The Peaceful Warrior: Jedi in Training

by Valiant Knight

Rescue Op

Author's Note:

Welcome back to another monthly installment of—

Wait a minute... I think my calendar skipped a year or two.

Seriously though, it’s been a while. Almost two full years. I wouldn’t be surprised if nobody’s around to even see this update.

But if you are, then welcome back! Here is a link back to chapter one, if you already want to get started on rereading.

For the saner (yes, it’s a word, I double checked) among you, here’s your author’s summary of the story so far:

Paul, a Star Wars fan, gets sent to Equestria with the powers and weapons of a Jedi. He winds up in the middle of nowhere, gets attacked by some Timberwolves, and passes out at the edge of Ponyville. Twilight decides to go through Paul’s things while he’s in the hospital, finds a book, reads it, learns about humanity. Paul wakes up in the hospital, thinking he’s dreaming. This goes on for a while (maybe too long) before Luna disillusions him. A few days later, he heals and goes to see the Princesses to try and get sent home. They agree to try, they want a meal together first. Obligatory explanation of how Earth is. Paul stays in the castle a few days. The bad griffon shows up, tries to kill the Princesses, Paul saves them. Reveal of Diathor, a Sith. Equestria decides they will go to war with the Griffon Kingdoms, Paul gets coerced into being a General with a special strike team, which he then forms. A few weeks of training later, the Griffons attack Baltimare, leaving our team to spring a surprise rescue operation, attempting to rescue the captive civilians...

As Paul fell through the sky, quickly approaching terminal velocity, he tried to adjust the armor strap holding his chest plate on but found that he couldn’t move at all, his entire body locked in place by the force of the wind. As such, he couldn’t check behind him for his team either; he could only hope that the stallions were getting into formation around him as the ground grew closer and closer.

His hope was answered when a small barrier formed a few feet in front of him, moving at almost the same speed he was. The entire landing strategy hinged on this magenta shield provided by Shining Armor.

Paul slowly approached the shield as he fell, eventually landing on it, if a little roughly. When he landed, he was able to look up and see Bronze Mace holding Shining Armor, and Golden Lance, Iron Shield, and both Stars approaching the shield which he was currently laying on.

He watched as they landed, much the same way he did, and signaled to Shining. He had been waiting for it and began to close the shield around them all, keeping them in place as Bronze Mace carried him down towards the commercial district.

The plan was to get in, free the civilians, and get them out as quickly as possible. No more, no less. The group was descending into the city with all of the subtlety they could manage from inside the giant magenta ball that was literally falling from the sky, but Paul was sure that they were about to be noticed.

“Speak of the devil,” Paul thought as a crossbow bolt bounced off the shield and several alarmed squawks sounded off below them.

Paul looked down and noted several guards on top of buildings and taking off to warn other guards of the group approaching.

“Bronze,” Paul began, pointing to a group of griffons as they flew off. “Follow those birds, they are going to be headed for the others, and they are probably guarding the civilians in this district.”

“Yes, sir,” the pegasus responded, following as quickly as he could.

As they floated through the streets of Baltimare taking crossbow bolts, Paul began to cover their plan one more time.

“Alright, remember guys, we don’t know exact numbers on hostages or hostiles, but we have rough estimates putting the former at five thousand, and the latter at 500 or so. Okay, remember your pairings. Stars, you two will be escorting groups of ten to twenty civilians to the designated safe area of the Southeastern Industrial district along with Iron Shield and Golden Lance. Shining, Mace, and I will be on overwatch. We’ll take out anything you see as a threat gunning for you that y’all don’t see coming.”

He was met with a series of affirmations, and a shocked statement from Bronze.

“I think we’re here, sir.”

Paul looked up to see that, indeed, they had arrived. He saw the large warehouse on the left side of the street, he could see that it took up an entire block by itself. He saw all of the shops on the opposite side of the street like a bar, a restaurant, and a clothing store. That much he saw. But what he noticed was well over a hundred griffons waiting in the street with crossbows aimed directly their bubble, which notified him about as well as Siri saying, “You have arrived at your destination.”

It also didn’t hurt to see another couple hundred forcing hostages out into the street with their sharpened claws at the necks of the poor frightened ponies.

Paul simply froze as he saw the possibilities play out in his head. There were so many ways for it to go wrong, and so little to go right.

He wasn’t sure what to do, but he didn’t have much of a chance to even decide, anyway. No, the enemy was much too quick for that.

“Draw!”

And in one swift motion, not only did every single crossbow fire at the giant bubble shield protecting the group, but every other griffon went into action as well.

Indeed they drew. They drew their claws swiftly across the throats of every single innocent pony in that street, slitting their throats wide open. At first, the blood began to spurt forth onto the surrounding griffons, but as the pressure swiftly decreased, the gushing became a trickle. The blood gurgled directly into the windpipes of the ponies, causing them all to drown in their own blood as their lungs slowly filled.

Paul was shocked speechless, but thanks to Bronze Mace’s quick thinking, he was able to dive down, causing most of the crossbow bolts to only strike glancing blows on the shield.

“Sir, what do we do?” Lance asked, his voice shaky.

“I-I don’t know, I need a few seconds to think!” Paul responded, trying to run scenarios in his head.

“Sir, we don’t have that time,” Iron Shield cut in. “We need a decision now! Do we stay, or do we go?”

Despite trying to make a quick choice, the only thing that came into Paul’s head was that song! He pushed it out as fast as he could and his thoughts went into overdrive.

He knew that no plan survives first contact, but that’s why he had made it somewhat vague and therefore adaptable. If the griffons were trying to kill hostages now, that meant that someone needed to protect them, and they either needed bigger groups getting escorted, or a closer goal to hide them away.

“Alright! Plan’s changed. Bronze, we’re going to stay, but get us into that building so we can protect those ponies!”

Before Paul even finished his sentence, Bronze was on the move. Paul spoke quickly, knowing he wouldn’t have much time.

“Okay, priority has changed, we are going to have to defend the ponies inside this building. We may be outnumbered, but that won’t matter in close quarters. If you make them come at you in smaller groups, then you can outfight these chickens! I know you can!”

Everypony gave affirmation as they landed back in front of the building where the ponies still hadn’t quite finished suffocating on the blood filling their lungs.

“Let’s get in there!” Paul commanded.

Before the griffons could regain their wits, the ponies and Jedi had descended upon them. Despite all of them wanting to rip every one of the griffons out there to shreds, they pushed inside; they had a far more important task.

Once they got inside, they spread out and began their advance towards what they could clearly see to be the hostage quarters on the side of the warehouse. As most of them pushed forward to secure the civilians, Shining Armor stayed back to shield the door for a few moments, giving the others a few moments to get ahead. When he felt that they were far enough ahead, he smiled and dropped the shield, watching several griffons burst through, stumbling to the ground.

“Alright chickens, who’s first?”

He could instantly see every feather ruffle in all of them. He only smiled wider, causing them to lunge forward.

Of course, they didn’t get very far. Shining’s sword made sure of that, swiping and slashing back and forth like a blender, leaving rent griffon, blood, and entrails on every side.

While Shining held the front door, Bronze Mace watched his back, making sure none of the griffons inside could get the drop on him.

He flew straight up into the catwalks of the giant warehouse, watching silently for any attackers. He didn’t have to wait long as a small group of griffons quietly made their way up behind Shining Armor. Carefully positioning himself, Mace hung his weapon over the edge and let go.

He waited a split second before leaping after it in a dive. He looked down and watched as he approached his mace, then it suddenly stopped as it caused a griffon’s face to explode in gore and embedded part way into the floor.

Bronze Mace wasn’t far behind his bronze mace as he swooped in and grabbed his weapon by the handle in time to swing it up into the face of another griffin with a sickening crack, shattering its beak and splitting its head like an overripe melon. He dropped his weapon again as he turned on a dime and shot his back hooves out past the claws of another attacker and into its face, with another crack almost as loud as the first.

While those two held the door, the rest moved further into the enormous warehouse. There were two areas where the hostages were being held: one for the stallions, and the other for mares and foals.

When Paul saw just how many civilians there were, he started to worry about keeping them all safe. He knew that there was no easy way to make the problem disappear like that. But that got him thinking.

“What if we did just disappear? I may not know magic, but there has to be some way of teleporting en masse… The portal pony, Phase Shift! That’s her whole talent, portals. That might just work.”

“Stars, guard the mares and foals, don’t open the doors yet. Shield, take the stallions. Lance, stay here, I have an idea.”

The soldiers did as ordered, and calmed the civilians in the large pens. Golden Lance just glanced questioningly at Paul.

“Lance, Plan B, but only on me.”

“If you say so, sir,” Lance responded, conjuring a bolt of magic. The bolt flew at Paul and struck the pendant that he had been given by Phase Shift.

“I’ll be back,” Paul said in a particular accent. With a final salute, he sank into a portal that opened up below him.

<<<==>>>

Paul was dumped back into existence a far ways away, back in Canterlot Castle. As he stood up, he looked around and saw Celestia and Phase Shift watching nervously with a host of other mages and scientists.

“General, what happened?” Celestia asked. “Why did your pendant trigger?”

“The situation got way worse than we expected,” the Jedi replied. “I only have one idea that could get everypony out safely, but I need you to tell me if it will work.”

“What is it?” Celestia asked steadily.

“Professor Phase Shift, I need to know if you can make one or more portals that can move near five thousand ponies, whether all at once or in sequence.”

The young mare looked skeptically at Paul. “Theoretically? Yes. Practically? No. I do not have near the magical power to keep the spell up that long, and even if I did, if I hold it for too long, I’d start to melt my horn from channeling too much magic through it.”

“I will link with you to provide power,” Celestia answered. “And we can get water to cool your horn. I will do whatever I must for my subjects.”

One of the guards nodded and galloped off to relay the orders.

Phase Shift nodded. “Now all I need is an anchor, which I have in the pendants. I can begin when you’re ready. There will be one portal on your location, which will fit ponies three to four across.”

“Good, send me back so I can inform my men what’s going to happen. Start thirty seconds after I leave.”

“Of course.”

Phase Shift lit her horn, causing a portal to appear underneath Paul’s feet. This time, he fell a little faster.

<<<==>>>

Paul landed in a heap atop Golden Lance, who groaned in pain. They helped each other up and Paul relayed the information to Lance, then sent him to Iron Shield.

Paul went to the Stars, who were guarding the mares and foals, and told them what would happen, then took off his pendant and set it in the middle if the floor nearby.

Soon after, a large swirling portal, much like Phase Shift’s Cutie Mark, appeared floating about six inches off the ground and wide enough to fit three ponies across. They immediately sent the civilians going through the portal towards safety, and Paul left Star Light and Star Glow to guard them.

Before Paul left to find Iron Shield, he had taken a rough estimate of how fast ponies were making it through the portal. As close as he could figure, ponies were crossing through the portal at somewhere between four and six ponies a second. The intel from the briefing had put the civilians at about five thousand.

Some quick mental math put the total time between 830 and 1,250 seconds, or… About fifteen to twenty minutes.

“That’s going to be stretching our luck,” Paul thought.

“Iron Shield!” Paul called. “Get over here! Lance, when the mares and foals are through, lead the stallions out, until then, just keep them calm.”

Iron Shield rushed over to Paul. “Yes, sir? What do you need?”

“I need you to exchange roles with the Stars. I’m trusting you to guard the mares and foals if anything gets to them, do you hear me?”

“Yes, sir! I will guard them with my life.”

“Good. Stars, come with me. We’re gonna go support Shining and Mace at the front. Let’s move!”

The twins and the Jedi took off towards the front of the warehouse to assist their teammates. As they approached, they could hear the sounds of combat and the screech of dying griffons. The scene they came upon was very gruesome.

Bronze Mace lanced back and forth across the open space, leaving behind him a trail of faceless griffons as they tried to attack him. Blood, gore, and grey matter covered the ground and the pegasus equally, but it did not seem to hinder him.

Shining Armor was using his shields to direct his enemies into attacking each other, blocking each other’s strikes as they swung at him, and leaving themselves open for his own attacks. As consequence, he was surrounded by griffon bodies that constantly hindered his movement. However, his concentration was so great that he was able to telekinetically remove the dead from his path and use them to hinder his attackers instead. It was truly aweing to see how easily he flowed through the battlefield, without a drop of blood on him.

Even still, the sheer numbers the griffons held over the two ponies was enough to steadily push them back. Over the course of a few minutes, the duo had been pushed back twenty feet from the warehouse entrance already. Though, with the surprise reinforcements of the two unicorns and a Jedi, the group stood a chance of holding off the mass of griffons for much longer.

“Captain! Make room for three more!” Paul shouted as he arrived. Shining nodded shortly, bringing his shields closer towards him and allowing space for the others to join in.

The Stars set off together, working in perfect sync to take out the griffons. Both axes flashed in opposite directions, taking out enemies with every swing, while their horns cast spells to create openings for the swings to hit, or even took down griffons themselves.

Paul was in a slightly more problematic situation. His swordplay had certainly improved from “hack-and-slash,” but he was no master swordsman. His only real saving grace was that his enemies could not parry his strikes, leaving him free to strike whenever he pleased.

As the first griffons ran towards him, he drew his lightsabers from his belt and activated them both. He was scared out of his mind, but it was one fact he knew that kept him from running for his life.

“Those ponies are counting on me to protect them.”

And so, with no reservations, Paul lunged forward to meet them. He sliced once, twice, three times, and ten griffons dropped before him, weapons in halves. Even though they saw the devastating effects of the weapons Paul wielded, and they heard the cries of their brothers, the remaining griffons pushed forwards to attack. It was to no avail.

Paul was on autopilot, reacting purely on instinct. With only a vague resemblance of technique, he slashed through the griffons like nothing. Then he felt pain.

As he stifled a scream, he swept his right hand blade down, severing the offending claw that slashed his thigh. As Paul continued to fend off the griffons, he began to focus more on his technique and striking effectively, rather than just slashing, as his instinct had been forcing him to.

Over the squawks of the dying griffons, Paul heard another sound that drew his attention. It was a cry of pain followed quickly by a cry of anguish. Paul spared a glance to see one of the Stars on the ground, blood pooling around him while the other went ballistic on the griffons. His mane and tail turned ethereal and he became translucent. He floated forward through the griffons, and they simply fell dead around them.

Their screams were deafening as they fell to his axe, magical burns from his mane and tail, or the random spells he launched at them. Paul disengaged from his group and ran from the Star on the ground.

“Shining take over for me!” He shouted as he ran. Immediately, Shining’s shield expanded to cover twice the lateral space they had been covering seconds before. Paul dropped to his knees and slid to a stop in front of the wounded Star.

Paul glanced him over and was not pleased with what he found. Star Shine had a crossbow bolt planted firmly in his right shoulder, most likely penetrating a lung. Star Shine was gurgling as he tried to breath, but choked on his blood, much the same way that the helpless ponies had outside.

“Hey, Shine,” Paul spoke quietly. “It’s okay, I’m gonna get you out of here. Okay, listen to my voice, and don’t close your eyes.”

As he spoke, Paul slowly lifted Star Shine up, keeping him level on his side. Paul had no idea what the proper way to handle him was, but he did know that if Shine stayed there, he would die.

“Alright, focus on nothing but my voice, okay Shine?” Paul continued as he began to head steadily back to the portal. As he walked, he saw Star Glow begin to flicker, as if his rage state was fading. “Captain! Get him to safety!”

A magical glow appeared around Star Glow as Shining carried the unconscious unicorn back behind him.

Paul continued to carry Star Shine back to the portal, constantly speaking and making him respond to questions to make sure he was still conscious. When Paul finally made it to the portal, he saw that all of the mares and foals had made it through and the stallions were well underway.

“I need somepony to carry this wounded soldier to the other side for medical treatment!”

Several stallions hid their eyes or looked away from the Jedi, but a few were willing to help.

“We’ll do it!” A stallion called, motioning to the stallion next to him. “Lay him on our backs.”

Paul did and they thanked him for protecting them.

“Thank you for saving my teammate,” he responded. “I need to go.”

Now that Star Shine was safe, he needed to return to help defend the entrance. With both Stars down, it would be more difficult to hold the griffons off for long enough to save everypony, but by God, he was going to try.

“Captain, make some room for me,” he called as he entered.

With a controlled fury, Paul stepped into his opening and began to decimate the griffons before him. He felt no remorse as he sliced the griffons to pieces, cauterizing every wound and melting weapons to slag. With brutal efficiency, he reduced enemies to piles of body parts without a second thought.

Of course, a body can only be pushed so far before it starts to shut down. Paul had pushed his body for months to build his strength and stamina, but days in the gym couldn’t compare to the combination of the physical and mental energy expended on the battlefield. As such, Paul’s body began to grow more sluggish while the opponents he faced were always fresh because there were just so many more of them.

Paul could tell that Shining Armor and Bronze Mace were slowly tiring as well. It was clear by the sweat covering Shining’s body and the much slower speed at which Bronze was flying.

Reluctantly, Paul had to make a judgement call. “Retreat! Shining, one last shield, Bronze grab him, I’ve got Star Glow!”

Even though he was running on fumes, Paul was able to reach down and pick up Star Glow to heft him over his shoulder. While Shining covered them with one last defensive shield, the group made their way back to the portal as quickly as possible.

As they ran, Shining passed out from magical exhaustion, much the same as Star Glow had. Paul continued to stumble along with the pony over his shoulder as he made his way to the portal.

When they arrived, Paul turned and looked back at the entrance to the room they were in. That was their best bet. Covering that choke point would mean that fewer ponies could cover against the griffons for longer.

“Iron Shield! Golden Lance! Do. Not. Let a single chicken through that doorway, understood?”

“Yes, sir!”

The two ponies in question galloped to the door and set up. The door was an out swing, so Iron Shield could set up as close to the door as he wanted. He planted his shield down inches from the doorway and let Lance stand on his back.

It was a technique the two had thought up that worked well. Iron Shield provided a stellar defense, blocking all incoming strikes without buckling under even the strongest attacks. Meanwhile, Golden Lance stood on the incredibly stable surface and jabbed at any opening he saw in an enemy’s defense, whether with his lance or with a spell.

With the door locked down, Paul once again called out to the citizens for help. “I need somepony to carry these two, they’ve passed out from magical exhaustion. They need attention on the other side!”

“I will do it,” a deep voice spoke. A large earth pony stepped out of the line. He was one of the largest ponies Paul had ever seen, practically a horse. “Lay them on my back.”

Bronze and Paul draped their charges over the large pony’s back and thanked him. He nodded and returned to the line.

Paul looked at the line, estimated the remaining time. There were still hundreds of rows, if he had to guess he’d say about three hundred. Moving at about two rows a second.

“Only a few more minutes and everypony should be through. We just might make it.”

THUMP

Something impacted the door loudly, causing Paul to jump. He turned and saw as the door was thrown open from the outside and a griffon appeared. However, his appearance was short-lived as a lance lashed out and stuck him in the throat, causing him to fall to the ground clutching at it.

Instantly, that griffon was replaced by another, and a similar fate befell him. This continued a few times until a griffon dodged the strike that sought his eyes. The one was able to get a strike against the shield before him, but it did not even quiver. Before he could strike again, a golden bolt of magic struck the griffon and cut a hole straight through his chest.

Paul looked away from the door as another griffon tried his luck, trusting that it would be held for at least a few more minutes. As he turned, he almost fell over because his legs were so exhausted. He caught himself and stood still for a second to catch his breath. After a moment, he straightened back up and walked slowly to the nearest wall to lean against.

As he leaned back to rest, Paul realized that the adrenaline had worn off, so he took stock of himself. He had a splitting headache, his arms felt like lead weights, his legs even heavier, the gash on his right leg oozed blood, he was out of breath, and he couldn’t get the smell of blood out of his nose. All around, definitely the worst he’d ever felt. In fact, it surprised him that he even had the strength to stand, let alone walk at all.

He glanced over at the line of ponies to the portal again, noting that the line had just about halved. Fighting through his headache, Paul got a rough estimate.

“Only about a minute left…” Paul heaved, trying to catch his breath. He glanced over at the door that Lance and Shield held. As he watched them defend the door, a tired smile formed on his face. From his position on the floor, all he could see was Iron Shield’s firm glare and Lance’s spear jabbing in and out of the opening relentlessly.

Paul’s eyelids fluttered, trying to close, but a grunt of pain from Lance caused them to fly back open. With a sudden burst of energy, Paul flew to his feet. He saw a crossbow bolt embedded in the wall beside where he was sitting, and a line of blood ran down Lance’s leg from where the bolt grazed his shoulder.

Energized by a new rush of adrenaline, Paul moved over to the portal and began to urge the last ponies through faster. Only fifty ponies remained, mostly the elderly.

“As quickly as you can,” Paul urged, trying to get the ponies through the portal. Behind him, Paul heard Iron Shield call out into the open room.

“They’re breaking through!”

Paul looked back at the door and saw Lance galloping towards him while Shield took a step back from the door, setting his hooves to take off at a second’s notice. Paul spared another glance at the line of ponies. About twenty left, all elderly.

“Lance, grab as many as you can and get through that portal!” Paul ordered as the unicorn approached.

“Yes, sir!” Lance lifted up three ponies from the back of the line with his magic and pushed to the front, also using his magic to push the ponies in line a little faster. He stepped through the portal with his three passengers, leaving about ten more ponies to get through.

“Iron Shield, move your hooves! We are leaving!”

Paul watched Iron Shield lunge into the griffons, pushing them back, then launch himself backwards, towards the portal. While the griffons fell over each other, Shield galloped towards the portal. Hoping that it would take the griffons too long to get up and attack them, Paul turned around to the line of ponies.

There were only five left, all shuffling along as fast as they could. Paul didn’t take any chances, so he dove on the ground under the last pony in line, then stood up with the pony draped over his shoulders. He looked back and saw the griffons just getting to their feet as Iron Shield finally made it to the portal. He turned and planted his shield as before, protecting the ponies from the crossbow bolts the griffons were aiming.

Paul began to move to the portal as the last few ponies made it through and crossbow bolts impacted the shield. As Paul approached the portal, he felt a sharp pain in his left calf. With a cry of pain, collapsed through the portal.

The last thing Paul heard before losing consciousness was Iron Shield falling through the portal and shouting.

“Close the portal!”