48: Diverging Destinies
His presence washed over her like a frigid tsunami, at once a crushing tide of dark side energy that threatened to drown her mind in terror and a cold, calculating intellect that regarded all things like some unfathomably ruthless equation to be balanced. He truly was as much machine as man, if not more so. As the cyborg’s hologram flickered into being, Luna steeled her mind and, however reluctantly, bowed her head.
“Inquisitor,” Darth Vader said without preamble. “You have something to report.”
It wasn’t a question.
“I do, my lord,” the alicorn said, not daring to look up. “I have traced the path of your belongings and identified the being responsible for their theft. And I have this, for you.”
At her telekinetic bidding, a small black pyramid rose into the air before Vader’s projected face. The red capstone seemed to burn all the brighter in the presence of so much dark side energy. The image of the towering cyborg stared at it for a moment, and then turned his dark lenses back to the kneeling princess.
“There were far more antiquities than that among my property.” Luna felt a slight pressure on the edges of her throat. “I trust you have an explanation.”
“Of course, my lord. The remainder were…” here she couldn’t help but swallow. “Destroyed… in an explosion.”
Her windpipe abruptly halved in diameter.
“Engineered by the man who stole them in the first place!” she added hastily. “The Sith Lord Darth Maul! He was responsible for the theft of your possessions. He arranged for them to be stolen and shipped to him on Corulag. I tracked them there and did battle with him. When I proved too much for him his cohorts attacked the ship carrying the cargo and destroyed the bulk of it.”
“Too much,” Vader repeated, arms across his chest. “For a Sith Lord. I trust you have proof of this claim, Inquisitor?”
“Yes,” Luna nodded quickly. A lightsaber rose to levitate alongside the holocron. “I took it from Maul when we dueled… and nearly his head as well! His cohorts died by my hand. The Imperial Security Bureau was involved as well, their report will confirm everything I have said.”
For a moment the room was still, Vader’s rhythmic mechanical breathing and Luna’s far more labored efforts the only things that could be heard. The dark cyborg stared at the floating weapon, distant and inscrutable in the physical and metaphysical planes. Finally, he returned his gaze to Luna.
“That is undoubtedly the weapon of Darth Maul,” he pronounced, and the pressure on Luna’s throat abruptly ceased. “I can sense his lingering presence on it. Not only to survive a duel with him on your first mission, but to take his weapon? Impressive… most impressive.”
“Thank you…” she took a deep breath, resisting the temptation to rub her throbbing throat. “My lord.”
“I knew that you had potential. Perhaps I underestimated how much.” He paused, as if considering. “It may be that I have another use for you. Meet me in orbit above Kashyyyk, and we shall see.”
The hologram vanished.
Many lightyears away, Twilight sat alone in her room aboard the Harmony, eyes fixed on the strange hexahedron. The crystal panes of the Jedi holocron glowed a soft blue, the gold and silver of the edges and angles shined brilliantly, as if they had never seen a speck of dirt. The light it cast was… calming. Soothing, really. It was as if just looking at the thing was enough to settle a troubled mind.
And Twilight’s mind was plenty troubled. For the second time in as many missions she’d watched the princess of the night – the very pony she and her friends back home had rescued from the Nightmare – murder one of her new friends in cold blood. And this time when she’d tried to fight she’d simply been brutalized and nearly executed herself. If Luna hadn’t wasted time lecturing her…
And yet, she still brought up a legitimate point. Twilight was a being of great magical potential, but was hobbled by the need for secrecy. She couldn’t wield Equestrian magic, even when she needed it most, or else someone might be able to trace her back to her utterly defenseless homeworld. Moreover, it did seem that whatever abilities Princess Luna had been taught were able to be used much more quickly than the magic she knew. And without a horn, or a glow. It would be really good to have something like that in a fight.
Twilight stared at the holocron.
“I don’t know if you can hear me,” she whispered. “I have no idea if you’re even sapient, like Kersh seems to think. But… Jedi were supposed to be protectors of the innocent, right? And I want to protect to the innocent. Lots of innocents, actually. And holocrons are supposed to teach, I think. And I want to learn. Very badly.” She smiled faintly. “I’ve always loved to learn. Do you think you might be able to teach me?”
It showed no reaction.
“Look,” she continued. “I know you’re probably feeling a bit wary. All that time mixed up with Vader’s things… I felt their presence too. Not pleasant, not fun at all. But there are more important things than personal comfort, right? There’s a galaxy out there that needs help. There are people out there who need help. And if I don’t help them, and you don’t help them, who will? Somebody has to.”
Still nothing.
“You probably don’t know a lot about me. I don’t know a lot about you either, so I guess we’re even there. But I can feel harmony, er, the light side in you. Maybe you can feel it in me?” Twilight invoked a small spell, fingers shining a gentle purple as she grasped the holocron. “I know I must be pretty strange to you, but can you at least sense that I’m not evil?”
The alicorn princess grinned a little feebly, her glow mixing with the strange device’s own. Yet, apart from the pretty lightshow, there was still no clear reaction. Eventually, both smile and glow faded.
“Alright,” she said with a sigh. “I see. You-”
The princess jumped as the holocron’s glow doubled, then tripled in intensity. Twilight shielded her eyes as an impossibly bright blue radiance filled her small cabin like a miniature sun. But that lasted only a moment, and very soon the room returned to the way it had been. Save only for the for the small blue image standing calmly atop the holocron.
“Greetings,” said the human female. “My name is Jedi Master Bastila Shan.”
Rare grey clouds blighted the skies the skies above Coruscant. Rain, a rarity on the climate-controlled world, fell in torrents unseen in years above the vast Imperial Palace. Lightning forked uncomfortably close to the monolithic towers of the former Jedi Temple, thunderclaps boomed overhead. Far below, the little people scurried like drochs before sunlight, or else simply endured the indignity and discomfort with what stoicism they could muster. But the chiefest occupant did not mind.
In fact, Palpatine found it rather appropriate.
“And so, your majesty, I regret to report that true progress continues to be elusive,” the hologram of 11-4D was saying. “All of our cell cultures thus far have met with failure. When removed from the main body of the Governor, cells evidence an almost immediate change in behavior. Whether taken from skin, muscle tissue, vital organs, or even blood cells, the results are consistent. The cells begin to behave as normal cells do, going through a life cycle of reproduction and death. Analysis conducted around the sutures themselves have confirmed the subject’s own hypothesis: cell growth in wounded areas is rapid and produces a cellular structure completely identical and numerically equivalent to the extracted tissue.”
“And you have no idea why this might be.”
“My apologies, but no.” The droid shook his head. “I suspected it might some hitherto unknown organ function, but consistent observations have revealed no anomalies that our sensors can detect. In fact, when tagging blood cells for tracking it was discovered that the exact same cells were making the exact same trip to the exact same destinations in an endless cycle. There was not even the slightest variance in all the time we studied them.”
“Even movement is stasis for that one,” the Emperor observed. “A biological perpetual motion machine, one might say.”
“An astute observation, your majesty. But we are no closer to determining the source of this stasis than when we began. I am currently pursuing the theory of a biochemical cause that has yet to come to life, but thus far the results are not promising.”
“I see.” Palpatine considered for a moment. “Continue your studies as they are.”
“Should we begin more aggressive procedures?”
“No.”
“As you wish, your majesty.” The droid bowed his head, and then vanished.
Palpatine sat calmly in his darkened throne room, ears listening to the patter of the rain outside even as his mind listened to the currents of the dark side. He was silent and alone, bar the ever-present Royal Guard standing unobtrusively near the door. Minutes rolled by, Moffs and Admirals and Senators and many important beings kept waiting solely on his whim. None would dare to speak a word about it.
At last, he made a small gesture and holoprojector flared to life again.
“Contact Kamino,” he said. “Inform the cloners that I have a task for them.”
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So, act 3 is finally concluded. It was an excellent run, but I suppose it's now going to be a year or longer before the next act is released. No matter, I'll just re-read the entire story if I forget what has happened.
Hmmm... So now Kaminoan's are about to get something new to test? Well, they ARE geniuses on cloning and gene's...
Whew... the arc is finished at last eh? Damn, what an arc that was, I wonder how long this story will go on? It's... interesting, to say the least.
Good show!
Vader should better not underestimate an alicorn who has a several thousands of years count, and who bested a certain Grievous in a previous encounter.
Twilight is about to become a Padawan! Will she get a purple lightsaber like Mace Windu?
Celestia... I’m afraid she is definitely not enjoying her stay at Coruscant.
So, Vader has another job for Luna on Kashyyk? Poor wookies...
So, I'm guessing Palpy's plan is to clone an immortal Celestia to dump his mind into. And if that doesn't work he'll try on the Real McCoy.
Bastila Shan made this Holocron as a Master, huh? IIRC that puts it's creation after the events of her game, and also after her own fall to the Dark Side.
Oh boy!
There was a lot of things happening in this chapter, what with Twilight opening a holicron (Bastila!), Luna apparently going to help Vader with something on Kashyyyk, and Palpatine apparently going to try and clone Celestia. You are very good at saying a lot in a very short amount of time and I can't wait to see what you do with these new debelopements!
8679272
I think I remember Palpatine plans to produce a complete platoon of
prettypowerful princess pony clones bound to his will.8679288
Given the choice between life as a decrepit, scarred human and as a pretty pony princess, what Palpatine wouldn't choose pretty pony princess?
8679311
But then he could no longer sit on his throne in any dignified manner.
Kashyyyk uh? If Vader noticed potential in her and the time period is shortly after Revenge of the sith (or at least I think it is), the only mission I can think Vader giving her is going after a Jedi and if there's a Jedi in Kashyyyk.
Are you about to introduce Starkiller?
Well that was some good news and some bad news. Great in the fact that Twilight has one of the more intelligent Jedi of the Old Republic but one that has the ability to see other points of view. I feel bad for Celestia as she has no clue that she is being played for a fool and her life is about to become far more unfavorable.
8679381
Being played for a fool is about all Celestia's good for in any story, though.
Act III has certainly been a great read.
So to sum it up:
Twilight has access to the Jedi holocron. With it she’ll begin training in the ways of the Force, to become stronger and to help aid the Rebellion.
Luna is starting to receive more attention from Darth Vader, and will possibly get direct training/teaching from him. Meanwhile, she has Maul as an ally in the shadows. And, let’s not forget her connection with Dooku/Tyranus. All of these factors will make her a devastating force to be reckoned with in the future.
Finally, Sidious plans to clone Celestia, either to create an army of magic-wielding alicorns to serve him; or to one day transfer his essence into one, thus gaining immortality. That combined with his powers in the dark side, will make him practically invincible.
Awesome stuff, man! Eagerly awaiting Act IV!
8679311
8679330
Neither of you seem to be noted the demonstrated fact that an alicorn with working magic can use it to take the form of a human.
8679568
I was just kidding there.
Damn. That was a great act! Sad it is over though.
Next act will.take place a few years down the line, Starkiller making an appearance, and possibly hints to Rebels, can't wait! :D
8679911
Rebels is New Canon, which Snake Staff has rejected.
8679568
Although only Twilight has demonstrated this. As far as I recall, none of the other princesses have. So Palpatine would be unaware of this without experimentation of his own.
Besides, Daybreaker-clone needs to sit on the Royal Throne.
8680208
But has taken characters from it, such as Kallus, who directly mentions events on Lothal.
8680386
That was back when I was ambivalent on Disney Canon vs. Legends, years ago. Having seen quite clearly since then that the mouse either doesn't give a damn or worse views it as a means of promoting naked propaganda, I've completely lost interest in their version of events. The Last Jedi clinched my opinion, being a godforsaken pile of shit that was bad in more or less every way it is possible for a film to be bad. Legends had its flaws but it was a thousand times better than that.
As I said in the blog post, this story will make no efforts to follow Disney canon, and if I ever do bring anything up it will probably be to kill it off in as ignominious a manner as I can think of.
8680427
I agree with your view on the Last Jedi itself, I hated the movie, and while Rebels is admittedly flawed, at least it does have some interesting bits and pieces. Such as Kallus.
I am enjoying your story immensely so far as it is, so if you decide to ignore Rebels and write it out, so be it.
As soon they the holocron introduced itself, I had such a huge smile on my face.
AAAYYYEEE
Is he about to clone Celestia?
Possibly a Sith Celestia?
(Dark side intensifies)
8680427
I will never not defend the de-canonization of Legends. The games were mostly great and there were great books and comics. However, the entire thing was bogged down by stupid, incessant, stories that did nothing more than to escalate the threats of the Galaxy in a way not unlike Dragonball Z or Supernatural. New canon has its highs and lows, comics and Rebels respectively, but the utter stupidity of 'Palpatine tries to possess a baby and gets dragged to Force Hell by a ghost' deserves to be eradicated.
Bastila!
Man that was a throw back.
You made me feel very lonely in that I have no one to share this awesome story with! Congrats!