Canterlot Castle
3:26 P.M.
“And what, dear sister, do you mean by ‘it’?” Celestia asked, raising an eyebrow.
“I’ve unlocked the humans’ dreams!”
Celestia’s paperwork fell to the ground, immediately forgotten. “You have?! What have you learned?”
Luna grimaced. “So far? All they think about, all they have ever known, is violence and cruelty, even since… Well, not ‘birth’ like you or I would think of it, but instead… No, I can’t describe it. Perhaps it would be best if I simply showed you. But I warn you, their minds are truly horrifying.”
Celestia sighed. “I would expect nothing else.”
The Royal Sisters made their way back down to the caves beneath the castle, coming to a stop in front of one of the cells. Inside, a naked, legless human snored. Luna turned to her sister. “Are you certain you wish to go through with this?”
Celestia nodded. “What better way is there to learn about them?” She lay down on the stone floor, and despite the lack of comfort, she was soon breathing deeply and evenly.
Luna concentrated, and beams of light stretched out from her horn to her sister and the human. The alicorns found themselves in the dining room of the Castle of Friendship. The sight they were greeted with sickened them. The room was filled with stormtroopers, who were chatting, laughing, drinking, and singing off-key. At first glance, it seemed like a normal party, aside from the fact that all of the party-goers had the same face. It didn’t take long to notice, however, that one of the humans was using Celestia’s mutilated corpse as a footrest, another had Luna’s tail draped over his shoulder, and Twilight’s head was the centerpiece of the table. Celestia’s spoke in a whisper. “Is this really what they dream about?”
“Poodoo!” one of the seated troopers shouted, noticing them and catapulting to his feet. “How?! We killed you! Your bodies are right over…” The dreamscape wavered. “Oh, no. This is a dream, isn’t it?” The party disappeared, replaced with an endless field of white, and the stormtrooper crossed his arms across his chest. “Go ahead – torture me. Show me the worst horrors you can imagine. I won’t break. My loyalty is absolute. I’ll give you nothing.”
Celestia shook her head. “How dreadful that your first thought is that we’re here to torture you. Ponies are better than that. We’d never do something so barbaric.”
“Ah, in a way, sister,” Luna said, “we are. If this human holds to the pattern the others have established, there are few things that we could show him that are worse than his own memories.”
“Making me relive my battles, eh?” The human chuckled grimly. “Go right ahead. I already do that every single night. Come on, hit me with it.”
Luna’s horn shone, and the alicorns were suddenly in a skyway with a gleaming black and white floor and glass walls and ceiling. Huge glass pillars were crowded outside. Celestia took in the scenery with a skeptical eye. “These humans certainly enjoy their stark aesthetics, don’t they?”
Luna nodded. “From what I have seen, this city holds the most pleasant architecture they have.” She turned to the closest pillar. “I told you that they are not born in the same way as ponies. They are not even hatched in the same way as griffons. Look closely at this column. What do you see?”
Celestia studied it. At intervals along its height were black rings studded with glass cylinders. The cylinders were filled with a light blue liquid, and floating inside the liquid…
“Are those… human foals?”
“It would appear so, yes. Not born or hatched. Instead, perhaps the best way to describe it would be to say that they are grown.”
Celestia looked around at the forest of columns. “There are hundreds, thousands of them!”
“I have glanced at the dreams of several of these creatures,” Luna said grimly. “This is but a small portion of the humans being grown. There are millions, in just this city. Who knows how many other places they have like this.”
“How long does it take for them to be… grown?”
“Ten years, I have heard. Of course, we do not know how long a human year is when compared to an Equestrian year.”
Celestia nodded, somewhat absently. “This is a memory, isn’t it? Where’s the human whose mind we’re in?”
Luna concentrated, and the sisters were teleported to a different hallway. This one looked down on a large, white room filled with humans. Three dozen were dressed in white armor, though not quite the same as that worn by the stormtroopers. The design of the plates was different, and, more obviously, the helmets barely resembled the ones the alicorns knew. Instead of scowling visages, these helmets were essentially cylinders with domes and fins on the top, sunken cheeks, and black visors that resembled headless humans with their arms and legs outstretched. The other humans, perhaps a hundred of them, were all dressed in identical blue clothes, and were noticeably shorter than the humans they had encountered so far. All of the humans held blasters in their hands.
“Older foals,” Celestia murmured, “and already armed.”
Luna grimaced. “All five minds I’ve accessed have had the same memory of this place. If this is what I think, then –”
A loud explosion cut her off, and a door at the side of the room flew inward, slamming into the crowd. Blue energy beams lanced out from the blasters into the cloud of smoke obscuring the doorway, and red beams came back. Humans fell with smoking holes in their chests – and to Celestia’s horror, it wasn’t just the adults dying. Tan, skeletal bipeds emerged from the smoke, the red beams now clearly from their own blasters. The creatures were cut down in droves, but they kept coming. Dozens, a hundred fell, but still they marched into the room at their steady pace. And human casualties were mounting. Almost half of the armored humans were dead. Celestia couldn’t bring herself to look at the foals’ bodies long enough to count them.
The terrible slaughter continued for several agonizing minutes. Finally, to Celestia’s relief, the tide of creatures stopped. The fading of the blasterfire allowed her to hear the moans and screams of the wounded. She turned to Luna, sickened. “How could they just kill foals like…” She trailed off. Her sister was still staring at the doorway, a look of dread on her face. “Luna?”
“Just watch,” she rasped.
Celestia looked back to the room, apprehension mounting. A few seconds later, the fighting started again. This time, however, different creatures entered the room. These were bulky, neckless, dark gray bipeds as tall as Celestia without her horn. The blue beams that slammed into them barely slowed them down unless multiple beams hit in the same spot. The few remaining adult humans were quickly cut down, and the creatures turned to the human foals, slaughtering them mercilessly. Celestia’s stomach churned.
Just as the last foals seemed about to fall, a hail of small spheres flew through the doorway and landed in the midst of the creatures. Blue bubbles emerged from the spheres. Any of the creatures caught in the bubbles collapsed with arcs of electricity coursing over their bodies. The remaining creatures turned back to the doorway and were swiftly felled by a huge quantity of blue beams. More of the armored humans rushed into the room, and one looked down at the surviving foals. “You’ll be okay now, cadets,” he said in a soothing voice. “We’ll keep you safe.”
Celestia barely registered that the humans apparently referred to their young as if they were being trained for military service. She was too appalled by the awful massacre she had just witnessed to do much of anything. “If this is the sort of lives their foals have… Oh, by Star Swirl’s beard…”
Luna nodded, her mouth in a tight line. “Yes. Their lives do not get much better.” Her horn glowed again…
A vast network of platforms above an endless sea. Hundreds of clones are arrayed in battle formation, their rifles held vertically at their left sides and their helmets tucked under their right arms. No sun, moon, or stars can be seen through the raging storm, but when lightning flashes, their armor gleams. As one, they lift their helmets to their heads, turn, and board their transports, flying off beyond the clouds…
A dense jungle. Their armor no longer shines. It is deeply scarred, covered in burns and ground-in dirt. In the distance, flames soar over the tops of the trees, filling the sky with smoke. Screams can be heard from all around. Monsters from the worst nightmares of madponies emerge from the trees, their powerful jaws crushing armor and their massive claws ripping men apart. The clones push forwards, desperately trying to escape the river they are caught in. It is a torrent of their own blood…
A barren desert. A thick cloud of dust and smoke obscures almost everything. Almost. The cloud is illuminated by constant streams of blue and red energy. A rocket explodes nearby, throwing the few visible clones to the ground – all but one, who catches the full force of the blast and is shredded. His gore speckles the armor of his friends. It’s a different armor, somewhere between the two styles the Royal Sisters have already seen, but it’s already marred from heavy use. The men pick up themselves and their shorter rifles, and they continue their advance. One falls with a small black circle on his helmet. Others aren’t so lucky. They are cut in half by automatic weapons, or their legs are torn off by mines. Only three make it to their destination. A wall of stone extends high above them. They start to climb. As the ground fades into the cloud, one takes a bolt to the hand. His screams are mercifully drowned out by the roar of weaponry before they can be cut short at the bottom of the cliff…
A scorched, flat plain. Once, it might have been green. Now, it is a field of gray and brown, interrupted only by towering war machines. A human female in a brown cloak leads the clones, her blue lightsaber deftly reflecting all the red bolts that come near her. The troopers suddenly tense, and their rifles change their targets from the wall of tan on the horizon. The female’s eyes widen, but she has barely begun to turn when the blue bolts tear into her. She falls, and the bolts keep coming. When she is no longer recognizable, the clones aim back at the horizon. On their way to the enemy line, many step over the charred remains…
A cavernous room of dark metal. Lines of clones dressed in red uniforms and holding their armor walk up to other men, who take the armor and give new sets to them. One trooper hesitates, examines his old gear one last time. Every gouge, every stain is a memory – a fallen brother. But he turns it in. The armor he receives has a helmet that returns his scowl…
A forest of trees the size of mountains. One clone holds another’s hand as he bleeds out, his stomach armor ripped off and his innards exposed. The hand loosens, then slips to the ground. The survivor stands up. He stares at his friend for a while, then abruptly turns and marches deeper into the forest. A human in a gray uniform stops him. “You, there!” he calls. “The battle’s over. Go clean that mess off yourself. You’re an Imperial stormtrooper. You have a proper appearance to maintain.” The clone looks down at himself. His lower legs are painted a darkening red from the pool he had moments ago been kneeling in. In previous battles, many clones had their armor colored the same way and never washed it off. But things have changed…
Celestia gasped as she returned to wakefulness. In only a few minutes, she felt like she had lived several thousand more years. She also felt a heaving deep inside, and she lost her lunch. She had known that the humans were willing to engage in mass slaughter, but the sheer brutality of their warfare was far beyond anything she could have possibly imagined.
Luna waited patiently until her sister managed to haul herself to her hooves. “I thought you should see all of that,” she said, “so you know why I am going to do this. After I get all of the information that I can out of them, I am going to help them. I believe that these memories are what have made them the way they are. What you and I have seen is only a small sample of their experiences. Nopony could remain sane after seeing things like that for their entire life.”
“You’re going to wipe their memories.” It wasn’t a question.
“Yes.”
Celestia was torn. She agreed with her sister’s assessment – traumatic experiences were certainly capable of changing somepony for the worse, and human lives seemed to be nothing but one such experience after another. It wasn’t even the general methodology she opposed – she herself had found, on rare occasion, that the best way to help a traumatized pony was to make them forget the trauma. The thing that bothered her was the extent. What Luna was suggesting wasn’t removing a few minutes, or even a few days. It was years, perhaps decades. Perhaps even their entire lives. She sighed. “Let Twilight and her friends try to heal them with the Magic of Friendship. If that doesn’t work, then…” She bowed her head and sighed again. “Go ahead.”
Uh oh, when the Empire gets wind of this, they're going to send an entire armada to wipe out the planet. Btw, I hope the Empire wins.
I'm going to go on a limb and say this was your weaker chapters, not by quality, but by the message it sent. Based on a couple of memories, clone memories, the Princesses just decide: "Oh sh*t! All humans are bad! Lets just memory-wipe them so they can be good!", to me that's complete hipocrasy on their part. Now I will admit this kind of stuff worked in the no longer canon EU when the Jedi did this to Revan. But when Revan learned he/she was a Sith, (depending on the path you choose) he/she made that into their strengths to defeat Malek. Here the Princesses are basically saying they are going to mind-wipe the Clones because they don't like what they see.
To me, it would be more fair if they saw what the galaxy as a whole was adapting to the Empire, from small Rebel cells forming together, to different people making a difference and helping others.
Overall, I still liked the chapter, I just found it to be very weak than the rest. It could be my human-patriotism talking, but I seriously found that part to be jarring. I'm still enjoying the story all the same.
7396757 My Human-Patriotism wants the Empire to win, I'm going to follow it. Lets say, the Empire wins and occupied the planet. The Princesses are inprisoned and the Imperial garrison released them when they heard of the Emperor's death.
7397364
They'll have to deal with Thrawn since he's canon now…lol.
7397807 Oh shit, what if Thrawn himself was given control of this planet by the Emperor. I believe Thrawn likes to explore and a new planet like this one will certainly grab his attention. I was thinking a fleet commanded by Thrawn along with Vader are sent to pacify the Equestrians. I really like the Executor-Class Super Star Destroyers, so what if they send a prototype Super Star Destroyer?
7398662
Not likely, Thrawn will most likely will have all info on the Equestrians forked over so he can study it. No matter how many weapons or soldiers the ponies steal, Thrawn will be ten steps ahead of them. There's a reason Thrawn was so well respected and one of the smartest Admirals to ever live.
But, that can't happen, if Tathem wants to stick to the canon, the Equestrians are pretty much doomed to fail. It's only when the Ponies present themselves as a serious threat will the Empire bring in their smarter Admirals. There's a reason Equistria isn't being presented to the Galaxy. And if there's anything to go by, the Ponies won't get that much support at the rate they are going. Most would say they would take the Empires place and reconstruct the Galaxy in their image. There's a reason the Rebellion garnered so much support, it was different races and people uniting and fighting the Empire to restore freedom to the Galaxy. I wouldn't say the ponies in this story aren't really the good guys as their reasons are very poorly justified. If anything, the only real advantage the ponies have is the princesses. Even so, one skilled trooper or Admiral can dispose of them like they did with Discord.
7398799
Sorry if I haven't been portraying the ponies' morality in way that adheres to canon. What I've been thinking about as I try to write it is the completely different shades of conflict the two universes work under.
The Star Wars: Legends galaxy is steeped in moral gray areas. Even the purest and most well-intentioned heroes have a few stains on them (more than forty years later, Luke still feels bad about the million-plus ordinary people who died when he blew up the Death Star I), whereas almost every villain has some decent motivation for their actions (except for Dark Side entities and most Sith), or at least a few redeeming qualities. The Empire doesn't just rule by fear, but through the genuine support of a significant portion of the galactic population. Every faction has its positive and negative aspects, and almost all of them could have a case made for why that particular group should be the one controlling the galaxy.
Equestria, on the other hoof, is a land of black and white morality - or at least, shades of gray where the lighter shades are easily discernible from the darker ones. Problems are solved by clearing up a minor misunderstanding, telling a jerk that it feels better to be nice than mean, or defeating a single, megalomaniacal, cackling supervillain. As much as some like to deny it, the show is intended primarily for little girls, and unfortunately, society tends to consider them unable to handle complicated morality. As a result, the ponies have never had to deal with anything even remotely resembling their current situation - thousands of enemies who oppose Equestria and its morality of their own free will and for reasons that aren't entirely selfish. The closest thing to a well-intentioned enemy that they've ever faced is Starlight Glimmer, but she had a methodology that practically nobody could agree with, whereas the Empire has many genuine supporters. The only large enemy force they have to deal with is the changelings, who are generally considered nothing more than monsters (and the title "The Times They Are a Changeling" makes me suspect that they're going to end up being "redeemed"). The only "I did what I had to do" situation that I can recall having been portrayed in the show is Celestia banishing her sister to the moon, while doing bad things for good (in their own minds) reasons has been the way of the Star Wars galaxy for thousands of years.
The conflict here, to people with our experiences, is measured in black, white, and gray. To the characters in-universe, however, the morality is more blue and orange, as each side has a moral code that is completely alien to the other. To the ponies, anyone who doesn't place primary importance on kindness and general goodwill or who disagrees with the Princesses on anything is either horribly misguided or outright evil. To the Empire, anyone who isn't willing to kill on the front lines and become just another number in the logbooks of the slain is a self-serving coward and utterly beneath them, especially if said being is a nonhuman or engages in any other actions that don't benefit the Empire as a whole. And most of the Imperials are less-than-willing to sit down, have a cordial debate about their ideological differences, and discuss reform and the sharing of ideas. Both sides have a philosophy of "we're right and anyone who thinks differently than us is wrong" - the ponies because their history has shown that to be true, the Imperials because they're so thoroughly indoctrinated (and also partly because the nature of the Star Wars universe tends to promote a cynical and violent outlook - it is called Star Wars for a reason, after all).
My intention going into this was to portray a conflict that, to the average person on this site, would start out as white vs. gray morality, and progress into gray vs. black as both sides are forced to do worse and worse things in their attempts to defeat their opponent.
7400135
Thank you for claifying that, I was really confused when I read that. But I still enjoyed the story all the same.
there still using clones?
7468554
Partially. Clones started being phased out a few years ago, but this particular stormtrooper battalion hadn't taken enough casualties since then to get any of the regular human recruits.
That's the in-universe explanation. Out-of-universe, I just wanted a scene where clones found out about Twilight's handling of the Mirror Pool incident and angrily confronted her about it.
the first thing that came to mind was "they stripped him of his decency...." those sick bastards, he is capable of talking and yet they refuse to give him the bare minimum
Wait until they find out it was the good guys that made the clones