Star Crossed Ponies

by MillenniumFalsehood

The Return of the Jedi

Chapter 29

“Forgiving oneself is something that isn’t an easy thing to do, and I find that it's proportional to the crime one commits. Accidentally take a cookie your friend wanted to eat? Easy to forgive yourself for that. Accidentally switching your friend’s cutie marks and altering their destinies for all time? That’s a little harder to forgive yourself for. Still, it’s important to learn this skill and apply it, because you’ll never be able to move on from mistakes otherwise.

-Twilight Sparkle, On Extra-Galactic Voyages, p. 455

Bright white flashed by Wedge Antilles’ canopy as he deftly guided his X-wing through the bowels of the Death Star, past large, glowing planes of some kind. He guessed they were capacitors for charging an enormous section of the machinery surrounding him, or maybe even the station’s prime weapon itself. If he hadn’t been focused on his task, he’d have sent a volley of missiles at them to at least buy the fleet a little more time, but the mission at hand kept his focus on the target: the massive reactor at the core of the battlestation. He kept his hand steady, working on not colliding with some random structural member and exploding. As he continued through the tunnel, he could see the terminus ahead of him: a yawning portal that opened up into an enormous cavern that housed the black heart of the station.

Only a few scant meters behind him, Lando Calrissian was flying the Millennium Falcon. Having already knocked the ship’s sensor rectenna from its turret, he was concentrating hard on not losing more components of the ship to the structures that poked out from the sides of the tunnel. Proximity indicators on his control console flashed, the single-digit numbers on them making him anxious. The Falcon was not enormous as far as freighters went, but she was no starfighter. Lando gingerly feathered the control column as he piloted the ship behind Wedge’s X-wing. To his right, Nein Nunb managed the ship’s shields and subsystems. Lando was grateful for the help. Flying the Falcon through such a tight corridor was hard enough without having to worry about angling the deflectors. Suddenly his ship was engulfed by the massive gaping expanse housing the core of the Death Star.

The Falcon burst from the tangle of piping that comprised the core housing, flying into the space surrounding the station’s main reactor. The massive bulb hung from the ceiling like a gothic chandelier, suspended above the top of the power column and funneling its vast energies into the receptor. A glowing light show of destructive plasma energy whirled around the tip of the reactor bulb, dancing and flowing through the entangled magnetic fields around the power transfer gap. Lando guessed that a few salvoes of concussion missiles would destabilize the reactor, if the systems that regulated its power supply were knocked out. He looked up at the reactor bulb and saw a large electromechanical assembly hanging in the breeze off to the side. He glanced at the combat multiview display, which identified it as a power regulation subassembly. “Alright Wedge,” he said, keying his comm system. “Go for the power regulator on the north tower.”

“Copy, Gold Leader,” came the response from the comms. “I’m already on my way up.”

Lando watched the engines on Wedge’s X-wing flare in brightness as the fighter swooped up toward the power regulator. A pair of proton torpedoes flashed from the launchers on its nose. The explosives coursed through space toward the ugly spire hanging off the side of the reactor as Wedge peeled off in order to clear the structure. He barely managed to avoid being incinerated by the massive fireball that resulted from his torpedoes slamming into the regulator.

As the plasma from Wedge’s torpedoes faded away, Lando steered the Millennium Falcon toward the main power emitter. He brought up his targeting computer and locked onto the strongest power signal, and then sent a volley of concussion missiles screaming toward the reactor. They slammed into the pointed structure hanging below the reactor, piercing the armor surrounding it. A massive explosion burst from the power emitter, almost blinding Lando with its brightness. His CMD flashed: “WARNING: INSTABILITY DETECTED”.

Quickly he swung the Falcon around toward the direction he’d come from. As he guided the ship toward the outer wall of the chamber, a momentary sense of panic came over him. He realized that the wall of machinery in front of him was mazelike, with no discernible entrances or exits. He didn’t see the tunnel at all, and he knew if he didn’t find it in the next few seconds he and his ship would both be flash-broiled by the fires released from the core of the station. But as Wedge’s X-wing disappeared into the structure, Lando’s eyes settled on a small hole in the wall where the pink exhausts of the starfighter had disappeared. He steered the Falcon toward that point, and suddenly the service tunnel he’d used to enter the station became crystal clear. He plunged the Falcon into the tunnel just as he felt a massive blast wave from the destabilized reactor core breaking free of the ceiling and plunging into the power distributor below.

—--

The dogfight in space above the Death Star had taken Rainbow from weaving between the capital ships to avoiding turbolaser towers on the surface of the station. The remains of the Executor were still traveling outward away from the hole that the massive command ship had bored into the surface of the station. She yanked her stick forward and back as she kept her tail out of the firing solution of the three TIE Interceptors behind her. At the same time, she sent volleys of red laser bolts stabbing toward the Interceptor ahead of her. Its wing had a glowing hole in it where one of her shots had penetrated the heat exchanger matrix a few seconds ago.

She didn’t have a single drop of sweat on her forehead. In the time she’d spent with the Rebellion, she’d become one with her A-wing fighter, and it was child’s play to avoid laser fire as she chased after the TIE Interceptor. It rolled to the left and right, sending her shots flying wide.

“C’mon, stand still so I can blast you!” she shouted. Her A-wing’s lasers were placed perfectly along the centerline of the vessel so that whatever was in front of the ship would be easy to hit, but this Interceptor pilot was good. He deftly avoided her lasers as he wove his fighter through deflection towers and surface buildings.

Rainbow pulled her throttle back a hair, trying to maximize maneuverability while also maintaining pursuit speed with the Interceptor. Suddenly her craft seemed to rock back and forth. Frowning, she looked around outside to see what had hit her. She was stunned when she saw the surface of the Death Star buckle. Physically buckle! Several buildings on the surface collapsed and construction gantries fell into the cavernous pits where work was still being done, pulled in by the gravity generators below the surface.

Her comm unit crackled to life. “Move the fleet away from the Death Star!” she heard Admiral Ackbar say.

That must mean…. Oh horseapples! Quickly she yanked her stick back, then shoved the throttle forward and transferred laser and shield energy into the engines for maximum thrust. She was pushed back into her chair by the force of her engines as her ship shot toward the Rebel fleet. “They hit the reactor!” she heard from her comm unit, this time from one of her squadmates. She smiled. The station – and the Empire – was as good as gone.

—--

In the docking bay of the Death Star, the Lambda-class shuttle carrying Luke, Twilight, and their friends was lifting off. Slowly – too slowly if you asked Twilight – the repulsor drive levitated the ship off the flight deck. Instinctively, she lit her horn and projected a forcefield around the ship, sheltering it from the debris pinging off the hull. The docking bay was already showing signs of the station’s demise. Flames licked the walls as electrical conduit overloaded and sent sparks flying onto the black metal below. Bolts holding the ceiling girders in place turned red hot and melted off, sending the flaming structures crashing down.

Twilight suddenly looked up in fear at Celestia. She looked back down at Twilight and put a wing around her. “We’ll be okay,” she said, trying to reassure Twilight. The unicorn didn’t feel very reassured as her shield was hit by a chunk of girder being ejected from the exploding hangar bay. Luke kept his gaze fixed on the control panel, focused entirely on flying the ship. The sound of groans and the shrieking of twisting metal pierced the cabin and intensified her feelings of dread.

As the shuttle rotated to face the entrance of the docking bay, her heart leapt in her chest from the sound of clanging metal as more of the station’s structure began to fail around them. She saw Luke’s hand move the throttle assembly forward, and the engines began pushing the transport out of the hangar and into open space. The ship was barely clear of the hangar when suddenly a concussion rocked the ship. Gouts of flame shot past the shuttle and dissipated, and the group gave a collective sigh of relief as they realized they had escaped being consumed by the fireball by mere seconds.

The shuttle rocketed away from the doomed space station, its wings folding down like a graceful swan in front of a monolith of evil. As the ship raced away from the Death Star, Twilight relaxed in her seat and looked over at Darth Vader.

Anakin, she reminded herself. He’s no longer Darth Vader, and no longer a Sith.

Anakin, his suit covered in smoking burn marks from the Emperor’s assault, sat in his seat, slumped forward. His breathing was heavy. Occasionally the mechanism in his chest would seize and a horrible screech would emerge. She could only wonder what was going on in his head.

She guessed that he was thinking about the acts of evil he had committed as an agent of the Emperor. He must be contemplating the great cataclysms he had orchestrated as a show of power and authority, and the many dozens of Jedi he’d murdered.

This thought made her brow furrow slightly. Should he even be forgiven for all that he’s done? True, Princess Luna had been similarly lost to the dark side, but her list of sins was so much shorter than Anakin’s. Nightmare Moon had devastated only one world; Vader had ravaged dozens of planets and killed trillions of people. Can someone capable of so much evil also be capable of good? He’d been a good man once, if Luke was to be believed, but there was so much for him to atone for. Even if he shed the persona of Darth Vader and vowed to remain a servant of light, there was still the matter of the galaxy’s citizens.

They would not forgive him, she was sure.

—--

Girders and piping flew by the glazing of Wedge’s cockpit canopy. His eyes were locked ahead of him. Beads of sweat dribbled down his forehead as he began to feel a slight panic build up in his chest. The tunnel ahead was longer than he remembered. Had he taken a wrong turn somewhere? His computer was not perfect, and it might have misidentified a piece of machinery as a landmark it had used to mark his flightpath. He gritted his teeth and guided his X-wing through the ragged tunnel of the Death Star’s service sector.

The grip on his control column turned his knuckles white as he deftly guided the fighter through the tunnel. In an instant, he recognized the circular entrance to the corridor, and he locked his body as the X-wing fighter shot toward it. In moments he crossed the threshold and released the breath he hadn’t been aware he’d been holding.

Kilometers behind him, Lando Calrissian was performing a similar feat of acrobatics with the Millennium Falcon. He and his copilot Nien Nunb were silent, concentrating on the task before them, aware that a TIE Interceptor was trailing them.

Fool shoulda stayed in open space, thought Lando. There’s no way he’ll-

A bright flash on the CMD indicated that the Interceptor had suddenly exploded. That, along with the rumbling series of concussions and the rising temperature inside the cockpit, told him that the results of the Death Star’s core rupturing were quickly catching up to him. His heart raced as he kept an iron grip on the control horns.

Outside the cockpit canopy, he could see the terminus of the Death Star’s maintenance shaft in the distance. He unconsciously moved his hand to the throttle and pushed it forward, only to be met by resistance as the lever was already as far forward as it would go. He bit his lip as curls of flame gathered around the edges of the transparisteel windscreens. Warning lights flared up on the console, indicating that the hull temperature was rising to critical.

Just as the ball of flame threatened to completely envelop them in an embrace of pure starfire, the Millennium Falcon blasted from the entrance of the shaft. Flames dissipated, and the ship shot toward the retreating Rebel fleet.

—--

“Yee-haw!” came a cry over the open comms. Rainbow Dash heard it clear on her headset, and she recognized the voice as belonging to Gold Leader, the man flying the Millennium Falcon. She smiled and said, “That must mean…”

She turned and craned her neck just in time to see the massive spherical station blow apart in a spectacular explosion. The visor on her helmet momentarily darkened when the brightness of the fireball threatened to blind her. As it began to dim, she could see chunks of the Imperial battlestation flying away. Pieces that were as big as whole cities tumbled in all directions.

And for once, Rainbow Dash was at a loss for words.

—--

A new star burned brightly in the blue sky above as the Death Star’s remains began to expand outward. On the forest floor, Leia winced as Han tied a bandage around her wounded shoulder. They both looked up at the explosion in wonder. Sitting next to them, Applejack and Rarity also noticed the expanding gas cloud that was once the battlestation.

“D’ya think that Twilight and the Princess were able to rescue Luke ‘n Spike ‘n Luna?” said Applejack. She looked at Rarity, her brow furrowed and her mouth drawn to a thin line.

Rarity gave a small chuckle that didn’t sound at all sincere. “I’m sure they’re fine, darling. They’ll be back before you know it!”

Nodding, Leia added, “They’re all okay… I can feel it…” Her expression subtly changed, her face making her seem like she was a thousand miles away.

Exchanging glances, Applejack and Rarity looked at her. “You feel what?” said Rarity, cocking her head.

“I feel them through the Force,” explained Leia. “I’m so relieved!”

Han furrowed his brow, and after several moments he said, “You love him, don’t you?” A forced smile appeared on his face.

Leia said, “Well, yes.”

At that, Han sighed and seemed to swallow a lump in his throat. He nodded and said, “Okay. Fine. Y’know, if you want, I’ll… go off someplace and be out of your hair.”

Frowning in confusion, Leia said, “What are you talking about, Han?”

“C’mon, Leia, I wasn’t born yesterday,” replied Han, seeming almost defensive. “If you two want to be together, I won’t get in the way.” He leaned back, giving her some space.

It took Leia a few moments to understand what he was talking about, and when she did, she laughed and shook her head. Then it was Han’s turn to be confused. He frowned and cocked his head, wondering when she would let him in on the big joke. “It’s not like that at all,” said Leia. She leaned toward him and smiled. “He’s my brother.”

When she said this, their eyes all went wide. Applejack and Rarity look at each other. Han looked at the ponies. They looked at Leia.

She smiled and leaned forward, then planted a big kiss on Han’s lips. It seemed to last an eternity to Han, a beautiful moment of pure bliss that his brain didn’t quite register at first. As she let him go and their lips parted, he looked at her a few moments, then his mouth cocked up in a half-grin.

And suddenly, like a firework, the two of them leaned forward in a passionate kiss. Rarity and Applejack both smiled. Applejack said, “Seems to me you two lovebirds are gonna be real happy together!”

Rarity sighed and leaned back against a nearby moss-covered log. She put one hoof in the air and one on her forehead dramatically and she said, “Isn’t it romantic when two people fall in love and spend the rest of their lives together?” She looked right at Applejack with a dreamy expression.

With a chuckle, Applejack said, “Don’t you go gettin’ any ideas, Miss Romantic.”

The two of them began laughing, and were joined in their laughter by Leia and Han. Nearby, Chewbacca cocked his head as he watched the group laugh themselves silly, and he looked over at the nearby C-3PO. He uttered a question to the golden droid.

“I haven’t the foggiest,” said C-3PO. “Even for a protocol droid, human – and I suppose pony – behavior can be quite unfathomable at times.”

—--

The evening waned into darkness as the Ewok village erupted in a celebration. Amid pieces of the Death Star’s shattered hull exploding on contact with the atmosphere, the smoke of celebration fires rose into the sky. Rebel starfighters shot through the atmosphere, flying over the festival below, their pilots giving the party-goers an impromptu air show as they joined in with the merriment.

As the music of celebrating Ewoks carried through the forest, as well as the music coming from the DJ stand Pinkie Pie pulled from who knows where, a lone, black figure stood gazing into the darkness. The sounds of his mechanical breathing mechanism were punctured by the occasional grinding malfunction, but he remained otherwise still and silent. Anakin Skywalker’s mind was free of the noir veil of the Dark Side of the Force, but the oppression of evil was replaced by the uncertainty of fear.

He felt like a being suddenly cast into a flat, gray sea. All around he could see the horizon, an overcast sky above him, without a single star or sun to point the way he should go. When he was the Dark Lord of the Sith, his path was clear, his ascendency to the throne to rule the galaxy in the stead of Palpatine as sure as the ground he stood on. But now, as Anakin, he experienced a wave of confusion the likes of which he hadn’t known since he was a child, staring at the funeral pyre of Qui-Gon Jinn and wondering what was going to happen to him.

A gentle breeze jostled his smoky, weathered cape, carrying with it the sound of celebration. Somehow that jovial music made him feel even more alone and unsure. The Rebels who danced around the campfire, sharing their war stories and enjoying the defeat of their mortal enemies were good men and women. They would not understand his pain or the torture of the agonizing suit he wore. They’d never condone the unforgivable mistakes he’d made. They’d never see him as the man, Anakin. They’d only see him as the monster Darth Vader, the creature in a fearsome mask, unleashed by his master when he wanted someone to die a horrible, grisly, and merciless death.

Perhaps he was truly the one who deserved such a demise. He looked up as another burning section of the battle station’s hull burst like an egg upon the upper atmosphere of Endor. He wished he was amid the wreckage at this moment. Death would be so much easier than facing the horrors he’d committed as Darth Vader.

As his artificial heart longed for release from life, he felt a hand on his shoulder. Mechanical servos whirred under its surface as it gripped his dark armor. “You should have left me on the station, son.”

Luke said, “I could never have done that, father. I am a Jedi. I must protect life, especially the lives of my family.”

“I do not deserve your love,” said the machine man, his quiet, mechanical voice nonetheless echoing in the forest.

“Love is not a thing that is earned,” said Luke.

The cyborg remained quiet. Luke continued, “And I love you, father. You are a Jedi Knight once more.”

“I am no Jedi.”

“You are,” insisted Luke, squeezing his father’s shoulder. “You are once again Anakin Skywalker, and you are my father.”

“You speak of the dead,” came the reply. “Anakin is no more.”

Luke frowned and walked in front of his father. “But I can feel him. Even as you try and bury him in guilt and sorrow, I feel him! And he is no more dead than I!”

“My son…” He sighed as he looked down at Luke. “My son… how you have grown. I cannot help but see the man you have become, and wonder how he could have come from one such as me.” He gently pulled from Luke’s grasp. “Anakin... is dead. And I, Darth Vader, wish with all my being that you had left me on that station to be consumed by the cleansing fires of its dying reactor. My sins are my own, and they are unforgivable. And though your love be admirable, it is not something you should bestow upon a creature of darkness like myself.”

Vader sighed again. The breath was punctuated by a grinding as the machinery in his chest began protesting the damage it had sustained. He began to walk into the darkness of the forest.

Luke watched him go. As his father disappeared further into the night, he cried out, “You’re wrong, father!”

In the thick gloom of the forest, he could hear Vader’s steps hesitate for a moment, and then continue into the shroud of night. With a sigh, Luke repeated to himself, “You’re wrong, and somehow I’m going to make you see it.” And with that, he turned around to join his sister, leaving his father to brood in the darkness.

—--

Two more figures stood in the darkness of the forest, avoiding the celebration. One, a tall alicorn princess, held a wing over a diminutive purple unicorn in a warm embrace. She looked down at her pupil. “Well, Twilight. The war to defeat the Empire is over for us.”

“Yes,” replied Twilight. She gave a long, deep sigh which seemed to carry with it memories of all the times she’d nearly been shot or sold into slavery. She nodded. “I for one am grateful that we no longer have to fear the Emperor or his minions. Though, it’s not over for the citizens of this galaxy. The Imperial forces still control a big chunk of it, and aren’t going to give up their power even if their ruler is gone.”

Nodding, Celestia said, “Yes, Twilight. I wish we could stay and help the Rebellion form a new government, but our home calls to us, and we must answer that call.”

“Equestria isn’t the only thing that needs us,” said Twilight quietly. She looked across the clearing to the Imperial Shuttle that was parked there, its ramp extended. Inside, she could see a faint glow of red light from the technobeasts that were once Luna and Spike. “Our friends need us now more than ever.” She looked up at Celestia. “We must find a way to restore Spike and Luna to their former selves.”

“I wish I knew how,” said Celestia. Then her brow scrunched in anger and regret. “I wish I’d been there for my sister when she needed me most.” A tear fell from her face.

Twilight’s eyes also began to glisten. “I wish I’d been there for Spike…” She sniffled and then said, “We will find a way to restore them, Princess. The Emperor said he’d brought us here using some kind of machine. Wherever it is, it must be able to reverse the process that brought us here and take us back to where we came from. If we can find that machine, we can find a way home. And maybe if we find out where it is, we can find some information on reversing Spike and Luna’s transformation.”

“Luke Skywalker seems to think it’s not possible,” said Celestia. “At least, he alluded to as much when I asked him about it. But I refuse to give up. If that monster Palpatine had found a way to create such beasts, he must have written it down, and if he did, there’s a chance we could reverse-engineer it to bring Spike and Luna back.”

“I hope so,” said Twilight. She sighed, looking again toward the shuttle and its occupants. “I dearly hope so.”

Author's Note:

Hey there, friends! Hope you liked the newest chapter!

I'm also hoping to update this story more quickly, but if hopes were horses, beggars could ride, as the saying goes. Still, that's my intention going forward. I already have the rest of the story outlined and ready to scribe down for you, my lovely audience. All that remains is to actually sit down and write it. And write it, I shall! So please stay tuned, and I promise I'll reward your patience!

Comments

[hydra30]

Palpatine will always be one of the most iconic evil villains. For Twilight and the others to have faced him is horrible. Chrysalis and tirek better watch out especially if Rainbow is allowed to take her A-wing back to Equestria with her. Awesome update keep it coming please.

[MarioBrony]

How this will turn out, I'm not sure.
Vader seems to have wandered off, and Spike and Luna remain altered.
Only the future and the Force will tell.

[HB_DS2013]

The A-wing will be the most advanced ship Rainbow can own. It'll be interesting if she can bring it back.

[JediAlexColbent]

I’m just gonna come out and say it. Vader doesn’t deserve redemption.