//------------------------------//
// Chapter 12 
// Story: Star Wars EQG: Episode 1, Harmony of the Force 
// by Banshee531 
//------------------------------//

In a part of the galaxy, a ship came out of Hyperdrive. 

This ship was a VT-49 Space freighter, which was currently smoking as it flew through space. And in the cockpit, several people were holding on for dear life as the pilot tried to keep the thing under control. 

"I'm not gonna be able to keep her going much longer!" The pilot cried, "we need to set her down somewhere!" 

"I got something!" Someone else cried. "Heading three, one, eight, by two, two, seven. A planet with a breathable atmosphere." The pilot re-positioned the ship in that direction and began to head towards it, all the while everyone continued to do what they could to keep everything running. 

But as they approached the planet, a warning light came on. "Not good!" Someone cried. "This planet might have a breathable atmosphere, but it's coated in Faidon radiation." Everyone panicked, all but the pilot rushing over to where they kept their radiation suits. 

Once they were all suited up, one of them took over so the pilot could suit up as well. And he barely managed to get his helmet on before the atmosphere began to flow around the ship, the radiation shielding only working to weaken the powerful radiation. 

Before they got too far in, the pilot hit a button and something shot out of the back. A missile of some kind, which exploded as soon as it was out of the atmosphere and morphed into some kind of satellite. As the ship disappeared into the mist of the planet, the satellite began transmitting. 



The next day.

At the Jedi Temple, Twilight was still working to try and decipher the text that had been found during Flash and Shining's mission to the forest planet. But still, she could find nothing that might be able to help her decode it. 

Rarity walked past and noticed Twilight's annoyed expression. "Still can't figure it out?" 

"This is driving me crazy," Twilight groaned. "If I just had something to work backwards from, then that would be something. One symbol. That's all I need. But we have nothing in the database." 

"Well then, maybe you should tell Master Celestia you can't solve it. If there's really no answer-" But then Twilight turned to give her a look of horror. 

"Are you crazy!" She cried, "I can't tell Celestia that. She entrusted me with this task. I'm not gonna let her down." Rarity frowned at her. "What?" 

"You really need to learn to relax around these things, darling. You can't expect to complete every task Master Celestia gives you. That would be impossible." Twilight gave her a look that screamed, 'I have to make it possible.' "You've never failed a task before, so-"

"So Celestia is expecting me to complete this task as well," Twilight stated as she turned back to her tablet. "You don't get it. I'm the student of the Grand Master. That puts a lot of pressure on me. She chose me as her student. So any failures by me are considered failures by her." 

Rarity raised an eyebrow, "I don't think that's how it works." Before Twilight could reply, the two's gauntlets beeped and they looked down to see messages from their masters. "Oh. It seems I'm going on a mission." 

"Same here," Twilight nodded before turning to her. "Are you being asked to be at launch pad eighteen?" Rarity nodded, "I guess we're going on the same mission." 

"Oh, goodie." She smiled before turning to leave, "we'd better go pack." Twilight nodded and the two headed off to their rooms, where they would need to pack for a several day trip. As she packed, Twilight was reminded of the first time Rarity had been given a mission. The Padawan had been so excited, but then disheartened when she was told the suitcase she had somehow gotten was too large to take on said mission. 

An hour later, the girls were wearing backpacks and making their way towards the launch pad. There, they spotted Celestia and Ruby Scarlet, along with two other Jedi. 

Pinkie saw them and gasped, an excited look on her face as they approached. "You're coming! I mean, I figured you were coming when I saw your teachers. But actually knowing you're coming is so great!" 

The final Jedi was a brown skinned man with white hair, wearing a white Jedi shirt, light blue pants and a dark blue scarf around his next. He turned to Pinkie and laughed before patting her on the head. "Pinkie, relax. We don't need you getting overexcited before the mission gets started." 

"Sorry Master," Pinkie nodded. "But what is the mission?" 

"We were wondering the same thing," Rarity nodded. 

Celestia stepped forward. "A ship in the Zet Sector has crashed on a planet saturated with Faidon radiation." They all gasped at this. "A rescue team has already been sent out to retrieve them. But by the time they get there, the crew will have already been overexposed." 

Twilight frowned. "There's only one cure for Faidon radiation. The milk of a gorgloff." 

"Exactly," Celestia nodded. "A very rare creature. Which is why the five of you will be going to the only known planet to house the beast. Find it, milk it, and meet up with the retrieval team as they return to Canterlot. I'm sure I don't need to tell you how important this mission is." They nodded, as Celestia stepped over to Twilight. "I'm sorry I can't be there to help you in this mission." 

"It's okay," Twilight nodded. "The Grand Master Jedi has many duties to attend to. I promise, I'll find that gorgloff and get the milk." 

Celestia smiled as she nodded, whilst Tidal took out a remote and hit a button. The launch pad opened up and a ship was raised from below. A YT-1000, which was mostly blue with a few streaks of white here and there. It wasn't as impressive as the Shooting Star, but it would get them there. 

Everyone got on board and soon enough, the ship was taking off and flying out of the atmosphere. And once they were far enough from the planet, Tidal pushed the ship into hyperspace and they were zooming through the galaxy. 

As they travelled there, Twilight was reading up on everything there was to know about gorgloffs. Her eyes were moving at a mile a minute, as she stared at the info documented about the creature. There was also an image of the creature, which had a long tube-like body covered in dark blue, almost black, fur. It had six thin spider-legs, whilst its head was ape-like. Its mouth had a pair of long fangs, sticking out of each end of its lower jaw. On its back was a set of dragonic wings, which looked large enough to wrap around its entire body. 

Rarity and Pinkie were also staring at the image of the creature and Rarity looked disgusted. "Not the most handsome creature in the world." 

"It looks freaky," Pinkie laughed. "That's so cool." She laughed, whilst Twilight kept reading. 

Rarity then asked an obvious question. "If this creature is the only way to cure Faidon Radiation Poisoning, why aren't any kept in captivity? I would have thought having access to the milk would be a business venture someone would attempt to follow." 

"It was tried," Ruby stated from her spot in the cockpit. "But for some unknown reason, gorgloff milk doesn't have the curative properties in captivity." The Padawans raised an eyebrow at this, wondering why that would be the case. Scientists studied them for years, both wild and captive ones. But they couldn't see a reason why only wild gorgloff can produce curative milk." 

"Maybe it's something they eat in the wild?" Pinkie asked, with Ruby shrugging. 

"I'm pretty sure the scientists looked into that. Look, we're not here to discover the secret of the gorgloff. We're here to find and milk one before it's too late. Nothing else comes before that." 

"Understood," the three nodded as the ship began to come out of hyperspace. 

"We're here," Tidal announced as the girls headed for the cockpit. Looking out of it, they saw a planet appear in front of them. One which had many different biomes, such as forest, desert and ocean. Tidal began to move the ship towards a continent that appeared to be made almost entirely out of rock. 

There were many canyons and mountains covering the land. Almost every mountain had at least two or three rivers running down from the top, which flowed across the rocky landscape and eventually found its way into one of the canyons. And as the ship flew across the landscape, they looked down into the canyons and saw the walls were covered in moss and other types of plant life. 

"There it is," Tidal stated. "Those canyons are teaming with all sorts of life. And one of them is the gorgloff." 

They reached one end of the canyon and landed, Ruby turning to her student. "Rarity and I will get out here. We'll start from one end of the canyon and work down it, whilst you three do the same from the opposite direction." They nodded and the pair got out, the ship taking off as soon as they disembarked. 

Tidal quickly flew to the other end of the canyon, which was a good distance away. When they arrived and touched down, Pinkie quickly got up and ran towards the exit. Along the way, she grabbed a bunch of rope and a helmet. Said helmet was placed on her head, her smokey hair stopping for a moment before seeping out of the holes in the top. 

"Let's get spelunking!" She cried, Twilight rolling her eyes. 

"Pinkie spelunking is when you go into caves. You're not gonna be spelunking in a canyon." But Pinkie just turned to her and smiled. 

"Oh really? Where do you think the gorgloff lives? They're pretty big, so I doubt they live in nests or ledges. So the best place for them to live in a canyon is in some kind of cave." Twilight was about to argue, but stopped when she realised Pinkie had a point. 

"Okay, you got me there." Pinkie laughed at this and took out another box, which had a large drone-like device inside of it. Pinkie tied one end of the rope to the drone, then another end around her waist. "Pinkie. Is that even gonna work?" 

"Of course it is," Pinkie smiled. "Are you trying to say I'm fat?" She put a hand on her rubbery hip.

"No," Twilight replied. "But it doesn't matter how much you weigh. There's no way that one drone will be able to lift a person." Pinkie smiled and took off her boots, handing them to Twilight. She took them and almost fell over from how heavy they were. "Wow!" 

Pinkie laughed before heading outside, activated the drone as soon as she was. Twilight watched it fly into the air and pull on the rope, only to then be shocked when she saw Pinkie get lifted up without any issue. "Weee!" 

"How..." Was all Twilight could say. 

Tidal laughed, as he threw his student an ear piece. She easily caught it, putting it on before flying over to the canyon. "Just be careful," Tidal told her over the radio. "If you see something, don't try and engage it." 

"Right," Pinkie replied as she lowered herself. As she disappeared out of view, Twilight continued to look shocked. 

"How...why..." 

"What, you didn't know? Pinkie's species are practically living balloons. If she didn't have those extra heavy boots, she'd get blown away." He stepped over to the canyon, then took out some shades before rolling his eyes. "Oh, shoot. Pinkie, come back up." A few seconds later, Pinkie returned and Tidal threw the shades towards her. "Those should help us keep an eye on things as well." 

"Okay." Pinkie put them on and the drone lowered her back down. Tidal activated his gauntlet, the holographic screen appearing with everything Pinkie was seeing being projected to them. "Don't go moving your head too much," he told her. "If we want to find this thing, we'll need to go about it slowly." 

"Got it," Pinkie replied as she started moving the drone along the canyon. 

Said canyon had many different amazing things within it. It was roughly seventy meters deep and twenty meters across, with so many different kinds of rock. Water flowed down into it from the many rivers, whilst vines, moss and several trees were growing out the side. cracks and small holes could also be seen, which had several creepy crawlies and other small creatures moving in and out of them. And at the very bottom, a powerful raging river could be seen with several rocks sticking out of it. 

Twilight also watched using her gauntlet, fascinated by the many different sights. "Amazing." 

Tidal nodded. "Just don't let the amazing sight lull you into a false sense of security. The gorgloff isn't the only thing down there that could be dangerous." Twilight nodded, but continued to watch whilst also wondering how Rarity and Ruby were doing. 



At the other end of the canyon, Ruby had her own drone. 

The small device had detached from her gauntlet and was currently flying through the canyon, Ruby watching the footage whilst Rarity was in charge of her. "Rock," Ruby heard before looking down. Sure enough, there was a rock in front of her that she could trip over. 

She quickly stepped over it, then turned her attention back to the canyon. "Thank you." Rarity nodded, as she glanced down at the canyon herself. 

Somewhere down there, the gorgloff was waiting for them to capture. And as she looked away, a thought occurred to her. "Um...this thing isn't a carnivore. Is it?"

"What?" Ruby looked up, then realised what she had asked. "Oh, no." Rarity sighed in relief, "omnivore. It'll eat almost anything its teeth can bite through." Rarity instantly got concerned. "But don't worry. We're not gonna let you get eaten by it." 

Rarity nodded. "But what exactly is the plan? I doubt it's going to just let us milk it, so we have to catch it. But how do we do that, without hurting it?" 

"Actually, that's exactly what's gonna happen." Rarity looked shocked. "It letting us milk it, I mean. Why do you think we were asked to get the milk?" The crystalien stated. "We're going to have it give us its milk." 

"Really?" Rarity asked. "How?" 

"Gorgloffs are actually rather intelligent. Not enough for it to be considered a sentient being. But enough for it to be manipulated by our abilities. All we have to do is find it, get it to stay still and then give it the old wave of a hand. It'll stay still, we milk it, then we send it on its way without any fuss." 

"Huh," Rarity looked amazed by this. "It's really gonna be that easy?" 

"The hard part is actually finding one," Ruby replied. "Which is why we need to hurry. There are a lot of canyons for this thing to hide in and if we don't find one soon enough, those people won't get the cure in time." Rarity nodded and they quickly got back to searching the gorge, Ruby watching the footage whilst Rarity kept her teacher from tripping over things. 



Twilight was doing the same, keeping Tidal from falling as he watched the footage Pinkie was seeing. 

"Still nothing," Tidal stated as Pinkie looked around. But then, he spotted something on one of the walls. "Pinkie, stop!" Pinkie did so, the rubber girl looking around. "To your left. One the wall." Pinkie turned in that direction and saw a bunch of long vines, which were hanging from above and looked long enough to tie together and climb up the side of the canyon. 

"What is it?" Twilight asked, looking over Tidal's shoulder. When she stared at the vines, she couldn't see anything out of the ordinary. But that, a gentle gust pushed the vines around and allowed her to see what was behind them. "A hole." 

"A cave," Tidal replied. "Large enough to fit a gorgloff inside." He seemed to be weighing his options. "Pinkie, I want you to come back up." 

"But don't you want me to check it out?" 

"I'll be checking it out," he stated. "I want you back up here, where it's safe." Pinkie moaned, but did as she was told and returned up top. As she did, Tidal took off his backpack and started removing equipment from it. As he did, Twilight noticed the weapon on his back. 

She had never seen Tidal's weapon before, this being the first time she had been on a mission with him. And as she stared at it, she noticed it seemed similar to Iron Core's weapon. It was a metal and bronze Lightsaber Spear, but it was different from Iron's. The big difference was the two extra vents on the side, reminding Twilight of a weapon known as a crossguard Lightsaber. 

Tidal removed the weapon from his back and activated it. And sure enough, a blue laser extended from the weapon. And two shorter blades came out the sides. It was one of these blades that he held against the ground, burning into the rock until the blade was completely submerged. 

He then took it out and let the rock slowly cool, blowing on it as Pinkie arrived. Once it was cool, Tidal took some rope out of the bag and tied it around a long metal spike. He then slotted it into the hole before taking a can of something out, Tidal spraying it around the spike and into the whole like whipped cream. 

"Yum," Pinkie liked her lips. "I want some of that." 

Tidal chuckled. "Trust me, you don't want to have a taste of this. Not unless you wish to glue your mouth together." The cream instantly set and was practically a rock, Tidal giving it a few tugs before nodding. "Alright." He began to run forward, "saltar!" He leapt over the edge, holding onto the rope as he began to abseil down. 

Twilight and Pinkie watched, as he bounced along the rock before arriving at the spot the hole was on. 

Once there, he leapt off the wall and swung over and into the hole. The pair could only watch, as he tied the rope around one of the vines and headed inside. 

Tidal held his weapon in one hand and a flashlight in the other, the Jedi pointing the light into the darkness and seeing it went quite a ways in. After a minute of walking, the light reached the back of the cave. And as he looked around, he saw nothing but a few stalagmites and stalactites. 

However, a Jedi's senses went far beyond that of a normal being. As such, he closed his eyes and reached out with The Force. And sure enough, he felt a presence. "Ah," he looked up, "there you are." One of the stalactites wasn't a stalactite at all. And as Tidal stared at it, he saw it making several movements. "Time to wake up. We need your milk." 

The creature actually seemed to hear and understand him, as the wings began to unfurl and reveal the strange creature. Its legs were wrapped around a real stalactite, as its eyes opened and glared at Tidal before letting out a shrill hiss.

Tidal smiled and held out his hand, focusing on the creature in an attempt to manipulate its weak mind. "You will-" He didn't get to finish, as the beast suddenly leapt off the rock and flew towards him. Tidal narrowly leapt to the side, his reflexes telling him to attack but he managed to hold them back. 

The gorgloff landed and gnashed his teeth at a spot which, two seconds ago, Tidal's head had been occupying. It then leapt forward, not bothering to fight, and flew out of the cave. 

"Hey!" Tidal ran after him, activating his gauntlet as he did. "Girls, he's leaving the cave. See if you can spot where he's going." 



Pinkie and Twilight rushed to the edge and looked down, over the cliff, and saw something black flying around. 

"It's just going in a circle," Twilight replied. "You might still be able to catch it!" They watched, as Tidal leapt out of the hole and grabbed his rope. He swung around on it, as the gorgloff continued to circle around its area of the canyon. But when it saw Tidal, it hissed again before charging downwards. "Look out!" 

Tidal saw the beast coming and quickly kicked off the wall, the creature missing him as he swung upwards. 

He then let go of the rope and fell towards the gorgloff, the girls gasping as they watched. If the gorgloff moved, Tidal might fall to his head. 

But it didn't and he landed on its back, using the staff of his Lightsaber to hook around its neck.

The girls watched, as Tidal rode the gorgloff around. He pulled on his Lightsaber, forcing the beast to fly higher and higher until it was out of the gorge. There, Tidal tried to push it downwards. But this time, the beast wasn't listening and chose to do a barrel roll. 

Tidal hadn't been expecting this and found himself getting thrown off the beast, the Jedi falling towards the ground and crashing into it. His Lightsaber fell from his hand and by some miracle, it stopped right before it fell over the edge of the canyon. 

The gorgloff dived down, ready to bite off the head of the one that attacked it. But Twilight and Pinkie got between it, both holding up their weapons. Soon, the gorgloff found itself staring down a green energy blade and a long blue energy tendril. 

Pinkie gave her whip a few good cracks, the sound of thunder filling the air as it did. "Try to take control of it," Tidal told them. Twilight nodded and raised her hand, attempting to exert her will over the beast. 

"Calm down," she told it. But the gorgloff let out another hiss, clearly not listening to her commands. "Calm down!" She stated, a bit more forcefully. But the creature roared and charged right at her, Twilight screaming as her instincts took over. The next thing she knew, the beast was letting out a scream of pain as something fell off its body. 

Twilight gasped as she realised what she had done. 

Her Lightsaber had cut through its front leg and carved the end of it off, making the creature cry out in agony as it fell back. "What have I done?" The creature stopped flying and landed, attempting to stand. But the loss of part of its leg made it unable to properly balance and it almost fell over, the beast staggering around. "I'm sorry." 

The gorgloff hissed before rushing away, losing its balance a few times as it fell over the edge of the cliff. 

They gasped and ran over to it, but saw the beast flying away from the canyon. "No!" Twilight cried, as she turned to the leg end. She looked horrified, as if she was going to be sick. 

"Twilight," Pinkie placed a hand on her shoulder, "it's okay." 

"No it's not!" Twilight cried. "I hurt an innocent creature." She fell to her knees and looked down at her Lightsaber. She had always known how dangerous they were, but this was the first time she had ever used it to cause actual bodily harm. "Who knows what'll happen to it now." 

"Relax," Tidal told her. "Gorgloffs have incredible regenerative abilities. A small wound like that will likely heal in a week or two." Twilight frowned. That should have made her happy, but it didn't. "But we have a bigger issue. We couldn't control it." 

"Which means we can't make it stop so we can milk it," Twilight sighed. 

The others frowned. They might have time to find another gorgloff. They had to get this one, before it got away. But how could they, given the pain it was in and their inability to control it? 



Rarity and Ruby had still been checking their side of the canyon, when Tidal called them. 

"What's up?" Ruby asked, only for Tidal to explain everything that had happened. "That's not good," she frowned. "If it's in a state of pain and anger, it's no wonder you couldn't control it." 

"Why?" Rarity asked. 

"Gorgloffs barely make the cut for creatures we can manipulate with The Force. I'm willing to bet it's only manipulable when it's in a state of total calm. Getting angry, upset or scared is probably causing its most beastly sides to come out. And when it's in that state, its mind can't be controlled." 

"So we are going to have to fight it?" Rarity asked, with Ruby nodding. 

"Most likely. We'll need to subdue it. Tidal. The ship should have a tranquiliser gun in its storage. We'll have to dart it." 

"But won't that affect the quality of its milk?" Tidal asked. "We don't want to go to all that effort and end up with milk that can't cure the ill." 

"At this point, we might not have a choice." Ruby cut the call and told Rarity to hurry, the pair running down the canyon with the drone still searching for the gorgloff.



Back with the others, they had returned to the ship and Tidal was searching for the guns. 

At the same time, Twilight was simply sitting on the floor with her knees up to her chest. Pinkie saw this when she entered the section she was in and frowned, seeing Twilight wasn't doing so well. "Hey," she bounced over and sat beside her. "It's not your fault."

"If I hadn't cut that thing, it might not have flown off. We might have been able to catch it and still be able to control it. If we don't make it in time, it'll be my fault those people die." She looked close to tears. "Celestia trusted me and I've let her down." 

"It's not like it's the first time," Pinkie smiled before seeing a look on Twilight's face. "Wait. Is this the first time you've messed up on a mission?" Twilight frowned, but nodded. "Wow. Okay, wasn't expecting that. You must have been on tons of missions. Have you really never made a mistake on one?" 

"Of course not. I'm Celestia's student. If I fail, that means she failed. She's the Grand Master. She can only train the best of the best and...and that isn't me." She looked ready to start crying, only to hear Pinkie start to laugh. "What?" She looked up at her, outrage on her face. "What are you laughing at?" 

"Twilight. We're not supposed to do everything perfectly. Even Celestia isn't perfect." 

"Of course she is. She's the Grand Master." 

"Really? So, you wouldn't believe me if I told you I once passed Celestia when she had her robes inside out?" Twilight looked shocked by this, "or a story that Luna once told Trixie and me when we were on a mission. I won't go into all the details, but it includes Celestia, a parixian sand worm and two tons of cake frosting." Tidal chose this moment to walk in, carrying the dart guns. "Celestia isn't perfect. Nobody is. Not even the Grand Master." 

"She's right," Tidal nodded. "Everybody makes mistakes. It's the only way we truly learn." Twilight looked down, clearly not comfortable with the idea that she had to fail in order to learn. "When I was a Padawan, I went on a mission with Celestia. I made a serious error that caused the entire mission to almost fail. It was so mala, I feared I would be kicked out of the order. But you know what she told me?" Twilight shook her head, "wisdom is the name we give our mistakes." He smiled, "and who's the wisest Jedi you know?" 

"Celestia." 

"So what do you think that means?" 

Twilight thought about it. "I means...she's made a bunch of mistakes that she learned from?" 

"Exactly," Tidal nodded. "She didn't let her mistakes get the better of her and she was able to become the Grand Master because of what she learned. The question is, can you do the same. Or will you let this one mistake defeat you?" 

As Tidal and Pinkie ran out of the ship, Twilight let the words sink in. 

Was Celestia really not as perfect as Twilight thought she was? And did Twilight not have to be as perfect either? Ever since she was chosen as Celestia's Padawan, she had done whatever she could to prove she was worthy of the title. But maybe that had been her problem. 

Instead of trying to prove herself, Twilight needed to focus on what actually mattered. Getting the milk, even if she didn't look great whilst she did it. 

And as she opened her eyes and looked around, she spotted a bunch of rope that Pinkie had left behind. And as she stared at it, an idea formed in her head. It was a crazy idea, but it might just work. 



Tidal and Pinkie ran out the ship and Pinkie activated the drone, which she had once again tied around her waist. 

It pulled her into the air and she flew back towards the canyon, flying through it in search of any sign of the gorgloff. She moved the drone as fast as it could go, her eyes shifting from side to side scanning the surrounding environment. And when she heard a hissing noise, she looked ahead and saw the creature hanging off the side of the canyon. 

"There you are!" She cried, sending the drone towards it. 

The gorgloff turned to see her and let out an angry growl, then shot towards her. It seemed to be aiming for the drone, Pinkie quickly undoing the knot around her waist as she swung to the side. She flew away from the drone, seconds before it was bitten into by the creature. She then landed against the side of the canyon and let her rubbery body go squish against it before bouncing back, sending her flying towards the creature. 

"Wheeee!" She slammed into the beast and pushed it upwards, above the canyon where Tidal was waiting. 

He raised the dart gun and fired, the tranquilliser flying up towards the beast. However, the creature spun around at the last minute. Doing so caused its wing to hit the needle without being stabbed, knocking it away as it finally kicked Pinkie off of it. 

She fell towards the ground, Tidal rushing over to her. As she bounced off the ground, not getting hurt in the slightest, Tidal managed to get her by the leg before she could bounce up and be blown away by the wind. "This thing's good," he stated as he tried to load another dart. 

The gorgloff dived down, its mouth open as it tried to bite the pair's head off. 

Tidal and Pinkie both leapt to the side, Pinkie taking out her Light-Whip. But as she ignited it, the creature looked down at it and appeared to grow worried. As such, it flew up and up and up. "Turn it off," Tidal stated. "It's clearly not gonna get near us whilst we have the power to cut it to pieces." 

Pinkie frowned, but extinguished the whip before putting it away. The gorgloff stared at them, then dived down again. 

Tidal finally got the dart loaded and fired, but the creature's reflexes were amazing. It saw the dart coming and shifted its body, so that the projectile harmlessly flew past it. "Mierda!" He growled, attempting to load another dart. 

But the creature reached him and tried to stab him with its five remaining leg tips, causing him to leap back. But he landed on a small rock, which shifted and caused him to trip over and lose his gun. 

As he hit the ground, the gorgloff raised a leg to stab him in the chest. 

But before it could hit, a dome of light appeared around the creature and blocked the attack. The gorgloff pulled back at this, as Pinkie turned to see Ruby and Rarity running towards them. "You found it!" Ruby cried, her hand up as the gem on it glowed.

The gorgloff hissed in anger, as it tried again and again to break out of the dome. 

Ruby flinched, as she worked to keep the shield raised. "Master!" Rarity cried, "you can't keep a shield that strong up for so long. It's too much." 

"I have to try," Ruby began to pant. The others watched, as the gorgloff started flying around and smashing its body into the barrier. "It'll tire itself out." 

"Eventually," Rarity cried. "But there's no way you can last longer than it can." Ruby groaned, but kept fighting against the creature's constant barrage. But eventually, her barrier began to flicker and weaken. 

"No." The gorgloff slammed into the barrier at just the right moment, shattering it as it flickered and causing Ruby to stagger back. 

Rarity caught her, as blood trickled out the woman's nose. As she almost fell back, the gorgloff attempted to bite them again. Rarity pulled Ruby away, the feline Padawan taking out her Lightsaber. But when the beast saw it, it flew up and away from them.

"No," Tidal cried. He was about to run over and grab the dart gun. But before he could, he spotted something flying towards the gorgloff. "What?" 

The beast stared at the Jedi, as it flew as high as it could to get away from their bizarre weapons. But it was so focused on them, it didn't notice what was flying towards it. A bunch of ropes, which had been tied together in a way that they formed a bunch of lassos. 

Suddenly, two of the ropes looped themselves around its wings and forced them to stop flying. A third then tied them together, as the beast began to fall towards the ground. At the same time, three more ropes tied the legs together at the knees. The legs were crossed with the ones across from it, as one final rope tied itself around its neck. 

As the gorgloff drew closer to the ground, the ropes carefully pulled it upwards so it slowed without any whiplash hurting the creature. And eventually, it stopped right above the ground. 

The Jedi stared at it, wondering where the ropes had come from. 

They got their answer, when Twilight slowly walked towards them as she held her hands up. "Twilight!" Pinkie cheered, happy the girl had chosen to come and help them. "Was this you?" 

Twilight nodded. "I thought, if we just contained the creature, it would eventually tire itself out and be unable to fight back. The gorgloff kept struggling, roaring with rage. But the ropes were too strong and nothing it did allowed it to escape, the beast slowly beginning to tire itself out. 

And as it did, Twilight took a deep breath and reached out with her hand. "Calm down." The creature kept struggling, but it did seem to lose some steam. "Calm down," she repeated. More and more, the creature's fight lessened. And Twilight eventually placed a hand on its head. "Relax." Slowly, the gorgloff calmed down and eventually stopped thrashing around. "Good." 

The others smiled, as Tidal rushed back towards the ship. As he did, Twilight kept the gorgloff calm. 

As she did, she stared at the creature's severed leg. "I'm sorry," she told it. "I panicked and you got hurt because of it. There's nothing I can do to make it up to you. But I promise, I'll be more careful from now on." If the gorgloff understood her, it made no indication that it did.

After a few minutes, Tidal returned carrying a strange looking pumping device. 

He and Pinkie quickly got to work, securing the device to the creature. Twilight kept her focus on the creature's face, continuing to calm it whilst they worked to get the milk out of it. 

Rarity let out a disgusted cry, whatever Pinkie and Tidal were doing clearly making her uncomfortable. And eventually, they got what they had come for. "Eureka!" Tidal announced, holding up a single jar of the yellowish white liquid.

Ruby stared at it. "Are you sure that'll be enough?" 

"More than enough," Pinkie assured her. "There might even be some left over." Ruby looked impressed by this, whilst Twilight stared at the gorgloff. 

"Alright," she told it, "we have what we came for. Thank you. You have no idea how many people you're going to help." She turned to the others and once she was sure she could keep it under control, she nodded and they started undoing the rope holding the poor creature in place.

When the last rope was undone, the Jedi all carefully moved away from the creature. 

The gorgloff rolled back around, pushing itself onto its five healthy legs. It stood tall and opened its wings, Twilight doing her best to keep it calm. "That's it," she told it. "Stay calm. You can go home now. We won't bother you again." The creature continued to calmly beat its wings, a few hisses escaping its lips. 

Twilight worried the beast would attack. But then, the gorgloff gave its wings a single mighty flap as it leapt into the air. It took off and flew high into the sky, the Jedi watching it circle around them. They all kept a hand on their weapons, just in case the creature dived down to attack them again. 

But to their relief, the gorgloff turned away from them and flew off. They smiled as they watched it dive down into the canyon again, likely returning to its cave home. 

Everyone sighed in relief, Ruby stepping over to Twilight. "You did well." 

"Thanks," Twilight smiled, "but I still messed up." The others nodded, but hopefully Twilight wouldn't beat herself up over it too much. 

"Come on," Tidal told them. "We have to get this milk to the retrieval squad. Every second counts." They nodded and headed back towards the ship, Twilight stopping and glancing back at the canyon once again. 

She may never see the gorgloff again. But that creature would never be forgotten by her. She would always remember the pain she caused it and the lesson it taught her.



As soon as they left the planet, Tidal contacted the retrieval ship and was glad to hear the marooned group had been saved. 

They were in a bad state and needed the milk right away, the two ships determining a meet up point and heading there as fast as their hyperdrives would allow. As they flew there, Pinkie had taken out some equipment they had brought with them and was currently working on the milk. 

Twilight watched, as the rubber girl took a few drops of the milk and placed them in a device. She then pressed a few buttons and watched, as the machine did a test on said milk. "What are you doing?" Rarity asked, she and Ruby stepping into the area Pinkie had set up her mini lab. 

"Making sure the milk is actually curative," Pinkie replied as she checked the analysis of the substance. 

Twilight smiled, as she watched Pinkie do her work. Despite her cheerful nature and bouncy personality, Pinkie was a well trained member of the Medical Core. Twilight might have known a lot, but Pinkie and all the other Medical Jedi had her beat in this area. 

"Yup," Pinkie smiled. "We're good. The milk isn't just a cure for the radiation sickness, it's a great cure for it. I don't know what that gorgloff eats, but it's eating the perfect amount to make this stuff great." 

"That's good," Rarity nodded. "I would have hated to have gone through all that for nothing." 

Twilight nodded. "Though, I guess it wasn't for nothing. I did learn something from it. Something that I think is gonna help me a lot in the future." 

"Which is?" Ruby asked. 

"That doing something perfectly, isn't always the way to do something. And it's okay to make mistakes." They nodded at this, as Pinkie held up the milk jar. 

"Well there is something that needs doing perfectly. Getting this milk evenly distributed. Wanna help me measure out the exact quantity needed for each patient." Twilight smiled and stepped forward, happy to see her perfectionist tenancies still had some uses.  



When they finally met up with the retrieval ship, the patients were given the milk and soon were back on their feet. 

It took a while, but the radiation was completely neutralised by the substance. And by the time the two ships finally arrived at Canterlot, it was impossible to tell who had been standard on the dangerous planet and who hadn't. 

"Thank you," the captain of the crashed ship announced. "If it hadn't been for you, we would have all died."

"Happy to help," Tidal told him. As they talked, Twilight had asked to speak with Celestia off to the side. The two equestrians stepped off, Celestia looking curious. 

"What is it?" She asked, as Twilight sighed. 

"Master. I made a mistake on the mission. I ended up hurting the gorgloff and cutting off one of its legs. Tidal said the creature should recover, but I still messed up." 

"I see," Celestia looked a little concerned by this. "And do you think this mistake will help you grow as a Jedi?" Twilight nodded. "In what what?" 

"I've been in fights before, but never a real one with a living thing. Before, I've only fought in the training room or against droids. So I never had to worry about accidentally doing more damage than I intended. But that made me careless." 

"True," Celestia nodded. "If you allow yourself to relax when handling a dangerous weapon, then it won't be a matter of if you make a mistake with it. But when." Twilight nodded. "I think the two of us will need to look into helping you gain more control over your Lightsaber form. Perhaps it would be better if we didn't use the training room." 

"You mean...train with our real Lightsabers?" Twilight looked a little worried. "What if I accidentally hit you?" 

Celestia smiled. "Twilight. I'm three hundred and thirty three. Do you see any scars or missing limbs?" Twilight shook her head. "Exactly. I've been around a long time. You're more likely to spontaneously combust, than you are likely to hit me in a duel." 

Twilight smiled at this, nodding before another thought entered her head. "There's something else." Celestia raised an eyebrow. "I...I can't decipher the images you gave me. I'm sorry, but I'm completely stumped. There doesn't seem to be anything in the database that will help me decode the images that were on that temple." 

"I see," Celestia nodded. "That's disappointing." Twilight frowned, looking down in shame. "I meant disappointing that our system doesn't have the info we need. I know that if it did, you would have found it." Twilight smiled at this. "I know being my student can feel overwhelming at times. But just know, you will never have to worry about disappointing me. So long as you do what you can, that's all I'll ask of you." Twilight nodded, as Tidal stepped over to them. 

"Master Celestia. I think you'll want to hear this." The equestrians looked at him, curiously, then stepped over to the crew that had been saved. "Sorry about this. But can you tell us what happened to you again? How you ended up crashing like you did." 

"Okay," the captain nodded. "We were making our way through the Galtus Sector, when our ship came under attack." 

"Under attack from what?" Celestia asked, only for the pilot to hold out a circular device. 

"I managed to get an image of it before he escaped into hyperspace." The device projected a holographic image, which showed a large ship surrounded by smaller fighter ships. Whilst the smaller ships were once they all recognised, Twilight and Celestia recognised the bigger one as well. 

The smaller ones, were the same ships that had been on the planet the Sith had taken over. The same ship that Solara had used to escape in. But the larger ship, was the same one they had seen in Springer's memories.

"The Bug Troopers," Celestia realised. "What happened?" 

"I don't know," the pilot replied. "We were flying through an area I used as a shortcut, when they came out of nowhere and attacked. They tried to disable our engines, but got our weapons and life support systems instead. It's a miracle I was able to get into Hyperspeed, but the damage meant we couldn't be in it for very long." 

"Explaining why you had to make an emergency landing on that planet." Celestia frowned. This force had been a complete unknown until lately, but now they had shown up at two relatively close incidents. "Either they no longer care about being sneaky, or their operations have grown too big to hide. Either way, we need to figure out where they are and discover what they're after." 

"How?" Twilight asked, as Celestia tried to think.

"We're going to send some teams out there," Celestia announced. "If they attacked one small ship for entering that area, it must be important to them. So we're going to find out what's out there that's so important." The others nodded, also wanting to discover the secrets behind the insectoid assailants. And hopefully, they would also find the Sith that was responsible for their actions.  



The Galtus Sector

In deep space, the Bug Trooper's ship was flying through the system from planet to planet. 

Aboard the ship were the many armored insectoids, that were under the command of the one currently sitting in the central chair. And what was the most surprising part of the being in command, was that they weren't a being at all. 

Instead, they were some kind of droid. A mechanical humanoid, made entirely out of black metal. Lights flickered on his chest, whilst his head was a black metal helmet-like structure that was similar to Solara's helmet. Except whilst hers had two eye holes, this one had a single red visor running in a V-shape along the front of his head. And sticking out of his forehead, was a red metal horn. 

The droid stood up, stepping forward with an audible thud caused by each step. As he did, the black cape hanging from his shoulders shifted and allowed his belt to be seen. And hanging from it was a silver Lightsaber, with three trios of leather strips wrapped around it.

As he reached the front of the ship, he saw the Bug Troopers flying it and spoke up. His voice was robotic in nature, but still deep and commanding. "How much of the system have we scanned so far?" 

One of the Bug Troopers checked. "Twenty-five percent of the system has been scanned. So far, no results." 

The droid growled. "Double your efforts. I want the remaining seventy-five percent of the system scanned in the time it's taken you to scan that first twenty-five. We've already been compromised with this location. We can't afford to let anyone else find us." 

"Yes, Master Armalum." The droid turned away and sat back down, staring at the view screens showing the outside of the ship. He stared out into the vast emptiness of space, waiting for the moment his troops would give him the answer he was waiting for. 

"There's a vein of it here. I can feel it." He placed a hand on his chest, as the light there blinked more rapidly. "Once we find it, we'll be one step closer to Sombra's goal."