Revan stood at parade rest, the sweat from PT quickly cooling on her skin in the winter chill, as she watched a number of ponies sparring with spear, sword, or these odd-looking blades strapped to the wings of the few pegasi. “They look impressive,” she observed to the uniformed thestral standing beside her, “And you appear to work them hard enough …”
“But?” Commander Schmetterling asked.
“But they seem to keep passing up on killing blows,” the twi’lek frowned in confusion.
“The Guard and the Legion are primarily peacekeeping organizations, so we train our ponies to avoid needless bloodshed,” the mare glanced over at her companion, “I thought the Jedi were also peacekeepers, are their methods so different?”
“Peacekeepers yes, but when the blades come out, every Jedi is willing to leave bodies behind him,” Revan gave the legionnaire officer a predatory grin as she slapped her saber hilt, “Lightsabers can only kill or maim, there’s nothing ‘bloodless’ about them. Besides, I came up through the mercenary ranks and the Sith before I was a Jedi, it gives me a different perspective from most of the Order.”
“And what perspective is that?”
“A dead opponent doesn’t fight back,” Revan replied quietly, “And mercy is a luxury your enemies are unlikely to offer you.”
“This Republic you come from sounds like a vicious place,” Schmetterling frowned at the brutality implicit in the twi’lek’s comment, before she nodded over at an empty sparing circle, “Come, a practical comparison of styles should be a good exercise.”
________________________________________
Revan twisted to the side as the thestral lashed out with her rear hooves, turning what could have been broken ribs into only a bad bruise to add to the collection of scrapes and contusions she had collected since the match had begun. Raising her borrowed practice sword back into guard, she slowly circled her opponent, ignoring the surrounding ring of cheering legionnaires, ‘She’s quick, strong, and good with those wingblade-things. And she has so much mass that hand and foot strikes are about as effective on her as they would be against a gamorrean.’ The Jedi’s analysis was interrupted as Schmetterling lunged towards her, wings flared to strike, only to have her attack brought up short when Revan’s stop-thrust forced her to evade.
Schmetterling’s cool professionalism faced off against Revan’s happily wolfish grin as the two exchanged several more passes, with neither able to land a decisive blow. Tired of the protracted stalemate, the thestral launched herself a dozen meters into the air with strong beats of her wings, “Let’s see how you deal with this.”
The Jedi merely cocked a brow at the mare, before she turned and leapt over the heads of the encircling ponies to catch the nearby wall and use it as a springboard to hurl herself back at Schmetterling. The surprised legionnaire raised her wingblade to deflect Revan’s sword, but was not fast enough to keep the twi’lek from crashing into her and wrapping her other arm and legs around the pony, ‘That impact should have knocked her out of the air! How can she hold both of us up?’ Revan wondered as she pulled herself close to the legionnaire’s barrel to try and avoid the thestral’s flailing legs and battering wings. Raising her arm, Revan pressed the flat of her blade against the exposed underside of Schmetterling’s throat, “I win.”
Schmetterling dropped back to the ground with a disgruntled snort, “You were holding back,” she pointed an accusing hoof at the twi’lek.
Revan smirked at the legionnaire as she took a long pull from the canteen she kept clipped to her belt, “This match was for fun and honor, not blood,” she replied, offering the thestral the canteen, “Besides, you didn’t go all-out, either.”
“So who won?” Twilight asked, as she and Shining Armor walked through the ring of legionnaires, when the twi’lek flashed her a grin and a thumbs-up, she turned smugly to her brother and held out her hoof, “Pay up,” friendly laughter filled the practice yard as Shining dug into his bit pouch.
As the amusement faded and the gathered ponies broke up and began to head for their posts, Schmetterling turned to Revan, “So what is this ‘light sword’ of yours, anyway?” Both Twilight’s and Shining’s ears perked up at the thestral’s question, and the two quickly trotted closer, eager to hear about the workings of the alien weapon.
Revan unclipped her saber from her belt and hefted it thoughtfully, “Supposedly, it’s a coherent beam of high-energy plasma run through a series of energizers, focusing lens and a focusing crystal and then held in a force containment field that gives the blade it’s shape and arcs the plasma back into the emitter matrix to compete the circuit.”
Shining frowned at the Jedi’s words, “‘Supposedly’? You don’t know for sure?”
Revan giggled at the siblings’ obvious disappointment, “Supposedly, because a plasma cutter uses almost the exact same system, well except for the focusing crystal, and a lightsaber can do things that the cutter never could,” with a crackling snap, the saber ignited and a meter-long blade of blue energy sprang into existence. The little group looked at it quietly for a few moments, then the blade began to sputter and pulse, causing Revan to swiftly deactivate it, “Well that isn’t a good sign.” Turning to Schmetterling, she continued, “I need somewhere to take my saber apart and find out what’s wrong.”
The legionnaire officer pointed a hoof at the nearby storehouse where Revan had gotten her practice sword, “There’s a small armorer’s workshop in the back.”
The Jedi nodded her thanks and hurried inside, pausing to rack her borrowed blade, she made her way to the rear of the storehouse and dropped onto a bench as she began to dismantle her saber and lay the parts out on a table. The clop of approaching hooves heralded the arrival of the three ponies she had left outside, “Have you found anything?” Twilight asked as she looked over Revan’s shoulder.
Revan shook her head in reply as she put aside the emitter matrix and picked up the field energizer, “Not so far,” finding nothing amiss with the energizer, she put it back down and turned her attention to the focusing crystal, “Wish I had better light in here.” Behind her, the two unicorns exchanged amused looks and then ignited their horns, filling the room with a magenta glow. Revan blinked in surprise, throwing the ponies a grin, and then concentrated on the crystal in her hand, “Well, shit.”
“What is it?”
“The crystal is fracturing, if I keep putting all the energy a saber requires through it, it will shatter, and probably take my hand with it,” Revan turned in her seat to toss the crystal to Twilight, “See for yourself.”
The librarian casually caught the crystal in her magic, then stopped, her eyes widening, as the gem began to glow with a pale blue radiance, while flames the same color as her aura chased each other across the crystal’s surface, “Is it supposed to do that?”
“I’ve never heard of an Ilum crystal reacting like that …” Revan replied, looking at the blazing crystal in bemusement. The Jedi reached out and snatched the gem, which turned back into just another unassuming mineral as soon as it was removed from the grip of Twilight’s magic, “Huh.”
A bit of experimentation determined that the crystal only reacted to the touch of magic, but the colorful display did not seem to have any other effect on the crystal, “Can you fix your light sword?” Shining Armor asked, interrupting Revan’s reverie as she watched the crystal blaze in Twilight’s magic.
“Maybe? If I can attune another crystal, I should be able to rebuild my lightsaber, as for this one …” Revan began to grin as she reclaimed the damaged crystal, “It’s a unique gem that reacts in a rather dramatic fashion to magic … Yeah, I know exactly what to do with this one.”
________________________________________
“Presenting her Ladyship, the Baroness Twilight Sparkle, Bearer of the Element of Magic, Emissary of the Dual Throne of Equestria, beloved sister to our Sovereign Highnesses, and her escort Dame Revan Vao, Knight of the Jedi Order, Warrior of the Shadow Academy,” called out a great-voiced herald as the unicorn and twi’lek entered the hall.
“A baroness, Twi’?” Revan quirked a brow at her friend as the guests already present gave a polite spatter of applause, “Really now?”
Twilight blushed slightly under the Jedi’s amused gaze, “It’s not like it’s important. My parents oversee what little there is to the family estates, and we haven’t been involved in politics since my great-grandmother, Twilight Skies’, time,” she reached out a hoof to prod Revan’s shoulder, “And what about you, Miss ‘Warrior of the Shadow Academy’?”
“‘Warrior’ is just the Sith equivalent to a Jedi Knight,” Revan replied as she snagged a pair of mugs of hot chocolate from a passing servant with a murmured word of thanks, “Like I told Counsellor Hopeful, the old wars have no meaning here, so there’s no reason for me to downplay my past.”
The oddly matched pair spent the next few hours circulating through the small crowd, drinking, nibbling and talking with the other guests. For her part, the Jedi found the Crystal Empire’s nobility to be generally friendly ponies, even if their archaic speech occasionally needed to be puzzled out. The foreign envoys were a more mixed bag, however, with some being just as sociable as the crystal ponies, or at least politely neutral, while others proved all too eager to try to take advantage of Twilight’s relationship to the Crystal and Equestrian thrones. Thankfully, Revan’s looming, exotic presence and one-eyed glower was enough to dissuade even the most insistent among the ambassadors from pushing their manipulations too far.
“Excuse us, thy Ladyships,” a voiced piped up from behind Revan and Twilight as the two took a moment to listen to the musical quartet that was playing Hearth’s Warming carols, turning, they found a small crystal earth pony colt and an even smaller crystal unicorn filly looking up at them nervously, “Might Sir Spike be about? We wert hoping that it would be possible to meet him.”
Twilight smiled gently down at the foals as she shook her head, “I’m sorry, little ones, Spike is spending the holiday in Canterlot with our family.”
While clearly crestfallen, the two foals did not immediately turn away, but remained beside the unicorn and twi’lek as the music wrapped around them. “Art thou a pirate?” the filly finally burst out as she stared up at Revan in fascination.
Revan shot a glance at Twilight, “What is with you ponies and this obsession with pirates?” turning back to the foals, she dropped down to one knee before answering, “No youngling, I’m a weapons adept. I’ve met plenty of pirates, however, usually over a blade or a blaster,” Revan gave a half-smile to the pair of wide-eyed foals, “A bit of uninvited advice? If you’re looking for adventure and foreign lands, I’d become an explorer, like in the Daring Do books. Or join the navy when you’re of age, that way you’re serving your Princess and protecting your home and family at the same time as you’re seeing distant shores.” Reaching out, she tucked a fly-away lock of mane back behind the filly’s ear, then brought her fist to her breast and nodded her head in salute, “A happy Hearth’s Warming to you both, younglings, and may your lives be joyful.”
As the pair made their way back out among the revelers, Twilight gave Revan an affectionate shoulder bump, “What was that for?”
The unicorn just smiled at her.
________________________________________
Filled with a post-present-unwrapping lethargy, Cadance smiled contentedly as she soaked up the warmth radiating from the fireplace and her family in equal measure. She’d always loved Hearth’s Warming, but having Twilight here gave the holiday a little something extra. Looking out the window, Cadance giggled as she watched Twilight and Revan build a snow fort in the courtyard, “Shiny, come and see this.”
“Hmmm?” her husband wandered over from the kitchen, a mug of hot chocolate held in his magic, and gave her a kiss on the check before following her gaze, “Heh, I’d forgotten how much Twily enjoys building snow forts. Well, so long as she doesn’t raise a flag or anything …” Shining trailed off as he watched a stick, with a cloth that had been roughly patterned to match Twilight’s cutie mark tied to it, rise up in the middle of the fort, “Well you know what this means,” he said, smiling at Cadance.
The Princess gave back an answering grin as she went to get their scarves.
________________________________________
Fort Sparkle still stood, its flag flapping defiantly in the late afternoon wind, despite its crumbling walls and decimated defenders. Cadance, First Pony of the Free Pony Republic, looked over her remaining warriors as they stood about catching their breath after repulsing General Revan’s attempt to break their siege. ‘We lost poor Shiny and a dozen good ponies in that engagement,’ Cadance mused for a moment, before she broke into a cheery grin and shook her head in amusement at how a simple snowball war between family had escalated as foals, teens, and even full-grown mares and stallions from the palace and the city had happened by and picked a side. Turning her attention back to the enemy fortification, Cadance decided that one last good push would win them the battle, ‘Besides, it’s almost time for dinner,’ still, it would be proper to offer the defenders a last chance to surrender.
Walking to the front of her lines, Cadance struck a dramatic pose and called across the courtyard, “Ponies of Fort Sparkle! Your walls are breached! Your general and your best warriors have fallen! The day is lost! Yield, so that the Free Pony Republic may show you mercy!”
Movement could be seen behind the fort’s walls, then High Lady Twilight, wrapped in Revan’s red cloak and with the hood pulled forward to shadow her face, mounted the battlements to glare balefully out at the besiegers, “Our walls may be breached, our ponies-in-arms may be lost, but the Sparkle flag still flies! And by Celestia and Luna, we will defend it!”
‘Ooh! Good showmareships!’ Cadance noted approvingly, “All ponies, charge!” To the cheers and shouts of the spectators and “fallen” ponies standing on the sidelines, Cadance led her forces through the Sparkleite barrage to capture the fort and finally bring down High Lady Twilight herself with a half-dozen snowballs as she stood defending her flag.
With the snowball war over, the gathered ponies headed back to their homes leaving Revan and the royal family laughing, debating tactics and recalling highlights of the day’s activities as they made their own way back to the Royal Apartments.
________________________________________
“I’m home!” Cadance called out as she entered the Apartments and immediately set about removing and storing her tiara and peytral. Stretching with relief, she wandered into the kitchen to find Shining Armor finishing up with the dinner preparations, “Where are Twily and Revan?” she asked as she nuzzled her husband.
“Still out,” Shining replied, giving Cadance a warm kiss, “With it being their last day to see the Empire, I expect them to be running a bit late.”
“So salad and hayburgers, then?” Cadance observed, looking at the simple repast Shining had prepared, “Well, let’s get started, and Twily and Revan can join us when they get back.”
The royal couple was halfway through their meal when their wandering guests returned, “Hi Shiny! Hi Caddy!” Twilight chirped as she dropped her saddlebags on a couch, “Yum! Hayburgers! Great, I’m famished!”
“So, how many museums did you go to?” Shining asked knowingly as he passed over the plate of burgers.
“Just the one, plus the archives and two bookstores,” Revan replied, her voice filled with amused patience.
“Hey!” Twilight protested, “Knowledge is important! Besides, you managed to get a few crystals for your laser sword and some gifts for everypony back in Ponyville,” she reached a hoof over to prod the twi’lek in the shoulder, “And you can’t deny that you had a good day, I heard you singing to yourself while we were out.”
“Singing?” Cadance’s ears perked up as she absorbed this new information, “I didn’t know you sang, Revan.”
“She’s actually rather good,” Twilight said eagerly, “Revan has been teaching her songs to Lyra Heartstrings back in Ponyville.”
Cadance smiled at Twilight’s gushing, and Revan’s suddenly inflamed face, “Well then, perhaps Revan would be willing to grace us with a song?”
While Shining was able to restrain himself to looking merely interested, Cadance and Twilight bent the full power of their puppy dog eyes upon the Jedi, who crumbled after a valiant, if futile, struggle, “Alright, alright,” Revan glared at the two mares, “One of these damn days, I’ll find a way to bloody well resist those pouts.”
“If you ever do develop a defense, I hope you’ll share it,” Shining teased, as he ducked to avoid the lazy wing swat Cadance aimed at him and the table sounded with laughter.
Having finished their meal and cleaned up, the little group retired to the sitting room where the ponies got comfortable before turning expectant gazes on Revan, who took a moment to compose her thoughts before she began to sing, her eye softening as she lost herself in the music ...
It's been two years since I saw you, since I stood upon the ground,
In the shadow of a shuttle that too soon for space was bound.
And now I am a warrior, a pilot for the fleet,
And they've told me I cannot go home, till the enemy's defeat.
________________________________________
Cadance sat at her vanity, brushing out her mane before she went to bed, “So … what do you think of Revan?” she asked, glancing at Shining, his muzzle buried in the book Twilight had given him, in her mirror.
“I like her, although I do share Schmetterling’s concerns about her behavior,” the stallion cocked his head to the side as he looked at his wife, “What brought this on?”
“Don’t you think she and Twily look cute together?” Cadance asked as she turned to face her husband, “The way they tease and banter with each other? That song? And I know you saw her glare down the Yakistan Ambassador when he kept trying to corner Twilight at the soirée.”
“Yes, I did,” Shining replied with approval, “But what’s this about the song? I mean I know it was romantic, in its odd way, but it was just a song. Wasn’t it?”
“Stallions,” the alicorn rolled her eyes, “Revan may have been singing that song for all of us, but she was singing it to Twilight,” Cadance grinned at Shining as she got into bed and pulled the covers over them, “There’s something between them, trust me.”
“You and your matchmaking,” Shining sighed, then reached out a hoof to gently boop his wife on the nose, “I know you want Twily to be happy, I do too, but please don’t interfere until they’ve had a chance to work out their issues.”
“Fine.” Cadance nodded in reluctant agreement, ‘Of course, nothing says I can’t contact Rarity, just to keep abreast of the situation, of course.’