Attack
Chapter 9
“I have to say, among the decisions we made on our journey, attacking the Galactic Empire was one of the most frightening experiences of my life. Their war machines were powerful and terrifying displays of military might the likes of which I'd never seen and hope to never see again.”
-Twilight Sparkle, On Extra-Galactic Voyages, p. 302
Twilight stared at the dark gray building surrounded by what R2-D8 had called Imperial AT-ST Scout Walkers, Stormtroopers, and Scout Troopers mounted on Aratech 74-Z Speederbikes. This was going to be far more difficult than she imagined, and she had imagined a difficult challenge indeed.
“Yessir, this is the same place Ah was at b’fore.” Applejack was visibly nervous, not that Twilight blamed her.
Rainbow Dash was getting impatient. “Well we gotta get in there somehow! The princesses need us and we’re not doing them any good just sitting around on our flanks!”
Even Pinkie Pie was getting into it. “Yeah! Let’s quit the jawwin’ and get goin’!”
Twilight held up a hoof. “Wait everypony. We need to think this through. It won’t do the princesses or us any good to head in there blindly.”
They all nodded, and then walked back to their little camp and gathered into a huddle to start their planning.
-----
The plan was simple, but not because of Twilight’s preference for simplicity. Rather, it was necessary in light of how none of them knew the interior of the base, and R2-D8’s sensors were not powerful enough to penetrate the hardened jammer the base contained.
She knew going into this blind could get them all killed, but the risk was nothing compared to what would happen should Equestria never get its monarchs back. Therefore she was going to commit every available mental resource into planning the rescue.
“Okay guys, this is not going to be easy, but I’ve come up with a plan that should give us a reasonable chance of success.”
Rarity and Applejack exchanged worried looks, but Rainbow Dash saluted her. “We’ll do our best, boss!”
Twilight smiled, then returned to her task of briefing her comrades.
“The plan is divided into four phases.
“The first phase is to get past all of the troopers and vehicles guarding the base. It will be difficult, because we’ve got to hold them off long enough for R2-D8 to make it to the door, but we’ve got to get past them in order to storm the base and free the princesses. Rainbow Dash, you and Fluttershy will fly past the AT-STs and keep them busy.”
Fluttershy was looking down as she pawed the ground. “I dunno, Twilight. That doesn’t sound very -”
“We’ll do our best, Twilight!” Rainbow Dash shot a look at Fluttershy.
“Thanks, and I know you will. In the mean time, Applejack, you and Pinkie Pie will be responsible for running around and keeping the Stormtroopers and Scout Troopers distracted.”
“Will do, Twi.” Applejack sealed the promise with a tilt of her hat.
“It’ll be easy as baking cupcakes! Which is actually a good idea now that I think about it. OOOh! We should have a party to celebrate our victory! And you know what would be great to go along with it? A big batch of -”
“Uh, Pinkie,” Twilight looked at her gently. “D’you think you can save the party-planning for after we win the battle?”
The pink pony beamed. “Sure thing, Twilight!”
“As for the rest of us, I and Rarity will use our magic to take out the machines, and I will try to protect us by casting shields when I can.
“After we make it to the door, we’ll begin phase two: Infiltration. We have no idea what the inside of that base looks like, but with R2-D8’s scanners we should be able to get a clearer notion once we’re in. We can assume that the whole place will be guarded. Rainbow, you will be tasked with flying ahead because you’re the fastest -”
“Whaddaya mean, fastest?!” Applejack looked a bit perturbed by that assessment.
“Uh, I didn’t -”
“She means the pony who can get from point A to point B in the shortest amount of time, namely me.” Dash was now smiling with a half-cocked grin.
“Well if Ah recollect, we tied at the Runnin’ of the Leaves.”
“Only because my -”
“Girls! Please stop!”
Applejack and Rainbow looked at her, then stopped their bickering, remembering suddenly the gravity of the situation.
“Thank you. Now, Applejack, I was going to say that I needed you to stick around in case someone sneaks up behind us. You’re the strongest of us, and with Rainbow busy scouting ahead I’ll need your legs to defend us.”
“No problem, Twilight!”
“Once we get to the holding cells where they’re keeping the princesses in custody, we’ll begin phase three: breaking them out.
“This won’t be easy. Anything that can hold an alicorn must be strong indeed. That’s where our secret weapon will come in. R2-D8?”
The droid beeped.
“You will interface with their devices and see if you can bypass whatever security systems are in place to hold the princesses.”
He chirped and buzzed. “You can count on me.”
“After the princesses are free, escape should be no problem. Celestia and Luna possess powerful magic, so they’ll take the lead while we bring up the rear and keep them safe from flanking maneuvers. Once we’re clear of the base we’ll split into pairs and meet at the edge of the forest. Rainbow will pair with Fluttershy, Pinkie will pair with Applejack, and Rarity, you’re with me. R2-D8, you will be on your own, but they should be concentrating on us, so your chances of escape will be higher than otherwise. Once we are clear of the base we’ll rendezvous here in the clearing. Are there any questions?”
Spike nudged Twilight in the side. “What about me, Twilight? What do I do?”
Twilight looked at him apologetically. “I’m sorry Spike, but you’re too young and vulnerable to risk taking along. I’m afraid you’re going to have to wait here.”
“But I can -”
“No, Spike.”
Spike looked like he was ready to cry, but he swallowed and looked at Twilight. “Okay. Be careful, alright? The library wouldn’t be the same without your organizational skills.”
She smiled at him, then turned to face the rest of them.
“Okay everypony, you know what to do. Let’s rescue the princesses!”
They all shouted a cheer, then headed off into the woods, leaving behind a sad and somewhat frustrated little purple and green dragon behind.
-----
The small group trotted toward the large clearing where the Imperial base was located. Each knew their job, yet each knew that the risk was real and their lives were going to be in danger the moment they stepped into the clearing.
But this was their duty to the rulers of their land, and they would sooner die that let anything happen to them.
Rainbow Dash was the first to arrive. She let out a quiet whistle and whispered to herself. “There sure are a lot of pon-, er, people in there.” She looked behind her. “Come on, Fluttershy,” she whispered harshly.
The yellow pegasus gently floated up behind her. “I’m sorry. I just don’t like flying, that’s all.”
“Well you’re gonna have to pick it up if you want to keep those things from hitting Twilight and the others!”
Fluttershy was a bit put out by Dash’s scolding, but she knew the cyan pegasus was right. They were probably the most vital part of the team since they would be distracting the biggest and most powerful of the enemies, and she needed to get her act together now before Twilight gave the signal.
Applejack was just as nervous as Fluttershy at that moment, but she would never let it on. She knew the rest of them team saw her as a pillar of strength, and to show weakness at this point might have a demoralizing effect on her friends. Still, she’d dealt with these things before. She knew that their machines were fast and powerful, and that their weapons were more than enough to kill any of them in an instant. Despite this, she steeled herself for battle. She was worried that Pinkie Pie couldn’t keep her mind off baking and parties long enough to do her job, but past experience taught her that even with Pinkie’s cuckoo-lander brain, she was quite capable in a scrap.
Twilight and Rarity were standing at the edge with their friends, watching the Stormtroopers and walkers milling about, darting their eyes every once in a while toward the sudden acceleration of speederbikes racing off into the forest. Rarity was visibly quite nervous, and Twilight couldn’t say she blamed her. This Empire was far more ruthless than any of the enemies they’d faced together, and she knew they wouldn’t hesitate to kill her and her friends with their horrible weapons.
She was waiting now. Waiting for the final piece of the team to fall into place. She looked over at R2-D8, who was slowly rolling into position, trying to avoid being seen. When he finally made it to the edge of the forest on the opposite side of the clearing, he projected the image of a Gorax crashing through the forest, roaring loudly enough to cause the birds around the droid to burst into flight.
The Imperials all turned their heads in the direction of the hologram. One of the troopers screamed “What the hell?!” as the rest of them scrambled to take cover from what they assumed was another Gorax attack. That was all the distraction Twilight needed.
“CHARGE!!”
The six brightly-colored ponies galloped and flew out of the forest, crossing and weaving in front of each other to confuse the Imperials even more. The confusion lasted but mere seconds as the Stormtroopers and AT-ST pilots recovered from the shock and began to fire red bolts of energy.
They were being careful to observe friendly fire protocols, but still their blasts were getting close, way too close for Twilight.
She and Rarity hurled magic missiles at the walkers and speederbikes, blowing one of the bikes up and melting the knee joint on one of the AT-STs. They smiled with satisfaction, then galloped around the stalled walker, shooting magic bursts as they went.
-----
Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy buzzed an AT-ST. In the cockpit, the driver was startled. “What in blazes was that?!”
His copilot calmly armed the concussion grenade launchers. “It doesn’t matter. Major Hewex said to distract them for as long as possible.”
The pilot nodded as his comrade fired a couple of bursts into the air.
-----
As Rainbow and Fluttershy zoomed and weaved they felt the effects of the blasts directed at them as concussive waves. Dash was concerned that this would spook Fluttershy, but the yellow and pink pony was still flying, even managing to keep up with Rainbow.
Another blast rang her ears. She decided to try a different tactic.
-----
The AT-ST pilot was concentrating on not stepping on the troopers under his machine’s feet when he saw a blue shape appear in front of his cockpit window.
It stuck its tongue out at him. “Nyah, nyah, nya-nyah, nyah!”
“Get rid of it!” The copilot nodded and then sent a volley of blasts from the main guns toward the pegasus, being careful not to kill it. An explosion ripped through the clearing, and as the pegasus shot off the two Imperials watched in dismay as a scout walker across from the them toppled over, its left leg blown clean off by the volley of laser blasts meant to spook the pegasus.
-----
On the ground things were a bit easier, but only marginally. Applejack was ramming as many troopers as she could, using her hat to provide some protection against the hardened armor the troopers wore. She weaved through the camp, avoiding as many of the laser blasts as she could. It didn’t keep some of them from singeing her back, however.
She grimaced at the slight pain this caused, but kept running.
-----
Pinkie Pie was having a blast. These guys knew how to party! She hopped around, dodging and moving, avoiding the blasts with ease, singing a nameless and wordless tune consisting of nothing more than “La, la-la, la-la, la-la!”
Eventually she came face to face with a trooper. He pointed a blaster at her, but that wasn’t the first thing she took notice of.
“Oooo! Nice party outfit! Where’dja get it?!”
The trooper looked confused for a second. “Uh, it was standard issue?”
Pinkie gasped and smiled. “D’you think I could get one in my size?”
“Er, no.”
“Well that’s just not fair!”
She head-butted him, sending him tumbling down, unconscious, then continued prancing about the clearing, singing as she went.
-----
Twilight and Rarity were both struggling to keep their friends safe. Because only Twilight could cast a shield, Rarity had to resort to flinging rocks and debris at the troopers telekinetically and hurling more magic blasts toward her attackers. That didn’t mean Twilight had it any easier. She could only cast the spell around herself, having never learned how to cast it around somepony else. Despite this, she was able to get near the other girls and keep bolts from hitting them. It was hard work, but she was able to do it. “I just hope that R2-D8 can get to the door without being seen!”
-----
The battle was lasting much longer than Twilight was comfortable with. Every second that passed the odds of surviving dwindled down. But staying inside the group of Imperials was giving them an edge, for she could see that they were hesitant to hit their own troops. They were ruthless, not homicidal.
She looked over to see Applejack running through the legs of an AT-ST, using it as temporary cover as she leapt into the air and came crashing back down on a Stormtrooper. Twilight gasped as she saw another trooper level a blaster bolt at Applejack and galloped as fast as she could to intercept it. Luckily her shield spell was at full strength, and she was able to deflect the blast, turning her head as her shield flickered off to fire a low-power magical volley of her own at the trooper. He was knocked off his feet, burn marks all over his armor. Twilight was thankful her blast hadn’t penetrated; she was a scholar, not a soldier, and she wasn’t about to take lives when she could incapacitate just as easily.
Finally, she noticed R2-D8 enter the bunker, and she breathed a sigh of relief.
Then she saw the blast door close over the portal, and a thickly armored hatch cycle shut over that.
Her heart sank. Now there was no way they’d be able to rescue the princesses.
“Girls! We can’t get into the base! Fall back!”
They all snapped their heads in Twilight’s direction, then looked at the doors of the base and saw why she called off the attack.
Rapidly they all got the hay out of there.
-----
They had discussed the possibility of a mission failure, and if they couldn’t get to the princesses, the next thing to do would be to split up and meet back at the camp.
Easier said than done.
Applejack was running from a trio of speederbikes. Jes’ like b’fore. ‘Cept this time Ah have a feelin’ they won’t be as easy to fool.
The orange and blonde pony was galloping as fast as her legs would take her, but she had already expended a heck of a lot of energy fighting the Imperials. It was now a battle against her own body. She knew that those guys wouldn’t fall for the same trick she’d tried last time, but she needed to slow or stop her pursuers somehow so she could find her way back to the campsite without leading the Empire right to their doorstep.
She maneuvered around the trees, desperate to avoid being hit by the yellow packets of thermal energy hurled at her. As she ran she looked back at the Imperial scout, hoping he’d make a mistake and hit a tree.
A sudden sharp pain shot through her head. As she slumped into unconsciousness, she had but one thought on her mind. “Dumb tree . . .”
-----
The two pegasi flew above the canopy as fast as their wings could carry them. Fluttershy had wanted to stick with Twilight, but Rainbow reminded her that they needed to split up to minimize the possibility of capture.
Suddenly a pair of TIE Interceptors buzzed them, sending them tumbling about in their hot engine wash, an ozone smell invading their nostrils. The ghostly wailing emanating from their engines sent chills down the ponies’ spines, but it was nothing compared the horror they both experienced as the highly maneuverable starfighters whipped around and sent blasts of green energy their way.
“WOAH!!” Rainbow Dash missed being vaporized by those cannon blasts by mere inches. She and Fluttershy dove toward the cover of trees, using their branches to obscure the pilots’ view and keep them from getting a good shot.
It didn’t prevent the TIEs from boxing them in with green laser bolts.
“We can’t keep this up much longer, Dash!” Fluttershy was getting tired. Her body simply was not used to this much punishment, not from a Gorax, and certainly not from a pair of Imperial TIE ships which threatened to overtake them at any moment.
“I have an idea!” Rainbow flew over to Fluttershy and whispered into her ear.
-----
The TIE pilot in TIE Interceptor Delta 2 was calmly maneuvering his fighter over the tops of the trees. He had to keep these ponies – winged ponies he might add, which had initially thrown him completely for a loop – from getting too far away from the bunker.
They were the primary targets, and he wished that his ship had been equipped with ion cannons. It would have made the job of capturing them that much easier.
Being that starfighter-mounted ion cannons were capable of disabling capital ships, it also might have killed them, and if that hadn’t done the job the fall from 100 meters would certainly finish them.
But keeping them boxed in like this was hard without actually hitting them. He had no doubt that they were frightened enough, but being spooked like this they may accidentally fly right into one of his bursts, and he just knew the Major would chew his backside for killing a target he was specifically sent to capture.
Suddenly, both ponies broke left and right in a violent maneuver. Those animals must be made of iron. He brought his interceptor around, keeping the blue pony in his sights. As he was getting a few shots off, he saw, too late, that she had led him right into the flight path of Delta 1.
He barely had time to scream as his ship collided with the other interceptor in a conflagration of burning fuel and ignited blaster gas.
-----
As Rainbow Dash completed the maneuver, she looked up just in time to see the two Imperial ships blow apart in a shower of plasma and shrapnel. She realized too late however that the blast wave was fast approaching her and Fluttershy, and neither one of them was able to avoid being knocked out of the sky by the concussion wave from the blast.
Dash and Fluttershy tumbled to the ground, both of them having achieved a stall and unable to maneuver to right themselves.
They crashed into several branches, the only things that broke their fall, before landing in a clump of bushes. “You okay, Fluttershy?”
The yellow pegasus shook the pine needles out of her coat and mane. “Yes, but let’s not do that again anytime soon.”
Rainbow Dash smiled, just before she was knocked out cold by a stun blast.
Fluttershy gasped, then turned to look in the direction the bolt had come from before she was hit herself. As she slipped into unconsciousness, she heard the approaching footfalls of Stormtroopers.
-----
This is simply unacceptable! Rarity was huffing and puffing, having never expended quite this much energy. I’m a fashionista, not a foot-soldier! For the moment though, she and Pinkie Pie were hoofing it back to camp, but every second one of the speederbikes chasing them blasted laser energy at them.
“Hey Rarity!”
The white and purple-maned pony looked at Pinkie Pie.
“Look, no hooves!” The pink pony was bouncing along on her back, a huge grin playing on her face! Rarity didn’t bother to comment, though she wished Pinkie Pie could concentrate on the task at hand for more than two seconds. She had to get rid of these guys, and fast!
Sensing an opportunity, she ducked behind a nearby rock.
She waited with baited breath, hoping that the Imperials would overshoot and lose track of her.
“Hey Rarity! Whatcha doin?!”
“Get down Pinkie!” Rarity reached out and grabbed Pinkie Pie, holding her head near her chest, one hoof over her mouth. “Do you want them to . . .”
She looked up from her pink friend as she noticed three speederbikes pull up around her, their under-slung blaster cannons pointing straight at her head.
She laughed nervously. “Um, I don’t suppose you’d let me do your manes in exchange for letting us go?”
The center trooper pointed his speederbike upward and blasted the rock above her, sending pebbles and loose dirt crashing down on Rarity’s exquisitely groomed mane.
“Maybe not.”
-----
Twilight’s hooves pounded the ground so hard that they ached, but she had to keep going. She had no doubt other speederbikes were chasing after Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Applejack. Only Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy had any hope of escape, but if Imperial fighters had found them as well . . .
They would make it. They had to. They hadn’t all come this far to be blasted or captured by this Empire, and she’d be damned if they would be now, after all they’d been through.
She pressed on, dodging tree and brush and evading blasts of energy flying past her every second. She barely managed to avoid being knocked out cold by a large branch that had been blasted off a tree towering above her. The purple unicorn had run races, like the Running of the Leaves, but this was far more strenuous than that had ever been.
She had been able to pace herself, and had had time to stretch her legs before she ran.
This time she wasn’t able to do either, and her lower extremities were paying the price. She could feel her shoulders and flanks burning in protest, but she pressed on. It was do or die.
Her mind was just as active as her legs, sending bolts of pure magic back at her attacker. She didn’t wish to cause anypony harm, but these were dire circumstances, and she doubted the Imperial biker scouts following her would show her the same courtesy. They traded bolts of yellow and purple energy, and suddenly Twilight heard one of them connect. She turned back quickly and saw the bike explode under the trooper, sending him hurtling into a nearby tree. She said a quick prayer that he was alright, even though she knew that flying into a tree at these speeds could easily break neck bones and crack skulls.
There were still two more of them following her.
She rounded a bend in the path. Suddenly what had been a level path transformed into a deep chasm, big enough to swallow all of Canterlot. She whipped around just in time to see the remaining two scout troopers encircle her. They gunned their engines, inching closer and closer.
Twilight was being forced toward the edge. She was hoping she wouldn’t fall, but knew that one false step could send her tumbling into the crevasse, and no amount of magic could arrest such a fall.
Suddenly one of the troopers flicked a couple of switches on his bike and hopped off, drawing his sidearm in the process. He flicked the safety and aimed at Twilight’s head.
Instinctively she set up a force field, hoping that they would become distracted somehow so she could teleport. She might have done so by now, if it weren’t for the adrenaline coursing through her veins and the fact that this world was still alien enough to make teleportation unsafe. But with a quick break in the action, she might be able to get a few feet of distance, perhaps land far enough away that they would have no way of tracking her. If only she could lower her shield.
She wondered why the trooper had not fired. Perhaps he was afraid that his weapon’s energy blast would be deflected back at him. Perhaps not.
He took aim and fired.
What Twilight had been expecting was the blast to ricochet off her shield and impact a tree.
What she hadn’t counted on was the trooper using a stun blast. The rings of blue energy enveloped her shield, causing feedback which zapped her with electromagnetic forces powerful enough to knock out her nervous system.
“That was weird” was all her addled brain could form as a response before the blackness engulfed her consciousness.
-----
Twilight woke up to find herself bound and tied to the back of a speederbike. Wind whipped her mane as she struggled to undo the fibers holding her legs fast, but her struggles were met with failure. She tried again, this time preparing a spell to blast the cord, but then stopped as she saw the barrel of the other trooper’s bike-mounted cannon pointing at her. She doubted it had a stun setting.
She resigned herself to waiting for the trooper to get her to wherever the hay he was heading. Perhaps an opportunity would present itself on the way there to escape.
Her chances dwindled down to zero as she saw the trees part to make way for a clearing, the same clearing she and the others had just managed to escape from. Patrolling AT-STs swung their cabins to ‘look’ at the pair of speederbikes gliding into camp with their prize. Twilight was far less confident now that all the guns in camp appeared to be pointing in her direction.
As the speeder pulled up she could see her friends being rounded up just outside the entrance to the bunker. Rainbow Dash was being led alongside Fluttershy toward the bunker, their wings bound by the same nigh-unbreakable cord that currently held Twilight in place. “Lemmie go! If I get free I swear I’ll buck every last one of you!” Twilight sadly shook her head. Rainbow was fierce, but this was hardly the time to put up resistance. The rest of them, Rarity, Pinkie Pie and Applejack, were trussed up like Twilight, their legs bound, a few extra guns pointing towards Rarity, probably because of the unicorn’s demonstrably powerful horn.
The only member of the party missing was R2-D8. Twilight sadly realized that since he was a droid and therefore a mere piece of equipment to the Empire, they would probably just deactivate him rather than bother with keeping him prisoner. She shed a tear at that thought.
Her thoughts were interrupted by the speederbike pulling up and parking next to her friends.
“Sorry, Twilight.” Rainbow Dash wore a defeated look. “Guess they got the jump on us.”
“Be quiet!” The lead trooper barked at Rainbow, and then to drive the point home he butted her with his rifle. She looked at him with a death glare, but then hung her head, shamed that she was unable to escape.
The scout trooper and his partner worked together to lift Twilight off the back of the speederbike, then deposited her unceremoniously at the feet of the others. She struggled to right herself, but then felt a blue aura envelop her and set her on her feet. She gave a look of thanks to Rarity, careful not to say a word lest the troopers use that as an excuse to abuse them further.
How could things have possibly gone so wrong? Twilight wondered. It was all just one horrible blunder after another. At least, she figured, things couldn’t get too much worse.
-----
The ponies were led at gunpoint into the base. Twilight observed on the way down the lit grating forming the downward-sloping ramp leading into the labyrinthine facility that even if she had been successful at breaking past the guards, the sheer number of blast doors interrupting their path was large enough that they would have been slowed immensely, assuming the Imperials hadn’t simply locked them all and trapped them.
The path they took was winding, going around pipe and equipment too large to simply hide behind a wall. Every once in a while they would pass a more open area with consoles manned by technicians, doing Celestia knows what. Twilight thought perhaps that she might at least get a sympathetic look from them, but all she got was a good look at their backsides.
As they passed a wall which had yet to be completed, with a large section missing, Twilight looked into it to observe vast pipes and pieces of electronic equipment, with lights illuminating them so the workers surrounding them could see to weld new sections. She wondered what they were for. A few bends in the corridor and blast doors later, she had her answer.
They rounded a bend and went through a large pair of double doors, and as they were herded into the room Twilight saw on her left a huge tunnel filled with large orange and silver cylinders. Electricity arced between them and an ozone smell permeated the air. This must be an enormous power generator! As the last of her friends were shoved into the room, the guards exited the room and locked the door behind them.
“This is awful! Simply awful!” Rarity would have had a hoof to her head if she hadn’t been bound like this. “How can they treat us this way? It’s simply inhumane!”
“Yeah! They’re all just a bunch of big meanie-mean-pants!” Pinkie was incensed. She could handle being pushed around, but nopony messed with her friends.
“Well I say we get rid of these cords and bust outta here while they’re gone!” Rainbow Dash began to gnaw at her bindings.
“No!” Everypony looked at Twilight.
“But darling, we have to get out of here! There’s no telling what they might do!”
Twilight looked at her friends intently. “Look, even if we somehow manage to get these bindings off, there’s no way we can make it out of this base alive! There are too many of them, and they’ve all got guns. Besides, even if we didn’t have to worry about the soldiers, we would be trapped by the fact that all the doors lock as soon as someone closes them, and I don’t know how to pick locks with my magic. So the best course of action is to simply wait and see what they want with us. They obviously want us alive for some reason or else they would have killed us by now.”
Her friends all looked at her with downtrodden faces. “So you’re saying we should just give up? Go home? Toss in the towel?” Rainbow Dash sounded more hurt than angry.
“Yes. Until we can use our brains and think of a way out, our only hope is to cooperate and find out what they want with us.”
No sooner had Twilight finished speaking than the door to the room opened with a hiss. In walked a young officer, wearing a black uniform and a fresh face and escorted by a pair of Stormtroopers. But something about him betrayed his authority. Perhaps it was the way he carried himself, or maybe it was the fact that she could see his face, since he wore his arrogance like a princely robe. As soon as he was in the room, the two guards left him and closed the door, locking it in the process.
The young officer spoke, his aristocratic tenor clashing with his air of authority. “I am Major Garrett Hewex of His Majesty Palpatine the First’s Imperial Navy. I’m sure you are wondering why you’ve been brought here.”
“Ya might say that.” They looked at Applejack, fearful that she might say something to offend the major.
“Where’re the princesses?!” This time they looked at Rainbow, and knew she’d say something to offend the major.
Fortunately, Hewex appeared to be in good spirits. “Ah, you must be referring to those two horses we captured yesterday.”
“They are not horses.” Twilight spoke calmly, but the edge in her voice could have split a hair.
The officer cocked an eyebrow. “You must be Twilight Sparkle. The one known as Celestia told me a bit about you. Of course, it did take some . . . persuasion.”
The ponies gasped, a wave of anxiety washing over them all. Twilight was aghast. “What have you done with them?”
“Oh, nothing permanently damaging, I assure you. However, if you do not cooperate, I will ensure their next session with the torture droids will be far more harmful.”
Twilight almost collapsed at the last word.
“Now, you six have caused quite a bit of damage to my men and my equipment. I have been given strict orders by Lord Vader to capture you and keep you alive until he returns to inspect our little orbital construction project. He did not however specify in what condition you were to be in.”
The ponies remained silent. Hewex smiled arrogantly.
“Good. You understand my meaning.” He paused, a demented gleam crossing his eyes. “I suppose you’re wondering how Lord Vader even knew you existed. Well, I don’t pretend to be privy to all that the Dark Lord does, but he did make me aware that you eight were somewhere here on Endor. I was worried that I would have to commit a large number of resources to tracking you down, but then I remembered something I learned fighting dissidents on Farstine: send in a potential ally, gain their trust through this ally, and when they are at their weakest, pounce on them. Of course you ponies were so easily fooled that I thought perhaps you suspected something. But as it turned out, you were just as foolish as the Rebels.”
Twilight knew exactly what he was talking about, but refused to believe it. “What are you saying?”
Hewex walked over to the door and opened it. He motioned, then into the room came rolling an all too familiar form.
“No!” Fluttershy was in shock.
There before them stood R2-D8.
“Capturing the princesses was even easier.” He turned from the droid to Twilight. “All we had to do was stand over them with a few dozen blasters pointed at their heads as they awakened.” The arrogance on his face had mutated into outright deviousness.
Twilight looked at Fluttershy, who had slumped to the floor in tears, then turned back to Hewex, flame burning behind her eyes. “You’re a monster.”
“Perhaps. But this monster has you right where he wants you. I would be circumspect if I were you, my dear. This base is home to an entire legion of Stormtroopers, not to mention TIE pilots, scout troopers, and many officers like myself. There are also laser traps buried in the walls every few meters that can be locked onto your unique body type signature. You can thank our astromech friend here for the data.”
Twilight felt sick to her stomach. All this time the droid had been working for the Empire, using their life signs to gather them all up so the Imperials could capture them easily.
She looked at it, betrayed. The fact that it was a machine was immaterial; she knew that there was something about that machine, something which was off the mark. Yet she’d said nothing.
No. She wasn’t betrayed by the droid. She was betrayed by her own inability to voice her opinion when she needed to.
“You six will be escorted by my men soon enough. For now, I’ll leave you to contemplate whatever fate Lord Vader has in store for you.”
With that, Hewex and the astromech unit exited the small gray room, leaving Twilight and her friends to shudder in fear of this Vader individual and what he wanted with them.
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Awesome chapter
Since R2-D8 was the spy, as I thought so from the last chapter, my question now is will D8 betray the Empire and help our heroes escape? Or will someone else come in and save the day? Either way, I hope we see R2-D8 join the rebels in an attempt to redeem himself for Fluttershy's sake. I hate seeing Fluttershy cry over this.
I'll love you if your make R2-D8 either help them escape or join the Rebels.
Also, glad to finally hear specifically when this story takes place - between Episodes V-VI.
I'm betting our heroes get to take part in the Rebel battle for Endor when Episode VI starts coming into play. Plus, I can only imagine how they'll all react to the badassary that is Darth Vader.
On a side note, Vader has always been THE ultimate villain in my opinion. Even with my Star Force Ranger multi-crossover concepts as a kid growing up, I always had Vader as the main villain, simply because he's THE villain you'll want in your stories and adventures.
Anyways, keep up the good work.
1131757 Thanks, and I'm glad you and everypony else is enjoying this (especially considering I made Fluttershy cry not once, but twice
).
I hope I will be able to keep writing this the rest of this year. I'm a mechanical engineering student in my first year, with a 14 hour schedule, plus a couple of clubs that I'm looking forward to attending (including a flying club! Woo-hoo! I wonder if they'll let me paint RD's cutie mark on the tail fin . . .). But I promise I'll try to find time to write. I'm shooting for a once-a-week posting schedule for each chapter. That's not set in stone, but it's something to shoot for.
But like I said, I'm pretty happy that some people like my story. I was worried, this being my first MLP fan fiction, that I might make a huge mistake with the lore or characterizations, but so far so good.
She waited with baited breath
1. Bated.
Darn droid. Maybe Twilight can reprogramme him, or something
I don't get why Twilight couldn't teleport. She saw the inside of the ship, even with it being an 'alien' world I don't know why she couldn't do that. Why the Princesses couldn't do so at the earliest opportunity. Seems rather idiot-ballish to me.
1132196 Its unrealistic for the Mane Six to survive the encounter with the Stormtroopers let alone their Scouts and AT-STs!
-Applejack would tire out in the middle of the fighting
-Stormtroopers didn't use their grenades
-Didn't have to capture all of them. The Empire is quite okay if the Stormtroopers kill half of the Mane Six.
This sounds like one of those scripted unwinnable scenarios.
I bet either:
1) R2-D8 ends up helping them
2) Spike gets the rebels to help
3) Spike gets the Ewoks to help
Even if he tried to kill himself by blaster, even if it was right up against his head, he will miss
Oh no. Vader is coming?!