Chapter 14 - Boundary Lines
4:05 P.M. Canterlot Palace Courtyard, Canterlot
Twilight sat in front of a grand window, looking out over the palace’s courtyard. The centuries-old cobblestones still hadn’t been repaired, and many of them were cracked, smashed, or completely shattered, though the guards that were setting up stands on top of them did their best to sweep up any remaining debris from the scene.
Twilight gave a sigh and leaned her hand on the newly-replaced glass. In all honesty, she couldn’t fault Princess Celestia for making the decisions that she had, and the solar diarch had refused most attempts from guards, nobles, and contractors alike to conduct emergency repairs on the castle.
The castle repairs had gone ahead anyway, but only so that it was once more habitable. Any superficial damage had been deemed not important enough, and the princess herself had directed all other construction efforts in the city to focus first and foremost on the citizens’ living spaces and livelihoods. Ever the benevolent ruler, Celestia had opened the castle to all of Equestria’s citizens who had nowhere else to go. For those who had lost everything, and whose homes hadn’t yet been rebuilt, they had been relocated temporarily to the castle. Though some ponies thought it too grand a gesture, most of them had humbly accepted; those who had nopony to stay with, and nothing left from the devastation of the crash.
And so, many ponies began integrating themselves into temporary life at the castle. Though Princess Twilight and Princess Celestia both made themselves known and could be seen throughout the past few days helping personally with some of the reconstruction and clean-up efforts, far too many times they found themselves unable to help as their appearance simply caused all work to grind to a halt as ponies bowed and came up to thank them for their kindness.
Another heavy sigh shook the young princess’ frame by the window as her thoughts soured slightly. For all the ponies that took solace in the fact that the rulers of Equestria were doing their best to help their subjects, a few had made themselves known for voicing concerns that the princesses weren’t doing enough, or that they were nearly as responsible as the droid invaders for the damage caused. Those voices were expressly a minority, but what they lacked in numbers they made up for in noise.
Straightening up, Twilight stood, taking one last look at the worker crews outside and straightened her dress; a dark grey dress fit designed by Rarity that Princess Celestia had insisted she wear for the occasion, and made her way through the castle. Servants, guards, and regular citizens alike bowed and let her pass without question, and for once she was glad she had the weight of royalty behind her. With the somber nature of the evening to look forward to, and the stress of having partially taken over Celestia’s royal duties for the last few days, Twilight’s patience was wearing thin and she really just wanted to lie down and sleep for a week or two.
Making her way through the castle as fast as she dared without simply spreading her wings and flying down the hallways, Twilight eventually found herself at a large open doorway; one of the rooms that had been set aside for her and her friends during the ceremony. Peering inside, she saw Fluttershy preventing Rainbow Dash from tearing off her own, lighter mourning dress.
“Come on, ‘Shy! I said I’d wear the darn thing, but I’m not wearing a veil! I didn’t know any of the victims!”
The yellow pegasus’ response was too soft for Twilight to hear, but she could see Rainbow Dash’s wings relax and her ears droop in response. Stepping forward into the room, Twilight gave a polite knock on the doorframe and clasped her hands in front of her. “You girls ready?”
“Twilight!” Despite the dress, Rainbow Dash launched herself across the room with surprising speed, only to stop a hoofstep away from the young princess, an uncertain look on her face. She quickly caught sight of Fluttershy’s disapproving look and landed once more, lowering her gaze sheepishly.
“Hey uh, how long have you been waiting there? You didn’t hear… I mean, uh how’re you holding up?”
Twilight raised an eyebrow at Rainbow’s stumbling words, but just gave a tired smile and placed her hand on her friend’s shoulder.
“I’m doing alright Rainbow. I’m checking in with everyone to see if we’re all ready. The ceremony’s going to start soon.”
“Yeah, yeah. Fluttershy was ready an hour ago, so she came by to help me out,” the blue pegasus whirled and turned on the third member of the group, adding, “Even though I was fine on my own! The burns barely sting anymore.”
Fluttershy reached out and laid a gentle hand on Dash’s other shoulder, patting her softly. “I know. Still, I wanted to help. It helped me keep my mind off things in the meantime…”
Rainbow Dash looked away for a moment before settling her gaze on Twilight once more, “So the others…?”
“I haven’t gone to visit them yet. I was taking a moment to clear my thoughts before I came to get you girls. We can get the rest of them together.”
Twilight spun in place and led the other two to the next room down the hall, where frequent bouts of laughter drifted out. Just inside, Applejack, Pinkie Pie and Rarity were sitting around a small table and the two earth ponies seemed to be sharing a laugh at the unicorn’s expense, though a moment later her face broke out into a smile and she joined in.
Twilight wanted to wait by the door and knock, much as she had for the first room, but her friends had other plans. Fluttershy stood with her and waited, but Rainbow Dash ran into the room to interrupt the giggling trio, before she was pulled in close by Pinkie’s oddly elastic arms and told the extent of the joke, at which point she too began laughing.
The fact that all of them, even Applejack, wore grey and black dresses for the solemn occasion, seemed to dim their spirits none as the friends relaxed together and put the later events of the evening out of their minds, if just for the moment. Twilight smiled to herself and watched Fluttershy get dragged in, and nearly walked into the room herself, but was stopped by a familiar voice behind her.
Turning back to the room, she waved at her friends. “Just a second girls, you can tell me what it’s all about in a second. I just need to talk to Starlight really quickly.”
Backing out into the hallway once more, the young alicorn princess looked at her student. She, like many of the other girls, wore a long black dress for the occasion, and she could see Trixie in her own slightly subdued, darker-purple dress over a black undershirt. Both were, thankfully, devoid of any stars or glitter, though the showmare looked nearly as uncomfortable as she had been four days prior on the alien’s ship.
“Hey Starlight, hey Trixie, thanks again for helping out so much in Ponyville while I’ve had to be here. Do you need something?”
“Of course we’re happy to help, Twilight!” Starlight said with a smile, glancing back to see the uncomfortable look on Trixie’s face. “Aren’t we Trixie?”
The other unicorn finally looked directly at Twilight and forced a neutral expression on her face, though she made a cross between a whine and a choking noise.
“Well, I know you asked us to be here and-”, Starlight started to reply, shooting Trixie an annoyed look before continuing, “I’m more than happy to be here for you through this time, but- and I don’t mean to question your decision! But do you really think it’s best that we’re here and not in Ponyville? No one back home got hurt, yeah, but there’s still some rebuilding to do, and the droids’ crashed ship and their base are just a few hilltops over from town. We really should have someone there in case we need to defend Ponyville.”
Twilight grabbed Starlight’s hand and squeezed it, giving a small smile. “Don’t worry Starlight. The ceremony will only be a few hours. I’ll be teleporting everyone home right after I get to talk with Princess Celestia, and we’ll be leaving the princesses here along with some company to make sure that Canterlot is well defended too.”
“I just… We’re all stressed and pretty much at our limits, Twilight. I want this to be over as much as the next mare, but I still want us to be ready for anything. Remember when I showed up after you drove me out of Our Town? I took you completely by surprise, which is what I wanted.”
Twilight eyed her student warily, and replied slowly, choosing her words, “I do remember that, yes. I had been advertising the fact that the bond my friends and I have was what had saved Equestria countless times, and you used that information to go back to that crucial point in time. But you’re not that pony anymore Starlight.”
“I know, I know. But I was waiting for the opportune moment to strike. With all of us here and no one left in Ponyville, I can’t help but get a feeling that maybe now would be the perfect time for the droids to try something.”
Twilight giggled and covered her mouth, looking back between Starlight and Trixie.
“And what do you think, Trixie? I know we’re not always on the best of terms, but be honest with me. Do you think having everypony here is a bad idea?”
The showmare huffed and crossed her arms, mumbling something out of the corner of her mouth.
“I’m sorry, what was that? I didn’t quite catch that.”
“I said, ‘Trixie doesn’t like leaving Ponyville defenseless either’, but that’s mostly because all of Trixie’s possessions are currently there. That being said, Trixie doesn’t think anything bad will happen in the few hours we’re here, and Starlight said she’ll take Trixie back as soon as we were done, so I don’t see the harm in it.” There was a moment of silence before she added quietly under her breath, “… besides, it’s not so bad to spend time farther away from the jroidz.”
Twilight sighed and hung her head before she glanced at the rays of sunlight streaming in from a nearby window. “Alright, I’ll send word back to Spike in Ponyville to keep alert and write to me if anything happens, but we’ve got to get going, or we’ll be late for the start of the ceremony. Oh! But before we do, did you bring what I asked from Ponyville?”
Starlight rolled her eyes, then grabbed Twilight around the shoulder and pulled her close with a smile.
“Of course we did, Twilight. What sort of friend would I be if I didn’t help you out when you needed it? It came on the same train as us. Spike and I made sure it was packed safely before we left Ponyville and we managed to rope some guards into taking it to your temporary room. We also packed some of your tools and a few spare power crystals, just in case. It should be getting there sometime soon.”
“You left it in the care of somepony else?” Twilight narrowed an eye, but Starlight simply released her grip and raised an eyebrow, nonplussed.
“Twilight, it weighs as much as Applejack’s big brother. Do you realize how hard of a time Spike, Trixie, and I had trying to get it secured on the train? Levitation only helps so much when you’re playing tetris with luggage, Twilight.”
“Relax, Princess, everything’s fine” Trixie spoke up, pointing behind the lavender alicorn where two guard stallions were slowly trudging around the corner. Between them they carried a wooden crate the size of a large coffin, and despite the stallions’ size and strength, it was obvious they were straining under the weight, if the expressions on their faces was anything to go by. One of the guards flanking the door to Twilight’s room at the end of the hall exchanged a few words with the guard carrying the front half, before opening the door and quickly letting the two pass. A dull thump resonated throughout the castle a moment later and both guards came back out of the room, stopping to pant and lean against the wall.
“See? They’re fine, your precious box is fine, now hurry up or we’re going to be late for the funeral!”
Trixie’s voice was considerably hurried, though Twilight managed to notice that it didn’t seem to be because of the showmare’s usual impatience, but rather she saw for a moment genuine panic and sadness in her eyes.
The look flashed over her face in an instant though, and the blue unicorn mare was back to her old grumpy self, though still evidently shaken by the fact that they were heading to confront the deaths of possibly thousands of ponies.
“R-right. Thanks for doing this for me Starlight. And Trixie, I know we’re not on the best of terms, but thank you too. I owe you both for this.”
Sticking her head in the doorway, the young princess called out for her friends, who piled out in a cheerful mass, though as they saw Starlight and Trixie’s more serious faces the mood quickly became muted and they followed Twilight to the front.
They passed a guard, and Twilight asked him to bring her a sheet of parchment, an inkwell, and a quill, and to meet her by the front entrance, and they continued on their way. Though she still walked at the front of the little procession, Twilight could see that now that she wasn’t alone. Many of the refugees in the castle that were also leaving to attend the evening’s service were now surrounding them and instead of being quietly respectful, many of them were now coming up to her and her friends, thanking her for letting them stay at the castle or for their continued work to bring peace.
It was honestly tiring, and Twilight was extremely grateful when her friends noticed and started deflecting some of the questions sent her way and helping her get past the throng of bodies to the entrance of the palace. Looking up, she saw the guard from before looking into the sea of faces, but he quickly caught her gaze and made his way over to her, bowing as he left.
Moving over to the edge of the hall, her friends forming a sort of protective shield around her, she quickly scribbled down a note for Spike before rolling it up and zapping it with her magic. She watched as the magical smoke flew out through the front doors and watched it disappear into the darkening evening sky, until something else caught her attention.
Stepping outside and excusing herself from the crowd, Twilight pulled her friends along as she saw a dark shape in the sky gradually resolve itself into the familiar shape of an airborne carriage being pulled by four pegasus guards. It set down on the ground in the courtyard beside the Minotaur’s airship, a section that was already separated from the ponies flooding into the hastily-constructed stands by a contingent of royal guards and the elevation of that part of the courtyard.
As the first figure stepped out of the carriage, Twilight couldn’t keep her smile contained and trotted over as quickly as she dared while still keeping some semblance of royal grace. As soon as the second figure stepped into sight though, she forgot all about the crowd assembling in the gardens and courtyard below, and the purple princess ran forward, grabbing the front of her dress to stop from tripping over it, and leaped at the form of her brother, wrapping him in a tight hug.
“Shiny! It’s so good to see you again!”
Her brother caught her as she hung from his neck – barely. He stumbled under her weight and she heard a sharp intake of breath before he responded and lowered her to the ground.
“I’m – ugh – happy to see you too Twilight, but please, I’m still healing. Do you mind loosening your grip a little?”
She let go and looked up to see Shining Armor’s pained face twisted into what she supposed was his attempt at a smile, but it came across more like a grimace, and she could see a pink blur out of the corner of her eye.
“Twilight, dear, your brother is still healing. He didn’t know what was good for him and he tore open his stitches a few days ago.”
Princess Cadance stepped beside the two, a mischievous smile on her lips as she steadied Shining Armor and let him lean against her.
“What did you do? I thought you were stuck in bed resting after catching that Minotaur!?” Twilight’s eyes widened as she stepped back, checking her brother over for injuries and finally getting a good look at the two. “And… you should still be resting anyway! You weren’t supposed to come until the day after tomorrow!”
Though the two were well-dressed for the visit that day, they were most certainly not dressed for the occasion. Shining Armor stood as straight and tall as he could with his Captain’s ceremonial uniform on and Cadance gripped his arm tightly, steadying him, while she was dressed in a flowing lavender dress with a deep neckline and a trail of pink lace.
“I was just a little reckless and tried getting back to drills too early. More importantly, what did you girls do!? You invite us down here to help with peace talks and yet it looks like you’re in the middle of a war! Half of Canterlot is destroyed and there’s a huge crater just outside Ponyville! And why are you all wearing black? If I didn’t know better, I’d think you were all heading to a funeral.”
While he was talking, Shining Armor had stepped forward, and though he looked somewhat frail, hanging onto the smaller frame of his wife for support, his voice rose in that are-you-okay, and whose-skull-do-I-have-to-crack-to-protect-you sort of way that Twilight had heard before.
Raising her hands to calm him down she took a deep breath and glanced around, looking at the crowd that was continuing to filter into the main Palace’s lower courtyard and taking notice of a second carriage, this one more solidly built, alighting on the ground behind the first.
“You’re… not exactly wrong about that. Shortly after that incident you had with the Minotaur thief, there was ah, um,” I can’t tell Shiny about the metal spider blowing up in my face! He won’t leave me alone for a month! She thought desperately of a way to tell her story without sounding like it put her in too much danger. While she did so though, another, quieter voice in the back of her mind whispered, would that really be so bad though? I’d feel a bit safer with Shiny close by for a bit.
Thankfully she was saved from extending the awkward silence when Pinkie Pie stepped forward.
“Weeeeell, things were going normal until they weren’t! first, Rainbow Dash and Twilight found a weird looking metal spider that destroyed itself when it got caught, then these weird, tall creatures in silvery-blue airships came down to Ponyville and said they want to meet with our leaders, but we were rushed here to Canterlot to the meeting and Trixie burned her letter, and the tall, thin creatures came here to Canterlot instead! But they brought an army and Princess Celestia talked with them in the castle and we found out the creatures were actually aliens called droids, which is weird, because that doesn’t sound like an alien name at all. It would have made more sense to call them ‘Thinnies’ or ‘Squawkers’ or ‘B1’s’ or something else cool and alien like that, but not Florg, because although Florg sounds alien, it’s actually slang for far-out in ancient Neighponese, and really, who has the time to learn outdated slang anymore?”
Shining Armor and Cadance were clearly having trouble keeping up with the excitable pink mare, and their faces showed it, so in the middle of her tangent, Trixie kicked out a leg and caught Pinkie in the back of the calf, reminding her to get on with it.
“-ow! But anyway that’s all irrelevant. The aliens came and wanted us to join their evil organization across the stars, but we were all like, ‘nuh-uh, you’ve gotta offer us something great in return’ so they were all like, ‘well, how about we take you for a magic spaceship ride?’ and we were all like, ‘uh-huh! You can show us the worlds!’ So we all went waaaaay up in one of their airships, which are actually spaceships by the way, and we walked around on this huuuuge spaceship! But then the alien Captain said we had to get off because something went wrong and we got flung all over the place, and then these two other aliens started fighting all the droids aliens, and Princess Luna got hurt and -” Pinkie abruptly cut off as she got to the point in her story that everyone remembered all too well.
Hundreds of droids bodies had lain on the floor, and the two white armored infiltrators had cut through their ranks and kidnapped Fluttershy before they were saved by Discord and saw the failed landing attempt.
This time it was Rarity that stepped forward to finish the thought.
“It… is regrettable, but the two ruffians Pinkie spoke of did something critically damaging to the alien’s ship, and well, it went down. We were lucky enough to escape mostly unharmed, though many of the alien crew were not. From what they explain to us, they were machines of a sort, and don’t feel pain or hunger or happiness as any of us do, but still. You saw for yourself that their attempt to bring down the ship failed. Spectacularly so. Unfortunately, Canterlot was hit by much of the falling debris and – er, other stuff, and it was a tense time while everypony was picking themselves up again.”
“That’s mostly what happened, yeah,” Twilight finished, before moving in to give her brother another firm, but gentler’ hug. “The droids set up a camp a short distance from their crashed vessel, and we’ve been trying to get into proper contact with them to resolve the issue of them being stranded here and allow us to help each other, but ever since the crash they’ve been… skittish. And I really thought you two weren’t going to be here yet, because you’re right, we are dressed for a funeral. Princess Celestia is going to providing over a ceremony of mourning for all those who lost their lives during the crash; ponies and droids alike.”
Shining’s grimace came back and his façade cracked just enough to be noticeable as Cadance squeezed his arm tightly and put on a fake smile of her own.
“… And we’re going to stick out during the ceremony like two bubble gum drops in a sea of black liquorice, got it. But seriously Twily? Aliens? You couldn’t have told us any of this earlier? Maybe in the letter you sent?”
Twilight, grinned sheepishly and looked down at her gleaming horseshoes, “Well, I didn’t really think you’d believe me if I asked you to come while you were injured because I’d met ‘aliens’.”
Shining sighed and placed a hand on his forehead. “Alright, I’ll admit the notion would have seemed a bit ridiculous, but it wouldn’t be much more far-fetched than any of the other problems that have fallen into your lap since you moved to Ponyville. If I hadn’t seen the chocolate rain myself, I wouldn’t have believed that anyone running around, screaming about Discord was in their right mind. Now though? Aliens are just another Tuesday for you.”
Twilight once more leaned forward and gave her brother a gentle hug, being careful not to aggravate the wounds he hid this time.
“You’re the best BBBFF ever, Shining. I’m sorry I didn’t keep you up-to-date.”
“It’s alright Twily, but there is something I wanted to ask you… Is there any way we can ask the Princesses if they’ve got any spare clothes for the occasion they could lend us? Or at least lend Cadance here? I can get away with being in a military uniform, but some of the locals might not like her showing up like this.” He gestured back to his wife, whose bright, cheery colors clashed horribly with the subdued tone of the evening.
Twilight grinned and stepped back, “There’s no time, but I’ve got a better idea!”
Powering up her horn, she concentrated on pulling the magic forth from her being, creating the spell matrix and passing it over her sister-in-law. The magic took only a moment to manifest, and the spell cut out a second later.
Looking at her handiwork, Twilight gave a satisfied nod and looked to Cadance for confirmation.
“What do you think? I didn’t want to try transfiguring the dress while you’re wearing it, but temporarily changing the color is much easier and safer.” Twilight jerked her head to the crowd assembled in the courtyard behind them, “I’m afraid I can’t do anything about the dress’ style, so some ponies might still think it’s a bit indecent for the occasion, but you won’t have to change into anything else, and the colors will fade back to normal in a few hours – more than enough time for the ceremony.”
Princess Cadance blinked and looked down at herself, admiring the sudden change in her appearance.
“That’s really handy Twilight! Thank you! We still might have to make a quick detour to the castle though, on account of…”
“Get off me!” A gruff voice barked out from behind the group, and everyone assembled turned to look at the other carriage, as a large figure had stepped out of it and was being restrained by two burly earth pony guards.
“…Yeah. We brought Iron Fist to trade him back to the Minotaurs. You did say that you wanted our help with negotiations and well, since you didn’t mention anything about aliens, we figured you were getting close to reaching an agreement with the bulls. We thought it prudent to bring him with us when they inevitably asked for his return.”
Twilight pursed her lips as the large Minotaur was brought over to the congregation; a large, grey-skinned bull with a broken horn and scars crossing over his chest, his massive hands clinking while linked with heavy manacles. He stood at least a head taller than Shining Armor, and his shoulders looked even wider than those of General Kratos. His beady, black eyes scrutinized the group even as he snorted a blast of hot air out of his nose.
“So this is the little pony princess that’s negotiating to trade me back to Minos? I thought you ponies had an amazon of a leader. There’s no way this is truly Princess Celestia, the one being that moved the sun and moon for a millennia!”
Iron Fist’s voice dragged and grated on the ears like gravel being crushed in a compactor, but Twilight stared straight up at the minotaur, flattening her ears and narrowing her eyes. The two stood like that for some time, before the silence was broken by the clip-clop of hoof steps on the stone bricks and the sound of a strong, but sweet voice reached everyone’s ears.
“Captain Shining Armor, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza! So glad you could join us for the ceremony on such short notice. And I see you’ve brought a guest.” Princess Celestia strode into view from the main entrance, a small and mirthless smile tugging at her lips, but her eyes passed over Iron Fist, completely devoid of emotion or compassion and the large Minotaur seemed to shrink just a little bit in front of her.
“Princess Twilight, why don’t you take the captain and the princess with you and your friends and head over to the main entrance,” she waved to several of the guards with a wing to come forward as she beamed a more genuine smile at the youngest princess and tilted her head, “I’ll make sure our guest here is escorted to a good location to see the funerary procession.”
Holding her head up high, Twilight thanked the Solar Diarch and began to lead the group back to the main section of the courtyard, where Prince Blueblood and General Kratos, along with the rest of the Minotaur delegation waited at the top of the main palace steps. Despite the commotion going on with all the ponies spilling into the stands, Twilight noticed the discreet look that passed between the bulls as Iron Fist was led into the castle by a contingent of guards through a side door.
Princess Celestia followed the group back to stand in front of the main entrance of Canterlot Palace, and stepped to the forefront, her horn glowing slightly as she cast a near-imperceptible spell. She patiently waited for the crowd to finish filling into the stands set up all around the courtyard and for the chatter to die down before she opened her mouth to speak.
Only… nopony could hear her voice.
Rather, she didn’t speak, frozen, with her mouth open as she was. Instead, the whole city, with a hushed silence, listened as a thin whine began to pierce the air and build up around them. As the sound continued to build, the Solar Princess silently closed her mouth and looked over to the side of the castle palace walls, and out to the open sky beyond it. Many faces in the crowd, which had been watching her for the start of the ceremony, followed her gaze.
Rising up over the side of the castle walls was the silver, bathtub-shaped ship that had originally brought the droids to Canterlot. This time however, it drifted over the walls slowly, and instead of a massive troop ship accompanying it along with many wings of insectile blue escort droids, it was completely alone. A hoarse whisper off to Twilight’s side let her know that her brother’s jaw had probably dropped as the ship flew sideways before turning on a bit and lowering over the courtyard.
“That’s an alien spaceship? It’s completely made of metal!”
Thankfully, Cadance had kept her composure and shushed her husband just as the whine from the squat ship changed pitch into a low thrum that reverberated around the courtyard.
A group of royal pegasi guards had already moved to intercept the ship and were now flying in formation around it as the ship slowly hovered above the upper courtyard, extending its short, insect-like landing legs.
As the silver vessel dropped low onto the unbroken paving stones beside the crystal empire carriage and its weight settled with a small billow of dust, Twilight Sparkle whispered “I’ll handle this, Princess”, to the assembled ponies and Minotaurs, and found herself once more marching over to the raised courtyard off to the side, a small group of guardsponies following her.
Doing her best not to sweat as she could feel the eyes of every civilian watching her approach the droids’ vehicle, she focused her attention to the ramp that was lowering and the three figures that came clanking down it. All three were the skinny, skeletal droids that the ponies were most familiar with, though the foremost one was covered in blue markings, while the other two had red paint marking their torsos. All three of them, Twilight noted with some embarrassment, had symbols painted on their shoulders that nearly perfectly imitated her starburst cutiemark. The blue-striped droids stopped in front of her and waved to its two companions, which Twilight now saw carried their black, tube-like weapons at their sides, and all three straightened up before bowing to her.
Slightly embarrassed and aware of all the attention that the group was getting from all the assembled ponies, she returned a small curtsy and tilted her head to look up at the leader of the three droids.
“Hello there, we weren’t expecting any droids to drop by today. Might I ask your name or number and why you’ve decided to drop by in the middle of a very sensitive ceremony?”
The blue-bodied droids gave a small squawk and looked out beyond the guardsponies at the assembled crowd before turning its attention back to the purple princess.
“Hello! I am B1-76504, and we weren’t aware that your ceremony had started already. From your previous visits to our compound, I thought it would start at sundown.”
Twilight shook her head and did her best not to look back at the eyes she could feel boring into the back of her skull, raising her face in as dignified a manner as she could.
“No. When I last visited and was turned away, I specifically told the guards at your base that the funeral would begin as the sun starts to set. And I said that the time before, too.”
“Well, in that case, I apologize for our lateness. We’ve been having a few problems of our own that couldn’t wait and we were unable to answer the invitation earlier. Things have settled down somewhat with our… err… command structure so we decided to accept the invitation extended to us before in order to honor those who fell in the tragic destruction of our ship. We’re very sorry for the inconvenience though.”
Twilight looked back at the crowd and the top of the steps where Princess Celestia and her friends waited for the chance to start the funeral and shook her head, giving a sigh too small for anyone else to hear.
“Listen, I understand you droids have gone through a lot in a very short time, and you’ve had a huge tragedy in losing your ship and so many of your comrades, but right now this is a service for all the ponies who’ve lost friends and loved ones from that very same tragedy. We were going to take some time to mourn over your dead too, but I’m not sure how the citizens of Canterlot would feel about you doing any sort of speeches for the occasion too. You can be here, but you’ve got to be respectful of us and our way of doing things okay?”
The blue-painted droid nodded its head so quickly it looked like a window shutter flapping in the wind, while its two companions audibly agreed to the condition.
“Sure! We also um… wanted to talk with you after the ceremony about what might happen between droids and ponies in the future. Things have been a bit… difficult at our base and we need to figure out where we both stand, since it looks like we’ll be stuck here with you for a while.”
Twilight’s graceful façade cracked just ever so slightly, and she twitched an ear back to where Princess Celestia was standing with her friends and family, still waiting to start the service.
“O-oh… well I suppose something can be arranged… but you’re here now so there’s not much I can do. It would probably be even worse to send you back after you’ve come all this way… and I don’t want to disrupt the funeral ceremony any longer, so thank you for coming and please follow me. Nopony was really expecting droids to show up, but we can all appreciate the gesture nonetheless.”
Turning on her heel, the purple princess once more led her procession to the top of the main courtyard steps, though the guards that followed her were much more suspicious, eyeing the newcomers disdainfully and holding their spears at the ready, just in case.
Finally able to begin the ceremony, Princess Celestia lit her horn and cleared her throat, the small sound magically amplified and echoing around the courtyard and causing a hush to descend upon the curious and restless crowd. She gave a subtle nod to the droids as they took positions off to one side of the main group, their weapons stowed. The three stood rigidly at attention, while 76504 nodded back at the princess, and she began.
“Everypony, we are gathered here today to finally lay to rest the spirits of many of our friends and loved ones. Those who were claimed by the tragedy that struck our beautiful Equestria just five days ago…”
***
Twilight sighed and sat down in a plush chair in one of the castle’s many dining halls, her head in her hands, while her friends formed a circle around her. Fluttershy was silently sobbing, overcome with all the emotions present, while Rarity stood next to her, letting the fragile pegasus lean on her for support. The fashion mare was evidently doing her best to stand and look strong, but from the way her eyes glistened with unshed tears and her cheeks were flushed even through her fur and her makeup it was clear she was on the verge of joining in with the waterworks.
Rainbow Dash and Applejack were doing much better, standing shoulder-to-shoulder and leaning on each other slightly, both of them silent but their faces equally downcast. Pinkie nearly vibrated in place, though Twilight couldn’t be sure if it was from excitement, the depressed atmosphere, or something else, since the excitable earth pony had the most out-of-place, neutral expression she’d ever seen on her.
Twilight had wanted to talk to Princess Celestia after she had given her final eulogy and the ceremony had concluded, but she had been swept away by the throng of guards that followed her back into the castle. The Princess of the Sun had excused herself as soon as she could, in order to go check on her sister once more, and now that the funeral was over, the youngest princess felt as if a weight had been lifted from her… but that only made her more aware of all the other weights that still rested on her shoulders.
“Hey Twily, how’re you holding up?”
She looked up and gave a wan smile as Shining Armor approached, wincing only ever so slightly as he made his way over to the girls without the support of his wife. He glanced nervously to the other corner of the room, his eyebrows knitting together and his facing dropping a bit as he caught sight of the three droids milling about.
Though Twilight had agreed to let them meet with Princess Celestia, the solar princess had left in such a hurry that everyone left after the service was now thoroughly confused as to what to do with the latecomers. The Minotaurs were grumbling amongst themselves as they entered the room, no doubt torn between wanting to smack some sense into Iron Fist and smack some sense into the droids for having the audacity to show up at a funeral unannounced.
Ultimately they did neither, and Twilight let her gaze wander back to her big brother, whose face still held a barely-concealed scowl, though it softened when their eyes met.
“I’m doing alright, Shiny. I’m really glad you and Cadance are here, really I am. Just you being here is helping keep my nerves down.”
The dark expression on the white stallion’s face softened and a moment later Twilight found herself the target of a BBBFF-sized bear hug. Hiccoughing once in surprise, she quickly hugged him back, squeezing her eyes shut to prevent any tears from leaking out, but she was just barely unsuccessful.
“Thanks Shiny. I didn’t know how much I needed that.”
“Do you two mind if I join in for a group hug?”
The two of them looked up at the approach of a pink alicorn wearing a dress that was quickly transforming from deep black back to its previous pink and purple arrangement. Cadance spread her arms wide and quickly enveloped Twilight in a hug similar to that of Shining Armor’s, but before Twilight could enjoy the closeness of her family, the voice of one her friends pierced the air.
“Hey, no fair! I want to give and get a hug too! And we were here first!”
Before anypony could stop her, Pinkie Pie bowled the group over as she practically launched herself at the three, somehow managing to stretch her arms to encompass all three of them. Applejack hung her head and stepped forward, sighing as she pulled the pink earth pony off of the prone royalty, while Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash and Rarity helped the others to their feet.
“C’mon now Pinkie, she’s been with us through this whole ordeal, let her have a moment with her kin.” The farmer said, keeping Pinkie restrained, who was very quickly losing hope at an extended family-and-friends embrace, if the growing pout on her face was anything to go by.
“I know… but it’s been a while since we all had a group hug, and I wanted to join in!”
“We had a group hug before we got changed for the event, sugarcube.” Applejack raised an eyebrow, only releasing the party pony when she was sure she wouldn’t lunge forward again. “Though I will admit that after all that’s happened today, I think we all deserve to be comforted somewhat.”
“Jeez, Applejack, I didn’t know you’ve gotten so sappy.” Rainbow Dash remarked, smirking and crossing her arms, though she dropped them a moment later as she saw the glare that Rarity was giving her.
“Rainbow Dash! Really! We just finished having a mass funeral for Celestia’s sake! Do you have absolutely no tact whatsoever, or have you already forgotten the horrible things that so many ponies are going through?”
The sky-blue pegasus took a tentative step back, raising her hands defensively in front of her, “H-hey, I’m sorry, okay? I was just joking, trying to lighten the mood a bit…”
“Well you’ve achieved the complete opposite effect,” Rarity said in a most unladylike growl, though a moment later her expression softened a smidge, “You may have meant well, darling, but the delivery was… how do I put this delicately? Awful.”
“I-I’m sure she didn’t mean to offend anyone, Rarity, she can just get a bit carried away with what she thinks is best.”
Surprisingly enough, Fluttershy stepped between the two of them, eyes still red and puffy, and flared out her wings just the tiniest bit. Everyone’s eyes landed on the timid pegasus, who was standing straight and tall for once.
“Rarity, Rainbow was trying to help in her own way, and I know you’ve been on edge too for the last few days. These dresses you’ve made for us look wonderful, even if they’re made for such a sad occasion; and even though this is a sad occasion and everypony’s nerves are all wrecked, we shouldn’t be arguing.”
Looking between the rainbow-maned pegasus and the white unicorn, Fluttershy slowly turned to Applejack, her large eyes searching the apple farmer’s for a moment before she continued.
“And since we are all pretty tired and stressed after the funeral, there’s nothing wrong with wanting the comfort of our friends and family to help us relax and get through this time. Lots of ponies lost loved ones, and we should all be ready to give and receive kind words and actions.”
The entire room had gone silent, and after a moment, Fluttershy seemed to realize that everyone in the room was looking at her, including the droids and the Minotaurs, who had stopped their grumblings long enough to overhear the conversation. Taking a step back, the pegasus began to hide behind her wings as an embarrassed blush spread across her face, but a moment later a slow clapping could be heard, and everyone in the room turned to look at the door to the dining hall.
There, standing in the doorway, leaning against her sister, was Princess Luna, and though she was still heavily bandaged and had terrible bags under her eyes, her hands were coming together in a smooth repetition, creating the clapping that reverberated around the high-ceilinged room. While Princess Celestia’s normally serene face was covered in a look of deep concern, the Lunar Princess’ had a wan but warm smile adorning her face as she gave Fluttershy her full attention.
“Truer words may never have been said, you really are the Element of Kindness, dear Fluttershy. Though I’ve just awoken and still feel incredibly sore and weak.” Her face dropped a bit, the dark rings under her eyes getting deeper as her lips turned down but didn’t quite make a scowl. “Could somepony please explain why there are so many ponies in the castle, and why some sort of funeral seems to have been necessary in my absence? I assume we all made it off the jroidz ship and that this isn’t some sort of purgatory where we are all, in fact, dead.”
Twilight’s eyebrows shot up to her hairline, her gaze turning to Princess Celestia, who at least had the decency to look embarrassed, however it was Cadance’s voice which cut through the air.
“You didn’t tell her? Aunie Celestia, you brought Auntie Luna all the way down here from her room but you haven’t told her anything that’s happened yet?”
“In my defense, as soon as she woke up, she was trying to get to her hooves and started moving about before I could convince her to lie back down. I thought the best course of action would be to bring her to where you all were so she could hear the full story.”
“Yes, yes, and what exactly is this full story?” Princess Luna cut in somewhat impatiently, “I was awoken by the sounds of my sister’s voice hammering into my skull through the open window. Imagine my surprise when I finally drag myself to a window and discover that what looks like half the citizens of Canterlot entering the castle while everypony is dressed like I died… or at least… I hope there’s that big of a turnout when I die…”
A quick smack on the shoulder elicited a yelp from the younger sister, while the elder sister turned a soft but stern look to her. “Lulu, forgive me for saying this, but you shouldn’t bother yourself with who will come to your funeral, because you won’t have to think about it. I already lost you once, and it was for a thousand years. I won’t lose you ever again.”
Still grabbing her bandaged shoulder, the younger sister slumped forward into the Solar Princess’ embrace, though she mumbled something barely heard above the sound of their horseshoes clicking on the marble floor as Princess Celestia guided her to a chair.
“Alright I won’t. But I’ve still got a bad feeling about this; what happened while I was unconscious? I remember being on the jroidz ship and then things started heaving and bucking like we were caught in a storm.”
For a long moment, everyone, Twilight’s group, the Minotaurs, and even the droids which were still hovering off near to the side near the corner, said nothing. The Lunar Princess raised her head from her sister’s shoulder as she took a seat in a plush gold-painted chair with deep red upholstery and looked around at everyone in turn.
“Well?”
“…The ship kinda, uh… crashed.”
Rainbow Dash stepped forward, one hand rubbing her neck as she spoke. From the looks her friends were giving her, it was obvious that they knew she was the right mare to tell the princess and that they definitely didn’t fear the Lunar Princess’ response to the bad news they were about to tell her. Definitely not.
“Crashed into what? There’s nothing else up there but my Moon, and it is quite a bit farther away than the ship we flew to.” The skeptical princess raised an eyebrow and a proper scowl set onto her face. “We know thou to not be a liar, Rainbow Dash. What do you mean it crashed?”
“Well uh, funny story. That funeral… it wasn’t for one pony, you see… The droids ship kinda crashed, uh, into Equus. And Canterlot. And a bit of Ponyville. It was a, ah, big funeral.”
Nopony said a word and nothing moved in the dining hall except for three battle droids which had suddenly become very nervous for a reason none of them could accurately point to, who started shuffling to the door as quietly and slowly as possible. Everypony present cringed when Luna’s voice cut through the silence like the dreadnought had cut through the atmosphere and the air crackled from the ambient energy beginning to radiate off her horn.
“What.”
***
It took Princess Luna nearly ten minutes to calm down after the whole thing had been explained to her, and the droids had been escorted very quickly outside to wait in a hall very far away from the dining hall, to which they hadn’t objecedt in the slightest. The Minotaurs had excused themselves immediately, citing that they “didn’t want to come between sisters” for their reunion. Nopony had seen hide nor hair nor horn of any of the bulls since.
Once Princess Luna had finally stopped putting everypony present in danger of an uncontrolled magical surge, Fluttershy’s calming words once more had a soothing effect on the princess. She was forced to resign herself to the reality that the droids hadn’t been at fault for the devastation that followed her loss of consciousness, and that nothing would bring back the many ponies who had been lost.
Staring glumly over her crossed arms at the rest of the ponies seated at the table, the dark princess flicked an ear to listen to what Twilight was saying, noticing that the droids were finally being guided back into the room by a squad of guards. The princess’ of the night’s expression turned serious as she watched them approach the other side of the long dining table they were all situated at, but she was silently proud of the guards for still not trusting the droids. You could never be too cautious, after all.
Turning her attention back to the youngest Alicorn, Luna focused on what she was hearing once more.
“… got to focus on the future now, and it just so happened that the droids wanted to talk to us about the future as well, which is part of why they came.” Twilight motioned to the droid group before continuing, “Though we barely understand each other and we’re very different on many layers, the fact of the matter is we’re stuck together, for the time being anyway, and they’ve admitted as much. Though there are still thousands of droids travelling over the countryside to their base, and they do still represent a possible threat.”
Turning to the droids, which had opted to stand rather than take a seat in the plush chairs, Twilight addressed the one with the blue markings on its chest, which responded back, surprisingly enough to the Lunar Princess, in near-perfect Equestrian.
“I’m really sorry, but do you have a name? I don’t think I’ll be able to tell you all apart if we just refer to you by numbers. It’ll probably get… very confusing in a very short amount of time.”
“Well…” the thing’s long narrow snout bobbed a few times as it thought over its answer. “Since both the Captain and the Colonel were damaged beyond repair in the crash, I’m the acting commander, and that’s what the other droids are calling me, so if you want you can just call me the Commander.”
“Alright, Commander, well, is there anything you can do to help guide your stragglers to your base? We know your forces are still picking over the wreck of your spaceship, but we’ve seen droids popping out of bits of wreckage miles away from the main crash site and dragging themselves in every direction looking for each other and someone in charge. Some of them have been… less than friendly when rescue teams approached.”
The Commander reached up and placed a three-digit hand under its “chin”, making a few squeaking ‘hum’-ing noises as it considered the point.
“We’ve been broadcasting two signals from the base the whole time; one to give a direction to any droid that isn’t found so they can make their way to Gamma Base, and one for them to stand down so no one starts shooting anyone and making things worse. We don’t have very many vehicles or enough fuel to justify flying all over the debris field from the Dawn of Dusk looking for surviving droids, and if any droids are too damaged to receive the signals we’ve been broadcasting, then they’re too damaged for us to shut them down remotely until they can be found.” The Commander shook its head and stared with its unnervingly blank face at Twilight, crossing its arms in front of its chest.
Princess Luna shifted in her seat, and she could see the concern on her sister’s face at the troubling news from the Commander. Likewise, the faces of Cadance and Shining armor mirrored her concern, but most surprisingly, the dark alicorn noticed, Twilight’s face had a smile creeping onto it though her brows were furrowed, and Luna could imagine her mind going a hundred miles an hour trying to find the best solution to the problem at hoof.
Raising her head off the table and straightening up, she barely flinched at the pain the sudden movement brought and started listening more attentively, doing her best to keep a closer eye on the assembled ponies. It was then that her ears flicked, as though some unseen sound was reaching them. The princess of the night frowned and tuned out everything else for the barest moment, swiveling her head slowly while her ears tried to pick up on whatever it was that alerted her, but she could hear nothing out of the ordinary while Twilight talked. Turning her attention back to the youngest alicorn, her eyes caught the faintest trace of magic disappearing from the purple mare’s horn, though Twilight continued her conversation with the droid as if nothing had happened.
What are you up to, Twilight Sparkle? What plan have you cooked up already? Luna thought, pushing past the soreness in her body to sit up straighter, her magical and mundane senses reaching out to find whatever might have been hidden from her.
“I believe you said that under the orders of the… late Captain, all droids were supposed to be getting the translation ability. How is that coming along?”
“We’ve been upgrading droids non-stop since we established Gamma Base, but with the equipment we’ve got right now, we need TL-90 to be present for every single upgrade session with every single droid, so it’s been going slow. We still have hundreds of droids with translation capabilities, but that’s still the minority.”
“Do you think, if we could work together, we could avoid any further loss of life? Maybe if a single droid with the ability to translate our language went with every one of our search teams, they could prevent stranded droids from becoming violent. Then our pegasi teams could use chariots to safely and quickly bring the droids back to your base.”
Princess Luna leaned back in her chair, wincing as her weight landed on her still-fragile wing bones, and thought about Twilight’s suggested plan. While it would divide up the pegasi guards that they had available and leave precious little to remain in Canterlot, she had no idea what this ‘Gamma Base’ looked like, nor the jroidz capabilities. However, she couldn’t deny that it would definitely speed up efforts for the guard to secure the crash site and the outlying pockets of the ship that had shorn off during the behemoth’s descent, and right now, they needed to prevent any more injuries and hostilities as they could, as soon as possible.
Once again though, her ears flicked as though some unheard sound were creeping through the air, but this time when she focused her attention once more, she heard a faint tapping sound coming from somewhere that she couldn’t pinpoint, though no one else seemed to notice it. Mentally keeping an eye on the sound until she could figure out what it was and where it was coming from, the lunar princess zoned back in. The entire process had taken less than two seconds.
“Maybe. We could cover ground more quickly, but without a way to know where all the droids are, it will still take a long time, and search efforts might be wasted, or end up not finding stragglers either way.” The Commander shook its head and continued to make odd noises, eventually looking up at the purple princess. Though its face couldn’t change, there was an air of excitement about it.
“Wait. The probe droids. We’ve got several of a type of droid that looks like a floating ball with many spindly limbs,” as it spoke, Twilight flinched, and though the droids seemed oblivious to it, the princess of the night picked up on it.
Oh yes… didn’t sister mention that one of those things had exploded and hurt Twilight and Rainbow Dash? Glancing over to the blue Pegasus, Luna realized that Rainbow’s face had morphed into a look of extreme discomfort at the sudden addition to the conversation.
“We don’t have many, but they usually act as scouts and messengers. They could fly ahead of patrols and act as relays for the signals from Gamma Base. That way, if any droids are in the area they’ll know the situation by the time they’re found.”
Twilight cocked her head to one side, raising her hands to get the droid to slow down. “That sounds great! But um, hang on. When you say they’ll have to act as a relay for the signals you’re broadcasting… what does that mean exactly? The ‘signals’ coming from your base, do they need cables in order to send your messages? I’ve seen that a lot of your technology used cables when we had the opportunity to tour your ship. Wouldn’t that limit your ‘probe droids’?”
“No, you catch on pretty quick, but no. We send the signals through waves in the air, and while the probe droids fly, they can catch those waves and send them again, like, like…” the Commander faltered as he tried to come up with a low-technology equivalent to broadcast boosting, and in the silence the faint tapping had evolved into a louder and deeper tak-tak-tak sound. It was rhythmic, though still quiet, but it was getting slowly louder every second, and now the other ponies were taking notice.
Twilight’s friends swivelled their ears in the direction of the sound, which now seemed to be coming from beyond the door to the hall, while Trixie froze once she heard it, a look of fear spreading over her face. Celestia raised an eyebrow and turned her head towards the sound ever so slightly, and Starlight gave Twilight a look of disbelief, though it was gone almost instantly before a smile broke out onto her face.
The droid Commander on the other hand, didn’t seem to notice as its hand shot straight forward and pointed at Princess Twilight. “Like when a wave on water causes something on the surface to bob up and down strongly! It makes more waves of its own. With the probe droids boosting the signal, they can act like miniature bases, sending out the standing orders and drawing any surviving droids to them. There’s a small problem with that though…”
The Commander’s shoulders slumped and the skinny boomerang it had for a head slid forward like a pony jutting out their neck. “Those things are kind of fragile, and only nine of them survived when the Dawn of Dusk came down. They can act like beacons, but if you compare the waves coming from Gamma Base to the sunlight in the day, then the strongest signal the probes could relay would be like the light of a campfire. The probes could only fly so far apart and would have to cover ground in a grid pattern.”
Luna decided it was time to cut the conversation short. Whatever was making the sound, it was steadily approaching and the princess had an uneasy feeling about the whole thing. Getting to her hooves, she stood as straight and tall as she could, while Celestia hung by her side, ready to support her if she needed it.
“If that is the case, Commander,” Luna said, steeling her voice, “then we’ll have to come up with a better solution. I don’t wish to wait for your jroidz in order to ensure the safety of our citizens. We can send a temporary guard presence to the communities closest to the crash site to help protect them from any dangerous stragglers, but I think that’s all that can be said right now." Turning to face the door, she squared her shoulders and chanced a look towards Twilight Sparkle out of the corner of her eyes; the mare seemed like she was trying dangerously hard to hold in what appeared to be nervousness… and excitement?
At this point, no one else could ignore the heavy clanking that was echoing through the deserted castle halls. All heads turned to stare at the door, and the ponies got to their hooves, mostly looking between it and Twilight. The purple alicorn, for her part, couldn’t hide the smile that was slowly creeping across her face, though the guards near the door still took a few steps back from it, their spears levelled at it and their muscles tensed.
“Actually, Princess Luna, Commander. I thought something like this might come up in the conversation, and I can see you’re all nervous as to what’s coming, but please, don’t be. Everything’s perfectly alright. You see, I’ve been working on a little project lately, and I think, with a bit of the droid’s permission to study their technology and how they work, I think I can make something that seamlessly combines our magic with their technology. It would be the perfect solution to the problem we’re having now; a guard for ponies, but one that could communicate with and defend against the droids if need be!”
By then the heavy clanking, sounding like a single, extremely heavily-armored guard walking on the stone floors of the castle, had stopped, and everyone assembled could clearly tell that it was right outside the dining hall. Stepping forward towards the door and throwing her arms wide, Princess Twilight Sparkle called out.
“Open the door and come inside!”
And as they all watched, the heavy door swung open, and on the other side stood what could only be described as a full-body suit of armor.
It was made of a simple, silvery-grey metal, there were almost no gaps in its plated body, and the helmet was fashioned to look like a mare’s face, with straight, short, metal hair covering the back of the head. A pink glow emanated from the seemingly empty sockets inside the helmet, and it thundered with heavy metal hoofsteps as it moved into the room to stand beside the princess, silent and unmoving.
“Everyone, I present to you the Metal Mare!”
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better late than never
Aww... Twilight made a friend!
Yeah no they won't give you what your race can never invent and can only steal
Yo an update. You just made my day thank you
10996033
Glad to hear it!
I'm glad to see this story back. I love me some staw wars droids and this story has them in spades alongside an interesting political discourse. I will admit, I'm slightly biased towards the droids in who I'm rooting for but I'm excited to see where you take this story.
10996368
Well thank you! I'm biased towards both, which is why I started writing this in the first place.
10996154
I live to joke. If there’s a pun to make, it will be made.
Really glad to catch up with this fic, even if it will be a while before the next chapter comes out. I’m glad to see that you still think about it! It’s a really good story, and I can’t wait to see where you take it.
Though I still wonder about the implications of the Force on Equestria’s magic dominated society, and how the two systems of extra sensory manipulation of normally uncontrollable forces would work with each other…
10997182
Yeah, it's a bit tough to write some parts, but I'm determined to give it a proper ending.
On the topic of the force? Who knows, it was never part of the equation for anything I'd thought up for this story.
10997187
Seems like a different set of rules applies to magic specifically, if it is a force-based power. Otherwise, one could assume that it might be some sort of alternate energy permeating either just the planet they’re on or that it exists alongside the Force, but ponies and other residents of the planet are the only ones with organs capable of manipulating it. Though… A third option is that their biology naturally generates magic(Similar to how various creatures from Star Wars Legends could repel Force abilities), and that this would be a major discovery for any Force users.
One could wonder about what the equivalent of an adapter cable would be to using the Force to manipulate magic, but that’s story and world crafting that I don’t think I should be trying to think on.
Eh, I’m sure that it’s not relevant here when there doesn’t seem to be the possibility of Yoda or Luke dropping by.
Salutes
Rest in peace in Droid Heaven, you glorious droid bastards...
Presses F to Pay Respects
Looking forward to the next chapters.
It will take 17 years until the Rebel forces find a certain Super Tactical Droid that ventures into the galaxy hoping to establish a place for themself.
Commando might fall to it in time?
One like, congrats on your 253 like reached
👍
May the 4th be with you.
11537991
Is it me or has someone been disliking each and every one of your comments?
11644066
As a Author on Fimfiction I have followers.
Some to enjoy my stories, some to enjoy my comments and other to dislike on everything the see me do.
Like dislikes is there hobby, just like I like to give likes and comments.
Author 'Hiver' for example has me Bing reading and commenting with creative humor. Many older have one dislike but so many likes that I already am accustomed to 'that one troll'.
11644076
Ah, I see. Then it shouldn't be anything to worry about.
11644080
Ignoring trolls hurts them the most, the like ratio also hurt their self esteem
camo.fimfiction.net/2Pn5CzbNmsb-TlCxuaHj8q6TedrkekGzvXrCczm6g8w?url=https%3A%2F%2Fi.pinimg.com%2Foriginals%2F01%2F7b%2Fdd%2F017bdd09e2a5dc3e0146a24937d64895.jpg
Got to love memes.
Are we getting anything new for this story? its great!