Star Wars, Episode Pony: Friendship is Magic

by Kendallonian

Chapter 3

Apparently sometime during the night Twilight had fallen asleep, because the next thing she knew Spike was shaking her awake.

“Twilight! Twilight!” He said. “Get up!”

“Ugh. Is it time for the festival already?” Twilight said groggily.

“Umm… not exactly…” Spike said. “I think you really need to see this for yourself.”

As he said it, Spike pointed out of the small window near the top of the room. Twilight ponderously stretched her legs before bracing her forelegs up against the wall in order to get a better look.

The first thing Twilight noticed was that it was still dark outside. For a second she wondered why Spike had woken her so early, but that thought soon fled once she took a look at the sky; coming up on the eastern horizon was the sun, but it was blocked by a massive, round shadow.

“Did the planet sprout a moon overnight, or what?” Spike said.

Twilight stared at the sight through squinted eyes before she realized she needed better equipment.

“Could you get my macrobinoculars, Spike?” she asked. He dutifully began rummaging through her bags. In the meantime, Twilight began observing the citizens on Mos Poni, who had begun to emerge from their homes and respective parties in order to stare at the phenomenon. From their reactions, Twilight surmised that this was not a regular occurrence.

“Here they are!” Spike said triumphantly as he pulled the macrobinoculars from the mess that was Twilight’s bags. Twilight hurriedly yoinked them out of his grip, set them to filter out some sunlight, and took a closer look at the shadow. As she did, A powerful feeling of dread overcame her, issuing forth from the black shape like putrid water from a poisoned spring.

The shape’s edges were perfectly round from what she could see, other than a small, extremely slight indentation across the equator. What little light was bouncing off of it’s surface around the edges revealed a strikingly regular pattern. Twilight rubbed the eyepieces clean, even though they already looked spotless. Then she voiced aloud her one, insane conclusion.

“That’s no moon… That’s a space station.”

Twilight felt a pit in her stomach; Like it had been drenched in battery acid. The prophecy she had read a few days earlier came, unbidden, from the depths of her mind.

On the longest day of the thousandth year, she shall return to bring about eternal night.

No… that couldn’t be right now… could it?

A few smaller black blobs emerged from the larger shadow, steadily growing larger in her vision as they approached. Soon they filled her narrow field of vision, forcing her to take off the macrobinoculars.

They were shuttles; roughly a dozen of them. They had rough, angular shapes, like they had been cut and chiselled directly from a stone quarry. Searchlights from their tips bathed the streets of mos poni in pale, harsh white tones; Several ponies who had been observing the sunrise from the street flinched from their attention. Twilight herself was forced to cover her eyes as they passed overhead. Shortly thereafter, Twilight could hear the sounds of engines running down and repulsorlifts activating to ease the bricklike pods into place on the dusty ground.

They were landing somewhere nearby.

“We need to get out of here.” Twilight said.

Spike was about to say something when Twilight grabbed him with her telekinesis and shoved him onto his customary position on her back. She didn’t bother gathering any of her things except her lightsaber; she wasn’t particularly attached to anything in that room anyway. Twilight quickly rushed down the hall and jumped practically the entire staircase on her way down to the first floor. She had planned to make a break for the front door shortly thereafter, but she was blocked by an amber-colored earth pony in a brown hat.

“Whoa, nelly!” Applejack said, recoiling just a bit from Twilight’s speedy entrance. “I suppose you know somethin’ about what’s going on here?”

Twilight hadn’t been expecting any of the party guests to still be sticking around, so she quickly surveyed the living room. Rarity was there, looking at Twilight with no small amount of concern showing on her face. Pinkie was there too, still somehow keeping her characteristic smile despite the unknown circumstances. Fluttershy was hiding in the corner, looking nervous but somehow simultaneously like she was hoping to help. It seemed like any other ponies who had attended last night’s party had vacated the premises shortly after dawn. Twilight wasn’t sure why these four ponies had stayed put, in fact.

“Look, we need to get out!” Twilight said. “I don’t know who exactly is coming, but-”

The front door hastily opened, letting in a somewhat tense Rainbow Dash.

“No good.” The blue pegasus said to the room of ponies. “They’re already on the street. If we make a break for it, they’ll catch us.”

Twilight inhaled sharply, equally at the news Rainbow Dash brought and the presence of yet another civilian pony.

“Why are you all here?” Twilight finally asked. “They could be after me! It’s not safe around here!”

Applejack looked at Twilight like she had just asked if the sun was hot.

“Well o’ course we’re here! We couldn’t let no friend of ours face this kind o’ problem alone!”

Twilight almost flinched at the mention of the word friend. They were hardly friends; in fact, they were barely acquaintances! Twilight had barely even tolerated their company the previous day, and now they were possibly risking their lives for her? To Twilight at least, it made zero sense!

A hard knock on the door interrupted Twilight’s thoughts. Rarity took a peek through the front window through the blinds and relayed what she saw.

“There’s five armored ponies at the door. They don’t look friendly; or fashionable, for that matter.”

Applejac began pushing Twilight to the back of the room, where a small, empty droid closet stood open. “You’d better hide. No tellin’ what these folks‘ll do if they find a Jedi on the premises. We’ll cover fer ya.”

Twilight was somewhat hesitant to enter the closet, partially because she was wary of stuffing herself into a cramped, dark space, partially because she wasn’t sure how far she could trust these small-town ponies, and partially because she didn’t want to put them in danger. However, the armored ponies at the front door were already knocking again, louder, and Twilight couldn’t think of a better plan on such short notice, so she complied. Applejack hit the door controls and sealed them in.

---

Rarity straightened her cape a bit before opening the front door.

“Yes, gentlemen; how can I help you?”

Rarity refrained from mentioning their drab, chrome-colored plasteel uniforms that were covered in hostile angles and black patches that did absolutely nothing to improve their look. She also noted the crescent emblazoned on each of their flanks in place of their cutie mark.

The chrome-helmeted mystery soldiers took an unreadable glance at each other before one of them spoke; their deep voice slightly distorted by their helmet.

“We are looking for one Jedi apprentice, Twilight Sparkle. We have been informed she was staying here.”

A faint gasp could almost be heard emanating from the closed closet at the far end of the room.

Rarity did her best to make a mildly thoughtful face. “Twilight Sparkle… no, I don’t think I recall anypony of that name around here.”

One of the chrome-plated troopers shoved his way past Rarity, entering the room. “We’ve been ordered to search the premises.” He said flatly.

Rarity bit her lip as the other four armored ponies entered the building, silently surveying the room. Fluttershy backed a little further into her corner, and Pinkie’s smile took on a more strained look. Rainbow dash hovered a few feet above the ground, looking like she was ready to start bucking heads in; Rarity silently pleaded for her to stand down. Applejack was casually leaning against the closet door where Twilight and Spike were hidden.

The Chrome-plated troopers immediately spread out, two of them remaining on the bottom floor and the other three going to explore upstairs. The troopers began to overturn tables and couches in search of their prey, carelessly spilling various pans of snacks and party implements onto the floor. Rarity could hear a similar scene unfolding upstairs.

After thoroughly trashing his side of the room, one of the troopers caught sight of Applejack and, more importantly, the door behind her. They approached stoically and planted themselves in front of the orange pony.

“Stand aside.” the chrome-plated creature said.

Applejack wavered, unsure of what to do. The three troopers from upstairs had evidently finished their search, and plodded down the stairs. Pinkie’s smile looked more strained than ever. Luckily, they were all interrupted by a shout from the other side of the room.

“Alright, fine! She said she was going for the spaceport!” Rainbow Dash said. “Wanted to get back to Canterscaunt as soon as possible! left a few minutes ago!”

Rarity raised her brow. From what little she knew of the Jedi apprentice, the story seemed remarkably plausible.

After a moment of silent contemplation, the Trooper on Rainbow’s side of the room lifted a hoof to speak on their leg-mounted communicator.

“Subject has reportedly already evacuated the premises. Recommend securing the spaceport and executing a search pattern outward from there. We’ll finish our search and join you.” Then the pony who had spoken looked to his compatriots and said “If you’re finished with your search, then let’s go.”

All of the chrome-plated ponies exited the premises, except for the one who had been searching Applejack’s side of the room; he lingered in the doorway.

“Something I don’t quite understand…” He said thoughtfully; “The Jedi was assigned a post here. Why would she abandon it?”

“Uh-” Applejack stammered a bit, looking for an answer. “She- uh.. Got a message from Master Celestia. Told her the mission was canceled.”

The chrome-plated trooper tilted his head slightly to the side, then turned to face the Moisture farmer.

“That’s impossible. We have Celestia in custody.”

Oh, horseapples.

Before he could call for his comrades, a shockwave sounded and the trooper was struck from the side by a blast of a batter-like substance that knocked him to the floor. Afterward Pinkie immediately began to plumb and reload her smoking party cannon. She wasn’t even remotely done when the Trooper’s comrades burst into the room, having heard the ruckus.

The first of the troopers inside was immediately struck across the face by Rainbow Dash’s hooves as she tackled him across the room. The other three entered and drew blasters from their shoulders.Applejack went into a full gallop towards the formation. The trooper she decided to target got one wayward shot off before she pivoted on her forehooves and slammed him across the room with a powerful kick. Meanwhile, Rarity swung several neat jabs at her own opponent from under her cape, knocking the blaster from his hoof. The third Trooper took aim at Rarity, only to have his shot foiled when a butter-colored pegasus flew between them, hiding behind a previously discarded metallic cookie sheet as a shield. Soon afterward a buck from behind sent him flying across the room, slamming into the wall near the droid closet. This trooper Stumbled to his hooves, and he took aim at the five ponies before him only for his blaster to be cut in two by a glowing emerald-green blade that had spontaneously sprouted from the closed closet door. Soon the blade retracted and the door opened, revealing a lavender-colored unicorn dressed in the robes of a Jedi knight, lightsaber at the ready. The Trooper made to flee, but was immediately smacked across the head by a flying hoof from Rainbow Dash.

Five armored ponies lay crumpled on the ground in various states ranging from unconsciousness to groaning agony. Twilight chose the pony whose blaster she had chopped in two and pulled his helmet off, revealing a dark-blue-coated Stallion who seemed to be just now recovering from Rainbow’s blow to his head.

“Who are you? What do you want with me?” Twilight demanded.

The trooper remained silent, his face equal parts fear and determination. Twilight briefly thought of threatening him before categorically discarding the idea. That, however, didn’t stop Rainbow Dash from seizing him and slamming him up against the nearest wall.

“Talk, Slime!” Rainbow shouted into his face.

The pony paused a bit to breathe before speaking defiantly past Rainbow Dash’s shoulder to Twilight.

“You’re the last loose end that needs tying up, Jedi. The Nightmare will have your head.”

Twilight’s blood ran cold as she heard the title; It was now confirmed; Darth Nightmare had returned to bring about eternal night; and she had Celestia.

Then Twilight noticed the indicator light blinking on the trooper’s wrist communicator.

Twilight cursed under her breath. “The rest of them know I’m here. I need to go. Now.”

Twilight didn’t wait for a response; instead, she burst out of the building at full gallop. Spike hanging from her mane,Twilight ducked into an alley on the far side of the street. Searchlights from above were already sweeping over the area, looking for her. She took several turns through the streets, attempting a zigzag pattern that her pursuers wouldn't be able to follow. It wasn’t until almost a full minute of running had passed that she heard shouting from behind.

“Wait! Twilight! Where are you going?” It was Applejack’s voice.

Twilight skidded to a stop in a darkened alley between a few small houses. When she looked back, she saw the same five mares from her apartment running and flying after her.

“Where are you going?” Twilight demanded, aghast. “Didn’t you hear him? They’re after me, not you! It’s too dangerous for you all to come along, wherever I’m going!”

“Well that ain’t gonna fly, sugarcube.” Applejack said as she cantered to a stop in front of the padawan. “We ain’t lettin’ no friend of ours do this alone.”

There was that word again; friend.

“I’m not sure you understand.” Twilight said. “The pony who’s after me is a sith lord. Darth Nightmare. A thousand years ago, she-”

“Laid waste to Mos poni? We know.” Applejack said.

Twilight clamped her mouth shut. Oh. that had actually been more than she knew herself. She’d have to unpack the full ramifications later.

It was all Twilight could do to keep her jaw from hanging open stupidly. As it was, She looked at each of the Mares before her with the same confused expression. Pinkie was smiling, as always. Rarity had a look of serene confidence mixed with unflappable style. Applejack was keeping eye contact, as if daring Twilight to contradict her. Fluttershy was the only pony among them who even showed even a hint of hesitation, which was tempered by a look of surprisingly fierce determination.

Rainbow flashed a cocky smile and said, “Well, fearless leader, what’s the plan?”

Spike piped up from Twilight’s back. “Yeah, I was wondering that a bit myself.”

Twilight ripped her thoughts away from the ponies who had stuck themselves to her and forced herself to think.

“The records I read said something about an artifact or collection of artifacts; The Elements of- something.”

“The Elements of Harmony?” Applejack suggested.

“Yes! That’s it!” Twilight said. “Celestia used them to Banish the Nightmare the first time; maybe we could use them now.”

Applejack squinted her eyes and looked up at the brim of her hat. “Mmkay… Can’t rightly remember where those went...”

A soft voice spoke from the back.

“Umm… I know…” Fluttershy said.

Rainbow Dash flew up into Fluttershy’s face. “Really?” she said excitedly; “Where?”

“Uh- It’s in the old Jedi temple on the second planet.” Fluttershy said timidly.

Twilight pushed an eyebrow upward. How did Fluttershy know that?

“Great!” Pinkie shouted. “That’s just the next planet over!”

“Not great.” Rarity tempered. “Those goons have probably already taken the Spaceport, along with all the transports.”

Rainbow Dash’s muzzle sprouted a grin. “Not all of the transports.”