The Peaceful Warrior: Jedi in Training

by Valiant Knight

The Giant Stirs

Paul had worked well into the night, perhaps even the wee hours of the morning, but he eventually finished all of the transfer orders. He had set the stack of paperwork on his desk neatly and stumbled off to bed.

It was now morning and he was headed to see Celestia. Paul figured that all of the military’s forces should be notified of his position, but he didn’t know the best way to do so. As he made his way through the grand halls of the palace, he wondered what would be the best way to disclose the information.

Paul entered the dining room and saw Celestia there, mid-meal. He smiled as he saw her, and she smiled back upon seeing him.

“Good morning Princess, I figured I’d find you here,” he said. “Where’s Princess Luna?”

“She’s sleeping,” Celestia answered. “She has to stay up from sunset to sunrise, guarding the night and ponies’ dreams. She is usually only up during the day when there is some form of special event.”

“Ah, I see,” Paul responded as he ordered just a bowl of oatmeal from the waiter. “I’ve been thinking about an issue for a bit now. I’ve been put into command of the Equestrian Armed Forces, but how do we inform the armed forces themselves, you know, the ponies that make up our military?”

Celestia took a bite of her breakfast, pondering the question, before she formed a smile. “Yes, that could work…” she said to herself before answering Paul. “There is a powerful spell I could use to achieve this purpose. I would be able to project an image of you to the unicorn mages stationed at each outpost. This would allow you to speak to each and every guard in our forces and update them on our predicament.”

Paul thought on it for a second. “Yeah, that sounds like a good plan. They would be aware of the situation, my presence, my command, and my species. It covers everything we need it to. Thank you, Princess.”

“It is my pleasure, Paul. This briefing will be tomorrow at noon,” she said with a smile. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I must begin the Day Court.”

“Goodbye for now, then,” answered Paul.

<<<==>>>

After breakfast, Paul returned to his office to begin working up a speech. If he was to bolster these troops, he would need to know what he was going to say before hand, instead of winging it.

He sat down and pulled out a piece of parchment, an inkwell, and a quill. He was about to start writing when he remembered something.

“What am I doing?” He asked himself, putting down the quill. “I have a laptop sitting in my room!”

He stood up and left his office, heading towards his room. Once he arrived, he opened the door and found his backpack in the chair in the corner. He grabbed it and put it on, wincing when the rough straps rubbed against his skin.

“Oh yeah,” he thought. “I still don’t have a shirt. I guess I just forgot about it. Eh, whatever, I’m fine without it for now.”

Paul shrugged and made his way back to his office, setting up his laptop and noticing that it seemed to be perpetually charging itself somehow. He decided to look into it later and began to type his speech.

<<<==>>>

About three hours later, Paul finally finished his speech. It certainly wasn’t a masterpiece, but it would effectively convey everything he needed it to.

Satisfied with his efforts, Paul left his office and went to the dining hall to grab a quick lunch. He wanted to spend the rest of the day training with his lightsaber and possibly honing his Force powers.

When he arrived at the hall, neither of the Princesses were present, so he simply sat down, ordered his food, and waited for it to arrive. Once it did, he quickly ate it and departed.

<<<==>>>

After wandering around the castle for a little while due to mistaking one of the maid’s direction to the guard gym and weight room, Paul found himself in an unfamiliar part of the castle. He began looking around, trying to find anything he recognized, when he suddenly heard a door open behind him.

He quickly turned around to see who it was, he tensed and his hand went to his lightsaber just in case. However, he relaxed when he saw that it was only Shining Armor. The stallion noticed him as well, gaining a puzzled look, wondering what Paul was doing there.

“Ah, Shining Armor,” Paul started. “I’m glad to have run into you. I was looking for the gym, but then I realized, I have no idea where I am in the castle, or where the gym is. Do you know how I could get there from here?”

“Yes, sir. Just follow me, I was actually headed there myself,” Shining answered.

“Please, just Paul. We’re both off duty,” Paul answered as he fell in step next to the pony.

The pair set off towards the gym, making their way through various twists and turns of the castle’s passageways. After about five minutes, they arrived at the double doors to the gymnasium.

“Here we are, sir,” Shining said, opening the door for Paul.

“Thanks,” Paul said as he entered.

“No problem. Hey, uh, I was just wondering, what are you here for?” Shining asked, unsure why the human would need to visit a gym.

“What reason does anypony come here? I need to develop, train, and hone my skills in combat. Because I have none. Though, a little hard work never killed anyone.”

Paul turned and opened the door, and they were both hit with the stench of sweaty males. After they overcame the sudden smell, the pair entered.

Paul looked around and noted that none of the equipment seemed suitable for a biped, so weightlifting was probably the only thing he could do besides potentially working on swordplay.

He looked around again, this time noting the occupants. They were mostly ponies, but he did see one biped in the room. A very large minotaur was lifting some very big weights with only a slight strain. Paul had seen his file pass over his desk. This was Steel Forge, a beast on the battlefield, but surprisingly well-mannered outside of it.

Paul thought for a moment, considering whether or not it would be beneficial to work on swordplay with him. On one hand, he was the only biped here with combat experience, in fact the only one here at all as far as Paul knew. But on the other hand, the only weapon that could effectively simulate a lightsaber would be a rapier, and Steel Forge’s mighty two-handed broadsword was a far cry from a rapier.

Shaking his head, Paul decided he would figure it out another time. For now, he wanted to get physically stronger first, and that meant lifting weights. Fun.

<<<==>>>

Several hours later, Paul had eaten dinner and just gotten out of the shower. He sat on his bed with his phone sitting at the foot. Paul sat cross-legged near his pillow, concentrating on the phone. He pictured it floating up and hovering a few inches above the covers it sat on.

Paul repeatedly pictured this mental image, after a while he opened his eyes, not sure what to expect. He was disappointed to see that the phone hadn’t moved itself in the slightest from where he had placed it.

While he was disappointed, he was not discouraged. He closed his eyes and kept trying, giving it several more attempts before he finally did become discouraged and just decided to lay down and go to sleep.

<<<==>>>

The next morning, Paul awoke, feeling surprisingly good after spending half the previous day training. He got out of bed and ran his hands through his hair, noting that his bangs touched his eyebrows. He also put a hand to his face and felt the stubble that had grown out.

I need to shave and get a haircut, he thought. This is getting a little long and scraggly for my liking.

He made a mental note and went to the dining hall to eat breakfast. He ate his food quickly and went back to his office to rehearse his speech before he had to give it. After an hour or so of going over the speech, he had to leave to deliver it.

Paul left his office, laptop in tow, and made his way to the throne room, where Celestia would be projecting his speech from. He arrived at the entrance to the throne room and nodded to the guards as they saluted him and opened the large double doors for him.

He entered and saw the large crowd of fancy looking ponies lined up on either side of the carpet that stretched to the throne. Before he advanced, he spared a glance up at the roof, which had been completely repaired in just a few days, and saw two pegasus guards hidden in the shadows above the chandelier.

Paul shook his head and began to walk down the center of the room, almost smirking as everypony silenced when he passed. Many had heard the rumors of his actions, but few, if any, had actually seen him in person, and they were awed by his stature and his calm but firm presence.

As he approached Celestia and Luna, he stopped just before the dias and kneeled before them.

“Rise, General,” came the firm voice of Luna.

Paul obeyed and turned to face Celestia and opened his computer to the speech. He nodded to her and her horn lit up with the spell to transmit his message to every unicorn in the Equestrian military.

The sound of a bell tower chiming the hour prompted Celestia to finish the cast, and as the light washed over Paul, he waited several seconds and began speaking.

“Good afternoon,” Paul started, his face neutral. “My name is Paul and I am currently the highest ranking officer in the Equestrian Armed Forces. As such, I am uniquely qualified to inform you of the atrocious acts that occurred only two days ago.

“During a meeting to discuss peace and good relations between our nations,” Paul continued, his face growing stern. “The griffons attempted to assassinate our fair leaders. The Princesses themselves were attacked in their own castle during a meeting of will.”

This was apparently news to some of the nobles in the room, as there were several gasps in the audience, though most only wore looks of anger and contempt.

“This act was meant to throw our nation into chaos and make it easy for the griffons to conquer us, but due to the efforts of our skilled Royal Guards, the would-be-assassins were apprehended and the Princesses were saved,” here Paul’s face grew softer and he gained a small smile. “And because of their mistake, the griffons have awoken the sleeping giant that is Equestria. A great force is now moved to protect a great country.”

Paul’s smiled faded and was replaced by a fire in his eyes.

“And let it be noted by all: this act of war will not go unanswered. If we need to march all the way to Griffonstone itself before they surrender, then so be it. But we will not back down from the challenge placed before us. On this day, all Equestrians, from all walks of life, will unite in our resolve for justice and peace. Equestria has stood down enemies before, and we will do so this time.

Paul’s smile slowly reappeared.

“So we now go forward to defend freedom, equality, and all that is good and just in our world.”

“And to Diathor, who is the puppetmaster manipulating the griffons, and may or may not be viewing this message: Know that I will stop at nothing until I see you defeated. I would advise you not to cross, but it is too late for that now, isn't it?

“Armies of Equestria: May the Force be with you.”

With these final words, the transmission was cut off, and the ponies in the throne room began to applauds Paul, clearly moved by his rallying cry. After acknowledging the crowd, Paul turned back to Celestia and Luna.

“Am I free to leave now, Your Majesties?” He asked quietly. To his dismay, Celestia gave a slight shake of her head.

“Not quite yet. Several nobles will want to meet this stunning new figure they have been hearing about second- and third-hoof for the past few days. Very nice speech, by the way. Very touching, very moving, very impactful. It will be hard for the ponies not to rally behind you.”

“Thank you,” Paul said. “I had a little bit of inspiration for it from my world.”

“Hmm, well I’m afraid we must be off to socialize with the nobles now,” Luna inserted. “Let us go.”

With Luna’s words, the group of three turned and descended from the dias into the crowd.

<<<==>>>

After an exhausting hour of playing nice with the nobles, Paul finally excused himself. He left the hall and walked quickly to his bedroom, wishing not to be interrupted. When he arrived, he entered and quickly locked the door behind himself.

He collapsed on his bed as the severity of his situation hit him in full.

“I'm leading an army to war…” He said to the empty room. “What did I get myself into?”

As he sat and began to think about the series of events that lead him to this point, he couldn’t get past one in particular. His last date with Angela, the love of his life. They had just gone out to a local restaurant and had dinner together. It wasn’t anything special, but it was the last time they saw each other. It had been the night before he left for ComicCon, and all he had left of her were the pictures on his phone and his memories.

As he broke from his memories, he subconsciously reached for his phone in his pocket, even as tears blurred his vision.

He pulled his phone from his pocket and opened up to his photos. He scrolled through them and found several with his girlfriend in them. As he stared at her picture, he heard a knock at the door, causing him to set his phone down on the bed and stand up to get the door. He walked over and wiped his eyes before opening the door, revealing Twilight Sparkle behind it.

“Hello, Paul,” she started, looking up at him. When she saw his face however, her own became concerned. “What’s wrong? Was it your speech? I thought it was wonderful! Very eloquent and to the point.”

Paul smiled despite himself. “No, Twilight, it wasn’t that. Thank you, though. No… what has me feeling so awful is just the culmination of my situation, I guess. I think that it’s really hitting me that I’m going to be leading an army to war, but that I’m also just another guy from Suburbia, America. I’m not anybody special, and I’m without anybody special that I’ve come to know and love.”

Twilight’s eyes widened in understanding. “You had to leave your friends behind, didn’t you?” She asked softly. “You had them ripped away when you were sent here… I’m so sorry, Paul.”

Paul closed his eyes as they began to water again, but when he felt the hooves wrap around his waist, he opened them in surprise. He looked down to see Twilight hugging him.

“Thanks, Twilight,” he said.

“Anytime, Paul.”

They stood there for another minute or so before Twilight had to leave. She had only come to Canterlot for his speech, and she needed to return to Ponyville. They said their goodbyes and she left, leaving Paul to take a shower and fall into a peaceful sleep.

Author's Note:

I'm back! Wow, I have really put this off for too long. The monthly posting time for February has long since passed, as has the one for March, so here's one in time for the April date.

Sorry that I took so long, I just got really stuck and didn't know how to put down what was in my head. Thankfully some time away has solved the issue and left me ready to pump out some more chapters, hopefully faster than the last.

Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed!