Star Wars: The Trials of the Force (Part One)

by Admiral Producer

Prologue Part 2: The Stellar Envoy/The Long Ride To Coruscant Pt 1

Hondo and Silverstream came out of Oga’s Cantina to find Ocellus surrounded by security guards. She was no longer in her Rodian disguise as the shackles on her hooves came with built-in anti-magic suppressors. The people in line were staring at her. Ocellus noticed Silverstream and tried to call for help, but a quick slap to the face from the Rodian guard from earlier stopped that.

“Ocellus!” Silverstream cried out.

Hondo smirked. “Ah, don’t you worry, Silverstream! Business as usual I see. Allow me.” He approached the terrified Ocellus and the seven guards surrounding her, focusing on the Rodian guard in particular. “What is this poor attempt at de-escalation I see before me? Surely this child doesn’t have any profit worth capturing her for?”

“Is none of your business, smuggler.” responded the Rodian guard sharply in the common tongue, surprising Silverstream as she had previously thought the guard didn’t know Basic. It wasn’t perfect Basic, but it was something at least.

Hondo scoffed, “Bah! Come on, Gary! You know me. Everything is my business, particularly if there’s profit involved.”

Gary the Rodian guard sighed. “This child caught disguised as my kind to distract me so she could get in.” He pointed accusingly at Silverstream. “Give me a good reason why I shouldn’t take her in too!”

“Ah you see,” Hondo winked at Silverstream briefly and she got the memo, “That bird creature over there is my assistant in business and we were simply in the process shipping this maggot over to Tatooine. I have to tell you, Watto and I are the best of friends!”

Gary looked skeptical. “Oh yeah? If this maggot’s a captured slave, why’d she get loose?”

“That was my fault, my good friend.” Hondo answered, “You see, this happens sometimes when you stop to refuel some containers of coaxium for your ship, it is not unusual to turn a blind eye to your crew or your prisoners. The slave got away, so I sent Silverstream after her.”

Ocellus looked confused, even a little frightened at the prospect of being sold into slavery, but a quick hard glance from Hondo was enough to get her to go along with the story.

Gary seemed to understand. “Good enough. Keep a closer eye on them next time, will you? Next time you let one of prisoners get loose, we won’t give them back.” He barked an order in Rodese and the other guards dispersed. Gary unshackled Ocellus and returned to his post, apologizing to the already increasing line for the hold-up.

Silverstream came over to Ocellus, who was trembling hard like a leaf. One soft touch on the shoulder by Silver finally got Ocellus to take a few deep breaths and calm down.

Silverstream looked up at Hondo, “I should’ve been here. This plan was doomed from the start.”

Hondo shook his head, “Ah, it was not doomed, Silverstream! If you had stayed here, you wouldn’t have found me.”

Silverstream nodded slowly. “Fair point.” She took a deep breath, “I…forgot to tell you. I have more friends waiting at the entrance to the Outpost. Can they come as well?”
——————————————————————————————————————————————————
Hondo was initially reluctant to let Silverstream take Sweet Leaf, MJ, and Citrine Spark along as well, but after some pleading on Silver’s part, the former space pirate finally agreed, although they would need to use a bigger starship. He then told them that they were going on the recent Corellian freighter that he bought from the Republic Group called the Stellar Envoy, which he claimed was the fastest ship in the galaxy and his so-called “business ship.”

The Stellar Envoy was a large white Corellian freighter that was larger on the inside than what it initially appeared to look like on the outside. The inside looked rundown and some lights were flickering. Silverstream was less than impressed, but she had to respect how proud Hondo seemed to be of the ship. She had given him directions to Coruscant, where she wanted to go first in order to reconvene with the Jedi before her final confrontation with Petro.

The reason for Petro’s turn to a life of crime still boggled her mind. Back in the Order, he had always been an upbeat and daredevil-type kid. He and Katooni had been really close. But when she had selected Katooni to be her Padawan, Petro changed drastically and she wished she could’ve seen the warning signs before it was too late.

If only she wasn’t so strict with Katooni about Petro. If only she was willing to listen to Katooni’s defense. If only she had been there to stop Petro from carrying out the abduction.

If only….

“Ooh! Look at this, guys!” Citrine Spark called from a round Dejarik table, which had small, holographic moving animals prowling around on it, interrupting Silverstream’s thoughts. She and the others came over. “Silverstream, did you say this was holochess?”

“I…think so.” Silverstream had never played in her life, so she wouldn’t know, but she did hear somewhere about the game.

“Awesome!” Citrine exclaimed, “Alright, who wants to go first?”

Ocellus frowned. “We should probably look at an instruction manual first. I don’t wanna risk breaking it. This is someone else’s ship after all.”

“You and your rules.” Citrine rolled her eyes. MJ took up a spot next to Citrine. She was smiling, which she only did on rare occasion considering what had happened to her back on her world. Ever since she had lost Peter Parker to the attack on London by Mysterio/Quentin Beck, it seemed like she would never smile again.

But Silverstream was happy that her normally downtrodden friend was actually enjoying herself for once. She decided to explore the main cabin, but she had to first grab on to the table as suddenly, there was a massive jolt and she knew that the Envoy must’ve taken off.

“Does this thing not have seatbelts?” MJ asked worriedly.

“Only in the cockpit apparently.” remarked Sweet Leaf, adjusting her position. “This is going to be a loooooooooong flight.”

“I’ll be exploring if you need me, girls.” Silverstream told them. They all nodded and she walked around the area in order to get some exercise. Her thoughts drifted back to the tragedy and she had to blink back tears from coming to her eyes. Anakin had taught her a lot, but she still didn’t feel like she was responsible enough to be a Jedi Knight, especially after losing Katooni.

What kind of Jedi lost their Padawan to their own incompetence?! Certainly not one worthy of being on the Jedi Council, a position which she was offered many times despite not being a Master because of her role in stopping the undercover shenanigans of the now deceased Sith Lord Darth Sidious.

“You’re doing it again.” came Ocellus’s voice behind her.

Silverstream whirled around, igniting her lightsaber and earning a startled squeak from Ocellus. She saw her and turned her saber off, “Oh, it’s you. Sorry.”

“No, it’s fine.” Ocellus replied, “It’s a great instinct to have. You’ll never be caught off guard that way.”

“That was Master Yoda’s teaching apparently.” Silverstream said, “What with the whole the Force altering their memories so it was like I was always one of them and grew up there. It took a while to convince them otherwise. At least they believe me.”

“I know you’re blaming yourself for Katooni’s abduction.” Ocellus told her, concern in her big blue eyes, “We changelings can sense grief as well as love.”

Silverstream sighed. “I bet you guys can sense every emotion in the galaxy. Please don’t make me relive or talk about it. I know that’s your thing, but-“

“Silverstream,” Ocellus answered gently, “I’m not going to make you say or relive anything. I get it. You’ve probably had to relive this over a hundred times when recruiting the others and it must haunt you every second. So I won’t make you talk about it. You can tell me when you’re ready, whenever that is.”

Silverstream smiled. It was a sad smile, but she was at least happy someone from her old life was still there for her. She sighed again. She had probably sighed about 15 times today, she lost count. “So much has changed, Ocellus. I’m no longer the naïve, curious griff I used to be, the School of Friendship has probably moved on without me…heck, our friends might’ve even GRADUATED by this point if my theory about time flowing differently in Equus than in other parts of the galaxy holds up. I don’t know if I could ever go back, knowing what I know now that not everything can be solved by hugs and cupcakes.”

Ocellus giggled, “You had me at cupcakes.”

Silverstream laughed back. It was the first time she had laughed in months. “Remember when Professor Pinkie Pie had an accident with her party cannon and cupcake frosting got everywhere? That was some clean-up job. Headmare Twilight was sooooooo mad.”

“See? Now you’re getting it.” Ocellus said approvingly, “The Silverstream I know is still there underneath all that regret and guilt. We’ll make it through this together, alright? I told you. We’re friends to the end, Silver. No matter what that end is. Whether you have to leave Equestria again to take your place among the Jedi or coming back home, we’ll support you in whatever decision you make.”

The two hugged one another, unaware that their friends were watching the entire exchange.

“Ew! Cheesy!” Citrine made as if to barf, but she didn’t.

“I think that was beautiful.” MJ commented.

“Did Peter Parker tell you that?” Citrine asked, earning herself a slap from MJ. “Ow! It was a joke, jeez!”

“It’s not nice to joke about the deceased,” Sweet Leaf turned towards her, “Particularly, if the wound’s still fresh.”

Citrine lowered her head, “You’re right. I’m sorry.”

MJ shook her head, “Don’t be. I’m just giving you a hard time. Even though we never really confessed, I figured out something was up.”

“Not the fact that he was secretly Spider-Man and you wanted to bust him?” Citrine inquired teasingly.

“Well….that too.” MJ admitted, looking over at Silverstream and Ocellus, “Silverstream did teach me a thing or two about dealing with grief…”

Just then, they saw Silverstream and Ocellus come over. Sweet Leaf shut off the holochess table.

Silverstream took a deep breath, “I’m ready to come clean and tell you all everything. I know you all want to know what and who we’re fighting for.”

“Your Padawan Katooni, right?” Sweet Leaf asked her.

“Yes,” Silverstream replied, “But I’ve been very vague about my past and about her. You all deserve to know the full truth. And Ocellus is right. I can’t keep this from all of you. Not if we’re going to work as a team.”

“Oooooh!” Citrine said excitedly, “It’s storytime! I wish I had some popcorn!” She saw all eyes on her and blushed, “Sorry. Maybe I’m a little too excited for long-winded exposition dumps.”

“We’re all right here.” Sweet Leaf told her, “You can tell us anything.”

Silverstream met their expectant gazes, glanced at Ocellus, who nodded once, and took a deep breath and began, “It all began many years into the future, where the Jedi were deciding on a course of action after the Force was destabilized….”

Author's Note:

Low and behold! Another Chapter emerges! And you all must’ve also noticed that I gave a not-so-subtle hint as to who MJ is as if the cover art roster wasn’t already obvious. Yup, this is a crossover fic, one bringing together not only MLP: FIM with Star Wars, but MLP: Equestria Girls as well, along with the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). Yeah, Michelle Jones (MJ) is part of the main cast and we’ll find out why. Next up, I’ll be showing all the events leading up to this point in the story and believe me, we have a lot to get through.

In case Silverstream’s new reserved and brooding personality comes as a whiplash to those who know her personality from the show, don’t worry. There’s plenty of reasons for it as I already established. If you have any questions, feel free to let me know in the comments and thank you to everyone who has favorited and liked the story thus far. I assure you, more is on the way. Stay tuned! :)