Harmony of the Force

by Autocharth

Prologue 1 - The Jedi of Equus

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away...

Striding through her teacher’s modest home, Twilight marvelled at the simple beauty. Coming here was always a pleasure, even after years learning from its owner. She stopped to gaze at the vista before her. Its slightly elevated second level provided a view of the settlement. The home she had known her entire life.

Brushing of her dark hair out of her eyes, Twilight turned and continued on. Her fringe settled around her primary horn, nearly hiding the two far smaller horns flanking it. Along with the lines that seemed almost engraved into her face, connecting to form a six pointed star, the horns made no secret of her species. Twilight knew Zabrak were common, though she knew few herself.

‘I wonder if Master Celestia knows which subspecies I am...but if she does, she won’t tell me,’ Twilight thought, not for the first time shaking her head at her teacher’s inscrutable ways. She had spent as much time with the leader of their little town of Canterlot, just one of only a few settlements on Equuis, as she had with her brother, yet she still knew so little.

Stepping into the next room, close to the heart of the carved everwood pine her master lived in, Twilight breathed in deeply. The scent of ink on paper filled the chamber, the walls lined with books. A datapad might hold terabytes of information but they lacked the feeling, the impression of a real book. Defunct a format it might be in the core but on their little world, too small to attract the attention of the galaxy and only able to sustain a single large settlement or two it was, to Twilight, it was the smell of learning and knowledge.

Her teacher sat in the middle of the room with her back to Twilight. Long hair with three colours perfectly divided hung nearly to her waist, gossamer strands glittering in the light.

“Master?” Twilight knew better than to fidget but in her Master’s silence the urge was hard to resist. She stared at the Jedi’s back, shrouded by Celestia’s waves multi-hued hair, and without thinking she chewed at her bottom lip nervously.

“You’ll hurt your lip,” Celestia’s voice was gently chiding and brought a blush to Twilight’s face.

Shame coloured her words as she hung her head. “Sorry, Master.”

Familiar, gentle fingers with perfectly soft skin cupped her chin. Celestia tilted her student’s face back up to her and smiled. “I told you, you don’t have to call me that. I am Jedi no longer and have not been one since before your birth. I am simply a teacher now,” she said quietly.

Twilight frowned slightly. “A teacher who taught my brother and I how to move objects with our minds,” she pointed out.

Releasing the young zabrak’s chin Celestia smiled ruefully as she turned away to pace the room. Twilight liked her clean definitions, to know that something was exactly in one category. Logic was imperative. She was defined by clean, logical reasoning and a need to have an explanation. Clear thinking and reason were both things high in Celestia’s view and she wished more of the galaxy shared Twilight’s way of thinking. But in matters of the Force logic and reason so often failed to fully convey its meaning. Emotions were vital and to feel your heart was to feel the truth of the Force. Just as the Dark Side was fuelled by rage and hate, so too was the Light empowered by love and compassion. Only by trusting your emotions and your heart could one so gifted wield the power of the Force.

No, she was certainly no Jedi. They had come to shun emotion, seeking clarity without feeling, to be without the passion they believed led to the Dark Side. Each generation of Jedi would have just continued down that path, tipping from their balance of compassion without passion into closed, empty vessels. The path of the Jedi was one without love and Celestia believed with all her being that love, true and deep for friends, family and life, was the true gift of the Force.

Pulling her thoughts from the shattered past, Celestia answered her student’s remark. “Only so you could avoid detection by the Emperor and to warn you of the Dark Side’s power.” She said, stepping past Twilight.

“You’ve trained Shining to fight off a dozen droids without breaking a sweat.” Twilight turned to watch her teacher. They had been through this discussion dozens of times and knew how it ended. That didn’t stop her from trying again. There was such a wealth of knowledge waiting for her, if only the former Jedi would teach her more.

Celestia grimaced, hiding her expression until it was gone. “Your brother merely learns mundane weapons from me and any abilities he has come to learn are of his own initiative.” She replied. “He is not asking for the Force lore of the Jedi Order.”

That got a wince from Twilight. “You’ve told me so little.” She said, trying her best not to sound like she was whining. “What I know is so intriguing.”

There was Twilight’s other weakness. It was not quite that simple, Celestia knew. She possessed a healthy taste for learning herself but Twilight seemed to hunger for more. Twilight had to learn, had to find out more about everything. She devoured information like a starving bantha. Every book had to be read, every data-slide had to be picked clean. More than once Celestia had awoken from dreams, nightmares, of Twilight ignoring her as she shouted warnings. Dream-Twilight always reached for a pyramidal holocron, its innards lit by a sinister red glow that highlighted the zabrak’s hungry expression.

“What little you know...” She echoed, passing through the room. Glancing out a window Celestia’s gaze took in the modest rise of the Governor’s Building. Too simple to be a palace but too large and multi-purpose to be a mere house, it rose above the plane of the roof tops and tree tops scattered across the modest settlement. Crafted from native everwood conditioned to duracrete-like strength, it was a simple beauty to behold.

And with a single blink it was burning.

Streaks of fire rained from the sky. Turbo-lasers unleashed annihilation from above, falling upon the settlement in a screaming fury. Each blast chewed away at everwood walls and left nothing but ash. Flame billowed out from collapsing building as lives vanished in the deadly storm of energies and fire. Peace was shattered and screams rent the air as white armoured figures marched the streets already reduced to rubble, advancing behind the curtain of destruction. Survivors died with a single shot, slumping against the ruined homes that were now little more than charred mass graves. With a great groan the Governor’s Building collapsed and a wave of destruction covered the city, washing over her, the flood of fiery orange all she saw.

A dark laugh seared her ears and soul, deadly in its familiarity and from the sea of swirling flames two figures strode with blades of hateful light. One loomed great and commanding, the other pulled in the wake of the first by chains forged of shadows and pain. A living Nightmare.

A spear of fire erupted from behind the chained figures to pierce Celestia’s breast. The tiniest crack that should have gone unheard in the inferno filled her ears and for a moment as she faded Celestia saw-

-Twilight leaning over her, expression pinched with worry.

“Master?” It sounded like she had been repeating the word urgently for some time. Relief and worry warred for her expression. “Master, are you alright?” She asked.

Reaching out gently to the Force, Celestia smiled soothingly and calmed Twilight with a mental touch. The nascent bond forged in her teachings of the Force made it a simple gesture and reassurance flooded Twilight’s mind. Pushing herself up from the hardwood floor she felt the delicate network of life and emotions filling the small city.

All was at peace. She had known the moment the vision ended that it had not been real but some part of her had needed to check, needed to be sure. Such an attack would have been starkly obvious both in the physical world and in the Force.

When the attack came it would be obvious.

“I’m fine, thank you Twilight.” Standing to her full formidable height Celestia smiled weakly. “I am sorry, I think I need to rest awhile. We can continue this discussion later if you do not mind.” Despite her repeated denial of the title ‘Master’, it was clearly a dismissal.

Troubled but obedient, Twilight forced down the questions she wanted to ask. Celestia had been her teacher in all things for years and a constant presence in her life. Learning when to trust her had never been an issue, and right now the older woman was being very serious. It was still hard to leave so soon after the mighty woman had seemingly collapsed for no reason.

No reason Twilight knew at least, which was nearly as bad. The moment she left, Twilight decided, she was going to call her brother and ask for a medic to come with him. Today was a slow day and between the two of them perhaps a medical check wouldn’t be beyond what they could convince Celestia to submit to. Using a med-droid was out of the question, the last one to come into Celestia’s presence had been sent to the scrap heap. There was only so much that could be done.

Sighing, Twilight nodded reluctantly and turned to leave. She paused at the door, a silent mind-touch bringing her up short.

“Perhaps a little more instruction,” Celestia said quietly. “Spike will need lessons soon and you should know enough to be able to help him.”

Twilight just stood in the doorway for a second before leaving without a word. A smile twitched at Celestia’s lips as she felt the joy Twilight was radiating. A squeal of joy pierced the wooden wall the moment the door closed behind her as the zabrak girl fought the urge to jump in circles.

Taking a moment to draw a deep breath and steel herself, Celestia strode back into her study. From the heavy everwood desk to the walls lined with bookshelves and a thick woven carpet it was the very model of a respectable study. It took her a moment to take the small cube lit from within by a soft blue glow out of the hidden compartment. The image of six shimmering shards sprang from it, holographic images spinning gently in the air before her. Each a different colour; red, blue, pink, violet, green and orange. Their images turned in harmony with each other, and brought a smile to her face.

They had chance, so long as there was hope for Harmony.

Sitting at the centre of the room, the cube shifting shapes in her hands as she fell into the Force, she began to work and plan to save a world and, perhaps, a soul.

Author's Note:

Yep, the first chapter of a whole new story! Two new stories all at once, impressive, eh? Have some art I had done by the lovely Luminaura a while back in anticipation of this.

This first chapter, along with the next several, are introduction chapters to let you meet the Mane Cast in their Star Wars formats. Here's the first; Twilight Sparkle, Jedi Padawan (kinda) to Jedi Master Celestia.

If you liked reading my ramblings, let me know what you think in the comments. If you didn't like it, you can let me know why down there as well. Just don't tell me to spell like an American. I have my dignity, you know! Or perhaps not, given the next paragraph, but if you want more things I've written check out Treacherous Mists and Justice Itself, along with Bloodlines.

I've just started up a Patreon thing, because why not? Not paywalling anything or such, but if you have some loose internet change and you want to throw it at me as you scream 'TAKE IT, TAKE IT YOU FILTHY PERSON', I won't object.

Comment and all if you want, I'd love you if you did (or I'd say so at least).

Comments

[RanmaChaos]

A good start. Although I think you should make the Harmony thing a proper rainbow. It kinda annoys me that the show doesn't do it. Magic/Friendship is purple, Laughter is blue, Loyalty is red, and Honesty is orange. But Generosity and Kindness aren't yellow and green( respectively in my opinion), what's up with that?