"My lord, flight logs indicate that Lord Starkiller's ship did in fact plot a course for a star system beyond the outer rim. I've taken the liberty of preparing a ship to collect him." said an Admiral. The Emperor, Darth Sidious sat in his chair, looking down once again on the construction droids placing the finishing touches on the Death Star's Mass Particle Beam.

"Very good, Admiral. Make sure you find him, dead or alive. I want regular transmissions from the ship once you arrive." the dark lord said, not bothering to turn around. Nonetheless, the Admiral bowed in respect and turned to oversee the departure of the ship.

"Admiral." Sidious called out before the admiral left. The Admiral turned and awaited the Emperor's order. "Make sure you don't fail me." he said. The Admiral swallowed hard before bowing again and leaving for the second time.

"Maris, go with the Admiral, make sure you are not noticed. I want Starkiller dead. Will you be able to do that this time around?" Sidious said to seemingly no-one, but a grey skinned Zabrak landed behind him, kneeling down as an apprentice would their master.

"With your tutelage, recent as it has been, I am confident in my abilities, Master." she replied. This allowed for the Dark lord to turn. As he faced her, Maris was hit with a rush of cold. His eyes often had that effect. She felt like a youngling Jedi staring into the eyes of a Tuk'ata for the first time.

"Pray you don't fail. If you return alive after doing so, you will not make it out of this room again. You have been warned." he said, his voice echoing throughout the room. Despite the fear his voice transmitted to her, she kept her composure in front of him.

"I will leave at once, My master." she stated, before standing to leave. The Emperor had his doubts about Maris from the second he saw her. Yes, she had taken out all but one of the platoon sent to find her, yes she showed promise as a Sith and her hatred for Starkiller would help elevate her power and, subsequently her chances of defeating him.

But Starkiller was trained by Darth Vader, easily Sidious' greatest apprentice. Starkiller had such promise, had the potential to be his equal and even successor. Even when rebuilt as Vader had been, Starkiller did not lose a fraction of his potential, despite the Emperor's words, and Maris Brood simply did not have that same potential.

With mechanical legs working at full pelt, Starkiller had well and truly gone beyond even those flying equine's distances. Crystals no longer lined his field of vision, snow no longer froze his circuits and chilled what little flesh he had left. All he saw was mountain ranges and green grass. Rare for the eyes of the Sith Lord as he'd spent most of his time either in space or on barely habitable planets; most recently, Hoth. The thought of Skywalker escaping him maddened him to no end. He'd hoped to have made an apprentice out of the spawn of Vader.

After another minute or so of running at a more leisurely pace, he noticed a single mountain in particular. Something protruded out from behind it. A refuge perhaps? he thought, altering his course toward it. It didn't take him long to stop to reconsider as he noted it was a very old style looking castle. Recalling the Princesses, he assumed that it belonged to one of them.

Almost an instant later, he felt the sudden appearance of a strong connection to the force. It was so sudden it brought teleportation to Starkiller's mind. Even amongst the teachings of the Jedi and the Sith, teleportation was unheard of. This attracted Starkiller like a moth to a flame. Whoever the user of that strong connection was, they had potential, promise of a galaxy without the Emperor.

Almost seconds after it appeared, it disappeared again, reappearing just on the border of Starkiller's senses. It truly was teleportation. That was the deciding factor in his cacophony of problems. He made track for the source of the force sensitive. If it turned out to be one of the Princesses he'd met before, he may have to relinquish his lightsabers... Most of them.

"Girls, thank goodness you're all here. We have a terrible situation that requires all of our help!" Twilight called to her friends who just so happened to be having a picnic on the Apple Family Orchard.

"I'll say, your manners leave something to be desired if that's how you as a Princess would address your subjects." Rarity responded, seeming appalled.

"What?!" Twilight complained, annoyed at having been distracted from her initial task.

"Twilight, you are a Princess now. Certain rules need to be applied to Everypony you see, your friends included. You were Princess Celestia's friend, but you also treated her with the utmost respect, respect that she reciprocated to you, if you recall." explained the white unicorn.

"No, that's not why I-."

"Yeah, Twi. I know we're your friends and all, and I am awesome beyond all imagination, but come on, act like a Princess." Rainbow Dash put in.

"It wouldn't hurt to act all formal, girl." Applejack added. Pretty soon, all but Fluttershy began to talk over each other.

"EVERYPONY SHUT UP!!!" Twilight screamed, her voice amplified tenfold. Everypony including herself seemed stunned by the sudden outburst. 'Oh, that's new." she commented, covering her mouth. She saw the shocked expressions on her friends' faces and took that opportunity to get to the point before they got all rowdy.

"Girls, there's a new threat to Equestria, maybe even the entire world, and the Elements of Harmony are required to put a stop to it." she said. Twilight watched as the cogs in their heads turned, some faster than others.

"Ooh, Ooh, is it Alduin, the world-eater?!" Pinkie asked, raising her hoof like an excited student who knew the answer to a question.

"What? No! I hope not. Who's Alduin?" Twilight asked. Pinkie thought for a moment.

"Sorry, Twilight. Wrong franchise. I forgot my test; I've gotta ask you a question." she said.

"Umm, can it wait, Pinkie? This is kinda important." Twilight said. Pinkie just waved her hooves to shush her.

"Just answer quickly, Chicken or Beef?" Pinkie asked, looking dead serious.

"What?! What does that have to do with-."

"JUST ANSWER!!!" Pinkie screamed.

"CHICKEN!!!" Twilight replied, screaming out of frustration herself.

"Then it's STARKILLER!!!" she screamed the name. Twilight was both astounded and confused at the same time. She also thought that Pinkie sounded rather pleased by the answer, almost like a gushing school filly in love.

"I...what, how did you...HUH?!" Twilight was beyond confused as to how Pinkie knew his name. "How... could you possibly know that?!" she begged. Every time Pinkie said something random and came up with the correct answer made Twilight so furious. She wanted to Understand how Pinkie did it.

"Dunno, I just know this stuff." she replied, shrugging the whole thing off.

"So, who's this Starkiller guy? Is he a pony, dragon, what?" Dash asked, fired up at being able to deal with a new enemy of Equestria, and boost her fame in the process.

"Alduin's a dragon!" Pinkie interjected before going back to her spaced-out look with her tongue sticking out. She looked like a pink Derpy then.

"I've got one word for you, Dash: Aliens." Twilight replied. Both Rainbow Dash and Applejack leaped in the air with joy. Twilight wasn't aware, but Dash and Applejack had bet against the others that the next big threat to Equestria would be "totally out of this world"; and they were right.

"Pay up, Rarity!" Applejack said, waggling her hoof with a smug look on her face ( ). Rarity sighed with irritation and hoofed over a small bag of bits.

"Next one's a demon from the depths of Tartarus." she stated.

"Nah, Twilight's totally gonna turn evil next time." Dash interjected.

"Um, girls?" a meek voice called out but was caught in the hustle and bustle between the two opposing outcomes.

"Ah'll take that bet! Twenty bits says Twilight does her own impression of Nightmare moon!" Applejack declared.

"ooh, ooh, Twilight's totally gonna turn evil!" Pinkie added, placing her bet.

"Um...girls?" Fluttershy spoke again, but went unheard once again.

"Are you guys seriously doing this now?" Twilight asked, appalled.

"Twilight... I think I see-."

"I guess if Pinkie says it's gonna happen, it's good enough for me. Dash said, reaffirming her bet.

"GIRLS!" Twilight cried in both urgency and insult.

"TWILIGHT!" Fluttershy suddenly screamed, catching all ponies off guard. She had their attention now.

"Sorry, Fluttershy, was something the matter?" Twilight asked, unable to place the importance of Equestria over Fluttershy's need to assert herself from time to time.

"Is this Strkiller alien tall, walks on two legs and has a brass coloured mask that breathes like a broken snorkel?" Fluttershy asked. Twilight was again surprised by the accuracy of her friends' guess.

"Yes, how did you know that?" the Alicorn asked, looking worriedly at Fluttershy.

"Because he's standing right behind you." Fluttershy pointed towards a location just behind where the ponies had been facing. Each pony turned around slowly and cautiously. Rarity fainted upon seeing it, Applejack went wide-eyed, as did Pinkie, although Twilight felt Pinkie had reacted for a whole other reason to Applejack. Fluttershy was petrified after having pointed Starkiller out and Twilight just stared at the intruder who was breathing like he was trying to use a broken snorkel.

Author's Note

Okay, so this is Chapter 3. For those of you who don't know what a snorkel is, it's this: Snorkel