Princess Celestia soared through the air above Canterlot, dodging and weaving to avoid the intermittent bursts of blaster fire targeted at her. Ahead of the solar alicorn was her target: an enormous spider-like droid with four long legs, a metal orb for a central body, an enormous red photoreceptor, and two dish-shaped guns on its top and bottom. The weapons were unleashing a continuous red laser across the city and into the walls of Canterlot Palace, which were already starting to blacken and crack under the aliens’ weapons. The palace itself remained under heavy AAT bombardment, one of its towers listing badly.
The white alicorn swooped directly down onto the spider droid, dodging nimbly around its clumsy attempts to reorient its anti-tank weapons to fire at her. Celestia grabbed its upper gun with both hooves, and with a snarl on her face she tore it off in one move. As the droid struggled to throw her off, she pointed her horn directly into the newly-created hole atop its body, unleashed a furious stream of golden flame at point-blank range. The spider droid spasmed wildly as its delicate insides were cooked whole. The alicorn took flight again as the hollow, smoking shell of the spider droid swayed and toppled forwards, crushing several super battle droids beneath its bulk.
The B-2s lifted their arms and fired upwards at the princess, but she was already beyond their range. Not to say that stopped the slow-witted machines from trying for several seconds before they eventually gave up and resumed their ground advance. Celestia ignored them, her mind already fixed on her next target. Another spider droid was supporting the Separatist advance along one of Canterlot’s roads, its heavy lasers clearing the way through building, barricade, and soldier alike for the super battle droids marching forward underneath it. This one Celestia simply jammed in the photoreceptor, her long white horn punching directly through its red artificial eye. She unleashed another short burst of flame into its electronic insides, again simply burning it from the inside out. Blaster bolts from B-2s exploded against her armor in showers of sparks as she retreated into the sky once more.
Celestia landed on one of the palace walls, taking a moment to catch her breath and reassess the situation. With two of their spider droids removed from the equation, the Separatist bombardment of the castle’s walls had slacked off to intermittent attacks by super battle droids that did not significantly threaten the ancient and heavily-enchanted structure. Still, the palace itself was under serious threat, AAT blasts threatening to blow it to so many pieces. But the heavy tanks near the city’s edge were still surrounded by dozens of vigilant commando droids, and not even she dared to try a direct attack on them with what she had.
Celestia gritted her teeth. There was nothing for it, the towers of Canterlot Palace were going to have to be sacrificed. She just had to be sure that their inevitable collapse didn’t destroy any of the protective walls around it and then perhaps-
The solar princess’ train of thought was interrupted as she spotted the emergence of yet another threat to her battle line. Several blocks from where she stood, a caped figure was cutting through an entire barricade by himself, a glowing red blade in his hand and lightning flowing freely from his fingers. Ponies died left and right as the white-haired human’s lightsaber danced in elegant one-handed patterns. Behind him, a stalled line of B-2s resumed their advance, crushing the mangled corpses of those droids that had gone before them.
This, Celestia realized, must be Count Dooku.
With a hard look in her eyes, the solar princess launched herself from the castle walls and flew above her men. She took aim at the ruined barricade where the old man stood, droids marching around him in tight ranks. Celestia dived, again dodging around the clumsy efforts of the battle droids to shoot her down. As she passed the street where he target stood, she bathed the entire area in an enormous volume of supernatural golden fire. Buildings of wood and stone alike caught flame as the convection spread throughout. Droids burst apart in showers of sparks as their insides were pressure-cooked.
Celestia gave a satisfied snort and flapped her powerful wings, making to rise again into the sky.
Only, she wasn’t rising.
Princess Celestia strained her wings harder for half a second, struggling to fly. But she was caught in some kind of invisible grip, and her body stubbornly refused to go upwards. Then, before she had any chance to try and work a counterspell, the alicorn felt a harsh tugging sensation that yanked her from the air. She impacted roughly on the cobblestones, though her golden armor continued to hold up.
“Ah, you must be this Princess Celestia,” said a deep bass voice.
Celestia’s eyes widened. Somehow, impossibly, the count was striding out of her inferno, the golden flames parting around him. He had a smile on his face that seemed incongruously beneficent.
“I’ve been waiting for you,” he said, spreading his hands broadly. “Welcome.”
“So,” General Grievous said with undisguised malevolence. “The traitorous bitch finally arrives to receive her reward.”
“Finally?!” Princess Luna snorted. “We have been in combat since the beginning! It is thou who cowerest behind thine armies!” she pointed a hoof at the nearby war machines. “If thou hast a shred of warrior’s courage about thee, then fight us thyself!”
The cyborg’s eyes narrowed. “Back away!” he commanded the droids behind him. “I will deal with this equine vermin myself!”
Luna lowered her body and ran one hoof along the ground. “Do thy worst.”
Grievous growled as his hands began to spin on their wrists, moving with such speed that the blue and green lightsabers appeared to be blurry disks rather than blades. With a snarl of hatred, he charged full out at the dark alicorn.
From the lunar princess’ horn emerged a powerful jet of mystic blue fire, which hurdled through the air directly at her enemy. Grievous put one shoulder forwards with a spinning blade held out in front of him and didn’t slow down one step. Though the lightsaber’s blade had some ability to disperse them, the flames engulfed the cyborg regardless. Grievous used one arm to shield his eyes, counting on the thick armor built into his body to protect him from the intense heat that surged around him. His body’s temperature control systems were pushed close to their limits, but his was a form designed to survive the shuttle crash that had almost killed him or volleys of blaster fire or even the vacuum of space. In the end, he made it through.
Grievous burst from the fires with both blades spinning wildly. He took a flying leap from the road, his powerful cybernetic legs propelling him high into the air. As he fell back to the earth, Grievous brought down both blades in a double overhand power stroke, intending to sheer his opponent in twain. His aim as accurate as ever, the burning plasma blades fell directly on where the alicorn was.
Or, rather, where the alicorn had been.
The moment that Grievous had barged through her fire, Luna’s body had dissolved into so much fine black mist. The lightsabers passed through it without harm as it faded away into nothingness, instead burning a pair of gouges into the marble of the palace walls behind. Grievous roared in outrage.
“Get back here and fight!” he screamed out, looking this way and that, his senses picking up nothing of the princess.
“Ha ha ha ha ha ha!” mocked a voice that seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere at once. “Whatever is that matter? Canst thou not fight a foe that dost not hold herself back for thee?”
Suddenly, a chunk of ruined building hurled itself through the air at Grievous. The cyborg leaped nimbly to the side, allowing the marble to smash itself to pieces against the palace walls. One of his arms split, the newly-formed limb seizing his blaster pistol from his waist. Rolling over before landing on his feet, Grievous pivoted on the spot and snapped off three speculative shots in the direction that the projectile had come from. They disappeared into a ruined building without effect.
“Thou wilt need better eyes than that, general!”
The road at Grievous’ feet suddenly exploded into life. The heavy grey cobblestones ripped themselves free and rose up to pelt the cyborg by the dozen. His lightsabers whirled, cutting many to pieces, but still pummeled themselves to rubble against his armor. His blaster pistol fired frantically in all directions, but none of the red bolts seemed to hit anything more than rubble or corpses.
Grievous returned the pistol to his belt quickly as his other arm split into two. Both free hands grasped a lightsaber and immediately started spinning, forming a whirling shield of plasma blades around the Kaleesh warrior. Pieces of road were hacked apart into pebbles as they tried to throw themselves at him, but there were hundreds and they kept coming. More relevantly, Grievous still could not make out where any of this was coming from.
Without warning, the cyborg felt a great quaking under his feet. In a flash, a huge chunk of dirt and stone that he was standing on pulled itself out of the ground. Grievous leaped from the enormous thing before it could rise too high, landing on both feet, talons scraping the cobblestones. The rough orb immediately threw itself after him. Grievous swung two lightsabers at it like baseball bats, slicing it into thirds and letting the pieces break themselves against him.
“You speak of warrior’s courage,” said Grievous as he shook off the dirt and looked around. “Yet you attack me from where I can neither see you nor fight back.”
“Thou didst not seem to have a problem with that when it was thou who wast bombarding our helpless nation from space!” Luna’s voice answered indignantly. “Now answer for those deaths and receive a dose of thine own medicine, villain!”
“Villain?!” Grievous snarled as he leapt over a flying chunk of what had once been an ornate classical pillar. “I am here because you betrayed me!”
“We had to forfeit thee to the Galactic Republic lest we suffer their bombardment! We had no choice in the matter!” Luna sounded bitter.
Grievous blinked. That didn’t sound like something Kemobi would do. The next moment he dismissed the thought with a shake of his head.
“Then you are all pathetic cowards! You bent before the first showing of force and betrayed all laws of hospitality without even a fight!” he growled at her. “And now you will suffer for your base treachery!”
“We have no love for the Republic,” Luna’s voice answered from somewhere. “But we hate thee far more, thou despicable hypocrite!”
“Hypocrite?!’ Grievous’ tone was one of outrage.
“Aye, hypocrite! Thou sayest that the reason for thine hatred of the Republic is the fate of thy people at their hand,” the voice accused. “But here thou art inflicting far worse on an innocent land for a far lesser offense! Tell us, did the Republic ever do this to Kalee? Did they attempt the utter annihilation of thy people for the actions of two? Thou madest no attempt to seek redress, or even to seek us out for revenge! Nay, thou began at once with genocide against our ponies!”
“I’m going to gut you like a-”
“The Republic should have wiped out thee and thy wretched people when it had the chance!” Luna’s voice snarled.
Grievous blinked and said nothing. For a moment, all was stillness in the ruined street, the only sounds those of the battle around them. The cyborg’s yellow eyes were clenched tightly shut, all four hands curled into fists around their lightsabers. A man looking closely could have seen that they were trembling.
Without warning, Grievous looked up and screamed to the heavens above. “I’M GOING TO BUTCHER YOU!!!”
The cyborg then turned on the spot and stomped right back up the street, slicing apart another large chunk of masonry that hurled itself at him. Grievous loomed over the downed form of Shining Armor. The unicorn was still suffering badly from the magical backlash resulting from his horn’s amputation, and as a result hadn’t even managed to regain his hooves. The general seized him once more by the neck, holding him up high.
“Come out and face me!” Grievous demanded, holding a lightsaber across the unicorn’s chest. “Or we’ll find out just how much of him I can cut off before he dies screaming!” He looked around the ruined Canterlot street. “How long do you think he can last?”
“Don’t… do it… princess,” Shining managed, only to get a metal fist into his gut.
“Shut your filthy equine mouth,” Grievous snarled at the captive, continuing to look around. “Five…” he said, moving the glowing blue blade closer to Shining’s right foreleg. “Four… Three…”
Black mist rose up out of the shadows of one of the building, coalescing quickly into the wrath-filled form of Princess Luna.
She gritted her teeth. “Thou despicable murderer.”
Grievous laughed. “Your kind are so predictable,” he tossed his unicorn prisoner to a pair of his MagnaGuards. “Hold him!” he commanded, before turning back to the princess. “Time for you to die.”
“I take it that you are Count Dooku,” said Celestia as she rose to her feet.
“Very good,” replied the old man.
Celestia narrowed her eyes. “Then you are the one responsible for this atrocity.”
“I suppose one could say that.”
There was no further need for words then. Celestia’s horn lit up and unleashed a beam of golden energy directly at the human’s head. It ate up the distance between the two faster than a blaster bolt, but somehow the red energy blade of Dooku’s lightsaber rose to stand before it. The magic dissipated against the plasma blade in a bright flash.
“Before we go straight to the unpleasantness,” Dooku said, brushing some ash from his sleeve. “I have a proposal I should like to make.”
“You have nothing I want, murderer,” Celestia answered, unleashing another stream of fire. The old man simply leaped over it, landing nimbly on his leather boots.
“Really?” he asked, raising an eyebrow. “What if I told you that you do not have to perish here?”
“I would ask what you mean by that.”
“It is simple. Surrender, and your life will be spared.”
“What of my subjects?”
“Well, I can hardly guarantee their survival if they continue to resist. Of course, if you convince them to stand down I could certainly see about halting my general’s assault,” Dooku looked around and gestured at the burning city. “He is quite angry at you, as I’m sure you have noticed.”
“And where exactly would that put us vis-à-vis the Republic fleet in orbit above our planet? As I understand it, your forces in space are already on the run. To submit to you would mean invoking their wrath against us.” Celestia looked Dooku in the eye. “And I’m sure you’re aware that we have no need for a further orbital bombardment.”
“For that you may thank General Grievous, whom you betrayed into our enemy’s hands,” Dooku replied. “But in any event, I am willing to overlook such minor incidents and welcome your planet into the Separatist Alliance on condition of your surrender, and your turning of your weapons against the Republic.”
“I-”
“And of course, one other minor concession. In compensation for the forces lost engaging your troops in battle, I would require that you personally join a certain organization of mine.”
He bombarded her nation, invaded her city, slaughtered her subjects with his own hand, and now he expected her to pay for it? What madness was this?
Celestia fought to keep the fury from her voice. “What organization?”
Dooku smiled. “A simple group of like-minded individuals with talents like yours working together to make the galaxy a better place.”
The solar princess didn’t believe him for a heartbeat. This Confederacy of Independent Systems had shown no qualms about attempting genocide against an entire species for a single hostile act. Even if the Galactic Republic’s Admiral Tarkin seemed no better, Master Kenobi at the very least had shown a moral compass. He and his men were here in Canterlot, shedding their blood to protect her nation from the very man who stood before her now. Even though they now stood nothing to gain by defending Equestria, they did so regardless. That showed character, and willingness to back up his words with his deeds and to risk his own life to do so. With that in mind, it was clear to the white alicorn which side had done anything to earn her trust or loyalty.
“No deal, Dooku,” she declared. “I simply can’t trust you not to kill us all.”
“I’m sorry you feel that way,” he said with a sigh, his eyes looking downwards. His lightsaber blade ignited. “Then I’m afraid you must die.”
Grievous once again charged the black alicorn, this time with all four lightsabers spinning in a flurry of blades. Debris picked itself up from the streets to fly at the charging Kaleesh, but he was having absolutely none of it. He sliced, hacked, batted away, or jumped over the rubble as it came, ignoring the dents it made on his armored shell. There was no pain, of course. Such a thing might be distracting.
The cyborg general finally came within range of his hated foe, bringing all four lightsabers down on her from different angles with a great cry. To his infinite frustration, the blades were stopped, one and all, by the sudden appearance of a dark blue bubble around the alicorn princess’ body. Sparks flew wildly and crackling sounds echoed as Grievous pummeled the magic with all four lightsabers in a dizzying series of randomized and unpredictable blows, devised to overwhelm even the Soresu defense of the Jedi. Luna’s face strained with the effort of warding them off.
And then, she smiled.
Luna’s protective orb exploded outwards into a mighty shockwave of blue energy traveling in all directions. It leveled storefronts, tore the much-abused cobblestones from the street, and far more importantly, bowled Grievous over. The cyborg general bounced roughly against the pavement, skidding back a good fifteen feet or so before his talons and lightsabers could dig into the ground hard enough to bring him to a halt. Before he even had a chance to regain his feet, he was engulfed once more in blue flames.
His white armor scorched and blackened, with a pair of his arms protectively warding his squinting eyes, Grievous pushed himself upright with his remaining limbs. Only to be immediately staggered again by a sizable hunk of marble exploding against his armored chest. Driven to one knee, the cyborg looked up to see that the alicorn had taken flight and was hovering high above the city streets.
“That is the way, knave!” she taunted him. “Kneel before thy princess!”
Grievous snarled and began pushing himself back up, only for a destructive beam of dark blue energy to emerge from Luna’s horn. Four lightsabers moved at once to form a protective X over the cyborg, catching and dispersing the attack. But the sheer kinetic force of it made him falter again, sending him right back to his one knee. Two more similar attacks followed, each caught on the blades of his lightsabers, but each forceful enough to push him back and downwards anyway. His talons grasped tightly against anything they could reach, working hard to ground him.
“Thou art no warrior true! Thou art nothing more than a cowardly thug, General Grievous!” Luna mocked him. “Aye, coward we name thee! And hypocrite! And murderer! Thou art unfit to even-”
Whatever the night princess had been about to say was cut off as a sizable chunk of marble impacted against her armored head. While she had been attacking him, one Grievous’ feet had gotten a grip on a decent-sized piece of rubble for support. When the magical attacks had lulled for a moment, the cyborg took advantage of his flexible form to spin his entire body around on the other foot, releasing his improvised projectile at just the right moment to sending it directly into his foe’s face.
Princess Luna’s lightweight form, not anchored to anything in midair, took the full measure of the stone’s kinetic force. She went flying backwards a considerably distance before plummeting back towards the earth. The night princess went down beyond the scorched white walls of Canterlot Palace, vanishing from view.
Grievous grunted in mild approval before activating his wrist comlink again. “Cease bombardment of the palace complex,” he ordered the AATs, not wishing to walk straight into a danger zone. “You two!” he ordered the MagnaGuards bearing the slightly-struggling Shining Armor. “Follow me! The rest of you spread out and secure the area once we get in. But leave the princess to me!”
With that, the fire-blackened cyborg stomped forward down the street and plunged all four of his lightsabers into the marble walls of the Canterlot Palace. The ancient structure had been enchanted to resist almost any type of attack, but the burning plasma and the sheer strength of Grievous pushed them through it one inch at a time. Once they had emerged from the other side in four separate points, the general pulled them slowly through the abominably tough material, carving a crude circle of red-hot marble. With one powerful kick, he sent the section of wall he had carved out flying into the palace courtyard.
Without hesitation, General Grievous stormed through the breach and into the palace of Equestria’s diarchy.
Princes Celestia didn’t waste any more time bandying words with the murderous nobleman. She raised both her front hooves, and then brought them down onto the road with enough force to crack the cobblestones. Immediately ten spikes of stone erupted from the earth at Count Dooku from all directions. The old man leaped into the air as the spot he had just been standing in was impaled by several of the lethal fragments.
Dooku flipped and landed atop one of the angled, spiked pillars, his expression now one of neutrality. He reached out with three fingers of his left hand, and Celestia felt a sudden pressure through the flanks of her armor.
“Come here, little princess,” he said, jerking his hand back towards himself. Celestia yanked from her feet and propelled at extreme velocity towards the human. “I have something to show you.” His red lightsaber stabbed upwards, directly at Celestia’s heart.
Or rather, where her heart would have been, if the white alicorn hadn’t already dissolved into so much golden mist. The ethereal substance passed through lightsaber and count alike without harm before reforming into the princess’ body a good distance away.
“A clever trick,” Dooku acknowledged, raising his hand. “But I’ve seen it before.” A blue lightning storm emerged from his fingers and hurdled through the air towards the princess.
Golden flames shot out from Celestia’s horn right back at him. The two streams of energy met in between the two combatants, and for a moment there was parity as both sides strained at each other. But Celestia had already endured prolonged combat, while Dooku was comparatively fresh. The lightning pushed its way through the fire and coursed through the solar princess’ majestic frame.
Celestia went flying backwards through the air, smashing straight through the glass window of some store that had once sold breakfast pastries. She crushed a table beneath her armored form. Groaning, she resumed her hooves, small crackles of electricity still leaping here and there on her golden armor and white fur.
“Come now, Princess Celestia,” said Dooku, striding casually towards the ruined shop. “You disappoint me,” he let loose another round of lethal electricity. A golden shield enveloped Celestia, deflecting the bolts and sending them instead into the café around her. Much of it simply caught fire under the assault. “I had heard such tales of your strength.”
“I have plenty of strength, Dooku,” Celestia retorted, breathing heavily.
“Yes…” he said, smiling slightly. “I can sense it. You have anger… you have hate…. But you’re not using them.” The count gestured with two fingers, and Celestia was sent flying back. She crashed into the shop’s counter and fell over the top of it.
Dooku stepped in through the smashed oak door and Celestia regained her hooves.
“That way lies a dark fate, human,” she said. “Strength perhaps, but also ruin of oneself and all that one holds dear. I would sooner perish than permit myself to embrace such corrupt magic.”
“Now that is a shame,” he said. “Because only your hatred can destroy me.”
“I beg to differ, count,” interrupted another voice from outside.
Count Dooku turned his head slightly. He his brow creased into a frown.
“Master Kenobi.”
That was a very interesting chapter and I wonder what Equestria would do if they supposedly did defeat the empire. There cities are in ruines, many deaths. Keep the work up and can't wait to see the next chapter with Kenobi versing Count Dooku.
Hmm.
Well it seems Luna was able to hold herself again Grievous.
And it seems Count Dooku is trying to convince Celestia to join the dark side.
I wonder what will happen next, might as well wait for the next chapter!
I really would love to see a fight between Celestia and Darth Sidious. You could have Chancellor Palpatine come to Equestria to negotiate with Celestia, but he would really be coming to kill the Princesses as Darth Sidious.
5599205 Well... yeah. I don't see anything with their tech level really beating galactic empires.
However you look at it, betraying Grievous was a bad move:
- Honor. Violating the custom of sacred hospitality in such a flagrant way is a big no to even the most savage culture and the punishment for it is suitably dire.
- Pragmatic. What was the worst that could have happened if they did not betray Grievous? Ponyville would have gotten flattened in the crossfire, maybe Canterlot as an example but that's all - basically a slap on the wrist, in planetary terms. Search your feelings, you know it to be true - Kenobi wouldn't have authorized genocide, no matter how much Tarkin whined. And unless the Expanded Universe added some bullshit, the Republic never exterminated CIS-loyalist worlds, never mind the worlds of some neutral, caught in the crossfire, pre-spaceflight savages.
And it's not like this should come as surprise to the princesses - they knew Grievous was a vengeful bastard not to be pushed and Kenobi has a hero-complex going. The princesses have also shown themselves to be faithless curs so playing one against the other and turning coats when it is actually beneficial should not have been that difficult a choice to make.
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Whatever are you on about? Considering the circumstance, I'd say Equestria is putting up a mighty impressive fight against an enemy that has them out-manned, out-gunned, and out-manneuvered.
MAKE IT STOP, MAKE IT STOP!! IT'S TOO MUCH!!.....where's the good ending?
5594254 I know he does, and I appreciate you remaining faithful to the character. You have to remember, I am not bashing you, your story, or Grievous in any way. I am bashing the trope that every successful media producer feels like they have to include nowadays.
5599253 That is a no win scenario if I ever heard one.
5597545
inb4 rainbow magic resurrects all the ponies.
*pauses*
Wait. >_>;;; Somepony should *cough* time travel. *cough*
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I have to agree with them. I mean look back at Episode 1 with Naboo and the Gungans. Out manned and outgunned but their simple tech was enough to stall the droid armies long enough to win a decisive blow later. Considering the magic that's being used by the ponies its actually impressive.
Here's my logic.
Shining Armor: shield bubble. Grievous observes that you can simply walk into it. But being organic creatures they don't have the energy output for sustaining long duration of fire from a bunch of droidekas. He was simply overwhelmed. Then Grievous comes and beats him to a pulp. Cyborgs vs. pony. Failure from the start on the ponies side.
The Orbital bombardment. Survived at the expenses of the worlds population. But they survived no less. The castles defenses not the bubble shield were taking more damage then a Mandalorian stronghold could, and that is saying something.
Also, Grievous had Dooku on his side. Even with Obi Wan on their side, the Republic was forced to split its forces leaving the majority to fight against the entirety of the droid armies.
So the way I see it, Grievous is winning because he is, A smarter. B. had a tactical advantage knowing Obi Wan would split his forces to save as many lives as possible. C. Ponies are organic and their shields are weak comparatively speaking to the shear firepower of the droid army.
I feel the Elements of Harmony are the planets best bet against their enemy. Or Appealing to the Generals nature. Either way that's my stand on this. Not putting you down but I stand with the others on this one. Respectably of course.
I have refrained to comment on this for some time because I was still judging about it, but, man. This is fucking awesome. GIVE ME MOAR.
Why is it no one in this story has made a connection between magic and the force? Even Grevious didn't go, "oh hey levitation. Just like a Jedi!" Nor did Luna go " pushing things away with a gesture of his hand? The Jedi process magic?" Just wondering here.
That was an awesome chapter there. Even tired, the Princess still can bite hard. Onto the next chapter for "Luna VS Grievous : Round 2"!
Celestia, though she's tired, isn't out yet, so I expect Dooku will not have it easy against her AND Kenobi.
Luna seems to lean towards the Dark Side there, which means trouble.
Also, nice to see Grievous is still touchy on some things. If he was angry before, he sure is enraged now.
I'm enjoying this story a lot, but I do feel you're sometimes overstraining yourself to include "signature" canon lines for the Star Wars characters. Grievous borderline-irrationally flipping out over the percieved betrayal is totally true to his character; Luna's aggression and lack of empathy towards him seems less in character, although it could be justified as in the heat of combat.
In terms of the events of the plot, I think you've set a good balance between the inevitable devastation of a relatively primitive, pastoral world being attacked by a hypertech spacefaring industrial society, partially counterbalanced by magic being a force multiplier and something of an out-of-context factor. I do think you should focus on Equestrian magic being distinct from the Force powers of Jedi/Sith, not just an alternate Force tradition like the Dathomiri witches have. It's not something either side is going to think about during the actual fighting, but afterwards -- especially on the two Star Wars sides, since they're military professionals and would be doing formal after-action analysis of the battle.
If you're planning on running this into "implications for the overall galactic situation", both sides of the Civil War deciding that magic makes Equestria a high-value target is a pretty solid reason for them both to continue targetting; for the Republic's side, you may wish to consider the fact that if she decides privacy is null and void with regard to Grievous, Luna would be able to provide the Republic with some *very* valuable intelligence on Grievous' history. This could potentially step towards a "better ending" for the war, if the Jedi go from there to uncover the truth about that incident and/or start unravelling the identity of Sidious-Palpatine.
Ohhhhh, crap soon there will be a lot more of fucked up shit...
And you know what? I love it!!!
Also was it only me who have found some similarities with The battle for Naboo? Just sounded in some parts like the last one.
(Only the beginning of course)(The whole primitive shield shit you know...)(but more cooler)
(and without Jar Jar)(God I hate that character)(I should stop making bracket notes)
Ummm... I guess you got what I meant
Still wanting more
Vaderman out
Checked the comments...
Now I feel like a retard
YES, LET THE BATTLE CONTINUE!!!
This chapter was just... incredible! I'm at a loss for words! Amazing, amazing, amazing!
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Whoops! Gotta stay nice!
To be honest dooku is right, only hatred can destry him. You watched the movie that anakin used his hate to kill dooku
I remember everyone's talk of magical blades being used by princesses but honestly such silly things would lead to their quick deaths. Dooku is a master lightsaber duelist. In this situation he may be overwhelmed by Celestia's magic and Kenobis duelling him but if he fought them both with blades he would come out on top. Finally Grievous. God that one is depressing ._. Can't wait to see how this confrontation ends! If grievous gets his hands on her she's dead but if she can avoid him for long enough then she might live ^.^ i do like how Dooku was/is trying to convert Celestia to the Dark Side XD the idea of Celestia going all sith does make me laugh if only to imagine that motherly tone suddenly trying to sound very evil. I await the next chapter with baited breathe ^.^
From reading the comments I've just remembered. Shouldn't Grievous be holding out better than he is? He's essentially just fighting a Witch of Dathomir! Maybe some slight differences in ability but essentially he's already fought stuff that Luna is throwing at him. He fights Jedi as a pass time so one would think he'd be doing better at predicting the unexpected from magic users at this point
5599590 Well he did attempt to commit genocide of her entire species, I think that's more than enough justification for hatred
5600013 The question would be if this story takes place before or after Grievous kills Talzin. I suspect it is the former, and Grievous performance against Talzin was improved by his prior experience fighting Luna.
This whole 'kill them all' plan seems like a double-cross by Sidious to get Equestria firmly in the Republic camp. I'm sure nasty thing will happen to the species of Equestria after the Clone Wars, but during the war, it would be adventageous to have them on Palpatine's side.
...RIP, Count Dooku. Just... RIP.
5599205
Uh, you know that they're massively outnumbered and outgunned, right? Scale and everything.
5599253
What Celestia knows is that one side is fighting to exterminate them utterly, while the other is risking their own lives to save them. Double-crossing the latter to side with the former doesn't sound very intelligent to her. It sounds like a good way to get both sides to try and kill you, really.
5599463
Sidious remarked that they were "strong in the Force", which Grievous affirmed, Beyond that, there simply hasn't been any detailed comparison.
5599590
Grievous is trying to commit genocide against Luna's people. For one act. She's kinda pissed off at him.
5600386
It takes place after. Grievous mentions meeting Sidious in person and killing Talzin in earlier chapters.
5599149 Then they would be welcomed into the Republic, until Palpatine takes over and kills all Jedi that is. They will be invaded again, but this time by a much greater force. Lose-lose scenario.
5600467
I was saying she chose, past tense, the wrong side. Now the battle lines have been drawn and all of Equestria has to pay for her mistake as it's a bit late to jump ship at this stage, notwithstanding Dooku's offer.
I think that Equestria might not join the Republic or CIS, but it might end up facing the Empire later on.
Great chapter! I love what you've turned this story into. It's very well written, especially considering how frequently you update it, and the plot is interesting and well thought out to boot. The details you include, not to mention the spot-on characterization, make this very believable as well. Looking forward to what happens next!
ah dooku, always with the baiting.
I'm still very confident that Dooku and Grievous will be able to win their battles with the Princesses. Even with Kenobi joining Celestia in her battle. Dooku has faced multiple Jedi Masters at once and has still come out on top. And let's not forget that he has not shown any concern for how badly the battle in space is going for the CIS. I think it's safe to say he's got something nasty planned for both the Equestrians and the Republic fleet.
As for the fight between our favorite General and the Princess of the Night. I think Luna pretty much dug her own grave when she decided to bring up the fate of Kalee. Now Grievous will do anything and everything to make sure that she meets her end in the most painful and cruel way possible.
Also, I'm guessing that Grievous won't kill Shining until both Cadance and Twilight are present in Canterlot.
I feel like this is one of those stories that deserves to have more than one ending. The way you have set everything up almost begs for there to be several ways this ends to satisfy the many. I like what you are doing. You've improved much since the first chapter, and you have captured the thought process of the characters well. Whatever path you choose for this story to go I will support. I however, would be quite interested to see if you had any alternative plans that you may decide to inject into the story at the end as a bonus. Continue with the fantastic work you're doing and don't stop amazing!
5599463 I was wondering too. Dooku did, but I feel Grievous cared more about getting off the planet only then did he tell Darth Sidious about it. As for the force, I think it could be taken as magic like the Night Sisters did if not different. I also feel it was referenced in Celestia's encounter with Dooku.
How her sister gave into darkness as nightmare moon and what not. Implied reference I think. And then she was like "No." to the count.
5601055 I agree with the line of improvement in the long run. Most people change the characters to fit their stories. This one keeps them all true to their personalities. I still feel bad for Spitfire. But I would have been devastated if Trixie died at all.
Oh shit. Luna, you're done.
Grievous, take a page out of Sundowners book.
i.ytimg.com/vi/eiAgiY7o0LA/maxresdefault.jpg
This has been a rather great story so far. Each chapter has made me eager for the next, and the fact that you've been getting them out every day or two is really great.
5600386 Once he hears about the dream thing that Luna can do though... I hope she's heard of being Disappeared XD
5600638 I guess you could say he's...
...A Master Baiter.
This is amazing.
I love it
5599257 Though to be fair SnakeStaff has given the Equestrians several advsntages out of cannon.
TV canon Equestria couldn't beat the Roman Empire.
5599272 This is the Prequels. The Ponies fucked up any possibility for a good ending.
5602662 Canon Equestria couldn't stop angry Honey Badgers
All that fighting and insulting makes me want some Grievous x Luna shipping
5602676 ... I'm pretty sure it's the fault of the space party, not the pony party...
5601545 Oh please, that pathetic man child! His Achilles Heel is the common cold!
That mutant has never taken a life. He isn't Sith material, he ain't 'god' material either.