//------------------------------//
// Flashback: The Man with Two Shadows 
// Story: Dan Vs. The Magic of Friendship(Season 1) 
// by Barrobroadcaster 
//------------------------------//

Before Twilight reconfigured the cannon...

When Twilight gave the word for everyone to gather at the southern tower for evacuation, and while Dan, Phoenix, Cap and Chris put their delaying tactic into action, one person stayed behind. Just one person, and no one seemed to notice his absence. But this person had experience with such things.

"Twilight."

Twilight turned. The courtyard was empty and she had been about to fly back up to the roof. She almost didn't notice the one who said her name. Because his uniform blended in with the walls, and because he was good at blending in. Too good.

"Kelsan?"

The Imperial beckoned her forward without a word. He opened the door for her and they both went inside, back into the halls of Bursavis' west tower.

"I want to thank you for what you did," Kelsan said. "Standing up for me and my men. You have my gratitude."

Twilight was taken aback a bit. "I- well, that was more Dan's decision than mine. Really, it was all him, I was just-"

Kelsan held up his hand. "It doesn't take a genius to figure out what influence you've had on him. I'm aware his actions are his own. Mercy is a single act; to believe in someone, to accept them, means to take a stand more than just once. You've shown me you can do that."

"I, um... thanks," Twilight said, but to be honest, she had no idea what he was talking about.

He did not smile. It was as if the very action of expressing gratitude was a formality, but more than an obligation. A stoic and steadfast duty. Kelsan adjusted his uniform, wiped a small amount of sand off it.

"You should take some credit yourself. For what you did," Twilight said. "For making peace with the- the Rebels and everybody. To do that, it takes a lot of-"

But he held up his hand again. "I'm still an Imperial. When I leave here, wherever I go, I will remain a member of the Galactic Empire and the Imperial Navy. I am forced to recognize certain... realities, including these current circumstances. Make no mistake; what I do, I do for the survival of myself and the men under my command. This is simply the most practical decision."

Twilight nodded. It stung a bit, but she understood. "I understand. I hope it is a lasting peace, however."

Kelsan's eyes set and he looked to the side and past her. "As do I." For a brief moment, she thought she saw a deeper man than what was on the surface. The moment was gone as quickly as it had come.

"You should head for the platform now."

"Captain Dan asked me- asked all of us, about superweapons," Kelsan said. In that moment, it was like a bomb had gone off in that very room. The very mentioning of a superweapon was like one going off in a conversation.

"Why- when? Why did Dan ask you about superweapons?"

"There's no need to be alarmed," he said, easing her concern. "He asked us if we had brought any with us. It's understandable, considering the weapons the Empire uses. The Death Stars, the Galaxy Guns, World Devastators and the like."

"R-right," Twilight nodded again, not really understanding. "Perfectly understandable."

Kelsan folded his arms. "Our reputation proceeds us. Part of fielding such weapons is for shock value, to control through fear. It can be very effective, but it can also be very dangerous. Dan was simply wondering if we had brought any superweapons or such devices with us, in case it was something he needed to deal with. I told him no."

"Oh. Ahh, well, that's good news," Twilight said, relieved. "Wait- you weren't lying, were you?"

"No," Kelsan said.

"Oh, good," Twilight said. But then, Kelsan reached into his pocket and pulled out something.

"Technically, what I told him was the truth. We didn't bring this with us."

In Kelsan's right hand, about the size of a bowling ball was a... ball. A mechanical-looking ball with strange partitions on it, covering both hemispheres of the device. He held it in front of her to examine.

"Wha-what is it?" Twilight asked. She gasped, "Ohmaigoodness is that a baby Death Star? What happens if you feed it- doe sit turn into a big one?"

"It's not a Death Star of any kind. It's an older weapon, one the Empire didn't develop. It was built during the time of the Republic to deal with a different war. Another time, another place, you could say," Kelsan explained.

"And you're just... giving it to me?"

Kelsan nodded. "We found Equestria on accident. My fleet had ambushed a Rebel convoy traveling the Ison Corridor, but they had come prepared. A battle ensued, but when both our forces took quite a bit of damage, we tried to retreat. Instead of jumping to our rendezvous coordinates, we found ourselves here. And your... Director captured us."

Twilight gasped again. "So it was Cleo! Cleo brought you here."

"But that device your holding was here long before us. I'm not entirely sure why," Kelsan said. "This 'Cleo' forced some of us to work for her and froze the rest. My fleet and a Rebel task force, both frozen, behind your planet's moon. Myself and a TIE squadron were relocated to the Crystal Empire. During our stay, we found this in a museum."

"Tuxley's museum," Twilight said to herself. "So you stole it back when Vice Grip was in control of the Crystal Empire?"

"I did not steal anything. That device was the property of the Galactic Republic. It remains the property of the Galactic Empire. Until now," he said. "I'm giving this device to you, Twilight Sparkle."

"Thank... you..." Again, Twilight didn't know what to make of it. "Why are you giving this to me, if I might ask? Is it because you're afraid of Dan..." the question died on her tongue.

He stared at her again, and this time he spoke as both an Imperial and as a man beyond that. "There are some weapons that just... that are just too terrible to ever be used, Twilight Sparkle. The Empire's superweapons are built mostly not to be used; their mere existence incites fear, quells rebellion. In theory, at least. That weapon was born of a different time, not a time of peace. It was born out of desperation."

Twilight looked at it again. It seemed like just a mechanical ball of some kind. It wasn't even that heavy. "What is it called?"

"The Mass Shadow Generator," Kelsan said. "It was built generations before my time. I'd only read rumors of its existence, but there can be no mistaking it. This is the weapon that ended the Mandalorian Wars."

"I see," Twilight said. She swallowed. "Um... what does it do? Will it blow up the planet? Like um, the Death Star?"

Kelsan looked back down at the object. "You don't understand, Twilight. The Death Star is a weapon of fear. When it vaporizes something, when it destroys a planet, it does so in an instant, a single blast. For some..." he trailed off for a moment, as if recalling something horrific. "Compared to this, the Death Star is a mercy."

Twilight's jaw hung open. The strange ball now seemed disgusting in her magical grip.

"The Death Star fires a concentrated blast of energy that obliterates a planet-sized target. The Mass Shadow Generator..." he trailed off again, but then came back into focus. "The Death Star is a weapon of fear. The Mass Shadow Generator is a weapon of pain."

"Pain?"

He nodded. "If activated, that weapon will cause the gravitational field of everything in, on and around this planet, from its moon and things in orbit and even the world itself to be twisted and warped. Everything living or not will be crushed, its atoms compressed into oblivion in the most slow and excruciatingly painful process the galaxy has ever seen. All that is around the planet will be drawn to its surface and destroyed, causing the planet's surface to explode in the process, leaving behind nothing but dust and stones forever trapped in endless torrent of gravitational turbulence."

Twilight stared at him for a long moment. "...And the bad guys DIDN'T build this?"

Kelsan shook his head solemnly. "As I said, it was made in a time of desperation. A very... disturbed engineer built this for the Republic."

"I mean, horse jeezus man, you just handed me a thing that could like, end the world. Horrificly. Death by gravity? OH!" Twilight realized something. "Princess Celestia and Princess Luna! They can control the sun and the moon! With magic!"

"We had heard as much."

"Maybe they can make some sense of this! Princess Luna always did love Spaceballs. So, weird balls from space would probably be second-nature for her. I mean, they did have trouble with the Orb of Confusion."

Kelsan raised a finger. "That's probably because they turned it on."

"It was turned off."

"Well-"

"And out of batteries."

"This thing doesn't run on batteries," Kelsan said. "And it cannot be destroyed. At least, not by gravity or energy or... any force we can manage. I cannot keep it safe; there are those in the Empire that would want to use it, test it or possibly worse. Improve it. So, I give it to you. Perhaps it was fate that it found its way here, the one place it would never be used."

Twilight rubbed her neck. "I mean, never's a reeeally long time, and we kinda gotta leave now-"

"You will keep it safe. From friend and foe alike. I'm still an Imperial, Twilight Sparkle," Kelsan said. "Just because I made peace with the Alliance does not mean I believe in their cause or that I'm their friend. Nor am I yours... yet."

"Aww."

Kelsan placed his hand on the Mass Shadow Generator as Twilight took it in her hooves. "You must make sure this is never used like it was before. And make sure it never falls into the hands of a Jedi." He walked away, back to the train platform to join the others.

"Thanks... but wait!" Twilight called, "Why shouldn't the Jedi have it? Aren't they the good guys?"

"The last person who used it was a Jedi," Kelsan said. And he was gone.

"Great... I've been given my own death hug ball," Twilight said to herself. And she immediately realized, "Oh crap, that's what Dan's going to call it, isn't it?"

"YEP!!" Dan yelled. "I'm not even in that scene, but yes I am!"

"Darn it, did EVERYBODY here that whole conversation?"

"Yep!"
"Eeyup."
"Yep!"
"I heard it and I'm still in space."
"Yeah!"
"Yep, the Moss Shallow Refrigerator, I heard it!"

Twilight rolled her eyes. "This place has weird acoustics." She pocketed the Mass Shadow Generator in her saddlebag next to the Crystal Heart, which was symbolic in more than one way if you thought about it.

The lesson of the Mass Shadow Generator, or at least the one it had told the second time it was used, was that the past can influence the future. But the Crystal Empire teaches us that the past can be more than the haunting specter of memory, more than the broken, echoing screams of death left over from Malachor V. It can be a beacon, one that's light travels far enough to show us a path to the future, a path Twilight was walking now.

The future of Equestria shined brightly in Twilight's eyes. Equestria would not become another Malachor V.

Unfortunately, it already was.