It has been months since the siege of the Crystal Empire and the temple housing many Padawans, Knights, and Masters was destroyed during the occupation. Now the Jedi are now hidden at a safer location close to the land of the Hippogriffia, the home of the Hippogriffs. A lone Jedi was instructing some Padawans until he saw a shuttle landing at the landing pad close to him. He dismissed the Padawans and headed towards the shuttle as Starshine Sparkle looked around. He then saw the Jedi and smiled as he made his way towards him. "Welcome to Hippogriffia, Padawan," he greeted with a bow. "Everyone here is looking forward to meeting you. Your former masters praise your combat skills. They say you're becoming an excellent duelist."
"It's easy to excel when you're trained by the best," Starshine said as he walked with the Jedi to a room.
"The Jedi Council will assign you a new master to oversee your final trials. You'll be tested in ways you can't imagine. But when you leave this place, you'll learn what it means to be a Jedi Knight. More importantly, you'll know yourself."
"I'm eager to face these trials. Where do I start?"
"There is a speeder here that will take you--" The Jedi was interrupted when his holocommunicator in his pocket started to beep. "Hang on. Getting an emergency signal...." He turned on the communicator and revealed a dragon Padawan shaking in fear.
"--under attack, repeat, under attack!" the Padawan said. "Storm minion remnants are invading the Padawan training grounds! They have blasters! Send help!" The transmission ended which left the Jedi shocked as he put away the holocommunicator.
"Storm minions here? Armed with blasters? He must be mistaken."
"Mistaken or not, that Padawan is under attack."
"They haven't been here since their defeat at Canterlot. Storm creatures were servants of the evil Storm King. Since his defeat, they're now smart enough to use tools and now they are hostile to us without their leader to command them." The Jedi approached a terminal and started to send messages to any nearby members of the order. "I'm sending every able-bodied Jedi down to the Padawan training grounds right way--especially you."
"Just point the way. I'll handle the rest."
"Take the speeder outside to the training grounds. Push back the rogue Storm creatures--and find out if they are really using advanced weapons. Go. I'll catch up after I alert the Jedi Council. May the force be with you." Starshine nodded and rushed out of the room to a speeder to go to the Padawan training grounds to push back the Storm creatures.
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Charming Thunder sat on the throne at the Crystal Empire with some mind controlled crystal pony guards at each side of the throne. He then got up and walked towards a window to observe his minions and some crystal ponies in chains just like how Sombra had it a thousand years ago. he then stepped away from the window and placed a hoof on his chin and thought, ‘With the threat of the Equestrian Empire, Phantom Consortium, and other empires; how am I going to hold the Crystal Empire? While damage is minimal, the defenses are still being brought up and I’m not prepared to face the Mane 6, Danny, and anyone else of power. How can I fight them all off?’
"Perhaps, your highness, you need someone to distract your foes?" an echoing voice suggested, getting Charming Thunder’s attention.
"Who’s there!?" Charming Thunder demanded. "Show yourself!" He then began to hear chuckling behind him and he turns around, seeing no one. He didn’t noticed that his shadow had single purple eye looking at him where his right eye was at.
"I am here, though you won’t see me unless I point it out." Charming Thunder was looking around to see if anyone was hiding but was finding no signs of hidden ponies. "Nevertheless, even with the destruction of the Elements of Harmony, your evil half father underestimated just how powerful friendship is. However, even without the elements, I can bet they still have access to their Rainbow Power."
"Then what do you recommend, stranger?"
"Do you think the Elements were created without a weakness? Such power must have a weakness and I happen to know it. Though I’ve only ever heard rumors and legends, there is a power that can nullify the Elements of Harmony." Charming Thunder was now walking back to his throne. "Tell me, have you ever heard of the Phantom Ruby and Warp Topaz?"
"I have never heard of them before."
"Both are magical artifacts; like the Elements of Harmony, the Crystal Heart, the Helm of Shadows, the Staff of Sacanas just to name a few. The Phantom Ruby has the power to take control of people’s visual and depth perception to feed false information to the brain, creating a new reality for them. With this, you can alter their gravity field or create something as large as the Sun, at the cost of a lot of energy. The Warp Topaz has the power to warp space, allowing the user to create localized wormholes to other places, thus allowing the user and others to travel great distances around the world in an instant. These 'gateways' as they’re called, can be opened from a great distance. Like here all the way to the Badlands, which if I recall correctly, is at the other side of the world."
"Such power could be the edge I need to keep individuals like Twilight out of the way."
"Yes but you need to run your empire, which is why you need someone you can trust to use both powers. Someone who knows what they are capable of doing. Someone who is loyal to you."
"And you are that someone? Why should I trust you with such power?"
"Because I’ve fought the elements before, I’ve fought you before. I know their tactics, I know their strengths and their weaknesses. Thanks to the dark magic coursing through you, I have made a return but cannot manifest a new form. The Phantom Ruby can provide an anchor for me to use to manifest a physical form. Combined that and the Warp Topaz and nothing can stop us. The Equestrian Empire’s ultimate weapon is the Elements of Harmony and their bearers; the Mane 6. Let me be your ultimate weapon against the Elements.
"What would I call you anyway?” Charming thunder asked before sees a shadowy smoke at the base of his throne. When the smoke subsided, his eyes widen as he looked at a familiar form of a pony with his left eye glowing purple. "You’re-"
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As Starshine finished attacking a Storm creature, his holocommunicator beeped and he answered it to reveal the hologram of the Jedi who greeted him earlier holding his leg as he was wounded. "You're unharmed--good," he said; relieved. "That blasted creature shot me in the leg while I was rescuing some Padawans. Don't know where those things got blasters, but they know how to use them. I've been evacuated to a medcenter, but the fighting isn't over."
"I'll push back the enemy, whatever it takes," Starshine said.
"We need to stop them at the source. Another Padawan found a cave tunnel the Storm creatures use to enter this valley. I need you at that tunnel, making sure the Storm creatures don't get anymore reinforcements through it."
"I'll find this cave tunnel and seal it."
"We need to end this conflict before anyone else gets hurt. Find the tunnel along the mountain range. May the force be with you." The transmission ended and Starshine made his way to the cave tunnel and killed some Storm creatures along the way.