Chapter 1: Ambush

PONIES OF THE OLD REPUBLIC
CHAPTER 1 AMBUSH

For over a thousand years, the Galactic Republic of Equestria has been at peace. But now, a shroud of darkness has come upon the galaxy spreading fear and chaos across it. Nightmare Moonlight, former apprentice of the now deceased Nightmare Eclipse, leads the Luna Empire on a brutal conquest against the Republic.

Celestia, Grand Master of the Unicorn Order and Equestria's sworn protector has led the Solar Knights against Moonlight and his dark forces, hoping to stop them. But one by one, they are either killed or have joined Moonlight's army of darkness and the powers of the dark side of magic.

Now in the skies above Hoovries, a small Republic battle fleet prepares themselves for the advancing fleet of the Luna Empire. With the help of a young unicorn knight, Twilight Shan Sparkle, gifted with great magical powers, may be the last hope in defeating Moonlight and his dark followers. But unknown to them, a trap is set and the darkness is waiting for them to take the bait.....

High above orbit of the planet Hoovris, a fleet of seven Republic warships were flying over the planet and passing by one of the four moons. On the bridge of the Solar Spire, the acting commander of the fleet stays quiet as she was looking out the bridge's main window. She couldn't explain it, but something was eating at the back of her mind that something bad was about to happen at any second and she needed to be ready for it.

The commander was no other than Applejack Onasi. She's one of the fleets best pilots and acting commander in Equestria space. She had battled the Imperials since the beginning of their brutal campaign against the Republic and had served as one of the Republic's best assets. She was an earthpony with the color orange as her coat and had green emerald eyes. She also had a blonde mane and tail with a red band tied at each end. Unlike any of the officers that wore gold and white uniforms in the fleet, she wore a brown felt hat over her head and wore a dark orange jacket with black boots.

Applejack turned away from the window and looked over to the controls to where her crewmen were. She spoke up and asked, "Have ya fellas seen anything on th' radar yet?"

"No ma'am, it's clear," one of the crewmen replied.

"Nothing from the fleet to report ma'm," another crewmen said.

"Well alright, keep your guards up colts. There's no telling when th' Imperials would attack," Applejack said returning her gaze back at the window.

Her gaze was then interrupted by one of the crewmen at the controls. "I don't get it. Why would the Imperials try to come through here? Can't they find other hyperspace routes to use?"

"In case you didn't do your homework, the Hoovris system has access to the other parts of Equestrian space. If the Imperials take control of it, they can strike key locations that are vital to the Republic," a crewmen explained.

"He's right. If Equestria is ta survive this war, we need to give everything we got ta hold those varmints back," Applejack said and continued, "So get ready. They could come upon us at any mo-"

"Commander!" one of the crewmen shouted interrupting Applejack. "We have a hyperdrive signal coming in. According to the computers, it's just one ship."

"Do we know what it is?" Applejack asked suddenly feeling cautious.

"Yes ma'am, it's a Republic ship and it's coming from......sector 23-B?"

"That can't be right. There's not a single Republic force near that sector," an officer said.

"What's th' status on th' ship?" Applejack asked.

"Its taken heavy damage ma'am. Damage to the haul is high and the engines are barely holding. I'm surprised that it's still holding together," The crewmen answered.

"Life signs?"

"Only a few and faint. If we send a rescue party now, we might be able to save them."

"Alright, Ah want th' entire fleet on yellow alert. Send one of our ship ta board it and find out what happened ta it," Applejack commanded.

"Yes, Commander."

One of the Republic cruisers made its way towards the damage ship. When it got close enough, the acting captain of the ship soon contacted the Solar Spire.

"Commander Applejack," the captain announced.

"Captain, is there something wrong?" Applejack asked puzzled at why the captain didn't board the damage ship yet.

"Yes ma'am, there is. We just picked up a transmissioning device on the ship that went active and it's sending out a signal."

"What kind of signal?" Applejack asked alarmed at the news.

"We don't know, but it's giving away the fleet's location."

"Why is th' ship-" Applejack's eyes widen at the sudden realization and quickly shouted, "IT'S A TRAP!"

From the dark regions of space, three Imperial warships came out of hyperspace and started firing on the Republic ship near the damage ship with their massive cannons. "WE'RE UNDER FIRE, REPEAT WE'RE UNDER FIR-" The transmission was cut off and both Republic ships were destroyed. Soon ten more Imperial warships came out of hyperspace and started making their advance towards the Republic fleet. Imperial starfighters quickly came out of the hangers of the warships and charged at the fleet in attack formations.

"GET TH' FLEET READY FOR BATTLE! SEND ALL FIGHTERS NOW AND GET THE FLEET IN DEFENSIVE FORMATION!" Applejack shouted her command.

"AYE, COMMANDER!"

Quickly, Republic starfighters left the hangers of the ships and made their way towards the imperial fighters.

"All leaders report in."

"Red leader standing by."

"Yellow leader standing by."

"Blue leader standing by."

"Green leader standing by."

The fighters got into attack position and both sides opened fired at one another. The Republic fighters were beginning to be overrun by the Imperials and their numbers were quickly deteriorating. The Imperial warships started firing their cannons at the Republic fleet and the Republic ships soon started firing back as well. The battle was massive, fighters were fighting around the warships, while avoiding the cannons firing and the auto turrets and the warships focus their attention on one side of the other. Applejack's defensive strategy was keeping the Imperial warships at bay and the battle was in her favor; for now.

On the bridge of the Solar Spire, Applejack continued to monitor the battle in front of her and shouted out commands whenever possible. One of the doors to the bridge opened and came a light purple unicorn mare with a dark sapphire mane and tail with streaks of both violet and pink in it. Her eyes were a shade of violet and she wore a light tan and dark brown outfit that resembled her as a member of the Unicorn Order. She was escorted by two other unicorns that wore robes as well.

"Commander what is going on?" asked the purple unicorn.

Applejack turned her attention to the unicorn and answered, "Imperial forces had just came out of hyperspace and they took out one of our ships. They caught us by surprise, but we've been able ta keep them at bay."

"Glad to hear it. Do we know that this is Moonlight's fleet?" the unicorn asked.

"Not yet. There's no sign of his flagship anywhere in the battle and we can't identify any of the warships," Applejack explained. "They're jamming our transmissions from th' rest of th' Republic, so we can't call for reinforcements for now."

"Then we'll just have to hold them off, until we can get an advantage over them," the unicorn said. "But I am worried that Moonlight isn't here, which makes me wonder if he's planning something." The unicorn pondered as she was observing the battle.

"Ah wouldn't worry about it, Twilight. From what Ah can tell, he's a coward thet just barks orders at his troops," Applejack said revealing the unicorn as Twilight.

"Don't underestimate Moonlight," Twilight started to protest. "Remember, he was once a member of the order and was one of the Republic's most valued generals during the Diamond Dog Wars. His strategies were always brutal, but effective against his opponents and he would do anything for victory," she explained.

"When he was on our side yes, but now he's a traitor and all of them are nothing but cowards," Applejack replied.

"Well if that's what you think, but don't take any chances that might risk the fleet," Twilight said.

"Don't worry, Ah've led this fleet near the beginning of this war and Ah'll be damned if I let it-" Applejack was saying until she was interrupted.

"COMMANDER! ANOTHER IMPERIAL SHIP IS COMING OUT OF HYPERSPACE!" a crewmen shouted.

"WHAT!?" Applejack shouted out at this shocking news. "Do we know what it is?"

"IT'S AN IMPERIAL DREADNOUGHT, MA'AM! IT'S THE DARK HORSE!"

A massive ship came upon the space battle from its hyperspace travel. The ship was long and bulk and it was different from the other Imperial ships. The head of the ship was near the back of it in a curve upward position and it's cannons were massive. Its body was round with the upper part of it that looked like a large horn. Truly it was a ship that was both impressive and feared in the war.

After it came out of hyperspace, it immediately headed for one of the Republic ships and rammed against it. The ship was torn apart and was destroyed in the process, while the Imperial dreadnought remained unscratched.

On the bridge of the Dark Horse, there was two unicorns staring out the windows of the ship. One of them was the infamous, Nightmare Moonlight as he was a tall and bulked stallion that wore a gold metal mask over his muzzle and wore a maroon armor with a black cape. His eyes was a lifeless grey color, while his coat was tan and his horn was a dark red colored and had the shape of a dragon's tooth. The other one was his apprentice, Sunset Shimmer a mare that had color of vivid crimson with yellow stripes of her mane and tail. Her coat was a light amber and her eyes were the color cyan. She wore a black robe with a silver metal breastplate on her chest with the symbol of her cutie mark on it. Walking behind them was a pegasus stallion that had light grey coat with pure white mane and tail, as well as light blue eyes. He wore a dark blue uniform with white stripes on the side and had a cap on.

The pegasus walked up to them and said, "My lord, we have identify which ship Twilight is on and we are awaiting your orders."

Moonlight turned his attention towards the pegasus. "Excellent work Admiral Soul. Launch the boarding party and disable the ship's engine. Destroy the rest of the fleet, leave no survivors."

"As you command, my lord," Soul said and bowed to his lord. He then turned around and walked away.

Sunset gave a disgruntled look towards her master and asked, "Are you sure this is wise, master? Twilight is a threat to us and must be stopped."

"I understand that hatred for Twilight is strong after she replaced you as Celestia's apprentice, Sunset." Moonlight began to say. "But I assure you that turning her against her beloved teacher would be the perfect act of revenge. Besides with Twilight's abilities at our command, we will be the most unstoppable force in the galaxy and nothing will stand in our way for total control," he explained.

"If that is what you want to do, my master," Sunset said. She looked back at the battle that was in front of them as she saw the Republic forces being disseminated by their fleet. She then turned back to her master and asked, "Should I join the boarding party?"

"No, I will need you to go down to the planet's surface and take control of the government. If Twilight uses the ships escape pods, we will need full control of the planet's resources to capture her quickly."

"As you command, master." Sunset bowed and walked away to get ready for her departure.

Soon small shuttles from the Dark Horse were coming out and were heading towards the Solar Spire. The Solar Spire's auto turrets soon fired at the incoming shuttles and were able to destroy some of them, but the Imperial fighters were destroying most of the turrets and clearing the way for the shuttles. The shuttles soon attached themselves on to the ship, while the fighters were focusing their attention on the ship's engines.

In the hallways of the Solar Spire, Republic troops soon got themselves ready and were heading towards where the Imperial shuttles had attached. They set up barricades and took cover near the entrances. The troopers soon watched silently and aimed their weapons at the door ready for the Imperials to attack. Soon sparks were coming from the door and in a few seconds the door blew up. Blaster fire soon followed after that and the Republic troopers started firing back at the Imperial soldiers that were coming through the doorway. As the battle continued, from out of nowhere Imperial pegasi were coming out of the ceilings and flanked the troopers. Most of the troopers were killed and a few were able to fall back further into the ship. The Imperials soon started to pursue them and begun invading the ship for others.

When most of the Imperials soldiers started clearing the area, three armored unicorns were coming out of the doorway. They wore silver plated armor with dark robes and had round helmets on their heads with a bright red triangle visors on them. The one that was leading the other two walked up to one of the Imperial troopers and commanded with a synthesized voice, "Soldier, take your forces and search the ship for a purple unicorn. If you find others, kill them."

"Yes sir," the soldier replied and gave a salute.

On another part of the Solar Spire, three medical ponies were making their way to the medical bay. One of them was a pegasus mare with a light yellow coat and long pink mane and tail. Her eyes were cyan and she wore a Republic uniform that was similar to the other medics with the color scheme of white and red with the symbol of a red cross on the flank. As they were galloping, one of the medics spoke up, "I can't believe the Imperials made it on to the ship. Shouldn't we evacuate?"

"They just got on the ship. I'm sure that we can hold them off. Besides, we have knights on the ship anyway. We're more then prepared to take them on," the other medic explained.

"A-Are you sure?" the pegasus asked nervously.

"Yes, now lets get to the medical bay and grab some supplies," the medic replied.

The trio made it at the door to the medical bay, but they heard blaster fire going off as well as screams and explosions going off. Two of the medic grabbed their blasters, while the pegasus just stood behind them timidly. When one of the medics opened the door, blaster fire soon headed their way and they quickly returned fire. But before long, the medics were quickly killed and the pegasus was left alone. She panicked and quickly turned to the opposite direction of the door and started galloping as fast as she could. Soon she heard hoofsteps right behind her and she was too scared to look back. She was galloping too fast and she soon tripped on her own hooves and fell on to the ground on her stomach. She was about to stand back up, until she looked up to see a blaster aimed at her face and her eyes widen at the sight of it. She was surrounded by five Imperial troopers having their weapons set on her. One of the troopers spoke up and asked, "What should we do with her? She doesn't look like she can put up much of a fight."

"We have our orders, we either find a purple unicorn or kill anypony that's on the ship."

The Imperial troopers' weapons clicked as they were ready to fire. The mare quickly closed her eyes, praying either that she be saved or that it would be quick and painless death. Finally she heard blaster fire, but it wasn't coming form the Imperials. She looked around to see one of the Imperial troopers fall to the ground dead, while the other Imperials were firing away from her towards another pony that was in the open dodging their blaster fire. The mysterious pony continued to fire back at the Imperials taking them down one by one, until he was able to get the last one. The pony in question soon walked towards the mare keeping his blaster out and stood over the pegasus.

The pony that saved the mare was a earthpony stallion with light brown coat and rich dark brown mane and tail. He wore a black jacket with a white shirt under it and had a pair of boots on as well as a strap holster. He didn't have any pants unlike the other troopers, thus his cutie mark was able to show and It was a dark grey colored binocular. He put away his blaster in his holster and he reached out with his hoof towards the mare. "Are you okay?" the stallion asked.

"Oh, um yes I'm okay," the mare said nervously and grabbed on to the stallions hoof.

The stallion pulled the mare up and said, "Good thing I came by here when I did." There was a pause in the converstion as he looked around for anymore Imperial troopers. He then looked back at her and said, "By the way, the name's Garret. I'm a scout for the Republic."

"M-My name is Fluttershy," she said quietly.

"Wait, what was that?"

"F-Fluttershy," she said louder, but was still quiet.

"Oh okay. Nice to meet you Fluttershy," Garret said.

"It's nice to meet you too, Garret."

"Listen, we better stick together. The Imperials have already taken half of the ship and I think we have a better chance of surviving if we head up to the bridge," Garret explained. "That's probably where the others are."

"A-are you sure that's a good idea going to the bridge?" Fluttershy asked as she started to tremble again. "It's more than likely that all the fighting be over there and I'm not much of a trooper."

"Don't worry about it. I got your back," Garret replied and pulled out his blaster. "We better get moving. It's not a good idea to stay in one place while the ship is filled with Imperials." he explained

"R-Right"

They both started galloping towards the bridge.

On the bridge, Applejack was giving orders left to right trying to keep everything under control. "WHAT IS TH' STATUS ON TH' FLEET?" she shouted.

"THE FLEET IS IN DISARRAY! WE LOST CONTACT WITH GREEN SQUADRON AND RED SQUADRON IS TAKEN HEAVY LOSSES!"

"MA'AM, WEAPONS ARE OFFLINE, SHIELDS ARE OFFLINE, AND THEY DISABLE THE ENGINES!"

"WE'RE GETTING REPORTS THAT IMPERIALS ARE MAKING THEIR WAY TO THE BRIDGE!"

Applejack couldn't believe what was happening. Her entire fleet was getting overwhelmed, Imperial were on her ship killing her crew, and there was hardly anything that she could do. She just froze up with fear and confusion. It wasn't until a voice snapped her out of it.

"APPLEJACK!"

Applejack quickly shook head and turned her attention towards Twilight who shouted her name.

"What is it, Twilight?" Applejack asked.

"Applejack, we have to abandon the ship," Twilight suggested. "There's nothing that we can do to save it."

"Can ya use your magic or something ta change th' tide of this battle?"

"I wish it was that simple, but with so much going on all at once I don't think I can concentrate. And it'll just leave me exhausted, leaving me defenseless against their forces," Twilight explained.

Applejack then just looked down at the ground with frustration seeing that her options are limited. With a heavy heart, she turned to her attention to the comm systems and broadcast a message throughout the ship.

Fluttershy and Garret were still on their way to the bridge, until they stopped to hear the speakers turned on.

"ALL CREW MEMBERS THIS IS TH' COMMANDER, WE'RE EVACUATING THE SHIP! GET TO TH' ESCAPE PODS NOW! I REPEAT, EVACUATE NOW!"

Fluttershy and Garret then looked back at each other.

"Looks like we know where we're going now," Garret said.

"Is it safe to get there?" Fluttershy asked.

"Don't worry, it's nearby. We can get there without any-" Before Garret could finish, some unknown force pushed him against the wall and he fell to the ground. Fluttershy looked over to see what pushed him, but soon she felt the same force and was pushed against the wall as well. They both looked up to see a dark armored unicorn that was standing on two hooves and was holding one blade that was glowing red with energy.

He let out a laugh and said, "Seems like you ponies won't be getting away that easily. Lucky for you both I happen to be in a good mood, so I'll make your deaths quick and painless."

"I don't think so," Garret said, pulling out his blaster and firing a few shots.

But the unicorn deflected them and used his magic to pull the blaster away from Garret's hoof. The unicorn slashed the blaster in half and charged towards Garret and Fluttershy. Without thinking, Garret put himself as a shield for Fluttershy, hoping that he would get the worst of it. The dark unicorn lifted up his blade and it came down towards the two and they both had their eyes closed.

*TTTIIIZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ*

Garret had his eyes closed for a few seconds and when he realized he didn't felt anything, he opened them back up to see not only a red blade near his face, but a blue one as well. He looked over to see where the blue one came from and it belonged to another unicorn that was purple. She was a mare and was using her magic to levitate her blade in the air. She used her blade to push the the dark unicorn away and stood in front of Garret and Fluttershy in a defensive position.

The mare stared down at the dark unicorn and said, "Look how low you warriors can be. You should be ashamed of striking down a defenseless opponent."

The dark unicorn gave a menacing look under his helmet. "Please, only the weak perish and the strong rise," He replied. "The dark side is what gives me strength."

"It takes real strength to resist the dark side, only the weak embrace it," the mare countered.

"It's more powerful then you can possibly imagine."

"Maybe in life, but never in death."

"ENOUGH! I have orders to capture you, Twilight Sparkle and I will prove myself worthy to Nightmare Moonlight!"

The dark unicorn charged towards Twilight and clashed his blade with hers. Twilight used her blade to block every strike that he tried to throw at her. For a few seconds this went on, until Twilight was able to start going on the offensive and striking back at the dark unicorn. She used techniques to overwhelm her opponent and saw a chance to strike. When the dark unicorn tried to slash across Twilight's chest, she jumped up in the air and spun around a couple of times and landed behind him. She quickly grabbed her blade, stood up, and stabbed behind the back of unicorn in a backwards style. The dark unicorn let out his last breathe before Twilight pulled out her blade from his back and fell down to the ground dead.

Applejack and two other unicorns came down the same way Twilight came from. Applejack came up to her and asked, "Are y'all alright? What happened here?"

"Nothing I couldn't handle commander," Twilight said and turned off her blue blade and put it away. She looked over to Garret and walked up to him. "Here let me help you up," she said and offered her hoof.

Garret gave a smile and accepted Twilight's hoof. When he got up and he offered his hoof towards Fluttershy and lifted her up. He looked over to Twilight and said, "Thanks ma'm, we needed the help."

"It was my duty to help any that needs it," Twilight replied with a smile.

"Well, still thanks," Garret said and turned to Applejack giving a salute. "Commander."

"At ease trooper," Applejack said and turned towards the rest. "We still need ta get off this ship. Let's move before anymore Imperials come." She then turned towards the escape pods and was about to gallop to them.

Before anypony could move, two more dark armored unicorns came around the corner and ignited their blades. One of them was holding their blade like Twilight did with her magic and the other had two blades in his hooves. The two other unicorns that were with Applejack nodded at each other and jumped in front of the group. They ignited their blades as well. one of them had a green blade and had two hooves on it and the other one had a two-sided yellow blade. One of them spoke up and said, "The rest of you go! We'll hold them off!" They soon charged at the dark unicorns and they did the same. Their blades clashed with one another and the battle of blades had begun.

Twilight was tempted to help, but a hoof was put over her shoulder and saw that it was Applejack's. "Come on Twilight, we need ta get to th' pods before it's too late," Applejack said and started pulling Twilight away from the fight. They soon galloped past Garret and Fluttershy and they soon started following them.

The four ponies soon got to the escape pods and saw that there was still a few left. When they were about to get in the pods, blaster fire soon started passing by them and saw that Imperials soldiers were firing at them. Applejack pulled out two of her blasters and returned fire at them. She was able to take down a few of them, but there was too many and she didn't know how long she can hold them off. Garret took cover behind the controls to the pods and said to Fluttershy and Twilight, "You two get in a pod and I'll launch you two down to the planet."

"But-" Fluttershy tried to interject, but was stopped by Garret. "There's no time to argue, just go!"

"He's right, we have no time," Twilight said and pulled Fluttershy into the pod.

Garret punched in a few things in the controls and sent the pod out of it's bay. Applejack kept on firing back, until she saw the controls to the door. She aimed at it and blasted it, causing the door to close and stopping the imperials from coming in. Applejack soon turned towards Garret and said," Are we good ta go?"

"Yes ma'am, it's ready to go," Garret replied and jumped over the controls.

They both quickly entered the pod and launched it. The pod ejected out of the side of the Solar Spire. While the pod was still heading towards the planet below, Applejack looked out at the back window seeing the space battle behind them. She saw Republic fighters trying to get away from the Imperial fighters only to be destroyed by the warships' auto turrets and saw Republic cruisers being overwhelmed by the warships. To her it wasn't a battle, but it was a slaughter and she couldn't help but think that it was all her fault. It was her fleet and there was nothing that she could have done to save it. The pod soon entered into the atmosphere of the planet, Hoovries and started its descent towards the towering cities. The pod quickly passed the towers and soon entering the darker places under the city. The pod finally crashed on a hard surface and slide on the ground until it stopped to what seemed to look like a cross-way for speeders.

After a few minutes of the pod's stop, Applejack woke up in daze feeling lightheaded. She looked over to Garret to see he was out cold and then looked over to the the pods door. She soon tried to press on the door controls, but nothing happened, so she soon stood backwards at the door and used the back of her hooves to buck the door opened. The door came flying out and Applejack came out of the pod dragging Garret out with his shirt collar in her mouth. She let him down on the ground and looked around to see her surroundings.

Without realizing it, Applejack and the unconscious Garret were quickly surrounded by hoovering bikes with ponies holding blasters. Applejack pulled out her blaster and pretended that the lights from the bikes weren't blinding her. One of the riders jumped off his bike and stood in front of his lights. Applejack tried to see what the pony looked like and the pony soon said, "Don't worry, we're not here to hurt you. We're here to help."

END OF CHAPTER

Chapter 2: Beks and Griffons

View Online

CHAPTER 2 BEKS AND GRIFFONS

On the planet Cantersuant, In the great Libraries of the Unicorn Temple, Grand Master Celestia was showing a very young filly around.

Celestia was an alicorn that wore a white robe with the symbol of her cutie mark on the sides. Her cutie mark looked like a renaissance-style sun. She was taller than anypony and her hair was a light colored rainbow.

The little filly was a purple unicorn and her cutie mark was a pink star that was surrounded by five little white stars. She was carrying a saddle bag on her back and she was holding on to a doll. Her eyes widened as she was amazed of how huge the library is. She couldn't believe that her dreams of becoming a member of Unicorn Order and even better, becoming Celestia's own apprentice. "Master Celestia, this library is so big. It must take forever to read all this," said the little filly as she her eyes continued to gaze around the library.

Celestia let out a small chuckle. "Yes it would take most of a pony's life to read all this, but it is a good thing. Knowledge is an infinite thing and we can never run out of it. So no matter what you've learned here, you can always know that there will be something new around every corner," replied the Grand Master.

As the two were walking down the halls of the library, Celestia noticed a unicorn in a brown robe which was covering his face with a hood. She smiled knowing who it was and called out to him, "Eclipse, would you come over here for a moment?" The unicorn heard the Grand Master and walked over to her. She then said to the unicorn, "Eclipse, I was hoping that you would be one of the first members to meet Twilight." She looked over to Twilight who was a bit nervous at meeting another pony.

Eclipse smiled and said, "It is nice to meet you, Ms. Twilight." He looked over to Celestia and said, "Master, is she the one that you mentioned in the report?"

Celestia nodded and said, "Yes she is. She has an incredible magic capacity hidden within her, but it's still raw." She looked back at Twilight and continued, "But I believe in time she could become a very powerful and wise leader as she grows. Twilight would you please let me and Eclipse be alone for a moment? You can check some of the holocrons we have here."

Twilight was excited to check out the holocrons and in a flash she quickly galloped over to them. Celestia giggled and Eclipse was surprised to see a filly so happy to read from the holocrons, except for himself when he first came to the Temple. Celestia looked over to him and asked, "Have you seen Sunset Shimmer anywhere? I've been looking all over the temple for her."

Eclipse rolled his eyes (If they can be seen under his hood) and answered, "No idea. In fact nopony does. She's not exactly the nicest unicorn to be around. She's rude, arrogant, and claims to be superior all because she's your apprentice. Master Celestia, if you don't mind me asking, what exactly did you see in her when you accepted her as your apprentice?"

Celestia's smile riddled away and she replied, "She was just a little filly at the time and she showed great promise of being a good unicorn. I keep on teaching her the values of friendship, but she just won't listen to me on the matter."

"I think she's a lost cause," Eclipse began to say. "She won't join anypony for anything. I think it's time to give up on her," he suggested.

"No Eclipse. I am her master and it is my duty to show her the ways of harmony. It may take time, but I believe she can still be a great unicorn if she gives friendship a try. Would you have like it if your former master gave up on you when you were having a hard time making friends?" Celestia asked looking down at Eclipse.

Eclipse let out a sigh and replied, "No master I wouldn't. I'm just saying she is making it hard on herself for anypony to be her friend and trust her."

"Give it time. She just needs time to realize that you can't live life without making friends." Celestia then smiled once again. "In the meantime, would you look after Twilight? I have to attend a meeting with the council and it may take sometime for me to get her ready for training." she said.

"Of course master. I'll keep an eye on her until you return." Eclipse said bowing towards Celestia as she made her way to the meeting. He then went over to Twilight to see what she was doing. Twilight was looking over the one of the holoscreens reading about Star Swirl, The First Watchstallion. "Huh? I didn't think anypony would be interested in Star Swirl."

Twilight looked up to him and replied, "Well I mostly like all the theories he had about the connection between our magic and the essence of Harmony."

Eclipse was surprised to hear that a little filly would even be interested in the theories that Star Swirl came up with. The Watchstallion had thousands of theories about it and had discovered many magical abilities as well. It was the reason why Eclipse became a unicorn sentinel and followed the hoofsteps of Star Swirl. "That was also my favorite thing about him too. I even learned some of his most difficult tricks."

"Wow really? What kind of tricks can you do?" Twilight asked with a twinkle of excitement in her eyes.

"Well let me show you," Eclipse replied and started to do something with his horn, until the vision was getting blurry and everything was going black.

Garret was opening his eyes slowly and looked around the room that his was in. The room had a lot of beds in it and he saw medical supplies around the room as well. He presumed that he was in a hospital or at least in a medical room. All of a sudden the door to the room was opening. It was Applejack who was coming in and next to her was a zebra.

The zebra was old looking. He was wearing a light tan and orange jumpsuit all over his body and he seemed to be blind as well. He was mostly bald, except for the pony tail on the back of his head.

Applejack was helping him get to Garret and the zebra said, "Well, glad that you're among the living again, that must have been a rough ride for you."

"Yeah it was," Garret said. He shook his his head for a moment hoping to get rid of the dizziness and asked, "How long have I been out?"

"You've been out for about three days, but I'm sure you'll be fine in no time. In case you were wondering, my name is Gadon, leader of the Hidden Beks."

"Nice to meet you and the name is Garret."

"Glad to meet you too, Garret. I'm sure your friend here would like sometime alone with you, you both have much to discuss," Gadon said as he was leaving the room on his own.

Applejack walked up to Garret and said, "Wal Ah reckon thet you have a lot of questions."

"Yeah I do, but I never did introduced myself. As I already told Gadon, the names Garret, ma'am."

"And th' names Applejack, but of course you've already heard of me since Ah was the commander of the fleet."

"Yeah, so where are we anyway?" Garret asked looking around the area again.

"Well we're in one of th' lower levels of Hoovris and we're hiding out in th' Beks' base."

"I see, where are the other republic troops?"

Applejack felt uncomfortable answering that question, but she muster all her might and said, "Ah'm afraid thet most of them were either captured while they landed near th' upper levels of Hoovris or they landed in th' Undercity and most of them got kill by ponyghouls."

"Ponyghouls?" Garret asked in confusion.

"Yeah, nasty little varmints. They're basically mutants thet turn ponies or anything else into them and continue turning other as well."

"That must be horrible. What about Twilight and Fluttershy? Do we know if they're okay?"

"Ah don't know who Fluttershy is, but if she was with Twilight in th' escape pod, there might be a chance thet she's still alive."

"What do you mean might?"

Applejack was afraid to answer that. Before she could give an answer though however, Gadon came back into the room with another pony by his side.

It was a white pegasus mare with purple stripes around her body. She wore a metallic chest piece and two black boots on her back legs. She was keeping her eyes on both Applejack and Garret and kept her hooves near her blaster.

Gadon went up to Garret and Applejack and said, "I'm afraid to say that your friends are prisoners of the Black Griffons."

"Wait, who are the Black Griffons?" Garret asked.

"They're a bunch of no good thugs who kill people for fun and have waged war against us. Their leader is Gilda, she was once a bek like us, but she left because I didn't think she was ready to lead the beks. I treated her like a daughter and this is how she repays me. With the blood of my fellow bek members and innocent ponies that live down here," Gadon explained.

"So all we have to do is find their base and break in to find Twilight and Fluttershy," Garret said. "Right?"

"Ah'ma afraid thet's not going to happen. From what Gadon told me, Twilight is being kept somewhere else and Gilda might have sold Fluttershy to either Blueblood, a member of the Exchange or to an off-world slaver. Ah don't want to make things bad, but we'll have an easier time finding Twilight than Fluttershy. Ah'm sorry," Applejack explained with remorse.

Garret was saddened to hear the news. He didn't want to believe that Fluttershy was doomed to enslavement, but he knew there wasn't much that he could do up to this point. He mustered all the strength that he had and got out of his bed. "So what is the plan then?"

As some time went by, Applejack, Garret, Gadon, and Gadon's body guard, Zaedra were all in Gadon's office and were discussing their plans on rescuing Twilight.

"So that's it? All we have to do is get your prototype engine and return it to you?" asked Garret.

"Yes that's all, with the prototype engine we will be able to win this years annual swoop race and win your friend's freedom," Gadon explained.

"Ah still can't believe thet Gilda is offering Twilight as a trophy for th' race," Applejack said.

"My bet is that Gilda is hoping to win some of the other lower gangs to join her's, so she can mount an assault on the beks and wipe us out," Gavin explained.

"The plan sounds great and all, but how are we going to get in the base?" Garret asked. "What you told us is that the front doors are locked and it's heavily guarded."

"Don't worry I have a plan for that," Gadon started to explain. "There is a sewer system that leads behind the Griffon's base. You should be able to get in without them knowing you're in. But unfortunately, the sewers are in the Undercity and finding the entrance in all that pathway is dangerous."

"So how do we find the entrance then?" Applejack asked.

"Lucky for you both, I happen to know two ponies that know the way. Vao and Zaalbar," Gadon said.

Zaedra's ears perked up as she was surprised to hear this and said, "Gadon! Are you serious? Vao is just a little filly. We can't just involve her in this, it's too dangerous."

"I know Zaedra, but what choice do we have? She's the only pony in the entire planet that is actually brave enough to go down into the sewers with a smile on her face," Gadon pointed out.

"Don't worry Gadon and Zaedra, we'll make sure that she's safe and sound or die trying," Garret said with confidence.

"Well, looks like we have two ponies that are going into the sewers with a smile. Anyways, Vao is more than likely to be in the Undercity right now," Gadon said. "Oh! And one more thing, be careful around Zaalbar. From what I heard, he's very protective about Vao. So you better do this carefully."

"Got it and thanks again for the help," Garret said.

"We'll be back with th' prototype in no time," Applejack said.

They both left Gadon's office and gathered the supplies that he left them for the trip.

Soon as they left the Beks' Base they were walking down a long wide street that Gavin said would lead them into the Undercity. On the way, Garret was curious about Twilight and he didn't know much about her except the fact that she was just a unicorn. He turned to Applejack and asked, "Is there anything you can tell me about Twilight, commander?"

Applejack looked over to him and answered, "Well not much. Ah know she is a member of the Unicorn Order and thet she has a special gift thet no other unicorn has."

Garret was puzzled by what Applejack said and asked, "What do you mean by special gifts? What makes her so different from the other unicorns?"

Applejack was surprised to hear that one of her men didn't know anything about Twilight's gifts. It was one of the most popular topics in the fleet. "Yo' must've hit your head harder than Ah thought. She has th' ability called 'Harmony's Will.' With it, she can make armies come together even in th' worst of times and give them confidence, while she makes th' enemy lose their will to fight."

"So basically she can give us the courage to keep on going and the enemy can't fight back so well?" Garret repeated what Applejack said, but said it in a different way just to make sure.

"Eeyup"

"Is that why the Imperials set up a blockade over the planet just to make sure she wouldn't escape?"

"Eeyup"

"Do you know her personally?

"Nope. In fact most ponies don't know her so well, mostly because she spends most of her time studying holocrons and with her masters. She obviously has no life outside of the Unicorn Order."

"Wow! It sounds like a rough life in the order."

"From what Ah can understand, the unicorns that go there are usually those who have strong connections with magic."

"So wait not all unicorns go there?"

"Well yeah. Many other unicorns can only use basic magics like levitation spells and thet'll be just about it."

"Wow that's really interesting. I haven't really been around unicorns or pegasus from where I'm from, so it's kinda new to me."

"Ah understand partner. Ah used to be in the same boat as you, until Ah joined th' Equestrian fleet and met a lot of good ponies.....as well as no good ponies." Applejack was giving out a look that was filled with hate, while she was remembering an event that happened a long time ago.

Garret saw the expression on Applejack's face and was concerned about her. "Hey, are you okay?"

Applejack snapped out of it realizing she was showing too much emotion. She cleared her mind for a moment and replied, "Yeah Ah'm okay. Just remembering somethings Ah shouldn't be remembering right now."

Garret was confused and wanted to say more, but he had a feeling that it was something too personal and he didn't want to make Applejack anymore uncomfortable.

Applejack and Garret then made it to the entrance of the Undercity. When they got near to the elevator, they looked at each other and nodded at one another. They both knew it was going to be dangerous and they needed to be ready for anything. They took deep breaths and entered the elevator. The elevator then made its way to the dark caverns of the Undercity.

END OF CHAPTER

Chapter 3: The Unexpected Welcome

View Online

CHAPTER 3 THE UNEXPECTED WELCOME

Applejack and Garret were in the elevator, making their way down to the Undercity. While the ride down was slow and it was getting boring, Applejack decided to talk to Garret. "So Garret, Ah never got a chance t'knows ya any better. What field do ya work in?"

Garret looked over to Applejack and replied, "I'm a scout for the republic. I was recruited recently because of my hacking abilities and my field reconnaissance training,"

"Well thet's good to know. Is ya any good with a blaster?" Applejack asked out of curiosity.

"Yes I am very well trained to use one and I know some hoof-to-hoof combat as well." Garret replied.

"Thet'll come in handy as we fight against th' Imperials." she commented.

"Hey comman-" Garret was saying before he was interrupted by Applejack.

"Please, ya can call me Applejack."

"Um, right. Applejack, how did you become commander of the fleet?" Garret asked.

"Well Ah served during th' Diamond Dog Wars, but Ah didn't become commander until after th' Imperials started invading Equestria space. Ah was a captain on one of th' star ships thet were defending' th' pegasus' homeworld, Cloudsdale. Th' admiral of th' fleet was killed and th' fleet was scattered. Ah knew thet Ah had to take command of th' fleet and defend th' planet at all cost. As ya can tell, we were successful and drove th' Imperial fleet back. Chancellor Fancypants notice mah heroics and made me commander of mah own fleet. For a spell, we were able start pushing th' Imperial Armada back.....until just a few days ago," Applejack explained. Images of the soldiers lost during the battle over Hoovris flashing through her mind, even the ones on the Solar Spire. She couldn't bare the pain of losing many ponies under her command.

Garret saw that Applejack was having a hard time dealing with what happened."It's okay Applejack, there was nothing you could have done to prevent that," He said hoping that it would help her.

"A-Ah know, it's just....this is th' second time Ah felt so helpless against th' Imperials," Applejack said quietly while looking down.

Garret looked at her with confusion. "The second time? What was the first?" he asked out of curiosity.

She lifted her head back up and said, "Ah....really don't want to talk about it," It was something that Applejack couldn't bear to tell. Her heart was aching with pain and regret.

Before Garret could say anything else the elevator neared its destination. The two then prepared themselves for whatever was behind the door. Then the elevator stopped. Applejack and Garret were starting to sweat and were beginning to shake in their hooves. They weren't sure of what kind of horrors awaited for them behind the door. Then the door slowly opened and-

"Welcome welcome welcome!
A fine welcome to you!
Welcome welcome welcome!
I say how do you do?
Welcome welcome welcome!
I say hip hip hurray!
Welcome welcome welcome!
To the Undercity today!"

Confetti was being blown towards their faces and when it went away, they saw an oven. When the oven opened, it fired and both Applejack and Garret were covered in cake.

"HI THERE! My name is Pinkie Pie. What's your names and what brings you ponies down to the Undercity?" said the pink mare who was glad to see new ponies in her village.

Garret wiped away the cake from his face and said, "The name is Garret and we're coming down here to look for somepony."

Applejack wiped away the cake from her face as well and said, "And mah name is Applejack. We were told thet they'd be somewhere down here."

"OH! I see. Are you looking for both Vao and Zaalbar?" Pinkie asked.

"Well..Um, yeah. How did ya know?" Applejack asked while she was confuse on how the pink mare was able to guess the right ponies they were looking for.

"It was a guess," Pinkie answered with a smile.

Garret then went ahead and said, "Well do you know-" but was interrupted by Pinkie.

"Where they are? Nope, but I know where they went and I can show you the way," Pinkie replied.

Garret was a bit confused, but was grateful that Pinkie knew where to look for Vao and Zaalbar. "Oh! Well that would be very kind of you to do. Lead the way."

"Alrighty then! Follow me then," Pinkie said when she started leading the two ponies while bouncing.

As the group was making their way, Applejack leaned over to Garret and whispered to him, "Were ya expecting this when we were coming here."

"Nope. In fact this was the complete opposite," Garret responded.

"Good, cause Ah was afraid Ah was th' only one," Applejack commented.

Garret tried to observe Pinkie. She was a pink earthpony obviously and was wearing a jacket that looked like it was put together by other pieces of clothing, but it was very colorful. He looked to see what cutie she had and saw three balloons on her flank. He was confuse on why a pony had a cutie mark like that and tried to figure out what it meant.

Applejack saw what Garret was doing and said, "Ya knows its rude t'look at a mare's flank for too long."

Garret blushed and said, "Sorry."

Applejack snickered to herself.

As the group was moving, Applejack and Garret were looking around the village they were in. It was filled with ponies that were in old looking and torn up clothes. Garret felt bad that so many ponies lived down here. He couldn't understand why they were all here in the first place. So he asked Pinkie, "Hey why are there ponies doing down here anyway?"

Pinkie looked backed at Garret confused and asked, "Wait? Why would you ask that question? I thought everypony would know why the outcast are down here."

"We're not exactly from this planet. We're....um....outworlders and we got stuck here because of the Imperial blockade," Garret replied hoping that Pinkie would believe him.

"Well that would explain it," Pinkie said. "But you don't have to worry about telling me you're with the Republic. I don't like the Imperials that much."

Garret and Applejack froze up and their eyes shrunk at what Pinkie said.

"H-How did ya know we were with th' Republic?" Applejack asked concerned how Pinkie figured out which side they were on.

"I'm not that good of a detective, but you ponies are wearing clothes that Republic citizens would wear or at least what Republic officers would wear. Applejack, your accent is from Republic space and Imperials don't want their soldiers to have a distinct accents among them. And lastly, Garret here is a terrible liar even though what he said is partly true," Pinkie got done explaining and both Republic ponies had their mouths wide opened at what she said.

"Okay wow! Didn't see that coming.....Wait? Am I really that terrible of a liar?" Garret said and pondered at wither or not if he was a bad liar.

'Well y'all weren't convincing when y' told her about us," Applejack pointed out.

"Thanks," Garret said, sarcastically.

"Anyways you ponies really don't know anything about down here and the outcast?" Pinkie asked.

Garret then replied, "Nope. Do you mind telling us about it?"

"I don't mind. I really like telling stories to other ponies, but I think Rukil should be the one to tell you the story," Pinkie answered and continued, "Would you like to meet him?"

"Sure no problem. Who is he anyway?" Garret asked.

"He's like the really really really oldest pony in the village and he's super nice. He likes to tell stories to all the little fillies here," Pinkie replied while she leads the other two to Rukil and she was still bouncing while doing it.

"How old are we talking here?" asked Applejack.

"He's over hundred years old! Isn't that cool?" Pinkie asked.

"Wow! You weren't kidding about the really really really old part," Garret commented.

As the group was moving, they came upon an old looking tent that was in the middle of the village. Suddenly an old earthpony stallion came out of the tent to see who was visiting him. The stallion was wearing a torn up jacket like the rest of the village. His was bald and had grey eyes as well. Despite what Pinkie said, He didn't look like he was too old to be over a hundred years old. More like he was in his 50's or maybe even 60's. The stallion went up to Pinkie, smiled, and asked, "Pinkie my old friend, what are you doing here so late?"

Pinkie hugged the old stallion and replied, "Rukil I brought these offworlders here to hear the tale of how the outcast came here. Their names are Garret and Applejack."

Applejack lowered her hat down and said, "It's a pleasure to meet y'all."

Garret then said, "It's nice meeting you Rukil."

"It's always a pleasure to meet new ponies that come down from the surface, wanting to know about the village and the ponies that live in them," Rukil said.

"Pinkie said that you would tell us the story about the outcast. I would like to hear about," Garret said.

"Very well then. Sit down and I will tell you the story of the outcast and how we came to be," Rukil said as he was getting a matt to sit on.

As Garret, Applejack, and Pinkie were lying down, A group of fillies came by and saw that Rukil was getting ready to tell a story. They quickly gathered all the other fillies in the village to join the group and hear the tale. They were mostly near Pinkie since they knew her so well and one little filly got on top of Pinkie's head to have a better view of Rukil. Pinkie didn't mind and was glad to help the little filly.

Rukil was clearing his throat and began the story. "For centuries the outcasts have lived in the Undercity for hundreds of generations. We live here because of the greed and selfishness of ponies that lived at the top of Hoovris. They do not see the value of friendship, but only money and power. Overtime the planet was completely covered by the buildings all around us and soon clean water and food were hardly anywhere. The rich soon took what they could and kept it all to themselves, while the poor and helpless were left to starve and suffer. Eventually a civil war broke out where the poor and homeless rose up against the rich and greedy that engulfed the planet. The war was long and harsh and many ponies died trying to take what was left of our planet. Overtime the rich was able to crush the rebels and banished all the survivors down here in the Undercity, as punishment for the rebellion. For centuries we have endured many hardships here, but we have survived this far and we'll continue to do so, until the day we discover the promised land."

All the little fillies were getting excited for what was coming next and Garret and Applejack were confused why they were.

"Yes the promise land. It is the one place in Hoovris that wasn't tainted by the greed of the rich and is the only place that the plants can grow and bear fruits and vegetables,while we can drink clear water that hadn't been filled with toxins or pollutions. Sadly the land was lost to history during the war and finding it would be impossible. But one day it is said that a pony with a kind heart would lead us the path to the land. For now though, we must continue to survive here and pray that we get to see our love ones for another day," Rukil finished.

After Rukil was done, all the fillies said their goodbyes and went to play games or whatever they were doing earlier. Applejack then said to Rukil, "Well thet was good story to hear, but we need to keep moving if we're going to find Vao and Zaalbar.

As Garret, Applejack, and Pinkie were getting up, Rukil spoke up and said, "Ah but the story hasn't ended yet. It will end when you find the journal my family has searched for eons." Rukil pointed at Garret making it clear that he was the pony that Rukil mentioned.

"Wait, What?" Garret said surprised at Rukil said.

"Yes, you," Rukil said.

"Wait a minute here. I get thet you're looking for this promise land, but how do ya know it's Garret here? For all we know Ah could be the promise one too," Applejack tried to point out.

Rukil stared at Applejack for a moment and said, "No you could not be the promise one. Your heart is filled with regret and sorrow. You do not trust your allies and have no friends to rely on. You live in a world that you can only trust yourself and nopony else. And I'm afraid to say that if you continue on the path you have chosen, you will live alone with nopony to ever trust you again."

Applejack was left speechless. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. She wondered how this old pony was able to to know so much about her without revealing anything about her past and what she had to go through.

Garret was confused at what Rukil said to Applejack and wanted to say something, but he wasn't sure what to say and saw that Applejack was trying to hide her face away. Rukil then said to Garret, "When I look at you I see nothing but bravery and kindness in your heart. You are willing to make impossible promises to your friends and will always remain loyal to them. Destiny has indeed a plan for you, but this is but a small step towards it. Will help us in our dire time of need?"

Garret felt honored that Rukil thought he was able to find the promise land for the outcasts, but he also was worried that if he had failed he would let down an entire village. Nevertheless, Rukil was asking for his help and Garret was the type of pony to always help. "I will accept and help find this journal for you."

"I am glad to hear that. Now you must make your journey. Pinkie will explain to you the details and will lend her hoof for assistance," Rukil said and went back into his tent to rest.

The group was at last at the gates of the village. Pinkie went up to the gate's keeper and asked him to lower the gate. He did and let the group continue on.

Sometime had passed since they left and Pinkie was still asking all kinds of questions on the way. Garret wasn't bothered by it, but Applejack's eyes were bloodshot and she was twitching a bit.

She leaned over to Garret and whispered, "How is it that ya can stand all those questions she keeps asking?"

"I don't know. They don't seem to bother me one bit. Are they bothering you?" Garret asked looking back at Applejack.

Applejack was looking at Garret with venomous eyes which made him feel a bit uncomfortable.

"I'll take that as a yes," Garret said while trying not to make eye contact with Applejack.

As the group was moving, Garret remembered earlier about what Rukil said about Applejack and was concerned about her. He then turned back to her and asked, "Hey Applejack, about what Rukil said to you. What did he mean by that?"

Applejack turned her head towards Garret. She didn't want to tell Garret anything and especially about her past. But she remembered what Rukil said about her and decided to be honest with him at the moment. "Let's just say I have problems trusting ponies, even the ones that are on the same side as me," she replied.

"How come you have problems trusting other ponies?" Garret asked.

Applejack sighed and replied, "Because there was a pony thet deceived me and took everything from me. Ever since then, Ah haven't trusted another pony."

"So.....you don't trust me?" Garret asked feeling sorry for what Applejack thinks.

"Ah have nothing against you Garret. Ah'm not sure if you would betray me or not, but Ah can't take that risk again," Applejack replied.

"Applejack, you can count on me for anything and I promise that I would never betray you," Garret declared with a sincere voice.

Applejack was glad to hear what Garret said, but it wasn't the first time she heard those words. She then said, "Ah'm sorry Garret, but it's going to take more than words to convince me otherwise."

Before Garret could say anything else, Pinkie shouted out and yelled, "PONYGHOULS!!!"

Garret and Applejack looked behind them and saw ponyghouls coming there way. Pinkie ran behind the two for cover, while Garret and Applejack readied their blasters.

The ponyghouls were very horrid creatures to look at. Their skin was white with slime on them, they didn't seem to have any eyes at all, and instead of hooves, they had dragon-like claws.

The group got ready to fire their weapons when all of a sudden, they heard a roar coming from out of nowhere.

"GGGGGRRRRAAAHHHHH"

A large minotaur was charging at the ponyghouls and started tearing them apart with his weird looking hoovies. The ponyghouls were either getting their arms ripped off by the creature or they were thrown into the air by it. One of the ponyghouls was able to get behind it, but before it could do anything it head a voice called out to it.

"Leave him alone you slimewud!"

A little pegasus with orange fur and was wearing a grey vest jumped on top of it's head and made the ponyghoul fall. Before it had a chance to get up, Garret fired his blaster and killed the thing. Applejack then started firing her blaster at the rest of the ponyghouls.

When the battle was won, Applejack, Garret, and Pinkie went to see the ponies that helped them. The little filly then introduces herself. "Hi there, that was some fight we got into. My name is Scootaloo Vao and this here is my big friend Zaalbar," said the little filly when she was patting on the minotaur's legs.

"Wyaaaaaa" Zaalbar said in his native language.

Scootaloo was a little filly with purple and spiky hair and her eyes were purple. Under her gray vest was a black shirt under it and she had a black headband around her forehead. Zaalbar was a tall and buff minotaur, had a dark brown coat and two curved horns. He had what his species would call hands and some sharp teeth in his mouth. His eyes were black.

"Thanks for the help. I didn't think we would get any out here," Garret said.

"It was no problem. I couldn't stand by and let those ponyghouls do anything to you. Right Zaalbar?" Scootaloo said.

"Muawa," Zaalbar said again in his language.

"So you're the little filly that Gavin told us about?" Applejack asked while she was looking down at the filly.

"Gavin? The leader of the Beks? What did he say about me?" Scootaloo asked while raising an eyebrow.

"He said that you can lead us through the-" Garret tried to answer but was interrupted by Pinkie.

"Right into the sewers, so they can get inside the Griffons base, try to find the Beks' prototype engine, win the big Galloping Swoop Race, and rescue their unicorn friend from Gilda," Pinkie answered and smiled after she was done.

"Wait? How did ya know all thet?" Applejack asked wondering how Pinkie knew all this.

"I don't know, I just do," Pinkie said when she shrugged.

Applejack looked at Garret with a confused look and all that Garret could do was just shrug.

"I see you both met Pinkie. Anyways, sure I can lead you there, no problem. Besides I was planning on getting in there anyway," Scootaloo said.

"Really? Why would you do that?" Garret asked surprised that the filly answered so quickly.

"They have information on a friend of mine who went missing. Let's just leave it at that for now," Scootaloo said.

"Okay sure I understand," Garret said.

Zaalbar was telling something to Scootaloo.

Garret over heard what Zaalbar was saying and said, "Don't worry, we're not with the Imperials. We're actually with the Republic."

Everypony, especially Zaalbar, was surprised to find out that Garret understood what he said.

"Wait a moment. Ya can understand what that thing there is saying?" Applejack asked out of curiosity.

Zaalbar roared at Applejack with anger and she started stepping back. Scootaloo then tried to calm him down.

"He doesn't like to be called "it" and yes I can. I'm a scout after all, so I learned all kinds of languages in the galaxy. In case we ever get into trouble," Garret replied.

"Um...right, sorry about thet. Ah was trying not to be rude or anything, it's just that Ah don't know ya that well." Applejack said to Zaalbar and offered her hoof as an apology.

Zaalbar smiled, shook Applejack's hoof, and accepted her apology.

"Well since we have all that out of the way, we better keep moving or otherwise more ponyghouls would come this way," Pinkie said to the group.

Garret turned to Scootaloo and asked, "Right. Scootaloo, can you lead the way?"

"Sure thing just follow me. It will take awhile though, but we are safe as long as we don't make much noises," Scootaloo said and started leading the group until she asked, "By the way, I forgot to ask you two your names."

"Th' name is Applejack Onasi." she answered and gave a simple salute.

"And my name is Garret E'ni," he answered.

"Cool. Alright let's get going we have a lot of ground to go through so stay close," Scootaloo said and led the group.

Sometime had passed and the gang was still following Scootaloo to the entrance to the sewers. Applejack and Garret were watching out for more ponyghouls, while Pinkie was talking to Zaalbar for a long while and he was close to strangling Pinkie because of all the questions and random stories that she was mentioning. All of a sudden Scootaloo stopped and raised a hoof to tell the others to stop. She looked around and listened for a moment.

Then she said, "Everypony get to cover! I hear something coming."

The gang then started hiding behind a nearby boulder and watched out for what was coming. Around the corner of a pile of scrap, a group of ponies were walking by and were being lead by a diamond dog.

He was a large grey hound, much bigger than the ponies he was leading. He was wearing a red vest with a black shirt under it and was wearing a tan pants with armored boots. He had scars all over his face and was carrying a large gun.

The dog then stopped the group and started sniffing around.

"What is it Canderous, is there something out there?" said one of the ponies.

But Canderous didn't say anything and pointed his gun at the boulder. The rest of the group then pointed their guns at the boulder too. "Alright. This how its going to go. Whoever is behind there, move in to the light now or we get to do this the fun way," he announced.

The gang behind the boulder looked at each other. They all nodded in agreement and Garret was the first one to walk away from hiding. "Don't shoot! We won't fire if you don't," Garret said to Canderous and his group.

Canderous and his group lowered their guns, but didn't put them away. Garret waved the others to come out. As the group was coming out of hiding, Canderous then spoke up and said, "Let me guess, you guys are a bunch of scavengers looking for those Republic escape pods?"

Before Garret could answer, Applejack covered his mouth with her hoof and replied, "Yes we are. I'm guessing y'all came down here for th' same reason?" Applejack removed Garret's mouth.

At first Garret didn't understand why Applejack did that, but then he remembered that Pinkie and her did say he wasn't very good at lying. He lowered his head in shame after remembering that.

"You guessed right, but I have some advise. Turn back now if you know what's good for you," Canderous replied.

"Is thet a threat?" Applejack asked giving Canderous a stern look.

"Just a friendly warning. Which I don't like doing all the time. I already lost so many guys down here, we had to leave some equipment behind just to carry all what we got form the pods. Including the pod that unicorn officer that the Griffons captured," Canderous replied

"Wait! That one with the unicorn. Do you know anything about it?" Garret asked hoping that Fluttershy was with Twilight at the pod.

"No not really. There was a unicorn that the Griffons captured. There wasn't anypony else there. Why do you ask? Do you know something about that?" Canderous asked with suspicion.

Before Garret could come up with an excuse, Scootaloo popped in front of him and said, "Well look at the time! We better keep going if we don't want to run into any ponyghouls out here."

Scootaloo started pushing Garret out of the way and started leading the gang back on course towards the sewers. Canderous was curious about the strange pony he met, but dismissed it when he started hearing sounds of ponyghouls in the distance. "We better get moving. I don't want to be the one to explain to Blueblood why we lost some ponies to the ponyghouls," Canderous said as he was leading his group back on their way.

As soon as Canderous and his group was out of Garret's sight, he went over to Scootaloo. "Who was that?" he asked.

"That's Canderous Hound. Blueblood's top gun in his organization," Scootaloo answered.

"Is he friendly?" Garret asked.

"Have you ever seen a nice diamond dog?" Scootaloo replied with a question.

"No," Garret replied.

"Then there is your answer," Scootaloo replied.

Zaalbar was looking at Garret and was talking to him in his language.

"That could be a strong possibility," Garret commented and continue, "Although he does have a really big gun."

Zaalbar just scuffed and continued walking.

Garret then was walking back towards Applejack and said, " Did you hear that Applejack? Fluttershy wasn't with Twilight, while she was captured. We might found her out here in the Undercity."

Applejack frowned at Garret and said, "Garret. There is no way she could have survived down here alone. It's been three days since her escape pod crashed. I'm sorry, but ya have to let it go. Why do ya care so much about her?"

Garret looked at Applejack with a serious look."Because I made a promise to her that I would protect her. I can't explain it, but something is telling me she is alive and we are going to find her no matter what," he said with confidence.

Applejack understood why Garret was determined to find Fluttershy. He was the type of pony that wouldn't give up on others and wouldn't break his promises with anypony. she smiled and said, "Well alright. If ya think she's somewhere to be found then let's give it a try." Applejack went up to Scootaloo and asked, "Hey kid, do ya know where thet escape pod that diamond dog mentioned?"

"Okay first, I'm not a kid. I'm just fourteen years old and second, yes it's actually near one of the sewer entrances. We can run by it if you want." Scootaloo said.

"Yes we would like to check it out," Applejack replied.

"Okay then we'll stop by it and I'll take you guys over to the sewers," Scootaloo said leading the group towards the escape pod.

After some time, the gang finally found the escape pod. The pod was damaged and it looked like it was stripped apart. Garret and Applejack looked around the pod, while the rest of the gang were watching out for more ponyghouls or anypony else.

A bit of time passed, until Garret shouted towards Applejack. She went over to Garret to see what he wanted.

"Did you found anything?" Applejack asked.

"Yeah, I found a med-pack here. It must belong to Fluttershy," Garret speculated while he was holding the medpack.

"Thet's good to hear. Anything else?" Applejack asked.

"I also found some hoofprints near it. They're hard to see, but it looks like they go in that direction. They might be Fluttershy's," Garret said and pointed to where the hoofprints went.

"Where do ya think she headed for?" Applekjack asked while looking in the direction of the hoofprints.

"Hmmm, don't know. She might have tried to find help somewhere," Garret said. Then a thought had occurred in his mind and asked Scootaloo to come over to where they were.

"Did you need me for something?" Scootaloo asked.

"We found some hoofprints here. Do you know where they might have gone to?" Garret asked.

Scootaloo looked at the hoofprints and the direction they went. She was shocked to see where they were headed and said, "These hoofprints go straight to one of the sewer entrances."

"I think I know what happened here," Garret said.

"Really? What do ya think happened here?" Applejack asked.

"I think Fluttershy must have tried to found help for Twilight. I guess Twilight might have been knocked out, otherwise those Griffons wouldn't have caught her so easily. Fluttershy must have come back and saw that Twilight wasn't here. She looked around the pod for anything else and went in that direction," Garret explained and pointed at the hoofprints.

Applejack caught on to what Garret was saying and said, "Then she must have come upon the entrance in the sewers and went in."

"Exactly," Garret replied.

"So it looks like we have three things to do in the sewers," Applejack said.

"Find the Griffons' underground back door," Scootaloo added.

"Find the lost journal to the promise land," Pinkie added with a smile.

"And rescue Fluttershy," Garret added and started leading the group.

The group made their way to the sewer entrance. Unaware of the dangers that dwell there and the risks that they would have to undertake.

END OF CHAPTER 3

Chapter 4: The Sewers(Rewrite)

View Online

CHAPTER 4 THE SEWERS

After a traverse travel through the dark depths of the Undercity, Garret, Applejack, and Pinkie were following Scootaloo and Zaalbar towards the entrance of the sewer systems, where they would try to find the backdoor towards the Griffons' Base, the lost journal to the Promised Land, and possibly Fluttershy. Soon they stood in front of the entrance and were checking their equipment to prepare themselves for whatever laid in the sewers.

Pinkie stretched out her hooves and from out of nowhere grabbed a small cyan colored cannon which had a wheel on each side with a flower design on each one. Applejack furrowed her eyebrow. "Where in tarnation did ya get that!?" she asked, confusingly.

"Well, duh! I just grabbed it," Pinkie replied.

"No. Ah mean....Never mind," Applejack said, giving up on the subject.

Scootaloo walked in front of the others and faced them. "Can I get everypony’s attention?" she asked and the group looked down to her. "I should tell you guys that the sewers are a nasty place to be, so I'm going to tell you guys what we should do. The one thing we should do at all times is stick together. The sewers are like a maze down there and you can get easily lost if you're not careful. If we do get separated, it would be a good idea to stay where you are and me and Zaalbar will come to rescue you as fast as possible. And lastly, there are a lot of ponyghouls that live down there, including the infamous slavers, gamorpigs."

"Ummm, what exactly is a gamorpig?" Applejack asked.

"They're a bunch of fat pigs that go around the galaxy being either hands for hire or work in the slave business. They live in the sewers I think it is mostly because the smell reminds them of their home or something,"

"Oh! Oh! Oh!" Pinkie shouted, waving her hoof wildly as she wanted to ask a question.

"Yeah, Pinkie?"

"Do they like parties?"

"No." Scootaloo said, hesitating with her answer

"Aaawwwww..."

"Alright everypony, let's get going." Scootaloo then pressed a button on the elevator's controls and the door slid opened.

Everyone soon went into the elevator and the door closed behind them. Scootaloo then pressed the button that conveniently depicted an arrow pointing down and the elevator started its painfully slow descent towards the bowels of the sewers. It took no more than three seconds for a small melody to start playing.

"Wow! You really can't get away from that music can you?" Pinkie said out of the blue

"No, you can't. Ever since the imperials took over this music has been playing all over the planet," Scootaloo agreed in a slight deadpan.

"So Pinkie, did Rukil ever tell you where exactly the journal is?" Garret asked.

"Well, he told me that it would be near the old, abandoned village that the outcasts used to live in centuries ago," Pinkie replied.

"Is he sure that the journal is still there?" Garret asked. "What if the journal was taken or destroyed?"

"He told me that his ancestors placed it in a strongbox that was supposed to last for eons and can only be unlocked with a secret code phrase."

"So what is it?"

"It wouldn't be much of a secret code if I told you, silly!"

Garret stood silent for a moment at that remark."Right."

All of a sudden the elevator started making squeaking noises all around as sparks began coming off of the durasteel walls. The elevator suddenly stopped with a loud thump, the group now entrapped inside its confines.

"The elevator stopped!" Applejack announced. "What do we do now?"

"I'm not much of a mechanic, but I'll see if my computers skills have any effect on these controls," Garret said. He opened the elevator's control panel and saw that the wires were very old and covered in cobwebs. Some of the wires themselves were either disconnected, cut, or melted off from their placement. "This might take a while," he said.

"Don't worry about it, this happens all the time," Scootaloo said. She motioned Zaalbar to lift her up to the elevator's roof and she opened a small door panel. She climbed up to the top and looked around to see that something was jammed in the cogs and quickly removed it. She jumped back to join the others and pressed the “down” button again. Soon the elevator was moving once more, also bringing that same jazzy elevator tune as a result.

"Well by golly, how'd ya know that was the problem?" Applejack asked, surprised from the little filly's ingenuity.

"Sometimes something gets stuck in the cogs and other times the fusion box goes out," Scootaloo explained.

"You normally wouldn't know something like that on your own," Garret said. "Did Zaalbar teach you that?"

"No, not really. I mean, he does know how to do all this, but as you can see, he's not exactly small enough to fit through there," Scootaloo explained. "Actually the one who taught me was my big sister."

"Really, I didn't know you had a sister."

"Well, she's not really my sister, but I see her as one and she kinda sees me as one too. She taught me all these cool things; how to fix stuff, hack into terminals, how to properly win a pazaak game."

"I see, so where is she then?"

At that Scootaloo ears lowered and she adopted a depressed looked. "She's...she's a pilot for Blueblood. I haven't heard from her for days now and I'm afraid that she's in trouble." Tears were beginning to develop around her eyes as she was fighting back not to cry.

Pinkie went over to Scootaloo and gave her a hug. "Don't worry; I'm sure that she's okay right now. It could be because of the Imperial blockade that's surrounding Hoovris and she can't get past it," she said, hoping to make Scootaloo feel better.

"Yeah maybe you're right. I just hope Rainbow is okay," she said.

"Rainbow? Is that her name?" Garret asked.

"Yeah, that's her name. Rainbow Dash, the greatest pegasus pilot in all of Equestrian space. She tells me that she can outrun the best pilots in the Wonderbolts fleet on both piloting and flying," Scootaloo said.

"Sounds like she's a little overconfident in her abilities," Applejack added.

"Maybe a little," Scootaloo admitted with a sheepish smile as she rubbed the back of her head. "But I have no doubt that she really is the best pilot."

The elevator stopped again, but this time it reached its destination in the lower accessible levels of the planet. The door opened to reveal a long hallway that looked old with metal corrosion along with claw marks on the walls. There was an unpleasant and horrid stench in the air making it difficult to breathe for the group, except for Scootaloo and Zaalbar, as they were almost used to it by now.

"Woo Wee! That's an unpleasant smell. How can anypony live down here with something this fierce?" Applejack said, covering her muzzle to block off the smell.

"I don't know, but you've got to be desperate to live in a place like this," Garret added.

Pinkie was coughing all over the place and quickly put a hoof into her mane , bringing out a gas mask which she placed over her face. She took a few relieving breaths and reached once again back into her mane to pull out an air freshener, swiftly spraying it all over to get rid of the foul smell.

Scootaloo and Zaalbar chuckled quietly at the others’ misery at the stench.

The group went through a doorway and entered into a large, circular room with an enormous hole in the middle with railings on the side. Sewerage water was coming out of large pipes and was going down into the hole.

Garret looked down in the hole and was amazed how deep it went. "Wow! Where does all that sewerage goes?" he asked, curiously.

"Nopony really knows. It's been centuries since the sewer systems were built and there aren't any schematics left that can tell us how they were put together," Scootaloo replied.

A low growl and hoofsteps were heard shortly and, before anypony knew it, ponyghouls started crawling out of the pipes and through some of the door entrances. In instants they surrounded the group and were preparing to attack. Garret and Applejack pulled out their blasters and all the others were preparing themselves for battle. The ponyghouls charged in towards the group first, jaws open and claws ready to maul bone and flesh alike. Applejack and Garret had their backs pressed against each other, already firing their blasters at their attackers whilst Zaalbar was using his brute strength and size to overpower the ponyghouls, simply throwing and crushing them. Scootaloo, on the other hoof, was mostly avoiding and tripping the ponyghouls as she wasn't strong enough to take them on directly by herself and didn't have any blasters with her at that moment, though she still did stall their advance.

And some of the ponyghouls were charging at Pinkie of course, but she got her cannon and pointed at them. The ponies-turned-beasts stopped in their tracks and shared a glance between themselves, followed by the quick shaking of their heads towards her. Pinkie raised an eyebrow. "You don't want me to shoot?" They nodded their heads nervously. "Are you sure?" They nodded again. “Are you really, really sure?” Once again a nod, sweat already dripping from their foreheads. "Okay, I won't." They let out a sigh of relief until Applejack grabbed onto the cannon and fired it at them, thus blowing them away with a bunch of pies and confetti.

Applejack turned her attention towards Pinkie with a pissed off look. "WHAT IN TARNATION WERE YOU THINKING?!?" she shouted.

"What? They didn't want me to shot!" Pinkie countered.

Applejack smacked herself in the face and immediately blasted a ponyghoul that was trying to sneak up behind her.

As the battle was going, a ponyghoul sneaked its way around the conflict, positioning himself right behind Pinkie as he tried to swing a claw at her. Pinkie notice it at the last minute and jumped back. But unfortunately, she tripped on a stray pipe and fell over on the rusty rails near the hole o’ doom, and it broke on impact. She would have fallen, but she managed to grab on to the edge and was holding on for dear life. Garret noticed and went over to her. He quickly slid across the ground and grabbed Pinkie's hoof. "Hang on, Pinkie!" he shouted. Garret started to pull her up until the same ponyghoul that attacked Pinkie lunged towards him and had him pinned down. Garret was holding on to Pinkie with one hoof, while he was using his other hoof to keep the ponyghoul from biting him. The fight between the both continued until the ponyghoul put too much of its weight against Garret causing him to be pushed backwards and making him fall into the hole with Pinkie not being able to support his added weight along with her own.

Applejack quickly turned her glance towards what was going and was horrified at what she was seeing. "GARRET! PINKIE!"

Pinkie and Garret fell into the sewage water deep below relatively unharmed. The ponyghoul, on the other hoof, was not as lucky, having met its end at the tip of a jagged metal truss. The duo were underwater for a moment but soon emerged out of it to catch their breaths. All of a sudden though, they noticed they were being pulled into one of the pipelines and tried to swim away from it but were unable to get away from the force that was pulling them in. They were pulled in and were going at a fast pace down through the sewage systems. Garret was screaming as he was struggling with the current as Pinkie was also letting out a horrified scream while she was riding down..

"WWEEEEEEEEEEE!"

….Scratch that, she let out a joyous scream as she was riding down the stream.

Eventually, they were pushed out of an exit of the pipelines and were falling into a small chamber that was filled with trash and large metal pieces. They fell in and as soon as they resurfaced they swam over to a nearby door and climbed up to a platform. Garret was breathing heavily from pure exhaustion after struggling to stay afloat during the crazy ride down in the sewers. Pinkie however, shook her body around to get the sewage out of her mane and tail and they were puffy once more. She bounced around still filled with life and energy.

"WOW, that was fun! Let's do that again," Pinkie said, giggling with joy as she had enjoyed her ride down in the sewer pipes.

"How is it that you have so much energy?" Garret asked, still regaining his breath.

"I don't know, I've always had this much energy. Especially when I had coffee that one time. Boy, everypony was mad at me after all the things I did while I was jumped up with all that caffeine," Pinkie replied, still giggling.

Garret gave out a sigh and got back on his hooves again. He checked to see that he had lost his blaster on the way down and saw that he still had one grenade left on him. The two walked over to the door and saw the controls to it on the side. Garret pressed on the controls but the door didn't open. He then flipped the control panel open and started to work it.

"You might want to sit down for this," Garret told Pinkie. "This could take a while."

"That's okay, I don't mind," Pinkie said. She sat down on her flank. "Hey, this a great time for us to get to know one another!"

"Yeah, this would be a good time for that," Garret said in agreement. "Is there anything you want to ask?"

"I have one," Pinkie replied. "Is Fluttershy your girlfriend?"

"OW!" Garret shouted as he was shocked by a wire that he was trying to put together but was surprised that Pinkie would asked that question. "My girlfriend?! No, we just met on the Solar Spire while the battle was taking place. She's a friend and I promised that I would protect her."

"Aawww, that so sweet," Pinkie said. "She's lucky to have a ‘friend’ like you."

"Thanks. I've been meaning to ask though, what is a pony like you doing down here? Were you born here or something?"

"Well, no. I was born in the top of Hoovris. I used to live with my family up there and I was good at making ponies smile all the time, but as time went by I found out that there were ponies down here that were miserable and hardly had any reason to party and smile. So I decided to come down here and make everypony here smile and give them the best parties ever!"

"Wow! Was your family worried about you doing that?"

"They were at first, but as you can see by my cutie mark that it is my job to bring happiness to everypony that I meet and my family wouldn't want to do something that was against my special talent. They gave me all the supplies that I needed and they wished me the best of luck!"

"I'm glad that your family accepted that. When did you meet Rukil?"

"Oh! He was one of the first ponies I became friends with when I first came here. He was always kind to me and I helped him through so much like, cooking his meals, helping him walk around, and even listening to all the stories he tells me and the little fillies. A couple of years ago he made me his apprentice and told me all about the Promise Land. He also told me that it would be a pony with a kind heart that would find it for us and I'm convinced that you are that pony." Pinkie gave Garret a big smile.

Garret returned it with his own gentle smile. "Alright, I think I'm close to opening this doo-"

All of a sudden they heard a low growling noise coming from within the chamber. Garret and Pinkie turned to see where it came from, but the room was filled with nothing but trash and waste and the chamber was too small for anything to possibly to be in the same room as them. Without them noticing, a small eye popped out of the water and looked around the area and spotted Garret and Pinkie. The eye dropped back into the water without the two noticing it.

"It's probably nothing," Garret said, doubtfully. He turned his back at the water. "Let's just get the door open and- GHA!" All of a sudden a tentacle came out of the water and slithered its way around Garret's neck. It then pulled him into the water and disappeared.

"GARRET!!!" Pinkie shouted and jumped into the water as well. She searched frantically for him in the water but couldn't find any traces of him. Her mane was now straight and her bright pink color was now duffled and a darker shade of pink.

From out of nowhere, Garret came struggling out of the water with the tentacle wrapped around his body. Pinkie quickly grabbed onto him and was trying to separate the tentacle from his torso. While trying, Pinkie was pushing away from him when the tentacle swung Garret around. Pinkie stumbled into the water and felt a bit dazed from the push. After that, she looked around to see if there was anything she could use against it and saw a rusty pipe. She grabbed it and quickly stuck it into the fleshy tentacle. There was a screeching sound that erupted in the chamber and the tentacle let out of Garret quickly and disappeared into the water.

Pinkie grabbed Garret's shirt collar with her mouth and pulled him on the platform. She noticed that he wasn't breathing and she was panicking. "OH MY GOSH, OH MY GOSH! WHAT DO I DO!? WHAT DO I DO!?!?!?" she shouted out loud in distress. Without even realizing it herself, she opened his mouth and started to do CPR on him. She was putting her mouth in his giving him air for one moment and was pumping his chest the next. She continued to repeat this until Garret was coughing up water out of his mouth. Pinkie felt a wave of relief that Garret was okay now. As he was still, laying on the ground regaining consciousness, Pinkie was processing what just happened. 'Did I just kiss him? Wait, does CPR count as a kiss? I mean, I know his live was on the line and everything, but that was probably his first kiss....and mine.' Garret spit out a few more mouthfuls of water out his mouth and his eyes were opening. 'I think I'll keep that to myself until I decide otherwise.'

Garret opened his eyes and looked up to Pinkie. "Ugh, Pinkie? What happened?"

"Garret! Some kind of tentacle monster was trying to drown you and I was trying to pry you off of it. When that failed, I grabbed the closest thing I could find and stabbed it. It then disappeared into the water," Pinkie explained.

"I see." Garret let out a groan and said, "Thanks, Pinkie. I really owe you one."

"It was no problem, Garret. I'm always willing to help," Pinkie said, her smile unwavering.

After a few moments, Garret got back to working on the controls and he soon opened the door and motioned Pinkie to follow him. Pinkie was bouncing up and down following him and paused for a moment to look back towards the chamber. 'Hmmm, I know he was unconscious and all, but he really was a good kisser. His mouth tasted so...sweet,' she thought. Pinkie had a bright smile on her face and continued to follow Garret while bouncing up and down.

Garret and Pinkie walked through a long hallway and soon saw an exit on the other side. They went through it to see an abandoned village in front of them. The streets were covered in junk piles and old pony skeletons that looked like they had been there for centuries. Pinkie was about to let out a celebratory shout about finding the village, until Garret covered Pinkie's mouth and dragged her to cover. Garret let go of Pinkie's mouth and whispered to her to be quiet. Pinkie looked over Garret's head from their hiding spot and saw a group of gamorpigs.

They were large and bulky looking pigs with green skin and had tusks around their snout. They carried around large axes and were wearing armor that looked like it was put together poorly.

Garret and Pinkie were watching the gamorpigs go into the village and decided to follow them in. They crept along the same path as the pigs and remained hidden from them as best they could.

After a bit of time, Garret and Pinkie saw where the pigs were going and saw a small fortress in the middle of the village. The fortress was mostly made out of scraps of metal. There were towers with gamorpigs in them watching over the fortress and the village.

"That must be their base," Garret guessed. "Think we should check it out?"

"The journal could be in there. Hopefully, it'll be worth the search," Pinkie replied.

"Alright, but I only have one grenade on me."

"Don't worry, we just have to be sneaky and we'll be fine," Pinkie said.

"Easier said than done," Garret commented.

"Come on, let's look for a way in," Pinkie said and started looking around the walls of the fortress.

They kept on looking around the walls, while they were trying not to be caught by the gamorpigs. Finally they found an opening in the walls and made their way in. Inside the fortress, there was a bunch of tents and some poorly shaped metal buildings.

Pinkie turned her attention towards Garret. "Alright, if I find the journal, I'll give you the signal," she said, putting emphasis on the word "signal."

"Okay, what is it?"

"You'll know it when it happens," Pinkie said and disappeared in a pony-shaped cloud of dust.

Garret then made his way around the camp. He checked every tent that he could get to and wasn't able to find the journal or anything useful. Garret continued his search and thought to himself, 'Stupid pigs, don't they have any blasters or anything useful? And what kind of signal does Pinkie have? *Sigh* I really hope we don't get caught or otherwise things will go.....bad?'

Garret stopped for a minute and saw a couple of cages nearby. Most of the cages were empty except for one that had a pony in it. There was a gamorpig guarding it, but he was asleep. Garret made his way over to the cage to see who it was. To his surprise and joy to see that it was Fluttershy. She was asleep and Garret was glad to see that she was alive. Garret wanted to say something, but he was afraid of waking up the guard. He looked around for a key for the lock on the cage and it is around the sleeping guard's belt. Garret slowly and carefully grabbed the key from the guard and pulled it out quickly. The guard shifted a bit in his sleep, as if waking up, making Garret stunned by fear, but the guard quickly fell back asleep as Garret let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding. He opened the cage door and checked on Fluttershy.

She was still alive, but it seemed that she had been through a lot. There were scars on her body and parts of her suit were torn off. Her pink hair was a mess and was covered in mud.

"Fluttershy? Fluttershy, can you hear me?" Garret whispered to her.

Fluttershy began to wake up and when she did, she looked up to see Garret's turquoise eyes. She was speechless and was beginning to tear up. She quickly jumped towards the stallion and held on to him. "Oh Garret! I knew you would come, I just knew you would come," she said quietly, choking on her tears while she buried her face into the stallion's chest.

Garret held on to the little pegasus. "Don't worry, I'm here to get you out," he said. He then gently pulled Fluttershy on her hooves. "Come one, we better get out of here before any of these pigs notice us."

Fluttershy nodded and followed Garret as they were quietly moving around. As the two were making their escape, all of a sudden the speakers that were around the campsite turned on. "GARRET! I GOT THE JOURNAL!" Pinkie shouted into the microphone. "BY THE WAY, THIS IS THE SIGNAL!"

Garret smacked himself on the face. The gamorpigs saw Garret and Fluttershy and started to give chase. The duo quickly galloped away from the pigs and soon saw Pinkie with a datapad in her mouth, while she was bouncing away from more gamorpigs. They made their way through the hole that they found and escape from the fortress. Garret grabbed his only grenade, pulled the pin, and threw it by the hole. The grenade exploded blowing up the hole and taking a couple of the gamorpigs with it. The group stopped and relaxed for a moment until they saw more gamorpigs coming their way and began galloping again.

While Pinkie was still bouncing, she looked over Garret to see a cream colored pegasus she never seen before. She bounced over to her and started to talk but unable to because of the datapad that was in her mouth. "Mhmmhh Mmmmph mmm pphhhh."

"Umm, excuse me?" Fluttershy asked in confusion.

Pinkie placed the datapad in her mane and rephrased what she said. "I said hi, my name is Pinkie Pie. What's your name?"

Fluttershy whispered her name very quietly to a point that nopony has the capacity to hear while running away from an angry crowd of slavers while they carried their weapons and were made snorting sounds, but somehow in an conceivable way Pinkie was able to hear it without any problems.

"Oh! Garret, I found Fluttershy. How lucky that she was running in the same direction as us," Pinkie said.

"How did you even hear that?" Garret asked, surprised at how good Pinkie's hearing was.

"D-Do you two know each other?" Fluttershy asked, out of curiosity.

"Well it's a very long story, and right now isn't the time for that," Garret pointed out.

"Hey wait a minute! Can't she fly? She is a pegasus right?" Pinkie asked.

Fluttershy looked at Pinkie nervously and answered, "W-Well I can, but I'm too scared to fly right now. Besides I was never that good at flying anyway." She tried her best to get her wings to fly, but they wouldn't budge.

Pinkie put a hoof over her lips and asked Garret, "Hmmm did we have a plan B, Garret?"

Garret looked at Pinkie with an annoyed look. "No we didn't, but to be fair that was because I didn't know you were going to alert the entire camp just to tell me you had the journal," he commented.

"Well, what else was I suppose to do?" Pinkie asked.

"You could have used a bird whistle or something," Garret suggested.

"Huh, I never thought of that before. It does sound a lot better than my idea… Nah!" Pinkie said while she was giggling.

Garret let out a groan.

All of a sudden, the three were cut off by another group of pigs and they were soon surrounded by them. They cornered against the wall of a building and Garret took a defensive stance as Fluttershy ducked down behind him and was covering her eyes while Pinkie was standing on her hind legs and giving out a not so convincing fierce look. Then all of a sudden, blaster fire was coming from one of the nearby buildings. Coming from out of the shadows was Applejack and was firing her two blasters from a window with Scootaloo by her side watching her do her work.
Then a roar was heard, and Zaalbar came charging in. He started pounding on the helpless gamorpigs against the large minotaur. Some of the gamorpigs tried to get around him to attack from behind, but Applejack's sharp shooting skills kept them from doing it. Garret told Fluttershy to hide while he went to help Zaalbar fight off the gamorpigs. She jumped into a barrel to hide and saw the fight from where she was. Pinkie pulled a cannon from out of nowhere (again) and fired pies at them. The pigs were hit in their heads and were blinded by the pastry goodness. Garret was able to grab one of the axes from one of the fallen gamorpigs, but it was too heavy for him, so he started spinning around and around. Then he released it at them and it landed on one of them, knocking it out. The gamorpigs felt that they were going to lose the fight and quickly retreated back to their fortress. The gang then celebrated their victory.

Applejack and Scootaloo came running out of the building and Applejack quickly hugged the stallion as tightly as she could. She took a few steps backwards and said, "Well my golly, y'all are alright. Ah was worried sick that we wouldn't be able to found you."

"Don't worry we're fine. How did you find us?"

"Lucky for us, Scootaloo knew where th' sewerage went and we ran faster than a jackrabbit," Applejack explained.

"Glad that you found us when you did or otherwise we would've been goners," Garret said. He looked over to see Fluttershy come out of hiding from the barrel. Garret smiled and turned back towards Applejack. "Applejack, I like to introduce you to Fluttershy here," he said and stepped aside to show Fluttershy.

"Well Ah'll be, that was fast," Applejack said and looked over to Fluttershy. She then over to Fluttershy and said, "Howdy there, mah name is Applejack. It's nice ta meet ya."

"Oh, ummm, it's nice to meet you too, Applejack," Fluttershy said nervously.

Some time had passed since the group decided to camp out somewhere safe from the gamorpigs and ponyghouls. They were all in a room with only one doorway, so they didn't have to worry about anything coming to hurt them from any other side. Garret was explaining to the others what had happened and how they were able to save Fluttershy and found Pinkie's lost journal. After he was done, Fluttershy then went on to say how she came to be, "After we crashed under the city, Twilight was out cold and I went to see if there was any help to find, but when I came to the pod she was gone and some of our supplies too. I got what supplies the pod had left and went on my own to find Twilight or anypony that escaped the Solar Spire. Eventually I came upon the elevator to the sewers and went on it. By the time I entered the sewers I was ambushed and captured by those gamorpigs. I didn't really understand them, but something told me that they were going to sell me as a slave to some mean ponies." Fluttershy looked over to Garret. "Garret, I can't thank you enough for finding me in time."

"Don't worry about it Fluttershy, it's what friends do," Garret said.

"Ah'm glad too, this fella here wouldn't stop talking about ya. Ah swear, Ah was this close to bucking him in the back of the head, if he didn't stop," Applejack added. Fluttershy blushed at this.

"I was just worried about her. She was all alone out here,plus I made a promise to her that I would protect her and I always keep my promises," Garret replied.

Fluttershy gave a warm smile towards Garret after what he said.

"Well before anypony else would like to say anything, I think we should save it for tomorrow. It's late and I would like to get some sleep," Scootaloo said and went to sleep.

Everypony else agreed and started finding their place to sleep.

Sometime had passed and everypony was asleep, all except Fluttershy. She couldn't sleep after what had happened to her and was too afraid to sleep. She looked over to Garret to him still fully awake and was keeping a watch over the group. She lightly walked over to him and asked, "Um Garret?"

Garret looked over to Fluttershy who was getting nervous. Garret could tell that there was something wrong with her. "Is everything okay?" he asked, concernedly.

"Yeah, I'm fine. It's just.......I can't sleep," Fluttershy replied.

Garret couldn't blame her for that. After all that she went through the past few days, it would take a miracle for anypony to sleep peacefully. "Is there anything that I could do to help?" he asked.

Fluttershy walked over to Garret and laid next to him. "D-Do you mind if I sleep next to you? I-If that's okay" she asked blushing violently.

Garret gave her a warm smile and replied, "Sure, I'll still be awake by the time you wake up."

"How are you still able to stay awake?" Fluttershy asked.

"I've been in a coma for three days. I think I have plenty of sleep for a while anyway," Garret replied, chuckling a bit.

"Oh, okay. Well, goodnight Garret," Fluttershy said and laid her head down to sleep.

Garret then went back to watching over the camp while everypony else was asleep.

It was around morning when the group made their way towards the backdoor of the Griffons' base. The only thing standing between them and the base was a force field.

Garret examined the force field for a moment and looked over to Scootaloo and Zaalbar. "How do we get past this?"

"Simple," Scootaloo said, plainly. She reached into one of her vest pockets and brought out a slide card. She went over to the controls next to the door and slid the card across it. When she did that, the force field began to disappear and vanish into thin air.

Garret looked over to her with an impressed look on his face. "Nice, where did you get that?"

"Took it from a griffon that had a little too much at the cantina," Scootaloo replied.

"Huh, lucky we found y'all two when we did," Applejack said. "It's a good thing we found Fluttershy and the journal when we did, too. Otherwise this would've taken us days."

"Yep it was fun while it lasted," Pinkie said, smiling, but it soon faded a bit. "Anyways, I have to go back and return the journal to Rukil. He must be worried sick about me."

"I understand, Pinkie. It was nice knowing you and I'm glad that we had fun together," Garret said, smiling at the pink pony.

"No problem. Well, I guess this goodbye," Pinkie said, frowning.

The group gathered up and hugged Pinkie. She then felt a lot better and was happy to be among friends. She then waved goodbye to them and made her way back to the Undercity village. After Pinkie was out of sight, the group turned their attentions towards the entrance in the Griffons' Base.

With a cocky smile, Garret said, "Let's do this."

END OF CHAPTER

Chapter 5: The Black Griffons(Rewrite)

View Online

CHAPTER 5 THE BLACK GRIFFONS

After deactivating the force field, Garret and the rest of the group made their way towards the Griffons' base where they plan to take the accelerator prototype from them. Along the way, Scootaloo was asking Applejack a bunch of questions.

"So you really are a captain?" Scootaloo asked.

"Well, no. Ah'm a commander of my own fleet," Applejack replied.

"Wow! That sounds so amazing!" Scootaloo awed. "Do you think your fleet can help out with the Imperial blockade?"

Applejack cringed as she heard that. She suddenly remembered the battle that took place overhead and all the lives that were lost during the fight. She looked down to Scootaloo to see a innocent and bright smile on her face. She didn't want to make Scootaloo feel terrible for asking that. "Ah'm afraid that the fleet won't be able to come and help. It maybe a while for reinforcements come and we don't really have the time to wait," she replied. Lying wasn't one of Applejack's great traits as she was the opposite of it, but she learned to get around the truth without really lying to anypony.

"Well that sucks," Scootaloo said. "Still, it must be cool being in charge of all those ships." She then turned her attention towards Fluttershy. "So Fluttershy, what do you do?" she asked.

“Well um, I'm a medic like my mother. I was assigned to the Solar Spire soon after my training," Fluttershy replied.

"Hold up, Ah just thought of something," Applejack said. "Ah know medics are trained to use a blaster, but have you ever used yours yet?"

Fluttershy shook her head. "No, I never had the chance to. But to be honest, I really don't want to," she replied, timidly.

"Ah'm sorry ta say this, hon, but there is a difference between 'want' and 'have to'," Applejack began to explain. "As the medic, it's your responsibly to keep the team healthy and ta make sure are wounds are healed. If Garret, Ah, and anypony else got hurt, y'all be the only one to heal us and would have to use a blaster to protect yourself from anypony they would want to hurt us." After she got done explaining, she noticed that Fluttershy's eyes widen at the realization.

"I don't think that's the only problem," Garret interjected. "I lost my blaster when I was trying to safe Pinkie from those ponyghouls and all I have left are my bare hooves."

Zaalbar talked in his people's language and said something to Garret.

"Good point. The Griffons would have more than enough equipment for me to use," Garret replied.

"And hopefully some information on where my sis, Rainbow Dash is," Scootaloo gleefully added.

"What makes you think they have anything on her?" Garret asked.

"The Griffons have a grudge against Blueblood and the Exchange for making them pay up credits and giving them some of their supplies. So they've been keeping tabs on him and I think they may have some spies in the Exchange as well," Scootaloo explained.

"You know, I have heard his name a few times, but I have no idea who he is really," Garret said.

"Glad that you mentioned it. I'm pretty much the best informant in all of Hoovris," Scootaloo said with confidence and then continued, "He's pretty much the top crime lord in Hoovris and is a member of the Exchange, a criminal organization that pretty much is spread out through the entire galaxy. From what I've heard about him, he's very uptight and acts like his has royal blood in him. There are even rumors that he's related to Celestia herself, but I bet he started those rumors just to get attention from potential clients or allies."

"He may be uptight, but he does sound dangerous though," Garret commented.

"No kidding. He is one of the richest and most powerful ponies in this region of the galaxy, maybe even the entire Rim. And working for him means a lot of credits. It's why Dash decided to work for him and be his pilot."

"Alright then, if I find anything about Rainbow Dash, I'll give it to you. I promise," Garret said to Scootaloo.

"Thanks I really appreciate that," Scootaloo replied with a smile.

Zaalbar was speaking in joy with his native language.

"How much further are we from the base?" Fluttershy asked.

"Not too far. Just a few more turns here and there and we should be there in no time," Scootaloo replied.

After some time and several turns, they were coming very near to the base, until they went into a large room that was filled with bones and rotten corpses. Fluttershy was shaking with fear while the rest of the group stayed alert.

"Ah have a bad feeling about this," Applejack said, inspecting the room for anything suspicious.

"This is weird, I thought their pet rancor died a long time ago, but some of these corpses are new, I don’t remember ever seeing some of these corpses, like that one over there" Scootaloo said pointing to a particular purplish coated, decapitated corpse in the corner of the room lying down next to many dozens of Hoovrisian ale bottles, many of which apparently stood empty.

"WAIT, RANCOR!?!" Applejack shouted, pulling out her blaster and pointing it at every direction as she searched around the room in a panic.

"Yeah, but don't worry. It died a long time ago. Heard that it choked to death when it eat a pony or something." Scootaloo paused for a moment as she was looking around the room. "At least, that's what I thought happened."

"If it's dead, then what could have made all these new corpses?" Garret asked.

"That's a good que-" Before Scootaloo could finished, a nearby pile of bones started to rustle.

It was giant Manticore. A creature with the head and body of a lion, leather wings of a bat, and a long scorpion's tail. The group was caught off guard and the creature attacked. Applejack pointed her blaster at it, but the creature swung one of its claws at her and sent her flying against the wall. Zaalbar let out a threatening roar and jumped on top of the beast beating on it. The manticore was trying to get Zaalbar off its back and throw him off, a task he succeeded in just a few seconds of rocking himself around. Zaalbar landed on the ground safely, but the manticore was charging right at him. Zaalbar let out another roar and charged with his horns pointing at it. Garret and Fluttershy quickly ran over to Applejack to see if she was okay.

"Applejack! Are you okay?" Garret asked, holding her in his arms.

"Yeah, Ah'm okay. Just a little headache," Applejack replied. "But what the heck is that thing?" She pointed over to the manticore.

"Oh, that's a manticore. They're very rare to find and they mostly live in the large jungles," Fluttershy answered. "They normally don't attack ponies, unless they get too close to their territory." She took another look at the manticore and had a puzzled look on her.

"Is there anyway to take down that thing?" Garret asked.

"Ah have a solution to that," Applejack said. She raised up her blaster and aimed it at the head of the manticore. Just as she was about to fire, Fluttershy flew right in front of her.

"WAIT!" Fluttershy shouted.

"WHAT THE HECK ARE YA DOING!" Applejack shouted. "GET OUT OF THE WAY!"

Fluttershy didn't answer and started walking towards the still enraged manticore. Zaalbar was holding on tight onto the back of the manticore, while Scootaloo was nibbling one of its back legs and was being shaken off. The creature threw both Scootaloo and Zaalbar off of it and saw Fluttershy walking towards it. It was about to attack, until Fluttershy said, "Don't worry I'm not going to hurt you."
The manticore hesitated to attack Fluttershy and the group was shocked at what Fluttershy just did. Then Fluttershy nuzzled her muzzle against its paw to show that she was friendly and asked the creature "Is there something wrong with you?"

The creature nodded hesitantly.

"Can I see what's wrong?" she asked.

The creature held out its paw and showed Fluttershy that it had a sharp bone in it. "Oh you poor little baby. This will only hurt for a moment" Fluttershy grabbed the bone with her teeth and pulled it out quickly. The creature let out a cry of pain for a second, but was glad to have the bone removed and started hugging and licking Fluttershy. Fluttershy then asked the creature, "Now you promise not to hurt anypony else?"

It nodded. It went away into a nearby tunnel and disappeared in the shadows. Everypony gathered around Fluttershy and were asking her questions.

"How did ya know that was the problem?" Applejack curiously asked.

"Well, before I joined the Republic, I was really good at helping animals," Fluttershy answered. "I tended their wounds, kept them fed, and made sure that they stayed safe. In fact, it's how I got my cutie mark."

"I still can't believe that you were able to calm it down," Garret said.

"You have to be sweet and gentle, even in the most unexpected ways," Fluttershy responded, having a warm smile on her.

"Well I'm impressed, but we still need to get inside the Griffons' base before they find out what happened here," Scootaloo pointed out.

Everypony nodded in agreement and continued towards the Griffons' base. After having to go through the former manticore's nest and the remains of several corpses, they found another elevator and took it. It was about to play another, until Applejack quickly grabbed her blaster and blasted the speaker. Everypony winced at the scene, except Zaalbar and they all looked at Applejack.

Applejack blow the tip of her blaster and placed it in her holster. "Ah really hate that music," she commented.

The elevator stopped and Garret and Applejack peeked around the entrance to see if there were any guards nearby. It was just a hallway filled with a few doors and signs of any griffons or guards. Applejack motioned the group to follow her as she pulled out her blaster. While looking around the hallway, she noticed that there was a door that had the label that said 'Supply Room.' Garret got to work on hacking the door's system and was able to open it for the others.

The room was filled with medpacks, blasters, blades, armors, and all sort of other things somehow combat-related. The group quickly went in and Garret closed the door behind them. Garret grabbed a blaster rifle, a vibroblade, and he put on a light-combat vest to protect himself from blaster fire or anything that could harm him. Applejack had gotten some upgrades for her blasters like a new scope and new barrels to make the blaster fire straighter. She also put on a battle armor that was silver. Fluttershy restocked on medpacks and some other supplies to help the group. She was hesitant on picking up a blaster, but she remembered what Applejack said and decided that it was better safe than sorry. Zaalbar was looking around unamused, until he saw a bowcaster in a pile of old weapons. He picked up the weapon and checked to see if it was good to use. It was and he guessed that Griffons didn't know what they had or they didn't like it because the way it looked. Scootaloo wasn't able to find any vests that could fit her or any blasters that weren't too heavy for her to lift.

Applejack noticed the little filly trying to find something. "Ah think it would be best if ya stayed out of the fighting as best ya can. We don't want a little kid like ya getting hurt or nothing," she said.

"Hey!" Scootaloo shouted. "I'm not so little! I'm twelve years old and I can take care of myself just fine." She then gave out a pouting face.

Applejack furrowed her eyebrows and got a bit angry. "Ya have this big fella here that takes care of ya and had another pony that took care ya as well," she pointed out.

"Okay, ONE! I take care of Big-Z more than he takes care of me. TWO! Rainbow Dash is like a sister to me, but I had to care for myself way before I met her. And THREE! You’re not my mom, but you sure look very old to be one," Scootaloo snickered

Applejack was getting furious at this pointed. Zaalbar wanted to say something, but Applejack gave him a glared and the large minotaur gulped. She then looked back at the little filly. "Now listen here little lady! I'm trying ta keep ya safe! There's no reason to get all lippy with me now! My little sister would always.....would-"

Applejack closed her eyes and had her head lowered in a deep depression. Everypony was confused at why she was acting like she is and were shocked to hear that she has a sister. Scootaloo couldn't explained it, but she felt a touch of guilt in her as she saw a tear come out of Applejack's eye. "I'm sorry about that. I tend to get upset whenever someone calls me little," she said in a low tone voice.

Applejack looked up to Scootaloo and showed a warm smile on her. "It's okay, sugarcube." Applejack then reached out and hugged Scootaloo. "Ah was only wanting ta make sure you were safe."

"Thanks, I really appreciate it," Scootaloo said, hugging Applejack back.

A little time had passed and the gang were fully equipped, including Scootaloo who had a custom made blaster that Applejack put together for her.

Garret leaned over Applejack. "Are you sure it's okay to give her a blaster?" he whispered.

"Ah don't like the idea anymore than you do, but we are going to be in a heap of trouble and she needs to be ready," Applejack pointed out.

"Okay if you say so, but there was one thing I was wondering about. What was up with you when you mentioned your sister? I didn't even know you had a sister," Garret said.

Applejack took a moment to think and showed signs that she was uncomfortable with the subject. "How about Ah tell ya about that another time. It's a very sensitive subject and this isn't the time for it." Garret nodded understanding Applejack's discomfort about it.

When they opened the door it was full of griffons in rugged armor that were either playing cards, drinking at a salon, or just standing guard. The griffons looked over to where the gang was and it was nothing but awkward silence. Fluttershy was feeling the tension and was beginning to feel nervous.

Without thinking, Fluttershy quietly spoke up, "Um...Hi?"

Applejack smacked herself in the face.

"INTRUDERS! BLAST THEM!"

"EEP!" Fluttershy squeaked.

The griffons opened fired on them. The gang quickly took cover and started blasting back. In the middle of the battle, Applejack looked over to Fluttershy and asked, "Hi? That's all ya can think of?"

"I'm sorry, the tension was too much," Fluttershy replied.

Applejack rolled her eyes and kept on firing her blasters. Zaalbar got out his bowcaster and fired a shot. The blast hit a griffon that sent him flying against a wall, dead. Garret turned to Zaalbar and said, "Wow! Nice shot."

Zaalbar talked in his native language with appreciation and continued firing his weapon.
One of the griffons tried to get to the alarms, but Scootaloo shot the alarm before the griffon could reach it and Garret had a clear shot at the griffon and blasted it.

"Nice one Scootaloo," Garret complimented.

"Thanks, by the way you can call me Scoots for short," Scootaloo said.

"Okay Scoots," Garret replied.

After the last griffon was killed, the group checked to see if the room was cleared. They then continued on checking the rest of the base. There was hardly any resistance within the base as the group was looking around, until they came across a computer terminal. Garret went up to the terminal and said, "Let me see if I can find anything about the prototype here in this terminal."

After waiting a few minutes, Scootaloo asked, "Did you find anything yet?"

"Not yet. I'm having hard time getting past the encryption. If only there was a-" Garret said until he was interrupted by Scootaloo. Scootaloo walked next to the terminal and after pushing Garret a little away bucked it. After that, Garret took another look at the terminal and he was in. "Thanks," Garret said to Scootaloo.

"I am a pro at this after all," Scootaloo said, pridefully.

"Alright the prototype is in....it's in the garage down below us," Garret replied.

"That's good, how do we get in?" Applejack asked.

"There's an elevator near where we came from, but we need a keycard to open it. The terminal can give us one, but we need to be a member to-" Garret said until he was interrupted again by Scootaloo.

Scootaloo simply went to the terminal and punched in some buttons, until a card came from the terminal and she said, "Here you go, one keycard ready to be used."

"Scoots you are one impressive filly," Garret complimented again.

"It's what I do best," Scootaloo said.

"Okay then everypony, let’s get down there," Applejack said leading the group to the elevator.

They made their way towards the elevator and Garret used the key card to open it. The door opened up and they started making their way down. After a few minutes, the elevator opened again and a large group of both griffons and battle droids pointed their weapons at them. The group was caught off guard and were at the mercy of the Griffons.

"Drop your weapons on to the ground now!" one of the Griffons demanded.

The gang compiled and dropped all of their weapons on the ground.

"Take that one and the orange pony too. Put the rest in cells."

Garret and Applejack were taken to one side of a hallway, while the others were being taken to another.

'Where are they taking us?' Garret thought to himself. 'I have a bad feeling about this.'

Garret, Applejack, and the guards who escorted them entered into a room. There was a tall griffon in the room, he had an eye patch, scars all around his face and body, and was obviously in charge. He walked up to Garret and Applejack and said, "Well, well, look what we have here. Two little namby-pamby ponies that cost me a lot of griffons. You two better tell me why I shouldn't kill you right here and now?"

"Do we have to give you an answer now or can we answer it later?" Garret said sarcastically.

"Oh a wise pony eh? I guess we’ll do this the fun way."

The griffon quickly pulled out a shock stick and jabbed it up against Garret's chest. The shock was agonizing for Garret and he tried his best to resist being subjugated by the pain, but it ended up being anything but successful. Applejack tried to get free from the guards that were holding her back, but there was nothing that she could do to help Garret. The griffon pulled away the stick and Garret fell to the ground. He was trying to get back up, but the pain was too intense for him.

"I think I'm just going to torture you both slowly. Of course, yours is going to be different from what this mare here is going to endure," the griffon said. He then turned his attention at Applejack with lustful eyes a licking his beak. "Yes I think your little friend here would do just-" Before he could finish the door behind them blew up and fell over, crushing the two guards behind Garret and Applejack.

Coming out of the smoke, Zaalbar came rushing in with his head down and impaling one of the Griffon guards. The other guard was about to pull his blaster out until a blaster fire hit him in the torso causing him to fall down dead.

When the smoked cleared, a very familiar pony came out and said, "Hello!"

"WHAT THE-" Before the griffon could finish, a piece of pie struck on the face and he stumbled back. He accidentally stepped on a pipe on the ground and slipped backwards into a incendiary trash compactor and he let out an agonized pain.

Garret and Applejack looked back to see Scootaloo and Fluttershy standing beside Pinkie Pie. “Eehhhh, I didn’t mean for it to go that far,” Pinkie said in defence.

“PINKIE?!” Applejack and Garret shouted in unison.

“That’s my name, don’t wear it out,” Pinkie said, having her trademark smile on.

Applejack helped Garret get back on his hooves. And went over to Pinkie. “Thanks for the help, Pinkie but when did you get here?” she asked.

“It’s a long story,” Pinkie answered. “Now come on, we better get out of here or more guards might show up.” Pinkie then started leading the way and the others soon followed.

As they were running, a thought popped into Garret’s mind. “Wait, what about the prototype?”

“Oh, you mean this thing?” Pinkie asked and pulled out an engine like device out of her fluffy mane.

“Kay, Ah’m goin to ask how ya got it that fast, but I’ll save it for another day,” Applejack commented. “But for now, let’s just get to the elevator.”

They were making their way to the elevator, until blaster fire was coming right behind them. It was battle droids that were firing at them and chasing them down. When past through a doorway, Garret quickly pressed on the control panel causing the door to close and blasted the controls. Scootaloo and pressed on the elevator’s controls trying to open the door, but nothing happened.

“Why is the elevator still closed?” Applejack asked.

“Ah Blast! They have it under lockdown! There’s no way around it,” Scootaloo explained.

“What do we do now?” Applejack asked in a panic.

“Let me have a look at it,” Garret said. He went over to the controls and removed the panel’s cover off and started rewiring it.

“Are ya sure? You were badly hurt back there,” Applejack said.

“I work better through pain,” Garret commented.
As he was continuing working on the elevator controls, the door that he shut earlier continued sparking from the droids trying to cut it open.

"Oh nelly! They’re cutting the door open," Applejack said, getting nervous at each passing second.

"What do we do?" Fluttershy asked frantically.

“Ah guess we make a stand,” Applejack said, pointing her two blasters at the door. Everypony were grabbing their weapons as well and were taking cover incase Garret wasn't able to open the door in time. Applejack looked back at him. “How are we doing?”

"Not good. I don't think I can-," Garret was replying, until all of a sudden, the elevator doors were opened and Pinkie was already in the elevator. Everypony was completely confused on how she got in, each jaw comically hanging and eyes widening.

“How did...when did you….HOW DID YOU GET IN THE ELEVATOR?!?” Applejack shouted.

“Well, duh silly. I used the air shaft over there.” Pinkie pointed to where the airshaft was with its cover hanging below it with one screw in it.

“Oh, well….That was clever,” Applejack commented.

They all quickly got in the elevator and frenetically mashed the up button, a few droids already poking their appendages through holes made in the rocking door. As soon as they got to the top, they made their escape through the front door of the base and started making their way back to the Beks' base.

“Does anypony know where we can get a ride?” Garret asked.

“Found one!” Everypony looked over to see Pinkie in an abandon speeder that had enough room for everypony, including Zaalbar. They all climbed on and Pinkie was driving them all the way back to the Beks’ base. With a side stop by a fast food restaurant by Pinkie's request.

Their way back to the Beks’ base was relatively calm, nothing of note except for Pinkie’s unstoppable talking and bouncing, and so they quickly arrived at the Beks’ base. Garret and Applejack came through the door of Gadon's office and gave him the prototype. Gadon was amazed and impressed at their accomplishment and ordered his best mechanics to look over the engine and install it in one of their swoop bikes.

After Garret and Applejack told Gadon everything about their adventures through the sewers and the Griffons' base, they rejoined the rest of the group to discuss about something.

"So Pinkie, now that we finally have a break from all the' shooting and escaping. Tell us why ya came back? Did something happen back at the village?" Applejack asked.

"Well, after we got the journal and went our separate ways, I returned to the village and gave it to Rukil. He was super happy that we got the journal and was able to convince the leaders of the village to go and find it. Everypony packed their things and started heading out immediately. I was about to go with them, but Rukil told me that my destiny was somewhere else and he had a feeling that it was being with you guys. So after they left, I was super happy that I was able to join you guys again and hoped to have many more adventures," Pinkie explained, her smile never faltering.

"Pinkie you are more than welcome to join us, though I'm not sure if Scootaloo and Zaalbar would want to stick around," Garret said and looked at Scootaloo and Zaalbar.

"Are you kidding? We’d love to come along with you guys. We are more than happy to join you guys too," Scootaloo said.

Zaalbar gave a happy roar to show that he was interested too.

"But what about Rainbow Dash? Ya still wanted to find her right?" Applejack asked.

Scootaloo and Zaalbar’s smiles quickly went away after realizing what Applejack said, but Pinkie smiled and pulled out a datapad and handed it over to Scootaloo.

"What's this?" Scootaloo asked.

"While I was saving you guys, I pulled out some data and found something to do with Rainbow Dash," Pinkie replied.

Scootaloo was overjoyed and quickly looked over on what the datapad said. Unfortunately the joy on her face went away as she started to cry.

"What's wrong? Does it say anything about her?" Pinkie asked while she tried to cuddle next to Scootaloo.

"It does, but Blueblood has her as a personal captive," Scootaloo said while she was sniffing and fighting back the tears. "It said that she tried to steal one of Blueblood's ships, got caught and he had her tortured because of it."

"That's horrible! Why would she try to steal it?" Fluttershy asked.

"I don't know, but she wouldn't do something like that if she had a good reason," Scootaloo replied and started crying more frequently.

Garret felt awful that Scootaloo had to find out about Rainbow Dash this way. He then sat up and said to Scootaloo, "Scoot, I promise that no matter what, I will find your friend Rainbow Dash and make sure that Blueblood pays for what he has done."

Scootaloo looked up at Garret and felt better about what he said. "You would do that for me?"

"Yes, because like Rainbow was like a sister to you. You’re what I would expect if I had a little sister," Garret replied, smiling at the little filly.

Scootaloo wiped away her tears and walked over to Garret to give him a tight hug, eliciting a chorus of “d’aww” from the rest of the group. Everypony was touched at what Garret said and they all came together for a group hug. Gadon then walked in the group and wanted their attention.

"I have some good news. The prototype is in and it's ready for the Galloping Swoop Race," Gadon said. They were glad to hear the news, but Gadon had more to say. "And I'm going to make the deal better. I was hoping one of you would race in the swoop bike that is using the prototype."

The group was confused on why Gadon would give such a valuable thing to a bunch of ponies that never drove a swoop bike before. Garret walked up to Gavin and asked, "Why would you give us your best swoop bike?"

"I'll be honest with you. The prototype is good to go, but there is a chance that the engine might over accelerate and blow up both the bike and the rider. I can't just ask one of my own to ride it and lose their lives over it," Gadon explain.

"So ya rather have us taking the burden, after going through th' trouble of getting it for y'all?" Applejack asked, giving an angry glare at Gadon.

"I know what I'm asking is too much, but since you're in this to save your friend. I thought that you guys would want the opportunity to help. And even if you do die from the explosion, you can be damn sure that I'll rescue your friend with all I got," Gadon explained.

Garret thought about it for a moment and said, "Alright, I'll do it."

The group was shocked that Garret would volunteer; of course to Fluttershy it was obvious that he would be brave enough to do it.

"Good to hear. We'll get started with your training and get you ready for the swoop race next week. We have a lot to planning for," Gadon said as he walked out of the room.

Applejack walked up to Garret "Are ya CRAZY?! You're going to get yourself killed if ya do this," she pointed out.

"Don't worry Applejack. He said that there might be a chance for it to explode. A chance. As long as I'm careful, I should win the race in no time and without exploding," Garret replied.

Applejack sighed and said, "I sure hope ya know what you're doing."

"I hope so too," Garret whispered under his breath.

End of Chapter

Chapter 6: The Race

View Online

CHAPTER 6 THE RACE

On what looked liked a bridge of a ship, two unicorns were engaged in battle with glowing blades made of energy. One of the unicorns was wearing a dark robe all over himself and using his horn to levitate his red blade, while the other unicorn was wearing a dark blue suit with light blue details and had a blue-colored blade. She was able to take advantage over the other dark unicorn and struck him down with her blade. The dark unicorn fell to the ground dead and she then turned her attention to a figure that was covered in black metallic armor and was wearing a hood with a mask over his face that was black and had a red color scheme to it.

She walked to him and said, "It's over Eclipse! Surrender now and the council will show you mercy."

The dark stallion just stared at Twilight through his visor and replied, "I have no intentions of surrendering, Twilight Sparkle. The council is weak and defenseless against my might. Even Celestia herself cannot hope to match my powers now. She is weak!"

"She is not weak! And you of all ponies should know the dangers of using the powers of dark side. Can't you see what it has done to you and Moonlight?," Twilight pointed out.

"I admit what happened to Moonlight's muzzle was tragic, but the power we gained is more then you can possibly imagine. If you wish to face me then fine, but do not think that you have any chance of victory," the dark stallion said and removed his hood to revealed his horn that was a dark metallic crimson horn that had the appearance of a claw. He soon used his magic to summon a red energy blade and held it in his hooves.

The two engaged in a fierce battle. Twilight was quick enough to avoid and block Eclipse’s attacks, but his fighting style was unique and Twilight wasn't able to get by his defenses. She was using her magic to hold her blade up in the air, while Eclipse stood on two legs while he used one of his front hooves to hold his blade. Twilight tried to use her magic to push Eclipse back, but he was able to block it and used his lightning attack when she had left an opening for him. Twilight was in severe pain while she was being electrocuted by him and Eclipse soon lifted her up into the air with his magic and pushed her against the door to the bridge.

Twilight struggled to get up while grunting and said, "You were once my closest friend, Eclipse. Why would you throw it all away?"

Eclipse looked down at her and replied, "Friendship is nothing compared to the powers of the dark side. It has showed me things that you couldn't even imagine and it has given me the ability to become the most powerful being in the universe!"

"Do you really think it was worth it? Betraying everypony you once cared for?" Twilight asked wanting to know if Eclipse truly left the light of good.

The dark stallion said nothing and his horn started sparking with electricity from it.

Before Eclipse could do anything, a huge explosion came all around the bridge and they were caught in the middle of it. After the explosion, Twilight came to and checked around the bridge looking for Eclipse. She levitated a pile of debris and found Eclipse heavily wounded and barely breathing. Twilight laid next to him and said, "Why? Why would you do all this? Just for power? You were my dearest friend and you turned your back on me." Tears started to show over the young unicorn's eyes and she soon weep for her fallen friend.

As Twilight continued to sob, everything was starting to disappear and it became nothing but darkness.

All of a sudden, Garret woke up and was panting heavily. He sat up in his bed and noticed sweat coming from his forehead. He didn't understand why he was having dreams about Twilight and Eclipse, even though he had never met neither of them. He even tried talking to Applejack and Fluttershy about it over the past few days, but they couldn't figure it out either. In his mind he remembered what Applejack suggested about it, "Ah'm no expert on dreams, but Ah think Twilight might help since she's part of your dreams and she can use her fancy magic to do something about it." It was the best chance he got to figure out the dreams, but first he had to win the race if anything was going to be solved.

After a week of intense training, Garret got himself ready for the swoop race. He was wearing one of the Beks' riders outfits. He walked out into the lobby and the whole base was cheering for him and were wishing him good luck on the race. Garret was glad to hear people cheering for him instead of shooting at him. He was making his way to the garage to meet up with the other riders, until Applejack came along and said to Garret, "Good morning, Garret. Glad to see you're all ready for th' big race."

"I know, I can't wait to get out there after so much training. Now I'm ready to show my skills!" Garret replied excitedly.

"Now don't be too confident. Remember, ya still need to be careful about thet engine they have on your bike," Applejack pointed out.

"Not to worry I'm aware of how the prototype works. As long as I'm not too dependent on it, I should be able to win the race no problem," Garret said with confidence.

"Well 'kay, but be careful," Applejack said with worry.

"I will, thanks. Where are the others?" Garret asked.

"Scootaloo is still asleep and Fluttershy is watching over her, Zaalbar is at the nearby cantina with Pinkie, while she is making everypony there laugh. But they'll be at th' race when it gets started," Applejack explained.

"That's good to know," he said.

Applejack then noticed that he was sweating a bit and she asked, "Are ya okay partner? Did ya have another one of them dreams again?"

Garret let out a deep breath and replied, "Yeah I did. I don't know why I've been having them and they seem so real for some reason."

Applejack was worried about Garret and felt helpless to do anything for her comrade. All she could do was smile for him and say, "Don't worry about it for now and focus on winning thet race for us."

Garret gave Applejack a small smile and replied, "Don't worry, I will." He then made his way to the Beks' garage.

Garret entered into the garage and saw his swoop bike. The bike had a color scheme of orange and silver. It had two engines at the sides of the driver's seat and two fins in front of each engine. The bike was upgraded with the best any rider could have, including the prototype engine. After Garret was done looking at his new bike, he saw Gadon and with him were other swoop riders. He went over to them and recognized the riders while he was training to be a rider himself.

There was Bolted Gadget, a stallion earthpony with a dark green coat and yellow eyes. He's one of the best mechanics in the Beks and he knows his swoop bike inside and out. He also the nicest ponies that are with the Beks and is loyal to them to the very end.

There was also Solar Fury, a mare pegasus with a red coat and flaming orange eyes. She was no doubt the wildest riders in the Beks with her unorthodox riding skills and was tougher than five Kryate dragons put together. She was always the life of the party and knew when to get the job done.

The third rider was a donkey called, Bronze Walker. He had a light brown coat and had gray eyes. He's an old timer that lived just as long as Gavin had. He was the type of donkey that doesn't want to be near anypony, but his years of experience in the swoop races would come in handy against the other swoop riders.

Last, but not least was Star Bolt. A pegasus stallion with grey coat and cyan eyes. He always upgrades his swoop bike with the next best thing. He's arrogant, but he does like to get along with any other pony.

Gadon then spoke up and was explaining the race, "O.K. here are the rules of the race. Each gang can only enter five of their best riders in the race. From what we gathered, fifteen other gangs have entered the race, so there will be a total of eighty riders including us. There are no weapons on any bikes, so if any rider in a gang tries anything funny, they're automatically out of the race. However, that doesn't prevent any of the other riders to kill one another from ramming their bikes into each other so be careful. And finally, the rider to make it to the finish line first is the winner of the race. Any questions?" Gadon looked around to see if anypony had a question.

"Oi, I got one. Why does the new rider get the prototype? We can win for sure if one us has it," Solar pointed out.

Gadon sighed and replied to Solar, "We've been over this already. The prototype is not safe and our friend here volunteered to use it in the race. Not to mention he is the one who got it back and it is his friend that we are trying to win from the Griffons."

"I'm just saying Gadon. You put too much faith in this little colt here. He only started learning how to ride a bike in just one week. How do we know if he's going to cost us the race?" Solar asked looking at Gadon with a stern look.

"You got nothing to worry about. My skills on a bike are quite good and like Gadon said, I have as much to lose if we don't win this race," Garret pointed out and gave a friendly smile to Solar.

Solar gave out a defeated sigh and replied, "Alright rookie, if you say so, but if you do something that ruins our chances of winning this race I'll personally see that you go down with your bike."

"I'm glad that we are getting along so well," Garret said sarcastically and gave a smile to Solar who only rolled her eyes.

"Well if we have everything covered, everypony get your bikes ready to go," Gadon said.

*Ahem!*

"*Sigh*.....and donkey," Gadon corrected himself.

"Thank you," Bronze said to Gadon.

Everypony and donkey grabbed their gear and set out for the swoop race.

A few hours had passed and every biker and attendances were getting ready for the grand swoop race. All the gangs were making their plans for the race, bikers and mechanics were getting together their bikes and making sure everything was working, and everypony that wanted to watch the race was finding spots to sit at where they can watch the race from their personal datapads or from the terminal pads on the wall. Applejack and the rest of the gang were in the lobby with the rest of the ponies that wanted to watch and were sitting at a booth waiting for the race to start.

Zaalbar was ordering food for himself to eat while talking in his native language. Scootaloo groaned and said, "Big Z, you don't need to eat all that stuff."

The large minotaur continued talking in his language while pointing out why he wanted to eat almost everything on the menu. Scootaloo gave out a defeated sigh and replied, "Fine you can eat all you want. But please show some self control this time. Last time you were out of control and made a mess in the cantina we couldn't go back in there for weeks."

"Aw cupcakes! How long do we have to wait until the race starts? The suspense is killing me," Pinkie said impatiently.

"I'm sure it won't take long. I just hope Garret makes it out okay," said a concerned Fluttershy.

"Hey look! Th' riders are appearing on the tracks now," Applejack said pointing at the monitors.

The monitors were showing riders coming near the starting line in their bikes and as the camera was moving to show all the riders, the gang saw Garret and the Beks riders. Everypony was cheering for Garret as they were showing him.

"Yee'Haw! Go get them partner," Applejack cheered.

"WOOHOO! Show them who's boss," Scootaloo said.

Zaalbar was roaring and cheered for Garret.

Pinkie jumped on a table wearing a cheerleaders outfit with Garret's face on it and waved her pom poms around. "G-A-R-R-E-T What does that spell? Garret! Garret! gggGGGGOOOOO GARRET! WOAH!

Fluttershy was taking a big, deep breath and shouted, "Yay Garret"

On the swoop track, Garret and the Beks were going over their plans one more time for the race.

"Okay let's go over the plan again," Solar said and continued, "We try to stay together the best we can. Bronze will stay behind us and lookout for any riders that try to get past us. Gadget will stay near Garret in the middle of our formation and will protect him since he is the one with the prototype. Star and I will take lead and will take out any rider that gets in our way. One more thing, the Griffons have been known to cheat during the race, but nopony have proved it yet so watch out. Anypony have a question?"

*Ahem*

"*Sigh*....Anypony or donkey have a question," Solar corrected herself.

Garret raised his hoof.

Solar let out an annoyed sigh and said, "You don't have to raise your hoof. This isn't kindergarten you know."

"Um right....When do I use the prototype?" Garret asked out of curiosity.

"If we're lucky, we don't have to. We have a good starting spot in the race and if we can make it in lead and keep it that way, we won't have any problems," Solar clarified.

"And if we don't have the lead?" Garret asked.

"Then use the prototype if we get close to the finish line and when we're not in the lead," Solar answered.

"Alright I got no more questions," Garret said and put on his goggles.

"Well then everypony let's get to our bikes and win this race," Solar announced to the riders.

On another part of the track, the Griffons were plotting to take out the Beks.

"Are you sure this plan will work?" one of the Griffon riders said.

"Yes, those fools will think that the engine they took back is in working order, but they don't realize that it is booby trapped," Another one of the rider answered.

"Really? What exactly will happen if they use it?"

"Let just say when one of them uses it, they’re not coming back from the tracks ever again."

The Griffons started laughing at what was to come.

As the riders got ready for the race, the speakers were being turned on and the announcers started making their announcement.

"Hello every mare, gentlecolt, and all other species of the galaxies. This is Flim."

"And this Flam."

"And we're here to give you all the details of today's race,"

"That's right Flim and we are excited for today's race as so many gangs have joined in today's competition."

"Never has there been so many riders in the swoop race in ever, Flam."

"And I don't blame them, Flim. For there are so many rare prizes today. But one of the most valuable one is an republic officer that the Griffons put up for their share of the race."

"Indeed Flam and not to mention the officer is a mare. So any rider that wins the race would sure have a good time with her if you know what I mean."

Flam was confused and scratched his head for a moment. "What do you mean, Flim?"

"Umm.....I'll explain it to you later, anyways here are the details of today's race."

"Here is where the starting line is. Our racers are going around the capital city of Hoovris which is thousands of miles around the entire city. They would have to make their way through all around the pillars of the city, a pathway through some of the sewer systems, going through heavy traffic of pedestrian speeders, and surviving from the other riders that like to play dirty."

"Alright Flam, looks like the race is about to start."

Every rider was in their bikes and were starting their engines. The sound of roars of engines and revving from the bikes were louder than the cheering fans excited for the race to start. A light on top of the starting line turned red and the riders were revving up their engines and the crowed were silent. The light turned yellow and some of the riders were twitching to start the race. And when the light finally turned green, sirens went off and the racers quickly went off in seconds.

At the beginning of the race, the riders were trying to get ahead of one another. Many of the racers began to crash into each other because they either got ahead of them, weren't paying attention to their surroundings carefully, or were too impatient to wait for a chance to gain the lead.

"Well Flim, the race has just started and we already lost over twelve racers."

"That's right Flam, look's like they weren't ready for this race after all."

"Let's see how the other racers are doing."

Garret and the Beks started making their way to the front of the race. Many of the other riders tried to stop them from getting there, but thanks to Garret's training and the other Beks’ experience they had no problem getting around them.

As the race was going, the racers saw large pillars up ahead. Most of the pillars were close and were difficult to get around. A lot of riders tried to get around the pillars as fast as they could, but soon over a dozen riders were either killed from heading towards them on accident or crashed towards one another. Luckily Garret and the Beks made it out of there carefully, but lost some footing in the race and had to catch up to the lead racers.

Sometime had passed and the Beks were still having a hard time catching up to the lead racers.

"Solar what should we do? At this rate we're going to lose the race," Bolt Star shouted over the intercom between the Bek riders.

"We still have a long way to go before that happens and I have a plan," Solar replied.

"Oh yeah? What kind of death defying stunt are you going to do now?" asked Bronze, having a bad feeling about Solar's plan.

"Oh it's not what I'm going to do. It's what we're going to do," Solar clarified.

"I had a feeling you would say that," Bronze said knowing he was right.

"We're about to get near the sewer entrance, but we're going to take a little detour," Solar said while wearing a smirk smile.

"What kind of detour?" Garret asked out of curiosity.

"There's a secret entrance near the entrance and it can take us through the tracks faster and guarantee us a win in the race, but I have to warn you that it is small and narrow. If you make one mistake it's goodbye for you" Solar explained.

"I say we take the risks and use it," Garret supported the idea.

"Yeah you can count me in," Star Bolt added.

"Me three," Gadget said.

"*Sigh*....I lived long enough anyway, so might as well," Bronze commented.

"Alright, everypony-"

"Ahem!"

"Grrrr....Everypony and donkey follow my lead," Solar said.

As they were nearing the entrance of the sewers, Solar saw the secret route she mentioned and lead the Beks to through it. The Beks were able to get in it with no problem and started making their way, unaware of the Griffons following their trail from a distance.

"Looks like the race is going well Flim."

“Why yes it does Flam. We haven't lost a single rider in over two minutes, that has got to be a new record."

"I bet it is, Flim and there is no sign of either the Beks team or the Griffons team. It's like they disappeared from thin air."

"Yeah wonder where they ar-"

"Wait a minute, I see the Bek team are back in the race and they are way in the lead."

"Wow! They must have used one of the secret entrances in sewers to do that. It's against the rules or something?"

"Probably, but nopony cares and it does make it more fun though, so we're letting it pass and seeing what happens next."

As the Beks got back on the tracks, Solar shouted, "WOO HOO! Alright we're in the lead."

"First place here we come," Star Bolt said.

Garret was glad that the team was in the lead, but all of a sudden he felt that something was wrong. He looked behind him to see in the distance that the Griffons were catching up fast. Garret alerted the Bek riders, "Hey guys we got company."

The other Beks looked behind them and saw the Griffons. They all prepared themselves for the worse and sped up their bikes as fast as they could.

"Ah oh Flim! Looks like the Griffons have made their appearance and are catching up to the Beks."

"Oh colts, what are they going to do now Flam?"

The Griffons catched up to the Beks and they started ramming into one another.

One of the Griffons was ramming against Bronze and he said, "Oh want to pick on the old guy eh? I'll show what for." Bronze went into a saddlebag he had next to him and threw an old, rusty, bronze cog right at the griffon. The griffon was hit in the head and fell off his swoop bike. The bike spin out of control and rammed against a wall, leaving the Griffon rider stranded in the middle of the tracks.

The donkey was laughing at the misfortune of the griffon, until one of the Griffon rider headed towards him. The donkey covered his eyes at what he thought would be the last thing he would see, but the Griffon went by him close and went away from him. Bronze uncovered his eyes and felt relieved. Until he saw that the griffon had stuck a detonation disk on the side of his bike. Before Bronze could do anything, the disk exploded and the remains of the bike and its owner came crashing down on the tracks.

Back at the lobby where the gang was, were horrified at what happened. Applejack quickly covered Scootaloo's eyes, Pinkie was crying and was holding to Zaalbar, and Fluttershy covered her eyes and was trembling with fear. When it was over, the gang took a moment to collect themselves after what had happened.

"Those dirty, feather-head meanies. They didn't have to do that to an old donkey like that!" Pinkie shouted, enraged by what had happened.

"Ya said it. They're no better then th' Luna Empire!" Applejack added also enraged by what happened.

"I really hope Garret stays safe," said a concerned Fluttershy.

"Don't worry about thet. Garret can take care of himself. He can outwit those pigeons anyday," Applejack said with confidence.

"Yeah if anypony can win this race, it's him," Scootaloo said.

Zaalbar spoke in his language saying Garret could win the race without a doubt.

The gang then turned their attention back to the screen to see what happened next.

The Beks and the Griffons continued ramming each other as they continued down the tracks. While Solar was holding off one of the Griffons, she looked up ahead and saw heavy traffic of pedestrian vehicles. "Guys we're about to get in real trouble."

Both Beks and Griffons stopped what they were doing and saw what was happening. They entered the traffic and started avoiding all the vehicles the best they could.

Star Bolt was avoiding them like crazy, but he was able to catch a break for a few seconds and felt relieved. But from out of nowhere, a cargo cruiser headed straight towards him and rammed him and his bike down.

"STAR BOLT!" screamed Gadget.

"IT'S NO GOOD, KEEP GOING!" Solar shouted.

The gangs made it across the traffic and continued ramming against each other. The Griffons out numbered the Beks four to three. The Griffons took advantage of this and two of them started ramming against Garret's bike on each side. Garret couldn't get out of it and was trapped.

Gadget saw what was happening and said to Garret, "BACK UP!"

Garret heard Gadget and slowed down his bike. The Griffons tried to ram him again, but when he slow downed, they rammed against one another. Gadget took advantage of this and rammed against the side of the Griffon while the other Griffon was being pushed against the walls. While Gadget had them trapped, he saw that they were heading straight for a wall. At the last second, he pulled away from the Griffon riders and they crashed against the wall. But part of his bike hit the wall as well and lost one of its side fins. He came crashing down onto the tracks, but he survived and cheered for his fellow riders to win.

Garret felt relieved that at least one of the Beks made it out okay and turned his attention to the remaining two Griffon riders. All of a sudden, one of the bikes engines started shutting down. Garret panicked and looked at his screen on the bike to see what was happening. The engine wasn't getting enough power because one of the power couplings was detached from it. Garret looked around his bike to see were the cupling was and saw that it was a plug that came out of the engine. He tried to reach for it the best he could, until one of the Griffons started ramming against him.

The Griffon continued ramming against Garret and he was losing control of his bike. Solar had her attention on the Griffon that was ahead of her, until she looked over her shoulder and saw what was happening. It was happening so fast for the mare, she couldn't decided whether or not to help Garret or take a chance at winning the race for the Beks. There was so much going on in her head she couldn't think straight. She then let out a defeated sigh and said to herself, "Damn it Harmony, why do you have to be against me?" She slowed down her bike and as soon as the Griffon was about to ram Garret again, the mare took advantage and rammed against the Griffon rider. She didn't hold back and gave it all she could to hold off the Griffon.

Garret took this chance, grabbed the couplings, and plugged them back into the engines. Garret's bike was back to full power and started speeding up. He looked to Solar to see the mare smiling at him. She gave him a wink right before she forced herself and the Griffon rider to ram against a large hoover bulletin board. Garret's eyes shrank in horror at what he saw. Both bikes came out of the board on fire and crashed onto the tracks.

Garret couldn't bare what he saw, but he didn't have time to feel anything at the moment. He straightened his goggles, put on a serious face, and sped up his bike to catch up to the last Griffon rider.

"Well Flim, looks like there are only one Bek and one Griffon left on the tracks. Think any of them are going to make it?"

"I don't know Flam, but if they both crash at the same time that means more suspense for the race."

"I agree with that."

The gang back at the lobby continued cheering for Garret as he was catching up to the griffon.

"WAOH GARRET!," Pinkie shouted and continued, "GO GARRET GO!"

"COME ON GARRET, YOU’RE THE PONY!" Scootaloo shouted for Garret.

"COME ON PARTNER YOU’RE CLOSE!" Applejack said to the monitor.

Fluttershy took a deep breathe and cheered,"Go Garret! Woohoo!"

Garret and the griffon were at each other throats as they kept their bikes rammed against each other. They both soon pulled away from one another and Garret said to himself, "Time to see if the prototype is any good."

As he was reaching for the switch that turns on the prototype, he suddenly heard a voice, "NO DON'T!"

Garre was spooked for a second and looked around to see who said that. He then asked out loud, "Who said that?"

"Trust in your skills."

Garret didn't recognize who was saying, yet somehow he felt like that he had heard it before. Garret then changed his mind about using the prototype and continued with the race.

As the riders were getting closer to the finish line, there was a train track ahead and a train was on its way. Garret and the Griffon sped up hoping to beat one another before the train could cross and cost them either the race or their lives. The riders were getting closer and closer to the tracks. Garret stayed confident and wasn't worried about the train coming, but the griffon was beginning to sweat and feared for his life. All of a sudden, the griffon tried to stop his bike from crossing the track, but Garret continued with full speed.

"IS THAT RIDER CRAZY FLIM!?"

"INDEED HE IS FLAM!"

The gang in the lobby started to panic and were shouting at the monitor.

"DON'T DO IT GARRET IT'S NOT WORTH IT!" Scootaloo shouted.

"AH KNOW THAT THIS WAS A BAD IDEA! I SHOULD HAVE TRIED TO STOP HIM!" Applejack shouted out of guilt.

"OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD, OOOHHH MMYYYY GGOOOODDDD!" Pinkie said frenetically.

Zaalbar covered his eyes and prayed to any of the Minotaur gods that Garret wouldn't get hurt.

"EEPP" Fluttershy shrieked.

At the very last second Garret crossed the tracks before the train began crossing. Unfortunately the griffon tried to stop his bike, but it was too late and crashed against the side of the train.

Garret saw the finish line and crossed it. At first the audience stood silent, but then they erupted into a huge cheer for their new swoop rider champion. Garret stopped his bike and jumped off of it and started waving at the audience.

"LOOKS LIKE WE HAVE A NEW SWOOP CHAMPION FLAM!"

"YES WE DO FLIM! WAOH!"

"HE DID IT, HE DID IT , HE DID IT WOAH!!!" Pinkie started shouting out with joy and bouncing around all over the place.

Zaalbar was letting out a victorious roar.

"That....was.....AWESOME!" Scootaloo said in awe and pressed her face together.

"Will isn't he one lucky son of a pony," Applejack said out of disbelief.

"WOAH! HE DID IT, HE DID IT!" Fluttershy shouted with much joy and after a moment that she stopped cheering, she fainted on to the ground.

Back on the finish line, riders were finally coming in and went to congratulate the new champion. They lifted him up into arms and started carrying him across the field as fans started throwing flowers and credits at him. Garret never felt so great in his life and he accomplished so much since the beginning of his journey here on Hoovris. He continued waving at his fans and continued to let the other riders carry him. But unknown to him, a female griffon was watching him from a distance and started plotting her revenge.

END OF CHAPTER

Chapter 7: Unexpected Plans

View Online

CHAPTER 7 UNEXPECTED PLANS

In the lower levels of the capital city of Hoovirs, hundreds of swoop racer fans were yelling and cheering for their new champion, Garret. He was being carried by the other swoop racers who were taking him to the stands, where Flim and Flam were ready to give a trophy to him.

Flim and Flam were twins who looked identical and wore the same outfit, except for Flam, who had a small red moustache. Their coat was a cream color and their hair was red with white stripes in it. They both wore barber style outfits.

When Garret was back down on the ground by the riders, he walked up to Flim and Flam.

"Congratulations rider! You are now the new champion of today’s swoop race. All prizes that each gang have put up for this year’s race now belong to this year’s champion rider and to the Hidden Beks!" Flim declared.

"And here is your trophy for winning the race," Flam said and handed the trophy over to Garret.

Garret held onto the trophy and raised it up in the air as everypony howled and cheering louder for him. Applejack and the gang were having trouble getting by the fans and riders all around the stand, but they were able to through and headed towards the stage. Garret saw the gang and went on to meet with them halfway. When Garret met up with the gang, Applejack looked at him with an angry face and slapped him across his face.

"YA IDIOT! WHAT IN TARTARUS WERE Y'ALL THINKING? YA COULD HAVE GOTTEN YERSELF KILLED!" Applejack said while shouting at Garret.

Garret's ears went down and he was petrified with fear. All he could do was make a weak smile and say, "Sorry that I scared you guys so bad. I promise that I wo-" Garret was interrupted when Applejack gave a strong hug around his neck. He blushed a bit and he could have sworn that his heart skipped a beat.

Applejack let go of Garret and she felt embarrassed, but she was delighted nevertheless. She then said to him, "Ya don't have to promise me not ta do something like thet again, but just don't do it too soon, okay?"

Garret gave Applejack a smile and replied, "Sure, no problem."

In another part of the tracks, Gilda and her Griffons began arming themselves. There were a few dozens of troops ready for battle; armed with Imperial equipment that they stole.

One of Gilda's Griffons stepped up and said, "We're all ready Gilda. What is the plan?"

"I hope we get a chance to kill Gavin and the Beks."

"Yeah dude, you and me both."

Gilda then said to her gang, "Well thanks to today's champion we have to delay that for now."

The Griffons were disappointed to hear that and some were fretting about it.
.

"But what we are going to do is take back our prize, sell that mare to the highest bidder, and kill the champion to show that we Griffons don't take too kindly to losing."

The Griffons then lifted their weapons up in the air and started chanting their devious leader's name, while she was smiling at what was to come next.

Garret and the gang were escorted to where all the prizes were and they entered a large storage area. The guards that escorted them left and everypony was looking around to see all what was there. There was armors, weapons, parts for swoop bikes, credits, and even a little astromech droid. Garret was curious about it and looked over it. The droid had a round head with a little round optic on it, it's body was slanted backwards with two rollers at the bottom, two front legs, and when he took a look inside of it, it had an extended arm that looked like it could be used as a tool.

Garret then turned it on and and the droid’s optics turned into a blue light. It stared making beeping sounds and started looking around it's surroundings. It then looked directly at Garret and started making more beeping noises.

Scootaloo walked over to Garret and asked, "What is this thing right here?"

"It's an astromech droid. They're usually on star ships to do repairs on it and sometimes if you upgrade them correctly you can use them in combat," Garret replied.

'Wow, that's cool," Scootaloo said looking at the droid.

"Breet-deet," The little droid said.

"Wait, is it talking to us?" Scootaloo asked.

"I think it is." Garret replied.

"Can you understand it?"

"Well, sort of. Sorry, I only understand most alien languages. Droids are a different case."

"Then how are we going to understand it?" Scootaloo asked while she was scratching her head.

Pinkie came in between the two from out of nowhere. "OH! OH! I can! I can!" she said waving her arm around in a fast pace and bouncing up and down.

Garret and Scootaloo both raised their eyebrows and said in unison, "You can?"

"Yep," Pinkie replied.

"How?" Scootaloo asked.

"I just can," Pinkie replied.

"So you just happened to know it?" Garret asked.

"Yep"

"How is that possible?"

"Well it's just how the writer of this story wanted to happen."

"Wait, What?"

"That's not important right now and aren't we suppose to find Twilight?"

"Uh...Oh right! That is why we came here in the first place anyway," Garret said and started looking around the storage again. He turned back to Pinkie for a second and wondered what she said earlier. He shook his head and decided not to look into it any further in to it.

"My name is Pinkie Pie. What's your name?" Pinkie asked the little droid.

"Beep boop bee," the droid responded.

"T3, that's a good name, do you like parties?" Pinkie asked.

"Boop"

"Alright, you and I are the best of best pals from now on," Pinkie said hugging T3.

"So T3, what can you do?" Scootaloo asked T3.

"Beep bee beep boop bee."

"He said that he can repair ships, hack into computers, and can guess the number you’re thinking of," Pinkie translated what T3 said.

"Bee?"

"Oh sorry it wasn't he can guess what number you can think of, but he can work as a substitute for a nav computer," Pinkie corrected herself.

"Bee boop boop beep."

"But he doesn't like to fight so much. It scares him," Pinkie translated.

Scootaloo smiled and said to the little droid, "It's okay T3, we don't like fighting any more than you do."

It was obvious that the droid liked what Scootaloo said as he was making beeping his sounds. Everypony else continued their search around the storage, until Fluttershy called to the group, "Over here guys."

The rest of the group, including T3, went over to where Fluttershy was and they saw a large cage. In it was a sleeping purple mare unicorn. She didn't have any clothes on (but as ponies they really didn't have much reason to wear clothes, except when they needed it for protection, to disguise themselves, or just have to wear a robe for the unicorn order) and her cutie mark was a fandango pink colored, six pointed star with a white star under it and five, white little stars like it around it. It was none other than Twilight Shan.

Twilight then started waking up and looked over to the gang. Her eye sight wasn't so well because of the drugs that her captives used on her, but she just presumed her guests were the winners of the race. She let out a deep sigh and asked, "Let me guess, you won the big race and you came to claim your prize?"

Garret then replied, "Yes, you see we came to-"

"Well I got news for you,"Twilight said interrupting Garret. "I'm not just any Republic officer, I'm a member of the Unicorn Order and to top it off, I'm Grand Master Celestia's apprentice."

"Yes, I know and that's why-"

"Oh really? You think you know? Let me make it more clear to you," the mare interrupted Garret again and started walking towards him. "I am a unicorn that can ruin your whole day with just one thought, so you better pray that the drugs that the Griffons used to stop me from using my magic doesn't wear off soon," the mare then reach out from her cage, grabbed a very frighten Garret by his shirt collar with one of her hoof, and pulled him close to her. "Or otherwise this would be your most unlucky day ever!"

Garret was completely scared of the mare that he came to rescue in the first place. He gathered what courage he had left and said, "B-B-But.....we came to....rescue you."

".......What?" Twilight said and looked over to Applejack with a confused look.

"Sugarcube, ya remember me from th' Solar Spire right?" Applejack interjected.

"Wait.....Applejack? Is that you?" Twilight asked squinting her eyes at Applejack.

"Darn tootin it's me," Applejack replied.

"Wait if your here then that means..." Twilight looked back over to Garret and realized who he was. She blushed and let go of him. "Ahem...sorry about that I didn't recognized you with all the drugs that those Griffons gave me. Also, you have a very terrible outfit."

"It's alright, I understand......Wait? What is wrong with the outfit?" Garret asked raising an eyebrow.

Twilight shook her head for a moment. "Sorry, I have a friend that is highly obsessed with designs for outfits and I guess some of it rubbed off on me."

"Um...okay?"

"I am glad to see that the pony that I requested is okay," Twilight said.

"I am? I didn't know that. Applejack, did you know anything about this?" Garret asked.

Applejack shrugged and replied, "No Ah'm just as confused as y'all are."

"That's understandable. Applejack didn't have clearance to have that kind of information anyway," Twilight clarified.

"Wait hold on a moment. What do ya mean Ah didn't clearance to know that? It was mah own fleet after all," Applejack said serious at what Twilight said.

"I'm sorry, but like I said you didn't have clearance. The only other ponies that had clearance was the council and Celestia herself. And they were the ones that gave me permission to recommend him to the fleet," Twilight said with a stern voice.

"What gives you the right to-" Applejack was saying, until Garret interrupted.

"I know that this something we should talk about, but I think we should get going before anything bad happens," Garret pointed out.

Applejack and Twilight looked back at each other and said in unison, "FINE!"

Garret looked and found the key to the cage and let Twilight out. When she got out, she looked around for a moment and started to ask, "Hey did anypony see my-" Twilight then stopped herself when she then saw Fluttershy. Anger quickly built up inside her and said, "YOU!"

Everypony was confused and looked over to Fluttershy. She was scared and made a small squeaking sound. Twilight went over to her and said, "What happened to you when the Griffons captured me?!"

Fluttershy tried to answer Twilight, but she barely made any words because she was terrified by the angry look that Twilight was giving her. Garret then stepped up for her and said to Twilight, "I can explain that for her. When you both crashed in the Undercity and you were unconscious, she went off to find help. But as you can guess, the Griffons got to you and when she came back, she didn't know where you were."

"I see. What was your name again?" Twilight asked Fluttershy.

"Fluttershy," she said quietly.

"I'm sorry what was that?" Twilight asked again having a hard time hearing Fluttershy’s name.

"Fluttershy," she replied in the same way.

Twilight then looked at Garret and asked, "Can you please tell me her name?"

"It's Fluttershy m'am," Garret answered.

"Okay. Fluttershy, I want to say thank you for going to get help. But you should not have left me alone in the escape pod while I was unconscious. We were in unknown territory and for all we know, the Imperials could have captured me."

"I'm really sorry. I didn't know what to do and everything around us was so scary, I had to find help somewhere," Fluttershy said while she was tearing up.

Twilight looked at the poor little pony. Twilight smiled and walked up to Fluttershy. She put a hoof on Fluttershy's shoulder and said, "I know it must have been hard for you, but sometimes we have to be brave if we are to have any chance against the Imperials. Can you promise me to be brave from now on?"

Fluttershy wiped away the tears that she had and replied, "I'll try my best."

Twilight nodded and turned around to see the other members of the group. "Umm, who are you guys exactly?" she asked wondering why there were a filly, a minotaur, a pink pony, and a droid.

"We'll explain everything to ya when we get to somewhere safe like Garret suggested," Applejack pointed out.

Twilight let out a sigh. "Alright I'll keep all the questions to myself, until we're safe."

Then Garret went on to say, "Well if everything goes well, we won't have any-."

BOOM

Gunfire and explosions were being heard outside of the storage.

"Seriously? Why does this happen all the time?" Garret said frustrated by the lack of timing.

"Well there's nothing to do now, but ta get out of here faster than a rabbit being chased by a fox," Applejack said.

Fluttershy gasped and said, "There's a rabbit being chased by a fox!"

Applejack facehoofed herself and replied, "No Fluttershy, it's an expression."

"Oh what a relieve," Fluttershy said and was glad that what Applejack said wasn't true.

Outside of the storage room, the Griffons started attacking everypony they saw. Fans were screaming and trying to escape the arena, while the riders tried to get to their bikes to make their way out. Some of the other gang members started fighting back and were using their blasters, but they were out numbered and the Griffons had high tech weapons with them.

As the battle went on, the gang came out of the storage room and saw what was happening. They all went hiding behind some nearby crates and looked around to see if there was someway to escape the arena.

The Griffons had the arena locked down and had guards at every exit. It seemed that escape was impossible.

"Doesn't look like we're going to be out of here sooner than we thought," Applejack commented on the situation.

"Agreed. We're going to need some kind of plan to get out of here," Twilight added.

"Hmmm, we could-," Pinkie was about to suggest, until Zaalbar said what exactly she was thinking and pointed out how it wasn't going to work. "Fine! I suppose it would take too long to get all those balloons anyway."

Garret scratched his head at what both Pinkie and Zaalbar were talking about and suggested. "I bet if we contact Gadon, he can send us a transport to get us out of here."

"It's worth a try. In th' meantime, Ah guess we're going ta have ta join th' fray until he gets here," Applejack said.

The gang then prepared themselves for another fight with the Griffons. Zaalbar pulled out his bowcaster, Applejack pulled out two of her blasters, Scootaloo grabbed her blaster and decided to stay near Fluttershy since she was nervous to fight, Garret made the call to Gavin, pulled out a blaster, and handed Twilight a vibroblade, until she was able to use her magic again, and Pinkie pulled out her cannon from out of nowhere, while T3 revealed a small blaster that came from the top of his head.

Twilight noticed how Pinkie just grabbed a random cannon from out nowhere and started to ask, "How did you-"

"Now is not the time to ask that pointless question," Scootaloo said to Twilight. Twilight was confused, but decided to leave at that for now.

The gang then went and started firing their weapons at the Griffons. Few of the Griffons were caught off guard and were killed, but the others Griffons noticed and some of them started turning their attention to the gang. They unloaded what looked like an endless wave of blaster and some of the Griffons took to the sky to get an advantage over them. Zaalbar was focusing his fire on the Griffons in the sky and started taking them down one by one.

In the middle of battle, Applejack turned her attention to Garret and shouted, "Garret! Take this!" Applejack threw over to him a thermal grenade. "Make it count!"

Garret catched the grenade in the air and nodded. He and Applejack quickly flipped the switches on their grenades and threw them at the Griffons. By the time the Griffons noticed the grenades, they blew up, killing some of the Griffons. After the smoke cleared a bit, more Griffons with vibroblades flew straight towards the group. Zaalbar saw the Griffons and let out a threatening roar. He charged at them, started grabbing them by the throats, and threw them at each other before they had a chance to use their blades. Pinkie was using her cannon and T3 was using his blaster on the rest of the Griffons that were still on the ground, making sure that they wouldn't get a chance to blast Zaalbar.

All of a sudden from out of nowhere, a grenade landed right behind the gang and they were terrified at what was to come next. The group started running out of hiding from the crates and the grenade exploded and sent some of them flying through the air.

As Garret was trying to get up, he was having trouble keeping his eyes open and his ears were ringing from the explosion. There was fire all around him and the sounds of gunfire and explosions. He tried looking around that T3 was using an extend claw to drag Pinkie to safety, while Fluttershy was dragging Applejack to safety as well. He heard Scootaloo crying out for him saying, "Hang on! I'm coming to help!" But all of a sudden she was brutally pushed aside by a female griffon and was knocked out.

It was the Griffons’ leader, Gilda. She smiled at the weak pony and grabbed Garret by the throat. She started chocking him with claws, while he was struggling to get free. She drew out a small cylinder object and turned on the device that revealed itself as a lightsaber. She started laughing and said, "Good thing I took this from your prized mare and now I get to use it on you." She started lifting the blue blazing sword as she was about to strike down Garret with it. But as Gilda was about to, the cylinder part was suddenly surround by a purple aura and being pulled from her. The griffon had trouble holding on to it and the weapon was pulled away from her and headed towards Twilight. Twilight grabbed it with her hoof and made a striking stance with it. The purple mare had her magic back and no Griffon was safe.

A couple of Griffons started using their blasters on her, but she used her blade to deflect everyone of them and sent some of them back towards the foolish Griffons. They were struck down by their own blaster fire and Twilight turned her attention back to the female griffon.

Twilight looked at the griffon with stare that could make any enemy fall to their knees and beg for their lives. But Gilda wasn't going to make it easy for Twilight. Even though she had her magical abilities back. Gilda let go of Garret and grabbed a nearby vibroblade. She then started charging towards the pony and was yelling at the top of her lungs. All Twilight did was stay still and waited for opponent to get close. She closed her eyes and took a deep breathe, keeping mind sharp and using her magic to know when to strike. When Glida was about a couple of hooves from Twilight, she quickly opened her eyes and sped next to Glida within a few seconds.Twilight then quickly used her blade to slash across the side of Glida's body as she was going by. Twilight then stopped several hooves away from where she was and standing still, not looking back at the griffon. The griffon stood motionless for a moment, but she then collapseed onto the floor.

Twilight let out some air and turned off her lightsaber. She then ran over to Garret and Scootaloo. She saw how hurt Scootaloo was and used her magic to heal her. She then lifted Scootaloo onto her back and started using her magic to heal Garret. Zaalbar was running over to them after he was done with the remaining Griffons. He quickly grabbed Garret and held him with one of his arms. As Twilight and Zaalbar carried the two injured ponies, Garret was beginning to black out and everything went dark.

A couple of hours had passed and the Imperials had the ruined arena locked down. Bodies were everywhere and the Imperial were trying to identify all of them. As they were doing that, from one of the entrances came Darth Moonlight's apprentice, Sunset Shimmer. As she was walking, all the Imperial troops and detectives saluted to her out of fear and respect.

Accompany her where two Imperial guards by the names of, Snip and Snails. Both had the same type of armor as the rest of the Imperial army, but their armor was designed the same colors as Sunset's mane. Snails was a tall and skinny unicorn pony, while Snip was a small and pudgy unicorn pony.

"Hey Snails, think we get a chance to see any action?" Snips asked Snails.

"Eh I don't know. I really hope so," Snails replied.

"I hope we get a chance to capture Twilight ourselves."

"Yeah....Wait? How would we do that?"

"Well duh! We use our magic against her."

"But our magic isn't that good."

"Maybe yours isn't, but mine is."

"No way."

"Yes way"

"Nuh uh!"

"Yeah uh!"

The two continued bickering, while Sunset just ignored the two and thought to herself, "How in the wide wide space of Equestria, did I have two of the dumbest guards in all of the Imperial armada. For crying out loud, these two flunk the academy for potential Imperial unicorns and somehow they're under my command. I bet it's Soul's fault."

As they were walking, one of the Imperial officers approached Sunset and saluted to her. "Mistress Sunset, we have done a complete search of the arena."

"And?" Sunset asked, impatiently.

"A-And according to surviving witnesses, A purple unicorn was in fact here during the battle and was carrying a lightsaber with her. We have reason to believe that she was here."

"Is she nearby or has she been captured?"

"No, my mistress. She was accompanied by the winner of the swoop race, four ponies, one of them a pegasus, one little pegasus filly, a minotaur, and an astromech droid. There was a hoover transport that came during the battle picked them up. We don't know where the transport went and we have no way to verify it's I.D."

"Blast! Once again, Twilight has alluded my best soldiers and stays in hiding like a coward. I want everypony and everything to be detained and brought in for additional questioning. Do I make myself clear?"

"Y-Yes, my mistress, but there is one more thing I should mention."

"What is it?"

"We have found one female griffon, that fought against Twilight herself. She lost to her, of course, but she's alive and claims to know who owns the transport and picked her up. We tried to get the answers from her, but she won't speak until we give credits in return."

"I will speak to her myself. You and the rest of your ponies continue your search and report to me anything that might have something to do with Twilight."

"Yes, my mistress."

Sunset and her two lackeys, made their way towards the medical tents that the Imperials set up. Sunset entered the one with Gilda in it and saw the griffon bandaged up and barely breathing. Sunset walked over to her and said, "My officers tell me you know where Twilight might be. Is that true?"

Gilda tried to turn her head towards Sunset and replied, "Yeah, but you’re not getting anything from me, until I get my credits."

Sunset had a wicked smile on her. "Oh your going to tell me anyway." Her horn started showing an opal colored aura and it surround Gilda's neck, chocking her as she was struggling to breathe. "Because I have no time to deal with the likes of you or any of your kind."

As Gilda tried to get free from Sunset's magic, she was still able to speak and said, "Alright! Gah! Alright! The Hidden Beks have her. I can lead you towards their base and-"

CRACK!

Sunset cracked Gilda's neck with her magic and replied, "There's no need for that and your services are no longer needed." Sunset kept her smile and walked out of the tent, leaving the lifeless body behind. She approached the officer she talked to earlier and said to him, "Get your ponies for a gang hunt. I want every known Hidden Beks member captured and interrogated, until we find Twilight Shan."

"Yes, my mistress. I will get the troops ready to go as soon as possible."

Garret then started to open his eyes. He woke up to find himself in a room that looked like a medical room. ‘Well doesn't this feel familiar,’ he thought to himself remembering when he was out cold and woke up in the Beks base. He looked around the room and saw Twilight sitting on a chair, reading a book. She was using her magic to keep the book in mid-air and didn't notice that Garret was awake. He smiled and asked, "What are ya reading there?"

Twilight's ears perked up and looked over to Garret. She smiled and replied, "Oh it's nothing much. It's just an old, history book on Hoovris. Though I wished I had a better book than this, the records in it are all wrong and it makes Hoovris look more pleasant then it really is."

"Tell me about it." Garret said sarcastically.

Twilight giggled and said, "Yeah, Applejack and the others told me all the adventures you guys had to do just to rescue me." She then lowered her head down with a frown and said, "I'm sorry about the way I acted earlier. It wasn't like me to get angry so easily."

"It's alright. You've been through a lot just like us. You don't have to apologize to anypony," Garret said to Twilight with a smile.

Twilight smiled as well and said, "Thank you. You have no idea how guilty I felt about it." Twilight then changed the subject to something else. "Applejack told me about you’re having visions about me. I asked what they were, but she thought it was better if you were the one to explain it to me."

Garret took a moment to think up all the details about the visions he had. "Well the visions didn't start until we crashed on Hoovris....."

Sometime had passed and Garret was done explaining the visions he had been having. Twilight took a moment to herself and replied, "I don't know how, but....I think you've somehow bonded with me by using magic."

Garret was confused at what Twilight was saying. "Wait, what do you mean by magic? I'm not exactly a unicorn, you know, so how can I use magic?"

"It's true that unicorns can use magic, but magic exists in all life through out the universe. Who's to say that earthponies can’t use magic? And pegasi can use magic as well, but they can only move clouds and have a strong resistance towards magic." Twilight said and continued, "Plus, I wouldn't say that you’re not a unicorn."

"Wait? What do you mean by that?" Garret asked out of confusion.

Twilight reached over to grab one of Garret hooves as she place his hoof on top of his head. When he started feeling around, he immediately knew that something was different on his head. Twilight used her magic to levitate a mirror to Garret and positioned it to show what was on top of his head. Garret then asked, "How....When did this happened? Is this even possible?"

Twilight nodded her head down and replied, "Yes Garret......You're a unicorn now."

Everything froze into place and Pinkie walked up onto your screen. She cleared her throat for a moment and proclaimed, "Dun-Dun-DUUUUUUUUUUN!!!!!"

END OF CHAPTER

Chapter 8: Gifted

View Online

CHAPTER 8 GIFTED

It was late in the afternoon and the gang gathered around Garret in the medical room. Everypony was staring at Garret's horn which he received recently and they were amazed that he had become a unicorn. Scootaloo was standing on a stool next to Garret's bed and was poking at the horn several times over. Garret didn't mind it after the first few times because he was having a hard time believing it himself, but when doing it for a long period of time such a thing could really get on a pony's nerves.

Garret calmly grabbed Scootaloo's hoof and said, "I think that's enough poking at it."

Scootaloo gave out a weak smile and said, "Sorry"

Applejack walked up to Garret and asked, "How in all of Equestria did ya get a horn? Ah know thet some earthponies can get one if they have a strong connection to magic, but how is it thet ya have one?"

Twilight interjected and said, "Well, there are some things about magic that just can't be explained. Magic is a very complex thing. It can take any form and can be random at times, take Pinkie for example."

Everypony then turned their attention to Pinkie. She was trying to put random things in T3 like balloons, cake baking supplies, and other party related things. She looked back at the group, smiled, and waved at them.

Applejack looked back at Twilight. "Ah see your point there."

Twilight nodded and looked back Garret. "Do you have any questions that you want to ask?"

Garret thought about it for a moment and said, "Does this mean I get to be a knight?"

"Well, you would be a solar apprentice, but I'm sure that could change over the time," Twilight said.

"I have another question. Why did you put the word solar in front of both apprentice and knight?"

"It represents that we learned our abilities and skills from Celestia's teachings. Over a thousand years ago, there were two different teachings. One of them were the teachings of Celestia and the other was Luna's teachings. The ones that learned from Celestia were known as the Solar Knights, while others who learned from Luna's teachings were known as Lunar Knights," Twilight explained.

"Wait, what about all the unicorns in the Luna Empire? Are they considered Lunar Knights?" Garret asked.

"No, they're not considered Lunar Knights. They call themselves Nightmare Warriors. They use the dark side of magic, while both Solar and Lunar Knights use the magic of light and harmony," Twilight clarified.

"So are there any Lunar Knights out there?"

"No, there hasn't been a Lunar Knight in over a thousand years. I want to tell you what happened, but I believe that Celestia and the high council of the Unicorn Order should be the ones to tell you." Twilight replied.

"Well I suppose if there is a reason for it, then I can wait until then," Garret said.

Twilight smiled and was glad that Garret was more understanding than Applejack when she was asking about it.

"If you don't mind Garret there was something I wanted to ask you," Twilight said.

"Sure, what is it?" Garret asked.

"Why is your name Garret?"

"Ummm, I don't understand the question."

"It's just.....normally a pony would have a name that's related to their field of work, what faction they’re on, or even a name from their family. Garret just seems to be a very simple name," Twilight explained.

"Ya know, I've been wondering about that too now that ya mention it," Applejack said.

"It does seem unusual," Fluttershy said.

"Yeah that's even weirder than I am," Pinkie said.

"Beep boo beep bee."

"You said it T3," Pinkie replied to what T3 said.

"So why do you have a name like that?" Scootaloo asked.

Everypony looked at Garret waiting for him to answer.

"Well, you guys know that I'm a scout right?" Garret asked the group.

"Yeah?" Everypony said in unison.

"Because I'm a scout, there are civilizations that might have a hard time understanding why we have names that are related to everyday items or things. So Garret seemed like a perfect name that I could use for first contact, until they could actually understand why our names are like that. And since I used Garret a lot anyway, I got used to calling myself that," Garret explained.

"Okay, now we know th' reason why, but that doesn't tell us your real name," Applejack said.

"It's Solar Recon," Garret said.

"Solar Recon?" Fluttershy questioned.

"OH! OH! I know why. It's because he's a scout and I bet one of his parents were scouts too, so that's why he was named that way," Pinkie said.

"Yeah, that's pretty much on the ball there," Garret said.

"Which one of your parents was a scout?" Scootaloo asked.

"My father was a scout and my mother was a soldier," Garret said.

"Yer family sounds like they've been in the military for a long time," Applejack said.

"They have been for a long time," Garret replied.

"Well anyway you better get some rest. We've decided that it was best that we try to plan something tomorrow," Twilight said.

"Okay, but aren't you afraid that the Imperials might have a good idea of you being with us? I mean, a lot of ponies did see you with us," Garret pointed out.

"Gadon was one step ahead of us. Thet's why he brought us here to one of th' Bek's secret locations and all of th' Beks are staying low until th' Imperials stop looking around for them," Applejack replied.

"So all we have to worry about is getting off this planet. But for now, just rest," Twilight said to Garret and started walking away.

The rest of the gang soon followed her. Just before Applejack went out the exit, she stopped for a moment and took a deep breathe. She then went back to Garret and laid down her hat on a nearby table. Garret was puzzled at first in regard of why Applejack came back to him, until she said, "Garret, there's something Ah wanted to talk about."

Garret raised one of his eyebrows. "What is it Applejack?" he asked.

"Remember when we were back at th' Griffons' base and Ah mentioned my little sister?" Applejack asked.

"Yeah?"

"Ah think now is a good time to talk about it and th' reason why Ah have a hard time trusting another pony," Applejack said. She took a deep breath and started to say, "It all started with a pony named Soul-"

It was the next morning and Garret was waking up. He got up from his bed and felt a lot better than he was yesterday, after what had happened at the swoop race and having headaches from gaining his horn. He ate the breakfast that was left on his table and went out to meet with the others. He walked along the hallways, until he entered into a large area that was filled with dozens of Bek members grabbing supplies and weapons. As he was walking by them, he saw his friends, expect T3, with Zandra, Gadon's bodyguard, but what was surprising was that next to her was a diamond dog. It was Canderous, the one that he met back in the Undercity when they were looking around for Fluttershy, the journals that Pinkie needed to find, and to get into the Griffons' base.

He walked over to them and said, "Morning everypony. I'm guessing that we have a guest today."

"Yeah, wonder how you figured that out?" Canderous said sarcastically.

"Back off Canderous. This pony proved himself more than capable of being a Bek and deserves a little respect," Zandra threatened Canderous.

"Whatever," Canderous replied.

"Thanks Zandra. Where's Gadon? Is he somewhere else?" Garret asked while looking around.

"He just wants to be alone right now. After what happen to Gilda at the race, he's been grieving over her. I don't really care what happened to her, but she was like a daughter to him and it will take some time for him to get over," Zandra explained.

"If you two are done talking for one moment, I can tell you how to get off this planet," Canderous said bluntly making Garret raise one of his eyebrows and Zandra to look at him with a stern look. "I have an offer to make and I have a feeling you won't refuse."

Garret paused for a moment and said, "Go on."

"I found a way where you can get codes to get off this planet and I know how to get you a ship to do so," Canderous explained and continued, "You see, my boss, Blueblood, hasn't been paying me the amount we agreed on and I don't like being ripped off. So now I want to get off this planet and I believe you have the means to get the codes that we need as well."

"What codes?" Garret asked.

"The ones in the Imperial base that's on the surface," Canderous answered.

"Then how do we get in?" Garret asked.

"Remember that little droid you have? He actually belonged to the Imperials, but wasn't coded to follow their command at the time. One of the gangs was able to steal the droid from them and thought it would be a good idea to put it up as a prize for the race without realizing what they could use him for."

"What could they have used him for?"

"They could have used that droid to infiltrate the base without any of the Imperials knowing about it and steal the codes from them." Canderous pointed out.

"Really? Then where is he? I haven't seen him since last night." Garret said looking around for the little droid.

"Where do you think?" Canderous replied.

"You already sent him to the base?" Garret asked.

"It was th' best time ta do it," Applejack said.

"The hard part was getting Pinkie off of him," Twilight said looking back at Pinkie who was still crying for T3 and Twilight just shook her head.

"So when do you think T3 will be back?" Garret asked.

"It'll be awhile, but I'm sure th' little guy can handle it," Applejack replied.

Garret looked back at Canderous and said, "Okay, when T3 gets back with the codes, you said you would get us a ship?"

"Yep. Blueblood's flagship, The Golden Phoenix. It's one of the fastest ships in the galaxy," Canderous answered.

"Wait, if it's such a fast ship, then why do we need the codes?" Garret asked.

"The ship's fast, but it's not fast enough to avoid the entire Imperial fleet's fire power. We need the codes so their automated defenses don't fire at us or otherwise we’ll be space toast," Canderous explained. "When you have the codes, meet me at the nearby cantina. We'll work out the rest of the plans and head over to Blueblood’s estate from there," he finished and started making his way out of the Beks’ base.

Twilight let out a sigh and said, "I really hope this plan works. If anypony needs me, I'll be with Pinkie. Harmony knows that she needs a shoulder to cry on, until T3 comes back." Twilight went over to Pinkie and took her somewhere else.

"I'll be in the medical room rechecking our supplies. We're going to need them if anything goes wrong," Fluttershy said and went to the medical room.

"Hey Garret, there's something I need to talk to you about, but Big Z needs me for a moment. So I'll be back later," Scootaloo said walking besides Zaalbar to wherever they were going.

Zandra just left on her own and didn't give a reason why. Garret just presumed that there was some Bek business to take care of.

It was just Applejack and Garret by themselves. Applejack was blushing a bit and Garret felt a little uncomfortable. Before Garret could think of something to say, Applejack looked at him and said, "Garret, thanks."

Garret looked back at Applejack and asked, "For what?"

"For listening to me last night. Ah didn't trust ya at the beginning of this journey and Ah've made things hard for us. But even though ya didn't have a reason to listen to what Ah've been through, you still listened and ya even respected my wishes about waiting for me to tell ya about my sis. Ah really feel like Ah can trust a pony again and I'm glad that's ya," Applejack said. She then got closer to Garret and pressed her head against his neck. Garret was caught off guard and blushed. Applejack looked up at him and said, "If ya ever need me for anything, Ah'll always have y'alls back partner. And that is the honest truth."

Garret smiled at what Applejack said and replied, "Thanks Applejack. And I got yours too."

"Glad ta hear it. If ya need me for anything, Ah'll be over at the garage. We'll more than likely need some ship parts in case the ship isn't as good as Canderous says it is," Applejack said making her way to the garage.

As Garret was watching Applejack walk away, he was thinking about what she said. 'I'm glad that Applejack is opening up more.' Garret then felt a tap on his shoulder and looked over to see that it was Scootaloo. "Hey Scoots, you said you wanted to talk to me about something?"

"Yes. We have blueprints on Blueblood's estate and we needed to go over it with you," Scootaloo said and started to pull one of Garret hoofs to lead the way.

Garret went along with it and followed her.

Garret was in a room with Scootaloo and Zaalbar, as they were putting down the schematics of Blueblood’s base.

Garret was looking at all the schematics and asked Scootaloo, "Heya Scoots, what's with all the schematics here? Shouldn't we go over this with the rest of the group?"

"Not yet. I wanted to go over this with you about breaking somepony out," Scootaloo replied.

"Who?"

"We're going to rescue my big sister, Rainbow Dash."

END OF CHAPTER

Chapter 9: T3's Epic Adventure!

View Online

CHAPTER 9 T3's EPIC ADVENTURE!

On the surface of Hoovris and on one of the landing pads of the Imperial base, a transport was coming down on it and was opening up to reveal a dozen droids and crates being unloaded. Among the droids was T3, as he was moving along with the rest of the droids. They were all lined up in a row and an Imperial inspector was using his datapad to keep check of the droids.

The inspector was confused at first and called one of his superiors to check it out.

"Yes, what is it?"

"Sir, we were supposed to have twelve astromechs, right?"

"Yeah?"

"Well, I did a headcount and we have thirteen droids. Do you think there was a shipping error?"

"More than likely."

"Should we send one of them back then?"

"And waste having an extra droid? No, I think we'll keep the extra one. Just say that we received all the droids that we needed and nothing else, understood?"

"Yes sir, I'll do that."

The inspector saluted his superior and continued on with his inspection. He then told the droids, "Alright you lot, go over to the maintenance room and wait further instructions."

The droids did what the inspector asked and they made their way to there. When the droids were close to the maintenance, T3 stayed behind the other droids, until he saw a chance to get away from them and started roaming the base. He looked around the base seeing Imperials soldiers making their patrols and all the workponies were either working on a terminal or having chats.

As T3 was strolling by, he overheard a couple of soldiers talking.

"There is no way I'm going to do this."

"We don't have much choice. We have to deliver these reports to Sunset herself."

"But have you seen these reports? No Beks have been captured for days and we've been losing patrols down there while we're searching for that blasted unicorn. What was her name again?"

"Twilight."

"Yeah, that's it. I don't want to be the pony who has to give Sunset this report. She'll properly just electrocute us to get rid of the anger. I don't want to go through that."

"Well-" The trooper looked around and saw T3. "Why not send the droid to give the report? He's expandable, which's means Sunset has something to let out her anger and we don't get electrocuted. Everypony wins."

"Good idea. Hey you. Take this datapad to Sunset at once. Just take the elevator over there and she’ll be on the top floor."

T3 didn't want to take the datapad and be electrocuted, but since he was in the middle of the Imperial base and couldn't risk the chance of being discovered, he had no choice but to go along with it. He took the datapad and went into the elevator. He used an extended cylinder rod from his chest to plug into the elevator’s controls and as he did that, the elevator started to move and was making its way towards the top. When the elevator stopped, the doors opened and there was another door in front of T3. He slowly left the elevator and when he did, the door behind him immediately closed. If a droid could feel fear right now, he would be feeling a lot of it. T3 gathered some courage in him and opened the door to the next room.

In the room were Sunset, Snips, and Snails. Sunset attention was at the monitors and terminals. Snips and Snails noticed T3 was coming in and went over to him.

"Hold it right there," Snips commanded the droid.

"Yeah, hold it right there," Snails repeated.

"Would you stop saying the same thing I'm saying?" Snips asked Snails.

"I just wanted to make sure that they got the idea," Snails clarified.

"Whatever. What do you want little droid?" Snips said.

T3 was confused by Snips’ comment about him being little, as in fact T3 was just a hoof or two bigger than Snips. He then processed to answer Snips’ question.

"Beep boop boop bee"

Snips and Snails looked at T3 for a moment with confused looks.

"Did you understand anything he said?" Snails asked Snips.

"Umm no, I was hoping that you did," Snips replied.

Sunset couldn't take anymore of her guards' idiotic comments. She walked over to them and shouted, "Will you two just move out of the way?!"

Snips and Snails complied and both went to one side of the doorway and proceeded to stand as still as statues. Sunset looked down at T3 and asked, "You said that you came to deliver a report?"

"Beep" T3 then opened one of the compartments in his torso and used an extended claw to give Sunset the datapad.

Sunset used her magic to lift the datapad and looked at it. Her eyes soon became enraged as she was reading the datapad and finally her horn was sparking with electricity. T3 was just about to make a break for it, until she channeled her anger on Snip and Snails letting out a bolt of electricity shocking the two guards. After she was done shocking them, Snips and Snails soon fell to the ground groaning in pain from what their mistress had done to them.

She looked over to the datapad again and said, "Curse you Twilight! Somehow you're one step ahead of us. When I find you I will make you pa-." Before she could finish, noise started blaring from one of the terminals.

A light from the terminals came up and formed a hologram of a pony.

"This is Admiral Soul, Sunset are you there?"

"Yes Soul, what is it now?"

The pony didn't answer and it soon changed to another pony. The other pony was the dark lord himself, Nightmare Moonlight.

*Gasp* "Master?" Sunset said and bowed before her dark master.

"Sunset, your progress of capturing Twilight has taken too long," the dark lord said.

"Yes I know master, but we may have a-," Sunset tried to explain, but Moonlight raised his hoof up to silences her.

"The search for Twilight is taking too long. The empire cannot risk her escaping this planet. So I am ordering the fleet to destroy the entire planet," Moonlight said to Sunset.

Sunset, Snips, Snails, and T3 were shocked to hear such news.

"The entire planet, my master? But....there are billions of ponies down here. We will be killing thousands of innocent civilians down here and not to mention our forces are still down here," Sunset explained to the dark lord.

"Your concern is meaningless, my apprentice. If Twilight escapes, she will continue to use her "Harmony's Will" against us. As much as I want her to join us, she is too dangerous and must be stopped," the dark lord replied.

"Y-Yes, my master. I will prepare all troops that I can bring," Sunset said in a defeated voice.

"No, do not bother. It will take too long and everypony would suspect us. You must come here with your guards and nopony else. Do I make myself clear?" Moonlight asked.

"Yes, my lord," Sunset replied.

The terminal went off and Sunset was at first conflicted by her master's decision, but in her head she was a Nightmare warrior and they only care about surviving to become more powerful. She started making her way to the elevator and said to T3 on the way, "I want you to stay here in this room and monitor all that is going on, until Lord Moonlight is done with the bombardment." Sunset and her guards then went in the elevator and the door closed.

T3 looked around the room and went up to a terminal. He used the same extension that he used on the elevator and plugged himself into a terminal. He looked through the database of the computer, until he found the codes for the Imperial blockade. He downloaded them, including the recording of Darth Moonlight's plan to destroy Hoovris. After he was done, he uploaded a virus into the terminal in case something bad happened to him in the base. T3 then started making his way to the elevator.

As Sunset was making her way to the shuttle, the inspector from the landing pad was walking by and he asked her a question. "Umm ma'am, have you seen an astromech droid around here?"

"Yes, there was one in the control room, why?" Sunset asked.

"Well we just had an extra droid from the shipment that came down here earlier and instead of twelve droids we had thirteen. And now one of them is missing, do you think it's the one in the control room?"

Sunset took a moment to think about it. And all of a sudden, she realized that the droid wasn't one of theirs and only one pony that she could think of could be behind this.

"TWILIGHT!" Sunset shouted as she lifted her hooves up into the air. Over the speaker phones, Sunset made an announcement to the whole base. "We have an intruder in the base and it might have the codes to the blockade. Find the little, blue droid and bring it to me, NOW!"

All the soldiers and workers started grabbing ion weapons and looked around the base for T3.

A few seconds ago, T3 was coming out of the elevator and entered into a corridor, until he overheard the speakers on the walls. "We have an intruder in the base and it might have the codes to the blockade. Find a blue little droid and bring it to me, NOW!"

T3 optics shrunk and from around a corner, less than a dozen Imperial guards were holding ion weapons. One of the guards pointed at T3 and said, "There it is! Get it!"

The guards galloped towards T3 and he quickly made a break for it. He went as fast as his wheels could go and was able to stay ahead of the guards, but they started firing their ion blasters and if one of those blaster fire hits T3 he would be stunned by it. All T3 could do was just roll away as fast as he could and scream.

"WWEEEOOOOOOOOOOOOOWWW!"

T3 saw a turn in the corridors and he took it, but unfortunately when he turned, Sunset was in front of him with dozens of Imperial soldiers. The guards behind him caught up to him and aimed their weapons at him.

Sunset approached the little droid and said to it, "You're going to tell me everything you know about Twilight with or without your permission." Right behind her were a couple mechanics ready to dissect the poor droid.

T3 then activated the virus that he uploaded into the terminals. All of a sudden, alarms were going off and the walls revealed robotic arms that had fire hoses attached to them. The arms soon started firing water at all the guards, troops, mechanics, and even Sunset. Everypony was defenseless against the hoses and T3 was able to get by them. Sunset was able to jump out of the firing stream from one of the hoses and chased after the droid, but as soon as she was close to the droid and was about to grab it with her telekinesis, one hose came out of nowhere and her pupils shrunk. The hose fired at her and sent her into the laundry chute, where she fell down screaming.

T3 soon made his way to the exit of the base and rolled on back to the Bek's base.

T3 was in the streets of the lower levels, after he took an elevator from the upper city. He was just strolling by and was feeling nervous (If a droid can be nervous that is). Moving through the streets was dangerous, especially since the Griffons lost their leader, Gilda, and had been looking for the Beks nonstop and Imperials had been patrolling the streets as well. There were reports of increased violence and raids going around the city because of the two factions.

All of a sudden, dozens of Griffons were coming out hiding from dumpsters, corners, and broken down doorways. They all stood in front of T3 looking at him with devious smiles.

"Well look what we got here. Another droid to smash!"

"Now hold on a second. Let's just take it apart and see what we could sell off of it."

"This is going to be fun."

T3 was about to make a break for it, until from behind the droid, three large speeders were coming. They stopped when they came close and soon Imperial troopers started coming out and were forming a line in front of the vehicles. Coming out in one of the vehicles was Sunset and her guards, Snip and Snails. Sunset stood in front of the soldiers and said, "That droid belongs to the Luna Empire. Hand it over now or you will face our wrath!"

"WAIT! That's the horned freak that killed Gilda! GET HER!"

The Griffons started charging at the Imperials with blasters and swords. Sunset and the Imperials then started charging towards the Griffons. Sunset brought out her double-bladed lightsaber with her magic and turned it on. The color of the blade was blazing orange. The two sides soon clashed with one another and T3 was caught in the middle of it.

T3 was dodging every blaster fire and avoid all the troops and Griffons from capturing him. He was able to get out of the fight and strolled away quickly. After Sunset slashed some of the unfortunate Griffons that crossed her, she saw T3 getting away and made chase after him.

"GET BACK HERE YOU STUPID DROID!"

"WWWEEEOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWW"

T3 made a quick turn around a corner, but he quickly stopped as he made a wrong turn into a large cross way that went on for miles with speeders coming from opposite directions and was so deep, it was pitch black down below. T3 turned to find another way, but Sunset was right behind him and she had him cornered.

"I got you now, you little trash can!" Sunset said. "I would electrocute you right now after what you did, but since you have valuable information, I'll take you apart piece by piece until I get what I want." She then tried to levitate T3 with her magic. But T3 quickly opened a compartment and launched a piece of pie (that Pinkie put into him) at Sunset. It hit Sunset and it blinded her. She was struggling to get the pie off her face, because for some reason it had some glue in it. While she was struggling, she was moving around too much and tripped over to the cross way. She let out a scream as she was falling down into the dark abyss. Fortunately for her, a passing garbage transport was coming by and Sunset fell in the back of the transport, right into the foulness of the garbage.

T3 then let a beeping sound that sounded like laughter and continued his way back to the Beks base.

Back at the Bek's base, Pinkie was still crying about T3 going away for hours and everypony was getting sick of it. Twilight's eyes were bloodshot red and were twitching from the constant sob, Scootaloo had her head deep down in Zaalbar's fur, Zaalbar covered his ears with pillows somehow gladly offered by Pinkie, Fluttershy was crying as well because Pinkie's sob was making her sad as well, Applejack was struggling against her urge not to strangle Pinkie nonstop, and Garret was banging his head against the wall.

Zandra came into the room and saw what was going on. She gave out a sigh and said, "Pinkie I have some good news." Pinkie stopped her crying for a moment to hear what Sandra had to say. "T3 is back and he has the codes, so please stop crying. All the Beks were planning on kicking you out of the base or at least putting a mesh tape over your mouths."

Zandra then stood aside and T3 rolled into the room. Pinkie immediately went from feeling miserable to overjoyed to see her little droid buddy again. She quickly went to him in an unusual speed and started hugging and kissing the droid. Everypony was glad that Pinkie was happy again and were relieved that she stopped crying.

"OH MY BUDDY! MY PAL! MY LITTLE DROID AMIGO! How did it go? What did you do? Did you meet anypony? Made friends? Anything interesting? Oh I am so going to throw a welcome-back party for you! We should definitely do the robot dance. I always wanted to do the robot dance," Pinkie said and kept on talking about the robot dance, until T3 asked her to stop for a moment and he started playing a recording.

When T3 turned on the recording, both Sunset and Darth Moonlight appeared on the hologram.

As the hologram was playing Twilight recognized Sunset and Moonlight right away. "I know those two. That's Moonlight right there and that's his apprentice, Sunset Shimmer," she said.

"Ah don't believe it. Thet's the infamous Nightmare lord right there?" Applejack asked with great concern.

"That's right and I'm guessing T3 had a reason for recording this," Twilight replied.

As the group was listening what the recording was saying, they were horrified to learn that Moonlight was planning on destroying the entire with his fleet. After the recording was finished, everypony soon started to go into debate about what to do.

"We have to do something to stop this! Hoovris is my home," Scootaloo said.

"I agree. Hoovris is my home as well and I can't let those meanies get away with it," Pinkie said supporting Scootaloo.

"Ah'm sorry, but we just can't. We don't have a fleet to back us up and they outnumber us one to hundreds," Applejack pointed out.

"Applejack's right. Our best option right now is to get off this planet and tell the council what’s happening. They'll know what to do next," Twilight added to the conversation.

"But um...what about all the poor ponies here?" Fluttershy said with concern.

"I'm afraid Moonlight is putting us in a position that we can't do anything about. We're....going to have to do nothing for them," Twilight answered Fluttershy's question with regret.

"But...We can't just leave Hoovris to be destroyed can we?" Scootaloo asked and turned her attention to Garret. "Garret please tell me that we're not going to let Moonlight do this. Right?"

Garret wasn't sure how to answer the little pegasus' question. On one hoof, he knew that the planet would be defenseless against Moonlight's assault and that he needed to help, but on the other hoof, Twilight was maybe the only pony in the galaxy that could win the Republic the war and save countless more lives. All he could say to Scootaloo was, "I'm sorry Scootaloo, but I'm afraid we have to go along with this. If Moonlight is this vile to do this on Hoovris, then we must make sure we get Twilight off this planet so we can stop him from doing the same thing to another planet."

Scootaloo was conflicted at what Garret said. She wanted to do everything she could to stop the empire from destroying her homeworld, but deep down in her heart she knew that what Garret said was true and there wasn't any way for anypony to stop it. She started to cry, trying her best to fight back the tears. Everypony gathered around her and began hugging her to make her feel better. Scootaloo was glad to have so many friends that wanted to comfort her. "Thanks guys. I really needed this."

Everypony broke up from the group hug, except Zaalbar, Pinkie, and T3. Garret walked over to Zandra and asked, "I suppose that means you want to come with us too huh?"

Zandra thought about it for a minute and replied, "Thanks for the offer, but my place here is with the Beks. I'll warn them about this and we'll head down to the Undercity where it's safe. You guys better get on going, I suspect that you only have a few hours left, so I recommend getting out of here asap."

"Thanks, we will. We're sorry that we couldn't do anything else to help," Garret said.

"You've done more than enough for us. I think you deserve a bit of a break from being a hero," Zandra said with a smile.

"I don't know if I'm ever going to stop being a hero," Garret replied with a thin smile.

"That's good to hear. The galaxy is going to need heroes like you," Zandra commented.

The two said their goodbyes and Garret went to join up with the rest of the gang.

Applejack then spoke up and said, "Well now thet we got that settled, I suppose that we all will head over to meet Canderous."

"I doubt that we'll all go with Garret when Canderous takes us to Blueblood. What will the rest of us do?" Twilight asked.

Scootaloo wiped away the last of her tears and said with boldness, "Don't worry your pretty little head about that. I have a plan for that."

Twilight dreaded what Scootaloo had in store for the rest of the gang.

END OF CHAPTER

Chapter 10: The Golden Phoenix

View Online

CHAPTER 10 THE GOLDEN PHOENIX

It was late in the evening and Garret was at Blueblood's estate with Canderous. They both were meeting with Blueblood in a room that had a throne in the middle of it with Blueblood sitting in it.

"So Canderous," Blueblood said in a Cantersuant voice. "I was told that you were bringing somepony to me. That seems out of character, even for you." Blueblood was a white unicorn with blonde hair and teal eyes. He was wearing a white tux suit.

"Yeah, I agree. If I didn't know any better, I say you were getting soft," said the pony next to Blueblood. His name was Calo Ford and he's known to be one of the galaxy's best bounty hunters. He was a small, but buff, tan pony. He wore a white cap with goggles on his head and a blue jacket with brown pads over his shoulders and wore a pair of black boots as well.

"Watch it, Ford. You may be one of Blueblood's best, but you're not the top dog yet," Canderous threatened, staring down the bounty hunter.

"Please you two. I don't want any fights between here. I just had the maids clean this place and I don't want you both making a mess of my estate. Now Canderous please explain why you brought this.....pony with you," Blueblood said looking over to Garret.

"I thought you would be happy to know that I brought the winner of this year's swoop race," Canderous explained.

"Ah yes, now I recognize this chap here. I must say you showed absolute skills in the race and even during the battle that Gilda tried to put up," Blueblood said.

"The name’s Garret and it's an honor to meet you Mr. Blueblood," Garret said, holding out his hoof.

Blueblood was hesitant on shaking Garret's hoof and said, "I'm sorry, but I rather not shake your hooves right now. I just had mine cleaned."

"Ummm....okay?"

"Now, I'm sure you have many questions, so let me show you around my estate and I'll explain everything to you as we move along," Blueblood said and turned to his servants and guards, "Please take care of our guest's things, while I entertain him."

Blueblood started leading Canderous, Calo, and Garret on the tour, while the servant and guards were looking over the luggage and crates that Canderous and Garret brought with them.

Inside one of the crates, all of the gang were cramped up and tried to stay quiet as possible. Unfortunately that wasn't going well.

"Oh we should definitely throw a ‘cramped up inside a box’ party," Pinkie said.

"Pinkie be, quiet! We're trying to sneak in," Scootaloo said.

"Ow! Something is poking me on the side," Applejack stated.

"Sorry, that was me," Twilight said.

"Well can ya do something ta stop that?" Applejack asked out of annoyance.

"Sorry that I was born with a HORN, Applejack. At least I'm not a minotaur that takes two thirds of the box," Twilight pointed out. Zaalbar was saying something in his native language and Twilight replied, "Oh, shut up!"

"Umm, Applejack can you um, move your hoof off of my back a bit, if that's okay?" Fluttershy asked hoping that Applejack could do that.

"Sorry about that, but I can barely move here," Applejack replied.

"Well at least this gives us time to get to know one another. Right T3? Pinkie asked.

"Beep"

"Eeep! Something touched me!" Fluttershy panicked. Zaalbar was apologizing for what he did and she replied, "Oh, it's okay, just let us know when you're moving around."

Twilight let out a groaning sound. "When is Garret going to get us out of here?" she asked.

Back with Garret and Canderous, Blueblood was done giving the tour and said to them, "Now that's over, I must insist that you stay here for a couple of days for some background checks. Feel free to use the services of my maids here and they will pamper you with all your needs," Blueblood said and walked out of the room.

Canderous turned to Garret and said, "Alright kid, let’s get to your friends and get off this rock."

"Right, but can we make a side quest real quick?" Garret asked.

"If it's taking full advantage of Blueblood's maids, then you must be more desperate then I thought," Canderous said.

"NO, NOT THAT!" Garret shouted. "Scootaloo said that her friend, Rainbow was around here and I was hoping to find her first."

"Look we don't have the time to look for somepony who was stupid enough to steal Blueblood's ship without getting caught," Canderous rejected the idea.

"Fine. You can get the others, while I look for Rainbow. Scootaloo went over the blueprints with me for hours, so I know my way around," Garret suggested.

"Okay whatever, but if you're not by the ship when we get it, we're leaving you behind," Canderous replied.

With a nod, Garret made his way to find Rainbow, while Canderous went to find the others.

Some time had passed and the others were still in the crate, listening to what Pinkie was saying.

"-And that's why they never let me near a bell again," Pinkie finished.

Twilight's eyes were twitching. "FOR THE LOVE OF CELESTIA! WHERE ARE GARRET AND CANDEROUS?!" she shouted.

Applejack couldn’t take it anymore and she shouted, "FORGET ABOUT THIS, AH'M GETTING OUTTA HERE!" She was trying to make her way to the side of wall and started pounding on it.

"Applejack, wait! What if the guards hear you?" Fluttershy said hoping to calm Applejack down.

"AH DON'T CARE! AH RATHER BE FIGHTING THEM THEN-WWAAAAAAAAA!" The wall was opened and Applejack fell to the ground. She looked up to see that it was Canderous that opened it. She shot back up on her hooves and shouted, "WHAT TOOK Y'ALL SO LONG!?"

"It's complicated. Now do you want to get out of there or would you prefer to stay here and get blown up with the rest of the planet?" Canderous suggested.

Applejack was annoyed by that, but she didn't really care now that she was free from the crate and Pinkie's constant talk about bells. She looked around to see where Garret was, but she was confused that he wasn't around. "Hey Canderous, where's Garret?"

"He went to find that Rainbow pony. Said something about finding her for that little filly," Canderous replied.

Scootaloo got out of the crate excitedly and said, "Yeah, I knew that he would go with my plan."

"Wait, what plan?" Applejack asked.

After a few minutes of looking around the estate and avoiding the passing guards, Garret was able to find the prison room. He went inside to see that it was a small room with one force cell and a bunch of shutdown interrogation droids. Inside the cell was a cyan colored pony with a mane of six different colors like that of a rainbow. Her cutie mark was showing and it was a white cloud with lightning coming out of it with three different shades of colors on it that were blue, yellow, and red. She then looked at Garret with her shining, magenta eyes and asked, "What does Blueblood want now? He already tortured me for days and that didn't work. Then he tried to spread rumors that I tried to steal his ship. All because I asked for a raise."

"That was it?" Garret asked raising an eyebrow.

"Well, I may have gotten angry when he gave an excuse that really insulted me and maybe I punched him in the face and ended up here," Rainbow Dash explained.

"Umm..right. I'm not with Blueblood. I came to rescue you," Garret said.

Rainbow Dash ears perked up and said, "Seriously? This isn't a joke right?"

"Nope, it isn't. Scootaloo said that you would be here," Garret explained.

"Scootaloo! Is she okay? She isn't here is she?"

"I'll explain everything on the way to the hangar. Where are the controls?"

Rainbow pointed over to the controls and Garret went over to it and turned off the cell. The energy field around her disappeared and she started stretching out her legs. "You have no idea what it's like to be in there," she said and continued, "So why are we heading for the hangar? Are you planning on taking the Golden Phoenix?" Garret nodded. "Good. I want payback with that ugly schutta for all that he did to me. So, who are you anyway?" she asked.

"My name is Garret."

"Glad to meet you, Garret. I owe you big time for this," Rainbow said. "Let me grab my gear real quick and I'll lead the way."

"Alright."

There was a nearby chest and Rainbow quickly opened it to reveal several items within. The chest had an outfit and a blaster in it. She put on the outfit that was comprised of a tan shirt with a blueish gray vest and strapped on a belt with a holster on it. She then grabbed four boots, two for hind legs and two for her front owns and placed a goggle on top of her head. She turned to Garret and gave him a sly smile.

"Ready to go?" Dash asked confidently.

"Ready when you are," Garret replied.

Rainbow then started leading the way and Garret followed her.

Dash and Garret finally made it to the hangar's entrance. Garret look around to see if anypony else was around. And from out of nowhere, Pinkie came in behind him and jumped on top of him. "Hey! We're here! Did you rescue Scoots' friend?"

"That would be a yes," Dash interjected. Scootaloo saw her and ran towards her. She jumped into the air into Dash's arms and hugged her tight. "Hey there kiddo. How's it going?"

"Oh Dash! I thought I’d never see you again," Scootaloo said holding onto Dash tightly.

"I thought I'd never see you too little squirt," Dash said with a smile and looked up to Zaalbar, "Hey there Big Z. Have you been taking care of her?" Zaalbar answered her and she replied, "I thought so."

"Look, can we just skip the touchy feeling garbage and skip to stealing and flying far, far away from here," Canderous said, interrupting Dash and Scootaloo's reunion.

Dash shot a glare at Canderous, but he was unaffected by her glance and didn't really care. Applejack spoke up and said, "What Ah think he mean is thet we don't really have th' time right now. We better take th' ship and get to safety."

Dash let go of Scootaloo and went to open the door to the hangar. "Sure thing. I wish we had gotten to see Blueblood's face when we...Ah oh."

After the door was opened, the gang saw Blueblood and Calo Ford standing with dozens of guards aiming their weapons at them. Blueblood gave out a smirk and said, "Well, well. Look what we have here. Canderous, I'm most disappointed at you. Then again, what can I expect from a diamond dog? And Rainbow Dash, what are you doing out of your cage? I thought by now you would have learned your lesson."

"I'll teach you a lesson, you son of a-" Dash was about to finish her unorthodox sentence, until Pinkie covered her mouth.

"HEY! I know this is a teen rated story, but we just can't cuss words like that in a Star Wars parody! That's just out of context," Pinkie explained while everypony looked at her with a confused look.

".....Anyways, I think this is as far as you go." Blueblood said and continued, "Calo! Please dispose of these pests."

"I'll take care of this. I've been looking forward on taking Canderous down myself," Calo replied.

"Me too, Calo. I'll see you in tartarus," Canderous said and readied his weapon.

The whole gang grabbed their weapons and prepared themselves for the fight of their life, until all of a sudden the build started shaking all around them. Explosives were being heard outside and shouts and screams were everywhere.

Garret shouted and said, "THEY STARTED THE BOMBARDMENT!"

"WHAT’S GOING ON?" Blueblood asked out of fear.

"Those blasted Imperials are destroying the planet now. We need to get out of here now!" Canderous replied.

"I don't know about you, but I'm going to take my ship and leave you pests before you do anymor-"

"BOSS, LOOK OUT!" one of the guards said.

An explosion came over Blueblood and the top of the roof came crashing down on him, crushing him.

Calo then looked over to the gang and said, "You know what? This isn't the time for this. You can take the ship and I'll get off this planet another way, but I'll be back and have your head, Hound."

"Back at you, Calo," Canderous said.

Calo and the guards quickly dispersed. Leaving the gang the ship that they wanted....

The Golden Phoenix.

The ship was large and had two engine exhausts in the back, a cockpit at the front of the ship, and two turret guns on the middle top and bottom of it. It had stripe colors of orange around it.

"Alright everypony, let’s take this bird for a ride!" Rainbow Dash said and flew into the ship.

Over the skies of Hoovris, Imperial war ships were firing their cannons at the planet and destroying the cities on it. As the bombardment continued, The Phoenix and its crew made its way past the blockade without being shot by the Imperial war ships.

Inside the cockpit of the Phoenix, Dash and Applejack were piloting while everypony else was watching.

"It's good to fly this thing again," Dash said, excited to fly her ship once again.

"It looks like we're clear from th' blockade," Applejack reported.

"Head for the planet White Tails. There's a unicorn enclave where we can be safe and find help," Twilight suggested.

"No problem. Just let me set the coordinates and....ah oh," Rainbow said. A small alarm was going off from the controls. "We got fighters incoming!" she shouted.

"Somepony get to th' gun turrets and hold off th' fighters, until we can get a clear jump to hyperspace!" Applejack said and turned back to the others.

"I'm on it," Garret said and rushed to the guns.

The Phoenix was going as fast as it could, but the Imperial fighters soon caught up to it and started firing on the ship. The fighters were small, but fast ships and had wings on each side.

Garret soon got on the turret and fired back at the fighters. While Garret was doing that, Pinkie had an idea and said, "Oh! I know a good song for this." She reached into her mane and pulled out a round disk. She then went over to T3 and inserted it into a disk drive in his chest. After a few seconds of buffering, it started playing this. "When you start playing this music, skip to 1:32, otherwise it wouldn't make any sense, " Pinkie said to you.

Garret continued firing the turret the best he could, but the fighters were moving fast and were hard to keep up with. The fighters continued their barrage of blaster fire on the Phoenix. In the cockpit, Applejack said, "Ah hope this piece of junk can hold together."

"Hey! This thing is not a piece of junk! And don't worry it'll hold together," Dash said. An explosion was heard in the back of the ship and the alarms were going off. Dash put her hooves together and said, "Oh please hold together."

"One of th' engines went offline! We can't make th' jump if it's off," Applejack said.

Dash flew out of her seat and said, "Don't worry I'll take care of that. Just fly the best you can and I'll be back."

"Good! I'm a better pilot than you anyway!"

"Why you-"

"Would just go and fix the engine!" Twilight shouted at Dash.

"Right! I'm on it," Dash said and flew her way to the engine room.

Back at the turret, Garret kept on firing at the fighters. One of them was coming in close for an attack, but Garret noticed it at the last minute and fired at it. The fighter was destroyed. Which made Garret quite happy, to get one of them that is. "I GOT ONE!".

Dash was flying by the turret hatch and said to Garret, "Great kid, don't get cocky!" She grinned and continued onto the engine room.

Dash got into the engine room and saw the damaged engine and quickly grabbed a toolkit. She opened up a compartment that led down into the ship's systems and started her search for what was wrong.

Garret continued firing the turret, while Applejack did her best to keep the fighters off of them.

"What do we do? What do we do? What do we do?" Fluttershy said, panicking at the situation.

"Everypony stay calm! We just have to pray that Dash can fix the engines and we can get away from the fighters," Twilight said whilst trying to keep everypony calm.

"Beep boop beep boo" T3 rolled his way out of the bridge and headed towards the engine room. When he entered into the engine room, he was looking around and saw the compartment that Dash opened. T3 looked down inside it and Dash popped her head out of the compartment.

"What do you want, tin can?" Dash said while she was covered in wires.

"Beep bee boo bee"

"Okay, I have no time to play twenty questions right now," Dash replied and went back into the compartment.

T3 looked around the room once more and inspected the damaged engine. When he looked more closely, he saw that a plug was not in the outlet. So T3 used his extend claw to pick it up and plugged it back in. Suddenly, the engines were back online and Applejack saw that they were ready to go into hyperdrive. She quickly punched in some coordinates and the ship jumped into hyperdrive. The sudden force cause T3 to be pushed back and started heading towards the compartment.

Dash poked her head up and said, "What's happening? Is the engin-" Before she could finish, her eyes widened and her pupils shrunk as T3 came tumbling down on top of her and crashed down into the compartment with her still in it. "OW!"

Everypony felt relieved that they were able to escape the Imperials and were on their way to someplace safe. Everypony was at a different part of the ship during the duration of the travel. Canderous was in the ship's garage and was mostly tinkering with the swoop bike that Blueblood had on the ship, Fluttershy was bandaging up Rainbow Dash after what had happened to her and T3 in the medical bay, T3 was mostly moving around the ship repairing anything that was damaged during the skirmish, Scootaloo went to one of the crew bunkers to be alone, Zaalbar was in the middle of the ship checking out the ship's holo terminal of the galaxy, Pinkie was just being Pinkie and was looking around the ship while bouncing, and Applejack, Twilight, and Garret were at the bridge talking about their plans of taking the ship towards White Tails.

"What makes ya think thet White Tails is a safe place to be? Moonlight just glassed an entire planet! White Tails is just a rural planet, how is it going ta survive an attack from his armada?" Applejack asked concern at the situation.

"Not to worry. Moonlight would think twice before he would attack there. It's filled with the wisest and most powerful unicorns in the galaxy, including Celestia herself," Twilight explained.

"Ah reckon thet you're right, but why do we have to come here? There are other safe places in the galaxy thet we could have gone to. And now thet that Ah think about it, isn’t Celestia supposed to be on Cantersuant?" Applejack pointed out.

"Celestia moved to the enclave to be closer to the frontlines in case she was needed. Also I have some business to take care of there and I didn't want to talk to her over the holonet. Also, have you forgotten that we have to deal with our new unicorn friend here?" Twilight said turning her attention to Garret.

"So what exactly are we supposed to do now?" Garret asked.

"When we get to the enclave I will give a full report of what happened to Celestia and she will more than likely want to meet you," Twilight replied.

"All right. How long do we have until we get there?" Garret asked.

"It may take a couple of hours, even for this piece of junk," Applejack replied.

"IT'S NOT A PIECE OF JUNK!" Rainbow Dash shouted all the way from the medical room. Everypony then laughed after hearing that.

After Twilight was done laughing, she then said, "If anypony needs me, I'll be at the port side bunkers meditating." Twilight then walked out of the bridge.

Applejack then turned her attention to Garret. "Did ya ever had th' chance to tell her about your dreams?"

"Yes, I did. It was around the time I first woke up that told her about it." Garret replied.

"What exactly did she tell ya?"

"She told me that we're somehow bonded through magic and I'm beginning to see her memories in my dreams."

"Really? Did she tell ya anything else about it?"

"Well, she doesn't know why we have a bond in the first place, but she thinks her master might know what it'll be." He explained.

Applejack scratched her chin and took a moment to ponder about it. "If ya ask me, there's something funny going on here." she said.

"What do you mean?" Garret asked.

"It's just-" Appejack started to say. "Don't ya think th' whole thing seems too big of a coincidence? Ah mean what were the chances of ya having these dreams in the first place? And how come you didn't become a unicorn sooner? Ah just have this feeling that Twilight isn't telling us everything that she knows" she explained.

Garret took a moment to respond. "Maybe it is strange, but she did say that magic can be unpredictable and she explained to me that it takes time for the magic to build up to where the horn will form." he explained.

"Well if ya say so, but Ah'm telling ya there's something going on and Ah don't like."

"I understand, but we need to at least try to trust her on this for now."

Applejack let out a sigh. "Fine, Ah'll go along with it. But Ah'm not doing it because we have to, Ah'm doing this because Ah trust you." she said.

"Glad to hear, Applejack."

"And since we're good friends now, you can call me AJ now if you want," Applejack said blushing a bit.

"Sure thing, AJ."

Applejack’s blush was redder and she quickly turned back to the controls to try to hide her blush. "Why don't you check out the ship for a bit? It'll be a while before we reach White Tails, even at this speed." she suggested.

"Okay, that sounds like a good idea."

Garret walked out of the bridge and started looking around the ship. The ship was huge in its insides and there were a lot of places to go. The ship has a garage in it, medical bay, cargo hold, two bunk rooms on both port and starboard sides, the cockpit, main hold, storage room, and a communications room.

Garret first went by the medical bay to see how Dash was doing. He walked into the room seeing Fluttershy struggling to help Dash get some rest, but she was arguing not to stay in bed and wanted to fly the ship. Garret laughed to himself and walked over to Rainbow Dash.

"How are you doing?" Garret asked Dash.

"Pretty lousy. She’s telling me that I have to stay in bed for a bit and my left wing is busted. I'm finally free and I can't fly my own ship or fly up into the sky anymore," Dash said, distress about what was been happening to her.

"You just need to rest for a while to clear your head and your wing should be good to go in a couple of days.....if that's okay," Fluttershy explained.

"But a couple of days is like forever! I can't just lay around and do nothing!" Dash complained.

"It's not that bad. Besides you've been in a cell for a long while anyway. I'm surprised that you still have this much energy," Garret said.

"That's because I'm the toughest pony there is. I bet I can take on Nightmare Moonlight himself, if he didn't have magic and his lazer sword, and maybe if he didn't have an entire army backing him up," Dash said.

"I'm sure you can, but right now just do as Fluttershy says and get better. You promise?"

Dash just mumbled to herself.

Twilight was walking by and she saw what was going on. She walked in and said, "Hello Everypony, what's going on?"

"Well apparently, I have to stay in bed for a couple of days. That's no fun at all," Dash replied.

"I'm sure that if you find something to do to pass the time, it won't be so bad," Twilight suggested.

"Oh yeah? Then what do you suggest I do then? Dash asked.

Twilight tapped her chin a couple of times while she was thinking and looked around the room a bit. She then saw a bookshelf and went over to see its contents. She saw one particular book that was interesting and levitated it off the shelf and placed it on Dash's lap. Dash took a look at it and the title said 'Daring Do and The Lost Moon of Hoth.' She looked back at Twilight with a furrowed look.

"A book?"

"It's an interesting book about a pegasus archaeologist who gets stranded on a mysterious moon that orbits Hoth and does everything she can to figure why it's there." Twilight explained.

"No thanks. I so don't read. I'm a world-class athlete. Reading's for eggheads like you. "Dash said, pointing a hoof at Twilight. Twilight just rolled her eyes at the comment. "Heh, no offense, but I am not reading. It's undeniably, unquestionably, uncool."

"You're kidding me, right?" Twilight asked.

"Sorry unicorn, but it's just not my style," Dash said laying her head on her pillow.

"It wouldn't hurt to try," Garret interjected.

"Whatever," Dash replied. "I'm going to grab some sleep now." She rolled up her covers and closed her eyes to sleep. Garret, Twilight, and Fluttershy then walked out of the room and closed the door behind them. Dash opened one of her eyes to check to see if she was the only one. She then got up and looked back over to see the Daring Do book still on the table. She lifted it up with her hoof and said, "There's no way this book is interesting." She opened the book on the first page and started reading.

As soon as the door behind them closed, Twilight turned her attention to Garret and Fluttershy. "Well this has been an....interesting day."

"Yeah, it has been," Garret commented.

"I wish that it could have been better," Fluttershy added.

Dread came over the group when Fluttershy said that.

"I wish there was another way, I really do mean that," Twilight said having her ears lowered.

"I can't imagine what's it like losing your homeworld. I'm sure that Scoots isn't taking this very well," Garret added.

"I'm sure that she'll be fine. She just needs time is all," Twilight said. "If you guys need me, I'll be in the port bunk room meditating." She then walked off and made her way.

There was silence between Garret and Fluttershy. They both started walking around the ship, until they entered into the garage and saw that Canderous was using tools to fix up the swoop bike.

Fluttershy was curious about something and spoke up. "Umm, Garret?"

"Yeah, Fluttershy?" Garret replied.

"What's it like being a unicorn? Have you done any magic yet?" Fluttershy asked.

"You know, I haven't tried it yet," Garret replied.

Garret looked around to see if there was anything that he could use and he saw a toolbox next to Canderous, who was working on the swoop bike. He then took a deep breath and started to concentrate on the box and the action of it levitating. Soon his horn started to show off a turquoise colored aura around it and the box was covered in it. It started lifting up into the air and Fluttershy was amazed at what Garret could do, but he was having a hard keeping it up in the air and had his eyes closed just to concentrate. Canderous reached over to where the box was, but was confused as to why it apparently wasn't there anymore. "What the? Where did it-" Garret soon lost his concentration and stopped using his magic. The aura around the box disappeared and fell on top of Canderous head. "OW!" Fluttershy and Garret panicked and ran out of the room. Canderous looked around to see who was responsible, but didn't see anypony. "What in the name of tartarus just happened?"

After a couple of seconds, Fluttershy and Garret stopped running and took a moment to catch their breath. After a moment of silence, they both started laughing. As they were laughing, from out of nowhere Pinkie’s head came in between them from the top. "Hey guys, what's so funny?"

Garret and Fluttershy were startled for a moment and were confused about how Pinkie was walking on top of the ceiling.

"Pinkie, how are you up there?" Garret asked.

"I put on some of my suction cups on my hooves and now I can walk anywhere on the ship," Pinkie replied smiling as she was upside down. "So, what was so funny?"

"Oh. Umm, nothing really. We were just laughing," Fluttershy answered feeling a little ashamed of laughing about Canderous getting hurt.

"Oh, okay. I do that sometimes too," Pinkie said and started laughing on cue. Fluttershy and Garret just looked at each other out of confusion.

"We should definitely throw a ‘We Got Away’ party!"

"I don't think that's a good idea right now Pinkie," Fluttershy said. "Some of us are tired from all that we had to do and I think not everypony is in the mood for it."

"Yeah, I have to agree with her here," Garret said. "Why are you still full of spirit anyway? Aren't you worried about Rukil and the villagers? And what about your family?" he asked concerned for Pinkie.

"I'm confident that Rukil and the others are fine and well. If they made it to the promised land, then they should be safe there. And my family left Hoovris on their annual vacation not too long ago, so they should be fine as well," Pinkie said keeping her smile.

"Well, that's a relief to hear," Garret said.

"I'm glad to hear that Pinkie Pie, I would have felt terrible if anything happened to my family," Fluttershy said, then went on to say, "I'm going to see if Canderous is okay. He may need something in case he has a headache." She then went off to find Canderous with a medkit.

"I'm going to go look around the ship some more, later Pinkie," Garret said and walked away.

Pinkie was just standing on the ceiling with her suction hooves and was wondering what to do now. But before she could think of anything, the suction hooves couldn't stick to the ceiling anymore and she fell down.

The Golden Phoenix finished making its way towards the planet, White Tails, and was entering its orbit. The ship made its way towards a large complex near a large forest. After it was given permission to land, the ship started descending over one of the complex's landing pads and safely landing on it. When it landed, the ship opened a ramp on the side of it and soon Twilight, Garret, Applejack, and the others were coming out of the ship. As the gang was coming out, the door in front of them opened revealing two solar knights covered in white robes and having masks on them and a tall pony.

The tall pony was a pure white alicorn mare with a light colored rainbow mane and tail and her eyes were a light magenta color. She was wearing a gold and white robe and on each hoof she was wearing gold shoes with a jewel in each one.

"Welcome, my little ponies, I am Grandmaster Celestia. It is good to see you again Twilight, my faithful student."

END OF CHAPTER

Chapter 11: Homecoming

View Online

CHAPTER 11 HOMECOMING

"Hey there everypony! It's me Pinkie Pie. I wanted to give you all a recap of what happened so far."

"Umm Pinkie, I don't think giving a recap on a written story is such a good idea. Besides everyone here wants to know what happens next with the whole gang meeting Celestia for the first time."

"Oh please let me do this. Please? Please? Please? Please? Please? Please? Please? Please? Please? Plea-"

"Okay! Okay! Just make it short."

"WOOHOO!" Pinkie then cleared out her throat, put on some glasses, and started reading from a piece of paper. "Last episode, our heroes escaped from a ravaged space battle with the Imperial fleet and had to hide on the planet Hoovris. In a series of long conversations and battles, Garret and Applejack gathered a team to rescue Twilight Shan Sparkle from the evil talons of the Griffons and their leader, Gilda and avoided detection from the Luna Empire and their master, Nightmare Moonlight, who, In case you didn't know, was Darth Malak in the game. They succeeded and after more long conversations, battles, and some romantic moments-"

"I'll admit I'd put in some heartfelt moments in there, but I don't think they really count as-"

"They count. Anyways after some romantic moments, they sent T3 to get the codes and he did. Later on we found out that Garret is now a unicorn and has the potential of becoming a solar knight and being a member of the Unicorn Order (We also found out his real name is Solar Recon!). He and the rest of the gang stole Blueblood's ship, the Golden Phoenix, rescued Rainbow Dash, and escaped Hoovris. We’re now on the planet White Tails and have just met Celestia for the first time."

"Well there you have it folks. Hope you guys enjoy the rest of the story."

"Welcome, my little ponies, I am Grandmaster Celestia. It is good to see you again Twilight, my faithful student," said the Grandmaster with a joyful, motherly smile.

"Master!" Twilight shouted joyfully and ran towards Celestia giving her a hug.

Celestia returned the hug back and said, "It has been too long, Twilight. When I heard that the fleet at Hoovris was destroyed. I feared the worst."

"Things were bad for a while, but it's thanks to these ponies that I it made back here safely," Twilight said, looking back at the group.

"So I see. I would like to know the ones that helped you through your journey, but I believe for now that they deserve some rest after everything they have done," Celestia said and turned to one of her guards standing next to her." Dawning Sun, would you please escort our guests to their room?"

"At once, Mistress."

"Twilight, would you tell me everything that has happened during your time on Hoovris? The council and I are very eager to hear what you have to say," Celestia said smiling at her apprentice.

"Of course master, there are things that I needed to talk to you about," Twilight replied and she turned her attention to Garret. "Can Garret here join us? He's part of the reason why I escaped Hoovris and as you can see, I believe he has great potential of becoming a member of the order."

Celestia looked over to Garret for a moment. She smiled and said, "Of course, Twilight." Celestia walked up to Garret and said, "It is a pleasure to meet you, Solar Recon."

"Wait, how did you know my real name?" Garret asked, surprised by Celestia's knowledge of his name.

"I was the one that recommended you to Twilight while she was serving on the Solar Spire," Celestia answered.

Garret raised an eyebrow at Celestia's answer. She then started leading Twilight and Garret somewhere, while the others were being escorted by the guard to their rooms.

Celestia, Twilight and Garret were walking along and entered in an open area that had a large tree in the middle. They moved past it and went through another doorway. Finally they came upon a large door that had the symbol of the sun on it. Celestia stopped and said to Garret, "Would you mind waiting here for a moment? The council and I would like to hear what Twilight has to say. It shouldn't take too long."

"Don't worry, I don't mind," Garret replied.

Celestia smiled and opened the door with her magic. She and Twilight entered the room and after that, the door immediately closed. Some time had passed and Garret was walking back and forth, until he heard a voice calling out, "TWILIGHT!?" He looked around to see who was saying that and from around a corner a small purple dragon that was much shorter than him came running towards him. He had green reptilian eyes and had round spikes from the top of his head all the way to the end of his stubby tail, as well as green fins for ears. The little dragon stopped for a moment to catch his breath. "Hey have you seen a purple pony with dark blue mane and a cutie mark with a pink star on it? She goes by the name of Twilight."

"Umm, yes, she's in there right now with Celestia, but I think they're in the middle of something right now," Garret replied confused on what the little dragon wanted.

"Oh thank harmony that she's okay. I heard rumors that she was here, but I just thought they weren't true."

"No they’re true alright. By the way, what business do you have with her anyway?"

"No business. I just haven't seen her in a long time. The name's Spike and I'm her number one assistant," The dragon said proudly.

"Ah that would explain some things. Name's Garret."

"A pleasure to meet you, Garret. I haven't seen you around here before. Are you new or something?" Spike asked.

"Yes, Twilight brought me here to see if I can become a member."

"Wait! Twilight brought you here? That means you were with her at Hoovris right?"

"Yeah"

"What happened there? I asked everypony here, including Celestia, but no pony would tell."

"Sure, I'll tell you." Garret sat down on the floor and got comfortable. "It's a long story, so you might want to sit down for this."

Spike sat down eager to hear what Garret had to say.

"I guess it all started when we were on the Solar Spire-"

The others were now in their rooms respectfully. Scootaloo was with Rainbow Dash, Pinkie was with Fluttershy and T3, Applejack, Zaalbar, and Canderous had their own rooms, since they had their own reason for why. Everypony was getting comfortable, except Applejack.

Applejack was lying on her back looking up at the ceiling. She never felt comfortable being in a quiet place for so long and it always made her remember things that she didn't want to. Silence had always been her enemy in the past since she lived a long life in the military, especially after....what he did. She would always hear the sounds of battle from a distance when she slept or hear one of the crewmen working outside her door as they kept the ship maintained or transported crates around. She was feeling nervous and she couldn't take it anymore. She sat up and placed her stetson on her head. She then decided to find Garret to see if he was alright. She opened the door and went off.

Applejack went around the enclave looking at every place she could think of. She was careful around the guards and knights that were all over the place. For a moment she thought she was clear when she turned around a corner, until she accidentally bumped into a pony and dropped her hat. The two ponies fell on their backs and were aching mildly from the pain. Applejack got back up and said, "Sorry about that. Ah didn't mean to walk into ya like that."

"It's quite alright, dear. Accidents do happen all the time." said the pony that Applejack ran into. The pony was a white coated unicorn with stylish indigo mane and tail which were curled up, as well as brilliant azure eyes with a pale blue eye shadow. She was wearing a grey robe and had a lightsaber attached to her belt. The unicorn looked at Applejack carefully and asked, "Are you one of them that helped Twilight escape Hoovris?"

"Well Ah'm one of the ones that helped her, twice if ya counting but yes Ah am," Applejack replied staying true to her honesty.

"Oh, it's a pleasure to meet you. My name is Rarity and I'm the solar designer here," Rarity said introducing herself.

"The name's Applejack. Ah didn't know that a unicorn could be a designer here," Applejack said.

"Well you can't go out fighting evil without looking marvelous before it," Rarity said waving her mane back and forth. "Of course from time to time, Celestia or a member of the council send me out to the farmlands to deal with any squabbling among the farmers. I suppose that's the cost of becoming a solar knight when one has decent fashion tastes."

"Speaking of Celestia, do you know where she might be? I was hoping my friend would be near her," Applejack asked.

"She'll more than likely be in the chamber of the council. I'll lead the way if you want," Rarity offered.

"That would be mighty kind of ya," Applejack said, glad that she was picking up the pace to find Garret.

Rarity and Applejack were walking together with Rarity leading the way. As they were walking, Rarity then asked Applejack, "Would you mind telling me who you're trying to find?"

"A friend of mine that helped Twilight as well," Applejack replied.

"Oh I see. Is this pony a she or a he? Or is it a pony at all?" Rarity asked.

"He's a he and he's a pony as well," Applejack replied.

"A stallion huh? What does he look like?"

"He's a light brown pony with brown hair."

"Hmm, brown is a simple color for a pony. Is there anything unique about his appearance?"

“Ah guess it would be his eyes,” Applejack replied.

“Oh, what about them?”

"They’re like a light green color, Ah guess turquoise. But every time Ah see them, Ah can't help but stare at them all the time."

"Oh~," Rarity said with a sly smile.

"What?"

"I think somepony found their special somepony."

Applejack blushed violently and replied, "NO, THAT'S NOT WHAT AH MEANT! Ah meant that..... you don't see those kind of eyes on anypony. Especially on a stallion."

"Sure you did," Rarity said and gave Applejack a wink.

Applejack kept quiet and pulled down her stetson over her blushing face. Rarity giggled to herself. When they both turned around a corner, Rarity wasn't paying attention and accidentally walked into somepony. She back up a bit to apologize, but when she looked up to see who it was, her heart sped up as she was looking at the stallion of her dreams.

"There ya are Garret. Ah was looking all over for you," Applejack said to Garret.

"Applejack? What are you doing here?" Garret asked.

"Ah was getting antsy staying in one spot for too long and just wanted to see how y'all were doing," Applejack answered.

"I see we still have some trust issues," Garret commented.

"Well y'all should learn by now that Ah don't like staying in the' dark all the' time," Applejack pointed out.

"Point taken. Who's your friend here? Garret asked looking at Rarity.

"Oh this here is-"

"My name is Rarity," Rarity quickly spoke up. "It's a pleasure to meet such a handsome stallion such as yourself here," she said getting closer to Garret. "So you're the one that saved Twilight am I correct?"

Applejack rolled her eyes.

"Well yes, but I didn't do it alone. I had help from my friends," Garret replied.

"He's just being noble. He won the swoop race there to save Twilight," Applejack interjected.

"Oh that sounds exciting. You have to tell me everything about it," Rarity insisted.

"Well it's funny because I just told this guy here everything," Garret said and point at Spike.

"Spike darling, it's good to see you," Rarity said to Spike.

"H-Hey Rarity. It's nice to see you too," Spike said weakly as he blushed.

"Would you mind telling the story again? I would really love to hear it," Rarity asked Garret.

"Well sure no problem." Garret cleared his throat. "It started on the-"

Before he could say anything, the door behind them opened and a couple guards came out.

"The council would like to see you now," one of the guards said.

Garret simply nodded.

"You as well, Miss Applejack."

Applejack gulped at the mention of her name. She went along with it and went in with Garret on her side.

They both went in and saw the room that they were in. It was a large round room with several seats against the wall. Almost each seat had a unicorn wearing a hood to cover their faces. The one seat in the center of all the others was being used by Celestia herself with Twilight by her side.

Celestia gave out a warm smile and said, "Welcome Solar Recon and Applejack Onasi. I wanted to say thank you again for rescuing Twilight and risking your lives to do so."

"We wouldn't leave anypony behind, Grandmaster," Garret replied.

"Well still, thank you so much for doing so. And now for the matter at hoof. Twilight told me that you've recently became an unicorn and bonded with her, but before that you had visions of both her and Eclipse, correct?"

"Yes."

"Twilight has described the dreams you've had and I believe that the Will of Harmony have something planned for you. I'm not sure what it is, but I believe that becoming a solar knight and mastering the way of light is the first step you must take in order to find out what you are meant to do."

"So wait, you don't know why I've been bonded with Twilight?"

"Even I don't know everything about magic itself. I have only gained a vast knowledge of it but I still have much to learn about it myself."

"Do ya have at least an idea why?" Applejack asked.

"All I can say is that Solar Recon is bonded with Twilight for a reason and him learning how to use magic properly might give us an idea why." Celestia replied.

"Now hold on for a moment," one of the unicorn masters announced getting out of his seat. He was a unicorn stallion that had white fur with black hair on the back of his head and was wearing a pale, grey robes. "We haven't decided whether or not we should train this one. From what I understand he's rash, stubborn, and has the contingency of getting into more trouble than he should."

"Maybe so, Master Morning Right, but years of training can change that. Besides, we've already lost many knights to Moonlight and his forces. Whether they had killed them or turned them against us." one of the other unicorn masters said.

"Lyra is right. We can't turn away help while there are so few of us," another unicorn master said.

"But how do we know if we can train this one? Training a young one is easier to train than a full grown adult," Master Morning Right said.

"It's true that we have mostly trained young ponies to use magic, but there have been exceptions in the order in the past and I believe Garret here may just be another one," Lyra said.

"I think we should discuss this further in private," said one of the masters.

"Agreed," Celestia said. She turned her attention towards Garret and Applejack. "I must ask that you two to leave please, we have matters to discuss."

Garret bowed slightly and Applejack nodded. They soon left the room and the doors behind them closed. After that, Rarity and Spike soon walked up to them.

"So, have they made you a member yet?" Spike asked.

"No, they haven't," Garret replied. "They're still deciding on it right now. They were just wanting to thank me for helping Twilight."

"Well there's no point in talking about it right now," Rarity said and used her magic to pull out a measuring tape from her robes. "I have no doubt that you're going to join the order and thus must have an outfit that suits you best." Rarity used her measuring tape on Garret to get his size and inspected every inch of his body as possible to figure out what style to use. And was enjoying it nonetheless. "Alright darling, I should have your suit ready in no time. Spike deary, can you come with me and help out?"

"Sure Rarity, anything for you" Spike said blushing and followed Rarity.

After Rarity left, Applejack and Garret were waiting on the council to make their decision. As they were waiting, Applejack spoke up and said, "Hey Garret."

"Yeah?" Garret replied.

"Ah was thinking and Ah wanted to know something about ya," Applejack said.

"Yeah what is it?"

"Remember when we asked about your name and ya mentioned your parents? Well, Ah wanted to know them a little bit more."

"Well what do you want to know?"

"Who were they?"

"My dad's name is Divine Right and my mother's is Sunlit Justice. Like I said before, they both served in the Equestrian military. They both were the kindest ponies the galaxy had ever seen. They were selfless, brave, and knew everything from right and wrong and taught me everything they knew."

"So where are they right now?"

"They're......gone."

"As in-"

Garret nodded.

"Ah'm sorry to hear that."

"It's okay. At least I was able to know them before then."

"Do ya mind telling me what happened to them?"

"Sure, they died during the early days of the diamond dog wars. I'm not sure on the details, but all I know is that they died bravely during that time."

"Ah'm sorry that ya lost them so soon."

"Don't worry about it. It's fine."

After that, the doors to the chamber opened once more, but this time Celestia herself came out. She walked towards Garret and Applejack and said to them, "The council has made a decision. You are allowed to join the order if you choose to do so."

"I proudly and humbly accept, Grandmaster," Garret said.

"I'm glad to hear it. You will begin training tomorrow morning. Come to where the grand oak tree is. It is the tree that you have passed by on the way here. Master Lyra will be your instructor and she is most eager to train you, for you will be her first apprentice," Celestia said smiling.

"I will be happy to accept her teachings," Garret replied.

"I'm sure you will and that she will be happy to have you as an apprentice as well," Celestia said.

Garret and Applejack then excused themselves from Celestia and made their way to their rooms.

It was early in the morning and Garret was making his way to the grand oak tree. When he got there, he saw a bright, teal unicorn mare with golden eye colors and her mane was a grayish cyan color with white highlights. She was wearing a dark teal colored robe. She looked over to Garret and walked up to him.

"Hello, you must be Solar Recon. My name is Lyra Heartstrings and I will be your instructor."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Lyra. Would you mind though to just call me Garret? I usually go by that name," Garret said.

"Sure, I have no problem with that. So Garret, are you excited about learning magic?" Lyra asked.

"I am. I can't wait to get started," Garret replied.

"Glad to hear it. Now let me tell you what we're going to be doing. First, I'll teach you how to use magic in basic skills. Second, I'll then start teaching some more advanced magic. Third, and my favorite one is that I'll teach you everything about humans."

Garret took a moment to understand what Lyra said about that last part. "Wait, did you say humans?" he asked.

"Yes, that's right," Lyra replied.

"As in humans in those old fairy tales?"

"They're not fairy tales. They're real and I'll find proof that they exist someday," Lyra said with confidence.

"Ooooo'kay," Garret said awkwardly.

"And finally, I will teach you how to make your own lightsaber and how to use it."

"Sounds cool. When do we begin?"

"Right now. From here on out, you're going to learn everything that I know," Lyra said. "So get ready. These trainings take months, maybe even years for even the most gifted of all unicorns."

"Don't worry, I'll do my best."

In the dark regions of space, the capital ship of the Lunar Empire known as The Dark Horse was floating around in the darkness of space between stars. On the bridge of the ship was Admiral Soul, who was overseeing all that was going on in the fleet. Nightmare Moonlight and his apprentice, Sunset came behind the admiral.

"You said you had news as to how Twilight escaped the planet?" Moonlight asked Soul.

"Yes my lord, she somehow obtain the codes to the blockade and used a ship called The Golden Phoenix to escape the planet during the bombardment," Soul replied.

"Interesting, how did she acquire the codes?" Moonlight asked who was curious.

"I'm not sure my lord, but the codes that were sent were from where Sunset was," Soul replied giving a smirk smile at Sunset.

Moonlight looked over to his apprentice and asked, "Did anything happen during your time on the planet?"

Sunset remembered how the codes were stolen and how the little blue droid was able to escape from her twice and that she was humiliated by it. She kept quiet about it and told nopony about it either. She even had to shut Snip and Snails up about everything that happened there. "No, my master, everything was fine when I left."

Moonlight, though, sensed that his apprentice wasn't telling him the truth, but despite it all it means that he may have a second chance at turning Twilight to the dark side by further replacing Sunset. "Very well then, if you say so." Sunset let out a sigh without him knowing. "Admiral, how did you get this information?"

"Let's just say there was a witness there," the admiral replied.

On cue, the doorway to the bridge opened and coming through it was Calo Ford. Calo walked up next to admiral and just stood silent.

"Calo Ford was there when Twilight took the ship. Apparently, she was accompanied by others, including an old friend of mine," Soul explained.

"Who is this friend of yours? A traitor to the empire?" Sunset asked.

"No my lady, her name is Applejack. She is..or was in charge of the fleet that we destroyed over Hoovris. Somehow she survived and rescued Twilight from a bunch of slavers," Soul replied. "I will give you a full report of her, if you want me to my lord," Soul said to Moonlight.

"Yes, I would need to know everything about her and the other companions that were with her," Moonlight commanded.

"Right away my lord. I also have a recommendation to make to you," Soul said.

"What is it?"

"Calo Ford here is a bounty hunter and he is willing to capture Twilight alive, if we pay the right amount of course. But I assure you his worth every bit. His reputation as a bounty hunter is most impressive," Soul replied.

"Very well then. You are charged with finding and capturing Twilight, if possible. You may dispose of whoever stands in your way," Moonlight said and turned to his apprentice. "And you may take my apprentice as well."

"WHAT?!?" Sunset shouted.

"Calo maybe the best bounty hunter, but even he would have trouble capturing a fully train solar knight. He will need your skills to capture Twilight and ensure he doesn't try anything. Besides, this maybe your chance to prove yourself to see who is the better warrior," Moonlight explained.

After hearing that, Sunset put on a wicked smile and said, "Yes, master. I will go."

"Good. Now leave and prepare yourself. Calo, I'll leave the rest to you."

"It will be done," Calo replied.

Calo and Sunset soon left the bridge. Moonlight was about to leave himself, until Soul said to him, "Lord there is one more thing I need to mention, but we should keep this private."

"I hope you're not wasting my time Admiral," Moonlight replied.

"I think you would be way more interested in what I have to tell you, my lord."

END OF CHAPTER

Chapter 12: Blade of a Knight

View Online

CHAPTER 12 BLADE OF A KNIGHT

A day had passed since Garret started his training as a Solar Knight and Lyra and him were walking around the enclave; currently heading for one of the training grounds. They soon entered a large area that was filled with dozens upon dozens of unicorns. As Garret was observing his surroundings while he was moving, he made a few observations. The area had many gardens all around it, birds and small animals were hopping around, statues of important-looking ponies were everywhere, and there was a large fountain in the center of it all.

They both stopped near a pile of rocks and Lyra spoke up, "All right Garret, now I'm going to teach you everything about magic and show you how to use it."

"Okay, what's the first step?" Garret asked.

"It's simple. Really, all you have to do is lift a rock," Lyra said and picked up a rock. "Now show me what you can do." Garret then took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and tried to concentrate on the rock. "Now, I should tell you that it will take time to lift an object for the first time. Sometimes it takes days or weeks just to-" Lyra immediately stopped talking and her jaw dropped as the rock slowly started to float up into the air. "Wha...how....can you-"

Garret tried to keep focused the best he could, but he soon started to loose concentration and let go of the rock. He was panting heavily because of the exertion he had while he was holding up the rock. "Boy, that was a little harder than the second time," he said.

"The second time? When did you do it the first time?" Lyra asked out of curiosity.

"I used my magic to lift up a tool box. But I lost control of it, it landed on top of a friend's head," Garret replied.

"I see. In all my years in the enclave, I have never seen or met anypony who was able to lift an object in mere seconds. Fillies have a hard time concentrating and older ponies that just become unicorns aren't able to use magic for months, maybe even years," Lyra explained.

"Then how is it that I can do it so fast?"

"I don't know, it's a rare thing to see somepony who can use small bits of magic right away. I bet you can learn how to use basic magic in just a few weeks. It will still take time of course, but I'm confident that we can do it."

"You really think I can learn how to use magic that quickly?"

"With hard work and determination, you can be a Solar Knight in no time," Lyra replied.

A few weeks had passed since Garret started his training. At first, Garret was having great difficulty using his magic. But he soon learned how to use it more easily and was able lift objects without feeling any pain or having headaches, but his magic was still weak and needed more time and practice to make it stronger. His friends would watch him every now and again, but the ones that came to watch him the most were Applejack, Fluttershy, Twilight, and even Rarity would come by to watch him (though each had a very different reason for doing so). Garret would ask Rarity about the suit she mentioned when he first arrived, but she said that she was saving it for a special occasion and told him to wait a while. After Lyra had taught him all the basics of using magic, she then went on to teach him the meaning of it.

"All right Garret, can you tell me what magic is and how it's connected to harmony?" Lyra asked Garret.

"I guess that it's a form of energy and keeping your emotions positive would make it work?" Garret answered slowly.

Lyra giggled. "That's what most ponies would say, but it’s more than that. Magic is one of the most mysterious things in the universe, yet it's something that we can use everyday. It's not just tied to harmony, but also to chaos as well and other kinds of forms that exist. It's an energy field created by all living things. It surrounds us and penetrates us. It binds the galaxy together. As to how it's connected to harmony, when we feel at peace, happy, and loving it makes us stronger both physically and mentally, as well as make our magic stronger,” she explained.

"Is it a living thing too?" Garret asked out of curiosity.

"Some ponies would not see it that way, but I believe it is. I believe it is a divine force that always guides us whenever we need it," she answered.

"Is there anything else I should know?" Garret asked.

"Yes, there is one more thing you need to do. You have to find out the code of harmony and learn its meaning. You would have to seek it out by asking others here in the enclave or going to the library to find it."

"Okay, I'll go seek it out," he replied.

"Good, come and find me after you're done and we'll begin on something else," she said.

Garret nodded and walked away to find the library.

Garret entered into the library and started looking around for anything that might have anything to do with the code of harmony. As he was looking around, he noticed Twilight re-shelving the books and putting them in alphabetic order. She was now wearing a suit that was both blue and cyan colored. Spike was holding up a scroll and was checking each book that Twilight was putting up.

"I'm glad you're back and everything Twilight, but do we have to re-shelf every book and datapads?" complained the young dragon.

"Oh Spike, stop complaining. It's not that bad and besides, somepony has to keep everything organized here," Twilight replied.

Spike let out a defeated sigh and continued checking off the list.

Garret smiled as he was glad to see friendly faces. He walked up behind Twilight and said, "Hey Twilight."

Twilight let out a yelping sound and lost focus on her magic. Books and datapads started dropping from the air and one of them hit Spike in the head, while Twilight and Garret were ducking down and covering their heads. After the books stopped falling down, Garret stood back up and asked, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm okay," Twilight replied as she was getting up with the help of Garret who was lending his hoof. "You shouldn't sneak up on a pony like that."

"Sorry, I wasn't trying to," he replied with an apologetic look.

"It's okay, you didn't mean it." Twilight then realized that Garret was still holding her hoof and quickly pulled away from his. She started to blush and quickly turned to the other direction without him seeing her face. She then started to use her magic to lift up the books again and asked, "So, what are you doing here Garret? Shouldn't you be training with Lyra right now?"

"Well I still am training. She needs me to find the code of harmony," Garret replied.

"Oh I see and you came to the library to find it?" she asked.

"Yes I did, but if you're not too busy, maybe you can help with it if you want to."

"Sure, I would be more than willing to help," Twilight replied with glee. "Spike you can go and take a break. I'll be helping Garret for a bit."

"Finally...Uh I mean okay," Spike quickly replied. As he was walking by Garret, he whispered to him, "Thanks, I owe you one." Spike then left the room.

Twilight used her magic to levitate some books off the shelf and place them on a nearby table. She then turned her attention to Garret and asked, "Do you know anything about the code yet?"

"No, this is the first that I even heard about it," Garret replied.

"Well then, I'm glad that you came to me about it. When I first heard what the code was, I did extensive studies of it and learned about its meaning," Twilight said.

"What do you mean by its meaning?"

"Each phrase of the code has a meaning behind it. They are used to remind us what it means to be a Solar Knight and why we are the protectors of the galaxy," Twilight explained and continued, "Now I will tell you the code."

"There may be betrayal, but there is loyalty.

There may be bitterness, but there is kindness.

There may be deception, but there is honesty.

There may be greed, but there is generosity.

There may be sadness, but there is laughter.

When all five elements are united, magic will burn bright.

And Harmony will bring peace throughout life."

Twilight finished reciting the code and then continued to say, " Now I will explain what each phrase means. The first phrase means that betrayal is something that is cursed upon all sentient species, but loyalty is a trait that is greatly valued and shows true characters in a pony. The next is that we may feel angry or bitter towards others, but our kindness is what truly unify us together and can keep peace among us. Deception is something to fear and can cause turn our backs against one another, but honesty is no doubt the best way to gain friends and trust. Greed is something hard to resist and is easy to succumb to, but generosity can be a powerful thing and it takes more strength to give than to take. Sadness is very common thing among all things and it can be hard to be happy all the time, but if you can laugh it off and be happy for the things you have then you can face anything. When you have mastered all five of the elements, your magic can become more powerful than you can possibly imagine and you would have the power to defend the ones you love and bring harmony upon the galaxy." She then took a moment to take a breath and asked, "Did you get all that?"

"Yes, I did Twilight. Thank you for telling me all that, I really appreciate it," Garret replied giving Twilight a smile.

"You are more then welcome, Garret. Do you need anything else?" Twilight asked.

"Not right now, but I'll come back to you if I need anything."

"I'm glad to be of help," Twilight said with a smile.

After Garret was done talking with Twilight, he went to find Lyra near the Grand Oak tree that was set in the middle of the enclave. Garret told her everything he learned from Twilight and explained to her what the code meant. She was impress that he was able to learn it so fast, but from the training they had done so far, he was a quick learner and had made significant progress with his magic abilities.

Lyra then said to Garret, "I'm glad that you were able to make it this far and I'm proud to say that I think your ready for the next step of your training."

"You're going to teach me about humans?" Garret asked raising an eyebrow.

Lyra blushed for a moment and replied, "Well, no. Members of the council thought it would be a waste of time to teach you all that, so they wanted me to skip that."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Garret said.

"It's alright, I can teach it to you another time if you want? Anyways, I'm going to be teaching you how to use a lightsaber," Lyra said.

"Cool, so what exactly are we going to do?" Garret asked excited to finally have his own lightsaber.

"I'm going to be teaching you sword combat first before we try using a lightsaber. We don't want to have any accidents to happen," Lyra explained.

"Wait, what kind of accidents?"

After hearing that, Lyra froze as she was remembering her first time with her lightsaber.

Lyra was a younger mare and was bouncing up and down with the excitement of getting her first lightsaber. She quickly turned it on and, the blade was blazing yellow. She awed at it with amazement.

"I can't believe after all these years, I finally get my very own lightsaber," Lyra said to herself gleefully.

She swung the blade slowly at first and quickly started swinging it back and forth from left to right. She was enjoying the sound of the blade that it was making. Her excitement however was shortly lived when she slashed across one of the nearby statues. She froze with fear and looked at the statue for a few seconds. At first the statue looked like it was still intact, but then from where the blade slashed it started falling slowly sideways and fell on the ground shattering the top half of it in pieces. Lyra quickly turned off her lightsaber and put her hoof on her mouth at what had happened and she slowly backed up, planning on making a run for it. But while she was backing up, she bumped into somepony and she turned to see an unimpressed Celestia with a serious look.

Lyra gulped, let out a weak chuckle and said, "Sorry."

After a moment of deep thought, Lyra shook her head quickly and looked at a confused Garret.

"Are you okay?" Garret asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah. I'm fine. What would make you ask that?" Lyra asked in a slight panic.

"Well, it's just that you just froze up for no reason," Garret pointed out.

"Eh, I was just.....deep in thought. Anyways, it's not important right now. We should get started on training you how to use a sword," Lyra said and trotted past Garret.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Garret asked trotting behind her.

"Yes, just don't talk about it."

"But-"

"Ever."

As time went on, Garret learned more techniques at using various melee weapons. He sparred with Lyra as part of his training and she would switch her techniques during the sessions. But as the training went on, Lyra would have Twilight or even Applejack to spar with him as to keep him on his hooves, so he would be more then ready to face any opponent with a different fighting style and adapt against it. While they were still doing melee training, they would still keep up with Garret's magic abilities so he wouldn't lose touch with it. It had been a couple of months since he began his training and had made significant progress. All that was left for him now was to complete one more trial before he could become a full-fledged padawan; to claim his very own lightsaber.

In one of the enclave's hallways, Lyra was guiding Garret to one of the entrances that led to the outside of the academy. When they reached the entrance, Lyra spoke up and said, "I believe now you are ready to have your own lightsaber, but you have to do one more thing before you can get it."

"What would you want me to do?" Garret asked.

"You would have to go to a cave that many unicorns before you have gone to retrieve their own crystal for their lightsaber. It's a long way to get to it, but you shouldn't have any trouble getting there," Lyra explained.

"Alright, is there anything else I should know about?"

"Yes, there is. You will have to go there alone and you shall have to face a threat that has recently presented itself," Lyra further explained.

"Why do I have to go there alone?"

"There will be times that you will have to face your foes alone and it may be possible that your friends and allies won't be able to do anything to help. We normally would have done something about it ourselves, but the council thought that this was a good opportunity for you to see if you can handle it," Lyra explained. "I believe you have what it takes to face this threat and I am confident that you can do it."

"Thank you, Master Lyra. I won't fail you," Garret said taking a small bow at Lyra.

"I know," Lyra said. "Here." She reached down into her robe's pockets and brought out two items. One was a datapad, and the other looked to be parts of a lightsaber hilt. "The datapad will tell you where the cave is and this is all that you need to make a hilt. All it needs is your crystal to make it work when you put it together."

Before he was about to take his leave, Garret heard somepony yell his name out. He and Lyra turned to see Rarity, Twilight, and Spike with rest of the gang right behind them walking towards them, while Rarity was levitating a box with her magic. She walked pass Lyra, stood in front of Garret, and said, "Oh dear, good thing we were able to find you before you had gone."

"We wanted to tell ya we want to wish ya luck on y'all’s test and hope ya come back soon," Applejack said.

"I would've come along with you, but they said they wouldn't let us," Rainbow Dash added.

"I hope that you come back soon, Garret," Scootaloo said walking up and giving him a hug.

The stallion smiled at the little filly and hugged her back. "Don't worry, Scoots. I'll be back in no time."

"Just be careful and use all the skills that Lyra had taught you. They may be your only hope in stopping this threat," Twilight explained.

"I will," Garret said nodding.

"But before you go darling, there was something I wanted to give to you," Rarity said and handed the box over to Garret. "I believe that you are going to love it."

Garret used his magic to open the box up and lifted what was in it. It was the robe that Rarity had promised to make. The robe was dark brown with tan trimmings and it came with a tan waist sash, a white shirt to wear under it, and dark brown boots.

Garret looked back up at Rarity with a thankful smile and said, "Thank you, Rarity. I really appreciate what you've done for me."

"You are quite welcome, Garret," Rarity said blushing lightly. "Whatever it is that you have to face, let them know that you are a solar knight and that you are very talented in using your magic."

"Don't worry, I promise I'll do everything I can," Garret said.

Everypony said their goodbyes towards Garret and soon departed their separate ways. Garret then turned towards the outside door and it soon opened when he got near it. He looked out from the doorway to see a large courtyard filled with many ponies that were mostly unicorns and earthponies. He did see a few pegasi ponies, but they were mostly on the ground and blended with the other ponies. Garret soon started walking and was making his way towards where he needed to go. As soon as he was entering the crowd, the door behind him started to close until a flash of blur came through just as the door was closing.

It had been an hour since Garret left the enclave and he had been walking across the large fields of White Tail. He observed his surroundings seeing all that the planet had to offer. It was truly a peaceful place filled with many types of trees like the Blba tree which were very short and thorny. He saw very little wildlife, but he had seen a lot of giant flying mantas in the sky and believe they were called Brith from what Twilight told him about the planet.

Along the edges of some ridge, Garret saw a cave that was there. He looked over the datapad that Lyra gave him before she left him up to the task and carefully checked it. According to the datapad he was where he needed to be. When he took a few steps towards the cave he soon felt a shiver on the back of his neck. He didn't know how, but he felt something....dark and cold in the cave. It was clear to him that something dangerous was in fact in the cave and what Lyra told him was true. He slowly took a deep breath and entered the cave.

Unknown to Garret though there was a rustle in a nearby bush and a being poked its eyes out to show its azure iris.

The cave was indeed dark and it was hard for Garret to see anything even a few feet in front of him. The only thing that made the cave have any light was the light from the entrance that he went through and the moss on the walls that were glowing very dimly. Garret started to make his horn glow brightly with magic and he was able to see more clearly of his surroundings. He looked around a bit and started to trot around the caves many pathways. Not too far behind him was a pair of glowing green goggles that allowed the user to see in the dark.

Garret could feel something wasn't right. No, it wasn't the darkness that he keeps on feeling nor was it the strange noises that were going on around him. It was the feeling that he was being followed. He sensed it when he first started walking across the fields and it soon grow stronger as he was nearing the cave. Garret soon turned off the magic in his horn and it soon was completely dark. He stayed in the darkness and had his back against the wall and waited as he knew that somepony or something was nearby. Around a nearby corner, there was a faint blue light that he could see. He got himself ready to pounce on his pursuer as the light was growing brighter. When it was clear that who or whatever it was was just around the corner and Garret soon spring into action and jumped right on top the pursuer. The glow from the pursuer went off and it was completely dark. Garret wasn't sure but he believed that he had it pinned down and-

"AAAAAAAAAA!!! PLEASE, DON'T RUIN MY MANE!"

Garret furrowed his eyes when he heard that unusual request. He soon lit his horn with magic again to show that he was on top of-

"Rarity?"

It was Rarity who had her eyes shut for a moment, but opened them when she heard her name. She let out a sigh of relieve. "Oh Garret, you shouldn't surprise a lady like that."

"Oh, uh sorry about that," Garret said, blushing. "I didn't expect to see you here."

"Well I can't blame you for that," Rarity said. "This place does feel dangerous."

There was a moment of pause between the two until Rarity said, "Would you mind letting me get up, please?"

Garret blushed. "Sorry," was all he said as he was raising Rarity back on her hooves.

"It was quite alright, darling," Rarity said. "It would seem unavoidable."

"It would seem," Garret started to say. "But why are you here? You know that I was suppose to do this alone right?"

"Normally I wouldn't go against the council, but sending you against something you are unprepared for isn't right especially when you have to do it alone," Rarity explained.

"I know that it doesn't sound right, but-"

Garret was interrupted by a few pebbles that rolled from a couple of stalagmites. Garret and Rarity got in a defensive position. Rarity reached over to her lightsaber with her magic and levitated in the air: ready to activate it when needed. Garret took a few steps towards the stalagmites and looked over to see what they were....Only to be caught off guard by a large pink pony to jump on top of him.

The pink pony was on top of Garret and said, "Hi Garret, whatcha doing?"

"Pinkie? What are you doing here?" Garret asked confused at the sudden appearance.

"Well you see, I tried to put together a 'welcome back from your crystal hunting trip and congrats on becoming a solar padawan' party, but I wasn't sure what kind of cake you would like. Not to mention what kind of games, presents, snacks, and drinks to have. I tried to make so many guesses, but I didn't wanted to disappoint you when you got back and be sad about it. So I decided to ask you myself and make sure that you had the best party ever!" Pinkie explained. She had on night vision goggles on her forehead and soon removed it and place it in her fluffy, curly mane.

"Okaaaaaay, I suppose that you and Rarity were the only ones that followed me."

"Nope, Rainbow Dash is right behind that boulder there," Pinkie said pointing over to a nearby boulder.

"OH, COME ON!" Dash shouted and came out of hiding. "How did you know I was there?" she asked.

"Wait, you were really there? I was just making that up," Pinkie replied and gave out a shrug.

Dash eyes widened and smacked herself in the face. "Crud."

"Dash? Okay, why are you here?" Garret asked getting tired of asking that question.

Dash looked over to Garret. "Look, I know they said that we weren't suppose to come and help you, but I don't like to sit back while one of my pals goes out and gets into trouble. I'm loyal to anypony that helps me and I'm not letting you do this on your own," Dash explained.

Garret looked at the three mares that were with him. They were all willing to stand beside him, even when they weren't suppose to. Rarity didn't have much of a reason to come even when they only knew each other for a few weeks, but she was still willing to help. Dash, of course, would have a reason to help after he helped her escape from Bluebloods' prison cell and looked over Scootaloo for her even if it was just for a short time. Pinkie came to help because.....well, when he thought about it, she only came to ask about the party, but is more then likely to help out anyway. Garret looked them with a warm smile and was glad that he had good friends with him.

"Alright then everypony," Garret started to say. "Lets do this, together."

"Awesome! I've been wanting to kick some plot for a long time," Dash declared.

"I won't let you down, darling," Rarity said.

"WOOHOO! This calls for a party!" Pinkie said and throw some confetti in the air.

"I think we should hold off on the party idea until we get out of here," Garret said.

"Awwwww," was all Pinkie could say lowering her head and having her ears lowered.

The group then started to move and Pinkie quickly got out of her depression and started bouncing and smiled again. They stayed in a straight line with Garret taking the lead and lighting the way with his horn, Dash was right behind him keeping an eye on her surroundings, Pinkie was behind her bouncing saying "ooohh" and "aaahh", and Rarity watching the back while she had her horn lit as well. Up ahead of Garret, he saw light that wasn't too far away and started to dim down his horn's light.

They soon entered into a large area that was filled with crystals. The crystals were in different shapes, sizes, and colors like blue, green, yellow, and other kinds of colors. They even hung on the top of the cave while others were on the sides of the walls. There was a small stream of water that went through the room and went into a small pond on the right side of the area.

The group was in awe of the beauty of the crystals and the way the area looked.

"It's so beautiful," Rarity spoke up with amazement. "I've forgotten how it looked when I first came here to get my crystal."

"There's so many of them!" Pinkie shouted. "It'll take forever just to count all those......One, two, three-"

Dash rolled her eyes. "Pinkie, it's impossible to count all those crystals. You could be here for years and you probably wouldn't even come close to-"

"There are one million, three hundred twenty-five thousand, nine hundred fifty-seven crystals here in the cave," Pinkie answered.

Dash eyes widen and her jaw dropped. Rarity was just as equally surprised as Dash was and Garret just let a sigh, knowing that Pinkie would do something random.

"How did you even come up with that!?!" Dash shouted.

"I just counted, duh," Pinkie replied waving her hooves in the air. "Oh! Now there's one million, three hundred twenty-five thousand, nine hundred fifty-eight crystals."

Dash smack herself with her hoof and looked over to Garret. "You known her longer than me, is she always like this?"

Garret looked over to Pinkie seeing her trying to chew on some of the crystals trying to figure out if they were candy rocks or not. He then looked back at Dash and replied with a simple, "Yes."

"I thought so." Dash said. "So they told you to find your crystal here right?" she asked.

Garret nodded.

"So just go and pick one that you like and let's go," Dash said.

"Dash deary, you can't just pick some random crystal," Rarity spoke up. "A solar knight needs to find the right crystal that could bond with its user."

"Bond?"

"Yes, when a solar knight picks the right crystal, the crystal in turn will bond with its user making it a more powerful lightsaber and the solar knight can use their magic on it easily without the crystal resisting the magic," Rarity explained.

"So crystals can resist magic?" Dash asked.

"Well more specifically, the crystals use in a lightsaber," Rarity clarified. "They seem to be the only kinds of crystals that could resist magic, but can also be altered by magic to make a stronger blade for the lightsaber. You can even adjust a lightsaber to just stun a pony and not kill them."

"Why that sounds awesome," Dash said. "Are there any rainbow colored crystals?"

Rarity gave out a giggle and said, "I wish, deary. At last, no such crystal exist and even if it did, it wouldn't be here in all places. Don't get me wrong this planet is beautiful and peaceful, but I doubt such a unique crystal would be here."

Dash let out a sigh. " I suppose you're right, Rarity. But it would be so awesome to have one right now.”

All of a sudden Garret's horn started lighting up with magic. His body was being dragged by some unknown force and he was struggling against it.

The three mares noticed all what was happening. Dash spoke up and asked, "Garret, what are you doing?"

"I don't know, something is pulling me," Garret replied.

"Garret, don't struggle against it," Rarity said. "I believe your horn is guiding you."

Garret listened to what Rarity said and followed her advice. He let his horn drag him across the area and it soon started to get brighter as it was getting close to whatever it was leading him towards.

Finally his horn stopped dragging him and he was facing a pile of crystals on a pillar. There were mostly blue and green crystals as well as a few yellow ones as well. But what caught Garret's sight was there was one small violet crystal that was shining brightly. He didn't know why but he felt some kind of connection between him and the crystal. He soon plucked the crystal from its place and pulled out the lightsaber pieces. He then remembered what Lyra had taught him to do, "When you find your crystal, use your magic to put the lightsaber together. It will always remind you that your magic is your ally and will always help you build the tools you need to preserve and protect the light. And remember these words as well,the crystal is not, by itself, the power source of the weapon. Like its user, the crystal is attuned to magic. Without that, the crystal is just a rock. And while a non-unicorn could probably ignite and wield a lightsaber, provided the crystal was properly attuned to magic, all that lightsaber would be for him is a shaft of superheated plasma. But for a Solar knight, the lightsaber becomes more: it is a manifestation of a Solar knight's connection to harmony."

Garret set the pieces on the ground and laid on the ground. He then closed his eyes and started to mediate as he was focusing his magic in his horn. The pieces and the crystal started to levitate into the air and were slowly being assembled together. Soon all the pieces were together with crystal formed in the center of the hilt. The hilt was a long grey cylinder with one black stripe that went vertically, as well as a round tip on the top and a small ring on the bottom.

Garret and the others looked at the blade with wonder and amazement.

"That looks so awesome!" Dash declared.

"Ooohhh! It's so bright and purpley" Pinkie said.

"Wow, it looks so remarkable. Very few knights ever uses a violet blade," Rarity said. "Oh! I think it matches my mane well too."

"Who dares enter my GREAT AND POWERFUL CAVE!"

Garret and the others looked up to see who said that.

Standing on a ledge nearby, a mare unicorn that had an azure coat with a silver colored mane, as well as having light violet eyes. She was wearing a red robe with black details and had a black medallion that looked like a black alicorn with a small crimson gem in the center.

"Oh, how interesting. It's about time the council sent somepony to face the GREAT AND POWERFUL TRIXIE!" the mare shouted and stood on her hindquarters to strike a pose. All of sudden fireworks were going off behind her and were exploding all over the cave. While this was happening, the group looked at the mare with confused looks except for Pinkie who was watching the fireworks with amazement, saying "Ooohhs" and "Aaahhs."

After the disturbing scene, Garret walked up and said, "I am Garret, an initiate of the Unicorn Order. Why are you here, Miss Trixie?"

"Oh you should have already know why the GREAT AND POWERFUL TRIXIE!" Another display of fireworks went off. "Would be here. After all, didn't the council send you to face the GREAT AND POWERFUL TRIXIE!" Once again another display of fireworks went off.

"Okay, that's getting old now," Dash said.

"Who dares speaks towards the GREAT AND POWERFUL-"

"Why do you keep on shouting your name in third pony?" Dash asked furrowing her eyebrows.

"Because I, the Great and Powerful Trixie, am the most important pony in the universe and I will become its queen!" she explained.

Dash and Pinkie started to snicker a bit until they both let out bursts of laughter and they both fell on their backs. Trixie looked at them with annoyed look and was getting angrier by the minute. She started to grind her teeth at the constant laughter of both mares. "WHAT IS SO AMUSING ABOUT THE GREAT AND POWERFUL TRIXIE!?! she shouted with rage.

After Dash stopped laughing and took a moment to breathe, she spoke and said, "Okay one, you're not the most important pony in the universe. That title will be mine of course." The others rolled their eyes except Pinkie who kept her wide smile. "Two, talking in third pony is so lame, I bet nopony listens to you." Trixie eyes started twitch a bit. "And three, how can you be the most important pony if none of us have ever heard of you before? I think you're aiming a little to high there."

Trixie looked at the mare with intense hate and rage, but she soon started to take a deep breath and said, "Well, at least I'm not some rainbow colored freak!"

Suddenly a quick flash of anger came up in Dash and she shouted, "OH YOU'RE GOING DOWN!!!" She took off from the ground and came flying towards Trixie at super speed.

Trixie gave out a smirk smile and her eyes and horn started to show off a red aura around them. She then fired a ray of red energy at Rainbow Dash. Dash saw coming at her and tried to avoid it, but she was too fast and couldn't get out of the way fast enough. The ray hit her and in mere seconds she was frozen a block of ice. She came down hard on the ground and couldn't move. The others gasped at what happened to their friend. Garret readied his saber and Rarity lifted her saber with her magic and activated it, revealing a cyan colored blade. Pinkie run over to Dash to see what she could do.

Pinkie placed both her hooves on the ice surrounding Dash and asked, "Dash, are you okay?"

Dash couldn't say anything, but gave an annoyed look at Pinkie.

"Umm okay, I'll take that as a no," Pinkie looked at the ice for a moment and tapped on it a couple of times to see the density of it. She then had an idea and declared, "Don't worry Dashie, Auntie Pinkie has an idea! All I have to do is lick the ice until I free you." Pinkie then placed her tongue on the ice and tried to lick it, but it at the moment of contact it was stuck on the ice and she couldn't do anything to move it. "Oh noths, I'mth stuckth."

If Dash could, she would be strangling Pinkie at that moment if it wasn't for the fact that she was frozen. Rarity place a hoof on her forehead and shook her head at Pinkie's horrible idea, while Garret just stood there, knowing in someway, that Pinkie was going to do something like that and it seemed unavoidable. Trixie looked at the pink mare with confusion.

Trixie looked away from the embarrassing scene and cleared her throat. "Well since those two are....um....out of the way, I, the Great and Powerful Trixie, will show you Trixie's skills and power as a true Nightmare Knight!" Trixie then stood on her hindquarters and pulled out two lightsabers hilts. She ignited them both and revealed two crimson colored blades.

Trixie jumped from the ledge was falling towards both Garret and Rarity with her sabers pointing at them. Garret and Rarity jumped back from Trixie as she tried to slam her lightsabers on them, but instead slammed them on the ground. Trixie soon got back on her hindquarters and held her blades backwards and charged towards them. She quickly started spinning around and tried to slash Rarity horizontally with her right blade, but her blade was soon stopped by Rarity's blade and Garret soon lift his blade in the air and it came coming down on Trixie. She soon used her other blade to block Garret's and she was in a deadlock between the two knights. Trixie soon gathered her strength to push the two back a bit and jumped in the air, deactivated her sabers, and crossed her arms and legs together. Before Garret and Rarity could do anything, Trixie released some form of magic repulse that sent the two flying away from her. Rarity was sliding across the ground when she landed and Garret was pushed up against a pillar and got scratched from the crystals.

Rarity quickly got back up and asked, "Garret, are you okay?"

Garret gave out a grunting sound and replied, "Yeah, I'm okay." Garret looked back at Trixie and asked, "How was she able to do that? What kind of magic is that?"

"It's a magic repulse," Rarity answered. "The user gathers aura within themselves and then they release it into a sudden outward burst of powerful magic. But I thought only high leveled unicorns could do that."

Trixie let out a laugh and said, "Trixie is more powerful than you can possibly imagine. You cannot hope to defeat the GREAT AND POWERFUL TRI-"

All of a sudden a ray of magic hit Trixie on the face and after the magic disappeared, she soon grew a long grey mustache. Garret looked behind him to see Rarity's horn still lit of her aura. She looked over to Garret and said, "What? Dash was right, it really was getting old."

Trixie gave out an annoyed look and her soon started to glow red. A pair of scissors appeared out of thin air and she used it to cut off her mustache off. She then looked back at Rarity and asked, "You think that's funny huh?"

"Well it would be unladylike to say this, but yes it is," Rarity replied, giving out a smirk.

"Oh yeah?" Trixie then fired her magic and it soon hit Rarity.

Rarity had her eyes closed when the magic hit her and after it was over she opened her eyes again. She didn't feel any pain or anything nor did she notice anything out of the ordinary. She looked back at Trixie and said, "I think you should work on your magic a bit, because it didn't do anything."

"Oh really?" Trixie said having a wicked smile on her.

Rarity then looked over to Garret who was giving out a freaked out look. Her pupils shrunk and asked, "What did she do? WHAT DID SHE DO?!?"

"Uuummmm nothing, nothing at all," Garret said giving a fake smile.

Rarity looked over to a nearby stream and quickly ran over to it. When she saw her reflection in the water, she was shocked and horrified by what she was seeing. Her once beautiful violet mane was now a mossy green colored, messy mane with twigs hanging in it. She raised her hooves up to the heavens and shouted, "NNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO -Green is a horrible color-OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" After she was done screaming she then started to daze and fainted on her back. From out of nowhere, she pulled out a red rose from her pocket and placed it on top of her chest as if she was dead in a coffin.

Trixie rolled her eyes and whispered, "Drama queen." After that, she turned her attention towards Garret. "It's just you and Trixie now, Trixie hopes that you would prove more of a challenge than your pathetic friends," she said.

Garret looked at Trixie with intense eyes and said, "My friends are the most noble and bravest ponies I have ever met. True, there weaknesses are.....questionable, but I will never abandon them and I'm proud to be their friend."

Trixie let out a laugh and said, "Friends? What good are friends if they stay in your way of true power? MUHAHAHAHA!"

"What is the point of power if you have nopony to care for in the end?" Garret asked.

"Having friends will only be a distraction and they will only cause you pain in the long run," Trixie replied.

"What do you mean?" Garret asked.

"As if Trixie will bother answering that question," Trixie said. "Enough talk, Trixie will finish this NOW!"

Trixie made a dash towards Garret using her magic to increase her speed. When she got close she spinned around and swung both her blades at him, but Garret jumped over her at the last second and swung his blade on top of her head, only to be blocked by her blades over her head. The battle soon intensified as Garret and Trixie cross blades with one another hoping to get an advantage. When Garret soon had his blade block Trixie's left blade, he quickly got his blade under it and swung out of her hoof sending it across the cave. Garret soon spinned in a full circle to swing his blade at Trixie. She saw this coming and quickly jumped back from the blade and slided on the ground when she landed. There was a pause between the two as they were catching their breath.

Garret looked at Trixie and said, "You fight well, I'll admit that."

"Of course Trixie does, I am the most skillful and powerful pony in the galaxy," Trixie declared.

"So what did you mean?" Garret asked out of the blue.

"Huh?"

"What do you mean when you said that friends will only cost you pain?" Garret clarified.

Trixie looked at the brown unicorn with a puzzled look. Why was he so interested in Trixie? What was it that made him ask that question again? Was it because she was a mare and he found her attractive? Or was he doing this just to distract her from the battle and take advantage of her at her weakest. Trixie then asked, "Why do you care if friends cost Trixie pain?"

"Because I can't stand the idea that a friend would put you through so much pain to make you do this," Garret replied.

Trixie loosened her grip a bit on her lightsaber, but stood in a defensive position. "Trixie will tell about it. But if Trixie see you try anything, Trixie will end you."

Garret simply nodded and deactivated his saber.

Trixie kept her saber on, but she lowered it down by her side. "It all started when Trixie was first accepted on Korriban-"

Trixie was accepted into the Gifted Imperial Unicorns Academy. Only the best of the best unicorns would be accepted there and only the strongest would survive its challenges. You would be tested constantly and without warning. It was either you would pass and move on to the next level of training or be kicked out, if you were lucky that is. Not many would survive the trials at all.

Trixie was one of the best and passed many of the trials. Naturally many of the others were jealous of Trixie's abilities and would mock her every chance they got. Trixie didn't really care and there was one friend that Trixie would rely on, Midnight Craft. She was always kind to Trixie and would listen to Trixie whenever Trixie wanted to talk. Trixie would sometimes ask her for help and she would be more than willing to do so. Trixie thought she was the perfect friend.......until our final test came up.

The final test would normally be when a hoof full of unicorns passed enough of the tests and trials and they would all enter into the grand Nightmare Moon temple to retrieve their lightsabers and join the ranks of the nightmare knights. But a few times gifted unicorns, like Trixie, would be sent on special final tests that the Imperials would find most interesting. Our final test was to enter an abandon temple that was on the forest moon orbiting Krystala and we would retrieve a powerful amulet for Nightmare Moonlight.

We entered the temple as instructed, but we were not prepared for the traps that laid inside. There were old droids that weren't used in centuries that tried to blast us, primal beasts that were thought to be extinct, and an ancient order that somehow survived. After we were able to get past them, it was just Trixie and Craft that survived. All the others were killed on the way. We walked into a large room and in the middle of it laid a coffin that no doubt belonged to a long dead, but powerful sorcerer. We retrieved the amulet and from the corpse's remains two lightsabers that were still intact. We were about until a monster unlike anything I have ever seen came out of nowhere and attacked us. Trixie tried to fight it off, but it was too powerful to beat. Trixie asked Craft to help Trixie, but the coward was too afraid to fight the creature and ran off leaving Trixie to die. I saw a chance to escape from the beast and survived my trial, but I knew then that friendship can only take you so far. Later, Trixie learned that Nightmare Moonlight would have killed me if Trixie returned the amulet to him. He didn't want anypony to know of the powers he would possess with the amulet and kept it a secret. So Trixie kept the amulet to herself and came here, so eventually Trixie would be powerful enough to destroy the Solar Knights and would start her conquest on the galaxy and become its GREAT AND POWERFUL QUEEN!

"-And that is how Trixie came to be," she finished.

Dash was still frozen in the ice and couldn't change her shock expression, but she did feel some pity for her. Pinkie was letting out a rainfall of tears and Rarity cried a bit as she came back from her episode.

She looked over to Garret and said, "So do you see now? Friendship is nothing but a lie and will only lead to pain."

Garret only felt regret for Trixie for missing out on having friends and was sorry that Trixie had a rough life. "I'm sorry to hear that, Trixie. You certainly didn't deserve any of that," he said.

Trixie eyes started to glow red and anger was surging through her. "Trixie doesn't need your pity." Trixie soon raised her lightsaber at Garret in a threatening way.

Garret then reignited his blade and Rarity jumped back up and pulled out her lightsaber.

Trixie looked over to Rarity and said, "Trixie sees that you got over your monstrous hair."

For a moment Rarity was about to faint again, but pulled herself together and said, "My hair won't stay like this for too long, there's nothing a good bath, brush, and a lot of dye can't fix."

Trixie smiled at Rarity and Rarity was confused for a brief moment, until she heard a snipping sound behind her. She looked back and she saw a pair of scissors that cut off her tail. Her pupils shrunk with horror as she stared intently at her now stump tail. She once again raised her hooves up to the heavens and shouted, "NNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! NOT MY FABULOUS TAIL!!!" She then once again fainted on the ground with a rose on her chest.

Garret smacked himself in the face and turned his attention back on Trixie. "Trixie, I know your life was horrible and I'm truly sorry for it. Let me show a better way out of this. You don't have to stay in the dark forever," he said.

Trixie looked at Garret with hateful eyes, but it slowly turned into a regretful stare. "Trixie...Trixie is-" Then all of the sudden, Garret felt a disturbance in the magical force and sensed it coming from the amulet. The amulet glowed red with dark aura and Trixie's eyes soon showed red aura as well. Her eyes were once again filled with hate and said, "Like Trixie said, I will not accept your so called help!"

Garret then figured out that the amulet was making Trixie turn into a servant to the dark side and it was somehow changing her. His priority was clear now, he had to destroy the amulet.

Trixie charged towards Garret with her lightsaber and swung it at him. Garret blocked it with his blade and quickly grabbed onto her amulet. But when he tried to pull it off, it wouldn't budge and Trixie laughed at him for a moment. "Fool, only the wielder, which is Trixie of course, can pull it off. The amulet is forever bonded to the wielder until either it or the wielder are destroyed." She then used her magic to push Garret away from her and sent him flying across the air. Garret saw he was about to pass a pillar and grabbed onto it and soon spin back around towards Trixie and kicked her on the torso, sending her across the ground with a grunt. She quickly got back up onto all four hooves and fired a ray of dark red magic at Garret. He quickly dodged and was singed around the side as the ray past by him.

Rarity soon got back up from her fainting and looked around to see what was happening. She looked to see a flash of red heading straight towards her and her eyes widened. The ray hit her and blinded her for a moment. When it was over the flash was gone and Rarity frantically looked all over herself to see if anything was out of place. She was in complete shock when she saw that her entire coat was now a dark shade of green. Once again she raised her hooves into the heavens and shouted, "WWWWWWWWWWHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!?!?!" She then fell on the ground crying away her misfortune.

Garret hid behind a pillar as Trixie continued to shoot rays of magic at his general direction. Bit by bit, the pillar was being destroyed by Trixie's magic and the cave was shaking with rubble coming down from the ceiling. Garret shouted out and said, "Trixie, stop! If this battle goes on, we might bring down the entire cave on top of us!"

Trixie let out a maniacal laugh. "You might not survive the collapse, but I, the Great and Powerful Trixie, will survive it and when Trixie is ready, Trixie will take over the enclave and start my conquest on the entire galaxy!" she declared, continued her evil laugh.

But as Trixie was laughing, she was hit in the back of the head from a rock and fell down unconscious. The pony that through the rock was no other then Pinkie with her usual perky smile. "Heya guys, I got the bad mare." she said waving her arms at the other.

Garret came from behind the pillar and said, "Pinkie, thanks for the help. How did you get unstuck from the ice?"

"Well duh, it melted off. It's like warm in here, so it wouldn't stay frozen forever." Pinkie answered.

"Good point."

Garret looked over to Rarity and walked over to her. He laid down next to the crying mare and asked, "Are you okay?"

Rarity looked up to Garret with tears in her eyes and replied, "NO! My mane is ruined, my tail is cut off, and I have the worse colored coat, EVER! How can anypony love a pony like me NOW!?" she laid her head down on the ground and continued to cry.

Garret place his right hoof on Rarity's back and started rubbing on it. He then said to her, "I think you're still beautiful, Rarity."

Rarity raised her head with a surprised looked and asked, "Really? You still think so?

“I do,” Garret simply replied.

Rarity grabbed onto Garret and hug him tightly as tears were coming from her eyes.

"Aaawww, that’s so sweet," Pinkie said and she wiped away the small tears from her eyes. "Well if you need me to throw more rocks at some bad ponies, I'll be with Dash trying to free her." She reached up into her mane and pulled out a rusty saw and started bouncing over to the scared frozen Dash.

Over thirty minutes had passed and the group was looking over the unconscious Trixie. Dash was free from the block of ice thanks to Pinkie. 'Although, she could have done it without the saw,' Dash thought to herself.

Garret looked over to Rarity and asked, "Think there's anyway to get that amulet off?"

"I'm afraid not, deary," Rarity replied. "Items with binding magic are one of the most ‘trickiest’ things to deal with. It's either she takes it off, the amulet is destroyed, or that....we kill her," she explained, giving an audible gulp.

"WHAT? WE CAN'T DO THAT!" Pinkie shouted out. "We don't just kill ponies at random, it's either in self defense, we're facing off against a super villain, or we're in a video game and purpose of the game is to kill everypony or everybody to gain xp depending if you're playing as a human or something like that," Pinkie explained.

The others agreed with Pinkie on that, except the last part about video games, that just didn't make much sense. They couldn't kill Trixie because she was a slave to the dark side and was under the influence of the Alicorn Amulet.

Garret then thought of something and asked, "Can the amulet be destroyed, Rarity?"

Rarity looked over to him and answered, "Hmmm, I'm not quite sure but I bet only one pony can, Twilight." She then reached down in her pocket and pulled out a small round device. She press on a button and a ringing sound was being made. After a couple of ringings, a small holographic pony appeared on the device.

It was Twilight and she asked, "Yes Rarity, what is- OH MY GOSH, WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU!?"

Rarity gave out a shamed sheepish smile and replied, "Uhhh, that's not important right now."

Twilight looked at Rarity with shocked eyes. "D-Did you just say it wasn't important?" she asked.

Rarity was given out a frustrated look. "Twilight darling, please. I just had a rough day and I need to ask you something."

"Oh umm okay, what do you need?"

"Do you happen to know anything about an item called the Alicorn Amulet?"

Twilight placed a hoof on her chin and puzzled on Rarity's question. She then smiled and said, "Yes, I've heard of it before. It was made by a dark alicorn named, Dark Rubus. He existed over thousands of years before Celestia and Luna were even born and was the most feared pony at his era. Of course, like many tyrants before and after him, he was defeated by those who used their powers for good. But before he was defeated, he created the Alicorn Amulet to preserve his powers and possibly part of his soul as well as in order to somehow survive. According to legends, who ever would wear the amulet would be under the tyrant's influence and would no doubt become its servant."

"Is it possible to destroy the amulet?" Rarity asked.

"As far as I can tell, no. Not much is known about the amulet accept rumors and legends," Twilight replied. "Wait, why are you suddenly interested in it? And when did you find out about it?"

Rarity was hesitant on giving Twilight an answer and wasn't sure what to come up with. She then had an idea and replied, "I came across it while I was doing some research on some ideas for some of our robes and I thought-"

"You're with Garret right now aren't you?" Twilight asked bluntly.

"Eehhh, well um......Well I never! How can you say such things when we've have friends for-"

"Rarity, I tracked your signal and it's coming from the caves. I know you're with Garret."

Rarity gulped.

Twilight let out a sigh and said, "We'll talk about this when you get back, for now though I'm guessing you found the amulet?"

"Yes, but a pony named Trixie is wearing it and we can't remove it," Rarity explained. "We were hoping you would come up with an idea."

Twilight pondered about it for a moment. She gave out a shrug and said, "I don't know, there aren't many types of binding items in galaxy and we don't have any magical spells to get rid of them. The best I could think of is to somehow get her to remove it."

"But how?" Dash asked. "It's not like she's going to remove it anyway. Not unless she sees something more powerful than that amulet."

Garret's eyes widen with a sudden realization. "Dash, you're a genius!" he said.

"I am?"

"She is?" the others said in unison.

"I got an idea," Garret said with a sly smile.

Trixie was beginning to wake up from the sudden black out and was feeling a horrible pain in the back of her head. She let out a groan and said to herself, "What happened? Did the great and powerful Trixie win?" She looked around for a moment and she soon saw that Garret on top of a rock formation and was wearing a small green pendant around his neck. She stood back up on her legs and asked, "What are you doing now, knight? And what are you wearing?"

"Well while you were sleeping, I found this powerful pendant that puts your amulet to shame," Garret replied.

"HA! Like that thing is powerful. What proof do you have?"

"I'll show you. Pinkie, mind coming out of hiding for a moment?"

Pinkie jumped out from behind a pillar and was now in the open. Garret's horn then glowed and fired a ray at Pinkie. After the magic had hit her and the smoke from it was gone, Pinkie was now playing ten instruments at once. Trixie eyes soon widen at the display.

"Hey Dash," Garret called out. Dash came from another pillar nearby. "Have you ever wondered what would happen if there was two of you?" Garret then fired another ray at Dash this time and soon there were now two Dashs instead of one in the cave. Trixie mouth was wide open and was shock at this.

"Rarity dear, would you mind coming out for a second?" Garret asked. Rarity came from behind the boulder and was still messed up from the constant tricks and spells that Trixie did to her. He then fired one more ray of magic and in an instant, Rarity was once again her beautiful self again with her mane and tail intact and her her color were now back to where they were.

Trixie looked at them with constant fear and shock at them. "How....When.......Is that even-" She wasn't able to finish any of her sentences as she was still trying to comprehend it.

"See? Told you that it was powerful. Now I think the best thing for you to do is surrender and-HEY!" Garret was saying until Trixie use her magic to rip the pendant from his neck and brought it over to her.

Trixie spoke up and said, "Trixie doesn't know how you got this, but now with this pendant Trixie we'll become more powerful than you can possibly imagine!" She then removed her amulet from her neck and tossed it aside. "Now I shall destroy you with my most powerful magic! Now...DIE!" She shot a ray of magic at Garret, but it was deflected quickly when Rarity jumped in front of him and pulled up a magical bubble shield. Trixie was shocked by this and said, "H-How is that possible! You shouldn't be able to block that!"

"Maybe if you kept your amulet on, it wouldn't have. But since you traded yours for the fake pendant, your magic isn't as powerful as it was," Garret explained.

Trixie looked at the pendant to see that it was just a regular green rock strapped around a lace necklace. The rock fell off and cracked in two when it landed on the ground. She then looked over to see Rainbow Dash holding on to the amulet and putting it in a small box. She looked back at Garret and ask, "If that pendant is a fake, how where you able to do all that then?"

"Simple really," Garret started to explain. "Dash carries around a holo ball that can make an exact duplicate of herself and uses it for distractions or quick get aways." They looked over to see the other Dash vanish into thin air and in its place was a round hovering ball that flew over to the real Dash. "Rarity was able to use her magic to create a magical field to create an illusion around her to make it look as if she was never affected by your magic at all."

"I prefer to keep this look up until I can get back to my real fabulous self," Rarity said maintaining her illusion.

"Then what about the pink one?" Trixie asked furrowing her eyebrow.

"Oh, Pinkie can do all that on her own." Everypony looked over to Pinkie as she continued to to play all ten of her instruments.

"How is she-?"

"Please don't ask," Garret said, bluntly.

"Uh okay?" Trixie took a moment to pause as she was dragging her hoof on the ground and looked up to Garret with a weak smile. "Soooooo, what are you going to do with Trixie?"

Garret ponder about it and just as he was about to speak, Dash spoke up and said, "I say we teach you a lesson." Dash clopped her hooves together as Trixie gulped.

"I say we shave her bald after what she did to me," Rarity suggested.

"We could throw a party."

Everypony looked at Pinkie with a confused look on them.

"What?" Pinkie said as she shrugged.

"As I was about to say," Garret resumed. "I believe it's best for the council to decide what to do with Trixie. They'll know what is best."

"Y-You wouldn't try to do anything with Trixie?" Trixie asked surprised by Garret's suggestion.

"No I wouldn't, it's not a knight's way of to get revenge nor to do anything to an unarmed opponent," Garret explained.

"Aw come on!" Dash shouted. "She tried to kill us more times than one! Why should we go with your suggestion in the first place anyway?"

"Because Rainbow Dash, this was my trial and I was the one suppose to do it alone." Dash pupils shrunk a bit and gave out a gulp. "And I saved you from Blueblood and gave you back your ship, so you at least owe me this one time," Garret explained.

Dash started to sweat a bit and was feeling guilty for question Garret's position. She rubbed the back of her head and said, "So what are we waiting for? Let's take her to the council."

"Thank you, Dash. I appreciate it," Garret said.

"Yeah, yeah, you're lucky you can pull a card like that," Dash said and started to hover in the air with her wings.

"I'm sorry that I did that. I would have prefer if you just went along with it."

"Well, I'm sorry that I hashed out like that. You are my pal after all."

"Glad to hear it." Garret then turn his attention towards Trixie. "Trixie, would you please come with us?"

Trixie thought about it for a few seconds and replied, "Alright, Trixie will come along quietly." She willing followed Garret as he was leading the way.

The others were soon following Garret and were on there way back to the enclave. On the way out of the crystal caves, something caught Rainbow Dash's sight and she went over to check it out. She approached a strange light that was coming from a pile of crystals and she reached out to see what it was. When she picked it up, her pupils widened at the object that she was looking at. It was something so incredible that all she could say in a very low voice was, "So awesome." She quickly looked around her surroundings to see if anypony else was around. The others were already ahead of her and she quickly had the object in her jacket's pocket.

Pinkie poke her head around a corner and asked, "Hey Dashie, are you coming?"

Dash was startled a bit, but kept her cool and replied, "Yeah, I'm on my way."

Dash then flew off to catch up with the others.

END OF CHAPTER

Chapter 13: Celebration and a Dark Descent

View Online

CHAPTER 13 CELEBRATIONS AND A DARK DESCENT

A few hours had passed since Garret was able to build his lightsaber and Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Pinkie and he were able to stop Trixie while she was under the influence of the Alicorn Amulet and brought her before the council. Many of the council were impressed by what had transpired at the crystal caves, but a few of them questioned why Garret had others with him when he knew that he was supposed to be alone. Garret was planning on putting the blame on himself, but the others were willing to take the blame on themselves as well. Despite Garret having the others with him, Celestia and many of the council still believed that he had passed his final trial and was now a member of the order. Celestia and the council were going to discuss about what they were going to do with Trixie and decide her fate. Garret and the others were sent back to the Golden Phoenix to wait for further instructions the next day and discuss more about the visions. At first Garret was ready to get a well-deserved rest....

....But Pinkie had other plans.

"WOOHOO! LETS GET THIS PARTY STARTED!" shouted Pinkie as she did a backflip and confetti came out of her hooves.

Pinkie wasn't joking when she said that she would be throwing a party for Garret. In the main hold of the ship, Pinkie had decorated wall after wall with streamers, bows, pretty much all standard issue party stuff along with a large red banner that said "CONGRATULATIONS ON BECOMING A PADAWAN, GARR-." Unfortunately, there wasn't enough room on the banner so Pinkie tried to write his name on the cake that she made that said "YOUR THE MOST SUPER-DUPER FRIEND THAT ANYPONY COULD ASK FOR GARR-!" The cake ran out of room. There was a food table that had apples, pears, hay, vegetables, gems (for Spike), bones (for Canderous and Zaalbar), motor oil (for T3), and apple cider that Applejack was able to make with the apples they had. There were also games like pin-the-tail-on-the-pony on the wall, horseshoe throwing and apple bobbing. Everypony awed at what Pinkie had done and were dumbstruck at how quickly she was able to do it all.

"Pinkie, how were you were able to do all this?" Twilight asked curiously.

"Well, I put the streamers there, and I placed all the food over there, and I-"

"No I mean, how were you able to do all this so quickly?"

"Don't know, just did," Pinkie answered plainly with a large smile on her.

"What? You couldn't have done all of this without a reason!" Twilight tried to point out.

"Silly Twiliy, not everything has to have a reason. If you just want to do it, just do it and to splick with the consequences." Pinkie then grabbed a watermelon from out of nowhere, took a large bite out of it, and threw it onto the side.

*SPLAT*

"MY MANE!!!"

Twilight placed a hoof on her face and gave out an annoyed sigh.

As Twilight was trying to figure out Pinkie, everypony else was having a nice time. Zaalbar and Canderous, of course, wanted to just keep to themselves and didn't want to be part of the party. T3 was holding onto a tray of drinks and was serving them to everypony. Applejack was actually getting used to being around with others and was feeling a bit relaxed. Rarity was trying to get the watermelon remains out of her mane, while Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo were snickering at Rarity's misfortune without her noticing. Garret watched his companions and friends enjoy themselves as he was drinking some apple cider that Applejack made. He then noticed that Fluttershy was next to him trying to hide away her face with her pink mane.

He simply raised an eyebrow and asked the obvious, "Are you okay, Fluttershy?"

Fluttershy flinched for a moment, but let out a sigh and replied, "Yeah, I'm okay. I'm just not used to being around ponies like this."

Garret gave out a smile. "You've got nothing to worry about. We're among friends here."

"I know, I'm just used to being quiet is all," Fluttershy replied.

"Do you want to be alone right now?"

"No, umm, I w-would appreciate you keeping me company. If that's okay?"

"Yes, that would be okay," Garret replied as he smiled warmly.

Fluttershy returned the smile with hers and they both continued to talk for a while.

After the party was over and everypony recovered from the fireworks that Pinkie set off in the ship, Garret went to lie down in his bunk bed and had gone to sleep for the night.

Garret could see nothing but darkness and smoke all around him. He tried to speak up and call for the others, but every time he opened his mouth, no words would come out. He started to worry a bit, but remembered his training about keeping his mind calm and at peace. Soon after he calmed his mind, everything was beginning to take shape around him and he now found himself in an old looking room.

The room looked ancient as it didn't have any metals in the walls, but instead they seemed to use stones and furniture didn't look like they were used in centuries, as they were rotten and covered in cobwebs. There were paintings of ponies that Garret didn't recognize, but they looked like they were nobles or royals. There were stone pillars all around him and there were many hallways that led to different paths. As he was taking in his surroundings, he heard creaking sounds behind him and turned to see what it was. A large door was opening and coming through it two figures appeared and trotted towards him.

One of the figures was a male looking unicorn that was covered mostly in a brown robe and he was wearing a black mask with red details on it. Garret recognized right away that this was Eclipse, as he remembered him from his previous visions. However, the other figure was a different pony which he had never seen him before. He was a tall unicorn stallion and his buff like shape showed that he was physically strong. He wore a crimson suit with black boots and had a tan colored coat. He had a short black tail and had grey eyes with two brown stripes on top of his head.

As they were walking, the tall pony spoke up and said, "So, this is the great temple? I've would have thought this place would at least have some traps since it contained such powerful artifacts."

"Do not let appearances fool you," Eclipse said. "Celestia wasn't foolish enough to leave such power here without a few surprises."

"Is this wise?" the tall stallion asked. "Celestia herself sealed it off a long time ago, if we break this seal now the order will surely banish us. Is the power inside worth the risk?"

"Yes," Eclipse bluntly said.

They soon entered into some kind of large throne room that had two seats at the far end of the room. Halfway through, they stopped and Eclipse's horn started to light up with his magic and he shoot a beam of energy on the ground. The ground started to shake a bit and a secret compartment started to open up. A large structure soon came up from it. The structure was a large round stone ball with five other smaller balls surrounding it. Eclipse then used his magic to lift the smaller balls from their places.

"Are they what I think they are?" the tall pony asked in shock.

"Yes Moonlight, they are," Eclipse said. "Five of six of the most powerful items in the entire galaxy, the Elements of Harmony."

"Five out of six? Where is the last one then?" Moonlight asked.

"According to legend, when Celestia banished her sister a thousand years ago she hid the last element somewhere safe. Only she would know where it would be," Eclipse explained.

"Then what is the point of taking these elements if they’re going to be useless?" Moonlight asked, clearly frustrated by this.

"Whether we have all of them or not they would still be useless," Eclipse began to explain. "The Elements of Harmony are a tool for the light side. Now that we serve our mistress of the night, we can no longer wield their power, but that doesn't mean we can make sure that nopony else can use them when we begin our assault on the Republic and the Solar Knights. And when we find the Chaos Forge, nothing will stand in our way."

Moonlight let out a light chuckle. "Soon we will rule the galaxy together, my friend."

Eclipse looked back at Moonlight and said, "If we are to control the galaxy, there must be only one singular vision; my vision. We cannot share power as friends, but as master and apprentice."

"Why should I allow you to be my master?" Moonlight said as he was reaching for his lightsaber.

"You would not be here if it wasn't for me, Moonlight. I see much potential in you as Nightmare lord, but you rely too much on brute strength alone and focus too much on the battle that is in front of you, but not what goes around it," Eclipse explain. "Serve me and I will teach everything you need to know on how to be able to fight in the coming war with the Republic and one day when you are powerful enough to face me, you will strike me down and claim the title "Nightmare Lord of the Luna Empire!"

Moonlight took a moment for this to sink in his mind. He pulled his hoof away from his lightsaber and took a bow before Eclipse. "I pledge my loyalty towards you, my master, Nightmare Eclipse."

Eclipse simply nodded and said, "Good, soon the galaxy will be ours and nothing will stand in our way for power! Now let us leave before Celestia or her servants suspect us."

"Agreed, master."

Eclipse and Moonlight soon left the room, leaving behind a confused Garret.

'I don't understand, Elements of Harmony? What are they and what is this Chaos Forge they mentioned?' Garret thought to himself.

As he pondered on this, he heard something come from behind him and when he turned to see what it was, a flash of lightning struck at him and he was sent flying towards the wall. He got up groaning as if he was in pain and looked up to see Eclipse himself looking down at him with a crimson light in his right hoof lowered on his side. He was covered in a worn out robe that looked like as if he came out of an explosion and his red sharp horn was broken off while his mask was cracked in several places.

The dark lord spoke up in a howling voice, "I may be gone, but the dark side will preserve me when I return!" He then let out a shrieking shout and charged towards Garret.

Garret's eyes widened as the dark deceased lord pounced on top of him and when it happened, everything suddenly went dark.

Garret immediately woke up from his bunk and was panting and sweating from his nightmare. He quickly looked around to see that he was still in the Phoenix. He looked around some more to see that Canderous was still in his bunk, while Zaalbar was still in his. T3 was shut down so he could recharge himself. The girls were no doubt over in the starboard side of the ship sleeping. He laid his head back down to think about his dream. 'But was it a dream?' He thought to himself. 'It felt so...real. I have to see Twilight in the morning.' He then closed his eyes once more and spent the rest of the night restlessly.

It was early in the morning and everypony was up and were carrying on with their business. Thanks to the Order, they were provided with supplies and parts for the ship, which Rainbow Dash used to make some modifications to the ship; Zaalbar and T3 were helping her along with the repairs and upgrades. Canderous was in the garage still overlooking the swoop bike, Fluttershy was putting plants and flowers in the cargo bay making it more nature friendly, Pinkie Pie was cleaning the ship while skating on bubble soaked brushes, and Applejack was showing Scootaloo the controls of the ship.

Garret and Twilight however were meeting with the council about Garret's recent dreams. As it had turned out, Twilight also had the same dream last night and Celestia and the council all had concerned looks on their faces.

After a moment of silence, Celestia let out a sigh. "I believe I know where the dream took place and how we can find the other elements," she said.

"So wait, you mean the dreams were real and the Elements as well?" Twilight asked.

"Yes," Celestia stated. "Long ago, my sister Luna and I used the Elements to defeat an ancient threat and then I used them on my sister when she became Nightmare Moon and freed her of her dark influence."

"What had happened to your sister after that?" Garret asked.

"While her time as Nightmare Moon was short, she caused great destruction on the order and felt ashamed of herself. The weight of her crimes were great upon her soul, so, as a last safety measure, she destroyed all knowledge of her teachings and exiled herself into the farthest reaches of dark space. Never to be seen again and it is the reason why there hasn't been a Luna knight in over a thousand years," Celestia finished explaining.

"I'm sorry to hear that, master," Twilight said feeling sorry for Celestia's loss.

"It is alright, Twilight," Celestia said. "I believe my sister will return one day, but for now we must focus on the present. I do not know of where this Chaos Forge is or what it is. But if Eclipse and Moonlight did not find the last Element, then you can use it to find the other elements or use it to find clues as to where the Chaos Forge is"

"So where is the last Element?"

"It's still in an old temple that my sister and I once used," Celestia answered. "On the planet Tythorn."

"Tyhorn?" Twilight and Garret said in unison.

"Yes, our birthplanet," Celestia clarified.

"Wait a minute, the birthplanet you were born on?" Twilight asked for clarification.

"Yes, Twilight."

"The birthplanet where you came from?" Twilight asked again.

"Ummm, yes, my apprentice."

"Oh. My. GOSH! Nopony in over a thousand years has known where you are from!" Twilight said gleefully. "EEEEEEE! I never thought I would go to your homeplanet! This is so EXCITING!" Twilight was jumping up and down in a circle of excitement. After a few seconds of jumping, Twilight's large smile slowly faded away with each jump and froze up in mid jump as she noticed Celestia, Garret, and the rest of the council were looking at her with puzzled looks. She started to sweat a bit and let out a weak chuckle. "Sorry," she said nervously.

"It is alright," Celestia said chuckling. "It is not so often that I would reveal my birthplanet to anypony. I will provide you with the coordinates to the planet and give you supplies for your journey."

"Thank you, grand master. We would appreciate it," Garret said.

"I will also send others with you to help with your journey."

"Like who?"

"I will send Rarity with you of course. She seems quite fond of you and is already a good friend of Twilight," Celestia explained. "And I will send Trixie with you as well."

"Trixie? You mean that Nightmare Knight that tried to kill Garret?" Twilight asked shockingly.

"No longer is she a Nightmare Knight, but she is now a Solar Padawan like Garret here," Celestia clarified. "I believe this is the chance she needed to prove herself that she has changed and that her presence would no doubt serve as a reminder that not all are lost when facing the dark side. Plus, her skills with two lightsabers will come in handy against any that try to stop you."

"Very well, we would be honored to accept their help," Garret said, both Twilight and him bowing towards Celestia and council.

"Now go, you two. Find the Elements of Harmony and use them to stop Moonlight from using the Chaos Forge. The fate of the Republic and the galaxy now rests on your shoulders. May the Spirit of Harmony be with you," Celestia announced.

"May the Spirit of Harmony be with us all," Twilight said.

Garret and Twilight rose up from bowing and walked out from the council room.

"The great and reformed Trixie is most humbled to join you and your crew, Garret," Trixie said as she was trotting along with Garret, Twilight, Spike, and Rarity towards the Golden Phoenix. "Trixie will do Trixie’s best not to disappoint." Trixie was now wearing a red robe with black trimmings and had a pair of black boots on her back legs.

"I wouldn't hold my breath," Rarity said still holding a grudge towards Trixie after what she did to her at the cave. "But if Celestia thinks that you are somewhat trustworthy, then I'll go along with it… For now." Rarity then gave a stern look at Trixie, making her stumble back a bit. She then turned her attention towards Twilight and Garret. "I am most glad that Celestia has sent me along and shall not make her or you two disappointed." she said gracefully. She was now wearing a purple robe that had three diamond shape designs like her cutie mark on the back of it.

Twilight let out a smile. "We're glad to have you too, Rarity," she said. Twilight then lessened her trotting to be next to Trixie and whispered, "Don't worry, Rarity doesn't hold a grudge for long, if you keep on complimenting her looks." She winked at Trixie and trotted quickly to be alongside with Garret again.

Trixie gave out a sigh of relief knowing that Twilight seemed like she would help her out in any situation with the others. She then looked over to Garret and asked, "So Trixie was wondering, where are we going exactly?"

"We're going to the planet Tythorn to find an old temple that Celestia once had there," Garret replied.

"Tythorn? Trixie has never heard of that planet before."

"I wouldn't be surprised," Twilight said. "We have just learned of its existence just a few moments ago."

"I wonder what would be inside the temple," Rarity said pondering on the idea. "Oh, I hope there are some ancient tapestries that I could restore and possibly use them for inspiration for new designs. They’d be a smashing hit on Cantersaunt!" Rarity was then skipping along as she was fantasizing about becoming one of the greatest designers in the galaxy.

"Sound like you guys are going to have fun," Spike said. He then looked down at the ground with a disappointed look. "Too bad I can't come along… again."

"Spike, I know you always wanted to come along with me, but is too dangerous for a little dragon like you," Twilight said to the young drake. "I wouldn't forgive myself if you came alone and got hurt."

"Yeah, yeah, I know," Spike said crossing his arms in defeat. "Just don't take too long to come back, okay? It gets really boring around here without you."

Twilight gave Spike a warm smile and hugged the little drake. "Don't worry, we'll be back soon. I promise."

Twilight and the others soon continued on their way towards the ship, leaving behind a sad and disgruntled drake. Spike let out a heavy sigh and decided to go get some gems to snack on. However, when he was on his way he heard a 'pst' sound behind a nearby corner. He walked over to the corner and asked nervously, "W-Who's there?" Then a pair of white hooves grabbed him covering his mouth before he could let out a terrified shout and pulled him around.

The Golden Phoenix was soon lifting up from the ground and was now flying towards the sky. The ship quickly left the planet's orbit passing the Republic blockade protecting the planet and went into hyperspace.

On the bridge, Dash and Applejack were piloting the ship while Garret and Twilight were watching over their progress.

After Dash pressed a few more buttons, she turned to the two. "So, do we know anything about this temple?" she asked.

"According to my master's data," Twilight began to explain. "The temple should be abandoned, so we don't have to worry about any Imperial presence there, but we still need to be cautious of any wildlife that might reside within the temple. I also think we should land as far from the temple as possible too. I don't think it'll be safe to land near it since it is ancient and it might actually come apart if we land too close to it."

"Don't worry about it, sugarcube," Applejack said. "We'll keep a good distance from the temple once we get there."

"So just sit back and relax, egghead," Dash said. Twilight shot a glare at Dash as she was chuckling quietly.

The Phoenix soon came out of hyperspace and a large green planet was right in front of the bridge's window.

"There it is, Tythorn," Applejack announced. "Starting landing sequence."

The ship entered the planet's atmosphere and they started to see large landscapes of cold, misty mountains that far over towered vast swamp-like forests while it was nighttime. As the ship was flying over them, in the distance was a large stone temple and it soon flew by it and started to head towards an open area almost a mile away from the temple. The ship hovered over the area and gently lowered towards it while letting its landing gear out from below the ship. It landed on the ground and the ship's ramp soon opened into the unknown forest that awaited the small band.

END OF CHAPTER

Chapter 14: Temple Mane-ia

View Online

CHAPTER 14 TEMPLE MANIA

The Golden Phoenix's ramp opened into the night-filled forests of Tythorn and Twilight, Garret and T3 came walking out of the ship with Applejack standing at the entrance of the ship behind them.

"Twilight, are ya sure that it's a good idea for y'all three to go in the temple by yourselves?" Applejack asked, concernedly.

Twilight turned to face Applejack. "Not to worry, Applejack. Garret and I can handle anything in the temple. I uploaded the schematics of the temple to T3 so he should know where all the traps are and I've memorized where the element of magic is. It shouldn't take us long," she explained.

"Well, Alright," Applejack said. "But contact us if y'all run into any trouble, alright?"

Twilight gave a simple nod and led Garret and T3 into the forest towards the ancient temple. Applejack kept on watching until the three disappeared into the trees and she gave out an anxious sigh. She then pressed on the controls to the ramp, which soon lifted up and closed.

Twilight, Garret, and T3 all walked cautiously through the forest as they were making their way towards the temple. Twilight was in the lead, T3 was in the middle of the group, and Garret was keeping watch in the rear of the group. There was fog everywhere and there were howling sounds of wolves in the distance. Twilight and Garret were able to keep their composure, but T3 was shaking with fear that he did not realize he had.

Twilight noticed T3's distress and went to comfort the little droid. She placed a hoof on top of the head of the little droid hoping to calm him down. "It's okay, T3. The temple is not too far from here and Garret and I can handle anything that's out here in these woods."

T3 stopped shaking and let out a beep sound confirming his trust in Twilight's words. The group continued their walk across the forest until they saw an old, rickety, wooden bridge that led straight towards the remains of the ancient temple.

The three walked across the bridge carefully as it didn't seem to have been used in ages. Twilight and Garret took soft steps at a time when they were crossing the bridge and T3 was rolling right behind them. As he did, T3 heard a snapping sound behind him. The droid looked behind him to see his wheels broke through the wood and were stuck. T3 tried to shift his weight onto his front legs to get himself unstuck. However, the next thing he knew, this caused the rickety old bridge to give out beneath him and he was now falling towards the darkened depths below him. He let out a shriek as he was falling towards his supposedly doomed fate. His fall was cut short as a turquoise colored aura surrounded him and he became suspended in the air.

"I got you, buddy," Garret said as he was holding T3 with his levitation spell. Garret placed T3 on the ground and breathed heavily as he was exhausted because of his usage of magic.

Twilight went over to Garret. "Are you okay?" she asked, concernedly.

"Yeah," Garret replied. "He was a lot heavier than I thought."

"You’ll get used to your abilities as you use more of your magic," Twilight explained.

The trio turned their attention towards the temple itself and saw up close what it looked like. The temple was covered in vines and moss all around it and having large holes in the walls. The pillars outside of the temple were either standing tall holding nothing up or laid in the ground becoming one with it. There were signs of battles that took place outside of the temple as smaller holes that showed blaster fire on the walls and slashes of lightsaber strikes showed as well.

Garret looked over to Twilight and she did the same. They both nodded and proceeded into the temple with T3 right behind them, unknown of the danger that laid inside.

"This was a dumb idea," Applejack proclaimed as she was following Rainbow Dash towards the temple with Trixie at her side.

Dash was hovering a few inches above the ground and turned back towards Applejack. "Oh, come on, you know you want to see the temple as much as I do," she said. A small sly smile crept along her face. "Unless of course, you're too scared."

Applejack narrowed her eyes at Dash. "Ah'm not scared!" she said. "We were supposed ta stay with the ship until Twilight and Garret got back from their mission. But you were too stubborn to stay in the ship and somepony had to watch over ya."

"Okay, I guess that's a good alibi to go by," Dash said. Applejack gave out an annoyed groan. "But what's she doing with us?"

"Trixie volunteered to follow the annoying pegasus to make sure she didn't do anything stupid," Trixie answered.

"HEY!"

"And since Ah don't trust either of ya, Ah came along to make sure both of y'all don't do something stupid," Applejack explained.

"HEY!!!" both said in unison.

The three continued their walk into the forest until Dash stopped for a moment. She looked left and right as she looking around their surroundings. She planted her hooves on the ground and was tapping her chin with a hoof as she was thinking. She then faced the other two and said, "Not saying we're lost, but......... I don't know which way to go."

Applejack and Trixie slapped their hooves against their faces.

"That means we are lost, Dash!" Applejack pointed out.

"Nuh uh! I just don't know which way to go," Dash countered.

Applejack rolled her eyes. "So what do you think we should do then?" she asked.

Dash pondered on the idea for the moment. "I think we should gather up some twigs and then I'll let go of them from my hoof and see which direction that most of them would point towards. After that we'll-"

"Or ya can, Ah don't know, fly up to see where the temple is," Applejack said, bluntly.

A small blush appeared on Dash's face. "That was my second choice," she defended herself. She flew up in the air to see where the temple was. She saw that the temple wasn't too far from where they were and shouted down to them. "I see the temple!"

"Good! Now lead the way!" Applejack shouted back.

Dash gave out a salute and flew at speed, leaving behind a trail of a rainbow........and Applejack and Trixie.

Applejack smacked herself in the face again.

"Trixie thinks she's not that smart," Trixie said, bluntly.

"Now that's not nice ta say to another pony," Applejack lectured. "But yes, she is."

"Think she'll come back for us?"

"We'll wait a minute. If not, we'll go to the same direction she went."

"Um Rarity, don’t you think it's a bad idea to walk through these forest so late at night?" Fluttershy asked as Rarity and she were walking through the forest towards the temple. "I mean, Twilight said it would be dangerous to travel towards the temple and all. Though I'm sure that you have a good reason for bringing me out here."

"Simply the most important reason ever in my entire life," Rarity replied.

"Oh, well I'm happy to help," Fluttershy said smiling. "What is it?"

"I've heard rumors among the scholars of the academy that the ancient temple of the original Solar Knights is filled with the most gorgeous of ancient tapestries in all of galactic history!" Rarity explained gleefully. "It pains me to think of those magnificent creations rotting away in those old ruins, totally unappreciated."

Fluttershy stared at Rarity in total confusion over her idea. "Okay?"

"And that's where you come in, Fluttershy," Rarity said. "I acquired your help in borrowing these magnificent pieces of art back to the ship, so I can restore them to their former glory and hopefully start a new retro fashion line."

"That does sound.....important," Fluttershy said doubtfully.

"Well, yes *ahem* maybe it's not the most important thing in my life," Rarity corrected herself. "But I would be bringing back history into the Republic and retro classic will be all the rage! It's nothing to sneeze at." On cue, Rarity's nose was brushed up against a leaf on a nearby branch and sneezed after it irritated her muzzle a bit.

While they were walking, they heard noises coming from a nearby bush. Fluttershy and Rarity froze in place as the bush was rustling with something inside it. Rarity's horn glowed and used her magic to levitate her lightsaber by her side nervously.

"H-Hello?" Rarity said trying to figure out who or what was behind the bush. "T-Twilight? Garret? T3? A-Are you three there?"

Fluttershy hid behind Rarity and was petrified with fear. The bush started to shake up more and Rarity ignited her cyan colored lightsaber. Sweat was beginning to cover Rarity's face and Fluttershy continued to stay behind and hid her face with her mane. Then all of a sudden, a small, white rabbit jumped out of the bush and stared at the duo. Rarity let out a sigh of relief and Fluttershy's eyes went wide.

"Aww, aren't you a cute little bunny," Fluttershy said and nuzzled the little bunny with her muzzle. "I always wanted a little bunny. Can we keep him, Rarity?"

Rarity gave a smile to the yellow pegasus. "Of course, darling. You don't have to ask me if you want one. Just remember it takes a lot responsibility to take care of a little creature."

"Oh, don't worry I will," Fluttershy said. "Would you like to come with us?"

The little bunny gave a nod and Fluttershy picked up the little bunny and placed it on her back.

"I think I'll call you, Angel. Do you like that name?" Fluttershy asked.

The newly dubbed Angel nodded with approval.

"I'm glad it was just a bunny. I couldn't imagine what could have been behi-," Rarity was saying until she was interrupted by a giant centipede that came out of the same bush.

The centipede was large and long with black, exoskeleton. It had enormous pinchers around its mouth and had glowing, red, menacing eyes.

The trio looked at the centipede with terrified eyes as the creature let out a threatening sound.

"SSSSCCRRREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!"

Twilight, Garret, and T3 had entered the ancient ruins of the temple and started their exploration of it. At the beginning of their exploration, they saw a set of stairways with two cracked, stain windows over them with one of a depiction of the sun with blue skies and clouds and the other of the moon with stars surrounding it. The trio then started walking their way through the empty hallways and corridors. They passed by old training rooms with discarded training blades on the ground, statues that were no longer recognizable, and rooms where signs of battle had shown with slashes on the walls and robes covered in ashes and dust. Garret looked over to Twilight to see that she was looking a bit depressed of what she was seeing. It was clear that the signs of battle were from when the Solar Knights and the Lunar Knights both fought against one another during Nightmare Moon's rise.

Garret took a moment to pause. "Are you alright, Twilight?" he asked.

Twilight gave out a weary sigh and replied, "I'm fine, it's just that I always imagined what it would be like if Luna never became Nightmare Moon. I read stories that during Celestia and Luna's protection over the Republic, no evil force dared ever rise without knowing that they would have to face the full power of the alicorn sisters. Together they were invincible and brought true peace to the galaxy. I mean, Master Celestia has always done a wonderful job keeping the peace in the galaxy without her sister. But after those events though, evil had always kept on coming from nowhere and had declared war on the Republic for centuries. This civil war wouldn't have happened if Luna remained true to the light."

Garret gave Twilight a grieving look at what she said. He then placed his hoof on her shoulder and said, "These things happen for a reason, Twilight. Why? I don't know, but now is not the time to dwell on the past and focus on what is happening in the present," he said.

Twilight looked over to Garret and gave him a small smile and a nod. "Alright," she said. She looked down the hallway and inspected her surroundings. "I believe this is the way to the chamber."

Twilight continued to lead and Garret and T3 were close behind her.

Applejack, Dash, and Trixie all walked through the temple's entrance and marveled at its ancient glory.

"I've seen bars better looking than this!"

Some more than others.

"Stow that kinda talk, Dash," Applejack said. "This is where the entire Order started. So ya better show some respect."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Dash said giving a dismissal wave of her hoof.

Trixie looked around the main hall for a moment until a thought crept up into her mind and formed a devious smile on her face. "Trixie hopes that Garret and Twilight are okay," Trixie said getting Applejack and Dash's attention. "The unicorns back at the enclave say that this place is haunted by the dead solar ghosts!"

"G-G-Ghosts?" Dash said nervously.

Applejack raised one of her eyebrows. "Ghosts?"

"Yes. They say whoever comes here, the ghosts from the past would come after them and make them as one of their own~" Trixie said making wooing sounds and waving her hooves around in a scary fashion.

Applejack rolled her eyes and Dash's legs were shaking.

"Don't be ridiculous. There are no such things as ghost," Applejack explained.

Lightning then flashed outside of the windows of the glass stains of the moon and the sun and a large shadow of some creature lay across the room. The three huddled together in fright , another flash of lightning appeared and to the collective fright of everypony, the shadow disappeared.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

"Who's a good little centipede, huh? Who's a good little girl?" Fluttershy said to the centipede as she continued petting the side of the bug’s head. Fluttershy was able to calm the centipede down after it tried to attack the trio earlier and find out that the creature was stuck underneath a log that came toppling down on it. Rarity was able to use her magic to get the log off of it and the bug licked the two mares as a sign of gratitude. It offered them a lift to the temple and now Fluttershy was saying goodbye to it. "Now you behave and stay safe, okay?" she advised with care in her voice.

The centipede gave a nod and crawled back into the forest among the bushes.

"Well, that was interesting," Rarity said. "I'll admit that I don't like bugs that much, but its skin was so smooth. I have to find a way to replicate that smoothness for the crew's armor. They must be so rusty and have so many bumps on them."

Fluttershy, Rarity, and Angel turned their attention towards the remains of the temple.

"My word, even after a thousand years the temple is still intact," Rarity said. Then out of nowhere, a boulder came tumbling down from the temple and landed right in front of them causing Rarity to let out a yelp and Fluttershy hiding behind her with Angel. "Well, mostly intact."

"A-A-Are you sure that this is a good idea?" Fluttershy asked, trembling with fear. "It looks kinda dangerous."

"Not to worry, deary. We just need to grab a few things and we're returning to the ship as quickly as possible," Rarity explained.

"Oh, okay. If you say so."

The trio went into the temple and started their search for anything Rarity wanted to use.

"No, too large," Rarity said, looking at the various pieces of art and tapestries on the walls. "No, too heavy. Too long. Eck, too green. Too obtuse. Too aerodynamic. Too.......is there even a word for this one?" She inspected everything she could find, but to no avail, she was unable to find anything that she thought would make her famou- I mean, that much closer to restoring ancient art. The trio entered into what looked like a throne room and Rarity's pupils were wide when she saw two different flags over the thrones. One of the flags had the symbol of the sun on it and the other had a symbol of the moon. "Oh my stars! It's the ancient symbols of the sisters!" Rarity exclaimed. "Those haven't been seen in centuries. Just think of how much any scholar would pay for it if they got their hooves on these magnificent creations!"

"I thought we were here to restore some of these things?" Fluttershy corrected.

"Oh ummm, yes that's exactly what we're here to do. I would restore these creations and give them to a well-respected scholars that would take good care of them and put them in museums for all to see," Rarity explained. "And also to gain a little fortune and fame as well," she said under her breath.

"What?"

"Nothing, nothing."

Rarity walked up on top of the throne and started to grab the moon symbol with her magic, but struggled to bring it down. All of sudden they heard music playing in the background and their ears perked up.

"What in heaven's name? Is that music or- WWWAAAAAA!"

Fluttershy turned to see that Rarity was gone and let out a surprising gasp. "RARITY!"

Outside of the temple's courtyard, a secret door opened up and Rarity came flying out of it and landed on the ground roughly. She felt a bit dazed for a moment and noticed her mane was covered in twigs and leaves. "OH COME ON! WHY ME?" she shouted, once again upset with her mane getting ruined. She looked at her hooves to see that a piece of the flag was torn off when she was trying to grab it. Her eyes widen with terror and let out a bloody, screeching scream. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

In another part of the temple, Twilight, Garret, T3 were walking down the hallways until T3 started to make his usual beeping sounds.

"What is it, T3?" Garret asked the droid.

"Beep beep boo bee beep."

"You said you heard screams?"

"Beep."

"Can you scan for any lifeforms?"

"Boo beep boo bee."

"You're saying that something is interfering with your scanners?" Twilight asked.

"Beep."

"Hmmm, must be something in the temple that could be interfering with the signal. Can we still contact the ship?

Garret checked his comm link to see if it was still working, but all he got was static sounds coming from it. "No good, signal is being blocked."

"Then I guess we're on our own for now," Twilight said. "We just need to keep looking and find the-" Twilight stopped in her tracks and suddenly froze in place at the room she was seeing. Garret accidentally bumped into Twilight and T3 bumped into Garret.

"Twilight, what's wrong?" Garret asked concernedly. Twilight didn't respond and her eyes were twinkling with amazement and her mouth was drooling. Garret looked at her with a puzzled look and turned his attention at what she was looking at. He furrowed his eyebrows as he was look at a room filled with-

"BOOKS!" Twilight shouted, gleefully. She went in charging into the room and was looking at every book she could find. She saw many titles on every book she could see. Some she recognized, others she didn't, and even books that were in different languages of which she loved to read more. "This must be the temple's archives. I heard a thousand years ago, ponies still preferred to read from books rather than datapads because at the time they were still glitchy and could store small amount of data at a time. *Gasp* I wonder if they have any unpublished copies of Starswirl the Watchstallion's work here!" She levitated every book she could find and was reading small segments of pages in each book before moving on to the next one.

"Eh Twilight, I know you like to read through all this but we need to stay focus and find the main chamber," Garret said.

"Yeah, yeah, I know. Just give me a few minutes," Twilight said without looking back at Garret.

Garret raised an eyebrow at Twilight and T3 rolled his optic.

"This is going to be a long night," Garret commented.

"Beep."

"Okay, whose idea was it to go down the creepy hallway with hooves on the wall?" Dash asked as the trio was going down the hallway with metal hooves holding up burnt out candle placements.

"Ah think it was Trixie’s," Applejack said with a scrunched up face.

"No it was not!" Trixie objected. "It was your idea come into this hallway to hide from that strange shadow!"

"Oh, shut up! Anyways, it's better here than out there." Applejack pointed out.

"That’s true," Trixie agreed.

"What do you guys think it was?" Dash asked nervously. "It couldn't have been a ghost or something, right?"

"Yeah, it couldn't have been a ghost. Trixie only made that up just for fun," Trixie admitted.

Applejack rolled her eyes at the two. "Of course it wasn't a ghost. Only a foal would believe in those." Applejack then turned her back on the two looked down the hallway to see if there was another way to go. She felt an arm over her back and gave out a sigh. "Look, Ah know you two are scared but come on, at least show dignity without trying to hold on to one another."

"Umm Applejack, we're over here." Applejack looked over to see that both Rainbow Dash and Trixie were at the opposite side of her and saw that neither of them were holding her. She gulped and looked over to see a white hoof on her back coming from the wall.

"NNNAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

"WWWWAAAAAAAA! WHAT IN THE HEAVENS WAS THAT!?" Rarity shouted as she was trying to find a way back into the temple. She reached her hoof into the small hole thinking that some kind of device on the other side would open up a hidden passage on the other side. But unfortunately, she felt something alive and quickly backed away from the hole. "That's the last time I ever put my hoof into a hole!.......Okay, maybe there will be times for special occasions, but my point still stands!" Rarity turned her back on the wall and continued to find another way out into the temple. "Now that I think about it, why would I put my hoof into the hole in the first place? It's almost as if a writer is trying to get over his writer's block by making me put my hoof into the hole for comical tense.......Oh great, now I sound like Pinkie Pie."

Garret paced back and forth as he and T3 waited for Twilight to finish with her research. But it seemed like Twilight had the intention of reading every book in the entire library. Garret had to think of a way to get Twilight away from the books and continue their search for the main chamber. Garret tapped his chin a couple of times and an idea popped into his head.

"Twilight, we should continue looking for the chamber," Garret said.

"I know, I know, but just let me read a few more books," Twilight said not turning away from her books. "Why don't you go and look for the chamber yourself? I'll be in here if you need me for anything."

Garret let out a sigh. "Twilight, I didn't want to do this, but you leave me no choice."

"Huh? What are you talking about?"

"Twilight, Celestia trusted us with this mission-"

Twilight eyes widen and she quickly turned towards Garret. "Don't you dare say what I think you're about to say."

"And she's trusting you to complete it-"

"Garret! I mean it!"

"If she saw you like this, she would be-"

"Don't you dare!"

"-Disappointed."

Twilight's eyes twitched at the very word she most hated in the entire galaxy. She raised her hooves towards the galactic heavens and shouted, "NNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

"Why is there so much screaming going on around here?" the mysterious, cloaked figure said. The figure waited a few seconds before it gave out a shrug and started playing a pipe organ.

"Rarity? R-R-R-R-Rarity? Where are you?" Fluttershy whispered quietly as she was creeping along the halls in her strenuous search for Rarity. "Oh Angel, I really hope we find Rarity soon." She noticed that Angel wasn't giving her any response or anything and she looked back to see that he was gone as well. "Angel? Angel, where are you?" She started to panic a bit and began tearing up. "ANGEL!"

Twilight was leading Garret and T3 as she was mopping about having to leave the library without checking out anymore books that she wanted to read. 'Garret is right though, we have to stay focused and complete this mission. The entire Republic depends on us,' she thought to herself. Before long, the trio came upon a large door that stood several hooves tall and had two alicorns on each side with three orbs going around them.

Garret looked at the doors for a moment and soon realized something. "I remember these doors," he said. "They were in the vision I had."

"I believe you're right, Garret," Twilight agreed. "This is no doubt the chamber that Master Celestia spoke of."

Twilight's horn lit up with magic and she used it to open the door. The door opened slowly and dust was coming off of it as it moved. The trio went inside the room and Garret immediately recognized everything that was in his vision. Like in the vision, there were the two thrones at the very far end and in front of them was the large structure that had only one round orb on top of it.

"Yes, this is the chamber were the elements were being kept," Garret said. "And my visions were true. The other elements are gone."

"True, but Celestia did say that the sixth element would help us find them," Twilight explained. "We just need to find the sixth element."

"What is the sixth element?" Garret asked.

"Master Celestia told me about it before we left to come here," Twilight replied. "She said that it was the Element of Magic, the most powerful of all the elements. If she was right, which I have no doubt she is, then the element can show us where the others are and use them to stop Moonlight."

"What if it doesn't show us where they are?"

"Then if I have to guess, the element will show us how Eclipse and Moonlight found the Chaos Forge," Twilight answered.

"Alright, but where would the sixth element be?" Garret asked.

"That's a good question." Twilight examined the statue in front of them. To her, it was just a large round ball that was in the middle of where the other elements surrounded it. As she was thinking about it, why was there a large round statue there in the first place? Wouldn't it make more sense just to put the sixth element- "Of course," Twilight whispered.

"What was that?" Garret asked.

"I know where the element is," Twilight answered, having a huge smile on her.

"Really, where?" Garret quickly asked.

Twilight then pointed towards the statue. "There."

Garret looked over to where the statue was standing and he furrowed his brow in confusion.

Twilight let out a giggle. "Sorry, I should explain. The statue is the element."

"It is?" Garret said, doubtfully. "What made you think that it is the element?"

"Think about it. Why would you keep a piece of the element away from the others, when you know that all six element can be used against the forces of darkness? Why keep it away, when you can just hide it in plain sight?" Twilight explained.

"I see," Garret said. "But how would we use it? It too large to lift."

"I believe Lyra once told you that size doesn't matter to us unicorns. As long as we can feel the magic flowing through us, nothing too large or too small can stand in our way for peace." Twilight then lit up her horn and an aura of magic surround the large statue. As it did, the statue started to reacted to the magic around it and started getting smaller. When it shrunk down to the size of a hoof, Twilight levitated it over to her and took a closer look at it. As she was examining it, a small star carving appeared on it and it looked exactly like her cutie mark.

"Strange. When I was using my magic on it, a symbol of my cutie mark appeared on it," Twilight said.

"Maybe it's bonding with you," Garret suggested.

"Hmm, it's possible but we're not entirely sure yet," Twilight said. "Hopefully, we'll find out when we get back to the shi-"

Then all of a sudden, the orb brightly admitted a white glow around it and both Garret and Twilight's eyes glowed pure, white light. They both were seeing places and objects going through their minds and saw spire looking, three legged objects opening up, displaying maps and each one was surround by a different scenery. One was surrounded by a vast area of water, the other looked like it was in a cave covered by sand, the third was surrounded by ancient looking statues and had a dark presence to it, and the final one looked like it was surrounded by a lush forest with giant trees all around it. The orb stopped admitting the glowing light and dropped on to the ground while Twilight and Garret were catching their breath from the intense vision.

"What just happened?" Garret asked, after taking a moment to catch his breath.

"I don't know," Twilight replied. "I think the element just gave us a vision, but the places it showed us I couldn't recognize."

Garret took a moment to think to himself. "I think I know where they are," he said. Twilight looked over to him with a puzzled look. "I mean the planets, not where they actually are."

"You do? How?"

"I don't know, but it felt almost like that I was....there before," Garret replied, feeling confused.

"Do you know the name of the planets?" Twilight asked.

"Yeah, the first vision was the water world Marenaan, then Trotooine, Coltiban, and Kashyyyk."

"Interesting. We need to get back to the ship and contact Master Celestia at once," Twilight said. "She'll know what our next plan should-"

*CRASH!*

Garret and Twilight jumped up in the air as they heard a large smashing sound coming from a distance behind them.

"WHAT THE HECK WAS THAT?!" Twilight shouted.

Garret looked around the room for a moment. "Hey umm, where's T3?"

-A few minutes ago-

T3 was listening in on Garret and Twilight's conversation about the element and if it was possible for him, he would be feeling bored; very bored. T3 had a lot more fun being around Pinkie than Twilight and Garret. He didn't have any problems being friends with them or being with them. It was just nothing but talk between the two and he felt a bit useless being around them, especially Twilight. To him, Twilight was indeed nice and was no doubt a great unicorn like some many ponies claim her to be. But the problem was that she was incredibly intelligent for a pony and always knew what to do under dire circumstances. She could easily do complicated math equations without any calculators and could do it within seconds. Plus, she had magic on her side and could easily fix any problems with it. T3 gave out a robotic sigh as the two continued their conversation.

In the corner of T3's optics he detected some movement behind him and when he looked, he saw a small shadow creeping up and disappearing. Not wanting to interrupt his master and friend's conversation, he quietly went out of the room and followed to where the shadow went.

T3 looked around the corner of the door and saw the shadow move along the walls. T3 at first slowly rolled over to where the shadow was, but the shadow seemed to somehow know T3 was coming and looked like it was running from him. T3 quickly went into high gear and chased down the shadowy figure. After chasing it through a few corridors, the shadowy figure stopped at a dead end and looked over to see a blinding light from the droid. T3 flashed his lights at it to reveal a small white rabbit in front of him. T3 furrowed his optic at the little bunny in confusion. The rabbit, not liking T3 flashing his lights at it, went over to him and kicked him in the leg, causing both to yelp in pain. Recovering from the bunny's attack, T3 opened up his compartments in his chest to show several different claws and razor blades on extended arms with his optic red in anger. The rabbit gulped and gave an apologetic smile. It quickly dashed past T3 and T3 quickly chased after it. As the bunny was running away from the mechanized horror, it noticed an old looking curtain nearby and jumped on top to get to safety. But the curtain gave way from its weight and fell on top of T3's head with the curtain dropping on both of them. While confused, T3 was moving around in panic and was going down a hallway hitting against the side of the walls on the way.

"Trixie wants to go back to ship!" Trixie said, tearfully.

"I'm with Trixie on this, not because I'm scared or anything like that," Rainbow Dash said, holding in her fear of the temple.

"Ah agree, not the part that you're scared-"

"HEY!"

"-But this place is giving me the creeps and Ah'm getting the hay outta here," Applejack finished.

"WAIT! What about Garret and Twilight?" Rainbow Dash. "We can't just leave them here."

"Yes we can," Trixie quickly said.

"WHAT?! How could you say that? Garret gave you a second chance, remember?" Rainbow Dash said.

"Shoot! Trixie was hoping you wouldn't say that," Trixie whispered under her breath. "Fine! We'll take a good look around for them and get the buck outta here."

"All right, since that's settled then we'll-" Before Applejack could finish, a small cracking sound was made behind them causing the three to scream and gallop for their lives.

On another part of the temple, Fluttershy was slowly walking backwards as she was calling out for both Rarity and Angel in a low tone voice. "Rarity? Angel? Please let this be some kind of joke."

"What are you talking about, Fluttershy dear? What joke?"

Fluttershy turned around to see Rarity standing behind her while she was getting some small pieces of wood and leaves off of her mane. "RARITY!" Fluttershy shouted with glee and flew over to the fashionista knight; hugging her gently.

Rarity gave out a smile. "I'm glad to see you too Fluttershy," she said, rubbing the back Fluttershy's head. "Sorry that we got separated. But this temple is so stubborn about my restoration plans."

"I'm sure it has a good reason," Fluttershy said.

"It better," Rarity hissed at the walls.

"Rarity, do you know where Angel is? I tried looking for him but-" Before Fluttershy could finish, a ghost like figure came from around a corner was heading towards both Rarity and her. They both let out screams of terror and galloped for their lives.

Applejack, Trixie, and Rainbow Dash were galloping down in a hallway as fast as they could to get out of the temple with their eyes close out of pure terror. Fluttershy and Rarity continued to run from the ghostly figure in the same hallway as the trio. All of the ponies were running towards the other group as they each were running for different reason. They finally crashed into one another making a loud crash sound. The ghostly figure stopped and pulled off the curtains to reveal T3 and Angel looking down on the piled up ponies on the ground in confusion. T3 and Angel looked at one another and just shrugged.

Applejack was the first to get up and saw T3 and Angel standing in front of her.

"T3?"

"Appejack?"

"Rarity?"

"Applejack?"

"Rainbow Dash?"

"Dash?"

"Fluttershy?"

"Beep?"

"T3?"

Angel waved over to Fluttershy.

"Angel!"

"Angel?"

"Trixie!"

"Why did you say your own name?"

"Well, no one was saying it."

Dash rolled her eyes.

"What in the hay are y'all doing here?" Applejack asked.

"What are we doing here? What are you doing here?" Rarity asked.

"That's a very good question."

Everypony, T3 and Angel looked over to see both Twilight and Garret walking out of the room.

"*Le GASP* GARRET!" Rarity shouted, throwing herself at Garret causing the two of them to fall on the ground with her on top of him. "We were so worried about you! This temple is cursed and we need to get out of here!" she said, continuing her bone crushing hug.

"C-Can't...Breathe," Garret agonizingly said.

"What? That can't be tru-"

"But it is!" Rainbow Dash declared. "There was a dismembered hoof that grabbed me from the walls!"

"Wait a minute," Rarity said to herself.

"There was shadowy figure all over the place!" Trixie added.

"Oh dear, and we were chased by a ghost just a moment ago," Fluttershy added.

"I'm sure there is an explanation for all of-"

Then there was a loud music that sounded like a pipe organ was playing and everypony let out a yelping sound and surround themselves around Garret except Twilight as she cautiously looked around her surroundings.

"Losing...vision....lack...of.....air!" Garret quietly said as every mare was squeezing him tightly.

Twilight looked around the hallways to find out where the sound was coming from and looked over to T3. "Can you find out where the music is coming from?" she asked.

T3 gave a nod and used his built-in sonar to find out where it was coming from.

After a few moments of following T3, the group looked around a corner to see a large room filled with pillars and statues with a giant pipe organ in the center while a cloaked, dark looking figure was playing it.

"It's the ghost!" Trixie quietly said, shivering with fear.

"Or maybe not," Twilight stated and walked over to the figure. She let out a gulp as she was getting closer to the figure. With fear icing in the back of her spine, she used her magic to lift the cloak off of the figure when she was close enough and it was-

"PINKIE?!" eveypony shouted.

"BEEP?!"

"Hey everypony, did you know that I could play the organ? I sure didn't," Pinkie said and started playing sports "Charge!" theme.

Rainbow Dash flew over to Pinkie quickly. "You're the ghost?"

"What ghost?"

"See! What I tell ya!" Twilight said.

"Well, then why are you here?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"At first I was doing what Twilight told us to do and stayed on the ship after she was gone for a few minutes. Then I saw you, Applejack, and Trixie and was wondering why you guys were leaving. I was tempted to follow you girls, but I remembered that Twilight told us not to leave the ship and thought you all just forgot that at first. But then I saw Rarity and Fluttershy leave the ship and decided to follow you guys to your party."

"What party?" Twilight asked.

"The 'Don't listen to Twilight's orders and go to the temple anyway' party, duh!" Pinkie explained.

"Then why were you wearing a cloak?"

"It was chilly."

"Chilly?! It was a eighty-nine degrees outside!"

"I don't know, it was pretty chilly to me," Pinkie said, playing a few more key notes on the organ.

All of a sudden, a spring sprung under T3 shooting the little droid into the air.

"WWOOOOOOOOO-"

*CRASH*

"EEEEK! T3, NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

"-And that's the reason why we came here," Applejack said. Everypony was in a large bedchamber sitting around or exploring the room while they were explaining to both Twilight and Garret why they disobeyed Twilight's orders and came to the temple in the first place. "We're really sorry that we came here. If we didn't come along, none of this would have happened."

"It's okay, Applejack. You were doing the right thing by keeping an eye on those two," Twilight said.

"HEY!" Trixie and Rainbow Dash shouted.

"And I'm sorry as well," Rarity said. "I shouldn't have left the ship just to get some musky looking decorations and bring poor Fluttershy along as well."

"It's okay, Rarity," Fluttershy said, giving Rarity a gentle hug. "I wouldn't be much of a friend if I just let you go all alone and I did had the chance to have Angel to come along with us." Fluttershy then looked over to Angel standing on her back and gave him a smile.

"I guess we now have a new member of the team to come with us," Garret said. He looked over to Pinkie who was fixing T3. "Hey Pinkie, how's T3?"

"Good as new!" Pinkie exclaimed. She placed the last bandage on T3's chest and his optic started glowing blue again.

"Boop bee beep bee?"

"Oh nothing much, buddy. AJ was apologizing to Garret and Twilight about coming to the temple while they were looking for that what-sh-ma-call-it."

"Element of Harmony," Twilight corrected.

"Yeah that," Pinkie said.

Twilight then looked over to T3. "How were you able to fix him with just glue and bandages?" she asked Pinkie.

"What do you mean? You just saw me do it," Pinkie pointed out.

"I know but-...It's a very-...*sigh* Never mind," Twilight said wearily.

"Well, if we don't have anymore reason ta be here, Ah think it’s about time we got back to the ship," Applejack suggested.

"Agreed," Rarity said. "I've just had enough of this dreadful place anyway."

"If you don't mind Trixie asking, did you two find what we were looking for?" Trixie asked.

"Yes, but it's a bit more complicated than we thought, Twilight answered.

"What do you mean?" Applejack asked.

"We'll explain on the way," Garret said.

Everypony was now leaving the room with Twilight and Garret leading the way back to the Phoenix.

After several minutes of passing through the woods, the group saw the ship in sight and many of them were relieved to be back on it.

"Aw yeah! Glad to see my baby still were I left it," Rainbow Dash exclaimed.

"Indeed, it is marvelous to see it again," Rarity added.

"After this trip, there are two things Trixie hates now."

"What would that be?" Rarity asked

"Forests and temples," Trixie said bluntly.

Everypony let out a laugh after hearing that. When they got closer to the ship, the group saw Zaalbar and Canderous standing out of the ramp and each holding something in their paws or hand. In Zaalbar's hand he was holding up-

"Spike!?!" Twilight said confused by Spike being here.

"Hehe, hey Twilight," Spike said nervously having a sheepish smile.

"What are you doing here?" Twilight asked.

Canderous' face was covered in black ashes and his eyebrows looked like they were burnt off. In his paw he was holding up a small, white unicorn filly that had pale emerald irises and a light purple mane with pink streaks in it. She sheepishly smiled like Spike and waved at her-

"Sweetie Belle?!" Rarity said, shockingly.

"Oh, eh, hi sis," Sweetie Belle said, nervously.

"SIS?" Everypony, except Twilight, shouted in unison.

End of Chapter

Chapter 15: Plans and Stowaways

View Online

CHAPTER 15 PLANS AND STOWAWAYS

Both Rarity and Twilight glared down at their stowaways, Spike and Rarity's little sister, Sweetie Belle, in the Golden Phoenix's cargo hold while the others watched from the room's entrance. There was high tension in the room and Spike and Sweetie Belle were unfortunately the reason for it.

Finally, after several minutes of silence, Twilight spoke up. "Spike, Sweetie Belle, you are both going to tell us how you got in the ship and how you both stayed undetected for this long," Twilight said in a serious tone.

"Well, umm-" Spike began to say but couldn't find the words he needed at this point.

Sweetie Belle let out a sigh. "Wait! Before you both say anything, let me say that this was all my idea."

"What do you mean, Sweetie Belle?" Rarity asked, furrowing her brow.

"Well, it started when you told me you were leaving the academy-"

"What?! Why are you leaving?" Sweetie Belle asked her big sister, Rarity.

Rarity was packing her things in her seventh suitcase and was gathering all of her fashion equipment for the trip. She turned to face her sister. "I told you already. Master Celestia wants me to accompany Twilight and her friends on this important mission and if Twilight's involved, then it is the utmost importance that I help along with this journey the best I can."

"You're just saying that because the stallion you like is-"

"SWEETIE BELLE!"

"What!?" Sweetie Belle squeaked, being interrupted by her sister while she was telling the story.

"Please, sis. Leave some of the more personal details about our conversation between us," Rarity explained. She motioned her eyes towards Garret without anypony noticing except Sweetie Belle and she looked back and forth between the two.

Sweetie Belle thought for a moment and pointed at Garret. "Is he the one that you have a crus-"

"SWEETIE BELLE!"

"Okay, Okay! Sheesh. I was just making sure," Sweetie Belle said, defensibly. She then let out a sigh. "Anyways, I was asking her if I could come but she said-”

"No. I simply cannot let my little sister come along on this dreadful, dangerous, and more than likely to happen, dirty quest. What would happen if I let you come along and you got hurt!" Rarity then let out a gasp. "Or worse than that! What if you get your mane all tangled up or possibly lose it forever! No, I cannot let you go through that."

"But-"

Rarity stomped her hoof down. "No buts. You're staying and that's final," she said. "Now if you don't mind, I've to finish packing my designs." She turned her attention back to packing her things. "Now, where did I put my latest in-season saddlebag?" she said to herself.

Sweetie Belle made a pout and left Rarity's room.

After some time had passed, Sweetie Belle watched her sister leave with Twilight, the stallion that Rarity liked, and that new mare that she hadn't met before. As they were walking away, Sweetie Belle thought of an idea and quietly followed the trio to the ship. On the way, she saw Spike with them and saw how disappointed he was for not going along with them as well. So when the timing was right she grabbed Spike from the shadows and covered his mouth with her hoof.

Spike was struggling to get free from her until she spoke up in a hushed tone. "Spike!"

"Sweetie Belle?" Spike said, but what came out wasn't clear because of Sweetie Belle's hoof over his mouth. She then let go of Spike. "What are you doing? Why did you just try to foalnap me?"

"I'm going to sneak on the ship before Rarity and her friends leave," Sweetie Belle explained. "Wanna come?"

"WHAT?! Sweetie Belle that's ridiculous and we'll get into a lot of trouble if we do that," Spike said.

"But don't you want to be with Twilight? I mean, she does leave you here and you don't do that much around here anyway."

"Yeah, but-"

"And you might impress Rarity while we're with them."

"......Let's do this," Spike said confidently.

"I knew you would see it my way," Sweetie Belle commented with a satisfied smirk.

"Okay, but how are we going to sneak on to the ship anyway?"

"Hmmm." Sweetie Belle was stroking her chin until an idea popped into her head. "I got it!"

"What?"

"Why me?" Spike said to himself as he was stuffed in one of Rarity's suitcases with Sweetie Belle.

"Shush, we need to stay quiet," Sweetie Belle whispered.

"Okay, I'll try," Spike said. "What was in this case anyway?"

"Don't know. There was just nothing but shampoos, soaps, and other kinds of stuff my sister always packs."

"WHAT!?"

"Now what?" Sweetie Belle asked her sister after Rarity interrupted her.

"Sweetie Belle, those were all of my bathing supplies!" Rarity cried. "I had months of supplies to keep up with my beauty and to keep me looking as fresh as possible."

"Wait, months?" Twilight asked. "Rarity, we're on a mission of the utmost importance in galactic history and you're more concern about losing some of your beauty supplies?"

"Don't judge me, dear," Rarity said. "You can't possibly fight evil while not looking your best against it."

"Rarity, the reality of this is that when we do go into battle, all of our clothes would get damaged, our sweat would ruin the make up and get into our eyes, and we’ll have patches of bald spots on our fur," Twilight explained.

"And that's why you have somepony like me to keep you looking your best," Rarity said striking a pose and fluffing her curly mane.

Twilight rolled her eyes and looked over to Sweetie Belle and Spike. "And I guess the rest of the story is that you two were brought on the ship and hid the whole time we were on our way to Tythorn?"

"Yes," Sweetie Belle answered. "And then we were caught by those two." Sweetie Belle pointed at both Canderous and Zaalbar.

"How did they catch you?"

"How long are we supposed to stay in here?" Spike asked. "We've been in here for hours!"

"I don't know. I didn't really think we would make it this far," Sweetie Belle confessed.

"So, should we get out?"

"Might as well."

Sweetie Belle used what little magic training she acquired to open the suitcase up. Unfortunately she was still far from using magic and had a worried look on her.

"Well? Aren't you going to open it?" Spike asked.

"I uh...We may have a problem."

"We're stuck aren't we?"

"Yeah."

"Hold on, I got an idea," Spike calmly said and used his index claw to pick at the lock. The lock came undone and the case was opened.

"Wow! How did you do that?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"Some of the colts would shove me in a locker or broom closet and I eventually learned how to use my claws as a lockpicker."

"That sounds terrible."

"Nah, you get use to it."

"So how-"

"Hey, did you hear something?" a voice spoke up in the corridors.

Sweetie Belle let out a gasp. "Oh no! We need to hide!" she whispered.

"Quick! In here!" Spike said, pointing to a large canister attached to the wall. Sweetie Belle quickly jumped into it and Spike followed and closed the small door behind them. As they were trapped inside they heard voices but couldn’t tell what they were saying outside and were more preoccupied by a delightful smell.

Sweetie Belle took a couple of sniffs in the air. "Hmmm, something smells good in here."

"I can't see what's in here but it's making me hungry," Spike said.

"Hold on, let me see what I can do about that," Sweetie Belle said. Her horn started to illuminate and they both were able to see what was around them. "Snacks?" she said, confusedly.

"We must be in a food storage," Spike said. He looked over some of snacks and furrowed his brow. "Why is there a couple of bones here?"

The top of the storage was opened and a large paw was trying to grab on to something.

"Blast! I can’t find those bones anywhere in here," Canderous said. While trying to avoid Canderous' paws, Sweetie Belle went over to grab a bone and placed it in his paws. "There we go." Canderous pulled out the bone and started chewing on it.

"You're welcome," Sweetie Belle said and Spike smacked himself in the face.

"What? Oh right, thank you," Canderous said to the storage and started walking away until his eyes widened. "Hey, wait a minute!"

Canderous opened the storage and was looking down on both Sweetie Belle and Spike. "What the-"

"RUN!" Spike shouted and sprayed whipped cream in Canderous' eyes.

"AAAAAAA! MY EYES!" Sweetie Belle and Spike made a run for it as Canderous was getting the whipped cream out of his eyes. While they were running, they went past Zaalbar as he was checking to see what was going and was confused by the two newcomers. Zaalbar scratched his head for a moment and Canderous came out of the storage room.

"Those two are stowaways! GET THEM!" Canderous shouted. Zaalbar retorted in his language. "What?! Who cares that I'm the boss or not, just get them!" Canderous said and went after the duo. Zaalbar gave a shrug and followed him.

Canderous was checking the engine room and Sweetie Belle was under the port side engine. Canderous took a few sniffs with his nose. "You can hide, but I can smell you," Canderous warned as he was sniffing around. Sweetie Belle started to sweat a bit as Canderous was walking near her. Her heart was beating fast as his steps drew closer and closer to her. Soon though his paws went past where she was and she let out sigh of relieve. But she let out a shriek when something pulled her tail and saw Zaalbar holding her by it. Canderous looked behind him and gave out a smirk smile. "Ha! One down, one to go."

"LET HER GO!"

The three looked over to where Spike was standing having a fierce look on him. Still having a smirk on him, Canderous walked over to the small dragon showing the height difference between the two. "Or what?" Canderous asked, mockingly.

Spike inhaled a large amount of air and covered Canderous' head in a stream of green fire from his mouth. When Spike ran out of breath, the fire died down and Canderous' head was covered in ashes and his eyebrows were singed off. He then fell on the ground unconscious, passing out from the pain.

"YEAH! Who's the number one dragon now?!" Spike gloated and did a little dance until Zaalbar caught him by the tail and held him up. "HEY! Let me go!" Spike shouted and tried to breath out another wave of fire. But all that came out was just a spark of fire and Spike blushed a bit. "Oops, used too much of it already." Spike looked over to see Sweetie Belle being held by a coat rack and was being hung over with her robe on it. She struggled as much as she could but it was to no avail. Zaalbar walked over to the rack and tied Spike's tail to it and Spike was hanging upside down with his arms crossed. "Well, this is just humiliating," Spike said.

"Well, at least it couldn't get any worse, right?" Sweetie Belle said, sheepishly.

Spike smacked himself in the face again.

"Hey Zaalbar, what's going on? I was trying to take a nap and you guys were-" Scootaloo came out of the starboard dormitory. She paused to look over to see the two pair on the rack and then looked over to Zaalbar with a puzzled look. "What the heck did I miss?"

Twilight and Rarity continued to glare down on the two trouble makers.

"You're grounded, Sweetie Belle," Rarity said.

"Aw nuts," Sweetie Belle complained.

"And you're grounded as well," Twilight said.

"From what?" Spike asked.

"Not from what, for what you're going to do," Twilight explained. "You're going to be reading the entire section of Star Swirl's magical theories."

"A-All of them?"

"Yes."

Spike's eyes twitched a bit and he raised his hands towards the heavens. "NNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Everypony, droid, minotaur, and diamond dog rolled their eyes.

Twilight then turned to the group. "Pinkie Pie, I need you to....No, wait. Rainbow Dash, you can....No, no, that's worse."

"HEY! I understand Pinkie, but why not me?" Rainbow Dash argued. "I looked over Scootaloo, didn't I?"

"Actually, Zaalbar looked over me more while you were out at the bar a lot," Scootaloo added.

"Not helping, squirt."

Twilight thought of it for a moment. "You're right. Zaalbar, you look over these two."

"That's more- WAIT, WHAT?!"

Zaalbar gave out a shrug and just nodded in agreement.

"Alright, Garret and I need to contact Master Celestia right now," Twilight said. "We need to tell her what happened at the temple and see what our next move is."

"Ah can set that up for ya," Applejack said.

"Great. Let's get to it."

Everypony was standing around the holotable as Applejack was trying to contact Master Celestia at the Enclave on White Tail. After a few moments of waiting for a response, Celestia, Lyra, Morning Right and several other members of the council appeared and were facing Twilight's and Garret's direction.

"Master Celestia," Twilight said giving a small bow to her teacher and giving her a smile.

Celestia did the same. "Twilight, it is good to hear from you. Did you find the element?"

"Yes, we did," Twilight answered. "Unfortunately, it didn't show us where the others were though."

"I see. This is most disturbing," Celestia said. "Eclipse and Moonlight must have hid them somewhere the elements can't connect with one another and if I had to guess, it would more than likely be on the Chaos Forge. Whatever dark magic is there is blocking the elements connection."

"I agree, but the element of magic has given us more insight."

"Has it? Please do tell us."

"It showed us visions of strange looking objects on different worlds. Garret was able to identify these worlds and concluded that these objects are maps that could lead us to the Forge."

Celestia paused for a moment. "Very well then, Twilight. You and the others will go and find the these maps and use them to lead you to the Chaos Forge. When you find it, contact us and we'll prepare for what is to come."

"I understand, Master, but can I make a quick come back to the enclave?"

"Why would you need to return?"

Twilight motioned both Sweetie Belle and Spike to come face Celestia and the council with shame as their expression. "These two sneaked on to the ship and caused some trouble for our team."

"We're sorry, Grandmaster Celestia," Sweetie Belle said, sorrowfully.

"Me too, Master Celestia," Spike said.

"Why would you two sneak away from the enclave?" Celestia asked.

"Because I didn't want to be away for my sister for so long and I wanted to help her in any way I could," Sweetie Belle pleaded, making Rarity smile at her little sister.

"And I always get left behind," Spike said. "Seriously, it almost feels like you don't want me around."

"Spike! You know that's not true," Twilight countered. "It's dangerous and you're too young."

"What!? Scootaloo told me all about how she saved you all by herself and she's twelve! I'm fourteen!"

Twilight glared over to Scootaloo who had a sheepish smile on her. "I may have changed a few things in my version of the story," Scootaloo explained.

Twilight rolled her eyes. "Spike. It doesn't matter what she did, it's what you did and what you did was act out and not do what I said. And whatever Sweetie Belle said to convince you to come along with her probably wasn't a very good reason. I am very disappointed."

Spike lowered his head down in shame. "I know and I'm really sorry about it, Twi. All I want to do is to help."

Twilight had a smile on her. "I know you do and I'm proud that you want to." Then there was a long pause between the two. Twilight looked over to Celestia and said, "On second thought, Master. I think Spike can come along with us."

Spike's eyes widened with surprise and glee. "Really!?"

"Yes. I can be a little overprotective at times-"

"A little?"

"Okay fine, very overprotective. But you are growing up and will eventually start traveling the galaxy on you own, so might as well do it with me." Twilight then gave Spike hug.

All of the mares were 'awwing' while some of males were rolling their eyes around except for Garret and T3.

Sweetie Belle looked over to Rarity and she was holding out her hooves for a hug. Rarity smiled and hugged her little sister.

"Can I come now?" Sweetie Belle asked, innocently.

"Hmmm, no."

"Aw nuts."

Everypony in the room started to laugh including some of the council members.

After Celestia was done giggling, she said, "Since that is taken care of, we'll await your arrival and-" Then all of a sudden there was some static over the holotable. Everypony looked over to Applejack as she looking and pressing on buttons to see what the problem was.

"Ah think we lost the signal," Applejack stated. "I think something is jamming it."

"Is it a problem at our end?" Garret asked.

"No. I think it's a problem on their end," Applejack said.

Then there was silence in the room. A very dark and dreadful silence in the room.

"C-Can you do something about it?" Twilight asked.

"Nothing much Ah can do," Applejack said. "We'll just have to wait and-"

Then Celestia appeared on the holotable again but had a more concern expression on her. "Twilight, can you hear me?" she asked while static was going off in the background.

"Yes, master, I can hear you. What's happening?"

"Moonlight and his forces have come upon us."

"WHAT?!"

"Their fleet has come out of hyperspace and are attempting to cut us off from all communication. I was only able to use a communication channel they haven't been able to block yet. Twilight, I need you to contact the Republic and send help."

"Yes, master, we'll send in help right away and we'll join you in-"

"No, Twilight!" Celestia interrupted. "You must go now and start finding the Chaos Forge's maps and find out where in the entire known galaxy it is. Time is of the essence, my little apprentice. I trust that you will agree with me on this."

Twilight just stood there in silence dreading the situation. She was just told to abandon the enclave, her fellow knights, and her master. She knew the importance of this mission but was it really worth leaving behind lives at the mercy of Moonlight's fleet? With a heavy heart and burden she let out a sigh and changed her expression into a serious one. "I understand, master." She turned to Applejack. "Applejack, send word to the Republic quickly about the situation. The fleet Celestia has won't hold Moonlight's fleet for long."

"Aye aye, sugarcube," Applejack replied and gave a salute. She then pressed on a few more buttons on the controls. "I've sent the message, hopefully they'll get it and send help right away."

Twilight nodded at Applejack and turned back to Celestia. Her expression softened. "Will you be alright, master?"

Celestia gave a small smile. "I will. Moonlight isn’t the first tyrant have faced and I’m more than prepared for whatever plan he has. May the Will of Harmony be with you all." Celestia holographic appearance was gone and the transmission was over.

There was another moment of silence.

"I can't believe it," Rarity said. "First Hoovris and now this? Our own homeworld? Is Moonlight really that desperate for power?"

"I'm afraid so, Rarity" Twilight said. "Now is not the time to worry about Celestia and the others. They are highly trained warriors of magic and can take care of themselves. We must start looking for the maps as soon as possible and hopefully stop Moonlight before any other planet comes under attack by his forces."

Applejack tapped her chin a couple of times. "You and Garret said that Tatooine was one of the planets right?"

"Yes."

"That's the closest planet on the star chart. We can get there in no time"

"Then that's where we go," Twilight said. "Rainbow Dash, take us to Trotooine."

"You got it, boss mare," Rainbow Dash said with a salute.

The Phoenix's engines started blazing with blue energy and disappeared to another part of the galaxy. Unknown to the crew of the Phoenix came another ship. It's hull was slanted and large as the bridge of it was in the very front. It had three massive engines with two gun turrets on the left and right side engines with the last one on the bottom of the ship. Inside the ship was Calo Ford who was piloting the ship with Sunset Shimmer sitting in the co-pilot seat with her front legs crossed.

Sunset looked over to Calo. "Why didn't we attack them while they were still in their ship?"

"As powerful as my ship can be, I’d rather not kill our targets," Calo replied. "You may not want to take your 'precious' Twilight alive, but I've been given a large sum of credits just to take her alive. Even if I was able to disable the ship, we would be outnumbered and they have a better advantage of fighting us on their ship then ours. So we'll wait until they reach their next destination and take them on there."

"So where is it then?"

"The computer needs time to track their next destination."

"Great," Sunset said sarcastically.

"Hey, um, where is the food?" Snails asked from the back.

"It's in the cargo hold," Calo said. "For the seventh time."

"But I can't seem to find it in there."

*Sigh*

"I'll help you find it," Snip said. "You always get lost everywhere we go."

"Do not," Snails defended.

"Do too."

"Do not."

"Do too!"

"Do not!"

"DO TOO!

"DO NOT!"

"Tartarus! They should have payed me to put up with you two!" Calo shouted.

"They should have given me better guards," Sunset whispered to herself. "Damn you, Soul."

End of Chapter

Chapter 16: The Desert World

View Online

Chapter 16: The Desert World

The Golden Phoenix came out of a hyperspace jump from the planet Tythorn and was heading towards the desert world known as Trotooine. In the ship's cockpit, Rainbow Dash and Applejack were in the twin pilot seats as Twilight and Garret watched the sand-filled planet begin to encompass all the view.

"Well, there it is, Trotooine," Dash announced. "The desert frontier where farmers come to in hopes of making a life or hunters that come chase down the most exotic creatures in all the galaxy. Also famous for their cantinas and races."

"Races?" Garret asked.

"Yeah, they have some of the best swoop racers around these parts," Dash explained. "Hoovris is best known to be the central point of all the swoop racing but Trotooine was one of the few planets that started making race tracks."

Garret thought about it for a moment and a small smile appeared on him. "We still have the swoop bike that Gadon gave us. It would be nice to race around again."

"Huh, I wondered where we got that bike from but it didn't bother me at the time," Dash said. "So Gadon from the Beks gave it to you? When did you race?"

"He gave it to me after we got back a prototype engine that the Griffons took from them and he let me use it to race in the Grand Swoop Race. It was basically my first race."

"Oh, that’s cool. No offence, but I'm pretty sure you lost that race since it was your first time." Dash grabbed a nearby drink of soda. "So, who won? I never did find out since I was locked up by Bluejerk himself."

"I did."

Dash was gulping down her drink and when Garret answered her, she gagged on it and spit it out on Applejack's face. "WHAT!?!?" she exclaimed. Applejack had a deadpan expression on her while Dash's drink was dripping down her face. "HOW!?"

"It's kinda a long story," Garret said. "Sorry that I never told you. I guess since we've been busy a lot, I never did have the chance to tell you."

"I wanna know, I wanna know, I wanna know, I wanna know!" Dash repeatedly said as she was face to face with Garret.

"Alright, I'll tell ya," Garret let out a small laugh.

"Ah'll just land the ship myself," Applejack said. "I know where the town is anyway."

The ship entered the planet's atmosphere and was traversing the skies of Trotooine over the sea of sand. Over the horizon was a small town that was surrounded by tall walls. There were hangar platforms that were in the shape of round circular arenas and the ship was hovering over one. It started descending down into the hangar and let out its landing gear. The ship softly landed and the ramp came open revealing Twilight, Garret and the rest of the crew behind them. They came out of the vessel with Twilight leading and they all gathered in front of it

Twilight then turned to the the crew behind her. "Alright everypony, listen up. We're going to search around and see if anypony might give us a lead to where this star map is. Also, while we're here, we should grab what supplies we can but getting only what we need."

"Then that goes double for the pink mare," Canderous commented.

"Pinkie? What makes you say that?" Twilight asked, curiously.

Canderous pointed behind Twilight and she looked over to see Pinkie Pie trying out a showmare's outfit that had purple colored skirt attached to a black chest piece with a purple choker necklace around her neck with a purple feather in her newly styled mane.

Twilight smacked herself in the face.

"Ooooh~ I like it!" Pinkie exclaimed. "How much was it again?"

"Two thousand credits," the sales pony replied with an unwavering expression.

"Deal!"

"PINKIE!!!" Twilight shouted.

"What?"

"What did I just say!?"

"But Twilight, I neeeeed it~" Pinkie defended.

"For what!?"

"For the upcoming song I was going do in this story arc."

"WHAT!? I-I don't- NO!"

"Awwwww." In one instant, Pinkie undressed herself out of dress and gave it back to the salespony. She walked back over to the group with a frown on her complexion.

Twilight let out a sigh. "Does anypony have a question?"

"Didn't Garret say that it was somewhere out in the desert?" Dash asked. "Why don't we just use the ship to scan the planet and find it that way? It'll take like ten seconds flat."

"I'm afraid it's not that simple," Twilight replied. "This is a recently discovered planet and the Republic hasn't had a chance to map out the areas with the war going on, so we would have to scan the entire planet for weeks or months to find those areas. Moreover, from what we've gathered from the vision that Garret and I had seen it’s within a cave and our scans would be less than likely pick it up because of the interference."

"Woah. That sounds complicated and boring," Dash commented. "So, if we can't do that, then how are we going to find it?"

"Like I suggested, we'll look around here and see if we can find any clues and ask around to see if there is somepony who knows of any caves nearby," Twilight explained.

"I guess we should start looking then," Dash said. "I'll fly up and see what this town has to offer." She looked up to sky and flew up towards the sky in a flash leaving behind a trail of rainbow light.

Applejack let out a whistle. "I have ta admit, she really is fast when she wants to be."

"There was never any doubt, AJ," Scootaloo said. "Right, Big Z?"

Zaalbar let out a roar in agreement.

"Well, in either case, we better get moving and search around," Twilight said. "Garret, Applejack and I will go find whoever is in charge of this town and see if they know anything."

"An excellent idea, Twilight," Rarity complimented. "If you don't mind, I'll take charge of gathering supplies for the ship and keep in check of credits."

Twilight nodded. "Alright Rarity, you can take charge of that. Everypony else can explore the town for a while but we'll need to meet back here before dawn," she said. "Understood?"

All of the crew nodded in agreement.

"Alright then."

The crew soon exited out of the hanger and into the town after they paid for the landing fee and the additional days they might stay in the hanger. The crew made their separate ways and formed three different groups. Twilight, Applejack and Garret began their search for the leader of the town or anyone that was in charge. Sweetie Belle, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Spike and T3 went along with Rarity to help out with securing any supplies that was needed. Trixie, Zaalbar and Scootaloo decided to search around town and find out any information that would be useful. Canderous was the only one that decided to stay behind and keep the ship safe while the others were gone.

After sometime of asking and looking around, Twilight, Applejack and Garret were able to find out that the town had a mayor that was in charge and knew where she was. The three were able to find where the mayor's building was and were able to meet her since she didn't have any business at the time. When they walked into the office, they saw an earthpony mare sitting on a chair behind a desk. She was a middle age looking mare that had pale tan fur and grey mane. She had on a pair of small glasses over her blue eyes and her cutie mark was that of a scroll with a blue ribbon tied around it.

"Hello there, I'm Mayor Mare and I welcome you to Anchorhead, the finest town on Trotooine," the mayor said. "What can I do for you today?"

"Hello mayor, I'm Twilight Sparkle, a member of the Unicorn Order, and I was hoping that you might help us."

"A member of the order out here?" Mayor Mare questioned. "Well, this is a surprise for me. How exactly can I help?"

"Has anypony found any kind of ancient maps or mysterious artifacts out here or in the desert lately?"

"Ancient maps? I'm afraid I haven't heard anything about that nor have I heard anything about mysterious objects."

"Would you know of anypony that would?" Twilight asked.

"You would more than likely have a better chance at speaking with some of the hunters here about that. They're the only ones that go out into the dune seas because of regulations," the mayor explained.

"Regulations?"

"Yes. Only hunters or business ponies are permitted to go out into the desert to either hunt down some of the dangerous predators that lurk around here, transporting cargo goods from other nearby towns or are taking care of the sand buffaloes."

"Sand buffaloes? What are those?" Applejack asked.

"Very large bison creatures that live out in the desert wearing nothing but clothes all over their bodies and wear some kind of masks over their faces. They've been very territorial and we've always tried to stay away from them but recently they've been attacking our transports from the other towns and shoot just about anyone that gets in their range," the mayor explained. "I've made contracts with a business called Czerka to take of it in exchange of some mining rights but so far they have been unsuccessful at stopping them and now they're rewarding any hunters that kill a buffalo and bring back their gaffi sticks."

"Is there any way we could help?" Twilight asked.

"We would be more than welcomed to have a Solar Knight to help us," Mayor Mare said. "You will need to speak with Weather Beak. She's in charge of the operation for Czerka and will need to talk to her about letting you go out into the desert."

"Can't ya just give us permission to go? Ya are the mayor after all," Applejack said.

"True, but I left Weather Beak in charge of letting who would go out. She's much better at it than I am," the mayor admitted.

"Weather Beak is a strange name for a pony," Garret commented.

"It would be if she was a pony," Mayor Mare said. "She's actually a griffon."

"A griffon?" Applejack asked raising a brow.

"Well, Czerka is mostly a griffon made business so it would make sense for them to have a griffon in charge of it here," Mayor Mare explained. "You don't have a problem with that do you?"

"We just had some griffon problems in the past when we were on Hoovris," Applejack explained.

"I can assure you that if these griffons harm you or anypony in any way they will have to answer to me," the mayor assured.

"Just asking ma'am."

"Thank you for your help, Mayor Mare," Twilight asked. "We appreciate it and we'll see if we can do anything about your buffalo troubles."

"You're welcome Ms. Twilight and-" the mayor paused for a moment. "I'm sorry, I didn't get the rest of your names."

"Garret, ma'am. Also a member of the order and a Solar Padawan."

"And I'm Applejack."

"Applejack?"

"Yes ma'am."

"Umm, by any chance do you know an Applebloom?"

Applejack's eyes widened with shock. "Y-Yes, I do. But it can't be the same Applebloom I know."

"Are you sure? She is around fourteen."

"F-Fourteen?"

"Yes."

"I-I.....Twilight. Garret. Can you two leave me with the mayor for a few moments?" Applejack asked with concern in her voice.

"Applejack, what is going-"

"Of course, Applejack," Garret interrupted Twilight. "We will leave you with the mayor."

Garret guided Twilight out of the mayor's office and closed the door behind them with his magic.

Applejack looked at the mayor with a stern look which was making her nervous. "Please, tell me everything you know," she said.

Outside of the office, Twilight looked at Garret with a puzzled look.

"Garret, what's going on? Who is Applebloom and how does Applejack know her?" Twilight asked.

"Applebloom is Applejack's little sister," Garret replied. "She told me about her around the time when I first became an unicorn."

"Okay, then why did Applejack not know that Applebloom was here?" Twilight asked. "If she's her sister, surely she would have known where-"

"Twilight......Applejack thought she died seven years ago," Garret replied.

Twilight eyes widen in horror. "W-What? What do you-"

"Are you aware of the planet, Telos IV?"

Twilight nodded. "It was one of the first planets to fall under Moonlight's armada after he bombarded the surface and left it almost barren."

"It was also where Applejack lost her family," Garret added.

Twilight ears lowered and her shock expression quickly turned into a sorrowful one. "I feel so sorry for her. Another tragedy that Moonlight has caused in the galaxy."

"It wasn't Moonlight that caused the planet to fall," Garret corrected.

Twilight looked up to Garret confusedly. "What do you mean?" she asked.

"While Moonlight did lead the attack, he had somepony on his inside that gave him access around the security systems of the planet and helped him launched a surprise attack on key locations of the Republic's defenses," Garret explained.

"A traitor?"

Garret nodded.

"Who was it?"

"He was a former mentor to Applejack and was once a trusted friend," Garret replied. "His name was Soul."

"Soul. I know that pony," Twilight said. "He's the Imperial fleet's high admiral and a shared second-in-command to Moonlight. He served the Republic before the Diamond Dog Wars and was greatly rewarded for his dedication during it. But now as you can guess, he now serves the Imperials and is part of the reason why they have been successful in this war."

"From what Applejack told me, he did it so he could prove his loyalty towards Moonlight and tried to recruit her."

"Wait. She was aware about Soul's intentions and never mentioned them?"

"She didn't think he was serious and thought his age was getting to him after the war. This was before the Imperials started invading the outer colonies," Garret explained.

"How many of her family members were there?" Twilight asked.

Before Garret could say anything, the door to the mayor's office was opened and Applejack came walking out with a concerned look on her. She looked up from the ground to see her two friends looking at her with looks of concern. "We better get a move on, we don't have much time," she said walking by the two.

"Applejack, was it her?" Garret asked.

"Yes and we don't have much time," Applejack replied.

"What do you mean?"

"Just gather up the crew and I'll explain then," Applejack replied and led the way back towards the ship.

"Pinkie, no!" Rarity said to Pinkie as she was trying to buy a large amount of baking supplies.

"But Rarity, we need these for all the unexpected surprises and last second parties," Pinkie pleaded. "Do you know how hard it is to come up with a party from out of nowhere? Well, it's easy but I need supplies to make as many cakes as possible! You can't have a party without cake!"

"I said no!"

"Awww."

Rarity had taken her group to the food market to replenish their supplies and to make sure that everything was what they needed and let the exception of some of the crew to but small things for themselves. Sweetie Belle only wanted to have a bag of candy, Fluttershy was getting carrots for her pet, Angel, and T3 was getting motor oil while Spike brought his own bag of gems so he didn't have to get anything. Pinkie, however, was making it difficult for her as she was trying to get five times of everything. Luckily, Rarity was able to prevent Pinkie from doing so and kept a constant eye on her.

In the corner of Rarity's eyes, she spotted Rainbow Dash flying around the market stands searching frantically for something. Dash looked down to see Rarity and the others and flew over to them. She landed right next to Rarity and spoke up. "Hey guys, what's up?

"Nothing much. We were just getting some supplies around for the ship," Rarity replied. "So, how was your flight?"

"Eh, it was good being able to fly around and all, but unfortunately they have these sentry droids to prevent any pony from leaving the city without permission," Dash explained. "Something about safety protocol or something."

"I can understand why they would do that. It could be dangerous outside of these walls if we're not careful," Rarity said. All of a sudden, her commlink started to make beeping sounds and she grabbed it swiftly to see what was causing it.

"What is it, Rares?" Dash asked.

"I'm getting a call from Twilight," Rarity replied. She turned on the device and a small hologram of Twilight appeared over it. "Twilight darling, is there something you need?"

"Yes, we need everypony back at the ship as soon as possible," Twilight said. "We might have a clue on where to start but something just came up."

"What is it?"

"Applejack will explain when we all meet up," Twilight replied and the hologram disappeared.

Rarity placed the commlink back into her robe and looked over to Dash. "Well, you heard her, we better head back right now," she said. She turned towards her group. "Alright everypony, we better head back to the ship."

"Why? Did something happen?" Spike asked.

"Twilight wanted every one of us back at the ship. Apparently something must have come up," Rarity explained. "Now then, let's get- Wait a moment. Where's Pinkie?"

Rarity looked around to find the super hyper active pink pony but was unable to find her along with T3 being missing as well. "Oh Tartarus," she cursed.

On the other side of town, Pinkie and T3 were strolling along the sandy streets as they were sight seeing the town and looking for things to buy. Pinkie was 'oohing' and 'awing' at everything she was seeing, thus making it harder for her to decide what to buy. T3 was strolling along side her and would catch a glance at something that seemed interesting to him. After some time of walking, they both came to a stop for a moment in front of a droid shop and were looking at all the shut down droids and parts.

"Beep boo boo beep."

"Oh, don't worry, silly," Pinkie said with a giggle. "You're the only droid I want. I just wanted to check out some of them and see if we can get you any upgrades you might like..........or at least find a way to turn your chest into an oven so we can make all the baked goods on our super adventures!"

"Beep boo."

"Yeah, yeah. I know I'm hoping for too much but you have to admit it's a pretty cool idea," Pinkie retorted.

"Beep."

Suddenly T3 was receiving a transmission of some kind and from his optics he projected a holographic image of Rarity.

"Oh, WOW! Rarity, when did you begin living in T3? And why are you so small and blue?"

Rarity smacked herself in the face. "Pinkie, I'm talking to you through T3 transmission. All droids have them!"

"Even mouse droids?"

"Well, I uh....Okay, never mind. Not all droids have them, but that is not the point," Rarity replied. "Twilight wants us back at the ship now, so come on back." The image of Rarity disappeared and T3 looked over to Pinkie.

"Aawww man, we just started looking for that oven too," Pinkie complained. "Oh well, might as well get going."

Pinkie trotted back on the path she came and T3 followed her as they both went straight past a rusty-looking orange droid pony that was shut down and simply stood there lifeless.

After sometime, Pinkie was bouncing up and down with T3 until she saw the ship with everypony gathered up in a group. Every one of them looked over to see both Pinkie and T3 coming towards them. Rarity had an annoyed expression and walked over to the pink pony.

"Pinkie! Why did you leave the group? Don't you know that's dangerous?!" Rarity shouted. "What were you thinking?"

"But I really wanted to check out more of the town," Pinkie defended. "And T3 wanted some upgrades."

"Fine. But don't go running off without me knowing again," Rarity said. "So what did you get for T3?"

"Well, I tried to get an oven for him but it wouldn't stick or anything like that," Pinkie replied. She then let out a sigh. "There's only so much space duck tape that you can use."

Rarity just stared at Pinkie with half lidded eyes and a blank expression. She let out a sigh. "At least you didn't spend any of your credits on it."

"Oh, I did," Pinkie corrected. "The oven is right here." She stepped aside to show that the oven was right behind her with T3 pulling the thing with a rope tied around his torso. "I payed three thousand credits for it, sounds like a sweet deal, right?" she asked having a beaming smile on her.

Rarity's left eye twitched for a moment and had her mouth open and closed as she was trying to find the right words to say to Pinkie. Unfortunately there were none to be found as she was at the end of her breaking point - which she didn't think she had before.

"Can we please get back to what's important here!" Applejack more announced than asked. "I would like everypony to pay attention."

Pinkie nodded and bounced over to the group with T3 right behind her dragging the oven while Rarity let out a low growl and joined them.

"What exactly do you want from us?" Trixie asked. "Trixie was in the middle of proving to this diamond jerk here why Trixie is so great and powerful." There was a pause in her sentence. "And to win some bets with him as well."

"No pony cares," Applejack harshly said. "We're going to start up a rescue operation!"

"Rescue operation?" Canderous said. "For who?"

Everypony attention on Applejack as it seemed she was struggling to find the words in her mouth. She let out a sigh. "We're going to rescue my sister, Applebloom."

End of Chapter

Chapter 17: HK-47

View Online

CHAPTER 17 HK-47

On the way towards the Czerka headquarters, Applejack was taking the lead with Garret, Twilight, T3, Pinkie Pie, Rarity and Fluttershy following right behind her. Applejack looked very tense and with each step she took, she became more anxious. It was only recently that she told the entire crew about her little sister, Applebloom, and that she was taken hostage from the sand buffaloes. The thought of anything horrible happening to her sister made her blood boil with rage but the fear of losing her again also filled in her mind.

Sensing Applejack's stress, Twilight trotted over next to her. "Are you okay, Applejack?" she asked. "I know you're worried about Applebloom and we will do our best to help you get her back but the stress in you right now isn't going to make the situation any better."

Applejack wiped away the sweat from her forehead. "Ah know, Ah know but Ah haven't seen my sis in years and all that time Ah thought she was dead. We have to hurry up and save her as soon as possible," she pleaded.

"Don't worry Applejack, we will do everything we can to help her," Twilight said. "You have my word as a Solar Knight."

Applejack smiled. "Thank ya, Twilight,"she said. "I don't care what any of the others say, you're okay in my book."

"Thank you, Applejack. I-" Twilight paused for a moment. "Wait, what?"

Applejack snickered. "I'm just pulling your leg, Twi." she joked. "Half of it is true though."

"What!? Who-"

"There it is," Rarity said and pointed over to it.

In front of the group was a large, rectangular building that was made of sandy stone. It had several small cracks around it and was very close to the other buildings. Near the front of it were both ponies and griffon workers that were working on vehicles or moisture vaporators.

Rarity took a few steps forward until Pinkie bounced right in front of her. "Wait!" she shouted.

"What is it, dear?" Rarity asked concernedly.

"How do we know if that's the actual headquarters?" Pinkie raised a brow. "For all we know it could be a trap."

Rarity had a puzzled expression on her, including the others.

"What are ya talking about, Pinkie?" Applejack asked. "This is the right place."

"Oh, yeah? What makes you think that it really is the place?" Pinkie was within Applejack's personal space as she was eyeing down Applejack's eyes.

Applejack gave a deadpan expression. "Because there's a sign that says the name right there!" She pointed to where the sign was, hanging over the doorway.

Pinkie eyed the sign as she squinted at it. "I don't know," she said. "I've never heard of a sign before."

Applejack smacked herself in the face.

"Plus, look at the way the griffons and ponies are working together so well," Pinkie explained. "Not to mention the way they're smiling! I don't like it! I don't like it one bit."

Applejack let out a groan. "If you want to, We can go in ourselves and you can stay out here and wait," she suggested.

Pinkie rubbed her chin for a moment. "That might be for the best. You never know when you might get captured again and need me to spring you guys out," she said, beaming a large smile.

"Right, you can stay out here and come rescue us if anything goes wrong."

"Okie Dokie Lokie!"

"Beep Boop Bee?"

"Yes, T3. You can stay with Pinkie Pie."

"Umm, can I stay with Pinkie too?"

Applejack let out a groan. "Yes, you can stay here too, Fluttershy."

"Thank you."

"Anypony else want to go in?"

"No, I'm good," Rarity replied.

"I'm with you on this, A.J.," Garret replied.

"You can count me in as well," Twilight replied.

"Alright than, let me do the talking. Ah've handled a lot of business folks before and Ah know a thing or two about making a good deal," Applejack said and walked towards the entrance of the Czerka building.

Applejack and the others walked through the front entrance and saw the room they were in. There was a row of seats right next to each other in the middle and a large, circular counter that was at the opposite side of the room with the back having supplies, equipment and weapons that were placed on the shelves or on the walls. Behind the counter was a pony using a cloth to wiping it clean while over not to far from him was a female griffon apparently was having an argument with a large camel.

"For the last time, there is no way to negotiate with those buffaloes," the griffon said.

"I keep telling you, there is!" the camel countered. "The local droid shop owner has a protocol droid that can understand them. We can negotiate a way to get along with them."

"Even if that's true, the droid's owner would no doubt charge us a lot of credits for a supposed droid that can speak buffalo and the buffaloes would rather kill us than talk to us anyway."

"That's because you presume that they'll shoot on site. They're not mindless animals."

"I've heard enough. Please leave now or I'll have security escort you out."

The camel let out a scuff and walked passed the group towards the exit.

The griffon let out a sigh. She then noticed the new group of ponies and their droid. She smiled a little and spoke up to them. "Hello, I am Weather Beak and I welcome you all to the Czerka headquarters. Sorry about that, he comes by every now and again with some crazy ideas."

"It's no problem, miss," Applejack said. "We were hoping that we could have our hooves on a hunter licence to go outside the city."

"Ah, I see. Are you hunters of some kind?"

"Yes, we are," Applejack lied, having her face scrunched up.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, what makes you say that?"

"You're making a strange face."

"Well, Ah uh-"

"Will you excuse us real quick?" Twilight intervened and dragged Applejack over to a corner. "What is wrong with you? Why are you making that face?" she whispered.

"Ah can't help it, my face scrunches up every time Ah lie."

"What, Why?"

"Ah don't know, ever since ah was a filly Ah would make this face every time I lie."

"Alright, I think we need somepony else to handle this."

"Twi, trust me. Ah know it's a rough start but I can get around it."

"I don't know Applejack, I-"

"You got yourself a deal!"

Applejack and Twilight looked back at Pinkie who was shaking her hoof with the Griffon with a large smile on her.

"It was nice doing business with you Ms. Pie. We hope that you can end this problem once and for all."

"Don't worry, it'll be a piece of cake for us," Pinkie said.

When the griffon was left to do her other duties, Applejack and Twilight walked over to Pinkie with confused looks on their faces.

"Um Pinkie, what did you two talk about?" Applejack asked.

"Oh right, we just agreed to help get rid of the buffalo problem for these guys," Pinkie replied.

"What!?" Applejack and Twilight both shouted in unison.

"Yeah, also we need the buffalo chief's war staff as proof that we were able to stop them from attacking their trade routes and miners."

"Pinkie, you do know that you just agreed to kill the buffaloes, right?" Twilight asked.

"What?! Why would you say that?" Pinkie shockingly asked. "I didn't agree to that."

"But you-"

"I said that I would get the buffaloes to stop attacking. I never said that I was going to kill them. Sheesh Twilight, I thought you were the most observant of the group."

"Hey, I am!"

"Not in this case."

Twilight gave out a groan.

"So Pinkie, how are we going to stop the buffaloes from attacking?" Applejack asked. "They don't sound like they would be interested in speaking with anypony else besides us."

"Actually, I formed a well formulated plan for that," Pinkie replied.

"Oh boy."

"Remember what that camel said about there being a droid that can translate their language? We can buy the droid and we can use him to translate for us and we can make some kind of peaceful agreement with them. Obviously, we would need to disguise ourselves first before we meet them so they wouldn't, you know, blast or stab us with their weapons. We sneak in, talk with their chief, ask if they can stop, do whatever they want for the peace, ask if they can give back Applebloom, see if we can have the chief's staff and we be one step closer to having to find the star map," Pinkie explained.

The entire group looked at Pinkie with wide eyes and jaws hanging while they were trying to comprehend how she was able to come up with that idea on her own and why they didn't think of it in the first place.

"Um Pinkie, how exactly would doing bring us one step closer to finding the star map?" Twilight asked.

"Oh right, I forgot to mention that if we do bring the staff back, they'll give us a map of all the known caves in this area. I also thought that we can ask the buffaloes if they might know where the star map is since they have been here longer than anypony else."

"That's a good plan, Pinkie," Garret said. "The buffaloes and this deal are our best bet on finding the star map quickly."

"If Garret believe this is a good plan, than I support it as well," Rarity said.

"It does make a lot of sense," Fluttershy meekly said.

"Beep."

"Okay fine, we get it," Applejack said. "But how are we going to disguise ourselves?"

"I kinda thought that Trixie would make the disguise," Pinkie replied.

"I would be more than honored to- WHAT!?" Rarity shouted. "Why would you ask, Trixie?!"

"Isn't she a fantasia?"

"It's fashionista, darling," Rarity corrected. "And NO! I'm the one that does that!"

"Wait, since when?"

"When I was a filly!"

"What about now?"

"I still do! I just fight evil ruffians on the side!"

"Why?"

"Because it's what a Solar Knight does! We're protectors of the Republic!"

"When?"

"For almost a thousand years!"

"How?"

Applejack looked over to the others. "Ah think we should get going and see where that droid is," she said. "These two might take a while."

Everypony nodded in agreement and walked outside the door leaving Rarity to continuously answering all of Pinkie's questions.

The group, including Rarity and Pinkie after they got over their argument, were able to find the camel and he was more than generous to tell them where the droid was and what it looked liked. After some time, they were able to find the shop and went inside of it. The store was large and the walls were covered with shelves of robotic parts and equipment while there were active droids walking around the shop. Others were shut down either they were turned off or were damaged and were in need of repairs.

While the others were looking around the shop, Twilight and Garret walked up to the counter and Twilight ranged a bell a couple of times. Then from behind the counter came an old looking, green stallion that didn't have a mane and had a thick pair of glasses.

"Hello there, may I help you?" the old stallion asked.

"Yes, we were told that you had a droid that was able to speak in buffalo," Twilight replied.

"What makes you think that I have a droid? Does this look like a droid shop to you?"

Twilight furrowed her brow in confusion. "Well, yeah. This is a droid shop."

"Of course it is, why would you tell me that? I'm the owner for crying out loud."

"Huh? But you just said-"

"I said no such thing, whatever it is you're about to say."

"What?! How can you-"

"So what was it you wanted again?"

"Eh, we're looking for a droid that can speak in buffalo," Garret replied.

"Hmmm, I'm afraid I don't have such a thing."

"Oh, I see."

"But if you would like, I have a droid that can speak in a million languages including buffalo," the owner said.

Twilight and Garret looked at each other with half lid eyes with blank expression and looked back at the owner. "Yes, we would like that very much," Twilight replied.

"This way please." The stallion got from behind the counter and led both Twilight and Garret towards a corner of the shop.

In the corner was a droid sitting on its hind legs and was shaped to look like a pony except for the metal-plated skin colored in rusted orange and two slanted square shape optics for eyes. The body was thin looking and had two pony ears on top with an antenna on the left side of the head.

"Now then, let's discuss the price," the owner said. "It'll cost five thousand credits."

"Five thousand credits sounds a little steep for us," Twilight said.

"Okay, then I'll make six thousand."

"What?! You're making it higher!"

"Okay fine, nine thousand."

"WHAT!?"

"Let me handle this guys," Pinkie interjected. "I've handled old kooks like these before."

"Now see here, I maybe be old, in fact I'm fairly sure I am, don't think for a second that I won't put you whippersnappers in your place!"

"I'll pay ten thousand no higher than that!"

"Pinkie, what are you doing!?"

"Oh no you don't, you'll pay eight thousand!"

"What!? I don't-"

"Seven thousand!"

"Five thousand!"

"Huh!?"

Pinkie tapped her chin a couple of times. "Two thousand and that's my final offer."

"You wish, one thousand and that's it. I won't go down any lower than that and that's final."

"Hmmm, you drive a hard bargain but I'll take it," Pinkie said.

"Nice doing business with you." the stallion shook Pinkie's hoof and handed her a remote. "Hohoho, sucker," he said quietly as he was walking away.

"I hate this place so much now," Twilight commented.

"At least we got the droid," Garret said.

"Don't patronize the situation."

"Sorry."

Pinkie pressed on the remote's button making a beep sound. The once lifeless droid's optics started to flicker and started lifting itself off its flank. The droid soon stood over Pinkie a feet taller than her and stared down at her with its bright yellow optics. Pinkie tilted her head and the droid did the same. She tilted the other way and the droid copied her again.

Once Pinkie had her head straight, she had her usual beaming smile on her. "Hi there, what's your name?" she asked.

"Response: I am HK-47, master," the droid replied.

"That's a cool name! Why did call me master?"

"Answer: Well you see, master you are the one that purchased me."

"Actually, I'm the one that payed for you," Twilight corrected as she handed the bag of credits to the stallion behind the counter.

"Apology: Oh I'm sorry, master. I had presume that the pink meatbag here was the one that purchased me since it's clear that she activated me."

"Well, she did do all of the barging for us," Twilight replied. "Even though none of it made any sense," she whispered under her breath. "Anyways, I guess she would count as your master as well."

"Statement: Very well, I will accept her as my master. Are there any other's that you wish to add?"

"No, I believe that the having two masters would be enough," Twilight replied.

"Oh! I got another question," Pinkie said. "Why do you say 'Statement' or some other word before you start to talk?"

"Answer: It is part of my original programming that my master used to better understand my speech patterns."

"Who was your original master?" Twilight asked.

"Answer: I do not know, master. My assassination protocols prevent me from remembering him or her."

"Wait, your assassination protocols?"

"Clarification: I am, of course, an assassin droid programmed to act and be a protocol droid when I am needed to be."

"But basically, you're an assassin droid?"

"Answer: Yes, master."

"Great."

"Well, beggars can't be choosers, Twi," Applejack said. "Besides, Ah rather have a droid that can fight back than to let itself be torn to shreds anytime."

"You have a point, Applejack," Twilight said. She turned back to face HK once more. "Are you ready to come with us, HK?"

"Response: Yes, master. I am ready whenever you are."

"Then let's get moving," Twilight said. "The sooner we stop the buffalo attacks, the sooner we can get back to finding the star map."

"And to rescue my little sis," Applejack added.

"Right, that will be on top of our to do list," Twilight said. "Rarity, do you have an idea on what kind of outfits we can use to trick the buffaloes into thinking we're them?"

"Hmmm, I would be able to replicate their wardrobes if I knew what they wear," Rarity replied.

"Statement: I have information on their wardrobes. If you would like, I will provide them for you."

"Oh, I would really appreciate that, dear."

"Response: Anything for my masters and their meatbag companions."

"Well, thank you very-.....Beg pardon but did you just called me a meatbag?"

"Answer: Yes."

"Why in heavens would you call any of us that?"

"Answer: Oh, I would never call any of my masters that. I would just call every other inferior organic being that since it is what they are."

Rarity raised her muzzle in the air feeling insulted. "Well, I never. It seems this droid lacks manners unlike our dear little one here."

"Beep boo beep bee."

"Why thank you, T3," Rarity replied. "I think?"

"Can we please just get going?" Applejack asked.

"Alright, let's go," Twilight said. She took the lead and everypony else closely followed behind her. "We'll stop by the ship so Rarity can make us those disguises and grab some supplies for the trip. Then we're head straight towards the dune sea."

End of Chapter

Chapter 18: Sea of Sand

View Online

CHAPTER 18 - SEA OF SAND

The binary suns that the planet Trotooine orbited around were high up in the sky as their light continued to burn down on the desert. Hovering across the sandy surface of the planet was a small sail barge holding within it a hoof full of ponies and two of their droids. The barge was long in length and had sails over it to keep its passengers shaded from the two suns' intense heat. At the front end of it was Applejack, looking through an electro-binocular as she was keeping an eye out for anything in the far distance. Pinkie Pie was playing ‘I spy’ with both T3 and HK over by one of the sides of the barge. Rarity and Fluttershy were watching on the port side of it the barge and were mostly silent as they both took in the beauty of the sandy sea. Garret was operating the barge, keeping his hooves on the controls while Twilight was looking over a datapad with details of their location and where their destination was.

"Applejack, have you spotted anything yet?" Twilight asked.

"Nope, not a single thing," Applejack replied. "How far are we from the buffalo's village?"

"We still have a lot of ground to cover."

"Don't you mean sand?" Pinkie questioned.

"Pinkie, sand is......You know what, yes, I mean sand," Twilight replied, not wanting to explain anything to Pinkie and to get into a pointless argument with her.

"So, how long do ya think it will take us then?" Applejack asked.

"Maybe a couple of hours, give or take," Twilight replied.

"Then why don't we go any faster?" Pinkie asked. "Can't this thing go any faster?"

"Pinkie, this thing can't go any faster," Garret replied. "It's a barge, they don't go as fast as a regular speeder because of its size and the type of engine they used to-"

Pinkie shoved Garret as she took a hold of the barge's controls. "Step aside, let the extraordinary pilot, Pinkamena Diane Pie see what she can do," she said.

"Query: Do you know how to drive a barge, master? Or, for that matter, do you know how to drive at all?" HK asked.

"I drove a bumper car one time when I was a filly."

"Statement: Master, I don't think that's the same as-"

"Oh~ What does this button do?"

"Pinkie, don't!" Twilight and Garret shouted as Pinkie pressed down on one of the control's buttons. One very big and red button.

Suddenly the barge's engines started going on and off until they remained off and the whole barge hovered over the desert for a few seconds before crashing down on it. The tip front of it landed in the sand and caused it to flip over forward, causing the group to fly through the sails and into the air. It barrel rolled across the surface and began slowing down until it came to a halt still upside right. They soon found themselves landing in the hot sands with their supplies conveniently landing near them as well. They all gave out groans of pain while they attempted to get back up.

Twilight shook her head around hoping to get rid of the thumping pain in her head and looked to Pinkie with an angry glare.

"Pinkie! Why did you do that?" she asked.

Pinkie had her head stuck in the sand after she had landed and pulled herself out. She hit the side of her head a couple of times to let the sand out of her ear. "Sorry Twi, can you say that again?" she asked.

"I said, why did you do that? You didn't even know what it was!"

"Well, if you told me what it was before I pressed it, we wouldn't be in this mess now would we?" Pinkie retorted with a face of mock indignation.

Twilight smacked herself in the face. "You didn't give us the chance to say anything and you should have asked!" she countered.

"......By the way, what did I press?"

"You pressed on the emergency brakes!"

"Ooooh, so that's why the engines stopped," Pinkie said. "Now it makes perfect sense."

Twilight let out an irritated growl as her unicorn training urged her not to strangle Pinkie with her bare hooves. She took a deep breath and waved her arm in front of her while she was breathing, a trick that she had learned from a very close friend she once knew. She turned back to face everypony. "Is everypony okay?"

"I think I am," Garret replied, rubbing the back of his head.

"Ah think Ah got a crick in my back," Applejack replied. She rubbed her back a few times to get the stress out of her until she found a pressure point near her back and pressed on it. A small pop sound was made when she did so and she felt better. "Never mind, Ah'm good."

"Oh, I got sand in my mane," Rarity complained. "It'll take me forever to get it all out with a brush." She reached into her saddle bag and used her magic to levitate a brush out of it. She brought the brush next to her mane and made a few soft and slow strokes to it.

Hovering in the air was Fluttershy as she slowly descended towards the ground and lightly landed on her hooves. "I'm fine....If anypony was interested in knowing."

"Diagnostic: Systems still function, all four mechanical appendages are operating, optics are functional and nonessential components are covered in mineral deposits. Conclusion: I am fully operable but am disappointed that the screaming has stopped."

"Why would you say that?" Pinkie asked.

"Answer: Oh, nothing that you would be interested in, master."

"Okie dokie then! Hey, where's T3?"

"Um, he's over here," Fluttershy said as she stood next to an upside down T3 while he was stuck halfway into the sand.

Pinkie let out a gasp. "Hang on, T3! I'm coming!"

Pinkie grabbed onto one of T3's appendages and pulled as hard as she could. Seeing Pinkie having a hard time pulling him out, Fluttershy wrapped her hooves around Pinkie's waist and tried to help pull T3 out of the sand. With all their strength in pulling T3, he came out of the sand with a loud popping sound causing both mares to fall on their backs and him to land right side up.

T3 shook his head around to get the sand off of him and looked at the two mares on the ground. "Beep boo."

"No problem, my little buddy," Pinkie gleefully replied.

"Umm, Pinkie? Can you get off of me if it's not too much trouble?" Fluttershy asked with Pinkie now sitting on top of her.

"Oh, sorry." Pinkie got off of Fluttershy and helped her up to her hooves.

"Bad news, everypony," Garret said as he shut a door panel on the side of the sail barge. "The engines didn't take too kindly on the sudden stop and it burnt the circuits. So we can't use it anymore and half of the barge dug itself into the sand." He pointed at the front half of the barge that was buried in the dunes. "Looks like we have to walk from here on out."

Twilight let out an irritated groan. "We just rented this barge and now we have to pay it in full when we get back."

"If only there was some way we could have prevented that from happening," Pinkie said.

Everypony in the group, except Fluttershy, glared at her with annoyance in their eyes.

"What?"

"Well, there's nothing we can do about it now," Applejack shrugged. "Let's get a move on then."

"Right, I agree with Applejack here," Rarity said. "Just let me grab some of my suitcases and we can-"

"Sorry, Rarity, but we have to carry all essentials with us if we want to get to the enclave in time," Applejack pointed out. "We can't afford to bring anything else."

Rarity twirled her mane nervously. "By essentials, you mean-"

"No manesprays, no fillers, no mirrors, no makeup or anything that has nothing to do with surviving the wilderness," Applejack clarified.

"Please! You have to at least let me bring my curling iron with me!" Rarity pleaded as she got down to her hind legs and gave Applejack her best puppy eyes with a pout.

Applejack looked down at Rarity's eyes. 'Aw, that's so cute,' she thought. "No."

The group was now walking across the desert with the determined hope that they would be able to reach their destination or at least go as far as they could before the twin suns were down. Twilight, using her magic, held up a datapad that had a display of the surrounding area and kept looking at it for directions with the others right behind her. They all knew that it was going to be a long journey now and were more than ready for it. But they also had to put up with Pinkie.

"I spy something soft," Pinkie said.

Twilight let out a sigh. "Is it sand?"

"Yes! Now I spy something bright."

"Is it the sun?" Applejack asked.

"Yeah! I spy something purple."

Twilight let out an irradiated sigh. "Is it me?"

"Yep! You guys are so good at this game!" Pinkie said. "It's like you aren't even trying."

Twilight and Applejack rolled their eyes and continued to walk on hoof.

"I'm so tired," Rarity complained. "My hooves are hurting and the sand is getting into my fabulous boots. Can’t we take a break?"

Applejack turned her head while she cocked her brow. "Rarity, ya do know that we just started walking, right? Ah can still see the barge behind us."

Rarity looked back to see that the sail barge was still in full view which indicated that they only walked for a few minutes. She let out a huff. "Well, if you would have let me bring some of my supplies with me, I wouldn't complain so much."

Applejack rolled her eyes. "Stop being such a drama queen. Besides, you're a Solar Knight, you unicorns are trained to survive in harsh terrains like this," she pointed out.

"That doesn't mean that we like it," Rarity defended.

"Just stop complaining and get a move on," Applejack said. "We're wasting time and my little sis is in danger. Would you like it that Ah kept complaining while Sweetie Belle was in danger?"

Rarity's ears lowered. "I'm sorry, Applejack. It does sound very selfish of me to act like this, especially when your little sister is in danger. I promise to keep all my complaints to myself and focus more on the mission at hoof."

"Thank ya, Rarity. I appreciate it," Applejack said.

"I spy something big and on huge wheels."

"PINKIE! We’re not in the mood to......Wait, what?"

“Statement: I believe the master has found a land vehicle up ahead.”

Applejack quickly grabbed her electrobinoculars and looked through them to see a massive rectangular vehicle standing still in front of the group.

A huge, toothy smile appeared on Applejack’s face. “Yee haw! We found us some help!”

“Pinkie, you’re a lifesaver!” Twilight graciously said and hugged Pinkie.

“Yeah, I get that a lot,” Pinkie said.

“It looks like a sandcrawler from what Ah can tell,” Applejack described while still focused on observing the vehicle..

“Wait, it’s a type of bug?”Pinkie asked.

Applejack shook her head. “No, Pinkie. It’s a type of vehicle that can get around the sand and desert areas with more ease.”

“Are you sure it’s not a type of bug?”

“Yes Pinkie, Ah’m sure it isn’t.”

“We better get to it before it starts moving again,” Garret said.

“Right, let’s get to it.”

The group then headed towards the sandcrawler without realizing that something in the far distance was watching them.

As soon as the group got closer to the sandcrawler, their feelings of hope were quickly replaced with fear and caution as they began seeing signs of blaster fire alongside the lower parts of the hull and the dead corpses of - what at least seemed to be - Czerka employees laying on the ground. Small pits of fire that were still present around the area indicated that the battle was recent.

“We better keep our eyes out,” Applejack said. “There’s no telling if the same ponies that did this are still around.”

“It’s so scary here,” Fluttershy said. “Maybe we should keep on moving on hoof.”

“No, they may have a speeder or something that we could use to get around in,” Twilight pointed out. “Applejack, T3, we’ll check around the sandcrawler to see if they have speeders in the loading dock. Everypony else will check around for supplies and see if we can give these poor souls a proper burial.”

Garret nodded. “Alright, we’ll see what we can find.”

Twilight and her group went around to the back of the sandcrawler while Garret and his group were checking around.

Fluttershy saw all the dead Czerka employees on the ground and she was beginning to get sick to her stomach. She never got used to seeing other dead beings around her and she believed that she never would. She was close to vomiting until Garret walked up next to her.

“Hey, are you okay?” he asked.

“No, not really,” Fluttershy weakly replied. “Is this how it’s going be? Will we keep on seeing others.... die whether something has killed them or it is by us?”

“On the kind of journey we’re on, yes. We’ll be facing others and they’ll try to stop us. If we want to live and do what we can to save the Republic, then we must get past our fears and give up some of our beliefs in order to protect others. We do this so that others won’t need to make the same choices and mistakes that we make. That is the path we’re following now and I’m afraid there’s no going back.”

Fluttershy hid behind her pink mane. “I don’t think I can make choices like those and I don’t think I’ll ever get over my fears.”

“Hey, you’re stronger than you give yourself credit for and at least right now you don’t have to worry about making them. But there will be times that you will and everypony here will be counting and believing on you.”

“You really think anypony will believe in me?”

“They will and so will I.”

Fluttershy smiled while she blushed at Garret’s answer.

“Warning: Detecting movement at the south-east.”

“Do you know what it is?” Garret asked.

“Answer: It’s either a Czerka team that has come to retrieve their dead and sandcrawler or more than likely that it’s the same attackers that killed this group.”

Garret grabbed his comlink. “Twilight, we got trouble. Did you find what we’re looking for?”

“Yeah, we have one speeder here but it looks like it isn’t working yet,” Twilight replied. “T3 and Applejack are going to see what they can do. I’ll come back around to help.”

“Right,” Garret said and looked back Fluttershy. He used his magic to pull a nearby blaster from the ground and handed it over to Fluttershy. “Looks like it’s time to see what you can do.”

“But, but, but-” Fluttershy frantically was saying until Garret held onto her hoof.

“Don’t worry, I got your back,” he said to her in a calm and reassuring voice.

Fluttershy looked at the blaster for a moment and looked back up to Garret. “Okay…..I’ll try.”

“Statement: All threats will be dealt with most painfully and as horrifyingly as possible.”

“C-Can you not make it so painful for them? Please?” Fluttershy asked.

“Answer: Only if the masters say so, skinny meatbag.”

“Well, I say you don’t make it so painful,” Pinkie said.

“Disappointment: Very well, master. I shall obey. Initiating assassination protocol”

HK got up and stood on his hind legs and a long rectangular object came out of his back. He grabbed it and when he held it in his arms, it extended out a long barrel in the front while the back transformed into the stock of a weapon and coming out of the top was a round scope. The weapon had transformed itself into a sniper rifle.

“Impressive,” Rarity admitted. “I’m normally like to use a blaster or anything but I must admit that the sniper is probably the most elegant weapon to use.”

“Gratitude: Thank you, meatbag.”

“Would you please stop calling me that?!” Rarity hissed.

“Clarification: Sorry, it is a phrase that my original master had coded into me.”

“Well, can you at least try?”

“Weary Response: *Sigh* Very well, I will try…….meatbag.”

Rarity growled quietly as she pulled out her lightsaber hilt.

“I-I think I see them!” Fluttershy shouted, pointing at a general direction.

Everypony looked over to where Fluttershy was pointing and they saw a small band of large looking creatures that were wearing wrappings all around their bodies and robes with patches of hair showing. They were also wearing large masks over their heads with their horns sticking out on the sides. The apparent leader of the group had a long staff in his hoof and pointed at them to indicate to charge.

Garret and Rarity ignited their lightsabers while Pinkie pulled out a blaster from her mane and Fluttershy nervously held onto her blaster.

“Statement: Targets confirmed to be sand buffaloes. Engaging with extreme prejudice.” HK said and fired his weapon at the incoming band of sand buffaloes.

The shot hit one of the buffaloes, who came tumbling down to the ground dead, but the rest still came running towards them.

HK was about to fire again until a few shots whisked past him and he turned to see four other buffaloes firing at them with strange looking rifles that seemed to be refitted for them to use. He turned and pointed his weapon at the new threat, firing shots at them while avoiding their shots at him.

One shot him right in the shoulder but his armor plating prevented any external damage it might have done and he returned the fire right back at the buffalo in the head. Pinkie joined in the fight and fired her blaster while she took cover behind some crates. Fluttershy felt terrified and hid behind a pile of scrap metal.

“Looks like we have to deal with the ones with the staffs,” Garret said.

“I’m right behind you, darling,” Rarity said.

One of the buffaloes came charging towards Rarity and it was about to ram her with its head until she jumped right over it high into air. She spun around mid-flight and threw her lightsaber right into the back of the buffalo, causing it to fall to the ground dead. She landed on the ground softly in a ladylike fashion and used her magic to pull the lightsaber back into her hoof before another was about to strike at her with its staff but was parried by her lightsaber, thus she took the opportunity to precisely stab it in the forehead.

A buffalo tried to strike Garret with its staff but he did a barrel roll over the staff and slashed across the buffalo’s torso. After Garret did that, he blocked another buffalo’s staff and tried to hold his position but his attacker was twice as strong and was able to counter Garret’s block and rammed its head towards his torso. The force caused Garret to be pushed back and fall onto the ground making him drop his lightsaber.

Garret looked up to see the buffalo about to strike him down with its staff but he managed to roll from side to side to avoid the incoming strike. The buffalo was able to pin him with the other hoof and raised its staff for a final strike until it was shot a couple of times in the side by a blaster. The buffalo fell over dead on its side and Garret looked over the dead body to see Fluttershy with her blaster raised nervously while smoke slowly came out of the barrel. She lowered the blaster down as she let out a sigh of relief and looked at Garret with a small smile.

But her smile was cut short when a barrage of blaster fire zoomed past her and she once again ducked behind the pile of scrap in terror. Garret used his magic to levitate his lightsaber back to his hoof and ignited the violet blade once more.

Rarity was getting surrounded by three buffaloes as they were now circling her. Garret ran over to help her but was cut off by two more of them and raised his lightsaber in defense.

‘There are too many of them,’ he thought.

Twilight came running towards the battle and saw that both Rarity and Garret were getting overwhelmed by the sand buffalos numbers. She increased her pace as she was now charging towards the battle. When she was close to the buffaloes fighting, she jumped high in the air while pulling out her lightsaber. But unlike before, it was a different lightsaber as the hilt was longer and on each side was a slot. She ignited her lightsaber and both sides came ablaze with blue blades.

Twilight landed down behind Rarity and attacked the buffalo behind her. The buffalo tried to parry her first attack but she spun around and slashed it across the face. Twilight jumped backwards and blocked the buffaloes that tried to attack Rarity at the same time. She was able to parry the staffs and stabbed one of the buffalo’s sides while Rarity slashed across the other buffalo while keeping her blade straight in a fencing style.

Garret stood his ground as his two attackers crept closer to him. The one on the left was the first to make a move, as he charged right at him hoping to ram to the ground but Garret spun around to the side and made a quick slash on the charger’s side. The other one tried to land a blow on his back only for his staff to be swatted away from its hoof by Garret’s quick parry and was slashed across the face.

HK fired his weapon once more and killed the last of the buffalo snipers. Done with the meatbags, he looked around the area and scanned it.

“Analysis: All targets have been terminated,” HK announced. “Statement: That was most invigorating. Can we do it again, masters?”

“I don’t think we can HKie,” Pinkie said. “I don’t think they can move anymore”

“Statement: How disappointing. Oh well, no point in beating a dead meatbag.”

“Is everypony okay?” Twilight asked, concernedly.

“Yes, darling, we are,” Rarity replied. “But since when did you started using a double lightsaber?”

Twilight held her still ignited lightsaber and deactivate both blades. “While we were back at the enclave, Celestia advanced my studies and she taught me how to use it. She thought it would be wise to train somepony to use a saber like this in case we might run in to some difficulties on the way and she thought that I was perfect for it,” she explained.

“Well, it does suit your style. I have never seen somepony use one so gracefully,” Rarity complimented.

“Thank you.”

A couple of beeps came from Twilight’s belt and she grabbed around for her comlink. She held it up to her muzzle. “Twilight here.”

“Ah got the speeder working,” Applejack said. “We can get on moving again.”

“Alright, we’re on our way,” Twilight said and placed her commlink back on her belt. “Let’s get moving, everypony.”

Everypony started making their towards the back of the sandcrawler and when they got there, they saw Applejack on the driverside of the landspeeder while T3 was resting on the back of it.

“Oh, it would be so good not to walk on these delicate hooves again,” Rarity said.

“Rarity, you just fought against a bunch of giant bulls,” Applejack said.

“I did it in the most delicate fashion possible, Applejack,” Rarity defended.

Applejack rolled her eyes.

“Um, it looks like there isn’t much room,” Fluttershy commented. “If that’s okay?”

“It is on the small side but it’ll take us to where we need ta go,” Applejack said.

“Then let’s get going,” Twilight said. “There’s not a moment to lose.”

“I agree,” Rarity said. “Just as soon as we go back and get our stuff from the barge.”

“No, Rarity we’re not going back,” Applejack said.

“....Can we at least-”

“NO!”

Everypony climbed on to the landspeeder and returned back on course towards their next destination while Rarity whimpered to herself quietly.

After some time of traveling across the desert, it was getting dark as the two suns were beginning to set over the horizon and the group decided to make a campsite for the night. Because it was night time, it became cold out in the desert and they were able to set up some tents and a fireplace for the sudden change in temperature. Everypony was huddled around the fireplace except for Applejack as she was keeping watch over the camp by herself. Twilight would have checked to see if she was alright by herself but she was preoccupied with something else at the moment.

“Twilight, why is the desert so cold now?” Pinkie asked as she shivered because of the cold. “I mean, it’s a desert, right? Isn’t it suppose to be super hot and not super cold?”

“Well, the reason why it’s like that is because of the lack of clouds here. When the two suns shine their light on planet’s surface, obviously it becomes hot. But when the suns are gone, all heat escapes back into the atmosphere thus leaving the surface to cool or possibly freeze depending on the terrain and environment. Also, the sand could only hold so much thermal energy at a time and would have to force the excess energy back to the surface.” Twilight explained. “Now if the desert was made of sodium, the heat capacity of it would be 1.23 J/goC and it would keep the desert warm throughout the night period.”

“Ooooh, I see,” Pinkie said. She leaned over next to T3. “Not really,” she whispered to him.

Twilight rolled her eyes.

“So how come the animals are able to survive out here then?”

“Well, you see-”

“Now, that I think about it. What’s so important about this planet anyway? It’s just a dried up rock.”

“It’s important that we-”

“Does it even have anything good out here?”

“If you would let me explain-”

“I think that it’s a waste of my taxes, that’s what it is.”

Twilight let out a groan and got up on her hooves. “If anypony needs me, I’ll be with Applejack.” she said and walked away.

“WAIT! We still need to talk about the facts and mysteries of life!.......What are they?!” Pinkie shouted as Twilight was walking from the camp.

“Think I should go along?” Garret asked, laying down next to the fire. “I don’t know much about Applejack herself besides what happened to her, but she might need somepony she’s comfortable with.”

“Don’t worry about it, I’m sure Twilight knows what to say,” Fluttershy said.

“Indeed she does,” Rarity said as she attempted to snuggle up against Garret. “Besides, I want to know everything about you anyway.”

Garret let out a nervous chuckle. “Like what exactly?”

“Whatever you want to tell me,” she replied, fluttering her eyelashes.

“Beep boo beep.”

“Yeah, tell me about it,” Pinkie whispered. “She’s trying too hard.”

“Beep bee boo boop bee.”

“Of course Garret is going to be with her, but not yet, silly. That won’t happen until-”

“Umm, Pinkie what are you talking about?” Fluttershy asked as she overheard some of the conversation.

“Oh, nothing to worry your pretty little head about,” Pinkie said, patting the top of Fluttershy’s head.

“Oh, Okay.”

“Statement: This would be most interesting to see,” HK said.

Out on the outskirts of the camp, Applejack sat on a nearby hill and watched out over the darkened land with the eyes of a hawk and the hope to see her little sister again. ‘We got a lot to catch up on little sis,’ she thought as she let out a heavy sigh. She then heard something next to her and turned to see Twilight starting to sit next to her.

“Shouldn’t you be resting with the others?” Applejack asked, already knowing why Twilight came.

“Shouldn’t you be doing the same?” Twilight retorted. “We can have HK or T3 keep an eye out. They don’t need to rest like the rest of us do.”

“I can do this better than any droid can,” Applejack stated with a huff. “T3’s fine but he ain’t much of a fighter like us and he can’t move around the desert as fast as we can and HK…...Well, to be frank, Twilight, Ah don’t trust that droid enough to even sell him for spare parts.”

Twilight giggled. “I know what you mean. HK seems to be different from what the other droids are.”

“Ya can say that again,” Applejack giggled. “Look, Twi. Ah’m okay if that’s what you were wondering. Ah’m just…..a little anxious right now.”

“I know and if you don’t want to talk to Garret about some things, you can come talk to me,” Twilight offered. “I’m your friend too.”

A small smile appeared on Applejack. “Sure Twi, Ah’d like that.”

Twilight nodded. “Is there anything you want to talk about right now?”

Applejack opened her mouth as she was about to say something but her mind was against it though. “Not right now, but maybe another time. It’s something Ah need to sort out some more on my own.”

“Well, alright,” Twilight said and got up. “If you need anything, let me know and I’ll be ready for it.” She then walked away back towards the camp.

Applejack once more looked out to the desert and, as if for the first time, started to feel the cold around her. She got up and turned back towards the camp. ‘Ah guess Ah can let HK watch over us. After all, he may not be the most trusting droid Ah ever met but ironically he’s the most loyal of us when it comes to protecting his masters,’ she thought. She then trotted back at the camp to join her…...friends. It was something she never thought she would have again.

After coming out of hyperspace and going through the planet’s orbit, Calo’s ship flew high above the endless sands towards an unknown destination where Calo believed he had an idea on how to track down Twilight and ensure her capture. But first he had to get rid of some ‘cargo.’

“Are we there yet?” Snips asked.

“No.”

“Are we there now?” Snails asked.

“No.”

“Are we-”

“LOOK!” Sunset snapped. “When we get there, we’ll get there! So, SHUT! UP!”

“Sorry,” the two said in unison.

Sunset let out a heavy sigh and leaned back on her seat. She had her back and fore hooves crossed and after a moment of silence, she turned to Calo. “Um, when will we be there?” she asked.

Calo looked at her with a raised brow.

“Oh come on, that’s a reasonable question,” Sunset defended.

Calo let out a sigh. “We’ll be there momentarily but I need to do something before then,” he explained.

“Like what?”

Calo then set the ship to hover over the ground; high in the air and got out of his seat. “Follow me and I’ll show you,” he said.

Sunset rolled her eyes and followed him with her guards joining her. The all walked into the back of the ship and into the cargo bay where Calo was at a nearby control panel while Sunset watched him curiously.

Calo pointed over to a spot while still pressing a few buttons. “Why don’t you all go over there, it’ll just take a sec,” he said.

Sunset mimicked Calo’s voice quietly and complied with his request. She and her guards stood where he wanted them to be. “So when are you going to tell us what you’re doing?” she asked, impatiently.

“I think this will explain everything,” Calo said and flipped a switch on the control panel.

Underneath them, a door opened up with Sunset and her guards looking down with wide eyes of terror and falling down from the ship while they were screaming. They crashed down roughly in the desert, forming holes in the shape of their bodies on the sandy expanse. Sunset climbed up from her hole while her eyes rolled around with dizziness and shook her head.

She looked up at Calo with fire in her eyes. “CALO, WHAT THE TARTARUS ARE YOU DOING?!”

“I have some personal business to deal with and you’ll just get in the way,” Calo replied. “Don’t worry, your precious Twilight will be captured alive and I’ll collect my pay.” He then reached into his coat’s pockets and threw down a datapad at Sunset; landing on top of her head. “That should take you to the nearest town, in case you can survive that long.”

Calo closed the trapdoor and the ship flew off. After stopping her eyes from spinning around after being hit by the datapad, she looked up towards where Calo’s ship was still visible and raised her hooves up high.

“I WILL MAKE YOU PAY, CALO! I WILL MAKE YOU PAY!”

Snips and Snails climbed out of their holes too and quickly shook of their dizziness as well.

“Um, is there anything to eat here?” Snails asked.

“Yeah, I’m starving,” Snips added.

“GRRRAAAAAAAAAAAA!”

END OF CHAPTER

Chapter 19: Hope Lies Even In The Sands

View Online

CHAPTER 19 - HOPE LIES EVEN IN THE SANDS

The second sun began to rise over the horizon as the first one continued to trudge on closely above it, indicating that it was still morning time. Lying on top of a hill of sand, Applejack was looking through her electro-binocular at the buffalo village. She saw that the village was almost like a fortress, as it was surrounded by a large wall of scrap metal and fabrics, and had several turrets placed at certain points, especially around the fortification’s only entrance. She looked down at the valley in front of the village to see guards patrolling the area in pairs of three to four whilst keeping their eyes open for intruders.

Applejack became a little nervous, and was really hoping that their plan to sneak in disguised as buffalos would somehow work and that HK could really speak in their language. Before she did anything else, however, Pinkie popped right next to her from out of nowhere with a curious look on her face.

“What are they doing now?” Pinkie asked.

Applejack let out an annoyed sigh and looked over to Pinkie. “They’ve been doing the same thing since the last time ya asked,” she replied. “For the fifth time.”

“Sixth, if you count this time,” Pinkie added with a smile, earning her a low growl from Applejack. “Why are you being so grumpy?”

“Because, Pinkie, you’ve been asking me the same question and Ah kept telling ya the same answer. They’re just walking around, patrolling and Ah think some of them are having a conversation with each other. And it hasn’t been a full minute since you asked me the last time. So, the next you ask me ‘what are they doing’ my answer is going to be, they’re still just talking and they’re still just walking around.”

“........What are they talking about?”

Applejack’s left eye twitched and smacked herself on the face.

Down below the hill, Rarity was showing Twilight the disguises that they were going to wear. Rarity had put in hours of work into them and believed them to be perfect for this operation. However, Twilight thought she might have overdone it, maybe by just a little.

“......Rarity, what is this?” Twilight asked as she was looking at the disguises.

“Why? Isn’t it obvious? You are looking at the best buffalo clothing in the entire galaxy,” Rarity replied.

Twilight looked at the clothing in question with a long stare before smacking herself in the face. “Rarity, when I said we needed disguises for this, I was expecting you to make accurate clothing of them.” She then held up a pink version of the robes. “Not making them in different sets of colors!”

“What?! And make them into those hideous shades of brown? They should only be used in accents,” Rarity explained. “Besides, that one isn’t for you, it’s for Pinkie Pie. This one is for you.” She levitated up a lavender version with pale blue streaks in it.

“I can’t believe this!” Twilight shouted. “You were supposed to make them the same as the buffalo’s. The only one you made that is even remotely close to looking like theirs is Garret’s here.” She levitated Garret’s robes, which were a darker shade of brown.

“Oh, don’t be ridiculous, Twilight deary,” Rarity said. “His shade of brown is perfect and goes along well with his style. Just like yours is perfect for your style as well.”

“Rarity, they’ll know right away that we’re not one of them!”

“Well, at least they’ll see how well I can make their robes look.”

Twilight let out a groan.

HK looked over the the robes as well. “Observation: The chances of them falling for this are one hundred twenty-two thousand five hundred sixty-seven to negative five. And to be truthful, I’m not even sure how I came up with negative five in my results.”

“Beep boo bee.”

“Statement: Ah, that makes sense.”

“See! Droid calculations are rarely wrong!” Twilight pointed out.

“And since when do droids have a sense of fashion?” Rarity asked, cocking her brow. “Isn’t one of them designed to do repairs and the other to translate and well, assassinate?”

“Yes, but-”

“But nothing, Twilight. I won’t have my work be criticized just because it is different,” Rarity said and raised her muzzled up high as she was feeling offended.

Twilight let out an irritated sigh.

Garret leaned over to Twilight. “I think we should at least try this. If it fails, we can try it again with hopefully more accurate robes,” he whispered.

“Fine,” Twilight irratitly replied. “We’ll try it your way, Rarity.”

Rarity then looked at Twilight with stars in her eyes. “I promise you, Twilight, that nothing will go wrong with this.” she said.

Twilight rolled her eyes. “Right, like nothing was going to go wrong at all,” Twilight sarcastically said.

Applejack was done looking at the village and believed that she had memorized the buffalo’s patrol pattern. Also, she was getting tired of hearing Pinkie’s questions and thought it was best to stop before she strangled her pink companion to death. Thankfully, she had enough patience to deal with her and trotted with her back down to the group, Applejack saw some of Rarity’s disguises and her expression quickly turned from a frown to a completely puzzled expression.

“You’ve got to be bucking kidding me.” Applejack said. “We’re supposed to go in these?” she asked as she was lifting up a dark orange robe with yellow streaks.

Rarity let out a weary sigh. “Yes, Applejack, we’re going to be wearing these,” she replied.

“Not to burst your bubbles but unless those buffaloes are colorblind, we won’t even get one hoof into their territory looking like this,” Applejack explained. “And even if by some miracle it works, Ah was thinking two or three of us were going to wear something together to make it look like we’re a big buffalo, since they're twice our size and all.”

“As if I would be with somepony else whose sweat would more than likely get on me…… Unless of course it’s Garret I’m snuggled up with,” Rarity said and winked over to Garret.

Garret blushed a little and said nothing.

Applejack rolled her eyes. “Twilight, please tell me we’re not going to do this?” she asked, a last glimpse of hope on her eyes.

“As much as I hate the idea, we might as do it since we came all the way out here,” Twilight wearlily replied.

Applejack let out a sigh. “Ah have a bad feeling about this,” she said as that last hopeful glint was crushed to death and smeared all over the floor

“That bad feeling really did turn into a very confused feeling,” Applejack said under her buffalo mask. They were all wearing their disguises liked they planned and many of them, except for Rarity and Pinkie, thought it was going to backfire. But to their surprise, they were actually walking among the buffaloes as they hardly paid attention to them and their impromptu march towards the entrance.

Each of their disguises were different colors like Rarity had made them, and the fact that most of them could very well be used as light beacons didn’t even phase the buffaloes, nor did it make them surprised or confused. Fluttershy’s outfit was colored a bright yellow with pale pink streaks on it, Rarity’s was a dark violet outfit with light purple streaks, and HK and T3 both didn’t wear any on them at all and it didn’t seem to bother the buffalos either.

Among all of the group, Twilight was the one that was the most puzzled and confused as she was trying to comprehend what was going on. “I-I don’t...How is this working?” she asked, hoping for somepony to answer her question.

“See, deary, I told you my outfits would work out,” Rarity gloated with a smug face.

“This shouldn’t even be possible!” Twilight complained. “Why are they not shooting at us? Or why are they not even bothering to ask us why we look so different from them?”

“Ya know, at this point, Ah’d rather not ask and just be grateful that we’re not getting shot at,” Applejack said.

“I like that idea too,” Fluttershy said.

“Query: Did I forget to mention that buffalos are colorblind?” HK asked.

“WHAT!? Why didn’t you say that earlier?” Twilight asked.

“Exculpation: That’s a good question. I think my memory files may be corrupted in some ways.”

Twilight let out a groan. “Let’s just get inside the village and see what we can do,” she said.

They all walked up to the entrance, except for Pinkie, who just bounced around as usual, and were met with buffalo guards standing in their way. One of them spoke up in their native tongue as if it was asking them a question.

Everypony looked over to HK after a moment of listening to the guard. “Statement: I believe that they can recognize that we’re not one of them since we’re too close.”

“Ha! Told you it wouldn’t work,” Twilight whispered over to Rarity.

“Only because we got too close, darling,” Rarity pointed out with a smirk.

“Result: He asks what business we have here?”

“Tell them that we’re not a threat and we come in peace,” Twilight said.

“Oh! Oh! Tell him we also have cake,” Pinkie added. “With chocolate frosting.”

Twilight rolled her eyes.

HK translated both Twilight’s and Pinkie’s response and the guard spoke up again.

“Result: I believe I have succeed in confusing him. Apparently we have peaked their interests and they wish to take a couple of us to their chief…...And that they would like the cake.”

Pinkie squealed with delight and gave the guard a large, round cake with the chocolate frostings on it.

“Alright then, Applejack, HK and I will meet with their chief,” Twilight said. “Everypony else will stay out here and wait until we get back.”

“W-What if something happens to you?” Fluttershy nervously asked. “They could try to k-k-kill you.”

“Don’t worry about it, sugarcube,” Applejack said. “It wouldn’t be the first rodeo that Twilight and Ah got ourselves tangled in. And besides, the others here will keep ya safe.”

“Okay,” Fluttershy simply responded.

“Alright, since we have that settled.” Twilight then turned to HK. “Tell them that we’re ready to see their leader.”

After HK translated, the guards took the trio into the village while the others patiently waited for their hopefully inevitable return.

Inside the village, Twilight, Applejack and HK followed one of the buffalo guards while two others stood behind the trio, watching their every move with caution. The guard opened up a door that slid upwards and in it was a large circular chamber that had trophies and treasures in it. Sitting at the opposite side of them was the chief as he laid down on a pillow with several buffalo shamans. The chief himself donned on a slightly more crimson colored outfit that was different from the rest of the warriors’.

The chief stood up from his place and spoke in a deep and resounding voice, still talking in his native language. The guard that escorted the trio spoke back at the chief as it was explaining to him the reason for the outsiders’ presence. The chief stroked his loose chin hair and looked over the trio. He cleared out his throat and spoke up.

“Why have you come to my village?” the chief asked.

Twilight and Applejack were both shocked to hear him speak in Galactic Basic as it was the first they had heard any of them speak in it. Twilight looked over to Applejack who only gave her a shrug and looked over to HK to see he was just as baffled they were.

After clearing her thoughts and taking a deep breath, Twilight took a step forward and said, “I am Twilight Sparkle Shan, a member of the Unicorn Order and a commanding officer of the Galactic Republic. We’ve come here hoping to peacefully ask you to cease your attacks on Anchorhead and release any prisoners that you may also have.”

“Highly unlikely, my herd has lived here long before any of your kind ever stepped hoof onto this land’s sands,” the chief said. “However, if you want us to stop attacking and release any prisoners, we will do so if you can bring us something that we need.”

“Whatever it is, we’ll make sure to bring it to you,” Twilight said.

“So you say. What we require is what you call a ‘moisture vaporator,’” the chief stated. “If you give it to us, we will be able to move our village further from your town and I will be able to provide water for my people without relying on the caves around here.”

“Then we will get those moisture vaporators,” Applejack said firmly.

“Sorry if I don’t hold you to those words, pony,” the chief said. “You have until sunset. You are free to go.”

Both Applejack and Twilight took a curt bow and left with HK out of the chamber. They followed the same path back towards the exit and where their friends were. As they were trotting, Applejack looked over to Twilight. “So, what’s the plan?” she asked.

“I was thinking we could buy the moisture vaporators from Czerka when we got back into town and we could use the ship to get back here quickly,” Twilight explained. “Then we can use the ship to transport any of the prisoners back to the city. After that, we should ask the chief if he would be willing to give us a map of the area, so that we can search any caves that are marked on it.”

“What about Czerka? Ah thought part of this plan was to get the chief's staff and they would give us a map of what they found,” Applejack pointed out.

“I think it’s best that we don’t ask the chief for his staff. And when I think more about it, these buffaloes have been here longer than anypony else,” Twilight explained. “For all we know, they may know where the star map is.”

“Well, if ya say so,” Applejack said. “As long nothing hampers our way back, we should be clear as a diamond.”

“CONSARNIT! WE’RE OUT OF FUEL!” Applejack looked over to the fuel gauge on the speeder to see that it was feebly pointing at the ‘empty’ marking. “It’ll take us forever to get back now!”

“It’ll take us at least a whole day before we ever get back!” Rarity cried. “We’ll never make it back with the lack of food we have. Not to mention that somepony wouldn’t let me bring my supplies with me.” She glared over to Applejack who returned the favor with an irritated look.

“For the last freaking time! Hairspray is not an important essential!” Applejack pointed out. “And ya promised y’all wouldn’t complain any more about it like a fru fru brat!”

Rarity let out a growl. “That’s it! I know this isn’t lady like for me, but-” Rarity then pounced on top of Applejack and the two started fighting with one another in the speeder. While they were fighting, one of the two accidently hit a lever on the controls and for some reason, the gauge was back up to full. The speeder went into full blast causing both Rarity and Applejack to tumble out of it. Everypony watched as the speeder went into the desert until it was out of sight.

There was a long pause of silence as they all watched were the speeder went off to in the horizon. HK let out a cough, if that was possible. “Statement: I believe we are ninety-nine percent doomed.”

“What’s the one percent?” Pinkie asked.

“Answer: That we somehow make it out of this alive.”

“Well, atleast we got something.”

Applejack let out a groan. “Of course this had to happen, this always seems to happen,” Applejack irritably said. “Nice going, Rarity.”

“Me!? This was clearly your fault!” Rarity accused while she pointed her hoof at Applejack. “If you would have left me alone and allowed me to bring my things, we wouldn’t be in this mess.”

“And if ya just stopped caring so much about your looks, we wouldn’t be in this mess either,” Applejack pointed out as she returned with her own pointing.

The two continued to argue with one another as if there wasn’t an end to it. The arguing was making Fluttershy curl up in a ball while Pinkie was listing down all the things they were saying, just to make sure that they wouldn’t cuss on a teen rated story. T3 and HK looked back and forth at the two as T3 was shivering in fear while HK was enjoying the insults that were being thrown around. Twilight let out a groan as she placed a hoof on her forehead. She was about to say something until a voice next to her spoke out.

“ENOUGH!”

Applejack and Rarity stopped their arguing as everypony with wide eyes were now looking at the pony that had shouted.

It was Garret.

“Would you two stop!?” Garret demanded. “We’re on an important mission of peace, with lives hanging in the balance and all you two can do right now is argue!?”

Applejack and Rarity both looked at him with shocked expressions before lowering their heads down in shame.

“This is not the time to argue. We have very little time and we can’t waste a second of it,” Garret pointed out. “I know that this has been tough on all of us, but we need to work together if we’re going to have a chance on getting back into town, getting the moisture vapors, freeing Applebloom and the prisoners and finding the first star map.”

Applejack looked up to see Garret with his serious expression on him and the hint of disappointment in his teal eyes. She winced when she saw it in them and it was something that she never thought he would use on her. She let out a sigh. “You’re right,” she said to Garret and looked over to Rarity. “Ah’m sorry that Ah called you a brat. That was going too far and Ah feel bad about it.”

“And I am sorry as well, darling,” Rarity said. “I promised that I wouldn’t complain about all of this. Solar Knights are trained to live under harsh conditions if the occasion ever arises for them, but I never did learn how to since I always did more tailoring for them than actually truly trained as one of them.”

“Ah guess Ah can understand that,” Applejack said. “So, friends?”

“The best of friends,” Rarity replied before giving Applejack a gentle hug which startled her at first but she returned it with her own.

“We still need to find a way back as quickly as possible,” Applejack said. “I doubt that the chief is the patient sort of fellow. Anypony got any idea?”

Everypony looked over to Twilight for suggestions, but she let out a sigh and shook her head. “I’m afraid we’ll have to trot all the way back to town. And that’ll take many hours.”

“Hours that we don’t have,” Garret said as he was seeing the two suns high above them while he covered his eyes with his front leg. “By the way it looks, we may have a few hours until the sun sets.”

“Beep boo?” T3 asked.

“Answer: More or less,” HK replied.

“Boo.”

“What, a few hours? That’s easy.” Everypony eyes were wide and they looked over to see that Pinkie said that. “What?”

“You’re telling us that you can cross the large field of sand from here all the way back to Anchorhead in just a few hours?” Applejack said as she was confused by Pinkie’s statement.

“No, silly.”

“Oh, for a moment there Ah thought-”

“I can get there in a couple of hours.”

“.....Ah’m glad she interrupted me.”

“Pinkie, while I’m glad for your determination, but it is just impossible for one pony to make it all the way to-”

“T3, hoof me my special drink,” Pinkie cut Twilight mid-sentence and looked over to T3.

T3 opened up a compartment in his chest and reaching out towards Pinkie with a claw, holding for dear life onto what could very well be their only chance of salvation - he was holding onto a cup of coffee. Everypony in the group had puzzled expressions on their faces except for the droids and Pinkie.

“Okay, Ah know that most of the things ya do don’t make a lick of sense and Ah gave up ever trying to figuring them out, but how is a cup of coffee going to help?” Applejack asked, pointing at the cup.

“If I’m going to make all the way over there, I’m going to need a careful amount of caffeine to get me where we need to go,” Pinkie said. “Also, this is the perfect excuse to drink it as my family had to give it up so I wouldn’t have any either.” She then frowned. “Poor dad.”

Applejack rolled her eyes.

Pinkie grabbed the cup of caffeine-filled drink and she stared nervously at it. She let out a shaky sigh and took one small sip of it. She paused motionlessly as the others were staring at her with skeptical eyes. Pinkie just stood there without even blinking her eyes, in a very still way, almost as if she was made out of stone.

Rarity let out a sigh. “Let’s find a solution that doesn’t has us standing all day looking at-”

Suddenly, Pinkie twitched. The others looked at her with raised brows. She then twitched again. And again. And again. As each twitching fit was becoming more frequent than the next, for some reason, she jumped high into the air as it whistled its way out of her eyes like a train’s blow horn. She landed on the ground on her hooves and was running around the group in at a top speed that nopony thought was possible.

Pinkie was even going so fast, that her words were blended in together. “Wowie,Ifeelhyper!Doesanyponyelsefeelhyper?Isuredo!Whyarealllooksoslow?Whyareyouslow?AmIreallythatfast?Isuredofeelfast!OhmugoshIcanseeallthereaders!”

“PINKIE!?”

“What?What?Youneedsomething,Twilight?Ibetyouneedsomething!Youtotallyneedsomething.Areyougoingtotellmeorwhat?Whyarentyoutellingme!?” Pinkie said as she shook Twilight violently.

Pinkie stopped shaking Twilight and Twilight’s eyes were spinning around and around until she shook her head violently. She looked over to Pinkie with a concerned expression. “Are you okay, Pinkie?” she asked.

"OfcourseI’mfine.WhatkindofasillyquestionisthatI’mtotallyfine!Justeverythingisjustreallyreallyfast!Orreallyslowbutthatwouldbereallyreallyweird” Pinkie replied. “Nowifyouwouldexcuseme,IhavetogetbacktotownandtellRaibowDashtogetherkeisterdownhere!LET’SGOT3!”

“Beep boowweeEEEEEEE!?”

Pinkie sprinted off towards the desert after she grabbed T3 with her. She left behind a gust of sand behind her and disappeared out of sight. The others looked at where Pinkie had went with jaws wide open at what they had witnessed.

“Statement: The pink master is very unusual...I think I like that.”

In the middle of the desert, three figures were walking slowly as the heat of the two suns were beaming down on them. Sunset looked up at the sun and let out a winded sigh. There was sweat dripping from her forehead and her mouth was getting dryer by the minute.

She and her guards had to remove their armor because of the sand getting into them and were messing with the suits internal cooling systems after Calo dropped them off from in the air. Not to mention that it was very irritating for her having so much sand in her suit. The only piece of clothing she had was her belt that hugged around her mid torso with her lightsaber attached to it. She was using her tracking skills to see if there was any chance of finding a town or at least a camp to hopefully get supplies. She would have found something if it wasn’t for-

“It’s too hot out here!” Snips complained. “Can we take another break?”

“Yeah, can we?” Snails asked.

Sunset’s eyes twitched. “We already had a break,” she replied. “Suck it up and keep moving.”

“But we’re tired!” Snips said.

“And hungry,” Snails added.

“So what do you want me to do about it!?” Sunset snapped and turned to the two.

Snips and Snails both thought about it and looked back at Sunset.

“Well….Your hair does look like bacon,” Snips replied.

Sunset looked at snips with a blank look before smacking herself in the face. “We’re ponies! We don’t eat meat!” Sunset pointed out. “And no!”

“Ah come on, it’s not real meat,” Snails pointed out. “Couldn’t you just cut a bit of your hair and-”

Before Snails could finished, Sunset grabbed her double-lightsaber and ignited an orange blade at one end of it. The two looked at her with frightened looks as she started down at them with irritated eyes.

“On second thought, I’m not that hungry anymore,” Snips said.

“Yeah, me too,” Snails said.

“Good.” Sunset deactivated her weapon and hooked it back on her belt. “Now that we got that out of the way, we can now-”

Suddenly, a pink blur came out of nowhere and collided itself with Sunset thus carrying her with it. She let out a shriek before they both disappeared out of view with Snips and Snails having both wide eyes and looked to where Sunset had disappeared.

Snails scratched his chin. “Eh, should we follow her?” he asked Snips.

“Might as well,” Snips said with a shrug. “Oh, maybe we might find some food on the way!”

“Alright!”

Outside of the walls of Anchorhead, the pink blur was closing in at the main gate and it soon stopped in its track and sent Sunset flying towards a pile of trash cans and garbage. The blur was Pinkie Pie as she shook her head violently and was holding on to one of T3’s legs as the little droid shivered in fear.

“Wow, that was exciting!” Pinkie exclaimed as she did a backflip. “We should do that again!”

On cue, the droid's head popped off; landing on the sandy ground.

“Ah oh,” Pinkie said and grabbed the little droids head. She placed the head back on top of the torso piece and spun it around clockwise on it until it stopped and the droids optic was spinning around from the dizziness. “There all better.”

Pinkie then heard a groaning sound nearby and looked over to see Sunset laying upside down around the pile of garbage. Sunset was seeing small versions of her cutie mark circling around her. Pinkie winced at the sight.

“Boy, is she one unlucky mare,” Pinkie said. “I don’t have enough time to throw a 'I’m Sorry’ party' so I’ll just leave a note. “ She pulled out a sticky note and a pen from her puffy mane and wrote down something on it. She then placed the note on Sunset’s stomach and went bouncing towards the gate with T3 following as he was swerving in different directions every now and again.

A couple of hours had past and Twilight was still looking out at the desert with her mouth still open wide, with the occasional twitching of her eye, while the others were doing their own thing.

Garret and Applejack were playing Pazaak with one another. The score for the two were thirteen to seven with Garret in the lead. Rarity was using a hoof filer (which she was able to hide from Applejack) on Fluttershy as she gently rubbed down her hoof. HK stood beside Twilight as he was calculating different strategies on how to take out the buffalo populace quickly and without mercy should things go wrong, which they would likely do.

When Rarity was rubbing down Fluttershy’s hoof, she looked over to the still shocked Twilight and let out a weary sigh. “Twilight, darling, are you really going to stand there all day? Pinkie and T3 have been gone for almost two hours,” Rarity said.

“And if Pinkie was true to her words, she should be there right now,” Applejack added. “Though Ah still don’t know how the hay she was able to go that fast.”

“Well, we know now,” Fluttershy said. “Would you like your hooves to be filed? If that’s okay with you?”

Twilight didn't respond and still stood there motionlessly.

Applejack let out a sigh. “Why are you even this shocked? she asked. “Pinkie has done weirder things than this….At least as far as Ah can tell.”

Twilight then shook her head furiously and looked back at the others. “You have a point, Applejack,” she said. “It just amazes me that Pinkie is able to do all these things without even trying.”

“Well, it goes to show that’s what makes Pinkie so helpful,” Rarity said. “Even if some of the things she does seem crude from time to time.”

“Hey, Ah see something coming this way,” Applejack said, pointing towards in a certain direction.

Coming into sight was the Golden Phoenix as it flew near across the desert floor and made its way towards them. The ship slowed down and its landing clams opened as it now hovered above the ground. It gently landed and the ramps to the ship opened. After words, the bubbly, pink pony hopped out of the ship and held up a device in her hoof.

“Did somepony ask for one, thingamabob?” Pinkie asked with her bright smile showing.

Everypony cheered out for Pinkie and she had a small tint of blushing on her from all the appraisal but still had her large, toothy smile.

After they were able to give the moisture vapor to the chief, he held his end of the bargain and released the prisoners and called his forces back from attacking any of the settlers or the town itself. When Twilight had asked if they had known anything about the star map, the chief told them that his herd had seen something like it in a large cave close to the village. After she cataloged its location, she went back to the group where they were escorting all the prisoners that were being held. The group was gathering almost three dozen ponies and griffons as they brought them into the ship where Fluttershy was attending the wounded with Zalbaar’s and Rarity’s help.

As the line of prisoners were walking into the ship, Applejack was looking among them as she was looking for her long lost sister, Apple Bloom. Some of the crew were trying to help her find her sister while still helping some of the others into the ship. As it seemed like the last prisoner walked into the ship and Applejack looked back at the village one last time, she lowered her head in sorrow and tears began forming around her eyes.

“Hey look, I think there’s one more,” Spike said, pointing towards the village entrance.

“It looks like a filly,” Scootaloo commented.

Applejack shot her eyes wide open and looked up to see an earthpony filly that had a bright cream color to her fur with brilliant amaranth colored mane and tail. Her irises were a bright orange and she wore a simple light brown robe that covered her torso and front legs with a belt wrapped around the waist. She was pulling a small bag with her mouth and she was having trouble carrying it as it seemed heavy. She let go of the bag and wiped the sweat off her and turned to face the ship. Who she was seeing though made her mouth drop as she was staring at Applejack with her wide eyes.

“A-Applejack?” the filly said as her voice was filled with disbelief.

“Apple Bloom,” Applejack said with tears running down her face.

“Applejack!” Apple Bloom shouted as she galloped towards her sister and tears began dripping down her cheeks.

Applejack did the same and galloped towards Apple Bloom. When the two were close, Apple Bloom jumped towards Applejack and she was caught in Applejack’s hooves as she hugged her finally found sister.

Apple Bloom continued to cry with joy as she was being hugged by her sister. “Ah never thought Ah would see ya again, sis,” she said with her voice cracking up.

“Ah thought that too, sis,” Applejack admitted. “But Ah promise we’ll never be apart like that again.”

The rest of the crew smiled happily as they watched their friend, Applejack, as she finally gained a small piece of her old life back. And it was a past she had always wanted back.

END OF CHAPTER

Chapter 20: Old and New Bonds

View Online

Chapter 20 Old and New Bonds

After dealing with the Buffalos and bringing the prisoners back to Anchorhead, the gang was getting ready to head out towards the desert. Meanwhile, Applejack was giving Apple Bloom the tour of the ship and introduced her to most of the crew.

“Canderous isn’t much of a talker, is he?” Apple Bloom asked, walking beside her sister.

“Nope,” Applejack replied. She then spotted both Garret and Twilight and a bright smile appeared on her. “Apple Bloom, Ah want ya to meet my friends, Garret and Twilight.”

“It’s nice to finally meet you, Apple Bloom,” Twilight said.

“Your sister told us a lot about you,” Garret said.

“It’s nice ta meet you both too,” Apple Bloom said. “If ya don’t mind me asking, what kind of name is Garret? It sounds kinda weird for a pony.”

“It’s really just a name that got stuck with me,” Garret replied. “My real name is Solar Recon.”

“Whoa, that sounds way better than Garret.”

“Everypony’s a critic,” Garret said as he let out a light chuckle.

“Ya have ta admit, it still is kinda weird to use a bland name like that,” Applejack pointed out. “But since we’ve used it so many times, Ah don’t see a reason to change that.”

“Especially after what we’ve been through,” Garret said.

Applejack let out a sigh. “Tell me about it,” she said.

Apple Bloom looked between the two adults as they talked. Something caught her eyes and she looked closely at Applejack to see that her cheeks were lightly tinted red. She then looked to at where Applejack was looking at but only saw Garret in her line of sight. Apple Bloom scratched rubbed her chin a few times until a thought had popped into her head.

“Hey Applejack, is Garret your coltfriend?”

Applejack froze with her mouth hung open and her irises shrunk as her face was becoming bright red. Garret had a puzzled look plastered across his face and Twilight tried to hide her blush and rid her mind of some rather peculiar thoughts that came up.

“Um, what makes you think I’m her coltfriend?” Garret asked, still as confused as ever.

“It’s just-” Was all she could say before Applejack covered Apple Bloom’s mouth with her hoof.

“You know how fillies get when they imagine something,” Applejack said, having a nervous tone in her voice.

“I uh-”

“If y’all excuse me, Ah have ta show Apple Bloom around,” Applejack said as she shoved Apple Bloom in front of her and turned around the corner.

Garret raised a brow. “Well, that was weird,” he said.

“Y-Yeah,” Twilight stuttered.

“By the way, why were you blushing?”

Twilight’s eyes widened as she looked up at the male unicorn in front of her. “Uuhhhh, nothing. It’s just so hot in here,” she said, pulling around her neck collar pretending to be hot.

“Hot? But the ship has a constant temperature of-”

“Well, would you look at that? I have to start writing down my report on our progress. Can’t keep track of our progress while standing around now can we?”

“But-”

“See you later,” Twilight said, hurrying towards a random direction. ‘What the heck is wrong with me? And why did I feel jealous of Applejack just now?’

Twilight went out of view and Garret still had on a puzzled look. He looked back between where Applejack had gone and where Twilight went. He gave out a defeated sigh and shrugged it off.

Applejack shoved Apple Bloom into the starboard dormitory and closed the door behind her while making sure it was locked. She then faced Applejack with a flustered expression as Apple Bloom had a sheepish smile.

“Why the hay did ya have to ask something like that?” Applejack asked. “What even gave ya that idea in the first place?”

“Well, you kinda blushed when you were looking at him.” Applejack couldn’t help but feel a little embarrassed. “Also, Ah kinda notice you were ogling him.”

“Wh- A-Ah was not!” Applejack said as her face scrunched up.

“Sis, we may have been apart for five years, but Ah know when ya are lying,” Apple Bloom said. “Also, Ah’m fourteen, Ah know ogling when Ah see it.”

Applejack rolled her eyes. “Oh, so ya some love expert aren’t ya?”

“No, but Ah have ogled a few colts from time ta time,” Apple Bloom replied with a sly smile.

“But you’re fourteen!”

“My point exactly!”

Applejack let out a growl. “What were you doing here anyway? Ah thought you died back home all those years ago,” she said.

Apple Bloom lowered her ears and made a frown. “Ma’ and pa’ were able to get me onto an escape shuttle before the city was destroyed. But they couldn’t get on because too many ponies were on it,” she said. “They said they were going to follow me on the next shuttle. But….When we took off and were far enough away, Ah-Ah saw the city being destroyed.” Tears were developing around her eyes and running down her cheeks. “Ah...Ah-”

Applejack wrapped her hooves around Applebloom and gave her a gentle hug as she stroked the little filly’s mane. After a few moments, Applebloom wiped the tears from her eyes.

“Ah’m sorry, it’s hard to talk about it.”

“You've got nothing to be sorry about, sis,” Applejack said. “Just take your time.”

“Alright.” Apple Bloom sniffed and wiped away the last of her tears. “After that, Ah wasn’t able to find anypony else and was left alone. Ah was able to find some relatives of ours and they brought me with them here.”

“We have relatives here? How come we haven’t seen them then?”

“....They’re dead. They were killed by the buffaloes and they took me as a hostage to keep the authorities off of their back.”

Applejack frowned. “Ah’m sorry to hear that,” she said. She wrapped her hooves around Apple Bloom. “No filly should go through what you had to.”

“It’s okay, at least some good came off of it,” Apple Bloom said. She then returned the hug with her own.

“Awww.”

Applejack and Apple Bloom’s eyes were wide open as they looked up at the top bunks to see Pinkie and T3 watching them.

“Pinkie!? What are ya doing up there?” Applejack asked. “And how did you get in?”

“I was in here the whole time, silly,” Pinkie replied. “You just never looked up.”

Applejack stared at her for a moment before smacking herself in the face because it had dawned on her that she never did check to see if anypony was in the room.

“Ya would think with years of training, ya would have remembered how to check a room before hoof,” Apple Bloom commented.

“Hush ya mouth,” Applejack said. “So, Ah guess ya heard the whole thing?”

“Yepi do!” Pinkie replied. “I would have said something but it was both sad and heartwarming, I didn’t want to interrupt.”

“Well Pinkie, as much as Ah like your company,” Applejack began to said as she pressed on the door controls. “Can ya kindly leave so Apple Bloom and Ah have some-”

As soon as Applejack opened the door, Rarity, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo fell on the floor inside of the room

“Oh, for corn sakes!” Applejack cursed. “Were y’all eavesdropping on us?”

Rarity got up with a nervous smile. “Oh, heavens no! We were just, um, passing by and um-”

“We were? But I thought we were listening in on them like you were doing before Scootaloo and I-”

Rarity shoved a hoof in Sweetie Belle’s mouth as sweat began forming over her forehead. “What Sweetie Belle meant to say is that there was something I wanted to talk to you about, but when I saw you had the door closed, I patiently waited for you and did not lean against the door and was not using my magic to listen in on your private conversation.”

Applejack raised an eyebrow. “That’s a very specific explanation there, Rarity.” she said.

“Only because it’s true,” Rarity retorted.

“She’s right, you don’t even need magic to listen through these doors,” Scootaloo said, earning her a glare from Rarity but she ignored it. “They’re so hollowed out, you can pretty much hear anything through them. Even hear Garret sing while he’s in the shower.”

Everypony in the room went silent

“He sings in the shower?” Pinkie Pie asked.

“Well, that’s not important right now,” Applejack said. “So, what was it that ya wanna talk about, Rarity?”

“I just wanted a moment of your time by ourselves,” Rarity said.

“Alright,” Applejack said. “Ah’ll be back in a sec, sis.”

“Okay,” Apple Bloom replied.

Rarity led the way and she followed her down the hallway. Both Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle walked up to Apple Bloom.

“Hey there, my name is Sweetie Belle.”

“And I’m Scootaloo,” she said and puffed out her chest. “The second most awesomest pony in the galaxy.”

“Who’s the first?” Apple Bloom asked.

“That would be Rainbow Dash,” Scootaloo replied. “The awesomest pony in the entire universe and an even awesomer pilot than all the Wonderbolt pilots combined.”

“Wow, she sounds amazing,” Apple Bloom said in a not convincing tone. “Ah did see she had a cool-looking cutie mark. Ah bet you got an awesome-looking one too.”

Scootaloo had a nervous look as her eyes looked back and forth in random directions. She rubbed the back of her head. “Y-Yeah, Ah would if um-” she couldn’t finish her sentence.

“Is something wrong, Scootaloo?” Sweetie Belle asked.

“Can you girls keep a secret?” Scootaloo asked.

“Of course we can,” Apple Bloom replied. “Ya can trust me with anything.”

“I swear on the Unicorn Order not to tell anypony,” Sweetie Belle said.

“Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye,” Pinkie said and motioned her hoof as she spoke and touched her eyeball at the end. The three filles winced when she did so. That stuff was not natural.

“Alright.” Scootaloo took a deep breath. “I don’t have a cutie mark,” she said and closed her eyes. For a moment she thought they were going to make fun of her and laugh but neither of them did. She opened her eyes to see them with raised eyebrows.

“So?” Sweetie Belle said. “I don’t have mine either.”

“Wait, you don’t?”

“Yeah, see?” Sweetie Belle lifted the back part of her robe and showed that her flank was blank.

“Yeah, me too,” Apple Bloom said and moved the back part of her clothes to reveal her flank as well; showing that it was blank.

“Wow! I thought I was the only filly here who didn’t have a cutie mark,” Scootaloo said. “But I kinda thought Sweetie Belle here would have one since she’s part of the Order.”

“Well technically, my sister is part of the Order,” Sweetie Belle said. “And I’m just an initiate who just got started recently, so I can barely use my magic right now.”

“So all three of us don’t have our cutie marks?” Apple Bloom asked. The moment she said those words, an idea popped into her head. “Girls, Ah just thought of something!”

“Is it a bubble gum making device?” Pinkie asked. “I could totally install one in T3…...In fact, I’m going to do it right now.” Pinkie hopped off the bed and started bouncing out into the hallway. “T3! I HAVE ANOTHER IDEA!”

Apple Bloom raised a brow and look to the other two fillies.

“You get used to it,” Scootaloo said. “So, what’s this idea of yours?”

“Ah thought that since all of us don’t have our cutie marks, we could work together to get them,” Apple Bloom said. “You know, like a group that is dedicated to getting cutie marks.”

“That sounds like a sweet idea,” Scootaloo said.

“I think we should give ourselves a name,” Sweetie Belle suggested. “How about the Cutie Mark Three?”

“No, wait! How about the Galactic Cutie Hunters?” Scootaloo suggested. “That just sounds awesome!”

“That makes it sound like we hunt other ponies’ cutie marks,” Sweetie Belle said.

“Oh, good point.”

Apple Bloom scratched her chin for a moment as she pondered on a name. After that, an idea popped into her mind.

“Ah got it!” Apple Bloom said. “We’ll call ourselves, the Cutie Mark Crusaders!”

“Yeah! That sounds perfect!” Scootaloo commented.

“It’s going to be great!” Sweetie Belle said.

“Now all we need is mascot,” Apple Bloom said. “But who could be perfect?”

*BOOM!*

“The bubblegum device didn’t work!” Pinkie shouted.

Coming into the room, T3 was covered in both ash and bubble gum as his optics were going around in circles. The three filles looked at T3 for a moment and they all had bright smiles on them.

“Hey T3, wanna be a mascot?” Apple Bloom asked.

-A Few Moment Ago-

“So, what was it that ya wanna talk about, Rarity?” Applejack asked

“I just wanted a moment of your time by ourselves,” Rarity replied.

“Alright,” Applejack said. “Ah’ll be back in a sec, sis.”

“Okay,” Apple Bloom replied.

Rarity led the way and she followed her down the hallway. When Rarity was sure they were out of earshot of anypony, she stopped and looked to Applejack.

“I just wanted to say how sorry I was about the whole desert incident,” Rarity said.

“Ah, this again?” Applejack said. “Look Rarity, Ah understand you were out of your element and Ah shouldn’t have been pushing you further than Ah needed to. Yes, my sister was in danger, but it wouldn’t have done her any good if Ah didn’t have a good team to back me up on.”

“Exactly, I was being the opposite of a good team member,” Rarity said. “First I complained almost non stop across the desert, came up with designs that should have endangered the entire team and was giving you a hard time while your sister was in danger. I can’t call myself a Solar Knight if I keep on giving in to my own desires.”

Applejack remained silent for a moment. “That’s not true…..Well, some of it is, but not all of it. Ah may not have seen what you guys were up against when Ah was getting the speeder ready, but Twilight told me that you fought in a way that rarely any Solar Knight can fight. And even though you still got on my nerves, you were the first to apologize even when Ah was the one at fault. Despite all that happened, you can be a very generous mare.”

“Well, thank you, Applejack,” Rarity said. “I’m glad to hear such comforting words from you and you are right. I am very generous mare and I’m going to prove it.”

“But you already-”

Before Applejack could finish, Rarity gently placed a hoof on Applejack’s lip’s and leaned over to her ear.

“He’s all yours,” Rarity whispered. She then turned around with a content smile and trotted away down the hallway.

Applejack froze in place as she was processing what Rarity said.

“.......What?”

*BOOM!*

Applejack whelped as she heard an explosion go off. Coming around the corner, Pinkie had a face shield on and when she lifted it up, her eyes were spinning around in opposite directions from one another.

“The bubblegum device didn’t work!” Pinkie shouted before collapsing onto the ground.

After sometime had past, most of the crew gathered around in the main hold while Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Twilight and Garret were on the bridge.

“All systems are ready to go,” Applejack said. “Did you set in the coordinates?”

“Piece of cake,” Rainbow Dash said.

“Did somepony say cake?” Pinkie popped her head through the door.

“It’s a figure of speech, Pinkie,” Rainbow Dash said.

“Darn it, I hate those!” Pinkie said before leaving.

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “Let’s just take off.”

Rainbow Dash pressed on a few of the ship's controls and the engines started to ignite. The Phoenix lifted up into the air and when it was high enough, it flew forwards into the desert sky.

Rainbow Dash looked over the map and kept control over the ship. She saw how close they were to the location and a smile crept on her.

“Looks like we’re about here,” she said. “I’ll be sitting her down soon.”

Applejack looked over her controls and she furrowed her brow. “Hold on a sec, Ah got some readings on here,” she said.

“What is it?” Twilight asked.

“There several lifesigns near the destination,” Applejack said. “Lots of them for comfort. We better get the gang ready.”

“Agreed. If it’s Moonlight’s doing, than we’re going to have to fight our way through them to get to the star map,” Twilight said.

“Whoever we’re dealing with won’t know what hit them,” Garret said.

Applejack looked at the monitors some more and all of a sudden, she had a frightened expression on her.

“Ah, guys? We may have a problem,” Applejack said before she switched the monitors to the ship’s feed to show what she was looking at.

The monitor showed various ponies and griffons with weapons and heavy armor on. Speeders were set up as barricades around the caves entrance. There were also four mounted turrets set along the barricade.

Twilight gulped. “This might be a problem,” she said.

End of Chapter

Chapter 21: Battle for the First Map

View Online

Chapter 21 Battle for the First Map

Everypony on the ship gathered around a large console that sat in the middle of the main hold. Applejack was pressing down on some of the console’s controls and an image of the cave entrance appeared in a three dimensional hologram. The image showed a group of mercenaries standing guard near the entrance.

“This is what we’re going to be dealing with here,” Twilight said to the crew. “We’ve counted about twenty-four ponies and griffons here as well as four mounted gun turrets near the entrance.”

“You think they’ve spotted us?” Canderous asked.

“We don’t believe so but we’re going to assume they have and are just waiting for us to make our move,” Twilight replied.

“So, what’s the plan then?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Around the post, two long hills were on each side. There is a couple of watchponies on the edges but if we take them out without the rest noticing, we can charge from both sides and-”

“Give them a surprise party?” Pinkie finished with a smile.

Twilight’s eyes were half-lidded. “No, we take them out,” she said.

Pinkie let out a gasp. “But Twilight, we can’t just go in and kill anypony,” she pleaded. “What if they’re good and attacking them would make us the bad guys and-”

“Pinkie, some of their equipment is Imperial,” Twilight said. “In fact, those turrets have Imperial symbols on them. So either Moonlight is aware of our search for the star maps or they may have been here longer than we thought.”

“What are we waiting for?” Applejack asked. “If Moonlight is aware of our mission, we need to get to finding those faster before he starts sending in real trouble.”

“Alright, pack every weapon you can get your hooves on and we’ll start the battle plan,” Twilight said. “Pinkie, Rainbow Dash, and T3 I need you three to stay with the ship in case things go bad.”

“You got it, boss lady,” Rainbow Dash said.

“Okie dokie lokie,” Pinkie replied.

“Does that mean we can come along too?” Scootaloo asked. Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom stood behind her with excited expressions on them.

“Yeah, can I help too?” Spike asked.

Everypony looked at the four before looking back to one another as they all nodded and agreed on one thing.

“No.” They all said in unison.

The three fillies and the baby dragon’s smiles turned into frowns as they lowered their heads and ears down.

“Alright, everypony, let’s get to work,” Twilight said.

Standing guard at a certain distance from his fellow mercenaries, a lone scout looked through his macrobinoculars as he searched for any threat. As he was looking, he saw something shine out in the distance. When he increased the binocular’s viewing range, his eyes widened with horror as he was looking down the barrel of a sniper rifle. Before he could do or say anything, the wielder of the weapon fired and the shot landed on the scout’s chest.

HK kept his optics on the target to verify that it was eliminated. When the target didn’t move after it had been fired on, he turned on his internal comms.

“Verification: Target has been eliminated, master.”

As soon as HK said that, the other scout on the other side was also shot down without any of the mercenaries knowing about it.

“Good job, Applejack just took out her target,” Twilight said over the comm. “Everypony, take your positions.”

HK stood up from the ground. Coming out of cover, Garret, Trixie, and Canderous stood up along him and quickly ran over to the edge of the hill and watched carefully. On the other side, Twilight looked over the edge with Applejack, Zaalbar, Fluttershy and Rarity behind her.

Twilight looked to Applejack, who had two grenades in her hoof. Applejack then tossed Twilight one and both looked over the edge together. Using her magic to pull out a small device, Twilight started flashing a small green light. On the other edge, a small blue light could seen as it flashed on and off in a repeated pattern. Twilight nodded to Applejack and they both tossed their grenades. At the sametime, Canderous and Garret tossed two similar grenades as well at the mounted turrets.

When the grenades landed next to the turrets, they released an electrical charge that damaged the turrets and the mercenary that was on it. The mercenaries were caught off guard by the attack but quickly fired at the incoming intruders.

Applejack, Canderous, HK, Fluttershy and Zaalbar started opening fire at the mercenaries down below over the edges while the others charged in with their lightsabers. Garret ignited his violet lightsaber, Twilight ignited her blue double-blade saber, Rarity activated her cyan blade and finally Trixie simultaneously activated two of her lightsabers, revealing them to be bright yellow blades.

The mercenaries quickly gathered their wits and started firing at the charging knights, returning fire at the shooters from over the edges. But their attempted counter attack was fruitless as the knights deflected their attacks with their lightsabers. And they couldn’t hit their targets over the edges as they were being berated by constant fire from Canderous’ gatling gun. HK was locking on to his target before opening on it and moving to the next target with ease. Both griffon and pegasi that attempted to get up to the air were being blasted down by Applejack and Zaalbar while Fluttershy was only firing a few shots before hiding back into cover.

The knights of the group jumped into the dwindling numbers of the mercenaries and started slashing and cutting through each of them. A mercenary concentrated his repeating rifle at Garret as he was deflecting and dodging every shot fired. He used his magic to push the mercenary and a couple of his comrades against a barrel of fuel. When the mercenaries tried to get back up, HK aimed at the barrels with his rifle and fired a shot at the barrel, which caused it to explode.

Numerous mercenaries charged at Trixie with vibroblades and blasters in their hooves and talons while she used her lightsabers to deflect and slash through them with ease and swiftness. Rarity used her magic to lift some of them in the air and flung them against others that were trying to sneak up behind Twilight. The ones that Rarity threw hit some of the mercenaries and made Twilight aware of them. Twilight swung her lightsaber at the remaining ones and cut them down.

The battle was finished when a lone griffon was about to take another shot at Twilight. Just as he aimed his gun at her and was about to pull the trigger, he was caught in the head by blaster fire - a neat hole sizzling right beneath his left eye. Over the edge, the gun that landed the shot on the griffon still smoldered with heat as smoke came out of the muzzle of the gun and HK held it in his metallic hooves. The gunslingers skid down across the hills at the defeated mercenary camp and regrouped with the knights down below them.

“Hee haw, we showed them what for,” Applejack cheered.

“It seemed a little too easy for me,” Canderous said. “I don’t like that.”

“Oh, quit your whining and enjoy it,” Trixie said. “As the Great and Powerful Trixie, has won us the day.”

“I have to agree with Canderous on this,” Twilight pondered out-loud. “This did seem too easy. Better if Applejack, Garret and I head inside while the rest of you keep a look out for anymore of them.”

“Right behind you, sugarcube,” Applejack said.

The three headed inside of the cave while the others took cover behind vehicles, crates or other kinds of cover as they watched out for anything suspicious. Unknown to them, they were being watched by a small probe droid that hovered slightly high above the cave entrance.

The three trotted along the path of the cave as both Twilight and Garret had their horns lit up with magic as Twilight took the lead and Garret covered their rear. For a while, the cave was long and wide with stalagmites hung high over them. As they ventured further through, the cave grew smaller, eventually leading to a chamber at the end of the trail that held the Star Map they had sought for so long.

“There it is!” Twilight said as she ran towards the ancient device and Applejack and Garret followed suit. She stopped in front of it and observed the long, slender object. “I believe that this is the map. Now we just need to know how it works.”

“Maybe there’s a switch on it or something,” Applejack suggested.

“Or maybe it needs magic to activate,” Garret said. He lit up his horn with magic and used it to cover the object with an aura.

It absorbed the aura around it and started to come to life. It was opening up with three spires sliding out of the center and in the center was a round orb. The orb then lifted out of place and started lighting up with a map of the entire galaxy.

“Amazing, how did you know it would work?” Twilight asked.

“I don’t know, it was just a feeling I had,” Garret replied. “You think this map alone can take us to the Chaos Forge?”

“Let me see.” Twilight observed the map and all of the known systems it was displaying. She saw that there were different routes it was showing but most were incomplete. “No, we can’t. It shows some routes but it seems like only part of a whole piece. Which means, we need to find the other three maps if we are to find the Chaos Forge and the Elements of Harmony.”

“Great, so three more planets to go then, huh?” Applejack said. “I was really hoping we didn’t have to go to Coltiban.”

“Well, no point in arguing about it,” Twilight said. “If we need to stop Moonlight and find the elements, we have to go there eventually.”

“This may sound crazy but might as well go there after we’re done here,” Applejack said. “Better to get the hard stuff out of the way, than to put it off till later.”

“Alright, then we’re in agree-”

“Wait,” Garret interrupted after he noticed something was wrong. “I hear something beeping.”

Twilight and Applejack furrowed their brows as they were confused until they started hearing something beep as well.

“I hear it too,” Twilight said. “What is that?”

Applejack looked up and gulped as her eyes widened with horror. “Ah think Ah know,” she said, pointing her hoof up.

Garret and Twilight looked up and shared the same expression as Applejack when they saw what was on the cave’s ceiling. The beeping sound was coming from several bombs that were attached to the rocky surface, dozens of red lights flickering on and off.

“RUN!” Twilight yelled.

As soon as the word left her mouth, the bombs started going off and the stalagmites fell down towards them. The three galloped as the top part of the cave fell all around them. A boulder fell in front of Applejack and she quickly jumped on top of it and hopped off just before another boulder rammed down on it. Garret dodged to left and to the right as rocks were falling all around him and Twilight teleported just before a boulder could land on her. Just before the cave finally collapsed, the three were able to make it outside with dust and debris flying out of the cave right after them.

Garret coughed some of the dust out of his mouth and stood back up. He saw Applejack on the ground and helped her up as Twilight was able to get back on all four hooves. Twilight shook her head and saw the others were still in cover behind the vehicles.

“Everypony, we need to get back to the ship. I think it’s a-”

“We already know,” Canderous interrupted before looking the opposite direction from Twilight.

Twilight looked past the crew and the cover they made to see a large group of mercenaries getting off their vehicles and surrounding the passage out of the cave. At the bulk of it all, stood a pony that was very familiar as he looked through his goggles at the group.

“Wait, is that Calo Ford!?” Twilight shockingly asked as she took cover next to Canderous. “How did he survive the fall of Hoovris?”

“He’s a bounty hunter, sweetie,” Canderous replied. “Once he has his sight on a prey, there’s no hope of losing him unless you’re willing to put up a fight.”

“Well, surely we can convince him not to cause us anymore trouble,” Rarity said. “Why, I bet we can-”

“I have to give you all credit, I had to go through a lot to find all of you but I should thank the Imperial intelligence, they were kind enough to provide all the intel and tech I needed to hunt you down,” Calo Ford said. “You got lucky on Hoovris, but the Luna Empire won’t be getting in my way and I intent to settle the score between us. What I’m going to do is kill every one of you here except for you, Twilight Sparkle. I’ll be payed double if you live, so I suggest you accept while you can, surrender and I’ll spare you.”

Twilight looked around to her friends and sensed the tension and fear that they were emitting. She then looked over to Calo. “I’ll surrender, but only if you leave my friends alone.”

“Twilight, no you can’t!” Applejack said. “You’re too important to be captured by Moonlight. If Moonlight turns you to the dark side, he’ll use your abilities against the Republic.”

“I will never turn to the dark side,” Twilight said. “I would rather die than to be a servant of the dark side.”

“Then you can’t surrender yourself,” Garret said. “Master Lyra has told me what Moonlight is capable of and has turned many Solar Knights into Nightmare Warriors. He would make sure that you live long enough to be one of his servants.”

“Sorry, doll, the offer is that only you stay alive,” Calo explained. “I have a reputation to uphold.” He then stood up on his hind legs and pulled out two blasters from his holsters. “So what’s it going to be?”

The mercenaries pulled out their weapons and aimed them at the gang. Applejack reached around her belt and pressed on a device that had a blinking light on it.

“Then no deal,” Twilight said. “You want me alive? Then you gonna have to aim carefully.” She then ignited her lightsaber.

Calo frowned. “Your choice, let’s go boys, show tim-”

Calo was interrupted by the loud roar of ion engines as he and the rest of the mercenaries turned to see the Phoenix hovering over them. The ship’s two sets of dual turbolasers glistened in the sunlight, their barrels pointing straight at the blockading group.

“Sorry to disappoint, but my friends and I aren’t going anywhere with you,” Rainbow Dash said over the ship’s microphone. “So I suggest you leave before I turn you into space dust.”

“I see you still have the Phoenix. I’m more surprised that thing hasn’t fallen apart yet,” Calo said.

“Hey!”

“But ask yourself this: How did I get here as well?” Calo asked as he pressed a few buttons on his wristband. Coming out of the sky, a massive ship started firing at the Phoenix with its cannons.

The high-density beams hit the Phoenix a few times on the hull and rattled the ship. Rainbow Dash shook in place and tried to get the ship to move. The Phoenix quickly swerved to the right and flew straight while Calo’s ship pursued it.

Calo pointed his gun at the gang. “Take them down,” he said before firing his blasters.

Going as fast as the engines would allow and then some more, Rainbow Dash kept the ship as close to the ground as possible while it was being fired upon by Calo’s ship. The ship would get hit by the streaming line of fire and the shields would almost keep the damage to a minimum.

*BOW!*

Almost.

“T3, we got a fire in the security room!” Rainbow Dash said. “Try to take care of it.”

T3 let out a series of beeps as he headed to take care of the fire.

“Pinkie, can you hoof the guns?”

“Yupie do!” Pinkie replied.

“I need you to gun it and keep them off our backs!”

“Okie dokie lokie!” Pinkie said and bounced over to the turret.

Rainbow Dash then pressed on the ship’s internal comm. “Hey kid, are you four okay?”

“Um, more or less,” Scootaloo replied. Apple Bloom was patting Sweetie Belle on the back as her face was turning green. She then felt the full force of her lunch coming out. Spike waddled over to her with a bag and she quickly grabbed it and unleashed her lunch into it.

“That’s good to hear,” Rainbow Dash said. She looked in front of her to see a large sections of canyons and an idea came to her mind. “Alright, everypony, hang on!”

Blaster fire filled the air as both sides attacked each other. Twilight and the other knights kept on deflecting the laser back at Calo and his mercenaries while the others fired their blasters. Seeing how the blasters were worthless against the knights, Calo held out his arm and pointed it at Trixie. He then fired a rocket from a device on his wrist and it headed straight towards her.

Sensing the incoming rocket, Trixie timed it and jumped over the incoming rocket and landed back on the ground with a smug look.

“Ha! Is that all you got for Trixie?” she asked in a mocking tone. But her smug smile disappeared when Calo showed one of his own. Sensing something was wrong, she looked behind her to see that the rocket made a one-eighty and was heading towards her again. She let out a shriek just before it was about to hit her until Rarity jumped in front of her.

Rarity used her magic on it while she held the rocket a hoof away from them. The small missile quickly ran out of fuel and it ceased to apply any force against Rarity’s magic. She then flung it right back at the mercenaries and the rocket exploded; taking out a few of them in a ball of plasma.

Twilight pointed her hoof out towards the mercenaries. “Their numbers are down. Knights, charge!” she said and charged towards the mercenaries. The other followed suit and charged in with Twilight taking the lead.

The mercenaries kept on firing on the charging knights hoping to either kill or slow them down for their retreat, but their blaster fire was still being deflected by their blades. The knights quickly got close to them and used their blades to slash their opponents weapons and, if necessary, their opponents themselves.

Garret cut down a griffon that tried to slash at him with a blade and his focus was now on Calo. He charged towards Calo while he deflected blaster fire from him. Just as he was about to hit him with his blade, Calo reached for a device on his forehoof and jets of fire poured out of a pack on his back. Garret cut through the air where the short mercenary once was and looked up to see Calo flying upward into the air. Joining him was another griffon and pegasi members of his mercenary band as they flew skyward with him.

Calo smugged. “Unicorns have magic while Earthponies have technology,” he commented. “Let’s see which’s better.”

“Um, Dashie? I know that some of things I do are in fact insane and can be... well, ridiculous from time to time,” Pinkie began to say. “Heck I even modified T3 in ways nopony has ever thought of before. But in times like this, I still have to say, that even for me, THIS IS CRAZY!” she yelled as she watched the Phoenix evade and maneuvered through the large canyon with spires and bridge-like rocks were in their way.

“The chances of surviving this are a billion-million to one!” Pinkie added.

“Never tell me the odds!” Rainbow Dash retorted.

The Phoenix flew through the canyon while Calo’s ship followed from slightly above and continued to unleash a barrage of laser, followed by firing two unguided rockets at the Phoenix. The computers on the Phoenix alerted Rainbow Dash to the incoming rockets and she steered the ship to the side to avoid the missiles with them passing her and hitting the sides of the canyon.

Pinkie turned the ship's turrets at Calo’s ship while she had a menacing smile on her. “Eat lasers, you meanies!” she yelled and fired the turret at them.

Calo’s ship avoided what laser fire it could, but because of the limited space the canyon provided and it’s limited maneuverability, it took a considerably large part of the turret’s blast. However, the ship had strong shields, which did their job well at protecting the hull from Pinkie’s barrage of turret fire.

Pinkie gulped. “I think the ship’s weapons aren’t strong enough,” she commented.

“Of course they’re not,” Rainbow Dash retorted. “This ship was made more for speed than fighting.”

“Well, it would be good if they were both!” Pinkie said.

“Just hang on, the canyon is big enough for us to move through.”

Rainbow Dash pulled one of the ship’s levelers and the ship was going faster than it’s normal speed. Pinkie looked around the canyon through the turret’s windows as her thoughts were on Dash’s comment about it.

“Yeah, it really is surprisingly big,” Pinkie said. “What could have made all this?”

On cue as two of the ships trailed the down the canyon’s various paths, the walls and the ground started to shake up as something was forcing it’s way through the earth. All of a sudden, dirt erupted out of the ground and sides to show giant worms with multiple sharp teeth all around their round mouths.

Rainbow Dash smacked herself in the face. “You had to say something!” she commented.

“It was not my idea to go into a strangely large canyon!” Pinkie retorted.

T3 came into the bridge and when he saw something outside of the ship’s windows, he let out a terrified sound as he extended an limb from his chest and pointed at it.

“What is it?” Rainbow Dash asked before looking out the window to see a giant worm about to snap at them. She panicked and steered the ship away from it before it had a chance to get them.

While in the dormitory where the three fillies and Spike were, they were being tossed around in the room with all the fighting and flying that was going on. Sweetie Belle was nauseous because of all that was going on and the situation they were in wasn’t making it any easier.

“I think I’m going to barf again,” Sweetie Belle said as she covered her mouth with her hooves.

“Keep it together,” Scootaloo said. “Rainbow Dash can get us out of th-”

Before Scootaloo could finish, the ship shifted again and all of them went flying towards the wall. Apple Bloom slammed against the wall with Spike and he fell into an open canister and it closed on him, with Apple Bloom landing on the side. Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo also slammed against the wall and fell to the ground with Sweetie Belle on top of Scootaloo. Scootaloo felt dizzy for a moment before looking up to see Sweetie Belle turning green again.

“Hey, somepony get me out of here!” Spike yelled from inside the canister.

“Don’t worry, I’ll-” Scootaloo back at Sweetie Belle as she was gagging. Sweetie Belle covered her mouth as something was about to force its way out of her. “Sweetie, no! Let me get a bag and-”

“BLARGH!”

“AAAAAAAAAAAHHH!”

“Get us the heck out of here!” Pinkie pleaded as she was frying the turret all around them trying to keep Calo’s ship and the giant worms off of them. “We’re going to die here!”

“If we go up in the sky, we’re just as dead with that ship behind us!” Rainbow Dash retorted. She looked up ahead to see a large rock bridge and had a smug smile when an idea popped into her head. “Pinkie, when I tell you to, shoot the end parts of the bridge up ahead.”

“But-”

“Just get ready!”

Rainbow Dash was heading towards the bridge while she was still evading the enemy’s cannons and the worms that were all around them. When she was bout to take the ship under the bridge, she turned on the comms.

“Now!” she yelled.

Pinkie pointed the turret at the bridge and fired at it. The turret fire hit both ends of the bridge, making it collapse. Rainbow Dash took the Phoenix under the falling debris of rocks and at the last few seconds was able to avoid it and pass through to the other side with only a few of the smaller rocks hitting the top of the ship and harmlessly bouncing off.

Calo’s ship however had to slow because of the larger falling rocks getting in its way and couldn’t move through. The moment it stopped, one of the giant worms broke through the wall of the canyon and clamped its jaws around one the ship’s wings. The ship tried to pull away from the worm’s jaw only for the wing to be torn off of it, sending the vessel spiraling out of control. The ship spun for a moment before crashing down onto the ground and exploding from the inside and outside while other worms started to surround it.

Pinkie let out a victorious cheer. “Woo hoo, we did it!” she said. “That was totally cool! I mean, there was the ship chasing us and the worms all around us, but then you did your Han Solo thing and-”

“Yeah, yeah, we better get back to the rest of gang,” Rainbow Dash said and pressed on the comm controls. “Hey, Scoot, are you guys okay?”

“Um, this is Apple Bloom. Scootaloo is busy taking a shower for the moment.”

“What? Why is she taking a shower at a time like this?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“You really don’t want to know,” Apple Bloom replied with a slight groan.

“Um, okay. Well, we’re out of danger for now, so we’re heading back to help the others,” Rainbow Dash said. “But knowing them, they probably wiped the floor with those guys. I mean, come on, we have Solar Knights. What could they have that we don’t?”

Back with the others, they were running from cover to cover as they avoided the blaster fire from the mercenaries on the ground and from the air. Applejack was firing both of her blasters while she was keeping Fluttershy close to her. Fluttershy was trying her best to fire her blaster and help with the others, but she would quickly duck behind cover with so much blaster fire going around. Canderous was firing his repeater in different directions and trying to keep both ground and air forces off of him. HK fired his sniper rifle at one of the enemies in the sky and Zaalbar was watching his back as he was firing his blaster bow at the ones on the ground. Twilight and the other knights formed a circle as they were deflecting back blaster fire from all sides.

Rarity turned to Twilight as she was deflecting the blaster fires. “It seems we’re in a bit of a mess here,” she stated. “I hope Rainbow Dash has gotten out of her troubles.”

“I’m sure she has,” Twilight said before deflecting a blaster fire. “We just need to hold out until she gets back. Then we can make a break for it and move on.”

Calo looked at the battle that was going on below him as he was evaluating his next move. He reached around the back of his belt and attached a grenade to his wrist band. He pointed it at the knights and used his wrist band to propel his grenade towards them.

Sensing something was wrong, Twilight looked up to see it the grenade heading straight towards them.

“Look out!” she shouted and quickly jumped out of the way.

The other knights did the same and jumped just as the grenade hit the ground and exploded on contact. The explosive force caused the knights to be forced back and tumble along the ground.

While it was happening, two ponies were carrying a large cannon in their hooves before they mounted it and a griffon grabbed hold of the weapon’s handles. The griffon pointed it towards Canderous and fired the cannon at him. Canderous notice the laser heading towards him and tried to move out of the, but the explosion from it forced him off his feet and onto the ground a large burn mark on his chestplate and his repeater lying a few feet away from him. Canderous tried to get back up and was about to grab it until a hoof stepped over it and he looked up to see two blasters pointed at him. Canderous let out a growl while the two mercenaries let out snickers.

Just as they were about to pull their triggers, two lasers hit both of the mercenaries heads and Canderous looked over to see that HK used his sniper on them.

Canderous let out an agitated groan. “What took you so long?” he asked.

“Response: It takes time and patience to get good shots with this elegant weapon, meatbag,” HK replied. “But don’t fret, I prefer you alive so I can have fun watching you in misery.”

“That’s comforting,” Canderous commented.

Before HK could do anything else, he was shot a few times in the torso and fell to ground as the lights in his optics flickered off and on. Canderous looked to where the shots came from and quickly rolled around the ground to avoid blaster fire coming from Calo’s blasters. After the blaster bolts stopped coming, Canderous looked up ahead to see the cannon pointing straight at him. The griffon operating the cannon smiled as he was about pulled the trigger until he heard a roar near him.

The griffon looked up to see Zaalbar and tried to grab the blaster in his holster until he was grabbed around the neck and was held up in the air by the large minotaur. The griffon tried to struggle its way out of Zaalbar’s grip, but it was for naught. With but a flick , Zaalbar snapped the griffons neck and threw him out of the way as he grabbed hold of the cannon. Zaalbar used the cannon to fire on the remaining mercenaries that had been surrounding Applejack and Fluttershy.

Zaalbar then heard something coming his way and looked to see a rocket heading towards him. With another roar, he jumped out of the way and the rocket hit the cannon, resulting in a large explosion.

Garret got on his hooves and shook off the dizziness as he looked up to see Calo coming down over the unconscious Twilight. He quickly looked around for his lightsaber and saw that it was close to him. Grabbing it, he ignited the blade and made a charge towards Calo.

Calo noticed this and prepared himself for the knight’s attack. Garret made a swift strike at Calo’s head but the bounty hunter ducked and punched him across the face. Garret recovered from the counter and made another swing at him. Calo avoided each strike that was made towards him. When Garret lunged at him, Calo moved to his side to avoid the lunge attack and grabbed hold of Garret’s forehoof. Calo struck him once more in the face and twisted his forehoof causing Garret to lose his grip on the saber. Garret winced in pain and Calo kicked him in the stomach, forcing Garret towards the ground on his back.

Just as Garret was about jump back up, Calo pulled his blaster out of his holster and pointed it at the knight.

“You’re brave kid, I’ll give you that,” Calo said. “But you’re not stallion enough to be a warrior.”

Calo pulled the trigger and a laser came out of the blaster. Garret’s irises shrunk as time slowed down for him. He felt his heart going fast as the adrenaline from all of the fear overcame his mind. Just as the laser was about to hit him right between the eyes and end his life, a cyan colored lightsaber reflected the blaster away and Rarity was standing right between him and Calo.

“I will not let you hurt my friend!” Rarity yelled. She held up her lightsaber over her head and kept her focus solely on Calo. “He may not be a warrior by heart, but he’s twice the stallion you’ll ever be.”

“Then let’s see what he can do about this,” Calo said before he turned on his wrist band and a stream of fire roared out of it.

Rarity’s irise shrunk and held her hoof over her face as she prepared for the worse. The flames engulfed around her and she could feel the intense heat all around her, but didn’t felt like it was on her. She looked up to see Garret standing in front of her and using his magic to hold off the fire.

“I can’t keep this up!” Garret said through gritted teeth. “You have to move!”

“I won’t abandon you!” Rarity cried.

Calo kept up his attack as the scanners in his goggles showed that they were still alive. “Impressive, I see how magic can be handy,” he said. “But let’s see how long you can hold before the flames turn you to ash.”

“Not if I have anything to say about it!”

Calo turned around to see Twilight back on her hooves and galloping towards him. He was about to swiftly turn the flames towards her until a lavender aura of magic engulfed his device and it slipped out of his forehoof. Twilight used her magic to bring her double-bladed lightsaber towards her and jumped high into the air. Calo pointed his blaster at her and fired a couple of times before she swung her lightsaber and cut it in half. Before could do anything else, Twilight spun around one more time at high speed and sliced Calo’s head clean off.

The head rolled around the ground for a moment until it stopped, a shocked expression still plastered on his lifeless face, as if carved out of stone. The body stood still for a second before falling backwards onto the ground. Everypony stopped their fighting and looked at the remains of the infamous bounty hunter’s head on the ground. The mercenaries remained silent for a moment before one of them spoke up.

“Hey, we can still do this! If we capture that mare, we can claim the reward for our-”

Before the mercenary could finish, the earth trembled around them as something seemed to be coming their way. Fluttershy felt something was off and for reasons she couldn’t quite understand herself, she believed it was coming from the collapsed cave.

“Everypony, run from the cave! Something is coming this way!” she shouted before she began running away from the cave while dragging Applejack with her.

Following Fluttershy’s advice, the group quickly began running away from the cave too, as the rocks from the collapsed entrance started to loosen themselves. All of a sudden, something large forced its way out of the collapsed caves and let out a thunderous, reptilian roar. It was a huge lizard-like creature with pale green scales and yellow piercing eyes with two horns coming out of its head.

“IT’S A KRAYT DRAGON!”

“GALLOP FOR YOUR LIVES!”

The mercenaries ran for their lives as they were either getting in to their remaining speeders or flying away into the sky.

The Dragon crawled its way out of the cave and looked around its surroundings. It looked around to see the fleeing mercenaries and started to chase after them. It then took special notice of Twilight, Rarity and Garret as they were galloping away from it. It let out a low roar as it was now chasing them. Its hunt had begun.

Applejack saw what was happening and fired a few pot-shots at it. The blaster fire however, was ineffective as the lasers did nothing to it but only angered it.

“What the hay!” Applejack cursed.

“Its scales are too thick, blasters won’t work on it!” Fluttershy pointed out.

The dragon unhinged its jaws and was about to snap at the three.

“NNOOOOO!” Applejack cried.

Then out of nowhere, large beams hit the side of the dragon before it could do anything and it let out a pain-filled roar. The others looked up to the sky to see the Phoenix was coming straight towards them.

“Yee haw!” Rainbow Dash cheered.

The dragon turned its attention towards the incoming ship and let out a threatening roar.

“Looks like he wants more,” Pinkie said. “Should we give it to him?”

“With pleasure,” Rainbow Dash replied and fired the ship’s weapons.

The Phoenix fired a few more shots at the dragon’s side before it let out one more roaring cry and fell to its side, dead. Everypony on the ground let out cheers of victory as they saw the ship coming down for a landing. The ramps to the ship opened and trotting out with a smug smile was Rainbow Dash while Pinkie bounced along with her.

“Told ya I’m the best flyer in the galaxy,” Rainbow Dash said. “You can all cheer for me now, nopony stopping you.”

“Ah guess since ya saved our hides from that dragon, ya deserve it,” Applejack said. “Just don’t let it get to your head.”

“Hey, it’s me we’re talking about, ponies are talking about me all the time so I’m pretty much used to it,” Rainbow Dash said.

Applejack rolled her eyes and walked into the ship with the others following behind her.

“So, did we get the map?” Rainbow Dash asked.

Twilight looked into her saddlebag and held out the datapad in her hoof. “We’ve got the map right here,” she said. “Once we have the other three maps, we can go put them together and they’ll show us where the Chaos Forge is and, hopefully, the Elements of Harmony.”

“What are we waiting for then?” Rainbow Dash asked. “Tell me where to go next and we’ll be there lickty split.”

“Hey, where’s HK?” Pinkie asked.

“Don’t worry, I got it,” Canderous said as he dragged the droid’s body across the ground. “It took a few hits but I think we can still get him back on its hooves.”

Pinkie let out a gasp and ran over to HK and began patting his head. “Don’t worry, HK, I’ll get you fixed up,” she said with firmness. “I’ll make you better than ever. In fact, now that I think about, we can add that bubble-gum-making machine to you. Oooohh, that’ll be so much fun!”

Canderous rolled his eyes and kept on dragging the droid’s body into the ship. Just as the crew was getting back together on the ship, Applejack was glad to see that Spike and the fillies were relatively okay. However she did raise a brow as she looked at Scootaloo, who was still wet and had a towel wrapped around her.

“Um, why do ya look like ya just came out of the shower?” Applejack asked.

“I’d rather not say,” Scootaloo said, angrily. “Let’s just say that somepony shouldn’t have eaten so much peanut butter.” She then glared over to the apologetic looking Sweetie Belle.

“I said I was sorry,” Sweetie Belle said.

“You and I are not on good terms right now, Sweetie,” Scootaloo stated.

“Alright, Rainbow Dash, as soon as everypony is on the ship, we need you to take us to Coltiban for the next map,” Twilight instructed.

“Huh, where they train all their unicorns to be Nightmare Warriors?” Rainbow Dash asked. “Count me in, it’ll be fine to mess with them on their own doorsteps.”

“We’re not going to attack them, we’re going to infiltrate our way in,” Twilight said. “You don’t happen to know how we’ll get through the planet’s defenses do you?”

“More than likely, this girl has been pretty much everywhere in the galaxy,” Rainbow Dash said. “This is a seasoned smuggler’s ship, so if somepony ever took her there before, we could use whatever codes they used and use them to get us in smoothly.”

“Then see what you can find.”

“Aye, aye, egghead,” Rainbow Dash said with a salute and flew back into the ship.

Twilight let out a groan. “I hate it when she calls me that,” she said before heading into the ship.

When the entire crew was aboard, the Phoenix propelled itself off from the ground and flew towards the open sky. The ship had left the planet and into the void of space with the two sun’s light shining off the metal. The engines started to light up with blue energy and it jumped into hyperspace, leading the gang towards their next destination.

End of Chapter

Star Wars: Ponies of the Old Republic

by BlueSun52

Chapter 1: Ambush

Chapter 2: Beks and Griffons

Chapter 3: The Unexpected Welcome

Chapter 4: The Sewers(Rewrite)

Chapter 5: The Black Griffons(Rewrite)

Chapter 6: The Race

Chapter 7: Unexpected Plans

Chapter 8: Gifted

Chapter 9: T3's Epic Adventure!

Chapter 10: The Golden Phoenix

Chapter 11: Homecoming

Chapter 12: Blade of a Knight

Chapter 13: Celebration and a Dark Descent

Chapter 14: Temple Mane-ia

Chapter 15: Plans and Stowaways

Chapter 16: The Desert World

Chapter 17: HK-47

Chapter 18: Sea of Sand

Chapter 19: Hope Lies Even In The Sands

Chapter 20: Old and New Bonds

Chapter 21: Battle for the First Map