*Sigh* You probably already know what belongs to what, let's get to the story...
At the same time when Deimos's ship crashed in the Everfree, several Stormtroopers on the Transport ship had escaped, taking a different path whereas the rest were slaughtered by the Sith Lord and Jedi Knight-turned Consular, who now focused more on the Force. The survivors consisted of Gale, Scrap, Hunter, De'ien, Cameron, Hano, Warren, Trooper LE-193, LE-204, LE-884, etc., each of them had taken a similar path leading to more forestry.
Day 10 in Equestria
"When the hell are we getting out of this damn jungle?" De'ien complained, all the troops have been trained to rely on survival instincts to make it out of harsh environments like the ones they see.
"Quiet, we must keep moving," LE-193 said, focused on his curiosity on what lay ahead of them.
"What's his problem?" Cameron asked Hunter.
"Eh, spent too much time on a Star Destroyer to figure out when there was something actually dangerous," Hunter replied, getting a stifled laugh from Gale, Warren, and Hano, Scrap put his fingers between the 'nose' of the mask in annoyance while the other numbered designates gave them a look.
"I said be quiet," 193 hissed at them, he raised his pistol at the sound of a twig snapping, he pointed it in the direction of the sound, he looked down and saw a lizard scurry past them.
"Idiot," Hano chuckled.
"Clone," 204 scowled at them.
"And we're proud of it," Gale said.
"Our mission is to locate the crash of the cargo ship, thankfully I left the signal beacon on, after that we report to Vader and receive our paycheck," Warren said, the nicknamed troops nodded in agreement.
"Money and humor will get you nowhere," another trooper said.
"Then I might as well quit my job," Gale earned more laughs from the others.
"Just... be quiet," 884 said, he stepped forward until a tentacle shot out and grabbed onto him.
"AAAAHH!!! Help me!" he yelled, every stormtrooper sprang into action, holding down the trapped troop and the tentacle, De'ien took out his vibroblade and handed it to Hunter, who swiftly sliced off the tentacle from the ensnared Imperial soldier, who then got up after his unfortunate situation.
"T-thanks," he said, straightening up and continuing to walk deeper into the forest.
"(sigh) I have a bad feeling about this," Gale said, the other soldiers nodded in agreement.
Hours later...
"This was not what I expected," Scrap remarked, looking at what lay before them.
A giant maw of teeth hundreds, if not thousands of meters across, filled with spikes protruding from the pit, tentacles surrounding the mouth, which lay a solid tan beak in the center, and on the other side from where the troops stood: the cargo ship, slightly damaged and smoking, but still in one piece.
"There it is!" Warren yelled, Hano still remained silent.
"It's been a while since I've seen a Sarlacc," Gale remarked.
"Is that supposed to be a good thing?" 193 wondered.
"Depends if you want to feel nostalgic, but right now we're in an unknown planet, no knowledge of possible civilization on this rock, or if they are even technologically advanced." he explained.
"Good thing we have a common goal," 193 smirked.
"So what do we do now?"
"We wait," Hunter would've said, if a Sarlacc tentacle hadn't come down and squashed 204.
Meanwhile...
Deimos had been given a tour of Ponyville five days before, Sweet Apple Acre, Carousel Boutique (Rarity insisted on making some new clothes for him), Sugarcube Corner (where he was treated by a rather large party, courtesy of Pinkie Pie) and many other places.
But even though he had been reintroduced to the six Bearers of Harmony, they still didn't trust him.
He had been sitting in his quarters, meditating, a habit he still couldn't and wouldn't break, he used the Force to concentrate and clear his mind, such things could have a Jedi or Sith perform such acts as seeing the future, but Deimos did it because he wanted to, not because of things that could deem important.
But this was an important event, he cleared his mind to make way for anything possible in the future.
He waited until he had gotten a glimpse of something, almost like a picture; The Sith Lord saw himself standing over at the edge of a Sarlacc, wielding his lightsabers, at his side there were three small ponies standing beside him, but what shocked him most of all.
His wife.
A female Sith Pureblood from Moraband, Cera Lai, they had been married for 5 years under Imperial consent before he witnessed Mara Jade killed her right in front of him, helpless in Vader's grip the last time they fought.
But yet he saw her in his vision right in front of him, this was a foretelling of the future, he just knew it.
Reluctant, he walked over to Twilight's room and opened the door, he then slammed the door, waking up Twilight, she wake up startled by the noise as she was covered in cold sweat, breathing heavily, and had a look of both fear and gratitude upon her face, as if thanking him that she was woken up; probably a nightmare.
"Deimos? It's 4 in the morning, what are you doing here?" she asked him.
"I need a map," he ordered, she sighed and levitated a map over to him, which he took into his hands, he opened it and inspected it. His eyes scanned the paper until he saw the Everfree, he then traced his finger downward until it rested on the San Palomino , a desert... the place of the Sarlacc.
"San Palomino? What about it?", she said, looking over the map as Deimos placed his finger on it.
"I have to leave, has the map been completed by a cartographer?" he asked her, she shook her head.
"No, this is only a map of Equestria, half of the desert is Equestrian territory, the other half is a wasteland, where some explorers go in but never come back," Twilight explained.
"Then pray to whatever gods you believe in and hope that those explorers died quick deaths," Deimos whispered, Sana opened the door, apparently listening to their brief conversation.
"Why do you say that?" Sana asked.
"I have seen a vision in the Unifying Force, a Sarlacc in the desert, I also saw my wife in the vision and I plan to be reunited with her," he replied stoically, rolling up a map and Force-pulling a rather large bag into his hands.
" Visions in the Force can be interpreted differently... wait a minute, you're married?" Sana raised her eyebrows in surprise.
"Yes I'm married, I'll get into the details of that later, and I don't care, I will do everything in my power to see her again," he said.
"What's a Sarlacc?" Twilight asked them.
"A Sarlacc is a plant-like beast that exists in few worlds, they are worm-like and very large in size, they are feared because of their methods of eating," Sana explained.
"How?" Twilight asked.
"When something unfortunate lands into it's mouth, that animal or person, or in this case, pony, is slowly digested for over the course of a thousand years," Deimos said, shaking his head, the Sarlacc was one of the only things that personally made him uncomfortable, but since the older ones are immobile, he had nothing to fear.
The look of Twilight's face was saying many things: shock, worry... fear, "And what about the victims?"
"They feel everything, the agony, the pain as it's acid slowly dissolves your skin away over the course of a millennium," Deimos answered, a look of horror spreading across her face.
"That's why I must go, I have some personal things to take care of," he finished, and with that he turned and walked to his quarters, getting ready to pack for his trek to through the desert.
"I'm coming with you," Sana said, Deimos smirked.
"No, this is my mission and mine alone, you will stay," he replied harshly.
"You are not my master-" Sana said, but was cut off by the activation of a lightsaber, one specifically pointed at her.
"I said you will stay, I may not be your master, but I can show you who's in charge," Deimos said, twisting his newly-made curved hilt lightsaber, finally comfortable after enough Makashi practice.
"Enough! The both of you, you two are acting like children, please just agree with him Sana, it will benefit all of us!" she yelled, creating two magenta colored bubble shields around the both of them; Sana looked at her in shock, even earning a surprised look from Deimos.
"I-I'm sorry, it's just been sleep, just some nightmares, nothing special," she sighed, removing the spell , explaining the situation to them both.
Deimos raised an eyebrow before finally turning to leave.
Food, check, water, check, desert clothing, check, he was finally finished, enough food and water to last him a month, he walked out until he forgot something, he dropped his bag now and walked back inside.
5 minutes later, he came back eating an energy fruit bar that Twilight gave him, he picked up the bag and walking towards the desert that had laid out it's plans for him as well.
Sighing, he walked in the direction of the San Palomino.
Hours later...
Nothing but the Force guided him, whispering in his ear where to go, the long treacherous path ahead of him.
But the isolation in the desert made him feel... at peace, as if the Dark side's hold was loosening ever so slightly, Deimos decided to rest near an oasis he had found after a few more miles, he set the bag down as he sat on a mid-sized rock.
"Ow!" the... bag said? Deimos eyes filled with confusion, he opened the bag.
And three fillies tumbled out of the bag, their manes ruffled, the got up and looked at Deimos, one was of white color and had a mane of different shades of violet, the second was orange with a purple mane, and finally a yellow one with a red mane and bow in it, they all lacked Cutie marks.
What the hell? Deimos thought, how did these three even get in the bag in the first place, then he remembered when he went back inside Twilight's castle to get his other lightsabers and Twilight gave him that (rather delicious, he admitted) fruit bar.
"What are you doing in my bag? Scratch that, why are you even hear? How can you three be so stupid as to do something like this?" Deimos demanded, the three's eyes filled with fear, until the yellow one stepped forth.
"We know what we were doin', we were just trying to get our Cutie marks!" she said, Deimos put his hand in between the bridge of his nose.
"And climbing into a bag would help you?" he sighed, walking over to the water that the oasis offered.
"We were trying to be, drum roll please... Cutie Mark Crusader Ninjas!" the orange one, Scootaloo declared, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle face hoofed, obvious that Scootaloo convinced the both of them.
"What does that have to do with the bag?" he said, unaware of what a ninja was.
"You haven't seen us for the past 5 hours," the white one, Sweetie Belle pointed out.
"How did you even manage to survive in there?" he said, pointing at the bag.
"There was food and water in there," Scootaloo said, Deimos face-palmed, "That was my supplies, and since you managed to survive in there for 5 hours, you probably had to relieve yourselves while you were in the bag?" he frowned in annoyance.
"Nope, we... didn't... uh-be right back!" Apple Bloom said, the others running behind several different trees after they realized their 'restroom situation'.
The next few minutes consisted of Deimos filling up his canteens and the Crusaders relieving themselves over a 5 hour period of water.
The ponies came back and looked at Deimos in curiosity, who was sitting cross-legged, holding a floating lightsaber in his hands, he began twisting his hands in a graceful sort of way, the saber began to pull apart piece by piece until it was a floating mass of metal and a singular red crystal, he then reassembled it into a curved hilt and stood back up.
"I would tell you to go home, but we just went through a very long journey, I would like all three of you to stay at the oasis," Deimos commanded sternly.
"But what if there are monsters in the desert? Just waiting to eat us when you're not here?" Apple Bloom pouted, Deimos had thought about it, she was right, he read up on the Equestrian bestiary, there were several animals that would like a pony to eat.
"Fine, but you must keep up with me," Deimos answered, earning smiles from the Crusaders.
"Promise," Scootaloo said.
"But remember, my mission is dangerous, lethal, and will lead to some injury, specifically towards me," Deimos explained.
"We'll take that risk," Scootaloo said defiantly before the others could protest.
"Well that's that, let's go," Deimos said, walking off into the desert, the others following him.
"Can we take a break?" Sweetie asked.
"No."
"Can we-"
"No."
"-have some water," she continued, Deimos sighed, opened a canteen, and offered it to them, still continuing his walk.
He then noticed the scenery, how it changed to a more fleshy look, he then decided to glance down, he put his hand in front of the Crusaders, "We're here," he said.
What he saw as he glanced down was a pit filled with sharp spines and a beak, a Sarlacc in Equestria, carried by spores long ago, but by what?
"It's at the end of its youth, just several thousand years old, I must find my wife," Deimos said to himself.
"So yer just here to look for ya wife? And did you say JUST several thousand years?" Apple Bloom asked him with traces of confusion in her voice.
"Did I stutter?" Deimos said in annoyance.
"I-uh, no..." Apple Bloom admitted, a small smile played upon Deimos's face.
"AAAHHH!!" a voice yelled out, the Sith turned his head and looked to see several stormtroopers being attacked by the Sarlacc's tentacles, he quickly pulled out his lightsaber (his original one) and ran to assist them.
"Don't touch the tentacles or the beast will sense you!" Deimos yelled at the Cutie Mark Crusaders, as he was running, several creatures crawled out of the pit and leaped at him, Sarlacc parasites.
Deimos quickly dispatched them with his lightsaber, the 10-legged insects were too slow-witted to understand a lightsaber's excessive force.
He then ran in the direction of the troopers, using the force to push them back before they could be flattened by a tentacle, but in the process, the fleshy arm came and knocked him into the pit, the stormtroopers got up, dazed by the push; the Crusaders on the other hand went to help Deimos, they looked down to see him holding on to a spike, Apple Bloom stretched out her hoof to try to help him.
"Ah could just barely touch 'im, we need something to longer to get him," the Earth pony filly said.
Scootaloo tried thinking of a way to help him, she looked around in panic to see his emergency saber that was knocked out when he was hit by the Sarlacc, he took it and threw it to Sweetie Belle, who gave it to Apple Bloom, she then took the saber by the hooves and held it out to him, he grabbed on without hesitation, until he let go of the spike, when that happened, Apple Bloom felt the change in weight, Scootaloo and Sweetie rushed and grabbed by the legs to try to help her back up.
"Yer... too... heavy!" Apple Bloom yelled, gritting her teeth at the pain.
All seemed lost until one of the stormtroopers came in and grabbed Deimos's other hand, the other's helped Sweetie, Scootaloo, and Apple Bloom, until Deimos slipped out of their hands and hooves.
"NO!" she yelled, extending her hoof as if reaching out for him.
Deimos opened his eyes as he felt the sudden change in speed stopped, he looked and found himself floating, he glanced at Apple Bloom, who was reaching out with her hoof as she was surprised as well, he was then levitated over to ground level where he was dropped.
They can use the force? How have I not seen this? Deimos thought in shock, he then got up and brushed the dirt off of his clothes, Apple Bloom gave him back his lightsaber, he then turned to the troops.
"Thank you, but why are you here?" Deimos asked in concern.
"We left the original group of troops, took a different rout, ended up in a different part of the forest, where you rescued us," one of them said,
"Your welcome," he said.
"By the way, what is your name? You look familiar?" one of them asked.
"Darth Deimos," he replied, the then bowed in respect.
"My lord, you are alive?" one of them said,
"Who are you?" it was their turn to answer now
"We are the remained of the T-Legion, we serve under your command," one of them said, Deimos's eyes widened.
"I thought you were killed by Vader," Deimos wondered..
"That's true about us fighting Vader, but Yara sacrificed her life to protect us, we then reenlisted under false names and have been biding our time," one of them said sadly, the other's bowing their heads in respect for Yara.
After a considerable amount of time later, Deimos spoke up, "I see that ship over there, what is in there?"
"It's a cargo/prison ship, there are carbonite prisons containing the prisoners and a droid."
He walked inside, and saw the casket, each person in carbonite. He then looked at the first one.
A Zabrak male with a scowl upon his face, what lay at his sides were two lightsabers, one looking like a standard lightsaber and the other looking like the hilt of a physical saber, like the old swords during the time of the Je'Daii Order.
Deimos then moved on to the next one in shock, a female Sith Pureblood, by the looks of the ridges on her cheekbones, it was his wife, Cera Lai, he ran his hand across the metal that covered her head, he had found her, he had found her!
He then focused on the rest of the prisoners and turned to the next one, a Togruta female, possibly in her 30's, what lay at her sides as well were two lightsabers of her own, similar to the Zabrak.
Deimos had a sudden shocking realization, these were Force-Sensitives captured for purposes unknown.
Brainwashing, execution, WHAT IS IT!!! Deimos said in frustration, he then moved onto the next one.
A Kaleesh warrior, still wearing a skull mask and tribal clothing, fitting for a creature of his culture, a lightsaber hilt made of rock, metal, and bone strapped to his side, also a force-sensitive as well, but of what allegiance.
And last but not least was a deactivated droid that wasn't covered in carbonite, humanoid by the looks of it, it had a skeletal appearance with a menacing looking face as if it wanted to gun you down if it actually ever saw you.
"The droid put up one hell of a fight, it killed over 50 troopers with only the minimal reserve power it had left, I'm no archaeologist gotta say that this thing has to be over 3000 years old by the looks of it," Gale said.
"The engine's busted beyond repair, she'll never be able to fly again," Scrap observed, Deimos mentally sighed.
"Let's take these back to civilization, the village is only a five and a half hour walk from here," Deimos said, Gale nodded and informed the others, they activated the carbonite prisons, causing them to levitate off the floor, each of them took a prison and began pushing them along as they followed the Sith.
The Cutie Mark Crusaders walked beside him as they restarted their trek.
5 hours and 50 minutes later...
Applejack and Rarity were panicking, they couldn't find their sisters anywhere, it had been hours and they could find even a single clue as to where they could be.
"Gosh darn it! Where could they be?" Applejack almost yelled in frustration and desperation.
"Sweetie dearie? Where are you?" Rarity whimpered, almost on the verge of tears, she couldn't believe she lost her sister.
They both then saw several figures in the distance, it was Deimos.
The two galloped towards him, but as they kept getting nearer, the figures got more clear, they then saw Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle.
"Applejack!" the young yellow filly said.
"Rarity!" Sweetie Bell cried out.
The two ponies caught up with them, embracing the two in a hug.
"Where were you two?" Applejack said.
"We were trying to earn our Cutie Marks," Scootaloo admitted, Applejack and Rarity then turned to the other two, about to give them a serious lecture until Deimos stopped them both.
"I do not think a rather loud argument is necessary, they did save my life at one point, let them learn this as a lesson," he pointed out, giving the three an almost unnoticeable smile, the three gave him much more obvious grins.
"Err, fine, I'll let you go this time," Applejack said.
"Thank you," Rarity said to him.
"It is fine, miss Belle, but right now I have more pressing matters to tend to," he said.
"Well I will not stop you then," she replied, the three fillies then regrouped together again, glancing at the Sith Lord in excitement before going back to their normal routine.
Deimos, along several renegade stormtroopers eventually made it to Twilight's castle.
"So what do ya think of the inhabitants Scrap?" Hunter asked him.
"I've seen stranger, this doesn't surprise me," he simply said, Twilight opened the door, she looked up and saw the Deimos.
"Hey Deimos and... I see you brought friends," she opened the door for him, he walked inside and sat on one of the chairs.
"This is my group, the Terror Legion, made up of 1000 troopers, now reduced to just seven; meet Gale, the squad leader, Scrap, the engineer, Hunter, their best sniper, De'ien, the medic, Cameron, heavy weapons, Hano, the assassin, and Warren, sabotage," Deimos introduced the soldiers, who greeted Twilight, who returned the favor.
"And who are these?" she pointed to the carbonite units.
"Carbonite prisons and storage units, used to transport prisoners," Gale explained.
"So should we open one up?" Hunter said, a little excited at the idea.
"We will, but we have to make sue we open the right one first before making any hasty decisions," Scrap said.
"We open the one with my wife," Deimos ordered, there was a pause at first.
"You heard the boss, open it!" Gale yelled, causing Twilight and Sana, who was sitting beside her, to jump.
Scrap pressed a few buttons, the metal slowly began to turn red and disperse, her face started to become more and more visible, until she dropped off the plate, but was caught by Deimos, who carried her to a bed and lay her there, she was unconscious.
"She seems to be asleep, let's open up the Zabrak," Warren said, they did the same with the Zabrak, his features were now completely visible, he sported Sith tattoos all over his body and had metal legs, Deimos took his lightsabers and studied them, activating the first one, a brilliant red, a Sith, he then took the next one, the odd shaped one and activated it, what surprised was not the fact that the blade was shaped like an actual physical blade, but it was the fact that the blade was completely black!
He swung it around, it gave off a strange sound almost similar to lightsaber swinging, but was off a pitch, he deactivated them both and put them next to the Zabrak Sith, who still lay on the floating metal plate.
The Togruta female came after, when she was finished, Deimos also inspected her lightsabers, he activated one, a brilliant green, he then took the other and activated it; the blade was half the length compared to the first, a Shoto saber with a yellow blade, she was then placed in a separate bed.
The last prisoner was thawed out, he sported many scars, with the bone mask covering his face, he took the saber and activated it, he was surprised, it was grey in color, possibly one of the only crystals in Kalee, the remained on the plate.
Sana walked up to the droid, eager to inspect it, she ran her fingers along it's smooth surface, it suddenly activated, it's eyes turning a bright yellow.
"Declar...As... prot... onli..." it said in a strange voice before slowly shutting off.
"Damn! How do we get this thing working again!" Sana said in frustration.
"I may be able to help you with that," Scrap said, "With both of us, we may be able to get this scrap heap up and running again," Sana grinned at the statement.
"Ugh..." they heard a moan, they turned to see Cera getting up, she turned and looked at Deimos.
"Kane? Is that you?" Cera quickly got off the bed and ran towards her husband, she tackled him in a hug, attacking him with kisses all over his face, who returned the favor to her as well.
"Cera, I've missed you too, but my name is Deimos," he corrected her.
"I don't care, you'll always be Kane to me," Cera grinned, she always was a feisty one, she pecked him on the cheek.
"What the...?" they then turned to see the Zabrak and Togruta awake, Deimos sensed the Dark Side in him and the Light in her, the Sith possibly also betrayed by Sidious.
The Zabrak paused for a minute, looked at Deimos, then the rest of whatever he was seeing.
"How did...? What..?" the Togruta said, she then saw the Zabrak, she reached for her lightsaber, as did he, they both were about to strike, until Deimos interfered by blocking both moves with both of his lightsabers.
"Both of you calm down, now I know you are both confused by what happened and where you are, but I will give you a brief summary: My name is Deimos, Darth Deimos, the Miraluka over there is my assistant, Jedi Knight Sana Un'iomen, we were on the run until several TIE fighters attacked us, including a cargo and transport ship, you were prisoners inside, so after a long while we freed all of you," Deimos explained, the two seemed to calm down, but still glaring at each other.
"Now can you both please tell us your names," Twilight said, the Zabrak and Togruta stepped forward, their lightsabers sheathed to their waists.
"My name is Ahsoka Tano, former padawan of Anakin Skywalker," the Togruta said, bowing in respect, but uncomfortable as to bowing to a Sith Lord.
"I am Darth Maul, former Sith Assassin and apprentice of Darth Sidious," he said.