A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXcoM_AHuk8 (Use this link if you feel extra nerdy.) Since Emperor Palpatine--now revealed to be the the evil Darth Sidious--took control of the senate, he has begun a brutal occupation of every planet in the known galaxy. During one such occupation the Galactic Empire has unknowingly stumbled upon the world of Equestria, and is now about to take control of it as they have done with every other system. The Emperor is about to send a small fleet of to the planet to subjugate it's inhabitants. Little does the Empire know, a group of renegade clone troopers, led by Commander Maverick, and Jedi Knight Kal Nevaar, are in hiding on the planet. These renegades may need to enlist the help of the locals if the they wish to survive...
Darth Vader walked down the corridors of the Imperial Palace on Coruscant to meet with his master, The Emperor. He had recently been notified of an unexplored planet, to which his master was going to send an invasion fleet. Lord Vader was unsettled and the slightest bit angry at having not been sent to strike fear into any new subjects of the Empire. As he approached his master's throne room, the two Imperial guards on either side of the door stepped aside allowing him passage. As Vader entered he saw the The Emperor, sitting in the only chair in the room, facing the window as he usually did.
"Lord Vader, why do disturb me?" The Emperor asked.
"Master, I have become aware of your plans to send an invasion fleet to an unexplored world." Vader said, careful to conceal his anger, but showing his disapproval.
The Emperor Slowly turned around in his chair, "Yes,you seem displeased why does this concern you?" The Emperor asked.
"I was not officially notified of the discovery of this planet, nor was I informed of your plans to investigate." Vader said.
"I did not feel it was of importance, what would you have me do?" The Emperor asked, he was becoming angry.
"I request that you send me to supervise this expedition, to strike fear into the inhabitants of this world." Vader replied.
"No, I have another assignment for you, Lord Vader, I have been notified of a rebellion on the planet, Bonadan. You are to quell this uprising, use lethal force if you feel it necessary." The Emperor said.
It took a moment for Vader to respond, "As you wish, my master." he said before turning and walking out the door.
Darth Vader was furious now, he would take his anger out on the rebels of Bonadan, personally.
***
Kal Nevaar's eye's shot open, "Something is coming... something sinister." he said whispered aloud.
Kal had been meditating in the forest, near his home, hoping that he might feel the presence of some surviving Jedi, instead he felt only the Dark Side. He stood up, and walked back into his house. He had explored the what he could of the planet, he had noted that there was an intelligent presence inhabiting this world. The inhabitants were advanced for what little resources were available, but still slightly primitive in some standards, but the were organized, and had the ability to speak. Though he did his best to stay hidden, he would sometimes come to the aid of one, or a group, of the planet's inhabitants who strayed too deep into the forest where even he did not go. He moved too quickly for them to see, and when he had saved them they would leave, no doubt stunned and frightened, they though of him as a protector of the innocent in the merciless forest. If he did not wish to remain hidden he would show himself to them and confirm to them that he not a guardian spirit, but a simple Jedi.
It was getting late, so Kal got into his bed and fell asleep, but through the night he had terrible visions of death, suffering, oppression.
***
Maverick and his troops walked through the underbrush of the forest, as they did every night to avoid any encounters with the natives of this world, though it was probably better to encounter a native than one of the multiple predators in the forest.
"How much longer 'til we stop, sir?" one of his troopers ,Vek, asked from behind him.
"Vek, if you keep asking that, I can't be held accountable for what I'm gonna do." another trooper said, it was Berk this time, He always had a bit of a short fuse.
"Stow it you two, the commander will inform us when we'll stop." It was Lockdown this time, said.
At that point Maverick stopped and turned to face the small squad of troops behind him, "Quiet, all of you, you're going to give away our position with all the chatter you're making. Now get a move on, and keep any comments to yourself, from here on we're traveling silent." he said.
The troops all went quiet, and Maverick turned around and continued forward. He wasn't meant to lead soldiers, he was meant to infiltrate, sabotage, assassinate, and leave no trace, he was an ARC Trooper, an elite unit, Trained by the Mandalorian instructor, Wad'e Tay'haai. This role of leader wasn't something unusual to Maverick, but usually he wasn't always leading the group personally by their side. Maverick's experiences with the average clone trooper weren't the best, they tended to keep their distance.
After walking a little longer the small band of clones found an old, rundown castle.
"This place gives me the creeps." said Jax.
"Lots of things give you the creeps." Berk replied.
"Huh, you know, when I think about it, your right." Jax replied, he was a trooper that always tried to keep up the company's morale by making jokes.
The clones camped in the remains of the castle that night. Maverick couldn't explain why, but he had a bad feeling about the castle, he shook it off, it was probably just his imagination.
***
Captain Izan Kerner stood on the bridge of the Marauder awaiting the last of the imperial personnel to board his Victory class, Star Destroyer. He and his men had been given a special assignment by The Emperor himself, and he did not intend on disappointing. Kerner was intent on gaining the Emperor's favor, and becoming an admiral of the Empire's Navy. Admiral Ozzel was an idiot in Kerner's opinion, but he still envied the man for being an admiral. Kerner was a young captain by most standards, but he wasn't going to let that stop him. He was determined to become the Captain that history would remember.
"Sir, we are ready to make the jump to hyperspace." the officer at navigations stated.
"Excellent, make the jump." Kerner commanded, this was his chance.
The deck shook and the stars stretched as the Marauder went to lightspeed.
Kal sat up straight in his bed, the dark presence he had sensed was growing closer. He looked over at the chrono sitting on the table beside his bed, it was 6 A.M. Even if it had been earlier he wouldn't have wasted any time. He bolted from his bed, got dressed, and ran out the door. Kal looked up into the sky, that was where he felt the disturbance was coming from.
"So, they have found me, even here on this uncharted world, I thought it was only a matter of time." Kal said to himself.
Kal didn't have a way off the planet, but he did not relish the idea of fighting either. He would have to lead his enemy away from the innocent inhabitants of the planet to protect hem as long as he could, even if that meant surrendering.
"No, I will fight if I must, for peace, justice, and the innocent, the way a Jedi is supposed to serve the galaxy. But I'd need an army, and there's no way I'm going to endanger the inhabitants of this world." he said, shaking of his doubt.
Kal stretched out with the Force to ascertain the numbers of the army coming to secure a hold on the planet. As he stretched out with the force, he felt a presence that was familiar to him, one that he was fearful of.
"Clones... they're already here." he said with no emotion in his voice.
Kal shook off his disbelief and took off in the direction he had sensed the clones, he was going to stop this before any innocents were hurt, but there was one thing going through his mind, why hadn't he sensed them when they landed? Regardless he sprinted with the aid of the force allowing him to move at greater speeds than any normal sentient being. Kal ran for perhaps half an hour before he felt the clones' presence getting closer, he also felt a dark presence in the same place as the clones.
"Vader is here as well then." Kal said.
Kal came to a halt when reached an crumbling structure that was probably a castle at one time, and that is where he felt the clones' presence was strongest, he collected his wits about his an got ready for a fight with Vader.
***
Maverick awoke to the sound of his helmet's proximity alarm, which alerted him to he presence of anyone fifty yards away, that wasn't a part of his current clone trooper squad. He sat up slowly, grabbing his rifle that was beside him. He switched of the alarm in his helmet, and turned on his comlink.
"Everybody up." Maverick said.
The clones all got up at one point or another.
"What's wrong sir, having a nightmare?" Jax asked.
"No time for jokes Jax, we've got something heading our way." Maverick replied.
With that statement all of his men were on their feet, rifles ready, and awaiting his orders.
"Everybody spread out, take cover and don't fire until I say." Maverick said.
"Yes sir" everyone replied in unison, before dispersing.
Maverick went behind a pillar and peered around it to assess the situation. Vek was crouched behind the remains of a wall, Berk was behind another pillar, next to maverick, with his back up against it, waiting to spring out and lay down fire if need be. Jax had found some stairs and climbed up into a walkway and ready with his sniper rifle. Sparky was around a corner of a doorway, also ready to spring out. Lockdown was behind a crumbling piece of stone wall. Bets was ready with his Z6 rotary blaster around another pillar in front of Maverick. Everyone was in a position, all they had to now was wait.
***
Kal felt something different in the clones now, they were getting ready for something now. Perhaps Vader had sensed his presence and alerted his soldiers. It was odd though that Kal could not pick Vader's presence out of the group, he only felt the dark presence. Kal gathered the force and leaped using the aid of the Force. He was going to land right in the middle of them all.
***
Maverick stood behind the pillar waiting for whatever had tripped his alarm. He stood motionless, taking slow, calm breaths. he looked at the radar on the HUD in his helmet. He could see whatever it was just sitting in one place, not moving, then all of a sudden it was gone.
"What the..." Maverick said as he stared at the radar dumbfounded and confused. Then the image reappeared... right in the middle of where his group was, looked out from behind the pillar and looked up as movement in the air caught his eye. He saw the form of a humanoid being, it was wearing a long robe with a hood pulled up covering any view of it's face.
"A Jedi?" Maverick said, he was even more confused now.
The figure pulled out a metallic cylinder from it's robes. The cylinder made a snap-hiss sound a a green blade was emitted from one end, it was definitely a Jedi.
"Where's Vader?" the jedi asked, looking around.
"Vader? Why would Vader be here?" Maverick asked as he stepped out from behind the pillar and lowering his weapon, motioning for the others to do the same.
"Don't play games with me trooper, where's Vader, I can sense a dark presence here, where is he?" the Jedi asked again.
"We aren't with Vader, or the Empire for that matter." Maverick replied.
"I sense that you speak the truth." the Jedi said easing up a bit.
"We left the Empire sir, we were trained to fight for the Republic." Maverick said.
"I see, but how do I know you won't still turn on me like my troops did." the Jedi said.
"Can't you just use your sense thingy again?" Jax asked the Jedi, walking up behind Maverick.
"I can, but you were all trained to resist interrogation, and possibly how to hide your true thoughts." the Jedi responded.
"I swear that we are defenders of the Republic, we let our Jedi General live, and helped him escape of our own free will, we never even raised our blasters." Maverick said, and the troops around him all nodded.
The Jedi seemed to consider this and then deactivated his lightsaber, "I can sense the truth in your words, very well, come with me." he said.
"Sir, could you at least tell us who you are?" Lockdown asked.
The Jedi pulled off his hood, revealing his face. He had short blonde hair, blue eyes, and a bit of stubble on his face."My name is Kal, Kal Nevaar." he said.
Maverick and his troops followed the Jedi, Kal Nevaar, to his home on the more Eastern side of the forest. they occasionally ran into one of the forest's numerous predatory animals, but Kal just waved his hand, and they walked away, as they had never seen the men. Even though he had seen a Jedi do it before, Maverick was still amazed and impressed. They were now nearing Kal's makeshift home.
"It's not much for room, but I can fix that, if need be." Kal said.
"As long as we can live in it, we can call it home." Jax said.
"Yes, well, I can't guarantee that it will be comfortable." Kal replied.
"Comfort is a luxury, sir, and luxuries make a man soft." Berk said.
Maverick didn't say anything, he was only thinking of how the Jedi had found them, yes he had the Force and could probably sense them, but that din't explain why it had taken him this long to find the six of them.
***
The seven men walked inside the small lodging and stood.
"Please, make yourselves comfortable." Kal said sweeping his arm around the main room of the building.
The clones complied, taking a seat or leaning against the wall, according to their preference.
"Could I ask you your names?" Kal asked.
"Sir, everyone calls me Jax." one of the clones said.
"I'm Sparky, they call me that 'cause i'm good with electronics." another replied.
"Bets, got my name 'cause I like to take risks." another replied.
"Berk, no story for my name."
"Vek, I also have no story."
"I'm called Maverick, because I'm inventive with my way of following the rules."
Kal nodded, "Would you mind me asking if you took of your helmets, I feel odd not seeing you face-to-face." he said.
The clones looked at one another, but then slowly removed their helmets, revealing the same face under each, but each was different in their own way. Maverick had a scar directly above his left eyebrow that arched over the bridge of his nose to the corner of his right eye. Sparky had an inch-long scar along his hairline on the left side of his forehead. Berk had a scar that started on the left side of his neck, went up his his chin, and stopped at the left corner of his lips. Jax had long slicked back hair, but no scars on his face. Bets had the symbol for galactic credits tattooed on the right side of his neck. Vek also possessed no scars, but, unlike Jax, his hair was a regulation military cut. Lockdown just had a simple buzz-cut hairdo.
"Were not that impressive, sir, hard to be an individual when people share your face." Jax said.
Kal shook his head with a smile, "You are all individuals, Jax. You have your own preferences, your own ideas, and ,above all, your own personalities." he said.
Jax seemed to think about this, "I suppose so, sir." he said.
Kal scanned the group of men in front of him. He felt them in the force, and memorized there presences, though when he reached Maverick, he felt something of a mix of questioning and curiosity.
"Is there something troubling you Maverick?" Kal asked.
"Actually, sir, there is." Maverick replied.
"Go on." Kal politely insisted.
"Sir, I've been thinking, how did you find us in those ruins?" Maverick asked.
The other troops focused on him, apparently they hadn't thought about that.
"I felt your presences in the the Force." he replied simply.
"But why know, we've been here for a good long time now, so why did it take you this long to find us?" maverick continued.
Kal sighed, "I felt a disturbance in the Force. So when I stretched out with Force, I felt your presence, and the presence of something dark. I immediately assumed that Vader was here with a squad of troops, I believe that the Empire is coming, and soon." he said.
"No rest for the weary soldiers I guess." Jax said with a shrug.
"If the Empire's coming, we will fight." Lockdown said, standing up and clenching a fist in front of him.
"We need more than just the seven of us, alone we are sure to fail." Kal said.
"What do you suggest we do then, sir?" Maverick asked.
"I don't know, but we have to protect the innocent inhabitants of this world." Kal replied.
"Why not just ask the locals for a bit of help?" Bets asked.
"I had hoped not to endanger then, but that may be inevitable." Kal said.
"Then let's do it, if the Empire gets here while we're discussing this everyone will be caught off guard." Berk said.
"Then that is our plan." Kal said.
"We can teach the locals how to fight, at least the basics anyway." Maverick said.
Kal nodded, "Yes, that would increase our chances, but are you sure you can do it?" he asked.
The troops all stood at attention, "Sir, yes, sir!" they all said in unison.
"Very well, we shall go to the nearest village, and ask them to take us to see their highest authority." Kal said.
The troops replaced their helmets, walked out the door, and waited for Kal.
"May the Force be with us." Kal said.
"For the Republic." The troops replied.
"We're off to war again, lead the way... General." Maverick said.
They began to exit the forest and head towards the nearest village, which was closer than they had thought.
Twilight Sparkle was reading in the library when the commotion started, it sounded as if all of Ponyville was outside of their homes watching something truly fascinating.
Did Princess Celestia make a surprise visit today?, Twilight thought to herself.
Twilight set down the book she had been reading, and went outside to investigate the reason for all the buzz of the town. As Twilight left the library, she saw that most of the crowd was concentrated around the town square. She walked up the crowd but couldn't see over all of the ponies. Twilight began making her way through the crowd politely, intent on seeing what had so thoroughly enthralled everypony. She eventually got close enough, and her eyes widened, standing in the middle of the town square, were seven creatures the likes of which she had never seen, they stood on two hind legs. Six of the seven figures were covered from top to bottom in white armor. Only one of the armored figures stood out of the group, because he had and extra piece of armor at his shoulders, and a cape-like thing attached to his belt. The other figure had a long, hooded robe, the hood was pulled up, obscuring the face. Twilight went closer to the figures, hoping to study them.
***
Kal and the clones looked on at the crowd that had amassed around them. The locals were a mass of multiple colors and hues, a whole spectrum of color was displayed in front of them. They were talking among themselves in hushed tones. The creatures apparently had a grasp on the language of Galactic Basic, which surprised Kal. He stretched out with the Force to allow himself to be sure of their intentions. The Force told Kal that some of them were frightened, others were curious, and others still were unsure what to make of them. Kal continued to probe around with the Force, until he felt a particular mind that was more curious than the rest, he turned toward the direction of the presence, and found a lavender colored local with a horn on it's forehead.
***
The hooded figure was looking right at her. She couldn't see it's eyes, but Twilight could feel it's stare. She didn't think these creatures were here to do any of them harm, or else they would have already done so. Twilight stood still locked with the gaze of the hooded figure. By this time the armored figures had turned to look in the direction of hooded figure. Some of the ponies around her were looking to see if they could find what the strange creatures were looking at, but seemed to find nothing.
What are you, how did you get here, why are you here?, Twilight thought to herself.
The hooded figure turned his gaze from Twilight.
"Do not be afraid, we are not here to do you harm." one of them said in a male's voice loud enough for everyone to hear, Twilight was unable to tell which one, because she couldn't see any of their faces, but she guessed it was hooded figure.
"We are here to bring you a warning. You are all in danger, we must speak to the highest authority of your world." the same voice continued.
At that statement some of the ponies panicked, but they did not completely lose their heads.
"Who, and what are you?" Twilight asked.
The hooded figure turned back again to face Twilight, "That is not important now, if we do not hurry to meet your leader, all will be lost." he said.
"That all depends on you. So you should answer my question." Twilight said.
The hooded figure removed his his hood, and revealed his face. He had short blonde hair, blue eyes, and the beginnings of a beard.
"I knew humans were real!" Lyra shouted excitedly, before Bon Bon shoved a hoof in her mouth.
"My name is Kal Nevaar, I am a Jedi, a defender of peace and justice. These are my soldiers, they too fight for peace, and will not harm you." the figure, Kal, said gesturing to the white-armored figures.
"If you're peaceful, then why do you need soldiers?" someone in the crowd asked.
There was a muffled chatter of agreement.
"Where we are from, there was a war the Jedi were called to battle, and lead soldiers, like these men here, to free the galaxy from an evil force." Kal said.
"So why are you here?" another voice from the crowd asked.
"We are in hiding. The force of good we thought we were fighting for, the Republic, turned out to be the real enemy. The Jedi were ordered to be killed on sight, wiping them out. We are now almost extinct, I am one of the last. The Republic was re-formed into an Empire and now rules with an iron fist, nobody can stand against them." Kal replied, telling his story.
Some of the ponies put a hoof to their mouth, in shock.
"Why are we in danger?" one of the crowd asked.
"The Empire is coming, I do not know why, but I know they are coming, and they will show no mercy." Kal said.
The crowd went into a panicked conversation between one another.
"Hold on a second!" Twilight heard Pinkie Pie's unmistakable voice say.
"Yes?" Kal said.
"Should I prepare a welcome party for them, when do they get here?" Pinkie asked excitedly.
"If by a welcome party you mean setting up defenses and getting ready to blast them to the edges of space, then yes." one of the white-armored figures said.
Pinkie giggled, "No silly, I mean a party with cake, and balloons, and streamers, and candy, and..." Pinkie said before she was silenced by Applejack.
"Getting back to the original concept of this meeting sir." the white-armored figure with the shoulder armor said to Kal.
"Yes, we have spent to much time already, I must meet with your leader." Kal said.
"Alright, I shall ask her to come here, to meet with you." Twilight said.
"Thank you." Kal replied.
"Come with me, I want to keep you close by, I've never had the opportunity to study one of your species before."
"I hope studying doesn't hurt." one of the armored figures said.
Maverick followed behind Kal and the lavender female. He was quite intrigued with her, he had never seen one of the local this close up before. He would study her, just as she would study them. The seven men and the single lavender female walked up to to a large tree that had a door and windows on it. The lavender female opened the door and walked inside.
"Make yourselves comfortable." Said the lavender female.
The seven men had to crouch down to be able to enter the tree. Once inside they were surprised to find that it was large enough to accommodate them, and it appeared to be a library.
"Nice place you got here, not sure about the colors though." Jax said jokingly, as he always did.
The lavender female giggled, she actually giggled at something that Jax said.
"It was kind of you to allow us to stay here." Kal said to the lavender female.
"I just want to be able to study you. You are something I've never seen." she said.
"Pardon me, but do you mind if I ask you your name, you know mine after all." Kal said.
"My name is Twilight, Twilight Sparkle." she said.
"Twilight Sparkle?" Lockdown asked confused.
"Yes, something the matter?" Twilight asked.
"I've just never heard of a name like that before." Lockdown said.
"Well, names like that are common around here. May I ask your names?" Twilight said.
They all told her their names and why they had them.
"Some of your names aren't too different from ours." Twilight said.
"Well, ours are more like nicknames." Jax said.
"Why is that?" Twilight asked.
"Why don't you show her, and then explain." Kal said.
They all nodded and removed their helmets.
Twilight's eyes went wide, "You all look the same." she said.
"That's the Idea ma'am, we're clones." Maverick said.
Twilight looked back and forth between them.
"We give or get nicknames that either suit our personality, or our profession. Otherwise we just get, or choose, a normal name." Berk explained.
"I see." Twilight said.
"I think you're getting caught up in your studying. Prehaps you should send a message to your leader and then we can tell you more." Kal said with a knowing grin.
"Oh, you're right I forgot, one second please." Twilight said before the horn on her head lit up, and a piece of paper, a quill, and a small container of ink levitated over to her. She then began to to write.
"I didn't know you could use the Force." Maverick said.
"The what-now?" Twilight asked, stopping her writing and looking at Maverick with a raised eyebrow.
"A lesson for later." Kal said brushing off her question to get her back to writing.
Thankfully Twilight did not pursue the question, and finished her writing.
"Spike!" Twilight called out.
A little purple-scaled creature poked his head out from behind a corner, "Yeah Twilight?" it asked.
"Send this letter to Princess Celestia right away." Twilight said, levitating the rolled-up paper over to Spike, who took the letter in his hand. He inhaled deeply before blowing out a stream of green fire.
"No! I though you said you were sending that to your princess, not burn it!" Kal said, distressed and confused.
"It was sent to the princess, Spike's fire is magic, allowing him to send anything to wherever I tell him to." Twilight explained.
Kal let out a sigh of relief, "Give me a warning before you almost give me a heart attack next time." he said.
"Sorry, I forgot you're new to this kind of thing." Twilight said blushing with an awkward smile.
"It's alright." Kal said.
"Now, I would like to know as much about you as I can." Twilight said.
"Where should I start?" Kal asked.
"You said you were a Jedi, what is a Jedi?" Twilight asked.
The clones looked at Kal expectantly, they had probably never heard this tale before.
"Well, as I said in the town's square, a Jedi is a defender of peace and justice. Our order was founded more than twenty-thousand years ago, we have the ability to control the Force, and let it guide our actions." Kal explained.
Twilight nodded, "What's the Force?" she asked.
"The Force is an unlimited energy that binds the universe together, and shapes the way we live. It can be good or, or it can be very bad." Kal said.
"So it's like fate or destiny?" Twilight asked.
"Not exactly, fate and destiny are a part of what the Force is, but not all of it." Kal said.
"Are there any famous Jedi?" Twilight asked.
"There are several Jedi that hold fame in our history, some are known for great deeds of heroism, and others are known for their wisdom." Kal said.
"Are there any stories that you know well?" Twilight asked.
Kal thought about this, there were several stories that Kal could think of, but there was one Jedi in particular that Twilight's thirst for knowledge reminded him of, "What about the story of Revan?" Kal asked.
"Who is Revan?" Twilight asked.
"You mean who was Revan. He was a Jedi during the days of the Old Republic. He was one of the greatest Jedi of his time, and since. Revan had a lust for knowledge, much like yourself, and he was always eager to learn. Sometimes his hunger for knowledge didn't do anything good for him, and eventually became his downfall and began his decent to the Dark Side." Kal said.
"What is the Dark Side?" Twilight asked.
"The Dark Side is the part of the Force that is influenced by hatred, rage, and passion. Those who wield the Dark Side become morally deformed and twisted. They gain access to powers that are unspeakably cruel and deadly, for both them and those closest to them." Kal said solemnly.
"Oh." Twilight said, almost emanating a sense of fear in the Force.
"Now where was I... ah, yes, Revan's fall. Now, Revan's fall does not come until later in this story. First you need to know what started him down the path. A warrior race known as the Mandalorians began to take over the outlying planets of the galaxy, thinking that they would surround the Republic and then attack on all sides. Revan suspected their intentions, and pleaded with the Jedi Counsel to allow him to fight the Mandalorians, the counsel denied his request. Revan began gathering other Jedi to his cause, he was able to convince them of the threat and they departed in secret to go to war. When Revan and his Jedi army reached the planet of Cathar, Revan found a Mandalorian Mask. Revan took the mask and put it on, vowing not to remove it until the Mandalorians were defeated." Kal said before Twilight interrupted again.
"Did he defeat them?" Twilight asked.
"He did. In the end he challenged the Mandalorian leader to a one-on-one battle, he killed him and disbanded the Mandalorian army, but Revan's journey was not complete. He disappeared, but he and his apprentice returned as Sith Lords with an army and a fleet. Some of the Jedi that Revan had led against the Mandalorians also turned to the Dark Side as well, and they waged war with the Republic. For years Revan moved through the Republic, conquering every planet in his path. eventually the Jedi sent out a strike force to capture Revan." Kal said.
"Only capture him?" Twilight asked surprised.
"Yes, the Jedi believe there is good in everyone, even the most evil beings. Now, the strike force boarded Revan's ship and confronted him. What they didn't count on was Malak, Revan's apprentice, betraying his master, and firing on the bridge. Revan lay dying, but the Jedi were able to save him, though they destroyed his memories to prevent the Dark Side from re-forming within him. Revan eventually became a Jedi again and defeated Malak. Revan and his companions became heroes across the Republic. Revan disappeared once again, leaving no trace." Kal said finishing his tale.
"Wow, but how did his curiosity become his downfall?" Twilight asked.
"It was his lust for knowledge that led him to the Dark Side because he had been foolish enough to seek out Sith teachings. The point of Revan's story is to teach us that we must balance caution with curiosity." Kal explained.
"I see." Twilight said, seeming to be in deep thought.
***
Princess Celestia sat in her private study, splitting her attention between a book and a letter she was writing to Princess Cadence in the Crystal Empire, when a letter from Twilight appeared. Celestia smiled she was always happy to hear from her student. She unrolled the scroll and began to read.
Dear Princess Celestia,
I must inform you of an unusual development. A group of seven strange creatures entered Ponyville today, and they came with a warning: they say that all of Equestria is in danger. I have brought them into the library and plan on talking with them to identify if they present a threat or they are truly sincere with their concern. They say they need to speak to you, and that it was urgent to inform you immediately.
Izan Kerner looked out the view port of the bridge. Hyperspace truly was a sight to behold, it had a ghostly, almost beautiful presence. He stared at it until he was brought out of his thoughts by a young Lieutenant at his side.
"Sir, we are going to need to change our course soon, to prevent any unwanted attention of the the area. Our navigations officers have plotted several safe stops along the way. It will prevent any rebel sympathizers from following our trail and ambushing us." the Lieutenant said.
"That will take us almost twice as long to reach our target." Kerner said.
"Apologies, Captain, but this operation needs to kept top secret, and this is best why to do that." the Lieutenant said.
Kerner sighed "Very well, carry on." he said, clearly displeased.
The Lieutenant saluted before walking away.
Idiot, Kerner thought to himself.
"Sir incoming communication for you from the Emperor." the comms officer said from the crew pit.
"I'll take it in my quarters." Kerner said, walking to the exit of the bridge.
If the Emperor had contacted him, this was either just for a progress report, or it was very bad for him.
Kerner entered his room and hit the button on the hologram communicator. A blue, three dimensional image of the Emperor appeared before him.
Kerner bowed, "My lord, it is a pleasure, what is your command?" Kerner said.
"Captain Kerner, I wish to know your progress on your mission." the Emperor said.
Kerner cleared his throat, "We are proceeding on a scattered course to avoid detection, but we will reach the planet, possibly more prepared, my lord." Kerner said.
"It is good that you took the precaution to hide your movements, Captain. That is a sigh of brilliance." the Emperor said.
Kerner was taken by surprise, "Thank you, my lord." he managed.
"Contact me when you have reached the planet, I wish to be kept informed." the Emperor said.
"Yes, my lord, for the glory of the Empire." Kerner said as he gave a salute.
the Emperor's image dissipated, leaving Kerner alone with only his thoughts.
Kerner smiled, I may just get a promotion yet. he thought.
***
The eight individuals sat in awkward silence, neither sure what to say to the other. Kal had begun meditating, and nobody was going to disturb him. Maverick had replaced his helmet earlier and now sat with his back to the wall, arms folded across his chest, trying to get some lost sleep when something nudged him. He looked up and saw Twilight standing over him.
"Excuse me, but I wanted to ask some questions, if you don't mind?." Twilight said.
"It's no problem, ma'am, what would you like to know?" Maverick said.
"Well, you're a clone, right?" Twilight asked.
"Yes, all of us, except the Jedi, are, ma'am." Maverick replied.
"How many of you are there?" Twilight asked.
"Originally there were millions of us, but years of battle have decreased that number. Now it's closer to the hundred-thousands of us." Maverick said.
Twilight's eyes widened, "Millions?" she asked shocked.
"Yes, we were meant to be the army of the Republic." Maverick said.
"Why so many?" Twilight asked.
"Because our enemy could produce mass numbers of droids in a single week, but we were better than them because we can think, and droids can't." Maverick explained.
"What are droids?" Twilight asked.
"They're like robots, programmed for a variety of tasks." Maverick said.
Twilight cocked her head to one side.
"Machines." Maverick said, simplifying his description.
"Oh. Are all droids bad?" Twilight asked.
"No, ma'am, just the ones programmed to kill us." Maverick said seriously.
"I see." Twilight responded.
At that moment, Kal's eyes opened and he stood up, heading for the door, there hadn't even been a knock. He opened the door to reveal five other four-legged individuals, all different colors, white, orange, pink, cyan, and yellow.
"Hi there, I'm Pinkie Pie." the pink one said excitedly, not even seeming to be fazed by the fact that any normal being wouldn't have opened the door without some sort of announcement.
The pink one, Pinkie Pie, looked past Kal to the clones, before running up to them each in turn and lifting their arms or legs, "Oooo, you're shiny, can I get some shiny armor too, can it be pink, no, maybe gold, oh wait, what about purple, I like saying the word purple!" she said as she ran from one clone to another, during this time the yellow one had disappeared for Maverick's field of vision.
"Pinkie, stop bothering the soldiers." Twilight said.
"Yeah Pinkie, this ain't no time fer tomfoolery." the orange one said.
"Awwww, but I wanted to get some shiny armor." Pinkie said, a little downcast.
"Well, maybe Rarity could make you some." the orange one suggested.
The white one with the purple hair, most likely Rarity, looked shocked as she turned to the orange one, "What?!" she exclaimed.
The orange one nudged Rarity in the side with her front leg and gave her a look, "Uh, I mean yes, of course, Pinkie." she managed.
Pinkie's face lit up again, "YAY!" she exclaimed, throwing her front legs in the air.
"Wait a second, Twilight, did you say that these things are soldiers?" the cyan one with the multicolored hair asked.
"Yes, I did." Twilight said.
"Really. Well how do we know they're not here to fight us?" the cyan one asked.
"Because, if they were here to harm us, they would have done it by now." Twilight said.
The cyan one folded her front legs across her chest, "Well don't say I didn't warn you." she said, unconvinced.
Twilight sighed, shaking her head, and swept her right, front leg across the other five of her species, "These are my friends." she said.
"I'm Applejack." the orange one said.
"Name's Rainbow Dash." the cyan one said.
"Rarity." the white one said.
"I'm Pinkie Pie!" Pinkie shouted.
There was a pause.
"Hey, where's Fluttershy?" Rainbow Dash asked.
The others looked around confused before Applejack looked behind them, "Found her." she said, sidestepping to her right, revealing a quivering heap of pink and yellow.
"She really needs to work on her hide-and-seek skills." Pinkie said shaking her head in disapproval.
The quivering mass on the floor shifted, revealing half of a face, the other half covered by pink hair, she let out a squeaking noise as soon as she noticed her discovery.
"She's shy... very shy, but I'm sure she'll warm up to you all." She said looking at the six clones and the Jedi.
At that moment Kal looked at the door, "I believe we have another visitor." he said.
Kal watched the door for a few seconds before a knock was produced from it. Twilight walked to the door and opened it to reveal a cloaked figure, taller than Twilight and her friends. Kal couldn't see the figure's face, but he guessed it looked similar to the other six. The figure removed the hood, It's color was a dark-blue, and it's hair was long and flowing, covered with silver-white pinpricks that reminded Kal of Stars, and a horn like both Twilight and Rarity.
"Ah, you are the princess I presume." Kal said.
"Yes, but not the one you must have expected." the dark blue figure said.
Kal raised an eyebrow, "There is more than one princess?" he asked.
"Yes, as there has been for over a thousand years." she said, not seeming shocked in the least of his ignorance.
"I see, so which Princess are you?" Kal asked.
She straightened, almost seeming taller, "I am Luna, Princess of the night and guardian of dreams." she said.
"A pleasure to meet you, I am Kal Nevaar, and theses men are my soldiers." he said gesturing toward the clones, who had stood up straight and saluted.
"I know who you are, I have felt your dreams of late, and I am most perturbed, do you think what happened in your dreams shall really come to pass?" Luna said.
"I do not know, but I hope not." Kal said.
Princess Luna nodded, then she stiffened, "My sister approaches." she said.
"You're not leaving are you, Princess?" Twilight asked.
"No, Twilight Sparkle, I'm not leaving. My sister and I will speak on this together." Luna said.
At that moment, another being, slightly taller than Luna, but this one white and wore golden jewelry. Also displaying a pair of wings on the back, just below the shoulders.
"Princess Celestia." Twilight said.
Celestia nodded at Twilight before turning to look at Luna, "Well, sister, you are here now, so that saves me the trouble of informing you." Celestia said calmly.
"I intercepted Twilight's letter, I wanted to be here for the main discussion, not be told how it went." Luna said.
Celestia sighed and hung her head, "I'm sorry Luna, I shouldn't have left you out of this. After all, you were the one who told me about your discovery of them." she said.
Luna nodded and smiled, "We can still resolve things together, sister." she said as she walked over to Celestia, putting her head next to her sisters.
Celestia looked up and smiled as well, "Thank you, Luna." She said.
Luna nodded before turning back to look at Kal and the clones.
"Twilight's message said you needed to speak with me urgently, I'm here now." Celestia said.
"Yes. We fear that your entire planet is in danger, I can't necessarily tell you when the attack will come, but I know it's coming, and soon." Kal said.
"What can we expect to encounter? I would like to know weapons, supplies, soldier numbers, and the strength of the attackers." Celestia said, going from Princess to General, much the same as Kal had gone from peace keeping Jedi to warrior General, but different in the sense that she seemed to have done so before.
"Princess, I will do my best, but please know that I am not an all-powerful, all-knowing being. I won't have all of the answers to your questions." Kal said.
"I trust your knowledge will be most useful, Master Jedi." Celestia said.
Twilight looked surprised, "Princess, how did you know he was a Jedi." Twilight asked.
"I was able to view his dreams, Twilight. Remember?" Luna said.
"Oh, right." Twilight said, putting her hoof to her face.
"Now, Kal Nevaar, tell me what you know." Celestia said.
***
After several long minutes of Kal, Celestia, and Luna talking together about the enemy forces moving towards them, they emerged from the room they had gone into nearly an hour ago.
"Twilight, I need your organizational skills." Celestia said.
"Of course princess, what do you need me to do?" Twilight asked.
"I want you to organize everypony who is willing and able to fight. From what I've heard, this will be less of a battle, and more of a war." Celestia said.
"Right, I'll gather every able pony in Ponyville." Twilight said before turning to leave.
"No, Twilight. I meant everypony." Celestia said.
Twilight's jaw dropped, "You mean..." she said.
"Yes, Twilight. We may even need every species in Equestria." Celestia said.
Twilight's jaw dropped even farther, but she regained her composure, "You can count on me Princess." Twilight said, somewhat shakily, before she left the library.
Maverick stood up, walked over to both Princesses and saluted, "My men and I are willing to help anyway we can. We can train your people to fight the Empire." He said.
Celestia smiled, "Thank you, we would greatly appreciate it. Kal has offered to lend us his knowledge for the time being, and will be with my sister and I. You and your soldiers may begin training at your convenience." Celestia said.
Maverick saluted again, "Yes, ma'am. I would be proud to serve you." he said
Celestia nodded, "I can see why Kal speaks so highly of you, I will grant yo whatever you require." she said.
"Thank you, ma'am." Maverick said.
"I am appointing you and your soldiers as a part of my official army, Commander." Celestia said.
Maverick saluted and replaced his helmet, "Alright lads, lets suit up and get ready to roll, we need to retrieve the rest of our gear." he said to his troops.
All of troops stood up and replaced their helmets as well, "Yes, sir!" the replied in unison.
"Commander Maverick, I have some gear at my camp as well that might come in handy. The house can be moved as well. You should re-position it on the outskirts of the town, please." Kal said.
"Yes, sir." Maverick said before heading into the forest to retrieve their equipment.
Maverick and his men had tromped through the forest to their landing zone where They found their Nu-Class attack -shuttle, surprisingly it was still in one piece.
"Sparky, do you think you can rig her to fly?" Maverick asked.
"Well, sir, I don't know how far she'd get, but it might be possible." Sparky replied, sliding his upper body out from where he had been working.
"Just do what you can." Maverick said, before motioning for sparky to continue.
"Berk, what does our weapons hold look like?" Maverick asked.
"Everything's in order, sir." Berk replied.
"Does everything work?" Maverick asked.
Berk shrugged, "Should." he replied.
Maverick shook his head "Should might just get us killed. Check everything." Maverick said.
"Yes, sir." Berk said.
Maverick turned on the commlink in his helmet, "Jax, how's everything going at the General's camp?" Maverick asked.
"Everything's going good, there's some really interesting kit here, but I won't ruin the surprise." Jax said.
"Alright then, we're going to try getting the old bird running again, see you soon." Maverick said, closing the link.
***
Kal followed the princesses down the corridors of the castle in the city he now knew as Canterlot. It was an amazing city, it reminded him a little bit of Coruscant in a way.
"I must say, you have a very beautiful city." Kal said, looking all around at the different tapestries and works of art that lined the hallway.
"Thank you, I have maintained it for a thousand years, and would hate for it to be destroyed by battle." Celestia said.
Kal nodded, "As would I." he said.
"Master Nevaar, I need you to be a military leader and my adviser. Can you handle that?." Celestia asked.
"Please, call me Kal, and yes I can handle it. I was a general in the most recent war." Kal said.
"Alright... Kal." Celestia said, seeming unsure of calling him Kal.
Kal gave the Princess a reassuring smile, "Don't worry, Princess, I won't let you down." Kal said.
Princess Celestia smiled, "I know." she said.
***
Maverick stood waiting for Berk and Sparky to finish their jobs. Sparky came out of the engine maintenance area of the shuttle, wiping sweat and engine lubricant from his face with a rag.
"What's the word?" Maverick asked.
Sparky gave a thumbs up, "Good to go sir, it was a lot easier to check now, without all the smoke and steam in there." he said with a smile.
"Good work, Sparky. I'll need you in the cockpit's navigations position, Berk isn't very good with it." Maverick said with a grin.
"Yeah, he'd probably position us in a mountain." Sparky said.
Berk walked in at that moment, "What about flying into a mountain?" he asked confused.
"Never mind ,Berk. Does all the equipment work?" Maverick said.
"Yes, sir, everything is in tip-top-shape." Berk said.
"Alright, we're flying out of here, so strap yourself in." Maverick said.
"Finally, I'm getting tired of walking everywhere." Berk said slumping down in the closest passenger seat.
Maverick sat down in the pilot's seat and pressed the button to elevate the chair to the controls.
Maverick turned on his the ship's internal communication, "Berk, are you set down there?" he asked into the microphone.
"Yes, sir, ready when you are." Berks voice said back at him.
"Sparky, are we good to go?" Maverick asked turning his head to look behind him.
"Yes, sir, ready when you are." Sparky said.
Maverick started up the shuttle's engines, they gave a groan and then sparked to life. He heard sparky let out a long breath. Maverick's eyes scanned the console in front of him, everything seemed to be working. He engaged the repulsorlifts and watched forest disappear from the veiwscreen.
"If we get out of this mess, remind me to give a very big "thank you" to cygnus spaceworks." Maverick said.
"Noted." Sparky said.
"Here we go." Maverick said shifting the shuttle into flight mode.
***
Twilight had followed Jax, Lockdown, and Vek to Kal's camp, and was watching them move objects to the edge of the forest where Kal had told them to move the house. They pulled out things that Twilight had never seen, and probably would never see again.
"What is all this stuff?" Twilight asked curiously.
Vek turned around, "Weapons, food, power cells, tools, and other necessities." he said.
"Oh, do you mind if I take a look?" Twilight asked.
"Not at all ma'am." Vek said.
Twilight walked over to a pile of objects, and used her magic to levitate one of the objects in front of her. The object she picked up looked like it was some sort of framework. It was long, with some flat pieces of metal on it's sides, and a cylindrical piece of metal in the center.
Twilight inspected the device, noting all of it's controls. Twilight found a switch and flicked it into what she assumed to be the "on" position. The device whirred and the cylinder in the middle began pulsing with blue energy. She found another switch near the base the device inside the handle. Twilight didn't see any harm in activating it, so she pressed it. the device hummed and the cylinder gathered a ball of the blue energy before releasing it. The ball of energy flew out at a tree and exploded with a sound like a miniature sonic boom, shattering the tree and three others around it. Twilight dropped the devise out of surprise. She turned around to find Vek laying face down, with his hands over his helmeted head.
"Vek?" Twilight asked.
Vek jerked upright, "All due respect ma'am, please just look and don't touch." he said.
Twilight smiled sheepishly, "Sorry." she said.
At that moment Twilight hear something completely unfamiliar to her, and it seemed to be getting closer.
"Waits that sound?" Twilight asked.
Vek turned his head, and took off his helmet. Twilight could see the broad grin on face.
"That is a good sound. It meant reinforcements during the war." Vek said, looking up at the sky.
Twilight raised an eyebrow, waiting for an explanation, but received none. Twilight then followed Vek's gaze and saw what looked like a huge bird gliding toward them from the forest.
"Vek, what is that thing?" Twilight asked nervously.
"It's our shuttle, that's how we got here. It's good to see it again." Vek said.
The shuttle came closer, and landed gracefully for it's- size and shape, in Twilight's opinion. The door at the front of the shuttle opened to reveal Maverick, Sparky, and Berk before they descended the ramp.
"You look surprised ma'am, must be the ship." Maverick said.
Sparky turned his head and saw the splintered trees, "And it looks like you've been familiarizing yourself with the weapons." he said, pointing at the remains of what had been four trees.
"Nice shot. You might just have a place within our group yet. I might even have to call you General now." Berk said, not feigning his approval in the least, as he inspected the arboreal carnage.
Twilight grinned sheepishly again, "I wasn't really trying to do that." she said.
Maverick, Sparky, and Berk began to help move equipment with the rest of the clones. Twilight helped too, but made sure she kept well away from any weapons to prevent a repeat of her previous mistake.
A whole day had passed, Twilight had gathered every able bodied local to learn how to fight. Maverick and his men had been training the locals, ponies they were called. The ponies had surprised the clones, they were actually very capable melee fighters, though they would need to know how to use a blaster as well as melee weapons. Those lessons started today, and they started early. The first pony to step up for target practice was a female, grey in color, with blonde hair, and golden, yellow eyes which were quite unique. She stepped up to the weapons rack.
"Choose your weapon." Jax said.
"What kinds of weapons are there?" the grey pony asked.
"Lots of them, we have DC-15 blasters, a Geonosian sonic blaster, a Z-6 rotary blaster, a Bowcaster , a Trandoshan ACP array gun, a concussion rifle, an E-5 carbine, and an ACP repeater." Jax said.
(in order)
Maverick noticed that a white female with blue hair perked up when Jax said the word "sonic".
"Um, I'll take one of those DC thingies." the grey pony said.
"Long, short, or a pistol?" Jax asked.
"Um the long one, I guess." the grey pony said.
"Excellent choice." Jax said handing her a DC-15 rifle.
"Alright, all I need you to do is hit that spot in the middle of that straw target. Think you can do it?" Jax asked.
"I'll do my best, mister." the grey pony said.
"Alright then, take your aim and pull the trigger. Take as much time as you need, there's no rushing a good shot." Jax said, miming the action.
The grey pony nodded.
Maverick noticed that some of the ponies ducked-in-cover, and he walked over to one of them, "What's the matter?" he asked.
The pony lifted one of her hooves away from her eyes, "That's Derpy getting ready to shoot now, she's the most uncoordinated, clumsy pony ever." she said.
Maverick looked over at the grey female, now identified as Derpy, and watched carefully. She took a few deep breaths, letting each one out slowly. She went for the trigger and fired the blaster. The bolt of energy struck the target dead-center.
"What the-? how did-?... Do it again, I don't believe in beginners luck." Jax stammered.
The ponies who had been taking cover were now glancing up to see what had happened. Some of them gasped in shock, other's mouths hung open.
Derpy took some more deep breaths let another bolt fly, directly into the center again, leaving another scorch mark.
"Are you satisfied Jax, or are you going to make her do it again?" Maverick asked before laughing.
"I concede defeat, nice job. You are now under my personal command." Jax said, clearly pleased.
Some of the ponies cheered and clapped for Derpy.
"Who's next?" Jax called out.
The pony who came forward was the white one with the blue hair and sunglasses. She looked over the weapons.
"Which one's the sonic?" she asked.
"That one there. Not going for finesse then are you?" Jax asked pointing it out.
"Nope, just noise. Oh, you'll need more targets." she said.
"Alright then." Jax said motioning for Vek and Berk to position some more targets.
Once Vek and Berk were out of the way, Jax gave thepony the go-ahead to fire. She opened up on the targets like an expert, ripping several holes through each them.
"Music to my ears." she said, before putting the blaster down and walking away.
***
The blaster training continued, nearly getting someone shot a couple of times, but other than that Maverick felt good about their chances in the coming battle. Pinkie seemed to favor the Trandoshan LJ-50, Twilight favored the DC-15a, Rainbow Dash simply loved the Z-6 rotary blaster, Applejack favored the Trandoshan ACP array gun, Rarity took a liking to the elegant Wookiee bowcaster, and Fluttershy didn't seem to like any weapon except the DC-17 hand blaster pistol.
"Nice job everyone. Now who wants to learn about rapid entry?" Maverick asked.
"I like the sound of that. What's rapid entry?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"An excellent question. Rapid entry is where where you place an explosive device on a door to blow it open, or you do it quietly by slicing the control panel." Maverick explained.
"What is slicing?" another pony asked.
"It's basically using tools to override electronic devices." Sparky said.
"I'll take the explosives, sounds a lot quicker." Rainbow said.
"Alright. Those of you who want to learn slicing, go with Sparky. Those of you who want to learn explosives, go with Berk. If you want to learn both, follow me." Maverick said.
***
The rapid entry training went well, all things considered, nobody from either training group had gotten injured, or even come close to it. That was a true surprise, especially with explosives involved. There were a few ponies with a true knack for slicing, Twilight was one of them, and also a light-brown male who had a device tat seemed to bypass electronics without even touching the components.
***
Kal walked through the hallways of Canterlot Castle to the throne room, were princess Celestia was waiting for him. though he had been down these halls before, they still ceased to amaze him. Kal walked up to the double doors to the Throne room were two guards stood on either side. The guards opened the doors as he approached. Kal nodded politely at the guards. The throne room was quite large, and reminded Kal of the Jedi temple on Corruscant. The room had many stained glass windows depicting ponies that looked very similar to Twilight and her friends. Princess Celestia was sitting on the throne watching Kal. He walked up the steps to the front of the Throne and knelt on one knee respectfully, with his head bowed.
"Your Majesty." Kal said.
"You may rise, Master Jedi, you do not need to be so formal." Celestia said.
"As you wish, Princess." Kal said standing up.
"I called you here to learn more about you, if that would be alright?" Celestia said.
"It is no inconvenience, Princess." Kal assured her.
"Alright, I would like you to tell me-" Celestia began before Kal held up a hand.
"What if I show you instead?" Kal asked.
Celestia raised an eyebrow, then nodded.
"If I may?" Kal said indicating the stairs leading up to the throne.
Celestia nodded, "Of course." she said.
Kal ascended the steps, until he was face-to-face with Celestia.
"Now, I'm going to need you to relax and open your mind." Kal said.
Celestia nodded, and closed her eyes, taking a few deep breaths, "Alright." she said.
Kal could feel the calm and ease of Celestia's mind. He then reached out with both hands and placed his fingers around Celestia's temples. Celestia gasped slightly, but she relaxed again.
"It's alright, you're safe." Kal said, just to reassure her.
Celestia didn't respond.
Kal began to let his thoughts flow through his mind and into the princess's. Once in a while Celestia wold would make a a noise of surprise, or a tear would roll down her cheek.
"Such pain. Such loss. How did you survive?" Celestia asked.
"Some days I ask myself that question... I have no answer." Kal admitted.
"All of those lives lost. And after that, those bonds of war broken, destroyed. Such Betrayal." Celestia breathed.
"Yes, but from that, we must learn to trust ourselves. Not every soldier will fight for his own will, but only for what they are told." Kal said.
Celestia nodded, "I would be honored if you would take up your title of general once more, and fight for us." Celestia said bowing.
Kal extended his hand the princess. Celestia put her hoof into his hand, and Kal lifted her up.
"Princess, the honor would be mine." Kal said.
Celestia smiled, they began talking about their plans for the upcoming battle.
Kal readied himself for bed in his quarters at the castle. His transfer of memories had brought back some unwanted thoughts. He did not feel entirely good about his chances of sleep, but he would need it for tomorrow. Tomorrow he was going out in search of a presence in the force he had felt. It was not the presence of a person, but it did feel like a presence he recognized. Kal climbed into bed and fell asleep.
***
It was dark, rain poured down from the sky. The sounds of the planet Dxun's animals all around him. The clone troopers following him were anxious, the battle that lay before them would be dangerous, far more than even Dxun's predators. Kal didn't like the idea of sending them in on a mission like this. The clones had referred to the upcoming battle as a "meat grinder", meaning that there was going to be a lot of bloodshed, and your chances of survival were going to be low. Kal and his troops were walking in a spread out pattern to minimize damage.
"Sergeant, move your snipers up to that ridge, they'll have a better chance of hitting something from that position than they will around here." Kal said.
"Yes, sir." the clone trooper Sergeant replied, gathering his snipers and moving to the ridge.
Kal continued on with his clone Commander in the sandy green armor livery of those under Kal's command, Commander Jackal, following him as they moved. They came upon the heavily guarded, and fortified, Separatist base. He pulled out his macrobinoculars, observing where the best locations to either destroy or infiltrate the base were.
"Your order's, sir?" Commander Jackal asked from behind Kal.
Kal pulled out his handheld holoprojector that showed the map of the area surrounding the Separatist base, "Move half of your men around behind those hills to the east and have them set up the mortars there, and wait for my signal to begin their bombardment. Then we'll take the other half through the ravine that leads to the main gate." Kal said, pointing to each place on the map as he explained the plan.
Commander Jackal nodded, "Yes, sir. I'll divide the troops right away." he said.
The troops were divided and the assault began. The mortars had done their job very well, and the eastern wall crumbled and Kal's troops stormed the fortress and overran the droid positions.
"Good work, Commander." Kal said walking up behind Jackal, who seemed to be listening to his helmet comm.
Kal sensed the danger, even before Jackal raised his DC-15 carbine level with Kal's head. He ignited his lightsaber, illuminating his face with a ghostly, green glow in the dark. He spun slicing through Jackal's weapon before the commander could fire, and then twisted around to stab the commander in his gut. Kal heard Jackal gasp in pain and surprise, and then removed the blade. The commander fell face down in the mud, dead. A group of six clone troopers bearing the standard sandy green livery of Kal's battalion came running blasters raised, and firing at him.
Kal deflected the blaster fire into two of the clones, and they fell dead. The four remaining clones stopped running, and held their position, continuing to fire at him. Kal realized that he couldn't keep deflecting the blaster fire forever so he ran at them. Kal threw his lightsaber into the line, which decapitated one of the troopers and removed the arm of the one next to him as it arched back to his hand. He reached the line and cut a gash diagonally across the torso of the trooper who lost his arm. Kal sliced another trooper in half at his waist, and performed the same maneuver he used on Commander Jackal again, with the same effect. Kal ran into the jungle to avoid any more run-ins with clones. As he was running, Kal spotted a door built into the side of a hill.
Finally, a place to take refuge. Kal thought to himself.
When he reached the door, he found there was no visible way of opening it. Kal prodded the door with the force and found the mechanism that would open the door. Kal stepped in and found that there was a large area filled with boxes. Kal's curiosity got the better of him and he opened one of the boxes. Kal's jaw dropped, the box was filled with weapons. Kal moved to another box and found more weapons. Kal assumed that he had stumbled upon a Separatist supply bunker. As he moved around to all of the boxes Kal found an assortment of weapons and armors. The final box that Kal opened held the most surprising item of all, it was a complete set of Mandalorian Neo-Crusader Armor. Kal realized that it wasn't a Separatist supply bunker, but a Mandalorian weapons cache forgotten during the Old Republic.
Kal knew that the Mandalorian armor would supply more protection than his Jedi tunic would. Kal removed his Jedi robes and tunic, then he put the suit and attached every plate of armor to the suit. Kal replaced his tunic and robes over the armor.
It's good that I found some weapons and armor, but I still need a ship. Kal thought to himself.
Kal couldn't risk going back to the Republic's base to retrieve his Jedi Starfighter, the clone's could have easily sabotaged it. Kal's only choice was to use his other ship. Nobody knew about Kal's personal ship, his new model YT-2400 Corellian freighter, piloted by his faithful astromech droid, R3-U5. Kal took out his comlink and switched it to his private frequency to his freighter and R3.
"R3, I need you now. My troops turned on me, and I have no way off the planet." Kal said
A series of beeps and whistles came back from the comlink.
"I know, but if you don't pick me up, my troops will." Kal replied.
Another assortment of beeps came from the comlink.
"Alright, I'll meet you there, don't get yourself caught." Kal said.
***
Kal's eyes shot open and he bolted up. He knew how the dream, no, the memory, would end. R3 was found and destroyed by the clones, Kal went back to the weapons cache and loaded the weapons and everything onto his ship. He got caught up in a battle, and made a hasty hyperspace jump that landed him where he was now. His ship was heavily damaged, so he scrapped it, using parts to build his home, and keeping other parts that could be useful later. That memory had become a nightmare, keeping him awake some nights, but this time it felt like he was back on the front lines of Dxun. Kal shook it off and went back to sleep. The dream started over, but he would bear through it this time.
***
Kal left the castle early in the morning and set off toward the area where he felt the presence in the force. When Kal reached his destination he found a cave. Kal entered the cave and found that it was covered in crystals, Force sensitive crystals in fact. Kal walked through the cave smiling.
No wonder I thought it felt familiar. I feel it every day when I attach my belt. Kal thought to himself.
Kal took several crystals from each of the formations, blue, green, purple, and yellow. Once Kal was done harvesting the crystals he went back to his house on the edge of Ponyville, and layed the collection down. When, if, Kal got off of this planet, he would be able to build lightsabers for a new generation of Jedi. Kal had promised himself, right then, that he would survive this battle.
The Marauder dropped out of it's final hyperspace jump, over the planet, it's surface was covered in plains, small deserts, oceans, islands, forests, and swamps. Captain Izan Kerner gazed out it through the bridge's observation windows, he smiled to himself. thinking of the glory and the satisfaction, and the Emperor's praise.
"Captain, your orders, sir?" The Lieutenant next to him asked.
Kerner turned to look over his shoulder, "Send a detachment of Stormtroopers to the surface, and have them report their findings." Kerner said.
"Yes, sir." the Lieutenant said, saluting then headed out the door.
Kerner turned back to look at the planet, the smile returning to his face.
***
Maverick awoke to the sound of the shuttle's early warning systems. Maverick got up from his bunk and went to check the radar, thinking that it was probably just a glitch from some of Sparky's attempts at repairing the shuttle's systems. The systems had gone off before, and it was a false alarm, but there would be no harm in checking. He reached the cockpit and turned on the screen. Maverick saw that it was no false alarm this time, there was a Star Destroyer, not the kind used in the war, probably a new model. It was just outside the system. Maverick scrambled back down to wake his men.
"Everybody up, now!" Maverick exclaimed.
Jax, Sparky, Bets, Berk, and Lockdown were all startled out of unconsciousness.
In his haste to get up Berk hit his head on the bunk above him. "Ow! Dammit!" Berk exclaimed, laying back down, and covering his head.
"Well, that was an interesting way of saying 'good morning', sir." Jax said, rubbing his eyes.
"No time for joking, Jax. There's an Imperial vessel en route to the planet, just outside the system." Maverick said.
Everyone completely forgot their fatigue, and went into 'battle ready' mode.
"What's the plan, sir?" Lockdown asked.
"We warn the Princesses, and gather the ponies we trained. Suit up, we're going to war." Maverick said.
"Sir, yes sir!" they called out in unison, rushing to their stacks of armor.
Maverick did the same.
The clones had painted new livery on their armor since they had been appointed to lead Princess Celestia's royal guards. Their armor now had golden-yellow livery on it, showing their allegiance to Princess Celestia.
"We need a name for ourselves now." Jax said.
"No we don't." Berk said, not seeming thrilled with the idea.
"Sure we do, that name will be how we're remembered in the history books of this world, think about it." Jax said encouragingly.
"The Sun Warriors?" Bets said.
"The Golden Boys?" Sparky offered.
At that moment, Maverick had an idea, "The Celestial Battalion." he said.
Everyone else looked over at him.
"The Celestial battalion." Jax said, testing the name for himself, then he nodded.
"I like it." Sparky said.
"Sure." Lockdown replied.
"Sounds good." Bets commented.
Berk just nodded, "Alright, fine." he said after a few seconds.
"It's settled then, we are now the Celestial Battalion." Jax said.
Maverick nodded, agreeing with Jax. They were now proud warriors fighting for Celestia, and they would not let her down.
***
Kal was back at the castle, enjoying breakfast with Celestia and Luna, when his wrist comlink beeped.
Kal sighed, "Excuse me for a moment." Kal said standing up and bowing respectfully.
"Of course, take your time." Celestia said with a smile.
Kal walked out through the doors, and raised his comlink close to his mouth, "What is it, Commander?" he asked.
"General, our scanners are picking up an Imperial ship entering the system." Maverick said.
Kal was surprised, why hadn't he felt a disturbance in the force?
Kal regained his composure before responding, "Gather the ponies, tell them to grab their weapons and be ready for an attack." he said.
"Already done sir. We await further orders." Maverick said.
"Have one of your men keep an eye on the enemy's movements, and have him inform me when the launch any ships and where they will land." Kal said.
"Yes, sir." Maverick said before ending the transmission.
Kal walked back into the room he had left the princesses in, they were still sitting there.
"We have a problem." Kal said.
***
Twilight awoke to the sound of loud, frantic knocking at the library door. Groggily getting up from her bed, she went to the door to see who it was distubing her at five o'clock in the morning. When she opened the door, Maverick was standing there.
"Good morning commander, are we training early today?" Twilight asked, before letting out a yawn.
"No, ma'am, no more training. We're doing it for real today." Maverick responded plainly.
Twilight raised an eyebrow, not sure what he meant by that, but then it came to her.
"Do you think we're ready?" Twilight asked.
"Yes, ma'am, there's no doubt in my mind. Now lets go, we've got a battle to win." Maverick said.
Maverick's comlink went off, and Twilight, being curious as she was, turned her attention to it. Maverick lifted his gauntlet to and activated it, showing a three dimensional image of Sparky, sitting in a chair.
"Yes?" Maverick said.
"Sir, they've launched a shuttle. I think we can expect a detachment of troops landing soon." Sparky said.
"Alright, we're almost ready, come here and help us rally the rest of the ponies." Maverick said.
Sparky nodded, "Yes, sir." he said, before his image vanished.
"This is it then." Twilight said.
"Seems so. good luck, ma'am, and stick close to me." Maverick said with a smile, before putting on his helmet.
Yes, this was indeed "it", the battle that would test them far more than anything else. This is where their bonds of friendship would be tested to the limits.
Maverick watched the shuttle descend to the planet's surface. It disappeared behind a line of trees.
"Just one shuttle. Must be just a scouting party." Berk said.
"Scouts can still be dangerous. Besides, they've probably already noticed the villages, and they'll be moving towards them." Maverick replied.
"Right, lets take em out." Bets said.
"Might as well, the entire landing party will be landing either way." Maverick said shrugging.
The group of clones put away their macrobinoculars and moved from their position, walking up to the position the shuttle had landed. When they reached the shuttle, they noticed that there was a group of six figures in white armor and one in a grey officer's uniform. Jax pulled out his sniper rifle, aiming for the head of his first target.
"Got 'em lined up, Commander. Just say the word." Jax said.
"When you're ready, Jax." Maverick said.
Jax pulled the trigger, and Maverick saw one of the white-armored heads jerk to the side, then the body fell. The others in the group looked around, before determining the location the shot had come from. Maverick and his men ducked down as a hail of red blasterfire came at them. The clones returned fire from a prone position, killing three more of the armored figures, the rest took cover behind whatever they could.
"Hold fire!" Maverick said to the men on either side of him.
They all did as ordered. Their opponents ceased firing a short time after the clones did, and then they began to stand up, most likely thinking they had defeated their attackers.. Maverick got up on one knee, leveled his rifle to the chest-level of his targets and began spraying the area with blaster fire. All four of the remaining members of the scout group fell dead, each littered with several black burn marks.
"It won't take them long to realize that their scouts are missing." Berk said plainly.
"No, it won't." Maverick said, more to himself than to the others.
"We should get back, and tell the ponies to get ready." Vek said.
"Right, let's go." Maverick said, getting up and leading the way back to Ponyville.
***
The briefing went smoothly, and everypony was now either erecting barricades, digging trenches, or locating positions for sniper nests. Twilight was walking around, inspecting the progress the ponies were making, and occasionally giving out her 'two bits' of advice. She walked over to Fluttershy, who, along with the help of the fillies and colts, was setting up medical tents.
"How is everything coming along, Fluttershy?" Twilight asked.
Fluttershy was too busy putting away her medical supplies to turn around, "Oh, it's going very well Twilight. Even better, since all of the little ones are helping out." she said.
"Good, but are you sure about this, the ponies that are brought in here won't be suffering from the same injuries that you're used to working on with your animal friends." Twilight said, with concern.
Fluttershy took in a slow breath, "I know, Twilight, and that's why I need to do this. If I don't do this, I'll be failing myself as well as everypony else." she said, as she turned to look her unicorn friend straight in the eyes.
The look on Fluttershy's face was that of determination.
"Alright Fluttershy, I understand." Twilight said.
"I'll be fine, if I need help, I'll call for Nurse Redheart." Fluttershy said.
Twilight smiled a little, "Alright, try to keep in touch." Twilight said, giving Fluttershy a wrist commlink.
"Right." Fluttershy said, nodding.
***
"Sir." the Lieutenant on the bridge said, taking Kerner's attention off of the blue and green planet in front of him.
"Yes, Lieutenant?" Kerner asked, turning around.
"Sir, our scouts have not reported in yet, and they are 1 hour past due." The Lieutenant said.
Kerner's brow furrowed, "Have you tried contacting them yourself?" he asked.
"Yes sir, there has been no response on either their shuttle's comm or their personal comm." the Lieutenant said.
"What was their last report?" Kerner asked.
The Lieutenant handed the Captain a datapad.
Kerner read the report and grimaced, "So, the planet is inhabited, and it appears the inhabitants can fight back." he said.
"Shall we prepare for ground assault?" The Lieutenant asked.
"Leave that to me." Kerner said, as a smile began to form on his face.
Kerner walked over to the control console of the bridge, and activated it, causing the intercom to give off a low tone to call all occupants on the Marauder to attention, "This is Captain Kerner, all hand to your battle stations, prepare for ground assault. All Stormtroopers, and mechanized units to your designated landing craft." he repeated the message once more before thumbing the console switch off.
***
"Commander, three more drop ships have launched from the Star Destroyer!" Sparky called out, from his station at the radar console.
"Sound the alarm, and get to your battle station." Maverick said.
Screaming... Twilight Sparkle had never heard such a cacophonous combination of voices screaming, it sounded like ponies were... dying. Twilight found herself in a dark place, filled with smoke, ash falling from the sky. The screams continued, changing pitch, mare and stallion voices alike. Then a voice, began breaking through the screams.
"Twilight... Twilight... TWILIGHT!" the voice called.
Twilight wrenched herself upward swiftly, almost screaming. Rainbow Dash was hovering over her, her Z-6 blaster slung on her back.
"Twilight, how can you sleep at a time like this?!" Rainbow asked.
"What, huh, but I..." Twilight stammered.
"No time for explanations, Twilight. Just get up and be ready." Rainbow said swinging the Z-6 into her hooves.
Twilight wanted to protest, she didn't remember falling asleep, or even feeling tired, but she knew that it wouldn't help anything, "Right, sorry." she said, grabbing her own blaster from beside her, and turned over onto her stomach.
"I can see something coming towards us!" a pony standing in one of the lookout towers said.
A few moments later, Twilight saw it too. A large mass of glistening-white, was heading straight at Ponyville. Twilight pulled out a pair of binoculars, to get a better view. She could now tell that these new visitors wore armor similar to that of the clones, though there were distinct differences.
The commlink on Twilight's forehoof chirped, and she activated it, "This is Commander Maverick, keep your heads down, and hold your fire." the voice said.
Twilight heard Rainbow Dash grumble beside her. She put the binoculars away, and readied herself for the order to fire.
"Steady... steady." Maverick's voice said from the comlink.
The mass of white armored bodies was getting closer, they stopped right at the edge of Ponyville.
"By order of the Galactic Empire, you are to surrender immediately." a voice said from the crowd of white.
"I will not surrender to the Empire, nor will I allow the inhabitants of planet to be subjected to the Empire's tyranny." Kal's voice said from behind Twilight.
Twilight turned her head just in time to see Kal step out from behind a corner, hood over his head, lightsaber in his hand.
"It's a Jedi, BLAST HIM!" one of the armored figures said, pointing at him.
Immediately, red blaster fire streaked over the trench right at Kal, but he had already activated his lightsaber, and was deflecting the shot fired at him.
Commander Maverick's voice came through the comlink, "Fire!" he said.
Rainbow stood up on her hind legs, using her wings for balance, and began shooting, swiveling back and forth at the waist.
"Look out, they all have blasters." Twilight barely heard one of the enemy soldiers say.
Twilight raised her head over the edge of the trench and opened fire, she hit one soldier, then another.
"Another troop transport has entered the atmosphere." One of the clones said over the comlink.
"Berk, take a squad, with some rocket launchers and take that lander down." Maverick said.
"Right away, boss." Berk said in reply.
Twilight kept firing her blaster, one round after another. She wasn't about to lose this fight.
***
Izan Kerner watched the battle progress via the holopod projector on the bridge. He watched the little dots of blue and red dots, that represented the two opposing forces, as they moved. Sometimes a blue light would disappear, but never did he see a red light fade.
"Captain, our forces are requesting additional reinforcements." one of the bridge officers said.
"Very well, launch the second wave." Kerner said, waving his hand in dismissal.
"Captain, the Emperor requests an update on our progress." the comms officer said from the crew pit.
Kerner switched the holopod to receive the Emperor's communication.
A full-body image of the Emperor was displayed in front of Kerner, "My lord." he said, dropping respectfully to one knee.
"You may rise, Captain. What is the progress of your mission?" the Emperor asked.
"My lord, the indigenous lifeforms have engaged our forces, they appear to be very resourceful." Kerner said.
"Interesting, what can you tell me about these creatures?" the Emperor asked.
"Nothing yet sir, our troops are engaged in a battle with them as we speak, all we know is that they are armed and hostile, but, I'm sure we can take the fight out of them." Kerner said.
"You are doing well captain, proceed." the Emperor said, before his form disappeared.
***
"We're beating them, we're actually beating them!", Rose Luck said, then a blaster bolt struck the ground by her hooves, eliciting a yelp from her.
Time seemed to slow, as Twilight fired off each blaster round. She had read about this happening to the soldiers who fought in the wars long ago, but she never expected it to happen to herself, though she was technically a soldier now. Twilight tried to shake off the drowsy feeling, but it wouldn't go away. everything seemed to be moving at half speed. Her head began to ache, and she put one of her hooves to her forehead. Twilight felt feint, she could feel herself fall to the ground then all she could see was black.
***
She heard the screaming again. When Twilight opened her eyes the vision she had previously seen was back, but this time it wasn't just a black nothingness. She saw Ponyville burning, buildings on fire, or crumbled, blackened remains.
"You know that it can't be helped, don't you?" a distorted voice said, startling Twilight out of her thoughts.
Twilight looked all around, but didn't see anypony.
"Show yourself!" Twilight demanded.
The voice chuckled, "Very well." it said.
Twilight couldn't put her hoof on it, but something about the voice seemed familiar.
A dark figure began to form behind one of the walls of fire, parting the flames as it got closer. The being was a pony, it wore a black cloak, hood drawn up to cover it's face. The pony wore thick, grey armor over a black black bodysuit. It's chest armor had deep scars, and looked like it had been burnt, or scorched.
"Admiring my Battle scars?" The pony asked with the same distorted voice.
Twilight narrowed her eyes, "Who are you, what is his place?" she asked.
"You don't need to know who I am, and as for this place, it's what will be left of Equestria after we are finished with it." the pony said.
"We?" Twilight asked confused.
"My masters and I, we shall bring order to the galaxy through the might of the Empire." the pony answered.
"No! You won't succeed!" Twilight yelled angrily.
The pony chuckled again, "Good, your anger gives you strength, use it, strike me down with it." it said.
Twilight charged the pony, but it jumped out the way.
"Excellent, your anger gives you great focus." the pony said.
Twilight growled, teleporting herself close to pony to strike, but as soon as she came close a powerful blast of energy hit her square in the chest, sending her flying back, to hit the remains of a wall. She shouldn't have ruled out the possibility of her adversary being a unicorn, that was a stupid mistake.Twilight got back on her hooves, wiping a foreleg across her mouth, there was a little blood, but was nothing too serious.
"You have spirit, but that won't save you." the pony said, drawing a cylindrical object from behind it's cloak with the aid of magic.
Twilight immediately recognized it as a lightsaber, but this one did not look like a tool as Kal's did. Twilight could see every detail of the lightsaber, and it looked deadly.
A red blade shot out from one end of it, as the pony activated it.
"This hardly seems fair." Twilight said.
"Hmm, maybe you're right, here." the pony said, drawing another lightsaber from under it's cloak, and tossing it to Twilight.
Twilight caught the lightsaber with her magic, but nearly dropped it when she got a good look at it.
Vek and Lockdown dragged Twilight out of the the trench, dodging blaster fire, while Rainbow Dash laid down covering fire for them. It was the middle of the night, the fighting had been going for several hours now.
"What happened, was she hit?" Lockdown asked.
"I don't think so, she just collapsed." Vek replied.
"Let's get her to the medical tents." Lockdown said.
The two clones reached the first medical tent they saw, and placed Twilight on one of the gurneys.
"Oh my, what happened?" Fluttershy asked as she came into the tent.
"We don't know, she just collapsed." Vek explained.
"Do you know what could be wrong with her?" Lockdown asked.
"No, this has never happened to her, unless she completely exhausted herself." Fluttershy replied.
Lockdown turned to Vek, "Get the General." he said.
"Right away." Vek replied, before stepping out of the tent.
***
Twilight activated the lightsaber as her opponent struck, just barely deflecting the blow.
"You were lucky to survive my first attack. Lets see how you do against the rest." The armored pony said, swinging it's lightsaber in a frenzy of slashes and thrusts.
Twilight kept dodging or deflecting the attacks, backing away to trying to increase create distance between herself and the armored pony.
"Why are you doing this?" Twilight asked when the armored pony had relented in it's attacks.
"Why? Because I can, because I find it pleasurable." the pony answered.
"What is the pleasure in the suffering of others?" Twilight asked.
"My power gains strength their fear, their anger, their death." the pony answered.
"You are still a pony, you knew the peace of Equestria, there must be a speck of that part of you that remains."
The pony growled thrusting it's lightsaber at Twilight, they locked lightsaber, both fighting for "I am no longer just a pony, I am much more now. I am Sith."
Twilight broke the lock between their sabers, catching the pony of guard, leaving it unprepared and unguarded. She slashed at the pony, catching it in the head, slicing through it's hood. The pony was wearing a helmet under the hood, with glowing gashes down the face, no doubt from her previous attack.
The pony removed the piece of the face that Twilight had damaged, giving her a glimpse of the pony's face. Twilight gasped, the pony was a mare, with coat of indeterminable color, but her face was scarred, and the one visible eye was glowing, and red.
"You'll pay for that," she said angrily, again lashing out at Twilight with her lightsaber in furious bursts.
"You will die a very excruciatingly painful death, I will make sure you feel every little bit of agony that your body can take, and then some. I will not let you die until I feel satisfied enough to allow you the privilege." The pony said, still swinging her red blade violently at Twilight.
Twilight noticed that the Pony's attacks were becoming clumsy and less focused. Twilight saw an opening and took it, slashing at her opponent making contact with her left shoulder.
The pony let out a sound of pain.
Twilight was on the offensive now, swinging her lightsaber in every direction she could think of, pushing the other pony backwards. Twilight hit her mark again, landing a blow just above the front-left knee of her opponent.
The pony let out another screech of pain, and swayed, trying to keep her balance.
Twilight twirled her saber, this time making a gash on the pony's left flank. Finally she fell, losing her mental grip on the lightsaber.
"You are beaten, It is useless to resist." Twilight said, holding the point of her green blade at the pony.
"Mercy, please. I beg you." the pony pleaded.
"Why should I?" Twilight asked.
"Killing me won't change anything. It won't bring your world back." the pony said.
"If I let you live you'll only continue to do this to others, I can prevent this from happening elsewhere." Twilight said, raising her lightsaber to strike.
"Please no." The pony said, with genuine fear in her eye.
"Give me one good reason." Twilight said.
The pony seemed to be thinking rapidly, her eyes darting in every direction.
"Well, I guess if you won't let me go, I'll just have to take you down with me." the pony said.
Twilight raising an eyebrow, then she heard the sound of a lightsaber being activated. Twilight's reflexes were the only thing that saved her, she spun around slicing the hilt of the lightsaber in half just as it flew past her. Then she turned back, slitting the pony's throat.
The pony let out a choked gasp as the blade went through her neck, then her body went limp.
Twilight sighed. "Well at least that's over with." Twilight said.
She looked at the dead Sith pony before her. She felt compelled to reach down and remove it's helmet.
"I need to know who you were." Twilight said, inspecting the helmet to find a release mechanism.
She found the latch, it made a click as she undid it. She lifted the helmet, and gazed at it's face, or rather, her own face, but it had several scars, and her coat was now a dull shade lavender, instead of the normal bright color. She dropped the helmet in shock. She was speechless and heartbroken.
Twilight fell to her knees, "What have I done?" she said, tears forming in her eyes.
"You are fulfilling your destiny, my young apprentice." A voice said.
Twilight looked up to see a withered, wrinkled human face, shrouded in a black, hooded robe.
Twilight backed away from the human, "No... I'm not... I couldn't..." she stammered.
The human let out a cackling laugh.
Something above caught Twilight's eye. She shifted her gaze further up, past the cloaked figure and saw a horde of triangular shaped masses, hovering in the sky above.
Twilight tried to hide herself. Her hooves moved to cover her eyes, then she felt them hit metal. She uncovered her eyes, and found herself looking in a mirror. She was now wearing the helmet of the dead mare that shared her face. She tried to remove it, but the latch wouldn't come undone. Tears were now rolling down her cheeks.
"Twilight, you need to listen to me. This isn't real." A familiar voice said.
"Kal?" Twilight asked, through choked sobs.
"Yes, now follow my voice with your mind." Kal's voice said.
Twilight closed her eyes, and focused on Kal's voice.
"That's it." Kal said.
***
Twilight's eyes, burst open. She saw Kal, and bolted up, wrapped her forehooves around his neck, and cried into his shoulder.
Commander Maverick walked into the medical tent, around midnight. The fighting had finally stopped, for now. Maverick saw General Nevaar sitting next to Twilight, who was sitting on a gurney.
"Private Sparkle, are you alright?" Maverick asked almost casually.
"I've been b-better, but I'll be good as new soon." she replied.
"Good to hear." Maverick said.
"Something the matter Commander?" Kal asked.
"Could I speak to you in private General?" Maverick asked.
Kal nodded, "Are you going to be OK?" he asked Twilight.
Twilight nodded, "Yeah." she answered.
Kal and maverick stepped out of the tent leaving Twilight alone.
"What happened to her, General? Why did she collapse?" Maverick asked.
"I don't know, it was strange. It was almost as if I could sense the Force." Kal explained.
"Is there cause for concern?" Maverick asked.
"I don't think so, no, but we should keep an eye her." Kal said.
"Yes, sir." Maverick said.
"One more thing, Commander. We need a plan to get aboard that Star Destroyer." Kal said.
Maverick thought about this, then he had an idea, "I've got it." he said.
***
Twilight watched maverick leave the tent. She felt tried, but feared sleep not wanting to risk having the vision again. She tried to stay awake but eventually fell asleep. Twilight dreamed of the day she had given up her role of Princess.
"Princess, I'm not ready for this yet." Twilight said.
"But you are Twilight, you just have to believe in yourself." Celestia said reassuringly.
"I've tried Princess, but it's just not working out for me. I... I miss my friends, I miss Ponyville." Twilight said with her head hung.
Celestia put a wing around Twilight, "I know how you feel, Twilight, believe me. I too had to make sacrifices." she said, looking off in the distance.
"I can't do this anymore Princess, I need more time to think about it." Twilight said.
Celestia nodded, "Very well. You're right, Twilight, I should have thought more about your feelings on this matter. Please forgive me." she said.
Twilight hugged her teacher, "You never had to ask my forgiveness." she said.
Celestia looked up, smiling at Twilight, "Thank you, now you must follow me." she said.
Twilight did as her teacher instructed, following her to the main throne room, where she saw her friends waiting for her.
"What are you all doing here?" Twilight asked, happy for this surprise.
"We simply couldn't let you go alone, darling. We wanted to be here for you." Rarity explained.
"Yeah, you seemed really worried and all saddy waddy." Pinkie said, miming the emotions.
"Yeah, you were kind of a downer, Twi." Rainbow dash added.
Twilight frowned, "I never meant to worry you girls." she said.
"Aw shucks, don't get yer mane in a twist, sugarcube." Applejack said, wrapping a foreleg around Twilight's shoulders.
Twilight smiled.
"It's time now, Twilight. We must begin." Celestia said, taking the six ponies to the Tower of Harmony, where they met Luna.
Once they had all reached the top of the tower Celestia had instructed them to form a circle around Twilight. Celestia and Luna's horns began glowing, as did the elements of harmony in the necklaces, and in Twilight's crown. A swirling light enveloped Twilight, lifting her into the air. After a few seconds a blinding light caused all of the ponies in the room to cover their eyes. When they could see again Twilight looked different.
Rarity shrieked, but the others just looked on in amazement, jaws dropped.
"What, did something go wrong?!" Twilight asked.
"Y-your wings, they're gone!" Rarity exclaimed.
"They are?! It worked?!" Twilight asked excitedly.
"WORKED!?" Rarity exclaimed.
"Yes, now that I'm no longer a princess I can spend more time with all of you, my true friends." Twilight explained.
"No l-longer a p-p-princess?" Rarity asked before fainting.
"Oh, my." Fluttershy said.
***
Very early in the morning, Maverick revealed his plan to the ponies.
"Alright, here's how it'll work, group one will stand their ground in the trenches, defending the Eastern section of the town. Group two will stay out of sight, and take up their position to the North. Group three will be positioned to the South, also out of sight. When we give the word, groups two and three will reveal themselves, and attack. They won't expect it, their forces will be so confused, they'll be in a frenzy trying to relay orders between themselves and the Imperial cruiser. While this is happening, I will lead a small strike force to steal one of their landing shuttles, to board the cruiser undetected." Maverick said.
"What if it doesn't go as planned?", one of the ponies asked followed by a murmur of agreement.
"Then we improvise." Kal answered.
"Trust me, It'll work." Maverick said grinning.
***
After the meeting Maverick had assembled a small group of ponies for their stealth incursion. The group consisted of Himself, Sparky, Rarity, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie. They were walking towards the landing shuttle where they had encountered the scouting party.
"OH BOY! We finally get to go to SPACE! I'm so nervouscited" Pinkie exclaimed, bouncing up and down.
"Is she always like this?" Sparky asked with a slightest bit of giggle in his voice.
"Yes." Rarity and Applejack both flatly answered simultaneously.
"We're here." Maverick said as they exited the treeline.
"We should get you three some armor." Maverick suggested.
"And where in the hay do ya plan on gettin' that?" Applejack asked.
"Maverick looked to the dead Stormtroopers.
"Oh no, I'm wearing that!" Rairity complained.
"it'd be better than nothing." Sparky said.
That is simply revolting, looting the clothes from a dead thing." Rarity protested.
"Suit yerself, Rarity." Applejack said, as she slipped on the torso armor, shoulder bells, and belt.
Pinkie pie did the same.
"Oh, alright, but I'm not going to enjoy it." Rarity finally conceded.
Applejack was about to remove the helmet of the trooper, but Maverick stopped her, and shook his head.
Applejack nodded that she understood, even though she might not really have.
They all entered the shuttle's cockpit , Maverick sat in the pilot's seat and sparky at the copilot's seat, the ponies just stood, waiting.
Maverick activated the comm, and tuned it to the Twilight's private frequency, "We're ready."
