Rainbow Dash walked slowly into the hold area; she could've joined the other ponies twenty or so minutes ago, but she had to work up the nerve to face her clients after her display in the cockpit. She had laughed at that unicorn filly, Rainbow thought to herself, wasn't she better than that? Worse, she had openly mocked her desire for a smoother flight, despite it being her first time. Rainbow felt bad for her; pegasi had an innate resistance to high accelerations, making them excellent choices for pilots, and earth ponies at least had hearty constitutions. Unicorns, on the other hoof, were about as comfortable in high-speed maneuvering as a pegasus was standing perfectly still.

"That wasn't cool Rainbow," she silently berated herself, "You're going to march on up there and say you're sorry."

Her pride wouldn't make that easy for her, however. She stopped to watch Big Mac play a holographic version of chess with their rabbit passenger. He sat hunched over the table, chewing lightly on the straw in his mouth. He gave every impression that he was well pleased with himself.

At least, he did until Angel tapped his own computer monitor, causing one of his pieces to slide to a new position and stop there. Beside him, Fluttershy watched the game with great interest.

Big Macintosh first looked over the board in puzzlement. As it slowly dawned on him what Angel had just done, his expression turned to one of shock; his jaw went slack as the straw fell out of his mouth to the deck. Angel had just checkmated him.

"Wow Big Mac," Rainbow quipped, "looks like you've found someone who can actually beat you at this."

"Don't feel bad," Fluttershy said calmly, "I'm sure the next time you'll do better." Angel just looked at Big Mac with a smug grin as he stared dumbly back at the bunny.

Alright, thought Rainbow, I'm not putting this off any longer. The mirth from earlier making it easier, she trotted to the other side of the hold where Twilight Sparkle and Celly were finishing off a rather large lunch; Twilight in particular hadn't eaten at all that day.

"Hey," Rainbow spoke up, getting their attention. Before they could interrupt, she continued. "Sorry about the way I acted earlier; sometimes I just do stupid things without thinking. I should've known you wouldn't be able to handle…that, and I shouldn't have laughed at you."

"W-well," Twilight stuttered at a nudge from Celly, "let's just forget that this ever happened and move on, shall we?"

"Deal!" Dash immediately brightened as she sat down at the meal table.

Celly smiled as she brought Twilight back to her previous conversation. "Twilight, I believe you're ready for your first lessons on the Magic of Friendship." She stood up, discarding her cloak as she continued, "First, however, I want to teach you a very special spell."

Twilight rose from her seat as her mentor closed her eyes and began to concentrate. It didn't take much; almost immediately, Celly's horn seemed to grow to three times its original length. Twilight blinked, and looked again. It wasn't actually Celly's horn; it was a shaft of magical energy. It shone like a sun in the dimly lit cargo bay, but oddly enough wasn't painful to look at. And it was so simple, Twilight thought, there has to be more than that.

As if reading her mind, Celly spoke, "As you know, most unicorns can only manage one spell at a time; the Knights of Harmony created this spell to allow a unicorn to be able to cast whilst still being able to defend herself." She swung her horn around gently, the magic blade following its movements. "Would you like to try?"

"Would I!" exclaimed an enthusiastic Twilight, assuming a balanced stance, "Where do I begin?"

"Start by thinking about all the ponies that care about you-"

"Huh?" interrupted Twilight, thoroughly confused. No magic spell she had ever learned started out like that. Most required only to find one's inner power and channeling it through the horn.

"That's the secret to this spell," explained Celly, her horn still aglow, "channeling the Magic of Friendship into a blade to allow the rest of your magic for more, mundane spellcasting."

"Okay." Twilight wasn't entirely convinced, but she trusted Celly's words. She began to think about everypony she knew. She thought of Celly, there to provide guidance and praise when she needed either. She thought of Fluttershy and Angel, who even though they had just met days ago, already seemed like lifelong companions. She thought of Uncle Oaten and Aunt Mareu; even in death she could almost feel them, watching over her…

"That's good Twilight," Celly praised, carefully watching her pupil's expression, "Now, take that feeling and let it out through your horn."

Suddenly a shaft of light burst from Twilight's horn, matching Celly's in every way but color; where Celly's shone like a bright sun, Twilight's blade was a softer magenta hue.

"I did it? YES!" Twilight swung her head around towards Fluttershy, momentarily forgetting her magic blade.

There was a flash as Celly expertly dove under Twilight's magic sword. With a quick upwards motion she brought her own up to meet it, stopping the shaft just inches from Fluttershy's face. Twilight watched in horror as several hairs from Fluttershy's mane fell to the deck; if Celly had been any slower, that would've been the top of Fluttershy's head.

"You need to be more careful with this spell," Celly admonished Twilight, "this spell is a defensive weapon; but make no mistake, it can hurt somepony."

"Sorry," Twilight said softly, "I just…"

"It's alright," Celly dispelled her own sword before continuing, "But maybe everypony should stand back a bit. Please?" Every pony slowly nodded, then went back to the chess table as Celly picked up a small sphere with her magic and placed it on the table.

"The first thing I'd like you to do is to pick up this training remote with your magic, without dispelling your magic sword," Celly instructed. Twilight easily grabbed the remote and lifted it above the table, before setting it down again.

"Excellent," Celly praised as she grabbed the remote, "Now I want you to use that blade of magic to defend yourself against this drone."

"What?" exclaimed Twilight, "How am I supposed to block lasers on my horn? Shouldn't I just use a shield?"

"Most magical shields can't handle being shot more than once or twice," Celly went back to explaining, "This saber spell reflects the energy instead, allowing it to continue being used.

"As to how to position yourself," she continued before Twilight could ask again, "you'll have to rely on the Magic of Friendship to help you."

"You mean it can control my actions?" asked Twilight breathlessly.

"Goodness no! Nor does it obey your commands." Celly thought back to her days as an apprentice, trying to remember how it was explained to her. "It's…it's a feeling, and something more. It's something that a pony can use to accomplish miracles." Her brow furrowed in remembrance, she continued, "Nopony ever really could define the Magic of Friendship, but the best explanation I've heard is that it can influence chance, random probabilities into one's favor; like being very lucky."

Celly looked back at Twilight's unconvinced face. "Well, let's give it a try shall we?" She tossed the training remote into the air towards Twilight, watching as it stopped a couple of meters from her face. Twilight held her horn at the ready as the ball slowly circled around her, turning to face it whenever it assumed a new position. Suddenly, the ball darted behind her. A thin strip of red energy jumped from the remote to strike the back of one of Twilight's hind legs, causing her to drop to the deck before she could react to the probe's sudden movements.

"Ow!" Twilight cried out, struggling to rise back to her hooves. The shot hadn't hurt, but it had rendered the area numb for a few seconds. "How am I supposed to block light? If I can see it, it's already too late!"

"Then you have to stop relying on your eyes," replied Celly simply, "the only way to truly rely on the Magic of Friendship is to stop thinking, and just act."

The ball swung in again, causing Twilight to yelp as it brushed past her shoulder. She swung around wildly, trying to follow the erratic movement of the remote. It swung under her legs and fired again, this time hitting square on her flank. "This isn't working," she snapped.

"No, it isn't," agreed Celly as she stealthily magicked a cleaning rag off of a nearby maintenance rack.

Twilight cried out again in surprise as Celly slipped the rag over her eyes, blindfolding her. She tried to focus her magic to untie the knot, only to find Celly still had a firm hold on it.

"Let your mind go, Twilight," Celly ordered Twilight, "Don't focus on anything concrete, just the feeling you get when you think of your friends. Let your mind drift freely."

Twilight stopped her frantic swinging and tried to relax. She pushed all of her doubt and worries from her mind and concentrated solely on the feelings she had used to conjure her magic sword before. She held on to that feeling, reveling in its tender embrace. She barely noticed her neck twist, moving her head down and right, and deflecting a bolt into the wall. Her head moved again, as if floating, up and left to deflect another. The remote ceased its humming as it deactivated and fell to the deck.

Twilight ripped the blindfold off to stare at the drone. "Did I just…" she muttered, scarcely believing.

"I'm so proud of you," beamed Celly behind her, "once you learn to trust in the Magic fully, there'll be no limit to what you can do." Twilight smiled back.

"Hey guys, sorry to interrupt." Rainbow Dash was hovering above the deck in front of them. "We're coming up onto the Aldermare system now."

"Thank you Ms. Dash, after you," was Celly's easy reply. The trio began walking back to the cockpit.

"Celly? I felt something different back there," Twilight thoughtfully told her mentor, "It was like I almost could 'see' the remote."

"That's good," Celly smiled again, "You're taking your first steps into a larger universe."

Dozens of blinking lights and humming instruments lent the freighter's cockpit the air of a busy hive. Rainbow Dash had her attention fixated on the most vital of them.

"Steady…stand by Big Mac," Dash adjusted several switches, "Ready…cut it!"

Big Macintosh pulled back on one of large levers adorning the control panel. Abruptly, the tunnel of hyperspace gave way to streaks of starlight, which quickly shortened into the familiar pricks everypony was used too. A gauge on the console read zero.

The ship was immediately slammed to the side. Gigantic chunks of rock crashed into everything around them, including the Sonic Rainboom, barely being shunted aside by the deflector shields. What was more alarming was what wasn't there.

Aldermare was gone.

---

Author's Notes:

All characters from My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic are all owned by Hasbro, Inc.

Original story Star Wars: A New Hope by George Lucas

My first personal-combat action scene! I figured that magical beams from the horn would be a good way to handle light sabers in this particular story.

For anypony wondering, "Celly" is Celestia after using her magic to shrink down to normal pony size, for disguises and/or to more easily fit indoors. If I refer to her as Celly, it means she's still shrunk. If I suddenly shift to calling her Celestia, she's grown back to full size.

EDIT: On Oct. 21 I had a minor editing binge on the entire story. Just some minor word changes, spelling fixes, and grammar fixes.