Kneel Before The Dark Lord

by The Phantom Joker

A Dangerous Game

In the deepest depths of space, orbiting just above the forest moon of Endor, lies a massive, incomplete space station, the weapons systems of which were almost ready to be tested. Overseeing the final production of this second Death Star is a man feared and hated by all. Clad in black robes, his grey skin a testament to the darkness within his mind, body and soul. This is the Emperor Palpatine, aka Darth Sidious.

Looking down at his Empire creating the greatest weapon the galaxy had ever seen, he sensed the oncoming presence of an Admiral. Before the doors even opened, he knew the news was not going to be to his liking. The Admiral approached quickly and, with respect, knelt down to the ground and bowed his head.

"My Lord, I have news of Lord Starkiller." the Admiral said.

"My apprentice is dead. I can no longer feel him." the Dark Lord replied, slowly waving his hand out to the side to emphasize his point.

"His ship was damaged as he fought against the Rebels. It is unclear as to whether he activated his hyperdrive on purpose or if by accident, but he disappeared without having set any coordinates," the Admiral clarified.

Sidious took a moment to reflect on the information. Starkiller may have survived… “Then find him. Scour the galaxy for scrap metal if you have to. I want confirmation of his situation,” the Emperor spoke aloud. The Admiral bowed his head again, standing to leave. The two guards dressed in red followed him into the elevator.

"It seems that my apprentice is more like Vader than I originally anticipated. This should prove useful, should I find out he's betrayed me yet again." he said aloud, no higher than a mumble. He turned around and descended the stair platform. A console stood near to his right. Dialing in a few buttons himself, a hologram of an Imperial Twi'lek Ambassador flashed on, no larger than the hilt of a lightsaber.

"My Lord?" the Ambassador said, bowing his head in respect.

"Ki'rall. Send a squad of highly trained men to Felucia. I sense I'll need to prepare for the days to come,” Sidious replied.

"Yes Milord." Ki'rall replied before the connection was cut off.

The Emperor gazed out at the infinite starscape, losing himself in his dark thoughts once again.

Perhaps Maris Brood will succeed where Starkiller failed...

Muffled sounds greeted Starkiller as his phonetic sensors had somehow been shut off. Behind his helmet, he opened his eyes. Where he usually saw a blue heads-up display with a minimap based off of Imperial intelligience of his current location, all he saw were blurred figures moving about him. It took a few moments for his helmet to activate itself, the HUD returning to him, with a big question mark where his minimap should be. Looking around, he spotted what appeared to be different colored bipedal equine related species standing around him. There were five in all, each of them with human-like qualities. One of them had a beard while another had a moustache. The eyelashes of each equine told him that at least two of them were female.

The voice of the one with the beard sounded clearly through Starkiller's rebooted phonetic receptors. "Ah, you're awake. That's a shame, I was hoping to conduct this experiment with as little screaming as possible. I must admit, the Princesses had me worried when they said that we couldn't do more than try to help you heal, but the public has spoken and they want you vivisected in the event that more of your race finds its way here. Knowing how you work will be of great advantage to us should we need to defend ourselves."

Starkiller thought that the bearded equine liked to talk a lot. However, what really had his full attention was the scalpel in his hand. Recalling the painful process he had to go through just to get the armor on his body, Starkiller was not about to have it so easily removed without being crushed by another starship.

"You said you wanted as little screaming as possible..." Starkiller spoke up, his vocabulator giving him a deep, booming, and menacing voice, freezing the equines in place. How did he know their language? Did he learn it on the spot? “If that's the case, try not to scream when I kill you all," he concluded. With a flick of his wrists, the shackles bolting him to the surgical table unlocked and he was free. The first on his list was the one with the scalpel. Grabbing him by the throat, he strangled the poor creature as he flailed around, trying to cut at Starkiller's arm, but the biomechanical bones just blunted the blade.

Feeling that the equine had been sufficiently strangled, he tossed him across the room into a window. The window only cracked a little, making it quickly become apparent that it was an observation window. More of this equine race was undoubtedly behind there. Suddenly, Starkiller felt the pull of the Force reach him. He was made visually aware of what was being pulled as a gold aura pulled at his offending appendage while a navy blue aura of similar appearance pulled at his right. Using half his strength to resist the thrall of the force, Starkiller took the time to notice that the equines had left his lightsabers strapped to his belt, and couldn’t help but smirk beneath his mask. They obviously didn't realize the importance of removing such dangerous objects had on their chances of survival, which had now completely flatlined. All the same, he needed to break free and get off this planet before his master found out he'd been captured so easily.

"By Celestia, how did it escape? It was bolted to the table with state of the art locking mechanisms!” one of the equines asked no one in particular. Starkiller was getting annoyed by the pulling of the two Force users and decided to act. Using the Force, he took two lightsabers from his belt, both the one he usually used and his original one from when he was still Vader's apprentice. He flicked the activation switches and a pair of crimson plasma rods extended from within. With considerable ease, he managed to overpower the pull of the two auras and spun around. The Sith Lord used his lightsabers to carve a hole in the window so he could escape. He then pushed the window with the Force, knocking it away and, if the pained grunt was anything to go by, hit someone behind it. The golden aura on his left arm disappeared, leaving just the right one. Deactivating the lightsaber in his left hand, he holstered it and brought his arm back, charging a massive amount of Force energy. The blue aura faded almost a second afterward. They must’ve sensed the Force building up within me, he thought.

Starkiller decided to ignore his escape route for now as whoever lurked behind it no longer posed any threat. With the remaining four equines cowering in the corner, it was a simple matter of torturing them with Force Lightning. And torture them he did. Each of the equines screamed bloody murder as untold volts of purple electricity flooded into them, and one of them begged for release.

An evil smirk formed under Starkiller’s mask. His definition of the word “release” had been warped considerably during his time as Vader and Sidious’ apprentice. Using the Force, Starkiller telekinetically grabbed the scalpel that his first victim had held and stabbed the screaming equine in the eye.

With the scientists taken care of, Starkiller stepped through the big hole in the wall, what remained of the smoldering glass giving way under his boot. There were three chairs on the other side, one toppled over, where the largest part of the window now rested, along with another equine, an alabaster female, who seemed to be either dead or unconscious. The two remaining Force users, a dark blue female and a lavender female, cowered under his gaze. Perhaps there was a chance for him to talk his way out of this, although that seemed less and less likely as he had left a pile of corpses in his wake, and he hadn't even taken five steps. Starkiller glanced at the two conscious females, his hand wandering towards his primary lightsaber to strike them down, but paused as he thought it over for a moment. Ultimately, Starkiller decided that it would be a waste of time, and casually walked out the door.

The halls on the other side intrigued Starkiller. They seemed to be made entirely of crystal, and yet the species didn't seem to entirely fit the environment. For a moment, Starkiller believed this to be a very realistic and silly dream, or perhaps a Rebel scum had somehow slipped him a death stick, but the agonizing pain between his mechanical parts and what remained of his human body reminded him that he was in fact, alive.

Everywhere Starkiller turned, there were crystals, they played havoc with his vision, and on more than one occasion, he walked directly into the same wall multiple times. Nevertheless, Starkiller ventured on.

"I warned them not to experiment on the alien. We couldn't possibly know how it would react." Twilight said through berated breaths.

"Obviously, it knows magic. That makes it dangerous." Celestia replied, staggering as she walked. Despite receiving a quick healing spell from Twilight and Luna, she was still sore from the sudden blow to both her head and her ego from the window back in the other room.

"And those laser swords. I thought those things only existed in those science-fiction novels Twilight has me reading." Luna added before backing against the wall. The others followed suit as the alien ran ahead of them, seemingly unhindered by the shock of being restrained. All three Alicorns began to shake in fear as they heard the mechanical breathing of the alien nearby.

"Regardless, it’s just killed five ponies. It's clearly a danger to us all." Celestia commented when she thought they were safe enough.

"I disagree, Celestia. If you were strapped to a surgical table on a strange world, and about to be vivisected out of fear from the general public, wouldn't you defend yourself too?" Twilight argued. Celestia considered her answer for a moment.

"I suppose you are right, but what would you suggest? The deaths of those ponies will reach the public soon enough. Some of them were students, they had families. Compensation will be demanded of either us or the alien." Celestia told the younger Alicorn.

"In order to avoid more conflict, we will speak with the alien, ask it to consider disarming itself to preserve the peace. In return, we won't let the public know it has magic and it can remain feeling safe in that knowledge," Twilight answered. Luna looked to her older sister for her approval. Celestia, knowing that she was outvoted, agreed that option was the best course of action.

After bumbling around through the hallways of what seemed to be an extravagant castle of some kind, Starkiller found himself in what appeared to be a throne room, where there was what appeared to be some sort of council or Senate meeting under way when he barged into the room, which was populated with more of the strange equines. At Starkiller’s entrance, they turned from their activities to look at the newcomer. Some gasped in fright, others were frozen. Several burly equines clad in armor began to ready their weapons and draw their swords. On instinct, Starkiller reached for one of his lightsabers. One would be enough to deal with the aggressive ones, seeing as their weapons were made of what seemed to be a weaker sort of metal.

However, before anything further could happen, a trio of equines, one of which was taller than the rest, burst through the door behind Starkiller.

"Wait!" they called out, falling over themselves. Starkiller lowered his lightsaber, having not yet activated it. If need be, he could hold them off with the Force before things got too violent. He turned to view the newcomers. His immediate thought was that two of them had the colors of the auras that had tried to stop him in the operating room. A cursory examination through the Force proved to him that these were the observers in the other room that he had spared.

“Everypony stand down!" the white one boomed. Starkiller knew that she'd used the Force to enhance her voice, whether they called it the Force was another matter altogether. Upon command, the equines withdrew their weapons from Starkiller's position but stood ready to defend their leader.

"Please, excuse our rudeness. We did not wish to conduct experiments on you, however the citizens felt that it was necessary in order to defend ourselves should more of your kind come." the purple one spoke. Starkiller was curious as to how they spoke his language. It was a curiosity that didn't emerge until the danger had passed. Taking a chance, he sheathed his lightsaber and stood to his full height. Much like Vader had once done with him, the Sith Lord now towered over the creature like her superior, which he was in almost every sense of the word.

"You're fortunate that I am more forgiving than my former master. He didn't give second chances," Starkiller replied, startling some of the ponies. Through his visor, he noted a certain glint in the purple one's eyes. It was the same glint the Admirals would get when he would spare their lives, giving them the opportunity to learn from their mistakes. This purple equine was inquisitive.

"Thank you. Let us start by introducing ourselves. This is Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, Princess Cadence is over there with my brother, Shining Armor,” the purple horse said, indicating a pink horse in an extravagant dress and was biologically not dissimilar to herself and the aforementioned princesses, who was being hidden from sight by an alabaster male wearing what appeared to be some form of military dress uniform. “And I am Princess Twilight. May we ask what your name is?" Twilight inquired.

For a brief moment, Starkiller considered not answering her. However, ultimatly saw no harm in answering her, as a name was little more than a means to address an individual.

"Starkiller. Lord Starkiller," Staarkiller said simply, as though the address was nothing short of an insignificance.

"Starkiller? That's an interesting name. Who gave it to you? And what exactly are you a ‘Lord’ of?" Twilight asked.

"A dead man." was all Starkiller said, his deep voice emotionless. This brought the very short line of questions to a screeching halt.

"Okay… listen, Starkiller, I was wondering if perhaps you would be willing to relinquish those weapons? We know you have magic, so you're still well defended. It's just that the public are extremely uncomfortable with you and until you've earned a reputable name for yourself it would help things go a lot more smoothly." she said.

Starkiller casually went for his lightsaber and seemed to offer it to her. As her hand was just about to touch it, it activated, causing her to flinch and scurry back.

"It’s a dangerous game to play when you ask a Sith Lord to disarm himself. The blade I hold in my hand is an extension of the wielder, as is the Force. Asking a Sith to relinquish his lightsaber would be like asking you to relinquish your horns or wings. If your precious public has a problem with me, then let them sort it out how they wish. But I will not allow an inferior race to make requests for their own sake," Starkiller replied, disengaging it and holstering it at the same time.

The guards had their weapons pointed at him again. Starkiller, for his part, had had enough of these creatures. Going into a stance, he closed his arms and legs over his chest, hovering on the ground for a moment. The guards surrounding him began to circle uncontrollably in the air, along with several objects in the room. They were immediately smacked with a wave of Force that sent them flying in all directions. The three Princesses in front of him were sent no more than a few feet backwards as their hooves stayed glued to the ground. Starkiller bolted for the nearest exit, which just so happened to be a nearby window.

As the Sith crashed through it, he came to realize the drop was further than he thought, but that was of little consequence. He focused the Force in his legs and performed a flip just in time to land on his feet. The Force was thrown out in a ripple effect, knocking back over a dozen civilian equines and several guards in the process. Screaming ensued afterwards and the Sith Lord made a beeline towards the nearest uninhabited area. Looking back, he saw that his ship was still skewered on top of one of the crystal spires. With a grunt of irritation, he sped through the entrance outside of the city, and into the snowy wasteland beyond.

Back at the castle, as everyone was pulling themselves up off the ground from Starkiller’s sudden attack and muttering darkly amongst themselves, Celestia and Luna turned towards Twilight, grave expressions upon their faces.

“Twilight, you must return to Ponyville immediately, and gather your friends and retrieve the Elements of Harmony. They might be our only hope of preventing further casualties at the hands of that Starkiller creature,” Celestia instructed her pupil.

Twilight nodded once before focusing her magical energies and vanishing in a bright flash of light.

Once Twilight was gone, Luna turned to Celestia. “Sister, art thou certain the usual ‘blast him the the Elements of Harmony’ technique will work on this creature? After all, he does not hail from Equestria, or even this world,” she said to her elder sister.

Celestia said nothing, but Luna could tell just by looking at her sister that she had considered the possibility, but did not want to think about what it could possibly mean for Equestria if it came to pass.