//------------------------------// // Divergent // Story: Across the Stars // by SonnyStar //------------------------------// Twilight could hardly believe what just happened. Once she had been Twilight Sparkle, faithful student to Princess Celestia. Now she was Twilight Sparkle, Jedi Padawan. She sat quietly in the middle of the library, carefully going through the datapad Jorcen had given her. It had been two hours now and Jorcen was nowhere to be found. Spike was pacing near the front doors, an act which began to put Twilight on edge. “Spike, would you please just sit still?” Twilight asked, setting the datapad down on the table in front of her. “I don’t get it.” Spike said, throwing his claws in the air in exasperation. “He said an hour so where is he?” “I don’t know Spike but we shouldn’t get ahead of ourselves.” Twilight rubbed gently at her temples. Now that she had finished waiting she found herself with time to think. Had she made the right decision? Did Jorcen change his mind about training her? Before she could drag herself down any further the front door was pushed open and her master walked in. He stood in the doorway in silence and after a moment’s introspection he smiled. “Good, you’ve passed the first lesson.” “Lesson? What lesson?” Twilight asked, standing from her seat and moving to the Jedi’s side. “One of the most important lessons for a Jedi. Patience. A very important lesson for one who is already an adult I would think. When you learn to slow down and quiet your mind you will hear it.” “Hear what?” “The will of the Force. Sometimes it speaks to us and as its servants we must do our best to listen, to understand the knowledge it grants us.” “I…I think I understand.” Twilight lowered her head in concentration. Though it wouldn’t be until later she would understand completely. “Then you shouldn’t have any trouble committing these words to memory.” Jorcen began, standing a little straighter and hiding his arms in the opposite sleeves of his robe. “There is no emotion, there is peace. There is no ignorance, there is knowledge. There is no passion, there is serenity. There is no chaos, there is harmony. There is no death, there is the Force. This is the Jedi Code. They are more than just words to be memorized. Explore each phrase until you understand the meaning behind them and then, once you have proven to me your commitment, I will show you how to draw on the Force.” “I understand Master.” Twilight bowed her head, her thoughts stirred to a frenzy, desperate to unlock the hidden meaning in the Jedi Code. Twilight thought she saw her master frown for a second when she realized she had already forgotten her first lesson. Taking a deep breath she tried to rein in her addled mind, to quiet the storm she had unwittingly created. Once she had calmed down Jorcen’s frown vanished and he nodded in approval. “I will return tomorrow to see if you have unlocked the meaning behind the code. You have an interesting advantage when compared to most students of the Force. As an adult you should know what it means to surrender yourself to emotional outbursts. You also understand that to close yourself off from them you have the potential to become blinded to the mundane world. I will guide you down this path but the choices you make along the way will shape your destiny in ways you would never guess.” Jorcen wondered what the council would think of his decision. “You will be tested, it is the fate of all Jedi to battle adversity. Never forget that the Force is your ally and through it you can accomplish anything. May the Force be with you.” Jorcen bowed and turned his back on his new Padawan. Twilight returned the bow and watched as her master left her to ponder what he’d told her. “That’s it?” Spike said, his arms crossed in front of him. “It was enough.” Twilight said, transcribing Jorcen’s words to paper. “All I’m missing is context.” *** “Watch those wrist rockets!” A clone trooper shouted, seconds too late to keep one from hitting the wall of the corridor. With a new tear into the vacuum of space, dozens of clones and droids alike were sucked into the black. Seconds later what blast doors and ray shields still functioned were able to partition the new tear from the rest of the ship. “Fall back! Fall back!” Another clone yelled. The hangar was overrun and with no escape pods left the few clones and their Jedi General were being backed into a corner. Norana’s lightsaber was in her hands, spinning and deflecting any blast that came her way with its green blade. From behind her defenses her troops poured blasterfire down the hallway. For a brief second Norana thought they might make it out alive but a sinister cackle made her blood run cold. “Finally found you Jedi!” Grievous declared, igniting his lightsabers, one in each hand. “Crush them! Make them suffer but leave the Jedi to me!” From behind Grievous jumped six commando droids. Norana couldn’t stop all of them. Blaster bolts slipped past her lightsaber and three troopers dropped to the floor dead. As she moved to intercept another bolt, the blue blade of one of Grievous’s lightsabers blocked her. “You can’t save them Jedi scum!” Grievous used his other blade to slap Norana’s aside, spinning to kick her in the chest with a large, clawed foot. “But you can die with them!” Blasterfire and shouts filled the hallway which were nearly drowned out by the clash of lightsabers. To Grievous’ surprise the battered clones put up an impressive defense. With nowhere to go their efforts increased tenfold. Ultimately useless against his tide of droids but impressive nonetheless. Even when the last clone fell the Jedi would not relent. Their battle had led them back to the hangar where the Jedi, surrounded by droids on all sides, still refused to surrender. It mattered little to Grievous. This Jedi whelp would die by his hands regardless. Dooku had made it clear that there needed to be more dead Jedi. After the debacle several days ago when the dead fleet’s Jedi commander had escaped he refused to let another one get away. He currently had a tactical droid studying the escaping vessels drive lines and last known trajectories. He had been assured the ship’s hyperdrive had been damaged but that sadly meant the Jedi could be anywhere between here and wild space. The Twi-lek Jedi, bruised and beaten, fell to her knees and her lightsaber extinguished as it rolled from her hand. Grievous claimed the fallen lightsaber and cackled in triumph. “Another lightsaber for my collection. A pity your master wasn’t here to see you fall.” Norana’s body twitched at the mention of her master. All the pieces began to fit together in her head. Grievous’ ambush, the fake distress signal. Had Grievous killed her master? If that were the case she’d have felt it. He was alive and she knew that to be absolute truth. Time to try something daring she thought. “My master would never fall to the likes of you. Pity he wasn’t here indeed so he could have scrapped you, droid.” As soon as the words were out of her mouth Grievous’ cold fingers were around her throat as he lifted her high into the air. “RRAGH!” He growled in anger. “I see your spirit is more durable than your body. No matter, we have ways to break you Jedi.” “Just like you broke my master?” Norana was barely able to choke out. With another growl Grievous flung her across the room where she bounced painfully off the side of a droid shuttle. “Your master will fall like the rest as soon as we locate him. Rest easy Jedi for soon he will join you in the Force!” Grievous’ arms split down the middle, four lightsabers whirling in his mechanical arms. Norana gathered the last of her strength and loosed a concussive wave towards Grievous. The cyborg general dug in the claws of his feet and skidded several feet backwards, his droids on the other hand were flung to the floor with relative ease. Now was her chance. Before Grievous could surround her again, she bolted up the loading ramp of the droid shuttle and piloted it through the ray shield and out of the hangar into space. With coordinates from the navicomputer Norana wasted no time in making the jump to hyperspace. Grievous watched in outrage as another Jedi escaped his clutches. There was little he could do about her but as for her master…it was only a matter of time. They would have to double their efforts, no doubt the whelp was on her way back to the temple on Coruscant to gather a rescue party. First they would have to get past Grievous. “Contact the fleet at Aagmar, redirect those ships here. I don’t want the Republic to know where the Jedi Alketses has gone.” “Sir, Count Dooku is demanding an update on the hunt.” A nearby B-1 battle droid said, standing at attention. “Move the fleet back into the nebula.” Grievous ordered, moving to board one of the other shuttles. “But sir that will disrupt our long-range communications.” “Precisely. I’d rather not contact Dooku until I have something to report. *** “I fear we have been undone, Lord Tyrannus.” “Do you refer to the vision you had of the Jedi Alketses?” The blurry holo image of Count Dooku said, a curious tilt to his head. “I assure you that Grievous will find him and destroy him.” “Can you say that with absolute certainty? He’s already escaped our grasp once. By forcing him to retreat into the unknown we may have, inadvertently, delivered him right where he needs to be to bring my visions to reality.” “He’s just one Jedi and not one of the best or brightest either. How could he possibly be a threat?” “It’s not the Jedi that concerns me, it’s what he might find. The Force has already taken measures against me. I predict that this vision is alike in nature.” “Then we shall double our efforts, my Lord.” Dooku genuflected down on one knee. “See to it, personally if you have to. Only time will tell if he poses a threat to the Grand Plan and time is short.” Hidden beneath the cowl of his cloak, Darth Sidious, Dark Lord of the Sith, balled his fist in anger and scowled. *** A week had passed since Twilight Sparkle, former protégé of Princess Celestia had given up her studies to become Twilight Sparkle, Jedi Padawan. In that time her master had shared and taught her the underlying philosophies that defined the Jedi Order. A Jedi uses their powers for knowledge and defense, not to attack. A Jedi puts others before themselves. A Jedi must be in control of their emotions, lest the temptations of the Dark Side cloud their judgment. Today however was a special day. Jorcen had asked Twilight to meet him in his Everfree clearing at dawn. Today was the day he would teach her to hear the Force. Jorcen was seated cross-legged on a pillow in the center of the clearing when Twilight arrived. “Good morning Master!” she called out excitedly, waving a hoof toward the meditating human. Most would consider the action a useless gesture since even from this distance she could see his eyes were closed. Luckily for her she knew a Jedi didn’t need their eyes to see. In fact he’d likely seen her coming well before she entered the clearing. “Sit Padawan.” He beckoned to the pillow on the ground beside him. Twilight eagerly trotted to her waiting pillow and plopped her flanks down on the plush cushion, battling to keep her fidgeting under control. “Calm yourself Twilight. You will need calm and focus if we are to breach the veil.” “Yes Master, sorry Master.” Twilight bowed her head and mentally went through the Jedi calming exercises Jorcen had taught her. After a moment, when Twilight felt sufficiently calm, Jorcen stood. He loomed over her, hands clasped behind his back, the morning sunlight glinting off the silver trim of his new grey robes. Twilight couldn’t help but smile at the blue gems shaped like Rarity’s cutie mark on each of his lapels. “The first thing you should know is that each individual sees the Force differently so I won’t be able to help you find it.” “B-but-” Twilight started, all the cool she’d been gathering gone. A raised hand from Jorcen stopped all the words that were to follow. “Worry not Padawan. I might not be able to guide you right to it but there will be no mistaking it once found.” Twilight nodded and went through the calming exercises for what felt like the tenth time that day. “I’m ready.” She declared with as much confidence as she could muster. “Then let’s begin. Close your eyes and reach out with your feelings.” Twilight did as instructed, centering her being and trying her best to reach out past herself. She felt her heartbeat, the calming presence of her master but that wasn’t enough. She had to go even further. Her brow furrowed in concentration as she gave all one hundred percent of her effort, every last lesson she had learned both old and new came together and helped shape her into what she was today. She was a Jedi. With a final mental push, Twilight felt the barrier around her shatter. She gasped as her consciousness was spread out far and wide. She could feel it! She could actually feel it! Once the barrier was gone the Force rushed in to fill the void she’d unknowingly carried her entire life. She could hear it, she could see it, a great rolling plain of grass endlessly swaying in the wind. Twilight barely felt something touch her and all at once the great plain retreated inward and brought Twilight back to reality with a crashing wave of sensation. She sucked in a breath of air as if she had been drowning. She lost her strength and nearly fell forward if Jorcen hadn’t been there to catch her. “What was that?” “Those were your first steps. Welcome to a greater galaxy Twilight Sparkle.” “Way to go Twi!” An overly enthusiastic voice bellowed. “R-rainbow Dash?” Twilight said, a surprised look on her face. “They’re all there, well minus Rarity and Pinkie Pie…maybe.” Jorcen pointed to the spot where Fluttershy had hid during their first encounter. Now that the jig was up the other two ponies meandered into the clearing, each with a smile on their faces. “Knew you could do it Twilight.” Applejack said, giving Twilight a friendly thump on the shoulder. “Um…yay!” Fluttershy cheered at near whisper volume. “Soooo Jorcen.” Rainbow started, batting her eyelashes at the stoic man. “Is now a good time to check out your weapon!?” She pointed excitedly at the lightsaber clipped to his belt. “I suppose.” He said with a stroke of his beard. “Everyone stand back if you please.” The gathering of ponies did as he said and spread out from the center of the clearing. “Not you Twilight. You’re part of this demonstration.” Twilight stopped in her tracks and turned around to face her Master, a puzzled look on her face. “M-me? Are you sure I’m ready?” “No, I’m not sure.” He said plainly. “All I can do is trust my instincts.” Jorcen reached into his robes and drew a small blaster he’d managed to scrap together from R3’s own weapon. “OOooh! Another weapon!?” Rainbow cheered, priming herself to jump into the sky before she was pulled back to the ground by her tail. Applejack spat out a few prismatic strands of hair and sat up a bit straighter. “This aint one o’ yer flight shows RD.” She said sternly. “Just sit tight an’ watch.” “Now that you can touch the Force.” Jorcen said, ignoring the conversation of the peanut gallery and handing his lightsaber to Twilight. “You must understand that your will and the Force are connected. Each gives the other direction but the causation is not linear.” Jorcen continued, taking several long steps back away from her. “I…think I understand.” Twilight said, mulling it all over in her head. “Then use that understanding and deflect this blaster bolt back at me.” Jorcen lifted the blaster and pointed it at Twilight. Twilight didn’t fully understand but she’d gleaned enough from Jorcen’s datapad to get the general idea of how a blaster worked. It would fire some kind of energy projectile in the direction it was pointed, in this case at Twilight. A lightsaber, on the other hoof, could block and redirect that energy. Jorcen had once said that shooting a blaster at a Jedi was tantamount to shooting it at yourself. Taking a deep breath, Twilight magically held the lightsaber up in front of her face and ignited it. The snap-hiss of the orange blade coming into existence barely had time to be appreciated by a particularly starry-eyed Rainbow Dash when Jorcen fired the blaster. Twilight’s eyes went wide as the burning red bolt of energy streaked towards her. Then she did as she did before and opened herself to the Force. Twilight felt an invisible hoof nudge the telekinetically guided lightsaber where it needed to be. Then, with hardly any effort, the blade of the saber caught the bolt and sent it careening harmlessly into the clear blue sky above. “That. Was so. AWES-” “Again!” Jorcen shouted, firing again without much warning. Twilight was barely able to redirect the second bolt into the dirt a few paces from her. “Focus, deflect them back at me.” He said, firing a burst of three shots at her. Twilight shut her eyes and called to the Force, willing it to help her send a bolt back to her Master. In her mind’s eye, she could see it. See it before it happened. The first bolt was coming in at her face, the second her legs and the last would be aimed at her chest. The present came back to her and as if she’d practiced the sequence for years, she effortlessly batted the first two bolts away. Bringing the saber around her in a tight arc, she caught the final bolt and sent it straight back at Jorcen. There was a gasp from the nearby onlookers as Jorcen extended his hand, palm outward and caught the bolt, redirecting its energy straight up into the air. “It would seem, my apprentice, that the Force is with you. Well done.” Twilight released a breath she didn’t know she was holding. She felt something tug at the lightsaber held aloft in her telekinesis. Releasing her hold on it, it shot through the air into Jorcen’s outstretched hand. “But it is only the beginning.” Jorcen continued, leveling the gathered ponies with a serious stare. “Nothing is impossible with the Force as your ally. It can help you sense threats and it can help guide your actions. Powerful Force-users can use it for more specific purposes.” “Like what?” “In due time, apprentice.” Jorcen said, tucking his hands into the opposite sleeves of his robes. “For now you should master what you’ve already learned, then once-” Jorcen suddenly staggered forward as if he had been pushed from behind. Twilight was about to rush to his side when a similar sensation made her body too heavy to obey her commands. “M-master? What’s happening?” “There…there is a disturbance in the Force. Something terrible is happening.” Jorcen’s expression was grim and he had yet to regain his poise. “T-twilight?” Rainbow said shakily. “Look.” Twilight followed Rainbow’s hoof and her mouth dropped open. Climbing into the sky from the west horizon was Luna’s majestic moon…climbing to meet its sibling as the glorious sun rose up from the east. The sun and moon were sharing a sky.