In the deepest depths of space lies a weapon almost ready to be tested. Overseeing the final production of this weapon is a man feared and hated by all. Clad in black robes, his grey skin a testament to the darkness within his mind, body and soul. This is the Emperor Palaptine, Darth Sidious.

Looking down at his empire creating the greatest weapon the galaxy has ever seen, he sensed the oncoming presence of an Admiral. Before the doors even opened, he knew the news was not going to be to his liking. The admiral approached quickly and with respect, knelt down to the ground and bowed his head.

"Emperor, I have news of Lord Starkiller." the Admiral said.

"My Apprentice is dead. I can no longer feel him." the dark lord replied, slowly waving his hand out to the side to emphasize his point.

"His ship was damaged as he fought against the rebels. It is unclear as to whether he activated his hyperdrive on purpose or if by accident, but he disappeared without having set any coordinates." the Admiral clarified. Sidious took a moment to reflect on the information. Starkiller may have survived.

"Then find him. Scour the galaxy for scrap metal if you have to. I want confirmation of his situation." The Admiral bowed his head again, standing to leave. The two guards dressed in red followed him into the elevator.

"It seems that my apprentice is more like Vader than I originally anticipated. This should prove useful, should I find out he's betrayed me yet again." he said aloud, no higher than a mumble. He turned around and descended the stair platform. A console stood near to his right. Dialing in a few buttons himself, a hologram of an Imperial Twi'lek Ambassador flashed on, ,no larger than the hilt of a lightsaber.

"My Lord?" the Ambassador said, bowing his head in respect.

"Ki'rall. Send a squad of highly trained men to Felucia. I sense I'll need to prepare for the days to come." Sidious replied.

"Yes Milord." Ki'rall replied before the connection was cut off.

"Perhaps Maris Brood will succeed where Starkiller failed.

Muffled sounds greeted Starkiller as his phonetic sensors had somehow been shut off. Behind his helmet, he opened his eyes. Where he usually saw a hue of red through the narrow field of vision, all he saw was colour as it was meant to be. It took a few moments for his helmet to activate itself, the red vision returning to him. Looking around, he spotted what appeared to be different coloured equine related species standing around him. There were five in all. Their features were rather human, one of them possessing a beard, another a moustache. The eyelashes of each equine told him that at least two of them were female.

The voice of the one with the beard sounded clearly through Starkiller's rebooted phonetic receptors.

"Ah, you're awake. That's a shame, I was hoping to conduct this class/experiment with as little screaming as possible. I must admit, the Princesses had me worried when they said that we couldn't do more than try to help you heal, but the public has spoken and they want you dissected in the event that more of your race finds its way here. Knowing how you work will be of great advantage to us should we need to defend ourselves." Starkiller thought that the bearded equine liked to talk a lot. What really had his full attention was the scalpel in his hoof.

Recalling the painful process he had to go through just to get the armour on his body, he was not about to have it so easily removed without being crushed by another starship.

"You said you wanted as little screaming as possible." Starkiller spoke up, freezing the equines in place. How did he know their language? Did he learn it on the spot? "If that's the case, try not to scream when I kill you all." he concluded. With a flick of his mechanical writs, the shackles tying him to the surgical table unlocked and he was free. The first on his list was the one with the scalpel. Grabbing him by the throat, he strangled the poor creature as he flailed around, trying to cut at Starkiller's arm, but the mechanical bones just blunted the blade.

Feeling that the equine had been sufficiently strangled, he tossed him across the room into a window. The window didn't break, but revealed that it was an observation window. More of this race was undoubtedly behind there. Sure enough, Starkiller felt the pull of the force reach him. He was made visually aware of what was being pulled as a gold aura pulled at his offending appendage while a navy blue aura of similar appearance pulled at his right. Using half his strength to resist the thrall of the force, Starkiller took the time to notice that the equines had left his lightsabers strapped to his belt. They obviously didn't realise the importance of removing such dangerous objects had on their chances of survival. He had to break free before his master found out he'd been captured so easily.

"By Celestia, how did he escape? He was bolted to the table with state of the art locking mechanisms." one of the equines asked to no-one in particular. Starkiller was getting annoyed by the pulling of the two force users and decided to act. Using the force, he took two lightsabers from his belt, both the one he usually used and his original one from when he was still Vader's apprentice. He flicked the activation switches and a pair of red neon-like rods extended from within. With some considerable ease, he managed to overpower the pulling of the two auras and twirled around. One lightsaber slashed along the cracked window followed an instant afterward by the other. With the two initial cuts made, all Starkiller needed do was bring both sabers down on either end of the cuts.

A square formed, melting the glass slightly. Starkiller pushed the window with the force, hitting something behind it. The golden aura on his left arm disappeared, leaving just the right one. Deactivating the Lightsaber in his left hand, he holstered it and brought his arm back, charging a massive amount of force. The blue aura faded almost a second afterward. They can sense force build-up. He thought.

He decided to ignore the window for now as it was no longer hiding any threat. With the remaining four equines cowering in the corner, it was a simple matter of torturing them with force lightning. And torture them he did. Each of the equines screamed, some of them begging for release. Starkiller's idea of release had been warped somewhere between his training with Vader and his reign as the Emperor's servant. To him, release was the scalpel meant for his surgery.

With the assailants taken care of, Starkiller searched for an exit. The easiest way was through the window. Sure enough, he stepped through, the still hot glass giving way under his boot. There were three chairs, one toppled over where the window now rested. Three force users behind the window, but only two of them reacted. Perhaps there was a chance to talk his way out of this. Though that seemed less and less likely as he left a pile of corpses in his wake and he hadn't even taken five steps.

The halls intrigued Starkiller. Made entirely of crystal, the species didn't seem to entirely fit the environment. For a moment, Starkiller believed this to be a very realistic and silly dream, but the physical pain between his mechanical parts and what remained of his human body reminded him that he was in fact, alive. Everywhere Starkiller turned, there were crystals, they played havoc with his vision. Nevertheless, he ventured on.

"I warned them not to experiment on the alien, we couldn't possibly know how it would react." Twilight said through berated breaths.

"Obviously, it knows magic. That makes it dangerous." Celestia replied, still sore from the sudden smack her head and ego took from the window back in the other room.

"And that laser sword. I thought those things only existed in those science-fiction novels Twilight has me reading." Luna added, backing against the wall. The others followed suit as the alien ran past, seemingly unhindered by the shock of being restrained. All three Alicorns began to shake in fear as they heard the mechanical breathing of the alien.

"Regardless, it's just killed five ponies. It's clearly a danger to us all." Celestia commented when she thought they were safe enough.

"I disagree, Celestia. If you were strapped to a surgical table on a strange world; about to be dissected out of fear from the general public, wouldn't you defend yourself too?" Twilight argued. Celestia considered her answer for a moment.

"I suppose you are right, but what would you suggest? The deaths of those ponies will reach the public soon enough. Some of them were students, they had families. Compensation will be demanded of either us or the alien." Celestia tested the younger Alicorn.

"In order to avoid more conflict, we will speak with the alien, ask it to consider disarming itself to preserve the peace. In return, we won't let the public know it has magic and it can remain feeling safe in that knowledge." she answered. Luna looked to her older sister in approval. Celestia was outvoted and agreed that option was the best course of action.

Starkiller found himself in what appeared to be a throneroom. There was what appeared to be a meeting of council happening when he entered. More of the strange equines, two of which were bigger than the others turned from their activities to look at the newcomer. Some gasped in fright, others were frozen. A few armoured ones began to ready their weapons. On instinct, Starkiller reached for one of his Lightsabers. One would be enough to deal with the aggressive ones.

Before more could happen, a trio of equines like one of the taller ones, one being taller than the rest burst through the door behind Starkiller.

"Wait!" they called out, falling over themselves. Starkiller lowered his lightsaber, having yet activated it. If need be, he could hold them off with the force before things got too violent. He turned to view the newcomers. His immediate thought was that two of them had the colours of the auras that had tried to stop him in the operating room. A cursory examination through the force proved to him that these were the observers in the other room.

"Everypony stand down!" the white one boomed. Starkiller knew that she'd used the force to enhance her voice, whether they called it the force was another matter altogether. Upon command, the equines withdrew their weapons from Starkiller's position but stood ready to defend their leader.

"Please, excuse our rudeness, sir. We did not wish to conduct experiments on you, however the citizens felt that it was necessary in order to defend ourselves should more of your kind come." the purple one spoke. Starkiller was curious as to how they spoke his language; a curiosity that didn't emerge until the danger had passed. Taking a chance, he sheathed his lightsaber and stood to his full height. Needless to say that like Vader had once done with him, he now towered over the creature like her superior, which he was in almost every sense of the word.

"You're fortunate that I am more understanding than my former master. He didn't give second chances." Starkiller replied, startling some of the ponies. Through his visor, he noted a certain glint in the purple one's eyes. It was the same glint the Admirals would get when he would spare their lives, giving them the opportunity to learn from their mistakes. This purple equine was inquisitive.

"Thank you. Let us start by introducing ourselves. This is Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, Princess Cadence is over there with my brother, Shining Armour, and I am Princess Twilight. May we ask what your name is?" she enquired. Starkiller considered not answering her, however, a name was little more than a means to address an individual.

"Starkiller." he simply said. Unlike the Emperor and Vader, Starkiller didn't care for pointless titles such as Lord or Darth. Words would often be wasted on him unless they revealed information important to the mission. A single word's worth of time wold be wasted by adding titles.

"Starkiller? That's an interesting name. Who gave it to you?" Twilight asked.

"A dead man." was all he said. This halted the very short line of questions.

"Okay...listen, Starkiller, I was wondering if perhaps you would be willing to relinquish those weapons? We know you have magic, so you're still well defended. It's just that the public are extremely uncomfortable with you and until you've earned a reputable name for yourself it would help things go a lot more smoothly." she said.

Starkiller casually went for his lightsaber and seemed to offer it to her. As her hoof was just about to touch it, it activated, causing her to flinch and scurry back.

"It's a dangerous game to play when you ask a Sith Lord to disarm himself. The blade I hold in my hand is an extension of the wielder, as is the force, what you call magic. Asking a Sith to relinquish his lightsaber would be like asking you to relinquish your horns or wings. If your precious public has a problem with me, then let them sort it out how they wish. But I will not allow an inferior race to make requests for their own sake." he replied, disengaging it and holstering it at the same time.

The guards had their weapons pointed at him again. Starkiller had had enough of these creatures. Going into a stance, he closed his arms and legs over his chest, hovering on the ground for a moment. The guards surrounding him began to circle uncontrollably in the air. They were immediately smacked with a wave of force that sent them flying in all directions. The three Princesses in front of him were sent no more than a few feet backwards as their hooves stayed glued to the ground. Starkiller made a bolt for the nearest exit which just so happened to be a window.

Crashing through it, the drop was further than he thought, but that was of little consequence. He focused the force in his legs and performed a flip just in time to land on his feet. The force was thrown out in a ripple effect, knocking back a dozen civilian equines and several guards in the process. Screaming ensued afterwards and the Sith Lord bade a B-line towards the nearest uninhabited area. Looking back, he saw that his ship was still skewered on top of one of the crystal spires. With a grunt of irritation, he sped through the entrance outside of the city. His initial instinct was to escape the city and perhaps go somewhere calmer to think things through.

Author's Note

So, here's Chapter 2. Some of you might find it a bit rushed, but I want to get as much of it out of my head as possible because so many ideas keep coming to mind. Anyway, rate and comment. I enjoy notifications.