The Ghost crew has crashed in Equestria with the Galactic Empire hot on their tail. Can six ponies and a baby dragon help them fix their ship and return home before Ponyville comes under Imperial control?
Long ago, in a galaxy, far, far away, a band of rebels dared to strike back against a tyrannical regime. Now these rebels are stuck a colorful land populated by creatures who they never saw before. Will our favorite rebels return home before they and their new friends be destroyed by the Empire?
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Star Wars Rebels or Friendship is Magic. That would be Lucasfilm/Disney and Hasbro, respectively.
In the deepest dark of space, several TIE fighters converged on a solitary craft that was trying to evade a menacing Star Destroyer. Shots were exchanged as the ship maneuvered its way through the flurry of gunfire to get its crew to safety without getting damaged. In other words, a typical day for the Ghost rebel cell.
"Hera!” yelled Kanan Jarrus, a twenty-eight-year-old human male who was the leader of the team. “I'd appreciate it if you could find an opening!"
"Buy me some time, love!” yelled Hera. “Zeb! Ezra! Man the backward gun!"
"Karabast,” muttered Garazeb Orrelios, a Lasat warrior. “Come on, kid.” He and Ezra, a blue-haired teenage Padawan from Lothal, went to the Phantom and started firing the gun at the incoming TIEs. Meanwhile, Sabine Wren, a sixteen-year-old Mandalorian artist, went with the astromech C1-10P, aka Chopper, to the main engine room to fix the shield and communications.
"Ghost to Phoenix Squadron,” Hera spoke through a communicator. “We're kinda busy at the moment but we will meet you in a safe haven."
"Acknowledged, Ghost,” came Commander Sato's voice. “We will be waiting for you."
Meanwhile aboard the Star Destroyer, the Grand Inquisitor stared very intently at the Ghost. What move would the Jedi and his Padawan make next?
“All guns, focus fire on their fuel tanks,” he commanded in a cold voice devoid of any compassion. The Star Destroyer focused its forward firepower on the Phantom.
"Hera?” Ezra Bridger called nervously. “Where is that opening?"
"Found one!” yelled Hera. She flipped some controls and the Ghost began its jump to lightspeed. Unfortunately, a shot from the Star Destroyer's ion laser hit the back of the ship at the moment, damaging the hyperdrive so that it went too fast, even for lightspeed standards. Out of the corner of her eye, Sabine noticed a wormhole open up right in front of them.
"We're about to enter a -” she started, but it was too late. The Ghost entered the wormhole and started spinning out of control. Ezra, desperately holding onto a railing for support, felt as though he were being separated into blobs of putty and then reassembled.
Meanwhile, on board the Star Destroyer, one of the officers said five words that he knew the Inquisitor would not want to hear.
"The Jedi have escaped, sir."
The Inquisitor scowled, furious that his prey has escaped. --------------------------- “Ezra?”
Hera’s voice called out to him. Ezra did not respond.
“Ezra, are you okay?”
Ezra groaned. He opened his eyes groggily to see that Chopper landed right on top of him. Surprised, he got up and shoved Chopper off him. Chopper warbled a growl, evidently displeased that he ended up on him, and sent an electric shock headed his way.
“Ow! Hey!” Ezra yelled. Chopper giggled.
“Kid, enough fooling around,” Kanan called. “Sabine, how is the Ghost?”
“Well, we are in a better condition than it is,” Sabine replied. “I just ran a diagnostic. Even though the exterior is in one piece, we are going to be stuck here until we can get the main engine fixed.”
“That’s just brilliant,” snarled Zeb. “Are you saying we won’t go anywhere?”
“Not for a while,” Sabine confirmed.
“Great,” Zeb groaned. “Now we’ll be stuck here, without any help, in the middle of wherever here is!”
“Where is here, exactly?” Ezra asked. He opened the door of the cargo bay. And what met his eyes next overwhelmed him.
The Ghost had crashed in the middle of a field. To the far right, a dark forest towered over them like the Imperial buildings on Lothal. Nearby, a winding, snaking river flowed as rapid as a Loth-cat. But the weirdest part was the population. As far as he could see, Ezra saw horses of every size and color walking about, most of them with weird symbols on their back legs. It was apparent that he and the rest of the crew were the only bipedal creatures around.
“Where- where are we?” he asked.
“I don’t know exactly,” Kanan answered uneasily. “We’ll see if we can find some help. And keep your weapons handy. I got a bad feeling about this,” he added, checking to make sure both his lightsaber and blaster were handy. ----------------------------------- The loud noise had woken Rainbow Dash from her usual afternoon slumber. She could see a large cloud of smoke coming up from somewhere in the field. As always, Rainbow’s first instinct, being the daredevil that she was, was to check the site out for herself.
When she arrived, she was surprised to see an orange and grey spaceship, which had to be as big as Canterlot, lying nose-first in the dirt. One of the doors was opened, possibly by force. Rainbow, too fascinated to think of anything else, dashed inside.
She saw arrays of computer terminals whirring and beeping to life, the stuff that she knew that her friend Twilight would have gone gaga over. She walked on farther down and saw four rooms with unoccupied beds, one of which had colorful artwork all over the front door, which she found rather impressive. But the weirdest sight of all had to be the six mysterious figures she saw walking away from the cruiser.
Are my eyes deceiving me? Rainbow asked herself, eyeing the mysterious green creature with two tentacle-like extensions coming out of the back of its head. She also got an eyeful of a . . . purple haired creature with something on its back? And what exactly was that short orange thing?
“This is too weird,” she said to herself. “I need to find out who these people are. And hopefully Twilight will be able to clear this all up.”
Ezra was getting nervous. He had never felt like an outsider before, and that was excluding all the time he had been on his own on Lothal. With each passing minute, he could feel that he and his friends were drawing more and more unwanted attention to themselves. Sure enough, some of the locals were throwing looks of mingled curiosity and fear their way. A few of them were whispering, muttering, muttering about them, perhaps? His hands automatically went to his lightsaber-stun blaster, but Kanan placed a hand on his back, and he knew that now was not the time to use it. He closed his eyes, and tried to tap into the Force, but for some reason, this place was not as strong with it as Lothal was.
“Hera?” he asked nervously. “Where are we, exactly?”
“I don’t know,” Hera answered with a distinct unease, eyeing the horses around them curiously. “Let’s just find someone who can help us fix our engines. Then we can leave.”
“The question is, can someone help us?” Sabine asked, twirling her blasters. “We seem to have jumped back way into the past.” She motioned toward the horses carrying carts everywhere. Some of them had weird pointy things sticking out of their heads. A few others had wings sprouting from their backs. One thing that most of them had in common, however, is that they had weird pictures of everyday objects on their hind legs.
“I dunno,” answered Zeb sarcastically. “S’pose we can try asking someone around?”
“It’s worth a shot,” Ezra replied. “As long as you don’t try to scare anybody around here. Remember what happened back on Lando’s farm?”
“I . . . wha . . . it was not my fault!” protested Zeb.
“It’s your face’s fault,” replied Ezra smugly.
Zeb growled in anger. “Kid . . .”
“Enough, both of you,” Hera interrupted. “We need to keep walking.”
So they kept going through the town, hoping to find someone who looked like they would have at least some idea of how to fix a starship engine. But as time passed, the town grew less and less crowded, and the Ghost crew’s hopes faded and faded. “Well, this was a waste of time,” Ezra grumbled as they reached the outskirts of a city called Ponyville.
“If you ask me, this whole place is a giant riddle.”
“If it’s a riddle,” Zeb asked, “what’s the question?”
Ezra smiled mischievously. “Why is Zeb acting like such a . . . WHOA, GET DOWN!” he yelled as a sky blue blur dove straight down from the sky at them. Instinctively, the Ghost team, save for Chopper, sprawled onto the ground. The blur did a few loop-de-loops before stopping in midair to reveal a sky blue winged horse with violet eyes and a rainbow colored mane and tail. Both Ezra and Kanan got up turned their lightsabers on, preparing to defend themselves from the winged creature. Hera and Sabine, meanwhile, drew out their blasters (Zeb took his Bo-Rifle out and turned it into a rifle). Even Chopper got in on the act, activating his electric shocker.
“Well,” the blue winged horse started, “I have seen a lot of strange things all over Equestria, but out of all of them, you guys definitely take the cake.”
“Karabast! Are you saying that I am strange?!” roared Zeb, aiming his Bo-Rifle at the winged horse.
“All of you are,” the horse retorted. “And what in Celestia’s name are those things?” It motioned to Ezra and Kanan’s lightsabers.
“None of your business,” snapped Ezra. “We are in need of some assistance, in case you have not noticed!”
“Yes, we are,” Hera affirmed. “Our ship has crashed in the middle of the field and we need some assistance fixing both our hyperdrive and engine.”
“Huh,” the horse said. “I did not understand what you just said. Fortunately, my friend Twilight Sparkle may be of some help to you.” It did a few loop-de-loops in midair. “My name is Rainbow Dash. Who are you?”
“My name is Jabba. Jabba the Hutt,” snarked Ezra, who found the horse’s name to be truly ridiculous. He pointed to each of the members in turn. “And these are Kanan, Hera, Sabine, Chopper, and Zeb. Where are we, anyway?”
Rainbow raised an eyebrow, clearly amused. “Well, Jabba, you and your friends are in the land of Equestria. Ponyville, if you want to be more specific.”
“Ponyville?” Ezra asked Kanan, who shook his head and said, “Kid, don’t ask. I have never heard of that place.”
“Of course you wouldn’t,” Rainbow Dash replied. “You are evidently not from here, judging by the fact that you all aren’t ponies.”
“This . . . Twilight Sparkle, I take it she can fix our ship?” Kanan asked.
“Well, she is the most eggheaded pony I know, so she has a better chance of solving your problem than I do,” Rainbow replied. “Want me to show you the way to her place?”
“Thanks, but no,” Zeb replied gruffly. “We’ll take our chances on our own.”
“Are you sure?” Rainbow asked. “It’s almost sundown, and almost nopony else is out in the streets at this time.”
“Nopony?” questioned Ezra, who found the word very unusual.
“And this will be okay with Twilight somehow? She won’t be upset with us just going into her house like that?” asked Sabine.
“Nah, I am sure she’ll be okay,” Rainbow dismissed her concerns. “Follow me.” -------------------------- Twilight was exhausted. She and her assistant Spike had just spent the entire day alternating between reorganizing the entire library and trying to deal with the damage Discord had given her. She sighed, longing to hope for things to return to normal, yet knowing that the possibility was, at best, a distant one. The last thing she wanted was for any anomaly to happen.
As always, it was too soon for her to say that.
A loud knock came from the front door, followed by a familiar voice. “Hey Twilight! It’s me, Dashie!”
Twilight opened the door. She was always happy to see her best friend, but she was definitely not ready to meet the strangers who followed her into the library.
After Rainbow Dash flew in, five of the strangest creatures, who Twilight had never seen before in her life, entered. Except for a small orange thing that rolled around on wheels, the strangers all walked on their back legs. But what struck Twilight as really weird was that two of the newcomers were unlike the others: one of them was a weird purple creature in a green uniform with fur on its face and something long strapped to its back. The other was a tall, slender, green-skinned woman in a brown-and-orange pilot’s uniform who had goggles on her forehead and two long green extensions coming out of her back. The other three creatures were all decked in the strangest sorts of clothes that Twilight had ever seen in her life.
“Um, Dash?” she finally managed to ask. “Who . . . who are these guys?”
“Strangers from . . . out of town. Their ship crashed near the Everfree forest,” Dash answered. She pointed to each of the strangers in turn. “Say hello to Kanan, Sabine, Zeb, Chopper, Hera, and Jabba.” The robot named Chopper warbled.
“And I take your name is Twilight Sparkle?” the girl named Sabine asked.
Twilight sighed. “Yes, it is, but what is it that you ask of me?”
“As your flying horse friend just said, our ship crashed and we were under the impression that you would be able to help us,” Ezra explained. “I am a Pegasus, thank you very much!” Rainbow exclaimed.
“Yes, thank you for the completely unnecessary and redundant rehashing of what she just said, Ezra,” the creature called Zeb snapped.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” Rainbow interrupted, pointing an accusing hoof at Ezra. “Your name is Ezra? You said your name was Jabba!” Ezra sighed and facepalmed, clearly frustrated by the creature’s inability to understand his sarcasm.
The situation also seemed to be getting on Twilight’s nerves as well. “Look, can somepony, anypony, please tell me what in Faust’s name is going on?”
“Somepony?” questioned Zeb. “Karabast! What’s with the vocabulary around here?”
“Karabast, karabast! What does that word even mean?” Rainbow Dash yelled in annoyance.
“It means right now, there are gonna be some fists flying if you don’t explain what is going on here!” retorted Zeb.
“Can this situation get any more awkward?” lamented Ezra.
As if to answer his question, some new voices came out of the blue.
“Honestly, Pinkie Pie, you need to be a bit more careful-“
“It wasn’t my fault, Rarity-“
“Actually, I think Rarity’s right-“
“Listen to yerselves, y’all are acting like a bunch of fillies now- Howdy, who are ya and what are y’all doing here?”
Twilight’s remaining friends-Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and Applejack-had just come into the library,and judging by the looks of surprise on their faces, they were obviously startled by the presence of the newcomers; indeed, Pinkie Pie jumped up and gasped, then ran out of the room, while Rarity seemed to be eyeing Zeb’s and Sabine’s uniforms with a mixture of revulsion and intrigue. Ezra and Zeb looked at each other, silently wondering whether it was their bickering that scared the pink pony they saw out of the room.
After what seemed like a long time, Rainbow Dash finally broke the silence. Pointing to each of the ponies in turn, she said, “Oh hey girls. Guys, meet our friends, Rarity, Fluttershy, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie, who you just saw run out of the room.”
“Oh my. What is that you are wearing?” Rarity asked, pointing at Sabine.
“This?” Sabine asked. “It’s my Mando armor.”
“Well, it looks absolutely dull, darling,” Rarity responded. “Come over to my place and I will be sure to dazzle it up.”
“Thanks?” Sabine responded, unsure. “But it is fine the way it is.”
“Yeah, Rarity,” Applejack said. “Yah can’ just go around forcing yer fashion ideas onto everypony who comes by. They may not appreciate it.”
“Applejack, darling, you should know me by now. I was only trying to help,” Rarity countered.
“Anyway,” prompted Spike, who had just finished cleaning the bookcases, “who are you guys and what are you doing here in Ponyville?”
Kanan was about to open his mouth and repeat what Hera had said to Rainbow Dash a few minutes ago when suddenly Pinkie Pie came back with what looked like a cannon and started saying in a really fast and high-pitched manner, “These-guys-are-a-rebel-cell-from-the-planet-Lothal. Their-names-are-Kanan-Ezra-Sabine-Zeb-Hera-and-Chopper-and-they-are-fighting-against-the-Galactic-Empire-which-is-this-group-made-up-of-really-big-meanies-who-want-to-oppress-their-world-and-so-many-others. Kanan-and-Ezra-are-two-Jedi-who-use-the-Force-which-is-this-magical-field-that-allows-them-to-move-things-from-a-distance-and-occasionally-have-visions. Zeb-was-a-Lasat-Honor-Guardsman-who-witnessed-the-Empire-massacre-his-people. Sabine-is-a-Mandolorian-artist-who-was-an-Imperial-Academy-student. Hera-is-a-Twilek-who-keeps-the-team-together-and-who-is-an-amazing-pilot. Chopper-is-an-astromech-who-served-during-the-Clone-Wars-and-was-found-by-Hera-when-he-was-shot-down-over-Ryloth. And-now-they-are-here-because-they-had-a-fight-with-the-Empire-and-their-ship-was-sent-into-a-wormhole-and-crashed-near-the-Everfree-Forest-so-now-they-need-Twilight’s-help-in-getting-their-ship-fixed-so-they-can-go-back-to-their-world-or-else-the-rebellion-is-doomed-to-fail.”
Silence. Nobody spoke. At last, after seemed like an eternity, an impressed Hera started, “Wow! That was pretty much accurate! How do you know?”
“Oh, just a hunch,” Pinkie smiled, a childish spark in her innocent blue eyes. “And now, let me show you how we ponies welcome newcomers into Ponyville!” She lit the cannon, which shot out a cake, balloons, party favors, punch, and all sorts of presents onto a table in the far side of the room. Everyone on the Ghost team, even Zeb and Chopper, were impressed. Kanan turned to Pinkie and said, “Wow, Pinkie! Do you do this often?”
Pinkie giggled. “I do this all the time, silly! Just look at my cutie mark!” She pointed to a design of three balloons on her hind leg with her pink and bushy tail.
“Cutie mark?” Ezra asked, confused. He was starting to get the feeling that nothing in this world would ever make sense.
“A cutie mark signifies what a pony’s special talent is, darling,” Rarity answered, fluttering her eyelashes.
“For example, my cutie mark signifies my exceptional skill at fashion. Pinkie Pie’s is representative of her love of fun and parties. And-“
Her words were drowned out by a long shriek coming from Fluttershy. “Who is that?” Fluttershy squealed, pointing her hoof at Chopper.
“This is Chopper, as I’m sure your friend told you,” Ezra answered. “I never saw his type before,” Fluttershy cooed. “Hello there, little buddy. I am Fluttershy.”
Chopper warbled a warning that was lost on the yellow pegasus’s ears. “Aw! Isn’t he the cutest thing?” Fluttershy smiled.
Seeing that Fluttershy was not in any way listening, Chopper gave her a quick electric shock, sending the pegasus yelping and running away.
“Chopper!” Hera snapped. The astromech warbled an angry protest. “I don’t care! You can’t go around tazing people-or ponies-like that! Apologize!”
Pinkie was suddenly in front of Chopper, a very angry expression on her face. “Nopony hurts my friends! NOPONY!”
Chopper returned a series of beeps which said something along the lines of, “Oh I can’t, can’t I?” Then he sent another electric shock into the air flying at Rainbow Dash.
“YEOW!” Rainbow roared in pain. “Chopper! I’m gonna dismantle you with our bare hooves!” She dove straight down at Chopper, who had already started rolling away very quickly with an angry Pinkie in pursuit.
“Leave a few parts for me, girls!” Ezra ran off after the two ponies, eager to get his revenge on the droid for shocking him earlier that day.
Twilight sighed and buried her face in her hooves. “There goes my peace and quiet for tomorrow.”
If Twilight thought that she could dismiss the previous night’s events as hallucinations brought on by a lack of sleep due to studying too much, the following morning would show her just how mistaken she was. She was having a wild dream about going on an adventure with her favorite historical wizard Starswirl the Bearded when two loud voices popped her blissful imagination like a helium balloon.
“Pinkie Pie! My paint is not a toy!”
“I’m sorry, Sabine, I wasn’t aware that your paint was explosive!”
“Well, it could be, if it was in the wrong hands- er, hooves!”
And just like that, the dream was over. Resignedly, Twilight got out of her bed, dreading the horrors that would come with the advance of daybreak. It’s a miracle that Celestia hasn’t sent me a letter yet, she thought, shuddering at the mere prospect. Who knows what would have been her reaction to six alien strangers crashing unannounced in her kingdom? She headed downstairs to find the Ghost crew and all her friends, sans Rainbow Dash, at the table where Pinkie Pie had put all the party food the previous night. And that could only mean one thing: Breakfast was cake and punch.
At the table, Spike, who had somehow gotten the idea that Lasats could crunch down on minerals just like he could, kept trying to offer Zeb some jewels, to which Zeb responded, in an effort to be polite with his host, that he would rather have food he could actually eat. Meanwhile, Pinkie Pie was chatting animatedly with Kanan and Hera about their work in the Rebellion, but shot a dirty look at Chopper every now and then; it was clear that she wanted to pay him back for hurting Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash. Indeed, whenever Chopper made so much as a grunt, Fluttershy would yelp and hide under the table until she was convinced that Chopper was not going to attack her.
Meanwhile, at the other side of the table, Ezra was entertaining Applejack and Rarity with tales about his tutelage as a Padawan and his adventures with the Rebels over platefuls of chocolate cake and glassfuls of fruit punch. The two mares listened with rapt attention as Ezra regaled how he had once infiltrated the Imperial Academy on Lothal as a cadet in order to get important information regarding khyber crystal shipments, and how recently he and the team have stolen shipments of supplies from the Imperial authorities.
“Seems like y’all have been having a mighty grand time,” Applejack started, a few crumbs of cake on her lip.
“You make it sound so glamorous,” Rarity agreed, taking down a sip of punch.
“Oh, come on, now,” Ezra chuckled, in an effort to stay humble. “Sure, it might have been awesome, but it also has been pretty dangerous. I can’t count the number of times I nearly lost my own head battling the Empire. In fact, more than once, we have had to fight an Inquisitor who was intent on converting me to the Dark Side of the Force.”
“Ooohh, sounds scary,” shuddered Applejack. She took another bite out of her cake.
“What is an Inquisitor, by the way?” inquired Rarity, not taking her eyes off him as she sipped her punch.
“It’s . . . well . . . well, let’s just say that if you do see one, it is best to scram right away,” Ezra answered. “In fact, once I actually used the Dark Side thanks to him. Luckily, Kanan was there when it happened.”
“What did it feel like?” Applejack asked.
Ezra paused. “I don’t remember,” he said slowly, as if recalling something unpleasant. “But I do remember that when I woke up, I felt . . . cold.”
He shivered. “That is something I have trying to work on ever since.”
Twilight let out a huge yawn. “Morning, everypony . . . and everybody,” she started, eyeing Kanan and Hera. She took an empty seat in between Pinkie Pie and Chopper. “Where’s Rainbow Dash?”
“Probably oversleeping again,” Applejack mused. “Chopper, see if you can bring her down here.”
Chopper giggled, probably at the prospect of trolling the pegasus again. He went to the middle of the room and flew up to the second floor.
“Why do ah get the feelin’ somethin’s gonna go wrong?” Applejack asked uneasily.
“He’s Chopper. You can never expect him to do anything without doing something to you,” Zeb answered matter-of-factly.
“Y’all sound like this has happened before,” Applejack noted.
“It has,” Zeb, Ezra, and Sabine answered bluntly.
“Well, I’m surprised he managed to last this long with you,” Rarity said. “If he did something like that to me, I would have-“
But what Rarity would have done, they never got to learn, because at that moment, a big metallic CLANG echoed throughout the room, followed by the shouts of Rainbow Dash struggling. Then Chopper rolled in with Rainbow Dash holding onto him and tapping him with her hooves. It could not have been clearer that she was trying to get revenge on him for shocking her last night.
“Nopony is gonna save you this time-“ Rainbow Dash started, but Chopper, apparently begging to differ, spun around quickly and threw her into whatever was left of the cake and punch, spraying Zeb and Ezra with bits of chocolate. The two Ghost members glared at Rainbow, who grinned back at them sheepishly. Zeb grabbed one of Rainbow’s hooves and was about to punch her when Hera interceded, “GARAZEB ORRELIOS!” Pinkie Pie burst out into hysterical laughter. Rainbow, Fluttershy, Applejack, and Rarity looked as if they would die of amusement if they didn’t stifle their mouths. Even Twilight managed to crack a smile for the first time in days.
“It’s not my fault!” Zeb protested. “Rainbow managed to cover me and the kid in cake! What was I supposed to do?”
“Don’t blame me!” Rainbow argued. “It’s that twisted, sick tin can of yours who’s at fault here! What does he have against ponies?”
“She has a point, Zeb,” Kanan conceded. “I suggest you apologize to Rainbow.”
“Thank you!” Rainbow sighed.
“Oh, I’m sorry, Dad!” Zeb snapped back. “But did Chopper just make a fool out of us in front of them?” He motioned angrily to the ponies on the other side of the table.
“All the same,” demurred Kanan, “it is not like she intentionally did that on purpose. In fact-“
Just then, Spike made a face like he was about to vomit, but instead burped out a few flames of green fire, which formed into a scroll. Ezra grimaced, noting to himself that he should tell Spike that there were better alternatives to communication that he could show them.
“Letter from Princess Celestia,” Spike announced. He handed it to Twilight. “It’s for you.”
Twilight opened the letter. As she read more of its contents, her eyes shrank in terror.
“Read for yourself, please,” Twilight responded rather shakily. She handed the letter to Hera, who read it loud for the whole table to hear.
My dearest Twilight, There have been reports of a strange rock crashing near the Everfree forest. The whole of Canterlot is abuzz with worry, as some ponies, Luna included, believe that this will mean ill for all of Equestria. Furthermore, Spike has informed me that you have hosted six extraterrestrials last night. May Luna and I please request an audience with you and your new friends? I wish to learn the intent of these strange individuals. Please wait outside the Royal Palace at twelve noon. We will be waiting for you then. Regards, Princess Celestia
“I’m dead,” Twilight said hollowly when Hera had finished. She had been dreading this moment from the minute the sun had illuminated the whole of her room that morning.
“Who are these Princesses Celestia and Luna?” Hera asked Twilight.
“They are these princess sisters who rule all of Equestria,” Rainbow responded when it was clear that Twilight was not going to respond. “Celestia is in charge of moving the sun around its path, and Luna is responsible for the path of the moon.”
“And these princesses of yours want to see us?” Zeb questioned.
“So that they can be sure that you mean them no harm,” Pinkie responded cheerfully.
“A-and what if they decide that we are unfriendly and decide to kick us out?” Ezra asked nervously. “W-where will we go then?” Rainbow laughed heartily. “Jabba, you are starting to sound a lot like Twilight here. We all will vouch for you and your team. Besides, if anypony –or anyone, in this case – has to go, it has to be this bucket of bolts right here.” She motioned over to Chopper, who growled menacingly at her. But one stern, piercing gaze from Hera forced him to calm down.
“Besides, Princess Celestia is a kind, honest, and fair ruler,” Rarity continued, finishing the last of her punch. “She will hear you and your friends out. I should know; I spent some time with her myself.”
Ezra let out a sigh of relief. “That’s good to know.”
“Okay, then,” Kanan said. “I suggest that we decide how all of us will get over to the Royal Palace. Zeb, you, Hera, and Sabine will take the Phantom; at least that ship is still operational. Chop, you will go with Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash, since they are the only horses- er, pegasi around. Ezra and I will go with the rest of the ponies.”
“Sweet!” exclaimed Pinkie. Fluttershy and Rainbow, however, were less than enthused.
“Do I have to be stuck with it?” Rainbow complained, pointing to a now growling Chopper. Fluttershy glanced nervously at the droid, and it was clear that she wished she had been assigned to either the Phantom or Kanan and Ezra.
“My decision’s been made,” Kanan said in a tone of absolute finality. “I suggest we leave as soon as we can.”
And with that, everyone but Chopper and Rainbow got up and turned to go. Rainbow turned to Chopper menacingly.
“Just so you know, don’t even think of hurting me or Fluttershy,” she whispered. “I have my eyes on you.”
And with that, she turned to leave, but not before giving the droid a smack with her tail.
A few hours later, everyone was standing in front of the royal palace in Canterlot. Zeb and the girls had parked the Phantom on the royal garden next to a gushing fountain where a pair of fish was playing. Kanan was getting nervous. He had never been in the face of actual royalty before, not unless you counted Queen Amidala from Naboo. Hera and Sabine, meanwhile, were doing something you usually would not find them doing: acting concerned over their appearances; indeed, both of them were asking Rarity if they looked all right. Even Zeb and Ezra were doing their best to make a good first impression; it wasn’t every day that they were visiting royalty.
At last, the palace doors opened, and two stallions covered in gold royal armor came out like a procession. Following them were the two most magnificent-looking unicorns Ezra had ever seen: one was a beautiful-looking white unicorn with a blue, purple, and sea-green tail and mane wearing a crown and a golden necklace; and the other a dark blue winged unicorn with a tail and a mane of midnight blue, who had an image of a moon on her neck. Both horses wearing surveying the Ghost crew members intently.
“You are in the presence of Princesses Celestia and Luna!” Spike hissed in Kanan’s ear. “Kneel!”
Picking up this cue, Kanan knelt to the ground. One by one, the other rebels followed suit, even Chopper, who bowed so low that he practically touched the ground.
“Rise, strangers,” the dark blue unicorn started solemnly. “Who art thou?”
Kanan went up to the unicorn and bowed. “Greetings, Your Majesty. I am Kanan Jarrus of the planet Lothal. And this is my band of rebels.” He motioned to the rest of the team.
“What is thy business here in Equestria?” the unicorn asked. “Wherefore art thou here?”
“Sister,” the other unicorn started, “thank you for your introduction, but I will take it from here.”
The other raised an eyebrow, suspiciously. “Very well then, I will wait for thee inside.” She turned around and went into the castle.
The white unicorn turned to the team. “Forgive my sister,” she said. “But she is still recovering from spending one thousand years in the moon.” Zeb looked at Ezra, who responded with a confused shrug.
“My name is Princess Celestia,” the white unicorn continued. “I see you have had the pleasure of meeting my sister, Princess Luna. Follow me.”
They all followed Celestia into the palace down the hall to her throne room. Ezra looked around, marveling at the sheer magnificence of the place. He noticed that almost everywhere were stained-glass of Twilight and her friends defeating monsters or demons. He tapped Rainbow Dash’s shoulder. “I notice that you and your friends are everywhere here.”
Rainbow Dash grinned. “Don’t you know it. We’re awesome.”
At last, Celestia ascended to her throne with Luna standing right beside her. She turned and faced the rebels. “I believe you need to explain to us why you are here,” she addressed Kanan.
“Your Majesty,” Kanan began, “we came to your world by accident. We were fighting the Empire when our ship received quite a blow to our hyperdrive. Next thing we knew, we ended up next to a forest and we were hoping you could help us get it up and running again before the Empire tracks us down here.”
“The Empire?” Celestia asked, raising an eyebrow. “As in the Crystal Empire?”
“No, Your Grace,” Hera intervened. “Kanan is talking about the Galactic Empire, which is the oppressive regime that has reigned in our galaxy for at least fourteen years now.”
“And the big rock near the Everfree forest, I presume it was thy ship?” Luna asked.
“Yes, Your Grace,” Hera answered.
“But wherefore should we help thee?” Luna responded. “How is Equestria to be harmed if we do not help you?”
“Luna,” Celestia said in a warning tone. Luna backed down submissively.
“I don’t mean to be rude with Your Grace,” Sabine started, “but the Imperials are not the kind of people who give up. They have tracked us all over the galaxy, and they have slaughtered thousands, perhaps millions of rebel sympathizers. If they track us here, they will not care who is innocent and who is not. If you can grant us some protection while we make some repairs, we will make sure that no harm befalls your subjects.”
“How do we know that you are not Imperials yourselves?” Luna shot back. Ezra was rather taken aback, rather stunned to be associated with the very people he was fighting against.
“Your Majesty,” he spoke up, “with all due respect, I lost people I cared about to the Empire. We all lost people we cared about.” He struggled not to tear up. Applejack and Pinkie Pie watched him out of the corners of their eyes, concerned. “A-and I know you know these ponies and I know we’ve been here for less than a day, but the Empire doesn’t care about anybody. The Imperials don’t even care about their comrades. If innocent ponies die because we led the Empire right here, we wouldn’t be too happy with ourselves. And I’m pretty sure that you wouldn’t, either.”
Celestia turned to Luna, exchanging solemn glances. The two of them furiously whispered. The rebels waited with bated breath, waiting, waiting-
“All right, I have made my decision,” Celestia announced. “I’ll be assigning you six royal guards for your protection. If it is true that this Galactic Empire you speak of cares nothing about friendship, then I suggest that you learn more about each other, strengthen the bonds of camaraderie that you forged last night. For we can only fight a true force of chaotic evil by showing an equally strong bond of friendship and trust.”
“Yes!” Rainbow Dash flew into the air, excited. “I can’t wait to show these guys my Sonic Rainboom!”
“We’ve all seen you do a Sonic Rainboom,” Rarity responded, rolling her eyes.
“I meant them!” Rainbow motioned over to the rebels. “We’re going to have so much fun!”
Soon, all of them walked out of the palace after saying their goodbyes and paying their respects, now accompanied by six of Celestia’s guards. Pinkie Pie walked up beside Ezra, who was now really struggling to hold his emotions in. “Ezra, are you okay?” she asked, concerned.
“I’m fine, Pinkie,” Ezra responded in a tone that indicated he was not up for talking. “I really am.”
“Okie dokie,” Pinkie replied slowly. She shot Applejack a look that clearly said, You have to confront him about this later.
Applejack nodded in silent agreement.
The ISD Lawbringer hovered in orbit over Lothal. In the bridge, Agent Kallus paced to and fro, growing more and more impatient by the second. What in blazes was that damned Inquisitor doing? Did he not catch the rebels yet? Did he not realize the importance of the task they were given?
A second man came up to him. “You have an incoming message, Agent Kallus.”
“Thank you, Konstantine,” Kallus answered. He activated the central communicator, which now displayed a holo-image of the Inquisitor.
“This is the Inquisitor calling ISB-021,” the image started. “I have news regarding the Lothal rebels.”
“You finally caught them?” the ISB agent asked, eager to find out.
The Inquisitor’s face contracted into a frown. “No,” he said at last. “The rebels have temporarily eluded me, but not for long.”
Kallus was not pleased. “Need I remind you that Governor Tarkin expects us to bring this cell down within the next 72 hours? Need I remind you that as long as that they are free, they pose a threat to our security?” he pressed on. “You wouldn’t want to end up like Aresko or Grint, now, would you?”
The Inquisitor paused, forcing himself to absorb and appreciate the cruel irony of the ISB operative’s words. “No,” he said at last. “However, my pilots have reported that they were last seen going into a wormhole. I can’t say where it leads yet, but it is still open. What should we do?”
Kallus felt a grin open on his face, the same grin that was present when he fought the accursed Lasat. “Dispatch a probe droid. Find out where the rebels are hiding. If anybody is hiding them or giving them shelter, seek to destroy. Once we locate their hideout, we will come in sheer force of numbers and claim it in the name of the Empire. We will snuff the spark out before it catches fire.”
“Of course. Inquisitor out.” The image bowed and faded.
Kallus stared at the planet Lothal below, smiling. The rebels were no longer safe, even if they jumped into the wormhole. Once he found them, he would destroy the rebels’ allies and leave them at the mercy of the Grand Moff himself. There was nowhere left for them to run.
“Have you analyzed the damage yet?” Hera asked Twilight and Spike.
Twilight didn’t answer. She was deep in concentration, trying to assess the damage the craft sustained with an analysis spell. At last, she came out of her deep reverie.
“Oh, the engine’s damaged, all right,” she said. “You have a nasty crack in one of the carburetors and one of the terminals has fallen apart.”
“You can fix it, though, right?” Hera asked. She turned to face the stallions who Princess Celestia assigned to stand guard over the ship. For some reason, she was not nearly as comfortable with the guards as she was with Twilight.
“We’ll try,” Spike answered. He and Twilight had just started to unscrew the metal plating covering the engine.
“Do or do not. There is no try,” Hera responded.
“What does that even mean? How can you do something if you don’t try to do it?” Spike asked, confused.
“You see, what it means is . . . is . . .” Hera gave up. “Okay, I never understood what it meant either, but Master Yoda sure said it to Kanan a lot.”
“How did you meet Kanan, by the way?” Twilight asked curiously. She had just finished unscrewing and was now starting to tinker with the engines.
“Funny story, actually. I met him in a flophouse on Gorse. Back then, he worked odd jobs and would spend his check on the cantina, not to mention shamelessly flirt with the ladies. That is, of course, until he met me.”
“Why’s that?” Spike asked. “What happened after he met you?”
“Well, let’s just say that he finally managed to gain a purpose in life,” Hera said simply. “And as much as he would deny it back then, I knew that he was attracted to me.”
“I see,” Spike said, who was trying to figure out how the carburetors worked. “What about Ezra?”
Hera chuckled. “The first time I met that kid, he was stealing from us.”
Twilight dropped the piece of engine she was working with. “Seriously?”
“Oh yeah, he was a street rat back then. Wild, reckless, dangerous, and looking out only for himself. But it took some convincing to get him to join our cause.”
“What was he stealing from you?” Spike asked.
“Blasters, military-grade,” Hera said simply. “From what Sabine told me, he wanted to sell them on the black market. As if he would have gotten enough for them.”
“What about Zeb and Sabine?” Twilight asked, now closely inspecting the crack to the carburetor.
“As Pinkie told you, Zeb had the misfortune to witness the Empire massacre his entire race,” Hera responded. “Very few Lasats remain today, and none of them remain on Lasan, his homeworld. As for Sabine, she used to be an Imperial Academy student until a nightmarish experience in which the Empire negatively affected her family, causing her to rebel.”
“Uh-huh,” Twilight said, half-absentmindedly. She fiddled with the piece of engine. “Now, tell us about yourself. Pinkie said that you are an excellent pilot. When did you first decide that you wanted to fly ships?”
“I wanted to be a pilot ever since I was a little girl growing up during the Clone Wars,” Hera said. “My father was a freedom fighter who fought to free Ryloth from the Separatists. Unfortunately, by war’s end, the Empire had arrived, and they were worse. My father staged a rebellion that ultimately killed my mother.” She swallowed, as if holding back a painful memory. “Eventually, he became so driven by a desire to free our home that we sort of fell apart.” Twilight winced.
“I know how it feels to have a fight with someone you were close with,” she mumbled. “Hey Spike, see if the wires can reconnect for the north lateral of that terminal.”
“Huh?” Spike scratched his head in confusion.
“Fix that side,” Twilight translated.
“I wouldn’t do –“ Hera started, but Spike went ahead and did it anyway. Soon the engines started to power up, then burst. Smoke came out the opening, spraying dirt and dust all over Spike, who turned to give Twilight a very dirty look.
Twilight chuckled nervously. “In hindsight, maybe we should not have gone that route.”
Hera sighed. “This is gonna take a while.” She covered her forehead with her hand.
-break--
Rainbow Dash quietly went up to the room where Kanan had slept the previous night. Ever since yesterday, she had had a burning curiosity, one that could not be solved any other way: She wanted to know what exactly were those blue sticks that he and Ezra were carrying. All she could gather was that they were weapons of some kind.
The room was dark. And quiet. Too quiet. Rainbow stepped in carefully, taking care not to step on anything. Something glinted in the darkness like one of Rarity’s diamonds. Upon closer examination, Rainbow realized it was the same weapon that Kanan threatened to use on her the previous night. She tried to pick it up with her hooves, but found, to her dismay, that she had trouble holding it properly. At last, when she managed to get a good, firm grip on it, a thick blue solid line shot straight out of it. Rainbow couldn’t help but be amazed. She moved it around, and the weapon whirred and hummed with energy. “Whoa,” she said softly. “What is this?”
“It’s mine,” said a voice from the doorway. Alarmed, Rainbow turned around sharply to see Kanan in the doorway, hands akimbo, wearing an expression of mild displeasure and annoyance. He held out his hand, and the weapon instantly switched off and flew from Rainbow Dash to him.
“Sorry,” Rainbow mumbled softly. “I was just . . . a bit carried away . . .”
“I don’t blame you,” Kanan responded. “My apprentice had the same reaction when he first saw it.”
“Jabba?” Rainbow Dash responded.
“His name is Ezra,” Kanan said. “And yes, he too was taken in by the wonders of my lightsaber.”
“Lightsaber?” Rainbow responded. “That is what these things are called?”
Kanan nodded. “It’s also known as a laser sword, an elegant weapon for a more civilized age. At one point, there were ten thousand Jedi Knights who wielded these weapons as part of their duty to bring balance to the Force. These days, there are very few surviving Jedi. You will be hard-pressed to find anyone who is willing to draw their lightsaber out in public.”
“Why? What happened?” Rainbow Dash asked, curious.
Kanan must have decided that he made a mistake in saying that, because he started to backtrack what he just said. “I-I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said, what happened was just, just too painful for me,” he started to say. “I really don’t want to talk about it.”
“What exactly happened to all the Jedi?” Rainbow asked, now a bit confused.
“You wouldn’t understand,” Kanan said, with a touch of despair in his voice. “You weren’t even there when it happened.” He turned away. Rainbow, seeing that he was not ready to talk, turned away and was about to leave when Kanan sighed deeply.
“It was near the end of the Clone Wars,” he started, his voice shaking. Rainbow turned around to listen. “Our fellow clone troopers, the ones who fought beside us for years, suddenly turned on us and betrayed us. I watched them kill my master.” His voice broke. The pegasus could not help but feel sorry for him. “She fought beside them for years and they gunned her down in less than a minute.” He turned to face Rainbow. “I could still hear her last word to me . . . run.” He sighed again. “Later, they came for me, said they were forced to do it because of chips planted in their brains. But I don’t believe them. I’m not sure what to believe anymore.”
The story left Rainbow stunned. Speechless. Silent. She could not believe that someone would do something so . . . evil. Sure, she may have been a bit of a jerk, and sure, she may be full of herself, but after all, there was a reason she was the bearer of the Element of Loyalty. And this man, who was right next to her, was a survivor, a victim . . . of something unfathomably horrible. All Rainbow could manage was a quiet, “I’m sorry.”
Kanan sighed. “It’s okay. It’s just . . . my master was the only family I had ever known, so losing her did some pretty big emotional damage. And things went downhill for me after that, until I met Hera and the others.”
“What about Jab- I mean, Ezra?”
“Poor kid. Lost his parents to the Imperials at the age of seven. Happened right on his birthday, too. Had to survive and fight for himself on the streets for almost eight years, until he became a rebel.”
This would explain why he almost broke down in front of Celestia, Rainbow thought to herself. The whole ordeal brought back bad memories for him. “Well, just so you know, I may be a bit egotistical, but I never leave a friend hangin’,” she said. “Just tell Ezra that if he needs somepony to talk to, I’ll be willing to listen.” She turned to leave. “Oh, and Kanan?”
“Yes, Rainbow Dash?”
“I don’t suppose I could get my own lightsaber, right?”
Kanan smiled a little. “Not likely, kiddo.”
“Oh, I see.” Rainbow Dash turned and left, a bit disappointed that she would not be getting a new weapon to show off to her friends. -break--
Elsewhere, Pinkie Pie was giving Zeb a personal tour of Ponyville, hopping around while the Lasat followed her with his Bo-Rifle. Frankly, Zeb marveled that the pink pony could have so much energy and managed to have a positive outlook on almost anything.
“… and this is Sugarcube Corner, where I live and work,” Pinkie was saying, pointing to a building shaped like a cross between a loaf of bread and a cupcake with her bushy tail. “Oh, I haven’t introduced you to Gummy yet! Wait here!” She ran off.
“Oh, karabast,” Zeb sighed. He activated his comlink. “Spectre-4 to Spectre-5. Do you copy?”
“I read you loud and clear, Specter-4.” Sabine’s voice came out over the comlink.
“I don’t suppose you are finished with . . . whatever it is that you are doing, right?” Zeb responded.
“Not even close. Why?”
“The pink one is starting to get on my nerves.” He honestly felt that he could not take much more of this. Any minute now his innards would melt from her cheerful sappiness.
“Oh come now, darling,” said a completely new but somehow familiar voice. “Sure, Pinkie Pie may be a bit hyper, but she’s just trying to help.”
“Rarity has a point,” Sabine added. “Besides, after what the Imperials put you through, it’s about time you actually had a bit of good cheer.”
“The only thing that would make me happy is knocking some bucketheads together,” Zeb mumbled. Then he realized he must have said it out loud, because he added as an afterthought, “But I suppose I could to get along with her. I mean, what harm could there possibly be?”
“Zeb!” Pinkie’s voice rang out from the entrance of the bakery.
“Oh karabast,” Zeb said. “Gotta go!” He signed out on the comlink and ran over to where Pinkie was standing. She had a baby alligator standing on her back. At once, he could see why the gator’s name was Gummy: The alligator had no teeth whatsoever.
“Isn’t he adorable?” Pinkie asked, giving Zeb a cute smile.
“Uhhh . . . sure?” Zeb asked.
Pinkie’s smile widened. “Thanks.” She put her ear to Gummy’s jaws as if he were whispering something to her. “Gummy says he likes you.”
“Uhhh . . . thanks, Gummy,” Zeb responded, obviously at a loss for anything else to say. He felt a bit silly talking to something that he wasn’t even sure was capable of speech yet. “So . . . I don’t suppose there is anywhere else left in the city you’d like to show me, do you?”
“Well, I was going to show you my family’s rock farm,” Pinkie said slowly, “but I think that can wait till later, because I want to show you the Apple family farm! Who knows, we could even say hello to Applejack!”
“Uh, sure, why not?” Zeb agreed. “Let’s go there right now, if you want!”
A few minutes later, the pair were making their way through the marketplace. As Zeb passed by, ponies stopped to gaze at him, and Zeb had to fight the urge to yell at or strangle them. Every time he voiced his concerns to Pinkie, she just told him to pay no mind and just keep going, which, in his opinion, was easier said than done.
At last, they went down a dirt path that led out of the city. Pinkie was hopping and chatting about what her life on the rock farm was like. Zeb felt a bit bored; it had been a long time since he had beaten up any stormtroopers. Just then something caught the corner of his eye. He took a look at Pinkie, and trusting that she would be wise enough to stay out of the way, stole off the path he was going and hid behind a large coniferous tree. He peeked around and what he saw next made his jaw drop in terror.
A large, floating, jellyfish-like robot was floating right in front of him. Zeb unsheathed his Bo-Rifle and turned into a gun. He had known these robots all too well on Lothal: they were Imperial probe droids.
Zeb’s finger went to the trigger of his weapon. One well-placed shot and the droid would be no more. He aimed his weapon . . . steady now . . . ready . . . aim . . .
“ZEB!”
The sheer force of the outburst caught him off-guard, and the Bo-Rifle went off. Zeb turned to see that Pinkie had somehow caught up with him and his hideout even though he knew for a fact that it was a long way between her last known position and where both of them were now. Zeb looked back. The probe droid was wildly scanning the area, looking for the source of the noise and the shot. After a while, however, it decided it must have been interpreting things incorrectly, and went back to doing its reconnaissance. Zeb sighed with relief, then turned angrily to Pinkie.
“Karabast! What do you think you are doing?” he whispered furiously to her. “And how did you get here so quickly?”
Pinkie smiled innocently. “Oh Zeb, it’s one of my abilities; I can pop out of anywhere at any time.”
Zeb stared at her in confusion. “Seriously?”
“Uh huh!” Pinkie nodded. “I also can interact with whoever is reading this right now!”
Zeb’s jaw dropped so that he looked even more clueless than usual. He quickly got ahold of himself and motioned to the probe droid. “You see that?”
Pinkie’s eyes followed to where Zeb was pointing. Her eyes alighted with excitement. “Oooh! Who is that? Another one of your rebel friends?”
“I . . . wha . . . of course not!” he hissed. “It is not one of ours!”
Pinkie waved a hoof dismissively. “Oh, silly, maybe we can make him into a friend! Here, hold Gummy for me!” She took off and landed in front of the probe droid. “Hi there! My name is Pinkie Pie! Who are you?”
The droid hovered in front of her, as if assessing and analyzing her. Then, almost without warning, it started shooting lasers at the pink pony, who was scrambling frantically to get out of the way.
“Why-are-you-such-a-big-meanie?” she wailed, as the probe droid started to switch to multi-fire mode. Zeb, having had enough, and not wanting her to get hurt, got out of hiding and yelled, “OI! OVER HERE!” The droid took the bait and started attacking Zeb with all its firepower. But not for nothing was Garazeb Orrelios the Captain of the Lasan Honor Guard. He rolled out of the way and started shooting at the droid. At last, one of the shots hit the probe droid, disabling it.
After they both caught their breath, Pinkie was staring from the droid to Zeb and back again, and finally said, “What was that?”
“I was trying to tell you,” Zeb snarled. “It was an Imperial probe droid, sent most likely by Agent Kallus to discern if there was a rebel presence here.”
“That thing was Imperial?” Pinkie’s eyes widened in shock, as the implications of her actions set in. “That means . . .”
“The Empire now knows that there is a rebel presence in Ponyville, Equestria,” Zeb finished grimly.
Still no response. Fluttershy nudged the young Padawan with her hoof. At last, the boy woke up, groaning. Ezra stretched himself as soon as he got up. He had just experienced one of the weirdest things to have ever happened to him. He looked around to see that he was in the middle of a field surrounded by all sorts of woodland creatures, from bears to birds to bunnies.
“F-Fluttershy?” he asked groggily. “W-what just happened?”
“You mean you don’t even know?” Fluttershy asked, a bit concerned. Ezra shook his head. “Well, you just passed out without giving any warning. So I brought you here to see if my friends could help you.”
“Your . . . friends?” he asked, turning to see all the animals around him. Just in the distance stood a cottage, which he also assumed was Fluttershy’s. Something was tapping at his feet. He looked down to see a small bunny, who was staring back at him curiously.
“Say hello to my pet, Angel Bunny,” Fluttershy said, smiling.
“Um . . . hi?” Ezra waved at Angel, giving him a nervous grin. The bunny continued to stare back at him with curiosity. Ezra faced Fluttershy. “These are your friends?”
Fluttershy nodded. “I don’t know if I mentioned this before, but I have the ability to communicate with all kinds of woodland creatures.”
“Really?” Ezra asked, interested. “I can kinda do the same thing too, only with the Force.”
“The Force?” Fluttershy asked, curious.
“The Force is this mystical life energy which binds all living things together,” Ezra started. “There are certain people known as Force-sensitives who are capable of performing feats that normal people aren’t. For example-“ He faced a wooden log and held out his hand, trying to concentrate. The log budged a little, then eventually floated up into the air, unsupported by anything. All the creatures turned to watch in amazement, even Angel. Fluttershy herself looked amazed. “Whoa,” she whispered, awestruck.
“Mhm.” Ezra lowered the log back into place. “And that’s not all.” He took off into a running start, and jumped into the air, eventually landing on the roof of the cottage. Fluttershy was watching him, even more impressed. “Careful,” she warned him, as he started to slide down the roof, eventually landing on the ground.
“And here is something that Kanan taught me. It’s called a Jedi Mind Trick.” He went up to Angel, placed two fingers in front of the bunny, and said clearly, “You will go into the log right now.”
Angel turned up his nose and looked away, crossing his arms.
“You WILL go in the log now,” Ezra repeated, more firmly.
Still the bunny refused.
“You WILL go into the log NOW,” Ezra repeated, even more firmly.
The bunny smacked Ezra’s hand and hopped away.
“Sorry about Angel,” Fluttershy said nervously. “He’s usually a good bunny, but sometimes he can be a bit temperamental. Especially around strangers.”
“That’s okay,” Ezra replied, shaking his hand to alleviate the pain. “I think it still needs practice anyway. I mean, I haven’t found time to do much anyway, what with battling the Empire and all.” He turned to face her. “And I want to apologize for Chopper’s behavior yesterday. He’s a good robot overall, but sometimes, he can be a real sleemo.”
Though Fluttershy did not know what the word meant, she could tell from Ezra’s tone that it was not a very nice thing to call someone. “That’s okay. I mean, it’s not like he was an actual creature anyway.” She sat down. “So your passing out, I’m guessing it had something to do with the Force?”
Ezra nodded. “I just came out of a Force vision.”
“Force-sensitives also can experience visions?”
“Uh huh. I just had a particularly disturbing one involving the Inquisitor, TIE fighters attacking, and Star Destroyers over Ponyville.” He turned to see a look of confusion on the pegasus’s face. “And I may be wrong, but I think I saw you and your friends battling him while wearing . . . pieces of jewelry?”
“The Elements of Harmony,” Fluttershy muttered.
“Come again?” Ezra asked.
“The Elements of Harmony,” Fluttershy repeated, louder this time. “They are these necklaces that embody one aspect of harmony. They were given to us by Princess Celestia. For example, I am the spirit of the Element of Kindness. Rainbow Dash embodies Loyalty, Rarity is Generosity, Pinkie Pie is Laughter, Applejack is Honesty, and Twilight is Friendship and Harmony.”
“That sounds pretty amazing,” Ezra admitted. “I’ve heard that you and your friends have had adventures of your own. Care to tell me about them?”
Fluttershy grinned. --break— “Are you sure this will look all right on me?” Sabine’s voice came from behind the curtain.
“Nonsense, Sabine darling,” Rarity responded. “I’m sure it will. And if something is out of place, I will be sure to inform you.”
Sabine sighed from behind the curtain. “Okay, here goes nothing.” She drew back the curtain. And what Rarity saw next made her open her mouth in delight.
Sabine’s hair was now dyed a brilliant purple, which somehow went very well with her eyes. Her Mandolorian armor, meanwhile, was now bedecked with all kinds of diamonds. She stepped out of the modeling space, worried eyes on the white unicorn’s. “Well?” “Magnifique, darling,” Rarity said. “Now, let us see what we can-“
Just then, Sabine’s comlink turned on. “Spectre-4 to Spectre-5. Do you copy?”
Sabine motioned for Rarity to be a bit quieter, then turned the comlink on. “I read you loud and clear, Spectre-4.”
“I don’t suppose you are finished with . . . whatever it is that you are doing, right?” Zeb’s voice responded.
Sabine glanced at Rarity, who shook her head violently. “Not even close. Why?”
“The pink one is starting to get on my nerves.” The annoyance was as clear as crystal in Zeb’s voice.
“Oh come now, darling,” Rarity spoke into the comlink. “Sure, Pinkie Pie may be a bit hyper, but she’s just trying to help.”
“Rarity has a point,” Sabine agreed, looking at a beaming Rarity. “Besides, after what the Imperials put you through, it’s about time you actually had a bit of good cheer.”
“The only thing that would make me happy is knocking some bucketheads together,” Zeb’s voice muttered audibly. He evidently must have realized the channel was still on, because he backtracked, “But I suppose I could stand to get along with her. I mean, what harm could there possibly be?” The two girls smiled at each other.
Somewhere in the distance on the other end, Pinkie’s voice rang out. “Zeb!”
“Oh karabast. Gotta go!” And with that, he signed off. Sabine and Rarity looked at each other, then burst out laughing.
After they had finally stopped laughing, Rarity asked, “What did these Imperials you speak of put your friend through?”
Sabine turned to her. “Your friend may have mentioned it in passing when she first met us, but Zeb witnessed the Empire cleanse his entire homeworld.” Rarity gasped. “Oh, it only gets better from there. The instruments used to destroy the Lasats were disruptors that were only intended to take down starships. I know this because we encountered those weapons a while back.”
“Terrible, just terrible,” Rarity managed to finally say.
"Want to know what's worse?" Sabine continued. "Sometimes, they don't even follow their own rules. The genocide forced the Senate to make the weapons illegal, and yet we found out that some Imperials were trying to mass-produce them on Lothal."
"Well, the sooner those ruffians get overthrown, the better," Rarity said. "I don't see how they were able to stay in power for this long."
"Yeah, you and me both," Sabine agreed. "You should see how terrible the stormtroopers' aim is."
"How bad is it?" asked Rarity, fighting hard to suppress laughter.
"Well, put it this way," Sabine said. "You can stand right in front of them and they would still miss every shot they throw at you."
"It's that bad, then?" Rarity continued, now smiling with glee.
"Yeah," Sabine continued, equally amused. "It's that terrible."
Just then, a young unicorn with a purple-and-pink mane came in, "Rarity, would you mind making some dresses for my-" She stopped, evidently taken aback by the presence of the newcomer. Sabine likewise registered the appearance of the new arrival. For a long time, no one spoke. Finally, Rarity said, "Sabine, allow me to introduce you to my sister, Sweetie Belle. Sweetie Belle, this is my guest, Sabine Wren."
"Hi, Sweetie Belle," Sabine said.
"Hi, Sabine," Sweetie Belle returned. "Rarity, would you mind making some dresses for my school play that's coming up for the end of this month?"
"Of course, dear," Rarity answered sweetly. "Just let me finish up with Sabine."
"Okay," Sweetie Belle said. "I'll just wait. In the meantime, I will contact the other Crusaders and see what they want to do." She exited the room.
Sabine looked at Rarity. "She's your sister?" Rarity nodded. "Huh, I guess I see the resemblance." She admired herself in the mirror.
Rarity spoke up. "Sabine, I heard Ezra tell me over breakfast this morning that you are an amazing artist. Would you care to show me some of your artwork and maybe even teach me how to paint?"
Sabine beamed, pleased that someone had recognized her artistic talent. "I thought you would never ask." --break-- "Okay, Chopper," Applejack said as both of them traversed up Sweet Apple Acres, "ah want ya to be on yer best behavior with the rest of mah family. Don' even think of playing pranks on anypony while we are here, 'kay?"
Chopper let out a groan which Applejack swore translated to a reluctant "Okay".
"And try not tah hurt any of mah family while we're here, 'kay?" the earth pony continued. "Ah'm pretty sure Hera would not like tha'." Chopper let out another reluctant groan.
When they reached the front door of Apple family house, Applejack opened the front door. "Big Macintosh! Apple Bloom! Granny Smith! Come here! I wanna show y'all a new friend o'mine!"
Three ponies who Chopper never saw before entered the room. One was big red stallion with an orange mane with a green apple cutie mark, another was a much smaller pony with green fur and a bow in her mane, and the third was a green elderly mare. All three of them looked with an intense curiosity at Chopper, who looked at the newcomers with a bit of considerable distress.
"Applejack?" the pony with the bow in her mane asked. "What is that?" She pointed to Chopper, who growled in displeasure at being referred to as an object.
"Apple Bloom, say hello to Chopper. He's an astromech who'll be staying here in Ponyville for some time," Applejack answered. "Chopper, say hello to mah l'il sister, Apple Bloom."
Chopper grunted a greeting.
"And that is mah Granny Smith"-Applejack motioned to the elderly stallion, who waved with her hoof-"and mah brother, Big Mac."
"Eeyup," Big Mac responded.
Chopper let out a long low warble, which Applejack translated, "Chopper says, 'You don' say much, do you, Big Mac?'"
"Nope," Big Mac responded.
"Anyways," said Granny Smith, "we was just goin' out fer our afternoon apple-bucking. Want ter join us?"
Chopper let out a series of short, quick beeps which Applejack conveyed. "Chop wants to know what apple-bucking is."
"C'mon, we'll show ya!" Apple Bloom raced out the front door. Granny Smith, Applejack, and Big Mac soon followed, with Chopper eventually joining.
When they were in the orchard, the three ponies each stood in front of a tree full of apples. Applejack said to Chopper, "Okay, now, apple-bucking is basically tryin’ tah collect as many apples as possible fer the harvest season. Basically, what you do is this." She kicked the tree with both of her back legs. Instantly, a shower of apples fell down. "Now you try."
Chopper tried to do the buck the apples off the tree he was in front of, but found, to his frustration, that not a single apple fell. Applejack laughed heartily.
"Aw, shoot, I don' blame yah. This kinda work needs strong back muscles an' yer just too hollow to pull it off right." Chopper let out a series of displeased beeps at Applejack.
Just then a loud, snide voice came from over the hill. "Well, well, if it isn't the blank flank and her family doing country work! Trying to rake in more apples, I suppose?"
Two ponies, who Chopper had never seen before in his lifespan, had come up the side of the hill. One of them was a pale magenta pony with a grayish violet mane with white streaks wearing a crown on her head. The other was a cornflower bluish gray pony with an azureish gray mane wearing glasses. At the sight of their appearances, Apple Bloom stopped bucking apples and glared menacingly at the two arrivals.
“What do ya want, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon?” she started. “Can’t ya see we’re tyin’ tah work here?”
“Oh, we just heard rumors that you had a new friend over, so we wanted to see if he or she wanted to join our group,” the pony named Silver Spoon said. She then noticed Chopper, who registered her appearance with heavy disapproval. “I’m guessing that’s the one?”
“He has a name,” Applejack responded warningly. “His name is Chopper.”
The other pony, who Chopper assumed was called Diamond Tiara, went up to him and circled him in examination. “Well, I don’t see a cutie mark for this one. I guess that makes him . . . a blank flank!” The two fillies laughed at Chopper, who was now grunting dangerously.
“Why in tarnation would yah expect him to have a cutie mark?” Applejack asked Diamond Tiara. “He’s not even a pony to start with!”
“Oooh!” the two fillies said. “Wait till everypony finds out about this!” Their laughter increased in intensity. But by then, Chopper had had enough. With some difficulty, he rolled up to Diamond Tiara and gave her the same electric shock that he gave Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy. Diamond Tiara, evidently taken aback by the astromech’s behavior, called to Silver Spoon, “Let’s get out of here!” The two bullies ran down the side of the hill and disappeared. The members of the Apple family looked on with varying degrees of surprise at Chopper, who was very pleased with himself, but none were quite as shocked as Applejack, who could not believe that she had witnessed the astromech’s antics for the third time in a row in two days.
Ah probably shoulda asked Fluttershy if ah coulda had Ezra, she thought to herself. Ah especially wanted to find out what was wrong with him back at Canterlot. But instead, ah have to put up with this one.
For a long time, nopony spoke. Then Apple Bloom went to Chopper and said, “That was awesome!” Applejack shot her sister a look of confusion.
“You kiddin’ me, l’il sister?” she asked.
“Uh-uh!” Apple Bloom replied. “I think I know what to do if them bullies ever bother me, Scootaloo, an’ Sweetie Belle: just threaten to call up this here astromech! Can we please keep him while he stays here in Ponyville?”
“Ah don’t know,” Applejack said uneasily. “Big Mac, what do you think? Should Chopper stay with us?”
“Eeyup,” said Big Mac simply.
Applejack sighed. “Okay, I know ah will regret this, but fine. Chopper can be with us.”
Apple Bloom jumped up and down in victory while Chopper spun his top around on the spot. “Wup wup! Wup wup!” --break— Night had fallen, blanketing all of Equestria in a cloak of darkness. The Imperial shuttle landed on the edge of the Everfree forest. The front hatch opened and the Inquisitor exited the shuttle followed by a squadron of stormtroopers, red lightsaber ignited and possessed of a cold, calm sense of purpose that preceded murder. His prey was here; the Force had told him so.
“You there,” he ordered the captain of the squadron. “Locate the rebel craft. The Jedi cannot be far behind.”
“Yes, sir,” the captain said. He and two other troopers quickly departed.
The Inquisitor froze and paid attention to the movement in the Force. He was not alone; he could sense six other beings nearby. And they were not the rebels.
“I sense a presence,” he started out loud, “one that we have not encountered before.” He paused, paying attention. Immediately he extended the hand that did not have his lightsaber.
At the Ghost, the guard stallions were moving restlessly, constantly on the alert for any suspicious activity. Eventually, one of them spoke.
“Anything so far, Lord McIntosh?”
“Nothing yet, Sir Hoofsalot,” the other said, pawing nervously at the ground. “I don’t suppose you think that-“
The stallion never got to finish his sentence, for in that moment, as if manipulated by invisible puppet strings, he rose up into the air, eyes bulging in terror. What in Tartarus was going on? Who was doing this? Suddenly, without the barest hint of a warning, he felt something invisible compress around his throat. Struggling to breathe, he put his hooves at his throat. The other guards looked at their companion in horror. What in all of Equestria was doing this?
“Warn . . . Celestia . . . “ Lord McIntosh managed to choke out. “Rebels . . . in . . . danger . . . “
That was all he managed to say, before he dropped onto the ground and crumpled, unmistakably dead.
The remaining stallions stood around, gathering around their fallen comrade in fear, when suddenly laser blasts appeared out of nowhere. Sir Hoofsalot turned around to see three bipedal creatures wearing bone-white armor heading straight for them, blasters at the ready.
“Hold it right there!” one of them shouted.
“Who are you?” Sir Hoofsalot shouted back. “On whose authority are you here?”
“On Supreme Emperor Palpatine’s,” replied the armored man. “We claim this place in the name of the Empire.”
“Equestria will never bow to the likes of you!” shouted Hoofsalot. “Come on, men! To Canterlot!” The remaining stallions took to flight and disappeared into the night sky, while the stormtroopers’ blasters shot blasts everywhere that didn’t even connect with their intended targets. “Leave them.” The stormtroopers stopped firing as the Inquisitor’s cold, cruel voice reverberated throughout the night. “They are the perfect messengers to show their fellows of our power. Soon, the rebels and their allies will be within our grasp.” He turned to the captain. “Contact Agent Kallus. Tell him to assemble to a full strike force for an assault.” The captain bowed and left for the shuttle. The Inquisitor turned to the other two troopers. “You two, contact the Sixth Sister and the Eighth Brother. We have Jedi to hunt.” The other two hurried off after him. The Inquisitor addressed the remaining troopers at large, “Scour the nearby cities. Leave no settlement unchecked. If anyone is hiding these rebels, show no mercy. They are now prisoners of the Galactic Empire.” They all scattered.
The Inquisitor turned to the Ghost, and, red saber in hand, thrust it into the side of the ship, smiling. How foolish the Jedi and his Padawan were, to think that they could be safe here from him! He, who had bested them on Stygeon Prime and who had almost captured them in the old Clone Wars base! And now there was nowhere left for them to run. He would execute the Jedi, convert his Padawan to the Dark Side, and place this meaningless world under the Empire’s rule for all time.
Kanan groaned, rubbing at his temples. “I’m fine. I just felt a great disturbance in the Force.”
“What do you mean?” Spike continued curiously.
“I felt . . . as if an enemy from my past, someone we had just battled, has found us here,” Kanan said. “It felt so familiar . . . but who is it?” Spike kept quiet, unsure of what to say.
The gang was all back at the library. Celestia’s sunlight had graced the morning and filled every inch of the room with its warmth. Twilight was poring over the schematics of the Ghost, her pet owl Owlowiscious perched right beside her on the floor. Pinkie was curled up into a ball, rocking herself back and forth on the floor with dread. Zeb, for his part, kept stealing shifty, nervous looks at Hera, who seemed to be deep in conversation with Applejack at the moment.
“And did Chopper behave as he promised, Applejack?” Hera was asking.
“More or less,” Applejack replied.
Hera raised an eyebrow. “More or less? Are you certain?”
“Would ah lie to you?” the cowgirl replied; as the Element of Honesty, she found it near-impossible to tell any lies. Well, she had lied while under Discord’s influence, but that was another story.
Hera didn’t say anything. “Okay, if you say so,” she said at last. Applejack breathed a sigh of relief. She had not been looking forward to diving down into specifics.
Ezra lay down on the floor besides Twilight. “Whatcha lookin’ at, Twi?”
“The plans for your ship,” Twilight responded. “Spike and I had a mishap yesterday, so now I’m studying the plans so I don’t delay repairs any further.”
“I see.” He noticed the owl beside her. “Who’s your pet?”
“Hoo?” the owl responded, looking at Ezra.
“I’m talking to you,” Ezra told the owl.
“Hoo?” the owl responded, yet again.
“You,” Ezra repeated, now impatient.
“Hoo?” the owl repeated.
Ezra was about to repeat his answer in exasperation when Twilight interrupted, “Ezra, this is my pet owl, Owlowiscious. Owlowiscious, this is Ezra, our guest.”
“Hoo?” the owl asked, curiously.
Ezra was about to open his mouth, but then changed his mind and said, “You know what? Never mind.” He plopped down on the floor and started to explain to Twilight the different parts of the ship.
Meanwhile, from the base of the stairs, Rainbow Dash was watching Ezra intently. The boy had not known that she knew what happened to his parents. And until the time was right, she was going to keep it that way.
“What are you looking at, Rainbow Dash?”
Sabine had just come downstairs. Rainbow had just enough time to register her new appearance, which was, in her opinion, bizarre. Well, I see somepony’s been hanging out with Rarity, she thought to herself.
“Oh, nothing,” she lied. Sabine narrowed her eyes.
“It’s Ezra, isn’t it?”
Rainbow Dash sighed. “Okay, you got me. Kanan told me what happened to his parents. And I just wanted to say I’m very sorry about what happened.”
“That’s nothing,” Sabine replied. “You should have seen what the Empire did to my family.”
“What exactly did the Empire do to your family?” Rainbow asked.
Sabine was about to open her mouth in reply when Spike suddenly burped out another letter in green fire. He opened it, scanned it, and passed it over to Kanan. “This should interest you,” Spike said simply.
Kanan read the contents of the letter to himself, a look of fear blossoming forth in his eyes as he did so, the same look of fear that appeared in Twilight’s the previous day. “Oh no,” he said at last. “It’s worse than I imagined.”
“What is it, love?” Hera asked.
“Celestia wants another audience with us,” Kanan said. “Apparently, one of her guards was killed last night while patrolling the Ghost. She wants to know why and how this happened.” At this, Zeb and Pinkie exchanged nervous glances. Neither of them had the courage to come forth about their encounter with the probe droid, and neither of them was sure if this was the right time to do so.
“How was the guard killed?” asked Fluttershy, now a bit apprehensive.
“That’s the thing,” Kanan continued. “The guards can’t really explain. According to this letter, the victim was levitated up into the air and choked, but nobody was actually there.” He faced the rest of his team. “I think we all know what this means.” The rebels murmured in assent.
“What does this mean, exactly?” asked Applejack, plopping herself down beside Ezra.
“The Empire knows we are here, Applejack, which means it’s far too risky to keep staying with you,” Sabine clarified. “We need to leave as soon as we can, or else innocent people-er,ponies-will start dying. We already lost one; we are not ready for the death toll to keep rising.”
“Oh, come on!” Rainbow Dash interceded. “Where’s your sense of adventure? I bet I could take those jokers on without even breaking a sweat!”
“I appreciate the misplaced foolishness,” Zeb started, “but these Imperials are more dangerous than anything you could have possibly faced before! You have no idea what they are capable of!”
“Zeb’s right, Rainbow,” Ezra agreed. “You haven’t seen the size of their fleet. I doubt that you and your friends could do so much as a dent against their navy.”
“It doesn’t matter who is right or not,” Kanan interrupted. “Right now, we need to see Celestia so that she can find us a quicker way to get offworld. I suggest we leave immediately.”
Hours later, the Ponyville train disembarked at the station and everyone got out. They trudged up a short distance up to the castle, where Princess Celestia and Luna stood waiting for them at the front door, right next to the Phantom. After the rebels paid their respects, they all went to the throne room. The princesses turned to the rebels, and at last, Celestia spoke.
“You got my letter, I assume?” she asked, addressing Kanan.
Kanan nodded. “We’re sorry to hear of his death. But we believe that this will be the first of many in the days to follow.”
“What do you mean?” Luna asked.
“The Empire has tracked us here,” Kanan continued. “Once they arrive, they will bomb this whole country into submission. And our ship has not yet been fixed. If there is any way to get us out of here faster-“
“But there isn’t,” Luna cut him off. “All methods of interdimensional travel have been cut off as soon you informed us of the Empire’s imminent arrival. Unless-“
“The wormhole,” Sabine suddenly said. Fourteen pairs of eyes stared back at her, some curiously, some demanding an explanation.
“What do you mean, Sabine?” Hera asked.
“Sometime before we crashed in Equestria, I noticed that a wormhole opened us in front of us just before we entered hyperspeed,” Sabine explained, rather ashamedly. “I was about to warn you, but we jumped before I could get the chance.” Hera put an assuring arm around her.
“It’s okay,” she assured her. “You did fine. The only question remains as to how they were able to track us that quickly. It should have taken at least three days, given the size of this place.”
“Yeah, I’ve been wondering the same thing, too,” Ezra said.
For a long time, no one spoke. Zeb coughed, then said, rather nervously, “Funny story about that, actually . . . “
“Zeb?” Hera asked. “What did you do?”
“I didn’t do anything!” Zeb protested. “We came across a probe droid the other day and Pinkie may have gone near it . . .”
“WHAT?!?” the other rebels shouted.
“I tried to restrain her, okay?” the Lasat defended himself.
“Garazeb Orrelios!” Hera angrily shouted.
Nobody laughed this time; there was no mistaking the anger and deep-seated disappointment reflected in Hera’s voice. Pinkie shot nervous looks at the rest of the team, some of whom were glaring at her, others just shaking their heads in disappointment. At last, she took a deep breath.
"Don’t be mad at Zeb,” she said at last. “It’s mainly my fault, I thought the droid was one of yours, and I guess I may have been a bit too eager to befriend it. I really didn’t know where it came from.” She shrank.
Hera glared at Pinkie Pie. For a long time, no one spoke. Then, Sabine started, “Hera, these Imperials are persistent. Even without Zeb and Pinkie, they would have found us.”
“Art thou saying that it was the Empire that killed Lord McIntosh?” Luna asked Sabine.
Sabine nodded. “It was. Most likely, it was the Inquisitor.”
Kanan snapped his fingers. “I thought that disturbance was familiar!”
“What is this . . . Inquisitor?” Celestia asked.
“The Inquisitor is this Imperial darksider who is tasked by the Empire to hunt down any surviving Jedi,” Ezra said, turning to Kanan. “We’ve encountered him for, what, three times?”
“Gosh,” Fluttershy said, a bit fearful, “he doesn’t sound like a very nice person.”
“Believe us, that would be an understatement,” Sabine replied.
“And now, if he has found us, it means that the full force of the Empire is going to be right behind him,” Zeb added. He turned to the princesses. “Is there any emergency plan of evacuation that you have in store for your subjects?”
“Yes,” Luna responded. “Come with us.” The princesses turned to leave with the rebels. The six ponies attempted to follow, but Celestia turned to face them. “I’m sorry, Twilight, but I am afraid that this time, you and your friends have to stay put. This is beyond what you and your friends have faced until now.”
Twilight opened her mouth in protest. “But-“
“No buts,” Celestia repeated firmly. “Spike, see to it that they stay right here.” Spike bowed and said, “Yes, Princess.”
And with that, the others left, slamming the door behind them. Rainbow paced back and forth, obviously annoyed at not being allowed to do anything. “Well, this stinks!” she finally erupted. “We’ve saved Equestria many times over, and now we’re being treated like we can’t even handle an entire invasion! Who do these rebels think they are?”
“Rainbow Dash, that’s not the case,” Spike argued. “Kanan and his crew obviously have better experience with these Imperials, so it’s better that you girls sit this one out this time.”
“But why?” Rainbow shot back. “We’ve taken down the freakin’ spirit of Chaos, for Celestia’s sake!”
“Only after a failed attempt or so, and need ah remind you, you wasn’t bein’ very cooperative either!” Applejack snorted.
“Oh come on! He tricked me into thinking Cloudsdale was falling apart! Can you really blame me?” Rainbow replied.
“Girls,” Rarity started, but her interruption was lost in the ensuing argument.
“From what I hear,” Rainbow continued, rather heatedly, “you have been acting like a chronic liar. I mean, fighting Discord single-hooved? How is that even possible?”
“Girls,” said Rarity, almost yelling. Twilight could feel the rage building up in her blood. She hadn’t felt this angry since she was forced to accept that there was no scientific explanation for the Pinkie Sense.
“And what about you, Fluttershy?” Rainbow turned on the yellow pegasus. “Weren’t you the one who was acting like a complete brute while Discord had you under his spell?” Fluttershy whimpered; those few moments that she was forced to act like the complete opposite of her true self were some of the worst of her life thus far.
“Hey!” Pinkie Pie intervened. “That’s not very nice!”
“That’s a lot of talk, coming from the grump,” Rainbow Dash snapped. “You have been really cheerful to the rest of your compatriots while I was away ‘protecting Cloudsdale’.”
Twilight could no longer contain her fury. She flew into the air, flames erupting all over her body, and yelled, “ENOUGH!” The ponies stopped arguing amongst themselves and looked up at their friend, sheer terror etched in their faces. Even Spike looked up at her in shock, stumbled backward, and said, “Uh oh! Rapidash is back!”
“Twilight, please calm down!” Rarity implored, now positively sweating in fear.
After burning up for a few minutes, Twilight’s body started to simmer down as the fires died out. She took a deep breath, then said, with an air of strained, forced calm, “Sorry. But Kanan and Celestia made it very clear that we’re not to go after this Inquisitor. I mean, if that’s what killed Celestia’s guard, then who knows how we would fare against it?”
“But, Twilight, just think,” Rainbow interrupted. “If we take down this Inquisitor now, then the Empire won’t be able to come to Equestria, and Kanan will thank us for doing his work for him!”
Twilight raised an eyebrow suspiciously. “And just when have things been that easy, Rainbow Dash?”
Rainbow paused. She would not admit it, of course, but Twilight had a point. In every one of their challenges thus far, they have had a major obstacle. And who’s to say that this would not be as hard as the others?
But, as always, her pride and eagerness for battle overtook her senses, and she said, somewhat dismissively, “Suit yourself, Twi. But you are surely going to miss out on a lot!” And with that, she took off out of the great doors of the palace, leaving behind a rainbow-colored trail. “Rainbow Dash!” Twilight called after her. But she did not look back. Twilight sighed. She had been foolish to think that her friend’s eagerness for battle would not get the better of her. Reluctantly, the purple unicorn turned to the remainder of her friends. “Well, what do you think? Should we stay here, or should we go after her?”
The four ponies looked at each other uncertainly. At last, Applejack said, “Well, ah don’t feel good about this, but if Rainbow Dash wants ter have a go at the Inquisitor, the very least we can do is at least be there for backup.” The other ponies murmured in assent.
“But girls!” Spike protested. “Kanan! Celestia!”
“Sorry, Spikey-poo,” Rarity said. “We have already made up our minds.”
“But if we are going after her,” Twilight insisted, “then the least we can do is get the Elements of Harmony. I have a feeling we will need them this time.”
“All right,” Rarity agreed.
Spike opened his mouth to protest again, but it was too late. The remaining five ponies had teleported themselves away from the castle with a teleportation spell. Spike slumped down on the floor and sighed. He could only imagine the world of hurt that would ensue from both the fight and the displeasure the girls would receive from Kanan and the crew later.
A few minutes later, the five ponies met up with Rainbow Dash outside the crashed wreck of the Ghost, each bearing her respective Element. Twilight handed the necklace of the Element of Loyalty to Rainbow Dash, who motioned to the corpse of Lord McIntosh with her hoof. At once, Twilight knew at once why the death was unusual: There was no sign of any cuts, burns, or any other indicators of injury; in fact, the victim looked perfectly healthy-aside from the fact that he was dead, of course.
“What do you think did this?” Rainbow Dash asked Twilight, now studying the corpse intently.
“I don’t know,” she said. “But something was here earlier. And it feels . . . cold.”
All of a sudden, Pinkie’s entire body started shaking. To the unfamiliar viewer, this would have come off as weird, but Twilight knew that the Pinkie Sense was acting up again.
“Pinkie’s picking up something,” she noted. “But what is it?”
“I don’t know,” Pinkie noted. “But whatever it is, it is sure is gonna be a doozy.”
“How perceptive,” drawled a cold, emotionless voice that made everypony’s fur stand up on end. They all turned to see a new figure approach them slowly. The newcomer wore a gray bodysuit complete with black armor and boots. His gray face sported red tattoos and his yellowed teeth were bared in a hideous, wolflike smile. And his eyes- Twilight had never seen anypony, or anyone, with eyes like that- were black, the pupils of which were gold with blood-red rims. In his right hand, he carried a disk-like instrument with a handle. At last, Twilight found the courage within herself to face him. “Who are you?” she asked.
“You don’t know?” the newcomer responded. “Let’s change that. I am the Inquisitor.” He ignited the instrument in his hand, and a long red blade came out. “I came here looking for Jedi to hunt. Instead, I get to have the pleasure of dealing with you.”
“Oh, you mean Kanan? He’s not the Jedi you are looking for,” Pinkie chuckled nervously. Rarity shot her a quelling look.
“Yes, I bet you have,” Rainbow Dash replied, eagerly looking to battle him. “It’s like losing a few bits and getting a whole treasure chest of them.”
The Inquisitor chuckled coldly. “If you say so. Show me what you can do.” He held his blade in a defensive stance, nostrils dilating in anticipation.
“Of course,” Rainbow Dash grinned. “All right, girls! Let’s show him how we deal with creeps like him, Ponyville style!”
The Elements activated to release a powerful rainbow that was headed straight for the Inquisitor, but he was ready. He held up the blade in front of him as soon as the rainbow came closer and blocked it. After the rainbow collided with the saber, the Inquisitor struggled to keep his footing, and, what seemed like a costly effort, sent it back at the six ponies right in front of him, who all crumpled against the Ghost. The Inquisitor flashed them a nasty grin as they struggled to regain their footing.
“Is that all you’ve got, ladies?” he said. “I really expected more of a fight coming out of you.”
“Believe me, that was just the beginning,” Rainbow Dash grinned back. “Now we’re gonna do this the hard way!” She flew straight at the Inquisitor, who held out his hand at her; instantly, the pegasus felt as if something invisible was pushing back at her, a big, powerful invisible something. Rainbow flung back against the Ghost, evidently taken aback by the display of power.
Twilight and the others turned to face the Inquisitor, now more determined than ever to bring him down. “You think you can just march in and take over our home?” Twilight said, a fierce resolution burning in her eyes.
The Inquisitor held out his hand at the ponies. Instantly, all six Elements flew off of the ponies and into his grasp. Twilight flashed him a nervous smile that poorly disguised her shock at the fact that, for the first time, the Elements hadn’t done their job properly.
“I believe I can,” the Inquisitor said, smugly, “especially when my enemies wear these . . . necklaces.” He spun around and flung the Elements into the Everfree Forest with an inhuman force.
What in tarnation is he? Applejack thought to herself, now worrying her head off. How powerful must he be to not be affected by the magic of friendship?
“Well,” she said at last, “this is gonna be a while.” She didn’t know how, but she hoped that she could at least stall for time until actual help arrived.
“Look on the bright side, AJ,” Rainbow Dash said. “At least it couldn’t get worse.”
As if he had been waiting for her to say that, the Inquisitor held out his lightsaber and clicked a button on the handle. Instantly, a second, long red blade extended out of the other end. The ponies looked on with varying degrees of terror. Rarity shot Rainbow Dash a dirty look.
“Rainbow,” she started, “please be a dear and don’t say anything you will end up regretting!” She was clearly agitated by the fact that the odds were undoubtedly not in their favor.
The Inquisitor looked at the girls with a cruel amusement. “Now, what was it you were saying about me not coming in and just taking over?”
“Has anyone seen Twilight and the others?” Sabine called.
“Negative, Sabine,” Kanan called. “Chopper, any luck?”
From somewhere else in the castle, Chopper warbled something along the lines of, “No, nothing here.”
Kanan sighed. “Chopper didn’t find anything. Where could they have gone?”
“You got me,” Princess Celestia responded. “This isn’t like her at all. She’s not one to just take off without letting anypony know. That’s Rainbow Dash’s job.”
The rebels had just finished planning the evacuation of Ponyville with the alicorn princesses. At noon tomorrow, the citizens of Ponyville would leave in droves for other parts of Equestria. Some would take up temporary refuge in Canterlot; others would leave for the Crystal Empire farther up north; still others would head for other parts of Equestria, the cities of Baltimare, Las Pegasus, Fillydelphia, and so on. If all went according to plan, there would be very few, if any, casualties, and the Empire would not have to mar this utopia with its militaristic ways.
Now there was just the problem of how to drive the Empire away from the Equestrian dimension. While the rest of the rebels searched the castle from top to bottom for the Mane Six, Ezra and Zeb quietly stole off into one of the rooms adjacent to the throne room. “Come here,” Ezra motioned to Zeb quietly. “I want to show you something.” He motioned toward two tapestries, both of which displayed the alicorn sisters in their proud, regal beauty, situated on either side of a painting of a weirdly-designed tree. Zeb noticed a book sitting on a pedestal that was stationed in front of the painting. He dusted off the cover and read aloud,
“The Journal of the Two Sisters.” He turned to face Ezra. “D’you suppose it’s referring to them?”
Ezra shrugged. “Must be. I mean, who else has a sister that we have met?”
“Fair point,” Zeb admitted. “Want to take a look at it?”
“Why not?” Ezra said. “Let’s check it out.” But there was no need for them to even touch the book, because, as if it had a mind of its own and had heard what they had said, the book flipped its pages and sucked them into them. Ezra felt as if someone, something, was blinding him, felt the winds whip up around him and Zeb as they fell. . . .
And they were standing in a throne room, but in a different castle. Ezra saw Princess Celestia and another mare facing other, the latter wearing a look of jealous anger on her face, which Celestia was returning with an imploring look. The second mare had dark colored fur and wore cyan armor with batlike wings sprouting from its back. It looked so much like Princess Luna, and yet . . . it wasn’t. Her eyes had been changed to the wide-eyed slits which emanated a cold disregard for compassion, and her mane and tail seemed to be more . . . ethereal. And just like that, Ezra felt the cold come over him again.
“Luna! I will not fight you!” Celestia was saying to the dark-colored mare. “You must lower the moon! It is your duty!”
“Luna?” the other spat out, as if the name was a disgusting Loth-rat. “I am Nightmare Moon! I have one royal duty now: To destroy you!” She fired a magic beam at Celestia, who quickly took to flight and fled through a hole made in the roof overhead. Nightmare Moon grinned, clearly enjoying the challenge. “And where do you think you are going?” she called, almost mockingly. She pumped her batlike wings, and chased after her sister.
From what Ezra and Zeb could make out from the ground below, the two sisters appeared to be engaging in a spectacular duel, with Nightmare Moon going on the offensive. Celestia fired a few shots back at her sister, but, for the most part, seemed unwilling to hurt her sister. At last, Nightmare Moon managed to land a blow on Celestia, who fell through the hole and crashed onto the floor, out cold. The two rebels looked up in horror as Nightmare Moon laughed overhead.
“Karabast,” Zeb muttered.
Just then, Celestia got up and looked away from the mare who was once her sister. “Oh dear sister,” she said, tears stinging her eyes. “I am sorry, but you have given me no choice!” Her horn glowed, and from a trapdoor, a stone globe holding six jewels emerged. They levitated toward towards her and circled her body until light began to glow. With her newfound power, the white alicorn headed up to Nightmare Moon, a looked of pained regret on her face. As Nightmare Moon fired a powerful beam at her former sister, Celestia used the jewels to send her own laser, which eventually began to overpower and drive back Nightmare Moon’s. Eye slits narrowing, the fallen alicorn could only watch in horror as her offensive faltered, screaming as she was transported to the moon.
“We think,” said a new voice that made the pair jump, “that you’ve seen enough.”
Ezra turned around to see that Princess Luna had somehow been transported right behind them. With a solemn expression on her face, Luna closed her eyes and white magic glowed from her horn. Soon, the three of them were back in the room. Luna levitated the book and put it back on its shelf, then turned to face Ezra. “So,” she said at last. “We see you’ve witnessed our past as Nightmare Moon.”
“Nightmare . . . Moon?” Zeb asked uncertainly.
“Yes,” Luna sighed. “For one thousand years, we were trapped in the moon, with nothing to keep us company but envy and loneliness. Then, a few months ago, we were purified by Twilight Sparkle and her friends, thanks to the Elements of Harmony.”
“Elements of Harmony?” Zeb asked, confused.
“The jewels that our sister used against us in that fateful battle,” Luna explained. “Of course, in the present day, they have taken on different forms, but in the past they were the source of all harmony throughout Equestria.”
“And . . . um, what was it like being stuck in the moon for a thousand years?” Ezra asked.
“It was cold,” Luna said, simply. “And lonely. We actually think Celestia may have wished she hadn’t sent us there. It must have been hard on her.”
“Hard not to see why,” Ezra mumbled. “We’re sorry for being curious.”
Luna smiled a little. “Curiosity is not a sin, Ezra Bridger,” she said. “But it must be exercised with great caution. Now, come. Let us find Twilight Sparkle and her friends.”
All three of them exited the room, where Kanan and Hera were waiting for them. “Well?” Hera asked. “Did you find them in there?” The trio shook their heads. Hera sighed. Where could they have gone?
“Well, I just did a scan of Canterlot and I didn’t find anything,” she said. “So if they aren’t in here, I guess we should just-“
Just then, Kanan’s comlink activated, and Chopper said something. “What is it, Specter-3?” Kanan said. Chopper warbled some more, and Kanan got a shocked, dumbfounded look on his face. “They WHAT?!?” he shouted, loud enough to scare a couple of birds away. “Whatever it is, it cannot be good,” Zeb muttered to Ezra, who nodded and turned back to Kanan.
“Who told you they were going to do that?” Kanan demanded. Chopper whistled in reply. “Spike? He told you this?” The astromech warbled in agreement. “Okay, we are on our way. Meet us in the Phantom in five.” Chopper signed off. Kanan turned to the others.
“You’re not going to believe this,” he told them. “Apparently, they’re trying to take on the Inquisitor with these things called the Elements of Harmony. I don’t know what those are, but if the Inquisitor is fighting them, then it CANNOT be good. Let’s leave immediately.”
“Karabast! Did they even listen to us?” Zeb growled.
“Apparently not,” Kanan said. He activated the comlink again. “Specter-5, meet us at the Phantom soon. We have a rescue mission to undertake.”
“I’m on my way,” came Sabine’s reply.
“Perhaps we can be of assistance,” Luna said to Kanan.
“I appreciate the offer,” Kanan said, “but leave this to us. We have more experience with these matters.”
“Oh . . . okay,” Luna said, a bit disappointed. She had been hoping to go on this mission in an effort to restore her good name. But it seems like now was not the good time.
“Zeb, Ezra, Hera, let’s leave,” Kanan ordered, signaling to the door. The three rebels ran towards the main doors. As he frantically bolted, Kanan’s head spun with a million questions. What did those ponies hope to achieve by doing this? Did they honestly think they could delay the Empire’s arrival by stopping him? Hadn’t they realized that they had pretty much made things worse for them? He made a mental note to chew them out on this once they were safe.
All he could do now was hope that he wasn’t too late.
--break—
The ponies were losing.
The Inquisitor was so thoroughly enjoying fighting them that he seemed to have made a sport of trying to see how many cuts he could land on them. Every time one of them would charge at him, he would simply Force push them into the Ghost or each other. Every time they tried to flee, he used the Force to bring them back to the ground. One time, Rainbow Dash charged at the Inquisitor, but he deftly dodged her assault and gave her a nasty cut across the cheek before pushing back onto the side of the Ghost, next to Rarity, who had lost a large section of her mane.
“Still think it could get worse?” she snidely asked her companion, who was now struggling to get up on her knees.
“Nope,” the cyan pegasus responded weakly, now struggling to stand up.
Applejack charged toward the Inquisitor and threw a lasso at him. For a second, it seemed that she had won; but then the Inquisitor simply sliced off his bonds with his lightsaber. Grinning cruelly, he faced the cowgirl and made a three-fingered gesture at her. Instantly, Applejack was lifted off the ground, and she felt something strong- no, powerful- closing in around her neck. Horror setting in, she realized that this must have been what killed Celestia’s guard last night.
“Ah yes,” the Inquisitor said as though he could read her thoughts, “you feel it, don’t you? That power you feel closing around your throat? It’s called the Force. It’s my anger reaching out to end your life. It would be pointless to let you live after you should have stayed away when you had the chance.”
Applejack couldn’t hold it any longer. The Force was crushing her neck, crushing it, crushing it . . .
WHAM! Rainbow Dash had managed to slam herself into the Inquisitor, breaking his hold. She managed to jump away before the Inquisitor managed to cut her hoof off. Seeing that this would be a challenge, the Inquisitor faced her, smirking evilly. He clicked another button on his saber handle, and the two blades started to spin around on the axis.
“Oh, come on!” Twilight moaned. “Enough with the surprises!”
The Inquisitor advanced on her, slowly, slowly, aiming for the kill . . .
BLAM! Twin lasers blasts came out of nowhere, taking the Inquisitor by surprise, who held his spinning saber up to deflect them. He looked up and saw the Phantom, its engine roaring and its back door open. There stood the Jedi, his lightsaber ignited and a look of absolute fury on his face. The Jedi turned towards the ponies. “Come on!” he shouted.
Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy each picked two of their friends and struggled to make it to the Phantom. The Inquisitor snarled at the foolish attempt to escape. He had come so close; he was not going to let them get away! He hurled the spinning lightsaber at the Jedi, which tore through the yellow pegasus’s pink tail; Fluttershy let how a howl of pain as it did so. Just before the lightsaber could impale Kanan, the Jedi struck the red lightsaber with his own and it changed course, heading back to its owner.
“Does yours do that?” Rainbow Dash asked Kanan.
“Just get in!” Kanan groaned.
At last, everypony managed to board the Phantom. Stormtroopers had arrived, and they had started firing at the Phantom, but their shots unsurprisingly failed to hit any of the passengers or the ship itself. The ship flew over into the sky, leaving behind a trail of smoke and dust.
“Leave them,” the Inquisitor commanded his men. “We know exactly who is hiding them.” He seized a bundle of Fluttershy’s tail hair and walked off, smiling.
Meanwhile, on board the Phantom, Rainbow Dash turned to Kanan and Hera, both of whom were fuming with anger. “Thanks for the save, Kanan. How did ya know where to find us?”
“First, we need to get you girls to the hospital,” Kanan started, his angry expression unchanging. “Then, you have a LOT of explaining to do.”
--break—
“You’re lucky he didn’t chop any of your heads off!”
Kanan was seething. He was outright furious at the fact that the ponies disobeyed a direct order and tried to take on a dangerous Imperial operative. That was nothing compared to the ire of the rest of the rebels, who sported looks of rage and fury. Even Chopper made his displeasure known with a long continuous growl. The only person who wasn’t angry was Spike, who just wore a look of extreme disappointment on his face.
“What were you thinking?” Hera yelled. “What made you think you could take on a dangerous Jedi hunter by yourself? It’s a miracle he didn’t choose to end you right then and there!”
“I tried telling them,” Spike said, rolling his eyes.
The ponies were in critical shape. Applejack’s and Rainbow Dash’s bodies sported multiple cuts and bruises, and two of their hooves were covered in casts. Rarity, meanwhile, had managed to end up with a brace around her neck and a large section of her mane cut off. Pinkie Pie now displayed a cast that covered her front left hoof. Fluttershy ended up with a broken wing and whimpered pathetically at the sight of her now-frayed tail; the ends of it glowed red-hot from where the Inquisitor’s double lightsaber cut it off. Of the six ponies, Twilight was the least injured, suffering only a few minor cuts and a back injury, but her expression was one of catatonic shock. For the first time ever, the Elements of Harmony- the keys to all their previous victories- had failed them. If they were worthless against the Inquisitor, then what could make her possibly hope that they could stop an entire invasion?
“That’s not all!” Rarity bawled. “Look what that ruffian did to my mane! He cut it off! Of all the things that have happened to me, this is the WORST . . . POSSIBLE . . . THING!” She leaned back on her hospital bed as if it were a fainting couch and bawled in an exaggerated, over-the-top manner.
“Well, I’m glad someone has their priorities straight,” Sabine snarled, rolling her eyes as well. “He could have killed you and you’re more concerned about your appearance?”
Says the one who got a makeover from Rarity, Rainbow Dash thought to herself.
“Bottom line is you shouldn’t have gone after the Inquisitor yourselves,” Zeb continued. “You should have let us handle it ourselves.” “Well, why not?” Rainbow responded. “We had the Elements of Harmony, and they never failed us before.”
Ezra let out a hollow, mirthless laugh. “You thought that these Elements of Harmony would save you? You actually believed that this ‘power of friendship’ would work on someone who’s been capturing and killing Jedi for fifteen years now?”
“Elements of Harmony?” Hera and Sabine asked Ezra, confused. Even Chopper turned to face him, curious.
“I’ll fill you in later,” Ezra promised them.
Rainbow Dash was about to protest when a powerful voice spoke to her within her mind. Foolish it was, to go after the Inquisitor.
”Does anypony else hear that?” she asked aloud.
“What in tarnation are yah talkin’ ‘bout, Rainbow Dash?” Applejack asked, bewildered.
“This . . . voice,” Rainbow responded. “I just heard it. I can’t explain it, but I feel like it’s talking to . . . me.”
“I think somepony’s been hit a little too hard on the head,” Pinkie Pie chuckled, but the same disembodied voice said to her,
Who are you? she thought back, surprised.
Revealed, all will be, in due time, the voice said. Rest for now, you must. Bigger trials, you and your friends will face. “I know this sounds weird,” Pinkie Pie said, “but maybe she’s not crazy. That same voice is talking to me now too.”
“What voice?” Kanan asked. He closed his eyes and focused. At last, the former Padawan heard a voice say, Good it is, to see you again, Kanan Jarrus.
Kanan had to stifle a gasp; he had not heard that voice in a long time. Master Yoda? he thought back. Is that really you? Yes, the old Jedi Master said warmly. Found some new friends, I see you have.
You know? Kanan said, taken aback at this revelation.
Everywhere, the Force is, even in other dimensions, the old master said, almost mischievously. Have faith in these ponies, you must. The Force is strong with them.
“What are you talking about?” Kanan muttered, almost aloud. Then he must have realized that he said it for everyone to hear, because the rest of the room stared back at him curiously.
“What is it, Kanan?” Ezra asked his master.
“Kid, you won’t believe this,” Kanan said. “Master Yoda knows about our friends.”
“Who’s . . . Master Yoda?” Rainbow Dash asked.
“Master Yoda is one of the oldest and most powerful Jedi to have ever lived,” Kanan explained. “He is also one of the most powerful Force wielders.”
“But what does he want?” Twilight asked, coming out of her shock. “What does he see in us?”
“I don’t know,” Kanan said. “He said something about the Force being strong with you.”
Applejack stared back at him in confusion, then to her friends. “What does that mean?”
The ponies stared back blankly. “I don’t know,” Twilight started, “but something tells me we’ll get a lot more than what we bargained for.” --break— Back on board the Lawbringer, Kallus was in deep conversation with the Inquisitor. They had just finished going over the whereabouts of the rebels and finalizing the invasion plans.
“Please take note, Agent Kallus, that in this dimension, the rebels are not alone,” the Inquisitor cautioned the ISB operative. “They have the assistance of these . . . ponies.” The projector flashed an image of six creatures, all of whom Kallus had never seen before in his life. The creatures all had thick hair on the back of their necks and had thick tails as well; they also appeared to go around on all fours. Two of them had wings sprouting out of their backs, and two others also appeared to have long pointy things coming out of their heads. Kallus also noted that all six of them had pictures of ordinary objects on their back legs; he eyed these with a mild curiosity.
“And what did you say the name of the dimension was again?” he asked.
The Inquisitor blinked. “Equestria, I think,” he said, taking care to conceal his uncertainty. “I met them on the outskirts of a city called Ponyville.”
Real original, Kallus thought to himself, rolling his eyes.
“And please note, agent, that the ponies are not to be underestimated,” the Inquisitor continued. “They may look harmless, but they actually can put up a very decent fight.”
Kallus smiled, recalling how he had fought the Lasat guardsman when the Empire had reduced Lasan to nothing. “Of course, Inquisitor. When should we invade this . . . Ponyville?”
“As soon as possible,” the Inquisitor answered promptly. “Lord Vader and Governor Tarkin expect to have full control of the area by the end of the week.”
“Acknowledged. Kallus out.” The agent switched off the holoprojector and activated another one, displaying the image of another Inquisitor, this time masked by a helmet which made his expression nigh-indeterminable- the Eighth Brother.
“Agent Kallus. What a surprise,” the Eighth Brother started.
“Are you and the Sixth Sister ready?” Kallus asked.
“Yes. She has already assembled a squad of our best troopers and pilots, and she has located the hideout of the rebels.”
“And have you made plans on how to deal with their allies?”
“I leave that to you and Governor Tarkin. We shall soon see if any more of their kind will dare to stand up against the Empire.”
“Has the Inquisitor briefed you on what to expect?”
The Eighth Brother paused. “Yes.”
“Good, in that case you are aware of what Lord Vader and Governor Tarkin expect?”
The image of the Brother’s helmet nodded.
“Good. Be sure to burn the city to the ground when you arrive. It will be a welcome present for Lord Vader. Now get the men ready.”
The Eighth Brother bowed and disappeared.
Kallus stared out of the window of his ship, smiling. So, the rebels were desperate enough to enlist the aid of ponies? And even if they could put up a fight, he would show them just who was on the top of the food chain. The ponies were, in his mind’s eye, doomed to fall.
A few days later, the ponies had sufficiently recovered enough to leave the hospital. Rainbow was surprised to learn that it was less crowded than usual; clearly, the evacuation was taking place. Kanan had explained how they had to detail all the various evacuation routes with the princesses. But Twilight couldn’t help but notice that Kanan seemed a bit more . . . moodier than usual. By the time they went back to the library, he had refused to accompany Hera and Sabine on another trip to Canterlot.
“Everythin’ okay?” Applejack asked him; clearly Kanan’s change in demeanor had been spotted by her as well.
“Great,” Kanan lied, giving an unconvincing smile. Applejack raised an eyebrow; she could see the truth as plain as day.
Zeb nudged Ezra in the arm. “What’s up with Kanan?”
Ezra looked at his master’s fake smile. “I don’t know. Something’s up, and yet I can’t put a finger on it.”
“Put a finger on what?” Pinkie Pie popped up right in front of him. “Rarity? Gummy? This Bo-Rifle?” She put her hoof on each of them as she said this. Zeb snarled at her quickly when she put it on his weapon.
“Ah think what Ezra is sayin’ is that he noticed that somethin’s not right with Kanan,” Applejack clarified. “An’ ah can’ say ah blame him.”
“Kanan?” Ezra asked his master. “You okay?”
“I’m great, kid,” Kanan replied.
“You sure, chief?” Zeb asked.
“Yeah,” Kanan responded, rather a bit snappily. “Don’t you have any stormtroopers to beat up?”
“But there aren’t any here,” Zeb pointed out. Kanan sighed.
“I appreciate your concern, but there’s nothing for me to get worried about.”
Applejack’s eyebrow went higher still. “Yah do realize yer in front of the Element of Honesty, right?”
Kanan sighed again. “I’m sorry, Applejack, I just have a lot on my mind right now.”
“Such as?”
“I don’t want to talk about it.” He turned around and went straight into the library. The ponies and the rest of the rebels looked at each other. Rainbow Dash didn’t say anything. She already knew what was bugging Kanan, and she did not feel that now was the perfect time to say anything.
“Okay,” Applejack replied uncertainly. “Maybe another time, then. Come on, y’all. Let’s go.” They all went into the library, except Hera and Sabine, who left for the Phantom for another trip to Canterlot.
-break-
Kanan could not sleep. He didn’t know why, but the shadows of the past kept coming back to him, as if they refused to just stay in the past where they belonged. After what seemed like the umpteenth time that night, he closed his eyes again in another attempt to get a fresh sleep.
And just like that, he was fourteen-year-old Caleb Dume again, a bright-eyed, optimistic Padawan fighting alongside Master Billaba on Kaller in the Clone Wars. He had entered his Master’s meditation chambers outside the village one day to find her deep in thought.
“Master?” he asked, curious as to what she was doing. Billaba did not respond.
“Master?” he repeated uncertainly. At last, she opened her eyes.
“Caleb,” she said to him. “There has been a great disturbance in the Force.”
“What is it, exactly?” he asked. The smile faded from his face a little.
“I have had . . . disturbing visions,” she responded. “Our Jedi brothers and sisters . . . they’re dying . . .”
“Why?” Caleb asked, the smile now completely gone.
“The clones,” Billaba gasped, placing her hand over her heart as if something was suffocating her. “The clones . . . they’re . . . killing them . . .”
Suddenly, shouting voices came from nearby, loud, uncouth voices. Caleb had to stifle a gasp; they were the clones who had served the two of them faithfully. Surely this was a nightmare, surely they would never betray them like that, surely Billaba was joking, right? But then he had to remind himself that Billaba was usually not one to joke around, especially when there was a war going on. Caleb turned to his Master, who, out of nowhere, grasped his arm. Suddenly the boy was flooded of things that the Force was telling were happening everywhere else: a group of clones all had their laser rifles trained on a lone man who wielded a blue lightsaber and wore an expression of hurt betrayal. The clones all started firing; the man fought to deflect all the laser blasts, but alas, one had managed to get a hit on them, and another one, and another one . . .
And within seconds, the man crumpled to the ground, never to get up again.
“I’m afraid,” Billaba was saying, “that it is no longer safe for you. Caleb, we cannot win this battle . . . you must run. Go. I’ll be right behind you. Run.”
Caleb nodded, knowing full well that her promise would never come to pass. Checking to make sure that the holocron she gave him was still with him, he turned and ran as fast as he could. Billaba, meanwhile, ignited her lightsaber for what would be her final stand.
All of a sudden, he heard lasers fly everywhere. He turned around and saw her deflect every one of them with her lightsaber. One of the blasts hit her square in the stomach, and he felt his eyes water up as he felt helpless to do anything. The fool! He could have saved her, and yet he chose to run like a coward and leave her at the mercy of these traitors!
“No . . . .NO!”
And just like that, Caleb Dume was dead.
-break-
Kanan was not the only one with sleep issues. Ezra tossed and turned in his bed as he struggled to get his good night sleep.
He was back in his old home, about to celebrate turning seven years old with his parents. He could remember the cake that they had bought him. He felt that this was the best day of his life, that nothing would go wrong.
But he had not known what would have happened next.
A loud banging came from outside the residence and several stormtroopers had charged in, their bone-white armor gleaming in the light. An Imperial captain in a black uniform stepped out in the middle of the troopers, a cold, smug expression on his face.
“Ephraim and Mira Bridger,” he started, “you are under arrest for committing treason against the Galactic Empire.”
“You cannot do this,” Mira spat. “Our friend Ryder Azadi-“
“-has also been arrested,” the captain finished, an arrogant smile playing about on his lips. “A few hours ago.”
Both Bridgers looked at each other, surprised. As the governor, Ryder had seemed indestructible, untouchable, and yet these stormtroopers had captured him not too long ago. Ephraim spoke up, “But what about our son? Who will take care of him?”
“I hope he knows how to survive on his own,” the captain coldly dismissed. “You should have thought of that before you sent out all those treasonous broadcasts. Capture them!”
The stormtroopers pounced on the Bridgers without mercy, fighting to restrain their movements. Ezra heard himself cry out, almost in a childlike voice, “Mom, Dad, what’s going on?”
“Be quiet, boy!” the officer yelled at Ezra. But he did not listen.
“Dad,” Ezra called out almost plaintively, “what’s happening?”
“Son,” Ezra’s dad turned to him while fighting the stormtroopers, “everything is going to be okay. Just . . . take care of yourself. We’ll come back . . . I promise . . .”
“When?” Now Ezra was almost crying. He was scared, he didn’t want them to go, not now, when he was still a child!
His dad opened his mouth to respond, but never got the chance; a blue halo went out from the stormtrooper’s gun and he fell to the ground, stunned. The mother had been taken care of as well. Within minutes, the entire party had departed, carrying the bodies over their shoulders like they were sacks of yams. Ezra struggled to not cry. This was happening all over again, it couldn’t be, no-
Ezra woke up, his breathing coming out in short, hollow breaths. Staring back at him was the surprised form of Spike, who had obviously gone down for a glass of water.
“Everything okay?” the baby dragon asked.
“Yeah, I guess,” the boy responded.
“Well, in that case, it’s back to bed for me,” Spike said. “The sun’s not up and neither should I.” And with that, he went back to his bed next to Twilight’s. Ezra sighed and covered himself with the pillows, hoping for some good sleep at last.
-break-
At breakfast, everyone ate rather silently. Whether it was because the threat invasion was now closer than ever, or whether the tension was seeping everywhere like noxious gas, nobody could tell. Even Pinkie Pie kept to herself, only speaking to ask for more food.
As soon as Kanan was finished, he turned to Zeb and Chopper. “Zeb, Chop, come with me, we need to see if we can get the ship running by today. Hera, contact the others and tell them our coordinates. We’re going to need all the help we can get.”
“You already do,” Rainbow Dash told him.
“After what the Inquisitor did to you? No way,” Kanan rebutted.
“Come on, Kanan,” Rainbow countered. “Sure, we didn’t come out so hot, but we’ve taken care of a lot of other bad guys. In fact, we’ve recently taken down Discord, a powerful chaotic spirit who tried to make Ponyville the chaos capital of the world.”
“What did . . . Discord do?” Sabine asked.
“Let’s see,” Rainbow Dash counted off. “He tried turning us against each other, sought to destroy our connections with our Elements, and he-“
“Still,” Kanan interrupted. “I’m not taking any chances. We’re fixing the ship and then we’re going home.”
Rarity spat out her drink. “So you’re leaving? Just like that?” She honestly thought that he had a bit more nerve in him.
“If we leave now before they arrive,” Kanan said, “then there won't be any more casualties.”
“And what if these Imperials don’t leave?” Twilight said. “What if they decide to stay and bomb this place so they can lure you back?”
“She has a point, ya know,” Applejack said.
Kanan could not take any more of this. “ENOUGH!” he yelled. Everyone was taken aback by this, even Chopper. “We leave today, and that is final!”
For the longest time, no one spoke. Then Hera said to Kanan, “A word, Kanan, if you please?” Kanan sighed and reluctantly followed her outside, with Twilight trailing him. She stopped outside the entrance and looked around the corner. Kanan and Hera were engaging in conversation, and, judging by Hera’s expression, she was angry with him, or worried, or both.
“-what was up with you back there?” Hera demanded.
Kanan sighed. “Hera, fighting alongside soldiers isn’t what I planned on doing. When we first started, it was ‘rob from the Empire, give to the needy’, a noble cause. But now look at where we are. The fate of an entire civilization- a pacifistic one, no less- hangs in the balance. On top of that, Twilight and her friends have never had to fight off an entire regime before. Maybe they brought down a spirit of chaos, but they haven’t faced anything like this.” Twilight was privately hurt by Kanan’s lack of confidence in her and her friends. “I’m not so sure they’ll make it out of this alive.”
“You seem to forget, we have been in stickier jams than this,” Hera said. “What about that time we were almost killed on Stygeon Prime? What about when you almost got captured by Governor Tarkin after we sent out that transmission on Lothal? What about when the Empire was hunting us down for harboring Tseebo? I see plenty of reason otherwise.”
“Hera,” Kanan continued. “I saw what one war did to the Jedi. I’m not ready for another.”
Hera put a comforting hand on his shoulder. “We are fighting the bigger fight here. You may not see it, but what we’re doing right now, at this moment, it is the right thing. And I know that they will pull through eventually, even if it doesn’t seem like it now. They’ve never let Equestria down before. Besides, if Celestia and Luna have faith in them, then so do I, and so should you.”
Kanan sighed again. “All right, but if they are fighting this invasion, then we are too. Contact Commander Sato and tell him there’s a change of plans.”
“Of course.” She turned to leave. Kanan followed her a few seconds later.
Now Twilight stood there, trying to comprehend the situation. Kanan obviously had something from his past that he did not want to bring up. And Ezra had something that he was still struggling to deal with. She just stood there, wondering when all the secrecy would end, then Chopper made his presence known which a loud chirp, startling her out of her contemplation.
“When did you get here?” she asked him. Chopper beeped in reply, as if to say, “Don’t mind me, I’m just passing by.” He rolled away, whistling. Twilight quietly moaned.
-break- Sometime later, the rest of Phoenix Squadron, having been told of the Ghost team’s whereabouts by Hera, was all cooped up in library. Twilight was honestly surprised that the rebellion had this big a membership. Any more and they would have to make space at one of her friends’ places.
Ezra paced nervously. “What’s taking Kanan this long? He should have had the ship up and running by now.”
“Why are you concerned?” Twilight asked him. “I’m pretty sure he and Zeb are okay.”
“But what if they don’t make it back alive?” Ezra rebutted, now worried. Rainbow had a strong idea where this conversation was headed.
“Everything okay?” she asked him.
“Yes, Rainbow,” Ezra replied, a bit exasperatedly.
“Are you sure?” the pegasus replied.
“Yes,” he replied, more annoyed.
Commander Sato cleared his throat. “Captain Syndulla, when is Captain Jarrus coming back?”
“He’ll come back as soon the repairs are finished,” Hera answered. “I just hope he and Zeb come back in one piece.”
“But that’s just it, Hera,” Ezra started, stopping the pacing altogether. “What if he doesn’t come back in one piece? What if he and Zeb get attacked by the Inquisitor?”
There’s some optimism for you, Spike thought, rolling his eyes.
“Ezra, dear, what are you going on about?” Rarity asked, a tiny touch of concern in her voice.
“What am I talking about?” Ezra turned to face her. “I have lost people I cared about when they would stand up and fight back. I have known people who paid the price for speaking the truth about the Empire. Maybe you don’t know what I’m talking about, Rare, but it’s made me wonder whether all this is even worth it sometimes.”
“What are you talking about?” Rainbow Dash flew up into the air. “Of course it’s worth it! This is the Galactic Empire we’re talking about! Every sacrifice made here is necessary to securing freedom!”
Sabine had a bad feeling where this was going. “Rainbow Dash-“
“So you lost your parents when you were seven,” Rainbow Dash went on. “You’re not gonna back away just because of that, are ya?”
The rest of the ponies gasped. Applejack took off her hat in mournful respect of the fallen Bridgers. Pinkie had a look of downright sadness on her face. Rarity and Twilight bowed their heads. Fluttershy whispered, “Is this true?”
Ezra looked around at the whole lot of them, steaming furiously. “Alright!” he snapped. “It’s true! My parents are dead! I lost them when I was seven! But why should any of you even attempt to feel sorry for me? None of you”-he turned viciously to Rainbow Dash, who cowered – “know what it is like to lose someone you cared about! None of you even know how difficult it is to fight a government that is out to destroy you! What is there to expect from someone who has never been through what we have experienced?”
Twilight honestly felt that Ezra was taking things a bit too far. She couldn’t say that life in Ponyville was all peaches and sugar. After all, there were times when she had to put with things that she couldn’t explain, or faced with impossible odds. Sure, she hadn’t been through his experiences, but that didn’t make her any less sympathetic.
“Ezra-“ she started, but Ezra cut her off.
“No,” he said flatly. “I don’t want any sympathy from you. I’m tired of people pitying because I’m the boy who lost his parents when they did the right thing!”
Rainbow Dash, realizing her mistake, quickly tried to make amends. “But I need you!” she begged. “Your team needs you! We all need you!” She motioned to everyone in the room.
Ezra stood there, fuming. Then he turned out and just ran out of the library.
Hera activated her comlink. “Specter-6, get back here!”
No response.
“Ezra!” Hera shouted.
Still no response. Hera sighed.
Sabine tried to comfort her. “Hera, he needs some time to himself. I think that we all need to get some rest, in fact. The Empire is due to arrive any day now, and we will need all of our energy when they do.”
Hera sighed. “I guess you are right. I just hope Kanan has the ship fixed soon. We will need all the firepower we can get our hands on.”
“He’s right.” Rainbow Dash sighed and sank down in defeat as everyone turned to face her. “I don’t know what it is like to lose someone I cared about.”
-break-
Ezra ran through the almost empty streets of the city, furious and sad at the fact that his secret was now in the open. Karabast! If only Rainbow Dash had kept her mouth shut! Then he would not have been out here now! He kept running like there was no tomorrow, praying that every step he put forth distanced him further from the library. It was almost sickening, to have your darkest memory, your most private secret exposed to the world! How did she even know, anyways? He was willing to bet all his credits that one of the team members had told her.
At last, he could run no more. Tired, exhausted, and cold, he slumped on a bench. A few ponies shot him odd looks, but he no longer cared. All he wanted was to be out of Equestria so that he no longer would have to put up with this. He bitterly convinced himself that none of the other ponies had ever lost someone they loved dearly.
Serves her right, he thought waspishly.
The sun had dipped underneath the horizon. A few birds sang songs and some fireflies chirped merrily. Once a cat came up to him and stared curiously at him, and he had to shoo it away by threatening to impale it with his lightsaber-blaster.
“That’s not a nice thing to do.”
Ezra started out of his misery and turned around. Fluttershy, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie had somehow caught up with him. Ezra privately marveled at the fact that they had managed to find him despite the fact that he was far away from the library.
“Sorry.” He turned around and sighed.
Applejack sat down next to him. “You okay, sugarcube?”
“I guess. I’m sorry for yelling at you back there.” Ezra continued to stare at the scene before him. A few schoolfillies were playing together without any cares. He wondered whether they knew that their whole world would be turned upside-down. “It’s just, if I let myself believe my parents survived, I would never have come this far. It was only by telling myself that they were never coming back that I was able to live on my own.”
“It’s okay.” Pinkie Pie plopped herself on his other side. “You just needed to let it all out.”
“An’ besides, you ain’t the only one with dead parents,” Applejack said.
Ezra sniffed. “What do you mean?”
“Believe me, sugarcube,” Applejack was saying, “you ain’t the only one whose folks ain’t around anymore. When ah was a young filly, times were tough. Mah parents tried to support the family by becomin’ traveling salesponies. And every dang time, they would always come back with enough bits to get us through for a few months. But one day, as they was gettin’ ready to leave, they said tah me, ‘Applejack, make sure tah take care o’ Big Mac, Apple Bloom, an’ Granny Smith fer us’. Ah didn’t know it at the time then, bu’ that would be the last time ah would ever see them.
“Weeks, even months, passed, and every time somepony would come over to our farmhouse, ah kept believin’ they was gonna give us news of what mah folks were up to. One day, they did. But it was not the news ah was hopin’ for.”
“What happened, exactly?” Ezra asked.
“The messenger pony told us that they was accidentally run over by a careless taxi over in Manehattan.” Fluttershy and Pinkie gasped. “Ah know, ah know. When I heard the news, ah was crushed as well. But in time, ah have come to accept that even though they may be gone, they will always be a part of you, and that family is the always the ones who care about you the most.”
Ezra quietly let that sink in. He did have a family, even if his parents were gone; it was the team, was it not? And besides, life had become a better turn for him since coming to Equestria; it was almost as if the Force had destined for the team to come here.
“Come back, Ezra,” Fluttershy softly whispered. “We miss you.”
Ezra smiled. At last, he could let go of the pain. “Okay, let’s go back and-“
All of a sudden, he collapsed to the ground, his head ringing in pain. Images swam throughout his mind . . . Agent Kallus . . . Star Destroyers . . . an Inquisitor with an oblong head with pale skin and almond-shaped black eyes with white pupils . . . another Inquisitor with a helmet covering his whole face . . .
--break— “Do you think he is okay?”
“Karabast, this is becoming a thing now, isn’t it?”
“Is he all right?”
Ezra opened his eyes, which felt as if they weighed at least a ton. When his vision finally righted itself, he was looking back in to the faces of Kanan, Hera, Sabine, Spike, Rarity and a few members of Phoenix Squadron. All of them had concerned looks. He quietly moaned. How long had it been since he had been out?
“Kid,” Kanan said, “You okay?”
“I guess,” Ezra responded. “I just had another Force vision.”
“What did you see?” Zeb asked, a sinking feeling approaching in his gut.
“Inquisitors,” Ezra said. “More than one.” Everyone looked at each other with worry. “How long until the Empire arrives?”
Twilight drew back the curtains to her window. What she saw next made her eyes shrink in fear. “Um, yeah, about that . . . they’re here.”
The Star Destroyers loomed menacingly over Ponyville. The entire team ran out to witness the magnificent sight. Ezra felt a cold knot form in the lump of his throat. Pretty soon, unless they drove the Empire out of here, Ponyville would be nothing more than a city of pockmarked ruins and burnt roads.
“What do we do now?” he asked.
“Ezra, you and Sabine stay with me,” Kanan commanded. “Chop, you go with Hera and the rest of the Squadron to the ships. Twilight-“ “I’ll stay here and provide backup with Zeb,” the lavender unicorn finished.
Kanan nodded. “Let’s go!”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Rainbow Dash interrupted. “If you’re guys are going the least you can do is bring me along. I bet I could bring down one of those ships in ten seconds flat!”
“It’s too dangerous,” Kanan ordered. “And I’m pretty sure that’s not gonna happen.”
“At least bring me along,” the pegasus complained.
Kanan sighed. “Fine! You can come! As long as you can actually deliver on that promise. Come on!” He, Ezra, and Sabine ran off to confront the stormtroopers now approaching them. Rainbow Dash followed.
Twilight turned to the other rebels. “I hope this works,” she said. “I’ve never tried this on anypony else before.” She closed her eyes and concentrated with all her might. Instantly, a flash of white light appeared and the group disappeared; she had obviously tried using a teleportation spell on them, hoping to get them to their ships in time. She didn’t know whether it worked perfectly, but there was now no time to figure out. Already white-armored men were racing towards them holding blasters- the stormtroopers. Zeb felt a smile crawl across his face; finally there were bucketheads he could bash to pieces. With a loud whoop, he charged forward and started firing his Bo-Rifle at them. Rarity shot Twilight a slightly mischievous look, then ran off; she had been looking forward to dearly taunting the troopers about their terrible aim.
Pinkie Pie had already whipped out her party cannon and had started shooting at the enemy; already some of them had crumbled under the sheer weight of the party favors, balloons, and cake stored in her weapon. Fluttershy, meanwhile, started using Twilight as a rapid-fire magic machine gun and returned a flurry of magic blasts; she was determined to make the Empire pay for what they did to her.
While Zeb was busy bashing bucketheads, Rarity had noticed two stormtroopers who had already locked onto him. Before they could fire, she called out to them in a sweet, girlish voice.
“Oh boys, you seriously aren’t going to consider shooting, are you? Because you both know that you are horrid shots, so why bother?”
The troopers saw her and fired several laser blasts, all of which she managed to evade with ease. They scanned for her, hoping to catch her off guard.
Unfortunately for them, she got the drop on them first.
“You call that shooting? I think you need to spend more time on the practice range. And don’t get me started on your outfits. All white? Ha! That went out of style years ago!”
The two stormtroopers looked around for the source of the voice. As soon as they saw her, they fired, but Rarity managed to evade them. The two bucketheads looked wildly around for her, but the white unicorn’s voice rang out again, a mockingly sweet tone.
“You are too predictable, my darlings! Always by the book! I read your book! It was very poorly written!”
One of the troopers spotted her and fired, but just like last time, she managed to get out of the way. The trooper, having long given up on shooting her, opted to just stun her so that at least she would not insult his aim. Before he could fire the blue halo, however, he felt something strong grip the side of his helmet; within seconds, the two bucketheads were knocked out cold. Rarity turned to see the figure of Zeb facing her, a sly, mischievous, cat-like grin on his face.
“I see you like to fight bucketheads too,” he grinned. “Who knew you had it in you?”
“Oh darling,” Rarity blushed, “you should thank Sabine. She’s the one who told me about their horrible aim.”
Zeb chuckled. “She did, eh? Good for her.”
Just then, Applejack and Pinkie ran up to them, gasping for breath. At last, Pinkie managed to pant out, “Ezra . . . Kanan . . . fighting . . . Inquisitors. . .” She gasped, then fell down in exhaustion.
“Inquisitors? Karabast,” Zeb said, slinging his Bo-Rifle over his shoulder. “Come on, girls.” He ran off in the direction of his teammates. The ponies quickly followed.
-break-
Meanwhile, while Rainbow Dash and Sabine were busy battling Stormtroopers, Ezra and Kanan were having problems of their own. Two new Inquisitors had also joined in on the invasion: a Kaminoan referred to as the Sixth Sister and a Terrelian Jango Jumper known as the Eighth Brother. The new Inquisitors seemed to have a penchant for spinning their lightsabers rapidly, for the Jedi were desperately trying to keep up with their enemies’ style of attack.
“It was foolish of you to think that you would be safe here,” the Sixth Sister hissed. Her Inquisitor armor was covered with tubes that contained some kind of gas and were connected to two tanks placed on her back. She took out a pod and hurled it at Ezra. The pod exploded, releasing some kind of gas that made the boy’s eyes water and his eyes sting like crazy.
“Yeah, well, our friends . . . are more powerful . . . than you believe them to be,” Ezra managed to cough out. He deflected another lightsaber blow and used the Force to send another gas bomb back at the Sister, which exploded in her face. Then, he switched to his blaster mode and started firing blaster bolts at the female Inquisitor. The Sixth Sister rapidly spun her lightsaber to nullify the blasts, but the effects of her own armory were too much for her and her she sank to her knees.
With the Sister down for the time being, Ezra focused his attention on helping Kanan fight the Eighth Brother. This Inquisitor seemed particularly fond of using explosives in addition to his gyroscopic saber.
“What did you hope to achieve by hiding here?” he asked Kanan, biting scorn in his voice. It was clear that he did not have a high regard of the city in general.
“You’re intelligent, figure it out!” Kanan snapped back. He and Ezra charged forward wielding both of their lightsabers. But the Brother was ready. As soon as the Jedi came close enough, he jumped back and sent three bombs headed their way. The pair dropped down and rolled away to minimize the effects of the blast. As soon as he landed back on his feet, the Brother prepared to strike them down when new laser blasts flew his way. Deflecting the attacks with his lightsaber, he saw four more combatants approach him: a creature that he could only describe as a cat-bear mix with green eyes, and three creatures that went on all fours; one was orange with blond hair and had a hat on its head, another bright pink with dark pink hair and blue eyes and holding some kind of cannon, the fourth white with a purple mane and blue eyes as well. All four of them faced him menacingly, looks of fierce hatred in their eyes.
The Eighth Brother weighed his options. He could stay and try to fight the four new opponents, or he could retreat and live to see another day. He brandished his lightsaber at his foes, but two soft groans told him that the Jedi had survived and had gotten up to fight. Uh-oh, the Eighth Brother thought to himself. He was not ready to fight a battle that he knew he was going to lose. Rather than risk the odds, he turned to the Sixth Sister. “Fall back!” he commanded. “We’ll fight them all another day!”
The Sister reluctantly nodded. Turning towards both rebels and ponies, she narrowed her eyes malevolently. “This isn’t over!” she hissed, pointing a long, bony finger at them. Then, both Inquisitors spun their lightsabers rapidly and flew off into the sky, while Zeb yelled, “COWARDS! COWARDS!”
Applejack turned to Ezra and Kanan. “Both of yah okay?”
“Yeah,” Ezra said. “Nothing too serious.” He turned to Zeb. “Thanks for the save.”
“No problem, kid,” Zeb replied. Just then, Sabine and Rainbow Dash came over.
“Everyone all right?” Sabine asked.
“Well, we are now, thanks to Zeb,” Kanan answered.
“We’d better get moving,” Sabine warned. “Pretty soon, the bombs are going to start coming down, and . . . “
Suddenly, the ground shook violently. Everyone and everypony looked up to see that the Star Destroyers had started raining their lasers down on the entire city. On top of that, TIE fighters had been dispatched to accompany the Destroyers on their campaign of terror. Rainbow Dash growled. Those fools were going to endanger Cloudsdale! Who knows how the pegasi would fare against something far more advanced than they were! It was a miracle that everypony had evacuated the city before they arrived!
“We’re gonna have to do this the hard way!” she declared. She turned to Kanan and Ezra. “Let me show you why having me beside you was a good idea!”
Before either Jedi could protest, she flew off at top speed, a rainbow-colored trail behind her. Everyone waited, apprehensive about what would happen. But a few seconds later, a rainbow-colored circle appeared in the sky, followed by what was by far the most magnificent sight they had ever seen.
The Star Destroyer . . . started exploding in midair. The cruiser erupted in flames as it started descending down , obviously now a ruin of its former terrible power. Smoke came out in large volumes, and the entire thing shattered, now a husk of its previous glory.
“Did she just . . .?” Kanan asked, who couldn’t believe what he was seeing.
“Yeah, she did,” Ezra responded, just as awed.
“She brought an entire Star Destroyer down,” Zeb said in wonder.
“With one Sonic Rainboom,” Rarity added in amazement.
The team looked at each other, not saying anything. At last, Sabine turned to Kanan.
“We definitely need her on our team.”
Kanan nodded.
At last, Rainbow Dash landed on the ground, a cocky grin on her face. Aside from some dirt and a couple scratches, she looked no worse for wear. She turned to face the team.
“See? What did I tell ya? Ten.Seconds. Flat. I’d never leave Ponyville hangin’!”
Kanan nodded. “You did well. Unfortunately, there are more where they came from.” He motioned to the other Destroyers in the sky.
Rainbow gulped. There was no way in all of Equestria that she would have enough energy to bring all of them out of the sky.
-break—
Meanwhile, on board the ISD Relentless, an officer approached the Inquisitor. “You have an incoming message from Lord Vader.”
The Inquisitor gulped. If his master was contacting him right now, then it could not possibly be good.
“Very well,” he replied, in an attempt to mask the fear in his voice. He activated the holoprojector and before him stood the image of a black, sneering skull-like mask with red eyes- the Lord Darth Vader, who was, at the moment, most displeased by the embarrassment that had happened on the Inquisitor’s watch.
“Lord Vader.” The Inquisitor quickly attempted to straighten himself. “This is an unexpected surprise.”
“You may dispense with the pleasantries, Inquisitor,” Darth Vader snarled. “I’m here to put you back on track. Already a Star Destroyer has been lost and you haven’t even captured the rebels.”
“I assure you, my lord,” the Inquisitor said, more nervous than ever, “all of our forces have been dispatched. We’re working as fast as we can. We’ll have the rebels captured in no time.”
“The Emperor does not share your optimistic appraisal of the situation,” Vader countered. “He expects you and your men to double your efforts.”
The Inquisitor gulped. “In that case, double our efforts we will.”
The hologram of the Sith Lord made a three-fingered gesture. Suddenly, the Inquisitor felt a powerful, invisible something force down on his throat; his eyes widened in fear, for he knew that his master was giving him a sample of the punishment he would receive if he were to fail him.
“I hope so, Inquisitor, for your sake,” Darth Vader growled menacingly. Then the transmission ended. Another officer came up to the Inquisitor, who turned to him.
“Tell Agent Kallus to confront the Jedi before they get away.”
The officer nodded, then went away to relay the order.
-break—
Back at the royal palace at Canterlot, Celestia and Luna were getting more worried by the second. The Equestrian Royal Guard had been sent forth to take out the TIE Fighters, but half of them had gone down within the first few minutes. Who would have thought that the enemy would have been this strong?
At last, Celestia turned to her sister.
“Luna,” she said, evidently pained. “I can’t stand by like this and watch our country suffer. I’m now forced to do the unthinkable.”
The dark alicorn gasped; she knew all too well what her sister was planning. “Thou art not seriously suggesting releasing him, art thou?”
“I’m afraid that if Equestria is to survive, then we have no other choice,” Celestia sighed.
“But sister,” Luna protested. “Surely thou knowest what he did the last time he was set free, do you not?”
“Yes,” Celestia acknowledged, “which is why I have set up some safeguards. Get him ready.”
Luna did not like where this was going, but obviously made no effort to protest. She hurried off into the castle while Celestia levitated a quill and paper and began dictating words to be written down.
“My dearest Twilight, it is imperative that you respond at once . . .”
-break—
Meanwhile, on the streets of Ponyville, the Jedi and their allies continued to drive the stormtroopers back. They had succeeded in knocking all of them out when out of the blue, Twilight teleported in a purple flash with Fluttershy and Spike, who was carrying a scroll. “You’re not going to believe this,” Twilight started. “Celestia wants us in Canterlot Castle immediately.”
“Why?” Ezra asked, surprised. Was now really the time for another visit?
“She didn’t really say,” Spike said. “All she said was, ‘Meet us in the castle as soon as possible’.”
Ezra and Sabine sighed, especially the latter. She hated being kept in the dark about anything.
“Fine,” she sighed, turning to Twilight. “Think you can get us there?”
Twilight nodded.
“All right,” Kanan said. He activated his comlink. “Spectre-1 to Ghost, we’ll be in Canterlot . Try to meet us there as soon as possible. ”
“Copy that, Spectre-1,” Hera’s voice said over the intercom. “I’ll let the others take care of the situation from up here.” The comlink turned off. Kanan, Sabine, and Ezra nodded at Twilight, who closed her eyes and focused with all her energy; instantly, the seven of them disappeared in a blinding flash of light. Zeb, Applejack, and Pinkie turned to Rarity, who was about to do the same thing when an approaching figure in and ISB helmet caught the corner of Zeb’s eye; the last person he wanted to be alive and one who he dearly wanted to pay for his crimes.
“You! Lasat!” Kallus drew out his Bo-Rifle. “REMEMBER ME?!”
Rage overwhelming him, Zeb drew out his own Bo-Rifle and charged toward the ISB agent. He had been looking forward to fighting him for quite a long time. This did not go unnoticed by Applejack.
“Wait!” she called.
“Zeb!” Pinkie Pie called. But the Lasat did not heed either of their cries. He delivered a roundhouse kick that sent Kallus sprawling.
“You have no business here!” Zeb snarled at Kallus.
“Actually, I believe I do!” the ISB agent laughed. He rolled away and got back up on his feet, sneering at Zeb. “Soon, the Empire will claim this pathetic little world, and once they do, your pony friends will be the first to go,” he whispered menacingly.
The look of unbridled fury on Zeb’s face told Kallus that he had succeeded in provoking him. As his opponent swung his weapon wildly at him, Kallus countered with his own Bo-Rifle blows, and even managed to deliver a swift kick to the center of his chest. Zeb growled and charged forward. But the agent did a sweep kick that sent Zeb to the ground.
“Honestly, he’ll get himself killed!” Rarity growled in disgust as Zeb got back up.
“I was there when Lasan fell,” Kallus continued. “And soon, this pathetic little world will share its fate.”
“Not if I have anything to say about it!” Zeb replied. He and the ISB continued to grapple, but Kallus finally hit him square in the chest, and Zeb fell down, defeated.
Kallus raised his Bo-Rifle, ready to finish Zeb off. One good shot and he would be gone. Ready . . . Aim…
“NO!”
Pinkie Pie held out both her front hooves as if she were trying to stop Kallus. Amazingly, something invisible pushed the ISB agent back. Kallus sprawled onto the ground, stunned, trying to comprehend what had just happened. The pink pony stared back at her friends, who looked back at her as stunned as she was.
“What in tarnation was that?” Applejack asked, amazed.
“I don’t know!” Pinkie Pie said. “How did it happen?”
“Not sure,” Rarity answered. “But we need to get ourselves to Canterlot before any more bucketheads arrive!”
The other two nodded. And with that, the three friends circled Zeb and the whole group teleported themselves to Canterlot and to safety.
A few minutes later, both the Ghost team and their pony allies managed to regroup at Canterlot Castle, where they saw Celestia and Luna waiting for them. Both alicorn sisters turned to face the team.
“Thank you for getting my message,” Celestia told them. “I suppose you were wondering why I called you all here.”
“Uh, yeah we are,” Kanan answered, kind of surprised.
“Yeah,” Sabine added. “Why the impromptu visit?”
“Because we have something to tell you,” Luna said. “It appears that we are forced to call in someone else to help us in this fight.” She got an eyeful of a passed out Zeb. “Is everything okay with him?”
“He is,” Rarity responded, “but just barely.”
“What happened?” Hera asked her.
“He got into a fight with an Imperial agent,” Applejack clarified.
“Will he be okay?” Hera continued.
“Yeah,” the Lasat groaned weakly, managing to get up. “But what . . . what just happened?”
“You want the long version or the short version, sugarcube?” Applejack asked.
“Short, please,” he grunted.
“That Imperial officer was about to finish you off when Pinkie Pie somehow managed to push him away without bein’ near him,” Applejack turned to Kanan. “Ah don’ suppose yah know wha’ this means, do yah?”
The news appeared to have taken Kanan off guard. “She learned how to Force push,” he mumbled to himself.
“’Scuse me?”
“She learned the Force push,” Kanan repeated, a bit louder. “Master Yoda said that the Force was strong with you girls. I’m guessing this is what he meant.”
This was enough to get Pinkie Pie riled up. “Ooh! Ooh! I wonder what else I can do!” She extended her hooves at Rarity, obviously trying the Force push again, but this time, nothing happened. “Aww!” she complained. “How come it’s not working this time?”
Kanan let out a hearty chuckle. “I think you need some more practice with that. You’ll learn more tricks that the younglings at the Jedi temple learned a long time ago, such as-“
“While I would really look forward to hearing everything you would have to say on the subject,” Celestia interrupted, “I’m afraid that time is of the essence here. Follow us, please.”
Once again, they all went through the corridor, which remained relatively unchanged from their last visit. Ezra looked around, and something new caught his eye. Etched in the stained-steel glass window was a picture of a creature he had never seen before: the head was horse-like, but was much different from the head styles of Twilight and her friends, and had a deer antler and goat antler; the creature’s body had the right front paw of a lion and a left claw of an eagle, as well as a lizard’s right leg and the left leg of a buffalo; its mouth had a single long fang coming out of it; and it had two very different wings coming out of it: a bat wing and a pegasus wing. The body ended in a dragon-like snake tail with a white tuft. He nudged Twilight.
“What is that?” he asked the unicorn, who turned around and bared her teeth at the mere sight of the picture, as if the picture itself were causing her distress.
“It’s called a draconequus,” Twilight growled.
“Say what now?” Sabine asked.
“A draconequus,” Luna answered, as if she had heard them. “A creature of chaos and disharmony. We know, we hath fought one almost a thousand years ago with our sister.”
“And it is that same draconequus that we are now forced to call on for help,” Celestia sighed resignedly. She stopped in front of a statue, which appeared to frozen in a state of shock. Looking closer, Ezra realized that the statue looked exactly like its stained-glass counterpart. “We’re calling on a statue for help?” he snarked in an unimpressed manner. “I suppose he could just make that same face and the Empire would just flee in terror from its expression.”
“Not just any statue, Ezra Bridger,” Celestia said. “We’re going to call on Discord to defeat the Imperial invasion.”
“Wait a second,” Sabine interrupted, trying to get the facts straight. “Discord?”
“As in the Discord-who-turned-Twilight’s-friends-against-her-and-made-Ponyville-the-chaos-capital-of-the-world Discord?” Hera asked, a sinking feeling approaching her gut.
“You’re joking, right, Princess?” Rainbow Dash asked, fuming. “He’s just going to betray us and turn us against each other like last time!” For once, Chopper voiced his agreement with her.
“I knew you were going to say that,” the sun princess smirked. “Which is why I put a spell on the statue so that as soon as he does what he’s supposed to do, he goes back to his stony prison. That way, he won’t cause any more trouble ever again.”
“Um . . . Princess . . .” Fluttershy spoke up softly, “I hope you don’t mind, but, um, . . . don’t you think that that would be a little too . . . um, cruel?”
“After what he did to you? Hardly,” came Twilight’s response.
“Enough,” Celestia said. She turned to Luna. “Are you ready?”
Luna nodded, and both alicorns touched their horns to the statue, which started to glow with a radiant light as it started to crack. A few seconds later, the entire thing shattered, revealing a creature that looked exactly like its stained-steel glass counterpart. The creature stretched its limbs and cast a disapproving look to everyone.
“Well, it’s about time somepony got me out of that awful prison!” he remarked. “What a relief!” He stretched some more, then turned to Princess Celestia. “Did you miss me again, Princess Celestia? It was quite lonely being stuck as a statue, but of course you wouldn’t know that, because I don’t turn ponies to stone!”
“No, Discord, but you use them as your playthings and turn them against each other for your sick kicks!” Twilight remarked waspishly.
Discord turned to Twilight. “Well, well, if it isn’t my little ponies!” He teleported next to Twilight and started scratching her cheek.“Tell me, Twilight, did you and your friends miss me while I was away?”
“Like we missed the Parasprite infestation,” Rainbow Dash snarled.
“I was talking to Twilight,” Discord said, turning his head around completely, “but oh well. I couldn’t help but overhear that you girls need my help driving off an entire invasion!”
“How did you know that, if I may ask?” Rarity asked.
“Being turned to stone doesn’t stop from hearing every word you say,” Discord told the unicorn. “Although I must admit, it does have me rolling my eyeballs.” He took his eyeballs out of their sockets and rolled them across the floor into two holes, which then materialized into his body. “And I see you’ve met some new friends as well!” He got up and motioned his chicken claw over to the Ghost team. None of the rebels appeared to be very happy to see the draconequus; indeed, all of them had drawn their weapons out upon being addressed by the chaos spirit.
“Yeah, right,” Kanan snapped. “We’re not here to be friends with you!”
“Oh come now, Kanan Jarrus.” Discord snapped his fingers and a teacup materialized in front of him. He sipped it while Kanan looked back blankly, surprised that he already knew who he was. “Ah yes, I know all about you and your ragtag band of rebels. I also know that you have recently taken in a new apprentice. Ezra Bridger, am I correct?”
Ezra pointed his lightsaber at Discord. “You’re not coming near us!”
Discord snapped his fingers and disappeared in a flash of white light. Everyone looked around, confused, wondering where he was, when Discord’s voice said softly in his right ear, “I believe I am.” Alarmed, Ezra swung his saber around to the back, but by then Discord had already disappeared to the front.
Zeb sighed. “I figured it was a bad idea to release you.”
Discord smirked mischievously and snapped his fingers. Instantly, in a flash of white light, Ezra’s lightsaber morphed into a rubber chicken. Ezra, taken aback, growled at him and advanced to finish him off, but was restrained by Hera, while the rubber chicken turned back into his blade. “Let me go, Hera!” he growled.
“Relax, Ezra,” Hera calmly started.
“No I won’t!”
“Hera,” Sabine said. “Maybe I should have a talk with him.”
An explosion rocked the castle. Hera turned to Sabine. “Fine, but please make it quick.”
Ezra and Sabine made their way down the stairs until they were well out of earshot of the others. As soon as she was certain that no one else could hear them, Sabine turned to face him. “Everything okay, kid?”
Ezra sighed. “I guess.”
“You sure? You don’t look so.”
He sighed again. “It’s just . . . I’m not really sure if we can trust this guy. I mean, he has been known to tear friendships apart just because he can. He already did it to the ponies. Who’s to say that he won’t do the same to us as soon as he finishes what he is supposed to finish?” Sabine smiled at him. “Ezra, you’ve been on our team for quite some time now. And yes, you can be a bit annoying at times, but we have come to accept you as one of us. And that should be strong enough to withstand the powers of a friendship-breaking, world-destroying draconequus.”
Ezra smiled back at her a little. “Okay. But we need to discuss with the others first, see what they think we should do.”
The two of them made their way back up the stairs. Sabine turned to Kanan. “Kanan, Zeb, Twilight, Fluttershy, meet us in the closet.” The six of them made their way to the room where Zeb and Ezra first discovered the Journal of the Two Sisters. Discord attempted to follow, but Zeb stopped him in his tracks. “Make sure he stays put here,” he instructed the astromech. “If he tries anything funny, sound the alarm.” The droid beeped affirmatively. Zeb pointed his fingers to his eyes, then to Discord’s. He turned around and went straight into the room. Discord stared at the door, then at Chopper. He stroked his white beard, thinking.
-break--
In the dark room, all six members were huddled together in a circle. They were furiously debating what to do with the draconequus that the royal sisters had just freed. Zeb turned to Kanan. “Well, chief, what should we do with him?”
Kanan considered. “I don’t really know. Twilight, what do you think we should do?”
“He can’t be trusted,” Twilight responded. “I say we convince Celestia and Luna to turn him back to stone immediately.”
“But let’s not forget,” Ezra pointed out, “we still need him to get the Star Destroyers out of here.”
“And it would really be cruel of us to repay him that way after he would do Equestria a big service,” Fluttershy meekly added.
Sabine raised an eyebrow. “What makes you say that, Fluttershy?”
“Sometimes, we all need to shown a little kindness,” Fluttershy defended herself.
Silence. Nobody said anything. Then Kanan spoke up.
“Fine. I guess that after he getsrid of the Empire, we can-“
But he never got to finish his sentence, because a loud thumping sounded. Confused, he opened the door to reveal Discord, who was obviously trying to listen in on the conversation they were having. The draconequus grinned weakly, then tried to make a run for it. But Zeb was having none of it. He grabbed Disocrd by the tail and flung him into the pedestal. “I ordered Chopper to keep watch!”
Right on cue, the astromech rolled in making protesting noises. Zeb growled at the chaos spirit. “Can we please turn him back to stone?”
“No, let’s not,” Sabine said. “He already knows too much.”
“Let’s not forget, we still need him to get rid of the Empire,” Ezra added. “Then we can decide what to do to him afterwards.”
“Yes!” Discord flew into the air.
Sabine shook her head. “Ugh, this has to be the stupidest idea I’ve followed up on.”
“Just hope he doesn’t make it any worse,” Twilight remarked.
“I’m standing right here,” Discord said, suddenly annoyed.
“We know,” the two girls replied nonchalantly.
“All right,” Kanan sighed. “There’s no point in waiting here anymore. Let’s leave!”
And with that, the entire group had found themselves transported to the foyer. Discord took a look at the Star Destroyers , unimpressed. “What am I looking at here?”
“Those are Imperial Star Destroyers,” Sabine informed him, exasperated. “Unless you can do something that will stop them from destroying the city, there won’t even be a city to plunge in eternal chaos! Think you can do something?”
Discord yawned, then snapped his fingers lazily. Just like that, all the destroyers vanished. Everyone was taken aback, stunned. Ezra and Kanan looked at each other, confusion dawning in their faces. What just happened? Where did they all go?
“Discord,” Twilight said slowly, “where did they all go?” Discord smiled to himself.
-break—
The Star Destroyers and TIE fighters had crashed in a barren desert . The Inquisitor got out of the rubble, groaning. What was going on? One second his men were wrecking the city like nobody’s business, and the next- POOF! They were in this wasteland of a location. The Inquisitor surveyed his surroundings. A tall, dark, spire-like structure rose in the distance. The Inquisitor’s eyes narrowed. Where was he?
All of a sudden, he heard footsteps. He turned around to see a black bug-like creature with wings, blue eyes, and fangs, with holes all over its body staring curiously back at him. The creature reminded him vaguely of the Geonosians during the Clone Wars. Before he could draw his lightsaber, the creature erupted in a volume of green fire, and before he knew it, he was looking at . . . himself?
“What the-“ he muttered, quickly igniting his blade. Whatever- or whoever- this was, it was clearly trying to screw him over. Before he knew it, his double had also ignited his weapon, and had charged forward. As the two started to brawl, he heard more flamelike eruptions behind him, and stopped fighting to turn around.
A dozen or so Stormtroopers all had their rifles trained on him. The Inquisitor stared back, surprise trickling in his throat. He did not know whether they really were stormtroopers or those buglike impostors, but either way, this was not going to go well for him.
-break—
“So,” Discord said, “now that I upheld my end of the bargain, it means that I can go now, right?”
Luna and Celestia faced each other. “Not exactly,” Celestia said.
Discord frowned. “Whatever do you mean?”
“We didn’t know if you would go back to causing more mayhem for Ponyville once you did what we asked you to do, so we decided to turn you back to stone once you did what you had to,” the sun princess continued.
“WHAT?!?” Discord spat out some water which he obviously summoned out of hyperspace. He could already feel his body start to harden. “You . . .you can’t do that! I mean,what makes you think you can do?”
“’Cause,” Zeb added, “they have put up with up you for far too long. Besides, it’s not like we’ll be needing you for anything more. Surely you must have heard that in your stone prison and all, eh?” He chuckled to himself.
Fluttershy had had enough. She pointed an accusing hoof at Zeb. “You think you can get away with saying things like that?” she snarled, flying up to him. “You best take back what you said, buster, or I’ll give you . . . “ –pause for dramatic effect-“THE STARE!”
“Oh no, not the Stare! Anything but those disapproving eyeballs!” Zeb said, pretending to be scared. He fell down and let loose wild laughter. But Fluttershy clearly was not going to stand this any longer. She gave Zeb a glare so powerful that he stopped mid-laugh. Ezra and Sabine snickered to themselves. Clearly, they never expected to see the day where Garazeb Orrelios would be intimidated by a sweet-tempered, timid yellow pegasus.
“Okay, okay, I give!” He put his hands up in surrender. “Princess, please remove the spell you cast on him!”
A roar of protest met these words, especially from Twilight.
“Sister,” Luna started, “please don’t.”
Celestia sighed. “Sorry, but now that Fluttershy said it, it doesn’t seem fair to him.’’ Her horn glowed a powerful white, and when the light faded, Discord was free. She turned sternly to him. “I hope you can be on your best behavior, Discord. If not-“
“Oh don’t worry.” Discord turned to Fluttershy, apparently grateful for her sticking up to him. “I’ll promise to be on my best behavior from now on. Thank you, Fluttershy.” He teleported in between Ezra and Sabine, pinching their cheeks. “Besides, I think I know who else should experience the full Discord treatment!”
Oh sweet Celestia, Sabine thought to herself, rolling her eyes. Chopper laughed. At long last, here was someone who shared his sense of humor.
“There’s just one more thing we need you to take care of,” Zeb added, getting back onto his feet.
“And what would that be, Garazeb?” Discord said.
A mischievous grin broke across the Lasat’s face.
-break—
Kallus was astounded. He searched the sky all around, as though expecting the Star Destroyers to suddenly pop out of thin air. He waited, but nothing happened.
“What has happened?” he asked the stormtroopers accompanying him.
“It appears that your Empire has overextended itself,” said a sly, mischievous voice. Kallus turned around to see the entire Ghost team and their pony allies assembled, along with three creatures Kallus had never seen before in his life. The pink one with curly hair suddenly appeared in front of him. “You might wanna look down,” she whispered.
Kallus did so, and was astounded to find out that he had his legs stuck in the barrel of what appeared to be a cannon.
“What’s going on?” he demanded.
“Four words, agent: The magic of friendship,” the pegasus with the rainbow-colored mane smirked.
“Bye bye, little butterfly,” the pink one said. She lit the cannon and, seconds later, the ISB agent was blasted out of the cannon out of the city, screaming all the way. The two stormtroopers looked at their opponents, preparing to fire.
“Boo,” said a voice behind them. The stormtroopers panicked and fled, dropping their weapons as they did so.
Rainbow Dash chuckled. “Man, I almost feel sorry for those guys,” she said, kicking a blaster with her hoof. “Almost.”
“I don’t believe it,” Kanan said, amazed. “We’ve successfully defeated the invasion of Equestria.”
“Woohoo!” Discord leapt into the air in victory. “And I know just how we all are going to celebrate!”
A few days ago, Twilight would have given all the bits in the wide world of Equestria to forget what Discord did to her and her friends. But once she had seen what he was also capable of doing, she felt that she would rather have another round with the corrupted ponies.
The spirit of chaos immediately made himself at home in the Ponyville library, much to the chagrin of everyone else. Indeed, the only one who didn’t seem to mind the mad god’s antics was Chopper, who had developed quite a bond with him, what with having a joke at anybody else’s expense or pranking someone.
Discord’s antics were not the only thing that both the Ghost team and the ponies had to put up with. For some reason, Zeb was getting increasingly annoyed by Pinkie Pie’s attempts to cheer him up, even though the pink pony couldn’t understand why. It was enough to drive anypony mad.
And this all came to a head three mornings after the defeat of the invasion.
Everyone was having their usual breakfast meal when Pinkie’s screams shattered the tranquil atmosphere, followed by angry roars from Zeb.
“Help! Angry Lasat on the loose!”
Pinkie had burst into the room, frantically searching for a place to hide. She dove under the breakfast table, much to Kanan’s surprise. A while later, Zeb stormed in, his head covered in confetti and chocolate cake, and wearing an angry expression on his face. Rainbow Dash tried to stifle her laughter, but gave up and let out a hearty guffaw. Spike and Ezra also silently giggled at the hilarious sight. Zeb shot the three of them a dirty look, and they immediately sobered up.
“What is going on here?” Kanan demanded.
“I was about to wash up for the day when all of a sudden I get hit with cake and confetti!” Zeb pointed to himself while Discord laughed hysterically. “And I can think of only one pony who uses a party cannon!”
“It wasn’t my fault!” came Pinkie’s scared, tearful protests.
“SAY THAT TO MY FACE!” Zeb roared, lunging under the table to grab Pinkie. Both Applejack and Fluttershy jumped onto him to prevent him from killing Pinkie.
“Ugh! Has anypony told yah that yah smell?” Applejack exclaimed.
Zeb turned to Applejack and growled. “You have something against the air quality here, eh?” He lunged for her, but the earth pony turned around and kicked him square in the chest with her legs. Zeb fell on his back and crashed into a chair.
“WHAT IN EQUESTRIA IS GOING ON HERE?!” Twilight shrieked, having just entered.
Pinkie came out from under the table. “Twilight! Thank Celestia you’re here! Zeb was about to murder me for something I didn’t do!”
“Something you didn’t do?” Zeb repeated incredulously. “You placed that cannon of yours in the bathroom and set it to explode as soon as I walked in!”
“But I’m telling you, it wasn’t me!” Pinkie Pie protested.
“Quiet!” Twilight yelled. She levitated what looked like a list to both of them. “Congratulations, Garazeb Orrelios. You and Pinkie are going on a supply run today.”
“But-“
“No buts,” Twilight interrupted. “We- Kanan, Hera, and I- want all these by the end of the day. Oh, and don’t even think of getting back here without at least one meiloorun and one chimmy-cherry-changa.”
“Meiloo-what?” Pinkie asked.
“Meiloorun,” Twilight said.
“It’s a yellow fruit with a rind,” Hera elaborated.
“But those don’t grow in Equestria,” Fluttershy pointed out.
“Funny story, actually,” Applejack said nervously. “Chopper showed me Hera’s secret stash the first time he showed me on the Ghost, and . . . uh, I’ve been sharing it with mah family ever since.”
Everypony turned to face Hera. “What?” she asked. “They grew all the time on Ryloth!”
“Well,” Twilight said to the pair of them, “you know what you have to do. Get going.”
So after breakfast, the pair of them went out into the brisk Ponyville air, shoving each other as they went out the door. Discord watched the scene with suppressed humor as Chopper rolled up to him and beeped an inquiry.
“Of course I put her party cannon in the bathroom, Chopper,” he said. “Their bickering was enough to drive anypony up the wall. I figured that some time together would hopefully ease things out between them.”
Chopper whistled in understanding. He then warbled some more, while Discord looked at him in interest. “You don’t say,” he said. He snapped his fingers and the two of them teleported to a section of the upstairs floor where Sabine was displaying a painting of a Loth- cat. “You’re certain that Ezra has a crush on the Mandolorian girl?”
Chopper beeped in agreement, then laughed.
A devilish grin formed on Discord’s face. “In that case, let us see if the Lord of Chaos himself can play matchmaker to this young and lovely couple.” He whipped out a bow and arrow and fired it at the painting. Upon impact, the picture transformed: It now depicted chibi versions of Ezra and Sabine kissing each other full on the lips. Above it was a red heart with an arrow going through it that said, EZRA AND SABINE LOVE EACH OTHER FOREVER. Both Chopper and Discord laughed at the altered picture. This was a picture that everypony in this library was going to be talking about for a long, long time.
Meanwhile, Ezra was passing upstairs to get his lightsaber for training when he heard laughing in one of the rooms. Curious, he opened the door and a bright white flash met his eyes. When his vision cleared, he was looking at something he would never have expected to see. Sabine had apparently painted a picture depicting the two of them kissing in a romantic embrace. Over that, a heart had been painted declaring their undying love for each other. He felt his heart beat faster, felt as if something heavy was suffocating him. Could this be, could it be that his crush had finally decided to reciprocate his feelings for her? He couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t think. He was feeling all woozy. There was only one thing that he could do: find someone who could help sort out his feelings. He ran back downstairs, hoping that this could all be fixed soon. -break— The streets of Ponyville were empty, as they had been since the Empire first invaded. The only people out there were a couple of surviving stormtroopers and some Imperial officials conducting business. As Zeb and Pinkie walked through the city, they continued to argue about whether or not Zeb owed Pinkie for saving his life.
“Need I remind you that if it weren’t for me, Kallus would have finished you off?” Pinkie smirked.
“How could I forget?” Zebsnarked. “You mentioned it at least 23 times for the last three days!”
“Thus, I don’t think you should really hold me in the wrong for supposedly putting that cannon there,” Pinkie furthered.
“Oh, forget it,” Zeb snapped. “Twilight said something about a chimmy-cherry-changa. Where do we find those?”
“Ooh! Sugarcube Corner! Follow me!” She grabbed his hand and sped on over to the bakery.
And soon the two of them completed everything needed on the checklist. Well, almost everything. There was just one thing left-
“The meilooruns,” Zeb said.
“Where are we going to find those?” Pinkie asked.
The answer came in the form of a convoy patrol that just passed by. Zeb and Pinkie noticed that one of the open crates had yellow fruit peeking out.
“There!” Zeb said.
“It’s too fast!” Pinkie noted. “How are we going to get them?”
A mischievous grin broke across the Lasat’s face as an idea formed in his head. “I think I know. Just follow me.” -break—
“And you are certain that you think Sabine did this?” Rarity asked.
“Of course,” Ezra said. “Who else do you think can paint so well?”
“Hmm,” Rarity pondered. “If indeed she did paint that, then there is only one explanation: She’s reciprocating your affections.”
Ezra’s heart beat even more rapidly. “Do you think that is true, Rarity?”
“There’s only one way to find out,” Rarity got up. “We’ll have to ask her ourselves. And be sure to bring Applejack along as well. She may want to hear about this as well.”
-break—
Sabine stood back, having just finished the painting of a wild Loth-cat on the side of the Ponyville library, and admired it. Twilight was going to love this. She always did love to learn about new life forms.
Just then, Applejack , Rarity, and Ezra came in, the first two wearing expressions of mischief and delight and the last one wearing a nervous grin on his face.
“Oh hey, guys,” Sabine said. “How do you like my new painting?” She motioned to the painting of the Loth-cat.
“Sabine, we want to ask you something,” Applejack said.
“Fire away,” Sabine responded.
Rarity giggled. “Sabine, do you . . . have a thing for Ezra?”
“Say what?” Sabine said, confused.
“Don’ act like yah don’ know, sugarcube,” Applejack continued heartily. “Ezra here told us about how you painted a picture of the two of you kissing. Do you have feelings for him or not?”
Sabine looked at Ezra as though he had swallowed a kyber crystal. “Where did you get that idea, kid?”
“Oh come on!” Ezra protested. “I saw your painting in your room. It had the two of us kissing with a big red heart over it.”
“I never painted anything like that,” Sabine protested. “But by all means, go ahead and show me where you got that ludicrous idea.”
So Ezra and the two mares led Sabine up to the room where she was staying, and Sabine could not believe what her eyes were telling her.
Her original painting, which depicted the symbol for the rebellion, had indeed been replaced by a painting of the two of them kissing. The weird part was that she never, ever had painted it at all; the kid was indeed telling the truth. Her heart beat faster. There was only one person she knew who had the power to warp reality to his will and could therefore alter the painting this flawlessly.
“Uh, Sabine, darling,” Rarity spoke up, “is everything all right?”
Sabine’s blood rose to the boiling point, then erupted. “DISCORD!” she shouted. “I’m gonna destroy that draconequus!” She ran off, pistols drawn.
Ezra, having come to his senses as well, followed her down the stairs, lightsaber drawn. “Let me in on it as well!”
Silence. Neither Applejack nor Rarity spoke. Then Rarity said, “They’re not gonna succeed in tearing him apart, will they?”
Applejack shook her head. “Nope.” -break—
“You see those bucketheads?” Zeb whispered to Pinkie. The pink pony nodded. “On my signal, you are to create a distraction so that I can snatch that crate of meilooruns. Ready, now!”
On his signal, the pink pony burst into view of the stormtroopers. “Hey!” she called. “You boys miss me?”
The troopers looked at each other, as if wondering what to do next. As they had no apparent instruction on what to do, they just decided to shoot her. But what they failed to realize was that their target had the uncanny ability to apparently dodge all of their horrible shots with ease. As Pinkie drew the stormtroopers away, the convoy carrying the meilooruns sped off.
“Karabast,” Zeb muttered. He looked around wildly for something to use. At last, he spotted an unguarded TIE fighter and ran off toward it. Checking to make sure that no one else was around, he entered the hatch, started up the controls, and flew it off, cackling as he did so.
It was a most wondrous feeling, seeing the cityscape from up above. In the distance, he thought he could see Cloudsdale floating serenely. Luckily for Rainbow, the city didn’t suffer too much from the invasion. He looked down and saw that Pinkie was still being chased by the stormtroopers. He smirked, then descended.
Meanwhile on the ground, Pinkie was starting to run out of energy. The bucketheads were still catching up and there was no sign of Zeb. She prayed that she would live to survive this.
All of a sudden, she heard a low whirring sound and saw a menacing TIE fighter approach her. Great, she thought. Just what I need. She glimpsed inside the cockpit to see the person flying it was . . .
“Zeb?” she asked, surprised.
“You know, I should be saving your life, right?” he called.
“Fine, sure, just let me in!” she said.
“I let you in, we’re even!”
“FINE!” she groaned.
“You have to say it!”
“All right! We’re even! Now please, just let me in!”
Zeb opened the hatch, and Pinkie wasted no time whatsoever trying to get in.
“Let’s just say,” he started as soon as she settled down, “that we are forever even.” Pinkie nodded in agreement. “Now let’s find those meilooruns!”
Just then, a completely new voice sounded on the radio. “Well, well, I see somepony is getting along just fine with his arch-nemesis!” Robotic laughter also sounded on the other end of the intercom as well. Zeb growled. There was only person he knew who had that cocky swagger in his voice.
“Discord?” he said menacingly. “What are you and Chopper doing here?”
“It’s quite simple, really,” the draconequus responded in a self-assured manner. “The others were tired of your constant bickering with Pinkie Pie, so I placed her cannon in the bathroom and set it to blow up in your face so that the two of you would spend some quality time together. And I can see that I have succeeded.”
“Uh, sure,” Zeb said, then lowered his voice into a whisper, “remind me to bash his head in once we come back.”
Good luck with that, Pinkie Pie thought to herself.
“Where are you exactly?” Zeb asked Discord.
“We are in the second TIE fighter right behind you,” Discord responded. Zeb checked the built-in positioning system and indeed, there was a second TIE flying right behind them. Zeb looked in confusion at Pinkie, who simply shrugged.
“Spectre-1 to Spectre-4.”Kanan’s voice came over the intercom. “Did you get the meilooruns yet?”
“Yeah, about that,” Zeb said. “We seem to have run into a bit of trouble with them.”
Twilight’s voice joined in on the conversation, and Zeb could have sworn that she was a bit amused. “I kinda figured that. Look, don’t worry about that. It was all a joke. The meilooruns-“
“Oh yeah, meilooruns,” Pinkie Pie chirped. “See, we found some, and we lost them, and now we’re finding them again and-“
Zeb sighed. “Just cut to the chase, kid.”
“Wait, what am I hearing?” Kanan’s voice interrupted, a bit demanding.
“These guys stole a TIE fighter,” Discord’s voice answered in an annoying sing-song fashion before either of them could explain.
“Say WHAT?!?” Twilight shrieked. She’s taking it a lot better than I thought, Zeb thought to himself. Thanks for snitching us out, Discord. “Get rid of it!”
“Do we have to?” Pinkie and Zeb complained in unison.
Kanan’s voice sighed. “At least say that you dismantled the locator beacons.”
“Of course,” Zeb chuckled nervously. “We’re not fools!” He turned to Pinkie and whispered furiously, “Under there! The red, no the blue!”
“Make up your mind! Which is it?” Pinkie Pie asked, a bit annoyed.
“It’s the red and the blue,” came Kanan’s annoyed voice.
“Oh, heh, heh,” Pinkie chuckled, “right! We knew that right away, back when we first boarded! Heheh!”
“Stealing a TIE fighter attracts unnecessary attention,” Twilight’s voice snarked matter-of-factly. “Park it behind Sugarcube Corner and destroy it! No exceptions!”
“Fine,” Zeb groaned, then signed off. But first, we’re getting what we stole this thing for. -break—
The sun had begun to set, and still the pair had no luck finding the meilooruns. Zeb was about to give up and call it a day when he noticed that the convoy carrying the fruit that they were searching for.
“There!” He brought the fighter down lower. “Now, you know what to do!” Pinkie nodded, then jumped out of the hatch and tackled the driver.
“Oof!” The convoy driver lost his balance and crashed his vehicle into a nearby stand. As he was knocked out of commission, Pinkie stole at least two meilooruns in her hooves (it’s Pinkie Pie, don’t question it) and managed to run off.
“I got the fruit!” she called.
Zeb gave her the thumbs up, then motioned for her to get the heck out of dodge through a dirt road- which happened to be cut off by some stormtroopers. Upon seeing this, the pink pony put a fruit in front of her.
“Wait, you attacked us- for fruit?” one of the troopers said, disbelieving.
“You’re kidding, right?” another one added.
“No!” Pinkie denied, then stopped to reconsider. “Okay, maybe a little.”
At this, Zeb fired a few shots from the fighter’s turrets, and the stormtroopers scattered like ants. He then turned the vehicle upside down and opened the hatch.
“All for fruit!” Pinkie cheerily exclaimed as she jumped into the hatch. The fighter then flew off. -break—
It was night when Zeb and Pinkie returned to the library. By then, the animosity that had been between the two had been reduced to playful punching and teasing. Twilight and Hera were waiting for them, smiling knowingly.
“Hello, you two,” Hera started as they approached. “I take it the supply run was a success?”
“Yep,” Zeb chuckled. “We destroyed the TIE just like you said.”
“And you got the meilooruns as I ‘asked’ you to?” Twilight added.
“Here they are,” Pinkie produced the yellow fruit. Twilight smiled. This may not what she had in mind, but one thing was certain: Zeb and Pinkie were getting along a lot better than previously.
“Excellent,” Twilight said. “Now if you could just-“
A loud crash sounded from the living room. Twilight turned around to see that Ezra and Sabine had attacked Discord. The two teens were holding onto him for dear life, trying to make him pay for what he did earlier.
“Fluttershy’s not here to help you now-“ Ezra said, but Discord, apparently begging to differ, sent both of them flying into Rainbow Dash, who was, at the moment, reading a book on the Wonderbolts. Rainbow glared at both of them, while they grinned back weakly.
“What is going on here?” Hera demanded.
And so, the two explained to Hera how Discord had played a prank on them earlier. Now if only he could do that to me and Kanan, Hera mused.
“I think I know how we can resolve the issue,” Twilight smirked, while Zeb and Pinkie Pie chuckled.
“You can’t be serious,” Sabine muttered to herself, exchanging we-are-so-screwed-looks with Ezra.
