Sunset Shimmer's Saga: Call of the Force

by Kenobiiii

Chapter 15: The Original Rebel

Later,

“ We’re coming up to the coordinates they’ve sent us.” Zeko said as the Gauntlet arrived at the said location. This sanctuary they were at was beyond the Everfree forest, located on the other side of Mount Everhoof. Anything east of the tallest known mountain was alien to Sunset, whose furthest travel out of the City on land being Camp Everfree . As such, this place was as new to her as it was to the rest. The coordinates turned out to be an empty plain surrounded by trees with a river stream at its north. The plain turned out to be some sort of makeshift command base that was being set up by more off-worlders who had arrived earlier and were not a part of the group that saved them back at the City earlier. Sunset identified more U-Wings, a couple of medium sized freighter ships as the star ships present around the Camp. From the looks of it, it appeared even more likely to her that their saviors have plans of their own. “ They look like a bunch of guerilla fighters from the looks of it.” Karl remarked about the gritty and unorganized appearance of their camp. “ And it looks like they’re setting up base here.” Zeko further added. “ But why would they come to a world like mine ?” Sunset asked. As far as she knew, the rest of the larger galaxy was oblivious to the existence of her planet, let alone heard of it. “ I have a feeling all our questions will be answered soon.” Kara said in response to Sunset’s query. “ I’d better go tell my friends that we’ll be landing soon.” Sunset intoned as she got up from her seat and headed to the back as Zeko brought the Gauntlet down.

At the heat of the moment, Sunset had completely forgotten about her friends at the Common Area. ‘ They must be terrified of what's happening right now’ she thought to herself. Sure enough, as she climbed down to the Common area, she found them sitting by the smaller holotable commonly used by them to play dejarik [1], a popular holographic game during their free time. Upon hearing footsteps, the girl all turned their attention to her. A bit of Sunset felt a bit awkward seeing her friends again after such a long time. “ Uhh, We’re landing..” “Not so fast.” Rainbow Dash abruptly interrupted Sunset, “ How do we know that you’re our Sunset Shimmer ?” [2] She asked incredulously. Sunset understood the suspicion amongst them, heck even she would be saying the same thing if she was in their place. “ Guys it's me.” She said in an embraceful manner hoping to placate their suspicions . “ Oh yeah ? Prove it. Tell me something only our Sunset will know.” Pinkie said in a hilariously stern manner. There were many instances in which Sunset could pick but she eventually settled for the simple ones, “ Pinkie, you like to stuff gummy worms up your nose.” That was enough to convince Pinkie Pie and the others that she was indeed the Sunset Shimmer they know. “ SUNSET !!” They collectively said as they all rushed to their long lost friend, hugging as tightly as they could. For the first time in a long time, Sunset felt back at home again, at the comfort of the people she greatly cared for. “ Sunset !!!! '' Pinkie Pie screamed in happiness as she tightened her hug over her, “ Where have you been, are you alright ? Also, did you lose some weight ?”

“ One at a time Pinkie Pie,” Applejack calmed down the hyperactive girl as they relaxed their grip over Sunset, finally giving her some space to breathe. “ It's great to see you again Sugarcube.” She added. “ The feeling is mutual Applejack. I missed all of you girls too.” Sunset intoned back at her. “ Now with the pleasantries out of the way,” Rarity said with her usual over the top accent that Sunset was all too familiar with, “ What the heck is going on !!!” She ended her sentence in a panic stricken and an over dramatic manner. “ Perhaps the most pressing of all questions is where have you been all this while ?” Twilight Sparkle asked, trying to keep her calm and rational composure. The rest of the girls rallied behind her question. “ Twilight has a point. You just disappear out of nowhere and one day you just show up with a funny looking spaceship in the middle of an alien invasion ?” Flash Sentry concurred with Twilight. It was quite obvious that her friends, while joyful to see her again, were also wanting answers on her disappearance in the first place. “ Guys, I know you have a ton of questions for me and I have a lot of explaining to do but not now.” She sighed. “ What do you mean ?” Fluttershy queried further. From Sunset’s perspective, the little her friends knew about what's going on the better but at the same time, she couldn’t keep the truth from them forever. “ I don’t know how to explain it but you guys are gonna have to trust me on this.” She said vaguely.

There was a brief silence from the girls before Twilight took the step forward. She placed her hand onto Sunset’s shoulder, “ We trust you Sunset Shimmer. We’re just so happy to see you again.” “ Me too,” Sunset reciprocated. While the girls were talking, Flash was alerted to a series of beeping sounds coming from behind Sunset. “ Do you guys hear those strange beeping noises ?” He asked the others, secretly hoping that it was not his head playing tricks with him. “ I hear it too. What is that noise ??” Applejack coincided with Flash. Before Sunset could answer her question, the source of the beeping noises revealed himself, which turned out to be R5. Everyone else sans Sunset jerked backwards, with Flash screaming in a low pitch scream, bewildered in their perspective what appeared to be a strange looking garbage can-looking robot around the height of their waists. “ Is that a killer robot ??” Rainbow Dash irrationally speculated( Something not uncommon for her). R5, however, took the ‘killer robot’ tag as sort of a compliment as a bad ass astromech droid he had always desired to be. “ Calm down guys.” Sunset tried to placate their confusion, “ He means no harm. This is R5-D7.”

“ What exactly is he ?? Some kind of artificial Intelligence android ?” Twilight curiously asked as she meddled with her glasses. She found him rather peculiar and would love to experiment on it if given the chance to do so. “ He’s an astromech droid, Twilight. He’s responsible for keeping parts of this ship here in one piece.” Sunset answered her nerdy friend’s query. Her answer however, only drew more confused glances from the others. “ Uhh, it’s a he ??” Applejack said in an even more unsure tone. It wasn’t surprising considering her simple countryside upbringing. Even Fluttershy, who would normally be the first to open up to odd looking animals, was hesitating. It was perhaps only Twilight Sparkle who seemed interested in his ‘sentient-like’ personality despite being in all definition a non-living thing. “ What is he saying ?” Rarity asked in relation to his beepings. “ That’s his way of communicating. He’s saying hello.” Sunset said. “ Hello there to you too, friend.” Fluttershy finally opened up to him. “ Fascinating,” Twilight intoned. “ I heard screaming. Who was it ?” Came a male voice which the girls instantly recognised as belonging to the scruffy looking man earlier. True enough, he soon appeared from the cockpit. “ That would be me.” Flash raised in embarrassment, identifying himself as the one who screamed. “ Dude, that is not cool.” He intoned. “ Uhh, might I inquire as to who this new character is ?” Rarity asked with her usual sophisticated and convoluted accent that even impressed him. “ Oh, this is Karl.” Sunset introduced him to the girls before turning her head over to him, “ Karl, these are my friends.”

Karl merely nodded his head over to them, acknowledging their presence. Just then, he was followed by Kara who came to the common area. The girls and Flash Sentry instantly recognised her as Sunset’s accomplice who had rescued them earlier. “ Is everyone alright ?” She asked. “ They’re all fine, master.” Sunset offered. “ Master ?” Twilight questioned rather incredulously, “ Sunset, who is she ?”. The others turned to Sunset, waiting for her to provide an answer. “ This is Kara, She’s my master and I’m her apprentice,” Sunset said before turning to Kara, “ Kara, these are my friends, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Twilight Sparkle, Rarity and Fluttershy.” She identified each and every one of them. “ Thanks for saving us earlier from those white soldiers earlier.” Twilight extended her gratitude and by extension the others, to Kara. “ Don’t mention it.” Kara said. “ And by the way, those guys earlier were called stormtroopers.” Karl identified the troopers who surrounded them earlier at the mall. “If I must add, their attires were kinda severe for my taste. I’m afraid the same could be said about you three too.” Rarity offered a critical comment about their outfits. The others glanced at her unsurprisingly of the fashionista’s priorities at times like this. “ I had to take it off my chest darlings.” She defended herself. “ Wait,” Rainbow Dash interjected, “ If you were at the back,” She pointed to Karl before pointing to Sunset and Kara, “And you two saved us, who was flying the Ship ? Don’t tell me it was the robot ?” She pointed to R5 incredulously. “ That would be me,” Came another voice from behind Kara, one which sounded like a male.

The girls turned to the source of the voice, who turned out to be Zeko. It was almost as immediately that the girls sans Sunset jerked backwards again and squealed loudly over the sight of four armed talking alien. The girls have been through and seen many unexplainable things these past few years but none of them could have prepared them for this moment. In their eyes, this single handedly trumps everything else they’ve been through, including the time where they became four legged equines after passing through a portal to Equestria in the middle of an uninhabited island. “ IS THAT A FREAKING ALIEN ??” Rainbow Dash shrieked out loud. “I think my entrance was too soon.” Zeko intoned. “ You can say that again.” Karl concurred. “Calm down guys,” Sunset attempted to calm her panic stricken friends, “ He means no harm. This here is Zeko Mulig. He’s the Captain and pilot of this ship.” “ I suppose you must be Sunset’s friends,” Zeko called out to the girls and Flash Sentry. “ How is it talking to us ?” Fluttershy said, trembling in fear. The meek and easily frightened girl could not even bring herself from hiding behind Applejack back to look him in the eye. “ Uh, because I’m a Sentient living being like you too, and I’m not some droid to be referred to as it.” Zeko said, slightly ruffled by Fluttershy's unintentional insult. “Forgive me for my friend here, She’s just a bit confused like the rest of us,” Twilight stood up to offer an apology to Zeko before getting curious about his appearance and origin, “May I ask which galaxy are you from ?” “ The same galaxy you’re standing on, kid.” The Ardennian answered. “ Now with that out of the way, I’d suggest we find out who our new friends are.” Kara said as she headed to the boarding ramps and pressed a button, unlocking it. “ What are you talking about ?” Applejack asked. “ You’ll see.” Sunset replied with a short yet vague answer.

---

A Few Moments Later,
Guerilla Rebels Makeshift base

The Ramp doors opened and extended downwards, revealing a large armed group of off-worlders setting up what appeared to be a makeshift camp. Their numbers could reach at least up to a hundred based on Sunset’s modest estimate. Some of them were in the midst of unloading crates(possibly carrying weapons, communication devices and supplies) from their freighter ships. Others were busy setting up various makeshift tents around the perimeter. They either didn’t care or took notice of the Gauntlet crew and the girls, as they were too preoccupied in setting up their base. “ Who are these people ?” Twilight asked in an apprehensive manner. She can’t be blamed for showing unease, or the girls in particular. After all, they just had their entire home world invaded by an Empire. As such, they had every reason to show reluctancy or to distrust any outsider. “ I’d guess we’re about to find out.” Sunset pointed out to a person who was approaching them. He might have been the first to take notice of their presence. Upon a closer look, Sunset managed to make the stranger’s appearance. He was a bald middle aged man, around his fifties and had brown coloured skin . He wore an extremely bulky gray coloured suit which seemed to be almost impenetrable to blaster fire. The suit was bulkiest at the torso part, with the legs and arms parts being considerably less bulkier. The armor at the torso also appeared to act as some sort of pressure suit.

As he came closer, Sunset noticed a visible scar on his face, one that ran through from his left eyebrow to his right cheek. His expression seemed stoic and at the same time, hardened. ‘Whoever this is must be an experienced soldier,’ Sunset thought. He was not alone, accompanying him was a guerrilla fighter armed with a standard blaster rifle. Sunset couldn’t make out the details of his face as he had it concealed till his nose with a red cloth. “ I see you’ve made some local friends.” The person remarked to the Gauntlet crew about the girls and Flash Sentry. The crew recognised his husky voice as the same that communicated with them earlier. As such, they quickly made the connection. “You can say that.” Karl intoned in a suspicious manner. Sensing the friction between them, the person sought to dispel them, “ Don’t worry I mean you guys no harm.” He said in a less huskier voice, “ The name’s Saw Gerrera.” He identified himself. Zeko and Karl were taken off guard upon hearing his name. “ Saw Gerrera ?” Zeko startled, as if he recognised the name, “ Leader of the Partisans, Saw Gerrera ? The very group that destroyed the Imperial Refinery on Umbara ?” He blurted out. Sunset had no clue what Zeko was referring to but she could tell it was something big. Saw chuckled at the Ardennian’s enthusiasm, “ The last I checked.” “ You're a legend. I’ve heard stories of how you and your rebels freed Onderon from the Separatists despite being heavily outnumbered.” [3] Karl excitedly intoned. Gerrera’s expression then turned sour, “Only for the Empire to replace them.” He scoffed. “ You do have quite a reputation amongst the other Rebel Cells.” Kara said to the veteran fighter.

Just then, another member of his Partisans group with a very noticeable set of horns on her bald head( A Zabrak), with a ponytail at the back of her head being the only part with hair. Unlike the other , there was no cloth covering the face, allowing Sunset to recognise the Zabrak as a female soldier. With her blaster hanging from her belt, she held a datapad in her hands as she approached Gerrera and handed it over to him. Saw took a look on the datapad, before lifting his head back to them. “ I could say the same thing about you, Gauntlet cell.” He said before continuing, “ destroying that Concentration Camp on Kashyyyk and freeing the Wookiees, that’s pretty impressive.” He added, impressed with their skills. “Nice of you to take notice,” Kara intoned before proceeding to introduce the Gauntlet crew, “ This is Karl, Zeko and Sunset Shimmer.” “ These are my friends. We saved them from the nearby City.” Sunset spoke on behalf of her very clueless friends. Saw paid little attention to the girls and Flash before turning his attention back to the crew, “ What brings you here to this remote part of the galaxy ?” He asked them. “ Fulcrum noted that a large Imperial fleet was deployed to this region. We were sent to report on their activities and find out their intentions,” Karl answered him. “So you’re part of the Fulcrum Initiative too huh ?” Saw intoned. “ That and to save my friends from the impending invasion.” Sunset further added. “ No offense kid, but how’s that working out so far ?” Gerrera cynically pointed out. As much as Sunset wanted to snap back at Saw, she just couldn’t. Not because she felt intimidated by his hardened appearance but rather he was telling the truth. Not only did her plan to save friends and bring them off world failed, they all were now grounded on a planet that is being consolidated by the Empire. “ What brings your Partisans group here ?” Zeko asked, in trying to change the subject.

Saw pulled out a holo pad from his back and turned it on, displaying a holographic image of some kind of heavy drill-like machinery. “ Like your Fulcrum source, the Bothan spies had intercepted an Imperial transmission indicating a large fleet that was being deployed here. That wasn’t all, they also discovered tons of heavy machinery were being transported here.” He explained their reasons. Upon a closer look, Sunset recognised the machinery, only these seemed much bigger and more sophisticated, “ I’ve seen something similar like this on Kashyyyk.” She identified the machinery. “They're some kind of drills ?” Karl asked. “Not just any,” Saw continued, “ Deep Core drills. They’re used to drill deep into a planet’s core and extract resources, often damaging the surrounding environment in the process.” The mere mention of environmental destruction freaked Fluttershy to her core. “ So The Empire invaded this planet to exploit its natural resources.” Kara concluded based on Gererra’s intel. “ Rumor has it that the Empire is in the process of constructing some kind of superweapon [4]. My team and I came here hoping to find some sort of large construction site or a mining facility, not..” “An entire primitive world ?” Zeko interjected him. “You could say that.” Gerrera concurred. “Excuse me, forgive me for interrupting, but did you just call us primitive ?” Rarity grumbled.

The others, including Sunset, choose not to pay any attention to the fashionista’s grumbles. It was not uncommon of her to latch onto unimportant topics during a time of crisis. “ Whatever reason it is, their invasion of this planet is illegal. As far as I know, only the Senate has the power to annex a planet. They must have acted without their knowing.” Karl speculated. “Then we must gather proof of what the Empire did here and show it to them.” Kara intoned at him. “That shouldn’t be difficult, there’s like a ton of proof.” Sunset pointed out. The sight of Star Destroyers over the besieged City with more in orbit was more than enough evidence for them to showcase The Empire’s apparent unlawful actions. Besides there were at least hundreds of thousands of local witnesses, if not millions who had single handedly witnessed the Empire setting foot on their world. There were also her friends, who had a direct face off with stormtroopers, not to mention others who had direct contact. It seemed like they had an endless supply of evidence and witnesses to call. Gerrera, however, was indifferent to it. “I have no time for the politics of this war. Besides, the Senate has failed us before. I doubt it will be any different this time.” [5] The hardened veteran shrugged it off before answering his beeping comm link of his left hand. An alien language that Sunset had no understanding came from Saw’s comm link, with him replying with, “I’ll be there,” before turning to them, “ I’m afraid you’ll have to excuse me for now, there’s something that needs my attention. ” With that Gerrera excused himself from them as he left to deal with his apparent pressing matter, leaving behind only the female Zabrak Partisan soldier. “ It’s been a rough day for everyone, especially your friends,” She continued,” They’ll need time to process everything that has happened. You guys are free to set up camp here if you want.” The female Zabrak then left in the direction of Saw. “ As the spiky horn lady said, I think we have a lot of time for an explanation from you, Sunset.” Rainbow Dash said. “Alright,” Sunset sighed, “After all you guys deserve one.”

---

Later at Night,
Partisan Makeshift Base

It was a long night by the portable electric heater(which also served as a camplight) for the girls as Sunset Shimmer narrated the entire chain of events starting from the start- From her disturbing nightmares, to her a call from an Ancient temple where she met Kara and the rest, her apprenticeship under Kara and the circumstances that led her to return home. Sunset had also told in great detail about what she knew of the Jedi Order, the Galactic Empire and her brief life that she spent traveling through the stars, something that Twilight Sparkle, unsurprisingly, was fascinated to hear. She also couldn’t help herself but brag about her role during their mission on Kashyyyk where she had saved a group Wookiees from slavery in the hands of the Empire. Besides that, she had mentioned how her new space friends had made her feel like home despite Karl and Zeko’s cynicism(Which somehow made Pinkie Pie slightly jealous judging from her expression,) , how they worked as a team during times of crisis and their individual personal traits. The girls sat through the entire narration, only raising small questions occasionally before returning the floor over to Sunset, allowing her to finish her part of the story. It was long, exhausting and most importantly, increasingly harder to comprehend, as she explained, but the girls patiently listened till the end.

“Phew...” Sunset took a deep breath for a moment before continuing, “ So that’s basically the whole story.” She ended explaining to them “ No offense, but it’s a little hard for us to comprehend what you just told us.” Applejack admitted how far fetched the story might seem to them. It was something Sunset had expected, “ I know. I would too if I was in the same shoes as you,” She understood how hard it was to swallow it “ Perhaps the most important question is, why didn’t you come to us with these nightmare problems that have been troubling you in the first place ?” Twilight asked with concern for her friend. “Twilight’s right. We could have helped you get through with it like how you’ve helped us in the past.” Fluttershy concurred with her. There was a brief silence amongst them as Sunset thought hard of an answer. It was always moments like this that she couldn’t provide a reason despite having one in her mind. In other words, she had trouble expressing her reason through words. “ At first I thought they were the normal kind of nightmares but then it took a sinister tone, I just didn’t wanna involve you girls in it.” She reasoned. “ How Sinister are we talking about ?” Pinkie asked. “I'd rather not say, but it was bad.” Sunset said, not wanting to go any deeper to the topic of the underlying tone of her nightmares. She wasn’t about to tell about that fateful vision about her former evil-consumed self murdering them and destroying Equestria in the process, or that moment in the Temple, where an illusion that claimed to be the real Sunset Shimmer- the condescending, greedy, corrupted by anger and hate kind of person. “But darling, you still should have come to us. We would have found a way somehow to deal with this.” Rarity said.

Sunset could only remain silent as she heard Rarity politely admonishing her for not coming to them about her nightmares. ‘They have no idea what kind of nightmares it was,’ She thought to herself, and she wasn’t going to be the one who revealed it to them. “ So you’re some kind of Jedi now ?” Applejack asked in her usual country accent and was followed by Rainbow Dash’s more tomboyish voice, “ I’d never pegged you for the type to join a space cult ?”. “ Firstly, I’m more of a Jedi trainee actually,” Sunset clarified before turning to Rainbow Dash, “and the Jedi isn’t some kind of cult.” Her clarification did little to change their opinion, especially Rainbow Dash. “ Sounds exactly what a cultist would say.” She scoffed. “ I wouldn’t call it a cult per say, but more of a religiously fanatic group.” Rarity opined. “It’s neither of those. The Jedi Order were a group of Force Wielders who are the protectors of peace and justice throughout the galaxy. They stood for everything that was right. ” Sunset said. “That sounds like a very noble job and a very stressful one at the same time.” Fluttershy added. “ So the Force is different compared to Equestrian Magic ?” Twilight asked. “ I wouldn’t put it like that,” Sunset said before continuing, “ Equestrian Magic is merely an aspect of the Force. Our geodes, ponying up, it all boils down to the Force. Anything magical is actually.” “ So our geode powers and ponying up come from the Force. Does that mean we’re Force wielders too ?” Rainbow pointed out.

“ I'm sorry guys but it doesn’t work like that.” Sunset brushed off Rainbow Dash’s theory. “But you just said they’re the same thing.” Pinkie shot back. “I barely understand how it works, but you have to be naturally attuned to the Force to be considered Force sensitive.” Sunset said. Applejack’s green eyes narrowed, “What do you mean by naturally attuned ?” She asked in a confused tone. “It means you may only tap into the Force without the use of a third object.” Sunset deliberated further, “In other words, you must only rely on your spiritual connection to it. I’ll show you.” [6] Sunset took out her geode and handed it over to Fluttershy who was seated right next to her. Her eyes focused on the small group of pebbles situated close to Rarity’s legs. She closed her eyes, extended her right hand and reached out to the Force. The pebbles on the ground started to shake a little all at once before suddenly being lifted up into the air, as if something invisible was pulling it up. Aside from a short shriek let by Rarity, the others at disbelief as Sunset telekinetically held the pebbles mid air before releasing them back to the ground.

“Darling I must say, that was impressive.” Rarity hurrahed with fascination. “I could have done that too.” Twilight downplayed the act, her tone iced with a bit of envy. It wasn’t unusual for her to show a bit of jealousy but Twilight Sparkle soon shrugged off the feeling, instead being more happy for her friend instead. “ And that’s just a fraction of what a Jedi can do. Kara told me that more experienced Jedi used the Force to unlock many other abilities as well.” Sunset added. “ So Kara is like your master now in this Jedi stuff ?” Rainbow Dash pointed out. “ I guess you could say that.” Sunset turned her attention over to Rainbow, “After all, she did train to use the Force and the ways of the Jedi.” “So she’s a Jedi too ?” Applejack inquired further. “ Technically speaking, she’s not a fully fledged one, she never got a chance to be.” Sunset said, her ending took a more despondent tone. “ It was the Empire wasn’t it ?” Fluttershy innocently asked. Sunset took a deep breath before she spoke, “From what I know, The Empire saw the Jedi as a threat to their power and wiped them all out.” The girls gasped in horror upon hearing the mass genocide the Empire committed. “ Kara doesn’t like to talk about what happened. I think it’s still traumatizing for her.” Sunset further added. “Who wouldn’t be after seeing their own kind wiped out in front of them ?” Twilight added, “It’s the ultimate pain one could suffer.” “That’s just horrible to think of.” Rainbow Dash intoned. One could notice a drop tear coming from her cerise coloured eyes if theirs were sharp enough. “I know what you mean.” Sunset regarded Rainbow steadily, “Kara and I could very well the last remnants of the Jedi left.”

The girls sat in silence for only mere seconds, which seemed like hours due to the general gloomy mood they were in. They were soon interrupted by the familiar beeping noises of R5, who approached Sunset. “The trash can looking robot is here.” Rainbow sarcastically announced his arrival. “Don’t be so mean Dashie, he kinda looks futuristically cute to me.” Pinkie Pie said. R5 didn’t bother about the insults and instead passed a message to Sunset that Kara was calling to the river stream. “Thanks for telling me R5,” Sunset patted the astromech droid. “How is it again do you understand that thing ?” Applejack confusingly pointed out. From her perspective, perhaps shared by the others, R5 was communicating in a series of random beeping noises which by their standards, made no sense to them. Even Sunset felt that way when she first met R5. “He’s communicating to us in a language called Binary. It’s the language of the droids.” She clarified. “Droids have their own language too ?” Twilight asked. “Yea, they pretty much do.” Sunset answered Twilight’s question before getting up, “It appears that Kara has asked for me. You guys will have to excuse me.” “Yea sure, Sunny. Go ahead and hang out with your new pal.” Rainbow scoffed. “ Come on, Rainbow Dash, that was pretty childish of you” Rarity irked. Sunset chuckled upon the fact that despite her long absence from her home, nothing much had changed.(Apart from the fact Canterlot City had fallen to Imperial hands of course,) “Don’t worry guys, nobody has replaced anyone.” Sunset regarded them, “Anyways, I’ll have to go now. See you guys later.” Sunset excused herself from her friends as she followed R5.

Sunset didn’t get far from the group before she heard a voice calling out for her. She turned behind to find Flash Sentry running after her. As he approached her, Flash slowed down before coming to a complete stop, taking some time to gasp his breath from running earlier. Flash wasn’t exactly an athletic person as such, he ran out of breath quickly after a brief sprint. “Flash, is everything alright ?” Sunset asked the panting boy. “Yea, everything is fine.. Just never got the chance to talk personally.” Flash said as he caught his breath. “What’s there to talk about Flash ? I think I’ve told everyone else including you about everything that’s happening.” Sunset said to him. Flash however, didn’t seem to be convinced, “Come on Sunset Shimmer, We used to date. I know you well enough to know that you’re holding back something, something that’s quite obviously bothering you.” He intoned. “ I suppose you’re right,” Sunset sighed, not surprised that Flash, her former boyfriend, could see right through her. “Spill it then,” Flash said. Sunset took a deep breath before she spoke, “Those nightmares I had, they were about me killing them Flash.” Flash’s eyes widened, “Killing who ?” He asked, “ MY FRIENDS.” Sunset exclaimed mildly, her tone filled with emotion, “ I saw myself murdering not just the very girls I’ve come to care so much but also everyone else, Princess Twilight, Equestria, my schoolmates, I destroyed everything in these dreams. In these nightmares, I was one with the Dark Side, as if it was inseparable from me.”

Flash could watch in silence as Sunset was on the verge of tears, but at the same time, she was trying to fight it off. In all his time he had known Sunset Shimmer, even during her lowest point in her life, he had never seen her in a state like this before. He was speechless. “Tell me Flash, how could I possibly reveal this to them ? That in these dreams or visions, I mercilessly murdered them ?” Sunset said as she swept a single drop tear off her eyes. Sunset then tried to present herself in a more composed manner. “That person in your dreams isn’t you Sunset. I know that and I’m sure as hell they know that too.” Flash regarded Sunset steadily. “But one can’t deny at one point of time, I was capable of all that destruction and death. You know that as much as they do.” Sunset shot back. Flash admittedly had no answer to that. As much as he wanted to vehemently oppose her, he knew that at the same time Sunset was right. During the Fall Formal, she had caused so much destruction and raised a zombified army. While fortunately there hadn’t been any casualties, they would have been if Sunset was pushed just a bit more.

“These nightmares have shown that I harbor great fear of losing the people that I care about and I still do, and it is this fear that my nightmares are fueled by.” Sunset added. “What do you mean ?” Flash asked. “ Fear can cause one to do many things. Kara said if I let my fear of losing them control me, I would become their undoing. That’s why I left, to protect everyone here, and I obviously failed in that.” Sunset rued before continuing, “I thought by leaving I would keep the Empire from finding this place but look at where we are now, fugitives.” “That isn’t your fault.” Flash comforted her, “You heard what that Gerrera guy said, they’re here for our resources. It’s got nothing to do with you. In fact you saved us.” Flash had a point. From what Sunset had witnessed so far, The Imperial presence on her world seemed to be more interested in securing strategic flat plains and major cities in her mountainous world. It would seem that their actions would only concur Gerrera’s point that their interest on Utthar is for whatever it is that’s below their feet. Still, Sunset couldn’t shake off the cold feeling she felt when they passed the blockade, the feeling that her return home was something that was expected and intended, as if she was walking into a trap. Her thoughts were soon interrupted by R5’s incessant beeping noise urging her to end the conversation and follow him to Kara. Even Flash somewhat understood what the astromech droid was trying to say, “I suppose you better not keep your master waiting.” “Yea, I’d better get going. See you later, Flash Sentry.” Sunset said to Flash before taking off with R5. “Yea, you too.” Flash murmured to himself quietly as they headed away from him.

Author's Note:

The Rebel cell that had saved our protagonists earlier has been identified in this chapter, and its no other than the infamous Partisans insurgent cell led by the equally notorious Saw Gerrera. ( https://www.starwars.com/databank/saw-gerrera). In fact, this chapter is named after aforementioned character, being the very first person to fight the Empire long before the others. Saw and his Partisans are well known for their brute and extreme tactics in fighting the Empire, often resulting in high civilian casualties, much to the distaste of the other rebel cells. Their solo war against the Empire has brought them to Sunset's besieged home world, believing that there's something more to this annexation that meets the eye.... Other than that, this chapter largely focuses on explanations/summaries on previous chapters and Sunset's reasoning on leaving her friends behind, or the reasons she was willing to share. Let's head to the easter eggs,
[1] Also known as Holographic chess, the game was first introduced in a New Hope where Chewbacca and C-3PO play on board the Falcon. It's also the same scene where Han Solo makes the famous line about Wookiees being able to rip a person's limbs off when enraged.
[2] A reference to how characters in the MLP world have their respective counterparts in the EQG world. Given that Sunset is originally from the pony world, her EQG counterpart is believed to have not existed, or so it was thought to be.
[3] A reference to the Onderon arc in season 5 of the Clone Wars, where Gererra was first introduced. The arc largely consists of four episodes and I personally recommend watching it as it's one of the best story arcs in the Clone wars. (https://www.starwars.com/databank/onderon-rebels)
[4] Gererra is obsessed in finding a supposed super weapon that he believes the Empire is building.(foreshadowing...)
[5] True to his character, Saw has a strong distaste for politics and diplomacy, which he believes had failed a long time ago.
[6] In other words, one must be born a Force-sensitive, to be naturally connected to it. The rest of the girls are using a third party (geodes) in utilising their magic. It's naturally flowing through their veins.
Well, that's all for now. Check out the following chapter to see what happens next.