//------------------------------//
// Chapter 11: Tensions 
// Story: Fallen Knight 
// by DanishDash 
//------------------------------//

Years Before.

Revan was not one to question his master, never. In fact, he always held his tongue, trusting her completely despite her, funny ways, to resolve issues. But right now, sitting in a stinking cell, cuffed and waiting for whatever the pirates decided to do with them. He found himself doubting his master's methods of handling this pirate problem. Their leader mentioned negotiations, but Revan was pretty sure that meant negotiations for a ransom, not about peace.

"I can sense your troubled mind, padawan.." 

Luxida spoke from the corner where she was meditating. She had been calm ever since they were locked in here, not speaking much, only telling him to relax and trust the Force. He had never understood how she could be so calm, right now they were locked up, cuffed, no plans, no way for their troopers to know where they had gone off to, or the Jedi Council for that matter.

"Please, speak your mind, as I instructed you.."

He felt a tinge of fear, he hoped he hadn't disappointed his master. She had told him when he met her for the first time, that he should always speak his mind, and tell her what he thought. For now during their time together, Revan had never told her anything, he did not dare, for like with every Padawan, they were determined to impress and earn their place beside their masters. However, he had promised her...

"Master.." Revan started, looking to her. She simply sat there, calm as ever, crossed legged, closed eyes, but still very much aware of her surroundings, and him. "Forgive me, but I don't understand.. Why would we willingly surrender to them?" To Revan it seemed like a fair question, a sensible one even, right?

"What would you have done, padawan? We were surrounded, outnumbered and outgunned, no cover, no reinforcements, what would you have done?"

Her question vanquished any thoughts he had before, what WOULD he have done? It was true, they were outnumbered, a master and her fourteen year old padawan.. No, she was right, if they wanted to have a chance, there was nothing else they could have done. He looked down to the dusty floor. 

"I.. I don't know, master..."

She let out one of her small chuckles. "Revan, you're always trying to plan ahead, always trying to prepare.. Keep your mind in the here and now, trust the Force, let it be your guide, and let go." By now Revan was used to her vague lectures, but again, he choose to trust her, hoping he would one day understand what she meant. 

Before he had a chance to respond, the door slid open and four pirates, armed with blasters, walked in. "The boss wants a word with ya."

Revan saw his master open her eyes, wink to him. "Then let us see where the Force takes us."


~~~~~*SW*~~~~~


"Well... Hello there.." The group of glowing eyes simply stared at him, the glow from his blade casting the cave in blue light, making the creatures flinch and step back a little.

He took a defensive stance, holding the blade right next to him, ready to slash at anyone who tried to attack him. For now nothing happened, he stared at them, trying to sense their emotions, trying to figure out the best way to handle this. Could he avoid combat, that would be the preferred option, but, he had to protect the pods containing the ponies.

Before he could even attempt to talk again, the many creatures started to hiss at him, slowly moving forward like a pack of Nexus. He could sense them all, feel them, it was hard to get a read on their exact emotions, but their intend was clear, stop him. 

The first one jumped at him, unfortunately for the creature, Revan saw the attack coming. With a swift strike, Revan's lightsaber cut the leg off creature. It fell to the ground, whining and screaming, this seemed to anger the rest, as they all started to come at him.

Revan made this quick, using the Force, he pushed the two first attackers into the walls of the cave. The next two he cut through with ease, making sure not to leave them suffering. After finishing of the six of them, the last ones remaining seemed to back off. He felt their fear, and decided to give them a chance to escape. They took it, rushing out of the cave as fast as their wings would allow them to.

As soon as they had fled the cave, he turned to the pods. The ponies seemed physically fine, but he could sense that they were exhausted, in some ways, drained of energy? He was not sure how else to explain it. Reaching for his comlink, he turned it on. "R6, I've found the missing villagers, contact the sergeant and get him to meet me at this position."

"....."

"R6?" There was no reply. "R6, do you copy?" Still no reply, that was strange, normally she would always respond. "I have a bad feeling about this.." He mumbled under his breath, not feeling comfortable leaving the pods behind, but then again, he did not think the creatures would return any time soon, not as the bodies of their comrades laid here as a warning. 

"I need to find R6, and the sergeant.." He told himself, looking back to the pods. "I will be back.." Revan told them, not sure if they could hear or sense anything around them, but he hoped there was a chance for it at least. One thing he was sure of however, something was not right, and he was pretty sure this had something to do with the wedding, he could feel it. He just hoped Rainbow Dash could handle it.


~~~~~*SW*~~~~~


The gardens were always peaceful, even though Rainbow preferred action and excitement, she had come to appreciate the quiet and peaceful surroundings of the royal gardens whenever her mind was troubled. Tonight her visit was to find some inner peace before she would retire for the night.

With princess Cadance acting weird and creepy, with her friends arriving tomorrow, Applejack, security checks, all that.. Erugh, it was a lot to consider...

"Good evening, Rainbow Dash." 

A calm soft voice said. Rainbow looked towards it, and saw princess Celestia standing near the stone railing, looking over the landscape beneath the mountain.

"Oh, princess Celestia, sorry.. I did not know you were out here as well.." Rainbow replied and bowed her head.

Celestia giggled. "Rainbow Dash, it's a big garden, i'm sure we can both be here at the same time." Her eyes remained on Luna's moon, and Rainbow could not help but to look up as well. After a few seconds, Celestia spoke again. "It's quite beautiful, is it not?"

Rainbow felt a little out of place, usually it was her master that talked to the princess, not her. Not that she was not allowed to, or that Celestia had given her reason to think she would not hear her out, but, old habits die hard.

"It is.." 

Rainbow finally responded and took a chance, walking up beside her, former princess. That was still a strange feeling, Celestia was no longer her princess. As a Jedi, she would serve the Force, protect the innocent, pony or otherwise. Though her master was now allied with Equestria, defending them, acting as ambassadors if needed, but, they had the power to refuse her, to act on their own, which was another thing she needed to get used to .

"Tell me.." Celestia continued. "How goes your training?"

"Uhm.." The question kind of took Rainbow Dash aback. "I guess it goes fine.." She mentally scolded herself, she was acting way to nervous. If she was relaxed and herself, she would have replied with, 'it's going awesome!' Or something of that nature. Right now however, she could not express that level of confidence.

"Hm, something on your mind?" Celestia asked, looking to the young Jedi.

How should she respond to that? Yes, there was a lot of things on her mind, her friends, Applejack, being here alone without her master, creepy princess Cadance, yes, there was a lot on her mind, but she was not sure how much she should share. Rainbow did not want to go around and accuse the princess's niece of things she had no proof of. What if Cadance really just was creepy by nature? Even so, she could feel something was up, and she figured it was better to wait for Twilight to arrive tomorrow, she knew Shining Armor best, and if he was effected, or Cadance was acting suspiciously, then Twilight would know. If anypony would listen, it would be her. 

"Well.." Rainbow Dash said carefully. "This is the first time I've been alone without my master, at least, while holding this responsibility.." 

Celestia nodded a little. "Twilight had many of the same doubts when she first arrived in Ponyville. If you remember, she was not the most sociable pony back then."

Rainbow Dash smirked a little. "You can say that again, Princess."

"Indeed.. I Hoped she would grow, make friends, and she did, and is still learning, each day." She smiled. "I imagine your master has the same hopes for you, to grow, and learn." She turned her gaze back towards the moon. "It is natural for a teacher to want to test their student, to push them to greater heights."

"Is that what you hope for Twilight?" Rainbow asked, looking back to the moon.

"Indeed I do.. There is so much for her to learn out there, and there is only so much books would allow her to understand. Before she came to Ponyville, friendship was simply a pass time, a word, nothing more for her to understand. But now, now she learns something new each day, and grows because of it.." Celestia turned her head once again, and smiled at her. "And that's because of the friendships she has made with you and your friends."

"It all sounds so simple when you say it.." Rainbow admitted.

"Some things are simpler than others." Celestia admitted. "Like with you an Applejack."

Rainbow looked up, a little shocked Celestia knew, but then again, she was there when Applejack had her outburst, and she was the princess after all. "I.." Rainbow looked down at her hooves. "I don't know how it will go when I see her tomorrow.."

Celestia nodded understandingly. "I felt the same way when Luna came back to me.. I was afraid, could I talk about this, could I mention that. It took time, I won't lie to you.. But compared, I think what you and Applejack are going through are more simple, I think, you simply need to talk."

"Not my strong suit.." Rainbow admitted.

"Just speak from the heart, be honest." Celestia smiled.

Be honest? Speak from the heart? Her master had said something along those lines, maybe not as poetic as the princess, but, he too meant they would be okay if they simply spoke. It was kind of funny, Twilight had been the student from Canterlot, learning magic, studying under the best teacher in all of Equestria. Now it seemed they had traded places, granted the circumstances were different, but yet similar. 

"I get why Twilight always speak so highly of you.." Then her eyes went wide as she looked up. "Not that I have never spoken highly of you! But, I mean, she has known you personally, and you know, she has studied under you so she has known you more personally and...." She trailed of, feeling her cheeks burn slightly.

Celestia giggled. "No no, I understand what you mean, Rainbow Dash, and you have a point. Most of my little ponies don't know me as well as Twilight does, and even she sees me only as her teacher. She does not know me as well as Luna does, for example."

Rainbow tilted her head, a question entering her mind. "What about master Revan?"

Now it was Celestia's turn to be taken aback by the sudden question. She felt her heart skip a little, she was not sure why, it was not like her and Revan had known each other for that many months. Yet, they had spend a lot of time together, speaking of simple things they had done through their life. They both found each other's life so fascinating, perhaps because they were so foreign to them both and it was an opportunity to learn from one another.

Then again, she had opened up to him, as he had with her. They had both seen and talked about moments of their lives that had affected them both greatly. Her with the fall of her sister, him with the fall of the Jedi order. Was it true then, did Revan know her more, or at the very least parts of her Twilight herself had not come to know in such intimate details?

Perhaps he did...

"Princess?" 

Rainbow Dash's voice suddenly brought her out of her train of thought. "Oh, forgive me Rainbow Dash.. Your question, it's, it's a difficult one to answer.. I myself am not sure what the answer is.. Not yet at least.." Rainbow noticed how her lips curled into a small smile, her eyes seemed to sparkle with something, and even her cheeks seemed to show the hint of a very faint blush. Maybe it was a good time for her to call it a night.

Taking a step back, she bowed before Celestia once again. "Well, if you will excuse me, I think I will hit the hay, princess."

"Of course Rainbow." Celestia smiled and inclined her head. "Have a pleasant night."

"Thanks, you too." Rainbow smiled and started to trot away and back into the palace.

Celestia was left to her own thoughts, looking across the landscape. She found herself wondering if Revan looked her way, looked towards Canterlot mountain, and her.


~~~~~*SW*~~~~~


By this time Revan had managed to bring the royal guard that had escorted him to the village, of course the villagers noticed something was going on, and quickly followed them. However, during the trip to and from the village, Revan so no sign of R6. He was getting worried now, it was not like her to wander off.

At least now the pods were being opened, and the ponies trapped inside tended to. Revan stood by the mayors of each village, as they shook hooves, apologizing to each other and for their hostile behavior. Then they both turned to Revan and bowed their heads. 

"Thank you for saving our villagers, we dread to think what might have happened if you hadn't shown up.." One said.

The other nodded. "Yes, thank you.. We won't blame each other anymore, we should have helped instead.. We learned a valuable lesson..."

Revan nodded. "Will they be okay?"

"Yes, after some much needed rest, and some comfort from their loved ones, they should be fine in a week or two."

"Good, i'm glad to hear it.." Revan folded his arms within the sleeves of his brown robe. "Those creatures."

"Changelings." The guard sergeant said as he walked over. "They were changelings, feeding of the ponies love."

"Yes, but as far as I remember, they can change their appearance.." Revan had of course studied this world's history and races, trying to get to know it as much as he could since he was going to spend the rest of his life here. "Could they have sealed up these ponies to take their place?"

The sergeant thought for a moment. "They would not have needed to seal these ones away, they could simply have changed into some random looking pony if they wanted to infiltrate a village or any place. Though they have not attempted this here, otherwise the villagers would not have noticed they had vanished. Perhaps it is simply an isolated incident." 

Revan could see his point, but something still felt strange to him. He looked to the sergeant. "Could they have been used as a feeding station?"

"Sir?"

"If a large number of changelings wanted to move through Equestria's borders, they would need a lot of, love, to move that many through the borders, yes?" 

The sergeant thought over this point. "Well, yes, but these ponies would only sustain a small group, how big are we talking about?"

Revan felt the same as he did during the clone wars, it was like an instinct setting off alarm bells in his head. "How many villages is there near Equestria's borders?"

"Uhm, to many to count in my head." The sergeant admitted.

"So if every place has some ponies missing and replaced, how many could move through the borders?" 

"I, uhm.." His eyes started to widen in horror at the suggestion. "An entire army.. But sir, we can't be sure of that, this proves nothing, we had no other reports from other villages."

"These changelings could simply have been sloppy, got careless." Revan said. "But you're right, I don't have any proof, but, the timing is simply.. To convenient.."

"Timing, what do you-" Then it dawned on him. He looked up at Revan, his eyes filled with dread. "The wedding.." Could this be real? Surely they would have detected something was up, but then again, they had pulled so many forces away from the borders and focused more on Canterlot in the weeks leading up to the wedding. Smugglers, and even a small army could have in theory snuck across the border, doing it little by little so not to be detected by the few forces left.

"As you said, I have no proof, but the danger is there.. My padawan said princess Cadance is acting strange, is it possible for a changeling to take her place?" Revan felt everything come together, it felt like the old days, maybe that was why he could see the tactic so clearly. Or maybe, maybe it was simply all a coincidence, something that triggered his alarm bells to go off, maybe he was wrong. No.. He could sense he was on the right track.

The sergeant grimaced. "I, I don't think a common changeling would be able to sustain such a disguise for long, and certainly not in front of princess Celestia.. But, I guess it is possible for some.." He had a bad feeling in his gut by now. "We need to inform the princess and captain Shining Armor."

Revan nodded. "We need R6, with her, I can call up my padawan and warn her."

"Can't you call the palace directly?"

"No.." Revan shook his head. "Without satellite amplification, a standard comlink has a range of about 50 kilometers. R6 can amplify the signal and send it to the Jedi tower's receiver."

Just in that moment, one of the soldiers called. "Sir! We found your droid!" The voice had some urgency in it, causing Revan to hurry over towards the soldiers. As he arrived, he saw a few gathered around a small ditch, in it, laid R6. Her body had been torn here and there, wires stuck out, the lights had gone from her small photo sensors.

"Blast it.." Revan mumbled under his breath as he inspected the damages.

"Can you fix her, sir?" The sergeant asked, hoping they still might be able to send a message in time.

Revan only shook his head. "No, not here." He placed a caring hand on his droid's head, as if to comfort it. Then he looked up at the sergeant with a determined look. "We need to depart for Canterlot this instant, get R6 in the carriage. We move in 20 minutes."

"Sir!"

They would have to hurry, but even if they sped towards Canterlot with all haste, he feared they would not get there in time before the wedding had already started. His only hope was that Rainbow Dash would be able to stop whatever was going on, and hold fast until he could get there. By the Force, he hoped he was wrong about all of this.


~~~~~*SW*~~~~~


Rainbow Dash didn't like this, she didn't like this at all. Standing on the massive train station in Canterlot, waiting for the train from Ponyville, she waited for her friends to arrive. She felt conflicted, on one hoof she wanted to be here, to greet them and finally see her friends again after these many months.

On the other hoof, she was still nervous about seeing Applejack. She hadn't responded to any of her letters, Twilight had said she had tried talking to her about it, but Applejack had refused to play ball on that end. It seemed it really was up to her to put things right between them. She just hoped it was something that could be fixed.

Her thoughts were interrupted as she heard the steam engine of the locomotive, the train had finally arrived and was slowly coming to a stop besides the platform. Rainbow took a deep breath, trying to find comfort in her master's and the princess's encouragements. It helped a little..

When the train came to a full stop, Rainbow saw Twilight step off the train first, she looked around a few times until she spotted her. Smiling widely, she waved and called her name. "Rainbow!"

Rainbow smiled, though it was a bit forced, she was happy to see Twilight again, and their other friends as she saw them disembark the train. The last one out was of course, Applejack. However the small crowd of her friends kept her out of view, everything except her trademark hat.

"Dashie!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed and pretty much just appeared right in Rainbow's view of the group, somehow managing to get ahead of the others without Rainbow noticing. She put both hooves around her, giving Rainbow a tight hug. "It's so good to see you again! I've missed you SOOO MUCH!"

"Ergh, thanks, Pinkie, burrhhhg, do you think, eh, you could let go now???!!!!" Rainbow told her friend before loosing to much air.

"Oh! Sorry!" She said cheerfully and let go of Rainbow.

"Do be careful darling, I am quite certain Rainbow Dash has missed you too." Rarity said, stepping forward. "It is so good to see you again dear." The white unicorn embraced the Pegasus, and Rainbow had to admit she had missed her, heck, she had missed all of them.

"Thanks Rarity." Rainbow said as the hug ended. "It's good to see you too."

Twilight was the next to trot up and give the cyan Pegasus a warm hug. "You look well, how goes your education?"

Rainbow had to smile at that, typical for Twilight to refer to Jedi training as an education. Then again, her training was not just physical, there was the books, so, many, books. So maybe one could refer to Jedi training as an education. Whatever ponies would call it, she was just happy to see the star nerd again.

"Hehe.. It's good to hear you nerd talk again, Twilight. I'm doing good.." She said, not really giving a clear answer beyond that, but she was just happy to have her friends here again.

Spike smiled and waved at Rainbow. "Hey Rainbow! You gotta check out my new hat for the wedding, looking quite sharp if I say so myself." The little dragon certainly did not lack confidence, but as he tried to drag some of the luggage along with him, it became clear he did lack muscle.

Then suddenly a small careful voice spoke up. "It's good to see you again, Rainbow Dash.. I hope you have been well..." Fluttershy said as she walked up to Rainbow.

Now it was Rainbow's turn to move first, Fluttershy was her oldest friend of all of them. She wrapped her hooves and wings around her, just enjoying the moment. She could feel Fluttershy shake a little, not out of fear, no, she could sense the joy coming from her friend, she had really missed her. The feeling was mutual.

It had been hard, Rainbow had known that from the beginning. But going from being surrounded by her friends most of the time, to then train in Canterlot, far from anything she was used to. It had been quite the change, and Rainbow would lie if she said she hadn't felt lonely at times. Revan had been a great master, smart, a great fighter, wise like princess Celestia, well at least, that's how she saw him.

She had also gotten to know a few royal guards, some ponies in the city, so it was not like she was alone, but still, she shared a special bond with these five, a bond that could not be broken, or, at least she hoped it couldn't.

Rainbow gave Fluttershy and extra tight squeeze before pulling away. "I have been doing fine, Fluttershy. I've just missed you guys a lot."

They all smiled at her, but then they all grew quiet, and the group slowly made way for Applejack, at least trying to give their two friends some space to bury the hatchet. Applejack looked uncomfortable, and Rainbow Dash could sense the struggle within her, but then again, there was quite a bit of struggle within herself as well. To Rainbow's surprise, she could sense no anger within her friend, nothing of the sort, just, sadness. She wanted to talk to her, but no words came to mind.

Applejack on the other hoof, seemed to know exactly what to say to escape this awkward situation. "We better get going, won't be long till the wedding and all.." 

It was not what Rainbow had hoped for, but it gave them a chance to move on and perhaps some space to think. Not that they hadn't had plenty of that. "Of course, uhm, well, follow me.." Rainbow said, trying to recover, forcing a smile. "This way, there is a lot of checkpoints, so stick to me and I get you through with no issues."

Like Rainbow, it was not the outcome her friends had hoped for. Twilight and the others gave each other some looks, wondering if they should give them a push in the right direction. Though, with Applejack, they had learned to leave it be, it would just make everything worse. The best they could do was to be there, and hope both of them were old enough to sort this out themselves, like adults.


~~~~~*SW*~~~~~


The trip to the palace started off awkwardly, no small pleasant chatter for the first few minutes. Though as they got closer, the small talk started little by little. It was hard to stay in a bad mood or keep quiet at the festivities and decorations going on around them.

Pinkie Pie was of course in her element, and was all about the decorations, looking at everything as they walked. Rarity was no different. She was always fascinated by everything that had to do with Canterlot, looking at the shops, the colors of the decorations, the fashions of the ponies walking around the streets. Spike was not so fascinated by Canterlot, to him it was simply his old home, and he wondered more is him and Twilight should check in on her parents while they were here.

Fluttershy, like always, was a little timid, and stayed close to Rainbow. She had been in Canterlot before, but she was still not used to having so many ponies around her. It would be better once she had a little time in the palace to get used to all the ponies around.

Twilight seemed to be happy with seeing Rainbow again, but, she was very annoyed with her brother. Rainbow had known that when she first heard about the wedding and was told about who the groom was, so it was kind of funny to see her fume a little.

Rainbow was not sure when it was best to approach Twilight about Cadance, Shining Armor had asked Rainbow not to tell Twilight or the others who he was marrying, he wanted it to be a surprise. She did not like to send Twilight in blind, but maybe it would be more useful to see her reaction if she didn't know. If she told Twilight about her suspicions, then perhaps Twilight would be too biased to help out? Maybe she would become protective of Cadance before even seeing her, ruining Rainbow's chances to find out more. No, it was better to wait, Twilight would either agree or not, but that was for her to find out. She would approach her after the meeting, hopefully she was not the only one seeing something was wrong. 

Meanwhile Applejack seemed content walking in the back, not speaking very much, only giving a simple responds whenever somepony would say something to her. Rainbow needed to fix this, it was taking away her focus from the issues at hoof. Besides, if something was wrong, she would relax more knowing Applejack would have her back, just like before.


~~~~~*SW*~~~~~


When they arrived at the palace, Twilight left the group to go meet with her brother. Rainbow wanted to be there, but she figured it would be best to let brother and sister have a moment to talk, as she was sure there was plenty Twilight wanted to say to Shining.

In the meantime Rainbow took the others to their rooms, then took them into one of the many lounges to get some early lunch. There was plenty to be done today, so they might as well enjoy this meal before they had to get ready for the wedding later today. Rarity mentioned something about making Rainbow a dress, but thankfully Rainbow was there to represent the Jedi, not as a guest of such, she was there to provide some security. If her master didn't make it back in time, she would need to take his place during the wedding, which thankfully meant... NO DRESS!!!

As the early lunch continued, Rainbow found herself glancing at Applejack, who was sitting across from her, now and again. A few times she was sure she spotted her glancing back at her. Did the same things going through Rainbow's mind go through Applejack's? Maybe, just maybe she was waiting for her to start the conversation?!

Biting her lip, Rainbow tried. "So, Applejack, how goes it with the farm? Good?"

The table became quiet, and Rainbow could see Applejack tried to focus on the dandelion sandwich in front of her. It made the brim of her hat hide her eyes, which was frustrating, but what was even more frustrating was her reply.

"Eeyup.."

Eeyup? Seriously? After all this time, so much tension, was that really all she was gonna say?! Well, maybe she just needed to loosen up a bit, so she continued.

"Well, that's good, what about Big Mac? Apple Bloom and Granny Smith, they doing alright?"

"Eeyup..."

Again!? Blast it AJ, sure this was awkward, but at least she was trying to make things right! The others were dead silent, it was in fact amazing Pinkie had been able to keep her mouth shut and not interfere. Rainbow tried again, one, final, time...

"Uhm, do you..." Rainbow was no longer sure what to ask, then finally she simply sighed and simply said what she really wanted to. "Come on, Applejack.. It's been half a year, talk to me, please.." Applejack for a moment looked like she was going to look up at her, but seemed to think better of it, and simply did nothing. That was more than Rainbow could handle, she smashed her hooves into the table and yelled.

"What is it!? I've been trying and trying for months now, Applejack! I'm sorry, okay? But, no matter how much I will try to explain it, you would not understand! And that's okay, because I hardly understand it myself, but I just know it was what I needed to do. Despite how much it might hurt me, and my friends. So I'm sorry, but at least I'm trying to make this work! So why the buck won't you!?"

There was dead silence around the table, nopony spoke, and their friends simply stared at the two of them. Applejack looked at Rainbow, a mix of shock and, something Rainbow could not be sure of. Then suddenly, without saying a word, Applejack stood up, and walked out.

Rainbow sighed, this was not how she wanted to begin this conversation, but now that it had started, she had no intention of letting it go. Standing up herself, she followed Applejack outside into the garden, none of the others followed them. Looking around the garden, Rainbow felt kind of bad for yelling, she meant every word, she was frustrated, but, she felt bad on how it came out.

Finally, walking all the way to the back of the garden, she spotted Applejack, standing by herself, at the railing, looking at the landscape, or more directly, towards Ponyville and the farm. Rainbow stood there for a moment, simply looking at her, giving her a moment to calm down a little, not to mention giving her time to find the words.

It was however Applejack who seemed to find the words first. "Ah know how ya feeling.."

"Huh?" Rainbow was surprised she spoke, let alone knowing she was there. "Applejack I'm-"

"No." Applejack said, cutting her off before she had a chance to continue. "You were right in there, you're the one trying to make this right.." She let out a deep sigh, turning around, revealing her tear stained eyes and cheeks.

Rainbow felt her own eyes watering up a bit, she had never seen Applejack this emotional before. She started to take slow steps towards her as she continued. 

"And you're right, ah don't understand, not one lick. All this hooey dooey Force thing, it is as big of a mystery to me as all that fancy unicorn magic Rarity and Twilight uses." She wipes her eyes. "To me, you and me were the same, not needing magic, we can do without magic, we worked very hard to be good at what we do.." She knew Twilight worked hard on her magic, and so too did Rarity, but still to her, magic was just.. Foreign, and was an easy life, a way to not need to work hard like she did on a daily basis.

"So when you came out and told you would be leaving Ponyville, to study something so new and strange, well ah.. Ah simply  felt like ah had lost my best friend.." Applejack finally admitted, feeling guilty for making Rainbow Dash feel so horrible for something that was probably a very hard decision for her to make. "Ah won't tell ya ah will ever understand this, but ah do understand it's something ya feel you must do.. And ah'm awful sorry.."

Rainbow stopped, not far from her apple loving friend. "Then, why didn't you write back?"

"Because ah felt bad.. Ah didn't know what to write, ah didn't know how to say what ah wanted to say.. Finally, ah just felt gosh darn embarrassed and ashamed, ah simply tried to hide from it.." Applejack was under no illusion that what she did was wrong, and she did feel guilty. She wasn't any less frustrated, and she still didn't understand why Rainbow had chosen this path, but it was hers to choose, and if she valued their friendship, she would support her.

"Rainbow, ah'm so sorr-" 

Rainbow cut her off with a tight hug, holding her tight in her hooves as Applejack stood there stunned for a few seconds, then finally she wrapped her hooves around her friend as well. "It's okay.. I'm sorry for all of this too.."

It was not like Rainbow didn't understand, heck, she would have probably reacted the same way too. She knew full well that she would have done the same, probably been even harder on Applejack and herself afterwards if the roles were reversed. So at least, she could admit that, and Applejack too seemed to admit that as well. 

More importantly, they had made up, and their friendship was still strong.

Meanwhile, in the background, their friends stood and watched, all with teary eyes and happy expressions. Pinkie of course, was the first one to break down, and tears of joy and happiness of seeing her friends become, well, friends again, made the tears spring out like waterfalls. "It's so.. Beautiful to see friends become friends again!" She wailed, grabbing Fluttershy and hugging her tightly.


~~~~~*SW*~~~~~


They all spend some time calming down and talking after that, Rainbow's and Applejack's friends gave them some space to talk. Rainbow was not one to talk about her feelings, and neither was Applejack really, but they spend some time in the garden just to talk and catch up on the latest news from their lives.

They shared stories, and after a few of them, Applejack had to admit Rainbow's life as a Jedi did sound rather interesting. It was nice to simply talk and get it all out, soon enough they started their old banter, calling each other names, and thinking about challenging each other. 

If it was not for Rarity they both would have probably started something right there in the garden. She reminded them, that they had a wedding to get ready to, and when they went back inside, Rainbow noticed Twilight had returned, and just as she had suspected, she didn't look to happy.

She approached her lavender friend, hoping to get a moment to talk to her about her concerns. However, as she came closer Twilight seemed to have the same idea.

"Can we talk alone?"
"Can we talk alone?"

"Huh?"
"Huh?"

"jinx!" Pinkie yelled from somewhere in the room.

"Uhm.." Twilight said. "Could we talk, alone?"

Rainbow nodded. "Sure, let's go to the Jedi tower."

The two mares let the others know they would catch up later. They didn't really speak much as they walked through the halls, Rainbow could sense Twilight's emotions, she was worried, sad even, confused. It really seemed she saw something in Cadance, something that felt deeply wrong to her.

When they entered the tower Jester was the first to greet them. "Oh, padawan Dash, welcome back. How did it go with your friend? Did you knock her teeth out?"

Twilight sent Rainbow a disapproving look. "It was a figure of speech, Jester!" Rainbow yelled and then sighed. "Anyway, this is Twilight, my friend. Twilight, this bucket of bolts is Jester, just ignore him, your life will be so much easier if you do."

"Oh, uhm, okay?" She replied, a little confused. "Nice to meet you, Jester."

Jester bowed, almost with a sort of elegance that droids normally didn't have. "It's a pleasure, Twilight. I am J-7-K, also called Jester. I'm a sparring droid and conversationalist."

Any other time, Twilight might have found the droid more fascinating, but she simply did not have the time to look over the droid. Instead, she followed Rainbow over to one of the tables near a window. Rainbow sat down on one of the floor pillows, waiting for Twilight to sit down as well. 

"It's about Cadance, is it not?"

Twilight's ears perked up. "You noticed it too??"

Rainbow nodded. "Mhm, yes.. I don't know what it is, but something just seems off. I guess she wasn't always this, creepy?"

"No.." Twilight admitted. "I don't understand it.. When she was my foalsitter, she was always so kind and lovely.. I don't know, now she just seems..."

"Plotting? Evil?" Rainbow suggested.

"Well, maybe I wouldn't go that far, she just seems more cold, like she has changed..." Twilight was not sure how else to explain it.

"I for one have been getting all kinds of alarm bells from her. I don't trust her one bit." She stated bluntly. "I don't know if she is a gold digger or something, but she is bad news, Twilight."

She raised an eyebrow. "I'm pretty sure Cadance is richer than my brother."

"Oh, yeah.. But still, something isn't right, I can feel the darkness within her, she is like a void.." Rainbow said, not sure how else to explain it.

"Have you tried talking to the princess about it? Or anypony else?"

"No.." Rainbow sighed. "Just my master, I did not want to make a scene and accuse the princess's niece of something I had no proof of.."

Twilight nodded for a moment, understanding it might not be good to go around and yell about something they were not sure about. Even if they did, what could they say? They didn't have any knowledge of proof of that she did anything wrong, and they couldn't just say it was because something felt off, or they didn't like Cadance. No, they needed something solid to present to the princess and Shining, if there even was such a thing.

"Well, I will be spending a lot of time with them today, i'm sure I might be able to find something out before the wedding.." She seemed to really want to get to the bottom of this. Though, this did include her brother, and someone she used to think of as the best pony on earth. Someone who she had looked up to since she was just a little filly, beside the princess that is.

"We only have until this evening, Twilight. After that, they will be married, and I don't think Shining Armor will take to kindly if we go snooping around his beloved love muffin." Twilight made a face as Rainbow called Cadance love muffin. "Something I overheard his call her.." She explained with a roll of her eyes. "Anyway, Should we tell the others?"

"Hmm, might be a good idea, though, I doubt they will listen, they are very excited for the wedding, just as much as I was half an hour ago.." She frowned. "Who knows, maybe we're wrong, maybe she is just nervous about this whole wedding thing."

"No." Rainbow said flatly, making Twilight flinch a bit. "Something is wrong, Twi. I can sense it, I don't know if it really is her, but she is involved, somehow. We need to find out what,  I hope i'm wrong, but, my master told me to trust the Force, and in myself, so that is what I am going to do."

There was a moment of silence, then, Rainbow noticed something, a small smile on Twilight's face. No, not a smile, a slight smirk?

"What?"

Twilight giggled. "Oh nothing, just seems like you have been getting used to your jedi education, that's all?" She giggled a little again. "All responsible and all."

"Hey! I was responsible before!" There was silence for what seemed like a minute. "Well..." Rainbow said as she thought back. "Most of the... Time..." She noticed Twilight smirking. "Shut up Twilight.."


~~~~~*SW*~~~~~


Twilight and Rainbow agreed to do some snooping around on their own, and then meet up before the wedding. Unfortunately, Rainbow had her own duties to attend to, so she needed to rely on Twilight for this one. She would try to do some snooping herself, but it was limited what she could do at this point, she had a lot to do today, and Twilight would be spending most of her time with Cadance, so hopefully she might be able to figure something out.

"I must say it was very interesting to finally meet this, Twilight Sparkle. She is princess Celestia's student, correct?" Jester asked as he walked back into the main room.

"Oh? Yeah, that's right.." Rainbow nodded, but was still in deep thought. 

"What's wrong, padawan Dash?"

Rainbow sighed, looking out the window. "Nothing, just, thinking I guess.."

"Really? That is unlike you, are you sick by any chance?" Jester asked, sounding genuine surprised.

"No, I jus-HEY!!" She yelled, glaring at the stupid droid. 

If the droid could smirk, he would have probably done it. "Well, it seemed to snap you out of your trance. Now, should you not prepare for the royal wedding? Unless you plan on sparring, I suggest you get to work."

Rainbow glared for a bit, then sighed as she knew he was right. Better for her to get moving, trying to get everything in order before she even attempted on snooping around, who knew, maybe she would stumble upon something while preparing for the wedding? 

"Fine, i'm going, i'm going, but I swear, if I have to sit through another meeting i'm gonna screa-Princess!?" As Rainbow ranted, she had not noticed that princess Celestia herself had walked into the tower. "S-sorry, I did not notice you came in."

Celestia smiled. "That's quite alright, Rainbow. I teleported my way here, so you might not have heard or noticed." She said understandingly. "I hope you can forgive my intrusion, but I wondered if you had heard anything from master Revan?" 

Rainbow frowned, no, she hadn't heard anything, and frankly, she had not tried to contact him. In hindsight, she should probably have tried, and updated him on her progress. So she shook her head. "No, I haven't heard anything, and I have not contacted him for a while.. We can do so now if there is something you wanted to talk to him about?"

Celestia shook her head. "Oh no, I simply wanted to be updated on the progress of his mission. I have not heard anything, so I hoped he might be on his way back for the wedding." She had a small smile, and though Celestia was excellent at hiding what she was thinking, Rainbow could swear she sensed within her some, giddiness, was probably the best word to use.

"Oh, well, if you want, we can go and try and contact him now. Then you can hear it straight from him." Rainbow suggested, thinking it might be a good idea to contact him and hopefully learn if he was on his way or not.

"I would appreciate that." She said and inclined her head.

"Follow me then, the communication room is higher up." Rainbow said, and started to hover above the ground, and up the stairs with Celestia following behind her.

The Jedi Tower, it sounded so grant, and it kind of was, it was the third tallest tower in the palace, third only to the princesses. Before it sat largely empty, but with Revan moving in and wanting to start his own order, Celestia had granted him this tower to begin his work. Since then, he had filled it up with almost everything from the ship he arrived in, which was a lot. The ship itself was still in the courtyard of the palace, at least until it could fly again and be put in a more suited location.

The tower had six different levels, the first level was a sort of lounge area, a place for small meetings and greetings. It was where you entered the tower, and where one could wait until someone could take the visitor farther up the tower.

The second level was their accommodations, four small rooms for them to sleep in, and then a larger dining area, and of course a large bathroom. It was a level you could go through quickly and simply continue on your way to the next one. Rainbow had grown quite fond of her new home, her small room had a lot of her old posters, and she had a very cool view of the landscape beneath the mountain. 

The third level was the combat dojo, this level was quite different from the others, a whole other design that she had never seen until it was constructed. There had been used wood on the floor and walls. In the middle of the room was a large white training mat, it was rather large, giving them plenty of space to spar on. To the sides were some training sabers hung on the wall, along with wooden replicas of swords, spears, and other weapons Rainbow or Celestia had not seen before.





"An impressive space." Celestia commented as they were about to walk up the next stairs. "I was told master Revan had insisted on designing this level himself. Though I have never seen the final result."

The fourth space was the library, or Jedi archives as her master called it so fondly. He was quite proud of this place, and she had to admit, there were a lot of interesting data in here, but, she rather be training in the dojo than spending her time up here studying.

Finally they arrived at the fifth level, the communication level. A large circular table was place in the middle, it had been taken out of the ship and sent up here. It could show very detailed and very large holograms, and was of course very powerful when it came to communication range. It was also where repairs could take place, and where Huyang mostly spend his time as he made sure every lightsaber component was probably archived.

When he saw them come up, he inclined his head. "Padawan Dash, princess Celestia." He greeted.

"Huyang." Rainbow replied as she made her way to the table.

"Master Huyang. What a pleasure to see you again." Celestia smiled politely before turning back to Rainbow. "So, what is on the last level?" She asked curiously.

"Oh, it's the meditation room, there are windows all around you up there, and master Revan says it's the best place for it." She explained. She had to admit, sitting up there, relaxing and meditating was pretty cool. Since there was windows all around you, one could almost forget they were even there, if it was not for the few pillars that kept it all together.

"Anyway." Rainbow continued and walked over to the table. "Let's see.." She bumbled as she pushed a few buttons. The table started to hum slightly, and soon after gave a few tiny beeps. "Master." Rainbow called, looking at where the hologram would show itself. "Master, this is Rainbow Dash from the Jedi tower, master, do you copy?"

There was no responds, and Celestia could see the frown spreading on Rainbow Dash's face. "Is everything okay?"

"I don't know.." Rainbow answered honestly. "It's like, he is out of range, but he has R6, so she should be able to pick up the signal, but, she isn't responding.." 

"What does this mean?" Celestia asked, sounding a bit worried now.

Rainbow didn't wish to make her worry, not now, not with all of this happening around them. So she turned to her, trying to look calm. "Probably just a minor error, or my master has cut the connection. I'm sure we will hear from him soon."

Celestia seemed to calm just a little, but it was clear she was still worried. She however decided not to press the point right now, she did have a lot to attend to. "I understand, please let me know once you have spoken to him."

Rainbow bowed. "Of course princess, I let you know as soon as I speak with him."

"Thank you, I will look forward to it. Good day, Rainbow Dash." And with that, she vanished into a white flash of light.

"Pheeew.." Rainbow let out a relieved sigh. Then she turned to the table and glared a little. "Piece of junk! Why hasn't he picked up!?"

"Hmm, well, let us see what we can find out." Huyang responded and walked over, looking over the small screens. "Hmm, well, it seems there is no connection point for the signal."

"What do you mean? What about R6?" She asked and walked up beside Huyang.

"It could be master Revan has shut her down, but I cannot imagine why." 

Rainbow frowned. "Or something could have happened.." For a moment she considered flying to her master, but she had no idea if she could find him in time, and even if she could, they would be to late to return for the wedding. Not only that, but there would be no Jedi present. With stakes this high, she couldn't afford to take the chance. "Keep trying Huyang.. I need to go, but call me if you get a hold of him."

"As you wish." 


~~~~~*SW*~~~~~


Six hours, six, damned, hours, and Rainbow had not been able to find out anything! She had been stuck at a briefing, had to walk and fly around certain points to check on the security. She had barely been able to talk with her friends, barely been able to get any sort of update from Twilight.

The last thing she had heard was Twilight had burst into the throne room and interrupted practice. She had overheard it from some of the guards that she had burst in and tried to confront Cadance, only to have it backfire on her. Rainbow had wanted to find her after that, but she was just gone. More over, she couldn't sense her any longer, and that had her worried, it was like she had simply vanished!

"Come on Twilight, where are you..?" Grumbled Rainbow as she walked one of the hallways, which she could have sworn on was the same one she had walked just an hour ago! Revan in the meantime hadn't contacted them, which only added to her frustrations.

Deciding her best chance was with their friends, she made her way to the room that had been turned into Rarity's dressing room for her and the rest of the girls. They were probably getting ready for the wedding by now, which was beginning dangerously soon. Dammit Twilight, where the buck are you!

She opened the door to the makeshift dressing room, and was met with an explosion of color and fabrics. All four girls had dresses on them, specially designed for them by Rarity. "Howdy there." Applejack greeted as she spotted Rainbow. 

"What do you think!!??" Pinkie almost screamed in excitement as she twirled around, showing off her dress.

"Uhm, nice Pinkie, listen, have any of you seen Twi-Whoa!" Before she could finish her sentence, Rarity had pulled her over, giving her a few looks, letting the measuring tape move around her.

"Listen darling, I know you said you will be working during the wedding, but surely you can wear a dress?" She said, giving her a few approving nods before continuing. "I have taken the liberty to make you a dress, should the need arise."

"Rarity, I-" Once again, and much to her annoyance, she was cut off.

"Oh, if you're worried about that lightsword in your belt, i'm sure we can find a place for it, just give me a sec and I will-Mmfp?" 

Now it was Rainbow's turn to cut in. She held a hoof to Rarity's mouth and sighed. "Rarity, first of, it's called a lightSABER, not a lightsword. Second, I won't need a dress. Third, have any of you seen Twilight?"

The room went silent for a few seconds as the four mares looked at one another. Fluttershy shook her head. "No, we haven't seen her since the rehearsal.." 

"You might not have heard, dear. But Twilight seemed to have some sort of fit during that, and I think she wants some time to cool off. I'm sure she will be in good spirit again at the wedding." Rarity said confidently.

"Yeah, what was that about?" Applejack said, sounding confused and worried for their friend.

"Oh!" Pinkie cut in. "I think she went to talk to Ca-"

The door opened before Pinkie got to finish her sentence, and in stepped four Royal guards. "Padawan Dash?" One of them asked.

Rainbow raised and eyebrow and stepped forward. "Yeah? What's up?"

"There is, a situation, we need you to take a look at. Will you please follow us?" The guard seemed calm, yet tense in his body stance. Something had to be very wrong, could it be Twilight? If so, maybe the reason why the guard simply did not say what was wrong, was to not worry the others.

"Sure, lead the way." Rainbow said and started to walk out. "I'll see you girls later!" She called back before she vanished out the door with the four guards.


~~~~~*SW*~~~~~


The walk was long, and during the whole trip, the guards had kept quiet. After a while though, Rainbow got tired of not knowing what the buck was going on. "So, what's this situation?"

"We believe we have found a danger to the wedding plans." One of them simply said. "We need to contain it."

"Have you not already contained it?" Rainbow asked. "Why do you need me?"

"You're a Jedi, you will probably need to see this for yourself." The guard simply replied.

"I guess so.." Rainbow sighed, still finding this kind of strange. If they had already contained the threat, why would they need her? Maybe it was something she would need to check out, maybe a misunderstanding? At any rate, she might as well get this over with so she could get back to looking for Twilight.

They started to descend the stairs to the dungeons, at first she was kind of surprised, but then again, if they were guarding some dangerous criminal or intruder, why would they not bring him or her down here? Rainbow had never actually been down here before, she knew they existed, but this was her first time actually being down here.

They kept going down and down, passing other, more modern and well maintained levels of the dungeon. The farther they went down, the more old and depressing it got. Why had they brought the intruder all the way down here? Was he that dangerous??

They came down to, what Rainbow imagined was the lowest level of the dungeon, and the oldest. However, there were still lanterns lit down here, so they were probably still being used. It was cold, damp, and kind of smelly. They walked in a large and and wide hallway, down towards the end of it where more guards seemed to wait for their arrival.

At the end was one single cell door, made of thick wood, probably enchanted, and only had one little window in the door itself, barred of course. As they walked closer, Rainbow started to feel the small echos in the Force, impressions left behind from prisoners and guards alike. It made her shudder a little, to think of being locked up in here for who knows how long.

Oh well, she just wanted this over with so she could get out of here. As they approached the other guards, they seemed a bit more tense. What was up with them? Were they afraid? She could not really sense their emotions, maybe because they had been trained so well, but she could tell they were nervous. Was the captive really that dangerous, or was it something else?

"Open the door for the Jedi."

One of the guards ordered, and a second one complied, stepping up to the door and used a key. Rainbow focused on the door, expecting to see someone chained up in there. She failed to notice however, as the door was being unlocked, the guards around her seemed to step away from her.

Something felt off to Rainbow, as the door was being unlocked, she felt more in danger, but more over, she could not sense anyone inside the cell. Then, why would the guards bring her down here?! What was the point to drag her all the way down here if there was no prisoner inside? Unless, SHE, was the prisoner?!

The door opened, and just as it did, she felt all her senses going into danger mode. By reflex, she grabbed her lightsaber, took a step to the side, ignited the green blade and made a single swing to the side!

Just then, she saw the head of a spear fall to the stone floor, and it was then she noticed the guards, all standing around her, all with their spears aimed her direction. They looked shocked, but still glared at the young Pegasus. Rainbow felt her initial shock vanish, and sent them a glare in return.

"What the buck do you think you're doing?!" Rainbow demanded, as she stood up on her hind legs, feeling the balance she had practiced so well come to her like it was a natural stance for her body to make. She held her saber in attack zone one, ready to defend herself. "Guards, stand down! That's an order!"

The guard that had tried to stab her with his spear drew a small dagger. "We're sorry, but we can't have you interfere with the wedding, Jedi."