Chapter 3: Warm Greetings
Vader gripped his lightsaber with two hands, his elbows pressed to his sides with the crimson blade held straight out in front of him. This was his main stance for a defensive position, allowing him to stand his ground and use his wrists to deftly attack with his blade without expending too much energy on his own part. Plus, his two-handed grip improved the strengths of his attacks and made it difficult for any opponent to deflect his strikes.
One of the creatures finally approached close enough to the light from his lightsaber for him to make out. It was about half his height, sticking close to the ground. It was a hybrid of sorts, having a body resembling that of a lion, including the razor-sharp teeth and claws. What differentiated it from its kind was a pair of large, leathery wings, close to that of a bat’s. Another strange add-on was a scorpion tail, the insectoid armor reflecting the light from his blade with the stinger hooked downward in a menacing point.
Compared to the long range of strange aliens and creatures Vader had seen in his time, this one didn’t even impress him that much. An amateur, hashed together genetics project made by a mad scientist was his best guess at its origin. Though it being made through an evolutionary adaptation was another possibility.
The hybrid creature growled, a large plume of white steam spewing out of its mouth. Vader didn’t know whether that was because it had firebreath, or because it was cold out. Kind of hard to tell the latter in a bulky suit of armor.
Vader stood still, his blade held out towards the creature. His breaths came out in the usual hoarseness that his breathing apparatus allowed him. The creature growled once more, its voice a guttural, predatory sound that had been fine-tuned over countless years of evolution to strike fear into its prey. Vader didn’t even flinch.
Like a strike of lightning it lunged, jumping in with a killing blow, both its paws outstretched and claws extended. An easy kill for the predator yet again.
Until its left arm got sliced right from the elbow.
In a single step Vader moved to the right and cut off the hybrid's arm on its way through with its attack. The hybrid didn’t even see it coming, unsure how the hulking figure had been able to move so quickly. Little did it know the power of the Force allowed even the most awe-inspiring of quick reflexes for its user–-even one of such size and weight as Vader. It fell to the ground in a heap, the stub of its arm ending in a smoking and cauterized wound that left the creature in immeasurable pain.
Vader was there to end its misery quickly, a stab to the back of its neck burning the hybrid’s throat to melted meat and killing it instantly when the blade went through its spine. Vader pulled his saber out, observing the smoldering hole. A clean kill, and not much trouble overall. Now for the others to deal with.
One of the presences he sensed in the vicinity had attempted to sneak up behind him, its movements nearly silent as its paws padded across the ground with barely a muffle. For prey of any sort they would’ve been caught off guard. But Vader wasn’t prey. If anything, they were his prey.
With a flick of his wrist he lifted the hybrid up in the air by its throat, his head already turned to stare at its quivering body. All he needed was a visual of his target to apply a Force Choke on them. It attempted to escape whatever entrapment it was stuck in by struggling and shaking, but it was useless against the power of the Force. Vader was infamous for his use for the force choke, and even against non-humanoid creatures it proved effective and deadly.
His arm was fully outstretched, his hand open and slowly closing tighter and tighter. The hybrid was in a frenzy, clawing at its own neck and leaving bloody wounds at its throat. It felt its throat being crushed by an invisible force, as if rope was tightening around it harder and harder. Finally its windpipe collapsed with a crack, Vader’s hand now a fist. The creature fell to the ground, suffocating in a slow and painful process.
This time Vader barely gave it a glance, instead leaving the two bodies and approaching where the other predators laid in wait in the shadows, the Sith’s lightsaber pointed downward at his side. The others were clearly agitated, the smell of the blood of their fallen brethren angering them further. Not that it mattered much to Vader. Their rage only fueled his own dark powers.
The dark side worked to his benefit in that way. His opponent's anger and hate only made him stronger. Though with mindless animals the effect was diminished, he still felt the tide of power the dark side offered him flow through his body, allowing him to perform feats beyond comprehension.
Out of the shadows moved another hybrid, though this one was much larger. And apparently meaner too, for its black coat was riddled with scars and old wounds. One of its eyes was replaced with damaged scar tissue, and it was hard to tell whether it had any ears at all, due to them being mostly chewed off. From the visual examination, Vader concluded that this was obviously the alpha male of the group.
And it was currently charging right at him, probably a half-ton of muscle, teeth and claws. Along with two of its pack mates running alongside it. Vader returned to his two-handed grip stance, staring down the impeding trio of very pissed off animals.
Three-against one. Hardly seems fair. For them, that is.
“Um... did a shooting star just crash into the Everfree Forest?” Rainbow Dash asked, after a tense silence fell on the crowd of ponies for several minutes. They all couldn’t believe their eyes at what just happened. An object fell from the sky from seemingly out of nowhere, and then landed right in the Everfree. Smoke could be seen spewing from where it apparently fell.
“I think so, Dash,” Applejack replied, one of the first ponies to close her jaw. Looking over at Twilight and Luna, she asked, “Hey, do ya’ll know what happened? Was that part of the show?”
“No, not at all,” Luna answered back, shaking her head slowly. “I made sure that my magic made a shooting star show and nothing more. Nothing was supposed to have gone wrong or crash into a forest.”
“Then where did that ‘star’ come from?” Rarity asked, huddling close to Pinkie Pie as a billowing cloud of smoke soon blocked out the stars near the Everfree.
“I... do not know. Whatever it was, it wasn’t my doing,” Luna said.
“So does that mean it could be a meteor?” Pinkie asked, tightening the pink hoodie on her head, part of her mane sticking out of the opening on the front.
“That’s a meteorite you’re thinking of, Pinkie,” Twilight corrected her, peering over at the smoke cloud. Either there was a forest fire in progress due to its crash, or it was expelling that smoke itself. The former seemed unlikely since it was the dead of winter and a fresh layer of snow was added the evening before, making fires difficult. “And maybe it is. Only explanation I can think of.”
“But what about that huge explosion thingy in the sky?” Dash asked, pointing back at the sky to where it happened. “There were two of those things, and now one. How did that happen?”
Applejack shrugged. “One of them kept flashing on and off, then exploded. If I recall correctly,” she said.
“Ooh, ooh, I know what happened!” Pinkie shouted out, waving her hand in the air like she was asking a question in class. “It’s obviously aliens! And one of their ships crashed into the Everfree!”
Several of the townsponies gasped in horror at the implications of an impending alien invasion. Twilight quickly covered Pinkie’s mouth with a hoof and smiled wide at the crowd of ponies. “Heh, heh, heh. Nevermind what Pinkie’s says, folks! Mare’s just trying to be funny as usual!”
“But it could be aliens!” Pinkie said, though Twilight’s hoof covering her mouth made it sound like “Bwh ta cood by ewiens!”
“Pinkie! There’s no need to start a panic in the town. Especially on Luna’s big night!” Twilight whispered harshly to her friend, shooting the crowd another award-winning grin. Looks like those diplomacy skills during her princess training were paying off.
“Everypony just relax here and enjoy the festivities, while I go check out what happened. Probably just some random space junk falling from the sky. Shouldn’t be gone too long.” Twilight turned and ran smack into Luna’s chest, the smaller alicorn falling to the ground.
“I wish to accompany you on your endeavor, Twilight Sparkle,” Luna said, the princess standing firm and tall, offering a hoof for Twilight.
Twilight blushed slightly, reaching out to be lifted up with Luna’s help. “Princess, are you sure? It will only take a moment for me.”
Luna shook her head. “No, I must be by your side. The night sky is my responsibility, and some unknown force has invaded it. It is my duty to investigate it.”
“And ya can count us all in as well,” Applejack added in, the other Elements of Harmony also nodding their heads in agreement.
“Really everypony, it’s probably just a big chunk of smoldering rock. No need for you guys to get worked up and join me,” Twilight pleaded, not wanting to waste their time with a trip through the Everfree Forest.
“Nonsense. As a newly appointed princess of Equestria, you must learn that your citizenry and friends are your greatest asset,” Luna said, smiling warmly at her. “Plus, company should make the trip all the more shorter and merrier. Wouldn’t want you to be all alone on a joyous night such as this.”
Twilight cast a wide grin at the princess and her friends, touched that they all would rather spend time with her in a dark and menacing forest than at the festival. “Thank you, everyone. You don’t have to do this... but it means a lot that you are.”
“Of course,” Fluttershy said, the pegasus trotting closer and nuzzling her cheek. “What are friends for?”
Rainbow Dash crossed her arms and rolled her eyes while flapping in the air, “Are we going to yap here all night, or get going already?”
“What? Ya eager to get yer brain sucked out by the aliens?” Applejack teased. “Cause then they’re gonna be awfully disappointed.”
“Would the aliens use straws to suck out our brains?” Pinkie wondered, rubbing her forehead to where she thought her brain would be sucked out at. “Also, what type? Bendy or crazy?”
“Pinkie, aliens aren’t going to suck out your brain with a straw,” Twilight sighed, walking off with the princess to the entrance of the Everfree. Fluttershy, Rarity and Applejack trailed after the two.
“Nah, they’d probably use their mouths. Like giant mosquitoes,” Dash chuckled, mimicking a slurping noise. “Just suck it right out from your skull and chug it down whole.” She laughed all the way back to join the group of mare ahead.
Pinkie tightened the hoodie around her head, making a small eep sound and glancing left and right before running after her friends.
If there was one condolence about this creature being bigger than the others was that it moved slower at least. Though it compensated plenty, what with the larger claws and more ferocious rage for tearing off flesh. It was only a few meters away and eating up yards with each footfall.
Vader weighed his options, and reached a conclusion. Why wait for them to come for him, when he could just reach them first?
While Vader could move fast using the power of the Force, it only worked in close combat situations, usually improving the movements of his arms or legs. A full on sprint would tire him out much too early if he was going to use the Force for it. Besides, he had learned how to deal with pesky opponents at long distances without moving a foot.
Vader pulled back his saber in one hand behind his back, waiting until he saw the whites of the creature’s eyes. Judging that now was the perfect moment, Vader swung his arm forward while flicking his wrist on the release of his saber. This motion caused the saber to spin in the air as it quickly boomeranged towards the large alpha male.
The Sith found the saber toss a useful technique when dealing with those that were not practitioners of the Force. While one wielding a lightsaber had the possibility to deflect a saber toss or even catch it if they were nimble enough with the Force, without either the target was nearly defenseless. Vader used this ability to its fullest extent for long-ranged attacks, a form of the force pull by manually locking the lightsaber in the “on” position so that it sliced through whatever was in its path.
That something just happened to be the top half of the alpha male’s head, the open upper jaw sliding off the rest of the head. The blade had cut through the creature’s open mouth and spine, leaving the lower jaw still hanging on. The rest of the now useless body dropped to the ground like a rock, a pool of blood soaking the snow where the head once was. Vader didn’t get to see much else, since the other two hybrids were still charging at him.
Vader flicked both his wrists at either of his sides, both creatures stopping dead in their tracks, and currently levitating off the ground. The Sith had both palms held forward, cupped slightly as the creatures squirmed in an invisible grip. Then in a dramatic flourish, Vader squeezed his palms into fists and slapped them together.
Both of the creatures suddenly felt their insides crushed under a great weight. Their ribs cracked, their spines broke, their internal organs squished and squashed like they were being run underfoot. And to make matters worse, they were flung together in an almighty crash that only destroyed their insides more. Vader released his hold of the Force on them, causing the pair to fall atop their leader in a bloody pile.
In a nonchalant manner Vader raised his hand in the air and caught his saber, which had just returned to him. It took precision control to do a saber throw, especially if it’s still on and hurtling back at you. But his focus on it using the Force never broke for a second, so catching it was an easy task for him.
Walking closer to the corpse pile, his boots crunching on freshly fallen snow, Vader held his lightsaber in one hand with his arm held outward, prepared to release a devastating combination of the Force and his saber attacks if need be. But it was unneeded. The alpha male was clearly dead, what with no brain connected to the rest of the body. And the two others had both their bodies destroyed due to his Force Grip. A difficult technique to do simultaneously, Vader only took the chance because they were merely animals. Against Jedi or someone who could use the Force, it would’ve been a far too risky endeavor to attempt.
Actually, upon closer inspection, it looked like one of the hybrids was still alive. Barely at the moment, it still barely clung onto life. It was at the top of the pile, its body and limbs a twisted mess with its ribs poking out visibly on its hide and blood leaking out in large amounts. It was struggling to draw even a breath, and was close on the edges of death.
Vader pulled the creature from the top of the pile using the Force, and without a moment’s hesitation he stabbed it through its chest. A sigh seemed to pass through its broken body, and a few moments later it held still. Vader removed his saber and deactivated it, clipping it back to his belt. He turned his back and left the creatures where they lay.
“Pathetic,” he muttered, angered that he wasted precious minutes he should have spent looking for repairs for his ship. Instead he had to play exterminator and take out some of the local pests.
He still had to deal with the other life forms somewhere near the tree line. He could still sense them, though at a much weaker signal. As he approached them, he could now tell why.
Three cubs–-babies of the hybrids–-were curled up in the snow, shivering. Seems that his ship crashed through where these creatures lived. The adults were protecting their young. And now they were all dead.
Vader left the cubs there, approaching the opening to the tree line so that he may find a way out of this clearing. If starvation didn’t kill them, the cold surely will. He didn’t have to lift a finger here.
Suddenly, the presence of other Force-sensitive life forms caught the Sith’s attention. Maybe six to seven of them in total, and much stronger in the Force than one would imagine on an undeveloped planet. Definitely practitioners. Though if they were of the light or dark side, he still could not tell.
With one hand at his side, hovering above his saber, Vader waited near the entrance to the forest, where they were approaching post haste. Either they could lead him to civilization, or die at the end of his saber. Or both, if he needed to take out a few of their numbers and make the rest follow his command.
“Anypony else realize how creepy the Everfree Forest is at night in the dead of winter?” Fluttershy asked, jumping at every strange and terrifying sound that came from the shadows.
“Do not fear, Fluttershy. Twilight Sparkle and I are here, so nothing will be able to harm us,” Luna assured her, the sapphire glow of her horn lighting their way.
“Yeah. With two princesses here, there’s nothing out there that would mess with us!” Dash added on, flying low to the ground and occasionaly flying above the treetops to make sure they were on the right track to where the crash site was located at.
“So if it is a meteorite, what do we do with it?” Rarity asked.
“I guess call in an excavation team from Canterlot. It could still be burning hot at the moment for all we know, so messing with it would be a bad idea,” Twilight said, peering further into the distance. “And hey, I think I see an opening!”
“Hey Twi, there’s a clearing ahead!” Rainbow Dash called from above the trees, descending back down to her friends. “And a bunch of smoke, too. Must be where the meteorite fell at.”
“Thank goodness it fell in a clearing. At least we know no trees are on fire,” Twilight said, quickening her pace to the opening. The brightness of the snow on the ground could clearly be seen, reflecting the light of fires in the distance.
Pinkie Pie bounced in step with Twilight. “Ooh, Twilight, can I head the peace negotiations with the aliens? Please?”
“Pinkie, like I said before, there are no aliens!” Twilight shouted, running faster to get ahead of the pink mare.
“But if there are, can I be the one to head negotiations? I can throw a party for them! That’d surely make them not want to suck our brains!”
“Fine!” Twilight yelled, turning her head to address Pinkie. “If there are aliens, you’re Equestria’s ambassador and get to talk to them all you want!” Twilight was still running while she was talking to Pinkie, and she didn’t see the branch in the way of her path. With a wet smack she face-planted with the snow covering the ground of the clearing.
“... Ow,” she groaned, lifting her head out of the snow, blowing out her nose to dislodge any remaining snow in her nostrils. Shaking her head, she noticed a shadow fell on her.
“Hey Twilight, I was right!” Pinkie yelled behind her. “This is going to be such an awesome party!”
Twilight looked upward to see what exactly Pinkie was talking about. Outlined in the light of the stars was an imposing figure dressed all in black. It was near seven feet tall, though from her position it seemed like a giant. Blue and red lights blinked on and off on its chest, and the sound of labored mechanical breathing could be heard. Its cape flapped menacingly in the breeze, revealing a large torso and two arms, one currently at its side.
Suddenly a bright red light filled the night, and a meter long blade of crimson was pointed directly at her face.
It pushed the blade closer so that it was inches from Twilight’s forehead, a loud hum filling the air. “Who are you?” the thing asked in an intimidating and raspy voice. “And why does the pink one speak of parties?”
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Leave it to Pinkie to be right.
NEVER question her foresight! Hell, even Vader would be impressed.
~Skeeter The Lurker
2707168 Haha yes someone advertising their fic on someone elses fic, Awesome!
Cue to the Imperial March...
The force is strong with this one........
2708125 VADER SHALL NEVER GET IT AS HE IS THE DARK LORD!
Fuck Em Up Lord Vader. Do it for Maul
I hope rainbow Dash doesn't charge Vader and gets her wings cut off like melted metal through butter.
2707168
Hey, someone beat me to it!
But hey, I'll check out your story for sure.
"Hi my name's Pinkie Pie. What's your's?"
"I am darth vader, apprentice of emperor Sidous, lord of-"
"yeah,yeah,yeah you wanna have a party?"
Dis gonna be EPIC
Hopefully not TOO epic or vader will just kill them all and then the fic will be over 4 chapters in
"a pool of blood soaking the snow where..."
Wouldn't the cuts be cauterised with a lightsaber? There shouldn't be blood.
Yes. Yes. Please. Moar. 25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m6gx37B0S91ryj6qoo1_250.gif
O God. media.tumblr.com/7af01abc188673b6f4b8a83e2fb280c8/tumblr_inline_mnvfrurXwp1qz4rgp.jpg
shit is about to get real
My one thought from this chapter:
ForceLOL.
2708243
YES! Finally, someone caught the joke! You sir, win:
i3.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/original/000/001/732/winternet.jpg
Spend it wisely! Like on blackjack and hookers.
2708176
Oh god i cringed when i read that.
Anyway. Keep up the great work Bob! There was only one mistake I could find:
“Do not fear, Fluttershy. Me and Twilight Sparkle are here, so nothing will be able to harm us,” Luna assured her, the sapphire glow of her horn lighting their way."
"Me and Twilight Sparkle"
"Me"
:l
Myself* ? or 'Twilight Sparkle and I'?
2708268 The story hasn't been tagged with "gore" so it won't happen.
ps. I am glad one of my comments got a reaction like that
2707168 I think I can write a song to go with this comment.
Advert, advert! Advert, advert! Advertising your story on some-one-elses!
I wonder what would happen if pinkie joined the dark side?
Her pinkie sense could win the war!
Is Vader gonna hafta choke a bitch!?
Nice Fic, by the way.
To trope a wise man: "I got a bad feeling about this…" I now wonder how Vader vs. Equestrians will play out.
Will read it, only because of the last sentence of the description.
Har de har.
Neat! Just... please don't make the ponies crazy op and capable of taking Vader down with nary a thought. Same goes for Vader being too op. If you could do a balance that would be nice. Seeing one of the most feared beings in the galaxy get his butt kicked by peaceful pastel ponies would be disheartening.
or you know, you could do whatever.
Your story and all.
5 bits says Luna (nightmare moon) goes dark side
2708404
Dude, I would rather shoot myself in the foot then let a pony kick Vader's ass. Or I'm pretty sure Vader would kill me himself if I let that happen.
2708419 *phew* XD
Luna vs Vader!!
it would be hilarious if the piss him off enough to were he goes and force weilds a celestial body. you guys gotta admit Vader rage controlling the sun or moon would be awesome as well as scaring the shit out of the princesses
Shit just got real.
If one of the ponies get injured by Vader then I'm gonna have to call in Starkiller.
Say your prayers, Vader.
So far I've read this entire fic with the original James Earl Jones/Darth Vader voice in my head. Tis Epic
Now THAT was one awsome way to intruduce Vader to the Ponies.
"Why does the pink one speak of parties?"
Hahahahahahahahahaha bwhaaaaaasa
Seven Force sensitives? Well, Pinkie's got her Pinkie Sense, and I can buy Applejack and Fluttershy what with their connection to plants and animals, respectively.
...oh. You're going to say that Magic in Equestria as a whole is just a specialized adaptation of the Force, aren't you?
Yes... Parties... Tell me about those.
Oi! Get ya self a pre-ready to fix all them little mistakes ya bloody mook!
Also, Vader gon kick sum ass.
MOAR!
"And why does the pink one speak of parties?"
That made my day.
Either Vader will be captured, he makes them do what he wants, or he's going to be uncharacteristically diplomatic so he can save time.
Felted? fix it please
'why does the pick one speak of parties' i love that
2708449 Vader's powerful, but I don't think he can control a whole sun or moon....can he?
2708732 Well, basically all ponies have inherit magic. Unicorns are just more open about it.
(Pegasi have magic which allows them to control weather and sit on clouds.)
(Earth pony magic makes them more attuned to earth and much better at farming.)
It would be funny if Fluttershy became a sith.
Darth Fluttershy: YOU WILL JOIN THE DARK SIDE!!!!!!
!...um...please?
Party with Vader
Manticore should have been cauterised from the throw, he wouldn't have made a pool of blood.
There's a few spelling mistakes throughout, though the one that stood out in my mind the whole way was this one:
Later should be latter. Hunky is more of a personal taste, but I feel it doesn't fit for describing Vader, because I don't think he's that dreamy lookin' in that there suit. I would have used 'chunky' if you meant bulky, or hey, bulky works too.
Why would he finish off the last manticore? Wouldn't it have been more in keeping to leave it to suffer and die slowly? Why didn't he kill the cubs, he's shown no revulsion to doing it before, and if he's not willing to let the big one die slowly, why would he let the little ones do so?
Then again, I think of the dark side as point values thanks to the KOTOR games, so I'd kill them just to get more
So, magic is the force in this? Well that's a bit of bullshit considering what magic can do. There's no way in hell that some of the things Twilight has done is the force.
...
Oh my god. I just realised what Vaders presence means for Equestria. Let's put aside the mass emotional and intellectual breaks that will happen when ponies discover they aren't alone in the universe for certain, how the hell are they going to react when Vader points out that Luna and Celestia have been lying to them for so long about moving the Sun and Moon? All he'd have to do to destroy Equestria is to tell them that and just sit back and watch the panic and confusion engulf ponykind. Hell, that'd provide him with some premium dark fuel.
Unless you're going to try and say that Luna and Celestia are powerful enough force users to do that shit, in which case I'm going to call bullshit, because no force user is powerful enough to move fucking planets, let alone stars, and at which point Vader will be so outclassed that whatever he does will get his ass handed to him, and he'll either be stoned or killed. Which will completely fuck over continuity way more than some fans would have you believe the prequels did.
You know, I've never been so glad to see a lack of comedy tag on a story before, because it means there's a chance you'll explore some of those points and not just have Vader sitting at a party and eventually learning what friendship means for the lulz.
Yes! Yes! Yeesssss! Yeeesssssssssssss!
2708758
Huh, I had three people look over this and there's still mistakes. Shit, sorry about that, mate. I'll try to fix everything now.
2708981
Yet again, sorry for all the mistakes. As for not killing the cubs, Vader doesn't take joy in killing. Palpatine does, but Vader sees it merely as a necessity, not for his own personal amusement. Anyways, nice comment all in all. Very smart.
Vader likes parties!?
Dear god, I'm scared now
If Pinkie Pie was force sensitive
... that would actually explain a lot.
2708145>>2707168
Is it just me or is that username completely ironic for that comment...?