As the Sentinel sped through hyperspace, Kyris sat in his chambers, meditating. Yet, he found it impossible to do so. His thoughts were unfocused, his mind shrouded.
"...I know what I must do." he told himself. "...But do I?"
"Sir?"
He looked up to see Gale look down at him.
"We're almost out of hyperspace, sir."
"Set us down wherever you can." Kyris replied, sitting up. "We'll need to establish a base as soon as we do so. We'll run out of supplies sooner or later."
"Yessir."
Gale saluted, and left. Kyris looked down at his lightsaber. Forged from Lystriaian alloy, it was colored dark brown, with a green blade. He hooked it to his belt, before he departed for the bridge.
====
Kyris watched as the Sentinel dropped into the orbit of a pristine, blue-green world. There were some patches of brown, suggesting more arid areas, along with a patch of white.
"Life?" Kyris asked.
"Scanning now." a Clone said. "...Yes sir, there is life here. Atmosphere is habitable, and minimal signs of hostile activity."
"Good." Kyris said. "Are there any centers of population?"
"There's one right here." Gale said, pointing to it on the holotable. "There's a suitable plain here, where we can set up a base."
"Good man." Kyris said. "Take us down. We'll want to introduce ourselves sooner than later."
"Yessir."
====
As the Sentinel entered the atmosphere, Kyris and Gale headed for the hangar deck.
"Sir, I've rounded up two squads." Gale said. "What's the plan?"
"We find the natives, and begin negotiations." Kyris said. "And if things get aggressive, we fall back."
"Yessir." Gale said, taking a Z-6 Rotary Cannon and loading it. "Alright men, let's go!"
The Clones saluted and boarded the two Gunships, and as the Sentinel set itself down, out of view, the small aircraft sailed for the nearby center of population.
====
"Sir, we have our heading." the Lead Gunship Pilot said. "We're undetected."
"Slow us down." Kyris said. "We don't want to spook anyone."
"Yessir!"
However, their intrusion had already been noticed.
=====
Rainbow Dash was taking a pleasant, mid morning nap when she heard strange sounds, like airship engines, only much more powerful. She rolled over and surveyed the skyline, her eyes soon focusing on two large birds heading for Ponyville.
"That's strange." she murmured. "Those don't look like birds…"
Then she started to follow them, making sure to keep her distance sufficient enough that she wouldn't be noticed. As she neared, she saw that the birds weren't made of flesh, but metal. Their wings weren't moving, and she could see fire coming out of engines on their backs.
Rainbow immediately recognized they weren't birds, but flying machines. And from the looks of them, they weren't from Equestria.
She growled and sped up, zooming past the machines, dead-set on making it to Ponyville before they did.
====
Twilight Sparkle had barely stepped out of her Castle door when she was tackled by Rainbow Dash.
"Ah, Rainbow!" Twilight said, groaning. "What's up?"
"Big...metal...birds...coming...here…" Rainbow coughed, still trying to catch her breath.
"What?" Twilight asked. Then, she heard the noise of aircraft engines coming closer, and closer.
"That. Big metal birds." Rainbow finally managed to say. "Coming here."
Twilight flinched, and pointed with her hoof. Rainbow saw the two metal birds were hovering over Ponyville plaza. As the two of them approached, the birds set themselves to the ground. Twilight could see the birds had green markings and designs all over them.
Then, two hatches or doors opened on the sides of both birds, and what walked out made Twilight stand still. They were bipedal, with green and white skin with black joints. They clutched long, metal objects in their limbs, and judging by the way they took up defensive positions around the birds, they were most likely trained soldiers. A second one, this one wearing more ornate armor walked out, followed by another one. This one was brownish black, wolf-like, and it wore brown and tan robes with some sort of armor plating. It was also bipedal with scales along its arms and legs. A small, brown cylinder rested on its belt. And judging by the way the leader of the green ones saluted it, it had to be their leader.
Before the ponies could do anything, it sat down, cross-legged, and closed its deep blue eyes. From what Twilight could see, the green ones were confused by the leader's actions.
Then somepony threw a rock. Before anyone could react, the rock hurtled towards its target…
Then it stopped dead in the air, as if caught by an invisible hoof. All eyes turned to the wolf being, whose hand was outstretched. It moved its hand down, and the rock moved with it, eventually settling it on the ground as if it had never been touched.
And Twilight dropped her jaw.
"Twi…" Rainbow asked quietly. "Did that alien just…"
"Use magic?" Twilight finished. "I think so. But how…how is this possible?"
"If you'd refrain from hurling any more rocks at me, I will explain."
Twilight saw the wolf walking forward with a smile.
"Though I could ask you the same question."
Twilight gulped and passed out.
====
"...is she awake?"
"She's awake, all right." said a familiar, accented voice. "Though...I can see why she'd faint like that."
Twilight forced her eyes open, to see she was in a room at the Ponyville Hospital. On one side were her friends. On the other was the wolf-being and the leader of the green beings. Now Twilight, due to their proximity, could see their skin was actually some sort of armor, with a black bodysuit underneath. The Wolf smiled at Twilight with a slight chuckle.
"Welcome back to the land of the living." he smiled. "I think introductions are in order, Miss Twilight."
"How do you know my name?" she rasped.
"Your friends told me after you...erm...passed out." he chuckled. "And if you're worried about the rest of my troopers, they left a while ago. Commander Gale here chose to stay behind."
Twilight looked at him, who merely nodded.
"Anyway…my name is Kyris Marchen, of the world of Lystrais." the wolf said. "I am the commanding General of the 389th Clone Strike Battalion, and a Master in the Jedi Order...well, at least I used to be." he sighed.
"What happened?" Fluttershy asked.
"That might take a while." Kyris said. "And even I'm not so sure of the details, but I can tell you what I know, and what I was told by the last of the Order, Grandmaster Yoda and Master Obi-Wan Kenobi. This won't be pleasant."
====
And it was certainly not pleasant for the Ponies to hear Kyris's story. How the Jedi, once the keepers of peace and justice for the Galaxy, were defeated and destroyed by the Sith. How the Clones, the soldiers who had fought with them for years, turned on them in a second, killing their Jedi Generals. How the Jedi Temple was ransacked, and no survivors remained there, only bodies.
"And now, The Force is in peril." Kyris said. "There is no hope left for me, or my men."
"The Force?" Twilight asked.
"Ah, The Force is what I used earlier to stop that rock." Kyris said. "It's an energy field created by all living things. It binds us and holds the galaxy together. It surrounds, and penetrates us. Though very little is known about how it came to be, that's how it is."
"Sounds similar to Magic." Twilight said.
"Magic?" Kyris asked. "Show me."
Twilight levitated herself out of bed and onto her hooves. Kyris's jaw dropped faster than she could even register.
"Tell me more." Kyris said. "I have a feeling that the Force and your Magic are linked in more ways than one, If you'd be so kind."
"Oh, sure." Twilight said, smiling and entering what her friends called "Lecture mode". "Let's begin with basic magical theory…"
=====