For thousands of years the civilizations of Myth have thought they lived alone in the wide span of the galaxy, but it wouldn't be long until they will be proven wrong. Discovered by the Galactic Republic, the Jedi Order assigned Jedi Master Sousis Stormjumper to investigate the planet. After her first report to the Senate the Republic found the world too unstable for it to join their ranks.

Unsatisfied with the Senate's decision, Sousis remained on world to do what she can to increase it's odds to turn the eyes of the Senate. Her long journey lasted twenty years under the disguise as a traveler going around the world. She studies the cultures of the world while perfectly blending in with the population with her being a dragon. After careful consideration, she convinced Princess Celestia to hold a peace conference to form a new world order under one rule.

From what it seemed like a lost cause, the successful conference resulted in naming Shining Armor and Mi-Amore-Cadenza High King and High Queen of Myth. Not long after the conference the Jedi revealedher true identity to the newly named royalty and brings the Republic before them. Excited by their new discovery and possible potential they join the Republic and become bound by it's law. Two years later the Jedi Order suspects the newly born prince of Myth to be a force-sensitive. Now Master Stormjumper is on her way back to Myth to retrieve the prince and begin his training as a Jedi.....

Far above the lush green planet of Myth, trade and cargo ships orbited a near by space station under construction. Another ship came into the space from a jump into hyperspace. It was a Nu-class shuttle with the Galactic Republic's logo on the sides. Inside the cockpit was a human male piloting the ship with a tall, adolescent dragon, in light gray and tan robes, sitting in the co-pilot seat.

"Quiet the beauty isn't it?" She grinned with joy, enjoying the beautiful view as well.

"Yeah, all I can see is green and blue down there. Looking at it now, its hard to believe this place wasn't on the star charts not even a decade ago. You're the one who discovered this place?"

"Correct. I'd rather not get into detail about how or why I stumbled upon this planet, its a long story."

"To the capital." She answered, pointing in the general direction where the capital is.

He was quick to enter the coordinates and took the controls again, "Right away."

The pilot brought the ship down to it's descent into Myth's atmosphere; the ship's view cleared though the clouds as cities stared to emerge. Anyone who lived here definitely witnessed the global industrialization they were currently going through. From stone and wooden houses to steel an sturdy homes. A few large sky scrappers pierced the sky with a couple more still under construction. Beautiful architecture of the streets most of cities built all while keeping the destruction of natural land at the very bare minimum. The more the dragon saw all of this the more proud she was of getting this planet noticed by the Republic.

"The fruits of your labor I see, Master Sousis." Yoda slowly entered the cockpit from the back.

"I won't take credit for of it Master Yoda. I'll have to give it to the Mythians though, they work pretty fast."

"We're coming up onto the capital ma'am; the Crystal region is it?", the pilot alerted the Jedi.

Without another word the pilot guided the shuttle through the small amounts of traffic that was present and found the nearest spaceport. Once he got permission to land from the spaceport tower he set the craft down in a empty spot in the port next to a few other ships.

Sousis was first of the shuttle with Yoda slowly following behind. They took a whiff of the sweet air, "This planet smells even nicer than the first time I was here."

Sousis bright smiled flipped upside down when Yoda reminded them of their task. She walked along side him, revealing her preference as a quad walker. "Right um... the youngling..."

"I've never had to retrieve a youngling from it's parents before. I know it's harder for the parents than it is for the Jedi to witness it most of the time. In this case however, I feel I might be one of the exceptions."

"I've gotten to know the king and queen personally over these last couple years. I'm nowhere near attached, but I do somewhat fear what they'll have to go through when I have to take their only child away..."

The elder lifted his cane and tapped his head. "Think too hard about this you do. Stay focused you must. Come to understand they will in due time."

"Y-yes Master Yoda." But despite the wise master's words she couldn't but the thoughts past her.

The Crystal Palace was still stood regal and shining as ever over the modernized buildings that rose around it. The palace was was also one of the few building left that hasn't been touched by the current industrialization; per request of the king and queen.

At least that's what the exterior looked like. The interior however has definitely used some of the new technology given to them with automatic security doors to surveillance cameras. Even the guards have received upgrades with armor that looked mostly like the old ones but made with better materials and offered more protection. Their old lances and swords replaced with vibrolances and vibroswords with other sorts of appropriate weaponry.

On the upper floor of the palace held the royal chambers. Each chamber could be recognized by the cutie mark on the door, but one chamber had a blank door with two guards posted at the door. Behind that door was three ponies; two of them were Shining Armor and Cadence huddled up together near a play pen. At that moment it seemed like they couldn't be any happier. The third pony however was a little pegasus colt, their very own son, Etude Encore.

The prince's coat was a slight dark shade of grape with his legs turning white going downward. His eyes matched the color of his mother's but had the integrity of his father's. Cadence held him in her forelegs with Shining Armor nuzzling close to his son he proud to have. The prince only looked at his parent's blankly as he sucked on his hoof.

"Don't leave him starving now. he's a growing-" The knock on the door cut Shining off before he could finish. "You can come in."

The knocker acknowledged his permission given and opened the door to their room with a blue blast shield still in the way. The pony behind the shield was one of the door guards.

"Oh, one of them must be Sousis then. Don't leave them waiting, please invite them in immediately." Cadence ordered in a light chipper tone.

"Right away your majesty." The guard quickly closed the door and left the royal family to their business.

Cadence got up from the floor and gently laid her child in the play pin. "We haven't seen her in person in the last couple years now haven't we? I can't wait to talk to her again and do some catching up. She was always quite silly when she wasn't serious."

Shining Armor got up after her and headed for the door. "Maybe she's here to see how things are going, after all she was the one to bring us this far." When he went to open the door the Jedi were already on the other side waiting. "And look who it is.", Shining Armor grind as he lowered the shield with his magic.

It took Shining a second to realize Yoda was speaking basic and remembered the language classes he had to take. "Hello to you Jedi Master... Yoda was it?"

"See? Told you basic wasn't so hard to learn.", the dragon chuckled reverting to basic as well.

"Sousis!" Cadence came trotting to the door. "It's so good to see you again." The pony gave her a friendly hug with Sousis returning it without hesitation.

"Well considering we're not trapped in a meeting room full of grumpy politicians, I'd say I am a bit 'peppier'." She giggled.

"We were about to head out of this room to somewhere more suitable before you came." Shining armor stated.

The ponies left the doorway back to the play pin with the Jedi following in. Cadence picked up her son and presented him to them.

"We only got him to say a few words so far, but he's a fast learner. He's not too far from forming complete phrases and sentences." Shining Armor proudly said of his son.

"You two have such a wonderful child." Sousis complemented them with fake smile that was difficult to keep up. The guilt of what she was going to do was eating away at her.

"Thank you, I'm very proud to have a special pony like him." The mother kissed Etude on the forehead with him giggling in response.

Yoda and Sousis both looked at each other, suspecting what they could be talking about.

"Yeah, just watch." Shining Armor took hold of him and placed him on the floor. He went into his play pen and grab of his toys and placed it right next to the prince. "Wanna play?"

Etude was more than excited to play with his daddy and giggled fanatically. When he reached out for the toy, but he didn't grab it with his hooves, the toy was being lifted by a invisible force. Without any type of warning however, Etude launched the toy at his dad's head.

The colt bleeped and giggled at his father's expense, then picked up the toy again with the mysterious force and fooled around with it. "Daddy! Hehehehe!"

"I know right! It's like he's able to use magic without a horn. My sister researched everything that could possible let him do this but she wasn't able to find anything."

Then she wasn't looking hard enough... She thankfully left that in her own thoughts. "Shining... Cadence. May I have a word with you two for just a minute?"

The royalty and the dragon all left the room alone with the elder and the child. Etude stared at the old green man with great curiosity. Never has he seen anyone that wasn't a pony before now. Yoda slowly approached the colt and placed a hand on his forehead. He closed his eyes and examined the child closely with the Force.

The guards sidestepped from the door when it opened letting the ponies and dragon pass.

"You may leave us for the time being, we'd like to be alone." Cadence politely told the guards.

"As you say Queen Cadence." Both of the guards left the hallway, relieved of their duties for the time being. "Now then Sousis, what was it you wanted to say to us?"

The Jedi looked down at the ground for a moment, gathering her courage to break to good parent's hearts. "Um... I have some news for you two. Etude isn't using using any type of magic at all..."

"Huh? But if all that stuff isn't magic, then what is it?" Shining Armor asked with the confused look he shared with his wife.

Neither of them had a response. Only a mouth dropped to the ground and eyes bulging in shock was what they were able to offer before any actual words. "...Wow. Y-you're being serious right? Etude can use the force... just like you?" Cadence asked.

"Ha... that'... that's terrific! I knew our son was special! There was no doubt about it!" The couple came together and bear hugged each other, pouring every inch of happiness into it.

Unbeknownst to them, they were only making things worse for the poor dragon. Every second that went by only made her guilt trip much worse. Clearly they didn't know why she was here. Apparently the memo didn't reach Myth yet. "It is quite the honor you two..."

The ponies let go of their loving hug and gleamed at Sousis with huge smiles plastered on their faces. "The Jedi will take him for training right!?" The proud father asked excitingly.

"That's just great!" Cadence chirped non-sarcastically. "When will he begin his training?"

"Oh... well I mean... I would say he's a little too young to be trained right now, but if the Jedi knows what's best, then so be it I guess. We do have a study room if you need a place to teach him in private" Shining Armor kept a smile on.

That was practically the nail in the coffin for Sousis. She knew exactly what was coming next. "I'm afraid I must turn down you're offer... he won't be staying here."

Sousis knew the stuttering in Cadence's voice showed that she knew what the Jedi's intentions are, she did her best to dance around it. "I'm sorry you two... I'm really sorry. Etude can't be trained here. He will have to come with us to the temple on Coruscant. Only there will his full potential be realized."

"But why? Why can't he just stay here where he's close to family?" The concerned father asked.

"I don't make the rules, I only follow them. During his training Etude will have to be removed from any elements he can grow attached too. Mainly... family."

Just as Sousis predicted, Shining was starting to get pissed. "That doesn't make any sense! You're telling me you're taking our son away because he'll be close to his family!?"

Cadence had to hold him back before he got into Sousis' face. "Please honey, calm down!"

Sousis sighed internally. Non Force-Sensitives never understood the potential dangers that came with just wielding the force in general. "For the short answer... yes. It's hard to explain to you the dangers that your son is already vulnerable too. There are those who would rather use your son for darker intentions. Some would rather have you son dead right now if they were to find out he had a connection to the Force."

"Which is why we have the royal guard for a reason! No one is going to harm him without a fight!"

"No Cadence. I'm not going to sit here while they take our only son away just because he has a certain ability! Not even a decade had we been in the Republic and already they're taking what's ours!"

And here it was, the main conflict Sousis' anticipated. This must be a pain for the Jedi who retrieve younglings. She knew she had to dissolve this situation quickly or else not only would the order lose a potential member, but the Republic could lose a potential ally, the ones she spent twenty years getting into their good graces, and she didn't need of that blame placed on her. "Again, I'm truly sorry about this. I'm not here to tear your family apart, but I am here for what is best for your son. If he was born with this gift then he should be able to learn how to use it wisely. For all you know your son could be the next hero to end wars that start and stop further wars from starting. We raise peacekeepers, not soldiers. Your son would be in good hands. Besides, it's not like he won't be able to come back."

"He'll... be able to come back?" Shining Armor asked as he was returning to his senses.

"If he wishes to walk away from the order to be with you, he would be permitted to do so. Jedi are not forced to stay among us. Any of use may peacefully leave the order at any time. If however he decides to stay, he will still be able to come back at a certain point when he is ready to gain that freedom. I must inform you though that contact with him is not allowed..."

Shining looked down on his wife, looking for answers in her eyes. "I don't know what to do... on one hoof we keep him here but never allow him to use his talents and possibly become a target for assassins, or let him go with the Jedi and miss him growing up. What do we do Cadence?"

"...Maybe it's best for him to learn at the temple. It's no different than forcing a pegasus to stay on the ground or constricting a unicorn from magic or never letting an earth pony run free. We all use what we're born with to fulfill our roles and preform our talents each and every day. If Etude was born with the force to become a peacekeeper and use his talents where they're best suited, then should we really stop him?"

"Always the voice of reasoning Cadence..." The stallion chuckled as he nuzzled her. "Maybe you're right. It will hurt to see Etude go so soon and I regret every second I didn't spend time with him, but if you're willing to let them train him then I'll trust your decision. Sousis."

"We're already prepared to take him right now, but I can convenience Master Yoda to give you one more day with Etude."

The door from the room opened up with the colt floating above Yoda's hand. "Use your time wisely, you should."

"Thank you Master Jedi, I'll take your advice into consideration." Sousis' was put off at the way he smiled at Yoda, it was definitely not a genuine one. Shining took hold of his son with magic and placed him in Cadence's care. "If you two would, we'd like to spend that time starting now."

The parents went back into the room with the sound of the door locking. The Jedi walked down the hallway back where they came from.

Most of the palace rested during the middle of the night with the active guards patrolling the empty halls, or so that was to be believed. The king paced around in his chamber with his wife, seemingly waiting for someone or something to arrive or appear.

"Ugh... where is he? He was suppose to be here by now." The frustrated Shining Armor grumbled.

"Maybe it's best we if didn't go through with this. I don't want Etude to get in trouble in the future because of this."

"Please Cadence, just let me have this. I'll never be able to rest at night if this doesn't work." His prayers were finally answered when a knock tapped the door quietly. "Come in." He matched the volume of the knock.

A lone guard pony opened the door upon getting permission. He wasn't a crystal ponies like the other guards, this pegasus was tangy orange with a blue mane and tail.

"Sorry your majesty, I was caught up in other stuff. You said you had a special assignment for me?"

"Flash, it's best if you just go to bed. Don't worry about Shining, he's just being a bit emotional right now." Cadence tried her best to end this plan before it began.

Flash was already confused at this point. He was just given two completely opposite orders from both of the highest authorities that had the same amount of power. "Um... I'll hear what you have to say me king."

Cadence rolled her eyes and groaned knowing the fact Shining Armor will get his way.

"I have a very special assignment for you Flash, but keep in mind this is optional. I won't force you to accept it and I'll understand if you don't. Not many ponies I can entrust with something like this, but maybe you're just the one for the job. We'll pay as much bits as-"

"You get what I mean... like I was saying. You can choose to take this mission if you wish Flash, but if you do I can't guarantee you'll come back alive."

Flash gulped at the sound of that. This probably could be either the most dangerous mission possible or the most important. Probably even both. Either way he was already feeling the pressure to what this mission could be.

The next day came too early for the king and queen. Just the thought of letting go of their son so soon, way before he was of age, was beyond them. Little Etude was strapped to Cadence's back in a comfortable blanket, snoozing with no care in the world. The family was being escorted to their destination by two guards flanking each side and Flash Sentry taking the lead. Their method of travel was on hoof, the parents truly meant it when they said they wanted to spend every second they could with their son.

Every step closer they took towards the starport shattered their hearts little by little. Even the guards felt sorrow for the prince having to leave, but they knew they weren't allowed to show it. Not on duty at least. Despite their slow pace of walking the inevitable had finally come; inside the port awaited the Jedi's shuttle with said Jedi waiting next to it.

Sousis greeted them and bowed respectfully. "Your Majesties. Is Etude ready to depart?"

It was a ironic question to ask. A better question was, were they ready to depart from Etude? The obvious question would be a definite no, but that wasn't the answer that was given.

"As ready as he'll ever be...", the heart broken mother answered sadly. She used her magic to unstrap the foal from her back and into the gentle care of her forelegs. She cradled her only son loving with Shining Armor sitting close with them, enjoying their last moments together. The guards couldn't believe this was how this is going to end, was this even legal? To rip a child from two caring parents just so the child could be subjugated to some alien cult? Their job was to protect the royal blood, not let it get sent away to some far away world where they could be killed. Despite them being powerless to do anything to stop this, they knew they couldn't voice their opinion anyway.

Cadence and Shining were doing their absolute best not to tear up in front of everyone. If they were going to let their son go they were going to do it with dignity. "Here, take him. All we ask from you is to give him a good life and raise him to be a gentlestallion. He deserves the best.", Cadence choked a bit on her words.

"You have my solemn word Cadence.", Sousis nodded. The queen finally stopped nuzzling her son and let Sousis take hold of him.

"Goodbye to you your highness. Hope we meet again on better terms.", Yoda gave his goodbye.

"Agreed. So long Jedi. Make sure Etude grows up to be a fine example of a Jedi.", Shining said.

The two Jedi nodded in agreement and retreated back into the shuttle with the youngling. The shuttle's hatch closed as the ship rose to take off. Once at the desired altitude the ship slowly turned and flew off from the starport. The guards and the parents could only watch as the heir to the throne took off into the ends depths of space and out of their views.

Shining Armor spoke once the sentimental moment was over. "All of you are dismissed, you can return to the palace. Except for you Flash." All of the guards followed orders without a word and started their way back to the palace as ordered to. Once they were out of earshot Shining's view shifted to Flash. "Let's go Flash, it's time to get ready."

Flash and Shining both prepared to leave the port when Cadence stop her husband with a grip at his leg.

She grappled him into a tight hug, soaking his fur with the tears she was holding back the entire day. "E-E-Etude will b-be okay won't he?"

Shining pulled her in closer to ease her sorrow, and his own. "Don't worry, we'll find out soon enough. Just you wait."

Star Wars: Pathways

by X12

1: Pathway