//------------------------------// // Part 1 - Not Just a Disturbance in the Force // Story: Darth Twilight -The Force Is Magic, May Friendship be with You // by Pen Mightier //------------------------------// Jedi Master Celestia sighed deeply as she regarded the sunset. Sunset on Coruscant was always a dramatic affair, with all 4 of the planet's natural moons immediately vying for control of the sky in the final glows of Coruscant Prime's brilliant red radiance. And there was of course the innumerable artificial satellites littering the sky like misbegotten stars. She could never get used to it, to see a sun that wasn't her own, one indifferent to her presence, impassive to her will. She looked about the great Temple of Justice behind her, the seat of the galaxy's highest institution of law and order. Ironic, she was thankful she was at least a big enough criminal to earn herself a public execution up here on the Temple's high plaza overlooking the city. At least she got to see the sky here, even if it was quite possibly her last. She could have been tried in any one of the planet's 5000 subteranean levels. Then again, she knew her opponent, Blueblood, had a penchant for the dramatic. Even the timing for the execution to occur at sunset spoke volumes of the pathetic ponce's love for theatricals. "Keep walking, please." Her two executioners, robed Republican guards in ceremonial armour, bearing saber pikes, didn't shove or ponyhandle her. If anything, they had been very, very polite, even respectful. Nopony ever says 'please' to a prisoner....except maybe her. Then again, she was Jedi Master Celestia, or perhaps 'dark Jedi' now, former hero of the Republic, the last being standing between them and all out war with the Mandalorians. And now they were about to pull down their last defense, to the cheers and applause of a world gone mad. And the crowd was indeed cheering. She could hear the roar of approval from across the entire city as the proceedings were televised on public holotape for all across the galaxy to see. 'Force be with them when I'm gone.' She thought to herself as she stepped onwards towards her execution block at the end of the plaza. There, waiting for her, was a sleek metallic stockade and, lo' and behold, the chancellor of the senate himself and Jedi Grandmaster Blazewing, first Equis draconic Jedi and now grandmaster of the circle. There was, of course, the smear on the whole affair, Blueblood, chairman of Blueblood Shipyards, smirking in triumph, but that went without saying. "We're behind schedule, Chancellor. Do hurry it up." Blueblood snapped, tapping a hoof impatiently at the human chancellor. "Come on, boys, chop chop." He barked at the two republican guards. "So...it's true then, chancellor." Celestia said, throwing all remaining caution to the solar winds. None of it mattered anymore. "The interstellar corporations do hold the reigns upon the Republic." "I look out only for the interests of the Republic. Which, I remind you, you and your pony Jedi Masters have failed. Miserably." The chancellor said, calmly, not even showing the faintest glimmer of provocation, "Their indiscretion, and now yours, have left our people lost, uncertain and afraid. They need a new protector, the hyperspace cannon. Be glad that your world and your people may still make up for your failing the Republic." "You will replace 10 living breathing guardians of peace and order with an indiscriminate weapon of mass destruction that is just as likely to point at the heart of the Republic as it is to point at her enemies." Celestia summed up. "Where, pray tell, is the sanity in this?" "We are not here to televize her prattle to the masses. We are here for an execution of a Dark Jedi." Blueblood snapped. "Get on with it." "You stand accused of misappropriating the force, using it to influence the mind and actions of a high ranking Republican official, namely me, the chancellor of the senate. Can you confirm this one last time, Grandmaster Blazewing." The chancellor said, looking over at the Jedi Grandmaster. "I'm....sorry, old friend." The majestic red dragon sighed, "Yes, I can. Jedi Master Celestia used the Force upon your mind. However, I can vouch that it was not to influence your mind and actions." "That does not matter!" Blueblood spat, "She used the force on the chancellor! That is treason, punishable by..." He licked his lips with relish, "...death." "Your mind has not been your own even before, chancellor." Celestia warned in a grave tone, "Somepony else has long been manipulating your mind. I was simply trying to eke out the culprit." The chancellor murmured something, but suddenly clutched his bald head in pain. "T-this...is treason, nonetheless, a-a capital o-offense....but in deference to your service to the Republic, dark Jedi Celestia, you will at least be allowed to die a Jedi." The chancellor breathed. "Well done, Chancellor." Another figure stepped up to the execution block, flaming red locks burning in the Coruscant sunset, dark red jedi robes billowing in the artificial wind. It was a young human girl, her proud smirk reflecting the flaming sunset. "It is always good to see justice served so steadfastly." "Sunset Shimmer...." Celestia muttered, darkly, as the former Alicorn grandmaster was guided to her knees, her neck placed in the stockade and carefully locked in place. "Hello again, faithful teacher of mine." The new arrival smirked. "Or ex-teacher, is it?" "It's you....you're the one mind-controlling the chancellor." Celestia's eyes narrowed. "Young Jedi, is this true?" Grandmaster Blazewing growled. "I have no idea what this criminal is saying." Sunset Shimmer shrugged. "Proceed with the execution before she can mind trick us all." Blueblood snapped. "I-Indeed....let us....carry on." The Chancellor panted, waving at the guards. "Move on with the execution. Jedi Master Celestia, today I as chancellor, and the Jedi Grandmaster as well as respected representative of our people, do witness your just and rightful execution for your crimes against the Republic. M-may...may the Force be with you..." "...and with you." Celestia sighed. "Where's your favourite most faithful student now....?" Sunset Shimmer whispered. "...." Celestia sighed. If there is one bigger regret than letting her homeworld down, her entire Republic down, it was this; her young and loyal student, fallen victim to her inaction. If only she had acted earlier, if only she had stepped in rather than leave it all to the whims of the Force.... "Oh, finally, regret. So you are capable of emotion, oh teacher of mine." Sunset Shimmer gasped in mock-shock. "Well, too late. If only you had shown me something, anything, your student probably wouldn't be..." "A sith lord." Blueblood chimed in for her. "A dark, despicable spawn of the dark side." He spat. "Just. Like. You." A few tears fell. Celestia was surprised to realize they were hers. That she had lost her last student, her last close friend, to the dark side, that her foes managed to make her weep in the end, her defeat was truly and utterly complete. It simply could not be much worse. Now for the first time, she truly and completely welcomed death. "Sir, The 'Vigil' is incoming with the package." A human soldier, accompanied by a wookie, no doubt mercenaries from their rather mismatched spacer armours, ran up to address Blueblood. "Oh, the day is just getting better and better. Hold the execution, please. I didn't think they'd make it for this, but they did." Blueblood gloated. "Celestia, you'll be pleased to know we have a very special guest for your execution." And by Tartarus, it just got worse. Much much worse. "....no..." Celestia's eyes widened. She could feel it, a tear in the Force so deep and wide it could no longer be called a 'disturbance'. No, it was more a veritable storm of apocalyptic proportions that threatened to engulf them all in its presence as it approached. "I-it c-can't be..." Even Sunset Shimmer and Grandmaster Blazewing couldn't help but wince and look up at the sky. Every force-sensitive on the planet could feel the fierce pressure of her arrival. For everypony else, it was a chill in their spines, goosebumps on their skin, a dark foreboding feeling in the backs of their minds. "Your faithful student, Darth Twilight." Blueblood announced as the prison cruiser grew from a dot in the distance to a more familiar shape. "Y-you....you're bringing her here?!" Sunset Shimmer suddenly cried, her face contorting into a look of absolute fear, "You fool! Shoot that ship down! Blast it out of the sky before she makes planetfall!" "Too late. She's already inside this planet's atmosphere." Grandmaster Blazewing said, calmly. "We are all....what is the pony expression? Bucked. Yes, we are all bucked." "She arrives in chains in the hooves of an entire platoon of our best and brightest." Blueblood chided those present, "I have everything under contr-..." He looked up and noticed that the prison cruiser had begun to list and swerve from side to side drunkenly, as if it was being toyed with by an invisible hand of planetary proportions. "Oh ponyfeathers..." His eyes widened as the ship bore lower and lower without reducing a single iota of speed, aiming straight for the temple of justice. "Shoot it! SHOOT IT DOWN!" He roared. The three force-sensitives in the plaza could feel it. It was a presence in the Force so powerful, so dreadful, it was like standing at the jaws of the galaxy itself, one ready to swallow them whole in its indifference for all things living. And it was aiming straight for them. The crowds screamed and ran for their lives as they realized the show was now out of the control of the ringmasters. Ion cannon blasts flew up into the air, lighting the sky with their brilliant blue arcs. Anti-air plasma blasters rained death upon the ship. They all struck true. The ship's exterior plating erupted in fire and flames as it teetered towards the ground. Then, with a resounding crash that shook the planet to its core, the flaming husk of the Vigil slammed into the main boulevard leading up to the Temple of Justice. It carved a mighty trough through the boulevard, trailing flames and debris. It carried on ploughing towards the Temple of Justice without any signs of slowing down. Heavy artillery fire continued to rain down on it, as if enough firepower might have some hope of slowing it down. Then, with the finality of the gates of hell itself swinging open, the ship finally groaned to a halt. "W-we got her!" Blueblood pumped a hoof in triumph. "W-we got her! Celestia, behold, your beloved pupil trampled into the ground like the..." "No." Celestia muttered. It was not a 'no' of despair. Rather, it was a 'no' of absolute blood-curdling fear. Blueblood's face fell as he noticed the stricken looks upon Sunset Shimmer's and Blazewing's faces. The Force-sensitives could still feel the dark presence. If anything, it was stronger than ever. "Do you even know who it is you dare to underestimate, you pathetic ponce." Sunset Shimmer suddenly snapped, silencing the stuttering Blueblood, "It's only one of the most powerful pony Jedi Masters to ever live, turned. Frickin'. Sith. Lord." She spat out the words in Blueblood's face. "Indeed. Your only hope was to shoot her out of orbit. You've allowed her to make planetfall. You've already lost Coruscant." Blazewing said, simply. "B-but...y-you're all Jedi. Surely you can d-do something!" Blueblood squeaked. "Difficult to say." Grandmaster Blazewing said, cradling his chin in his claws, "To begin with the basic pony jedi form already throws us humanoid jedis off. Their default saber-hand is their mouth, which only begins to spell how unorthodox their style is. Their saber of choice is the double-saber, making them even more unpredictable to the rest of us Jedi. And that's just the regular pony Jedi. Here we have the very pinnacle of pony Jedi mastery, not to mention a Sith Lord, Darth Twilight..." ----------- Republican troops, mercenary footmen and battle droids alike slowly, cautiously approached the downed prison cruiser. A few firecrews were already on their way in, intent on dousing the flames before it could do anymore damage. But all attention, at least that of those who fervently wished to remain alive at the end of the hour, were upon spotting the prisoner. That is, before she spots them. "There she is!" One excitable recruit shouted, as the bridge's wide viewport was blasted into the air by all the force of a rancor. A dark figure stepped out into the setting Coruscant sun, flaming wreckage extinguishing with her hooffalls, her dark cloak billowing and trailing a blazing flame. The cloak burned brilliantly in the artificial wind before finally flickering into feeble ashes, leaving the figure beneath uncovered but mysteriously unharmed. Chills ran through the gathered ranks of soldiers. Suddenly their numbers meant nothing. They were all spacers before they were soldiers. They knew how treacherous space can be. Before them stood the very mercilessness of the void itself given form. Before they dared draw another breath the figure had leapt high up into the air, a sharp hiss filling the sky as a pair of brilliant sabers flew out on either side of its snout, crackling the colour of dying suns and dying soldiers. The air lit up with a storm of blaster fire as everyone tried to shoot down the figure while it was most vulnerable, high up in the air without means to manoeuvre. Or so they thought. They thought wrong. The figure spun in the air, pirouetting gracefully, cloak whipping in the updraft, as lightsaber met concentrated beams. Without any ceremony each and every blaster fire aimed up at her were returned straight back to their senders, returning each and every one of them in turn to their makers instantaneously. She landed amongst a field of collapsing smoking bodies. Those who were lucky enough to miss her by a wide enough margin and thus remain alive were trying to make up their minds on whether or not they wanted to test their accuracy again. They weren't given a chance. The figure spun her double-ended lightsaber in her snout and charged forwards at full gallop like the very stallion of death. The last thing they saw, if they hadn't turned tail to flee, were a pair of eyes as dark and menacing as black holes of hatred so dense and thick it had collapsed in on itself, allowing not even a shred of hope to escape.