Escape
Chapter 11
“I would be remiss if I failed to properly credit Spike for all he's done to help me not just my journey through that galaxy far, far away, but from the moment he took up a role as my assistant. He has been unfailing in his dedication to not just serving me, but advising me and being the best friend a pony could ask for. I can honestly say, if it wasn't for him, I don't think I'd be alive today to write this book.”
-Twilight Sparkle, On Extra-Galactic Voyages, p. 521
Back and forth.
Back and forth.
Spike had paced in one spot ever since Twilight and the rest of his friends had left, stopping only to eat and sleep and take care of other bodily needs. His friends had been gone for an entire day, and he was worried out of his mind.
Did something happen to them? Did they get killed, or captured? He shuddered at either thought. It was too horrible an end to think about, yet he had to consider the possibilities.
He had done a bit of growing up since he’d crashed in the forest with Twilight and Pinkie Pie. In the last day he’d spent a fair amount of it sobbing, but snapped himself out of his doldrums. He couldn’t fall apart, not when his friends might need him.
But Twilight had told him to stay right there.
So he went back to pacing.
Back and forth.
Back and forth.
By now he’d worn a nice-sized trench in the undergrowth. “Where are you, Twilight?” He missed his other friends too, but Twilight was like a big sister to him. Some might look at their relationship and see a master and a servant, and he couldn’t deny that his main purpose was to serve Twilight, even when she had lost her mind over some trivial thing.
But it was so much more than that. Twilight loved him, and he loved Twilight, not in the romantic way (blech!), but in the way that a brother might love a sister. He was so grateful that Celestia had given him to such a kind, compassionate pony as Twilight.
Which is why right now, he was fighting an inner battle between what he had been told to do and what he knew he needed to do.
He looked forlornly in the direction Twilight and the others had left to fight their battle. He had heard plenty of explosions and had seen some kind of fighter (had R2-D8 called it a TIE Fighter?) fly overhead.
But the battle had ended yesterday, and so far they hadn’t made their way back. R2-D8 might have gotten shot, but at least one of them should remember the way back to camp.
Spike’s face contorted to a look of determination.
“That’s it. Twilight, I know you said to stay put. But you and the others need my help, and I’m not gonna sit on my tail waiting for you to return.”
He ran off in the direction he’d see them leave. He just hoped he wasn’t too late to save them.
-----
“This forest is a lot bigger than I thought it was.”
Spike was walking calmly. No sense in wasting energy running around. Or alerting any nearby predators to his presence. He was hoping he’d have ended up at the Imperial base by now. As he thought this, he realized that they might not have taken a straight path so as to keep the Imperials from discovering their camp. “Stupid, Spike. Really stupid.”
He shook his head, then began walking back to camp. He’d have to figure out another way to find the base.
A roar off in the distance made him snap his head in that direction. “What the hay?!” Twilight might have scolded him for cursing, but right now the unicorn’s moral standards were the last thing on his mind. He would have turned and ran if it weren’t for the other sounds coming from the same direction.
“Well if this isn’t a great way to die!”
“Echuu-cha! Yub-Nub G’nip-dock!”
He had no idea who they were, but perhaps they would know where the base is. He ran toward the sound, hoping that he wasn’t heading toward some sort of Imperial trap.
-----
“Fine way to end up, in the belly of some Force-forsaken beast!”
Junas Turner, Rebel scout sent to locate the Emperor’s new Death Star, had only succeeded in finding a Yootak. Well, that wasn’t all he’d found. Alongside the dangerous green lizard-thing was an Ewok, apparently hanging from his own trap. The little guy had ostensibly tried to avoid spearing Junas as he attempted to kill the beast, only to step into his own snare and end up hanging a good three meters in the air. But Junas couldn’t pay attention to that right now. He had bigger matters to attend to. Bigger, hairier matters.
The huge, green-furred creature in front of him was intimidating to say the least. Two meters tall, it was child’s play to keep Junas pinned down in front of it. It roared at him angrily. Perhaps it was trying to scare him to death. “Well if this isn’t a great way to die!”
“Echuu-cha! Yub-Nub G’nip-dock!”
Junas was about to pull his blaster and end the creature when something caught his eye.
“Aahhh!!!”
“What the Force?!” Junas watched in disbelief as a tiny reptile, less than half a meter tall, leapt up and bit into the neck of the Yootak, causing it to scream as blood spurted from the wound. It swiped its claws at him, trying to get rid of him, but all it got was a handful of air. Then an even stranger thing happened: the reptile spewed a pillar of green flame at the creature, igniting its fur and sending it into a frantic tizzy.
The tiny creature dropped off the Yootak’s back as the huge creature ran crashing into the forest, its eyes wide with terror, its back alight with green flame.
Junas’ jaw was hanging. “I don’t know what just happened.”
“Utata uname guntay.”
Junas looked at the little Ewok hanging from the snare, trying to cut the ropes binding his legs. The furry alien cut himself free, dropping to the ground with a thud. Junas turned toward the reptile. “Looks like I owe you a debt of thanks, little guy.”
“Eh, don’t mention it.”
Junas jumped. He was familiar with all sentient life on this world, none of which consisted of reptilian types. The closest thing was the Duloks, who were barely sentient anyway and were hardly reptiles.
“Er, you can talk?”
“Duh.”
Junas wasn’t sure what that last comment meant.
“Look, I’ll be honest, I’ve never met a lizard who could talk.”
“Dragon, buddy, not lizard. Do you see me flicking my tongue out and eating bugs?”
“Well whatever you are, I am thankful that you attacked that Yootak.”
The little creature’s face screwed up in confusion. “That what, now?”
“Yootak.” Junas got a funny look on his own face. “You’re not from around here, are you?”
The little purple dragon sighed. “Man, you have no idea.”
-----
After cooking a meal for the scout and the Ewok, Spike spilled the whole story: Rarity getting her spell wrong, everyone trying to find each other, then the attack on the Imperial base. As he told it, he felt himself getting more and more concerned, which worked its way into his voice as he spoke.
“I have no idea what happened after they left, though. I heard a lot of explosions and stuff, but that was yesterday and they haven’t returned.”
Junas looked solemn. “Have you considered the possibility that they were killed or captured?”
Spike looked at him angrily. “Of course I have!”
Junas held up his hands. “Hey! Settle down, kid! Look, I’ve dealt with the Empire before, and trust me, they’re nobody to mess with. From what you described, it sounds like your friends embarked on a suicide mission.”
Spike sighed glumly. “I just wish I knew what happened to them.”
The scout rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “Maybe there’s a way we can find out.”
The little dragon eyed him suspiciously. “How?”
“I’ve scouted for the Rebels for a while now. I can get close enough to the base to determine whether they’re still alive. Assuming it’s an above-ground base.”
“I sure hope so. I don’t know what I’d do if I never saw Twilight again. I mean, they’re all my friends, but Twilight and I are close.”
Junas nodded, then after a few seconds of reflection he furrowed his brow. “Your world sure sounds strange. You say all intelligent life is made of . . . ponies?”
Spike shook his head. “No. There are other dragons like me, only much bigger, plus there’s cows, donkeys, some birds, and a bunch of other species.”
“Fascinating. I didn’t become a scout for nothing. There was a time where I wanted to be an explorer, to get off that rock and check out what was out there. Then the Empire came.” A dark expression took over his face.
“They sound like a real bad bunch.”
Junas looked him straight in the eye. “They are. The worst. They razed my home town, destroying everything and everybody, supposedly because there was rebel activity.” He scowled, his voice inching toward anger. “There was no ‘rebel activity’. Never was! The only reason my town was hit was because some Imperial captain held a grudge against one of the business owners in town and wanted to pay him back a hundredfold for cheating him, or what he claimed was cheating.”
The human violently threw his collapsible mug against a tree, breaking it in the process and causing Spike and the Ewok to jump.
Spike was unsure of what to say next, afraid of offending him with his ignorance. Junas saved him the trouble. “I’m sorry. I just hate the Empire and what it stands for.”
“It’s okay, I understand.”
“Do you?”
“Yes!” Spike now wore a determined expression of his own. “An evil creature called Discord wanted to turn all of Equestria into a world of eternal chaos. My friends defeated him with their magic, but before they did he had turned all of them into total opposites. Fluttershy, the kind one, was turned into a brute, Rarity was turned into a hoarder, and the others were just as badly affected. If Twilight hadn’t found a way to remind them of who they were, they would still be lost, and my world would be entirely enveloped in a perpetual state of disharmony.”
After that little outburst, Spike took a deep breath. “And now my friends are probably gone because of this Empire.” He suppressed a tear; he wasn’t about to start crying in front of a total stranger.
Junas looked at him sympathetically. “I’m sorry. I suppose you do understand where I’m coming from.” He took a deep breath of his own. “I’ll help you rescue your friends. No matter what it takes. Anyone as special as those six ponies and your monarchs deserves to be free, not enslaved by the Galactic Empire.”
“What if they’re -”
“NO!” Junas stuck his finger in Spike’s face forcefully. “Don’t say that! Don’t even think it! If you go down that path, you’ll lose yourself. You’ll start second-guessing yourself, wondering if the effort is worth it, because they may not be there.”
He inched closer, his voice building in an energetic crescendo. “But they are there. I can feel it. They’re out there somewhere, and they’re looking for you. You say you’re close to this Twilight Sparkle? Prove it. Let’s go out there and find your friends!”
Spike leaped up, pumping his tiny fist in the air. “YES!! Let’s go rescue my friends!”
“Gee gunda oo nanu natche!” Even their Ewok companion was catching their contagious energy.
“Then it’s settled,” said Junas. “We begin at dawn.”
-----
Spike, Junas and the Ewok had all slept soundly, gathering their energy for what was about to come. As they walked through the forest toward their goal, Junas was getting nervous. Talking about a battle and getting energized for it was one thing. Realizing that you were about to walk into a crossfire was quite another entirely.
Twilight and her friends had been foolish to go after their princesses with just the six of them. Now Junas was going in with half that number. This sobering realization hadn’t crossed Spike’s mind apparently, because he had a look on his face that spoke of his determination and loyalty, as well as his readiness to fight the Empire.
But maybe it wouldn’t be so bad. After all, the Imperials were notoriously sloppy after major battles, so perhaps the security would be lax enough to allow them to mount a sneak attack.
As they approached the base, Junas discovered that his optimism had been sorely misplaced.
Not only had they not recalled their security force, but apparently they had air patrols going as well. A pair of TIE Interceptors roared overhead, and he could see at least two more TIE elements off in the distance, flying a lazy circle around the perimeter.
Then he heard a sound that sent a chill down his spine. Somewhere in the forest an All Terrain Armored Transport was moving. Its footfalls could be felt where he was standing, and he could hear the mechanisms of its four legs moving within their armored casings. He’d never seen them in action, but he had heard tales of soldiers trying to retreat and AT-ATs cutting them down like a lawn-care droid, their enormous height giving their guns plenty of coverage.
“Hey Junas.”
He looked down at Spike. “Yeah?”
“Didja hear that rumbling noise?”
“Yeah, kid. It’s an Imperial AT-AT, a giant walker with a pair of laser cannons and two blaster cannons that can give you a bad day in a big hurry.”
The lavender dragon looked visibly disturbed. “Sh-shouldn’t we get out of here, then?”
“I was just thinking the same thing.”
“Atcha, naboo aku tak-tak!”
They turned and looked at their Ewok companion who had remained silent up till now. Spike was just as confused as Junas. “What’re you saying?”
The Ewok growled a frustrated groan, then mimed thrusting a spear into a Stormtrooper. After a few minutes of charades, Junas and Spike finally understood what he was talking about.
The taller of the pair wore a bemused expression. “I think he means that he wants to attack them. But surely he understands that it would be suicide.”
Spike considered this. “Yeah. Hey Ewok, what do you suggest we do?” He shrugged his shoulders in an exaggerated fashion to show his confusion.
The Ewok then motioned to his companions for them to follow him. When they stood around looking dumbly at him, he growled a command in Ewokese, then motioned again. Spike started after him. Junas however wasn’t so sure.
“Hey kid! Where are you going?!”
The baby dragon turned and look at the human. “I’m gonna follow him. He’s obviously some kind of Ewok warrior. Maybe he knows where we can get some reinforcements.”
Junas was about to protest, but then scowled and jogged to catch up with them. Short help’s better than no help at all, I suppose.
-----
The trek to the Ewok’s village was long, but fortunately they didn’t run into any Imperial patrols. Junas didn’t believe in any otherworldly deities, yet he still felt grateful that they’d made it past the Empire’s minions. Not that Stormtroopers were particularly bright, but if they did happen to run into them, they would probably not only be outnumbered and outgunned, but would have no support either.
When they did finally get to the village, their Ewok companion gestured for them to remain at the edge while he went to make sure they could enter. At least, that was what Junas surmised from observing the little guy’s actions. The creature walked up a long flight of stairs, or rather split logs fused to the side of a tree, on to a small platform, then grabbed a vine and swung from one platform to the other until he reached the center. Junas wasn’t able to see all the way, so he got out his electro-binoculars to get a better view. He had just gotten them to his eyes when they were knocked from his hand by a well-thrown spear from a nearby Ewok guard.
“Holy guacamole!” Spike had been standing next to Junas, but when the spear was tossed he jumped a good four feet back. He dared not tick off the other Ewoks though, for he suspected that they could have hit Junas’ head just as easily as they had hit his binoculars.
Junas for his part was being surprisingly calm about his equipment being knocked out of his hand. “Okay, okay.” Spike hoped the calm in his voice would transcend the language barrier. Fortunately, the Ewoks visibly relaxed as he put his hands up and spoke in a reassuring tone. “I’ll just watch, alright?”
The wait for their companion to return was agonizing. Primitive tribes often strongly believed in omens, and if they thought the strangers represented some kind of evil spirit, they’d surely turn them away, or else kill them. This combined with the lack of information made for some very interesting scenarios playing out in both Junas and Spike’s minds.
Finally, Junas spied a small form swinging through the trees toward the tree where the Ewok had left them. The little guy made his way all the way down, had a short exchange with the guards, then gestured for the two vagrants to follow him.
Swinging through the trees was not Junas or Spike’s preferred method for travel, but to get to the village center it was necessary. Spike in particular was very nervous about the prospect of swinging through the air with nothing more than a vine and a tight grip keeping him from dropping a hundred feet to the ground below. “Uh, you don’t suppose they could use magic to get us there?”
Junas looked down at Spike. “Kid, I don’t think even the Force could help us in this situation.”
Spike sighed with a resigned attitude, then grabbed the nearest vine. “Let’s get this over with.”
His tall companion did the same, then they hopped off the edge, clinging to the green cords for dear life.
-----
Spike was glad that the village was relatively small. Only five ‘flights’ through the trees had taken them to a small courtyard surrounded by huts built right into the trees themselves. As they landed on a small outcropping, they were escorted to a rather ornate hut, stopping at its entryway by a pair of crossed spears. Their Ewok friend headed inside, motioning for them to stay put.
They listened as the Ewok talked to someone in the hut, someone who sounded rather important. They exchanged worried glances, wondering if they were about to be skewered and served as a sacrifice to some war god.
They stood suddenly at attention as a powerful looking grey-furred Ewok stepped out. He had an air of authority, with a long furry cape, a staff made of bones and several small animal skulls, and a headdress constructed out of some dragon head. The last part of the costume was a cause of concern to Spike, but he resisted the impulse to run.
The chief started talking in a surprisingly aristocratic tone, gesturing grandly all the while. Neither Junas nor Spike knew what he was talking about, but then he gestured toward a large hut on the opposite side of the village square. A guard entered, then after a few moments came back out with several Ewoks, each armed with a nasty-looking serrated spear.
The chief pointed at Junas and Spike, uttering grand-sounding words which had no meaning, then pumped a fist into the air.
“What’s he saying, Junas?”
The human looked down at Spike with a quizzical expression. “I think he’s giving us . . . backup.”
-----
“On your feet!”
The Stormtrooper was barking at Fluttershy, who was cowering in fear, her eyes screwed shut. She had been helping Rainbow Dash run a line from the beginning of the primary inspection tunnel to the junction at the midpoint when she had just stopped. Rainbow had tried to get her to get up before their Stormtrooper guards saw her, but she had become so depressed that nothing was getting her moving. Now the trooper was standing over her and yelling in her face.
Rainbow couldn’t stand it. “HEY! Leave her alone!”
She received a boot in the jaw for her bravery. The trooper then turned back to Fluttershy. “So you think you can just slack off and let this one do all the work for you?” He pointed at Rainbow Dash, who was wiping a bit of blood from her mouth where the boot had cut her lip, then turned back to bark at the cowering pegasus on the floor. “We’ll see how willing you are to work after our IT-0 interrogation units take care of you.” He gestured to the other trooper.
“Wait!” Dash was holding out a hoof.
The trooper held up his hand. “What do you want?”
“She’d never be able to take it. Let me! Please.” The look in Dash’s eyes shocked Fluttershy. She’d seen Dash angry and arrogant, determined, and defeated. But this was new.
Dash was crying. Not just getting misty-eyes, but actually crying. Tears slid down her cheeks, dripping to the floor. Her lower lip quivered. Her gruff voice was also different; she was choking up. It jarred Fluttershy from her depressed state.
The trooper had now moved over and was standing over Rainbow Dash, a sadistic and threatening tone in his voice as he looked down at her. “You’d like to take her place?”
“No!” The sun yellow pony was looking at the trooper. “I’ll get back to work. Just don’t take her away.”
The trooper bent down and grabbed Fluttershy by the muzzle. “You better, or I won’t even look for an excuse to send you to the interrogation room.” He shoved her head back hard enough to give her a slight whiplash, then moved back so they could finish up their work.
Rainbow Dash picked herself up off the metal floorplate and joined her friend, wiping her tears away in the process.
They both picked up the cable and flew it over gently to where they would hook it up to the junction box. The demure yellow pegasus looked at her friend. “I can’t believe you’d do that for me.”
Rainbow looked at her intently and cleared her throat before speaking. “You’re my friend, Fluttershy. I would never let something happen to you.”
Fluttershy’s heart warmed for the first time since they’d been led into the base. As they walked back toward the opposite end of the corridor to grab another set of cable, Rainbow Dash put on a wry grin.
“By the way: you tell Applejack that I cried and I will personally hunt you down and kick your flank.”
They continued to work, their hearts both lifted from the experience.
-----
Junas and Spike were standing at the edge of the clearing again. This time however they were surrounded by a good two hundred Ewoks. The Rebel scout didn’t know what that Ewok had said to his chief, but clearly it had done the job.
Spike looked over their personal army. “I gotta say, when we pick allies, we really pick allies.”
Junas nodded. “Let’s just hope they understand that they’re supposed to be rescuing your friends and not just shooting up the place.”
Before they left the village, Spike had drawn a battle plan, literally, on a piece of stretched skin. The Ewok warriors had watched him and had nodded every time the little dragon made a gesture, with their furry friend helping out by translating as best he could what Spike was saying. He just hoped that charades was a universal language.
At least they weren’t just using stone knives and bearskins. Prior to their arrival at the bunker, the Ewok warriors had set up a few dozen traps, such as stretched ropes, deadfalls, log pincers, and spike-lined pits. They had also attained permission from their chief to utilize a small group of catapults, which were top-of-the-line Ewok artillery. They were not much in the face of the armored Imperial war machines, but they might make a good area-denial weapon for the Stormtroopers and Scout Troopers.
Spike was not worried, though.
Well, not too worried. He had never been involved in a battle, much less the planning for one, even when Twilight and the rest of his friends had fought enemies like Discord and Nightmare Moon. He had played strategy games, like Peril, with its armies of ponies and artillery that you moved around a map of the earth to take over the world, and he’d won a few times against Twilight. How much harder could it be to plot a real battle?
“You sure that plan of yours will work, kid?” Junas was understandably a bit nervous.
“Sure I’m sure! You just get ready on my signal.” Spike hoped the apprehension in his gut wouldn’t work its way into his voice.
Suddenly a light bulb went on in Spike’s head. He held up a claw. “Hold that thought.”
As the little dragon started to run off into the woods, Junas grabbed his shoulder quickly and whipped him back around. “Just where do you think you’re going?!”
Spike shoved the massive hand off his shoulder. “I’m going to scout around and see if I can find a sign of Twilight and the others.”
Junas looked reluctant, but he saluted Spike. “Okay. Just make sure you’re back soon. I don’t know how patient these Ewoks are when they’re raring for battle.”
Spike nodded, then raced off into the forest.
-----
Twilight was in yet another hallway with Rarity, lifting metal panels into the ceiling so they could be bolted in place from behind by worker droids. At least this area was partially above ground. It did her spirit some good to see the forest beyond the edge of construction of the corridor leading to the base of the shield projector.
As she stood there with her friend, she noticed a small purple shape running through the line of trees at the edge of the clearing surrounding the facility. The Stormtroopers would never have made anything of it, but it caused Twilight’s heart to skip a beat.
Spike was out there!
At first she was relieved, then started panicking. Why was that dragon here? Didn’t he know this place was dangerous? She didn’t realize she was staring, and as she did, her end of the metal plate started to sag.
“Twilight!” Rarity caught it before the Stormtroopers spotted her friend’s lapse in concentration. “Do you want us to be separated?! Or worse?”
Twilight shook herself out of her trance and looked at Rarity out of the corner of her eye. “Just look at the forest. Tell me what you see.”
Rarity was perplexed, but she complied. “O . . . kay. I see some trees, some bushes, some logs, some more trees, some . . .”
She squinted.
“Oh . . . oh my. Is that . . . Spikey-wikey?” The fear and worry in her voice betrayed her concern. “What is he doing here? I thought you told him to stay put!”
“I know! I did! But apparently he got tired of waiting. Oh, I hope he isn’t thinking about assaulting this place alone!”
Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the troopers behind her chatting. Their backs were turned. If they would stay that way for a few seconds . . .
“I’ll be right back, Rarity.”
“Wait! Twilight! Don’t . . .”
The lavender unicorn’s forehead glowed momentarily, and she vanished in a flash of magic.
-----
Spike was trying to sneak around the base, hoping to get a glimpse of the interior somehow. Lucky for him he had found a bit of corridor that was coming out of the ground and hadn’t been completed yet. He might be able to see far enough inside to tell whether this would be a good spot to stage a rescue.
Suddenly, without warning, a bright purple flash appeared in front of him.
“Have you lost your mind, Spike?!”
“Whoa! Take it easy Twilight, I was just . . .” He suddenly realized who he was talking to. “Twilight!” He ran up to his friend and embraced her, unwittingly grabbing the one part of her neck where the slaver had jammed her tag. She jumped back. “Yeow!! Let go!”
He dropped off immediately, a sheepish grin playing on his face. “Uh, heh, sorry Twilight. Hey, what’s with the weird collar-thing?”
“Listen, I don’t have much time.” The unicorn shot a nervous glance toward the unfinished corridor. “Go back to camp, Spike! You can’t attempt a rescue! You’re just a baby dragon!”
Spike shook his head, then grabbed his friend by her shoulders. “Twilight, listen to me! I’ve got an army!”
This part caught her completely off guard. “Huh?”
“I met this guy, a big weird-looking alien named Junas, and a furry alien called an Ewok, and the Ewok talked to his chief and got him to give us some warriors so we could stage a rescue!”
Twilight was stunned. “I, um . . . are you sure this will work?”
Spike shrugged. “It’s the only chance we’ve got.”
The mare shook her head, but he was right. “Fine. But you make sure you stay at the back. I don’t want to have to come looking for you just because you were dumb enough to let yourself get captured.” A grateful smile played on her lips.
The little dragon winked at her. “Hey, you know you can’t survive without me.”
She knew what he meant, but she still did a double-take on the word ‘survive’. “Okay, my number-one assistant.” She looked back at the base, hoping the troopers were still gabbing. “Listen, I’ve got to go.”
“Okay. I’ll meet you when we’ve busted you out.”
Twilight nodded, then lit her horn, and in a flash she was gone.
-----
The trooper standing closest to Rarity looked in her direction first. “Hey!”
He marched over, pointing his blaster at the white unicorn. “You have exactly three seconds to explain where your friend went, or I dye that pretty mane a nice shade of red.”
Rarity’s eyes flew wide. “You will not TOUCH my mane!”
The barrel of the trooper’s gun being pointed directly at her face brought her back to reality.
“Uh, I mean, I have no idea what happened! She was standing there, and then all of a sudden she vanished.”
“Yeah, and Banthas fly.” He pressed the muzzle hard against her head. “I won’t repeat my question again.”
Rarity’s eyes began to mist, her voice reaching a panicked soprano. “Please! I don’t know! I don’t know!!”
“One.” He flicked the safety off. “Two.”
Rarity closed her eyes, squeezing tears out and down her cheeks.
“Thr -”
A flash of purple magic and white sparkles interrupted his macabre countdown. He turned a looked at the new sight, and resisted the urge to check his helmet’s electronic displays for defects. There before him was the lavender unicorn, apparently having arrived out of nowhere.
He recovered his composure, then slowly and dangerously walked over to the now cowering pony, brandishing his blaster. “Looks like you decided to return. I suppose you thought I might kill one of your friends if you didn’t?”
“Er, yes. I was worried that you might -”
“Shut up!” The trooper grabbed her by the mane, getting a firm grip that threatened to rip the hairs right out of her neck. He wound up his arm and hurled her toward Rarity, sending her into a roll that just about broke her neck. “Get back to work! You pull another stunt like that again and I’ll decorate this construction site with your friend’s guts, you got that?!” A finger pointing at her drove the point home.
Twilight fearfully nodded, quickly getting on her hooves and joining Rarity by the repulsor cart that held the stack of plate work. As soon as she was sure the trooper was not listening, she whispered in Rarity’s direction. “Rarity, I saw Spike.”
The white beauty looked at her friend with concern. “Is he okay?”
“He’s fine. In fact, he’s better than fine. He says he’s got an army and that he’s going to get us out of here.”
“Er . . . what?” The disbelief was apparent in Rarity’s voice.
“You heard me. I don’t know where or how he got it, but I think we’re going to get our rescue.”
Rarity’s eyes brightened, a cautious smile curling her mouth. They were going to go home!
-----
The battle started off innocuously enough.
A trio of Ewoks sneaked up to an AT-ST docked at the side of the bunker and watched as two uniformed men climbed into the cabin and closed the hatch. They knew they would have one shot at this, so they climbed up the metal structure and ascended the side of the walker’s cabin, then waited. After a few minutes, the walker began to move, its gait swinging the cabin left and right and nearly shaking the furry aliens off the top. When they were sure they had a safe grip on the handrail encircling the hatch, they swung over the edge and waved to the men inside.
The driver stopped the walker, then looked at his gunner. “Take care of him!” The man nodded, standing up to open the hatch. As soon as the metal door was open, he took his hand off to grab his blaster rifle, which gave the third Ewok warrior the chance he needed. He slammed the hatch violently over the gunner’s head with a sickening crunch, then called his comrades.
All three of them rushed the driver, bashing his skull with their weapons, and then turned their attention to the control console in front of them. After fiddling with the controls for a few seconds, they managed to get the walker moving again. A few more seconds, and they had figured out how to turn the cabin and move left and right. Finally, they found the controls that operated the weapons.
------
Hewex was in the central control room discussing a situation with the slaves. Apparently one of the ponies he had captured was capable of teleportation, a fact that he was addressing with the trooper in charge. “Did you see how far she was able to teleport?”
The white-helmeted Stormtrooper shook his head. “No, sir. She just suddenly reappeared out of nowhere. The other slave told me she had teleported, but she didn’t know where the other had gone to.” He was a bit nervous; the lack of information would look bad to his commander. Nevertheless, Hewex was intrigued.
“If she teleported, that could prove a useful fact to relay to Lord Vader. Thank you, sergeant. You are dismissed.”
The trooper nodded, then exited the room. Hewex was about to call in a report on the southeast service tunnel’s construction when his attention was called to the security console.
“Yes?”
“Sir, Scout Transport unit Epsilon-D34 has failed to check in after they began their patrol of sector 004. Should I ping them?”
Hewex was concerned; that was less than a hundred meters from the base. “Yes.” He looked at the communication’s officer. “Have the nearest unit converge on their position. Relay their current coordinates and tell them to proceed with caution.”
The communications officer complied, then the security officer looked up from his console. “Sir, they’re failing to respond. It seems sabotage is -”
And enormous explosion rocked the facility. Hewex grabbed the nearest stable object, the main console, and shouted at his security officer. “What the hell is going on out there?!”
“I’m not sure. Hold on, sir.” Hewex waited with a look of concern on his face. With no security measures other than the fighters, walkers and troopers, he would be sorely outgunned if the Rebels had discovered them and had sent in an attack force.
“Sir, it looks like local wildlife has hijacked an AT-ST and blown a hole in the side of the secret entrance on the ridge west of the landing platform. It is heading out into the forest.” His control board suddenly lit up with red. “Sir, two scout units went down and several troopers’ life sensors have gone dead!”
This couldn’t be happening, not to his base! “Send two squads of men and have them fan out and kill anything that moves! Now!”
“Y-yes sir!” The security officer opened a line to the barracks as Hewex turned to his communications officer. “You! Tell TIE Interceptor units Delta Three and Four that they are to immediately break off patrols and search for that rogue scout walker!” The young man nodded, then started punching buttons and twisting dials on his console. Hewex nervously shifted weight from one foot to another. This was supposed to be a cushy assignment . . .
-----
The explosion was all the signal that Spike needed. He blew hard into a trumpet made from some animal horn and suddenly all of the Ewoks that were in their attack force jumped out of their hiding points and began to storm the facility. A veritable flood of fur raced toward several freshly opened holes in the side of the building in the center of the clearing. The tiny Ewoks determinedly fought off the guards, spears outstretched, looking for the points between the armor plates in order to pierce the soft flesh within.
Spike averted his gaze. He wasn’t sure what he’d thought he would feel, but he was sure it wouldn’t have been revulsion. After all, the Imperials had captured his friends and made them into slaves to do their work. But he had no stomach for killing, no matter who was doing it or was a victim of it. Junas noticed.
“I know it’s rough kid, but this is a kill or be killed situation.”
Spike looked at him with determination. “I know.”
They watched as their personal army flew into the base, hoping that they would find Spike’s friends.
-----
“Yee-haw!!”
Applejack never felt so alive as when she felt her hooves connect with her overlord’s chin, sending him crashing into his partner, their remotes flying off and bouncing down the unfinished corridor. Just a few seconds before, she had been cowering in fear, then saw the strangest thing: a pair of . . . teddy bears running through the compound, waving spears and clubs and shouting war chants in a language she couldn’t understand. But they did give her a much needed diversion as she reared back and bucked her former masters harder than anything she’d ever bucked in her life.
As she trotted past the white-armored, knocked out troopers, the orange cow-pony motioned to her own partner, who was busy gawking at Applejack’s fine display of bucking. “C’mon, Pinkie Pie!”
“Right, boss-lady!” Pinkie raced past the fallen troopers and joined her friend at the junction, then the two of them entered the frenzy.
-----
In the large support column for the projector dish, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy were hanging up more cable when a klaxon wailed. They looked down at the floor to see the troopers glance down the corridor at something.
Dash wasn’t about to let this opportunity go to waste.
She nosed into a dive, pumping her wings for added speed, then at the last second she flipped around and slammed her rear hooves into the armor of the nearest trooper, knocking him into the metal floor with in a clatter of white plasteel. The other trooper whipped around, just in time for Rainbow to buck him in the helmet, sending him reeling backward.
Her need for vengeance momentarily sated, she looked up at Fluttershy, who was still hovering a good sixty meters in the air. “Come on, Fluttershy!” The yellow pony floated down, joining her comrade, and they both flew out the access door into the long corridor leading to the facility.
-----
Hewex was spinning and turning, shouting orders and threatening his subordinates.
This shouldn’t be happening. Not on his base.
He whirled around to face the security station. “Security! I want more troops at the rear entrance! Keep those blasted Ewoks from getting in!” The man in black sitting at the console nodded and started issuing commands to the men under his command, and Hewex turned back to look at the main situation monitor. He watched as the red indicating enemy forces slowly bled into the base, flooding the corridors and shoving back the green. He scowled, disgusted that his men were not handling the situation better. Perhaps if he hadn’t ignored the previous commander’s advice to train the men for fighting Ewoks in favor of spending as much time possible on the construction of the base he wouldn’t be in the pickle he was in at the moment.
The past was the past, though. Right now, he had to get this situation under control.
He just didn’t know how in the hell he would do it.
-----
Twilight Sparkle blasted another Stormtrooper with a burst of purple magic energy. The man in white armor fell, a blast mark turning the gleaming armor from white to black. She didn’t kill him; even in this situation she was not going to allow herself to stoop to their level. She was in a corridor with Rarity, fending off laser attacks with her shield, dropping it only to fire off another magenta discharge. They both inched their way toward the junction at the end. Even though they had only been here a couple of days, they knew the base layout well enough to know that a right turn followed by a left and down a couple of corridors would lead them to the prisoner holding cells, where they would find Celestia. As Twilight blocked another deadly barrage of laser fire, she thought about how horrible her teacher had looked that night, how her features looked like they had aged another thousand years. Would the ancient alicorn be able to travel? The lavender unicorn was uncertain, but she was certain that she had to get to Celestia now, while their luck held.
As they blasted the last trooper guarding the corridor and made it to the junction, they looked down the hall and saw Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy fighting off a group of Stormtroopers. Well, Dash was fighting them. Fluttershy was busy trying to avoid being pierced by a stray laser blast. Twilight watched in amazement as the cerulean pegasus swooped and wove through the air, using her extensive knowledge of acrobatics to keep the troopers off-balance and land several well-placed kicks in their heads. As the last trooper fell, the two unicorns galloped over to their pegasi friends.
Twilight looked from one floating pony to the other. “Rainbow Dash! Fluttershy! Have you seen Applejack and Pinkie Pie?”
The lemon pegasus shook her head. “No, we haven’t!”
“Well we gotta go find ‘em! Then we find the princesses!” Dash clopped her hooves together for emphasis.
“Right!” they all said, then the pastel quartet raced down the corridor leading to the prisoner’s quarters.
-----
On the way to the brig, the group ran into Pinkie Pie and Applejack, who had been making their own way there. The two earth-ponies had been battling their share of Stormtroopers, and Pinkie Pie had just bucked the last of the armored men when Twilight rounded the bend and spied them. As soon as they saw each other, Twilight explained the situation, then the six of them raced down the final corridor leading to the prison complex.
Since she was the only one who knew which cell princess Celestia was in, Twilight led the way, racing past iron bars until the group got to the last one. Seeing that the door to the alicorn’s cage was locked tight, the lavender pony began bucking it as hard as she could. Applejack and Rainbow Dash joined her, and soon the joints on the metal lock gave way and the door swung free.
As they all piled into the cell, all of them except Twilight gasped at Celestia’s condition. She wasn’t moving.
Twilight ran up and nudged her teacher with her forehead. “Come on, princess! You can do it! Get up!” She pushed and pushed. Finally, she looked up at her friends. “Don’t just stand there! Help me out!”
The six of them worked together to get Celestia on her hooves. As they did, they felt the great princess add her own strength to the mix, and finally the white beauty was up. The smaller ponies looked up at her with a mix of sadness at her condition and happiness at the thought of their freedom being so close at hand.
She looked down at her subjects. “Thank you, my little ponies. Now, let us find my sister and leave this cursed place!”
They all galloped out of the cell block, making sure to keep pace with the weakened princess.
-----
The group of ponies searched for another cell block amid the fighting going on between the Ewoks and the Stormtroopers, but as their search progressed they found themselves revisiting the same territory several times, checking every door and hatch in case the guardian of the night was being kept in a special place. Eventually they ran out of places to look. Twilight sighed with a distinctly defeated tone.
“It’s no use. There are no other cell blocks. Luna must not be on the base.”
Celestia squeezed her eyes shut to deal with the pain coming from her heart, but when she opened them she wore a look of determination. “They will pay for this.”
She turned and looked down at the bearers of the Elements of Harmony. “Come, my subjects. We will pay a little visit to the base commander and convince him to hand over my sister.”
-----
Hewex was in the middle of issuing a command to double up the forces on the east platform when the door to his command post blew open in a gargantuan ball of magical golden-white energy. The blast knocked him off his feet, and as he looked up he saw the white alicorn he had captured, still weak, but with a look of fire in her eyes rivaling the wrath of Darth Vader himself. As she marched forward, his subordinates raced out of the room, their faces contorted in fear. Hewex fumbled for his blaster, but when he grasped it he found himself being telekinetically hurled with great force against the wall, the irregular features of it bruising his back and threatening to crack his spine.
He groaned in agony at the horrible pain emanating from his backside, pain which was worsened by him being lifted magically off the ground in a gilded aura. He struggled amid the aching to look down at the princess, who was staring at him with focused intent. She brought him right to her face, speaking slowly and dangerously.
“I will only ask this once: where is my sister, Luna?”
The fire burning in her eyes and her voice was made manifest in the form of heat washing over him as the fire of a thousand suns burned in her heart and threatened to consume him in a destructive conflagration which would have put the destruction of Alderaan to shame.
He shook his head. “I-I don’t know!”
“Answer me!!"
The aura was fast becoming a furnace as her anger funneled into it. Sweat poured off his forehead and stung his eyes, and his clothing was starting to smolder in places.
“Please! I don’t know! The Emperor commanded me to send one of you to him! But His Majesty travels the galaxy! I can’t know where . . . he . . . “ The young officer was starting to succumb to the thermal barrage assaulting his body.
Suddenly, the heat faded away and the man was allowed to drop to the ground with a dull thud.
The six ponies stared at their ruler, apparently never having witnessed such pure anger being focused onto a single point like that. Celestia turned and started walking away, her loyal subjects following her. But as she arrived at the former threshold, she paused, then turned and looked at Hewex with eyes that could have flash-vaporized durasteel in a microsecond.
“If I find that you are deceiving me, there won’t be an end to my wrath for you.”
She left him there, smoke rising from his tortured body.
-----
Avenger was not a large Star Destroyer by Imperial standards. In fact, the Imperial-class, to which she belonged, was considered a medium-scale warship in the New Order’s revised fleet catalogue system. Yet she was still a full mile from stem to stern, a slim wedge shape which was capable of focusing all the firepower at her disposal onto a single point in front of the dagger-like prow. Ships of her class were capable of subjugating entire worlds on their own, using their destructive power to threaten them into submission and their enormous size to intimidate dissidents into surrendering themselves out of fear.
Yet still, she was dwarfed by the massive Imperial flagship which she was tasked to escort.
The Executor, the lead starship of the fearsome arrowhead-shaped command ships whose class bore her name, was a monstrous vessel, the longest warship in the Empire save for the Death Stars themselves. A mighty war elephant amongst a flotilla of wolves, she was equipped with the latest deflector shields and was armed with enough weapons to turn a sizable starfleet into a shimmering field of debris in a matter of seconds.
Despite all of this, the people of the galaxy did not fear this ship nearly as much as her master.
Darth Vader was brooding on the command bridge, looking out into space at the greenish marble floating there against a backdrop of a gas giant which gave this star system its name. He could make out the wispy structure floating next to it, the spherical metal shape almost a twisted parody of the beauty of the globe around which it orbited.
Vader mused to himself about how such vessels of destruction were almost quaint in light of the power he and his master possessed. Sith were capable of killing men with a thought, of leveling cities with a whisper, crushing whole star systems with a mere wink. Yet he also understood the need to control the population, and having visible symbols of power could do that better than any single demonstration of Sith might.
As he stood on the command walkway, he thought eagerly about his purpose here.
These eight creatures that he and the Emperor had sensed through The Force mere days ago would be quite useful.
Yes.
Very useful, indeed.
-----
The ponies raced toward the exit of the base. With Celestia on their side, no trooper stood a chance. Every one of them was blasted on sight, a smoking crater being the only thing left of their chests. Twilight was a bit frightened; she had never seen her teacher so vengeful, and it conflicted with the lessons on harmony that Celestia had bestowed on her over the years. It was enough to give her the chills, but she swore to put it out of her mind. This was no time to be worried about her teacher. She and the others had to get out of this place.
When they flew and galloped out of the secret entrance, which was not so secret anymore, they looked and saw Spike motioning them to the edge of the forest. Quickly the seven magnificent ponies moved as fast as they could to meet him, blaster bolts flying past them as the Imperials put up a last-ditch effort to stop them. Suddenly Rainbow Dash let out a painful yelp. Twilight and the others looked back at her to see a massive burn in her side, missing her cutie mark by inches. The rest of them stopped and tried to help her up, but she waved them off. “I’ll be fine! Let’s get out of here!”
As if to punctuate her frantic tone of voice, Applejack took a hit in the shoulder. “Dadgummit! This hurts like Tartarus!”
“Come, ponies!” cried Celestia. “We must make haste before those humans kill one of us!” Twilight and Rarity levitated Rainbow and Applejack, then the group ran as fast as they could to their little purple friend.
As they caught up with Spike, Twilight embraced him in a warm hug. “Spike, thank you so much!”
“Yeah,” said Rainbow Dash, wincing at the pain in her side. “We really owe you one!”
He blushed through his cheek scales. “Ah, c’mon guys! You know you would have done the same for me!”
Junas approached the group. “Look, I love a tearful reunion as much as the next guy, but right now the Imperials probably have reinforcements on the way, so I’d say it would be a good idea to get off this rock and back to the Rebellion.”
Celestia looked at him. “I am quite open to suggestions as to how to accomplish that.”
He looked at her with a half-cocked grin. “How do you think I got here in the first place?”
-----
They followed him through the brush, looking over their shoulders every once in a while as a sound would startle them. Their recent battle to escape their captors had made everyone quite nervous, and their minds were trying to convince them that the Empire was hot on their tails, which may not have been far off from the truth.
Finally Junas led them into a clearing where a huge saucer ship with two wedge-shaped projections and an offset cockpit was sitting, camouflage netting all over the top to keep people from spotting it from the air. With Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy’s help, Junas quickly removed it, then had everybody board his ship for takeoff.
As the metal vehicle took to the skies, the seven ponies rested in the lounge, taking a much needed break from the carnage they so narrowly escaped from. Junas walked into the lounge area carrying a small package and sat down next to Spike on the divan. “This first aid kit has some Bacta patches to tide them over until we can get them to a Bacta tank.” The little dragon opened the package and pulled out some small white squares, and after figuring out how to apply them, he gently adhered them to Rainbow Dash and Applejack, tossing the wrappings in the garbage bin next to the lounge table.
The human scout looked them over. Their faces were worn and their bodies were weary, and he wouldn’t have placed bets on the big one surviving very long with all those wounds. This is why we’re fighting: to keep this from happening to anyone else. He got up off the couch and headed toward the entrance. “Well, if you guys don’t have anything else, I’m going to go initiate the jump to lightspeed.”
“Jump to lightspeed?” Even amid the intense situation, Twilight’s scientific mind was working. “Isn’t it impossible to cross the lightspeed barrier? Equestrian scientists have been quite clear that no particle can go faster than the speed of light, never mind anything as large as your ship.”
Junas scratched his head. “I dunno. I’ve never really thought about it, other than remembering to pull the initiation levers after the coordinates are set.”
“Do you mind if I come with you and watch? I’ve never seen anything go faster than light, and I assume the cockpit has windows.”
He shrugged; he never really let people into his cockpit, but he figured this little pony could use all the distraction from the day’s events that she could get. “Sure. Why not?”
Happily Twilight got up from Applejack’s side and joined Junas as he made his way through the tunnel leading to the cockpit. As he sat down in the chair, he patted the seat next to him. “Come on. I know it’s not really designed for a pony, but you really need to strap in before we make the jump.” She nodded, and when she was seated Junas hit the comm key. “Hey guys, you need to strap yourselves in before we make the jump.” As he waited for the passengers to get buckled in, he began entering a set of coordinates into a small keypad with unfamiliar characters on it.
Twilight watched with intense curiosity, then turned her attention to the controls in front of her. The sheer number of buttons and switches was overwhelming, even for a scientific pony like Twilight. She watched some of the monitors for a couple of seconds. One of them caught her eye.
As she looked at it closer, she realized what it was she was looking at: a threat monitor. The green dot in the center of the screen was obviously the ship, and the red dots quickly approaching it appeared to be anything but friendly.
“Uh, Junas? Are you about done?”
“Just two more numbers to enter, shouldn’t take longer than a few seconds. Why?”
She pointed a hoof at the monitor with a worried look. “Because I think we’re gonna need more than a few seconds.”
He took a closer look at the screen, then swore under his breath. “I don’t suppose you’ve ever operated a laser turret before?”
She shook her head. He grabbed the mike. “Spike! I need you up here now!”
He turned to Twilight. “Sorry kid, but Spike’s gonna have to sit there. Nothing personal, but he's got thumbs.” As Twilight got herself unbuckled and hopped down, Spike came in, panting. “You called?”
Junas pointed at the chair. “Get in and flip that set of switches over there!” The little purple dragon did as he was told, and suddenly the big screen in front of him switched to a view of the stars with a pair of crosshairs, a small laser charge indicator, and a diagram of an approaching TIE Fighter. Spike looked up at him, confused. “What the hay am I supposed to do with this?”
“Keep our tail in one piece until I can enter the last two coordinates!”
Immediately Spike understood. He grabbed the silver control column in front of him, and suddenly the screen shifted its field of view as the turret on top of the hull swiveled in response to his commands. As he got used to it, a beeping noise alerted them to the presence of four Imperial fighters, the cockpit speakers mimicking their wail to compensate for the lack of sound in space.
Spike tracked one of them with his gun, lining up his sights. As he did, laser bolts flew past the canopy, accompanied by a report that sounded a lot like the laser bolts they’d heard back on the ground. The little dragon jumped back in his seat, startled by the sudden appearance of deadly laser energy. Junas however was short on patience. “Kid, get back on the controls! You gotta keep us alive long enough for me to finish the calculations for the jump to lightspeed!”
Spike nodded, swallowed hard, then grabbed the controls. He maneuvered the gun to line up the sights with an incoming fighter. The H-shaped machine was letting loose a barrage of green bolts which were missing the ship by only a meter. Quickly Spike opened fire on the tiny spacecraft, and as his blasts connected he was rewarded by the sight of the little ship exploding into a billowing cloud of incandescent gas and shards of metal.
He smiled, then turned his focus to another ship coming in to their position. The fighter was closing fast, its guns blazing green. Spike carefully lined up his shot, then was surprised when the ship lurched, sending him out of the seat, the gun swinging wildly in response to his attempts to right himself by grabbing the controls. He glared at Junas. “You wanna keep her steady, dude?”
“It wasn’t me! They hit us!”
Spike cringed with embarrassment at his misplaced anger, then got back in the seat. He started firing wildly, and when his barrage impacted the aggressor and sent it hurtling into space, he let out a cheer.
“Don’t start celebrating yet, kid. There are still two more of them out there.” The baby dragon rolled his eyes, then started maneuvering his gun around, trying to located the other ships. As he did, Junas hit the “Enter” key on his keypad. “Now we just gotta wait to get the coordinates from the navicomputer.”
Twilight watched as Spike wrestled the controls, having found another target. The screen flared red as bolts of laser energy lanced out, and suddenly the center of the screen erupted in a blaze of thermal energy. She was a bit concerned that this human was using a baby dragon to do his fighting, both here and on the ground below, but as they were being chased by an enemy determined to end their lives, she was going to hold back her diatribe about using children in warfare for the time being.
The cockpit shuddered with a tremendous thud. As they recovered, Spike looked at his screen in alarm. “Uh, Junas? Why is the screen all fuzzy?”
Junas looked at the static on the monitor, and uttered another curse. “The gun’s gone. Flip those controls down again and hit that switch there. It’ll give you control of the ship.”
“ME?!” Spike’s eyes went wide. “I’ve never flown a ship before!”
“Good time to learn. Besides, I still need to finish these calculations, and you’re in the co-pilot’s seat!” The lurch of a laser blast punctuated his words.
Spike reluctantly nodded, then did as he was told.
The dragon guided the ship like a child behind the wheel of his first landspeeder, bobbing and weaving, lurching and dodging, keeping the last fighter from scoring another hit. Junas for his part was biting his lip at the curse that threatened to escape it and cut at Spike, as his hands were being shaken hard enough to make entering anything into the keypad extremely difficult. But he knew that all this maneuvering was keeping them alive, so he kept his composure and finally got confirmation from the computer that the coordinates were all set.
“That’s it! Get in the seat, Twilight, I’m about to make the jump to lightspeed!”
Twilight hopped up and braced herself. As she did, Junas grabbed a set of silver levers in the center of the console, initiating the jump process.
Suddenly a burning, stabbing pain hit her horn. She muscled past it long enough to see the stars elongate into streaks, melding and melting into a beautiful blue display: a hyperspace tunnel.
The beauty of the scene was tempered by Twilight’s curiosity about her horn’s sudden burst of pain. Why would it flare up like that during a . . . what had Junas called it? Jump to lightspeed? Was it an effect of crossing the lightspeed barrier? Neither Spike nor Junas seemed to be affected by it, so that was ruled out. Maybe her magic was somehow responsible, but how or why she couldn’t tell.
She sighed quietly, then resigned to being in the dark until she had more information.
After staring at the swirling realm of hyperspace for a few seconds more, the purple pony got up out of the flight couch and walked back to the lounge area to join her friends. After days of torturous slavery, it was good to finally be reunited and able to relax with the best friends a pony could ask for.
-----
Hewex was aware of a presence over him.
After being nearly roasted alive by that horse, he had fainted. Hardly the actions of a brave officer in the Imperial Navy, but then again, he did manage to lose an entire base.
So when he looked up and saw the foreboding figure of Darth Vader standing over him, that black mask and mechanical breathing sending chills down his spine, he knew his fate was to join his ancestors in whatever afterlife awaited him.
“Get up.” The command was growled out, the timbre of the voice darker than he remembered from past encounters with the Dark Lord, indicating his displeasure at Hewex’s conduct.
The young officer rose to his feet, coming to attention. As he did, he felt pressure on his throat from some invisible force, which got tighter and tighter until he was no longer breathing. He fought to get oxygen to his lungs, but to no avail.
“You have failed me, Major. I do not tolerate failure in the Emperor’s Navy.”
Hewex was clawing at his throat, his vision getting blurry and his lungs burning.
Just as suddenly as it began however, the grip ceased. He fell to his knees, sucking in sweet air like he had never taken a breath in his life. He looked up amid his gasping as Vader stared down at him. “However, I am more forgiving than the Emperor. I will let you live.” The black-clad cyborg paused. “If you tell me why you let them escape.”
Hewex was perplexed and a bit insulted. Let them escape? But he guessed that a humble attitude would be more prudent than giving Lord Vader a piece of his mind. “I apologize, Lord Vader. I was attempting to detain them in order to present them to you, rather than killing them. My men did manage to wound two of them, and the fighters under my command tried to disable their ship, but they jumped to lightspeed shortly after their shields were defeated. We have an escape vector, but as the Rebels are known for micro-jumping multiple times to avoid capture, it would most likely be futile to pursue them.”
The Dark Lord made no sound for several tense seconds.
“Very well. But know this: the Emperor wanted those creatures. The reason is not something for you to know. Continue to repair and rebuild this base, Major.”
He turned and strode out of the control room. As Hewex was breathing a silent sigh of relief, Vader coldly uttered, “But do not fail me again.”
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Holy hot damn yes! That's the Celestia I love to see! Kicking flank, taking names, terrifying people with her incinerating wrath and chewing bubble gum! Let me tell you something: there aren't enough stories out there that portray Celestia the way I like it. So when I saw her so defeated and down last chapter, I was a bit worried at first. It always puts me down a bit when stories portray her as weak or just a pretty pony. But then you wrote this chapter and my smile was wide enough to make Pinkie jealous. When Celestia gets furious, I always imagined the very sight of her to be terrifying, and you used that in your story! I'm so happy!
You even had her nearly cooking that officer alive, did you read my mind or something? 
It's all cool now. I suppose it isn't such a far stretch that even Celestia would be suspectible to alien technology of a different universe, which is why she was affected so. But as long as she gets to be badass and terrifying in the end, I don't mind. Well done!
Points go to Spike as well! This is the second time this week I read a story in which it's Spike to the rescue, and let me tell you, it's awesome. Maybe Spike piloting the ship is a bit far-fetched, but it's so darn awesome we can let it slide. It's good to see that there are more authors out there who understand that Spike can be useful and dangerous as well, even though he is a baby dragon. Given how insanely strong adult dragons are, I think even a baby dragon is a not to be underestimated threat. And after how many times Twilight helped Spike, it's nice to see him returning the favour.
Good chapter, all in all! It was worth the wait. The only thing I'm worried about now is Luna. Poor mare, where has she been taken to? If I may express a personal wish, which you should in no way take as me telling you what to do (it being your story), it's just me speaking my opinion for the sake of saying it: I hope you won't have Luna turn to the Dark Side with a reappearance of Nightmare Moon or something. I know given the setting it's tempting, but the return of NMM is always a pet peeve of mine. It doesn't make much sense, you know? The Elements of Harmony cured Luna of her jealousy and hate, and having her somehow turn back has always felt like cheapening the Elements' power somehow. That, and I don't think Luna has any reason to turn anymore. It's true that there are probably still issues between Celestia and her, but the impression I got from the show is that the two are very close and care for each other deeply, and I just don't see Luna hurting Celestia so deeply again by turning evil.
But that's just me, and this is not my story. If you were going to have an appearance of NMM, that won't make me suddenly dislike your story or make me stop reading. It's just a personal preference, nothing more, so don't let me affect whatever you have planned. (Though the mischievous, insane part of me would love to see a meeting between Discord and Vader or Sideous. The very idea is hilarious.
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Keep up the good work.
1230931 Thanks for that, you really made my afternoon (I'm currently stressing over a rather comprehensive Monday exam in Calculus at the moment).
After the season finale last spring, I really wanted to portray Celestia kicking butt, but I needed a good motivation. Torture would seem to be one, no?
I believe rulers like Celestia speak softly, but carry a big, BIG stick. She obviously wasn't afraid of taking on Queen Chrysalis to defend her ponies, and I imagine she might have been holding back a bit in order that her magic might not also blast the ponies gathered in the chapel as well.
Spike piloting the ship was actually sort of a last-minute throw in, but I had made a comment in one of those videos showing the ECCC where they had various voice actors doing their thing reading the script to Star Wars, and Tara Strong as Twilight Sparkle as Han Solo mentioned Spike meeting her at the ship, which made me wonder how that would look with him in the copilot's seat, struggling to reach the controls. I had a good laugh, and figured anyone trying to picture a two-foot dragon wrestling the controls of a YT-1300 would too.
I wouldn't worry about Luna. Chapter 5 was supposed to establish her as being good for good now.
Turning twice is a dumb idea IMO, because it speaks of a pliable nature, which a princess most definitely would not possess, even if she was suffering emotional turmoil over past actions.
Glad to do it. Seems we both made each other's day.
Wait, you also think Celestia held back against Chrysalis because her full power would cause too much colateral damage? I thought I was the only one who believed in that theory! This makes me very happy.
I agree with the rest of what you said: Celestia is a kind pony, but her wrath is something you incur on your own peril. Carrying a big stick indeed. But while we're on the subject, how powerful do you measure Luna compared to her sister? In my headcanon they're about equal, with Celestia being a shade more powerful only because she's the older one of the two.
It was amusing, and awesome at the same time. Though I personally thought the scene was a reference to Episode IV with Luke at the turret, Spike being Luke here. Hmm, I think Spike would look great with a lightsabre.
Squee, that's nice to hear.
I'd like to take the time now to say that I loved Luna's and Celestia's sisterly bonding in that chapter. I agree that Luna probably does suffer from some emotional turmoil and guilt over her past actions, but I think Celestia did as well. She had to banish her sister herself, after all, and was alone for a thousand years having to take care of Luna's duties on top of her own. I think people underestimate how difficult and heavy to bear it must have been for Celestia. That she managed to remain such a kind, loving pony despite a millenium of having such a workload speaks volumes about her mental strength.
1231136 I look at Luna as being not quite as powerful. In my own headcanon, when she was possessed by NMM, the spirit took over a large fraction of her power to do the evil things it was planning to do. When it was vanquished, Luna was left with a fraction of the magical energy she started with (it was roughly equal to Celestia before). By the time of Luna Eclipsed, she had gained back some of it, so she looked more like her 'normal' self, but she still hasn't quite gained it all back by this time. If I were to put a number on it, I'd say she has 80% of Celestia's potential energy.
Spike with a lightsaber? Hmm . . . where's my pencil and paper?
Oh yes, there it is. Right in front of me. Where it's waiting on me to find the limit of f(x) as x approaches 2 . . .
I am glad you liked Ch 5. It was one I was chomping at the bits to write, because I really wanted to explore Luna and Celestia's relationship for a bit before getting to the meat of my story. They may be rulers, but they're still pony. The NMM incident hurt them both badly, though I imagine since Celestia is older and wiser she was able to handle it better than Luna.
I like this story, but this idea that fluttershy is terrified of heights just bugs the hell out of me whenever it comes up. The only part of the show that's remotely supported in is Dragonshy, and that was because she was afraid of the dragon...
Otherwise, good stuff.
1233770 Well, Spike did mention it in Party of One, it came up in Cutie Mark Chronicles, she jumped over the canyon rather than fly over it in Feeling Pinkie Keen, and she is hardly ever seen more than a couple of feet off the ground (I think there are more references to it, but you get the idea; it's actually pretty well established). Personally I think it's something that's a relatively minor phobia that she is able to overcome if she doesn't think about it, but if she's in an intense situation, she will lock up.
But that's just headcanon.
I'm glad you like it otherwise, though!
That's actually main thing that bugs me. In your fic she seems reluctant to leave the ground at all. Even if she's not performing wonderbolt level stunts, she's frequently seen hovering above the ground in the show. As much as any other pegasus. I can think of several scenes where she's in the air and Rainbow Dash isn't.
My impression of Fluttershy is that her ability to fly is closely tied to her emotional state at any given moment. She doesn't fly around much because most of her animal friends are on the ground, and unlike Rainbow Dash, she's not an athlete. She doesn't care about flying for its own sake or to improve herself in that respect.
In Dragonshy, most of Fluttershy's actions, and her wings locking up, seemed like she was trying to delay meeting the dragon. For example, she didn't want to go up the cliff because she knew the dragon was up there. When her friends asked her why she didn't mention her fear of dragons, Fluttershy said she was afraid to. And the whole episode was playing up Fluttershy's fears for comedy. I don't recall any other occassions where Fluttershy was afraid of her own shadow in the middle of Ponyville in broad daylight.
In CMC, all she said was that she was a weak flier and shy. It's been established that her wings lock up when frightened. That doesn't tell me she has a crippling fear of heights, just that she panicked. Feeling Pinkie Keen is a mess of an episode, the writers forgot Twilight could teleport...
You just seem to be blowing it out of proportion in the fic is all. Hope this doesn't come across as too harshly. I do enjoy your fic, it was just bugging me and I felt like addressing it.
Another great chapter under your Star Wars belt.
I wonder though, where they taken Luna? To the second Death Star maybe?
Also, when Junas gets our heroes to the Rebel's current base of operations, I can only imagine who else from the SW genre they'll run into. Hopefully Luke. That be cool.
1234267 Ah, I see where you're coming from. We actually agree on the fact that her ability to fly is tied to her emotional state, something I think I might have mistaken for a true phobia when I wrote the Fluttershy chapters.
In all honesty, I probably did blow it out of proportion, for drama, and because I wrote that chapter right after the first one, and both of them were written about three months ago. When I stumbled across FiMFiction, it inspired me to pick the story back up, and I decided to make it more than just about Fluttershy, so I edited the first chapter to make reference to the rest of the cast being sucked in with her. But the point is, I wrote most of that within a few weeks of becoming a brony, which is why the "fear of heights" thing was probably overdone: I just wasn't familiar enough with her character, and was writing off-the-cuff. During the later chapters however, I needed to carry it over for consistency; having her be fine when she's enslaved by the Empire and crippled during her time alone would have been weird, and I also don't want to have to redo the first and sixth chapters.
But you're right to criticize this bit. Later I might go back and try to re-write at least chapter six to tone down the fear of heights thing. Maybe she's just so used to being close to the ground that she simply didn't think to fly up . . . It'll require some thought to explain why she didn't simply fly out of the Gorax's reach (I don't want to have to re-do the whole thing). Until then, I'll just assume this is an alternate universe where Fluttershy is even more timid and fearful than normal.
1234582 Thanks!
I was a bit worried about this one being nearly twice as long as the previous chapters. 
I've got a list of characters I want them to run into eventually, and the best part is it actually fits within the established Star Wars timeline, so bonus points to me.
I don't think it's neccesary to rewrite. It broke my suspension of disbelief because I don't see Fluttershy as being afraid of heights, but if you have that assumption already (or don't care), the drama works just fine. Calling it an AU is going a bit far, stories like this are basically already non-canon anyway.
1234724 The AU thing wasn't really serious; even with emoticons it's hard to convey humor in a text-based communication tool.
Nevertheless, I've always held the belief that criticism, as long as it's honest and the person isn't trolling, is healthy for an artist/writer/what-have-you. Don't be afraid to point out flaws in my story; it makes me a better writer.
I can't believe I'm just finding this story. Really great so far.
All I can hear is Peter Griffin saying "Yeah kid, don't get penis-y."
1235585 First off you've ruined any chance for the Rebels to win the Battle of Endor, the Empire won't make the same mistakes in the movies. Second, BLASTERS KILL ON CONTACT!
What ship is that?
6097011 X-Wing: FFG Unveils Wave 3 Ships or Corporation YT-1300f
This is only an alternate scenario after Celestia tortures Hewex.
Hewex: I....can't...know....where....he.....
Relaxing her fire a little bit, Celestia glared at him. "You can't know what?"
Hewex in a hoarse voice: "I can't know where he travels."
Twilight: "Why not?" She said with a glare.
Another imperial who was too weak to move his whole body, yet laying close enough and having enough energy to listen spoke, "Firstly, to hide his Majesty from his enemies. Second, even if we did know, do you honestly think we'd reveal his location to alien filth?"
Celestia saw the source of the voice, and gave an unimpressed look. "Well, he can hide, but we will find him, and he will give us back what he took."
The imperial gave a chuckle that rose in volume, having secretly recorded her words, and broadcasted them to other imperial garrisons. "By your own words, you are all now the most wanted fugitives in the galaxy. Every bounty hunter, imperial soldier and spy will be hunting you."
Rainbow dash shot over and hit him in the face so hard he was knocked out, snarling, "Tell it to somepony who cares!"
Hewex: "You will all care soon enough when you are completely surrounded by...blasters...." His words trailed off as he started to faint.