//------------------------------//
// Chapter 5 
// Story: To Walk The Sky and Catch The Moon 
// by Celestial king turles 
//------------------------------//

The day had started like any other at Sweet Apple Acres. Applejack had risen with the sun, gotten cleaned up for the day, had breakfast with her family, and got to work on the day's chores. The pigs had been slopped and the dented wheel on the cart had been removed for Big Macintosh to fix. Meanwhile Winona had, after much wrestling and coaxing, been given the bath that she had been a little overdue for by Apple Bloom. Now, Applejack was headed out to buck the apple trees Granny Smith had marked out as ripe for that day. 

It hadn’t taken long to find the trees in question. While many a pony had laughed at the Apples' long-standing habit of naming the trees that were their main source of income, Granny Smith had set that tradition for a reason. Among other things, it was easier to figure out which tree needed tending to or bucking if you assigned a name to each tree. Applejack had memorized the name of every tree in the orchard. All Granny needed to mention was that Bertha needed bucking and Horace needed a trim, and Applejack or Big Mac would know exactly where to go.

Plus, It was a long held belief among the Apple clan that good treatment plus tender love and care yielded a better turnout than otherwise.  "Yeh treat 'em good, and they'll treat y'all as good in return," was Granny's way of putting it. In all her time living and working at Sweet Apple Acres, Applejack hadn’t found anything to contradict that bit of her grandmother's wisdom. 

After the last tree had been bucked and the last basket full of ripe red apples, Applejack took a few minutes to top the nearest hill to look out over her home. She took in the peaceful scene and calm weather. It was nice outside, a little warm for a spring day. A few clouds scudded through the air, but even so, the sun shone down unimpeded. Such a sight warmed Applejack inside while the soft breeze cooled her off. Yeah, this is the life, she thought as she closed her eyes to listen to the soft noise of wind rustling through leaves complete with the song of the birds… 

Wait a minute… where's all the birdsong?

She opened her eyes and looked around. Not a bird in sight. The orchard was completely silent. That was odd… had something scared them off? Zap apple season had ended only a week ago. Maybe the birds were still skittish? Timberwolves did tend to cause that reaction after all.

Shaking off the feeling for the moment, Applejack set the two full baskets on her withers, and set off for the house. As she left the orchard and the old farmhouse flanked by the cherry red barn came into view, a sudden rumbling in the distance brought Applejack to a halt. Her ears flicked this way and that trying to pinpoint the source. At the entrance to the farmhouse she could see Granny Smith straighten up on her rocking chair while Big Mac stopped in his work out in the fields to look around. Meanwhile the airy rumble only waxed in volume, growing louder and louder until it became a dull roar.  

“What in tarnation?” she muttered slowly to herself, looking around. When she turned her attention to the skies in the north, her eyes widened in horror and she ducked out of reflex as something in the sky roared by over their heads faster than her eyes could follow— something wreathed in smoke, flame and Celestia knew what else. It was low enough in the sky for Applejack to make out a vaguely arrowhead shape in the smoke. A split second later it was already streaking off; a trail of oily black smoke in its wake as it headed in the direction of the Everfree Forest to the southwest. Seconds later a loud booming crash could be heard in the distance, then silence. 

Applejack starred in the direction of the massive projectile, puzzled about what she had just seen, when a shout from Big Mac had her glance over her shoulder. That glance had her scrambling for cover behind a tree as yet another plummeting missile slammed into the ground and skidded along the open field. Loam, dirt, seeds, plants, bits of fence and Big Mac’s plow were thrown into the air as the thing tore a thirty-yard long gouge in the field before finally slowing. It tumbled end over end before it finally settled in the ground.

Applejack coughed as the plume of dust kicked up from the impact rushed over the area, coating everything in a dull brown. Her ears rang a little from the massive crash, though it began to clear up and soon was replaced with somepony shouting.

“Applejack?! Applejack?!” It was Big Mac. His massive form lumbered into view from the thinning dust cloud. Next to him was their little sister, Apple Bloom, a look of panic on her face. Her mane was unkempt and her little red bow was polluted with dust and half-unraveled as she sprinted past her larger brother. An upended pail lay behind her, water spilling out into the dirt. Before Applejack could say anything the little filly had practically flown into a hug around the larger pony's barrel, rambling and blubbering into Applejack's fur.

“Applejack! Sis, are you alright?! Ah was gettin' water out behind the barn an' somethin' went whoosh overhead 'n I heard a big CRASH n' Ah thought—”

Apple Bloom suddenly found an orange hoof in her mouth.

"Apple Bloom, it's ok! Ah'm fine, just a little rattled is all." She turned to Big Mac.. "You alright? You were mighty close from what I could tell."

“Eeyup.” The massive stallion nodded. "Jumped out o' the way quick enough, it weren't that big, far as Ah can tell. But…" He looked over his shoulder with a teary-eyed expression. "Ah can't say the same fer Big Bessie…" He sniffled. "Ah'll miss that ol' plow…"

Applejack rolled her eyes as she patted him on the shoulder. As far as she was concerned, that saggy old plow needed replacing anyway. A tap on her flank caught her attention, and she turned to see Apple Bloom offering up her old Stetson. She hadn’t realized it had fallen off in all the kerfuffle. 

"Thanks, Apple Bloom. " Applejack tousled the filly's mane, messing it and her bow up even more, and looked around, coughing a little from the dust still in the air. Wind began to pick up, dispersing the remnants of the debris cloud in less than a minute. When the view finally cleared she could see a newly made trench with roots and stone forcefully uprooted from the ground. What really caught her attention however, was what rested at the end of that trench.

Sticking out of the upturned soil, half-buried in the trench it had made, was a hulking thing of metal scuffed and scratched and scorched from its fall. Steam gently rose from its surface which betrayed the fact that it was still a little too hot to touch. It was artificial beyond any doubt however, though it certainly didn’t look like anything pony-made. It almost resembled
 a giant tapered can from Applejack's point of view — tough studded with round portholes of thick glass that also seemed a bit blackened by fire. At any rate she couldn't see through them. She could see cone-like nozzles sticking out of the wider top, and the lower half of what was probably a door on one side.

In the end Applejack couldn’t figure out what was more confusing at the moment; how strange and utterly alien this thing was, or the fact that Granny Smith was standing in front of the half-buried door, smacking the blackened metal with her cane.

What.

“Granny?!” Applejack shouted, while she and her siblings proceeded to join her.

Granny Smith was an old mare without a doubt, she knew this and it doesn’t bother anypony one bit. Despite her age, she was as tough as nails and wasn’t afraid to show it every now and again. Of course this wasn’t always at the best of times such as now. Running up to her granny, Applejack and Big Macintosh opted to nudge her away from the metallic object. 

“Whoa!” The young filly gaped. “What is–?” She reached out with her hoof. It was then smacked away by Granny Smith's cane.

“Don’t touch that,” Granny Smith chided, giving her granddaughter a stern glare. “This thing’s hotter than a pit fire at a family reunion.”

Applejack asked. “What is this thing?” It was something she had never seen in her life. It may as well have come out of a dream with it’s strangeness. Then it made a noise, sounds of internal clicking and clunking, it was obviously the sound of industrial mechanisms attempting something from within. The sound ceased leaving only an eerie silence. New sounds soon replaced it. Sounds of muttering and...birds chirping?

Even Granny Smith seemed confused. So Apple Bloom, being courageous, finally decided to break the silence. “Hello! Is somepony in there?!” The sounds coming from the metal can quieted before becoming louder for a brief moment. 

A muffled reply came from inside. “Hello? Can you hear me?” The voice was male, one with youthful energy tempered by a fine discipline. There seemed to be something reassuring about that voice; something gentle and warm. It also sounded strained, and even a little punch-drunk.

“Yeah, we can hear ya.” Applejack scrunched her brow a little, wondering how somepony would end up in there. The voice responded with a tone that seemed relieved yet a little apprehensive. 

"Thank the Force! Can you see the hatch on the outside?"

Wait… 'thank the Force?' Applejack shrugged off the confusion. She needed to focus on the here and now.

“If'n ya mean the big metal door, it's stuck halfway in the ground."

The word that followed in response wasn't one Applejack was familiar with, but she knew a swear when she heard it. She glared at the smoky porthole as more muttering and chirping wafted out, before the voice spoke up again. 

"Ok…  I'll have to cut myself out. I need you and anyone else around to stand back!” 

The ponies were confused at this statement. What did he mean by that? More importantly, why did he need them to stand back? Apple Bloom was the first to take a few steps away from the metallic object, followed shortly by a calm Granny Smith. 

“Ah think it might be best. There’s no tell’n what he might be fix’n to do to get out,” the old mare pointed out, pulling Appleboom close.

Applejack understood at once. This was something completely unknown to them. Who knew what else could happen? Both Applejack and Big Mac quickly moved away from the massive steel shell to join their sister and grandmother, and waited to see what would happen. 

They didn't have to wait for long.

There was a loud snap-hiss that made all four ponies jolt, and a tendril of green light about a meter long suddenly jutted out of the metal side. With a screeching, tearing noise like lightning hitting metal, the long spine of green fire began to move, melting anything in its way. Sparks and crackling sounds were made as it began to move in a circular motion, the metal around the beam turning red hot and melting away in an instant. The beam moved as swiftly and smoothly through the metal as a stick through water, and in less than a minute it had completed a meter and a half wide circle in the metal hull, its edges glowing with intense heat. With a loud bang, the uneven disc of thick steel was suddenly flung out of its hole, flying nearly 30 feet before hitting the ground with a loud crash.

For a moment, silence reigned. Then, Big Mac slowly approached the round hole in the side, clearing his throat nervously.

"Ummm… hello? Y'all okay in there — "

An ear-splitting screech cut him off as something flew out of the hole and fell on its side with a loud CRASH that made Applejack wince. Big Mac scrambled backwards over his hooves and fell over in a tangled heap that had Applebloom laughing despite the situation. She moved closer to the thing laying on its side and moaning. If anything, it looked like a big black and copper trash can on wheels. A dome like head with a large glass "eye" was swiveling around frantically as it screeched and warbled.

Was this the voice? Judging from the screech it had made, likely not. It sounded more like Big Mac did that one time Granny Smith had walked in on him singing in the shower. It didn’t sound anything like the voice from before. 

A grunt of effort came from inside the hole. Soon a black claw placed itself on the somewhat cooled metal, and a creature the likes of which Applejack had never seen before slowly pulled himself through the hole. He was covered from neck to toe in black clothes, save for his left hand, which showed pale, hairless skin with short nails instead of claws. His head was mostly bare and smooth, except for the blown hair atop his crown. When he looked up, wincing a little from the sunlight, Applejack could see a smooth, hairless face with a pointed nose, a thin-lipped mouth, and eyes bluer than the sky above. She could see something like a fancy flashlight dangling from his belt.

The instant he saw Applejack, he froze and gaped at her, clearly caught off guard by something. He looked like he was about to say something, but then immediately closed his mouth as his face turned a nasty shade of green. Without warning, he dropped to his knees and retched. Applejack's nose wrinkled as he vomited on the spot. After he had emptied his stomach, he slowly tried and failed to get back on his feet, like something had drained all his strength. With everything going on, Applejack considered just turning around and getting everypony inside before something even weirder happened.

That thought alone brought her mind to a halt. What on earth was she thinking? The newcomer was nothing like she had seen before in her life, sure — nothing like anypony had seen, she was willing to bet. She was also willing to bet that he had never seen a pony before, judging by the way he had gaped at her. He was well and truly a foreigner, in every sense of the word. That alone would make anypony run for the hills. But he didn't seem threatening. If anything, he looked friendly — and he definitely needed help to just stand on his own at the moment. Applejack remembered how her Pa had always said that the biggest problem in the world was that nopony was willing to help anypony else out. If she didn't at least try to help here, what did that say about her?

Her resolve steeled, she walked up to the creature, and leaned down to offer support. The newcomer accepted the help gladly, putting a hand on her back. She carefully stood back up to her full height, moving slowly to make sure the newcomer didn't lose his grip. When both had risen to full height, Applejack almost started at how tall he was, almost as tall as Big Mac. Shaking the thought out of her head, she walked forward , slow enough that he could keep pace with her.

Granny Smith,  who had been watching wordlessly, smiled proudly. "Now there's The granddaughter I know n' done raised!" She turned to Appleboom and Big Mac, who were staring slack-jawed. “Come on youngins, we ain’t gonna leave the poor creature there without lending a hoof. Get 'in inside so he can rest up.” The old mare pointed at the now shaking metal being that was making frightened beeps and chirps like a bird while rocking like a turtle on its back. “That means you too, eh… whatever ya are.” 

Even though it didn’t resemble any creature she had seen, it seemed to understand what she meant. Apple Bloom went to help the metal being while Applejack and Big Mac stepped over to lift up the taller being. Apple Bloom pushed fruitlessly at the metalbulk until Big Mac simply lifted it upright with one hoof. It then happily beeped before it pivoted backward on it’s legs and proceeded to roll across the ground on them and a third leg on the bottom. 

Applejack rolled her eyes at the antics and turned her head to the tall newcomer as they trudged closer to the farmhouse. 

"So… ya got yerself a name, sugarcube?"

The newcomer gave her a wan smile as he struggled to stay up.

"I'm Luke."

Luke… as good a name as any, Applejack supposed. Making sure that Luke was well-supported, the two headed inside.







The sounds of beeping were the first thing Shining Armor could hear as he slowly roused. There was the sharp smell of disinfectant and rubbing alcohol in his nostrils. His eyes slowly opened with blurry vision which slowly cleared as he got his bearings. He was in a clean white hospital room, laying on a comfortable bed with white sheets and two fluffy blue pillows. The sunlight was streaming through the window, curtains pushed aside to let the light in. 

Shining tried to prop himself up to look around better, but a faint tugging feeling in the crook of his right elbow stopped him.. Looking down, Shining found an IV tube in his arm, the needle end taped down to stay put. Following the tube, he saw the IV bag dripping a light purple fluid into the feed, marked with a label reading 'Magic Recovery Potion, Grade: A+'. The bag was mostly empty save for a little puddle at the bottom feeding into the IV tube.

Shining grimaced. Normally a potion of that grade was reserved for higher ranked ponies, like generals, or to combat extreme cases of magical burnout. It was an easy way to get their magic back in the fight after immense strain. Often it needed to be diluted in order to conserve the magical elements and herbs needed to create it. To use an A+ grade mix on him, a newly minted captain...

He looked away in disgust. It wasn’t that he didn’t like needles — though that was indeed true — but this felt… superfluous. Looking around, Shining saw that he had a room to himself. A guard was more commonly bundled into the communal medical wards for treatment, not isolated from his comrades like he was better than them! He imagined many of the guards were getting lesser treatments than he was, passed over as "less important" than a ranked officer. He needed to get out there, to get to his ponies in arms. He would jump willingly into Tartarus before abandoning his comrades. He turned to the door and raised his voice. 

“Nurse, I’m up!” 

After a few seconds the door to the room opened. A guard pegasus entered — a lieutenant, judging from the armor -- flanked by a nurse who seemed a little… familiar. Shining's head was still a little fuzzy, so he didn't quite put two and two together at first.. Then he noticed that the pink mare had both wings and a horn and knew he was doomed. 

“H-hey Cady...” he started, before a blue glow forced his mouth shut. Cadance looked at him for a moment before turning to the lieutenant. "If there's nothing else you need, Lieutenant Sentry, I'd like to speak with my patient in private." Sentry saluted with a wing and quickly marched out the door, but not before turning and guiltily mouthing "Sorry, Captain!" from over Cadance’s shoulder. The door closed behind him. For a moment, silence reigned. Shining, his mouth now free, was about to say something, but Cadance cut him off. 

“I know what you're about to say, and I get it. You weren't going out to fight, you were just going to see Twilight when it happened. I'm not mad at you for that."

"What I am angry about,” she continued, glaring at Shining, "is that you didn't go with Twilight and get yourself checked over after that! No, you had to go and be the hero and accept the summons without any consideration for your well-being! Do you have any idea how scared I was when I found you! I thought that you — you — " She cut herself off, unable to finish her rant. She was shaking, and her eyes were wet. "Why…" she sniffed. "Why do you have to push yourself so much?"

Shining could see tears running down Cadence’s cheek, and it made his heart ache to see her like this. “Cadance...come on, don’t be like that.” He put his hoof on her shoulder, she didn’t stop him but she didn’t meet his eyes. He sighed, disappointed in himself. He hated it when he made her worry.

“Cadence  you know how I am, I can’t help it. Today was unexpected and it was a spur of the moment thing. I was basically running on instinct!”

He huffed to catch his breath to calm his aching nerves. “Look...you already know whenever there’s a situation this big, the last thing on my mind would be about my health.”

Cadence knew the words rang true. It had been a defining characteristic of Shining Armor ever since he had been a colt; a habit no one could shatter, no matter how hard one tried. That didn’t mean she wouldn’t worry. “I know…” She rubbed her nose with her hoof, her teary eyes looking into his. Soon a small smile and a chuckle came out of her. “It’s one of the reasons why I’m so head over hooves for you.” She sniffed again,  and another rush of tears began to stream down.

Shining wrapped his arm around and pull her into a reassuring hug of comfort, gently rubbing her back to help her relax. “I’m sorry I worried you, I didn’t mean it.” He said sincerely. 

She sniffled a little. “It’s fine, I understand. It’s just I worry for you and Twilight's still in a coma and I thought…” she trailed off, Shining understood her message.

“Cadance, look at me,” he moved back so he would look into her eyes. “I’m not going anywhere okay? I will always be with you.” He reassured her. That was a promise he would always make, not to himself but to her as well. He nuzzled her cheek before the rest of her sentence clicked in his head.

"Wait… what was that about Twilight?"

Cadance winced and prepared herself for an explosion. 

"Well…"








Spike leafed through the last few pages of the book he was holding absently as he tried to keep his thoughts from running away with him. Twilight had been admitted to the ward some time ago, and he had refused to leave the room, despite the doctor's protest. One particularly rude guard tried to actually pull Spike away from the bed — for all of five seconds. After Spike had shown the armor plated musclehead what he had thought of that notion, he had largely been left alone, sitting on a stool next to Twilight's bed in a lone, quiet vigil.

He looked down at the book and tossed it aside in disgust. He had just read through the thing for the tenth time since he had arrived in the ward. Even though he could probably recite the entire thing from memory by this point, he hadn't paid any real attention to the narrow, slanted text. The book had just been something he could hold in his claws and distract himself from Twilight's prone, motionless form on the hospital bed. Clearly, he thought sourly, it's not working. 

The little dragon curled into himself on the stool, stubbornly ignoring the stinging in his eyes. He couldn't look away from Twilight laying completely still on the bed. Thoughts of what had happened earlier that day kept running through his head. He remembered how she had dropped to the ground, screaming at the top of her lungs, before falling limp. He remembered the roaring of that massive fireball streaking over Canterlot, like the world was going to end. Most of all the worry he had been dealing with since getting to the hospital wouldn’t go away: the idea that Twilight wasn’t going to wake up again.

He had been so caught up in his thoughts that he didn't realize that somepony had arrived until he felt something soft and warm draped over his shoulders. He looked up and saw the massive white form of Princess Celestia next to him, one of her wings curving around the little dragon. However, she didn't quite cut the serene and regal image that Spike was familiar with. Her regalia was missing, her pink-green-and-blue mane was a little unkempt, and instead of her tiara, Spike could see something like a cross between a beret and a fez perched just behind her horn. She followed where he was looking and chuckled a little. 

"It's a compress," she said, adjusting it with a hoof. "I was taking a little cat nap before it hit. Told them I didn't need it, but you know old Sawbones. Wouldn't let me leave until I put it on. But hey," she laughed quietly. "At least the mares get a new fashion trend!" She smiled a little at Spike with her attempt at levity. 

Spike returned the smile as best as he could, but it felt more like a grimace. Celestia pulled him close and leaned in to nuzzle his cheek.

"I understand, Spike. I've been worried too." They sat like that for a minute before Spike finally spoke up. 

"But… What happened to her? What happened to everypony? I mean --" he sniffed and wiped his nose. "There wasn't anything wrong this morning, she was just tired from last night! One minute she was talking with Shining, the next she's screaming her head off!" He looked up at her with a hysterical, pleading look on his face. "Just what was going on!?"

Celestia sighed and turned to look at Twilight, still unconscious on the bed. After a moment of silence, she spoke up with a frown. 

"The question isn't so much as what was going on, to be honest… but why." 

Spike looked at her, nonplussed. No sooner had he opened his mouth to ask what she meant, however, when a sudden mess of crashing and yelling echoed from outside the door.

"What in…"

There was a loud bang, and the door flew open, revealing a frantic looking Shining Armor with a green hospital gown halfway fallen off and trailing an empty IV bag. His mane was disheveled and he bore a maniclook on his face.

“Where's Twilight?!” 

Cadance appeared behind him, panting. "Sorry… Auntie…" she wheezed. "Couldn't... stop him…"

Shining’s eyes then fell on Twilight. He moved to her side so quickly it almost seemed like he teleported, talking nonstop.

"Twily! What's wrong with her!? Is she okay? Where's she hurt? Is it an aneurysm?  Does she need a transfusion?"

Both Cadance and Spike stared at the scene in front of them before Celestia leaned in to whisper in Cadance’s ear.

"You might want to call for Sawbones… I'll handle Shining."

Cadance nodded and quietly slipped out of the door while Shining continued his frantic rambling, blurring back and forth around Twilight quicker than most pegasi that she knew. Celestia quickly walked up to Shining, grabbed him by the tail, and pulled him away.

"At ease, Captain," Celestia chided, chuckling despite herself. "As far as I can tell, she's fine, but I've already called for a doctor to check her over." She tucked him under her wing, which not so incidentally kept him from moving. "For now, the best thing to do is settle down and wait." 

Shining Armor looked a little sheepish. "Y-Yes, ma'am," he muttered. 

Celestia snorted and playfully poked her captive on the nose. "There's no need to apologize, Shining," she said. "Spike and I have been worried about her too, but the best we can do is…"

She stopped all of a sudden and looked over at Twilight. "Hmmm. How odd…" She muttered.

"What is it?" Shining asked, his panic renewed. "Is she getting worse!?"

Celestia stared at Twilight for a few minutes,  then shook her head.

"No… she's just dreaming."

But how, when she shouldn't be able to?









She floated through an infinite void of stars. There was no sense of direction, no inkling of where she was, barely even a sense of self. Awareness soon returned, and with awareness, the void around her changed. Stars gave way to wisps of violet and aqua, vast stretches of ethereal cloud coiling before her into infinity. It moved and twisted and coiled without purpose, yet there seemed to be intent, inscrutable and unknowable, within the intricate structure.

Voices whispered about her, vying for her attention. Images flashed about her like shooting stars and lightning, showing things she could not know or name. 

A giant forest, with trees bigger than any she had seen stretching to the heavens. 

A massive city with buildings and towers of polished steel and glass, stretching to every horizon and beyond. 

A palace and city of marble, with beautiful green plains and low hills stretching for miles from one side, a skirt of waterfalls over a cliff framing the other.

A roiling ocean beneath a storm, curtains of rain slithering into rolling waves.

A shining thing of metal, crowned by towers, hanging unsupported above a sea of golden-orange clouds.

Twin suns, sinking behind a sandy horizon. 

All these visions and more flashed before her eyes, almost overwhelming her with the intensity. It was like a story, one that she never knew and would never fully understand. 

More images, this time with creatures she never saw before. All different, all in variety. Some were biped, some had many legs, and others had none.

The voices were louder now, yet she still couldn't make out what they said. All she knew was that she needed to follow them, find out what they wanted. 

She then felt a sensation of moving; like the voices were taking her where she needed to. An image appeared before her again — the twin suns again, but this time, someone was standing in front of it. Most of its features were hidden by the glare, but she could make out a biped stance, loose clothes, and gold hair waving in the hot breeze. She got an impression of wistfulness and longing from the creature, and her heart went out to him.. The desert and the creature suddenly grew hazy and indistinct, and the sunset began to draw closer together. 

“What is it?” A voice asked, young and curious. She understood it—him clearly.

“It’s your father's lightsaber.” Another replied, this one sounding old and wise. "This is the weapon of a Jedi Knight."

Snap-hiss.

The twin suns collided, all else fading into darkness. They merged, lengthened, and morphed into a pillar made of blue light. It shrank, receded, and she could now see a pair of hazy figures side by side. One was standing upright, and she could make out blue eyes, fair hair and loose, baggy clothes as it brandished the blue light like a sword. The other was sitting, lecturing. She could make out brown robes and silvered hair and beard as the older voice continued to monologue in a wry tone.

“For over a thousand generations, the Jedi Knights were the guardians of peace and justice in the Old Republic."

The figures began to fade away, the blue light dimming until there was barely a glimmer.

 "Before the dark times…" 

The last embers of blue vanished, and the shadows closed in.

“Before the Empire."

Faint blue light filtered in, and a rush of steam flew past her face. When it cleared, she was suddenly standing on a steel platform, surrounded by a confusing mess of girders, pipes, catwalks and machines of a purpose she could not determine. Dim orange—red light suddenly streamed from below, illuminating the younger figure she had seen before. He seemed a little older, a little more confident, as his blue gaze warily scanned the room.

She heard a rasping sound, like someone was breathing through a tube. The sound sent a chill down her spine as she looked around for the source.

"The Force is with you, young Skywalker."

A booming voice rang out; as sharp as steel and as deep as the grave. It sounded of command, experience, and cold, lethal purpose. Both she and the figure — Skywalker — turned to the source of the voice and the heavy footsteps. What she saw froze her blood with fear and dread.

Standing at the top of a set of red-lit stairs, a tall black Shape loomed over them. It was a monolith of cold and black, darker than dark — more like a cut out of the fabric of reality itself than an actual object. It exuded an aura of menace, purpose and domination, a feeling of cold dread like she was in the presence of a predator. Nothing else could be seen of the Shape, save for a few dim spots of red and white light that flickered rhythmically on its center.

"But you are not a Jedi yet."

Skywalker looked up at It, perfectly still. Then, slowly, he ascended the steps to face the Black Shape. He pulled something from his waist; a silvery tube with black grips. He brandished it in front of him, and the blue light landed out with a defiant snap-hiss.

The Shape made a similar motion, crimson sunfire speared forth more menacingly. For the first time she could make out Its contours, the shape edges of armor and parts of the intricate machinery. She beheld Its helmed face, a mockery of a primate skull, leering at them as It stood ready, facing off against Skywalker. 

For both an eternity and a moment, the two stood facing each other. The twin blades of fire hummed expectantly, a droning prelude to a symphony of lethal intent. The air vibrated with anticipation, and she could feel the tension build. Then, just when she couldn’t bear the suspense, Skywalker lunged forward, blade held aloft. The Shape's own blade swept upwards to meet him. Azure and crimson crashed against each other with a tearing screech.

And at the very moment of collision, Twilight Sparkle woke up.