Chapter 18
Canterlot's state of emergency was still in full swing and this time, there was actual fear behind the situation.
Footage from the attack of Castalore, mainly due to the castle's security cameras combined with footage from the Shooting Star, had everyone realise the situation they were in was serious. As such, the fear of being attacked by these enemies was in full force.
The senate had sent out a state of emergency to every planet in the republic, with each planet's forces preparing to combat this threat. Said forces were being split into two factions. Those that would protect the planets in question, whilst another would go out in the galaxy and combat the Sith wherever they appear. Hopefully, the combined forces of all those planets would be too much for the Sith to handle.
At the Jedi order, the Council had also been busy.
Currently, almost every Jedi and Padawan was at the Temple's Holo-Training room. But they weren't practising saber combat or blaster deflection. Today, they were working on something different.
Flash, Twilight, Shining, Cadance, Thorax, Trixie and Springer stepped into the training room, as six pods appeared within it.
Each of them stepped into a pod, with Springer floating over to Flash's and plugging himself in. "You guys ready for this?" Shining asked, as the pods activated. The others nodded, each of them excited to finally get a chance to see what this bad boy could do. They had been eager to try it out, ever since they first learned about them.
Several days earlier.
In the temple's great hall, every Jedi and Padawan that had been cleared to enter the combat zone, were sitting down and staring at the centre of the round room.
There, Celestia and Luna had something to show them. Once the last Jedi was seated, Luna activated a holo-projector and showed the image of a ship that none of them had ever seen before.
It was triangular in appearance, with the cockpit being close to the nose of the ship. A pair of blaster turrets were located on either side of the cockpit and on the back, above the thrusters, two metal blades were stuck up and connected at the top to form a dorsal fin shape. The same blades were on the side of the ship, looking like they could swivel.
"Jedi," Celestia smiled, "may I present the latest in Jedi Fighter technology. The Delta-X star fighter."
"Delta-X?" Flash was curious about the name, with Twilight leaning over to whisper into his ear.
"An ancient form of writing has X stand for the number ten." Flash nodded, as Celestia allowed Luna to explain the features of the ship.
"The Jedi have never been one to start a conflict, but we've always known that a time will come when we need every tactical advantage we can get. As such, the smartest minds in the order have continued to work on designs of new ships and fighters. And now that the Sith have shown their hand, it's time those designs are brought into the physical plain. As such, work has already begun on these ships."
"That thing looks awesome," Rainbow smirked. "I wonder what colours it comes in?"
"A'h don't think the design team planned on them to be painted," Applejack told her. "It'll probably be silver or somethin'" Rainbow, Pinkie and even Shining seemed to think that sounded boring.
Luna continued to explain the features of the ship. "Twin rotating laser cannons that can turn a total of ninety degrees." The hologram then shifted to show the underside of the ship, "with a single blaster weapon on the base to allow one to shut any enemy below them." The hologram spun back around, as the dorsal fin on the back split apart and formed a V-shape. "The ship has two modes. Space mode and Flight mode. This is Flight mode, which should allow for greater manoeuvrability in almost any planet's atmosphere. Space mode will be for any space battles we might find ourselves in."
One Knight raised an arm. "Can those ships go into Hyperspace? Or will they need to ride in transport ships?"
"Good question," Celestia smiled. The hologram then changed to show a smaller version of the ship, alongside a strange looking ring. "This is a hyperdrive ring. Specifically designed for the Delta-X. Any Delta-X that connects to it, will be able to enter Hyperspace and jump to any system they're needed in. Just be careful where you leave them once they're disengaged. We don't want the Sith spotting them and blowing them up, stranding you wherever you are."
Shining smirked, "I'm liking this ship more and more. The Shooting Star's awesome, but it's about time we got some fighting ships to properly combat the Sith's ship."
Luna continued to speak. "The Delta-Xs are currently under construction, but it'll be a while before we have enough for every member of the Order. Until then, we'll need to assign them to the Jedi who have the best piloting skills."
Celestia nodded. "As such, we've designed a holographic training program. When you can, I want everyone to try and see how well you can pilot these ships. The Sith's soldiers have the skills needed to pilot theirs, but lack the instincts and connection to the Force that we have. That's our advantage against them."
The pods activated and in doing so, those inside the pods suddenly found themselves in the cockpits of the new Delta-X Fighters.
"Awesome," Flash looked over all the controls and nodded. "Okay." He flicked a few of the switches, but suddenly got a beeping alarm blasting in his face. "WOW!" He turned off those switches and looked around, unsure which ones to touch.
"Flash," Twilight spoke over the radio, "you did read the manual we were given...didn't you?"
"Of course I did," Flash told her. "Though I might have...skimmed a few sections." The others rolled their eyes, as a section behind the cockpit opened and Springer's head slotted out of it. "How you doing up there, bud?"
"I'm good," he nodded. "Amazing how these ships can adapt to allow any droid to fit inside them. I was expecting it to only allow Astro Droids in here."
"I think the original plans only allowed Astro Droids in," Twilight pointed out. "But you've more than proved almost any droid can help with these situations." Each of their ships had an Astro Droid within them, as they began to power up the ships.
Flash followed Springer's instructions and soon enough, all their ships were powered up and took to the air.
As they flew into the sky, they got the handle of the ships in Flight mode. "Not bad," Thorax smiled. "Pretty responsive." The environment around them then changed to a mountainous area, with a bunch of rings appearing in front of them.
"Alright," Shining pushed his fighter ahead, "let's see how well we can handle these things at high speed." The others nodded and increased their speed, Shining heading towards the first ring and flying through it. "Boom!"
Cadance smiled. "Easy there, fly-boy." She flew through the ring as well, the others following suit as they got faster and faster. The next ring required them to curve around a mountain and as they spun around it, Twilight over-steered and her ship's wing clipped the mountain.
"Wow!" She suddenly found herself losing control. "I'm going down!" The ground came up fast and the next thing she knew, a fire explosion appeared around her and the word 'dead' appeared on her cockpit window. "Oops."
"Try again," Shining told her. "It might take a while to get used to the controls." Despite saying that, he, Flash and thorax weren't having any issues controlling their ships.
Cadance and Trixie soon got into their own accidents, with Twilight having another not long after. All the while, the boys were showing off incredible flying instincts and even managed to do a few tricks as they flew through the final hoop.
"Okay, girls. You three keep practising. Flash and Thorax. It's time to see how well these things do in space." They nodded and flew straight up, switching the ship to Space mode as they left the atmosphere and found themselves in the depths of space.
The ships did even better in the vacuum of space, with no air resistance pushing against them. However, Flash soon found that it made the ship's response better than before. And this caused him to spin out of control, eventually crashing into a meteorite. "Ow."
"Serious ow," Springer replied. "Don't forget, I'm actually out here. At least you're shielded in the cockpit. Why don't I have any shielding?"
"Can't you retract your head back into the ship?"
"Yes, but then I won't be able to tell what's going on as well. Whatever, just try not to crash again."
"Sorry," Flash replied as the ship reappeared in space and he flew off again. "I wonder how the others are doing with their training."
"YAHOO!" Rainbow cheered, as she flew her ship through the asteroid field. She swerved around the rocks, getting inches from hitting the rock without looking the least bit worried.
She then did a barrel roll and spun out of the field. Spitfire, Applejack and Heather were also there, both rolling their eyes at how reckless Rainbow was being. "Would you be careful," Heather told her. "The council's never going to let you fly the real thing, if this is how you act in the simulator."
"Oh please," Rainbow laughed. "Did you not see that move I just pulled off. They'd be nuts to leave me out of a fight when I'm so good." They all sighed, as Applejack switched her channel to the ones on the ground.
"How you guys doin'?"
Down on the planet, Rarity, Ruby, Pinkie, Tidal, Fluttershy and First were flying around. Fluttershy was flying the slowest of them, barely going fast enough to keep gravity from pulling the ship down to the ground. "it is okay," First told her. "Go as fast as you're comfortable going."
"Okay," Fluttershy nodded. She had never been a big fan of flying and now, she was actually in control of the ship. "Maybe I'll go a little faster." She carefully flew forward, picking up a tiny bit of speed and going about five miles an hour faster.
"Wheee!" Pinkie suddenly shot past, spinning her ship around as she did so. "This is so much fun!" She caught up with Tidal, her master smiling.
"I think we're getting the hang of this," he told her before looking over at another ship.
Ruby was flying this ship, with Rarity flying right behind her. The crystal covered humanoid, noticed how steady Rarity's movements were. "Guess making all those outfits would certainly require a steady hand." She flew through the last ring and Rarity was right behind her, "looks like we've got the hang of the controls. Want to try again and a higher speed?"
"If you think I can," Rarity nodded. "I'm willing to give it a go." The pair flew back towards the start of the course, picking up speed as they did so. They flew into the first ring and shot towards the second, but Rarity suddenly found herself unable to handle the sensory input of everything going past her so fast.
After shooting through the second ring, she tried to turn. But she found herself clipping the side of a mountain and screamed, as her wing was ripped off and she spun out of control. The next thing she knew, the cockpit window was displaying the word 'dead' into her face.
"You alright?" Ruby asked.
"I'm fine," Rarity sighed. "But I don't think I'm ready to fly at top speed."
"It's all about adjustment," Ruby told her. "Keep trying and eventually, your reflexes will catch up to everything moving so fast. It's just like saber training. You weren't able to deflect even the slowest of shots when you first started, but now you can do so easily." Rarity nodded, as she once again flew through the first ring. But just like before, she found herself crashing once she built up speed. This was gonna take a lot of practise.
Back with Flash and the boys, Cadance had joined them up in space.
As the four flew together, Shining clicked a few buttons. "Alright. Let's see how well these bad boys do in a combat situation." Ahead of them, an entire fleet of bug trooper fighters appeared. As soon as they did, they started attacking by swarming around the Delta-Xs and firing at them.
Flash broke away from the other four and did several spins, eventually getting outside the swarm. There, he started firing at the bug ships and blasted several with his lower blaster. As these exploded, Thorax started shooting with his top blasters. The guns swerved up and down, following the ships as they flew around him.
Cadance dived down and spun, as her blasters turned the full ninety degrees. She opened fire and turned into a tornado of lasers, hitting several ships and destroying them. The surviving scrap flew through space and even hit a few of the other ships, the Jedi doing their best to avoid them.
Shining dodged several attacks and retaliated by shooting the bug fighter's wings, causing them to fly out of control until they crashed into another ship. He then turned his ship towards the asteroid field and flew right into it.
Several fighters followed him into the field, firing at him as they swerved around the rocks. But Shining was able to dodged them or use the rocks to shield himself, allowing him to fly around and get behind them. And before they realised this, he opened fire and destroyed two of them.
The fighters then split up and started flying around the rocks to hide.
Shining kept an eye out, as he slowed his ship down to avoid crashing into an asteroid. "Where are you?" He waited and sure enough, one of the ships appeared. "There!" He chased after the ship and started firing, the fighter dodging his blasts as it flew around a meteor. "You can't hide forever."
The ship then flew into a hole in one of the meteors, Shining deciding to follow him in.
The hole lead to a tunnel running through the rather large rock, the Delta-X moving through it and managing to fit and swerve around the many turns and curves. The ship's scanners managed to map the tunnel in front of him, allowing Shining to tell what was coming. And soon enough, he caught up to the fighter.
He tried to blast it, but the curving tunnel meant he kept missing. And eventually, they reached the end of the tunnel that led out of the meteor.
The tunnel straightened out as they approached and Shining locked on. "Got you." The fighter flew out of the asteroid and just as he was about to fire, another laser slammed into it and destroyed the ship.
"WHOO!" Flash cheered, as his fighter flew past.
"Hey!" Shining followed him out, "that one was mine." Flash glanced back at him and smirked.
"Sorry. You can have the ones that are left in the field." He mock looked around, "oh, that's right. I already destroyed them." Shining glanced around and saw he was right, as they flew out of the field and joined Thorax and Cadance as they finished off the rest of the fighters.
Shining checked the computer that kept his score and found he had done extremely well. It was a high possibility, he would end up getting his own Delta-X. Flash would likely get one too, with Thorax and Cadance always a possibility. As for Twilight and Trixie...
"WOW!" Twilight spun out of control again and crashed into the ground, forcing her to restart again. "Seriously?" She groaned, as Trixie found herself missing one of the rings and crashing when she tried to turn around. "How are the others so good at this?" She let out a sigh and tried again, refusing to give up until she could fly this course with her eyes closed.
In another part of the city, another group was preparing for the inevitable attack that was likely coming.
The sector security office has summoned all its best peacekeepers into an assembly. Amongst them was Lightning Blitz, the officer sitting at the front as the commander of the justice association stepped on stage.
"Alright, officers." He activated the holo-imager and showed holograms of the ships used by the bug troopers and Sith. "These are what we're up against. If these ships should somehow appear above our planet, it'll be our job to protect it and the citizens of Canterlot. According to the information given to us by the Jedi, the destroyers are tough to take down. If they can be infiltrated, they can be overridden and set to self destruct."
Lightning frowned, as he listened to the commander explain everything the Jedi had told him. The thought of using info given by them, did not sit well with him.
"Lastly," the commander eventually spoke up. "We've been given an image of the individuals leading this group. The chances of them showing up here are slim, but you never know. As such, be on the look out for these individuals."
The holo-imager changed to show six figures, which had clearly been designed using some kind of imagining software. The six Sith, floated above the crowd and spun to show off every detail.
Most of the officers were focused on Solara and Armalum, since her face was unknown and a droid didn't seem like one who could be a leader. But Lightning was more focused on the figure he hadn't seen in years.
The sight of his father, now considered an enemy of the republic, caused Lightning's rage to boil. And as soon as the assembly came to an end, he rushed off somewhere out of the way. Once away from prying eyes, Lightning roared as he slammed a fist into the wall.
The pair of his hand was nothing compared to the pain of his heart, as he thought about his father.
"Again," he growled. "It's bad enough that they did this to him once. Now they're trying to pin the blame on him again." He remembered a while back, when Celestia had returned from the mission that caused Canterlot to go into this state of emergency.
When she returned and spoke to the senate, she then made her way to the sector security building and spoke to the commander about what had happened. The commander had summoned Lightning into his office and Celestia had told him what had happened, along with how she had met his father and Doom's fall to the Dark Side.
Lightning had refused to believe this, accusing Celestia of once again trying to blame his father for someone else's crime. But Celestia had been both adamant and apologetic. She had agreed that it was her fault, that Doom wouldn't have done this if they hadn't accused him. But this time, there was no mistaking it. Doom had joined the side of evil and was now an enemy of the republic.
Lightning wouldn't...couldn't believe that his father had turned to the Dark Side. He had always told Lightning that justice was the most important thing in the galaxy. There was no way, he would join a bunch of criminals.
"There has to be more to this," he stated. "He wouldn't join those monsters. Not unless he had to." He tried to think of reasons his father would choose to join the Sith and suddenly, a thought occurred to him. "He's trying to bring them down from the inside. He's going to find out what they're after and stop them. That's the only thing that makes sense. He's going to do what the Jedi have no hope of doing. Stop the Sith, once and for all."
He imagined his father, throwing away the red Lightsaber he apparently had and taking out a blue one. Using it to strike down the other five Sith and being called a hero by a bunch of adoring people. The Jedi falling to their knees, praising him and begging him to rejoin as their new grandmaster. And Doom simply walking away, as the rest of the galaxy sees how pathetic the Jedi truly are.
"That has to be it," Lightning smiled. "Father. I promise I'll find a way to help you. We'll take those Sith down before the Jedi can mess everything up. I promise."
He had to find a way to get in contact with Doom. He might be in hiding, but there had to be a way Lightning could find him and tell him he knows what he's planning. Doom had escaped from Canterlot once. There was no way he could do that on his own. He had to have friends to help him.
"Maybe I can find them." With that, Lightning headed off to begin his question. To join his father in his mission to defeat the Sith.
Back at the temple, Twilight was once again attempting to fly through the course at her fighter's top speed.
She swerved left, swerved right, flew down towards the ring. And when the ship flew through it, she pulled her joystick back in order to avoid slamming into the ground. She had to fly straight up, as a mountain was right in front of her. But doing so caused a lot of G force to be placed on her body.
Most ships are designed with G force dampeners in order to counteract hyperspace acceleration. However, the Delta-X didn't have that. The hyperdrive ring did that job, but that meant the standard Delta-X had nothing to protect the pilot from being crushed into the back of their seat.
As such, as Twilight flew higher and higher, faster and faster, it felt like the entire ship was being pressed down on her.
"Ahhhh!" She cried, unable to believe the hologram room was able to simulate this level of realism. Eventually, it was too much and Twilight felt herself losing consciousness for a moment.
That one moment, was all it took for her ship to fly out of control and crash into a mountain. The annoying fail alarm went off, signalling her had crashed. But this time, Twilight didn't hit the restart button. She just sat there, the feeling of the Gs on her body still making her dizzy.
Suddenly, the pod began to open up and Shining looked down into it.
"You okay?" He asked, as Twilight moaned.
"How can you handle that much weight on your body? It felt like I had a Veltruvian Viscus sitting on me."
Shining smirked as he helped her up. "We're just physically stronger than you. Maybe if you spent a little more time training your body as well as your mind, you'd be able to handle it." Twilight frowned, as she saw the others getting out of their pods.
"I can keep going," she replied. "I'm almost there."
"Sorry, sis. You clearly need some time to recover. Besides, our allotted time in the simulators is over. The other Jedi need to practise with it too." Twilight sighed, wishing she had more time to perfect her flight skills.
As they headed out of the training room, Twilight's body began to recover and she was able to walk on her own. They met up with Spitfire and the others who had been training, then all headed to the mess hall to get something to eat. As they did, the younger Jedi spoke about how well they did in the simulator.
"Just watch," Rainbow smirked as they sat down with their food. "I bet I'll be the first one Master Celestia asks to fly a Delta-X. I probably had the best score out of everybody."
"Actually," Spitfire had a tablet out. "I'm looking at the scores on this. You're actually in third place." Rainbow's eyes widened, as she took the tablet and saw who was ahead of her.
"No way!" She turned to Shining and Flash, the others glancing over at them whilst they gave everyone a quizzical look. "Alright, how is that possible? Shining, I can understand. But how is Flash at the top?" That shocked them, since they assumed Shining was at the top. "You've only piloted...what, three times?"
"Might be less," Flash admitted.
"Seriously? How are you so good? You've never even had an actual flying lesson?"
Shining shrugged. "Flash spent years in the wilderness. He learned to trust his instincts and react to threats, sometimes before they even appear. That's not something you can learn in a normal Jedi environment. It just so happens that those instincts can help can be transferred to fighter piloting."
Rainbow frowned as she took a bite of her sandwich.
"That might be the case," Twilight agreed. "But Flash also had something else, that might have given him the edge." Everyone gave her a quizzical expression. "Springer."
"What about me?" Springer asked.
"You were actually plugged into the ship and helped Flash when he needed it. The rest of us had holographic droids, with no personality and tactical skills."
"So that's it," Rainbow frowned. "You had an unfair advantage."
"No I didn't," Flash frowned before Thorax spoke up.
"Springer had to tell you how to switch your ship on." The others laughed as Flash gave him a glare.
"I didn't help that much," Springer replied. "Flash was doing all the flying and shooting. All I did was focus on the shields and managing the power distribution. That's all."
Rainbow didn't seem to believe that for a moment, whilst Twilight turned to Flash. "I've been meaning to ask. K-9 droids were a limited addition droid set. So how did you end up with one, when you spent most of your life of a forest moon?"
Flash smirked as he thought back to that day. The day he made one of the best friends he would ever have.
Years ago.
A six year old Flash Sentry, was watching as Trail Blazer and the rest of the stranded individuals were working on something. It was a machine, which they would use to sanitise water they would get from a nearby stream. As they worked on it, they found they were missing a crucial part.
"I'll go see if I can find one." He headed to the crashed ship, which had been stripped of many components to be remade into something else. Flash followed his father into the ship, the pair carefully making their way into the bowls of the ship in order to search for the part in question.
As they kept searching, Flash noticed several boxes still hiding away inside the ship's cargo container.
As Trail moved to an area he believed would have the part he was looking for, Flash began looking through the boxes. And eventually, he found one with a dog-like robot on it. "What's this?" He started reading the box and despite not being the best at reading, he realised the droid in the box must have a ton of different uses.
As he kept reading, Trial returned with the part he was looking for. "What 'cha got there?" Flash held up the box and Trial saw what it was. "Hey, a K-9 droid. Those were all the rage before we crashed here."
"So what's it doing here?" Flash asked.
"It was either being delivered somewhere, or someone on-board had brought it with them." Trial suggested asking around the camp and that's exactly what Flash did, carrying the box around and asking if it belonged to anyone. But nobody claimed it as their own, making Flash wonder what to do with it.
When he spoke to Grand and his parents, Grand suggested building it. "A droid like that could be useful to have around. And it would be good practise."
"Practise?" Flash asked.
"Of course. I don't intend for us to stay on this moon forever. One day, you'll need to build your own Lightsaber. It's an important right of passage for any Jedi. Building that droid might be good practise." Flash liked that idea and when his parents agreed, Flash got right to work.
And thus, Flash spent the next few weeks working on constructing the droid.
It came with instructions, but Flash barely looked them over. Instead, he built the droid the way he liked it. He found some of the components weren't great and would have likely broken down after a few years, so he threw them away and instead replaced them with parts he got from the ship. This would give the droid several upgrades.
Better battery life and power efficiency. A stronger hover skirt, since the standard one would only be able to float it a few inches off the ground. And best of all, a better AI circuit and an actual vocal processor. The standard K-9 Droid was only meant to bark and follow simple commands. But Flash, with a little help from some of the more tech savvy members of the camp, had rewritten the AI to actually be an artificial intelligence.
"Alright," Flash placed the last circuit into the machine. "I think that's it." Grand and his parents were there and as Flash closed up the droid's body, he hit the switch and the droid began to power up.
As the visor that was his eyes began to light up, he looked around and saw Flash. The robot tilted its head, as he beeped and booped.
"Hello," Flash smiled, "I'm Flash."
"F...Flash." The droid was getting used to its vocal processor.
"That's right," he nodded. "And you're..." He reached for the instructions and saw the serial number for the droid. "K-9 Unit, S-P-R-1-G." He frowned, not liking that name at all. "S...P...R...Spr...Sprig...Spiger...Springer." He smiled. "K-9 Unit Springer. You're name is Springer."
"Springer?" The droid asked.
"You like that name?" The droid didn't seem to understand.
"When he first came online, Springer didn't really understand anything. He was like a baby, needing to be taught everything. But once he learned something, he remembered it forever."
"Makes sense," Twilight nodded. "So how long until he was...well, the Springer we all know?"
"Couple of weeks," Flash replied. "He could hold up a conversation, but he didn't seem to have any emotion in his responses. Then one day, someone made a joke at his expense and Springer yelled out 'hey', like a normal person would. After that, he started sounding more and more...human, by the day."
"You insult me," Springer joked. "I'm so much more than human. All the class, none of the disgusting squishy parts." They all laughed at this, as a group of younglings arrived for their own lunch.
This included Spike, Scootaloo, Applebloom and Sweetie Belle. And when they had their food, they rushed over to their table. "Hey," Spike sat down next to Twilight and Shining. "We heard about the new ships. What are they like?"
"They're awesome," Flash smirked at Twilight. "For those who can actually fly them."
"Ha, ha," Twilight replied drily. "I just need more practise. Once I've gotten the hang of them, I'll be flying circles around you."
"I'm not so sure about that," Cadance told her. "Like Celestia said, it's gonna take a long time to make enough ships for everyone. She's gonna hand the ships over to those with actual aerial combat skills. And don't take this the wrong way, but your talents aren't in that kind of combat. You might be okay in saber combat, but your skills lay elsewhere."
Twilight frowned at this, though she knew Cadance was right. But what could Twilight do if she wasn't supposed to be right there in the action?
"Well I wanna have a go in those simulators," Spike suddenly spoke up. "I bet I'd be a great flyer." The other younglings nodded, but Shining simply frowned at him.
"They're not toys you can mess around with. You're not gonna be going into battle for a very long time. And by the time you're ready to join in on the action, the Delta-X will have probably been replaced by another kind of fighter. You'd be learning it for no reason." Spike huffed at this, but still clearly wanted to have a go.
Cadance patted him on the head. "I'm sure when everyone's gotten their own ships, the simulators will be free for you to practise with. You just have to be patient."
"Yeah," Spike nodded. "That's all I ever seem to hear. Be patient. Gotta wait until the right time to build a Lightsaber. Gotta wait until the right time to become a Padawan. Gotta wait until the right time to learn how to fly. Why am I always waiting for all the cool stuff to happen?"
"That's just the way things are," Flash told him. "I had to wait my whole life before I could finally come to the temple and become a Jedi. Try waiting that long and think about your situation." Spike huffed at this.
Scootaloo then spoke up. "It's not gonna be that long until we get to go to Ilum. Once we have our real sabers, then we'll be ready to show everyone how awesome we are."
"I don't know about that," Heather frowned. "With the Sith a constant threat, the Masters might think it's too dangerous to let younglings go to Ilum." The four youngsters gasped, clearly fearing they'll miss their chance to make their Lightsabers.
"I'm sure they won't cancel the gathering," Shining told her. "There'll probably be more security for the trip there and back, but I'm sure Celestia won't deny these kids the chance they're working hard for." They smiled at this, as the older members of the group finished their meals. "Alright. Since the training rooms are all being used, we probably won't be able to do much more training."
"You're right," Spitfire nodded.
"Does that mean we get the rest of the day off?" Rainbow asked.
"Hardly," Spitfire laughed. "There might be a war going on, but we've still got work to do. Our Core work is just as important as stopping the Sith. And honestly, we'll need as much food and medical supplies as we can get."
"She is right," First agreed. "Fluttershy, Pinkie. We should head off and get to work." The girls nodded as the three headed off towards the medical centre, Cadance going with them.
The others were thinking the same thing, Applejack and Heather preparing to head to the moon whilst Ruby, Twilight and Rarity headed off to the archives. That left Flash, Shining, Tidal, Rainbow, Spitfire and Trixie to wonder what to do, with Shining eventually deciding to head to the archives as well.
"I want to see the most up to date map of the galaxy. Maybe we can figure something out by looking at where the Sith have shown up before." They nodded at this as they headed off, all the while hoping they could find where the Sith would strike next before they tried to.
In another sector of the galaxy, a ship had just come out of hyperspace.
Inside the ship, a multitude of different soldiers could be seen working there. Not just the bug troopers, but also the newly built humanoid battle droids. Many of these droids were flying the ship, whilst the bug troopers prepared for battle.
In the very centre of the ship, was Solara. She was inside a study-like room, going over many different files and scrolls. She was reading through one of them, when a bug trooper entered the room. "Lady Solara. We've arrived. Gemmax has yet to raise its defences."
"Good," Solara nodded. "Then prepare to attack." She looked through her notes and nodded, then stepped over to a computer and activated the holo-imager. "I want you to focus your attention on this area of the planet," she pointed to the section in question. "Draw as much of the planet's military force to that section. I need this area to be defenceless." She pointed to an area and the trooper nodded.
"Understood. We'll make it so they have no choice but to send every troop they have." Solara nodded as he left the room, the Sith turning to look down at another scroll. "It'd better be here. If not, the master will not be pleased." She stared at the scroll, showing the image of a triangular object she was after. If everything went as planned, it would soon be in her possession.
Back on Canterlot, Twilight, Rarity and Ruby had chosen to join the Seekers as they brought up the most up to date map of the galaxy.
Twilight already knew this map like the back of her hand, along with every star system and planet in those star systems. "Yowtar," Shining points out as the planet in question appeared. "Alongside Castalore and the two forest moons."
"One of which we don't even know the location of," Spitfire pointed out. "Hate to say it, but there's no way we're gonna be able to find these guys just with these planets. They could have come from anywhere to get there."
"She's right," Ruby nodded. "They could have come from the Outer Rim, or the Wild Space. Or even the Unknown Regions. There's just too many places to search for them. We need more clues on where to look."
They all frowned, as Flash spoke up. "Too bad we still don't know what Solara was doing on the forest moon." They turned to him. "Remember what I told you guys. She took something from that temple. But I'm not sure what."
Twilight frowned. "If only I was able to decipher the marks on those walls. Then we might know what the temple was made to house." She turned to Flash, "is there anything else you can remember from that temple?"
"I only had a few seconds to look around before she attacked. All I know is that the altar was missing some kind of triangle shaped object from it. Aside from that, I have no idea what it could be."
"Triangle shape?" Ruby hummed, as she connected to the archive's computer. "There has to be something in our files about that." She started typing and several triangular objects appeared. Some were simple triangular plates, whilst others were boxes in that shape with rounded points. And some were more like pyramids.
Flash frowned. "I have no idea if it was any of them. Like I said, I didn't actually see it. All I saw was the dust mark on the altar. And it was only for a few moments."
"It's still a start," Shining replied as he focused on one object in particular. "I just hope it wasn't one of these." He pointed at it, the others seeing it was a pyramid object made of metal and glass.
"What is that thing?" Rainbow asked.
"A Sith Holocron," Spitfire replied. "Those are really dangerous, holding Dark Side secrets that can corrupt even the purest of Jedi. If Solara got her hands on that, there's no telling what kind of dangerous Dark Side technique she could have learned."
They continued to work on figuring out what the heck the Sith were planning, but they just didn't have enough information to even guess what was happening.
Twilight, needing a break from the research, headed out to a nearby water fountain in order to get a drink. As she sipped on the refreshing drink, she thought about what Cadance had said earlier. Twilight clearly wasn't going to be getting her own fighter, so she wouldn't be taking part in space battles. And based on how she had barely managed to keep up with Solara during their fight, her place wasn't in close quarters combat. So what was?
"Twilight?" The Padawan looked around and saw Celestia, the grandmaster stepping towards her.
"Master," she bowed.
"Raise your head," Celestia told her. "What seems to be the problem, my most faithful servant?" Twilight frowned, Celestia clearly able to tell something was wrong. "Come now. I'm your master. It's my job to help you with any issues you might have. So, what's wrong?"
"I guess you've seen the simulation results."
"Yes," Celestia nodded. "I was surprised by how well Flash of all people did. If he doesn't make it as a Jedi, at least he'll have a future racing around the galaxy." She noticed an upset look on Twilight's face. "Ah, I see. Yes, your results weren't exactly...pleasing, to say the least."
"I'm sorry," Twilight sighed.
"It's okay," Celestia told her. "So what if you can't fly the Delta-X? There are many other talents in the universe."
"None that are going to help us stop the Sith," Twilight stated. "If I can't fly a fighter or stand up against them in a fight, what am I supposed to do?" Celestia frowned at this statement. "Solara was way better than me. If Applejack and Rainbow hadn't been there, I wouldn't have stood a chance against her."
"Maybe, but you don't need to be able to fight in order to win a war."
"If I can't fly and I can't fight. How am I supposed to help?"
"By focusing on your strengths," Celestia told her. "You have the strongest connection to The Force, that I've seen in over two centuries. You've shown incredible growth in all areas of The Force. You might not be able to heal, but I'm sure you'll one day awaken an even greater power."
"Like what?"
"I don't know. But I know it's going to be amazing. And The Force is just one talent that makes you such an important asset to the Order's fight against the Sith." She pocked Twilight's forehead, "like that big brain of yours. I'm confidant, you'll come up with an amazing plan to help tip the scales against them."
"You think so?" Twilight was suddenly feeling a lot of pressure, with Celestia nodding at her.
"I know you want to find a way to contribute to this war. Everyone does. That's why we're working so hard. But Twilight, don't feel like you have to do some grandiose feat in order to make a difference." Celestia suddenly frowned, clearly remembering something she didn't wish to remember. "Wars may appear grand and destructive, but I know first hand that victory isn't decided by the ones that pull the trigger or throw the bombs."
"They're not?" Twilight asked.
"Yes," Celestia nodded. "During our first conflict with Sombra, I fought in many battles. I defeated many foes and it led me to be seen as the greatest Jedi of our order, leading to my eventual rise to grandmaster." Twilight nodded. "But I never could have done any of that on my own. Before every battle, I was given food grown and prepared by another. My clothes had been washed and fixed from my last fight. I was given tactical knowledge by those that had worked tirelessly into the night in order to plan. I ended those battles, but they were won by others."
Twilight could understand what Celestia was saying. "So, I don't have to fight to help."
"Of course not," Celestia nodded. "You're a skilled fighter, but it's not what makes you important. You decide what part you want to play in this war. That's true for everyone else as well." Twilight smiled at this, as they returned to the archives and Celestia stepped up to the map they were staring at. "Attempting to figure out where the Sith are based?"
"Or where they'll attack next," Shining nodded. "But so far, we haven't got a clue."
"You're not the only ones looking," Celestia stated. "I've got every Jedi out in the galaxy, keeping an eye out for any information that might lead us to finding them. But they've managed to cover their tracks rather well."
Ruby sighed. "What we need is for them to attack a planet located at the end of a Hyperspace corridor."
Rainbow frowned, "why?" Ruby zoomed in on a part of the map, which showed the planet Castalore. She then typed on the console and a white line appeared on the holographic image, right next to Castalore.
"This is the hyperspace corridor next to Castalore." She then zoomed out and they saw the corridor split into several branches at both ends of the line. "Once a ship enters hyperspace, it can't turn around. It has to leave the corridor and set a new course in the other direction."
"Still don't get it," Rainbow frowned.
Ruby rolled her eyes and typed at the console, causing a red and a blue dot to appear. "That's the enemy ship." The red one flew into the corridor, the blue one right after it. "Let's say the ship enters the corridor and it flung into Hyperspace. But we have no idea which way down the corridor it's going." The blue dot flew into the corridor, but went in the opposite direction.
They all watched, as the blue dot then flew out of the corridor and reentered to go after the red dot. But by that time, the red dot had entered one of the many branches and flew off. By the time the blue one reached the fork, there was no way to tell where it went.
Celestia nodded. "If we try to chase them into Hyperspace, there'd be a fifty fifty chance of going in the right direction. Choose the wrong direction and the enemy will have escaped before we can turn around."
Ruby nodded. "But if we were at the start of a Hyperspace tunnel." The image changed to show another planet, except the light sting near this one ended before reaching the planet.
They watched as the red and blue dots flew towards the corridor and this time, the blue one was able to follow the red one no matter which way it went. Eventually, the red dot left Hyperspace and the blue one flew out with it.
"I get it now," Rainbow nodded. "So if they appear somewhere that only has a corridor heading in one direction..."
"Exactly," Ruby nodded. "The question of the hour, though, is will they attack locations like that? They must know that we would try and chase them down if they did that, so it's likely they'll avoid being seen in places like that."
"Which we might be able to use," Twilight stated before expanding back to the full map. The vast galaxy stared back at them and a good portion of it hadn't even been explored. "Alright. If we remove any planets and sectors that only have the ends of Hyperspace corridors." Several planets disappeared. "And also systems with single hyperspace lanes." Several more areas disappeared. "That'll cut down the number of areas they'll target."
"Maybe," Celestia nodded. "But that's still a vast region of multiple star systems to check out. But as we gain more intel on them, we'll be able to eliminate more sectors and figure out their next move." But as she said that, her gauntlet beeped and she checked the message. As she read it, her eyes went wide. "Oh no."
"What's wrong?" Shining asked, as Celestia turned to Ruby.
"Gemmax has been attack." Ruby gasped, Rarity also looking shocked whilst the others frowned.
Only Flash and Springer seemed confused. "What's Gemmax?" The Padawan asked, with Twilight bringing the planet up on the map.
"It's Ruby's home world," she told him. "It's a planet made almost entirely out of gems."
Ruby stepped forward. "Master Celestia. I ask that you allow me to go and defend the planet." Celestia didn't look so sure. "I promise, I won't let my connection to my planet hinder my judgement. I'll act as if this was any other planet under attack."
Celestia nodded. "Very well. You may go. Take Rarity with you. Twilight, I want you to go as well." Twilight and Rarity nodded, "I'll also have someone from the Medical Core go as well. If the last few encounters is any indication, we're gonna need some strong healers."
"We'll go too," Rainbow smiled.
"Yes, you will. But not with them." Rainbow looked confused. "The first few Delta-X Fighters are almost complete. I would have preferred you get some actual experience with them before taking them into battle, but the Sith haven't given us that option. As soon as they're finished, you will take them to Gemmax and work to take their fighters down."
"Yes master," they all nodded as Celestia looked at the image of the planet.
"The Sith have to have attacked this planet for a reason. There are easier places to try and conquer, so they must be after something. This is our chance to find out what they're after and stop them before it's too late." They all nodded before heading off, each of them ready to protect the republic and anything else that the Sith might threaten. No matter what, the Sith wouldn't be getting their hands on what they were after this time.
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This episode explains how Flash met Springer.
You can really tell Twilight isn’t good with piloting Delta-X at all.
Look like the next chapter will be dealing with Ruby's home planet, Genmax… see you on next week. :)
This was a pretty fun chapter. Flash being a great flyer was a bit surprising, but his survival skills plus Springer's assistance make sense. Rainbow being a bit of a sore loser at only getting 3rd Place also feels in-character for her. I really enjoyed the flashback showing how Flash made Springer. I just love those two together.
The Delta-X shows that the Jedi are stepping up in the war against the Sith, and now with the attack on Ruby's home planet, it looks like Twilight will have another chance to prove herself.
Oh, poor guy. I'm sorry, bud, but that's not what's happening at all. And now, I'm worried that Lightning is going to end up having a Mustafar scene with Doom.