The Sonic Rainboom sat listlessly in the huge bay of one of the many docking hangars of the huge battle station. The thirty armed stormponies who were milling about before the entrance ramp snapped to attention as Nightmare Moon approached. She halted at the base of the ramp, gazing intently at what she could see of the interior. She didn't look down as an armored officer came forward.

"There was no reply to our repeated hails, sir, so we opened the ramp from outside. We've made no contact with anypony aboard either through communicator or face-to-face," the officer reported.

"Search the ship," Nightmare ordered as she continued scrutinizing the space capsule before her.

Turning, the officer relayed the command to the soldiers under his command. A number of stormponies made their way up the ramp into the outer hold and disappeared from view from everypony outside. They advanced with appreciable caution.

Inside, two ponies covered a third as she advanced. Moving in groups of three in this fashion, they swiftly spread through the ship. Corridors rang hollowly under metal horseshoes, and doors slid open willingly as they were activated.

"Empty," the officer in charge finally declared in surprise, "Let's check the cockpit."

He and several troopers made their way forward and slid open the hatch, only to find the pilot's chairs as vacant as the rest of the ship. The controls were all powered down and deactivated save for a single light. The officer moved forward, recognized the source of the light, and activated the appropriate controls. A nearby screen lit up with a string of text, scrolling slowly upward. He studied it intently, and then exited the cockpit. He made his way outside, where Nightmare Moon was waiting.

"There is nopony aboard; the ship is completely deserted, sir," he reported, "According to the ship's log, her crew abandoned ship immediately after take-off, then set her to Aldermare on autopilot."

"Did you find any data disks?" asked Nightmare.

"No, sir-nothing; if there were any, the crew must've taken them when they bailed."

Nightmare stared back at the unassuming freighter before speaking. "Tell me, commander, what privateer would willingly abandon his own ship? Especially since he wouldn't have known anypony would be waiting for him when he arrived." Before the officer in front of her could venture an explanation, she continued, "Furthermore, the behavior the ship exhibited after arriving in system doesn't match what any known autopilot is capable of…" She turned back to the pony in front of her, "Send a fully equipped scanning team aboard; I want every centimeter of that ship checked. See too it as soon as possible." With that, she whirled and stalked from the hangar.

The officer saluted as she left before turning and dismissing the rest of the assembled stormponies over his communicator. On board the freighter, one last figure was examining the space beneath the cockpit consoles. Hearing the dismissal, she ran off to join her comrades. She was anxious to be off this ghost ship and back in the comfortable surroundings of the barracks. She missed as one section of floor plating sounded different as she stepped on it, as her hoofsteps echoed through the once more empty freighter.

That section abruptly popped upward, followed by a pair of tousled manes. Rainbow Dash and Twilight looked around quickly, then managed to relax a bit when it became clear that the ship was as empty as it sounded.

"Good thing you installed these compartments," Twilight commented.

Rainbow Dash was not as optimistic. "You didn't think I kept my smuggled goods in the main hold, did you? Though I never thought to smuggle myself in one." She jumped up at a sudden sound, but relaxed when she saw it was Fluttershy and Angel emerging from under another panel.

"This is bad. Even if I could take off and get us outside," she pointed a hoof towards the rear of the craft, "we'd never get past that tractor beam."

Another panel slid aside, revealing the flowing mane of Celestia, "Leave that to me."

"I was afraid you'd say something like that," muttered Dash, "You must be insane, you know that?"

Celestia laughed, "And what does that say about the pony who allowed herself to be hired by the insane?"

Rainbow Dash muttered something under her breath as they pulled themselves clear of the compartments, Big Mac doing so with a magical boost from Twilight.

---

Two technicians had arrived at the base of the ramp, carrying a large box between them. They reported to the two bored stormponies guarding it.

"The ship's all yours," one of the troopers told them, "If you find any ponies or pastries, report them immediately."

The tech-ponies nodded, and then with effort lugged their heavy equipment up the ramp. As soon as they disappeared inside, a loud crash was heard. Both guards whirled to face the source of noise.

"Hey down there, could you lend a hoof with this?"

One trooper glanced at her companion, who shrugged. Both started up the ramp. When they disappeared, a second crash was heard, but this time, nopony was left to hear it.

But their disappearance was noticed, soon thereafter. A gantry officer passing the window glanced out, frowning when she saw no sign of the guards. Concerned, she moved to a communicator and spoke into it as she continued to watch the ship.

"DRP-0015, why aren't you at your post? DRP-0015, do you copy?"

Static was the only reply.

"DRP-0015, why don't you say something?" The officer was beginning to panic when an armored form descended the ramp and waved. Pointing to the portion of the helmet where the communicator was, the figure tapped it to indicate that it wasn't working.

The gantry officer sighed in relief before turning to her busy aide. "Take over here; we've got another bad transmitter. I'm going to see what I can do." She activated the door, and saw a mass of red fur blocking her exit.

"I'm sorry," she said, looking up, "can I help…you…?"

"Nnope!", Big Mac spun around and bucked the hapless pony clear across the room. The aide was already on his hooves and reaching for a sidearm when a narrow energy beam lanced him through the chest. Rainbow Dash, clad in stormpony armor, followed the stallion into the room. Celestia, Angel, and Fluttershy squeezed in behind her, with Twilight, also wearing armor, bringing up the rear.

Twilight was looking around nervously as the door closed behind them. "You know, between his smashing and your blasting, it's a wonder the whole station doesn't know we're here."

"Bring it on," Dash demanded, high on their success so far, "I prefer a more exciting adventure to all this sneaking around."

"You might be in a hurry to die," Twilight snapped back, "but I'm not; all this sneaking around has kept us alive." She looked back at the door before adding, "For the moment."

They both quieted down and watched as Angel started operating an incredibly complex computer console with the ease and confidence of one long accustomed to handling intricate machinery.

"You should be able to draw information from all over the station's network from here," Celestia nodded appreciatively, "Let's see if we can't find out where the tractor-beam power unit is located."

"Umm, excuse me," Fluttershy inquired quietly, "But, couldn't we just turn it off from here?"

It was Rainbow Dash who replied. "It wouldn't work; they'd just turn it on again before we could get a ship's length out."

Fluttershy looked crestfallen, "Oh, sorry…" She stared at the floor kicking her hoof quietly.

"We will have to break the tractor at its source to make a clean escape, Fluttershy," Celestia explained gently as Angel pressed buttons like a bunny possessed. Immediately a galaxy of lights came to life on the main viewer and the room was filled with the hum of machinery working at high speed.

Several minutes passed as images flickered on the screen. Then the rabbit sat back and folded his arms with an obvious aura of smug superiority as the images finally settled on a map of a particular portion of the station.

"Oh, you've found it? Good boy, Angel!" Fluttershy announced.

"It looks like the tractor beam is coupled to the main reactor at seven locations. A loss of power at just one of them will turn off the entire system," Twilight gathered from the data, "Why would they design a system where any one point of failure shuts the whole thing down?"

Celestia pondered the map after hearing Twilight's words. "I don't think you can help with this," she finally told them, "I must go alone."

Twilight's jaw dropped. "WHAT?" she almost shouted, "You can't be serious! What if they find us? What if they're angry that Rainbow killed six of their co-workers?"

"Hey!" Rainbow interjected, "Big Mac helped!"

"Umm, girls?" Fluttershy quietly tried to get their attention as Angel gesticulated wildly at a smaller monitor nearby.

"I have complete faith that you'll be able to handle yourselves," Celestia stated as she levitated over a small comlink, "Just call me on this, and I can be back here in just a few moments if you need me."

"But, you can't go out there alone!" Twilight went on.

"Girls?" Fluttershy asked again meekly.

"With all of your arguing with Ms. Rainbow Dash, I will have a better chance to go unnoticed if I'm not dragging along the two of you," Celestia sternly told Twilight, "I'm sorry, but you will have to stay here."

"GIRLS!" Fluttershy shouted. All conversation was dropped instantly as everypony stared at Fluttershy. Blushing heavily upon noticing she had the attention of everypony in the room, she squeaked, "Oh, umm, Angel found Princess Rarity. The pony in the tape? I just thought you'd want to know…"

Twilight forgot all about her impending abandonment. "Really? Where is she?"

"Wait a second," Rainbow demanded, "who is she?"

"She sent the message that started this trip in the first place," Twilight hurriedly explained, "She gave Angel that backpack containing intelligence to be delivered to Aldermare." She turned back to Angel. "Now, where is she?" she repeated.

"Level five, detention block BB-26," Fluttershy read off the screen, "Oh my, she's going to be terminated."

"Oh no," breathed Twilight, "We've got to do something. If only we could get into that detention block…"

"Whoa whoa whoa," Rainbow Dash interrupted, "I'm not going into any detention blocks!" She looked toward the alicorn still in the room with them, "You told us to stay here, right?"

"I admit, I did not know she was here," Celestia spoke up, "But, if we're also going to rescue her, I will need your help."

"Who said we were going to go rescue her?" retorted Rainbow Dash, "I'd rather stay here and be, you know, alive."

"I thought you didn't want to stay here, Rainbow," Twilight argued, "Weren't you up for an exciting adventure?"

"Trotting into the detention area is not what I had in mind," countered Rainbow Dash.

"But they're going to kill her!"

"Better her than me!"

"She's a rich and powerful senator," Twilight tried again; "She can make it worth the risk."

Rainbow's eyes lit up. "Wait, go back to rich. Just how much are we talking?"

"Uh, more wealth than you can imagine! She is, or was, the princess of planetary government and a senator. And she's the sole heir to all of Aldermare's off-world assets. She has to be tremendously wealthy, right?"

"I dunno…" Rainbow looked over to Big Mac, who merely shrugged back. "Fine, we'll do it your way. What's the plan?"

"Uh…" Twilight was momentarily taken aback. All of her energies up to this point had been spent persuading Rainbow Dash to join in their rescue attempt. She looked towards Celestia for help.

"Oh, not this time Twilight," Celestia replied to Twilight's unspoken request. "I'd much like to see what plan you come up with."

Twilight's eyes caught sight of several metal bridles hanging from a nearby rack. This could work, she thought as she levitated one set toward her and moved over to Big Mac.

"Now, I'm going to put this on you," Twilight began, positioning the restraint to slip over Big Mac's snout, "and-"

Big Macintosh snorted loudly at Twilight and glared. Twilight jumped back in spite of herself. "Now," she began again, "Dash is going to put this on you and…" She sheepishly floated the bridle over to Rainbow, uncomfortably aware of the enormous stallion's eyes upon her.

Rainbow Dash sounded amused as she stepped forward. "No sweat, Big Mac. I think I know what she has in mind." The restraint barely fit over his snout. Despite his partner's confidence, he wore a worried expression as it was activated.

"Excuse me." Twilight looked over at Fluttershy as she grabbed another bridle from the rack. "Sorry, but what should Angel and I do if somepony finds us?"

"Oh that's easy," Twilight responded, "Just lock the door."

"Yeah," Rainbow butted in, "and hope they don't remember the override."

"Oh," Fluttershy didn't find any humor in their current predicament.

---

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

OMG, did I just deviate from the plot of the movie? I was intrigued by the idea of Celestia coming to help with the rescue attempt enough to see where I thought it would go. It may even have an impact on the rest of the trilogy.

Now for a numbers game: where in the first season of My Little Pony did I pull the numbers from for DRP-0015 and PB-26? I may put the answers may be in the next author's notes. Hint: The letters are the clue...