//------------------------------// // Chapter 2: The Fighting Patient // Story: Star Wars: Terror (Reboot) // by RadioBug15 //------------------------------// Once again, I do not own Star Wars or MLP. And again, that belongs to Lucas and Faust. Dathomir, a world inhabited by powerful beasts and strange individuals skilled in the use of magic. It's only sentient people were called the Nightsisters, a cult of witches who utilize magic and bend it to their very will, led by their elder witch: Mother Talzin; and their more questionable beast-like male counterparts, the Nightbrothers. Among the Nightsisters was a young boy, a Zabrak around the age of thirteen. His skin was orange with black markings etched into his skin. In his hand was a stream of green ichor. His eyes were closed and his other hand above both the ichor and his lower hand. "Concentrate, my child," he heard an elder voice behind him. The boy felt his mental grip on the action at hand, he tried to concentrate more and more until he opened his eyes. In his hand was a dull gray sword, it's blade was single-edged and serrated, the handle looked as though it was carved out of the finest wood from the trees nearby the temple in which he lived. "I must congratulate you, my child, for there have not been many males to ever create a weapon from the spirits themselves," the elder woman exclaimed. "Thank you Mother Talzin," he bowed to her. "Do not thank me yet, you must still train with the sword that you now possess," she informed him. The boy looked at the sword, feeling it's weight in his hands. Although he could look at the beauty that he had created all day, he still felt that something was off, as if this was not a weapon that was not truly meant for him. As if he could deal more damage with a much... lighter weapon. But before he could speak, he was interrupted by a Nightsister who had entered his chambers. "My lady! Somebody has entered this sanctuary, demanding that he must meet with you," she said as she knelt before her. The boy looked at the aged woman's face as they were mixed with several different emotions, "Very well then, send this intruder to me." The woman got back up and walked out of the room. "What do you think this man wants?" he asked her. "It seems someone is coming to visit our humble abode," she answered. The child watched as the man entered the room. He was dressed in a black garb with a hood covering half of the mask that he was wearing under his hood, he wore a belt around his waist that contained an assortment of equipment as well as two handles hanging from both sides. The man lifted his hood and removed his mask, revealing an aged man with the face that he could only describe as the human complexion of a hawk, along with deep yellow eyes, and black hair atop his head. He nodded at the elder witch, "Mother Talzin." "Lord Deimos, what a pleasant surprise, what brings you to Dathomir?" she asked. "Just call me Deimos, I have been... demoted of the rank, and I come to this planet because I seek an apprentice," he explained. Talzin's eyes darkened, "Be careful Deimos, for the last Sith who asked for an apprentice on this planet ended up tortured within an inch of his life with the power of control," she said as a wax figurine of a familiar Sith Lord suddenly appeared in her hand. Deimos inhaled sharply, "Noted, but I have seen this one in a vision of mine, from the Unifyi-.... the Winged Goddess," he corrected himself, still unfamiliar with Nightsister religious terms. "And who might this future apprentice be?" Mother Talzin asked. "A Zabrak strong in the Force, his skin is tinted orange with black markings just like-" he glanced down at the boy for a second, looked at Mother Talzin to continue the conversation, then immediately looked back at the child. "Just... like this one," he whispered. Talzin looked at the boy, then back at Deimos with worry in her eyes, "Deimos, return to your ship, let me talk with the boy." "As you wish, Talzin," he bowed in respect as he left for his ship. The moment he left, Mother Talzin turned to the boy and lowered herself down to his height. "I must speak with Deimos at his ship, stay here," she said as she left the room. He sat at the edge of his bedding and closed his eyes listening with the power of the Witches. It was a jumble of words, only hearing that Deimos is a fugitive and a criminal and that he speaks the truth of the boy's future, to be his apprentice. He then shifted his hearing to Talzin, who's voice was filled with concern, explaining that she has raised the first only male in the complete presence of the Nightsisters and that this child was an anomaly and a gift from the Deities. He then heard Deimos assure that no permanent harm would come to him, he could feel Talzin's anger in his words but agreed to his compliance if and only if he chose for himself. He then felt a tinge of Deimos' anger as he 'reluctantly' agreed to her terms. The boy then left the power of the Witches as he opened his eyes and heard Mother Talzin walk into his room with almost unnoticeable sadness in her eyes. "My child, the Sith wants you to join him as you become his apprentice. I will not urge you to join him or refuse, for that is your choice," she told him. He thought about his decision. Sooner or later he would have to leave the temple and take the role of an assassin, as most Nightsisters had to. This was just an early graduation, and he was prepared. "If he has seen me in a vision, then it is no doubt that this is my destiny," he responded, Talzin nodded in confirmation. "Very well, my child, fulfill your destiny," she said. He stood up straight, made his way to the exit and looked back at her with sadness in both of their eyes. "Goodbye Mother," he said. "Farewell, Kahasn," she said. He blinked. Kahasn meant, in the Nightsister tongue, Conqueror, for that was his future. He nodded one last time and left for the ship. The boy looked up to see Deimos who was standing in the ship. He stepped onto the cold metal floor and faced the Sith. "I am here... master," he introduced. Deimos looked at the boy, who was uncomfortable under his gaze, "Good, straight to the point." The Sith walked over to a room and pointed, "This will be your new room," he simply said. Suddenly a droid made it's way to his new master's side, "This is astromech droid designation R3-B5, while I am away for mission involving neither of you two, you must care to the needs of yourself and the droid." He then looked down at the Zabrak, "There will be changes to your current training. They will be neither comfortable nor pleasant, there will be pain, discipline, and nothing less than victory, do I make myself clear?" The boy nodded, "Yes master." "Good, now... what is your name?" he asked. The boy inhaled, "Verus master, Verus Kahn." "Very well, Verus. Your training starts tomorrow, now remember these words, for your experience in the reaches of space is new and the cultures are harsh: Trust nothing but the Force." Verus would remember these words for a very long time. The first act of stimuli he sensed was sound. Voices to be exact. As Verus concentrated, he knew that the majority of these voices were female, clops of hooves that sounded throughout the room, did the population keep livestock in their hospitals? The second act of stimuli was touch. He immediately knew he was in an infirmary and the population was tending to his wounds. He felt the soft bedding on his back, the gauze wrapped around his wounds, including his face, which explained why he could not see through the cloth. The third act of stimuli was smell. He noticed that the air was surprisingly clean by his sense of smell, no pollutants in the air nor chemical medicines. He actually smelled herbs and something... indistinguishable. The fourth act of stimuli was the Force. Deimos had taught him to trust his instincts, and that was what he was doing. He felt around the room using the Force, there were no force-sensitives in the area. This land was either cleaned of force-users by the Empire or there were none to begin with, so he decided to go with the latter. He could sense feelings of slight hostility, fear, and... curiosity. He then heard more voices. "I think it's awake," he heard in a hushed tone, he felt them give off a tinge of fear. "What should we do?" one of them asked. Talk to me, you idiot! he thought. "Should we contact the Princess?" he heard. Princess? At least they actually had a form of government. "No, it was Fluttershy's idea to care for this... thing, we should confront it now," he heard this one talk with a sense of command in it's voice. What kind of ridiculous name was Fluttershy? That was the- "Now?" No!!! You can do it when I begin dying! Verus thought sarcastically. "Yes." "What about the female?" one of them asked. They had Arina! "Keep her in her security cell even if she is still asleep at the moment. The last time she attacked, she maimed eight of our guards without even lifting a finger." She woke up?!?! "What about the construct?" an male older voice asked. "It's currently being held in a separate cell imbued with several magic wards, that thing has broken through even the toughest locks in Equestria," the wise female said. R3 is currently alive and Equestria is possibly the name of their country. They seek to contain him, not to extract information from the droid, interesting. A memory wipe will not be necessary... yet. Verus heard the sounds of hooves as it grew nearer to him. He listened to each sound in their own rhythm, the sounds were off and did not belong to a bipedal organism. "H-hello, are you awake?" he heard a nervous voice ask. She received her answer in silence. "I don't think he's awake," she asked, Verus then heard the soft flapping of wings. He felt a hard tap on his forehead, "Hey! She asked you a question!" he heard the other voice yell. She lacked discipline, and he was upset by her tone. "Rainbow! You don't have to be so rude," he heard a voice with an accent similar to his master. "You said he was awake!" she protested. "I said I think, he's awake, we can't be too sure," he heard the wise female say. "Well I'm sure, HEY! WAKE U-" her sentence was interrupted by his hand wrapped in a tight grip around her throat. At the same time he removed the bandages from his face. The fifth act of stimuli was sight. That act of stimuli then shifted from sight to shock. He looked at a quadrupedal animal, that explained the sound. The creatures coat was cyan with a rainbow mane while the other seven, five females, a male, and a small bipedal lizard, were divided into other different colors. Their very appearance was enough to question the existence of natural selection and the fact that it completely ignored them and even gave them even more disadvantages to their environment. Then it dawned on him that these creatures were the things that were talking to him. He looked at the one called 'Rainbow'. Rainbow looked back at him. Without even thinking, out of pure instinct and the drive to employ violence. He brought his head back and slammed it into hers. Both the Zabrak and the animal both had different reactions. Zabraks were naturally built to withstand intense amounts of pain, making them terrible candidates to perform interrogations on, his species was also born with two hearts, more blood is pumped and the reaction time is quicker, making the already dull pain fade even faster, and with the Force as a bonus to block the pain in a fraction of a second. The animal on the other hand had no properties in Dathomir magic nor the Force and was possibly built with the same reaction and pain tolerance of an average human (as a guess). The conclusion: an unharmed Zabrak and a cyan creature with a high possibility of a concussion. Verus immediately shot out of bed, where an orange one with a ridiculous looking hat attempted to attack him, he responded with a blast of Sith Lightning, the orange female flew backwards and into a metal cart. The purple one, who was the wise female, yelled to the lizard. "Spike! Contact Princess Celestia immediately!" she yelled as Verus unleashed a wave of Force energy that knocked everyone into their own path of the Force energy. In other words, the walls behind them. Verus reached for his belt and felt nothing, he suddenly realized that they had confiscated his lightsabers. The male creature was nowhere to found, possibly calling for law enforcement, he was amused by the thought of these creatures in Imperial uniforms as they struggle to hold a blaster meant for a species with fingers. But the Zabrak banished the thought, he needed information, not humor. So he walked over to the wise female, the purple one. The female was unconscious, good. Verus placed his hand over her forehead and concentrated on the Force. He felt the imaginary rush of wind as he entered the mind of the animal. Verus saw the threads of memory that this creature had contained. The Sith apprentice learned that the creature's name was Twilight Sparkle and that they were a sentient quadrupedal race known as Ponies, which were divided into four subgroups: Pegasi, unicorns, Earth ponies, and the extremely rare breed Alicorns, each of them with different purposes and abilities. Verus made the right decision to peer at this one's memories, for she had almost all the knowledge of their country, Equestria. Verus then dove into her more personal memories: her friends, the Elements of Harmony, the Princesses of the Sun and Moon, the spirit of Chaos: Discord, the tyrant: Sombra, the Wrath: Tirek, and the Savage: Verus. Verus frowned at his title, "The Savage". Was it because of his appearance or his recent actions today. He instead decided to dive deeper into the memory. He suddenly saw the memory. Watching through her eyes, she woke up early and began her morning routine, and Verus had never seen someone with a library that big, and he saw the ruins of the Jedi Temple during his training! Her assistant, who was a dragon named Spike, who looked nothing like a Krayt Dragon. Twilight ate her breakfast and walked outside, where she was immediately met by the arrogant cyan pony, Rainbow Dash. Verus continued watching as she met more of her friends: Applejack, the orange mare; Rarity, the white unicorn who had the same accent as Lord Deimos; Fluttershy, the timid yellow pegasus who apparently save him; and Pinkie Pie, the pink pony who loved to throw parties. Verus was disgusted in almost all of them. He then fast forwarded to when Twilight heard the news from a striped black and white pony that several strange creatures began emerging from the Everfree. She and her friends immediately ran to the scene, where they witnessed a horned creature carrying a human female in his arms while leaning against a metal construct. Verus used this opportunity to get a full view of the damage that he had sustained. By looking through her eyes, Verus watched as his past self had numerous deep scratches across his torso and legs, deep shards of glass and metal jutting out of his back. He looked at the bestial ferocity in his past self's eyes as he remembered the anger and rage to keep himself consciousness until finally falling to the ground. They all looked at the fainted creature, skeptical on what to do with him. The idiotic Rainbow Dash suggested to leave him there, judging him by his appearance while Applejack scolded her for thinking like that. Rarity had absolutely no idea what to do and fainted out of shock, Pinkie was almost in a similar state of mind, except she did not faint. In fact, she was probably going to throw him a party if he survived his injuries. But it was Fluttershy who got the right idea. She trotted up to him and tried to lift him up with all the strength that she could muster. Verus watched as she tried to convince them that he needs medical attention, explaining that he needed professional doctors to examine and nurse his wounds, and after a long amount of arguing, they came to an agreement. Verus moved the memory forward as he was rushed into the... Royal Canterlot Clinic on top of a gurney with an IV drip with Twilight explaining what happened. He saw that Twilight was watching as the doctors kept trying to secure R3 while he continued to defend Arina from the intruders until Twilight's broke her gaze from the two and concentrated on Verus. The Sith acolyte moved onto Twilight's memory of Arina's escape, watching as the animalistic female slammed against the wooden door, splintering to pieces; Verus' continued to watch as she attacked everything in sight, using her fists and the Force to deal numerous amounts of damage. It wasn't until a dozen unicorns cast the same spell to bound her in place as one of the doctors proceeded to inject her with a powerful anesthetic that knocked her out in mere minutes. The memories began to distort and blur, Twilight was waking up! Verus immediately broke the link between the two as the purple Alicorn began to regain consciousness. The young apprentice immediately ran to the door, but coincidentally, guards entered the room and began to surround him, their spears pointed in his direction, the aging stallion behind them grinned smugly. The bastard had snitched! Verus' eyes glowed in hatred as he brought his hand up and began squeezing it into a ball. The doctor's eyes widened as he felt his windpipe close and began to panic from the lack of oxygen. He watched as the doctor fell to the floor and began thrashing around in desperation as he tried to find something or someone to help him. "Let him go," he heard a soft voice. Verus raised his eyes to see a tall white mare with both wings and a horn while displaying an air of royalty. Princess Celestia. "I said, let him go," she spoke once more. Her voice snaked it's way into his mind, attempting to prevent a death in her presence., but he quickly banished the honeyed words that tried to charm him. "Why should I?" he spoke, the guards backed up in fear as hearing a 'monster' like him speak was new to them. But the princess was persistent to keep the suffocating pony alive, "You're not a monster, I know that." Alright, that was enough to get him to let go. But instead he just loosened his grip slightly on the stallion to allow him some form of breathing, but he was still choking. "How would you define a monster?" he spat. She only stepped closer to him as the guards began to timidly part, "Will you let him go if I answer?" she asked. Verus thought about his options, "If you give me an appropriate answer, maybe." "I cannot trust you on a 'maybe'," her gaze darkened. "And I cannot trust you with my freedom," Verus said as he released the stallion, preferring to deal with the princess herself. "I give you my word, I will even remove the guards," she promised. "But Princess! He-" "I will be safe, but I must ask you to leave," she told the guards. There was a short pause, "You heard the Princess, move it!" one of them said, immediately leaving the clinic. That only left the Princess, the Element Bearers, Spike, him, and the doctor. Verus then looked at the stallion, "I'm not finished with you," he said, reaching out with his hand, a scalpel flew into his hand as he continued to approach the old pony. "Hey! Stay away from me!" he backed away as the Zabrak walked closer to him. "I gave you my word, now assure to me that you will spare his life as I have spared yours," she warned. Verus glared at the stallion and back at the princess, "Fine," the stallion then nodded at the princess and ran out the door for his life. "Now we can converse in peace," she said. He glared at the princess of the sun, "Do not get ahead of yourself, I would have killed everyone in this room with a single thought were I not merciful. So you should be the one thankful," he said, trying to sound menacing. "Yeah sure," he heard the cyan remark sarcastically, but he ignored it. "Ahem, anyway. Greetings I am-" "I know who you are, Celestia," he replied, turning to the others as well, "And you seven as well: Twilight, Applejack, Pinkie... Fluttershy, Rarity... Rainbow, and Spike." They gave a look of surprise. "How do you know this?" Twilight asked. "Your memories served as a perfect guide," he said, tapping at his head with his finger. "My memories, ho-" the color drained from her face. "Do not be foolish, I only copied your memories solely for the use of knowledge," he replied. "Right, 'knowledge is power'," she said. "Correct, but I only know some of your personal memories and the basics of this planet," Verus confirmed. "And for now, I have no need for your planet and must take my leave," he said as he formally walked out the door, using his senses, knowledge, and the Force to track down the location of his equipment. Verus finally opened a door to see his armor and weapons partially hanging from a plastic bin. He picked up his armor and inspected it. The breastplates were heavily scratch while the fabric underneath was torn to shreds, his pants had a few cuts and tears but nothing major, the plasteel gauntlets took the least damage from them all with nothing but a small scratch, his boots were slightly worn away but nothing too bad. Verus took note of his inspection and tossed the armor over the small hospital gown, serving as a substitute for the shredded clothing, clicking the locks together to be held in place while he then moved onto his gloves, boots and pants. The Zabrak then took his belt and fastened it around his waist. Verus then reached down to pick up his lightsabers, which were, surprisingly, in their continued prime condition. He activated the first lightsaber, with the blade activating in a red color. Putting it away in his belt, he activated his second lightsaber, which gave off a yellow glow. He turned to see the seven ponies (and one dragon) look at him as he put away his equipment. "What do you plan to do here?" the Princess asked. "Get the others and leave this rock," he simply said. "What?!?" the pink one, Pinkie, exclaimed. "Yes, I have no need to learn about all of your culture or whatnot," he said as he pushed past them, which upset Rainbow Dash. "Well you shouldn't just be a jerk about the whole thing!" she said to him in an angered tone. "In my defense, you provoked me," he growled as he pointed to the orange one, "She was about to follow your example, so I made her follow your complete example," he said as a spark of lightning ignited in his fingertips. The cyan mare turned a deep shade of red in frustration and was about to yell at him again. "I am not in the mood for an argument right now, I need to search for Arina and R3," he quickly said, cutting off Dash in the process of her preparing to angrily spout off in rage. "The others you were with? They are in one of the other rooms," Twilight said. He turned to the purple pony, "Take me to them." "Will you shut up back there!!?!" R3 heard one of the guards yelled as he rammed his metallic body against the door, which seemed to be made out of something that resembled metal but could not be sliced by his built-in fusion cutter, this was something otherworldly! The little droid had the tendency to annoy these organics, but they were the ones that imprisoned him. R3 was a fairly impractical astromech and worked with many over the years. Well, at least only based on what he remembered, he never knows whether or not he had several memory wipes over his previous lives, the only things he remembers are his basic and advanced functions, the vendor from Tattoine, and his recent master: Lord Deimos. Master Deimos was, as R3 could describe, hardened by war. As a machine built for war himself, he could assume that his master had fought in a war unknown to the astromech, he tried to search for any information regarding any recent wars according to his master's estimated age, but could find none, which puzzled R3 because of a certain war that some of the aged people talk about called "The Clone Wars". The droid heard noises outside the room that he was trapped in, so he decided to move closer to the door until the voices were suddenly distinguishable from one another. "It is fine, you may-" a feminine voice said to the guards until it was interrupted by a more familiar voice. "You will let me through," the voice urged. R3 heard the sounds of bestial hooves walking away from the door. The door suddenly opened, revealing his master's apprentice: Verus Kahn. For the Zabrak, he regarded him as his friend and equal as they both served their masters, although there was some rivalry now and then. But it was at this moment when R3 was truly happy to see the man that stood before him. Then he saw the animals behind him. R3 immediately activated his built-in fusion cutter and blaster pistol and began to charge the creatures that dared to contain him. At first they had a look of fear on their faces, but the droid was stopped by Verus' hand, who halted his actions at once. "////Idiotic animals+R3=anger////_///Kill order active////" the droid said in it's own astromech language, it also made it easier since Verus could understand his language. "Do not waste your resources with them R3, where is Arina?" he asked. Arina? The half-breed between human and animal, with the tail and ears of some quadrupedal organic with no higher function other than to eat, breed, and die. But the half-breed was much smarter than some lower species, she possessed the intellect that was similar to Deimos himself, but her most recent behaviors gave her animalistic features more meaning. "///Affirmative///" R3 said as it turned to the next cell out of memory, purposely ignoring the creatures dubbed "Ponies". The droid moved over to the iron door and opened his fusion cutter, he started to cut around the locks and pushed open the door with a simple nudge once the door was freed from the lock. R3 then moved over to the cell that contained Arina, who was bound in a metal cage similar to durasteel. He watched as Verus activated one of his lightsabers and instantly severed a majority of the bars from the cage, the Zabrak Sith then proceeded to pick up the half-breed female and carry her to an infirmary bed. Verus turned to the tallest one, the white one that sported both wings and a horn. "It is apparent that I must stay here due to the recent conditions of my master's ship. Unfortunately for me, this will exceedingly delay my plans. In short," he sighed, "I must stay here longer." The pink one then bounced up in joy as she then zoomed off to who-knows-where. "What will you do in the meantime?" the purple one asked him. "I will see to the recovery of my companion here," he gestured to Arina, "Wait for the arrival of my master, and, if absolutely necessary, I will learn more about this world and it's cultures." The white one nodded, "If this need ever arises, I will assign Twilight to assist you." Verus looked at her with only slight annoyance in his eyes, "Fine. R3, leave us." The astromech paused after some thinking and decided to leave as the place was already getting boring, he proceeded to do some exploring... Verus watched as the droid rolled away on it's wheels below the bottom of it's feet. He then turned to the princess. "I will need someplace to sleep, if I am to stay here." "Agreed, but I will have to give a speech to my subjects on the behalf of your presence. For your... appearance would surprise them," she said, trying not to sound offensive. The Sith shook his head, "I am fine with that." "Good, then follow me," Celestia said, Verus stood back up and looked back at Arina one more time before following the equine royal.