The Final Frontier
Spike followed Solaris through the halls of the Jedi temple, staying a step behind her as she led him to wherever they were going. Eventually, she stopped and turned around to face him.
"You can walk beside me you know." She said with a smile. "You're going to be my apprentice for a long time, you and I might as well start as we mean to go on."
"Yes Master." Spike said with a slightly embarrassed smile, taking a stride forward and catching up with Solaris.
As he moved up beside her, he realised that even though he was clearly a lot younger than her, he was only slightly shorter than her, something that surprised him. He had been confused about his sudden growth spurt since he had been taken from Equestria, and had tried on many occasions to wrack his brain as to why he would grow more here than he did back there. While he couldn't remember anything concrete, and couldn't research anything about his species for obvious reasons, he had remembered one possible explanation for his growth.
When he had gone on the dragon migration to try and find where he belonged, he had been his usual short self, yet even though he had only been with other dragons, and more importantly, taller creatures, for a day, when he had returned he had found that he had grown nearly two inches. This had baffled both him and Twilight, but eventually the purple unicorn had come up with a plausible explanation for what had happened.
Dragons, or so she said, had certain innate magics that they could tap in to. Most of the time, this was the ability to breathe dragon fire, which was the reason it was hotter than normal flames and could send messages, if enchanted properly. They did however, have certain passive abilities, in the same way earth ponies and pegasus did. Twilight had summarised that one of these passive abilities helped the dragon fit in with their companions, and who they found themselves spending most of time with. This materialised in the fact that to fit in with the ponies of Equestria, most of whom were four foot or smaller, and didn't often see huge Dragon, Spike didn't grow much, giving off the aura of being simply a baby, despite being nearly a teenager. Now however, Spike was with species that easily exceeded four foot, some even stretching towards eight or nine feet. Coupled with the fact that they wouldn't be completely freaked out by seeing a larger, more mature looking dragon, and Spike had theorised that the passive magic was finally allowing him to grow.
Spike had been proud when he had finally come up with this explanation, even more so when he had presented it to Master Norik as part of his training about researching pressing issues. Norik had agreed with most of his findings, and while he couldn't say for certain if they were right or wrong, he did agree that it was the most plausible excuse.
Now that he was walking beside Solaris, Spike finally got a better look at his new master. She was young for a master, being younger than a lot of knights that he had seen during the tournament. Her long brown hair flowed down her back, tapering out just before it reached her waist, while the few braids rested on her shoulders.
Other than the robe that Spike had instantly seen, Solaris was wearing a form fitting outfit, the trousers and top being separated by a thick leather belt. Her Lightsaber hung from the belt, and Spike instantly saw that it was a 'standard' design. What was interesting was the strand of hair that was attached to the pommel, which Spike quickly identified as a Padawan braid. How it kept looking like new was a mystery to Spike.
The pair of them quickly reached a small room, moving inside and closing the door. The room was dark, blinds half covering the windows, with controls to adjust the amount of light they let in. Other than that the room was barren, apart from two small round stools, being little more than large cushions surrounded by a ring of metal. Spike quickly recognised them as meditation chairs, and after watching his new Master walk over to one, he moved to the other one and got on, crossing his legs and looking across at Solaris.
"Before I begin your training, I am going to bring you in line with my own knowledge. First, please show me your Lightsaber." She instructed.
Nodding, Spike removed the hilt from his belt, and held it out towards Solaris.
"It is an interesting design." She nodded, taking the hilt from him and looking surprised by the sudden weight of it. "Heavy isn't it? What have you made it out of?"
"Huyang said that the hilt was a mixture of Songsteel and Neuranium." Spike said, thinking back to the droids words.
"Neuranium? No wonder it's heavy. But as a positive it should be able to withstand all but the most crushing blows dealt to its casing." She said, before handing the weapon back. "Now, disassemble your weapon, and remove the crystal."
Nodding, Spike reached for the weapon, before levitating it in front of his eyes. Slowly, the casing unscrewed itself, revealing the crystal matrix, and within that, the glowing purple crystal, which Spike removed and showed to his Master.
"Good. Not what I expected from my first Padawan at all." She said, more to herself than to Spike.
"What's not what you expected?" Spike asked, confused by her words.
"You are unique, your Lightsaber design is unique, and your crystal is even more unique than usual. I expected that the force would guide me towards someone more.."
"Ordinary?" Spike offered.
"Standard." She replied, before focusing back on the crystal. "Now, I want you to reassemble your Lightsaber, slowly, if you will. I am going to recite the crystal code, and I would like you to repeat it after me, do you understand?"
"I do Solaris." Spike nodded.
"The Crystal is the heart of the blade."
"The Crystal is the heart of the blade." Spike said, positioning the crustal above the hilt.
"The heart is the crystal of the Jedi."
"The heart is the crystal of the Jedi." He intoned, slowly slipping the crystal back into its housing within the lighstabers hilt.
"The Jedi is the crystal of the Force."
"The Jedi is the crystal of the Force." As he continued, the crystal seemed to begin pulsing slightly more than before.
"The Force is the blade of the heart."
"The Force is the blade of the heart." Spike began to move the outer casing back into position.
"All are intertwined."
"All are intertwined." The outer casing slowly began to slide back on to the rest of the hilt, coming to a halt with a tiny 'click,
"The crystal, the blade, the Jedi."
"The crystal, the blade, the Jedi." Spike said breathlessly, taking hold of his weapon by the perpendicular handle.
"We are one."
"We are one." Spike intoned, and ignited his blade.
Instantly, Spike felt the slight difference in the blade and the crystal within. It seemed as if it was even more attuned with his own force now, and Spike briefly wondered why they didn't teach this as standard practice.
"What you have just done will have either done nothing, as it does with most," Solaris began, "or it will have increased the connection you, your Lightsaber and your crystal share. Tell me, which is it?"
"The second one." Spike said simply.
"I knew that my Master was right when he taught me this." Solaris smiled.
"Who was your Master?" Spike asked in interest, deactivating his Lightsaber placing it back in his belt.
"The now Grand Master Garton Brine." She smiled. "Of course, he was just a knight when he took me as his Padawan."
"You were trained by the Grand Master?" Spike asked in amazement.
"I was." Solaris nodded. "But enough about the past, now we must look towards the future, and how mine and yours are now intertwined."
"As you wish." Spike said, crossing his legs.
"Your duels, specifically against the members of your old clan, they were impressive." Solaris began, slowly beginning to pace around the room.
"You flatter me." Spike smiled.
"I return in kind." Solaris replied simply, before continuing on. "Both times you displayed the ability to clearly think even in the midst of combat. More than that, you seemed to be able to incorporate rough force techniques into your blade work. With a little honing, I believe you could become proficient in the sixth form of combat, in the same way my master taught me."
"Form six." Spike said, thinking slightly. "Niman, also known as the moderation form, the diplomat form or the way of the Rancor."
“Well done.” Solaris nodded. “Yes, Niman is at heart moderate. It combines aspects of all the forms that came before it, taking their strengths, but not being saddled with any of their weaknesses.”
“Then why does everyone not use Niman if it’s so much stronger than the other forms?” Spike asked.
“No, like I said, it is a moderation form.” Solaris said. “The form has no true disadvantages, but at the same time has no real advantages. It can be used for duelling, but against a form II specialist they will lose ninety percent of the time. It can be useful against blaster opponents, but a practitioner of form III will always do better.”
“So, Jack of all trades, master of none?” Spike asked, nodding as he took in his master’s instruction.
“Precisely. But to compensate for this moderation, this form specialises in incorporating force techniques into the blade work.” She said.
“Do you use this form?” Spike asked.
“Among a few.” She nodded. “It was not the first form I was taught, Garton believed that Shien was the ultimate expression of the Jedi, but I disagree, and learnt Niman when I passed my trials of Knighthood. It has allowed me to focus more on what the Jedi should strive towards, diplomacy and meditating upon the force.”
“What happens if diplomacy doesn’t work?” Spike asked.
“That is why it still has blade work. Now, before I start your training, I have a question for you.”
“What?” Spike asked.
“Do you know what a Stinger is?” She said with a smile.
***
“What is that?” Spike asked, looking at the thing in front of him as Solaris walked over to it, rubbing her hand against the sleek surface of the machine in a manner that was bordering on reverence.
Solaris has led Spike down the corridors of the temple, finally emerging into the hanger bay where the Jedi kept the small amount of ships that were always on standby at the capital. He had only been here a few times before, but never before had he been to the section Solaris showed him. It was much more expansive, with a vast amount of smaller partitions. Inside each smaller bay was a small, single seated craft, some sleek and modern looking, while others were blocky and looked as if they wouldn’t be able to fly. Moving around the hanger were a few droids, periodically checking some of the ships, doing general repairs and maintenance.
Only one ship seemed to interest Solaris however, and she quickly strode over to one, shooing the droids away that were checking it over. The ship was tiny, and Spike could only make out a single seat through the proportionately large cockpit viewport. Extending down from the main body were two wings, ending in massive engines, each with a vertical vain attached to them, ending abruptly in a stubby laser cannon. The craft was finished with a bright red paint job, with a single black line down the middle, in what he had gathered was colloquially called a ‘go-faster stripe’.
Looking around, Spike caught sight of four more ships that looked nearly identical to this one, but with subtle differences. Firstly, their engines were smaller, while underneath they had a large tube device, as opposed to a slim laser cannon, and finally, the biggest difference between the ships, they were all a dark yellow, with no other defining marks.
“This is an S-100 Stinger-class Starfighter. Manufactured by Corellian Engineering Corporation, it is normally equipped with a 2.0 class hyperdrive and a mark seven delta sub-light drive, as well as a minimal ray shield array. It has laser cannons and a single proton torpedo launcher.” She said without looking around.
“You said usually.” Spike noted.
“I did.” She smiled, looking around at Spike with a smile. “This is not a standard, run-of-the-mill S-100, it’s mine. The hyperdrive has been replaced with the older 1.8 model, increasing the jump distance while reducing the time, at the cost of storage space. The torpedo launcher has been stripped out, allowing the shield array to be boosted in power, giving it nearly three times the strength of the norm, and giving me space to mount a third laser cannon, and the added bonus of cutting the weight down. She’s faster than a normal model, she’s lighter, she’s more protected, but most of all, she’s my baby.”
“She?” Spike asked.
“The Cyclone.” She smiled, before stepping back and looking at her ship.
“It’s nice master.” Spike said, nodding, before looking at the female Jedi. “But I’m sure you didn’t bring me down here to discuss your starfighter.”
“Right again Spike.” She smiled. “No, you see that ship there?” She asked pointing to another, normal S-100 in the bay next to hers, currently being worked on by droids.
“Yeah.” Spike said slowly, ideas forming about what was coming next. Looking back around at his master, he was just in time to see her throw a bundle of fabric at him. Looking at the bundle, he realised it was a one piece jumpsuit of some kind.
“Suit up Spike, we’re going flying.” She grinned maniacally.
***
Spike grunted as his master giggled over the headset, her craft swooping past his cockpit as she secured another ‘hit’ on his craft.
Solaris it seemed was a very ‘feet-first’ teacher, preferring to throw those she taught into a situation without much briefing to see how well they could cope under pressure. Spike didn’t know how effective this method would actually turn out to be, but he was interested to see what happened.
After she had helped him to suit up, careful to not cut the reinforced suit open on Spikes back spines, she had helped him into the cockpit and given him a crash-course on basic flying techniques. Spike had really wished she hadn’t used the word crash. The last thing she had done before she had done before she jumped in her own ship was to strap a full face helmet onto his head, sealing it to the suit and creating a second atmosphere inside the suit system, completely separate from the inside of the ship and the atmosphere outside of it. Spike hated it.
As soon as they had reached high orbit, and Solaris had secured permission from the fleet to conduct war games nearby, she had instantly begun the training that she had alluded to. She would attack Spike using light only spectrum lasers, and he would try to see how long he could survive for. So far he was up to fifty three seconds.
“Are you even trying Spike?” Solaris’s voice crackled over the communicator in his helmet.
“It’s this damn helmet.” Spike complained, shaking his head slightly. “Plus the fact you’re more experienced, have a better craft and the advantage of being on the offensive.”
“But you’re learning. You’re up five point two seconds according to my computer readout. You should get used to the helmet though, especially as a newbie flyer. Your cockpit decompresses and you don’t have that on, and you would have precisely nada seconds to live.”
“I believe you master.” Spike said, before pulling on the stick in front of him and flipping his ship around, darting away from the shrinking from of the Cyclone.
“Where do you think you’re going?” Solaris asked with a chuckle, and Spike saw the blip on his ships scanners heading towards him, and cursed, thinking he may have had a few more seconds before she realised he was heading the other direction.
Backing his craft, Spike tried to avoid what he knew was coming, and watched as a single laser streaked past his cockpit. Unfortunately, Solaris had three cannons.
“Two hit. Life support and portside engine. Dead in your cockpit and dead in space.” Solaris laughed.
“You’re enjoying this, aren’t you master?” Spike asked in a disgruntled tone.
“Flyin’s what I do boy.” She laughed. “You’ll get used to it I’m sure.”
“I doubt that.”
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Because I don't know what to say.
i.imgur.com/tfZQS.jpg
I'm a little bit confused, you did say last chapter that Solaris was a Twilek right? I can see the clothing fit but you mentioning "longer hair" seems odd to me.
Why the name Solaris? You wanted to make some relation betwen his master and Celestia?
Aren't all Twileks supposed to have brain tails? How come she doesn't?
Great chapter but I thought she was a twilek? Love the beautiful outfit though. ^^
3749813
3749844
3749917
Shit, I thought I made her human. Fine, retcon, she's human. Will go back and change it.
3749843
Well, that and the fact that making up names is the hardest part of writing for me, so I usually just go through names similar to ponies and then find one that works.
Last chapter you said she was a twilek, but she has hair, so what is she?
3750026
Human. I fucked up.
3749945
She was recently introduced so its not a biggy.
Hello hand wave of god!
3618915
).
That actually makes a lot of sense in Spike's case. Since he has always wanted to be a heroic figure since he was young, he would obviously serve good and use the light side of the force; but since he doesn't want to give up on his emotions-coupled with his draconic instincts-he would tend to be aggressive and possibly make use of dark side abilities, hence the purple lightsaber (
Now (*Spoiler alert*) if Spike is going to be a dual wielder, and his second lightsaber is going to be white (
), then that also makes since. After all, Spike has always been happy being an assistant, meaning that he is happiest serving others (preferably his friends and family).
3750777 Yes on both points.
I wasn't suggesting that wasn't the case with spike especially since the way you put the reason of the white lightsaber.
Anywho the moment it made sense for him to obtain the purple crystal was when he chose to pursue the Jedi way but also stubbornly adamant on not letting his equestrian life go.
That made him project purple and makes much sense. ^^
3749945 Ah alright sounds good then :P
Fuck yeah update! Solaris looks awesome xD
Man it is going to suck for Spike for a while since he will probably only get bigger and have wings. That cockpit is going to get really cramp.
3749952 well, in this case u used Rule 63 Tia's name! Prince Solaris is Tias male form in universe 63!
since spikes body is integrating with his surroundings, I propose turning him into an anthropic, while he is in the star wars realm, and when he gets to equestrian, his body morphs to a more... Normal form(bipedal and slightly taller than twilight, and the same as a quad)
3753296
Don't worry, I have ideas about what Spike will look like, vaguely anyway.
3752721
Huh. Did not know that. Out of interest, what are the other R63 names, so I don't do this again?
Wait, I thought Spike was going to hate single person fighter piloting... That he would be good with larger ships, but that he hated small ones...
3754655
He hasn't stated that he likes or hates them yet. Trust me, he will end up hating them.
"Blast, I hate flying!"
Ha! Spike reminds me of Obi Wan and his experiences in flying ships.
this was the ability to breath dragon fire
and didn't often see huge dragon
some sleek and modern looking, while were blocky and looked as if they wouldn’t be able to fly
preferring to through those she taught into a situation without much briefing
1. Breathe.
2. Dragons.
3. While some were.
4. Throw.
I get the feeling Spike's master is gonna die, and he's going to take to using the Cyclone as his own to honor her.
Hmmm, I just have to ask, how old is Spike at this time? It's pretty hard to keep up to date. He also told Norik about his growth? Honestly I think he would've laughed and said something along the lines of "There's no such thing as magic."
Even though it's perfectly logical that Spike wouldn't like it, I'd think that until his wings grow in, he'd be good at flying, since his species wouldn't have evolved a natural fear of heights.
4233140 Of course she's gonna die, everyone does eventually, except Spike, since's he's immortal. As for taking possession of that ship, I think he'll be way too big to use it by then.
5324624
"since his species wouldn't have evolved a natural fear of heights."
Yes, because living things are meat robots and fear of heights would be the only thing needed to overcome to be a good flier. :P
Spike, your teacher is hot
5324624 actually dragons aren't immortal they just have a really long lifespan
5726415 Do you think birds have a natural fear of heights like humans do? They're not meat robots.
7476851 That depends on the story, and what the writer decides.
Error(s) Detected:
Redundant, delete.
Add 'If' and delete the 'and'
Nice incorporation of Qui-Gon's recitation of the "Crystal Code", as you call it. It's one of those small details that makes one feel that you are there.
Yup this is WELL before the prequals.
“This is an S-100 Stinger-class Starfighter. Manufactured by Corellian Engineering Corporation, it is normally equipped with a 2.0 class hyperdrive and a mark seven delta sub-light drive, as well as a minimal ray shield array. It has laser cannons and a single proton torpedo launcher.” She said without looking around.
This is the ship in question.
static.wikia.nocookie.net/starwars/images/c/c2/S-100_Stinger-class_starfighter.jpg/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/800?cb=20090402021506
If you want to learn more information click here.