Victor Squad: New Frontier

by Legofan

Chapter 12: Live and Let Spy

~~~Canterlot Castle, Canterlot, 3 days and 17 hours after the Ambush at Equus~~~

---

For Princess Luna, the day had been wearying, having had to deal with the fight between Shining Armor and Grievous. It was about the time of night when Luna resigned herself to her chambers. Along the way, she made a conscious effort to avoid Shining Armor’s quarters, as well as the Captain himself, if he were to show himself. Her sullen walk led her through the hall in which her room resided, which still bore much of the carnage resulting from the earlier feud.

Grievous had offered his droids’ services in repairing the damage done. There weren’t any in the hall presently, as Celestia was sleeping, and Grievous didn’t want to disturb her. Nonetheless, the droids had made some progress since the offer had been made, having taken down all of the banners that had been in close proximity to the fight and removing most of the floor tiles that had been damaged in some form.

That was some expensive marble, too. Even with labor covered, repairs would still be costly. Putting up with Grievous was seeming like more trouble than it was worth.

With a dejected sigh, Luna shoved aside the door to her room, which had miraculously escaped harm, and entered, gaze fixed on the floor in front of her. As she kicked off her elegant hoofwear, she failed to notice the unwelcome guest lazily sprawled on her sizeable bed.

“What’s wrong, Lulu? You seem sad.”

Startled, Luna yelped, jumping back into the door and slamming it shut. Her guest chuckled, and she affixed her gaze to his serpentine form. “Discord,” she grumbled, her surprised eyes forming into a glare. “Firstly, what are you doing in my chambers, let alone on my bed? And secondly, don’t call me ‘Lulu’.”

Discord shifted over to the far side of her bed. “Now, dear Luna, don’t be rash. I mean you no harm by being atop your bed.” He patted the spot beside him. “Come join me; we need to have a discussion.”

“Get off my bed, and I’ll consider talking to you,” she replied, stepping towards him threateningly.

Releasing a dramatic sigh, Discord responded. “Please, Luna, be reasonable. There’s no reason we can’t have a nice, relaxing chat on your nice, relaxing bed.”

She groaned in frustration, but gave up arguing. Delicately, she climbed up onto her bed, keeping to about the center of her side of the bed and laying back onto her soft, plush pillows. She was far from relaxed, though. Instead, her body was tensed, and she had several spells at the ready to launch at the tricky draconequus if he were to try anything funny.

With a relaxed sigh, Discord snuggled in place next to her, putting his arms behind his head. “See, isn’t this nice?” he asked her. “Now, what was it you wanted to talk about?”

“It was you who wished to talk to me,” Luna snapped.

Putting a talon to his chin, he said, “Oh, yes, quite. Well, perhaps we can start this conversation off like that last one with you guessing the topic?”

“Grievous?”

“Ugh, no,” Discord said, brushing at his tongue as if he were trying to wipe away a bad taste. “That thing’s been all anypony’s talked about for the past three days. And you know me; I like to keep things ever-changing. I was hoping that we could talk about you.”

Luna grunted and turned her head so that she was facing away from him. “Hmph. What about me could you possibly want to discuss?”

“I am quite surprised you’re laying on this bed with me right now,” said Discord, seemingly randomly. Luna turned to face him, cocking her brow in confusion. “It’s actually somewhat disappointing.”

“Explain.”

“Luna, my dear, you’ve always been my favorite between you and your sister,” he elaborated, attempting to lay a friendly arm on her shoulder, which she promptly swatted away. Discord smiled. “You had attitude, personality, emotion...those are things that Celestia doesn’t seem to have. You had no problem contesting Celestia before, when you didn’t agree with her.”

Mildly annoyed, Luna said, “To what time are you referring by saying ‘before’?”

With a snap of his talon, the curtains on the nearby window were pulled open, allowing the radiance of the night’s full moon to shine into the room. The rays of moonlight landed directly on Luna, illuminating her features with a soft shimmer. Luna got the hint.

“Since your return to your beautiful self, you’ve been...different,” Discord continued, his tone growing somber. “Whatever happened to the wonderful mare who hated me so much way back when? The mare who could tell when Celestia made a mistake, and the mare who would stop at nothing to fix it?”

Discord was staring intently at her, his expression uncharacteristically serious. She shifted under his critical gaze, averting her attention elsewhere as she contemplated his words. With a sigh, she responded, “That mare has learned from the mistakes of her own that Celestia should not be questioned. More often than not, her choices are correct.” A single tear rolled down her cheek. “I’ve already paid a millennium separated from my dear sister due to my poor choices. I won’t let that happen again.”

Frowning, Discord stated his rebuttal. “So that’s it? You’re not even going to try to inform Celestia of your disagreement? You’re going to let her façade of infallibility continue?”

“I trust my sister, even though I disagree with her.”

“That's incredibly contradictory, dear Luna. She’s placed Equestria in grave danger. You’ve sensed it; I know it; Shining Armor’s seen it; I think there’s plenty of support for your case.”

“I...I...I’ll not confront my sister,” she declared sadly. “I won’t risk our separation again.” Suddenly, she whipped her head in Discord’s direction, glaring at him. “Why don’t you inform Celestia about your objections? From your own words, there’s plenty of support for your case.”

“Me?” Discord asked rhetorically, pointing to himself dramatically. “And why in Equestria would Celestia listen to me? She only lets me free as a courtesy, not because she actually wants me to not be immobilized for the remainder of eternity. And I’d be willing to bet that any type of resistance against her by me would result in me being recast into stone.”

“Celestia is a reasonable mare,” Luna defended. “No matter how much I wish she’d have you petrified again, she wouldn’t do so just because you present to her your opinion.”

“So tell me: if that’s the case, then why are you so unwilling to present to her your opinion?” His grin was wide, expression smug; Luna had been cornered by her own words. Victory was imminent.

“Because I...because I…” she said, looking about nervously. More tears broke out, though she didn’t sob. “Because I don’t trust that that’s true, and I don’t want to take the risk,” she admitted, finally losing her composure.

Discord recoiled for a moment, not expecting that reaction at all. But, seeing Luna in distress, he gently patted her on the back. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I’ll leave before I cause any more harm.”

And he did. But the harm was done.

~~~Main Street, Ponyville, 4 days and 7 hours after the Ambush at Equus~~~

---

For a few minutes now, Spy, Rainbow Dash, and their small escort of droids, one of whom was holding Spy’s confiscated helmet and weapons, had been diligently marching down the dirt path towards the populated area of Ponyville. Applejack had gone directly to her home instead of accompanying her friend, which was completely understandable, as she had eight disabled droids scattered about her barn that needed to be taken care of.

Since then, Spy and Dash had not said a word, the pegasus looking a little upset as she hovered alongside the clone. Like the droids had said, their destination was the town’s train station, which meant that they would need to traverse directly through the town. He hoped that he wouldn’t garner too much attention.

However, the droid hadn’t said that he wasn’t allowed to speak. Bored as he was, he tried to start a conversation with his grumpy companion as they passed into Ponyville proper. “Dash, you’re not looking too friendly,” he teased with a smirk. “What’s got you down?”

Rainbow Dash scoffed. “Ugh, you sounded just like Pinkie for a second. You want to know what’s got me down?” she asked, crossing her forelegs and turning away. “You do. You probably scared the feathers off of Fluttershy, scarred Pinkie and AJ for life, and personally threatened me. I think I’ve got plenty of reason to not look too friendly.”

“You gotta see, though,” he tried to explain, “that I did it all to try to avoid ending up in the situation we’re in now.”

“And look how that turned out,” Dash criticized.

Spy was about to argue, but a solid smack to his back from the droid behind him cut him off. Fortunately for the clone, his armor made the blow nothing more than a painless shove, but he nonetheless shot the droid an annoyed look as it commanded him to be silent. There was no room for him to object, though, so he complied.

By now, the small group had made its way further into town, but thankfully hadn’t reached anywhere that was particularly populated. They passed a few individuals, who all glanced and stared at the clone curiously, but had avoided any big crowds. This fortune, however was not to last, as the station was on the complete opposite side of the town, meaning that they would be forced to pass through the marketplace.

As they neared the market, the streets got more and more dense with civilians, who all regarded the group with mixed emotions. Some especially curious onlookers opted to follow, quickly making the simple escort business a bigger scene that it really should have been or needed to be.

Ponies in groups began to whisper among themselves, evidently about them. Spy could have sworn that he heard ‘Rainbow Dash’ mentioned a couple of times by ponies who had trouble keeping their volume low, and was sure that rumors were beginning to form.

He looked over to his colorful acquaintance with an apologetic look. “I think rumors are forming,” he said softly to her. He was about to apologize in advance for possibly tarnishing any reputation she had, but was again silenced by the droid behind him, who reaffirmed that he was to not speak. And so he didn’t.

Eventually, the escort had made its way to the edge of noisy market. It was a large area that would have been open if not for the large array of stalls and stands scattered about it, the owners of which were trying their best to peddle their wares. The place was sufficiently busy, the crowds of customers thick enough to be a nuisance for anyone who was simply trying to pass through. Dotted throughout the crowd were about a half dozen droids, each standing around -appearing comically out of place amongst the colorful sea of short beings surrounding them, Spy might add- and keeping watch for anything regarding a Republic presence. Thinking back, Spy had seen a few droids lining the streets they had gone down, but hadn’t paid them any mind.

Although they had just then reached the edge of the market, the group had already gathered much attention. The clone’s presence was known throughout the entirety of the crowd in a matter of moments. Everything seemed to fall silent as the ponies all stopped to watch the alien. Almost all looked upon him with some level of curiosity, understandable, and a large portion of them also looked upon him with fear. Also understandable. Only one pair of eyes seemed to regard him with something less hostile, those eyes belonging to a mint green unicorn who was making its way through the crowd towards them.

Despite the quantity of bodies, the droids would not reduce their pace. They pushed through, the crowd backing away and forming a path of sorts for them, leading to the other side of the market. As Spy passed by the great multitude of ponies, he began to wilt under their scrutinizing gazes. He tried his best to appear more friendly than his situation would care to proclaim, putting on a charismatic but ultimately faux smile.

If anything, the façade served only to make things more uncomfortable and tense. It was a poor impression he was making, indeed. But if these things were going to be his captors, he was at least going to try his best to appeal to them.

“Hello!” he called out to them in a tone that verged on mockery despite his best efforts to sound genuine. Whispers broke out among the members of the crowd, and even Rainbow Dash eyed him skeptically. To Spy, though, the quiet whispers were much more preferable than the awkward silence that had pervaded them before, and he made to continue with a ‘how are you?’

The droid behind him, however, intervened before he could speak the second word, reasserting its command of silence. This time, however, the droid’s elbow hit not Spy’s back, but rather the back of Spy’s exposed neck. With nothing to cushion the impact, the full force of the nasty blow cracked against his flesh.

The crowd gasped.

The clone stumbled. He tripped and fell. His hands, bound behind his back, were unable to help prevent him from falling face-first to the ground. The wind was knocked out of him, and he could have sworn that the universe, just to spite him, had a conveniently placed rock for him to smash his forehead against.

With both sides of his head throbbing, Spy expressed his discomfort with a groan, but the droids would not relent. The same droid that had pelted his neck had the audacity to kick his downed form. “Up,” it commanded, as if that was something Spy could just do despite his hurt and his bindings.

Spy struggled to bring his knees underneath him so that he could rise. But he was too slow for the droid’s patience, and it kicked him again once he had gotten to his knees, causing him to topple onto his side. “Up,” it commanded of him again, aiming its weapon at him to accentuate that it was in no mood for games.

To Spy’s relief, the pain in his head had begun receding, but he still had the issue of his bound hands to complicate the process of standing again. As he maneuvered his knees under him again, he felt something begin to pull him up from his back. Looking over his shoulder, he saw Rainbow Dash grabbing onto the back of his armor. He flashed her a grateful grin and began to stand.

Then, there was another set of hooves helping steady him as he rose. He glanced down to see the mint green unicorn that he had explicitly noticed beforehand. Its help was a little late, but he nonetheless smiled in gratitude towards it.

Now on his feet, the droid barked another order. “Move,” it demanded, prodding him in the back with its blaster. And he complied, not wanting to be anymore of a disturbance. The group made it out of the market without further incident, additionally losing all those who had been trailing them before. Only the unicorn followed them now.

“Wait!” it called to the droids in a feminine voice, but they ignored her. Rainbow Dash didn’t, though, and she immediately engaged the unicorn.

“Lyra? What do you want?”

The pony named Lyra caught up to the droid behind Spy. “I want to talk to the clone, but I don’t want the clone to be hit for speaking back.”

Rainbow just shrugged, going along with it. “Yeah, that was totally uncool,” she said to the droids. “As much as we don’t like this guy, you didn’t need to club him over the head for talking. Let the guy speak.”

The droid said, “Roger, roger,” and nothing more.

“Um...thanks, you guys, for helping me up back there?” Spy said softly, bracing himself for an impact that never came.

When the droid didn’t hit him, Spy visibly relaxed, and Lyra moved to be by his side. “You’re not Slum, are you?” she asked him.

In response, he confusedly cocked a brow. “No, I’m Spy...do you know someone named Slum?”

“I do,” she said hopefully. “You wouldn’t happen to know him, would you?”

“This is a clone we’re talking about, right?” he queried, mildly baffled. That became extremely baffled when Lyra confirmed that. “That contact’s been made with your kind already is news to me,” Spy admitted to Lyra. “I don’t know any clones named Slum, but if I run into one, I’ll send him your way.”

Lyra’s ears drooped in disappointment. “Oh...I was hoping I might see him again, but I guess I may have to wait longer. Sorry to be a bother.” Without waiting for a reply from Spy, she sauntered off back in the direction of the market.

Both he and Rainbow followed Lyra with their gazes until she was out of sight, then looked to each other and shared a ’well that was weird’ shrug. But they had no time to dwell further on it. The station was close upon them, and thus so was their meeting with Celestia.

Reaching the platform in due time, Spy’s entourage finally got to what he guessed was the train. It was a primitive looking thing, appearing to run on steam power and run on wheels mounted on track. All of which was uncommon, but not unheard of, in his galaxy.

Additionally, the train itself and all of the cars were designed to look like they were all little gingerbread houses. It was completely absurd and feminine, he thought, but so long as it functioned for pony society, he really had nothing to complain about.

Speaking of ponies, as he looked about the platform, he saw dozens of ponies and their luggage standing behind lines of droids. The members of the crowd were shouting and giving glares to the droids that were keeping them away from the train. There was another droid standing by the engineer in the locomotive. All evidence pointed to the droids having commandeered the train that they were about to use.

As the group passed the crowds of dissatisfied ponies, their anger began being directed towards the clone. While it was the droids that were inconveniencing them, the ponies obviously knew that ultimately, Spy was responsible for their delay. Sighing dejectedly, he tried his best to ignore them and fit into the undersized passenger car that had been ‘prepared’ for him.

After squeezing through the small door in the front of the car, a droid followed him in and shoved him into a seat near the middle. The droid then passed him, stooping to accommodate its height, and established a position behind him.

Rainbow Dash was brought in next, surprisingly receiving a treatment similar to his, although he would have swapped out ‘shoving’ for ‘gently pushing’. The droid seated her in the seat directly across the aisle from him, then the droid followed the previous one to a spot behind the two sentient beings.

Another droid entered, this one holding Spy’s effects, though this one stayed near the front, though it had to adjust so that the car’s final occupant-to-be, a lumbering super battle droid, could enter. The super battle droid had to awkwardly crouch in order to fit in the car, but it did so, occupying the aisle a few seats in front of the clone and his companion. It made sure to face the two of them and have its weapon on standby in case Spy did anything suspicious.

Being bound and without his helmet or weapons, Spy found the amount of security to be a bit much. He scoffed as he leaned back as much as he comfortably could in the inadequately sized seat, but otherwise remained silent. Rainbow Dash acted similarly, leaning in her seat and staring out the window, staying silent herself. Everyone situated, the train lurched forward, slowly getting up to speed and finally getting its precious cargo en route to Canterlot.

---

The first leg of the trip had passed, leaving the train at the base of the mountain that Canterlot jutted out from. For that duration, the car was eerily quiet. The droids, being droids, had no real need to verbally communicate except when addressing something that couldn’t telecommunicate. Both Spy and Rainbow Dash occupied their time looking out the windows of the train car, which obviously warranted no need for the droids to speak to them.

A vast and rolling plains bridged the space between Ponyville and the base of Canterlot mountain. It was a boring view, but at least it changed enough to hold Spy’s interest. However, as the second leg of the trip progressed and the train ascended the mountainside, Spy got a good bird's eye view of the plains and of Ponyville. The view changed so slowly, though, that it failed to occupy the clone.

At least, though, he didn’t get Rainbow’s side of the car. Her view was simply the grey stone of the mountain. She had her forelegs crossed over her chest and wore a grumpy expression, likely due to her lack of view.

With the outside world no longer interesting Spy, he let his mind wander, noting how bored he was, considering the curious aspects of his current situation. Glancing at the super battle droid which had remained unmoving, he idly wondered if droids experienced boredom. Perhaps it was something to ask R8 of. That is, if he were to even see the stubby little astromech and his squad again.

What had become of them, he wondered. Taking and subsequently wrecking the only remaining speeder that was available to them had probably compromised them. They were probably dead or dying in some forest between the site of Moon’s death and Ponyville, and it was ultimately his fault. Then he had to go and stumble across the pony sitting across from him, threaten her and her friend Applejack at gunpoint, and then further get himself publicly abused by droids.

Whatever name he could have had on this world was completely tarnished now. He screwed up. A lot. There was a lot to apologize for, and a lot of people to apologize to. He didn’t expect to live much longer, to be honest, in the company of these droids, so if there was anything left he wanted to do, he had better get on it quickly. And the means to get started was sitting right across from him.

He sighed sadly, leaning his head on the window. “Hey, Dash -do you mind if I call you Dash?” The super battle droid seemed to tense a bit.

“What?” she grumbled, fixated on her own window.

“Thanks.”

She turned to him, confused.

“Thanks for sticking up for me at the market,” he continued. “Means a lot to a meaningless shabii like myself. Most people don’t care about what kinds of mistreatment clones are put through; it’s nice to know that morals like that still exist in the universe.”

“Uh…” she started awkwardly. “Well, I don’t like you at all, but you didn’t deserve to be beat up like that.”

He smiled, but kept it hidden from Rainbow Dash. “Also, thanks for giving me this opportunity to...not get killed immediately. It’s a sort of second chance, I suppose, and I should use that time, however limited, to try to redeem myself for my stupid mistakes.”

“You’re...welcome?” She wasn’t exactly comfortable with the clone pouring himself out like he was; these types of mushy things weren’t her strong suit. But, she allowed him to continue uninterrupted.

“And, since you’re here, I might as well start off by apologizing for what I did to you and your friends.” Finally, he turned to her, adorning a sad smile. “I sincerely hope that my actions haven’t affected them negatively, especially my actions towards you and Applejack. Please understand that I’ve been forced through a bit much over the past few days, and I was only acting out of self preservation, not out of any hate towards you, your friends, or heck, even the droids.”

Rainbow considered his words for a moment. “I’m not ready to say that I forgive you yet, but if what you’ve said is true, and if you haven’t hurt my friends, I might consider it.”

In return, Spy looked out his window again, casting a hopeful glance towards the sun. “It’s the most I could have asked for,” he said softly.

---

After his apology, the air between him and Rainbow seemed to relax significantly, and they managed to engage in some brief conversation completely unrelated to their situation. Most notably, Spy had asked her about herself, and she had relayed to him her self-proclaimed title of Fastest Flyer in Equestria, as well as her dreams of becoming a Wonderbolt, that she was an Element of Harmony (though she failed epically to describe what that actually meant), and other small bits of ego-stroking information.

Their conversation had just started to get on the topic of Rainbow’s weather duties when it was cut short. Looking out the window, they could see they were actually in Canterlot now, meaning the station was no more than a minute away. Upon realizing that he had failed to inquire about Princess Celestia, he mentally berated himself, something he found he had been doing a lot recently, and steeled himself for whatever lay ahead of him.

Seconds later, the train began to decelerate and ground to a halt in front of the station. The platform, like that of Ponyville, was blocked off to the public by a line of droids and armored ponies, obviously keeping it clear so that they could be quick in getting Spy and Dash to the Princess.

Getting out of the car in the reverse order of how they got in, Spy had a moment to stretch to the best of his incapacitated abilities before the droids roughly shoved him in the direction of the magnificent castle that loomed over the city.

The same droids that had come with them on the train now escorted Spy and Dash through the glistening town, though a few ponies with spears joined in on the fun. Unlike Ponyville, which felt very rural and humble, this place was extremely pompous and boastful. Many buildings were carved of a white marble that glimmered brightly in the light of the now descending sun. Corners were gilded whenever possible, and statues of various ponies lined the important streets. It very much felt like the capital of a monarch. Rightly so, considering that it was.

However, despite the obvious wealth and class difference between the residents of Ponyville as compared to Canterlot, the ponies still reacted to him the same. Anger as he stepped off the train, then fearful and curious stares as he passed them on the streets. Learning from his incident in the Ponyville market, Spy remained quiet as the droids led him through Canterlot, keeping his gaze focused ahead of him.

The walk to the castle was a short one, fortunately. They reached the main gate, being met with a pair of unicorn guards, a pair of magna guards, and a pair of destroyer droids, which were for now rolled into their wheel forms. Wordlessly, the horns on the guards began to glow, along with the oversized wooden doors, and they swung open of their own accord.

It was an amazing feat to behold for Spy, though the guards and Rainbow Dash seemed to make nothing of it. But the droids refused to give him a chance to slow down and gawk, shoving him through the portal and bringing him through the grand but vacant hallways to the throne room.

~~~Canterlot Castle, Canterlot, 4 days and 2 hours after the Ambush at Equus~~~

---

Just like the previous day, Captain Armor had awoken early, taken care of his morning hygienic duties, and met with his fellow officers in the castle’s training grounds to commence with the new morning routine. And, just like the previous day, Grievous was there, too, again overseeing the session, though he kept a respectable distance away and said nothing to him. Understandably so; the two of them weren’t exactly on speaking terms.

During the night, Grievous had had all the damage that Shining had done to him the previous day repaired, and had gone as far as to have his undamaged, faded parts of his body wiped down to match the new parts’ cleanliness. The oranges and pinks of the rising sun seemed to shimmer off of Grievous’ cleaned form, giving him an almost holy shimmer in the morning light.

Or unholy, depending on the point of view of the one judging Grievous.

At least, though, the warlord wasn’t directly getting on the Captain’s nerves, and he was able to focus on his dealings with his troops, and ensuring that this session, the final one he’d have with the guard for likely quite a long while, was the most intense and beneficial he could make it.

---

Grievous watched the Captain work with his troops for a while into their routine. The ponies were showing signs of fatigue early into their drills, which was a disappointing sight, but justified nonetheless in the scheme of things. They had, after all, faced down an invasion force not three days prior, then had been awoken and made active early in the morning of every day following that, and Grievous himself had likely made a few -or all of them, for that matter- rather sore with their sparring the previous day.

As he had said to the Captain before, he wasn’t unreasonable. He could excuse the troops’ poor performance this once, given the circumstances. But just this once. Shining Armor would be out of his way after the session, and Grievous was going to whip the whelps into shape as soon as the Captain was no longer around to object.

He was about to consider the exercises he would put the ponies through for the duration of his command when a light tapping clinked off his thigh. Looking down, he found Princess Celestia standing next to him, looking up to him with a warm, friendly smile. “Good morning, Grievous,” she greeted, dropping formalities. “I thought I might find you here.”

“What do you want, Princess?” Grievous asked, not returning her politeness.

Her smile waned, but she otherwise excused his disrespect. “If I may be straightforward, Grievous, today is my day off, so to speak, and I was hoping to spend some time with you and get to know you better.”

“Day off?” he asked, giving her as quizzical a look as his rather expressionless faceplate could yield.

She nodded lightly. “Luna is just as much the ruler of Equestria as I am, but sadly, our subjects aren’t as receptive of that fact as they used to be after the incident with the Mare in the Moon. To help her integrate and to help the public get comfortable with her again, we’ve agreed to let her operate the Day Court once a week, with more duties being returned to her as soon as everypony’s more receptive.”

“I see,” Grievous said. “Unfortunately, Princess, there are clones running amok in your kingdom, there are droids that need to be monitored and managed, and I need to create an agenda for the Guard for when I take command. I have no time to take you up on your offer.”

To his surprise, Celestia let out a small giggle. “It’s amusing how similar to Twilight you can be at times,” she joked, quickly returning to a more serious tone. “But honestly, Grievous, there is plenty of time left in the day and night for you to address those. For now, though, take advantage of what Equestria has to offer you as its guest. Maybe you’ll gain a new appreciation for what you’re protecting if you were to actually partake in it.” A sly grin crossed her muzzle. “Oh, and that’s not a request; that’s an order.”

Grievous sighed, begrudgingly accepting the fact that, for now, Celestia was his superior and that he was to follow her orders, however unusual. He turned to follow Celestia, who was herself making towards a nearby exit for the yard they were in. “I will set those duties aside for time being, then, but only because you command it.” That was a lie, of course; he was going to continue to communicate with his scattered forces and with the Superior, but Celestia didn’t need to know that, so he said nothing more as he followed the happy princess.

---

The first thing she insisted on doing with Grievous that morning was show him around the gardens. He had spent pretty much the entirety of each night in the gardens, as there was a large flat area that Celestia permitted to be be the landing zone for Grievous’ shuttles, but he hadn’t once stopped to actually look at the flora or statues that dotted the grounds.

At least, he hadn’t until now, as Celestia was insistent on sharing each sculpture with him, explaining what it depicted, what it meant, and her personal ties to the subject, if there were any. The statues ranged from figures of previous Guard Captains, which were obviously made in remembrance of them, to ones made more with imagery in mind, such as one depicting a mare holding an orange flag, which somehow represented victory. He felt that having some Huk corpses laying about the heroic figure would have gotten the message across more clearly, but that was just him.

While he could certainly appreciate the arts, Grievous had never had an extended attention span for them. He could do about an hour’s worth of appreciation before beginning to lose interest. However, Celestia’s tour lasted beyond that, reaching the one and a half hour mark before he could finally see the end of the trail, which formed a loop around the garden. It had been quite a struggle for him to keep from expressing his disinterest and discontent, and he didn’t want to disrespect the Princess now by doing so. He sucked it up and approached the second to last statue in the loop.

“This statue represents friendship,” Celestia explained as Grievous lazily looked it over. It portrayed, quite simply, three foals, each leaping over each other in a stack, and going in alternating directions. He could almost see the three rambunctious foals he had been introduced to -Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo were their names, right?- doing just as the statue depicted. For all he knew, the statue could have been modeled after those three. It was an amusing thought.

“The imagery should be plainly obvious,” Celestia stated, to which Grievous agreed. “However, I do believe that you’ll enjoy this last one the best,” she said, making her way to the final statue.

For the most part, all of the statues had had at least some sense of order, familiarity, or obvious imagery associated with it. This one didn’t. It seemed to be a statue of a creature composed of the parts of many other creatures. It sat cross-legged on its raised pedestal, arms folded in its lap, expression disapproving. Most disconcerting, though, were its eyes, which, though stone, seemed to follow Grievous’ position to constantly give him its pointed glare.

Of course, he could have just been seeing things, hallucinating out of boredom. To ensure that he wasn’t, he moved around the statue, pacing and ducking to avoid its stare. But its eyes still followed.

Noticing Grievous’ peculiar behavior, Celestia picked up a sizable rock from nearby and pelted it at the statue. Its eyes were momentarily fixated on Celestia in response, then went back to Grievous. “And finally, Grievous, we have this statue, which is Discord. Discord is the spirit of chaos and disharmony, a powerful being and a troublemaker. Recently, he has discovered the magic of friendship and has since been freed of his stone prison and been permitted to live in the castle. For some reason, though, he spends most of his time here, trapped in stone of his own accord.” She put a hoof to her chin. “You know, Discord,” she said, actually addressing the statue, “I don’t think you’ve bothered to talk to me since we worked out your parameters the day you were reformed.”

In response, the statue -no, Discord- scoffed, but produced no sound. The words on the plaque mounted on his pedestal changed, shifting until they read: Leave me alone, Celestia. She looked to him warily, but otherwise honored his request, leading Grievous out of the gardens and back into the castle.

“Discord can be random, unpredictable, and a bit much to handle,” she told him as they traveled down a hallway to somewhere; Grievous didn’t know. “Even so, one can usually expect him to be talkative and rather light-spirited. I don’t know what it is that has him acting like that...but ignoring him, did you enjoy the gardens?”

“They were...interesting,” he answered, trying his best to keep his answer rather neutral despite having found the entire thing a waste of time. It was enough to satisfy Celestia, though.

“I could tell that you had lost interest part-way through. I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable; I just wanted to share some of our culture with you. Let me make it up to you with something you may enjoy a bit more.”

---

With a smug smirk, Celestia brought her rook clear across the board, capturing Grievous’ bishop. She claimed the piece, putting it to the side of the board, unwittingly having fallen into Grievous’ trap. From a mass of his own pieces, he whipped out his knight, capturing her final rook. Furthermore, “Check.”

Celestia was right; chess was something he would enjoy more. Being the military man he was, a strategy game such as chess matched well with his skill set, and did wonders easing some his built-up tension from the past days.

Of course, he was still susceptible to the occasional blunder. From elsewhere on the board, Celestia brought her queen over to take the knight. “Checkmate,” she said calmly. And she was correct. Moving his knight had unveiled a diagonal path from its position to his king, which was blockaded in every other direction by his own pieces, none of which could block the queen or capture it.

With a sigh, he admitted defeat, splitting his arms and using all four hands to quickly set the board up for another game. Celestia, meanwhile, took the time to move all her plates, cups, and silverware into an easily manageable pile to the side.

That had been the fifth game and the tie-breaker round for them. After bringing Grievous inside from the gardens, Celestia had begun feeling a little hungry, and it was nearing a good time for a midday meal, which she invited Grievous to as a courtesy. Of course, knowing he didn’t eat, she had a chess set brought in so that he could be occupied while she satisfied her biological requirements.

“That was a close match and an excellent game, Grievous,” she complimented the disheartened General. “However, that will be it from me for now.”

Grievous nodded and began returning the chess components to their container. He couldn’t help feeling like a child as he cleaned up, and he could see that Celestia thought the same. His thoughts idly wandered back to the comment Celestia had made when he had gotten his hands on the toolkit for his damaged hand and had called his childlike mannerisms ‘cute’, and to the way her face reddened as she said that, just as it was now.

Some servants entered the hall as Grievous placed the final pieces in their respective spots and closed up the set’s wooden container. They came and took the Princess’ dirty eating utensils and the chess set. “Give the chef my thanks when you see him,” Celestia said to them as they made to leave, having quickly returned to her normal shade. “He did an excellent job again, as always.” With polite nods, the servants exited.

The two of them sat in silence for a few minutes, Celestia content to just be there and let her stomach settle, while Grievous was eager to be dismissed and return to his normal business. He was about to voice his request, but Celestia spoke before him. “Grievous, before I dismiss you,” she began, as if she had read his mind, “I have one thing that I want to talk with you about.”

Grievous groaned quietly, but otherwise let her continue uninterrupted.

“When you first came into our throne room, you seemed to have some knowledge of my sister and I.” She leaned forward in her seat, crossing her forelegs on the table in an extremely casual manner. “Tell me: how did you learn about us without actually having come down?”

“What makes you certain we didn’t come down?”

“Somepony somewhere would have seen something suspicious,” she answered confidently, confidence that made Grievous laugh in a way which verged on being condescending.

Grievous shook off his laughter and replied. “The truth is, we did come down. I sent remote probes from my ship in space throughout Equestria to monitor it and check for Republic activity.” Mimicking Celestia, Grievous crossed his now combined arms on the table in front of him and leaned in towards the Princess. “Through these probes, I learned a good amount about your society, the most relevant pieces being who you and your sister are, as well as that it’s in Prince Blueblood’s best interest to straighten himself out, lest he push someone’s wrong buttons.”

Frowning and furrowing her brow, Celestia responded, saying, “I agree that my nephew can be a royal pain, but I still love him and will not tolerate threats against him.”

“I don’t ‘threaten’ so much as I ‘give warnings’,” he said indignantly, leaning back and folding his arms over his chest. “There’s a significant difference between the two: threats are for those who feel the need to reassert themselves when they lack confidence and are a waste of breath; warnings are things to be cautious about in the future.”

Letting the issue drop, Celestia returned to the original topic of conversation. “So these probes...are they small espionage droids?”

Grievous nodded. “Indeed. They’re small enough to fit in the palm of my hand, and were plentiful enough to cover most of the highly populated areas of Equestria.” He chuckled. “Including your throne room.”

“You were spying on our throne room? For how long!?” she demanded, voice raised just enough to adequately express her dissatisfaction.

But Grievous was indifferent to her, calmly replying with, “About a week and a half. But, if you’re going to accuse someone of something, at least make sure you’re accusing them of the right thing. I wasn’t spying, I was performing reconnaissance. Understand that those are completely different.” He noticed that it didn’t help stem Celestia’s anger. “All the probes have been deactivated, if that means anything.”

It didn’t. “Surveillance without consent, regardless of the reason, is still an invasion of privacy and is wrong. You can’t justify it by simply calling it something else. You must understand…”

She continued on, but Grievous wasn’t paying attention. There was something more pressing than the enraged Princess demigod ranting not even six feet away from him.

“Unit ST-4W, entity: Ponyville, entity: Rainbow Dash reports sighting and contact with Republic forces.”

“Track those clones and eliminate them!”

“Negative. Entity: Rainbow Dash reports single Republic unit. Hostage taken; entity: Applejack.”

“Killing the clone is the primary goal. If Applejack dies during the engagement, so be it.”

“Roger, roger. Entity: Rainbow Dash reports Republic stipulation. Republic unit reported willing to release hostage in exchange for not being harmed itself.”

“Have Rainbow Dash report to the clone that we accept his offer. When Applejack is no longer in the clone’s custody, kill him”

“Roger, roger.”

The stamping of a hoof against wood snapped him back to reality. “Grievous, were you even listening?” Celestia nearly shouted.

“No.”

She sighed. “At least you’re honest.”

“I’ve received word that a clone has been spotted in the vicinity of Ponyville. My droids are in pursuit. It shouldn’t be long until it’s dead. I should like to be dismissed to oversee the operation.”

Her previous anger seemingly forgotten, Celestia frowned again, this time in thought. “Is anypony hurt?”

“Rainbow Dash has made contact with it and Applejack is being held hostage. Other than that, nothing else has been reported.”

She breathed a relieved sigh, then returned to her thoughtful expression. After a couple of minutes, she spoke. “Don’t kill it.”

“Excuse me?”

“I said, ‘Don’t kill it’. I would like to meet the clone and learn of the Republic from the Republic’s side. Once Applejack is free, have your droids capture it.”

“Such action would be unwise, your highness,” Grievous warned, though it fell on deaf ears.

“While that’s happening,” she continued, “see if you can’t arrange for a train to bring the clone here to Canterlot.”

“You’re being foolish, Princess. The clone must be disposed of,” he said.

Celestia retorted back with a stern look. “And you’re being disrespectful and negligent of your duties. I am ordering that clone to be delivered here, and I expect it to arrive here. Unharmed. And with no collateral damage in Ponyville. Understood?”

Grievous sighed in defeat. “Yes, your highness.”

“Very good,” she said, suddenly shifting to giving him a warm smile. “I expect good results form you. You are dismissed.”

Without another word, he rose to his feet and stormed out of the room. He began the trek back to his own, relaying his new orders to the droids in Ponyville. “Unit ST-4W, there is a new directive. The clone is to be captured and brought to Canterlot. Accept the clone’s agreement, and ensure that Applejack is returned unharmed. Have some units commandeer a train directed for Canterlot. Use that to bring the clone here.”

He paused, giving the situation some more thought. “When the clone is in custody, bring Rainbow Dash along to Canterlot; her testimony should prove useful for supporting the clone’s execution.”

“Roger, roger.”

~~~Canterlot Castle Throne Room, Canterlot, 4 days, 8 hours and 30 minutes after the Ambush at Equus~~~

---

The doors to the throne room slammed closed behind Spy and his party as they finally entered the throne room. A long red carpet cut the room in half, leading to a small flight of steps which themselves pointed to a grand throne, which seated a large, white pony, whose mane was endlessly flowing and consisted of many colors, though less so than that of Rainbow Dash next to him.

The pony looked regal by any standard, a stark contrast to the being next to it; none other than the infamous Separatist warlord, General Grievous. As the clone was ushered towards the throne, Grievous stepped down the steps and towards him, straightening his stooped posture so as to be more intimidating and strike fear into Spy.

Spy wasn’t about to give him that pleasure, though, and he looked up to the towering cyborg with a goofy, snarky grin. The General growled as if he were about to say something, but the pony on the throne began speaking first. “Welcome, clone,” she said in a calm, diffusing voice. Spy looked to her, and returned the welcoming smile she was giving him.

“I certainly feel welcomed, what, with all of the things with weapons that have been surrounding me for the past hour and a half,” he replied, gesturing as well as he could with his shoulders to the droids and armed guards that were still forming a tight circle around him.

“Give the clone some space,” the pony said to his escort. The ponies left the circle entirely, moving to the walls of the room, while the droids simply moved away from him a few paces. Grievous stayed outside of the now expanded circle, but was still tense and ready to spring through that distance if he were to try anything.

The fact that he made Grievous so nervous despite only being a normal trooper improved Spy’s morale some.

“I am Princess Celestia,” the pony on the throne continued. “I am one of the rulers of this kingdom, alongside my sister, Luna. Do you have a name?”

“I do,” Spy answered. “CS-1320 is my name-”

“Wait, I thought Spy was your name?” Rainbow Dash interjected, making her presence known.

“-but I go by Spy, because numbers suck,” he finished.

Celestia looked to Rainbow Dash. “Rainbow Dash, I was not expecting you to be here.” She then turned to Grievous. “Care to explain why you brought her here with an armed escort without my permission?” she said, almost scolding.

“Rainbow Dash was reported to have made contact with the prisoner, and thus I felt her testimony with regards to the clone would be appreciated,” Grievous answered.

Celestia simply nodded and returned her attention to the clone. “Spy, as a soldier for the Republic, you are by virtue an enemy of my kingdom. However, I want to assure you that no harm will be brought upon you so long as you are cooperative and respectful. Sound fair?”

Grievous seemed perplexed by her statement, turning to face her, though he couldn’t discern any other feelings, as his face was turned away. Not that Grievous had much in the way of facial expressions, anyways. Regardless, Spy had this feeling that Celestia was not doing as Grievous was hoping.

“I’d say that it’s fair...or, at least it would be, if I was a soldier for the Republic,” Spy answered, earning a cocked brow from the Princess.

“Grievous informs me that clones are the Republic’s soldiers. Has he misinformed me?”

“I can guarantee that he’s lied to you about most things regarding the Republic,” Spy said, shrugging, “but he was truthful about that. The Republic makes use of clones of Jango Fett for its army. However, I have personally opted out of the Republic’s ranks, as they effectively sentenced me to death for completely unjustifiable reasons.”

“Please, do explain.”

Spy chortled darkly at that. “Oh, Princess, in order to get you to understand completely, it’d be a long story.”

Grievous advanced a step. “Do as the Princess commands!” he yelled, startling Spy and making Rainbow Dash jump.

“Geez, calm down,” Spy said to Grievous in a mock attempt to calm him down. “And really, the Princess gave more of an invitation for me to elaborate rather than a command for me to do so. So really-”

The rest of his retort was cut off when Grievous closed the distance between them and backhanded the clone across the face. His hand left two long cuts across the clone’s cheek, and pushed him off his feet. With his arms still restrained, Spy was unable to correct himself, and tumbled to the ground. Again.

“You will be silent and do as you’re told,” Grievous threatened.

“Grievous!” Celestia shouted behind him. “Control yourself, and keep away from the clone until you can do so!”

He said nothing as he stomped away from Spy, who was being assisted in being helped up again by Rainbow Dash and a couple of the armored ponies. Once up, he thanked the ponies that had helped him, then returned to the task at hand: making Grievous seem like an idiot. “I’m sorry to say this, Grievous, but what you just told me to do was a contradiction.” A small amount of blood pooled in his mouth, and he spat it out onto his boot. Continuing he said, “You told me to be silent, but you also told me to do what I was told, which was to speak. Learn to make up your mind, please.”

“Spy,” said Celestia, catching his attention, “let it drop. I’ll have somepony address those cuts when our meeting is finished. For now, though, I’d like to proceed with what I intended for this meeting, which was to talk. If we can do that without resorting to hurting each other, physically or verbally-” she quickly glanced from him to Grievous, then back to him, “-then we’ll all be better for it.”

“Of course, your highness,” Spy agreed with devilish grin. “Just keep your pet on a tighter leash, and everything will be fine.” As expected, Grievous growled and stormed towards Spy. Unexpectedly, he was stopped by a yellow aura, which surrounded him and held him in place.

Even if Grievous had come over to punch his face in, the jab at his pride and dignity would have been worth it. But getting away with it with his face intact was much more gratifying.

Celestia, however, was less amused. Looking to the both of them with a condescending glare, she said, “That is enough from the both of you! Grievous, you are mature, so act like it and control yourself. Clone, if you’re wanting any kind of mercy, you had best change your attitude.” Spy immediately shut up, looking to Rainbow Dash to find that she was also giving him a disappointed look.

Grievous said nothing while Spy apologized. “I’m sorry, Princess; I couldn’t resist. I would like to point out, however, that I was looking for nothing; you’re the one that had me brought here.”

The Princess sighed, already too weary of the clone to argue. She rubbed at her temple with a hoof, hoping to stem the headache that beginning to form. “Spy, allow me to illustrate the situation for you. Grievous is currently a military ally of mine who is helping to deal with stray republic units that have made their way into my kingdom, such as yourself. But while he is insistent that you’re all relentlessly cruel and evil, I hold out hope that, like all beings, there is the potential for good.

“I will admit, the only knowledge of the Republic that I have is the information shared with me by Grievous. Needless to say, I am not convinced that they are the correct side of the conflict for me to join. I was hoping though, that I would be able to hear the Republic side of this conflict. I would also like to point out that Grievous is intent on eliminating you clones. However, Equestria has a proud record of having never executed anypony, and I don’t plan to change that simply because Grievous requests it.”

She stared intently at Spy, who was remaining uncharacteristically silent. “Know that you are my prisoner, not Grievous’, and as such, I will offer you a chance at mercy and redemption. But I can only offer you this if you are willing to cooperate and speak. Is that agreeable?”

Spy mulled over the terms in his head, finding them to be quite agreeable; it was effectively a pardon from the crimes he committed against her kingdom and the CIS. As far as he could remember, no clone had ever been as fortunate -unless they were traitorous scumbags like Slick- especially when in the presence of the clone-massacring warlord himself.

Said clone-massacring warlord himself, though, clearly felt otherwise about the proposal. Currently, he sat in the throne that resided next to Celestia’s own, though it was sorely undersized for his bulk. He sat with his arms folded over his chest, looking out the window away from Celestia. But he made no interjections; Celestia really had a tight grip on him.

“If you can throw some food into your side of the agreement, you have yourself a deal,” he answered, hoping he wasn’t pushing himself too far. But could he blame him? He hadn’t eaten in what seemed like two days, after all, and with a body that had always operated on consistent, perfectly nutritionally balanced meals, such a deficit really took its toll on him.

“Is food all you think about?” Rainbow Dash butted in.

“No, but right now, it’s a priority,” Spy answered, suddenly not in the mood to be joked with.

“Rainbow Dash, please, leave him be,” Celestia said to her. “Once our meeting has concluded, we’ll see if we can’t arrange something for you that will fit with your diet.”

And then suddenly, Spy’s spirits were high again. He gave the Princess an elated smile, saying to her, “Thank you, your highness. You have yourself a deal.”

“Very good,” she replied, her own countenance becoming more cheerful. “Please, tell me about the Republic; start where you see most fit.”

“Very well,” Spy said. “Let’s see...well, I’ll be honest, my experience with the Republic is minimal in all fields except for militaristically. The Republic is a democratic organization of star systems, who deal with, uh...civvy stuff. The Republic was peaceful, but due to provocation from the Separatists, it was pressured into forming an army of its own, which falls under the command of Chancellor Palpatine. We’re aided by the Jedi in our fight against the Seps.” He paused, trying to find more to say. He failed. “Other than that, I can’t say I know anything more about the Republic that isn’t related to the army.”

“If you know so little, then why did you fight for them?” Celestia inquired.

“It wasn’t a choice.” He frowned. “No, that’s not true; it was a choice, but not mine. Celestia, do you know what a clone is?”

She mimicked his frown. “I’m afraid that I’m not completely familiar with the concept.”

“Oh, then you’ll like this. A clone is a genetic copy of another organism,” he explained.

“Similar to identical twins?” Celestia asked, intrigued.

“More or less, though even identical twins can be imperfect copies,” Spy answered. “But there’s more to being a clone than just having the same genes as another. As a clone, you’re not born; you’re bred. You have no father, no mother, no one to love you, and if you’re a clone for the grand Army of the Republic, you have no purpose except to die.

“The worst part is, they modify us as we’re made. They twist our development so that we come out as perfect soldiers: maturing faster, perfectly obedient and unquestionably loyal.” Spy sighed wistfully and slunk to the ground, resuming once he was sitting cross-legged on the floor. “We exist only for the purpose of war. Except for a very select few, clones don’t have anything to live for except for the bonds that can be shared only by those who know that those whom they’re bonded with may not be there the following day.

“It’s sad and sickening to think of what the Republic is willing to do reach its goals. The Grand Army is hypocrisy of the grandest scale, and I don’t want to be a part of it.” Then, he chuckled. It wasn’t a friendly, hearty, or welcoming one by any means, though. No, it was twisted and demented and filled of sorrow. Spy stood, stepping towards the droid in front of him. “You know what’s funny? Clones, by those who dislike us or are unfamiliar about us, are often perceived of as ‘fleshy droids’.” He kicked the droid in the calf, then walked back to his original spot. The droid didn’t react. “The best part is: they’re right. The Republic could have used droids in place of us and achieved the same result. But no...they had to choose the cruel, inhumane route.”

The room was silent for a few tense seconds as everyone contemplated his words. Even Grievous seemed intrigued by his testimony, though probably because he could easily turn what he had said against the Republic. But Spy didn’t care; the Republic was a monster. The fact that its members were able to live with -no, supported- the existence of such a grand feat of slavery and oppression was despicable. If they received the end of Grievous’ and Celestia’s combined wrath, they deserved it.

“Spy?” Rainbow Dash asked, quietly and surprisingly concernedly. “Are you okay? That was awfully grim was you just said.”

After some long, calming breaths, Spy answered. “Yeah, I’m good. It feels good to have that off my chest, too. I just hope it’s enough to satisfy Celestia; I don’t feel like dwelling on that for too much longer.”

Meanwhile, as Rainbow Dash tried to comfort Spy, Grievous and Celestia were engaged in their own discussion. “Is there any doubt now as to the villainous intentions of the Republic?” he asked her. “If they’re so willing to repress the rights of free will and life to their own living soldiers, then it shouldn’t be too much to assume that their subjects will face similar subjugation.

“The Jedi are just as bad, if not worse. For supposed peacekeepers who hold all sentient life in high regard, their endorsement of the Republic’s policy is simply abhorrent. You see now why they must be stopped.”

It was only a slight motion, but the nodding of the Princess’ head in agreement was unmistakable. “Such infringement of principle cannot be left unopposed. However, we can’t take our frustrations out upon these clones. They are the tragic victims in all of this, and though they have yet to be enlightened enough to see the injustices laid upon them, we must give them a chance to see it. It is the right thing to do.”

That said, she raised her voice so that all in attendance could hear her proclamation. “Spy, for now, you are to face no punishment for anything you’ve done since your arrival. Whether or not you want it, you and the rest of you clones have my pity, and as such, I will do what is within my power to grant to any clone who surrenders peacefully the life they deserve as a living being.” She then addressed the pony guards in the room. “Guards, unbind him and bring him to a banquet hall; have the chefs prepare a meal for him.”

“Your effects will remain in my custody for the time being, at least until we've decided on how to handle the situation you’ve presented,” she added as a final note to Spy. “You are dismissed.” As the guards approached Spy to lead him away, he heard Celestia begin to speak to Rainbow Dash. “It has been brought to my attention that you had made contact with Spy some time before his capture. Please, tell me the circumstances of your interactions, and then you’ll be dismissed to return to Ponyville.”

Spy had been taken out of the throne room and the doors had closed behind him at this point, so he was unable to hear anything Rainbow Dash said after that, but he wasn’t so concerned about what she was going to say. Despite having only known her for a little while, he already got the sense that she was quite the dependable pony, and that she wouldn’t speak out against him.

The promise of food, though, was enough to derail that train of thought, as well as any others that sprung up as he was brought through the magnificent halls of the castle towards an unknown destination. In due time, the guards opened a small set of doors which revealed a small, one pony table which was presumably to be the one he would eat at.

He took a seat on the floor, as there wasn’t enough legroom for him if he were to sit in a chair, and tapped his freed hands impatiently on the table. “Somepony’ll come by to ask what you want,” a guard said to him, promptly leaving the room, likely to fetch said ‘somepony’. The rest of his escort followed the guard out of the room, apparently thinking that he wasn’t going to try anything while they were gone.

He wasn’t, though, so at least the potential oversight on their part had no negative consequences.

Not a second after he was left alone, there was a blindingly bright flash of light. It took him some time to stop seeing spots, but once his vision cleared, he saw there was a new creature in the room with him. It wasn’t the most peculiar thing he’d seen, being a seemingly random assortment of various animal appendages, but it seemed out of place with the rather uniform body types he’d seen in Equestria thus far. Of course, he was no expert on Equestrian species, so he really could make any more judgments.

The thing pulled a wicker basket out of the thin air behind its back, extending its talon to offer the basket to him. “I heard you had the munchies,” the thing said. “Whatever you want; just close your eyes and reach in, and you’ll have it.” As if prompting him to give it a shot, the thing lifted up an end of the basket.

Spy peered into it, finding it to be pitch black in the basket, despite the opened lid and light that should have been entering it. Strange as it was, he’d seen Jedi do weirder things. Shrugging, he humored the creature, reaching into the basket. He felt nothing.

Then he closed his eyes. He thought back for something to want, preferably a food item. Appleloosa: those apples looked delicious. He had never actually had an apple before, as they weren’t a part of the standard diet or ration pack. The way Shy seemed to savor the fruit made him jealous that he couldn’t be guinea pig for certain ‘scientific’ tests.

Suddenly, as he flailed his hand around inside the void of the basket, his hand touched something. He grabbed at it, finding it to be round. He opened his eyes and withdrew his arm, finding the biggest, reddest, and shiniest apple he had ever seen sitting in his palm.

It was even cold, too!

He looked at the apple, dumbfounded. This place was weird! But, it was undeniably awesome at the same time.

The creature smiled down at him, dropping the basket in front of him. “My gift to a soul in need,” it said, disappearing as suddenly and violently as it had arrived. Things were starting to become incomprehensible, it seemed...or, they would have, if he wasn’t completely distracted with the apple in his hand.

A growl from his stomach told him to stop thinking and just eat. And so he did. And it was the greatest thing he’d ever eaten.

~~~Canterlot Castle, Canterlot, 4 days and 10 hours after the Ambush at Equus~~~

---

“There have been some complications to our efforts, my lord.”

“Nothing compromising, I hope, for your sake. Tell me, General: what are these complications?”

“We have taken a clone into custody not more than a few hours ago. I intended to simply have the clone killed, as anyone else would have done. But, when I informed Celestia of the clone, she ordered that it be captured and brought to her.”

“Is the clone still alive, Grievous?”

“Yes. Furthermore, after hearing the clone’s story, she decreed that no clones were to be killed, unless, of course, they are directly hostile.”

The hologram of Dooku fell silent, mulling over the new development. “I don’t like this,” he said after some contemplation. “The Republic has been capitalizing on your absence, General. They’ve not yet caught wind of your position, but they know you’re inactive. I cannot risk keeping you there much longer; another week or so, at the most. Celestia must make a choice by then: help us, or side with them. If her mercy on the clones is anything to go by, I believe I have a sense of her alignment.”

“What should be done of it, my lord?”

“Give her time. She may yet come around. However, if the time comes for you to leave and she has not yet made a choice, or if she has chosen the Republic…” Dooku’s visage became stern and he glared at the General. “Equestria cannot be allowed to be utilized by anyone but ourselves. If what I’ve said is the case, then you must eliminate them.

"Eliminate them all.”

Author's Note:

Curious about Lyra and this 'Slum' guy? Check out their story in Lyra: Lost and Found.

Comments

[Legion222]

At long last, the fabled Chapter 12 is ours! With its power, we shall conquer all of Fimfiction! BWAHAHAHAHAHA! Oops, nevermind. Got that mixed up with- er- something else.

That ending, though. This should be fun...

Write on,
Legion

[Legofan]

3244102 Yup. Finally, there are actual stakes for the party's involved!

[SIR OM NOM NOM]

Yes

[Corporal Lyra]

Ya know, now that i think about it, I think there are no good guys in the clone wars.

[Legofan]

3244274 There are the clones, the innocent ones forced to die for no benefit to themselves, but other than them, there really isn't.

[Cades]

3244285
They know nothing else except war. Except that one clone that banged a Twi'lek. And that Commando that help the droid espionage team. With R2 and all that jazz. I should re-watch everything related to Star Wars. Except the original three. I've seen those so many times. All on Laser Disc, too.

[Tenebris Caeruleus]

Yep. Even when I was a kid I knew something was a wee lad I knew something was off about the Republic using countless clones as soldiers. But I can actually see why they did it. Think about it, the clones are far better with strategy, are independent, and don't go into sleep mode when a ship blows up.
But, the fact still stands, the clones are in fact slaves to the Republic, and that's inexcusable.
That aside, I have to agree with the statement, this was in fact the best chapter of the story I've read as of yet. Good job, I loved it, Victor squad should side with the Equestrians, not anyone else.

[Legofan]

3244671 Thanks, I'm glad you like it .

[Lord Tywin Lannister]

Let Equestria join with the CIS.
That's all i want. Please.
Megatron out.

[Buckwood]

Quite liking the story, though the one thing that seems off to me is how.... incompetent Blip seems to be. Though he was a toss-away character *shrug*

Also, you could use an editor to comb through this. It's not unreadable, but their's definitely mistakes in it. And with 100+ favorites, I'm sure there's somebody that'll do it.

[Legofan]

3260104 I was planning on looking through and revising the beginning at some point in the future. Don't know when that'll be, but it'll happen.

[Legofan]

3277849 No, Blip died. I think you're confusing him with another clone...who also died.