Clone Wars: Equestrian Wars

by Pun System

The Prodigal Daughter: Part 3

Rainbow Dash walked through one of the Jedi Temple’s indoor gardens. Beside her, a squatty, four-legged holo-droid skittered along, projecting a life-sized likeness of Grand Master Celestia above it. The alicorn would have been head and shoulders (and horn) taller than Rainbow even without the holo-droid, but the projection had been shrunken so that she was now closer to Rainbow's height.

Rainbow replayed the council’s deliberations in her head as she walked. She didn’t look at any one object or individual for too long; her gaze constantly darted among the flowers and greenery. Whenever her gaze chanced upon another Jedi, she would quickly turn her head away, hoping to avoid eye contact. She noticed a stark contrast between herself and Celestia, whose carriage and stride spoke of confidence and serenity. She too was taking in her surroundings, though Rainbow knew that she was walking through the Canterlot Gardens in the Jedi Enclave, far away on the Mid-Rim planet Equus Prime.

Celestia reached her hand out, allowing a blue jay to light onto her finger. She stroked the bird with her hand before turning her head away as if there was something else nearby to look at. She then breathed in deeply and closed her eyes. When she opened her eyes, she looked over at Rainbow and a gentle smile crossed her lips.

“Relax, Padawan Dash,” Celestia comforted as the blue jay flew away. “The temple in which you walk is a place of spiritual healing. It would seem you are quite in need of it.”

“I know,” Rainbow sighed. “Part of me wants to reconnect with my spirituality, but part of me feels too hurt and betrayed to trust again.”

“How so?”

“It’s just—I don’t know. I feel like—I feel like the Force let me down.”

“Let you down?”

“Yeah. And not just me, either. What about the whole planet of Ryloth? You don’t understand,” she said. “You weren’t there,” Rainbow said as she approached the large circular fountain in front of her. She leaned forward braced her hands on the rough stone surface that made up the bottom reservoir and looked down at her broken reflection in the crystal blue water. “The only thing worse than the faces of the refugees packed wall-to-wall in the freighter Night and I commandeered was the faces of the refugees we couldn’t pick up.”

“Do you feel somehow guilty or responsible for those refugees?”

“I—I just wanted to do more,” she said as she turned around to face Celestia. “It's just that Night and I could only do so much and—Where was the Council the day Ryloth fell? Where was the Republic? Where was the Force?” She slammed her fist onto the stone fountain, pretending not to be in pain as she did.

Celestia’s holo-droid moved next to Rainbow. “Padawan Dash,” she began soothingly, “a Jedi should not be eager to run off to war so quickly. There is no passion; there is serenity. Do not let your passions consume you.”

The instant Celestia stopped talking, Rainbow spun to face her. “What if there’s a cause? Is it the will of the Force to leave countless millions to die at the hands of the Trade Federation?” Rainbow turned and put her back against the fountain. She let herself slide down the wall until she reached a sitting position. “Sometimes, I wonder if the Force is even with us,” she sighed. “We say it so often it—it’s practically cliché. But does it really have any meaning?”

The holo-droid skittered a little closer and Celestia sat down beside Rainbow. She thought a moment before forming her answer. “What about your part in the final moments of Ryloth’s defense?”

“Hardly a defense,” Rainbow scoffed. “If by ‘defense,’ you mean ‘massacre.’ The few freedom fighters who weren’t cut down at first contact ran away in an effort to draw attention away from the hanger.”

Celestia nodded, grim-faced and somber. She waited a moment, letting Rainbow continue.

“A few dozen militia intercepted and ambushed the main tank column which was on its way to the hangers. They disabled a few tanks, but the Seps brought up heavy droids. The freedom fighters were poorly armed, untrained, and outnumbered. They were cut down like grass. I watched the explosions on the skyline from the gunner’s position of our ship, helpless to stop any of it. And then—then there was the space skirmish. A dozen ships took off, only eight made it out of the system. I gave them cover from our ship’s turret, but…” Rainbow trailed off.

“You were very brave, Rainbow Dash.”

“They didn’t have to die!” Rainbow cried as she pulled her legs in towards her torso. “Over a thousand civilians fired upon in orbit, their ships destroyed and half their bodies left floating in the vacuum of space! Civilians! Women and children!”

Celestia and Rainbow Dash sat in silence a few moments before Celestia stood up. “Rainbow, come with me,” she instructed as her horn began to glow. With a brilliant flash of light, Rainbow found herself in the gardens of Canterlot’s Jedi Enclave. Before her stood not a holographic projection, but Celestia herself. “Here,” she said as she stretched out her hand. Rainbow accepted Celestia’s hand and rose to her feet. Celestia turned and the pair began walking through the lush outdoor garden of the Enclave.

When Rainbow looked into Celestia’s face again, her smile was gone. “Rainbow Dash, I do not mean in any way to belittle the sacrifices of those brave soldiers and innocent civilians who died on or above Ryloth, but I’m afraid I have seen much more death in my years than you have, or ever will.” Celestia raised her gaze towards the sky. “And hardly a day goes by when I do not think of somepony I have lost. Often, my thoughts dwell with my sister. I’ll never forget the look on her face when I last saw her.”

“Right. I know the story.”

“Then you also know that my magic rotates our planet to create night and day, and it is also my duty to move the moon around the planet. But it wasn’t always that way. A thousand years ago, my sister, Luna, moved the moon.”

“At least until she rebelled.”

Celestia nodded. “Unfortunately, my subjects—our subjects then—did not appreciate my sister’s nights. Luna grew bitter and angry with me—hateful, even—and she tried to seize control of the planet for herself. I managed to escape the planet in my flagship, but my sister attacked with her own force of Lunar Soldiers. The rest is history.”

“You had to use the Elements of Harmony.”

“Yes. The Elements. I tried everything else I could, but she wouldn’t listen. From my ship's escape pod bay, the Elements started a chain reaction that sent my sister to the moon. A task force scoured Equus Luna for a standard year, but found no trace of her.”

“So, how’d you find her again?”

Celestia glanced down at Rainbow. “I didn’t.”

Rainbow froze in place. “Wait, what?” She jogged a few steps to catch up. “But—but that’s not—You’re just saying that. I know how these things work. Your sister is safe and sound somewhere. She just—disqualified herself from ruling as Princess and serving as Grand Master. It was embarrassing for everyone involved in the situation, so she just got swept under the rug. That’s how it’s always been, right?” Celestia shook her head. “No? But—how can that be the end?”

“It just is,” Celestia said as she stopped and turned towards Rainbow. “We must accept that we will not find closure for some chapters of our life.” Rainbow’s gaze dropped, the moral of Celestia’s story painfully apparent to her. “I know it’s not easy to move on, but we must begin to write the next chapter of our lives.” Rainbow looked up again. “How many other lives have you touched, Rainbow? How many more can you touch? You may never know if you remain here in this chapter of life, waiting for closure that never comes.”

“You make it sound so easy,” Rainbow said. “I know it won’t be.”

“I know.” Celestia said with a sigh. She turned her head away and began walking again.

“Master?” Rainbow asked once she caught up. “Are you ok?”

“I am fine,” she said as she seated herself on a bench. “But a moment of tranquility would be welcome. Come, sit with me.”

Rainbow did as Celestia requested. “How do you carry on like that? Your sister is just—gone. Did you ever want to just run away from it all? Like, well, like I did.”

“To my shame, yes, I did. I nearly lost my way for a few decades, but eventually I found peace and found my way back here.”

Rainbow lowered her head for a brief moment, wondering if she should risk further questioning. “Master?” she asked. “Did you ever feel like—giving up on the Force? Turning your back on it? Walking away and never looking back?”

“During those years of my life, I considered it. I had lost others before, being an alicorn after all, but... this was different. I wasn't supposed to lose Luna.” Celestia paused a moment, her head held slightly lower than before. “But, my grief did not go unnoticed. And when approached by the Jedi, I stayed here with them.”

“But why? Was it the will of the Force that you and your sister be put in a situation like that? Why did you still trust the Force when it killed off your sister?”

Celestia began calmly and slowly. “You and I are spiritual beings, Rainbow Dash. To give up our spirituality is to partially die. You would never take lightly your physical, emotional, or mental health. Why do you believe you can so easily give up your spirituality?”

“I—I don’t know.”

“The will of the Force is balance. I can only trust that through the Force, the harmony between myself and my sister will one day be restored. My sister was biologically immortal like myself, and since we never found the remains of her ship, there is still a sliver of doubt in my mind. I do not know whether I will see my sister again in life or through becoming one with the Force. It may not be easy, but you also must learn to trust the Force to restore you to your friend.”

“So, all I can do now is wait around for something to happen?”

“Not necessarily,” Celestia said with a smile as she rose to her feet. Rainbow rose as well, and Celestia put a hand on Rainbow’s shoulder. “Sometimes, as you said, it is the will of the Force that we wait patiently for an answer to reveal itself. But sometimes, the Force knows we will be stronger and more complete individuals if we pursue and find the answers ourselves.”

“How will I be able to tell the difference?”

Celestia smiled. “Trust the Force, and you cannot go wrong. Now, it is time for you to return.”

Rainbow squinted at Celestia in confusion. “‘Trust the Force’? But you haven’t proven that I even can trust the Force!”

Celestia closed her eyes as her horn radiated golden light which filled Rainbow’s vision. “That is something you must do for yourself.”

“Master, wait!” Rainbow raised a hand to shield her eyes from the blinding light.

“And remember,” Celestia’s fading voice called out, “there is no chaos; there is harmony.”

Rainbow squinted until she could no longer keep her eyes open. Several seconds passed before the light was dim enough for her to open her eyes again. When her vision returned, she was back in the indoor gardens of the Jedi Temple on Coruscant.

---

Night Glider hugged her knees to her chest as she rocked back and forth on her cot. She couldn’t tell if Starlight had sped up the recording, or if she was imagining it to be faster than it really was. Her supplies of food and water were dwindling. In her stress, she’d already consumed more supply bars and water than she should have. Assuming, of course, that she’d correctly estimated the amount of time she’d spent in the room. She hadn’t slept the entire time she’d been locked away. She was beyond skepticism of her food and water, and now wondered if Starlight had used a magic spell to induce paranoia on her directly. She glanced at the mirror across the room, and even at a distance, even against her navy coat, she could see bags under her eyes. It was a wonder she saw anything at all with her eyes so bloodshot. Her wings needed preening and she smelled overdue for a shower, and she never quite got over the feeling that she was being watched.

In fact, the feeling got worse as time dragged onward. She ran her eyes along the ceiling for what must have been the thousandth time, but as usual she found no cameras. She shook her head and began rocking back and forth again.

A voice spoke inside her head. “She’s not coming back.”

“Yes she is,” she answered aloud. A verbal answer seemed a more natural response to the voice than a mental one.

“Then where is she?”

“I don’t know!” she lashed out.

“Please, I only want the best for you.”

Night Glider looked around the room. “No. You’re not inside my head. You’re Starlight!”

“You can’t stay in there forever. You will accept our ways.”

“No, I—Please let me out of here!” she begged.

“I thought you didn’t want to be a Jedi,” Starlight replied mockingly. “My code is far superior to the Jedi Code.”

“This—this isn’t a choice! You're forcing this on me!” Night replied. “Please, I just want to be free again!”

“You will be. Once you accept our philosophy.”

Night lay down and buried her face in her hands so the cameras wouldn’t see her break down crying. Her breaths came quickly and much shorter than usual. Her mind raced. Her heart pounded. She hated her very existence. She’d rather be anywhere besides where she found herself now. At this point, she’d be fine if she went to sleep and woke up on Ryloth again. Anywhere but here.

---

Rainbow strode into the Council chamber, fully aware of the thinly veiled looks of disdain certain members were giving her. She still felt overwhelmingly outclassed here, but something about the way Celestia and a few others looked upon her partially made up for it, giving her the feeling that she was indeed welcome back, if only by select members.

“Upon reviewing the circumstances surrounding your fall from grace and your return,” Mace Windu began, “the Council restores to you the rank of Padawan.”

“Furthermore, rescue your Master we feel you must,” Yoda added.

“You shall not be alone in this task,” Obi Wan said.

Obi Wan spoke next. “The Council has elected Anakin Skywalker to go with you. His Padawan Ashoka Tano and a few of his best men will travel with you.”

“Once you find Night Glider,” Celestia added, “we wish to… speak with her. To give her the same second chance we gave you.”

“Night Glider walks her own path,” Windu corrected, directing his gaze at Celestia. “She will answer for her own actions, and for her influence on her Padawan.”

“Hurry you must. Every moment you spend here, another moment Night Glider spends in enemy hands is.”

“Yes, Masters. Thank you.”

Plo Koon spoke up as Rainbow turned to leave. “May the Force be with you, Padawan.”

Rainbow turned and smiled. “Thank you, Masters,” she said, bowing shallowly before turning to leave.

---

Rainbow adjusted the yoke of the Rainboom to keep her ship in formation with Anakin's freighter and the two Republic gunships ahead as they flew through the undercity of Nar Shaddaa. “So,” she asked over her comlink, “what’s a Jedi Knight doing piloting an aging freighter around?”

“Well, let’s just say we ‘borrowed’ it. It’s in better hands now than it was before at least,” Anakin said

“I can relate,” Rainbow replied. From her position in the back of the diamond formation, she could see the Twilight dead ahead of her. “Bet it’s not the fastest ship around, though.”

“Well—it's fast enough.”

“Wanna bet?”

“You see those power couplings ahead on the right?” Rainbow looked in the indicated direction, her eyes glancing among the various structures.

“Yeah.”

“How about a little race? First one to fly around them and rejoin the gunships wins.”

“Master,” Ashoka interrupted, “we have a mission.”

“Don’t worry, Snips. This won’t take long.”

“'Snips’?” Rainbow asked.

“What?” Ashoka asked defensively. “Your master doesn’t have any cute nicknames for you?”

“Well, yeah,” Rainbow began, glad the others couldn’t see her blush, “but that’s different!”

“Different how?”

“Sir,” called one of the gunship pilots, “we’re almost at the drop zone.”

“Maybe later, Ashoka,” Rainbow suggested. “Look for the warehouse with the hole in the roof.”

“Your handiwork?” Anakin asked.

“Well, not exactly. That was T4.”

Rainbow’s droid beeped indignantly.

“The droid was following your orders aboard your ship,” Ashoka said. “So technically, that makes it your fault.”

“General Skywalker, we’ve arrived.”

“Thank you, pilot. Looks like Rainbow Dash here just showed us our way in. We’re going in through the hole in the roof.”

“Why?” asked Ashoka. “It’s not like the building doesn’t have perfectly functional doors.”

“Hey, this way we won’t have to break in or bypass security,” Rainbow pointed out. “T4, open the boarding ramp. Keep the ship in formation with the gunships until we return.”

“That goes for you too, R2,” Anakin said.

Rainbow rose to her feet and made her way back to the ramp. By the time she got there, the ramp had descended. A short distance away, she could see Anakin standing on the ramp of the Twilight. He gave her a two-finger salute before making the jump. Rainbow was right behind him. Anakin landed in a low stance, his approach slowed by the Force. Rainbow slowed herself with her wings before landing behind Anakin with her back towards him.

The two Jedi drew their lightsabers, casting a blue glow on the ground around them. Their weapons did little, however, to illuminate the darkened warehouse. Before long, Ashoka dropped down beside them, adding a green glow to the immediate area. At Anakin’s orders, the three Jedi spread out and created a perimeter for the clones. As the clones rappelled down, Rainbow looked around, her large eyes adjusting to the darkened building with inhuman speed. Though she didn’t have to rely on her own eyesight for long before the clones began turning on their helmet lamps.

“So, why a warehouse?” asked Ashoka.

“They’re storing supplies here,” Rainbow said, surveying the empty racks in their area. “Or at least they were.”

“Maybe they moved their supplies away from the hole in the roof,” offered a pistol-wielding clone with blue accents on his armor.

“That’s one possibility, Rex,” Anakin said. “But that doesn’t explain why the rest of the warehouse is empty too.” Rex turned his head to the side, shining his helmet lamps onto row upon row of empty racks. A number of deactivated lifting droids could be seen on the far wall.

“More importantly, where’s the cult?” asked Rainbow Dash. “You’d think they’d have moved to engage us by now. Or at least patched the hole in the roof.”

“Patience,” Anakin advised. “They’ll show up soon enough. Then, we’ll have our answers.”

“And our missing Jedi,” added Ashoka.

The Jedi and clone forces advanced through the racks and into the front of the warehouse without encountering any resistance. “They’re probably holed up in the office wing,” Rainbow suggested.

“Looks like we’ll be taking this place the hard way,” said Ashoka. She approached the door and prepared to stab through it. When she lunged to thrust her saber into the door, it opened automatically. She quickly drew her blade back into a defensive position, ready to reflect blaster bolts that never came. “That’s strange. It's unlocked.”

“Yeah,” Rainbow agreed. She walked past Ashoka, her lightsaber providing her with enough light to see the corridor ahead. Where the corridor split, the three Jedi took the right side while the clones took the left. Rainbow walked cautiously down the hall as Ashoka and Anakin checked the rooms as they walked past.

“I don’t think they’re here, Snips,” Anakin said as Ashoka peered into the fourth vacant room in a row.

“Then where could they be?”

“Here,” Rainbow said. “It’s the only one that’s locked.” Sure enough, the door whose sign on the wall read “Conference Room” did not open when Rainbow approached it. With the press of a button, the electromagnet in the middle of Rainbow’s double-bladed lightsaber shut off, providing her with two single-bladed lightsabers. She ignited the second blade before stabbing both of them into the door. After cutting a tall oval in the door, Rainbow kicked the door in and entered, sabers held defensively.

“Hey, look,” Ashoka said upon entering. “They left their holo-table on.” Rainbow Dash deactivated one lightsaber and examined the table. Sure enough, the conference table was emitting a faint blue glow.

Rainbow's gaze was drawn to a single tablet lying on the table. “And a datapad.”

“Let’s see what’s on it,” Anakin said. Rainbow passed the datapad over to Skywalker, who placed it into a slot at the head of the table.

The table’s glow brightened as a spectrogram appeared in the air between Rainbow and the two other Jedi. “Let me go, please!” a female voice begged. The spectrograph rose and fell in sync with the voice.

“That’s Night,” Rainbow said.

“You’re only making this harder on yourself,” Starlight’s voice coaxed. “This is for your own good.”

Night groaned, and the sound of someone weakly pounding on metal could be heard. “I’ll get out of here... one way… or another. Rainbow will be back.”

A moment passed in silence before Starlight replied. “Why did you leave the Jedi anyways?”

“I thought they didn’t care about us. I thought they left us to die on Ryloth.”

“Is that the ‘help’ you asked your friend to bring back? The Jedi?”

“She’ll find a way.”

“She’ll go back to her old ways. She’ll be just like the Jedi who left you on Ryloth.”

“No,” Night said. “No!” she shouted. “Nooooo!!” she howled, hitting the door again. “She’s not like them! She would never leave me behind!” Rainbow shook her head as she leaned on the table for support. “She’s different, I swear she is!”

“Yet here you sit,” Starlight said. “You’ve been left behind. Again.”

“No…” Night paused a moment, and for a moment Rainbow thought she heard her begin crying. “She—she left me.”

“She left you,” Starlight parroted.

“I—I’m all alone.”

“You’re all alone.”

“No,” Rainbow sighed. “She knows I wouldn’t.”

“I have no one left.”

“You have no one left.” Starlight said. “No one except for me.”

“Please… please help me,” Night said as she began to cry again, harder this time.

“You want my help?” Starlight asked. “Now that you see what your friend has become, you want to become part of our brotherhood.”

“Please, Starlight, I’ll do anything!”

Rainbow bowed her head. “We’re too late. Shut it off. I don’t want to listen to any more.”

With hardly any hesitation, Anakin did as she asked. “I’m so sorry, Rainbow Dash.” Rainbow pulled out a chair, collapsed into it, and buried her head in the back of her elbow. Her posture helped to hide the tears she knew were coming.

“Sir,” called a clone at the door, “there’s no trace of them anywhere in the office wing.”

“Get the lights turned on, Rex,” Anakin said somberly. “Then search the rest of the building.”

“Right away, sir.”

Rainbow heard the datapad beeping beside her. “What else does it say?” Ashoka asked. Rainbow glanced up, but Anakin gave no verbal response as he continued reading.

“They’ve moved their entire operation off-world, Ashoka,” he said in a hushed tone that still managed to fill the quiet room. “They wanted us to find this. The only thing they left behind in this whole warehouse was this datapad.”

Rainbow looked up. “Then—I guess this is it. Let’s call off the troops and head home,” she said somberly. “Wherever that is.” She rose from her chair and used the Force to pull the datapad from across the room as she neared the door. The other two Jedi were right behind her.

Anakin raised a finger to his comlink. “Rex, recall your men. We’re not going to find what we’re looking for.”

“General Skywalker, are you sure?” the captain asked. “Our troops are searching the rest of the building as we speak.”

“Yes, I’m sure. Rendezvous at our entry point and we’ll make our way out of here.”

“Yes, sir.”

The walk back to the hole in the roof was long and silent. Rainbow's held her head low as she walked, only raising her head once the diffuse orange light from the hole in the roof shone down onto her face. She looked up at that hole and remembered their first escape. Well, her first escape. If only she had fought a little harder... maybe now she wouldn't feel so alone. She felt her ears fall flat against her head as she ruffled her feathers.

Rainbow felt a hand on her shoulder. “I’m sorry about your master,” Ashoka said.

“It’s not your fault,” she replied. “I knew the Council would drag their feet.”

“We'll get her back yet,” Anakin said from her other side.

“There is no chaos; there is harmony,” Rainbow said to herself. She repeated the phrase a few more times, quieter each time.

“Listen, I’ll have R2 analyze the information on this datapad. If there’s anything we can use to find this cult, we’ll find it.”

“Let’s hope we do.” Rainbow spread her wings and performed a Force-enhanced wing jump out the hole in the roof. She descended onto the roof just in time to see two Republic gunships and two mismatched freighters bank into a turn for their final approach to the warehouse.

Comments

[EpicMuttonChops]

and here I thought the warehouse setup would be a trap. damn you Ackbar