//------------------------------// // Chapter 6: Rough Beginnings // Story: Star Wars: Terror (Reboot) // by RadioBug15 //------------------------------// I do not own Star Wars or MLP Many years ago... Ever since Verus traveled with his master for the past year, he had grown in his ability with the Force. Although he learned his abilities from the Nightsisters, his power flourished under Lord Deimos' guidance. He learned what it was like to truly have power. He sat in meditation, his master advised that he must meditate regularly, "Although we are part of the Dark side and that we rely on anger and passion, we must act with a clear mind. Otherwise we would be no different than animals," he would say, so he took that advise by heart and would always remember it. The apprentice felt ship rock back and forth; they had entered the atmosphere. He opened his eyes and stood up, we opened the door and stood by his master as he concentrated on where to land. Verus studied the landscape from the windows. The terrain was almost completely covered in ice while the sun began to rise. He knew this was not Hoth because of it's lack of more severe snowstorms. He knew this was not Belsavis, because there was no sign of spots lacking snow. So this only meant they'e at- "Welcome to Ilum," Deimos said as he landed the ship somewhere away from Imperial trade. "Here begins your final trial," Deimos said as he stared off at the vast white horizon. "This is where you begin the construction of your lightsaber." 7th day on Equus. The next few days were the same as the first, staying in the castle. But that changed when Celestia finally game her speech on the presence of Verus, he then revealed himself to the crowd. Some despised him, others were fascinated, while a few just really didn't care. After the speech, he was to relocate to Ponyville for 'specific reasons', as Twilight had said. Arina was moved to the clinic in Ponyville while R3 stayed with him at Twilight's castle. As soon as Verus got off the chariot, he walked back with the other six to the ship to scavenge what was left of it: the crates, the medical kits, and supplies. Recently, Verus found out that the woods, this... Everfree forest, housed wildlife. Most likely primary consumers, and since he was a carnivore, he told Twilight that he had to go outside for some fresh air. Verus growled in annoyance as he felt pain shoot out again in his stomach. He had to eat something! Now Zabraks are built only as carnivorous creatures, obviously meaning that he only eats meat. But that was a problem in a nation full of vegetarians. That's why he was here. He finally grabbed onto the top branch and hoisted himself up. He closed his eyes and focused on any signs of life he could sense. It only took a matter of seconds for him to find. He spotted an animal slowly walking through the forest, munching on grass peacefully. The Sith apprentice reached out and grabbed the bow hanging off of his back. Drawing an arrow out, he pulled the string back and took aim. Steadying his shot for several seconds, he let go. The arrow sailed through the air and pierced the animal's abdomen. The creature let out a cry in pain and attempted to flee it's attacker, but to no avail. Because in order to run away from the attacker, the animal had to know where it was in the first place. Verus now took his chance, he unsheathed his vibroknife and jumped off the branch, the blade pointed directly at his prey's neck. The blade entered cleanly and severed the major arteries around the throat, guaranteeing a quick death. The animal slumped to the ground as it's life extinguished from it's eyes. He then picked up the animal's carcass and began to drag it to a more private spot so he could clean and cut the animal. But someone was watching the whole seen unfold, and it only took Verus a matter of seconds to notice. He spotted the two mares in front of him: the violet-colored Twilight and the yellow pegasus Fluttershy. For the next few minutes, there was silence. Shock from the ponies, and surprise from the Zabrak. "Y-you killed it!!" they both yelled at the same time. "Yes, is there a problem?" he asked. They both stared at him and the carcass for several seconds before bolting back to their homes as quickly as they could. Verus then shrugged his shoulders and began to drag the body closer to his chosen spot. Hours later... Verus opened the door to Twilight's castle and closed the door behind him. As soon as he turned around, he saw Twilight just several meters away from him, anger and disgust in her eyes. "Is there a problem?" he asked her. "Why did you kill that animal? It was a docile creature and you killed it in cold-blood. Is that what your species does? Hunt for sport?" she yelled at him. The Sith groaned in annoyance, "You are an idiot." Twilight was taken aback from his statement. "Did I stutter? You are supposed to be the smart one of your Elements group, and yet you failed to notice these?" he opened his mouth to reveal fully developed canines adorning his mouth. It took just seconds for her to realize what he was, "You're a carnivore." "You don't say," Verus replied. "All this time I thought you may have been at least an omnivore. Lyra told me humans are-" Verus stifled a malicious laugh at what she said, "I'm not human, that title goes to my master." "What are you then?" "I am a Zabrak, born on Coruscant and raised on Dathomir. At least according to what my master said... wait, how is your species aware of humans if none have ever been to this planet?" he asked her. "It's just a theory that she just came up with. Some sort of conspiracy that she thinks Princess Celestia is hiding from the citizens of Equestria, it sounds ridiculous but-" Verus suddenly walked off towards the door. "Wait where are you going?!?!" she yelled. "I'm going to see Lyra," he responded. She then pulled him aside, "Oh no you're not, you're not getting away that easily. I had direct orders from Celestia to give you a tour of Ponyville. Starting with the rest of my friends, I believe you owe them an apology." "If you do that, I'll withhold any knowledge on our galaxy's history," he said. "If you do that, I won't give you access to this planet's history," she responded. "I don't care about your planet, I won't be staying on it for very long. Besides, your history books are most likely a biased source from a pony's point of view rather than any other species." Twilight then knew she couldn't convince him otherwise at that point. Besides that, she was shocked by the fact that she lost this debate to the him of all ponies- er, people. It was at that point when she finally remembered her adventures and misadventures in the human world, she mentally slapped herself for forgetting. "Fine, do what you want, but don't expect me to help you anymore," she said angrily. "I don't need your help," he closed the door before she could respond. This was the point where he knew he won the argument. But he decided to take her advice on one thing. "If I'm going to stay here any longer, I might as well familiarize myself with this nation's local population." Young Verus knew that to get to the crystals, he had to get past the Imperials. Since the beginning of the Galactic Empire, the Emperor decided to enact a strict embargo on all kyber crystals throughout the galaxy. Anyone found with such a mineral would be arrested or publicly executed. He told the crowds that they were worthless and served no purpose, but both he and his master knew the true reason behind that. The Sith apprentice peeked over a chunk of ice and surveyed the area: almost forty Imperial stormtroopers and several other miners. His master had told him that his public presence must be kept a secret. That meant either hiding your identity or ridding any witnesses; and since this was Imperial territory: No witnesses. Verus leaped over his cover an began his descent down the ridge. He stopped behind the wing of a TIE Fighter. Another piece of advice his master had given him was that he must make his removal of any threats look like like they were caused by something else. Verus' current idea on what the media should assume? Sacked by pirates. The Zabrak looked over to see a stormtrooper with his back facing him. Verus force pulled him closer and sliced his throat with his vibroknife. He pulled the stormtrooper away and scavenged his weapons: an E-11 blaster rifle and three thermal detonators. Knowing of the threat he faced, he decided to put his faith in the force. Verus inhaled and revealed himself. Before the Imperials realized his presence, he closed the door to the mine shaft, locking the miners inside, he had already killed five stormtroopers with his blaster and continued to kill more. Each stormtrooper opened fire on him, their mind set on killing the intruder. Verus dodged every shot made by the soldiers and continued his assault. Shooting each trooper within his vicinity until he ran out of ammunition. He pulled out his vibroknife and charged at his opponents. With one direct move, he slashed the throat of an Imperial and used his body to block the bolt of another, he tossed the dead body at the attacker and used a blaster pistol to shoot the trooper in the head, killing him instantly. Verus dodged another shot and fired at the attacker, killing him as well. He then sensed something coming at high speeds to his right, he sidestepped and saw this new attacker: an Imperial shock trooper with a PTL model rocket launcher. The enemy fired again, but Verus dodged, avoiding the explosion, but resulted in the deaths of other troopers around him. Verus quickly formulated a quick plan and decided to put it to the test. The shock trooper then took aim at him and fired. "Here goes nothing," he said as he stretched out his hand. The rocket quickly closed the gap before something strange began to occur. The rocket began to slow down. Verus focused on the rocket using the force and quickly rotated it until it faced the attacker. He then released his grip on the rocket and let it fly. The shock trooper could only watch in horror as the rocket made contact and blew him apart into pieces. The Zabrak stood among the battle that had ensued and surveyed how it looked. Bones broken, blood spilt on the snowy grounds, mangled bodies strewn across the place, perfect. He walked over to the dead shock trooper, his body blown to pieces, except for his helmet. He picked up the mask, inspecting the blast marks on the front. He put on the mask and opened the doors to the mine shaft. The door began to open and the people slowly walked out to see Verus, his face hidden with an E-11 blaster rifle in his hands. They were afraid and confused by his presence, but they knew he was there to help. "Is there anyone else in there?" he asked. "We are the only ones, the rest died," one of them said. The masked man quickly glanced at an Imperial shuttle. "You're free, get on the ship and get out of here," he told the people. They all quickly thanked him as they boarded the last remaining Imperial shuttle and flew off. Verus finally took off the mask and tossed it aside. He looked at the dark mine shaft. "Master Deimos told me that Ilum was forgotten by the people of the Empire, so why would the Empire want to control Ilum?" he asked himself. That mystery would have to be solved later as he began his trek into the caves. Verus' first stop was Rarity's clothing shop. He walked inside to see an assortment of clothes that would most likely be royal on either an Outer Rim world, or at least Naboo. The Sith caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror. His clothes were battered and damaged but otherwise in an adequate condition. He finally heard the sounds of clops coming nearer. "Oh, a new custom- AH!" he heard the white unicorn scream as she spotted Verus. It would probably take more time for the residents of Equestria to adjust to the presence of a creature not from their world, but it could take time, be it weeks, months, or even ye- "Your clothes are absolutely horrendous!" she shrieked. ...what? Verus could barely process what just happened. He, Verus Kahn, apprentice to Lord Deimos, the embodiment of terror and dread; he, who had led many battles against war-hardened soldiers, was being ridiculed by a civilian because of his clothes?!? ...WHAT!?!? "No, no, no, no. Rarity, I believe your name was. I was informed by Twilight that I should get comfortable with this nation, starting with this town, the town's civilians; and by my option, starting with you," he explained. She looked at him in slight confusion before resuming her average look of vanity. "Well, in that case I'll reserve your need for my services later in the week, I just had a lot of customers lately. So, what was it you wanted to talk about?" she asked him, trying not to break her gaze at him. He inhaled sharply, "Just for today's subjects, I need to know about who you are, what you do, and what I should know about Ponyville and Equestria." "All right, My name is Rarity, as you may already know. I was born here in Ponyville, I am a fashion designer and the Element of Generosity-" "Element of Generosity?" he raised an eyebrow. "Of course darling, the six Elements of Harmony, I'm surprised you have not heard of us...oh," she suddenly realized her mistake as soon as it left her mouth. "If you may know, I'm not really from here," he sarcastically replied. "Well you don't have to be so bitter about it, I would talk to Twilight about the Elements, she should provide more clarity on these subjects," she answered. "And for my last request?" "Hmm? Oh yes, Equestria is ruled currently by three princesses: Celestia, Luna, and Twilight; there is a fourth: Princess Cadence, but she rules over the Crystal Empire, a separate country near Equestria," she answered. "Was there a Queen?" "Excuse me?" she asked, confused by the question. "A queen, a monarch. A ruler who was of higher ranking than a princess," he explained. "Not that I would be aware of, but there was a story that told of a time before Celes- never mind," she said as she turned away. "What is it?" he demanded. "It's just an old foals tale. Just a story to persuade children to not misbehave," she said. "But I never really heard the tale, I would ask Applejack. She seems to have more knowledge on that subject. If not, again, ask Twilight." Verus had thought about it, "That is all. It was... insightful to make your acquaintance, miss Rarity." "Thank you..." "Verus, call me Verus," he said. "Well, in that case, thank you Verus. I hope to see you again soon," she said as she turned around and got back to working on her designs. The Sith apprentice left the shop and moved onto his next objective. He continued walking, noticing how the civilians stared at him until he took notice of them, at that point they turned their heads forward until he stopped looking at them. Then they would stare again. At that point, he noticed a multicolored shop with bakery assortment decorations on the building. This must be the lair of Pinkie Pie. It is recommended I stay awa- "HELLO!!!" he heard a high-pitched voice yell into his ear. Verus jumped back in shock and fell on his back. How could she sneak up on him? There were not many creatures who could do such things, and yet she was able to accomplish such a task. Verus was trying to process more of this information while Pinkie was singing and dancing to some unrecognizable tune. "WELCOME TO PONYVILLE!!!" she yelled. "Can you calm down!" Verus yelled back at her, which seemed to have worked as she stopped with the crazed mental atrocities, but was still grinning from ear to ear. How were they able to do such a thing?!?!?! "So... howda you like Ponyville???" she asked excitedly. Verus did his best to maintain his calm composure, "It is different from the other worlds I have been to." "Huh? How so?" she asked as if she was a child asking questions on a story some adult was telling that particular child. "Nothing was trying to kill me as soon as I arrived on this planet. Oh wait..." he replied sarcastically through clenched teeth, trying to get a message through to Pinkie. Which, surprisingly, seemed to have worked. "Wow! Re- oh... sorry about that, Rainbow Dash is really, really protective over us. She is the element of Loyalty after all!" she said with a smile. "Loyalty?" he said. "Yup, and I'm the Element of Laughter!" she jumped three meters into the sky. "How did I not figure that out?" Verus replied coldly, but Pinkie didn't seem to notice. "I know right!?!? I just though I was just the greatest party pony the world has ever seen, and BOOM!!! It got better! Ever since we defeated Nightmare Moon, Discord (even though he's such a nice guy now!), Sombra (oh wait, that didn't count), and Tirek (technically it was Twilight)..." "Pinkie," he tried to get her attention. "And even though your trying to get my attention, I still talk and talk and talk until-" "PINKIE!" "You get my atten- oh wait what? what happened?" "Nothing, I just want some directions to Applejack's location," he replied. "Okie dokie loki," she said as she pointed in the direction of the farm. "Thank you, that was all I wanted," Verus said as he walked away. Pinkie also turned around in the opposite direction to hop away until she realized one major detail she left out. "Omigosh! I forgot to tell you about your par... ty," she said as she turned around, only to see no one behind her. "Huh, what a weirdo ," she shrugged as she bounced away to Sugarcube Corner. Luckily, Verus was fast enough to hide behind a building, out of her view. "I never want to go through that again," he breathed out, he finally straightened himself up and made his way to Applejack's farm. As Verus traveled down and down into the mine shaft, he took notice of the age of some things in the location. For example, he found several artifacts that could be considered thousands of years old, even into the age of the Old Republic and the Sith Empire. The zabrak also walked over ancient skeletons in reminiscence to Talz corpses, possible working for the Republic, and Kaleesh mercenaries. He kept on venturing on until he saw a faint red glowing in the distance. Verus unholstered his pistol and unsheathed his vibroknife and he crept closer and closer. When he finally reached the glowing, it dulled faintly as it presented itself to the Sith warrior. The object turned out to be a crystal. A red kyber crystal. "I have heard that red crystals can be formed naturally, but they are extremely rare," his master had once told him. Verus unsheathed his knife and started to cut away a sliver of the large crystal. The large mineral suddenly lifted itself off the ground, revealing a large tendril connected to the rock. It slid and retreated into the head of a waking monster. The creature was in similar size to a rancor at it's full height as it slowly rose on it's two hind legs. With bulbous eyes and large scythe-like teeth jutting out of it's gaping jaws. It's legs were short in comparison to it's body, it's arms covered in spines that ran all the way to it's shoulders. Master Deimos had told him of these creatures. The ancient Sith from the times of Sorrzin Syn were capable of creating these monstrosities. This was a Sith Spawn. The creature gave off a low clicking sound as it quickly swiped at it, despite it's actual size. Verus quickly jumped over it and grabbed onto one of it's spikes. The monster attempted to crush him with it's other hand, but it ended up breaking some of the spines on it's arm and impaled it's hand on one of the larger spikes. The Sith Spawn hissed in anger as Verus climbed higher and jumped off one of it's shoulder spikes. He unsheathed his knife and stabbed it into it's forehead. Then the monster roared. It's roar was unlike anything, the sound was pain and anger incarnate, it's voice filled with rage as it was consumed with the desire to end the life of it's prey. But that moment wouldn't come. Verus dodged another swipe aimed for him, but he ducked and reached for his belt. He pulled out a thermal detonator and removed the vibroknife. With inhuman speed, he jammed the grenade into hole and jumped off the Sith creature. Verus then unholstered his blaster pistol and took aim; directly at the detonator. Unbeknownst to the monster, it cried out and began to progress toward him. It watched as Verus fired a single shot at it. And Verus watched as the detonator exploded, tearing apart the monster's head and destroying it's brain. The creature lurched backward as it stopped in mid-cry and landed on it's back, the life extinguishing from it's giant angler eyes. The zabrak Sith walked over to the dead creature with his knife in hand, focusing on the crystal still attached to it's mangled head. "It may be a Sith Spawn, but it's still a saber crystal," he said to himself as he severed the tendril that attached to the head, and cut away a crystal shard. He then heard steps behind him approach him from a few meters away. "Well, what do we have here?" he heard. Verus suddenly turned around to face his new opponents. Two people, a zabrak and a Twi'lek, dressed in black Imperial uniforms with lightsabers hanging from their sides. Inquisitors. "So we have a rebel here to stop the Empire from there operations on Ilum, do we approve of that Legger?" the female said with a malicious grin. "No," the man said in a deep, booming voice. "That's a shame. With such potential, you could serve the Empire as an assassin, you did manage to kill our Sith spawn meant to keep our workers in order and reduce the population of Jedi intruders," she said as she began to approach Verus. "Thanks," he said, raising his Vibroknife in a combat stance, "But no thanks." "Sad that I couldn't convince you. Legger, kill him," she said sadistically as she walked over behind the other zabrak. "With pleasure, Inquisitor Eaera," he said as he advanced towards Verus, activating his lightsaber in the process. Verus charged at the man with his vibroknife in hand, as soon as Legger swung his blade, he ducked. The Sith apprentice faced off against the Inquisitor in a flurry of stabs and slashes with his blade, the vibrating knife holding it's own against a blade made of pure plasma. Verus delivered a quick jab to the brute's side, but the monstrous Inquisitor looked down with a slight malicious grin as he kicked Verus away. With anger, Deimos' apprentice's training finally took hold. He quickly got back up and ran towards his attacker; Verus extended his hand and concentrated with the force. Inquisitor Legger felt the force as it pushed him back into the hard rock wall. "Eaera, he's force-sensitive!" he coughed out, but the Twi'lek Inquisitor only watched as Verus began to approach him. The large zabrak clumsily swung at the smaller, but Verus parried and stabbed him in the arm. Legger cried out in pain as he lashed out with his other hand, but Verus caught it and broke his hand, sending intense pain throughout his entire arm. He knelt to the ground, Verus now towering over him. With one last attempt, he grabbed his lightsaber and tried to stab him. Verus quickly reacted by dodging the blade and slicing the man's throat. Legger lifted his only unharmed hand to his throat. Pain shot out throughout his neck with blood pouring out of the wound, he looked up to see Verus with a look of triumph on his face but no expressions of pride. The Inquisitor finally fell to the floor as whatever was left of his life left him. Verus knelt forward and picked up the man's lightsaber and activated it, he studied the yellow blade and before looking back at the Twi'lek. Inquisitor Eaera extinguished the look of fear in her eyes when the young zabrak looked at her. Luckily, she came up with a plan to escape from Verus. "So you're strong in the force? You would make a Inquisitor, far better than that dead weight behind you," she said as she walked closer to Verus, her hips swaying in an alluring fashion. She was just inches from Verus, she placed a hand on his shoulder, "You are powerful. How about you satisfy my need for your... importance, and I could satisfy anything you desire?" she said in her own honeyed voice, her lips approaching his. Eaera heard the sound of a lightsaber unsheathing from it's hilt, she looked down to see a yellow blade in her abdomen. "As I said before, thanks," he then deactivated the saber, "But no thanks." She crumpled onto the cold ground. The zabrak Sith got down and laid a hand on her forehead, applying the force. "You'll live, but you won't remember me. All that you remembered was the cave collapsing and you were the only survivor after your friend turned against you. You will give up your life as a pawn for the Empire and take up a new life under a new identity. Trust me, this is better than death and far better than punishment from the Emperor," he said as she finally fell into unconsciousness. Verus picked up her lightsaber and studied it. Shame, he wished that they would've fought, it would have been a spectacular display. But why did he spare her life? Her life was no use to him if she wasn't there to kill him. In short, mission accomplished. He attached their lightsabers to his belt and began his trek back to his master's ship. Verus observed the farm that the orange mare lived at. A large red barn with a white picket fence along with rows and rows of trees with red apples hanging from the branches. He walked past the gate and into the acres to see Applejack kicking a tree, resulting in a majority of the apples falling into the basket, the rest landed on the grass. He was on the verge of beginning their conversation before he felt something bit his leg, he immediately look down to see a small creature biting down on his ankle. "Let go of me!" he yelled, reaching for his lightsaber. The animal growled in response. The Sith finally activated his lightsaber and was prepared to turn the small mammal into sliced meat. "Winona, let 'im go!" Applejack yelled at the creature, this "Winona" whined through it's teeth around the Zabrak's ankle before finally letting go. Verus deactivated his lightsaber and put it back on his belt, "Thank you, you must be Applejack, as memory serves," he looked down to see a bite-shaped outline on his right ankle. "It's alright, she tends to get bite-y with strangers," she said as bucked another tree before moving onto the next one. "What is that creature?" he asked as he walked closer to her. She paused for a second and looked at him, "Ya don't have dogs where your from?" "Dogs? I know what dogs are, but they look nothing like the one I met just now," Verus said, thinking about that 'dog's' reptilian counterpart. "So... Verus. Howdy and welcome to Ponyville," she said in an emotionless voice, still remembering about the Incident. "To explain why I am here in the first place, Twilight suggested that I get to know more of the inhabitants, so the best way to start was to know the more... popular residents," he explained. She looked back at the tree and decided to move the basket onto the next one, "So how's that workin' fer yah?" she asked. "Twilight is more curious than my abilities-" "The ones ya used to beat us," she mumbled, Verus stopped in mid-sentence. "Your friend provoked me, the rest of you took action rather than assume that I reacted out of instinct," he argued, Applejack was silent throughout his argument. "As for 'how it's working out for me'; Twilight is more interested in my abilities, history, and technology rather than me in general, it'll be a matter of time before she takes the sudden interest to study my anatomy," he said uncomfortably. "Well that's Twilight for ya," she chuckled lightly. "I briefly met Rarity, but she is more displeased with my own apparel than my actions, so we were fine on what happened earlier." "She has a habit of doin' that, her bein' a fashionista and all that." "I also had the misfortune of meeting the one known as Pinkie Pie." "Oh boy, how was your experience?" she said with a slight grin on her face, though she didn't want him to see it. "She just appeared out of the blue as soon as I got within range of her shop, I swear that she just haunts the place," he said. "She'd have to be ghost to do that," she then proceeded to buck the next tree and watched as the apples fell into the basket. "That's not what I meant." "Well what did you mean?" she asked. "I- well, it's hard to explain," he tried to explain to the orange mare. There was a moment of silence. Verus did not want to bring up a long past portion of his training, it was a memory that he had tried to repress many times throughout his life as an apprentice of a powerful Sith Lord. "Wanna talk about it?" she asked him again. "No," he responded. "Alright, well I think you should go see Fluttershy, I saw her earlier today and she looked a bit shaken, and I feel that you had something to do with it." "I will consider it, goodbye Applejack," he said, beginning to walk away. "See ya later Verus," she said, moving the basket to the next tree. Verus knew that he had to ask Applejack about the tale of this unknown monarch that Rarity advised that he ask her. But he had other things to worry about. Like having to get through with this meeting-the-inhabitants chore, then he could ask her once he had the time. Deimos opened the rear door to see Verus walking to the ship with two lightsabers strapped to his belt and a crystal in his hand. "I see you have returned, my apprentice. The supplies are in the boxes, make good use of them," he said darkly. "Yes master," Verus responded, walking past his master and into the next room. He saw several boxes in the supply room, they were placed parallel to each other as though it were sectioned for different uses. Verus opened the first box, which was filled with many different lightsaber hilts, waiting to be taken apart and reassembled into something new. The second box was filled with weapons other than lightsabers such as vibroknives, blasters, and several other things, used for missions of reconnaissance. The last box was filled with miscellaneous things that could be used in the creation of such lightsabers, but they would turn out much more unorthodox than any others. He immediately picked up several lightsabers hilts and set them at the center of the room, he returned to the third box and picked up several random objects from said box. The Sith apprentice raised his hand to mid-level, the other lightsabers floated into the air. With one twist of the wrist, the lightsabers pulled themselves apart and landed as disassembled pieces of metal. Verus decided he would start from the bottom and work his way up. He took pieces from the other hilts and, with the blueprints in his mind, decided to piece it together into something new. Verus proceeded to open up the hilt and insert three materials needed in lightsaber construction: the power insulator, the power vortex ring, and the diatium power cell, a self-recharging battery. The next part would be more tricky, he had to imbue the crystals with the force. The problem was that it would take days for it to happen. He removed the lightsaber that had belonged to Legger and removed the crystal, since it was already imbued. He picked up the primary crystal mount and set it atop the power cell. Verus then removed the focusing crystals, the activator, and it's chamber from some of the other lightsabers and put them into their new home. He was halfway finished. He then inserted the blade energy channel, although this would do nothing without the rest of it's parts, so he then surrounded it with the cycling field energizers. Verus now picked up the activation button, the blade length adjust, and the power adjuster; he then connected the wires to each button and knob and set them into their places where they would be more accessible. Finally he moved the final piece into place, the stabilizing ring. The ring was finally set onto the lightsaber, which finally finished the legendary weapon. Since Verus had used this process with the force, the saber's parts were bonded together on a molecular level, making them almost impossible to remove unless either broken or removed by the force. With a sigh, he set the weapon down and opened his eyes to see his creation. The lightsaber was colored silver on a majority of it's parts, the bottom was smooth and rounded while also colored black. Some of the pieces were larger in width while others were more precise and comfortable in accordance to actually being held. The top part as standard, being circular and flat. He activated the saber, it glowed to life and engulfed the room in yellow light as the saber gave off an ominous humming sound before turning it off. Verus picked up the hilt and frowned, although the blade was perfect in appearance, it felt too... off, like it was meant to be improved somehow. The hilt felt too metallic and synthetic. He picked up one of the objects he had gotten from the third box: a long strip of rancor leather, Verus began to wrap the handle in the leather tightly, no overlapping other parts or revealing and spots of metal, the only parts of metal that were concealed was the center, which was where the saber was most held. The handle finally felt more comfortable to the touch, but he knew something was missing. In the event that he should lose his lightsaber, a spare must be built. He then looked at the rest of parts on floor, and idea popping into his head. Time to get to work once more. Verus had finally arrived at Fluttershy's cottage, if he could call it an actual house. In his eyes , it looked as though half of the house was made from the forest itself rather than built all by itself, but he guessed that that was what she was probably going for. He stepped forward closer to the door and knocked on it, listening to the echoes that reverberated into the house. The door creaked open for literally a split second before it slammed shut. It seems that she peeked through the crack just to get a look at me, he observed. Verus knocked on the door again, "Fluttershy!" he yelled. "Leave... please," the man heard the whisper. "I'm not here to hurt you, I'm here to explain something." "Are you going to eat me like that poor doe that you killed?" Fluttershy managed to squeak out. Verus was unsure of whether she was asking a legitimate question or if she was mocking him. She sounded too innocent to him, so he went with the former, "No, just open the door," he answered. A minute passed before the top door slowly opened, revealing a teary-eyed yellow pegasus. "W-what did you want to tell me?" she asked him. "I'll explain... may I come in?" Fluttershy was almost taken aback because of his rather polite manners, "Um, alright. Let me just clean the place up a little bit," she then closed the door. Verus listened from outside to the sounds within. Some of the sounds comprised of crashes and things being tossed around before coming to a stop; other noises were made up of squeaks, whimpers, and various animals noises inside the cottage. It was until that time when he heard a conversation take place in the cottage. "Angel, please behave. I-I know how you feel about strangers, but-" there were squeaks interrupting here own dialogue. "Yes, I know. I think it's wrong too, but he probably has a perfectly good reason... I think," she explained. More squeaks, "He'll be here soon. If he comes back and if he finds out if he's bad or good, he'll make him go away. But right now, we have to hope that this stallion's good," she whispered. Verus resumed his normal posture as soon as he heard her coming to the door. Fluttershy opened the door once more, "O-okay you can come in now." The zabrak nodded and took a step inside. The house smelled of plant life and animals, but it was neither pungent nor filth, the smell was more clean. It was that moment when he knew what this small creature was: a veterinarian. He looked around to see the rooms neat and orderly, as if the place was never messy to begin with, as Fluttershy briefly unconsciously described. Verus took a seat on the couch with Fluttershy sitting adjacent to him, but backed slightly away in case he was actually a threat. "So Fluttershy-" she flinched at the mention of her name. "-I have quickly come to understand what you do here. You are a veterinarian, correct?" he asked the pegasus. "Oh, well I guess you can say that," she whispered. Verus paused for a second, "That will have to suffice then. If that is the case, then you have taken care of many animals throughout your life, correct?" "Yes, you're right," she said, more curious to what he was getting to. "Then you should understand why I killed that animal," he asked, but he almost regret the words ever leaving his mouth. Because the butter-colored pegasus immediately broke down in tears from the memory. "But why did you do it?!?" she almost yelled. Verus sighed and facepalmed. "Take a closer look, you should understand by now," he commanded, lifting his upper lip with his index finger, revealing a jagged, if not serrated row of teeth. Fluttershy's crying came to a full stop as the realization dawned on her. "You're a carnivore..." she whispered, blushing furiously. "Now you understand?" he asked her, giving her an extremely rare grin, albeit a small one. "I just thought you just killed for fun. I-I, um... oh boy I feel like such a dummy," she buried her face into her hooves. I can't believe I'm actually going to say this, Verus thought to himself as he began to talk. "What you thought does not make you unintelligent, it means you were assuming the wrong thing. You had your assumptions, but they were brought to light, I hope this clears your conscience," he tried to comfort her, laying a hand on her shoulder. She wiped away a tear and smiled at him, "T-thank you," was all she said before outright hugging him. Verus almost jumped in surprise at her action. As a Sith, he usually kills whenever something is this close to him, but he had to make an exception with her. He wrapped his arm around her, his eye twitching in annoyance as he does so. "You're... very welcome, but I must take my leave back to the clinic," he said as got back up and walked to the door. "Goodbye Verus," Fluttershy said. Verus turned back to look at Fluttershy, who was much less shy, "Goodbye, Fluttershy." He closed the door behind him and began his journey to the clinic that was caring to Arina. Deimos heard the sound of footsteps approaching from behind, he turned to see Verus with two lightsabers in his hands. "You never cease to amaze me, my apprentice. I expected you to take longer with your construction. Much longer," he told the zabrak Sith. "Nothing less than perfection, my lord," Verus said, holding out the sabers. "No need to gloat yet Verus, you're not a Lord yet," he said, picking up the lightsabers and studying them. "Yes... exquisite design, my apprentice," he activated the first saber, the yellow blade grew from the hilt. "A yellow blade? Not very common for a Sith, where did you get such a crystal?" "I stole it from a pair of Inquisitors on Ilum," Verus explained. "Inquisitors? Did they put up much of a fight?" "No." "Then they were either weak, or you are becoming much more powerful. Now let's see... the handle is bound in leather, was this design in your own mind?" the Sith Lord asked. "Not exactly, it was but an ordinary hilt, but the saber felt off. The leather was what completed the design." Deimos then shifted to the next saber and activated it, the blade glowed red. But he noticed that the frequency he sensed was different. "This crystal gives off something... strange. Where did you find this one?" he asked. "I killed a Sith Spawn, it used a large kyber crystal chunk as a lure possibly for curious Jedi. Since it was made with the creature, it would count as natural crystal." "Both a natural red crystal and a Sith Spawn, this is quite intriguing," Deimos said, turning back to the controls. "Return to the training room, we will put those sabers of yours to use soon," he said. Without warning, the comms on one of the panels suddenly came to life. "Mayday! Mayday! Reporting to all Rebel ships, this is Bail Organa and Fulcrum sending out a encrypted distress signal aboard the Tantive IV, we are in the Dantooine system and are requesting immediate aid!" the communications system declared. Deimos looked at Verus, then back at the controls. He was surprised that this was secretly a rebel ship this whole time! This could have an advantage. "R3, set a course to the Dantooine system," he told the astromech droid, who immediately began got to work on his master's command. "Master, may I ask what you are doing?" Verus said as the ship finally went into hyperspace. "If we want the Empire off our backs, we will need to gain a few allies to keep us out of their hands," Deimos explained. "But the Rebels are in favor of rebuilding the old republic, including the Jedi," Verus exclaimed. "They will come to understand our intentions. As for you, do you understand the idea, 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend'?" he asked the young man. "The idea that two opposing adversaries would put aside their differences to eliminate a threat that could destroy both factions?" "Exactly, I am an outcast of the Empire, and so are they. The only difference that they loath is that fact is that we utilize the Dark Side of the Force, but they will put that aside to fight off an entire Empire that utilizes the Dark Side, if you don't come to terms to this-" R3 finally stopped the ship, revealing a large battle between a Corellian Freighter and it's X-wing fighters against an Imperial Super Star Destroyer. "R3, the star destroyer will focus on the offensive units, you will need to board the Freighter, they will need our assistance," he then turned to face Verus once more "-then consider this practice," he said, picking up his lightsabers and strapping them to his belt. "R3, stay with the ship in case we need a fast escape," he commanded the droid. Darth Deimos felt the ship's magnetic seals clamp onto the ship and waited until the boarding tunnel finally merged with the ship. Verus followed his master towards the back exit and opened the door. "Ready to put those lightsabers to good use?" "Yes master," Verus answered. "Good," they walked through the tunnel and began to open the doors. "Remember your training," Deimos reminded his apprentice. He activated his lightsabers and forced open the doors, where they were greeted with stormtroopers that began to open fire on the new hostiles. When Verus felt the impact, he finally knew there was someone missing. The brute force of the hit sent him hurtling several meters from his original spot. He groaned as he rolled over and got back up, ready to face his attacker. Before he could get a glimpse, he caught the next hoof ready to strike him. This time he looked up to see his enemy. "Rainbow Dash," he growled in annoyance, "Leave me alone, I have better things than settling a childish grudge." "Where are they?!" she yelled at him. Verus stopped. "I don't know what you're talking about," he said, a rock suddenly pelted him on the back of the head. "Yes you do, I know you do," she said, eager to fight him. Verus sighed and turned around. Rainbow suddenly saw the rock she threw at him suddenly float into the air. "I'm warning you, if you don't leave, I will have no choice but to deal with you personally. You wouldn't want to lose those wings of yours, would you?" he threatened. The rock suddenly zoomed towards her and clipped her left wing before she could even react. She cried out in pain and glared at him in fury. Verus lifted another rock with the force, "Leave or the next one goes in between your eyes." She growled under her breath and began to walk away, "I still know it was you, I'll be back." "What did I do?!" he yelled at her. "I realized Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, and Apple Bloom haven't returned from their next 'tryout' for earning their Cutie Mark, and I think you had something to do with it," she explained, pointing at him with her hoof. Pain shot throughout her wing. "I can assure you, I am innocent of your accusations. If you wanted me to help you, all you had to do was ask," he said with hidden humor in his voice. "I don't want you to help me! I can handle these things on my own," she spat. Verus had formed the idea minutes ago. Out of six that he had met, regaining trust was fairly easy with most of them. Rainbow was the exception. She was brash, arrogant, and extremely egotistical, but she wanted to find these three ponies. Meaning that she was an element of... devotion? He would have to ask later. "If you can handle things on your own, how will you heal that wing of yours?" he asked. "Hey! That was your fault, you injured it!" "And I can fix it just as easily," Verus said, that got her attention. "Really? No, you're lying." "I can, on one condition," he said. Rainbow sighed, "Alright, what is it?" "You stop assuming that I am evil. I may use powers that may seem questionable, but they are without evil intent." "I'll think about it, bub," she said, spreading the wing out for the zabrak to see, wincing in pain as she did so. "You gonna use your force, or whatchamacallit?" she asked. "No, medicine," he said, opening one of the pouches from his belt and pulling out a small syringe. The cyan mare sighed, "Just make it fast." Verus then stabbed the needle into the wound and injected the fluid. He then then put the syringe back in it's spot for recycling purposes. Rainbow watched in shock as her wing began to heal, her skin and feathers began to regrow and replace the old wound. "This," Verus pointed at the wing, "Is a miracle drug known as Bacta, a popular medicine used to speed up tissue and, in your case, keratin regeneration." She looked at her wing and flapped it several times before lifting off the ground, "Huh, good as new. I guess were cool then." Verus knew of her dilemma on finding the three little one. So why did this next idea suddenly pop into his mind? We may call it foreshadowing. "Show me where the three that you were talking about went." "Wait what? You're really helping me with this?" "Yes, the sooner that we get this over with, the faster your arrogance disappears from my life," Verus remarked. "Ha ha, very funny. Come on, let's just go," she said leading the way. Verus began to follow her to the Everfree forest, but he stopped and looked back at the original path that lead to the hospital. Let's hope this does not take long, he thought as he turned back to follow the rainbow-maned mare. He unhooked his lightsabers from his belt, ready to face the dangers in the forest.