of other ponies, and capture and torture Princess Celestia! None of this is normal!”
“I know that. But we can’t let them get to us, Twily. We can’t let them make us act like they do.”
Twilight sighed. “I know. If we stoop to their level, then we’ve already lost. But it’s hard not to hate them for… Well, for everything.”
“I feel that way sometimes, too. If you ever need to talk about it…”
“You’ll be here for me. I know. And I appreciate it. Really.” She gave him a small, sad smile. Then her expression turned serious. “But what I need now is for you to get a company of our fastest pegasi together and send them to the crash site. Toy Box can’t hold it by himself.”
Shining’s shoulders fell an almost imperceptible degree, but he saluted. “Right away, Your Majesty.”
“Oh, don’t be like that, Shiny.”
“Sorry, Twily.” He started to leave, then came to a sudden stop. “Oh, right! There’s somepony very important here to meet with Celestia. Since she isn’t here anymore…”
Twilight exhaled heavily through her nose. “Right. Well, send him in. Who is it?”
Shining adopted a small, hopeful smile.
Location: Everfree Imperial Garrison
Local Time: 19:29
“Well, damn.”
Aerin smirked at Gavrisom’s reaction. “I could’ve told you that wasn’t going to go well.”
“Oh, you had another one of your ‘hunches,’ did you?”
“No, I only get those in combat. But aliens always make themselves the greatest nuisance possible.”
“Wait, really? Then how do you always win our sabacc games?”
“Son of a mercenary and a whore? Raised in Coruscant’s undercity? I’ve been playing sabacc against professionals ever since I could count high enough.”
“Oh. Right.”
“Excuse me, sirs,” the comm officer interjected. “The Manka picked up a sudden surge of solar activity approximately two and a half minutes ago. I thought I should let you know that our comm connection with the fleet will be down for a few seconds in about six minutes when the electromagnetic radiation reaches us.”
“Thank you, Lieutenant,” Gavrisom replied, then narrowed his eyes and rubbed his chin.
Aerin glanced at the admiral, his solitary eyebrow raised, and then turned to the two troopers guarding Celestia. “Okay, haul this thing down to the cell block, implement the Perps, strap it into a nerve rack, and get a neural disrupter tuned to its brainwaves. I don’t want to take any chances with it.”
“No.”
Aerin whirled on Gavrisom. “What!? Have you completely lost it!?”
“She is not to be harmed in any way. We treat her as an honored guest.”
“Right,” Aerin sneered. “So we just rely on it to cooperate out of the goodness of its heart?”
“No, we lock her in one of the VIP dorms, and rig a system that will flood the room with trihexalon if the temperature ever rises more than twenty degrees above normal, or at any time we choose.”
Aerin waved a hand dismissively. “Great. But can I at least get a neural disrupter on it?”
“Sorry, but I can’t allow that, either. I don’t want her ability to use the Force to be interfered with in any way.”
“Okay, that seals it. You’ve gone completely mad.”
“I assure you, Dav, I have a perfectly good reason for this.”
“Yeah? Care to share any of that aristocratic wisdom with us common folk?”
“Sorry, Dav. You don’t need to know that right now. Just know that my reasoning is good, and if you defy this order, I’ll have you shot.”
“Oh, please. You can’t really expect me to believe that.”
“That my reasoning is sound, or that I’d have you shot for disobeying me?”
“Either works.”
“I haven’t gone crazy, and the Inquisitor can vouch that she hasn’t placed some spell on me. I know what I’m doing. And…” Gavrisom drew his pistol and levelled it at Aerin’s stomach. “In this case, I’d shoot you myself.”
Aerin stared at the blaster for a moment, his eye narrowed, before gesturing to the guards. “Do as he says.” He shifted his gaze to Gavrisom’s face. “We need to have a little chat. In private.”
“Of course. Your office?”
“Please.”
Gavrisom holstered his pistol, and the two walked to Aerin’s office. Aerin closed the door, then turned around to find Gavrisom pulling a bottle of whiskey out of the cabinet. “I think I’d like an explanation before I let you drink my salary.”
Gavrisom sighed. “You aren’t going to like it. Or probably even believe it.”
“Try me.”
Gavrisom slumped heavily into Aerin’s chair. “After Luna’s death, the Manka detected a large increase in moonquakes. That solar activity it just picked up coincided with Celestia’s electrocution.”
“You think it might knock out our comms as revenge.”
Gavrisom was silent for a moment, frowning. “You know, it would be a lot easier to understand you if you used ‘she’ when talking about Celestia.”
“Not going to happen.”
Gavrisom sighed again. “Figures. But no, that’s not what I think. I think she involuntarily causes it when she’s in intense pain. And I shudder to think what might happen if she were to die.”
“If we can’t kill it, then what’s the point of rigging the room with trihexalon?”
“She doesn’t know we can’t kill her, now does she?”
“Ah. Which is why you couldn’t tell me this in the command center.”
“Precisely.”
“Okay, fine. You’re right, I don’t like it. But you can take that bottle.”
“Thank you.” Gavrisom popped the cork and poured himself a glass, while Aerin pulled out another bottle and broke the neck off on the edge of the desk. “So, how’re the men holding up?”
“Not well. There was some hope when we dragged Celestia in, but I’d wager anything that that’s basically gone now. They don’t like how things are going.”
“They can’t beat our strategy. They hardly have the ability to fight TIEs. Not now that we have both of the older alicorns dead or in custody.”
“Maybe not, but you know just as well as I do that the men don’t care much about strategy. They care about winning battles. And we haven’t exactly been on a winning streak.”
“And what would you suggest, then?”
“Move up the timetable on the Baltimare operation.”
“The diamond dogs won’t like that.”
“The diamond dogs be damned.”
“How’d I know you’d say that?”
Aerin snorted. “Maybe you’re the one with the hunches now.”
“Very funny.” They both drank in silence for a little while, before Gavrisom exhaled heavily. “Hey, Dav?”
“Yeah?”
“Do you ever forget your first time?”
“Never had a ‘first time.’ You’re the one with kids.”
“Not what I meant, Dav.”
“Really. Well, you’re also the one with a degree, why don’t you tell me what you meant?”
“Your first time… killing someone.”
A thin smile crossed Aerin’s face. “Well, I certainly haven’t. I’ve told you that story, haven’t I?”
“On multiple occasions. But when I said ‘you,’ I meant… Well, people in general.”
Aerin thought for a moment. “Not most people, I don’t think. But why are you asking me this now? You’ve been in the service and killing people for as long as I’ve been alive.”
“Longer, actually. But… I’d never actually… you know, killed before. Up close, and personal. It’s always been from my bridge before.”
“Huh? When did you… Oh. This is about that lieutenant, right? That pilot who let the shuttle escape?”
“Jax Stodiz.”
“Yeah, him. Was that really your first execution?”
“You sound so surprised.”
Aerin shrugged. “I’ve had to carry out three of them, and I’ve been serving for a lot less time than you have.”
“Yeah, well, I’m not exactly a model officer by Imperial standards.”
Aerin grinned. “Which is why you’re stuck out here with a nonhuman like me, instead of commanding a battlecruiser somewhere in the Core.”
Gavrisom rolled his eyes. “Oh, not this again. Dav, you’re human.”
Aerin’s grin disappeared. “No, I’m not. The average trooper might not realize it, and I’m sure as hell not gonna admit it to them or these aliens, but you know better. You’ve read COMPNOR’s regs.”
“Yeah. They’re a load of bantha poodoo.”
“Oh, come on.” Aerin jabbed a thumb towards his own face. “Take a look at this eye, and tell me if you think I’m ever gonna be showing up on any recruitment posters.”
“That doesn’t matter. You’re human, and more importantly, you’re my friend.”
“Now you’re sounding like the damn ponies.”
“Just because they’re aliens doesn’t mean they can’t be right about some things.”
“Yeah, well, they’re wrong about that. And so are you.” They drank in silence for several minutes before Aerin spoke again. “Sturm, I hope you never forget your first kill. You know why?”
“Because you’re angry with me?”
“No. It’s because, the people who forget? A lot of them, they aren’t really human, either. They look it, sure, but inside… They’re something completely alien. Most aren’t really bad, just… broken, sort of. But some? Well, they’re like colicoids in human skin. Ravenous, caring about nothing but feeding their own bloodlust.” He went silent for a moment. “This is the part where you say, ‘Just like you, Dav.’”
Gavrisom shook his head. “No, it isn’t. Because you aren’t like that. You care about the men under your command. Even if you show it in the strangest ways. I’ve served with some of those people you’re talking about. They aren’t like you at all.”
Aerin smiled faintly. “Thanks, Sturm.”
“Don’t mention it.”
“Okay, I won’t.” Aerin chuckled, but then shook his head, his expression turning serious again. “But I mean it. Real humanity isn’t DNA or appearance, it’s in the spirit. And that human spirit? That’s what really separates us from the monsters we fight. Whenever you feel guilty about executing that boy, just remember – that guilt is how you know you’re still a good person. When you stop feeling guilty in this line of work, that’s when you don’t deserve to command anymore.”
Gavrisom stared into his glass. “I think I finally get it. All this alcohol… It isn’t for the burns, or even the stress, is it?”
“Of course it is. I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Sure, Dav. Whatever you say.”
The two finished their drinks in silence.
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Twilight, I don't know if that was incredibly brave or incredibly stupid.
Not sure if I'm going to read this, but I had to mention that I hope to see Gary the Stormtrooper there
Yes, an update finally!
Though I'm still a little surprised Imperial High Command hasn't sent reinforcements yet.
After hearing the Inquisitor failing, maybe High Inquisitor Jerec with the ISD Vengeance Captained by Captain Thrawn arrives to not only punish the Inquisitor for his failings, but for Jerec and Thrawn to take over operations.
Considering how the Imperial forces do not have the situation under control, High Command should take it way more seriously and send more ISDs.
Maybe the Chimaera, Accuser led by Captain Firmus Piett, Imperator, Engager, and Redoubtable. Perhaps even the Devastator led by Darth Vader will make an appearance.
Note how I only listed ISD Is not ISD IIs.
As long as stories like this continue, Legends will never die.
YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES
For someone so smart, Twilight can act really stupid.
So... the bigoted animal who considers himself nonhuman and the governer in command of the violent subjugation of a formally pacifist system-- who are both responsible for the deaths of millions of creatures who responded naturally to a violent occupation of their homeland --are being played as sympathetic?
Yeah, no. Space Nazis are still Nazis, whether they think they're doing the right thing or not.
8499207
So, you'd rather have their side not be presented at all, and have them be portrayed as simple villains with two-dimensional personalities at best?
8499240
Not at all what I'm saying. Adding character to the villains is much appreciated, but the atmosphere of the scene is sympathetic when it should be uneasy. Especially in the segment where Aerin-- character who openly condones the slaughter of sapient force-users, and any lifeforms outside of humankind --is pleading his humanity because he "cares about his men". It's written like we're supposed to understand him, and it completely doesn't fit.
I'm not saying you should've made him one-note, but the tone of the story up to here made me a little uncomfortable towards the true villains amongst the humans, in a way that the reader is supposed to be uncomfortable towards those whose priorities are clearly wrong. The last entry seems like it should be displaying exactly how sick his mind is full-force. And, for lack of a better term, milking the creep factor due to his tainted 'morals'.
Just my two cents.
8499207
You have to realize that they genuinely believe they are doing the right thing. They are doing what they think is right. It is like having a CompForce trooper slaughter a bunch of ponies and then talk about how it was the right thing to do. THEY think it is the right thing. That is why they are being portrayed this way.
8499304
I do realize that they think it's right, I'm just disappointed as to how the scene was presented to be sympathetic, since we know what they're doing is ultimately wrong.
If a serial killer went on live television to talk about how what they do is the right thing to do, and they obviously believed it, would that be seen as sympathetic or extremely unnerving?
The story is great, and I really enjoy it. It's just the presentation of that one scene bugs me.
8499361
I suppose this shows the fundamental difference between what you think I'm trying to do with this story and what I'm actually doing. I'm not making any moral judgements here, and I'm not trying to show one side or the other as right or wrong. This is supposed to be an impartial display of what might happen in the general situation of an Imperial expeditionary force stumbling across Equestria.
For the Nazi comparison, imagine if someone was doing a comprehensive documentary about Hitler without any moral judgements in it, leaving that entirely up to the viewers. At some point, they'd probably mention how much he loved dogs, that he was an environmentalist, and that he wanted health warnings on packs of cigarettes.
A person you consider objectively evil will almost certainly have sympathetic aspects to them. We're all humans, after all. None of us is entirely good or evil.
8499695
Fair enough.
Just my two cents.
...
I suggest you avoid Reddit at all costs, if you want to preserve that mindset.
Unless the ENTIRE Rebel Fleet pops out of nowhere, I do not see how the Empire can lose this. Apart from the fact that they have multiple ISDs (Just two of them gave the Rebel Fleet hell in Rogue One) Heavy Armour, Fighters/Bombers, and loads of Troopers, they have taken out half of the Ponies capable of seriously hurting them and wiped out the Dragons. If they can just keep Twilight and Cadence tied up, then they should start gaining wins once again.
all right imperials, don't fuck this up, you have luna dead and celestia captured. granted twilight is still at large but there are ways to deal with that, like capturing her 5 closest friends....yeah that should do it. you know i'm just now thinking, if there was a way maybe they could get terik's help in this, seeing as how tartarus is some what a real place in equestra (seeing as how twilight had to manually take Cerberus back there.) also is it bad that even though the imperials are the bad guys and that this is around mlp i still want the imperials to win even though that'll probably include the slaughter of all of our beloved characters
This story makes me want to shot you.
8521266
This is how an encounter with Tirek would go.
>imperials meet tirek
>tirek tries to steal their magic
>tirek finds out they have none
>imperials shoot tirek
>tirek dies
8630682
Yeah forgot about that honestly. So literally the only hope the pony’s have at this moment is more than like twilight doing something(that or by some fucking hell of a miracle the imperial leaders there discover the ‘magic of friendship’ but let’s face it it’s way to late for that.)
8624053
Can’t even get a friend to read this because he absolutely loves Luna. And well we all saw how well that turned out.
7984136
8388338
Alright I’ll tell you guys why I support them way more than the ponies. And that’s because I love Star Wars and it’s entirety way more than MLP. I discovered it way before and loved the evil characters (mainly darth Vader. And now count dooku) more than I liked most of the hero’s. Now I like MLP, don’t get me wrong here. But truth of the matter is (and maybe why allot more people want the imperials to win) is simply because they love Star Wars more than the ponies(and quite simply the imperials are actually bad ass when done right.) and while I’ll be sad to some of my favorite characters get potentially killed or enslaved. That’s just the empire and we are seeing them as they are in the legends comics.(cause the movies just don’t do them justice.) it’s not human pride or some of us being sadistic we just love Star Wars and everything about it more(like me honestly I’m a gamer first, a nerd second and a brony last.)
Updates?
RIP
Rest In Peace: The only well-written star wars fic where the ponies are invaded. So far.
Update please
9815999
You make no sense. They’re used to being assaulted? What? So, you’re saying they’re not allowed to defend themselves because either they can take it or because they’re imperial? No. They were attacked, they defended themselves, the end. They were completely justified in standing up for themselves and the ponies are not justified in playing victim.
7984136
If they were genocidal they would’ve wiped out the ponies already. Like the sterilization of Geonosis.
8499695
And that Hitler pulled a destitute nation into a superpower, made crime nearly non-existent, and had a one hundred percent employment rate with some of the highest standards of living in the world. And that’s just for the low class citizens. Good, bad, and ugly people are not fully one or another.
Much like how the Empire built countless schools and hospitals and raised living standards throughout the galaxy, even for aliens. Really, the only examples we have of their genocides involve either a sadistic officer abusing his power, an accident, and elimination of a direct threat (like Geonosis). They enslaved populations of worlds when those entire populations violently rebelled. Alderaan was basically a giant terrorist base and better to blast it than invade (besides, one world out of 301.2 million Imperial worlds makes destroying Alderaan akin to a modern military destroying an apartment full of terrorists).
There’s a lot to be said in favor of the Empire and against the Rebellion and vice versa.
10035467
Ummm.... What?
https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Stormtrooper_armor#Description
Read that. While their vision is somewhat limited by the helmet, everything else they have in the helmet MORE than makes up for it.
10341379
No, it’s more like they all choose sides but really their choosing me because......
I AM THE SIDES
9816711
While I agree with you on mostly on your "empire is good" arguement, I very much disagree on what you said about Hitler.
The German economy was already rebounding, Hitler was just in power when it happened. Not just that, but his military focus devastated the economy in the long-term, his expansion was completely untenable economically.
No, he institutionalized it and tortured pretty criminals.
So did the Soviet Union, because not having a job was a crime
Certainly not when everyone who didn't meet a racial standard was imprisioned and killed.
Let me guess? Hiatus??!!
When will this finally be continued?