Chapter 1 Past and future

Chapter 1: Past and future

The light of the morning sun shined within the space of Scootaloo’s bedroom, with the sound of a rooster crowing from a chicken coop of someone’s house close by. Slowly, Scootaloo opened her eyes and sat up in her bed as she awoke from her sleep. She gave yawned and stretched herself before rubbing the sleep out of eyes. Scootaloo then looked out of the window to admire the rising morning sun. Birds flew in the trees outside making chirping sounds as they did. She noticed too that the sky was clear, meaning the local weather patrol had cleared the clouds early that morning.

“Looks like it’s going to be a wonderful day.” Scootaloo thought to herself.

A sudden yawning sound greeted the Pegasus filly’s’ ears. She turned her head to the bed next to her where the yawn came from. Her brother, Ray, sat up in his bed next to her, rubbing his eyes from sleep, until he noticed Scootaloo, and smiled at her.

“Good morning, Sis.” Ray said.

Scootaloo smiled back at Ray. “Good morning, brother.”

A female voice called out to them from downstairs. “Ray! Scootaloo! Are you awake? Breakfast is ready!”

“Coming!”

Both Ray and Scootaloo moved the blankets off of their bodies, and hopped out of their beds. As they opened the bedroom door, they could smell the breakfast cooking in the kitchen downstairs by their parents. They went down stairs, and turned into the kitchen where their parents were, where they had just cooked breakfast. Sitting at the table was Scootaloo’s father, along with Ray’s mother and father, Miro and Forren.

Scootaloo and Ray then saw the cooked breakfast food set up on the same table. Their parents had cooked a big breakfast made up with fried eggs, pancakes with butter and syrup, hash browns, toast, orange juice, and fresh coffee and tea. As well as bacon and sausages for humans.

Their parents noticed them standing in the kitchen doorway, and greeted them both. “Morning, children.”

“Good morning, daddy!” The filly smiled warmly at him and the others.

“Good morning, mommy! Good morning, daddy!” Ray smelled the hot breakfast food. “Oh, boy! This looks good!”

“Let’s dig in!” Scootaloo said.

Both children went into the kitchen, and took their seats at the table. They began to pick whichever breakfast item they wanted, and began eating, with their parents having a chuckle. It was typical of children to eat like they were, and they knew these two children of theirs were no exception. A hot breakfast that looked as good as theirs could get any child up in the morning. Soon enough, everyone at the table had finished breakfast.

“So, sweetheart, what are you gonna do today?” Miro asked her son.

Ray wiped his mouth with a napkin as he finished his meal. “Playing with our friends outside.”

“Yeah,” Scootaloo added. “We’re going to meet Dinky, Pip, and Lucy in the meadow outside Ponyville today.”

“Then you two will definitely need your strength today.” Forren raised his coffee mug, and nodded happily at Ray and Scootaloo. “Have fun, you two!”

“Of course, daddy!” Ray got up from the table along with Scootaloo. “Bye!”

“See ya!” Scootaloo said.

The young boy and his Pegasus filly step-sibling went out of the kitchen, and out the front door, where Scootaloo’s scooter was stationed in the front yard. Ray got on a cart attached to Scootaloo's scooter, before putting on their helmets. Soon, the two were off down the road, with Scootaloo’s wings buzzing like a go-kart, as it propelled the scooter.

High above in space, the Imperial I-class star destroyer, known to many as the Stormy, stayed in a stationary position above Equestria. The bridge crew reminded hard at work monitoring their scanners, along with keeping the warship operational in Equestria’s orbit.

The main doors of the command bridge opened with Captain Ian Takan appearing. He walked on to the bridge where the crew remained at work as their captain greeted them. “Good morning, crew. Anything to report?”

“No sir, everything is quiet.” A fellow officer replied.

Ian stopped in front of the command bridge, and stood there watching out of the windows into space, with the planet visible on the side in their line of sight. Since they stayed at Scootaloo’s home a year ago, they had dedicated themselves to be the planet’s first line of defence against anything that may threaten the planet. So far, things were quiet most of the time. Although, sometimes, a smuggler or hunter came past here, but did not stay long, since the sight of an Imperial star destroyer most likely scared any scum away from coming very close to the planet.

Apart from that, nothing else very eventful had ever happened. Not that any of the crew minded it. They enjoyed the peace. Yet, they keep themselves sharp, training and patrolling. Even on the surface, they enjoyed helping out the authorities. It kept the troops sharp and the citizens safe.

However, despite all this peace, they still wondered at times what happened to the Empire since they got told that their universe was a movie on the planet where the other humans came from. Not that they would ever know.

Ian’s’ train of thought was suddenly interrupted by the voice of another fellow officer as he entered the warship’s command bridge.

“Sir, there is someone wanting to speak to you.”

Ian turned around to the officer who reported to him. The captain then saw a red figure moving in behind the officer. A being humanoid in shape, with the head looking like a helmet with a smooth glass dome. It mildly resembled the Royal Guards of Emperor Palpatine. Ian’s eyes mildly widened, for he knew what the figure that appeared before him was. An imperial sentinel messenger droid of the Empire.

“You will verify with blood.” The messenger droid spoke in a mechanized voice.

“Of course.” Ian said.

Without wasting a moment, Ian removed the glove on his right hand. The droid approached him as Ian held out his right hand to it. The droid used a retractable needle from a finger on its hand, and pricked the captain’s finger to collect the small blood sample. There was a pause from the droid for a moment as it analysed the captain’s blood.

Ian and everyone else on board the bridge watched as the glass dome on the droid then started to flash. Being a holoprojector and the face of an elderly man appeared. “Captain Takan.” It spoke with the chilling voice of the Emperor himself. “You, and a handful of others unknown to you, have been selected for a particular honor.”

“Operation: Cinder is to begin at once. Resistance. Rebellion. Defiance. These are concepts that cannot be allowed to persist. You are but one of many tools by which these ideas shall be burned away. Heed my messenger. He shall relay you to your target.”

The holoprojection of the Emperor face in the messenger droid’s glass dome went static and vanished as the message ended. And with that, the droid turned away, and made its way towards the main doors. When the droid exited the bridge, the doors closed, leaving Ian and the bridge crew in silence. For moments, everyone quietly tried to take in the Emperor’s message that was just played before them.

“So…it happened at last.” An officer commented on it, breaking the silence.

“Yes, but we are no longer with the Empire.” Ian pointed out.

“So we just ignore it?” Another officer asked.

Ian nodded “That’s right. We don’t think their ways. Besides, I think we would have not survived Endor. It's hard to believable, but whether it was fate, or anything else, Scootaloo may have been indirectly our salvation. Continue at your stations.”

“Sir.” The officers nodded.

With that said, the bridge crew returned to their stations, and continued monitoring the planet’s sectors as usual. Ian sighed as he turned back to bridge window. The thought of the Emperor’s message plagued his mind, and a small unsettling feeling crossed him. One he could not understand.

Looking out the bridge window into space, he thought in his head, “I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”

Meanwhile, back on the planet surface, Scootaloo and Ray continued to race through Ponyville. Ray cheered with delight as they passed by many ponies within town. He always enjoyed riding in the wagon with Scootaloo pulling it along with her scooter. Scootaloo enjoyed it just as much, whether it was with her brother, or even with her best friends, it was just as much fun. After several minutes of riding, they soon reached a meadow outside of town. When seeing that Dinky and Pipsqueak, together with Lucy, standing there waiting, they knew they were in the right place.

They raced towards their friend, until they stopped, screeching to a halt right in front of them. Scootaloo smiled as she climbed off her scooter, and removed her helmet, while flipping her mane.

“Hey, guys.” Scootaloo said.

Lucy smiled back. “Hi, Scootaloo. Hi, Ray. Nice to see you.”

Ray got out of the wagon, and undid his helmet. He then turned his head left and right a few times, as if he seemed he was looking around for something or someone.

“Where are Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle?” Ray asked. “I thought they were coming today.”

“I am afraid they’re busy. Apple Bloom said that she has to help Applejack with chores on the farm, and Sweetie Belle promised to help out Rarity with a big order of filly sized dresses and model for them. They said they won’t be able to meet us until later.” Dinky explained.

Ray frowned. “Ahh, pity.”

Pipsqueak spoke out positively. “But don’t worry. We can still have fun until they get here, right?”

Scootaloo nodded. “Of course.” She then turned to her brother. “Oh, by the way, Ray?”

“Huh?”

Ray looked at Scootaloo who suddenly crack a mischievous smile at him. And before he could question it, Scootaloo quickly tapped him with her hoof while saying “Tag! You’re it!”, before running off laughing. Dinky, Pipsqueak, and Lucy quickly got it, and followed the running pegasus filly laughing also.

“Hey! No fair! You got a head start!” Ray shouted, amused and slightly annoyed at the same, as he ran after everyone else in the game of tag.

For hours, the children enjoyed playing tag in the sunshine until they laid down laughing, tired, and out of breath. Before they knew it, it was now noon, and they were now hungry. Pipsqueak and Lucy soon laid a picnic blanket on the grass, and unpacked sandwiches, baked potatoes, and cartons of fruit juice that Pipsqueak’s mother Nancy had prepared and packed for them in a picnic basket before they left.

The children all sat round the blanket, and began to enjoy a nice picnic lunch together. They took the first sips of their juice carton through their straws, with each of them sighing from satisfied thrust.

“It’s really a nice day, isn’t it?” Lucy asked.

Scootaloo nodded. “Yep!” She then looked at her right wing, and began to move it. She raised an eyebrow as it began to make a few sudden jerks, for it was her cybernetic wing prosthesis. “I better fix this.”

With that said, she got up, and walked over to the wagon attached to her scooter, where she brought over a saddle bag, and sat it down beside her and took out some tools. She then removed the synth flesh off of her wing prosthesis. With the synth flesh off, the prosthesis made very faint high-pitched whirring sounds with each movement she made it do. Scootaloo then removed it off of her body by pushing a button on the base of her prosthesis located on the stub where her real wing once was, before placing it on the picnic blanket beside her tools from her saddle bag.

Everyone watched as Scootaloo began to do some maintenance work on her prosthesis. She had a little knowledge of mechanics, so basic maintenance was no problem. And it helped that the medical droid on board the Stormy gave her instructions on how to do it. Although, it was a pain sometimes, compared to not having a wing at all, it was a minor inconvenience to her.

Pipsqueak let out a sigh at remembering the tale of her wing. “What happened to you, Scootaloo, was horrible.” He looked at his leg, which was fully restored not long ago. “I was lucky it could be restored at all. Still, I can understand that you don’t want to risk losing your flying ability.”

“Yeah…” The Pegasus sighed. “But at least, it can be upgraded to fit when I get older.”

“I’m sure if you asked, Princess Luna could restore your real wing back with the same spell she used to restore my leg.” Pipsqueak said.

Scootaloo ponded for a moment as she finished her adjustments. “Yeah, I could…” She then picked up her wing prosthesis, and attached it back on her right side as she spoke. “But I don’t know. I guess I’ve gotten so use to it that I don’t think about it.”

After attaching her prosthesis back on, Scootaloo then slipped the synth flesh back on, and made some test movements. After seeing that it was in perfect functioning order, she smiled while looking at it.

“Besides,” Scootaloo said. “I think it looks cool. But, who knows? Maybe I might decide to have my real wing restored one day. But this will do for now.”

“Good attitude, sis.” Ray praised her with a proud smile.

The happy atmosphere was interrupted when suddenly, without warning, a loud bang echoed throughout the area. The noise startled the children. They looked around themselves, trying to locate where the loud bang came from.

“What was that?” Lucy looked around in alert.

“I don’t know.” Dinky said, as she looked around herself. She looked up into the sky, and spotting something strange.

“Look!”

Everyone looked up to where Dinky was pointing to with her hoof. The children’s eyes widened as they saw what it was. Up in the sky, a large blue hole had mysteriously formed. It was like a wormhole vortex, and moved a spiral motion, resembling water going down a drain.

“This doesn’t look good!” Scootaloo said.

“We should report that.” Dinky added, knowing from her last experiences that this could not be good.

“I agree!” Pipsqueak exclaimed. “Let’s get out of here!”

With that said, the children began to try and make a run for it, leaving their personal things behind, with Lucy taking lead. They had only managed to make over a dozen meters away from their position, when suddenly, Pipsqueak felt like he was being pulled by some strong, unknown force that stopped him in his tracks, and it was pulling him towards the wormhole.

The small pinto earth colt shouted “Help!” to the others, as he was being drawn towards the wormhole.

Lucy quickly turned to see Pipsqueak in trouble. “Pip! Grab my hand!”

She reached out and tried to grab Pipsqueak by his front hooves, but was not quick enough as she had missed. Dinky, Scootaloo, and Ray felt the same way, and did not have enough time to grab hold of something. They all screamed as they were also drawn towards the wormhole. Lucy could do nothing but watch helplessly as her brother and friends disappeared into the wormhole, with the wormhole slowly closing until it disappeared.

“PIP! NOOOOO!!!!” Lucy screamed out at the top of her lungs, as tears formed in her eyes, and trickled face at the horror she had seen of what had happen to her brother and friends. Her cries echoed as if it could’ve been heard for miles.

Scootaloo, Pipsqueak, Dinky, and Ray groaned as they began to come round. The four children then began to hold their heads, as they each felt quiet dizzy. They did not recall much, for they had blacked out just seconds after getting sucked into the wormhole.

“Ugh…What just happened?” Ray asked.

“I don’t know.” Scootaloo turned her attention to Pipsqueak and Dinky. “Dinky, Pip, are you guys okay?”

“I think so.” Pipsqueak said with a groan.

Dinky rubbed her head. “I’m alright.”

When the children felt fully aware, they began to look around themselves to get their bearings. The room they were in was large, and dark, save for some faintly lit up with small white glowing lights, making anything barely visible to see. There was also a what appeared to be a door, similar to that of a blast door that they have seen on a star destroyer, only it had no buttons on the wall to open from the inside. It was also filled with shelves, and placed in rows that formed corridors. In addition, every shelf was stocked with boxes filled with food and all other kinds of supplies.

“Where are we?” Pipsqueak asked.

“I don’t know.” Scootaloo walked over to one of the shelves. “Looks like some kind of storage room.”

Scootaloo and her friends looked at the boxes curiously. The boxes were dark in color, and each of them had an insignia on it. Despite their being not much light from the glowing white light, they could make out what it was. The insignia was a red colored sixteen-rayed symbol inscribed within a black field in a hexagon with borders were also colored red. The look of the symbol gave the children an uneasy feeling, and they all had a feeling that they had seen it somewhere before. However, none of them could recall where.

“Mom?”

A young female voice suddenly cried out within the room, getting the children’s attention. The voice sounded scared, sounding identical to a child.

“Dad?” Another unfamiliar voice cried out soon after it, this time, a young male voice, that also sounded scared and childlike.

The two voices that called made Scootaloo and her friends curious as to who they belonged to. Looking at each other, the children nodded. Silently agreeing to investigate the voices, figuring that they are not alone. They carefully followed the voices to where they believed came from. They made their way through a corridor of shelves that lead them to the other side of the room. The other end was as wide and spacious as the side they were previously on, only it was too dark for any of them to see.

Scootaloo turned to Dinky, and whispered to her, “Hey, Dinky. Light up your horn.”

“Right.” Dinky said with a whisper.

Dinky lit up her as she used an lamination spell, and began to direct the light around the dark space in the room like a flashlight. The back space in the room was similar to the other side as they had seen through the light. A sudden tap noise from their left got their attention. Dinky shined the light from her horn to the direction the tap noise came from along, with the sound of children whimpering in fear as the light revealed two figures.

The two figures that the light revealed before them were two foals, each one looked around their age. One was a unicorn colt with a grey coat, grayish olive eyes, and a brown mane. The other was an earth filly with a brown coat, moderate aquamarine eyes, and magenta mane. Both were trembling, and covering their eyes from the light from Dinky’s horn. Scootaloo, Dinky, Pipsqueak, and Ray’s eyes widened at the sight of the two foals, for they now knew for sure that they were not the only ones here.

Scootaloo blinked. “More ponies.”

“It looks like the blue hole in the sky got these two as well.” Pipsqueak said.

The two foals slowly looked up at Scootaloo and her friends, still struggling to see from the light shining in their eyes, as the unicorn colt spoke out. “Who are you? What do you want with us?”

“Please don’t hurt us.” The earth filly fearfully said.

Dinky adjusted the light on her horn into a spreading lamination field so that the scared foals could see them. All while Scootaloo said, “It’s okay. We won’t hurt you. I’m Scootaloo.”

“I’m Dinky.”

“And I’m Pipsqueak. We’re ponies like you.”

“And I’m Ray.”

The foals looked at the four children, all while blinking at them in confusion.

“Scootaloo, Dinky, and Pipsqueak?” The earth filly asked with a confused look.

Pipsqueak nodded. “Yeah. That’s us.”

The unicorn colt tilted his head. “It…it is you. But you’re all…younger.”

“Younger?” Scootaloo asked. “Huh?”

Both foals turned their attention to Ray. “But what are you?”

“Yeah, you’re not a pony.” The unicorn colt said.

Ray chuckled. “No. I’m not a pony. I’m a human.”

“A human?” The earth filly tilted her head. “What’s a human?”

“Huh?” Ray looked at the foals with an unsure look. “You really don’t know what a human is?”

“And how do you two know about me and-”

Scootaloo’s question was suddenly interrupted by a loud alarm blaring, startling the children, and causing them to jump. The twins whimpered fearful as they covered their ears with their hooves from the noise. The whole room then began to be lighted with red lights, along with yellow flashing lights. A loud voice on an intercom then suddenly called out a moment after.

“Alert! Alert! Intruders have been detected in the storage area of deck seven, in sector two! All available units, report at once to engage and intercept! This is not a drill! Repeat: This is not a drill! Treat intruders as hostile!”

Scootaloo and her friends were concerned about the words from the voice on the intercom, especially from how there was no escape or anywhere to hide in the room they were inside. The two other foals showed great fear and confusion on what was happening with Dinky and Pipsqueak tried to their best to calm them. Scootaloo and Ray peeped their heads around the shelf and looked down the corridor at the blast doors. Watching and waiting for whoever or whatever was going to come through those doors.

A few moments later, the blast doors opened, and several humans in white armor moved in. They looked identical to that of Imperial Stormtroopers of the Galactic Empire, only the armor they wore was different. The helmet was slimmer in shape, the eyes on their helmets were larger, and the armor featured an updated joint design.

One of the troopers looked in the direction of the children looking down the other end of the corridor, and pointed at them while yelling, “There they are! Over there!”

The children quickly ducked their heads back behind the corner, and came over to the others, as they heard the sound of fast paced footsteps of multiple troopers coming down the corridor towards them. A moment later, the troopers reached the same side of the room.

“Freeze!” One of them yelled, as he and the rest of the troopers aimed their blasters at the children. Their blasters made a cocking sound, along with a brief, high pitched, electronic, humming sound as if charging up, ready to fire.

Scootaloo and her friends obeyed and stayed still, while the two other foals held each other in fear. Two troopers came up to the foals a moment later, and grabbed them. Forcing them both up, they shoving the two foals with others facing the corridor that faced the opened doors. Dinky and Pipsqueak whispered calming words to the two foals, but they were too scared to react.

A Stormtrooper with a black colored pauldron on his right shoulder of his armor pulled out a comlink, and spoke into it. “Grand Admiral, we have captured the intruders.”

“Very good, Sergeant.” A male voice said on the comlink. “I’m on my way down. Hold them until I arrive.”

The children stayed in place as the troopers held them a gunpoint as the alarm was shut off. The two foals were scared and confused, and had no idea what was going on. Scootaloo, Pipsqueak, Dinky, and Ray stood with them. Although they also were slightly scared, they tried not to show it, and to stay brave.

Yet, the troopers that were holding them at gun point made the group of friends realize something. Those troopers were First Order Stormtroopers. A new version of Stormtrooper that are better trained, so much that they would make Imperial Stormtroopers of the Empire seem like cream-puffs in comparison.

The insignia on the storage boxes made it all so clear to each of them. Scootaloo, Ray, Dinky and Pipsqueak had only seen The Force Awakens before, brought by James during one of his visits, but they only saw the movie once. They were never really interested into the lore of the First Order, but they did know a few things about them. Like how they are the bad guys, their leaders, and so on.

It made them wonder in which year they had landed. None of them could tell, but they did know one thing for sure. That this was a dangerous situation that they were in. They had remembered what the First Order did in the movies, especially to helpless people, so they knew it was bad all of them.

Several moments later, through the legs of the sergeant Stormtrooper standing in front of them, they saw a man walk in through the opened doors. He was wearing a dark-colored officer uniform that consisted of a high-collared tunic, flared-hipped breeches, knee-high boots, a crested command cap, and a charcoal gray colored braided cuff title on his uniform's left sleeve. The uniform looked almost identical to one worn by an Imperial officer, only the sides of the cap were peaked. He was dark-skinned and muscular, his hazel eyes had a neutral look and his copper-brown hair was visible under his cap. He was followed by another slimmer man with light brown hair, blue eyes, and wearing the same uniform, only the braided cuff title on his uniform's left sleeve was light gray in color.

The sergeant Stormtrooper stepped aside saying “Intruders secured, sir!” as the dark-skinned officer came passed him to see the intruders, with the younger officer by his side. His eyebrows rose with confusion at seeing the captured intruders being held at gunpoint by the Stormtroopers. Scootaloo, Ray, Dinky and Pipsqueak looked at him with slight expressions of unease, still trying to stay brave, yet feared the worst.

“Please, we don’t mean trouble, we are lost!” The earth filly pleaded with fearful tears in her eyes. “Don’t hurt us, please!”

The dark-skinned officer’s expression became surprised for a moment at the sight of the scare foals. It was there the officer realized that these were not dangerous intruders, but scared, confused, helpless children. Although he could not identify the specie of five of the six them, he could clearly see that they were children.

He then turned to the Stormtroopers. "Lower your weapons! They pose us no threat!" The Stormtroopers did so as they were commanded, with the second younger officer looking confused to the dark-skinned officers sudden order.

The dark-skinned officer turned his attention back to the scared foals. "I would never hurt a child. Though I’m more curious to know who and what you are.” He said in a calm tone.

“Well, we are ponies. I am Scootaloo, and those are my friends Dinky and Pipsqueak.” Scootaloo introduced.

“My name is Ray, I am Scootaloo’s stepbrother.” The boy added.

With a slightly shaken voice, the unicorn colt spoke up. “My name is Keen Eye, and this is my sister Lily Pad.”

The dark-skinned nodded. “Nice names. Grand Admiral Harmon Sloane, commanding the Augur. Now, why don’t you tell me more with a cup of cocoa?”

“Huh…” The younger officer said. “But Grand Admiral, we should be arresting them, and imprisoning them in the detention area.”

Harmon glanced at the younger officer. "No, Lieutenant. These are children, not dangerous intruders. And they are to be instead treated as guests on my ship.”

The lieutenant turned to Harmon. “But Grand Admiral, the First Order’s policies clearly state-”

Harmon cut his lieutenant off before he could finish speaking. “Well, how about I clearly state this: This is my ship, and I make the orders. And my orders are for these children to be treated as my guests. Now move along, Lieutenant.”

“This is highly improper!” The lieutenant yelled.

Harmon turned his head towards his lieutenant with a look of irritation in his eyes. “I said move!” The tone in his voice of one starting to lose patience in his officer’s arguing, making the children cringe a bit. “Or would you prefer to be working on trash detail?!”

Groaning with reluctance, the lieutenant gave in, and turned to the Stormtroopers. “Let’s move out. Direct orders.”

With that said, the young lieutenant, and Stormtroopers marched out of the storage room at their Grand Admiral’s orders, leaving Harmon alone with the children. Harmon then turned his attention back to the children, who were slightly uneasy from the way he raised his voice at his young lieutenant previously.

“I’m sorry about that.” Smiling slightly to make them feel more calm, the Grand Admiral made a gesture to follow. “This way, now. Follow me.”

The children looked at each other. Each were unsure of whether or not if they should follow this man. While knowing they should not trust strangers, somehow Scootaloo knew that the officer was honest. Turning to the others, Scootaloo spoke quietly to them.

“Let’s follow him.”

“Follow him?” Dinky asked.

“But Scootaloo,” Pipsqueak whispered. “You know what this man is. And you know what these guys did in those movies James showed us. They’re the bad guys.”

Scootaloo turned to the others. “Yeah. But this guy stopped his men from getting us, and possibly killing us. He seems pretty cool to me. He can’t be all that bad.”

“Scoots is right.” Ray said. “He seems honest at least. I think we should at least give this guy the benefit of the doubt.”

“I guess you’re right.” Pipsqueak turned to Keen Eye and Lily Pad. “And you two should come with us too.”

Both foals nodded. “Okay.”

With that said, the children began to follow Grand Admiral Harmon Sloane as he led them out of the storage room.

The doors of an elevator opened with the Grand Admiral inside, and being accompanied by children made up of five foals, and a human boy by his side. There, the children found themselves in a corridor that went left, right, or straight ahead. All the corridors were V-shaped, with grey colored walls, and lights within the V-shaped support beams. The corridors were also covered with hard black floors, and was patterned with a glowing floor that was met with each V-shaped support beam, and was glowing with the same lights.

“Here we are.” Harmon Sloane said. “My personal quarter is just down this corridor.”

Scootaloo and Co followed Harmon down the corridor that went straight ahead. They passed numerous officers and first order Stormtroopers patrolling, each one giving them puzzled faces as they glanced at them. Unlike the officers however, it was hard to make out what the Stormtroopers expressions were due to their helmets covering their faces. Though, they did get the feeling that their expression was just the same, even if they only saw their helmets follow in their direction.

Soon enough, the Grand Admiral stopped at a door the left hand side of the corridor, making the children stop as well. They then watched as Harmon took out one of the four short cylinder objects on the front of his uniform. He then inserted short cylinder into a control panel next to the door, before he pushed a few buttons on the panel as if putting in a passcode, and finished by pushing a blue button.

The doors opened instantly as he took the short cylinder out of the control panel, and put it back into the slot on his uniform. Harmon then turned to the children. “Come in, children.”

The group walked into what seemed to be his personal quarter. Whilst inside, Harmon closed the door, and went to make them some cocoa, as he had promised them. The children looked around the Grand Admiral’s quarter. It had sofa suite, made up with a large sofa, a small sofa, and a single sofa chair. It was also placed around a small table. There was also an office desk close by. And the room was also decorated with all kinds of art on the walls, and in the wall shelves. There was also a door that Scootaloo and her friends assumed lead to Harmon’s sleeping chamber.

“Looks nice.” Keen Eye commented.

“Thank you.” Harmon Sloane walked up to them, carrying a tray with seven cups, and a metal jug. “Have a seat.”

All six children walked over to the sofa suite, and sat themselves down. Scootaloo, Keen Eye, Lily Pad, and Ray sat on the big sofa, Pipsqueak and Dinky on the small sofa, and Harmon Sloane joined them on the single sofa chair, as he placed the tray on the table. He then poured the jug of cocoa into all seven cups, and placed each one in front of each child, and himself last.

All six children then picked up their cups of cocoa, and took a sip. They found that the taste of the cocoa to be quite enjoyable, perhaps the best cocoa they have ever tasted. They then began to calm themselves down a lot more so. Harmon noticed this, and decided that it was now time to talk.

“Now then, where do you come from?” Sloane asked before taking a sip from his cocoa himself.

“Our world is called Equestria.” Scootaloo said. “The four of us live in a town called Ponyville.”

Lily Pad’s eyes perked up, as she turned to Scootaloo at mentioning the town name. “Ponyville? That’s our home town too!”

Ray looked at Keen Eye and Lily Pad with a puzzled look. “Strange, I can’t remember that I ever saw you two before.”

Dinky thought inside her head at processing what was being said between Scootaloo, Ray, and the filly named Lily Pad. “What Ray said is true. None of us have ever seen these two foals before, but they seem to know Scootaloo, Pip, and myself. And what they said about us being younger. Is it possible they’re from the future? Or are these two from another universe?”

Harmon cleared his throat. “As strange as it is, one thing at a time, children.”

Keen Eye nodded. “Of course. In Equestria, ponies live together in Harmony. There are earth ponies like my sister, pegasus ponies, and unicorns like me. We unicorns can use magic, while pegasi can manipulate the weather. And earth ponies are known for their strength and making things grow. The special talent of a pony is represented by a cutie mark on their flank, but neither of us hasn’t gotten one yet. My sister and I are twins; in case you couldn’t tell. We live in Ponyville. Our dad is an earth pony stallion named Abacus Sum, who’s an accountant and tax agent, and our mom is a unicorn mare named Lawful Eye, she’s the detective and chief of police in Ponyville. And there is also Rex, our dog.”

Keen Eye then looked at Scootaloo. “And back home, you, and Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle of the Cutie Mark Crusaders are teenagers. Same for Pipsqueak and Dinky too.”

“Interesting. Though our story is…complicated.” Scootaloo said, sounding unease.

The two foals and Harmon listened as Scootaloo slowly talked about her Equestria for many minutes. Explaining how they landed here, what they each went through, and how Ray became her brother. Yet she had left out the part of her lost wing.

“Fascinating…Officially, the Stormy was reported lost, along with its crew, far in the Outer Rim.” Harmon commented on it.

Ray turned to Harmon blinking with surprise. “You knew my father?”

“Not directly. My mother met him and Captain Takan once. But I’m afraid you are a long way from home now.” The Grand Admiral told, the tone of his voice on the last sentence was one with regret.

The twin siblings stayed quiet for a moment, trying to process the information. The thought of being so far away from home was quite scary for both of them. On top of that, there was also the fear that they might never see their friends and parents again. Lily Pad sniffled, trying to hold back a sob, before she and her brother huddled together as they realized how far away from home they were. Keen Eye tried to be brave by not crying, but a few tears escaped his eyes, and could not hold it any longer.

Scootaloo and Ray, seeing how scared, and upset Keen Eye and Lily Pad were, did not hesitate to put their hooves and arms around the twins, and hug them. They whispering comforting words to them, as the twins cried on their shoulders.

“Shh… It’s okay.” Scootaloo said, patting Keen Eye’s shoulder.

Ray gently rubbed Lily Pad’s back. “Please don’t cry.”

It was heart-braking for Pipsqueak and Dinky to watch, seeing two foals they had only just met cry. Scootaloo and Ray felt just the same for these two poor foals. After a few minutes, the twins began to calm down, as their sobs faded.

Keen Eye smiled, as he sniffled and wiped his eyes. “Thank you.”

“It’s the least we can do.” Scootaloo said. “We’re all in this together.”

Ray nodded. “Yeah. We just have to keep our cool. That was the first thing Dad learnt while being a trooper: never panic.”

Lily Pad wiped her eyes, sniffled, and nodded, as she replied, “Okay.”

Out of the corner of Scootaloo eyes, she noticed that Harmon was sitting there smiling at the scene before him. The others noticed it too soon after. Noticing the children looking at him, Harmon cleared his throat after finishing his drink.

“Well, it seems that you children have been through a lot. So I think you should get some rest. I’ve got an extra quarter for you, and it is just across the corridor next to mine.”

The children nodded, as they soon finished their cocoas. They then got up from the sofa, and followed Harmon out of his personal quarter to a door across the corridor. Harmon once again took out a short cylinder out from a slot on the front of his uniform, and inserted it in the panel where the doors opened up.

The other room was filled with recreation lounge that was fitted with a dejarik table, chairs, computers, and holoprojector computers. There was also sleeping bunks fitted in the walls, and eating table, and a bathroom.

“Wow…” Pipsqueak said.

Harmon put the short cylinder back into the slot on his uniform. “Yes. Usually this quarter is reserved for bodyguards, but being as I don’t have any, you can use it. Which reminds me.” He reached into his pocket, and took out six short cylinders. “These are code cylinders for each of you to enter this room with. These will also give you access to the database on the computers, and to certain parts of the cruiser.”

With that said, Harmon handed each code cylinder to each child, placing them in their hands, and hooves.

“Thanks, Grand Admiral.” Scootaloo, Dinky, Ray, and Pipsqueak said unison.

“No need to be so formal. You may call me Harmon. Well, I must get back to my duty, so I will leave you to rest.” Harmon turned around towards the door. When he got outside of the room in the corridor, he turned back to them. “I will also make the orders for all personal on board to not harm any of you, as you are guests. So you’re free to wander around the cruiser as you please. And if you need anything, don’t hesitate to ask. Rest well. We’ll talk more later.”

Afterwards, the door to the room closed shut as Harmon turned to leave, leaving the six children alone in the room. Once alone, the children looked at the code cylinders that were handed to them.

“It’s great we now have these.” Scootaloo commented.

Dinky used her magic to levitate her code cylinder. “I know.” As she levitated it, she blinked, as if she just realized something. She then turned to Keen Eye. “Hey. Keen Eye, is it? You can use magic, can you?”

The unicorn colt nodded. “Uhh…yes.” Keen Eye’s horn lit-up, and began to levitate the code cylinder in his hoof. Only his magic aura around his horn and the code cylinder was faint, and flickered as he was barely moving it around. “Actually, I’m still learning.”

“It’s okay. It took me a while to learn basic levitation too.” Dinky said.

For a long while, the children made themselves comfortable. Scootaloo, Ray, Dinky and Pipsqueak used the database on a holoprojector to informs themselves about where they were exactly and what the First Order was. Scootaloo and her friends also used the time to teach the twins, Keen Eye and Lily Pad the language Aurebesh. It was so they could read everything, for Aurebesh was the language in the galaxy. Aurebesh fascinated the twins. Scootaloo and the others even showed them how their names would be spelt in that language.

“Quite an interesting language.” Lily Pad commented.

“Yeah. And all this technology. It’s amazing!” Keen Eye sighed. “If only Mom and Dad, and our friends were here. They would be so fascinated; they wouldn’t believe it.”

Dinky nodded. “Yes.”

“So, what did you find, Dinky?” Scootaloo asked.

“Well, let me show you.” Saying that, Dinky activated the holoprojector she was at. The holoprojector computer showed many images and documents as she explained.

“According to the database, the First Order was sort of a successor of the Galactic Empire. It was established by Imperial officers, nobles, and technologists around five ABY, after the Emperor was killed in the battle of Endor in four ABY.

It scattered the Empire into several remnant and warlords, with one large remnant having made a last stand during the battle of Jakku.”

Pipsqueak tilted his head. “Jakku?”

“It’s a remote desert planet located within the western reaches of the galaxy's inner rim.” Dinky explained before continuing. “The Rebel Alliance, by then formed into the New Republic, managed to defeat the Empire here. Yet, those who survived, as well as many other imperials who refused to accept the defeat, relocated from Imperial space to the Unknown Regions and formed a new Empire, which is now known as the First Order.”

“So that’s how the First Order was created.” Scootaloo said.

“Well, we’ve seen what the First Order is like in this movie James showed us. The sooner we get back home to Equestria, the better.”

Hearing Pipsqueak’s words, Dinky looked at him, Scootaloo, and Ray. “There’s something else too.” Seeing the others confusion, she then pointed to a spot on the hologram. “Take a look at this.”

The others looked at the spot on the hologram Dinky was pointing at. There on the bottom left hand side of it, there was numbers along with Aurebesh writing. Knowing how to read Aurebesh, as well as knowing it was where the present time and date was located, they processed what it said. Their eyes widened with shock at reading it, as they all looked at Dinky.

“Is…is this right?” Ray asked.

Dinky nodded. “Yes. According to this, it is thirty-four ABY. While back home, it was four ABY.”

Pipsqueak blinked. “So…we landed in the future…”

“Yes,” Dinky said. “We are now about thirty years into the future.”

“Thirty years?”

The voices of Keen Eye and Lily Pad, who were listening to everything, got the attention of the others. They had almost forgotten that they were there. The twins could not believe any of it. They began to feel sad and worried about the whole thing again.

“So not only are we so far away from home, but even if we find a way back, it will never be the same…” Keen Eye said.

Lily Pad turned to Keen Eye, looking down-hearted and distressed. “And Mom, Dad, and all our friends back home are older, or…or even…”

Seeing the twins worrying, the others came over to them to comfort them again. They too felt just the same about it this whole reality.

Dinky placed a comforting hoof on each of the twins’ shoulders. “I know it’s not looking good, but…there’s hope. My dad could find us and reverse all this. And if not, I am sure the ponies of the present Equestria will help us.”

Keen Eye and Lily Pad sniffed and wiped away a tear each of their eyes. “R-right…”

“Okay.” Keen Eye said.

“It’s hard to take, but we should all get some rest, could help to get our heads clear.”

Everyone nodded at Dinky’s suggestion. They all did feel exhausted, and felt that a good night’s sleep could help them. The children turned towards the sleeping bunks when Dinky leaned in towards Scootaloo, Pipsqueak, and Ray.

“Guys?” Dinky whispered. “Can we talk, privately?”

“Huh…” Scootaloo, Pipsqueak, and Ray said in unison.

“Shh…” Dinky tilted her head, directing them to the bathroom as she whispered. “I need to speak to you guys about something. Just you three. It really important. Please.”

Although they were puzzled about what Dinky was saying, they nodded, and began to walk towards the bathroom. Keen Eye and Lily Pad had just got to the sleeping bunks when they noticed the four making their way towards the bathroom.

“Where are you going?” Keen Eye asked.

Dinky turned to the twins, acting as calm as she could. “Oh…I just need to talk with the others about something personal. We’ll join you two in a minute.”

Keen Eye and Lily Pad watched as the four children went into the bathroom. Dinky then lit-up her horn, and with her magic, she pushed the button on the panel that closed the doors behind them. The twins were left alone, wondering about what the others wanted to talk about.

Inside the bathroom, Dinky used her magic to push the electric lock on the door to insure that the twins could not barge in. After that, Scootaloo, Ray, and Pipsqueak gathered in front of Dinky, each of them curious as to what Dinky wanted to talk to them about.

“Okay, Dinky, what did you want to talk to us about?” Scootaloo asked.

Ray spoke out. “And why did you want to talk with us, and the other two-”

“Shh.” Dinky shushed them to keep their voices down as she put on a hushed voice, in case the twins were trying to listen in. “That’s what it’s about. It’s about those two ponies.”

“What about them?” Pipsqueak asked.

“Doesn’t something seem odd about them? Like how they knew us, but we don’t know them?”

Scootaloo rubbed her chin at Dinky’s question. “You might be on to something. They also mentioned about us, along with Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle being teenagers.”

Pipsqueak blinked. “Wait. Are you saying that those two foals are from the future?” He looked at Scootaloo and Ray. “If that’s the case, that explains how we don’t know them yet. They must be from some years’ time-”

“No, they aren’t, Pip.” Dinky said.

Pipsqueak tilted his head in confusion. “No? But why? How else could they know us?”

“You’re forgetting something.” Dinky pointed out towards Ray. “Remember what they said when they saw Ray?”

“But what are you?”

“Yeah, you’re not a pony.”

“No. I’m not a pony. I’m a human.”

“A human? What’s a human?”

“Huh? You really don’t know what a human is?”

Scootaloo, Pipsqueak, and Ray blinked as they recalled what the twins had said in the storage room. They mulled it over that they had no idea what a human was, let alone seen one.

“I remember.” Scootaloo said. “They said they never saw a human before.”

“Hey, yeah. I almost forgot that.” Ray turned his attention to Dinky. “How is it that they don’t know what a human is?” After a moment, his eyes widened. “Are they saying that humans back in Equestria are all gone? That means Mom and Dad, all the crew of the Stormy, and even Pip’s sister could be-”

Dinky cut Ray of by saying, “No. Not exactly.”

“Well, what are you getting at Dinky?” Scootaloo asked.

“Remember what James told us about alternate universes?” Dinky explained. “How his crew in his world told about traveling to a different universe of our world?”

The three children processed what Dinky had brought up. They did recall James talking about how his squad have time and interuniversal traveling technology, and how they used it once to travel to an alternate universe, particularly an alternate universe of their world of Equestria. Their eye widened, for they each had an idea at what Dinky was getting at with this.

“Wait. Are…are you say…”

Dinky nodded at Pipsqueak’s question. “Yes. I believe Keen Eye and Lily Pad could be foals from Equestria, but from alternate universe.”

Ray blinked. “An alternate universe? Wow! Really?”

“That could explain a few things.” Scootaloo said. “But how did they end up here with us? And how do we explain this to them without causing them to freak out?”

Dinky sighed. “I really don’t know. I guess we have to ask them questions on how they got here, and about their world. Then we calmly tell them the truth of their situation the best way we can.”

“And if they do come from an alternate universe, how do we get them home?” Pipsqueak asked. “Can we even get them home?”

Dinky lowered her head with unsurely. “I don’t know. I just don’t know.”

There was a moment of silence, before Scootaloo spoke out. “Well, we’ll worry about that later. Right now, let’s go to bed.”

The four children nodded in agreement. Afterwards, Ray opened the door to the bathroom, and they all walked out of the bathroom towards the sleeping bunks. They returned to see that Keen Eye and Lily Pad were laying in two of the bunks fast asleep already. They smiled at how peaceful they looked sleeping, but also feeling worried about their safety and how they would take the reality of being in an alternate universe. From what Scootaloo and her friends saw, Keen Eye and Lily Pad seemed quite nice foals.

Scootaloo and Ray quietly came over to the twins, and gently covered them with a blanket, while Dinky shut off the lights in the room. They all then quietly went into their own bunks, and got themselves comfortable. Within minutes, the four children fell asleep, and hoped for the best.

Chapter 2: Hooves Of Gold Are Always Cold

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Chapter 2: Hooves Of Gold Are Always Cold

The six children were suddenly awoken to the sound of an explosion that rocked the ground underneath them. Looking around themselves, they found themselves not in their room, but somewhere else. Their new location was within what looked like a hanger bay, damaged with damaged tie fighters and walkers, and fires burning everywhere. Scootaloo, Dinky, Pipsqueak, and Ray noticed that there were inside a hanger of a First Order base, since they noticed that the tie fighters were of the same color of the ones used by them. Keen Eye and Lily Pad looked around them, scared and unsure of their surroundings.

“Where are we?” Keen Eye asked. “What’s going on?!”

“Abi! There’s a shuttle back that way! We’ve gotta go!”

The children turned their heads towards the direction where they heard the adult female voice shouted. They spotted two ponies wearing dark clothes trying to run to a shuttle. One was an earth pony stallion with a brown coloured coat, grey coloured mane, greyish magenta coloured eyes, a counting frame as a cutie mark, and mild scarring on the left side of his face that looked corrected with surgery. The other was a unicorn mare with a dark grey coloured coat, a chocolate brown mane, light brown eyes, wearing black-framed glasses, and a cutie mark of an opened eye that was the same colour as her own eyes.

Scootaloo and Co looked at the two ponies with curious looks, wondering who those two ponies were. The twins, however, looked on with a look of surprise, as if they knew these two ponies all very well.

“That’s Dad!” Lily Pad exclaimed in surprise.

“And Mom too!” Keen Eye waved at their parents to get their attention. “Mom! Dad! We’re over here!”

Keen Eye and Lily Pad continued to call out to their parents, Abacus Sum and Lawful Eye. Only, for reasons they could not figure, their parents continued to run towards the shuttle, and did not turn to them, as if they could not see, nor hear any of them.

The two ponies stopped abruptly, looking as if something was delaying them from going any further. Turning to the direction of where the twin’s parents were staring at, the children saw something coming. A silhouette looking like an armored stallion came out of the smoke and shadow from the burning debris, along with the sound of multiple heavy footsteps.

Within a couple of seconds, the armored stallion stepped out, fully revealing himself before everyone. They saw he was wearing shining golden armor. Its shoulder-plates were augmented with dragon's horns dipped in bronze, and its helmet is fashioned into a grinning, golden skull. Red fabric adorned his garb, decorated with the symbol of the Ifrit, the skeletal pony aflame, and was carrying a goldern blaster rifle. The armored stallion was also accompanied by a battalion of what seemed like unicorn and pegasi royal guards, also carrying blaster rifles.

"Mulciber!" Abacus Sum and Lawful Eye yelled, as if they knew who the armored stallion was.

The armored stallion called Mulciber levitated his blaster rifle with his magic, and aimed it at the twins’ parents. The royal guard battalion did the same, aiming their blaster rifles at them, unicorns with their magic, and pegasi in their wings.

The blasters clocked and charged as Mulciber yelled at Abacus Sum and Lawful Eye, “Heathens!”

Right before the armored stallion and battalion could fire, a loud shot echoed with a large blaster bolt hitting close to Mulciber left side. He and his battalion staggered from the explosion, as he turned to the direction to where the shot came from.

“What?!” Mulciber said.

In the direction, an AT-ST walker was operating, and opening fire on Mulciber and his royal guards. They began to return fire on the walker, only their weapons seemed quite useless against the battle machine attacking them. Royal guards began to fall against the walker. One blast even managed to once again hit close to Mulciber, causing an explosion near him that caused his blaster to be thrown from his magical grasp away from him.

The AT-ST began to move, but was still connected to holding cables that held it securely to its head. It proceeded to move forward, despite that, while still firing on the royal guards. The strength of the walker was so great that it strained the head connected to the cables, until the cover of the cockpit ripped away, leaving only the base and guns of the head remained, with the ripped off cover hanging and connected to the cables. There in the centre of where the cover once was, the mystery operator of the walker revealed itself to everyone. To everyone’s surprise, the operator was not a pony, but a dog. A German Shepherd sat at the controls, and barked twice at Abacus Sum and Lawful Eye, before growling ferociously, and operating the walker to continue firing on the royal guards.

The children looked confused and unsure what to think, seeing a dog operating a walker like that.

“Rex?” Keen Eye and Lily Pad said in unison.

Scootaloo, Dinky, Pipsqueak, and Ray looked on at the dog that the twins identified as their dog, as Scootaloo commented, “That’s weird.”

Abacus Sum and Lawful Eye looked at each other, unsure of what to think of their dog, Rex, operating the walker and saving their lives. Their brief moment of unsurety was sort lived when some unicorn royal guards yelled out “Fire!”, before opening fire with spells and blaster shots behind them. Abacus and Lawful Eye ducked down for cover just in time for the shots to miss them.

Abacus turn to his left, and went for a fallen royal guard’s Z6 riot control baton that was close by to him. As Abacus bent down and grabbed hold of the riot baton, he looked up at his wife, as she yelled out his name as if to warn him. He turned to see the golden armored stallion, Mulciber, standing close behind him. He stood like a statue, with the fires from the burning debris reflecting off of his armor, giving him a more menacing look, as he fixed his sights on the earth pony stallion.

With her magic, Lawful Eye quickly grabbed hold of a blaster pistol from a nearby fallen guard, and fired a shot at Mulciber. The blaster bolt made a direct hit, but Mulciber’s armor deflected it with ease. It caused no effect on the armored stallion, not even making him flinch for an instant.

Before the unicorn mare could fire anymore shots, she suddenly found herself being shot at by some royal guards, and had to quickly take cover behind some wreckage. With Lawful Eye pinned down to fight off royal guards, Abacus was now left to fight alone against his golden armored foe that stood before him. Without saying a word, Mulciber drew out a command staff, and stood in a ready stance with his weapon hoof, daring the earth pony stallion to attack.

Abacus activated his riot baton, and charged at him with an angry scream. He struck at Mulciber, but the armored unicorn parried Abacus’s strike with ease. On the second strike, the two ponies stood on their hind legs, as their weapons clashed and locked together. Both ponies growled as they were now face-to-face, with Abacus’s face, and the electrical sparks from his riot baton reflecting off of the bigger unicorn’s helmet.

"Cute." Mulciber snickered.

Abacus glared as he taunted, "Let's go, gold dome!"

Abacus unlocked weapons with Mulciber, and ducked from a strike from his command staff. The children watched on, as the two stallions fought, blocking and dodging each other's strikes with their weapons. Mulciber growled with annoyance at how an average-sized stallion could stand up to him in combat. With his riot baton in his hooves, Abacus fought for his life, and all his might with each strike, and block he did.

Then suddenly, after several moments, Mulciber got the upper hand by punching Abacus in the face, causing the earth stallion to stagger. The children watched with shock, as their father barely managed to block a strong strike from the armored unicorn’s command staff. The strike was so strong that it pushed Abacus back to what looked like a shaft that lead to an abyss. Then with one more direct strike from his weapon, Mulciber landed a hard blow that knocked the Abacus down the shaft his death.

“NO!! DADDY!!!!” Keen Eye and Lily Pad screamed out with horror, with tears forming in their eyes at seeing this armored unicorn stallion kill their father right in front of them.

Mulciber stood on the edge looking down the shaft. "Pride of Luna, you are! She always did have low standards!"

The unicorn then turned around, until he was staring directly in the path of the children. They stared back at him, looking in horror, not able to move. After a moment, the stallion looked slightly up, as they heard the sound of fast-paced steps. The children turned around to see the twins mother, Lawful Eye, running towards Mulciber in a rage, with a blaster pistol in her magic.

“You monster!” Lawful Eye yelled. “You killed my Abi!!”

In a rage, she fired several shots at Mulciber, each making direct hits, but causing no effect on his armor.

“Cute.”

Amused by this, Mulcider fired a spell from his horn in front of the mare, causing a small pulse of magic that took her by surprise. The pulse knocked Lawful Eye back, causing her to fall to the hangar bay floor.

The twins watched in horror as they saw their mother falling to the ground. “MOM!!”

“Don’t worry.” Mulciber said. “You’ll be joining your husband soon enough.”

Suddenly, right when Mulciber said that, the head of the dark brown earth stallion showed up from the shaft. Rising, as he was stood on an elevator platform rising upwards. For that split second, Keen Eye and Lily Pad were happy and relieved that their father was not dead after all. When Abacus was about close to the same height as Mulciber, he spoke out to him to get his opponent’s attention.

"Hey."

The armored stallion turned around in surprise at the earth stallion, that he thought he had killed, getting his attention. Before Mulciber could react, Abacus swung his riot baton, and hit him in the left side his helmet with full force. The blow was so strong that it caused sparks of metal to fly off, and made his opponent stagger for a moment, struggling to keep his balance.

The children, Keen Eye and Lily Pad especially, cheered at how Abacus had landed an impressive blow to the armored stallion. Suddenly, a tie fighter fell after being shot down by the walker hijacked by their dog, Rex. It crashed close by, causing an explosion that made the children flinch, and cover their eyes for a few moments. After getting their bearings, they uncovering them to continue watching. They saw the dark brown earth stallion standing on the elevator platform, with four royal guards climbing the ladders on the sides. Abacus stood ready to fight with his riot baton as four recruits of the royal guard climbed up and surrounded him on all four corners of the platform.

Then, from the side of the elevator platform facing Abacus’s direction, the armored hoof of the unique armored stallion appeared, and soon pulled himself up on the platform. His golden skull shaped mask was damaged from the left side where the earth pony’s debilitating blow hit. It was dinted from the base to the lens of the eye, with a ripped hole where the eye lens once was, rendering his left eye visible. Mulciber's dirty pale orange-colored eye twitched in his sunken socket, with his eyelids baggy and grey. But most frightening of all, his eye glared with great rage with his focus directly at his enemy.

"That's it!” The armored unicorn climbed and pulled himself up, with the desire to kill the dark brown earth stallion. His yelling voice filled with absolute anger. “Now I'm going to make this slow!” Mulciber readied his command staff. “I'm gonna' smash your ribs in! And while you're lying crippled on the ground, I'm gonna' slit your belly open, stuff your bladder down your throat, and drown you in your own curd!!!"

The threatening, enraged words of Mulciber sent fear-fuel chills through the children’s spines. Keen Eye and Lily Pad trembled with fear, as they huddled to each other, and could nothing but watch as their father was left to face this evil monster of a stallion alone. Abacus stood there for a moment with his riot baton ready, eying Mulciber at each of his four guards surrounding him on all four corners of the platform. Then he lowered his weapon, and began to talk to Mulciber.

"You call for order. You enslaved us. Tortured us. You beat us down. But when your shiny neck was threatened, you squealed and gave in like a coward. The evidence blew up with the factory, but you and I know the truth. When I put a gun to your head, you shut down the factory’s defenses." Abacus pointing at Mulciber as he taunted. "Now, what would your troops do if they found out? Or the princess?"

Unimpressed by his opponent’s attempt at trash-talk, Mulciber taunted. "Don't you know dead ponies tell no tales?!"

After saying that, Mulciber noticed that the four royal guards were blinking, and looking briefly at each other. Each of them having questionable "Would-he?" expressions on their faces as they processed the words of the two enemies.

The armored stallion exposed eye eyed each guard, with a hint of fear showing. He then stared at Abacus, with both stallions locking their sights on each other. The four guards continued to look at each other when confronted with evidence of their commander’s treason. Then, before the guards could process any further, Mulciber’s horn lit up, and with great accuracy, he hastily fired lethal spells at them. Each spell hit each guard in the chest, piercing their chest plates, and leaving a scorching burn at their hearts. They each fell to the floor, lifeless with a clanking thud.

Seeing a brief opportunity, Abacus charged at the armored unicorn at full speed while he was distracted. Mulciber, noticed the earth stallion charging at his from the corner of his eye, and prepared to fire a spell at him. Before he could fire it, Abacus swung his riot baton, and landed a blow that hit Mulciber’s horn, shattering it. Mulciber cried with pain as pieces of his shattered horn fell to the ground, smoking and sparking as they landed. Mulciber held a hoof to his broken horn as he continued to cry in pain. Abacus then saw his chance. With an angry scream, he swung his riot baton with all his earth pony strength, and hit his enemy square in the chest. The blow was so strong that it knocked Mulciber back, causing him to fall off the edge of the elevator, landing hard into a pit.

The children, who had watched the whole thing, cheered at how the father of the twins beat the evil scary stallion in armor. At the same time, Abacus walked towards the edge to where his opponent had fallen. Looking over the edge, he looked down to see the armored stallion on the ground. He noticed that there was further damage to the stallion’s armor. His chest plate was singed and dinted from the blow, and he was coughing, with blood dripping from the front of his mask. The guard commander breathed heavily as he looked at the traitorous earth stallion. His exposed eye glaring straight at him hatefully.

"You were always scum." Mulciber said.

"Rebel scum." Abacus proudly replied.

Right at that moment, the pit began to groan, a large portion of the floor broke away, making the unicorn look in shock at it. Mulciber then looked briefly at Abacus, the floor beneath him gave way a second later. The commander fell, plummeting to his death into the burning remains of the ship's interior. The fire then erupted from the depths, englutting everything and everyone like a raging inferno. The children cried out as the Abacus disappeared within the raging flames, and came fast in their direction.

With a slight gasp, all six children woke up from their sleep, with sweat covering their foreheads. Scootaloo, Ray, Dinky, and Pipsqueak relaxed themselves, realizing it had just been a dream.

“That was strange…” Dinky mumbled.

After getting themselves together, the four friends got themselves comfortable, relaxed, and went back to sleep again. Keen Eye and Lily Pad, on the other hand, were frightened from the dream. Seeing their parents and family pet getting swallowed up by the fire made them quite upset. The twins started to cry silently, and just laid there in their bunks.

“Mom, Dad. I wish you were here.” Keen Eye thought.

Lily Pad sniffled, and turned to her side in her bunk. She then closed her eyes, with tears trickling down her face as she thought inside her head. “Oh, Mom and Dad, I hope you’re safe.”

Chapter 3: Let me tell you about Abacus

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Chapter 2: Let me tell you about Abacus

Scootaloo and Co woke up again some hours later. It was unknown how long they had rested for, but they felt it had to have been at least seven hours. After yawning and stretching, Scootaloo rose up from her sleeping bunk. Dinky, Pipsqueak, Ray, Keen Eye, and Lily Pad got up from theirs soon after, yawning and rubbing the sleep out of their eyes.

“Morning, guys.” Scootaloo said.

Ray rubbed his eyes. “Hey, Scootaloo.”

“How did you guys sleep?” Scootaloo asked.

Lily Pad sighed. “Not that well.”

“Me neither.” Keen Eye said. “I had a nightmare about Mom and Dad, and they were fighting a bad stallion-”

“-In golden armor?”

“Huh?” Keen Eye turned to Lily Pad at her interjection. His look was one of confusion and surprise at what his twin sister had asked. “How…how did you know?”

“I had that same dream too.” Lily Pad said.

Keen Eye blinked at what his twin sister had just said. “You did too?”

“Of course, we all did.” Scootaloo said.

Pipsqueak spoke out. “We saw those two ponies fighting those royal guards and golden armored stallion. And there was a dog operating that chicken walker contraption.”

Keen Eye and Lily Pad blinked, unable to find any words. They could not believe that everyone else had same dream as them. After a moment, Dinky spoke out.

“I know it’s a shock, but we all had the same dream.” Dinky suddenly paused for a moment, as if she just realised something. She then turned to Scootaloo, Ray, and Pipsqueak. “Come to think of it, I just noticed a strange pattern. Whenever we travelled to different places, we each had dreams like that.”

The observation that Dinky had noticed made Scootaloo and Pipsqueak blink with their mouths hanging slightly open. Dinky was quite a smart, and observant filly after all, a trait she inherited from her father.

“Hey, you might be on to something there.” Scootaloo said.

“But what does it all mean?” Pipsqueak asked.

Dinky rubbed her chin with her hoof. “I don’t know. But what I do know is that it usually happens every time we, or at least one of us, suddenly leave home on the first night. It’s too much to be a coincidence.”

“That is strange. I wish we knew what it could be linked to.” Ray then turned to Keen Eye and Lily Pad. “Although what I also want to know is about those ponies in that dream.”

“Yeah, I remember you mentioned that two of those ponies were your mum and dad.” Pipsqueak said.

The twins nodded, as Lily Pad spoke. “Yes. That’s what our parents look like.”

“You should know our parents.” Keen Eye turned to Scootaloo. “Especially you, Scootaloo. You, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, Princess Twilight, and her friends are friends with them. Everypony in town knows them. Even your aunts Lofty and Holiday, and your dad, Mr Storm Dasher.”

Lily Pad spoke to Pipsqueak. “And your uncle, Southern, is good friends with Mom and Dad, since he’s part of Ponyville’s police station.”

Pipsqueak tilted his head with a confused look on his face. “Uncle? Southern?” Scootaloo, Dinky, and Ray turned to Pipsqueak with a supressed worried looks. “But I don’t-”

Before Pipsqueak could finish what he was going to say, Scootaloo quickly nudged him with her for-hoof, grunting as she did so. Pipsqueak glanced briefly at Scootaloo, confused by her nudging him, until instantly remembered about what they had discussed privately. Instantly getting the message, Pipsqueak quickly turned back to the twins.

“Oh-yes. My Uncle Southern is the best uncle ever.” Pipsqueak put on an innocent smile, with the twins looking on with a confused look at Pipsqueaks answer.

The children’s conversation was interrupted with their quarter room door suddenly opening. The children turned towards the door, where a familiar dark-skinned, muscular, adult, human male walked into the room. It was Harmon. Although they noticed that he was wearing a tight, dark coloured suit that covered his body, minus his head, and hands. It was a suit that Ray recognised as sleep wear similar to ones that Imperial Officers wore when sleeping.

“Good morning, children.” Harmon said.

The children greeted back smiling. “Morning, Harmon.”

Harmon smiled back. “It’s good to see you’re all up. Come to my quarters for some breakfast, and we can talk.”

“Sure.” The children said.

The officer led the children out of their quarters, and into his own private quarters. Once the door closed, they sat down on the same sofa suite, as Harmon went to a machine that resembled a large food and drink dispenser.

“What would you like to drink for breakfast?” Harmon asked.

Pipsqueak requested first. “Can I have some tea, please?”

Harmon nodded. “Certainly.” He then turned his attention to the others. “And for the rest of you?”

“Ray, Dinky, and I will have some juice, thanks.” Scootaloo said.

“Us too.” The twins followed.

Harmon nodded at the children’s requests. Pressing a combination of buttons on a dispenser, several cups and small, wrapped food packets came out. Two cups got filled with fresh hot tea, while the other five cups filled up with cold juice. After the cups were filled, Harmon put the drinks and wrapped food packets on a tray along with a jug of cream, and bowl of sugar. He soon carried it over to the children sitting around the sofa suit, and placed it on the table.

The children reached and took their drinks, and a food packet each, as Harmon sat down and took his cup of warm tea. Pipsqueak poured some cream in his tea to cool it a little, before taking a sip. His eyes blinked at the taste of the tea, it was unlike any tea he had ever tasted before.

“Wow, this is tea is so good.” Pipsqueak said.

Harmon smiled. “I’m glad you like it. That is Gatalentan tea, one of the finest teas in the galaxy, from the Gatalenta system.” He then pointed out the juices and food packets. “The juice you have is made from the exotic shuura fruit. And the food packets contain a loaf of freshly made mealbread, one of the main foods the First Order serves, mainly to our troopers.”

Keen Eye and Lily Pad, curious about the juice and mealbread, decided to try it. Keen Eye opened his food packet that contained the mealbread. Lily Pad took a sip from her cup. “Mmm…tastes so juicy and sweet.”

Keen Eye took a bite of the mealbread. The bread tasted fresh, like it was just made, and taken out of the oven. He then took a sip of juice, to find that his twin sister was right about it being juicy and sweet. Scootaloo and Co soon began to eat and drink, enjoying the taste of their breakfast.

Harmon blew on his tea before taking a sip. “Now then. Since you seem more relaxed now, I’m curious to know how you children got aboard my ship?”

Harmon’s sudden question caused the children to pause eating and drinking. They looked up questionably at Harmon, food and drink still in their mouths.

“I know I should’ve asked you about it last night, but given how you children were confused and unsettled, I decided to save it for now.” Harmon said. “So, if you’re okay to talk, how did you get aboard?”

The children thought for a moment, before they gulped down their food and drink still in their mouths, and agreeing to talk.

“Sure thing.” Scootaloo said. “I guess that’s fair.”

Ray spoke out. “Well, it all started when we all went to the meadows just outside of Ponyville. We were having a picnic out there, as we were waiting for our other friends, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle, to join us.”

“There was another human with us.” Pipsqueak quietly glanced at Keen Eye and Lily Pad, remembering that he would have to choose his words very carefully. “A human girl named Lucy. She’s another friend of ours. Then suddenly a vortex thing appeared in the sky, and it sucked us in.”

“It was some kind of wormhole.” Dinky said. “A hole in the fabric of space and time. Only Lucy was spared. We, however, were not as lucky, as we got pulled in by its gravitational force. I just hope that she had gone to get help. When we came to, we found ourselves inside the store room on your ship.”

“And that’s pretty much when you and your troopers showed up.” Scootaloo blinked as she suddenly remembered, and pointed towards the twins. “Oh, and we also found these two as well. It seems we’re not the only ones who got in there.”

“I see. Interesting.” Harmon turned to Keen Eye and Lily Pad. “Did you two get caught by this wormhole as well?”

“Well, my sister and I were coming home from school.” Keen Eye said. “We took the rout that goes through the park, and over the bridge that crosses Great Valley River. Our parents, and our dog Rex would always meet us there to walk us home.”

Lily Pad took her turn at talking. “Lock Down would meet us too because his daughter, Cutie Cream would always walk with us. However, she wasn’t with us because she’s sick with a tummy bug. As we were crossing the Great Valley River bridge, a blue coloured, swirling vortex thing appeared in front of us. It looked like water going down a drain, only it was bigger and horizontal. There was a loud “bang” when it appeared. It sucked us in. We couldn’t get away.”

“And when we woke up, we were in that dark room. We had no idea where we were.” Keen Eye lowered his down in sadness and worry. His twin sister followed. “We want to go home. Mom and Dad, Rex, Nana Mare, everypony must be so worried about us.”

Scootaloo and Ray, who were once again sitting on the same chair, felt sorry for the twins. They placed a gentle hand and hoof on each of the twins, trying to comfit them. Although, the twins were sad and worried, they were at least not crying.

“It’s okay.” Ray said. “Remember what I said earlier. Don’t panic, and be positive.”

Scootaloo nodded. “Yeah. Exactly.”

Dinky placed her cup of shuura juice. “I’m sure that when we get back to Equestria, the ponies will help us. And I’m sure my mother and father are still alive.”

“That’s right. Your dad is the scientist, Doctor Whooves.” Scootaloo chuckled. “Even though he’s kind of a bit weird sometimes. And your mom, Derpy, don’t get me started on her and her love of muffins. –No offence.”

“None taken.” Dinky said. “But if my father is still around, he could be our best chance of getting home.”

“What?”

Scootaloo, Dinky, Pipsqueak, and Ray turned their attention to where the question came from. It turned out it was from the twins, Keen Eye and Lily Pad, as they were looking at them, particularly at Dinky, with a look of great confusion.

“Your dad is Doctor Whooves?” Keen Eye asked.

“And Derpy is your mom?” Lily Pad blinked. “But that’s not right. Your mom is Millie.”

“Yeah. And your dad was a unicorn stallion who had multiple sclerosis, and died of Corhoovavirus when you were two. You and your mom told us yourself.” Scootaloo and Co began to feel nervous, with beads of sweat forming on their foreheads as Keen Eye continued to speak. “And Derpy is married to Mr Rehab, the deputy chief and watch house keeper of Ponyville police station. And she’s pregnant with their first child.”

“…uh…I…” Dinky stammered. For that brief second, she did not know what to say about the twins’ observation. Before Dinky could speak, Scootaloo cut her off.

“We knew that! We were just kidding about that.” Scootaloo laughed nervously while scratch the back of her head with her hoof, and trying to act innocently as possible.

Keen Eye and Lily Pad each raised an unconvinced eyebrow at Scootaloo and Co’s answer, making it clear that they did not believe them. Scootaloo and Co were lost for words. They did not expect to make a mistake like that, and did not think that Dinky’s family was different from these foal’s universe to their own.

“What’s going on?” The twins asked in unison.

Noticing Scootaloo and Co’s mysterious behaviour, Harmon spoke out. “Scootaloo. If you and your friends are hiding something from these two children that they should know about, I think it’s best if you tell them.”

Ray placed a hand on Scootaloo’s shoulder, getting her attention. “Harmon’s right, Sis. I think we should tell them.”

Scootaloo then looked at Pipsqueak and Dinky, who both nodded to her, agreeing with Ray. Knowing that there was no use in hiding it any longer. Scootaloo was concerned. She knew that the twins would most defiantly not like what they were going to tell them. The others felt the same way, but they all knew that they now had no choice in the matter.

Scootaloo sighed as she faced Keen Eye and Lily Pad. “Okay. I think it’s time we told you guys the truth.” She thought hard of what to say. “Well…you see…the thing is…”

“We’re not who you think we are.” Dinky said bluntly.

The twins tilted their heads in confusion at what Dinky just said, while saying “Huh?”

Pipsqueak spoke out. “Well, we are, but at the same time, we’re not.”

“What are you talking about?” Lily Pad asked.

“Yeah. What do you mean by you are and aren’t?”

“Well…” Scootaloo carefully chose her words carefully. “It’s complicated, and it’s going to be a bit shocking, unbelievable, and even sound pretty crazy for you two, but we will explain it the best way we can. But you both have to promise not to freak out at what we’re going to tell you. You promise?”

The twins nodded to Scootaloo, agreeing to the promise to stay calm, or at least try to. With that confirmed, Scootaloo and Co thought for a moment, figuring out the best way to explain the situation to the twins, and Harmon.

“Okay.” Scootaloo scratched her head. “What’s the best way we can explain this?”

After a moment, Dinky spoke out. “Have you ever read books or watched movies about ponies that travel through time or to another dimension?”

“Please Celestia, make them at least have those in their universe.” Scootaloo thought.

Keen Eye and Lily Pad thought for a moment. “Well, there’s the story “The Stallion Who Folded Himself” by Pencil Mural. Miss Cheerilee read it to the class a few months ago.”

“And there’s this true story of the time the unicorn, Starlight Glimmer tried to destroy Equestria by traveling back in time.” Keen Eye said. “Princess Twilight was able to stop her, and taught her about friendship. And now she’s the headmare of the School of Friendship.”

A sense of relief came to Scootaloo and Co, realizing now that such stories did exist in their universe. They were also thankful to find out that the events that transpired with Starlight Glimmer in Equestria in the twins’ universe was similar to their own, or at least for the most part. Knowing this information would make things a little easier for them to explain.

“Why do you ask?” Lily Pad asked.

Pipsqueak took a sip of his tea. “Well, let’s say that it’ll be easier to explain.”

“What we’re trying to tell you two is…” Scootaloo thought for a moment. “To be blunt with you…You’re in another universe.”

“What?” The twins asked with surprise.

“Another universe?” Harmon repeated, turning his head towards the twins, and then back at Scootaloo and Co incredulously. “These two children are from another universe?”

Scootaloo and Co all nodded as she spoke. “I know it sounds pretty crazy, but it’s the truth.”

“Yeah.” Pipsqueak said. “We all have seen and have been to these alternate universes ourselves. It’s how I met the humans, Lucy and Thomas. Lucy became my adopted sister, and Thomas lives with me and my mother.”

Scootaloo pointed towards Ray. “And it’s how Ray became my adopted brother. His family stays with me and my family.”

“From all this, we have made human friends and even adopted families from all sorts of universes and timelines.” Dinky sipped some of her juice. “On the subject of families, you have just noticed that my family is different to the one you know of. My mother is Derpy, and my father is Doctor Whooves.”

Scootaloo nodded. “Yeah. And my family is different too. My father is called Blizzard Storm who works as a royal guard, and my mother is called Misty Breeze.”

“And I confess too.” Pipsqueak said. “I don’t have an uncle called Southern. I have a mother named Nancy, and a stallion named Patch who is a close friend of my family that I call an uncle.”

“So you see, we’re are who we are, but not the same ones you know in your universe.” Scootaloo rubbed the back of her head with her hoof. “In fact, us being the same age as you two, and what we told you last night should’ve been a give-away of that. I guess you were too shaken-up to notice, and probably thought we were taken from the past of your world, huh?”

Both Keen Eye and Lily Pad sat there. Their eyes wide and blinking, and the expressions on their faces were a mix of shock, confusion, and disbelief. Neither of them knew what to say or think at what Scootaloo and Co had just told them.

“So, if what you children say about time travel and alternate universes is true, how did these two come into this universe?” Harmon asked, breaking the silence.

“I’m not sure,” Dinky said. “But my theory is that the portal that brought us here must have not just ripped through time, but somehow between universes too. I don’t know how or why though. But that is only a theory.”

“A Dinky theory.” Scootaloo chuckled until she noticed Ray, Dinky, and Pipsqueak giving her a serious look that caused her to stop. She cringed embarrassedly as she said, “Sorry.”

Dinky shook her head playfully at Scootaloo, knowing that she was only joking to lighten the mood, if only a little. Sometimes others need a laugh, even in the darkest of times. Scootaloo and Co then turned their attention back to the twins, who were still as shocked and unsure as they were. After what seemed like a long time, Keen Eye and Lily Pad spoke to Scootaloo and Co.

“So…is it really true?” Lily Pad asked. “You’re really all different?”

“And we’re in the future in an alternate dimension?”

Scootaloo, Dinky, and Pipsqueak nodded. “Mm-hmm.”

Keen Eye and Lily Pad blinked, not knowing what to say. They were not sure what to think. But somehow, it all made sense. The fact that the three ponies they thought were the same ones they knew were not the one and the same that were with them now. How the twins knew them, but they did not know them. How they were the same age as them. How there was creatures called humans present with them. What is more, the twins were in the future in another universe. It all was all too unbelievable for the twins to imagine, but they knew they were not lying.

“…You…You really don’t know us?” Lily Pad asked.

Scootaloo and Co shook their heads, looking remorseful as Scootaloo spoke. “Sorry, we don’t. And we’re sorry we lied to you both.”

“You’re not going to get distressed again, are you?” Pipsqueak asked.

Both Keen Eye and Lily Pad shook their heads slowly at Pipsqueak’s question. Lily Pad spoke out afterwards.

“We don’t blame you for lying to us. You were just trying to make us not worry.”

“Although, we’re curious.” Keen Eye said. “You mentioned about multiple ponies existing in multiple universes of Equestria. If what you say is true, do our parents exist in your world? Do even my sister and I exist in your world? And can we even get home to our world?”

There was a pause, as Dinky thought of what to say. She then sighed. “I’m sorry, but we don’t actually know. As far as we know, we don’t know of anypony in our world with names like yours or your parents. It’s possible that you both and your parents don’t even exist here. But, like I said, we don’t really know. The same goes for if you can get home to your universe. We don’t know.”

“But there is a chance, right?” Ray asked.

Dinky turned to Ray. “Maybe. But it’s unsure.”

Harmon took one finishing sip of his tea. “Well, I promise to do whatever I can to help.”

“What have you planned for today?” Scootaloo asked as she was finished eating.

“Not very much at the moment. My ship is currently patrolling. After it’s done, I was planning to get some rest at one of the worlds of the First Order, but we’ll see.” Harmon put his cup down as he rose from his chair. “If you don’t mind, I’m going to take a shower to start the day. I suggest you children do the same. It might relax you.”

The orange pegasus filly nodded. “Of course.” She turned to the others. “Come on, guys.”

The children got up from the sofa, and went back to their quarters to give the grand admiral some privacy. Harmon watched as the children went out the room, before entering into the bathroom shower unit. He undressed, and switched on the water before stepping into the shower. The warm water washed the remaining slumber from his shoulders and down his body.

Harmon stood there processing what was discussed previously with the children. The whole thing of time travel and crossing over between universes and dimensions was a lot from to take in. The thought of it all sounded crazy to the average person to comprehend. In an effort to distract his mind, he pushed a button on the side of the shower wall that switched on the radio to listen to the morning’s announcements. Thinking the news and music might give his mind a break.

“Good morning, citizens of the First Order! This is First Order news. Some minor reports of strikes and riots on some of our planets, but we have troops and negotiators to restore order as we speak. So, let’s get to work, shall we?”

The radio announcer cut out, and alien pop music began to play in its place on the radio. Normally Harmon would soon find himself jiving to the tunes. Singing and dancing in the morning shower to the tunes on the bathroom radio was something he had inherited from his mother. However, he only found himself dancing as he washed parts of his body with soap.

Inside the bathroom of the quarter across the hall, Scootaloo and Co were getting prepared for having a shower. Ray pushed a button on the cabinet on the opposite side of the bathroom from the shower unit. The cabinet opened to some shelves, each was filled with fresh linen.

“I found the towels.” Ray said.

Ray reached in, and handed out a towel to the others. Each towel was dark grey colored, and each one was engraved with a red First Order insignia on the bottom-right corner. They each took one.

Scootaloo tossed her towel over her back. “You can go first, Ray.”

“Thank you, Scoots.” There was a pause. Everyone stood there looking at Ray. His expression soon became one of unease. “Um, could you please…”

Scootaloo blinked in confusion briefly before quickly realizing what Ray was asking. “Ohh. Sure thing, Ray.” She then turned to the others. “Come on. Let’s give Ray some privacy.”

Ray watched as Scootaloo and the others turned around and exited the bathroom. When they were out, he walked towards the control panel on the inside of the bathroom. “Thanks. I won’t be long.”

With that said, Ray pushed the button on the control panel, and the doors to the bathroom closed, with the red light of the electric lock turning on. Keen Eye and Lily Pad turned to Scootaloo, Dinky and Pipsqueak.

“Do humans feel shy without clothes, like some ponies do?” Keen Eye asked.

Scootaloo chuckled. “Yeah. Most of the time. We have actually seen humans, including Ray, without clothes sometimes, like when they’re getting dressed, but we do still respect their wish for privacy.”

“Although, there are some humans that choose to go without clothes like most of us pony folk.” Dinky said. “Nudist and Naturist, I think they call them.”

“Really?” Lily Pad asked.

Keen Eye raised a curious eyebrow. “What do humans look like without clothes?”

Scootaloo’s expression was one of unease. “Well…it’s complicated. And kind of awkward to talk about. But you’ll probably see when Ray gets out, but wrapped in a towel.”

“But we do have human anatomy books back home.” Pipsqueak said. “Maybe we’ll show you when we get back home.”

After several minutes of waiting, the bathroom door opened revealing the human boy wearing a towel around his lower half. All this made it clear that Ray was done showering.

Ray sighed with refreshment. “You can come in now, guys.”

The others came inside the bathroom, as Scootaloo spoke to everyone. “You guys can go before me. I don’t mind having my shower last.”

“Okay.” Dinky then turned to Keen Eye and Lily Pad. “You two can go before use, if you’d like.”

The twins nodded at Dinky in agreement. Lily Pad went and cleaned herself in the shower first, then her twin brother went next, followed by Dinky and Pipsqueak respectively. All this happened in a span of half an hour, until finally, it was Scootaloo’s turn to wash.

Just then, the children heard the sound of the doors to their quarter open. They turned to see Harmon enter the room, and he was not alone. Following behind the grand admiral was a service droid carrying some items.

“Oh, hey, Harmon.” Scootaloo said.

Harmon noticed the children standing in the bathroom. “Sorry, am I interrupting anything?”

Scootaloo shook her head. “Nah. It’s fine. We’re almost done showering. I’m just about to have mine.”

Keen Eye pointed at the service droid behind Harmon. “What is that thing?”

“Hm?” Harmon noticed the droid. “Oh, it’s just a service droid. I took the liberty of ordering it to bring Ray a fresh pair of clothes.”

“Thanks, Harmon.” Ray walked up to the droid, and took the clothes. “And thank you too.” The droid responded with in a strange alien language of chirpy beeps.

Keen Eye and Lily Pad tilted their heads. “Droid?”

“What’s a droid?” Lily Pad asked.

“It’s a kind of robot.” Dinky noticed the twins blinking in confusion, and quickly thought of the best way to explain before they could question what a robot actually was. “It’s a machine that is intelligent, technically advanced, and can be built to perform many different tasks.”

The twin siblings understood Dinky’s explanation by saying in unison “Oh.”.

Harmon pointed out Ray’s old clothes on the bathroom to the service droid. “Take these boys clothes down to the laundry bay, please.”

Responding to the grand admiral’s command with affirmative beeps, the droid retrieved Ray’s old clothes from the bathroom floor. After picking up the clothes, it turned and went out of the bathroom, through the living quarter, and out the door to do its commanded task.

Right after, Ray went out of the bathroom to the sleeping bunks with the clean set of clothes. He turned around to the others saying, “Don’t look please. I’ll be a minute.”

“Don’t worry, we won’t.” Scootaloo said.

Everyone did as Ray requested, and waited for Ray to change into the new clothes. A few moments later, Ray called out “Okay. You can look now.”, and they turned to see him wearing the light grey pants of the clothes. They watched as Ray was soon dressed into the rest of his new clothes. The new clothes looked to be a uniform. It had black boots and gloves, and a white and grey uniform top with a red and black First Order insignia on the left shoulder.

Ray did some final adjustments to the uniform. “How do I look?”

“Wow, Ray.” Pipsqueak said. “You look amazing.”

Ray came back into the bathroom, and looked at himself in a large mirror. “Wow. It reminds me of the uniforms Stormtrooper cadets of the Empire wear.”

“Indeed.” Harmon said. “These are what First Order trooper cadets wear, based on the Stormtrooper cadets’ uniforms of the old Empire.”

“Well, you look pretty cool in it, Ray.” Scootaloo then turned towards the shower unit, and hung her towel on a rack next to the shower. “Well, I should have my turn in the shower now.”

“Oh.” Harmon cleared his throat. “Then I shall excuse myself and give you privacy.”

“Nah, it’s fine.” Scootaloo lifted the synth flesh off the base of her cybernetic wing as she prepared to remove it. Although she was told that it was completely waterproof, she preferred to remove it while she washed. “After all, it’s not like we always wear any clothes all the time.”

With an audible “click”, Scootaloo’s right wing prosthesis came off from her stub. Just as she turned to place her prosthesis on the floor, her ears perked as she caught the sound of two gasps. She turned around to the direction where the gasps came from, where she met the sight of Keen Eye and Lily Pad looking at her with shocked, frightened expressions. Harmon raised a surprised eyebrow at the pegasus filly’s cybernetic prosthesis.

Lily Pad pointed at Scootaloo’s cybernetic wing while still keeping her frightened expression. “Y-Your wing….”

Scootaloo cracked a small, playful, amused smile at the twins’ reaction to it. This had been the reaction of many ponies at first. It was another reason why he kept it, as she sometimes found the reactions amusing at times.

“Yeah…It’s a prosthesis.”

“How…” Keen Eye mumbled.

Scootaloo sighed. “Well, it was when I was with Forren. The Stormy was to meet up with another cruiser, until pirates attacked. They got on board, because they were after me. I got kidnapped by them and…they…”

Scootaloo winced, as she could not bear to finish her explanation. The memories of the pain and torture she suffered at the hands of those space pirates caused her some distress. Although she had received counseling from that incident and got better from it, it still affected her to some degree.

Before the pegasus filly could answer the last part, she suddenly felt two sets of limbs wrap around her. She opened her eyes to see Keen Eye and Lily Pad hugging her, having figured out quickly what happened to Scootaloo.

“You poor thing!” Lily Pad said.

The orange pegasus blushed in embarrassment. “Eheh…”

Keen Eye spoke as he hugged Scootaloo. “No, really. We understand. They did horrible things to you. A similar thing happened to our dad.”

After a short moment, the twins let go of Scootaloo, and allowed her to wash herself. Scootaloo then stepped into the shower unit, and switched on the water. The others were intrigued at what they heard the twins say, especially with what they said about their father.

“Your dad.” Ray spoke out, as Keen Eye and Lily Pad turned to him and the others. “Did you say he got tortured too?”

“Yeah.” Pipsqueak said. “What happened to your dad?”

Both Keen Eye sighed. “Well, it’s a long story.”

Dinky raised an eyebrow. “Can you share it with us?”

“Are you sure you want to hear this?” Lily Pad asked.

“Of course.” Everyone turned to Scootaloo, who was standing in the shower rubbing soap on herself, as she spoke out. “We wouldn’t ask otherwise. Besides, we need to know as much as we can about you two, if we’re to help you get home.”

“Scootaloo’s right.” Ray said. “Please tell us.”

The twins nodded and sighed, as Keen Eye spoke first. “Okay then. We should tell you the whole story from the beginning. As we mentioned last night, our mom and dad’s names are Lawful Eye and Abacus Sum. Our mom is detective-chief of police in Ponyville, and she’s also does work as an attorney sometimes. Our dad is an accountant and tax agent. We also have a dog, Rex. He’s a German Shepard, and is not just a family pet, but is also a police dog. And there is also our grandma, Nana Mare, who is the mayor of Ponyville.”

Pipsqueak blinked. “Nana Mare? Mayor of Ponyville? Your grandma is Mayor Mare? Wow!”

Lily Pad nodded. “Yes. Although, she’s not our maternal grandma, but of one from our dad’s previous marriage before he and mom got together. In fact, our parents’ pasts are connected to this pony. A unicorn mare named Tiger Lily.”

“Tiger Lily?” Dinky asked. “That’s a pretty name.”

Lily Pad smile fondly. “I know. Our parents said it that was where they came up with my name, as Lily was the pet name our parents used to call her when she was married to Dad. Mom and Dad told us the story about her, and how they all met. They said that mom met her while she was in foster care, after her parents died from a horrible accident. When mom’s grandparents took her in, she asked if Tiger Lily could stay as well, and they became foster sisters. They then met Dad in the school playground in kindergarten. Dad was being picked on by a bully colt, when Mom came to his aid. After fighting off that bully, she and Tiger Lily invited Dad to share their lunches with him.”

“After that, Mom, Dad, and Tiger Lily became very close friends. They did all sorts of things together. And our dad and Tiger Lily fell in love with each other, and eventually got married, and moved to Ponyville. Mom stayed in Fillydelphia due to her working as a private-eye detective, but she always kept in touch with them, and she always saw them when they made trips to see Dad’s mom, Nana Arithma.”

“Although, Mom never visited them in Ponyville because of her work.” Keen Eye said. “And as for Nana Arithma, she always made trips to visit Dad and Tiger Lily in Ponyville.”

Lily Pad took over again to explain. “While in Ponyville, they said that Tiger Lily was quite special, as she was so kind, and caring to everypony. She helped out other ponies in town while she owned and ran the flower shop with anything they needed. She even helped with organizing events in town. Dad helped out in ways he could too. He helped with financing other businesses, and with the taxes of the ponies in town. They both were loved by everypony in town.”

“Wow.” Scootaloo switched off the shower, stepped out, and grabbed her towel. “Those seem like they were the perfect couple.”

“They were.” Lily Pad said.

Scootaloo dried herself off as she spoke. “So what happened to Tiger Lily?”

Ray nodded. “Yeah. If your mother is Lawful Eye and not Tiger Lily, what happened? What became of her and your dad?”

“Did they get a divorce or something?” Pipsqueak asked.

There was a pause. The twins closed their eyes, and dropped their heads sadly, as Keen Eye says, “She’s no longer with us.”

“She’s in heaven with Nana Arithma.” Lily Pad said.

“Oh.” Harmon mildly shook his head with pity at the twins’ words, as he understood what their words meant. “My condolences to you and your father.”

“What happened?” Dinky asked.

Keen Eye sighed. “Well, our friends and family have told us that she was tragically killed in a house fire. They said that the fire was caused by the power socket they replaced in the kitchen late one night when they were in bed.”

“Dad managed to get out. But Tiger Lily, she didn’t. They said that as they were escaping, a large roof beam fell, and trapped her before they got to the door. Dad tried to free her, but he was unable to as he was all alone.” Lily Pad sadly paused for a moment. “Then before the burning roof collapsed, she shoved Dad out the door, and sacrificed herself for him.” She sighed sadly. “Poor Dad watch her die.”

“Oh, my gosh!” Pipsqueak said.

Dinky frowned. “That’s so sad.”

“We know. Dad lost everything from that house fire. And what’s worse, Tiger Lily was also pregnant with her and Dad’s baby at the time.” Keen Eye groaned sadly. “That was about twelve years ago, in our universe.”

Pipsqueak frowned. “That’s so tragic. I know what it’s like. I lost my dad before I was born.” He then suddenly blinked, as he just realized something. “In fact, I wonder whether my other self in your Equestria had the same happen to him?”

Dinky turned to Pipsqueak. “I don’t think that’s really important right now.”

“Dinky’s right, Pip.” Scootaloo said, before turning her attention back to the twins. “So what happened to your dad after that? And how did your mom and dad marry?”

“Well, they said that Dad suffered so much trauma from what happened that he went away, and vanished. Until Mom found him and began dating him about two years later. Mom always had feelings for Dad, but never told him out of fear that it would cause friction in their relationship when Tiger Lily was alive. Then months later, they got married, and we were born not long after.”

Keen Eye took over talk after Lily Pad. “Or that’s what Mom, Dad, our friends, and everypony in town told us. There was so many things that was strange.”

Scootaloo picked up her cybernetic wing, and reattached it to her body. “Strange? How strange?”

“Well, our parents are somewhat famous, and very wealthy, rivaling even Mr Filthy Rich.” Keen Eye said. “Although, we live like we’re not for the most part. And they are friends with quite a lot of famous celebrities, like Sapphire Shores the pony of pop, Rad Ballad the voice of Equestria, and even the four alicorn princesses. And every so often, Dad goes to different parts of Equestria to give talks of some kind. It was clear that they were hiding something.”

“We were curious about how, and what happened to dad during his disappearance, but nopony would tell us. One time, Dad got very upset when we kept asking. Mom told us that we will know when they feel we’re ready to know. Afterwards we never asked again, seeing Dad so upset like that.”

Lily Pad took over. “But then, six weeks ago, we found finally out about our parents past, especially Dad. It was when our dad did one of his talks, that previous one was in Canterlot. We were playing in the park one day, when some students we’re friends with from the School of Friendship came up to us. Apparently, they had gone to the talk in Canterlot to see it too.”

Six weeks ago (Keen Eye and Lily Pad’s alternate Equestria)

The local park of Ponyville was peaceful, as the twin sibling foals of Abacus Sum and Lawful Eye laughing and playing together. The sky was clear of clouds, with the sun shining bright for the summer season. Keen Eye and Lily Pad played together until they noticed a group of creatures making their way towards them. They comprised of four creatures.

The first was a teenaged pegasus colt with a moderate amber coat, a mane that was patterned with vivid vermilion and vivid orange, opalish gray eyes, and a cloud with fire streaks behind it as a cutie mark. The second was a female teenage dragon that had pale light grayish magenta scales, with a light fuchsiaish gray underbelly, grayish fuchsia spines, and light amaranth colored eyes. The third was a male changeling with a light brilliant gold chitin and carapace, a pair of insect-like wings that were a mix of light brilliant harlequin and luminous vivid harlequin, and luminous vivid cornflower blue reflection-less eyes. The last was a female azureish black griffon, with moderate purple head feathers, and pale, light grayish azure colored wings and tail feathers.

“Yo, Keen, Lily!” The teenaged pegasus colt said.

The foal siblings waved back to them, as they were individuals that they were friends with. They were students of the School of Friendship in Ponyville. Pyro Cumulus, a pegasus teenaged stallion from Cloudsdale. Kindle, a female teenaged dragon from the Dragon Lands. Incus, a young male changeling from the Changeling Kingdom. And Gracie, a young female griffon from Griffonstone.

“Hi, Pyro!” Keen Eye waved at the Pegasus, before waving to the changeling. “Hi, Incus!”

Lily Pad waved at the griffon and dragon. “Hello, Gracie! Hello, Kindle!”

“What’s up, kiddos?” Gracie asked.

“We just got back from our trip from Canterlot. You two are really something.”

Keen Eye and Lily Pad tilted their heads at what Incus said, as Keen Eye asks, “We are?”

Incus nodded. “Yeah! To hear your father’s life story. And you being the offspring someone who suffered from being accused and imprisoned for murder was so unbelievable.”

The twins were taken back at what the young changeling had just told them. They both blinked as they processed two certain words that was mentioned.

“Murder?” Lily Pad asked.

Keen Eye stammered. “Imprisoned?”

“Yeah,” Kindle said. “Your dad is Abacus Sum. He’s the pony that got locked-up for murder. Don’t you two know that?”

The four friendship students were puzzled as they notice the shocked expressions on the twins’ faces. There was a moment of silence, until Pyro’s eyes widened and blinked as if he had just realized something.

“Oh no.” Pyro then turned to his three friends, giving them a look of concern. “Um, guys?” The others turned their attention to him. “I think we’ve made a big mistake.”

“What do you mean?” Kindle asked. “Keen and Lily’s dad is Abacus Sum, the same pony from the talk.”

Pyro shook his head. “No, that’s not what I mean. They don’t seem to know about their father’s past. In fact, I don’t think anyone has ever told them.”

The others took a moment to process what their pegasus pony friend had told them. It did not take them long to figure it out, as Incus spoke out.

“What? Are you saying that their parents, or any creature have never told them? Like they were never supposed to know about it?”

Pyro nodded in response to Incus’s question. “Yeah. Or at least not yet. And I think we had just revealed it by accident.”

“Uh-oh.” Gracie said.

The four friends turned to look at Keen Eye and Lily Pad, who were still very shocked at what they had just discovered about their father.

Back in the present

“Wait a minute!” Pipsqueak said, interrupting the twin’s story. “Murder? Are you saying your father was a murderer? As in a criminal?!”

“Well…not exactly.” Keen Eye answered.

Pipsqueak tilted his head. “Huh? But didn’t you just say that your friends from the School of Friendship told you-”

“Maybe we can find out, if you don’t interrupt them.” Dinky commented, her voice was one of slight annoyance.

Pipsqueak dropped his head with shame and embarrassment. “Oh. Sorry.”

Dinky sighed, as she turned to the twins. “Sorry about that. Please continue.”

“It’s okay.” Lily Pad said, as she continued their story. “It was shocking to hear what Pyro, Incus, Kindle and Gracie told us.”

Keen Eye nodded. “Yeah. In fact, our reaction was just like Pipsqueak’s.”

Six weeks ago (Keen Eye and Lily Pad’s alternate Equestria)

“Murder?” Lily Pad stammered.

Keen Eye spoke out. “Dad was a murderer?! What do you mean? Who did Dad kill?”

Pyro looked worried, as he hesitated to tell the foals anymore. His three friends shared the same feelings. “I…uh…I don’t know. I don’t think it we should…”

“Please.” Keen Eye said. “You guys don’t understand. We know about how our dad is well known, and goes to different places to do talks, but him and Mom don’t tell us about it.”

“And when we ask about it, Dad gets so upset. And we even asked everypony around town we know, but they won’t tell us either. They say that “they can’t tell us”, or “We’ll know when we’re ready”, or “We don’t want to know”.” Lily Pad gave Pyro a pleading look. “Please, Pyro. We must know.”

The teenaged pegasus stood there, hesitant and unsure of what to do. A lot of things were conflicting in his mind. His friends felt the same way. Pyro and his friends had no idea the twin children were not supposed to know about their father's past, or at least not yet. But, then again, since they only known them for a couple of months since enrolling and studying at the School of Friendship, how were they supposed to know?

After a couple of moments of silence, Pyro suddenly felt the scaly hand of Kindle place on his shoulder that got his attention. He turned to the teenaged drake, as she was looking at him with a reassuring look.

“Pyro,” Kindle said. “I think we should tell them.”

Incus nodded. “I agree. These foals have a right to know the truth. Remember our lessons in honesty classes, and how it’s sometimes wrong to keep secrets from others of things they need to know?”

“Incus has a point.” Gracie nudged Pyro with her elbow. “Besides, they already found out about the imprisoned for murder thing because of us anyway. So it’s no use keeping it from them anymore. And they could get the wrong idea, if they don’t get their facts straight. Might as well spill the beans.”

Pyro took a moment to process everything, knowing the facts that Keen Eye and Lily Pad already now found about some of the secrets already because of them, that they did not know the whole story, and that it was wrong and pointless now to avoid the truth from them, like his friends pointed out. Weighed down with an impossible situation, Pyro sighed, and nodded to his friends, agreeing to tell them about their father’s past, at least what they know.

“Celestia. Don’t make us regret this.” Pyro prayed in his head, before he spoke out to Keen Eye and Lily Pad. “Okay. I guess you have a right to know. And to answer your question, your dad didn’t kill anypony.”

The twins tilted their heads in confusion at Pyro’s answer. Before they could speak, Gracie spoke out. “To put a long story short, kiddos, your dad was imprisoned for a murder that he didn’t commit, nor never happened to begin with.”

“What do you mean?” Keen Eye asked.

Incus thought for a moment. “Well, do you know of a pony named Tiger Lily?”

The twins nodded as Lily Pad spoke. “Yes. She was a unicorn mare that Dad was married to before married Mom.”

“And what else do you know about her?” Kindle asked.

“Well, Mom and Dad told us that they were best friends since they were in kindergarten when they lived in Fillydelphia. Dad didn’t have many friends, because of his autism, so she and Mom were the only true friends he had. He fell in love with Tiger Lily when they got older, and they got married. They then moved here to Ponyville, where they did so many great things in town.” Keen Eye rubbed his chin. “Well, mainly Tiger Lily did a lot of organizing of events and things in town, while Dad helped out when he could while doing accounting and other ponies taxes.”

Lily Pad took over talking. “And then one day, Tiger Lily was pregnant with Dad’s baby. But then some months later one night, their house caught fire while they were in bed. Dad managed to get out, but she didn’t. She got trapped. Dad couldn’t get her out, so she pushed him out before the burning house collapsed on top of her. Our parents and ponies in town tell us that she sacrificed herself to save Dad life.”

“That was about twelve years ago. That’s what our parents, friends, and everypony in town have told us.” Keen Eye suddenly blinked, as if he just had an epiphany about something. “Wait! Are you saying Tiger Lily has something to do with it?”

All four of the friends nodded as Pyro spoke. “Yeah. I’m afraid so.”

Lily Pad put a hoof to her face in shock. “It can’t be true!”

“It is, Lily.” Gracie said. “They may have told you two all about that of Tiger Lily. But what they obviously never told you is that your dad was accused of murdering her.”

“So Dad was accused of murdering Tiger Lily?” Lily Pad asked. “That’s horrible!”

Keen Eye blinked looking bewildered. “Why would anypony believe Dad would do something like that? It must have been a huge mistake.”

“I guess it would seem like that,” Incus said. “However, the story is much deeper, darker, and more sinister than you realize.”

Pyro nodded. “You see, while your mom tried to find anything to get your dad out of prison, she discovered something far bigger at play. In fact, it was dad’s mom, or your grandmother, that discovered it first, and brought it to her. It turned out that your dad was framed by none other than the very ponies that were called to investigate the cause of house fire.”

“What’s more,” Kindle said. “Those investigators, and the prison your dad was sent to, were secretly in league and conspiring with numerous criminal operations in a crime ring. Particularly, an illegal slave trafficking ring.”

“And in addition, the crooked investigators also took the money from anyone they framed. In your dad’s case, the one-million-bit life insurance payout from Tiger Lily’s death was an opportunity for them. They were as greedy as dragons.” Gracie quickly glanced at Kindle. “No offence, Kindle.”

Kindle turned to Gracie. “Um, if I remember correctly, griffons were just as greedy.”

Gracie paused, as she was unable to make a comeback remark, until she shrugged and chuckled in defeat. “Touché. Can’t argue with that.”

“So that’s why they framed Dad for murdering Tiger Lily?” Keen Eye asked. “For his money?”

“Well, that, and revenge.” Gracie said.

Lily Pad tilted her head. “Revenge?”

Incus nodded. “Yeah. There was a pony named Rotten Eggs, who was a bully to your dad in his childhood, and he later committed horrible crimes of rapping numerous mares, and got locked up for it. He secretly got recruited into the crime ring at the very prison that was part of the whole thing. It was your mom that caught him, and he vowed to have revenge on her. And when finding out about your dad being the next target, he took his vengeance out on him, not even giving a thing about the money.”

Keen Eye and Lily Pad were both shocked at what they were hearing. The story their resent friends from the friendship school was hard to believe for them both, but they could tell that they were not lying about it.

Lily Pad stammered. “I…we don’t…”

Pyro nodded, understanding what the little earth filly was trying to process. “Yeah, we can imagine what a shock it is. But it’s all true. My dad is a high ranking police sergeant for Cloudsdale, and he had never seen or heard of a crime in Equestria as bad as that. It was recorded as one of the most horrendous crimes ever recorded in Equestria’s history, as that crime ring went on for about a decade. So hidden that not even Princess Celestia was aware of it. It was only when after Princess Luna returned did she become aware.”

“Although, if you want to know more about all of it, it’s written in your dad’s autobiography,” Incus said. “There is also a movie based on it too, but the book has a bit more detail.”

“There’s a book and a movie about Dad?” Keen Eye asked.

“That’s right, kiddo. I guess your parents and friends never told you that either. In fact, you know that song “Live to Tell” by Muledonna and Sapphire Shores?” Both twins nodded at Gracie’s question. “Well, that song was the main song for the movie.”

Incus presented a book. “And we also each have a copy of his book.”

“You do?” Lily Pad asked.

Incus nodded as Pyro, Kindle, and Gracie each showed their copies with him. “Yeah. We bought them while at the conference. They had a stock of them there, and they’re also each autographed by your dad.”

Keen Eye and Lily Pad looked at the books more closely. Each were brown and grey in color. The front cover was of a shadowed figure of an earth pony sitting in a depressed posture inside a barred prison cell in a dark background. There was also flames faintly seen with other numerous shadowy figures looming around, and had the title “Abacus: The Scum That Never Was” written on it.

The twins were surprised, as they had seen that same book among other books in the bookcase of their living room, or at least the edge of it. However, they never paid it much mind due to it being in the highest shelf of the case. They then glanced at each other, as a thought came to them. Knowing what the other was thinking, the twins nodded to each other seriously, as they both knew what they needed to do. All before turning back to their friends from the School of Friendship.

“Is it alright if we borrow one of your copies?” Keen Eye asked.

“Huh?” Pyro blinked as he glanced at his copy of Abacus’s book. His friends did the same. “You want to borrow one of our copies?”

Kindle raised an eyebrow. “Why? Doesn’t your mom and dad have a copy laying around somewhere?”

Lily Pad nodded. “They do.”

“Well, why not just read that one?” Kindle asked.

“We can’t.” Keen Eye said. “It’s in the highest shelf of our living room bookcase, so we can’t get it. And even if we could get it, our parents would notice, get suspicious, and most likely get upset with us reading it.”

Incus understood what Keen Eye was pointing out, since his changeling kind were masters of deception. He then turned to the others, while commenting, “He has a point. If they borrow one of our copies, it’ll be less suspicious of their parents finding out.”

“So will you let us borrow one of yours?” Lily Pad asked. “Please?”

“Well…” Pyro quickly glanced at the others, and their copies of Abacus’s book. “Sure, okay. I guess we can lend you one of ours.” He offers his own copy to Keen Eye and Lily Pad. “Here. You can borrow mine for a while. Just be careful not to lose it. Okay?”

Keen Eye took Pyro’s copy offered to him and his twin sister. “Thanks, Pyro.”

“And we’ll be careful with it,” Lily Pad said. “We promise.”

“Oh! One other thing we forgot to mention.” Incus turned his copy of the book around, and pointed to something on the back of the book. On bottom corner was an insignia. “Your dad’s book also raises money for the Help Abacus Foundation.”

Keen Eye flipped the book around, as he and Lily Pad looked at the insignia on the part of the book that their changeling friend had pointed to. From closer inspection, they saw that it was a wooden abacus counting frame with five rods, each having a different colored set of beads on it in an ordered row. Blue, red, yellow, green, and purple. The twins recognized it as their father’s cutie mark, and it also had Help Abacus Foundation written below it.

“The Help Abacus Foundation?” The twins asked in unison.

Incus nodded. “Yeah. It was a charity foundation that started in Ponyville to raise money for your dad. It was how the house you live in was built. Afterwards, it was turned into a foundation to raise money for the other victims of that crime ring, and their families. Half of the profit your dad’s books make goes to that organization.”

“It makes you think,” Gracie said. “Your dad would be twice as rich if he would’ve kept all the money for himself.”

Kindle turned to Gracie. “True, but he seems too humble to do that. Something we’re learning in our lessons in generosity classes.”

“Anyway,” Pyro said. “Just be careful, you two.”

Keen Eye smiled reassuringly at Pyro. “Don’t worry, Pyro. We’ll be careful with your copy. It won’t get a scratch, or a smudge, or even a crease.”

Pryo shook his head. “No, That’s not what I mean.” He continued in explaining as both twins raised a confused eyebrow. “I mean that you should be careful not to let your friends and parents see both of you with it before you finish with it. I don’t want you to get in trouble.”

“Don’t worry. We won’t let anypony or any creature know about this.” Lily Pad began to feel a slight hint of guilt. Her twin brother felt the same. “Normally, we wouldn’t do something so secretive like this, but we don’t have a choice.”

Keen Eye nodded in agreement. “That’s true. But it’s like what Uncle Lock Down told us once: There are times when the heart must rule the head.”

“That’s true,” Pyro said. His face was shown that of mild guilt. “It’s why any of us were reluctant to even tell you two, and even lend you a copy of your dad’s book.”

Lily Pad, noticing the guilty look on Pyro’s face, walks closer to him. Her brother, Keen Eye, joined her as they both placed a comforting hoof on his chest. “It’s okay. We understand. You’re concerned for us. You care about us. All of you do.”

“Yeah, Pyro. We’re glad you told us. We wanted to find out for ourselves for a long time.” Keen Eye pointed to Pyro’s copy of their dad’s book in his other hoof. “And now we’ll finally get to know the whole truth. And after we’re finish reading it, we’ll returning it.” He glanced at Kindle, Incus, and Gracie, while speaking to Pyro. “You guys are good friends. You all won’t regret it doing this, we promise.”

“We hope not.” Pyro said. He put on a hopeful smile at the twins, although a hint of concern was still lingered with him.

Back in the present

Back in the present, in the alternate universe, Scootaloo and Co were speechless at the twins’ story as they continued to listen. Harmon listened to the twins’ story too with interest, along with a hint of pity about their father.

“After we borrowed the book from Pyro and his friends, we secretly brought it home, and hid it in our room.” Keen Eye said. “We read it secretly each night when going to bed, and sometimes, we’d read it during the day, out of sight from others. It wasn’t easy, but we eventually read the whole book within about five weeks.”

Lily Pad took over talking. “And when Mom and Dad left us with Lock Down and Sugar Dough while they were away for a week, we got further information from them, and others in town about it all. We even asked you and the crusaders, and even the princesses.” She sighed taking on a sad tone. “It turned out what we read, and what they told us about Dad’s past… It was all true. Everything.”

“So your dad really was framed for murdering Tiger Lily?” Pipsqueak asked.

Both twins sighed and nodded slowly, as Lily Pad continued to explain. “That’s right. From what we found out, Dad was indeed framed. When Tiger Lily died in the house fire, Nana Mare and Lady Gaval called upon investigators from Canterlot to investigate to confirm Dad’s story on what happened. The investigators were named Blue Ward and Cover-Up. But the investigators were members of a very big crime ring with secret criminal organization, and targeted Dad for his money, and later as a favor for Rotten Eggs to have revenge.”

“They created and planted false evidence to make it look like Dad had set the fire himself, and murdered Tiger Lily for the life insurance. It was a very big life insurance that she legally organized with Mom and Nana Arithma without Dad knowing. And they were able to keep Mom away too. She was in Manehattan working on a case at the time, and they had connections there with the crime ring intercepted all mail to her to prevent her from knowing about what was happening to Dad until it was too late. Nana Arithma and Dad were left to this alone. At the end of the trial, Dad was found guilty of arson, and first degree murder.”

Dinky blinked. “Wow. That’s awful.”

“And that was just the beginning. The ponies in town were shocked by the evidence against Dad, and most of the town believed Dad was guilty. Dad was sentenced to spend the rest of his life at Hoofstrong Prison Centre, the very prison that was part of the crime ring.” Keen Eye cringed. “And that’s when Dad’s true nightmare began. The investigators revealed the truth that they framed Dad, and showed off the real evidence case file, before destroying it in front of him.”

“What?” Scootaloo face was of shock, before shifting to one of outrage. “So they gloated and rubbed it in his face! Those bastards!”

“It gets worse.” Keen Eye said. “They locked a steel collar around Dad’s neck called a Steelectric collar. Collars enchanted with an electrocution spell that are used to shock, stun, and even incapacitate them with a painful shock of electricity by the magic from unicorn members of the prison security. But they used them purely as a means to torture the victims, including Dad.”

Lily Pad winced. “They did such repulsive, cruel, and horrible things to him. They tortured him, beat him, and even raped him. A lot of the torture they did to Dad was sexual, and they did that to Dad almost daily. The things they did would make the most horrible nightmares seem like nothing. Rotten Eggs, Armstrong and his men were monsters!”

“Armstrong?” Harmon asked.

Keen Eye nodded. “Yes. He was the evil minotaur warden of Hoofstrong Prison Centre. He was a real sadist. And the guards were not just royal guards, but they were also criminals secretly recruited. It’s how Rotten Eggs got into it. And there weren’t just ponies, but also griffons, and even a few zebras. Dad saw so many terrible things. Like how they forced ponies inside to make babies with mares to sell as slaves. But if any of the babies had heath or physical problems…” He shuddered. “They would kill them, and feed them to Armstrong’s vicious dog. And if the ponies they had framed and imprisoned were pegasi or unicorns, they would amputate their horns and wings.”

“That’s terrible!” Ray turned to Scootaloo. “That sounds like what happened to you with those pirates, Scoots.”

“Yeah.” Scootaloo glanced at her cybernetic wing prosthesis. “If Captain Ian hadn’t have come, who knows what else they would’ve done to me.” She shivered. “Just thinking about it all is terrifying.”

“We know.” Keen Eye said. “And those are just a few examples of what they did. If we told you half of the things we found out they did, you’d get nightmares.”

“But how did your dad get out?” Pipsqueak asked.

“Well, about a few months after Dad was convicted, Mom came back from Manehattan, and Nana Arithma told her what happened. She even showed her the response letter that Mom sent her, and revealed how the fake letter caused her suspicions.”

Lily Pad took over talking from her brother. “Nana Arithma knew the response letter was fake, because of how her and Mom always referred Dad as his pet name “Abi” when writing letters to each other, even if they were formal letter. She had no choice, but to wait until Mom came back. Mom was so heartbroken of hearing the death of Tiger Lily’s death and of the wrongful conviction of Dad. But she quickly had to swallow her pain, as she needed to find a way to get Dad’s name cleared and get him out.”

“She spent months trying to find something to help free Dad.” Keen Eye said. “But what she didn’t know was that the things she was doing with the courts was being monitored by corrupt officials who were with the crime ring, and informing the investigators of the case against Dad. And they told those of Hoofstrong prison to kill Dad when she did find anything.”

Scootaloo and Co blinked with shock, as Scootaloo spoke. “They were going to kill your dad? Like holding him hostage?”

Both twins nodded in response, as Keen Eye continued to explain. “In a way, yes. It was what they did to all ponies that investigators like Blue Ward and Cover-Up who were part of crime corruption ring. When the friends and family’s hired investigators and find something to possibly exonerate them, they would kill the prisoners before they were due in court. It was to insure that they could not reveal what was happening. It was even worse since no one, but specific official ponies, could ever visit the prison.”

“And I guess those specific official ponies were corrupt members of that crime ring too?” Dinky asked.

“That’s right.” Lily Pad winced. “They were ready to kill Dad, and Rotten Eggs was going to do it personally. And they knew about Mom reputation of being a private detective investigator and attorney, so they knew that she would possibly find anything. And she did find something. But before she could issue another trial, somepony secretly warned her of what was at stake. It was a unicorn stallion named Turncoat. He was part of the corruption ring, and was Armstrong’s right-hoof.”

“He warned her by using a telepathy spell, and he arranged on a note to secretly meet with her in a lowly part of Fillydelphia. He then told her about what was going on, and even presented the true case file of Dad’s case he had managed to save.”

Scootaloo tilted her head. “I don’t get it. How did Turncoat get the real case file? I thought you said Armstrong and his goons destroyed it in front of your dad.”

“Yeah.” Pipsqueak said. “And I thought he was one of the bad guys. Why was he helping your mum and dad?”

“Well, from what my sister and I read in the book, and from what some have told us, he didn’t want to be part of the crime ring, but was forced to be in concern of his own life. He pretended to be on their side, and had to wait for the right chance. So he learnt an advanced duplication spell that was very hard to learn, and also studied teleportation. It took about two years for him to learn them both. And he also figured out how to use both spells simultaneously without being noticed. In addition, he created a secret cellar to stash the real case files he managed to save for eight whole years of the decade. And he saw his right opportunity when he read into Mom’s background.”

“While looking into her background, he discovered something that others failed to notice.” Lily Pad said. “As a policemare and detective with the Fillydelphia police department, she worked with Under Cover, and policemare who later became a Detective Inspector for the FPI in Sydneigh on the island of Horstralia. After that, Mom ceased her issue for a retrial, and made it seem like she failed to find anything, and saving Dad’s life. She then took a zeppelin to Sydneigh, and went to the FPI office to see Under Cover. She then told her about Dad’s conviction, Turncoat, and everything he told her.”

“At first, Under Cover was unsure. Until she brought it to two other FPI agents she worked with, Open Case and Tough Job. Those two gave Mom’s story, and requested to meet with Turncoat in secret. When Turncoat presented evidence, they then secretly formed a task force that they called Task Force River. They also received help from other FBI offices, and from the secret services in Trottingham, as they had connections with them.” Lily Pad sighed sadly. “But as all this was happening, Nana Arithma developed terminal stomach cancer, and died five months after.”

“That poor mare.” Scootaloo said. “That’s a horrible way to die.”

Ray shook his head sadly. “And she never got to see your dad again before passing. I’m so sorry you two.”

Both twins gave a small smile at Scootaloo and Co’s sympathy, as Keen Eye spoke. “Thank you. Even though we never knew her, it’s still sad. Lily and I sometimes wish we did know her.”

“Nana Arithma did have one dying request.” Lily Pad said. “She requested to be buried next to Tiger Lily in Ponyville. And she rewrote her will to have everything she owned go to Mom, since Dad was imprisoned. Although, she need to have the money to help fund the task force, and for Dad’s retrial when he was out of danger. So she had to sell Nana Arithma’s apartment, as well as her own apartment to get the money. Then she put everything else into storage.”

“After that, Mom, the FPI, and the Trottingham Secret Service all began to come up with a plan to put an end to the corruption crime ring, with the permission from the princesses, Celestia and Luna. The FPI offices in other parts of Equestria were all made aware of this, and put those involved with the crime ring on twenty-four-hour surveillance, including Blue Ward and Cover-Up. During that time, the task force and Trottingham Secret Service made plans to send a secret agent into Hoofstrong to infiltrate as a criminal, and report their findings.” Keen Eye turned his attention to Pipsqueak. “And the agent was Southern, your uncle, Pipsqueak. Or the you in our world. And he later joined the Ponyville police force.”

“Really?” Pipsqueak asked. “So my unc-- Uh, the uncle of my other me in your world was a secret agent in Trottingham? Wow!”

Lily Pad nodded. “That’s right. He was deemed by the Trottingham Secret Service to be the best agent for the job, and it was to be his last job before he retired as an agent. So then they sent him to Hoofstrong Prison Centre to go undercover as a violent criminal being transferred from another prison. He spent eight months undercover, and his findings were all true as Turncoat had told them. And the numerous surveillance teams all found corruption happening among the different police forces, and other things around Equestria, even the royal guards. That was when they decided to make plans to make arrests, and raid Hoofstrong Prison with the royal guards selected by the princesses themselves, with Prince Shining Armor leading.”

Keen Eye took over. “Although, only Shining Armor knew where they were raiding, and keeping the royal guard battalion’s in the dark about the location until the last minute. It was to ensure that they could find any corrupt guard members. With Turncoat and Southern helping with the layout of the prison, and shutting off the securities, they managed to raid it successfully. And they were just in time to save Dad too. Because, at the same time, Dad finally fought back by biting Rotten Eggs’s penis off as he raped him orally.”

Pipsqueak and Ray winced while saying, “Ooh!”

“That would hurt!” Ray then glanced in between his legs, and briefly shivered at the thought of how really painful something like that would have been. “It hurts just thinking about it.”

Scootaloo scoffed. “Well, severed him right for raping your dad.”

“I know.” Keen Eye said. “And it was even the first time Dad showed his developed violent mental rage. After he injured Rotten Eggs, Armstrong unleased his dog on him to attack and kill him. It bit Dad on the left side of the face. That was when the Royal Guards came, and they killed the dog, and captured and arrested every one of the guard personal there. And conveniently, Blue Ward and Cover-Up were there at the time as well. So they arrested them too.” He winced. “But Dad still suffered a life-threatening injury, as the dog had ripped his face open and tore an artery.”

Lily Pad winced. “Dad would’ve died, if the Royal Guards didn’t come in time. Dad was taken to the hospital in the nearby city Carriageston. Others from Hoofstrong went there too, but because of prison policy, there was limited time at hospitals. Dad was the same, as they only barely had enough time to fix the torn artery, and do minimal surgery on his face, like skin and flesh grafts. The hospital staff at Carriageston were also ordered to secrecy from the FPI and royalty.”

“And they took pictures of Dad’s injuries, and the injuries of all the other prisoners. We saw some of them ourselves as they are shown in his book.” Keen Eye shuddered. “They were some of the most graphic, horrible pictures we ever seen. Anyway, Dad was released from the hospital, and sent back to prison a few days later. The infirmary at Hoofstrong would have to do treatment care for his injury, even though it was under strain from all the other prisoners needing treatment.”

“The Royal Guards had taken charge of the prison, and Mom finally got to see Dad for the first time in over two years. It was also the day she met the new warden, Rehab, and Lock Down, who was a prison class royal guard at the time. Both of which also too work as police officers back home in Ponyville. With Dad and the other prisoners saved, Mom was able to organize Dad for a retrial within three months’ time, this time at Equestria Supreme Court in Canterlot. All while the F.P.I. and the Trottingham secret service tried to capture all those involved, including the ones in charge of the secret criminal organization responsible for the crime ring, and to save all the slaves. Although, they did succeed everything else, they failed to capture the ones in charge of the criminal organization, as they discovered that they had taken their lives by suicide pills to avoid capture.”

“When the three months came by, Dad has his retrial. He was found not guilty, and was ordered to be released the day after. But he was to testify against Blue Ward, Cover-Up, and all those at Hoofstrong.”

Lily Pad sighed as she took over. “But Dad ran away on the day he was released before Mom could pick him up.”

Dinky raised an eyebrow. “Your dad ran away?”

“Yes,” Lily Pad said. “Lock Down told us that Dad ran away because of how he felt he had nothing. And he knew about Nana Arithma dying, while everypony else lied, telling him she was alive. And he found out from Armstrong and his guards mocking him about it, as they discovered from outside sources telling them. That’s why Dad away. When Mom got to the prison and found out, she was so worried, and tried to find him. But by then, Dad was already so far away. Then the next night after…” Lily Pad winced. “…He tried to take his own life by hanging himself.”

A gasp escaped Scootaloo and Co at hearing what they heard, as Scootaloo spoke. “Your dad tried commit suicide?”

“That’s right.” Keen Eye said. “But he failed, thanks to the tree branch braking, and sparing him. Although, it did knock him out when he fell down a hill. That was when he had a dream. It was of Nana Arithma telling Dad that she was buried in Ponyville. And that’s when he made the long journey to go there to find her and Tiger Lily’s graves.”

“At the same time, Mom, and the F.P.I. decided to find him by posting Dad’s release and disappearance in the newspaper. But they had to do it without revealing anything about the crime ring case and that he was framed, as they were still locating and capture the rest of all the ones involved of the crime ring, and rescue the remaining ponies sold into slavery. When Ponyville found out about Dad’s release, most of them were angered and frightened about it, as they still believed in his guilt.”

Dinky raised an eyebrow. “Most? So there were at least some ponies in town that believed your dad was innocence?”

“Were any of us three some of them?” Scootaloo asked.

Lily Pad took over, as she pointed out Pipsqueak and Dinky. “Well, from what we found out from asking ponies in town, Pipsqueak and his mother were on vacation during the time, and the events of what happened with Dad and Tiger Lily were before they moved to Ponyville from Trottingham. You and your mother knew about Dad, and believed in his guilt as your mother always told you to stay away from him.” She turned her attention to Scootaloo. “However, you and Apple Bloom had a quite a part, from what you two in our world told us.”

Scootaloo raised an intrigued eyebrow. “Really? We did? How?”

“Well, about a week later, Dad made it to Ponyville.” Lily Pad said. “Or he got to Sweet Apple Acres. It was night time, and there was a summer storm. So Dad took shelter inside your clubhouse to get out of the storm. And that’s where you and Apple Bloom encountered him.”

“Only Apple Bloom and me?” Scootaloo asked. “What about Sweetie Belle?”

“Well, Sweetie Belle wasn’t around because she went with her parents on vacation in Hawhinny. Anyway, you and Apple Bloom told Lily and I that when you saw Dad, you thought he was burglar, and tried to capture him. Dad ran away spooked, but not before you got hurt.”

Scootaloo blinked at what Keen Eye said. “I got hurt? You mean your dad hurt me?”

“Not exactly.” Keen Eye said. “From what you in our world told us, you were pulled along quickly as you held the rope use to try and capture him, which caused you to hit your head on the clubhouse door, giving you a black eye.”

“After that, you mention it to ponies in town about it, and the whole town thought and believed that Dad attacked you, instead of it being an accident.” Lily Pad paused for a brief, as it was painful to talk about. “They got very angry, and some of the town went to go find him at Sweet Apple Acres. Applejack and Big Mac found Dad hiding in their barn in the early hours of the morning, and got her friends to help. And that’s Mom came to Ponyville after having a dream of Princess Luna telling her that Dad was there.”

“For nearly two weeks, you, Apple Bloom, Mom, Twilight, and her friends tried to help Dad, but the ponies in town still believed in his guilt, and believed Dad hurt others, and was dangerous. They even called Dad the hurtful name of Abacus Scum. The ones who believed in his guilt the most was Lady Gaval, Tall Order, and our nana, Mayor Mare.”

Pipsqueak blinked. “Lady Gavel and Tall Order? As in the town’s court judge, and lawyer and prosecutor?”

“And your grandmother?” Dinky asked.

Keen Eye nodded. “Yeah. That’s right. It upset my sister and I from the stories we heard from other ponies in town.” He glanced at Scootaloo. “Even your Dad in our world, Storm Dasher had a part of the ponies against Dad. But there were those in town that believed in Dad’s innocence, like the Apple family, Miss Cherrilee, Dr. Stallion, Cranky and Matilda, the Cakes, and Derpy. This caused the town to be sort of divided.”

Scootaloo tilted her head questionably. “Don’t get it. Why did they still believe your dad was guilty? Didn’t they tell them the truth about what happened with him being framed, and everything else?”

“Nana Mare and Lady Gavel told us about that.” Keen Eye said. “When Dad told them his story of what happened on the night Tiger Lily died, they were suspicious that he might’ve had something to do with her death. They also had other reasons due to events of their pasts. Blue Ward and Cover-Up took advantage of these to manipulate them into believing the false evidence they fabricated against Dad. And Mom couldn’t tell anypony about Dad being framed, the corruption ring, or the secret criminal organization, since it was still top secret for that time being, which made it all worse. Although, she could mention about prison abuse within Hoofstrong, which is technically not a lie.”

Lily Pad sighed as she took over talking. “But all that was not much help, and it soon became too much for Dad. That was when he tried to take his life a second time, by jumping off of Ghastly Gorge. But not before exposing the truth of what had happened to him, and the corruption ring. Fortunately, Mom, Princess Twilight, and her friends managed to save him from doing it. Princess Luna came in time to help too, since she had been watching over him from the dream realm. And it was there where Mom confessed her love to him. They also had a plan to help the ponies in town see Dad in a different light. And it was to have him in the local newspaper with the Pony of Pop, Sapphire Shores.”

“Wow.” Scootaloo said. “THE Sapphire Shores?”

Lily Pad nodded. “Mm-hm. During those two weeks, Apple Bloom won a contest in a Pop Pony magazine, winning two VIP tickets to Sapphire Shores concert in Manehattan. But before she got to go, she caught chickenpox from touching our Dad’s head that had shingles. So she gave the tickets to you and Rainbow Dash. When you went to meet Sapphire Shores, you told her about what happened with Apple Bloom, and she made arrangements to stop in Ponyville to visit her. And that’s when Twilight came up with the idea to have Dad in a picture with her to make the front page. So they got the picture, and Princess Luna got in the picture as well.”

“Afterwards, Princess Luna returned to Canterlot with Sapphire Shores, taking Dad with her.” Keen Eye said. “Dad felt so angry, sad, and betrayed from the treatment he got from the ponies in town. That’s when the Princesses decided to make a trip to Ponyville to resolve the stigma against Dad, and reveal the truth to the whole town. They did it by showing them the memories magically extracted from Dad, Blue Ward and Cover-Up, and Turncoat. And they also had Blue Ward, Cover-Up, Armstrong, Rotten Eggs, and Turncoat confess to everypony about framing him. In addition, they had three of the main F.P.I. investigator agents of Task Force River, and Southern to confirm it as well.”

“That was when the whole town realised that they were wrong about Dad, and they were tricked by the very ponies who investigated the case. Their hatred they had for Dad switched to them. Nana Mare and Lady Gavel were angered most of all by this, but they were also filled with great guilt, sadness, and shame for their part in dad’s suffering.”

Both Keen Eye and Lily Pad sighed sadly, as Lily Pad took over talking. “But the damage was already done, and Dad vowed to never return to Ponyville again. He even hated most of everypony in Ponyville, even when they apologized to him either by letter or in person.”

“Well, who could blame him?” Scootaloo asked. “It’s no surprise, after the way Ponyville treated him, and everything he suffered.”

Keen Eye nodded. “Yeah. When Nana Mare and Lady Gavel took up the courage, they came to visit Dad in Canterlot. They tried to apologize to Dad, but he was still cold, bitter, and angry towards them. It was there that they revealed that they had suffered horrible things involving stallions. Lady Gavel suffered from abuse from her abusive father that caused the death of her mother.” He glanced up, looking troubled. “But it was Nana Mare’s story that was the most revealing. And it was shocking for us too.”

Dinky tilted her head. “And what was that?”

“She revealed to be Tiger Lily’s birth mother.” Keen Eye said.

Pipsqueak blinked. “What? Are you saying Mayor Mare never told anypony about Tiger Lily being her daughter? And what happened with her? Did it have something to do with Tiger Lily’s birth father?”

Lily Pad nodded. “Nana Mare revealed that when she was about seventeen, she was kidnapped, held prisoner, and raped by a stallion that was a close friend of her family.”

“He was a unicorn stallion named "Aster".” Keen Eye said. “A florist in Canterlot, and was autistic like Dad. But, unlike Dad, was socially peculiar. The Canterlot police and royal guards were able to save her, and capture Aster, but Aster never faced justice. He committed suicide before he could be convicted. Nana Mare got pregnant from Aster’s rape, but her father wanted her to have an abortion since it was from Aster.”

Lily Pad sighed. “Nana Mare couldn’t do that, so she went away, and had Tiger Lily in secret. After she gave birth to her, she left her wrapped in a blanket in a box on the doorstep of a foster carers home. She also left a note with her date of birth, a promise that her birth mother may try to find her someday, and a plastic tiger lily flower.”

“As time went on, Nana Mare became the mayor of Ponyville. She sometimes thought about her, and wondered if she was happy. But she was unsure if her daughter wanted to ever meet her. The only pony she ever told about it was Lady Gavel. Many years later, Dad and Tiger Lily moved to Ponyville, and Tiger Lily mentioned her past to Nana Mare one day on one social visit. And it was one month before she died. This aroused her suspicions of Tiger Lily being her long lost and only daughter. So she secretly took some hairs from Tiger Lily’s hair brush, and used them in a DNA test. It came back as a match, and she planned to surprise Tiger Lily and Dad to reveal herself as her long lost birth mother.”

“And she died before she had the chance to do so?” Ray asked.

“Mm-hm.” Both twins nodded at Ray’s question. Keen Eye spoke out. “Hearing about this made Dad more enraged with them, and he said never wanted to see them ever again, and that he’d never forgive them.”

“Dad spent over eight months in Canterlot to get therapy from the best psychologists in Canterlot. And he was slowly getting better. And consider returning back to Ponyville after Mom was offered by the princesses to be police chief investigator of the new police station being built there. And the princesses also managed to use ancient alicorn magic to resurrect the spirits of Tiger Lily and Nana Arithma to convince Dad to return to Ponyville, and so that he could see them one last time.” Lily Pad sighed. “But he still refused to forgive. But then some ponies from the church of Lady Faust were teaching him about grace and mercy. Telling him that holding a grudge and refusing to forgive is like drinking poison, and waiting for the other pony to die.”

“This helped Dad into learning to forgive. And he called upon Nana Mare and Lady Gavel to meet them at the Canterlot palace chapel. It was there Dad found the strength to forgive them both, and the whole town. And soon had plastic surgery to correct the scarring on his face, before finally returning to Ponyville at the opening ceremony of the new police station.”

“Then a few months later, Mom and Dad got married.” Keen Eye said. “And then both of us were born soon after. And…that’s the whole story of our mom and dad in a nutshell. That’s what they, and everypony and every creature we now have been keeping from us all these years. And after we found it all out, Mom and Dad came back from their trip. And we were planning to talk with them about it after we got home from school, and…well…I guess you know the rest.”

The children were amazed, shocked, and sympathetic after the twins’ story. Scootaloo now understood what the twins meant when they said that they understood her trauma and pain from her kidnapping. Harmon felt the same at what he heard.

“It’s unbelievable!” Pipsqueak said. “So your dad really did suffer being framed for murder by crooked police ponies that were in league with a criminal organization? Blimmy! That’s horrible.”

“Well, it’s no wonder nopony ever told you any of this.” Scootaloo glanced at her wing prosthesis, mildly shuddering at remembering her own pain and trauma. “And I thought what I went through was horrible. I’m lucky that I didn’t experience it for as long as your dad did.”

“That’s an interesting story.”

Scootaloo and Co turned towards Harmon, who had spoken to the twins. They had been so focused on the twins’ story that they had almost forgotten that the Grand Admiral was there.

“From how much he pulled through after suffering so much. Your father sounds like someone I would admire, for his strength. His inner strength mostly.” Harmon raised a curious eyebrow. “Though, I’m curious to know. What became of all the ones involved in this criminal organization, the ones sold to slavery, and the innocent lives that got falsely imprisoned?”

“Well, from what we found out, the foals sold to slavery were all rescued. After that, they reverted them all into babies with their memories erased, and either sent to the families of the victims or put up for adoption. As for the innocent ponies falsely convicted, the ones that survived were released and acquitted by royalty soon after.” Lily Pad sighed sadly. “But most were too psychologically damaged that they had to have their memories erased.”

“As for the whole criminal organization and crime ring,” Keen Eye said. “It was revealed to all of Equestria, and the trial of everyone involved in the crime ring began. It was held in Canterlot with Princesses Celestia and Luna serving as judges, and it was magically shown around all parts of Equestria. Our dad testified against them, along with Turncoat. In addition, all those involved were fitted with special steelectric collars that shocked the ones wearing them if they lied or refused to answer. With all the evidence against them, it was easy to deliver a guilty verdict, and they were all sentenced to be executed by turning them to stone, and grinding them to sand and dust.”

“Although, we found out that two of them didn’t face being turned to stone. And they were Armstrong and Cover-Up. Cover-Up committed suicide by hanging himself in his cell. And Armstrong died of a heart attack a couple of years later, on the day before he was to be turned to stone.”

Scootaloo, Pipsqueak, and Dinky’s eyes rose wide with shock at what the twins had said. From what they knew, the punishment of being turned to stone was considered the harshest punishment royalty could ever do to someone so evil in Equestria. However, being grinded down to sand and dust afterwards was a fate worse than death. It was also so rare, that the last recorded pony to ever receive a punishment like that was a century before Princess Luna was banished to the moon.

Ray spoke out. “Whoa! Turned to stone, and grinded to dust? That sounds as bad a death. At least it’s not as bad as being cast into a sarlacc pit.”

“It’s no surprise,” Harmon said. “There is no other penalty worthy for such sick horror. Without a doubt, they’d have the death sentence on almost every system in the galaxy.”

Lily Pad sighed. “So now you know about our parents, and what we know. I just hope we can tell them, if we can get home.”

Harmon walked over to the twins, and kneeled down to their level. Keen Eye and Lily Pad looked up as the Grand Admiral placed a gentle hand on each of their shoulders.

“And you will, little ones. Like I had said to you: I will do what I can to try and help get you children home.” Harmon smiled. “Your parents are lucky to have children like you.”

Keen Eye and Lily Pad were touched by Harmon’s words. It was what everyone else in their Equestria had always told them. It was one of the many positive outcomes from what their father went through.

After a moment, Harmon rose up, and turned to the others, as he asked, “Well, how about a tour of my ship?”

Everyone nodded at Harmon’s offer as they walked out of the bathroom. At that same moment, Ray’s eyes blinked open, as if he had just remembered something. The young boy spoke up.

“Harmon?” The Grand Admiral turned his attention towards Ray. “You said your mother knew my father. Who was she?”

Harmon cracked a slight smirk of pride. “You must have heard of Rae Sloane.”

In response, Ray lowered his head. “Ah, yes. Sorry, I forgot.” He looked up again. “What happened to her?”

He gestured him and the other children to follow. “Allow me to show you.”

Chapter 4: Harmon's Past

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Chapter 4: Harmon's past

The children sat around a hologram projector within the grand admiral’s personal quarters. Harmon stood by and began to push buttons on the control panel. “My mother was a high ranking officer of the old Galactic Empire. Her name was Rae Sloane. She was present at the Battle of Endor, serving as Vice Admiral.”

Within moments of button pushing and explaining, the hologram projector turned on. Briefly, the hologram went static, before taking the form of a rectangular shaped screen of a recording. A dark skinned, muscular woman with brown eyes, black hair, and wearing an imperial officer uniform was shown on the command bridge of a star destroyer. A space battle was erupting outside in space. Laser bolts fired from different directions from rebel and imperial ships, fighters from both factions engaged each other in dogfights, and explosions from ships and fighters. Despite all the activity, the woman officer watched the space battle with a neutral expression.

“Ma’am!” The voice from a bridge crew member got her attention, as she turned to face him. “We lost contact with the garrison on Endor!”

“Hail them on priority channels.” She ordered swiftly.

The bridge crew member pushed some buttons on his control station. A hologram of an imperial officer appeared before the Vice Admiral, holding a comlink in one hand, and blaster in the other.

“This is squad 18, we are under attack by the locals!” The officer reported in distress, through the sounds of blaster fire, and the battle cries of Ewoks. He took cover and fired some shots in the process. “The base's shield generators had taken significant damage but were still holding up!”

Rae turned to the bridge crew members on communications. “Monitor everything on this channel.”

“Yes, vice admiral!” A crew member said.

A loud explosion erupted from outside in the vacuum of space that got the Vice Admiral’s attention. She looks to the direction of the explosion. Out in space, Rae saw a close by star destroyer explode after getting hit by enemy fire from rebel ships.

Within a span of minutes, other Imperial fleet ships gradually suffered more and more casualties before her eyes. Rebel fighters and battle cruisers began to somehow take out more of the imperial fleet than expected. It was at that moment; Rae gave out new orders. “Prepare for a mop-up operation.”

However, just at that moment, another report came in from a crew member on communications. “Vice Admiral! The shield base on the forest moon has been destroyed!”

“Then the Death Star is vulnerable.” Rae said. A slight hint of concern came to her, as she realized that the battle was beginning to turn in the favor of the rebels. She thought for a moment, before speaking up. “We must change our tactics.”

The command Rae had said took the crew on the bridge by surprise. They all began to look at each other questionably, as they knew that this was against the orders of their emperor.

“No!” The objection of an officer caught the attention of the bridge crew. “We must maintain our current orders!”

Rae just ignored the objecting officer, as she contacted the imperial fighters on radio. “All fighters, retreat and do not pursuit the rebel fighters into the Death Star.”

“I will bring you before court-martial!”

The officer’s threat failed to even faze the vice admiral, as she gave further commands. “Bring us into a flanking position next to the Executor, we must protect the flagship. And open an audio link to the command bridge.”

“Yes, ma’am!” One of the other officers said.

Following their vice admiral’s orders, the crew maneuvered the Vigilance towards above the fleet’s flagship. From their position, they opened fire on everything that attempted to go near the Executor. A sudden explosion from the Executor’s command bridge caught Rae’s attention, only to see one of the shield generator domes destroyed by rebel fighters. The voices of the Executor’s crew could be heard through the audio link not even a few seconds after that.

“Sir! We've lost our bridge deflector shield!” A star destroyer crew member said through the audio link.

“Intensify the forward batteries, I don't want anything to get through.”

The children, excluding Keen Eye and Lily Pad, knew that voice belonged to the Fleet Admiral of the Imperial Navy, Admiral Firmus Piett. As they had watched Return of the Jedi, they knew exactly what was going to happen at that moment. The twins watched on at all the battle that was happening on the recording. It was unlike anything they had ever seen before.

They then noticed a very small object, that looked like a small speck, come up from the Executor's superstructure. Scootaloo and Co knew that it was an A-Wing Starfighter of the Rebel Alliance careening towards the Super Star Destroyers’ command bridge.

Admiral Piett could be heard through the audio link yelling, “Intensify forward firepower!”

“Too late!” Piett's subordinate yelled.

The audio link to the Executor went static right when the rebel A-wing collided into the Executor's bridge, despite Rae’s best efforts to protect it. The vice admiral and crew could do nothing but watch, as the Super Star Destroyer’s command bridge turned into a fiery wreck. Without its command structure, the Executor lost its primary power and began to list to port, plunging into the Death Star's gravity well. The star dreadnought soon collided with the battle station surface, and exploded upon impact, reducing the once mighty dreadnought into a massive fireball.

“Damn!” Sloane hissed, with a hint of frustration in her voice. She then turned to the crew at communication. “Contact the Emperor!”

“Ma’am, we lost contact with the Emperor.” A fellow officer reported.

The vice admiral stayed silent for a moment, thinking of what to do. With the Executor lost, and the emperor dead, this had turned into an impossible situation. Rae also figured that it would just be a matter of time before the Rebels will possibly destroy the new Death Star. With this realization, she sighed, as she knew there was no other option. “Then this battle is lost. Prepare to make a retreat!”

“No! This battle won’t be lost, we will not give up!” The officer further protesting caused a frustrated groan from Rae. “Disobeying the emperor’s orders is an act of treason! You will fa-”

The Imperial officer was suddenly cut-off when the sound of a blaster going off, and a red colored blaster bolt hitting him square in the chest. His body fell backwards onto the floor of the command bridge with a thud. The crew members that saw what happened glanced at the officer’s now lifeless corpse on the floor, and then at the vice admiral, who was holding an officer’s blaster pistol.

From what the children had witnessed on the recording, Rae Sloane had reached into the front of her uniform, pulled out a blaster pistol, and, without so much as looking to aim, effortlessly shot the protesting officer, killing him. All doing so with a calm expression on her face.

Rae then put her blaster away inside her uniform. “Open a channel with all Imperial frequencies.”

The crew did as she commanded and began to push multiple buttons on their consoles. All while security personal ran up, picked up the dead officer’s corpse, and took it away to be disposed of. After a few moments of button pushing, the task of opening a channel was complete for the Vice Admiral to communicate with all the remaining ships.

“Attention! This is Vice Admiral Sloane in forward command to all surviving forces. Recall your fighters and form up around the Vigilance. Retreat to the Annaj system.”

Within moments, the remaining ships of the Imperial fleet that were still operational did as Rae commanded. Their fighter squadrons withdrew, and soon were making formation around the Vigilance. Then, moments later, the Death Star suddenly exploded into a massive fireball in space. The blast wavering from the mighty battle station flew through the vacuum of space, barely missing the remaining ships of the Imperial fleet, causing them to shake violently.

After the star destroyer stabilized itself, Rae looked at the crew in the command bridge to notice the crew having looks of disbelief, distraught, and doubt. The loss of their new battle station, and the death of their emperor was a heavy blow to the Empire’s morale. Rae also sensed that the crew and personal of the remaining ships were feeling the same. She spoke out, putting on an assuring tone to maintain morale, all while the communication link with the fleet was still open.

“We did lose the battle. As for the war, we'll lose that as well if what's left of the Empire fights as if none of this has happened. If we imagine the Emperor can simply be replaced, or the threat of a fleet action alone will bring rebellious planets to heel. So our responsibility is to prevent that from happening.” Rae Sloane turned to the crew. “Prepare to jump to hyperspace.”

“But Admiral, there are still friendly troops on the forest moon.” One bridge crew member said.

“Then we will not leave anyone behind. Get me a SITREP on the holotank. And prepare transport shuttles.” Rae then spoke on the communicator to the remaining fleet. “All other ships, retreat to hyperspace to the Annaj system!”

Scootaloo and Co watched as all ships, except for the Vigilance, jump to lightspeed. They were fascinated how calm and professional Rae Sloane was acting in a tense situation, showing she truly had earned her high rank. Keen Eye and Lily Pad watched, trying their best to understand.

Rae Sloane soon made her way into the command room of the bridge where the holotank was located. The holotank came to life, and showed a small outpost with an AT-AT, guarded by stormtroopers, scout troopers and officers. Rebel forces, with many of the forest moon natives, were moving in.

“This is Vice Admiral Sloane in forward command. Do you read me?”

A moment later, an officer appeared on the holotank. The same officer from before, taking cover behind some supply creates. “This is Lieutenant Yadri!”

“Report status, Lieutenant.” Rae said.

“The Rebels and natives have taken out the shield generator base! We have retreated to the west supply post!” Lieutenant Yadri quickly sat up, and fired a few shots with his blaster, before taking cover again. “Our forces are barely holding!”

Rae briefly observed the units’ surroundings on the holotank, noticing the AT-AT stationed at the outpost, and calculating what to do. “Hold them off. Transport shuttles with reinforcements are en route to you. I expect they’re attempting to steal the walker. They have to override three control systems to take the walker. Defend those positions for as long as you can! We need every second.”

“Yes, Vice Admiral.” Lieutenant Yadri said.

Throughout many minutes, the battle raged forward on the holotank. The garrison held their enemy back as best they could. The rebel forces soon were making their way to the control systems to try and hijack the AT-AT, as Rae had predicted. The garrison stood their ground and kept fighting, knowing the great danger if the AT-AT fell into the rebel’s hands. It was impressive to see for the children that the imperial troops bravely held their ground, despite being outnumbered.

Soon enough, the transport ships arrived with reinforcements, and landed on the Endor outpost, just in time. Another battalion of Stormtroopers, along with some elite black armored Stormtroopers, ran out of the transport to give aid to the surviving forces. With the reinforcements, the morale of the survivors was reignited, as they fought back. Eventually, after several minutes, the rebel forces began to fullback hastily into the forest.

Lieutenant Yadri spoke into the comlink. “This is Lieutenant Yadri! The Rebels and natives are retreating!”

Rae Sloane, who had been watching the battle on the holotank, spoke out. “Excellent. The rebels overreached! But their force will return to fight revenge. Use this time to evacuate.”

With that said, the surviving Imperial forces soon evacuated the outpost on board the shuttles on the vice admiral’s orders. As the transport shuttles took off, one of the pilots of the shuttles spoke on the radio.

“This is Shuttle Bulwark to Vigilance,” The pilot said. “All personal have been retrieved. We, and Shuttle Disciple, are on route to you now.”

Rae, who had been observing everything happening on the holotank, responded. “Excellent. Proceed to the randevu point.”

“Vice Admiral!” Rae turned her attention to the officer who called to her. His tone was of alert. “Enemy ships are approaching our position!”

Rae quickly pushed multiple buttons on the holotank to set the visual of the orbit of the forest moon of Endor. A hologram showed the Vigilance and four ships, one as large as the star destroyer with three much smaller ships alongside, moving towards it. Scootloo and Co could make out from their shapes that those ships were Rebel ships made up of a Mon Calamari (MC80-b class) Cruiser, along with three Corellian (CR90 class) corvettes. The hologram also showed a large field of debris, what was left of the second Death Star. Observing her surroundings, Rae Sloane calculated her strategy of counterattack, as they needed to buy some time for the shuttles to arrive safely.

“Launch all fighters. And position us in the path of the debris. It will shield much of the enemy’s fire.”

“Yes, ma’am!” The officer said.

The officer rushed to the bridge crew to pass on the vice admirals’ orders. At her orders, they moved the Vigilance into position in front of the debris field to help protect the star destroyer from the MC80’s fire. A tactic she figured, knowing the Rebel capital ships’ tricky tactics, along with the knowledge of rebel forces using asteroid fields to their advantage on occasions.

“Clear us a path to that Mon Calamari Cruiser, we will make those rebels pay!” Sloane explained over the communications, determined to make a fighting retreat as TIE-fighters, bombers and interceptors swarmed out of the hanger bay of the star destroyer. On the holotank, she noticed that the three CR90 corvettes, and a bunch of rebel fighters beginning to charge and mauver within the debris field. “We must destroy the blockade runners first, then we can press on our attack. Bombers, disable them by targeting their main reactors near the primary sensor array, then we can destroy them and open the way.”

The pilots acknowledged Rae’s orders, and began to advance their attack against the corvettes. Much of the fighters and interceptors kept the enemy fighters busy, while the rest, along with the bombers, engaged the corvettes. Forming up into three groups. The bombers began to make their attack run towards the corvettes, with the fighters leading the charge. All this happened while the radio communication was heard.

“Bombers! Form-up!”

“For the Empire!”

“Locking on target!”

“Target locked on!”

“Engage!”

The tie-fighters began to fire at the corvettes with volleys of blaster fire. The corvettes fired back to protect their selves, shooting down a few fighters in the process, but could do little against the swarm. With the corvette’s shields weakened from the attacking fighters, the tie-bombers launched their torpedoes at the weak points located between the primary sensor array and main engines, exploding on impact, causing damage to their hulls. Within moments, each corvette began to show signs of them losing power, as the engines began to fade. The fighters and bombers began to attack the crippled blockade runners, as it was their opportunity to attack and destroy them. The children watched as the rebel corvettes got destroyed, unable to withstand the swarm of fire any longer. Each one exploding, and breaking to pieces in the vacuum of space.

“Blockade runners eliminated. The area is clear. It’s time to press our advantage.” Sloane grinned with confidence as the Star Destroyer moved closer to the Rebel cruiser. Now that the battle was turning in her favor. Not wanting to be too confident, her smile faded, and maintain her composure and focus, as they were not yet out of danger, and that the shuttles had yet to arrive safely. She made an analysis of the rebel cruiser, before she called the pilots again. “All ships, target the sensors, then we can do some real damage.”

Sloane then turned to the crew. “Open fire on the rebel cruiser!”

The crew targeted the turbo lasers and iron cannons on the rebel cruiser, and began to fire barrages upon it as commanded. The rebel cruiser began firing back at the Vigilance, with some of the enemy barrage being shielded by the debris in space as the vice admiral had predicted it would. At that same time, the bombers, protected by the other TIEs, made their way to attack the cruisers’ sensors. Rebel fighters formed up and began to dog fight with the TIE fighters. Both sides were suffering losses. The TIE bombers managed to reach the rebel cruiser and began to bombard the areas of where the sensors were located. With the shields weakened by the Vigilance’s barrage, much of the bombs and torpedos bypassed through, and exploded on impact on the cruiser’s hull. The fighters and bombers continued their assault, dismantling the enemy ship piece by piece from the upper and bottom hull.

Sloane checked the recent analysis of the enemy cruiser, before contacting the fighters once more. “It’s defenses are weakened. Target the rear engines.”

The pilot of one of the shuttles came online again at that moment. “Shuttle Bulwark to Vigilance. We are starting our final approach to your position.”

“Ma’am!” Sloane turned her attention to a crew member on the radar station. “Enemy reinforcements are approaching our position! They’ll be here any minute!”

“Then we don’t have much time.” Sloane said. “All weapons, target the rebel cruiser! Maximum firepower!”

The crew fired another barrage of turbo lasers and iron cannons, more powerful than the previous. Both capital ships fired on each other, with the Mon Calamari rebel cruiser taking more and more damage. The TIE bombers began their assault on the rebel cruiser’s rear engines, firing their torpedoes on the closest engine. Knowing that if just one engine was damaged enough could cause the enemy to shut down the engines from an overload, making the cruiser defenseless. The torpedoes made impact on the closest engine, exploding, and causing great damage, as the engine was reduced to fire and smoke.

As predicted, the engines of the enemy cruiser began to flicker from the damage it sustained, until they shut down. Indicating that the damage to that engine caused them to lose power to their engines.

“There reactor is compromised. Keep firing!” Sloane got on the radio to the shuttles. “Shuttle’s Bulwark and Disciple, you are clear to land in the main hanger.”

“We’re starting our approach.” A shuttle pilot said.

The shuttles safely made their way towards the Vigilance, all while the star destroyer continued its barrage on the now defenseless rebel cruiser. It soon became too much, and the cruiser then went down in a big explosion.

“Enemy ship destroyed. All fighters recall back!” Sloane turned her attention to the bridge crew. “Move the ship out of the debris field, and prepare to retreat to light speed.”

The Vigilance began to turn around, and carefully maneuver its way throughout the debris field. Rebel reinforcements began to make their way towards them, just as both shuttles landed in the main hanger.

“Shuttles have landed.” A crew member said.

Another crew member spoke out. “Our coordinates are set. We are now clear to jump to hyperspace.”

“They may win a few battles, but the war is far from over.” Rae Sloane said, triumphant at her victory.

Rae Sloane stood facing the window of the command bridge. The sound of something powering up was heard, right as stars in the vacuum of space began to turn into lines, as if they were moving past them with great speed. Then in a second, there was a “boom” sound, and the speeding stars outside turning into a blue swirling vortex. After that, the recording fizzled out, indicating that it had ended.

Silence filled the air. The children sat there processing all they had watched on the recording. The twins, Keen Eye and Lily Pad, were in thought, more so than the others. They were piecing together all they saw. Both were unsure of which side was good or evil, and what they were fighting for. Scootaloo, Dinky, and Ray noticed the unsurety of the twins’, as, given the fact that they were from an alternate Equestria, they knew that the twins knew nothing about the Star Wars franchise. They knew that it also meant that Keen Eye and Lily Pad were unaware that the Galactic Empire and the First Order were actually classed as the bad guy factions.

“Wow.” Pipsqueak spoke out, breaking the seemingly long silence. “Even in a grim situation, she knew what to do. You can be proud of her.”

“Of course I am.” Harmon smiled.

“What happened to her?” Dinky asked.

The grand admiral began to scratch his head with an awkward expression before answering. “It’s…complicated. You see, after Endor, the Empire was thrown into chaos, as nobody knew who was supposed to succeed as ruler. As such imperials fought each other or became warlords. Literally two grand admirals killed each other over who should control the Corellian system. My mother, however, came in contact with Fleet Admiral Gallius Rax. He had a large force under his command and control. Thus she became the public face of the Empire that was under Rax’s control.”

There was paused for a moment. Harmon then began pushing some more buttons on the control panel of the hologram projector, searching through archive files as he continued to explain. “But eventually, the New Republic managed to corner his forces on the world of Jakku. Gallius Rax fought the Republic forces with all his might and valor, but he was soon overwhelmed, and was ultimately killed. My mother never quite told me how, but she said it was his dying wish that she would take what was left and rebuild it into the first Order.”

“This file contains his speech he recorded prior to the battle of Jakku before his death.” Pushing a few more buttons, he opened an audio file on the hologram projector. The children listened as the voice of Gallius Rax spoke in the recording.

“Loyal soldiers of the Galactic Empire, madness is at our door. Ruffians and barbarians of the Rebel Alliance have claimed for themselves a government of no legitimacy, a government given over to corrosion, chaos, and the corruption born of alien minds and radical terroristic teachings. It was our own Emperor Palpatine who showed us the weakness that presents itself when a Republic becomes sick with the disease of craven politics and the illness of elite oligarchs who force their agendas upon us.”

“With the death of our beloved Emperor, our own Empire was cast into disorder. It gave strength to the illegitimate, and emboldened them with a fraudulent claim of bringing peace and justice to the galaxy—and yet, for so long, who have been the champions of peace? The only war visited upon the galaxy has been the one brought by the criminal Rebel Alliance.”

“Scattered and lost, we could have perished. After attacking Chandrila and injuring the fraudulent politicians who seek to steal the sanctity of our galaxy, I brought us here to Jakku, unifying our people and our powers in this faraway world—a hard world that has tested our mettle and forged us and sharpened us into a stronger blade. A blade with which we will slit the throats of the traitors that crawl on their bellies toward our door. Soon they come! Soon they try to finish what they started. They want to end the Empire. They want to set up as a tumor on a healthy body, leeching the blood while growing fatter like a parasite. They deny our legitimacy. They lie about the stability and sanity we created for the galaxy. For those are their truest weapons: deception and delusion. We must not give in. We must not believe that they are right. We must see them as they are:”

“Brutes and barbarians! They are subhuman. They are alien to us in the truest sense of the word and are deserving of no mercy from us. This is our zero hour, and I call you now to do your duty by the light of the glorious Galactic Empire. The battle to come is not a fight for Jakku or even a fight for the Empire. It is a fight for all the galaxy. If we fail here, we fail everywhere. We fail our loved ones. We fail our children. We fail all who crave constancy and light in these dark times.”

“We pursue no other aim than freedom from oppression, liberty from lies, emancipation from depravity.”

“Today is the day we fight back and reclaim our galaxy.”

“Today is the day the New Republic dies at the Empire's hand.”

“Today we take our future!”

“The battle is upon us. Go! Go and drag them down to the ground and break their necks with your boots! Take their heads! End their tyranny!”

The recorded speech ended, and Scootaloo spoke out. “Wow! That is a very well made speech.”

“Yes. But this wasn’t the end of the war.” Harmon Sloane pointed the children’s attention to the art on the wall. “The art on the wall. I have those for a certain reason.”

Lily Pad tilted her head curiously. “And that is?”.

The Grand Admiral grinned at the little filly’s curiosity. “A Grand Admiral once said: To defeat an enemy, you must know them. Not simply their battle tactics, but their history. Philosophy. Art.”

Ray ponded briefly, as he had heard that saying before. He suddenly blinked with surprise at realizing where and who had said that. “Wait! That saying. That was Grand Admiral Thrawn! Captain Ian worked with him a few times. And my father told me also of him.”

“That, and the fact we saw him from watching that Rebels series brought to us.” Scootaloo thought to herself, silently glad that Ray did not mention that.

“That’s right.” Harmon said. His voice had a slight hint of pity. “He was one of the best leaders the Empire ever had. Shortly before Endor, he was sent into the Unknown Regions to build up the Empire here. Four years later after that, Thrawn came back and managed to unify the remaining Imperial forces under his command. He almost managed to defeat the New Republic, hadn’t it been for his bodyguard, who killed him.”

“What happened after that?” Scootaloo asked.

Harmon continued to explain, with a puzzled sound to his voice. “Well, I never managed to get accurate reports, but it was said the Emperor had somehow returned after Thrawn’s death. Whoever that really was, it also wreaked havoc on the New Republic before being defeated and the Empire scrambled again without a leader.” He then weakly smiled. “But then, Thrawn’s former right hand, Gilad Pellaeon managed to gain control of a section of the Empire and moved to the outer rim. He had the right sense to understand there was no winning of war, so he came to peace with the Republic, ensuring the Empire would survive. He ended a bloody war that lasted over twenty-one years.”

“Wow…” The six children were speechless.

Harmon sighed, and spoke with an uneased tone. “But peace didn’t last long.”

“What do you mean?” Keen Eye asked. “What happened?”

“A few years after the Pellaeon-Gavrisom treaty, the galaxy got attacked once again. By the Yuuzhan Vong.”

Scootaloo tilted her head. “The Yuu-what-now?”

“The Yuuzhan Vong, or simply “The Vong” for short.” Harmon said. “They were a dangerous, nomadic extra-galactic sentient species of far outlanders that came from another galaxy. From what we found out, they used advanced biotechnology in every field of life, and were masters of adaptation and subterfuge. With brute force and terror tactics, the Vong invaded the galaxy from the galactic north. The ill-prepared and inefficient New Republic government could only repel them with the help of Pellaeon. Ironic, as high command saw both Thrawn and Pellaeon as valuable additions once the time would come. And with the galaxy still trying to recover from the outlanders, it might be soon.”

None of the children could imagine what Harmon meant by the last thing he said. The uneased sound in his voice made it all the more questionable. They continued to listen, as Harmon continued to explain.

“The war against the Vong was won after four years, but it came at a great price. So many lives were lost in defeating them. Even the revived Jedi order was brought to the brink of being wiped out completely. The Vong invasion resulted in countless species in the galaxy being rendered extinct and entire planets deemed uninhabitable. Stripped of any traces of life they once had.”

Dinky’s eyes went small at the grand admirals’ explanation of the Vong. “Oh dear… That’s terrible.”

Harmon glanced at Dinky. “To class it as terrible is an understatement. What the Yuuzhan Vong did to races they conquered were unspeakable.”

“And what about the First Order?” Dinky asked.

“We were spared throughout all those conflicts. It was the orders of the Supreme Leader to focus on building up our forces, so we just watched on.” Harmon let out a somber sigh. “If we did get involved, many planets and people would’ve possibly been saved.”

The children noticed the look of regret upon the Grand Admirals’ face. Keen Eye and Lily Pad were confused as to why the First Order’s Supreme Leader would order not to get involved. Scootaloo and Co, meanwhile, understood the real reason, as they had seen the Star Wars movies. They knew the real reason was so that the Republic was weakened greatly enough for the Order to make their presence known, and to try and take over the galaxy. Scootaloo, Dinky, and Ray noticed that Keen Eye and Lily Pad were thinking of questioning this, making the three of them a little tense, for they knew that the twins were unaware of many things. Such as the fact that the First Order were originally the bad guys.

“Um... Harmon.” Pipsqueak spoke up after a moment of silence. “Sorry for changing the subject, but you showed us who your mother is, but you didn’t say about your father.”

Ray blinked in this realization. “Yeah. Who is your father?”

Scootaloo and Dinky relaxed themselves at the subject being changed, silently relieved that the twins did not get the chance to question the grand admiral. In addition, it also was one good question about Harmon that aroused their curiosity.

Harmon lowered his head. “Well…Believe it or not… it’s Soontir Fel.”

“What?!” Ray exclaimed in shock, “Soontir Fel? As in 'one of the best imperial pilots' Soontir Fel? But he’s married!”

Harmon let out a chuckle that was a mix of nervousness and embarrassment. “Indeed. He and my mother never told me how it happened, but he still loved me like his own son. As far as they told me, my father was traveling as his transport had an engine failure and got stranded, with my mother saving him.”

“I…see…” Ray mumbled, trying to make sense of what Harmon was explaining.

The grand admiral then let out a sigh. “Not that this matters anymore.”

“Why?” Ray asked.

Harmon slightly trembled. “A few years ago, my parents were traveling to a planet of the First Order, but never arrived. We managed to locate what remained of their shuttle on a remote planet close by, but their bodies were never found. From what we figured, their shuttle crash landed. Whether it was engine failure or they were shot down, taken prisoner or killed, we do not know. Despite no proof of their deaths, both my parents were claimed as dead on record. But something gives me this feeling that they are not dead. So I hope every day they’re still alive and out there somewhere.”

Slowly, the children tried to process this information. Keen Eye and Lily Pad felt sorry for the loss of Harmon’s parents. Scootaloo and Co thought about it, and knew it was indeed a mystery of what happened to Harmon’s parents. Although they had a silent suspicion of what might have happened, but, not to jump to conclusions, decided to keep it to themselves, at least for the time being.

Dinky then smiled weakly. “That’s a good attitude. Hope dies last.”

Harmon replied with a weak smile of his own. “Indeed. My mother founded the First Order as a purer version of the Empire. She realized that the Empire had been wrong to rule by terror, and disagreed with the idea of enslaving alien species. She knew that it was one of the major things that turned people against the Empire. But, unfortunately, the First Order continues the ethnocentric xenophobic ways that had existed within the Empire, which had viewed aliens as slave labor.”

Harmon noticed his words caused the foals to tremble with fear, with their irises and pupils shrinking. Seeing that he made them frightened, he held up a hand with an honest smile. “Don’t worry. I already made sure that none of you will not be harmed by my fellow soldiers and crew. Besides, if I had meant harm, I wouldn’t have ordered my troops to stand down and offer you shelter.”

Slowly, the foals understood the grand admiral’s point, and nodded, realizing he was right. Scootaloo and Co knew that he could have ordered for them to either be taken prisoner and being subjected to unspeakable interrogations, or even be fatally shot on the spot, if he so desired. Either way would have been dreadful, especially to the twins who knew nothing, being from an alternate universe. The thought of Keen Eye and Lily Pad experiencing such interrogations they saw in the movies made them shiver. They would never forgive themselves if anything happened to those two foals. They were relieved that the man had different intentions.

Lily Pad spoke out to Harmon. “Thank you…for helping us.”

“Just doing what I believe is right. It’s like I said before: I don’t harm children. And I promise to make sure that your world won’t suffer by the First Order.”

“W-what do you mean?” Pipsqueak asked.

Harmon’s expression became one of unease. “You see, many of our Stormtroopers are recruited from children, many can be as young as from birth. They come from poor, impoverished Outer Rim worlds, where lawlessness was rampant and the residents had few to no prospects in life. Due to these horrific conditions, many of the people happily surrender their children to the First Order willingly, either hoping they would have a better life or simply desiring payment and one fewer mouth to feed. In a way, we help them, but being a Stormtrooper isn’t really that much better.”

“Then…can we change the subject?”

Harmon Sloane nodded understandingly at Ray’s suggestion. “Sure thing. Perhaps I should explain why I took after Thrawn. It was not only because he worked with my mother at times, or because he was such a tactical genius, but also because he did not punish those who failed him. Instead, he made them learn from their mistakes, rewarding them when they improved or were creative. He also listened to what both advisors and men had to say, taking their opinions into consideration. And due to that, his men greatly respected him, being proud to serve him and he cared greatly for them. It was the reason why there were far fewer casualties under his command than any other imperial admiral.”

Scootaloo and Ray smiled. They knew Captain Ian was also like Thrawn. Caring for his men, making them learn from mistakes instead of punishing them, and taking their opinions into consideration. That was why his crew were loyal to him no matter what, and why everyone did not hesitate to help Scootaloo when she was lost and found on Endor.

“I sort of take after him, making my men learn from mistakes and taking their opinions into consideration. As such, they respect me and serve with pride.” Harmon cleared his throat. “Although, not everyone shares the same views and loyalty. And I have punished them for things like defiance, insubordination, disloyalty, betrayal and such, depending on the circumstances.”

Scootaloo and Co understood as they recalled the Lieutenant that was with Harmon earlier. How he argued with how they should be taken prisoner in the detention area, and got yelled at for almost defying his orders. Threatening demotion, and trash labor if he did not follow the grand admiral’s orders. When they thought about it, they could see the funny side to it, as Ray recalled being told that trash labor on a star destroyer’s trash compactors can be one of the lowest, smelliest, most unpleasant positions anyone can be demoted to.

“Additionally, I also study enemy tactics, culture, and art to figure out how best to fight them effectively. As such, I am experienced and made my rank just, compared to the other younger officers who barely have experience.”

“And who did you fight?” Scootaloo asked.

“Pirates and other criminals that tried to steal or rob us, but also Resistance forces.”

Scootaloo tilted her head. “Resistance?”

“Yes. The Republic is aware of us, but doesn’t consider us much of a threat. Princess Leia Organa, who had been one of the leaders of the Rebel Alliance during the Galactic Civil War, does take us seriously and formed a paramilitary outfit called the Resistance. And despite using outdated and aging equipment, and being undermanned, they are still fiery fighters. Something I have respect for.”

Keen Eye and Lily Pad blinked questionably at what Harmon explained, and Lily Pad spoke out. “Wait. There’s a princess here?”

“Kinda.” Ray said. “But she’s not the kind of princess you might think she is.”

“What do you mean?” Keen Eye asked.

Ray scratched his head, awkwardly trying to explain. “Well, she's a human like myself, not a powerful alicorn pony princess like the kind of princesses you two know of.”

“Oh.” The twins raised an eyebrow unsurely.

Not wanting to make things too awkward, Scootaloo decided to change the subject. “Uh-ha. Anyway, your ship is an Imperial Star Destroyer?”

“Not directly.” Harmon went over to the hologram projector, and pushed a few buttons. Upon pushing the buttons, a hologram model of an Imperial Star Destroyer appeared. “This is an Imperial Star Destroyer.” He pushed a few more buttons, and a projection of another ship appeared next to it a moment later. The other ship was similar in shape, but had different looks, and made the Imperial Star Destroyer dwarf in size. “And this is my ship. The Augur, a Resurgent-class Star Destroyer.”

“Ooh.” Scootaloo, Dinky, Pipsqueak, and Ray looked in awe at the size difference between the two battle cruisers.

Keen Eye curiously tilted his head. “How big are these star destroyer things anyway?”

“About a mile long.” Ray said.

Keen Eye and Lily Pad turned to Ray, wide-eyed with shock at his answer, while exclaiming in unison, “A mile long?!”

Ray nodded and mildly shrugged, all while trying to hide an amused smile at the twins reaction. “Give or take a few meters.”

Keen Eye glanced back at the Star Destroyer hologram. “Whoa! That’s huge!”

“That’s almost as long as the apple orchard at Sweet Apple Acres back home!” Lily Pad said.

Harmon let out a small chuckle. “Indeed. The Star Destroyers of the Empire were approximately one thousand, six hundred metric meters in length, and could hold to up to forty-seven thousand crew and stormtroopers. These massive warships were used as the backbone of the Imperial Navy.” The hologram of the Imperial Star Destroyer zoomed in to the command bridge and rear engines as he explained. “But as mighty as these warships were, they did have weaknesses. Like the two shield generators and the command bridge. As well as little to no defenses of the rear engines, which the rebellion used all to their advantage.”

The hologram on the hologram projector then focused on the larger star destroyer as Harmon spoke. “The First Order, on the other hand, uses a new and improved design of Star Destroyers known as a Resurgent-class. Which is based on it, emulating the dagger-shaped design, but almost twice the length. Learning lessons from the star destroyers’ flaws, as well as the loss of the Executor during the Battle of Endor, the Resurgent-class destroyer has better features.” Parts of the Resurgent-class star destroyer were pointed out with x-rays, cutaways, and places being highlighted in color as Harmon explained. “Like an off-center, better protected command bridge. Along with increased redundancy in command and control systems and height is reduced. And is equipped with better shields and defense weaponry systems.”

“That’s so interesting.” Scootaloo said.

Harmon glances toward the children. “In fact, instead of just telling you, why don’t I show you.” He then switched off the hologram projector, and gestured the children to follow. “Come, I will show you around.”

And with that, the six children then got up and followed the grand admiral out of his quarters. Scootaloo and Co saw it as an opportunity to see and learn as much as they could about the First Order’s Resurgent-class destroyer. And they saw it as an opportunity for Keen Eye and Lily Pad too, as they knew that they had to learn as much as they could about this alternate universe, if they were to get them back home safely, and hopefully unharmed.

Shadow of the old empire

by Bronycommander

Chapter 1 Past and future

Chapter 2: Hooves Of Gold Are Always Cold

Chapter 3: Let me tell you about Abacus

Chapter 4: Harmon's Past