BONUS CHAPTER:

The Battle of Yavin

Outside of my house, lightning flashed, soon followed by the booming roar of thunder, as I sat inside of my living room, calmly blowing bubbles on my trusty bubble pipe.

Yes. I’m a semi-mortal being, who has dealt with demons and apocalypses on a daily basis, and I take enjoyment in using a bubble pipe. So sue me.

As previously mentioned, a storm was currently unleashing its torrential wrath upon Ponyville, due to a couple of missed storms. If you combined that fact, and my apparent bad luck with lightning in anything that didn’t involve fighting, I had made sure that I was comfortably holed up inside my home, with several bottles of coke, cupcakes, fresh cookies, and a few books that I had been wanting to read surrounding my favorite armchair. Again, like usual, I had also been…volunteered, to babysit.

Three simultaneous sighs filled the room, and I looked up from the book I was reading to glance at the three fillies staring forlornly out the window. Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo looked about as bored as I did whenever I tried to pay attention in an Algebra II class (mixing numbers with letters has never been a good idea in my books).

“Now what seems to be the problem?” I asked, closing my book, and setting it on the table besides me. For some reason, I felt like it was the perfect time to start talking in my best “Sean Connery” voice (yeah, yeah, yuck it up). “Don’t tell me that you girls are…bored?”

Applebloom turned from the window, and gave me her best sad eyes. “We are though! There ain’t nuthin’ to do here, since ya won’t let us go in yer vault!”

“Applebloom, if I let you girls in there, Ponyville would be a crater,” I chuckled, stretching my arms. Yes, I was in my human form, because thanks to that little incident with the cockatrice and Shadow-Stalkers, I had been forced to reveal it to them.

“Well…we’re just stir-crazy is all,” Sweetie Belle admitted, giving me an embarrassed smile.

“Stir-crazy? More like…actually, that fits,” Scootaloo fluttered her wings in an agitated fashion, and started buzzing about the room. “Come on! There’s gotta be something we can do!”

Maybe it was the guilt from not being able to tell them the story of how I had gotten my cutie-mark (or being able to make on up without feeling bad), but for some reason, I smiled, and said, “Sweetie, up on my bookshelf, there should be a green scrapbook. Could you three grab it for me?”

All three of them perked up, sensing that something interesting was about to happen, and they obliged me, hopping up on my armchair. Applebloom and Sweetie Belle settled in at my sides, while Scootaloo perched on top of the chair, while I opened the book to reveal…

“Whoa!” Scootaloo shouted. “Is that you!?”

Laughing, I fondly ruffled her hair, saying, “Yeah, that’s me!”

Inside of the scrapbook was a grainy photo of me with shorter hair (and the same-length beard). My picture self stood in front of a battered and burned X-Wing fighter craft, wearing a dingy orange flight suit, and an old helmet was cradled in its arm, while the other gave the camera a thumbs-up.

“Wow! You look so…COOL!” Scootaloo said, recognizing that the X-Wing was obviously built for something involving flight, and speed. “Is that one of those jet things you’ve told us about? Are you its pilot?!”

“Indeed I am!”

“Why does it look all…burnt?” Applebloom asked, taking a closer look at the photo.

“Well, this was actually my fifth world that I had Traveled to.  I was still kinda getting’ used to it,Now, you see-” I stopped myself suddenly, and looked over to my iPod. “Just a second.”

I pressed the buttons on the speaker, and quickly set some music on. Grinning widely, and gesturing at the pictures in the book, I said, “Alright, let me tell you a story…about a battle that happened a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away…”

XHXHXHXHXHXHX

STAR WARS:

EPISODE IV

A NEW HOPE

(“Why is he playin’ that music?” Applebloom asked.)

("HEY! NOT WHILE I’M FLASHBACKING!")

(“Sorry.”)

Anyways, here we go! After a harrowing escape from the Death Star, a space station the size of a small moon capable of destroying entire planets, Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Chewbacca, Princess Leia, the droids R2-D2 and C-3PO, and I had reached Yavin IV, where the Rebel’s secret base was located. The evil Empire had already destroyed Princess Leia’s home planet of Alderaan, tricking her into revealing the secret location of the base, and we had very little time until the Death Star reached us.

Han Solo, in true mercenary fashion, had collected his payment for flying us there, and he and Chewie left soon afterwards. As Luke and I had some experience with flying fighter ships (since technically, the Gummy Ship was close enough), we both signed up to do an attack run on the Death Star, and hopefully one of our many fighters would be able to hit the ventilation shaft that would lead to the core, and blow it up.

After being briefed on our mission, and getting assigned to our squadrons, we took off, hoping to intercept the Death Star before it came within firing range of Yavin.

Even now, we were flying our ships there, and I can remember it as if it were yesterday…

If you can read this, you don’t need glasses, or they’re working fine already.

XHXHXHXHXHXHXHX

Slowly, methodically almost, I clicked a few switches in my X-Wing, and once again stared out the window at the stars all around me. It struck me odd, that no matter how fast I Traveled, or how much I learned, that I would truly not know about everything that was out there. I was a small speck, in a literally unending ocean. In the years that I had been Traveling, I had only seen barely enough to be counted as a small drop of water.

It was humbling, to say the least.

Still, I couldn’t help but take comfort in the stars that surrounded me. If I were to die out here in a blaze of glory (and hopefully that bit about regenerating on a home world was true), then at least the last thing I would see would be those bright pinpricks of life in the vast darkness around me.

Shaking my head clear of such thoughts, I focused on the line of fighters in front of me. Adjusting my course to meet theirs, I flew in the back of the line, almost as if I had been doing this my entire life.

I don’t know what it is, but even though it may take me ages to learn how to master a vehicle of some sort, if you put me in anything that flies, I’ll have it mastered in ten seconds flat…speaking of which…

Glancing around to make sure that none of the other pilots could see me, I reached into my pocket, and pulled out a sticker with a picture of Rainbow Dash’s cutie-mark on it. Smiling, I peeled it off, and slapped it onto the side of my helmet.

“Twenty percent cooler, right?” I asked myself, chuckling softly. Oh, if the Bronies could see me now. Flying in space, about to go to war, with a Rainbow Dash cutie-mark sticker on my helmet.

Oh yeah, it’s good to be The Traveler…hmm…I better be careful. That might become my catch phrase if I say it too often.

Unfortunately, reality quickly slapped me in the face again, as I heard them start to do the roll call, or whatever it was. No matter where I go, or how I deal with it, war always makes me apprehensive. Sure, in video games or movies, it’s just “pretend”, but for me, I have to deal with it eventually.

This was one of those prime examples. I was terrified of what was about to happen. Would Luke make it? Would we win? Would the Death Star destroy Yavin, and leave us stranded in space?

“Red leader, standing by.”

“Red one, standing by.”

“Red two, standing by.”

“Red eleven, standing by.”

“Red five, standing by,” I heard Luke’s voice say over the speakers.

I hesitated for a few instants, before clicking the transmitter, and stuttering out, “Uh, Blue eight, standing by.”

“DAMN IT OMNIUS!” Red leader’s voice cracked out, while the sounds of nervously laughing pilots filtered in under it.

“What?! I’m kinda new to this!” I shouted back defensively.

“Ugh…lock S-Foils in attack positions!”

We all did so, readying ourselves for the upcoming battle. Before I knew it, though, all chaos broke loose.

The first wave of fighters went to the Death Star, that huge metallic monster, before the turrets destroyed them completely. Others managed to avoid them, only to be targeted by the Empire’s own star ships. While everyone scattered, trying to find their way to the target, I flew straight in, dodging the turrets, and managed to clip the side of one of the enemy ships, causing it to spin out of control, until it was blasted by its own turrets.

Suck it.

You wanna know what was really disconcerting? I couldn’t hear a thing, other than the sounds of my comrades dying on the speakers inside of my helmet, which served to also block out the sounds of the engines.  There was no heroic music, no sounds to warn me if any bogies were on my tail. It made me shake my head grimly. Yeah, sure…Space…where no one can hear you scream.

In a war that takes place in the vast, vacuum-like void of space, that’s the only thing you can hear.

“This is Blue eight, I’m going in!” I shouted, before bringing my ship down into a sort of trench that would lead me to the target. A few lasers shot out in front of me, forcing me to do a barrel roll (I swear, when I meet that rabbit, I’m gonna yell that at him a few times and see how HE likes it!) to dodge it. Bringing the ship down, I slowed down suddenly, causing the Empire’s own fighters to shoot out ahead of me, while I shot a couple of carefully aimed shots of my own at them.

Their ships exploded, and I let out a hoot of triumph.

“Sean…Sean…” I heard a familiar voice in my head, and I started in surprise.

“Obi-Wan?” I asked hesitantly, afraid that I’d finally snapped.

“Never give up…trust your instincts…and use the Force!” his voice whispered.

“…Did you just accidentally quote a video game?” I deadpanned, before my ship shook slightly. I looked down at my radar, and realized that I had a few more enemies on my tail.

“Damn!” I cursed, before pulling my ship out of the trench to avoid getting hit by anymore. My shields were still up, but that didn’t prevent my wings from getting slightly scorched. Mentally berating myself for the lapse in concentration, I kept my ship moving, making unnecessary turns and dips to avoid getting locked on.

Playing a dangerous game of cat and mouse with the Empire’s ships, I attempted to try the same trick that I had used on those earlier ships, but to no avail. They had apparently gotten smarter, and had wizened up to that trick.

It’s a good thing I’ve got plenty more where that came from…because I know some maneuvers!

…Why do I suddenly feel happy that I was able to say that? Meh, I’ll figure it out later.

Right, back to the action. Pushing the fighter as fast as it could go, I quickly jerked on the controls, and pulled it up into a sharp rise, slowly turning until I was positioned right above them, much to their astonishment, and then righted myself once I had flown behind them. Another quick round of shots from my blasters, and they were lost in an explosive blaze.

Sighing in relief, but never dropping my guard, I tapped the sticker on my helmet for good luck, and rejoined the battle as soon as I saw an opening. All around me, and on my speakers, pilots were dying left and right. I tried to prevent as many of them from going down as I could, but it almost seemed hopeless…

Until!

(“Ooh, this is where it gets good, isn’t it?”)

(“Scoots, I’m still flashbacking!”)

(“Oops. Sorry!”)

A wild cry of, “Yeeeeeee-haaaaaaw!” reached my ears from the speakers. I looked to my side, and my eyes widened in amazement as I saw the Millennium Falcon, signature ship of Han Freaking Solo, zoomed in, and took out not one, but three of the enemy fighters! In my excitement, I missed the rest of what he said, but it didn’t matter. We still had a chance!

With renewed energy, I aimed my own fighter back into the fray, and started shooting at anything that tried to shoot at me. Turrets, and enemy pilots alike fell before me, and I took a couple of hits myself, nearly getting fried in the process. My brain was on overdrive, and instead of trying to make sense of the situation, I just let myself go, moving with supernatural rhythm. My actions were controlled by something more than thought, more than basic instinct. Something that was a fundamental aspect of life itself moved through me, keeping me safe. Helping me rain wrath down upon those that would destroy it.

More ships fled suddenly.

Yeah, that’s right bitches, you better run! I’m using the Force!

Finally, after I had taken down another group of fighters, and saved more Rebels, I heard the order to, as I like to say, “RUN LIKE HELL!” All of the rebels, myself included, high-tailed it out of there, narrowly avoiding the massive shockwave and blaze of energy that was the remains of the Death Star.

“YEAH!” I shouted in triumph, laughing maniacally. “Oh, it is GOOD TO BE THE TRAVELER!”

XHXHXHXHXHXHX

“And then, after all that, I got commemorated with Luke, Han, and Chewie for our efforts in the battle,” I said, turning a page to reveal the four of us, plus Leia and the droids, standing in front of a ceremonious room. I was smiling widely, leaning on R2 with my elbow, a wild glimmer in my eye.

“Woooooowwww,” All three fillies said at the same time.

“I know. I even still have that old medal lying around here somewhere…remind me to show it to you girls,” I chortled.

“What’s that?” Sweetie suddenly asked, noticing a loose piece of paper underneath the current page. Before I could voice any protests, she flipped the page, revealing a long list of names and numbers.

“Omnius?” Scootaloo hesitantly said, poking at the paper with a hoof. “Who are those?”

I sighed heavily, and for one of those rare instances, felt incredibly old. Wiping at my face with my hand, I said, “Those are the names of everyone who died in the battle.”

“Everyone…?” Applebloom quietly repeated, looking at me with her innocent eyes.

“Everyone. I even managed to find the names of the Empire’s men who died. The one’s with red dots by them are the ones that I took out personally…” I felt tears stream down my face, as I gazed at the list. “It’s funny. Everyone says that they would love to go to worlds like these, thinking that they would do a great job there. Maybe some of them are right. But I wonder if they could truly deal with the guilt of taking lives. I still have nightmares about all the people I’ve killed, or had a hand in ending. Did I do the right thing?”

The three fillies looked at one another at the same time, before they wrapped their hooves around me in a hug. Surprised, I watched them, before slowly returning their hug.

Not even the bards could come up with the words and feelings put into that hug. And if they couldn’t, then you know that I definitely couldn’t as well.

“Thanks girls,” I said, clutching them close to me. I happened to glance out the window, and I smiled widely. “Say…I think I still have that old jalopy of an X-Wing in the Vault…wanna take it for a spin with me?”

The three fillies gasped, and dashed outside, knowing that I wouldn’t let them into the Vault.

Smart girls.

Smarter than they know, they are.

Hm-hm-hm…

XHXHXHXHXHXHX

“Crusader one, standin’ bah!”

“Crusader two, standing by!”

“Awesome Crusader three, standing by!”

“Crusader’s Chaperone, standing by!”

With a loud, rumbling sound, the engines roared to life, and I pressed the ignition switch. Laughing in delight, we all flew into the sky, the forest flying by beneath us.

“Okay girls, say it with me!” I shouted over the engines. “One…two…THREE!”

“MAY THE FORCE BE WITH YOU!”

Next Chapter: A Newer Hope Estimated time remaining: 1 Hour, 48 Minutes