The Shooting Star continued to follow the tracer that Lightning Blitz had placed on a Sith Destroyer.

So far, following it hadn't gotten them any results. But they knew they were on the right path. Hopefully, it wouldn't be long before they found what they were searching for. "L Class Planet dead ahead," Shining stated. "Scanners are picking it up."

"That's not all they're picking up." Cadance was in the main corridor, using the more high tech scanners to pick up what was ahead of them. "Multiple objects are surrounding it, all made up of different metals and alloys. Definitely man-made." The others in the ship heard this and smiled.

"Does that mean we found it?" Flash asked, as Twilight moved towards the cockpit.

"All we've found is a place with a lot of ships," Luna explained. "We can't be certain this is the Sith's home base." But as Twilight reached the cockpit, her connection to Sunset made her smile.

"Sunset's there. I can feel it."

Celestia nodded. "Shining. Full thrust. Get us there as fast as you can."

"Aye aye." Shining pushed the ship to full force and they shot off, but this made him frown. "I hope you know what you're doing. If we use up too much fuel, I don't think the ship's gonna be able to make it back to Canterlot on its own." This made the others worry, fearing they could end up standard in deep space.

They kept going until the planet in question came into view.

It was nothing but a dot in the distance, so Cadance used the ship's high powered camera to zoom in and get an image that she sent to every screen in the ship. And when Twilight saw it, she gasped. "That's the planet I saw. The one Sunset showed me."

"Doesn't look friendly," Iron stated.

"Perfect place to hide," Skybreaker pointed out. "A planet nobody would want to go near." He frowned, seeing the many Destroyers and fighter ships flying around the planet. "This isn't good. There's no way we can get past that many ships. We'll be like fish in a barrel."

"So what do we do?" Pinkie asked, as everyone stared at the screen. Then, Rarity noticed something.

"That moon." She pointed at a large round object, currently floating around the western side of the planet. "If we fly with it between us and the planet, their scanners shouldn't be able to detect us. That'll get us closer to the planet, at least."

"And we might be able to hide in a crater until we come up with another plan," Ruby nodded. "Nice idea. Celestia?"

"It's the best plan we've got right now," Celestia nodded. "Shining. Set a course to take us around the planet until we're behind the moon."

"Yes ma'am." Shining pulled the ship around, as the others tried to come up with a plan to get them from the moon to the planet's surface. There was no telling how long they had left until Sunset ran out of time.

On the planet, Sombra was in his throne room waiting to hear whether Sunset had been captured or not.

And sure enough, the doors flew open as a changeling ran into the room. "My lord!" He got down on one knee. "We just received word from Chrysalis. She was able to locate Solara and contain her. She's stunned, but should still be in good condition."

"Good." Sombra stood up. "Enough waiting. We're taking her to the portal and performing the ceremony right now. I don't want anything else to get in the way."

The changeling nodded and left, as Sombra made sure he was presentable for the arrival that was to come.

However. As he was about to leave, his eyes suddenly went wide and he clutched his head. "Augh!" He fell to his knees, as he suddenly found himself seeing a vision that he had been dreading of for a long time.

Looking up, he found himself standing in the middle of the throne room. And he wasn't alone, as the two figures stood before that he had seen in his last vision. As he stared at them, a sense of dread overwhelmed him. He could feel it.

"They're here." He forced his eyes closed and when he opened them again, the vision had ended. But the danger was no less clear.

He forced himself back to his feet and opened his gauntlet, connecting to his two remaining underlings. "Chrysalis. Tirek. Answer me!"

"I'm here," Tirek stated. "What's wrong?"

"I don't know how, but the Jedi are here."

"What?" Chrysalis asked. "How is that possible?"

"I don't know. But I just had a vision that was showing a very close future. That means the Jedi will somehow find their way here. We need to stop them before they ruin everything."

"Understood," Chrysalis agreed. "What do you suggest? And what do you want to do about Solara?"

Sombra thought for a moment before nodding. "Have some drones take her down and begin the ritual. We'll need to be on the surface in case they attack. Plus, there's no telling what would happen to us if we're there. I don't know about you, but I'd rather not have my soul sucked out."

"Understood." The two replied before shutting off the coms, Sombra looking up at the sky.

"I don't know how you're gonna get here, but you will not stop what I have begun."

Back in the ship, they had managed to get behind the moon and reached it without anyone noticing them.

They had landed inside a large crater on the dark side of the moon, safe from the scanners of the other ships and planets. Meanwhile, they had come up with a reasonably sane idea on how to get past the ships and onto the planet.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Flash asked, as Shining strapped on a space suit.

"Springer seems to think it'll work," Shining explained as he adjusted the gloves. "All I need to do is set up a transponder for him to connect to." As he said that, Twilight stepped into the main body of the ship holding some kind of metal case.

"Lucky you had one in stock," she pointed out. "You know what to do?"

"Yup." Shining nodded. "Get to the other side of the moon, place this down and let Springer do the rest." The droid in question nodded.

"Once I connect to the transponder, I can send a signal to any ship in range and copy its identification codes. That way, we can fly towards the planet without their scanners detecting us."

"That'll hide us from radar and scanners," Spitfire frowned. "But won't they be able to see us?"

"Maybe," Shining agreed, "but we'll still have a chance. With a little creative flying, we should be able to avoid being seen until we're close to the planet."

"Should?" Rarity gulped, as Shining took the case and headed towards the ship's roof hatch.

"Unless you can come up with another plan, this is our best bet." Shining stood in place and nodded to everyone, as he pressed the side of his helmet and closed the visor. "Wish me luck." With that, the glass tube lowered before he was lifted up towards the roof.

As he disappeared, Flash moved over to the cockpit and started up the engine. Celestia turned to Cadance, who was still at the scanner. "We'll need you to tell us we're about to hit their scanner range moments before we do. We can't risk being detectable, even for a second."

"Okay," Cadance nodded.

Flash opened the comms. "Shining. You locked onto the ship?"

"Magna-boots online. Let's do this." Flash nodded and lifted the ship up and out of the crater, then headed towards the planet facing side of the moon.

"Try and stay as close to the surface as possible," Celestia told him. "That should make it hard for them to detect us."

"Got it," Flash nodded. "But with the moon's surface being so uneven, I can't risk going too low." Celestia nodded, as they kept flying.

Outside, Shining was holding on tight to the case whilst praying his magna-boots didn't glitch. As the ship moved up and down, avoiding the rocks jutting out of the surface, he gulped as he looked around. They were getting closer to the light side of the moon.

Cadance kept an eye on the sensors and was ready to call out the second they were close enough. She knew that if she mucked up, they might all be found.

Then, she saw it. The area she had determined was in the ships' scan range. "Stop!" Flash swung the ship around and as it curved, it just missed the edge of the scanning range. He then landed a few feet away and Shining quickly jumped off, as the moon slowly rotated so the ship got closer to the scan range.

Shining ran towards the edge, whilst the ship once again took off and flew back a few hundred feet.

Once Shining was close to the scan range, he put the case down and opened it up. He quickly got to work, taking different pieces of a device out of the case and putting them together. Soon enough, he had built a metal rod that had a box on the bottom and a satellite dish on the top. It also had two legs, whilst he leaned it on as he tried to get it into the right position.

As soon as he was sure he got the right angle, he hit a button on the side of the box and it powered up.

Springer was hooked up to the ship's main computer, using it to connect to the transponder.

"Got it!" He cheered, as he connected and started sending scans out from the device. "Now, we just gotta find a ship to connect to." He started scanning, as the transponder finally moved into the ships' scanning range.

Everyone waited for Shining to get back, Flash preparing to take off as soon as he was there. "What kind of ship should we try and copy?" Rainbow than asked. "We're too big to be fighter and we're way too small to be a Destroyer. So what do we do?" They frowned, realising she was right. What ship could they get away with?

"Let's just see which ship we can actually connect to first," Luna pointed out. "Springer. Find anything?"

"I'm still scanning," the droid explained. "I'm searching...searching...searching." Shining had finally returned and as the tube came down, Springer's eyes glowed red. "Got it!" Everyone smiled. "Destroyer class ship. Copying its identification codes now and transferring them to the Shooting Star.

Shining came down the tube and raised for it to pressurise, as Springer finished changing the codes.

"Done."

"Then we're good to go," Celestia smiled. "Flash, take us up."

"Yes, master." Flash brought the systems online and the Shooting Star took off. It continued to fly close to the moon's surface and headed towards the area that was scannable. Once there, Flash made the ship do an L-turn and shot towards the planet. "If we keep the moon behind us, some of the ships shouldn't see us coming from a distance."

"Good," Celestia nodded. "We only get one chance at this. If we mess up, we'll be in serious trouble." Flash nodded, as Shining stepped into the cockpit whilst taking off his suitcase.

The others were watching holo-screens all over the ship, the lot of them terrified they were going to be found. "This is insane," Applejack cried. "Someone's gonna notice us."

"Don't be so sure," Heather assured her. "Ever hear of something called observational bias?" Applejack shook her head. "Basically, it's a condition almost all living things have. If you don't expect to see something, you won't see it."

"She is right," First nodded. "The thought of an unknown ship simply flying past them is so insane, it is likely their brains will not be able to process it even if they were looking right at us."

"That's a thing?" Trixie asked, the other knights and masters nodding. "Well, lets hope they're extremely observer bias." They all agreed, as they waited and hoped this went well.

Flash flew the ship towards the first of the Destroyers, trying not to make any out of place movements. One rapid turn could catch their attention. And to their amazement, they flew under the Destroyer without any lasers getting blasted by them.

"Good," Celestia nodded. "Try and stay as close to the Destroyers as possible." She was glad these triangular ships, were the same colour as the Shooting Star. That would make it easier for them to blend in.

Flash flew out from under the ship and spotted two Destroyers near one another, the Padawan flying between them. But then, he had a feeling in his gut and suddenly shifted the ship around. "What are you doing?" Shining asked, but Celestia held up a hand.

"I felt it too. I think we were about to enter a field of vision. Flash just flew us out of it." Shining nodded, as Flash swerved the ship around again. They then flew out from between the two ships and headed towards another one. But as they did, a bunch of fighters suddenly appeared from around one.

"Not good." Shining gulped. "If they get too close, they're gonna notice us."

Flash frowned and was forced to do a more extreme manoeuvre, using it to fly under another Destroyer far away from the fighters. And by the time he got out from under it, the fighters had past. "That was close," Flash sighed as the ships got more bunched up together.

Flash had to do more noticeable moves to keep himself from crashing into one. But he knew it was only a matter of time before someone noticed him.

However, as he hid under another ship, he spotted one Destroyer that was heading towards the planet. Why it was going down to the planet, Flash had no idea. But he smirked as an idea caught his attention. "Everybody hold on." He pushed the ship forward and it picked up speed, which worried everyone.

"Flash," Celestia turned to him, "what are you doing?"

"If I can get to it without being seen, we might just be home free." They all gulped, as Flash did his best to stay out of sight until he finally reached the ship. "Here we go!" He flew close to the ship and spun upside down before lowering himself to the ship.

The Shooting Star slammed into the Destroyer and the whole thing shook, making them cry out as they braced themselves.

"Activate magnetic lock!" he hit the button and the ship locked onto the Destroyer, Flash quickly killing the engines before sighing in relief. "Did it."

"Let's just hope we're not noticed," Celestia stated. "Once the ship's far enough away from the rest of the fleet, we'll detach and follow Twilight's connection to Sunset." Everyone began to grow nervous, since the fight was about to begin. They would either get out of this alive, or be captured or killed. Either way, this could decide the outcome of the galaxy's future.

Back on the planet, Sunset moaned as she felt herself beginning to come around.

The last thing she remembered was being stunned by Chrysalis' bug troopers. She had expected that to be the last thing she would ever experience. But it appeared she was going to be awake for the end of her existence.

As he eyes opened, she looked around and found she was stuck in some kind of metal pod.

Her arms and legs were completely restrained and she couldn't even move her fingers. A small glass window was above her and she could see the ceiling of the castle above her. It was moving, which meant she was moving. But moving where?

"Hello?" She called out, but her voice was likely not getting through the pod. "Who's there? Answer me!" She tried to lift her head, but she couldn't. Something was around her neck and keeping her in place. They weren't taking any chances that she would escape.

In another part of the castle, Chrysalis and Tirek were in some kind of command centre.

Tirek was typing away and the controls, whilst Chrysalis was checking a scanner. "No sign of any Jedi vessels," Chrysalis announced. "They're either not here yet, or they've somehow found a way to hide from our sensors."

Tirek stopped typing and crossed his arms, as he tried to think of something. "Let's think about this logically. They can't be planning to bring an entire fleet here. There's no way that would get past our sensors. They probably came in a single small ship, which means there can't be that many of them."

"True," Chrysalis nodded. "That gives us the numbers, but we still need to find them." As she said that, the computer beeped and she moved over to check the screen. "Good. The ship we called down is here. If any of them do manage to get past the fleet, this one will be waiting to blast it out of the sky."

Tirek hummed. "I can't believe Sombra is so worried. It's just two Jedi. Why is he so scared?"

"He wouldn't have seen that vision if it wasn't important," Chrysalis pointed out. "He doesn't want to risk them somehow finding a way to defeat him. Many tales of the Sith end with that Sith getting undone because they get overconfident. He clearly has no intention of being taken by surprise."

"I guess," Tirek frowned. "But we have more important things to do, then go on a wild goose chase trying to find a bunch of Jedi that might not even be here yet."

"Do you want to tell Sombra that?" Tirek didn't reply. "I didn't think so. Just keep working until we find something, or Sombra calms down. He's probably overreacting and-" She stopped, when a beeping caught her attention and made her look back at the scanner. When she did, she found something rather strange. "What?"

"What?"

"Another Destroyer was just detected coming down from orbit."

"Another? You only summoned one?" Tirek then shrugged. "I'm sure it had its reasons."

"That's not got me confused. What's got me confused is the location of the second ship. It's overlapping with the first one. Almost like the two ships are connected." Now Tirek was confused, as he moved over to the computer and saw what she was saying.

"What is going on?" Tirek turned to a console and typed in the second ship's identification code, opening up a channel to the changeling in command. "Destroyer Zero Eight Two Oh One. Why have you entered planetary atmosphere?"

The changeling looked confused. "Forgive me if I sound disrespectful, my lord. But the ship isn't anywhere near the planet at the moment."

"What?" Tirek typed onto the computer and connected to all the ships. "All Destroyers. Use your scanners and tell me the exact location of Destroyer Zero Eight Two Oh One." Moments later, most of the changelings replied that the Destroyer was nowhere near the planet. But there was one that said the ship was detected close to it. The one currently descending from space.

Tirek and Chrysalis shared a look and realised this had to be the Jedi, Chrysalis contacting the descending ship. "Destroyer Zero Four One Eight Three. Have fighters launch and investigate the area around you. If there's a ship there, find it." The pair nodded at one another, both realising Sombra had been right.

Back on the ship, everyone tried to remain as quiet as possible.

As they continued to be latched onto the underside of the Destroyer, they looked up and saw the ground quickly approaching. "Once we're close enough to the ground, we'll detach and find somewhere to land."

"Got it," Flash nodded as Shining spotted something.

"Look!" He pointed at an area where the dark clouds they were in had faded, revealing a large castle off in the distance. "That has to be where the Sith are located." The others agreed, only for an alarm to suddenly go off. "What now?" They looked ahead and saw a squad of fighters had appeared from out of the Destroyer, the ships splitting up and flying around the larger one.

"You think that means they've found us?" Pinkie asked, as one fighter flew towards them.

"I think so," Tidal nodded before a warning light sounded to say they were being targeted. "We need to get out of here!" Flash didn't need telling twice and cut the magnetic lock, causing the ship to fall off the Destroyer moments before a laser slammed into the Destroyer.

As The Shooting Star fell, Flash ignited the engines and hit the propulsion.

The ship began to fly moments before it hit the ground, allowing the ship to shoot across the planet's surface. As it did, the fighter gave chase whilst the others began to chase after them.

The first Fighters started firing, Flash moving the Shooting Star out of the way at the last moment.

Iron and Skybreaker quickly ran towards the ship's turrets, the pair climbing in as Flash did his best to keep from getting hit. But the other fighters were beginning to catch up and start shooting at them as well. "We need to lose these things!" Rainbow cried, as Iron and Skybreaker started shooting back.

They managed to destroy the first Fighter in seconds, but the other ships were on guard and took evasive manoeuvres.

Flash saw an area up ahead that was filled with large rocks that the ships would have trouble moving around. Ships that didn't have a Jedi at the controls. "Hold on!" Flash swerved the ship to the side and flew between two rocks, with the fighters blasting said rocks in an attempt to make them collapse.

The fighters tried to follow and whilst the first few managed to get between the rocks, one's wing clipped the side of the rock and lost control. It exploded and filled the gap with smoke, forcing the fighters behind it to pull back in order to avoid crashing themselves.

The Shooting Star kept flying around the rocks, with Iron and Skybreaker still shooting lasers.

As they flew through a stone ring, Iron took the chance and fired at the top. He destroyed the top of the rock, causing it to crumble and fall on top of some of the ships. "Yes!" He laughed, as more fighters approached. "Just two more left."

"I got them." Skybreaker fired his weapon, but the fighters managed to avoid them. "Come on."

Flash looked around, trying to find something that could help them outrun the ship. But so far, there was nothing but simple rocks. But then, he spotted what appeared to be a large cave and smiled. "Iron, Skybreaker. Can you guys give us some cover? Obscure their vision for a moment?"

"No problem," Skybreaker laughed before launching a barrage of lasers into the rocks all around them. The resulting explosion kicked up a bunch of dust, Iron doing the same to double the cloud's size.

The fighters flew through the cloud and when they reached the other side, they found the ship was gone.

The changelings looked around, but couldn't see anything. But as they flew over the cave's entrance, a bunch of lasers flew out and hit one of the fighters. It exploded and the last fighter tried to get away, but the Shooting Star flew out and shot straight at it.

The Fighter barrel rolled with the other ship on its tail, lasers flying at it with the changeling having no way to fight back. Eventually, a laser clipped its wing and destroyed it. The fighter lost control and crashed into one of the rocks.

"YEAH!" Iron cheered, as Flash pulled the ship around.

"Don't get cocky!" Skybreaker told him. "Remember, we're still in enemy territory. There are probably a thousand more ships like those that we have to get through."

"Twilight," Celestia left the cockpit to talk to her Padawan. "Do you sense where Sunset is?"

"Yes," Twilight nodded. "When we were close to the castle, I could feel it pulling me towards it. She's definitely in there."

"Alright," Celestia nodded. "Then we'll need to get in there. But if we try to land and sneak in, we might not get there in time."

"So what's the plan?" Trixie asked, as Cadance suddenly detected something.

"I'm picking up a bunch of life signs on the surface. They're not changelings and the amount of different DNA samples indicate a bunch of different species." As she said that, Celestia looked out at the landscape and realised something.

"This is the same place I saw when I read Milieus' mind." Flash's eyes widened, as the others caught on. "Of course. This is where all those prisoners are being held. We need to save them."

"Then we'll have to split up," Shining stated. "One group enters the castle and saves Sunset. The others free the prisoners. And another should remain on the Shooting Star and keep it from being destroyed."

"There could be hundreds of slaves," Fluttershy pointed out. "How are we supposed to save them all? We can't fit them all on this ship." Everyone realised she was right. If they wanted to save everyone, they were gonna need a bigger ride.

"Wait," Cadance spoke up again. "I've found a ship that's not online. The scans don't show any reason it's not flying. It's probably just about ready to take off."

"You think we can steal it?" Thorax asked, his teacher shrugging.

"Alright," Celestia nodded, "Then we'll split into three teams. Team One will find this ship and commandeer it. Team Two will find the slaves and inform them of the escape plan. And Team Three will infiltrate the castle and save Sunset." Everyone nodded, as Twilight turned to her mentor.

"I'll need to lead Team Three to her location."

Celestia nodded. "I'll go with you. Flash and Shining. I want you to come with me." They nodded. "Luna, you and seven others will take over the Destroyer. I'll trust you to decide who. The rest will infiltrate the area the slaves are being kept."

"But I thought one team was staying on the ship?" Rarity asked, only for Springer to speak up.

"I'll stay on the ship. If any of you need to be evacuated, contact me and I'll fly to your locations as fast as I can." They all nodded, as Luna selected who would be going where.

Eventually, they reached an area of the planet close to the ship Cadance had located. And luckily, it wasn't being guarded by any other Destroyers. This allowed them to quickly fly down and open up the ramp, allowing Luna, Trixie, Iron, Skybreaker, Spitfire, Rainbow, Applejack and Heather to jump out before taking back to the air.

They all ran through the rocky landscape in search of the ship and after a while, they found themselves reaching the top of a hill and overlooking a valley where a Destroyer was sitting.

"There it is," Luna nodded as they stayed low. "Just like Cadance said." She took a pair of glasses out of her bag and put them on, the shades allowing her to zoom in on the ship and scan it. "She was right. The ship's ready to fly. They must be doing the final checks on it."

She zoomed in again and found the ship was surrounded by a bunch of changelings and droids. They were clearly trying to get it up and running as soon as possible. "Alright," Skybreaker asked, "what's the plan?"

"There are a lot of changelings and droids down there," Heather pointed out. "If we just charge in, they blast at us and we'll exhaust ourselves trying to protect ourselves."

"She's right," Luna nodded. "Let's use stealth and take out as many as we can before they can spot us. Once we're on board, we clean the place out before they can come up with a counter." The others nodded and got ready to attack. They would need to be quick. A lot of lives depended on what was about to happen.

Back on the Shooting Star, it once again prepared to drop off those who would be sneaking into the slave camp.

But as they got closer, a Destroyer appeared in the sky. The ship flew overhead and with the planet's dark rock surface, the Shooting Star stuck out like a sore thumb. "Over there!" Twilight pointed at an area of rock that curved like a wave, Flash and Shining flying the ship into the shadow of it.

"Let's hope they didn't notice us," Flash stated as they hovered beneath it. "We're about a thirty minute walk from the camp."

"We can make that," Cadance told him.

"Be careful," Shining frowned. Cadance smiled at him before heading to the exit with the others. And as the Destroyer flew overhead, the ramp lowered before Cadance, Thorax, Pinkie, Tidal, Rarity, Ruby, Fluttershy and First leapt out.

Cadance and Thorax each grabbed three of them as they got close to the ground and spread their wings, breaking everyone's fall before dropping them the rest of the way. The eight then headed in the direction of the camp, whilst the Destroyer left the area.

The Shooting Star flew out from under the rock formation and began to make its way towards the castle.

"You got control, Springer?" Flash turned to his friend, as the droids remained hooked up to the main system.

"Yup. The ship is now under my control." Flash nodded, as he, Shining, Twilight and Celestia prepared for what was likely a suicide mission.

As they prepared themselves, Celestia turned to the three. "I know it may seem terrifying, heading into that castle. It's very likely we'll have to fight Sombra and the rest of his Sith Generals. The chances of us defeating them are....not great. But we have to try. To save Sunset, stop this ritual and end the Sith once and for all. Can I count on you three to help me in this fight?"

"You don't even have to ask," Shining told her. "We know this fight won't be easy. And the chances of us coming out alive on the other side are slim. But we're ready to do this." Flash and Twilight nodded, Celestia nodding as well.

"Then let us begin." As soon as she said that, an explosion suddenly rocked the ship and they were all thrown about.

"Springer?" Flash cried, as the ship did a barrel-roll.

"We've got company." Outside the ship, Fighters and Destroyers were all over the place. They were blasting at The Shooting Star, Springer doing his best to keep from getting hit as the castle came into view. "We're approaching the drop zone!"

"You three know what to do?" Celestia asked, the three nodding as they headed for the loading ramp.

The ship drew closer to the castle. But as it did, the fire from the ships grew more and more powerful. Springer wouldn't be able to hang around for very long. So as the castle appeared below, the loading ramp descended with Celestia and Twilight leaping out of it.

The Jedi Grandmaster grabbed her student and spread her wings, diving down towards the castle whilst Flash and Shining held onto the ship.

Celestia had to do some seriously skilled flying, as she worked to avoid the lasers and explosions being shot at them as they descended. But eventually, she reached the ground and arrived at the front gate of the castle. She and Twilight nodded to one another before the Omni dropped her student, Twilight falling the last fifty feet before Force landing in front of the entrance.

Flash and Shining saw this, but couldn't wait for Celestia to fly back up since the ship was still under heavy fire.

Not wanting to risk The Shooting Star's destruction, the pair leapt out of the ship and fell. Springer saw this and kept flying around to keep some of the enemy's attention. They free fell for several moments, also doing their best to avoid getting blasted but also staying close together.

As they did, Celestia flew up and they all held a hand out to each other.

Celestia grabbed their hands and with her Omni strength, broke their fall but kept moving downwards towards the front gate.

At the front gate, Twilight was staying close to a wall to avoid getting blasted as well. But before the others could reach her, the front gates began to open and a group of bug troopers began to march out of the castle. They were all armed and as soon as they saw Twilight, they opened fire to try and kill her.

But Twilight quickly leapt out and grabbed her Lightsaber, igniting it to start deflecting the attacks. She managed to bounce them back to some of the troopers, but most of the time she found herself firing them into the bridge she was on.

But then some of the troopers noticed the other three Jedi in the air and started firing at them, Celestia doing her best to avoid the shots whilst Flash and Shining held on for dear life. Eventually, they were low enough for Celestia to drop the pair and as they fell, they took out their own Lightsabers and deflected the blasts.

The boys landed right in front of the troopers and before the insects could react, the pair started cutting them down as Celestia landed. The bug troopers were soon all dealt with, Flash taking this moment to look up and see The Shooting Star flying off with a bunch of fighters hot on its tail.

"Be careful, bud."

"Let's go!" Celestia ran into the castle, the other three following close behind. "Stay on guard. There's no telling what kind of defences Sombra could have in here." They slowly and carefully made their way through the entrance hall, the dark castle giving them the creeps.

Twilight took a moment to close her eyes and feel Sunset, but all she could feel was a desire to go down. "Sunset's somewhere beneath us," she stated. "Maybe in a dungeon."

"Or this gate might be located under the castle." Shining looked around, seeing several paintings on the wall along with an occasional suit of armor. "Who knew Sombra was such an art admirer."

"It was one of the things he enjoyed in his spare time, back when he was a Jedi." She stepped forward and as she did, she suddenly found the floor beneath her hoof move. "Huh?" She looked down and saw a stone brick move downwards. Moments later, a clicking sound filled the air. "He booby-trapped his home base?"

"Of course he did," Flash sighed as a hissing sound filled the air. "Poison gas!"

"Run!" Shining yelled, as the purple mist filled the air above them.

They ran as fast as they could, accidentally setting off more traps. Twilight was reminded of the temple on Naboo, as they found themselves dodging later and ducking under blades that suddenly flew out of the walls. The gas continued to fill the halls and fell down to their level, the four covering their mouths as best they could.

But as they ran, a section of the corridor ahead of them began to descend. "HURRY!" Celestia yelled through her sleeve, she and Twilight at the front of the group and managed to slide under it at the last moment. But Flash and Shining weren't able to get there in time.

"NO!" Shining yelled, hitting the wall as more mist fell down on them. "We need to get out of here."

"There's gotta be a way to shut this off from inside." Flash hoped Sombra had added such a function in case he accidentally set it off himself, though a part of him wondered if Sombra's booby-traps were only activated when they entered the castle.

He hit bricks on the wall, pulled on anything that might be a switch or lever and just prayed there was a way to save themselves.

Then, Shining grabbed a nearby torch and pulled. The torch moved and a clicking sound filled the air, as part of the wall suddenly gave way to reveal a corridor. "Yes!" Shining rushed into it and Flash followed suit, the wall closing up before any of the poison gas could fill it.

On the other side of the wall, Twilight and Celestia were trying to find a way to open it. "Flash!" Twilight yelled, "Shining!"

Celestia sighed, "it's no good. We can't get through."

"We can't just leave them!" Twilight cried, but Celestia placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Those two are smart. They'll find a way to get out of there. We have to trust they can do that." Twilight frowned, "we have a mission to accomplish. We have to find and save Sunset. We can't have much time left. We have to find a way down to her, now."

"But how?" Twilight asked. "We don't know the layout of this castle."

Celestia thought for a moment before nodding. "You need to contact Sunset again." Twilight hadn't been expecting that. "You're still connected. And if she is in this castle, she must be close enough for you to connect to her. It's gotta be easier here than halfway across the galaxy."

"I guess." Twilight looked around, not sure she could concentrate in such a bleak place. But she sat down and closed her eyes, trying to focus whilst Celestia stood protective of her.

At the shipyard, the bug troopers and droids continued to stand guard of the Destroyer.

As they did, the Jedi crept towards them and prepared to take them by surprise. Skybreaker and Luna had taken to the air and quickly flew up and above the Destroyer, landing on it and walking along it until they reached a spot right above one of the changelings.

The pair shared a look and nodded before reaching down and pulling one of the changelings up towards them.

The bug trooper flew up so fast, he barely had time to realise what was happening or cry out. By the time he was ready to signal the others, he was grabbed and slammed into the side of the Destroyer.

Luna placed him down, whilst Skybreaker prepared to repeat the process.

They grabbed another changeling and pulled him up, knocking him out before he had a chance to signal the others. They did this three more times before someone finally managed to yell out before they could be incapacitated. making the other bug troopers and droids look up and see the pair on top of the Destroyer.

"Freeze!" A changeling yelled, he and his troopers pointing their blasters at them.

Luna and Skybreaker acted fast, grabbing the lot of them and pulling them upwards until they slammed into the bottom of the ship. This knocked several out, dazed a few and caused them all to drop their weapons.

As they fell back towards the ground, the rest of the Jedi ran into view. The lot Forced the changeling's weapon's away from them and as a few picked themselves up, they got to work knocking them out. "Nighty night!" Rainbow kicked on in the head, whilst Applejack grabbed two and slammed them into each other.

Luna and Skybreaker flew down, as they looked for an access port where they could gain entry. "There!" Luna pointed to one in an area below the ship, which was currently being held up by a bunch of large leg-like towers keeping the ship from touching the ground.

"Alright," Skybreaker told everyone. "If these towers are like some of the others I've seen, we'll need to unlock them from the ship before we can take off. Try and fly before then and we could rip part of the ship off entirely.

"Skybreaker and I will unlock them," Luna stated. "The rest of you get inside and take control of the bridge."

"Got it," they all nodded before the pair started ferrying the flightless Jedi up. One by one, each of them pulled themselves up into the access tube and started climbing through the long shaft into the ship's inner workings.

"Be careful," Luna told Trixie. Her Padawan nodded before climbing up the tunnel, Luna closing it behind her before she and Skybreaker moved towards the towers. When they reached the first one, they both landed and found a bunch of controls that were keeping the tower from releasing the ship. "How does this work?"

"There are several locks that need to be undone before we spin that wheel." He pointed at said wheel, that looked like a valve on a pipe. "Think of it like a big screw, going up into the ship. That spins the screw and will pull it out."

"Got it," Luna nodded as they started working on undoing everything.

Cadance and her group had made their way to the slave camp, the team staying hidden behind some rocks as they saw the metal huts and huddles of people trying to stay warm.

"So what's the plan?" Pinkie asked, as Tidal took a pair of glasses out of his robes and put them on. These allowed him to see the camp even closer and he quickly noticed the place was a mess. Huts had been destroyed, people were clearly injured and some areas were still smoking.

He then spotted a bunch of drones, flying around the place looking to blast anything that twitched the wrong way.

"If we want to get them out of there, we're gonna need to start with taking out those drones. We've got to get in close, then attack before they have a chance to attack." They others nodded and they soon found a path that wasn't in clear view of the drones, allowing them to sneak closer to the area.

They eventually arrived on the outskirts of the camp and hid in the shadows of the huts, as the floating mechanical eyeballs passed them.

First took out one of his blast-sabers and fired at the drone before it could notice them.

The machine was destroyed and fell to the ground, the slaves noticing this along with a few more drones. "GO!" Ruby cried, taking out her Lightsaber and attacking before the drones could fight back. The slaves were shocked by their sudden arrival, as Cadance and Thorax took to the air to slice the flying mechs apart.

First kept shooting at them, whilst Pinkie used her whip to strike even more. The others began to move towards the slaves, shielding them from the drones that were trying to blast anything that moved.

"Who are you?" One of them asked, as Tidal turned to smile at them.

"We're the Jedi. And we've come to save you." Everyone gasped at this, only to see more drones approaching.

"Geez," Thorax groaned, "there are so many of them."

"Buckle up, everyone." Cadance raised her sword, "this is gonna take a while." But before they or the drones could attack, the machines suddenly stopped in midair before the lights on the front died and they fell to the ground. "Huh, guess not."

"What happened to them?" Fluttershy asked, as she and the rest of the Jedi medics began to move towards anyone with an injury. Before they could answer, two people stepped into view.

"I turned them off." Everyone glanced at them and saw it was Tubster and Ryn. "A friend managed to hack into the drones and give us the ability to switch them off. I was waiting for the right time to use this. And it looks like that's now."

"Are you really gonna save us?" A young boy asked, as Fluttershy was healing a cut on his arm.

"We are," Fluttershy nodded. "We have friends working on getting a ship for us. Once they're here, we'll get everyone out of here and back to Canterlot. From there, we'll find a way to get you all home." The child smiled at this, as Tubster moved over to Ruby.

"If there's anything we can do to help us get out of here, please tell us." Ruby smiled and nodded, only for an explosion to sudden occur right behind her and cause everyone to jump in terror.

The Jedi jumped into action and ran towards the explosion, getting ready to fight. And as they did, they saw a pair of figures stepping through the smoke. One was a figure that made Thorax's body freeze.

Tirek and Chrysalis stepped out of the smoke, their Lightsabers drawn as they smiled at the group. "So," Tirek chuckled, "attempting a jail break, are we?"

Cadance, First, Ruby and Tidal stepped forward, ready to fight the Sith, whilst their Padawans protected the slaves. "We're taking these people home," Cadance announced. "You won't stop us."

"Oh, but we will." Chrysalis smiled. "Those slaves are our property. And we don't let our property get taken away from us. They're staying and you lot won't be leaving either. We'll make sure this is your final resting place."

"Oh yeah," Tidal swung his triple bladed pike around. "You and what army?" But then the smoke cleared and revealed a bunch of bug troopers and droids. "Oh. That army." He shook his head, not letting himself be stopped as they all prepared to do battle. No matter what, they wouldn't let this stop them.

Back in the castle, Flash and Shining had been making their way through the secret hallway until they finally reached the end of the passageway.

Shining pushed the door open and sure enough, they found themselves in another hallway. "Where are we?" Flash asked, as Shining tried to contact Celestia and Twilight. But he wasn't getting through to them.

"Something's jamming the signal."

"Great," Flash frowned, "so where do we go from here?" Before Shining could answer, the pair heard a bunch of footsteps approaching. They nodded and ignited their Lightsabers, as a bunch of changelings approached from around a corner.

As soon as the insects spotted them, they opened fire and the pair charged in whilst deflecting their shots.

As soon as they got close, the Jedi began cutting through the small army. The hallway's narrow corridor was working in their favour, as the changelings found themselves unable to get a clean shot at the pair without risking hitting their squad mates.

The pair knew it would take a while, but they planned on dealing with as many of these things as they could.

In the other hallway, Twilight and Celestia remained where they were.

Twilight kept trying to connect to Sunset, whilst Celestia kept an eye out. And soon enough, she heard a bunch of footsteps and frowned before raising her Lightsaber. "Twilight. Block everything else out. Don't let yourself get distracted. I will keep you safe."

"Yes, master." Twilight let herself relax and slowly, the world around her grew silent as she slipped into a trance.

Moments later, a bunch of bug troopers arrived and started firing at them. But Celestia deflected their shots and sent them right back at the insects, protecting both her and Twilight from the oncoming attacks. Soon, the hallways became littered with changelings.

Many of the bug troopers kicked their fallen comrades away, as they began to charge at her. They took out daggers and were obviously planning to stab her, but Celestia simply held out her hand and they were all thrown backwards into the other changelings.

This resulted in them accidentally getting shot from behind before they knocked the others over, the insects falling over each other as Celestia charged in to attack.

Twilight didn't even notice this, too focused on connecting to Sunset.

And soon enough, she felt something. A pull, leading her downwards. "Sunset," she called in her mind, "are you there? Please, help me find you."

"Twi...Twilight?"

Twilight smiled, "I'm here. Celestia and I are in the castle. But how do we get to you?"

"How did you...never mind. You don't have much time. You need to hurry." The next thing Twilight knew, she was back in the corridor. But Celestia and the bug troopers weren't there and before Twilight could react, she was suddenly flying down the hallway.

She shifted around several corners, down a flight of stairs and through a long passageway that led to some kind of elevator.

As soon as that elevator was within reach, Twilight found herself in a completely different area. Some kind of cave, with a large stone archway in the centre of the room. And kneeling in front of that archway was Sunset.

Before Twilight could say anything else, she found herself snapping out of the vision and looked around.

Celestia was standing in front of a pile of dead changelings, the Omni turning to her and seeing her getting up. "I know where we need to go." Celestia nodded, as the pair began to make their way through the castle. As they did, Celestia grew worried.

Sombra was somewhere in here and if he chose to enter the fray, victory wouldn't come easily.

Then there was Flash and Shining, who she knew had found a way to escape that hallway. But if they did, where were they. And what challenges they were facing.

Flash and Shining grunted, as they leapt out of a hallway whilst a bunch of lasers were flying out of it behind them.

The pair rolled to a stop and prepared for a fight, as a bunch of changelings ran out and tried to take them down. But the pair kept fighting their way through the swarm until they took out the last one. When they were done, both Jedi panted whilst looking around.

They had fought their way to an area at the bottom of a short flight of stairs, with a pair of large doors at the top.

The pair stared at the doors and both shared a look, knowing something big was up there. So, preparing for a serious fight, the two made their way up the stairs until they reached the doors. And as they pushed said doors open, both took a deep breath.

They soon found themselves in a large throne room, with stone pillars on either side of the red carpet that went along the middle of the room.

That carpet led to a platform that held a large black throne. And sitting upon that throne was the man himself, who didn't look the least bit surprised they were there. "So," Sombra announced, "the time has come." Flash and Shining felt their nerves beginning to get the better of them. But they refused to let fear hold them back.

They didn't know how this would turn out, but they would fight with everything they had to claim victory.

Author's Note

Our heroes have reached the planet and all have their own missions to accomplish. Will they all succeed? Will they be able to make it through unscathed? And what surprises still await them? Find out next time.