CRYSTAL WARS 1 LAST HOPE

by discordjediknight

Chapter III The Search Begins

A tie shuttle opened its doorway, and the alicorn queen, Celestia, was escorted out by four Stormtroopers. The captain depicted by a black shoulder pad on her right, led the way.

Celistia said nothing as she walked the halls of the massive star destroyer.

She was brought to a large elevator when a Stormtrooper behind asked a question.

“Wait, isn't she a prisoner, shouldn't we be taking her to the cell block?” Asked the trooper, surprisingly somewhat cheerfully.

“The Lord wants to have a word with her,” said the captain in a similar voice but extremely dull.

“Oh, okie dokie.” Said the one that asked as she stepped into the elevator.

Celistia was lead to what looked like a conference room. If the conference room was repainted with purple swirls and blue checkered board floors, that is Unlike every other room on the entire ship, this one looked to be the most bizarre, And at the end of the long conference table was some type of black meditation chamber.

“Step forward,” said the leader trooper. Celistia did as she was told and stepped towards the table.

Soon the chamber opened, revealing an odd red throne with what looked to be horns sticking out of the top. Sitting on the throne was a menacing-looking black space suit, with a horn, and an antler sticking out of its head. It was tall and skinny, wearing a cape that draped down from its neck. A black box sat on its chest. Whatever was inside the suit had yellowish glowing eyes.

“Welcome, welcome,” said the creature in a deep scary robotic voice. “Sit down, sit down. Oh, wait, hold on.” He said as he struggled to take the helmet off. As he did, it was clearly pressurized by the sound of it being released. A cloud of purple smoke filled the room.

“Aww, that's better, honestly being trapped in that suit all day, ha it's almost as bad as being in stone.” Said the creature who stayed draped in the dark shadows of the room.

“Honestly, honestly, all of you remove your helmets, let me see your dazzling faces.” He waved his hand at them. It was clearly some type of paw.

The troopers did as we're told, revealing their faces. They were all a very dull greyish-pink color, all had the same dull straight hair and bored look on their face. All except one who did have the same look but tried to smile.

“We've brought you the prisoner as requested, sir”. Said the captain.” Good F.I.M. 2010, your squad has done exceedingly well.” He said smoothly.

“Really sir?” Said the captain.

“NO, NOT REALLY, I DEMANDED YOU TO FIND ME THE CRYSTAL!” He yelled at them, with fire in his eyes.

“Sir, we found no crystal-”

“No duh. It's clearly, with the escaped princess, that you've also let go.”

He then turned to his guest.

“Well, well, well, we meet again Celestia. Did you miss me”

“Lord chaos”, she replied with a dramatic and mockery tone.

“I missed you. It's been so long since we had a chance to chat. Can I offer you a drink?” he snapped his fingers, and instantly a droid bird came flying in with a cup of some brown liquid.

“Personally, I'm parched.” He said, taking the glass. Yet somehow as he drank it the drink did not disappear, instead, the glass did as the liquid stayed still.

“No, thanks”. She refused, pushing the glass away. After finishing his drink, placing not the glass, but the brown substance back on the bird's tray.

“Very well, I only have one question you see, answer it, and I'll let you go free, no funny business at all,” he said as he pulled out a clown horn from his chair and give it a honk for effect.

“Let me guess where's my niece.”

“Precisely. And done get smart with me,” he said darkly.

“As if I'd ever tell you”. She narrowed her eyes. “You and your emperor will never win.”

The Lord of Chaos laughed a hardy laugh. “The emperor, oh please have you forgotten me after all these years? Like I'd ever cared what The emperor wanted”

“Yet you do his bidding, like a slave.”

“Slave!” The Lord yelled. “I am free,” he ended his statement with an evil grin.

“If you're free, why aren't you in charge?”

“Oh simple, all the governing of the Galaxy, and taking care of business, it simply wasn't ever me. No, no, I am quite happy to be where I am today. Spreading my glorious chaos where ever I go, free of charge. All from mine and his agreement, of course.” He said examining his claws.

“You act like your heart is stone but we both no better, Discord!”

“It's lord chaos now, that name means nothing to me anymore. You should know that by now.”

“Really, if flutt-”.

“Oh, but that's the thing, isn't it? Creatures big and small old and young, it doesn't matter, they all do crazy things for the ones they love.”

He said, pressing a button revealing an image of a grey-beaten unicorn.

She gasped, “My king. What have you done to him?”

“Oh, I haven't done a thing to him. Not a thing, no food, no water, it can be rather, harsh going through starvation. I don't have to lift a finger to torture.”

Celestia grew a tear in her eye. “Let him go.”

“Oh, I'll do more than that. I'll even snap my fingers and have him nursed back to health, if you tell me where that little niece of yours went.” He said, standing up from his chair. He took a step down from his throne and walked across the table towards her.

She grits her teeth.” I'll never tell you.”

“Pity, I would have rather him and you survive. Perhaps your niece will be more cooperative. Captain takes this one to the cell block, and give her no food or water.”

“Yes sir.”

“And you,” he pointed at the smiling clone. Who saluted him as soon as she was addressed.

“Call In Nightmare, I have a mission for her.”

“Yes sir”. Said the clone trooper, they put their helmets back and then left the Lord of Chaos, as soon as they were gone his amused grin faded away into an unreadable expression, as he opened the black box on his chest and pulled out a ruby red crystal shard and held it in his fingers, bring it up to his face, staring into it.

---

Spike and Twilight were following the bounty hunter as the sun rose on the dirt outlands of her home world.

“Now, you said this Star Swirl was supposed to be on my planet, so the first place we'll search is the entire planet.”

“The entire planet, he could be anywhere then.” Spike complained.

“Not exactly, little one…”

“Little one?” He questioned.” I'm fourteen, I'm just short for my age. He tried to interject.”

“... this planet is pretty small and not a lot of places to look. There are in fact only four families that own the land. Mine, the pairs, the riches, and the strawberries. mine is the only one that stayed.”

“Wait, there's only four who owns this land, does that mean you're all related then?”

“As me brother used to say, enope. Fact is while only four families had farms, there were plenty of people threw out the galaxy who came here to trade and what not building little towns like ours. However, if you said this Star Swirl is on this planet, we could check the old farmlands of the others. Chances are he could be hiding in one of the other outposts of civilizations on the planet. Granted there ain't much life here, what there is, is all you'll see, so I doubt that Star Swirl stayed. If we don't find him there, we could find clues to where he went. We could even ask the others if they know anything.”

“Wait, I thought you said the others left?”

“I did, and they did, but I still have contact with them. you'll see. Now here we are.” Jacky gleamed.They stood in front of an old red barn. “This here is where I keep my ship.” She told them as she opened the barn doors. Inside the barn was a medium-sized spaceship, if you could call it that. It looked like an amalgamation of parts, most rusty and old. Most of the hall was painted red and gold. And a depiction of a phoenix head was on the side of it.

“Umm, you sure that hunk of junk can fly?” Asked spike.

“Hunk a junk! Hunk a junk! This,” she pointed at the ship,” this here is the golden phoenix. Second-fastest ship in the galaxy.”

“Second fastest?” Questioned twilight.

“Won second place in the grand Galaxy pree. My daddy built it using an old YV-666 light freighter. I even got a z 95 in the back for quick jobs, but this ship is pretty fast.”

“If I may ask, what ship won?”

“Some YT 1300 called the millennium falcon. Lame name if you asked me, even lamer a ship. I prefer the Phoenix.”

“Come now, let's get a move on every pony.”

They all gathered on the ship.” Winona, get the turbines running.” commanded Jacky. Just then a little dog droid rolled in on wheels, with a few happy barks the creature pressed a few buttons and activated the ship's power systems.

The ship rattled and shook as it began. Spike a little cautiously, made sure to tighten his seat belt as much as he could, fearing the worst.

Twilight had an unsure look on her face, too, as the ship began to rise off the ground. “Um you're sure this thing is safe right?” She asked.

“Safe no.” Jacky shook her head. “Fast yeah,” she shook her head and pushed the lever from park to fly, hold on. She shouted as the ship took off.

The ship flew into the atmosphere, flying at breakneck speed. Making Jacky's passengers worried. But she just sat back in her chair with a smirk on her face as she directed the ship in a slow dive towards the east.

“We're coming up on the old Rich's farmland. Well, be there in a few minutes.”

“FEW MINUTES!” shouted spike. Making the driver chuckle.

He then looked at the gear shift and noticed something weird.

“Umm, why does this thing have three gear speeds?”

“Hmm, oh yes. You see we have fast, superfast, and then sonic fast. Superfast is all we need, never use supersonic… last time I did the ship went so fast it broke apart, took forever to put it back together.”

Just then, the ship rattled and jumped. “Are ya sure you put it back correctly?”

“Oh, hush up, back seat driver where hear alright,” Jacky said as she lowered the ship to its landing position.

As it landed, it kicked up a cloud of sand, making a little stand storm all around the ship. Spike couldn't see out the front window and shook his head. As he undid his belt and stood up, his stomach felt like he was gonna hurl.

Twilight immediately fell to the floor as soon as she stood up.

“Eh, you get used to it,” Jacky smirked, already heading out the door. Her little droid dog barked happily. “No Winona you stay here and look after the ship, got it?” The droid barked in response and returned to its duties.

They walked into the remnants of another town.” Now to find this guy you're gonna have to tell me all ya know. ya, hear”. She said as she began looking through buildings

Umm, that might be difficult, you see all we know is that he's a knight of harmony.

“Knight of harmony, eh? My ma used to tell me stories of them. Supposed to have magic powers.” She chuckled. “Yep, problem is magic don't exist never have, never will. So what are we searching for, a fairy tale?”

“Maybe.” Spike replied.

“I was joking, look I wanna help but if you're wasting my time then,”

“My aunt told us to find him. She said he was real and I believe it.” Twilight told her.

“Well, Hun look, unless you got any other definitive proof we ain't gonna find him here or any other planet.”

“Well, we do have one thing right,” Spike said cheerfully. “You see…” Just before he could finish his sentence, twilight stuffed her hoof in the little dragon's mouth.

“Yeah, what?” AJ called back as she examined some hoof tracks.

“Uh nothing, it's nothing.” Said Twilight, Who shushed Spike.

“Nothing huh, look if you're holding information on me then how can I help you find him?” She said following the track.

“Well, like you said fairy tales. We really don't want to wait your time.”

Twilight spoke up and then knelt over to Spike's head.

“I don't want anyone knowing what I am ok. If she really is a bounty hunter, she could see us to the empire.”

Spike's eyes widen at that, he didn't think of that before. He then set a claw on his chin as he thought of something he hadn't before.

“Twilight, if the knights were real, do you think…”

“Aha!” Shouted Jacky interrupting the two.

“What is it,” twilight asked.

“Good news is I have found proof of someone been here recently. These tracks are fresh, and. Not only that, but there is some fresh hair.” She said, raising up a speck of red hair.

“With this speck of hair I can put it through my scanner,” she said pulling out a little device. “And if their DNA is in my Datta base, we can see who it was. Perhaps they know about your Swirl guy.” She said as she began scanning it.

“Could it be Star Swirls hair?” Asked spike.

“Possibly,” Twilight shrugged and let the expert handle it.

Just then, her device gave a large beep. Jacky's eyes grew wide. She then grew a not-so-friendly grin.

“What is it, what is it?” Spike asked.

“It's my bounty, they were here.”

“Star Swirl?”

“No, but it is possible they know a thing or two about star swirl. Help me catch this thief and well question them.”

“Ok, but who is it?”

“Oh, it's a,” she then gasped,” DUCK”! Jacky yelled before grabbing Twilight and pulling her down just in time before a blast of fire hit them.

Jacky grabbed her blaster and was about to fire back when she saw whoever was shooting back take off.

“There!” She shouted, and Twilight and Spike looked over.

In silver armor and a helmet that almost looked like a gladiator, was someone running.

“Why would they just shoot us and run?” Asked spike as he hopped onto Twilight's back, who took off after them along with Jacky.

“They were aiming for me. I've had some history with this one. Been trying to catch it for weeks now. Stole top dollar from a crime boss. A bounty's been on this one head ever since, if you help me catch it, I'll give ya a cut. A little one, I need the money to make my home world green again.”

“Yeah, yeah, let's just stop it already.” Spike yelled.

“Now she's gonna try and take flight, twilight you got wings so don't let her get too far. I'm a gonna get the ship alright. Here you'll need this.”Jacky handed him the blaster she got from her sister. “What am I supposed to do with this?” He asked back.

“Figure it out.” She said, and slid down a hill as twilight took to the skies.

Just as Jacky told them, their prey stretched out their wings and took to the skies. “Is that a Pegasus”? Twilight questions before trying to dive in towards her.

The Pegasus saw the alicorn and barrel rolled into the sky, avoiding her.

“Well, whoever it is, they sure are fast,” spike said before raising the blaster.” You have that set to stun, right?”

“I think.” Spike said before he took a few shots. Luckily the shots were blue indicating the stun setting. Their opened however flew down out of the way and did a big loop till they were right on top of them.

Spike tried to shoot again, but the Pegasus kicked the blaster right out of the dragon's claws and tackled him off of Twilight, sending her into a tailspin.

She struggled to regain her flight control as the Pegasus got away with Spike.

The Pegasus slammed into the ground, but only Spike got hurt as he scraped into the dirt. Luckily they landed in what seam to be the softer sand on the planet, otherwise it could have killed them both.

“Are you crazy!?” Yelled spike.

“Start Swirl. What do you know about him?” She growled.

“What?”

“Tell me!” She pointed a blaster at his head.

Just then, the ship flew up to their location. The Guns pointed directly at them.“Not so fast, Dash.” Said Jacky over a loudspeaker from the ship.

Dash's only response was to put the blaster closer to Spike's head. He rose his arms up. “Hay hay hay, can we talk about this.” He panicked.

“Let him go, Dash.”

“Make me.” She shouted back.

The two stood, not daring to make another move. Jacky did tighten her grip around her trigger. Dash doing the same on her end.

The air then stood dangerously quiet. As the two old enemies narrowed their eyes. “Who's the quicker draw, was it Jacky Apple, or Dash Rainbow?” Dash said as she smirked.

“Don't try, I. Just come in, nice and quiet like and…”

“Oh, yeah because I'm going to trust you. A bounty hunter.”

“I ain't no bounty hunter. I make an honest living ya hear. You. You're the one who stole and robbed”.

“You can call me a thief all you want, doesn't change the facts.”

“Says the imperial!” Shouted Jacky.

“I made my choice!” She shouted.

“You sure did!”

The two stood quiet, glaring at one another once again.

As the seconds passed, spike decided to ask the question.” Umm, what's going on here”? He said with a raised eyebrow. “Are you gonna shoot me or what?”

Dash looked back at the dragon. Her helmet gave no motion. Only her voice did that. Just then twilight smashed into the Pegasus bringing her to the ground. Giving spike the chance to grab her blaster. He turned the nob on the weapon to what he thought was stun and shot at her.Unfortunately, the blast let out an electrifying net, zapping both Twilight and Dash.

“Oh, uh sorry, sorry.”

“Turn it off, turn it off”, dash said as the net zapped them…

“Uh, how?”

“Hit the control switch on my arm. Please!!!” She shouted.

Spike quickly did so as Jacky lowered the ship and ran to them.

Jacky sighed with a bit of a chuckle. “Well, I didn't expect to catch a Pegasus and an alicorn.”

Oh, haha. Twilight said tied up with Dash.

“Come on Spike, help me get them on the ship. Twi I'll let you free as soon as we get there.”

“Where,” she asked.

Dash growled,” let me guess Mane Hatten.”

“Correct, you and I are gonna see an old friend. And I'm about to get your bounty.”

“Ugh”. Dash responded as Spike and Jacky loaded the two onto the ship.

Author's Note:

You know it's funny, at first I didn't really know what to do with apple jack. I was going to have her be a moisture farmer who didn't want to leave her planet but was just caught up in the chaos. however I struggled to write her actually in the story from that point on.
since making her the bounty hunter with a bit of Sas for humor I find she's becoming my favorite character in this story so far. what do you think?
And I had to give a nod to the falcon, but no Luke and the others are not in this story.