My Little Pony: Exiles of the Empire

by Hikarikurai24587

A Victory

Chapter Twenty Three: A Victory

Spike wasn’t sure what to do, he didn’t even know how Grievous had captured the group. He sat in the vent trying to figure out a plan as he stared at the scene below. Grievous was pacing his eyes glued to the ceiling as if waiting for him to exit one of the vents.

Grevious made a motion for one of the clones who proceeded to fire at Spike's location, causing the vent to collapse, sending Spike to the ground below. Spike flapped his wings keeping him in the air and away from the grasp of the General. He had seen what he had done to the ponies and knew that if they fall into his grasp everything was over. He spared a glance to look for Anakin. When he didn’t sense him in the area he knew that he must have been well hidden and that the Emperor hadn’t planned on Anakin being unconscious.

"Ah there you are little Jedi. As you can see your friends are in my possession and you must do exactly as I say." Grevious said with a growl. Spike stared down at Grievous but didn’t say anything. He wasn’t sure what to say, but Rainbow Dash seemed to have an idea as she opened her mouth. “Uhhh… yeah, holding us hostage, really classy there General.”

The General let out a hiss as he looked at Rainbow Dash. He then turned his head at Spike once more as he said. "To make yourself aware of the seriousness of the situation, this annoyance will serve as an example!" He raised one of his lightsabers to strike at Rainbow Dash when a glow appeared on Grievous. His lightsaber hit it's mark but did nothing, instead sending him careening towards the clones in a brilliant flash of light.

Rainbow Dash blinked in surprise as did Spike, but he took advantage of the situation summoning one of the lightsabers to him. He flew down to release the binds of the Bad Batch before saying. “We have to get out of here, now!”

Rainbow Dash looked at Grievous, her eyes narrowing in confusion. She began to move towards the door as Spike activated the lightsaber.

Grievous got back on his feet as he yelled at the Clones in his command. "Blast that Jedi scum!"

The Clones got back up as they began to fire towards Spike. Tech took cover as Wrecker charged towards the Clones. Spike blocked the incoming fire deflecting it back towards the Clones making sure not to hit Wrecker. He glanced around for any sign of Anakin knowing that they had to find him if he hadn’t woken up.

Grievous leaped off the ground and landed straight in front of Spike. He activated all four of his lightsabers as he stared menacingly at the small dragon. "This ship will be your grave!"

Spike swallowed as Rainbow Dash slid behind him as Spike stood his ground saying. “No it won’t! I’ll push you back step by step if I have to but we’re all getting off this ship!”

"You said it Padawan." A voice came from outside the door. In ran Anakin as he leapt towards Grievous and locked sabers. "Sorry I was out."

"Skywalker!" Grievous growled as he jumped backwards. Spike grinned as he said. “Master!”

“Finally you showed up! I was wondering if you’d ever wake up!” Rainbow grinned as she spoke those words.

Anakin smiled as he looked at Grievous. "Your plan seems to have failed. Now that you're outmanned, will you surrender?" Anakin asked, pointing his lightsaber out taking a Form 3 stance like his old Master.

Grievous growled as he stabbed the bridge window causing air and everyone in the room to be pulled towards the window. Grievous stepped onto the top of the ship, footsteps being heard as he ran.

"Spike, Rainbow Dash! Grab hold of something!" Anakin shouted. "Tech, try to put up the magnetic shield!!!"

Tech reached for the controls but the vacuum was too strong. "I can't get to it!"

Anakin glanced towards Spike saying. "I can't see it from this angle, I need you to activate it using the Force! I know you can do it Padawan!"

Spike closed his eyes as he faced the controls trying to activate it. Twilight’s voice spoke out, a memory from before the attack.

“What if I have to leave? What are you going to do?” Spike asked, looking at Twilight his lip quivering. “I….”

“Spike, listen to me, I know it’s going to be rough. I don’t think Skywalker is going to force us apart, but if something happens. No matter what,” Twilight paused just for a moment to give him a hug. “I know you can do it. You have been a constant companion, a little brother, a good friend. You have been there since I started learning under Celestia, you’ve been there for me. You have the resolve of a dragon and the heart of a pony, with these traits….”

Spike opened his eyes as he used the Force to activate the magnetic shield.

“You can do anything.”

Everyone got themselves up as Anakin knelt next to Spike. "I'm proud of you Pada...no." Anakin closed his eyes as he stood up. "You have gone above and beyond what I expected with what happened here Spike." He looked at the little dragon with a smile as he said. "It'll have to wait until we get back to our ship though."

“Did Grievous really just abandon this ship?” Rainbow Dash asked looking around before her eyes landed on the Clones that Wrecker had taken care of. “And all of these guys?”

"Yeah, he tends to do that. He cares for nothing but himself and the hatred he has for the Jedi and their allies." Anakin responded looking at Rainbow Dash. Rainbow looks at the controls and the clones before looking back at Anakin. “It’d be a shame if we just left an entire ship to the Empire. I mean, who knows what they’ll do with it.”

"Hmm...I seem to have found something." Tech said as he was checking the ship's logs. "It's about Hallow Glow...seems like Grievous lost her while at the planet Bracca."

“Bracca?” Rainbow asked looking over as Spike flew onto the console watching the other two ships go to Hyperspace. “What’s there?”

“That’s a little hard to explain, Bracca was under control of the Scrappers Guild, broke down ships confiscated during the Clone Wars. Master Jaro Tapal knew more about it, he was stationed there to guard it from the Separatists.” Anakin explained as he thought about it. “Most likely still in use.”

“What are we going to do about the Clones, Master?” Spike asked knowing that they had a location, yet he couldn’t shake off the conversation he had overheard. He also wanted to ask Anakin about the Silka Beads and tell him about the conversation he had with Palpatine.

Anakin put his hand to his chin as he thought for a moment. "Well...I don't want to just leave them here. Maybe we can get information from them if we take them prisoner."

“Well why don’t we just take the ship? Override the commands and transfer the control over to Twilight’s Vigil. We wouldn’t want them over there, because of all the families and new families cropping up. We don’t want to put them in danger, but we don’t want to leave them behind.” Rainbow pointed out before remembering something. “Speaking of which, we might want to contact the Princesses first.”

Anakin nodded, saying. "I agree. Tech, put us through."

"Right away sir." Tech responded as he started to establish connection with the Twilight Vigil. A projection of Celestia appeared before them. Celestia had a look of relief on her face as she spoke. “I am glad to see that you are alright. I was worried, tell me, is everything alright? Is everyone alive?”

"Indeed your highness. Unfortunately though, Grievous escaped." Anakin said with a respectful bow. Celestia nodded her head before lifting her hoof. “He is a crafty one, I fear that this will not be the last time we will have to deal with him.”

"There is something though...we have several of the clones under his command in our custody and well...we have his ship as you are well aware of." Anakin said with a look of concern. Celestia nodded her head before looking behind her as Luna walked up.

“A ship of this size would be nothing for Discord to use as scrap metal. Our concern is the Clones, do we know what they will do?” Luna inquired, Rainbow Dash hiding a pout at the idea of turning the ship into scrap metal. “Do you think that they will try anything with you in charge of the ship?”

"As you know now your highnesses...the clones aren't evil. Some of them...well they just need to wake up. I think it would be wise if you could send some nurse ponies over to assist with Tech to see if we can help with that." Anakin said as he stepped forward, his eyes looking at the clones as if he was lost in thought. Celestia’s eyes glanced at Luna for a moment before looking at Anakin saying. “Of course, there is something I do wish to try.”

"What might that be?" Anakin asked, his head turning to face the princesses once more. Luna glanced away as Celestia explained. “Each Alicorn Princess is bound to a familiar, the size and shape of the familiar depends not only on the power of the alicorn but the mental state. My familiar, Philomena at the prime of my power was able to heal others and remove anything lodged within a pony. However it has been a while since I have been able to do this. Due to most of our power being directed towards the barrier.”

"So you're saying that you might be able to remove the inhibitor chips? Why haven't you brought this up before?!" Anakin questioned excitedly. Celestia blinked before looking away saying. “It… requires a lot of magical power to heal an entire city of ponies. I don’t know how much is required for healing an entire ship. I want to try though, if we can get close enough to a sun.”

"A sun?" Tech asked. "The closest sun is...actually, conveniently close to Bracca."

"Oh that's right, we found some information on Hallow Glow. It appears Grievous somehow lost her on that planet." Anakin added with a nod. Celestia shook her head saying. “Unfortunately it would be the one location Grievous would expect us. Especially after you took control of the ship, we will have to do what he least expects.”

"Hmm...what about Tatooine? It has two suns so perhaps that will help you more?" Tech asked, looking up at Celestia. Celestia nodded her head as she thought about it. “Yes, I have never drawn energy from two suns, it might give me the energy I need.”

Spike looked up at Anakin feeling something he couldn’t quite place coming from his Master. Anakin looked down at Spike and knelt to be eye level. "It's...Tatooine is where I lived as a child. I have bad memories there, but if it's necessary we go then we go."

“In the meantime, I will send over two nurseponies along with Princess Luna.” Celestia spoke as Spike nodded his head and patted Anakin on the wrist. Anakin smiled, patting his Padawan's head as he stood back up to look at Celestia. "Very well, send them over."

Celestia glanced behind her before nodding her head and Rainbow Dash grinned asking. “Does that mean we’re keeping the ship?”

"Yes, for now." Anakin answered, turning to face Rainbow Dash. Rainbow Dash had a huge grin on her face as she said. “Well now you guys have ships that you can actually fly in and Discord can rearrange our fighters to fit Equestrian nature. Well except for those two.”

Rainbow looked out at the two fighters that Nova Explorer and Star Glider were still flying. She shook her head saying. “I’ve got a feeling that they prefer what they’ve got right now. I think for now we should get all the Clones rounded up in the medbays. I get the feeling we have a lot of work ahead of us.”