Epilogue: A Grievous Triumph
Supreme Chancellor Palpatine of the Galactic Republic sat straight and attentive in his official chair, hands folded atop his desk and attention raptly focused on the hologram standing before him. Outside, the artificial wind and rain battered the roof and window in heavy sheets, making a great deal of noise.
“… and so I regret to report, Your Excellency,” Master Obi Wan Kenobi was saying. “That despite all our efforts General Grievous was able to slip away with the aid of Count Dooku.”
“That is most unfortunate,” said Palpatine with a frown. “Tell me, were you able to trace where they might have gone next?”
Obi Wan shook his head. “I’m afraid not, though initial scans indicate they were headed deep into Separatist space.”
Palpatine’s brow furrowed thoughtfully. “So a pursuit is impossible?”
Obi Wan nodded slowly.
“I see…” Palpatine looked down at his desk for some seconds before resuming eye contact with the Jedi Master. “Have you anything else to report?”
“Yes, Your Excellency. Though the means of acquiring their cooperation I found extremely objectionable – and let me take this moment to petition for Admiral Tarkin to be immediately stripped of rank and dishonorably discharged for conduct unbefitting an officer of the Galactic Republic. I’ll put in more details on my return to Coruscant.”
“Your petition is duly recorded, Master Kenobi. Please, go on,” Palpatine gestured.
“Yes, well…” Obi Wan looked uncertain at the Chancellor’s neutral reply, but continued. “The local creatures here assisted in our initial capture of the general and suffered heavily at the hands of the Separatist Droid Amy. They put themselves in danger because of us and fought valiantly alongside our troops to defend their homes. I ask that you keep that in mind while you listen to the following.”
Obi Wan looked at something off camera and nodded, before stepping outside of the holocam’s field of view. Two equine-looking creatures stepped in to take his place. Though both rendered in standard holographic blue, it was clear that the smaller one was considerably darker than the taller one. Both had long, flowing heads of hair that seemed to blow in an invisible breeze and very feminine features. Despite their clear beauty, they were both looking exhausted and battered from the recent fighting. The tall one had one of her forelegs and both of her wings bound tightly and was using a small crutch to keep her balance. Moreover, the smaller one had a heavily-bandaged stub in place of the larger one’s long horn. More than any of that, though, was the hollow look in the larger one’s eyes.
She looked… broken.
“Thou art this Supreme Chancellor Palpatine that General Kenobi hath told us of?” the smaller one asked, her voice sternly neutral.
The old man nodded. “That I am.”
The tall one spoke up next. “I am Princess Celestia of Equestria. This is my sister, Princess Luna of Equestria,” she indicated her companion. “Though we cannot speak for our entire planet, we…” she bowed her head low with obvious difficulty and sighed. “Request immediate emergency admission to the Galactic Republic.”
Palpatine looked surprised. “Why, whatever for?”
“We have betrayed General Grievous,” Luna said. “When thine admiral forced our hoof, we assisted in handing him over to thy forces. Then we felt the full weight of his retribution when the droid armies attacked Equestria. Had it not been for General Kenobi and the clones, we should all have perished. As it is, our lands lie in ruin.”
“I’m very sorry to hear that,” said Palpatine sympathetically.
“But we fear Grievous is not through with us,” Celestia continued. “He may come back for further revenge, and alone we stand no chance.” She looked up, her eyes moist and pleading. “Please, Chancellor Palpatine, your Republic is our only hope for the survival of our people! Please help us!”
“Well…” Palpatine looked thoughtful. “It is unorthodox, but I believe I might be able to make a wartime exception to normal admissions procedures for your sake. And perhaps authorize some degree of rebuilding assistance, though I’m afraid our finances are stretched very thin.”
“Thank thee, kind Chancellor,” Luna bowed her head in a dignified manner.
“You realize of course, my dear, that there will be a need to establish a Republic garrison in your system?” Palpatine asked. “For your own protection, of course,” he added.
“We do, Chancellor. We are immensely grateful for your gracious extension of protection to our planet in these times of war,” Celestia said, with a deeper and more emotional bow of her own head.
“Let us hope better times come upon the galaxy soon,” Palpatine said.
Both princesses nodded solemnly, and the hologram vanished.
Darth Sidious sat back in his chair and smiled. Since the day his visions had led him to ensure the leak of Jedi Master Hera Ceidia’s next location to General Grievous, everything had gone perfectly. Grievous had killed her, which was a good start, but then, as the dark side had promised him, the chain of events had led to a new source of power being revealed to him. Tarkin had served his purpose in forcing their hand. Then the droid invasion and Grievous’ genocidal tactics had terrified the new planet right into his waiting arms, as expected. Now all that remained was to properly exploit it.
And the Jedi? Suspected nothing. Darth Sidious was almost tempted to laugh aloud.
Everything had proceeded as he had forseen.
That's all, folks! For this story, at least. In the future there may just be a continuation of this tale, but for now I urge those who've enjoyed the show to leave a like if you haven't, and give me some feedback in the comments below letting me know what you thought of our little ride.
And while you await the next chapter in this saga, I encourage you to read my other stories, such as The Dark Ones or Together Forever.
UPDATE: Sequel's here!
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Everything is going to plan.
I really loved this story.
It was amazing o_o.
Soon...25.media.tumblr.com/fb5867fe95921f3c0c8d493215a53c9e/tumblr_mm4y66sJFl1rlnhzoo1_1280.jpg
I eagerly await this story' sequel, as well as "Of Xenos and War"'s next chapter!
In SW canon, Sidious works to make Anakin his apprentice for he's the most promising and powerful Force-user he has found. If, in the sequel, the Sith lord finds that there is one with more potential than Anakin, and who still can be corrupted by the Dark Side, I wouldn't be surprised to see Sidious switch. Now which of the Princesses would be powerfuler and could be subdued to his will, this is another matter.
Okay
Sidious has Equestria in the Republic and therefore in the future Empire.
...
So what?
Is Equestria really that important? They have shown don't have the power to stand against convention galactic weaponry, so they won't be very useful as a military resource. Their economy has been decimated and will likely never fully recover, so that's out too. And any attempt to strong arm the Princess...
Wait that might work
Luna is mostly useless now (until she gains a stronger connection to the force) but she'll gladly assist in any battles. Celestia on the other hand could make quite a powerful weapon in space battles. Her control of solar bodies could be a Death Star level threat.
This is all rendered moot by the fact that the war isn't actually important, but just a cover for Sidious's rise to power, so again I ask
So what?
What difference will this make in Sidious's plan? Why bother with this backwater planet? He foresaw the results, yes, but really was it worth it?
Of course it's just as unimportant as every other battle in the Clone Wars regardless.
I shall wait for the continuation!
Like I said earlier... Well fuck. Sidious/Palpatine caused all of this death and destruction just because he told Grievous about a new Jedi to kill and wanted more power. Now I remember why I hate him so much. We've lost favourites in the fandom and more liked background characters will probably be mentioned as dead. Awesome story and can't wait for the sequel but right now the only person I want dead more than Grievous is Sidious.
Awesome pure awesome
5610869 ....will things at least become more positive in the future....?
5610569 .....poo.
5610598 ..........I am free to express my own opinions.
Everything that has transpired has done so according to my design...
I can at this point only pray for the dawn of a new hope.
Perfectly rational conclusion to the chain of events.
I almost, ALMOST want a light and fluffy story now to cheer me up. Padme and Rarity discussing dresses and the absurd fashion of that galaxy far far away? I'll have to jot that down for later.
5610987
A potentially massive pool of force sensitive beings to subject to his sick and twisted whims? There's quite a few resources he could pull from them.
Hell, he might just feed on their suffering more to strengthen his connection with the dark side.
5611015
The best villains are the ones you love to hate.
And it's hard to top Papa Palpatine
Well that was a dark but awesome series. Not sure if I want to see it continue, but only because it can only grow worse from here.
Suppose though it'd be worth to see how Twilight and the Mane Six handle the aftermath of all this. They kind of went quiet when hell broke loose. Wondering what they were doing doing the battle...
5610947 man, imagine Luna as darth maul, deadly awesomeness!
this was great most of the characters feel exactly like how they would react although my biggest fear is not Luna falling to the dark side but Celestia falling to the dark side she's seems more likely than Luna to fall especially with the state she's at all the destruction she seen especially with how you can clearly see how it's taking a humongous toll on her psyche right now she seems to more to me like somepony that can be led astray by a certain Chancellor
5610982 Eric Flint's 1632 series. He explains that in a realistic alternate history people born after the POD (Point of Divergence) wouldn't exist because the butterfly effect would ensure that sperm and egg would change as well, carrying different genes.
Luke and Leia wouldn't exist because the genes required to create them no longer exist. Even if Padme is pregnant in this timeline the child/children would be genetically different. Anakin's children in this timeline may not be Force sensitive!
This story takes place before Padme got pregnant. Therefore, if Anakin had kids they would be Original Characters rather than Luke and Leia. Horn, Antilles and Fel would not exist as they were conceived after this Point of Divergence
Eric Flint is a historian and writer.
5611207
Even assuming I operated under that dubious logic, you don't even know when this takes place relative to the birth of the twins. This could easily be only a single month out from RotS, and nothing that happened here would change the events of that movie.
5611230 I assumed it takes place during the 3d Clone Wars series
5611235
Which I never stated.
Regardless, as to what material any sequel may contain, you'll just have to wait and see.
this is a grievous ending for this story
, no pun intended
, seeing Equestia in ruined and many secondary characters dead or creped, is hard to swallow
. A hole word butchud just for the sake of revenge. I am also sad to see that the mane 6 did not seem do much in the course of the in invasion, not that they could have done much
. This was a better story that I could have hope for considering, I have reed it from when it fist was publish up to the end, and I was amazed how fast you menage to get a hole story in such a short time frame and of such good quality
. You have the talent of raising rightness indignation of the situation and i love it.
thank
So Sidious planned the whole thing? He knew that Grievous would find equestria? He foresaw that Tarkin would force Celestia and Luna to turn over Grievous? He foresaw that the ponies would survive and not be wiped out by Grievous' and Dooku's combined wrath? He planned all of this?
Not really surprised. Good ol' Sidi!
This needs a sequel. No doubt about it.
Well, the story was a great ride, but it left me feeling quite down, rather like the end of TESB or ROTS. Obviously we need a sequel with a more up-beat conclusion, and while I won't push the author on that, I will be very disappointed if we don't get one.
NO MORE. NO MORE. OH, THE HUMANITY!!!
5611356 not all good stories are happy
5611356
Such ending was to be expected, granted you read Snake Staff's "The Dark Ones", in which space invaders wipe the ponies' planet clean of all life and leaving only one mare alive and free.
In the sequel, I have great hope to see things go better, and also some badass ponies, going Sith or Jedi, and showing the rest of the galaxy what they can do!
fc09.deviantart.net/fs70/i/2013/301/c/2/jedi_master_twilight_sparkle_by_metalfoxxx-d6s7nw0.jpg
(Source)
Can you make a alternate ending when Celestia and Luna dies?
Sith... jedi... screw them both, we need moar force users like Revan or Cade Skywalker (who are kind of the both things at the same time)...
Enjoyed the Fic since the start, and i liked the end, but it is kind of sour that Grievous didnt get his real vengance, but, this give room for a sequel, thank you very much for the great fic, and thank you for the fast updates
PS: Also, sorry for my "engrish plz" hahaha
5611498 Cade was a genuinely awful person and Revan was just plain insane
YES. YEEESSS!! I LOVE THIS STORY SO MUCH
I MUST HAVE A SEQUEL!!!
5611331 I get the impression that Sidious got hints that this way would to good things for him. Nothing solid to be made of just the Force going "oi there's cool stuff here! You'd love it."
5610869 SIth do kill each other all the time, which only makes it stranger that Sidious would cultivate another "sith" since I'm fairly certain all his plans would fall apart if he were killed. True, he could be planning to replace Dooku with her as his apprentice but he's spent years grooming Anakin into his perfect dark servant and his (future) in with the Jedi Council, making him a much more valuable resource in his plans. (Plus I don't think the Empire's reign of terror would be half as effective with a horse as the dark lord.) SO, if he's planning on teaching her the Dark Side then he must be planning on having her kill Dooku, BUT he needs Anakin to help overthrow the Jedi and take full control of the Republic, THEREFORE he has to be planning to use Luna during the Clone Wars, BUT he's provoking her to follow the Dark Side so she won't be able to side with the Republic (until it becomes the Empire) and there's no way in hell he could ever provoke Luna into joining the CIS, MEANING she must be doing something for the Republic's cause, BUT Sidious can't have the Republic gaining too much ground just yet or the Senate might vote to revoke his emergency powers, WHICH LEADS ME TO CONCLUDE that Sidious has got nothing important for her to do.
ON THE OTHER HAND I'm willing to believe he did all this just for shits and giggles.
Can the species even work now? I mean Ponyville survived mostly intact but they're all close to inbreeding and the survivors are all few and far between. Heh loved this story even if the focus went away from Grievous. It has been a fun ride but all good things must come to an end ^.^ good luck on whatever else you work on mate!
5611331
5611563
That was the overall idea. Sidious didn't know everything about the planet from the start, but sensed that good things would happen if he sent certain people in that direction. Though how much he knew at any given point is unknown, he quite clearly had a sense of how he would like it to go before the story even started.
5611498
Celestia and Luna would disagree with that assertion, as would any of the thousands of ponies Grievous and his army murdered in revenge.
5611567
You know that the Empire features more Force-using henchmen than just Vader, right? The entire Inquisitorius, for one, is made of dark siders (not Sith, though) in the employ of old Palpatine.
5611574
There's enough genetic variation left for the species to survive, yes. There are still millions of frightened (and quite possibly homeless) ponies in the nation. Though their military forces have been pretty much wiped out.
What a prick. But that's 'Palpatine' for you, always jerking it in everyone's faces. He doesn't even have the common courtesy to warn us before he blows as well!
5611676 oh quit your whining.
it was awesome. missing a few details just shaves awesomeness from the top. its still awesome. just not "AS" awesome
but yeah I did hope there was some slight chance that some damage would have been undone. and yes I wanted to see all their reactions and the "hold me injured brother!!!"
lol all that crap XD
there was a lot of reaction we missed, not putting something we want in doesnt go back and erase all the awesome that was already put in
and I really hoped to see grievous die. and a good death. not going out like a bitch like in the movie. something epic and completely awesome. but heres hoping for that theoretical next one XD
5611625 The Inquisition? You mean the one guy who shows up in Star Wars Rebels?
...
Like I said, nothing important for her to do.
It just feels like this was all pointless, from the Star Wars point of view. Like nothing here has any real affect on the galaxy at large. Like the destruction of Equestria is just another footnote in the history of the Clone Wars.
If you had killed off Grievous, or Dooku, or Tarkin, or, hell even, Obi-Wan then it would give some sort of point to this travesty (the battle, not the story), something that would affect the Clone Wars as a whole. Instead you stick to slaughtering every MLP character you get away with, which I wouldn't mind if there was any importance to anything that happened on Equestria. It's brutal violence and bleak suffering for the sole purpose of being dark. Sure, MLP will never be the same, but half the crossover gets off with little more than a stern talking to! Grievous doesn't change, the Separatist and Republic are right back where they started strength wise, and nothing important got destroyed. All we get is a hint that maybe Sidious possibly has some little side thing planned that he might get around too doing.
After sitting through chapters and chapters of ponies suffering, major characters mutilated, constant reminders of how horrible this all is, even fucking DISCORD dying, this is incredibly unsatisfying.
I haven't been this disappointed by an ending since... I can't even think of an example.
I'd to make it clear that this ending isn't actually bad from a purely logical and grammatical point of view, just emotionally unfulfilling to those of us who expected more than a lame excuse to have Grievous and Dooku rampage across Equestria.
I'm rambling now.
Actually I think I passed rambling a while ago.
Regardless, this ending is just unpleasant. I'm going to have to give it a negative point. Thumbs down, good sir.
Dang.... just... dang.
Pretty good read, frankly. Not to mention you didn't soften how badly Equestria was attacked, leading to reader specs about what the future holds, will Luna go evil, what would the other nations make of all this etc.
So bravo, sir.
5611331
well since equestria need protection from republic
it will go bad sooner ....i mean real bad
soo he knew throught his vision
well it looks like equestria become slave to empire later on
5611770
It's an entire order of dark siders meant to hunt down and eliminate Jedi or other Force-sensitive threats to the Empire, of which that guy is one member. Sorry you didn't like the story, but this has been the story of how the ponies get introduced to galactic society. Brutally.
I don't know whether or not it will make a difference from your point of view, but I do plan on changing the Star Wars universe in the future sequel.
They're already dead. They just haven't realized it yet.
But allow me to say...
Thanks for finishing this story, mate. The last two Star Wars related stories I've followed have been RaibowBob's and Rust's, and, well, RIP those stories.
So again, thanks for not only writing and finishing stories, but for making it with some quality.
And without further ado!
SEQUEL PLZ
I just finished reading the story and all I can say is... wow... It was so amazingly written and you actually made me feel for the characters. Luna's horn and feeling of personal failure, the destruction of Canterlot, Discord's dead, Celestia's sorrow. All by all you managed to touch my feelings quite a bit and you've certainly become one of my favourite writers. Either way, I guess what I want to say is, you did a great job and thank you for making this story, the update speed was amazing and I can't wait to read some more of your stories.
While mostly well written, and with some believable reactions the story is a good one, but there are several sore points.
1.- If the problem to programming the barrier is identifying non organic moving bodies full of electricity, wouldn't it just make sense to prevent metal from passing. If they need samples for the specific alloy of the robots there are samples on the Moon. Even if that would just mean only the B-1 can't pass the barrier it would make a world of difference. Hell even if they can't be that specific in picking up only that metal, raising a barrier for only metal when the invasion began can't be impossible. If needed lowering that barrier because it was to straining to keep every enchantment is one thing, not even considering it is another, taunting it's impossible with the information they had is going to far. They knew one side used droids, even if useless against the flesh and blood troops from the other side a metal repealing barrier not being considered doesn't make sense. Making it a mater of making it to taxing to maintain high speed and energy based projectiles and the metal barrier, or making it incompatible makes more sense that we can't repel droids because 'mechanical parts and electricity' is hard to specify on a spell.
2.- Killing Discord with a lightsaber thrust doesn't sit well, he is the spirit of Chaos, a physical attack, even if plasma or laser based, doesn't really work. A lightsaber is only a fancy sword, a very useful one, but just something anybody can use once build, it can be personally attuned to it's builder with the force, even help to focus it, but in the end it doesn't actually use it, otherwise Grievous couldn't use them either. On the other hand Force Lightning, Force Choking or even just crushing him with the Force would have a more spiritual element to the slaying and making more sense.
3.- Recovering from mind rape in seconds, without consequences, is making Darth Tyranus needlessly overpowered. Fear me! I use the Dark Side, I am invencible! Not a headache, not scrambled memories, not disorientation, not even requiring hours or even minutes of meditation. The Dark Side is poisonous, using it to recover from the attack is one thing, coming fresh from using it in that way is another. Even having Count Dooku meditating while in the transport after leaving the battle could make it work a little better. Specially if a little blood is noted leaking from the ears and/or nose.
There are more things but it all amounts to this. Let's overpower the galactic power but dumb down and underpower Equestria, when it isn't needed to work. The same outcome could have been reached without needlessly shifting the balance one way for narrative purposes.
I hope you go through with a sequel!
10/10 "Like skyrim with guns." IGN
Without a doubt, this is the best story I have ever read on this website! I will pay you money to print this in hardback and give me a copy! Amazing, amazing, amazing! Sequel, please? Perhaps... The Empire (or establishment of Empire)?
I am satisfied by this, but what role will Equestria play in the future? This must be explored... please?
And so it ends.
As someone who is a big Star Wars fan and whose favourite Star Wars character is Grievous, I say that you did his character great justice and captured his essence quite perfectly. But the same could be said for nearly every single character you included in this story. It is a rare treat to see the whole cast of characters interpreted and written so well. For me the characters and their interactions with one another are always the essential aspect of crossover fics. The way they play together or against one another and what would truly happen if these characters were put in a situation together. You captured all of that quite well.
As I've noted before, your writing and story telling is also very intelligent and well thought out. Surprisingly violent towards the later chapters, seeing how the earlier chapters were quite funny and lighthearted at times, especially with the B-1 battle droids. It seemed like the story was going to strictly follow The Clone Wars 2008 series but it became apparent that the comics had an influence on this as well. Before Grievous was arrested, I was thinking that this tale would require the Comedy tag but it ended up deserving the Gore tag. Not that I mind. It's visceral action told well and Star Wars can be quite visceral.
And as much as there can be positives, there's always going to be some negatives as well and I do have a gripe with this tale. I feel that more could have been done with the Mane 6. The Mane 6 disappear halfway into the story, excluding the beginning of the invasion and being mentioned in the end. I was thinking that we were going to read about the Mane 6 reacting to all the aftermath of the invasion with scenes such as Twilight reuniting with Shining Armor who had lost his horn. The Mane 6 attempted to make their way to the Tree of Harmony but couldn't get to it, perhaps that could have deserved a scene of its own. Rarity, Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie and Dash discussing that creep Grievous who lives in Twilight's castle nowadays.
But that only boils down to the possibility that the story could have perhaps been even more expanded than it already was. I wasn't expecting this story to be this long but I'm glad it is as I enjoyed every word of it. This is the first story from you that I've read and it's definitely made me interested in your other stories as well. Maybe there will be a continuation to Friendship is Grievous and maybe there might not be. But if there is, I'll be there in an instant. In the meanwhile, I'll be reading Together Forever.
Congratulations Snake Staff. Friendship is Grievous certainly deserves the fame it's received, and more.
This is, without a doubt, one of the greatest fanfics I've ever read. On a scale of 1-10, this is a clear 13.
Such a shame to see it go, but, as always, if I truly love something, I must let it free.
5611852 Oh no you've got me invested now. I'm going to read every story you publish in this series. Just because the conclusion was unsatisfying and emphasized all the bad points in the storytelling doesn't mean it wasn't (partially) enjoyable or annoyingly enthralling. I hate the story but you've made me care about this crossover universe and the characters within (which only makes the conclusion that much more aggravating) , so you're stuck with me until you drop this concept.
*Leaves to get popcorn after Discord gets beaten in the most Sith way possible
*Returns a few days later
Holy ****, it's finished? Fuuuu-
Now I gotta read all of it.. and I'm not quite sure I can finish it after losing my favorite character of all time so early on (much sadness, so deep).