//------------------------------//
// Chapter 1: Aboard The Endar Spire 
// Story: Knights of Old Equestria 
// by Diddely Doo 
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Knights of Old Equestria:


Chapter One - Aboard The Endar Spire


Ditzy’s eyes flashed open when the blaring sound of the Endar Spire’s sirens pulsed through her ears. She swiftly sat up and turned to see her bunk mate Pip, a fellow Republic soldier, already awake and prepared for a fight. Pip was a brown and white spotted stallion, he could hardly be called a stallion as he looked no older than a colt. Pip was a loyal soldier to the Republic and an ensign on the Endar Spire, wearing the standard Republic orange and yellow plasteel plated body armor. 
        
“What the hell is going on?!” Ditzy shouted, struggling to overcome the sirens.
        
“It’s the Sith!” Pip yelled as he prepared his blaster, expecting the worst, “They’ve attacked the ship! Boarding parties have already breached the airlocks. They must be after Twilight!”
        
The sirens continued as Ditzy struggled to gather her thoughts. The ship felt like it was on the verge of destruction, the walls and floors were shaking from the bombardment of the Sith ships, and the lights flickered every few seconds in response to the barrage of missiles. Reverberations from the impact of the turbolasers on the outside hull was noticeable as Ditzy rolled off her bed.

It was during a lull in the barrage that Ditzy gained her bearings, she ran over to her locker on the other side of her room as fast as her hooves would take her. From her locker Ditzy clothed herself in a simple white shirt and brown pants as swiftly as her hooves could manage. Ditzy struggled to adjust the fittings of her holster onto her side, after a considerable amount of effort she finally had it in its correct position. She then armed herself with her blaster, and sheathed her vibroblade over her left flank, covering her cutie mark. Last but not least, she grabbed her lucky leather jacket from the bottom of the foot locker. She looked to Pip and gave him a nod, indicating that she was ready to face the Sith head on to defend the Republic. This was interrupted as a change in the gravity generator told her that the Endar Spire had breached the upper atmosphere of the planet, the ship was falling out of the sky.

As the two ran out through the room’s door a familiar voice rang out over the blasts hitting the hull of the ship, “This is Rainbow Dash. The Sith have overrun the ship, we can’t hold on much longer. All hands to the bridge immediately!” Ditzy and Pip looked to each other, and exchanged a look of both fear, and determination. They continued running down the now dimly lit hallway, until they approached a tightly sealed security door. Ditzy looked on in despair at the looming dark metal barricade, this one obstruction would prevent them from reaching their goal, and prevent them from saving the ship. Ditzy turned to look at Pip, a look of desperation and sadness coated over her bright gold eyes. Pip returned her expression with a small grin, he walked up to the door and began working his hooves through the series of security panels and coloured wires. After only a few seconds of working the buttons and switches, the door slowly slid open just enough for a pony to slide through. 

“Ladies first,” Pip declared, with a large smile.

Ditzy slowly worked her way through the gap in the doorway, being cautious not to hurt herself on the pile of metal shrapnel that was laying on the other side of the door. As soon as she got through she saw a young Republic soldier laying across the hall behind a small pile of rubble that had fallen from the ceiling. The soldier was holding his left wing, wincing every time the Endar Spire shook from the missile barrage. Ditzy looked at the blue Pegasus with a concerned look on her face, she started toward the young stallion with the intention of helping a fellow pegasi any way she could, but she stopped dead in her tracks when she saw the way the stallion looked at her. The pegasus lifted a hoof to his lips, motioning for her to stay quiet and to remain where she was. Ditzy cautiously poked her head around the corner of the metal shrapnel she was behind and noticed three Sith combat droids standing about twenty feet down the hallway. She waited for Pip to make his way through the door before telling him about the current situation.

“Pssst, Pip!” she whispered through her teeth.

Pip looked at her with a worried look on his face, “How many are there?” he asked, knowing there must be trouble waiting for them down the hall.

“Three,” Ditzy muttered, trying to keep a low profile to avoid detection, “they look like Sith combat droids, heavily armed and ready to kill.”

Pip’s smile returned to his lips, “Only three?” he joked, raising his blaster, “I’ve dealt with worse.”

Ditzy found assurance in Pip’s confidence, it made her feel much better about the current situation they were in. She turned her head back to the wounded pegasus lying across the hall, and motioned toward her blaster, then the Sith droids. The Pegasus raised his head and peeked at the droids, he nodded and grabbed the blaster pistol from his belt. Feeling more ready than ever, Ditzy gave the signal with her hoof to engage.

Ditzy jumped out from her hiding place, and tossed a grenade as hard as she could at the nearest droid. Pip stayed behind the metal, firing his blaster at the droid to the far left, while the one next to it was distracted by the active grenade at its metal hooves. The pegasus across the hallway could only manage to just lift his blaster over the rubble, and fired erratically in the general direction of the droids. The droid fumbling with the grenade blew up into a thousand metal pieces, stunning the other two, giving Pip and Ditzy enough time to put blaster rounds through the remaining droids’ metal skulls.

Ditzy turned toward Pip, offering a smile in celebration, but Pip had an empty look on his face. He was staring over Ditzy’s shoulder, toward the Pegasus soldier that was still lying behind the rubble. Only when Ditzy turned toward the stallion, did she share Pip’s expression. Before the firefight had ended, one of the Sith droids had managed to toss a frag grenade right over the rubble into the lap of the pegasus, who now laid limp in a puddle of his own blood with his blaster resting at his side. The young stallion almost looked at peace, his eyes were closed and he had what looked like a small smile on his face. The sight itself was laced with a gruesome form of irony. The frag grenade ripped through the soldier’s thin layered plasteel armor as the shrapnel disfigured most of his body and blackened his face. The horrible sight caused Ditzy to  turn her head in disgust but the colt would be remembered in Ditzy’s memory, he had served the Republic with a strong heart, fighting until the last breath, something Ditzy admired in ponies.

Ditzy’s mourning for the fall of her fellow pegasus was short lived however, she and Pip had a job to do. They still had to get to the bridge to assist Twilight and any other surviving members aboard the Endar Spire.

Ditzy and Pip ran full speed down the hallway toward the now scrapped Sith droids, grabbing any supplies they could salvage from the left over metal parts. Curiously, Ditzy found that one had a medical package hidden in a compartment in the small of its back. This only made Ditzy look back toward the now dead Republic soldier that helped her and Pip fight off the droids, but Ditzy knew there was no hope in bringing the colt back to life.

Pip rested a hoof on Ditzy’s shoulder, trying to get her attention. “We really should get going.” Pip stated, offering Ditzy a sympathetic smile. After all, Pip new first hoof what it was like to lose a comrade in battle.

Ditzy returned Pip’s sympathy with a smile of her own. Nodding, she took the lead, following the signs that read ‘Bridge’, until coming across another large metal door. This one however, wasn’t locked, and as the two bunk mates approached it, the door opened as quickly as the wind. Behind the door wasn’t a group of Republic soldiers, or even Sith troopers. What was happening behind the door shocked Ditzy, and even Pip. A Jedi and a Sith Lord were standing face-to-face, preparing to duel.

Pip immediately recognized the jedi and exclaimed, “I know her! She’s one of the Jedi assigned to help defend Twilight!”

“Then why don’t we go and help her?!” Ditzy shouted, preparing to run blade first into the fight.

Pip had to grab her by the vest with his hooves to hold her back, “NO!” he ordered, “This fight is too much for us, we need to stay back! We would just get in the way.”

Ditzy, disgruntled by Pip’s unwanted interjection, stayed back to wait until the fight was over. The two light saber wielding ponies suddenly rushed toward each other, sabers clashing in a brilliant display of blues and reds. The Jedi and Sith seemed to almost be dancing a predetermined routine, only with glowing swords that could kill with the slightest twitch. The Jedi seemed to have the upper hoof from the very start, keeping the Sith on the defensive. After what felt like hours of the most beautiful fight Ditzy had ever witnessed, the Jedi delivered a blow to the Sith pony’s left flank, causing him to cry out in pain, giving the Jedi pony a chance to finish the Sith permanently with a slice through his chest. With that, the Sith pony fell to his side, limp as a doll. The Jedi pony, which Ditzy realized was a pegasus, noticed Ditzy and Pip looking toward her in awe, their jaws wide open. The Jedi pegasus flashed them a smile, then suddenly turned to her right, only to see a large force of Sith troopers making their way down the hallway. Before Ditzy or Pip had time to react, the Jedi used her force abilities to push Ditzy and Pip back through the door from which they entered, then slammed it shut so hard that the metal from the two sides of the door molded together, making reentry impossible.

“NO!” Ditzy shouted, rushing towards the door. She pressed her ear to the cool metal, trying to hear the battle inside. Ditzy could hear muffled running and shouting, then the sound of blaster fire and a lightsaber striking flesh and metal. Suddenly, a loud explosion reverberated through the room and hit the metal door, causing Ditzy to flinch and back away from the noise. After regaining her wits, Ditzy returned her ear to the very spot she had it only moments before, praying to hear any sound that the Jedi pegasus had survived. There was only silence.


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The next thing Ditzy knew, she was being pulled down some other hallway in a part of the ship she didn’t recognize, primarily due to the mass destruction that laid waste to the walls and floor. Bodies of Republic ponies and Sith droids and soldiers littered the ground, but the only noise that could be heard was the constant trembling of missiles hitting the hull of the Endar Spire. Ditzy sharply craned her neck to see who it was who was dragging her, she caught a glimpse of the back of Pip’s head and calmed down a bit, being comforted knowing that he was there with her.

Ditzy gave Pip a low grumble, indicating that she could walk, and Pip happily obliged, clearly a bit exhausted after having to haul her through the ship’s maze of hallways.

Ditzy stood up on her hooves, a bit light headed, “Ugh, what happened to me?” she asked Pip.

“Well,” Pip answered, “After you put your head against the side of that door, a massive explosion happened on the other side. The shock wave must have hit you pretty hard because you fell right over, your ear even started to bleed.”

Ditzy carefully raised a hoof to her right ear. When she brought her hoof away, she noticed a small amount of dark red blood soaked her once grey leg hair. She also began to notice that she had a bit of trouble hearing out of the ear, which wasn’t very convenient considering her and Pip were still in the middle of a battle.

“DAMMIT!” she exclaimed loudly, “WHAT THE HELL DO WE DO NOW?” she yelled.

“Shh!” Pip squeaked, “Keep your voice down, your wound is making it hard for you to hear yourself!”

“WHAT?!” Ditzy exclaimed.

Pip raised his hoof to his lips, giving Ditzy a visual aid to shut her up. Ditzy nodded and made a zipping motion over her lips. Pip gave her a small smile, then turned and continued forward following the signs on the wall that read ‘Bridge’.

After a few minutes of running at a brisk pace down the dead, empty halls of the Endar Spire, Ditzy and Pip finally made it to the bridge of the ship. To the relief of Ditzy and Pip, they hadn’t encountered any Sith resistance the whole way up to the bridge, but that relief was short lived. As soon as Pip finished entering the code to enter through the doorway to the bridge, the two ponies were suddenly face-to-face with at least a dozen Sith troopers and battle droids. Pip and Ditzy both threw their blasters to the side and grabbed their vibroblades within the blink of an eye, and were upon the Sith troops within an instant.

Ditzy used the help of her wings to fly into the bridge a quickly as she could, using a sort of blind flurry technique with her vibroblade to do as much damage to the Sith troops in the room. She flew all the way to the opposite wall, and crashed into a small pile of metal ammo crates. As she emerged she noticed that she had managed to kill two Sith soldiers, and now one of the battle droids was on the fritz, firing randomly in the room. The droid shot one of the other Sith droids through its metal skull, and shot another soldier in the arm. Most of the other Sith soldiers jumped behind cover to avoid catching a blaster round from the droid’s erratic blaster rounds.

Meanwhile Pip had run blade first straight toward the nearest Sith trooper he could see. The soldier was quick to notice Pip’s rapid approach and raised his blade to block the oncoming attack. The soldier raised his vibroblade just in time to catch Pip mid strike, causing both of the ponies to stumble backwards in reaction to the sudden clash of metal on metal. The two ponies held strong, and soon were staring face-to-face, glaring into each others eyes, trying to read each other's next move. The Sith pony was the first to react, with the flick of his wrist he managed to fling Pip’s vibroblade across the room into the chest of the Sith battle droid firing randomly in the room. Pip fell to his flank, raising his front leg in an inevitable effort to block the oncoming sweep of the cold metal that was the Sith pony’s dark vibroblade. 

The Sith pony raised his vibroblade, preparing to end the life of this crazy foal that had dared challenge him. Just as he was about to clash his blade into the flesh of the earth pony, a sudden clank rang through his ears. The Sith pony was infuriated to see that the grey pegasus had interfered with his kill. The grey pegasus returned his look of anger with a face that expressed pure focus, fueled by a high concentration of adrenaline.

Ditzy felt like she was about to explode in energy. Her heart was beating as fast as a hummingbird's wings. She held her arm strong, protecting Pip from his death. Ditzy positioned herself in a more forward position in front of the Sith pony, motioning for Pip to run and grab his vibroblade from the fallen Sith battle droid and continue the fight for the bridge. This was her duel now, and she was more than ready to fight it for herself, for Pip, and for the Republic. Her body was fluttering from the adrenaline coursing through her veins, and she took advantage of her current super pony strength to begin swinging her vibroblade at the Sith pony who dared to try and strike down her friend. Her arms were moving at ludicrous speeds, and the Sith pony could only hold off the attack for a few seconds before letting his defenses fall, allowing Ditzy to strike across his chest, then through his heart. The Sith pony went limp, and fell to the floor, sliding off of Ditzy’s blade as the artificial gravity of the Endar Spire took him to the floor. Ditzy took no time to regain her awareness for the world outside of the just ended duel. She looked to Pip to see that he had disposed of two other Sith battle droids, and was now finishing off a Sith trooper. Ditzy leapt toward Pip, joining him in the attack on the remaining Sith ponies and droids. The two ponies were back to back at this point, slicing effortlessly through the cloth, flesh, and metal of the Sith troops.

After no more than two minutes the two Republic ponies had finished clearing the bridge of the Endar Spire of any remaining sith troops. Ditzy and Pip noticed that there weren’t any Republic soldiers, dead or alive, on the bridge. This fact gave the two ponies comfort, the knowledge that most of the crew had escaped allowed the two ponies to relax, letting their adrenaline die down to more normal levels, but not fading away completely.

“It looks like most of the bridge has already escaped!” Pip exclaimed, still tightly gripping his vibroblade in his hoof, “We should hurry to the escape pods, they aren’t far from here.”

Ditzy nodded in agreement, despite not being able to hear most of what Pip had just said, but Pip looked confident in his statement, and Ditzy knew better at this point than to question Pip’s logic. If he had gotten the two ponies this far, then he could get them both out of the Endar Spire safely.

Pip turned toward a door in the bridge that had a sign next to it reading ‘Escape Pods’. Pip moved forward to the door and entered a code in the number pad that would allow the two ponies to get through. The door opened to a T-shaped hallway, with another door straight ahead and a door to the left of the two ponies. Ditzy began walking toward the door to the left, labeled ‘Escape Pods’, but hesitated when she noticed that Pip was standing still, staring at the other door.

“There’s something behind that door.” Pip stated, tightening his grip on the vibroblade he had clasped in his hooves.

“WHAT DID YOU SAY?” Ditzy questioned in her loud tone. Pip turned his head and gave Ditzy a grim expression. Whatever Pip had said couldn’t be a good thing.

Pip moved toward the unmarked door, but before he could go to enter a code into the doors security panel the door flew open much faster than they should. On the other side of the now open doorway stood a dark clothed Sith, their face masked behind a hood from the robes they wore on their body. The Sith had a bright light emanating from its forehead, indicating that it was a unicorn, but the rest of the Sith’s body was covered by a dark robe. The Sith looked up from the floor, their eyes glowing a nauseating purple. Suddenly, a flash of magic emanating from the pony’s horn caused the robe to fall to the floor, revealing the Sith’s identity.

“BEHOLD!” The Sith shouted so loudly that even Ditzy winced. “FOR IT IS I, THE GREAT AND POWERFUL DARTH TRIXIE!”

Ditzy and Pip gasped, filling their lungs with the smoky air from the interior of the Endar Spire. Darth Trixie had caught them just outside of their escape, to their freedom. But now the two Republic ponies would have to face the Dark Lord’s apprentice head on, no-pony in the Republic would stand a chance against Darth Trixie unless they’re a Jedi; and neither Pip nor Ditzy knew the first thing about Jedi fighting techniques.

Ditzy walked forward to join Pip and fight Trixie, at this Trixie let out a loud high pitched laugh, “HAHAHA, what is this?! Do you really think you have what it takes to stand a chance against the Dark Lord’s apprentice?! You crazy foals, prepare to meet your doom!” Trixie lifted her lightsaber from the holster resting over her cutie mark with her magic. When the hilt was in front of her face, the bright red blade shot outward, giving Trixie’s face the illusion of being coated in a blood red light. Trixie’s face stretched as a smile formed on her lips, and she began walking towards the two Republic ponies.

Ditzy moved her hoof towards the sheath that housed her vibroblade, but was stopped before the blade was fully out of its sheath. It was Pip’s own hoof that had stopped her.

Pip looked deep into Ditzy’s eyes, “No,” He said, a calm but assertive tone in his voice, “Let me fight her, I’ll hold her off until you get to the escape pods.”

Ditzy struggled to hear every word that Pip was saying to her at this intense moment, but she picked up enough of what Pip said to understand what he was about to do. Ditzy was prepared to protest, when suddenly Pip put his hoof over her mouth, “Please don’t argue,” he said flatly, “It’s better for one of us to make it rather than none, besides, you wouldn’t stand a chance with your ear this way.” at this Pip handed Ditzy a small, hoof sized tablet with a list of the Endar Spire’s door codes.

Even with the damaged ear, Ditzy understood every single word that Pip had said, and took the tablet from Pip without protest. A tear fell from her eye, and streaked down her dirt covered face, exposing a single stream of clean grey hair. Pip smiled and turned away to face Trixie. He ran forward through the door, which slammed closed behind him, leaving Ditzy all alone in the T-shaped hallway.

Ditzy didn’t want to listen to the fight, so she turned to her left and entered a code into the door. The door flew open, revealing a small room with a wall covered in jettisoned escape pod docks, with only one pod remaining. A single blue pegasus pony with a rainbow colored mane stood in front of a computer monitor, furiously typing various commands and checking on the status of the ship. As soon as Ditzy entered the room the blue mare turned toward her, “Thank goodness you made it here alive!” the pegasus exclaimed, “We need to get out of here now!”

“Wait a minute.” Ditzy stated questioningly reaching for her blaster, “Who exactly are you?”

“It’s all right,” the pegasus assured, “I’m Rainbow Dash, the pony you heard over the intercom earlier. I’m one of the pilots on the ship, well, the only pilot on the ship now; you and I are the last two ponies on this ship who are still breathing, but none of that matters anymore, we just need to get out of here before we both get fried by the Sith!”

Ditzy struggled to hear Rainbow Dash through her wounded ear but still managed to hear enough to understand the status of the crew “The only two breathi-” Ditzy gasped, “...Pip...no...”

“There’s no time for mourning now!” Rainbow ordered, “We need to get out of here, we’ll fix you up when we land!” with that Rainbow grabbed the now sobbing Ditzy Doo into the only empty escape pod and hit a large red flashing button that was labeled ‘EJECT’.

Ditzy had never been in an escape pod before, but she hated it the instant she was dragged inside. It was incredibly cramped, and there was only one small window at the front to see out of. Through the window Ditzy could see what remained of the Endar Spire as they descended, which was basically just a large chunk of metal floating around, surrounded by other bits of random shrapnel. Just inside the corner of the window Ditzy could see the Sith ships bombarding the Spire continuously despite the fact that it was only a huge piece of scrap metal at this point. Ditzy and Rainbow both flinched when the escape pod suddenly hit the outer atmosphere of the planet below them, Taris.

The escape pod continued barreling through the atmosphere of the planet, gaining more and more speed. The friction from the air of the atmosphere gave the outer hull of the pod a red glow, and a noticeable streak of hot air flew by the tiny window. Eventually, the pod hit speeds too fast, and the sensation of falling at such a fast rate caused Ditzy to begin to fade out of consciousness.

The speed of the pod had little effect on Rainbow Dash, but she noticed that her new companion was blacking out, “HEY!” she shouted at Ditzy, “Get ahold of yourself! Stay with me here!” but it was already too late, Ditzy was fully knocked out, and the nearest hospital was over 100,000 feet below them.