The next day, Flurry wandered around the main temple base, searching for Sunset Shimmer's office to speak with her again. She passed by the usual slew of Rebel officers, some who gave her a few nods as she went along. She did see a few battle droids here and there, and she gave them a wave as she went along.
She knocked on the door to her office, waiting for an answer. No sound of footsteps could be heard coming to the door, so she pressed the button to slide it open. Looking around, she could see the inside of her office, something that not many people got to see, she always sheltered herself in here whenever she needed to be alone.
To her surprise, Flurry saw the general having fallen asleep at her desk, exhausted on top of everything else. Flurry felt a bit guilty for breaking in without permission, but then she realized. Sunset wasn't awake right now. Maybe it wouldn't hurt to look around for a little bit? Maybe not for personal information, but at the very least maybe she had some memorabilia to hold onto that would be nice to look at.
Sitting on one of the tables, she saw a few framed photographs standing upright. One showed her and the Mane Council in a group photograph, and next to Sunset's side was Twilight Sparkle herself, her auntie. Her smile looked as if it could warm even the gloomiest of days, lavender skin with dark purple hair, with a visible magenta streak. Her classic Jedi robes bared her cutie mark; a mark of a sparkling star Flurry smiled as she brushed the dust off her auntie's face. She looked so happy to be with Sunset and the others... she could barely remember what she had looked like, and there was a photo of her right there.
The next few photos seemed fairly basic; one was taken with a few clone troopers in the early days of the war; in Phase I helmets. Another picture showed her and a clone commander with the standard kama and pauldron. Looking to her right, she saw a few items on the wall that were hung up for display. A guitar, kept in pristine condition, hung nicely. In a glass display, was an orange geode necklace, shimmering with her cutie mark. Tickets for old carnival games. A cowgirl hat in black. A paper cup holding a logo of two pony silhouettes that looked peaceful in a harmonious motion. An old driver's license attached to some keys.
She had to admit, she couldn't help but smile. She didn't know what any of this junk meant, but it was still so cool to see. And in the corner, she saw something that was oddly shaped, hidden under a tarp. Walking over, she gently pulled the tarp down, revealing what was underneath; a mannequin holding a clone trooper suit up. It bared quite a striking resemblance to the trooper that was in one of the photographs...
"Find anything?"
"Eeep!"
Flurry turned around, looking at Sunset standing there, with a hand on her hip.
"I-I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to intrude, but you were asleep, I was going to wait until you woke up, but I, just, I um..."
"If you wanted to talk, you could have just shaken me, I don't jump so easily," Sunset reminded. "And I'd also appreciate you not snooping through my stuff."
Moving around her, Sunset grabbed the tarp and put it back over the clone trooper.
"I... I'm sorry," Flurry apologized. "I-I'll just leave, you don't have to--"
"--Now, hold on, I'm not mad at you," Sunset stopped her. "I'm awake, what do you need to talk about?"
Flurry looked back at the tarp for a second before looking to her. "D... Did that belong to one of your troopers?"
Sunset paused before coming up with her response. "Yes. Yes it did," she looked back at it. "He was the last person who tried to kill me after Order 66 came through. I don't even think most of his body survived the explosion when it happened," she shook her head. "I took what I could... don't even know why I kept it, the last thing I remembered was him trying to murder me, and yet... I still have it."
Flurry took two steps back, realizing the wounds she had opened up. Looking around, she tried to think of something, anything to turn the conversation around--
"--Flurry, I can tell something is bugging you, just tell me," Sunset said, this time approaching more softly.
“I… haven’t been sleeping very well,” Flurry admitted. “Every time I try to get some rest all I can see is just her. She’s everywhere, she haunts me in the mess halls, the shop, in my room, I can’t even wash my face in the middle of the night without seeing her. I think I’m going crazy, I… It sounds nuts, I know—”
“—No, no, that is not crazy,” Sunset reassured. “Honestly, I get it. She haunted me for the longest time when I was younger.”
Flurry perked up. “O-Oh. Well… how did you get over it?”
The general sighed. “I’m not entirely sure about that, kiddo. To be honest I’m not even sure if I’ve moved on or not.”
The teen waited for a followup on Sunset’s statement, but got none. Wanting to continue, she spoke some more.
“Well, um… I encountered Midnight again, last night,” Flurry admitted. “I had another nightmare, I went to go wash my face, and she showed up again. I thought she was real, but every time I looked behind me, I saw she wasn’t there only for her to get inches closer to me every time I saw my reflection. And she gave me a warning, she said “I can’t wait to meet you, Flurry Heart”, and… she was just gone.”
Sunset’s face paled and she was stiff. Her eyes looked at the teen, her voice shaking slightly, but not saying anything.
“Um… Sunset, are you sure you’re ok? If I can’t bring it up with you, and I can’t bring it up with mama, then…” Flurry stopped. She hadn’t thought about it before, but her brain made a click in her head. She paced for a second, and then looked at the general, rather inquisitively.
“You know something, don’t you?”
“I-wa…” Sunset snapped out of it. “S-Sorry, I think I had another flashback. W-What were we talking about?”
“Do not play that with me,” Flurry glared. “You know something about Midnight Sparkle, don’t you?”
“I know just as much as you do, Flurry,” Sunset said, rather matter-of-factly.
“Then why is it every time I try to ask for more, you just dodge the subject all together? And it’s not just you. Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Rarity, my own mama, Spike, and even you keep avoiding the subject all together, why are you so afraid to talk about it with me?”
“Flurry, there is some information that is of need to know. Frankly, you are not in the need to know,” Sunset brushed aside. She was about to set out the door to try and end the topic—
--Until the doors were closed shut by Flurry herself, using the Force. The teen looked at Sunset with a little more anger starting to boil.
“Sunset. Why are you scared to talk about Midnight Sparkle?”
“I am not scared,” Sunset defended.
Flurry eyed Sunset’s body movements. Her hand was shaking slightly, her eyes were not focusing on Flurry for half of that statement, and the lack of confidence in her voice spoke volumes.
“Midnight Sparkle has some kind of personal connection to you, doesn’t she? Is a sister, your mom? Auntie?” Flurry asked.
“She doesn’t have any familial relation to me,” Sunset explained, getting increasingly annoyed. “Now can you please step—”
“—You were up front about who she was when we first met. But any other time I try to talk to you about her, you freeze up. I don’t mean to cause you any kind of trauma, I really don’t,” Flurry said, sympathetically. “But I just want something confirmed so I can move on; how do you know Midnight?”
Sunset sighed for a moment as she turned around. She scrunched her face with her hands, trying to find a way to talk this out but without telling her the truth. She was digging closer and closer, there wasn’t any possible way for her to avoid this conversation, especially if Flurry was going to get a little stronger in her tactics.
“… Okay. Since you won’t leave unless I tell you, I’ll spill it. Midnight… she was an old friend,” Sunset began. She leaned against the briefing table, head limp and staring down at the console, deep in thought. “She, along with Twilight, were the only friends I had when I was first enrolled in the Jedi Temple. Everyone hated me, but those two were the only people, along with Rainbow, AJ, and the others who gave me a chance. I trusted Midnight with everything, just as much as your aunt, Twilight.”
Her voice shook a little as she tried to breathe, desperately trying not to break down at the talk. Flurry could only pat her shoulder with what help she could muster.
“But… I don’t know what motivated her to just up and turn. She took everything we built together, our entire friendship, and just threw it all away,” she continued, this time with a little bit of seethe. Her sorrow eyes turned to anger, and her fists clenched up against the table’s console. “She destroyed an entire temple, murdered thousands of younglings and friends I loved, brainwashed the clones to kill Jedi across the galaxy, and committed an undisputable amount of war crimes that go against everything we stood for! We were blind, we were arrogant to what we had done, but we never threw away what we stood for! She made the galaxy worse than it already was, and it took an entire genocide and a decade’s worth of tyrannical rule to make me realize how AWFUL I am!”
She stopped talking for a moment, still reeling in the anger and sadness she was pouring out onto this child. She looked at Flurry, one tear coming down her face, making Flurry feel even worse for asking. But the teen could only stand there, inquisitively. Clenched fists, shaking voice, more visceral reaction talking about both her and Twilight.
“… I’m sorry,” Flurry weakly replied. “And… I’m sorry for asking this. But I’ve been thinking about this for a long time, and right now, I’ve been thinking about it more and more. When you fought her in the final days of the war… exactly, how did she die?”
Sunset’s voice still shook, but she did manage to calm herself enough for a few more words. “Midnight killed her… Midnight killed any chance she had of living a full life, and she took the friend I cared for. She’s gone because of her… and I should have been there to save her.”
Now Flurry’s curiosity was growing. But as she thought some more, she had a small epiphany.
“You know what I think?”
Sunset sniffled as she tried to wipe her face clean. But when she looked back, she could see the gears turning in her head. That look of worry had melted away, and started to turn to revelation, mixed with some anger. Sunset started to feel sweat run down her head. This couldn’t have been happening, how could Flurry be figuring this out? She didn’t say or do anything to give the truth away, could she? She kept that information locked down tight!
“You know what I think?” Flurry asked once again.
Sunset, still trying her best, kept a neutral face. “No. No I don’t.”
Flurry could hear it in Sunset’s voice that she was lying. But she didn’t speak it. Instead, she shook her again with an angry glare, and then turned around, walking out of the map room. Sunset half-expected her to yell or scream at her, followed by her running out of the room in a fit of rage. But there wasn’t any reaction, just a neutral face that mixed with anger and disappointment, cancelling both negative emotions out.
Worried, Sunset left the room as well to try and find her. Somehow in the span of a few seconds, Flurry made much more distance than her, even if the hallways were narrow. Speed-walking, she looked around anxiously, worried where she could have gone. Maybe to her room on the ship? That would probably be the best course of action, maybe she just needed to let out her anger on something to punch or slash, yes, that was it. Or at least, Sunset hoped that was the case.
As she took the elevator down, she tapped her foot on the floor with a new high of anxiety, nonstop.
“Come on, come on, come on, come on, why do these things have to be so slow!?” Sunset worried.
Just then, a small signal went off on her comm device. Tapping the button, she heard a man on the other end talking to her.
“Uh General Shimmer, I think you may want to come out here.”
“Can it wait?”
“No ma’am, we need help with a bit of a problem…” Just then on the other end, there was a loud burst of power blaring. “Ok, a big problem… OKAY PLEASE GET DOWN HERE!”
The elevator opened up, and Sunset’s speedwalk turned into a charging run, trying to get to wherever her help was needed.
“What is so important that you need me right now?”
“Is the Sweetie Drop scheduled to go anywhere?”
“No, why?”
“Well… someone’s prepping the engines and getting ready to leave.”
Sunset swore she heard shatter glass. “WHAT!?”
The general quickly made it to the tarmac, running towards the family’s ship which had closed the ramp behind it, sealing it from oxygen leak. The Sweetie Drop was quiet for a few moments, but Sunset’s worst fears appeared before her eyes. The engines started to purr with life, shaking the ship as it was getting ready to leave.
Several crew members that were nearby quickly got out of the way to clear the area where the ship was going to launch. Sunset wanted to use the Force and just yank the ship down, but that ship was more than she could pull. She was strong, but not enough. Not even the story of how Ahsoka used the Force to try and prevent a Republic shuttle from leaving would give her confidence to stop it.
The ship launched towards the skies, leaving a terrified Sunset who couldn’t do anything but just stand there and watch it leave. No other options available, she raised her comm device on her wrist and spoke.
“Flurry, get back here!”
“No Sunset. This is something I have to do for myself!”
“Flurry, this can be discussed over here and not in space! What will your mama say?”
“She’ll be pissed, but you know what, so am I! I’m going out there! And I'm also going to get Mom’s lightsaber back, it doesn't belong to her! And don’t try to stop me!”
Sunset sighed and groaned louder than before. She was handling this horribly, where the hell was Bon Bon when she needed her?
“Flurry… I swear to God, if you don’t turn that ship around, I’m sending out the tugs and hauling you back here,” Sunset growled quietly.
“I’m sorry Sunset. You can ground me forever when you find me, but I'm getting the truth even if you won't."
The ship's engines purred loudly, just out of range of the tugs. And in a few seconds, the ship jumped into hyperspace, forcing the tugs to break off their plan and fly in opposite directions.
"General, the ship jumped away before we could magnetize," one of the tugs reported.
Sunset's eye twitched. Her heart started to beat more erratically, and she slumped to her knees, trying to hold onto her chest. She felt her heart was about to jump out or explode, and she needed to calm down. Ringing hit her ears as she looked up into the sky, seeing no trace of the ship left and her breathing started to shake. The worst possible scenarios started to play all at once in her head, making her almost on the verge of breaking.
But after taking a moment to calmly breathe, she looked back up, seeing a few concerned engineers looking at her, offering her a hand. She took their hands, getting back up on her feet before silently nodding to them that no other concerns were to be had. Reaching for her comms, she spoke to a private channel, reaching the monitoring rooms.
"All units, find and track the Sweetie Drop. The tracking signal should still be on it, we need to find it and bring it back home. If Bon Bon asks where it is, tell her I sent Flurry out on a supply mission," Sunset spoke into her comms.
"But General, shouldn't we--"
"--I'll tell her later. Right now, this is my responsibility," Sunset interrupted, following it up with a sigh. She held onto a wall, feeling a raging headache start to loom over her as she stared at the ground, tears welling in her eyes. "What have I done...?"
The Sweetie Drop jumped out of hyperspace in the middle of empty space for a moment or two. Inside the cockpit, Flurry flipped several switches and controls, making sure she still had enough power to keep going. What Flurry failed to realize or even think about was where Midnight Sparkle would be. There were several Imperial worlds and occupied planets in the galaxy, but none of them really would have made the specific main base.
Laying back in her chair, she scrunched her face with her palms. What have I gotten myself into? Maybe Sunset was right, I shouldn't have... no. No, she knows something. They all do, and they wouldn't tell me. If they won't, I'll find out myself, no turning back.
For a brief moment, she thought of turning the ship to Bracca, maybe going to see her friends would do her good. She hadn't seen them in a long time, maybe it would be good to reunite with them again. Maybe they would actually give her the support she needed...
Her train of thought came to a halt when a sound entered her ear behind her. The door that connected the cockpit to the main halls of the ship opened. No droids were turned on; IG-11 and Cheep were not on board, and she knew G-G was with Team Six on Bracca. The heeled boots walking in made her freeze, but she quietly reached for the blaster tucked underneath the control console.
“You cannot fight Darth Midnight by yourself, you’ll only get yourself killed. And while the Rebels may not like me, I am not about to let you do something stupid.”
Recognizing the voice made Flurry relax, turning around to look at her stowaway. “You’re not getting me to turn this ship around.”
“I know. That’s why I’m joining you,” Adagio said straightforwardly, sitting in the co-pilot seat.
“What? No, no, no, this is my mission, this is something I need to do.”
“Oh yes, a grief-stricken teenager with barebones knowledge of the Force and Jedi training against the Dark Side overlord of the Galactic Empire. I'm sure that will go just smoothly," Adagio drawled, sarcasm practically oozing from every word.
Flurry had run out of patience and in a complete 180, she whipped out the blaster and pointed it at Adagio. She didn’t even hesitate; knowing the Siren’s history that had been repeated over and over by the time they had met.
“… That’s new.”
“Do you want me to shove you in the carbonite chambers? My mama did not have that for show,” Flurry threatened.
Adagio was rather surprised, and impressed by her boldness. Chuckling quietly, she pushed Flurry’s gun to the side without so much as a smidge of hesitation. “Listen. I get it. You’re mad. You want to exact revenge for your mother’s death. You have all of this anger flowing inside you, this rage and pain that’s just mixing inside, waiting to be released, waiting for that moment where you finally get it all out… I get it. But you cannot just charge in without a plan. Do you even know where her base is?”
Flurry raised a finger, looking deep into space without any emotion on her face. And then her finger drooped. “… I did not think this plan through.”
The Siren chuckled. “Well, luckily you have someone who can help you. As a former Sith apprentice, I know a thing or two about how the Sith think. If you’re going to look for them, they won’t be on any common world.”
"Hold on; why are you so adamant on helping me?" Flurry stopped, raising her blaster again. "How can I trust you?"
Adagio stopped for a moment, and looked at her dead in the eyes. "I can't stop you from your mission. I also can't get you to turn around, I have no lightsaber on my person, and you can easily kill me. I am however going to help you because you need a second set of eyes and ears for someone to listen to, and to plan your investigation. I'm on thin ice with your family enough as it is.. but the way I see it, I have no choice. I either help you... or I die."
Flurry wasn't sure what to say. Adagio was at a crossroads here, she had no real win in this scenario. And there was some perk in her eyes having someone who was going to help her here.
"... okay, if you're serious about helping me; answer me this then. If you used to be a Sith, and this is for a hypothetical scenario, if you wanted total control of the universe, where would you hide your base?"
"Personally, I would want something beautiful that can be used for isolation, far from anyone in the galaxy. Your mother’s friend Derpy, while not a Sith, made a smart move by moving her home onto Ajan Kloss; out of the way, and not a popular place to visit for some people. But, we are talking about the Empire; beauty is always raped whenever their hands touch it. The Sith however, depending on each person next in line has a different mindset of a world.”
“How?” Flurry asked, putting the ship in auto-pilot mode.
“Well, I know the legendary Palpatine once used Mustafar as a base for supposed experiments, even had a pupil who once used that world to keep a fortress there. Another supposed legend, Darth Maul, originated from Dathomir, and that became his home until the day he allegedly died. But if I was in Midnight’s shoes, I’d place it somewhere where no one would expect. A planet devoid of any life, and has nothing but scary atmosphere for every rotation,” Adagio said, rather sincerely.
“Where would that be?”
“Hard to say. The Sith did dominate a few worlds; Korriban, Moraband, Malachor…” Adagio stopped. "Flurry. You have no reason to trust me. But can you, for this one time, trust my instincts?"
"If you're serious about helping me, I'll give you this chance. Why?" Flurry raised a brow.
"Because... I just realized where they're hiding," Adagio tapped a set of coordinates into the ship's computer. The engines started to prime for a jump, ready to go. And before they made the jump, Adagio said only one word, whispered in her classic, quiet, but ominous tone.
“Exegol.”