Star Wars: The Friendship Unleashed

Chapters

Chapter 2 - A New Home
Chapter 3 - Jedi Recruitment
Chapter 4 - Master and Student
Chapter 5 - Trials of the Forest
Chapter 6 - Trial of the Castle
Chapter 1 - Escape

Chapter 2 - A New Home

Rainbow Dash flew after the ship she was nearly knocked out of the air by only moments before. There was no way she was going to be beaten in a race by a hunk of flying metal. She fast approached the ship, flapping her wings as hard and fast as she could as she tried to take back the lead.

“Come on Rainbow!” She said to herself “You can outrun that hunk of metal!” Her pace picked up after she had coached herself aloud.

Meanwhile, onboard the ship, Kurt monitored Rainbow Dash’s progress on a screen. Twilight, Rarity and Applejack stood close to the front of the cockpit, looking out the window, watching the clouds zoom by. Pinkie stood beside Kurt observing the screen, cheering on Rainbow Dash.

“Woohoo! Go Rainbow Dash!” Pinkie cheered happily.

“Uh, Pinkie? Whose side are ya on exactly?” Applejack asked the pink pony.

“I don’t know, hey!” Pinkie exclaimed “How close is she to us?”

“She’s very close,” Kurt replied “I should probably push the throttle a bi-”

“Kurt, I wouldn't do that if I were you.” Twilight interrupted “Rainbow Dash is very competitive, she’s not exactly a good sport about losing. I’d say let her win this one. That is, if she can outfly us at our current speed.”

“Alright then, Twilight, I’ll listen to you.” Kurt replied “If she can fly faster than the speed of sound, then I’ll allow her to win.”

“That’s how fast we’re goin’? Hoo boy, Ah didn’t think we were goin’ that fast!” Applejack exclaimed.

“Well, you’re certainly in for a surprise, Mr. Cloudrunner.” Rarity stated with a slight grin.

“Ooh! A surprise? I love surprises!” Pinkie said joining the conversation “What is it?”

“Oh Pinkie, it wouldn’t be a surprise to you.” Twilight stated shaking her head “I think Rarity means the Sonic Rainboom.”

“Ohhhh!! Silly me, I forgot!” Pinkie said putting a hoof to her head chuckling “Well, it’s not much of a surprise now Twilight! You just said what it is!”

“It doesn’t make that much of a difference Pinkie. I don’t know what this ‘Sonic Rainboom’ is. So in a way, she hasn’t ruined it yet.” Kurt replied trying to reassure Pinkie.

“It’ll still be a surprise to him, Pinkie.” Twilight stated “Trust me.” Kurt noticed Rainbow Dash was no longer in sight of the rear-view camera. He started flicking around on the ship’s targeting system until he found a life-form moving near to the speed of sound located just next to the ship. Outside the ship, Rainbow Dash could see Canterlot in the distance.

“Come on Dash, you can do it! One Sonic Rainboom and you’ve won this thing!” Rainbow said coaching herself again. They would soon arrive at Canterlot. She wasn’t going to allow herself to lose this race. She accelerated just a little more, a Mach cone started forming around Rainbow Dash. Her wings were beating as fast as they would allow and maybe even a little more. She had almost overtaken the ship “Just a little more! COME ON!!!” Rainbow yelled at herself.

“Impressive.” Kurt said looking out the window to see Rainbow Dash neck-and-cockpit with the ship. He observed the cyan pony for a few more seconds when suddenly, a huge explosion appeared where Rainbow Dash had once been flying sending out a rainbow-coloured shockwave through the air. The ship shook violently, making all the ponies who were standing around the cockpit fly into the walls or ceiling. Kurt quickly grasped the controls and leveled out the ship. He then observed the vivid rainbow that stretched across the sky directly towards Canterlot castle. Rainbow Dash no longer appeared on the targeting system.

“Well, that certainly was a surprise.” Kurt said after a few seconds of silence as the ponies got back onto their hooves “What did you say that was called?” He asked Twilight.

“Well, she calls it the ‘Sonic Rainboom’.” Twilight replied.

“Amazing.” Kurt replied “I suppose I’ve lost the race at this point, we may as well get there a little faster now. We wouldn’t want to keep her waiting too long, now would we?” Kurt pushed the throttle to 100% and followed the rainbow to Canterlot Castle.

In the castle garden, Princess Celestia and Luna were having tea and daffodil sandwiches. The air was peaceful and quiet. The only audible sounds were those of conversation and the occasional gentle touch of the Princess’s teacups clinking against their saucers.

“Tell me, sister.” Celestia said while telekinetically setting down her teacup “What has been troubling you recently?” Luna gave her sister a surprised look.

“Nothing’s been troubling me, Tia.” She replied “Why would you think that?” Celestia sighed.

“Sister, please don’t hide things from me. I know something has been bothering you recently.” Luna looked at the table, out of her peripheral vision, she could see Celestia still looking at her patiently awaiting her response “Well, sister?” Luna sighed. She could see there was no getting around this.

“Fine, I’ll tell you.” Luna finally replied looking up at her sister, Celestia smiled back at her. Luna looked to her sister, as if she were awaiting some kind of signal for her to begin speaking.

“Go on, Luna.” Celestia said with a slight chuckle.

“Alright sis.” Luna said at last, she took a breath and exhaled “I’ve been having these dreams recently. Not really dreams, they’re more… Nightmares.” Luna looked to her sister.

“What did you see in the dr-, err, nightmares?” Celestia asked. Luna took another breath. It was clear to Celestia these dreams must have disturbed Luna greatly.

“Well…” Luna started “The nightmares start with you, me and the holders of the Elements of Harmony. The eight of us are gathered in the great hall of the castle. Outside, there are large ships of some kind. They were large, metal and triangular. The size of them blocks out the sun and casts darkness over our land. From them come many smaller ships that were attacking our buildings from the sky. Other ships come down from the sky and leave many humans on the ground to invade our towns and cities. All of them in full white armour and weapons that shoot red beams. They reach our castle. Another man is with them this time. One clad in black armour. He carries with him a weapon, like a sword, except it glows a bright red. Our guards try to fend him off, but he stops them all. Some with his sword, others with… Magic.”

“What happens to you after that?” Celestia asked.

“I’m not sure.” Luna replied “After he enters the room, I see the suffering our people go through under their rule. We no longer have reign over this planet, only that black-armoured man.”

“I see.” Celestia replies calmly “I wouldn’t worry about those dreams, sister. The last time we have interacted with humans was when we were fillies. After our father moved our planet out here, into the far reaches of space, no other species have been able to find us here.”

“But surely they could, couldn’t they?”

“It’s possible but not likely, sister. Don’t worry too much about it, alright?” Luna sighed. She knew Celestia was right; there was no point in getting so worked up over a simple nightmare.

“WHOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!” The calm air of the Princess’s lunch in the garden was interrupted by a scream followed by a large splash in the garden’s pond. A rainbow hung in the air that led to the pond.

“Sister?” Luna asked.

“Yes Luna?” Celestia replied.

“Was that the holder of the Element of Loyalty?”

“Yes it was.” There was a brief silence. Both sisters stood from the table they were sitting at and walked over to the pond to find Rainbow Dash floating in the water looking at the rainbow trail she had left behind.

“Whoa…” Rainbow Dash said to herself, her eyes shifted from the sky to the two alicorns standing at the edge of the pond looking at her “Agh! Err, Princess Celestia! Princess Luna! I’m sorry! I didn’t mean t-”

“Are you alright Rainbow Dash?” Celestia asked.

“I’m fine, but I ju-”

“Don’t worry Rainbow Dash, you didn’t do any damage to the garden.” Celestia interrupted, lifting Rainbow Dash telekinetically out of the pond and onto dry land “Now, tell me, what made you fly in here in such a hurry?”

“Well…” Rainbow Dash started. Before she could start her story, a circular shadow covered the garden. Celestia, Luna and Rainbow Dash looked up to see a metal ship preparing to land in the garden.

“Yeah… That thing.” Rainbow Dash said flatly. The princesses stood in awe of the large metal vessel landing in front of them. The air was filled with the loud, whirring sound from the engine of the ship that ceased shortly after it landed. Luna jumped in front of her sister and her horn glowed a bright blue.

“Tia! Rainbow Dash! Leave this place at once! I will hold them off!” She said sharply. A hatch on the ship opened slowly, lowering itself to the ground.

“Luna, there’s n-”

“It was wise of you to bring this threat here, Rainbow Dash. Now I must ask you to leave! I will handle this!” Luna barked back as her horn shone brighter.

“But L-” Rainbow Dash stopped as she saw Pinkie bounce happily out of the ship humming. Luna turned to see Pinkie Pie, Luna’s horn stopped glowing and her mouth went agape.

“Pinkie…? This is your ship?” Luna asked slowly, Celestia stood behind Luna and chuckled.

“What? No silly, this isn’t my ship! It’s his!” Pinkie said pointing a hoof to Kurt who was exiting the ship with the rest of its equine passengers. Luna looked up to see a human standing in front of her. Celestia stepped forward and smiled.

“Greetings, young Jedi knight. What brings you to our world?” Celestia said bowing slightly. Kurt was pleasantly surprised; it seemed that somepony at least had knowledge of his kind.

“Wait a min- Tia! What’s going on?!” Luna asked sharply.

“Luna, calm down. This young man means us no harm.” Celestia replied.

“Princess, what did you call him?” Twilight asked.

“This young man is a Jedi knight, isn’t that right?” Celestia said looking to Kurt.

“Yes, that is correct your majesty. You must be Princess Celestia. My name is Kurt Cloudrunner.” Kurt replied bowing to Celestia.

“Yes, I am Celestia and this is my sister, Luna.” She said gesturing to Luna who once again stood with her mouth agape.

“It is a pleasure to meet you both.” Kurt stated giving a smile. Luna finally regained the ability to speak as well as her basic motor functions.

“How do you know what he is Tia?! How do yo-”

“Luna, you wouldn’t remember the Jedi because you were only a baby. That’s why you don’t have a recollection of when father moved the planet far away from the outer rim or the invasion of the Sith that preceded that.”

“This planet was moved? How?” Asked Kurt “Also, I’ve never seen any of… Your kind, if you will, mentioned in the archives of the Jedi. I’ve never even seen any of your kind before today. Would you please explain these things to me? And the Sith?” Celestia raised a hoof to silence Kurt’s barrage of questions.

“I will tell you everything once we get inside, it would be better to discuss these things elsewhere.” Celestia motioned for everypony to follow her as she left the garden. The seven ponies and human followed Celestia out of the garden and into the castle.

After a short time, they had arrived in a large chamber. The chamber was decorated with several stained-glass murals depicting the history of Equestria. Several of them featured the two princesses. Two of them showed the six ponies Kurt had met outside of Ponyville. In one of these, they were shown standing around a pony that resembled their princess Luna. While in another they were in a creature whose head resembled that of a dragon and the body of different animals. That creature also appeared in another mural with Celestia and Luna. At the end of the chamber was a large double door. Three circles adorned each side of the door. A large sun with a hole in it was in the center. Celestia stood facing the door for a moment. She turned to face the seven ponies and one human who had accompanied her into the chamber.

“Master Cloudrunner, do you remember the Great Galactic War that took place over three thousand years ago?” Celestia asked.

“Yes, I can remember some stories about that war.” Kurt replied.

“Do you remember the Battle of Equii?” She asked with a bit more curiosity in her voice. Kurt paused for a moment.

“I… Can’t say that I do, no.” He replied after his brief silence.

“Good, it would seem the Jedi did hold up their end after all.” Celestia said letting out a small sigh of what Kurt believed to be relief.

“What do you mean?” Kurt asked. Celestia took a breath.

“At the beginning of the Great Galactic War, the first planet that was attacked by the Sith was this planet. The Sith attacked this planet in the hopes of destroying the Elements of Harmony. The Elements of Harmony are amplifiers of what you know as ‘the force’. I’m sure you have sensed it in my little ponies already.”

“Yes, their connection to the force is incredibly powerful.” Kurt replied turning to the six ponies that stood in a line behind him. He turned back to Celestia “But continue your story.”

“Of course,” Celestia replied “Now, the Sith planned to destroy the elements in hopes of crippling the Jedi’s connection to the force, and if possible, strengthening theirs if they could find a way to harness the element’s power.”

“Excuse me princess, but what are… The Sith?” Twilight asked stepping forward.

“I’ll answer this one, princess.” Kurt said turning to Twilight “The Sith are users of the force that use the ‘dark side’ of the force. The dark side is a very addictive side of the force that is, arguably, more powerful than the ‘light side’ that the Jedi, like myself, use. Those who use the dark side of the force are driven by their anger or passion and through use of the dark side, whoever they were before ceases to exist and all that is left of them is a corrupted version of the person they once were.”

“That sounds very familiar…” Twilight said rubbing her chin with a hoof. Pinkie gasped.

“That sounds like what happened when Discord made us all into those grey meanie versions of us!” Pinkie exclaimed.

“Yes, that’s exactly what it sounds like!” Twilight replied.

“Who is this Discord?” Kurt asked. Luna pointed a hoof to a mural of the princesses and a dragon-like creature.

“That is Discord.” Luna replied “He is the spirit of chaos. He thrives off the disharmony and suffering of ponies. He has magical powers which allow him to turn the world around him into whatever he desires.”

“Yeah! He made these cotton candy clouds that made it rain chocolate milk! But that wasn’t really a bad thing!” Pinkie interjected. Everypony gave Pinkie a stern look. “Okay, maybe it was a teensy-weensy-itty-bitty bit bad.” Kurt turned to Celestia.

“Do you think Discord was possessed by the dark side of the force?” Kurt asked.

“Well… I’m not sure.” Celestia replied “It’s not important now however. May I continue with my explanation from before?”

“You may.”

“Very well.” Celestia said taking another breath “The Jedi had a strong presence on this planet and they had planned on building a temple here due to our planet’s connection with the ‘light side’ of the force. These facts did not deter the Sith, however. They attacked anyway and nearly defeated the Jedi. That’s when my father and mother wielded the Elements of Harmony and drove the Sith from the planet. At this point however, the Sith had already gravely injured my mother. She passed only minutes after summoning the elements and banishing the Sith from our world. My father told the remaining Jedi to leave the planet and erase all existing information about our kind and any kind of involvement in the galaxy’s history. After the Jedi left, my father used all the magic he could muster and moved this planet from the Outer Rim deep into Wild Space where we could not be found. And here we have lived for thousands of years without any visitors. We too erased all evidence of other species involvement on our planet other than those who were indigenous. A few ponies occasionally tell stories that have been passed down about humans, however those who do tell them are passed off as lunatics for thinking of such, ‘odd’ creatures, compared to us.”

“Wait a minute! So-”

“Aw man, so Lyra was really on to something this whole time?” Rainbow Dash said interrupting Twilight’s exclamation with her own putting a hoof to her head out of guilt.

“More than likely, yes.” Celestia confirmed “You should probably apologise to her for anything you may have said about her. Especially since you have living proof of her being correct.”

“Sister, how come you never told me any of this?” Luna asked.

“I didn’t think it was necessary to burden your mind with such a time in our history. Especially one that according to our history books doesn’t exist.” Celestia replied. "Also, whenever I would try to bring up mother and father in the past, you would stop me before I could speak of them."

“I just have one question.” Kurt stated “Weren’t other ponies spread across the galaxy? Surely there must have been some who had gone to other planets.” Celestia shook her head.

“Nopony ever left this planet. Not even my parents left. My father made strict laws about ponies leaving this planet. From what it sounds like, seeing as you’ve never seen our kind, his laws were upheld quite well.” Kurt shrugged and nodded.
“So, what is your position on me staying here?” Kurt asked.

“You haven’t told us about how you managed to get here or any of the circumstances. Please enlighten us.” Celestia replied. Everypony looked intently at Kurt.

“Throughout the galaxy for the past few years, there has been war. The conflict has been dubbed ‘the Clone Wars’. This is because of the Republic’s army being made up of clone soldiers. The Republic was at war with the Separatists for four years. Each side struggled to take or hold control of their planets. Only a handful of Sith remain in the galaxy. And now even less Jedi, who numbered in the hundreds, must have dropped into single digits at the most. Today everything changed…”

Kurt proceeded to tell the eight ponies about the events that had unfolded in his life that day. When Kurt spoke of his friend Jason, he struggled to hold back tears yet again. He told them everything that had taken place up until when he entered the atmosphere of their planet.

“… Princess Celestia, Princess Luna. Please, all I ask of you is to allow me to stay in this land of Equestria for the remainder of my days, and if fate sees fit, the day when the Jedi can rise against the Sith once again.” Kurt said kneeling before the princesses.

“I don’t see any reason why he can’t stay here.” Luna said to her sister.

“Nor do I.” She replied “Master Cloudrunner, we grant you permission to stay in Equestria for as long as you please.” Kurt smiled.

“Thank you, Princess Celestia and Luna.” Kurt said.

“Princess Celestia,” Twilight spoke as she moved towards her “Can Kurt stay with me at the Ponyville library? I’m sure he’ll be able to learn plenty about ponykind if he stays with me.” Celestia chuckled.

“I don’t know. Why don’t you ask him?” She said gesturing to Kurt. He chuckled lightly.

“Twilight, I’d be happy to accept your generous offer. Thank you very much.” He said with a smile.

“You girls know what this means don’t you?” Pinkie asked grinning “It means we have to have a welcome to Ponyville party for Kurt!!!” She exclaimed jumping into the air as streamers and confetti exploded from behind the pony. Kurt had found a new place to call home…

Chapter 3 - Jedi Recruitment

One week had passed since Kurt’s arrival in Ponyville. Even though Kurt was of a completely different species to the majority of ponies in Equestria, Kurt was welcomed with open hooves. His ‘Welcome to Ponyville’ party was far larger than he had expected it to be, Pinkie claimed everypony who lived in Ponyville was in attendance.

During the past week, Kurt had been studying the customs and history of Equestria. Twilight had been helping him, explaining things such as the Elements of Harmony and their usage in the past. These Elements were very intriguing to Kurt and he searched extensively for some knowledge of their connection with the force. Kurt had Twilight send for books from the Canterlot library in an attempt to find some information, but to no avail. He lost many hours of sleep trying to find out how these seemingly simple personality traits could give way to such a powerful connection to the force.

After nearly a week of searching for answers through books, Kurt finally gave up on finding his answers through books. Instead, Kurt decided it was time to do his own research on the Element holders…

It was early in the morning when Kurt awoke. Twilight had invited her friends over to visit her this afternoon. Kurt had asked Twilight to do this in order for him to test the ponies’ connection to the force.

Before he could decide on training any of them however, he decided it would be best to meditate on the ponies’ individual futures. He didn’t want to train them in the ways of the force if they were going to end up betraying everypony and turning to the dark side. This morning would be dedicated to meditation until Twilight’s friends arrived.

Kurt sat on his bed with his legs crossed, his hands in his lap and his eyes closed. He concentrated on Twilight and her friends. His own memories of the ponies flowing through his mind, these thoughts were undisturbed by any other wayward thoughts. As of late, all Jedi’s ability to predict the future had been clouded. But he had to try at least, even if he could just get a glimpse of their abilities with the force, that would be enough for him.

He saw a vision of Twilight’s future self. He could see that she had become the strongest force user amongst her friends. Her ability to control it even rivalled Kurt’s own ability to use and sense the force. Her ability might have even been better than his.

He saw Twilight standing in a field while training under Kurt’s instruction with the other ponies. She used the force to hold several training dummies in the air while shooting beams of magic at them and slashing the dummies rapidly with her lightsaber controlled by the force rather than her magic. What was left of the dummy was thrown far into the field. Her friends and Kurt had stopped what they were doing in order to witness Twilight’s incredible feat and applauded her skill. Kurt tried looking further into her future, but it was clouded. He figured that he may not be able to see that far into the future for anypony and decided moved onto somepony else.

Kurt then saw a vision of Applejack’s future. Applejack’s control over the force was possibly the weakest of the group and she was also a slow learner, which did not help her case. Kurt could see a short vision of her struggling to lift a small metal ball using the force. She was not hopeless however; her abilities with a lightsaber were not to be underestimated.

Kurt saw another vision of her sparring with her friends using sticks at Sweet Apple Acres. He could see an older Scootaloo, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle watching the six ponies in awe. Applejack held her stick in one hoof as the rest of her friends did, save for Rarity and Twilight who levitated it using their magic. Applejack made short work of Twilight and Pinkie in battle. She made the shortest of Fluttershy who had forfeit before Applejack was even able to blink. Rarity and Rainbow Dash lasted the longest against Applejack, Rainbow Dash lasting just a bit longer. Rainbow Dash was defeated in a very flashy manner, it was unusual for Applejack to show off, but Applejack had something to prove against Rainbow Dash. Applejack hit Rainbow Dash’s stick hard enough to knock Rainbow off balance. Applejack did a quick turn to back Rainbow and quickly gave her a buck to the body sending her stumbling backwards. Applejack then threw her own stick at Rainbow Dash and then controlled it with the force spinning it rapidly; disarming her cyan friend in what must have been less than ten seconds. Applejack released her grip on the stick dropping it to the ground in front of Rainbow Dash. She thrust one of her front hooves forward and Rainbow Dash was launched into the air, sending her flying into the nearby barn making her collide with several hay bales inside it. She would make a powerful Jedi. And an even more powerful Sith. Kurt perished that thought quickly and decided to continue.

Kurt saw a vision of Rarity using a force technique he had never heard of or seen another Jedi do. She threw a training dummy into the air using the force and then shot it with a blue bolt of magic which enveloped the dummy and kept it floating in the air. She then stomped her front hooves on the ground simultaneously. Suddenly, a large number of gemstones flew out of the ground and sped towards the floating dummy flying directly through it leaving many sizeable holes in the dummy. What remained of the dummy fell to the ground as Rarity did a small bow. Rarity had used the force to pull off this astonishing feat, the only magic she had used was her freezing spell. Rarity’s lightsaber style was similar to that of the late Count Dooku. While Rarity was not necessarily somepony who was interested in conflict, she certainly was very knowledgeable of fighting.

A vision of Pinkie Pie materialised in Kurt’s mind. An apparition of the pink pony physically pushed the visions of Rarity’s future out of his mind. The apparition giggled and suddenly disappeared into the darkness of Kurt’s blank mind. A vision of Pinkie Pie slowly began to materialise.

Kurt was beginning a sparring match with the pink pony using sticks as usual. She was on the attack, lashing out at Kurt while he held her off. Out of nowhere during the fight, a second Pinkie Pie appeared attacking Kurt who already had enough trouble holding off one Pinkie. The second Pinkie disappeared for a brief moment and suddenly reappeared in front of Kurt’s face. She blasted him backwards with a force push that sent him spinning into the air. As his body descended to the ground due to the cruel mistress of gravity, Kurt caught a glimpse of Pinkie Pie on the ground directly below him. She thrusted her hoof toward Kurt which sent him flying into the sky.

A white pegasus with a yellow mane who bore a striking resemblance to Pinkie flew down from behind a cloud. The pegasus stuck a cupcake in Kurt's face when she got to the same altitude as Kurt. She then quickly wrapped her forelegs around Kurt’s body and flew straight down towards the ground at top speed. As he approached the ground, he saw Pinkie put a trampoline directly underneath him. The pegasus let go of him hardly a second away from the ground and flew off. Kurt bounced off the trampoline and back into the air to be met with a pink blur coming straight at him. He felt two strikes connect with his chest and back at the same time, forcing his eyes open. Through his pained gaze, he saw another pink blur fly past him from behind. His now limp and aching body fell back onto the trampoline, bouncing off the trampoline and onto the ground.

When he regained the strength to open his eyes, he looked around for the second Pinkie and the white pegasus but neither were anywhere to be seen. The only ponies that were in sight consisted of one Pinkie Pie and her friends who were considering taking him to the hospital while Pinkie apologised as many times as she could for going so hard on him. From this vision, Kurt couldn’t determine whether Pinkie’s force abilities had to do with mind manipulation or if they allowed her to create clones of herself, or if it was just one of her natural (or unnatural) abilities. Pinkie was indeed an odd character and even more so due to her 'abilities'. If she could apply them in any battle like how she did in his vision, she would be unstoppable.

Kurt moved on from Pinkie Pie to foresee what Fluttershy’s future pertaining to her lifestyle as a Jedi may be. Fluttershy was inside Kurt’s ship with her yellow-bladed lightsaber switched on and in hoof while a training-remote hovered around her.

She watched the training remote closely waiting for it to fire, deflecting the tiny lasers with her lightsaber that the remote shot. The remote fired a shot that hit the hilt of Fluttershy’s lightsaber, causing it to shut off. Fluttershy frantically pressed the activation button with her hoof to no avail. Suddenly the training remote fired, Fluttershy shut her eyes and held out a hoof instinctively in an attempt to keep the laser from hitting her. After a few seconds she opened her eyes and looked around her. A faint blue aura surrounded Fluttershy’s body in a spherical shape, absorbing the lasers the training-remote shot at her. She giggled in delight at her newfound ability looking over to Kurt who nodded in approval. Fluttershy blushed and the shield around her disintegrated. The training remote fired a laser hitting Fluttershy on the flank. She let out a yelp and ran behind Kurt who chuckled at the comedic scene.

That vision seeped away revealing another vision of Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash in a dark forest. Fluttershy held a hoof over a large gash on Rainbow’s side. A bright white and blue aura came from the yellow pegasus’s hoof and Rainbow Dash’s wound slowly faded away leaving her cyan coat in its place. Kurt had never seen a Jedi with such fast healing abilities before. All of these ponies so far had surprised him a great deal, there was just one more pegasus he needed to meditate on.

The visions of Fluttershy deteriorated from Kurt’s mind to make way for a certain cyan pegasus. Kurt found himself in a dark forest at night. From what Kurt could tell, this was the same forest from his vision of Fluttershy a moment ago. Rainbow Dash flew down from above Kurt holding her lightsaber. She landed with a heavy thud a few feet away. Her mane and coat seemed more grey than usual, and the force that flowed from her before had been replaced by the energy of the dark side of the force. Rainbow Dash flew towards Kurt, slashing at him as fast as she could in a flurry of attacks that made her blue lightsaber appear to be rainbow-coloured occasionally. He locked lightsabers with the pegasus who hovered at his height, pushing her lightsaber hard against his own. His vision of her faded into black and was replaced by her voice yelling at him, echoing loudly through his mind.

“… Why won’t you just leave me alone?!...”

“… I don’t care what you want me to do, master!...”

“… Discord’s your problem! I’ve already dealt with him once; I’m not doing it again! Especially not for the likes of you!...”

“… You can’t stop me! I’m way more powerful than you now!...”

“… What makes you think I care about Twilight or Fluttershy or any of those other losers?!...”

Kurt opened his eyes. The sunlight poured into Kurt’s room, not a single spot in the room was in darkness. He swung his legs over the side of his bed and put a hand to his forehead. He pondered what happened to Rainbow Dash in his vision. He remembered a name she had said, Discord. He remembered Twilight telling him about how he had changed all of her friends into opposites of themselves and that their colours had faded away while under his influence. Rainbow Dash represented the Element of Loyalty, therefore, the opposite that would have taken over her would be Disloyalty. It all made sense to him now. Her actions and words must have been a result of his influence, not because she had turned to the dark side. She did seem to have knowledge of the new power that was flowing through her, however. Kurt wished he had seen something other than that sole vision of Rainbow Dash so he would have an idea of her abilities outside of her speed when attacking with her lightsaber.

As far as Kurt could tell, everypony would grow to be exceptionally powerful Jedi and they generally showed no signs of going down any of the paths to the dark side. It seemed however that if Discord was to come back and cast his influence over them once again, they would be turned to the dark side while under his control.

“Maybe I shouldn’t train them.” He said to himself out loud. If they were exposed to the dark side too long, they would surely succumb to it. He didn’t doubt Discord’s power at all. From the books he had read about Equestria’s history, Discord almost eradicated all of the alicorns in the land save for Celestia and Luna.

One factor still told him he should train these ponies however, and that was that he may be the only Jedi left in the galaxy. He had no way of finding out whether there were other Jedi still alive in the galaxy. As far as his knowledge went, the only Jedi who had any chances of survival were Master Kota, who to Kurt’s knowledge used his own militia rather than the clones and Master Yoda who Kurt was confident must still be alive. But even though Kurt could make guesses as to which Jedi remained in the galaxy, he had no proof that they were. For now, all he knew was that there were six ponies he knew of that each had a powerful connection to the force. He couldn’t waste this opportunity. The fate of the Jedi order was in his hands and their hooves.
Kurt walked over to his window and looked outside. The sun was high in the sky; He guessed that it was early afternoon. Kurt sighed and proceeded to walk out the door, levitating his lightsaber to his side and clipping it to his belt.

Twilight sat quietly reading on the main floor of the library. It was nearly time for her friends to come over. Spike was busy re-shelving several books that Twilight and Kurt had read through entirely and no longer needed to be scattered across the floor of the library.

“So… Tell me why you’re having everypony over here again?” Spike asked trying not to sound rude.

“I already told you three times, Spike: Kurt asked me to have everypony over so he could talk to us more about ‘the force’ and our possible ability to control it.” Twilight replied with a hint of irritation.

“Uh huh…” Spike started “So… Why didn’t you tell anypony that it was Kurt’s idea?”

“Well… I don’t know…” Twilight replied realising that she should have told her friends exactly why they were coming over “I suppose I didn’t want to have to explain what ‘the force’ was to anypony, mainly because I don’t know anything about it outside of the description Kurt gave me.”

“And what was that?” Spike asked climbing up a ladder with several large books stashed under one of his arms.

“Spike, I’ve told you all of this alr-”
“No you haven’t Twilight, you told me why everypony was coming over. Not what Kurt told you about ‘the force’.” Spike interrupted.

“Oh… Right…” Twilight laughed nervously between her words “Kurt told me the force was an energy field that all living beings create. This… ‘Force’ is measured using ‘midi-chlorians’ which are present in somepony’s bloodstream. A higher count means a stronger connection to the force. If somepony’s midi-chlorian count is high enough, they can manipulate the force to use it for things like telekinesis.”

“So, it’s like unicorn magic in a way?” Spike asked putting one of the larger books on a high shelf, after placing the book on the shelf, Spike lost his balance on the ladder and fell backwards letting out a yell. Spike opened his eyes to find himself looking at the ceiling of the library. He floated above the floor of the library. The purple haze of Twilight’s magic was nowhere to be seen. Spike looked around to see standing several feet away holding out a hand.

“From what I’ve seen of Twilight’s own magic, there are some similarities between the force and unicorn magic.” Kurt stated walking towards Spike “But they are both considerably different from each other.” Kurt lowered Spike to the ground and released his grip on Spike.

“How’s that?” Spike asked.

“Well, for one, the force cannot change a stone into a top hat.” Kurt replied with a smile “But there are a great many things that can be done with the force such as healing and telekinesis to name a couple. A few Jedi I have known were able to manipulate the force to create a shield around themselves or others.”

“That sounds cool!” Spike exclaimed “What else can you do?” Before Kurt could answer him, there was a knock on the door.

“It sounds like your friends are here, Twilight.” Kurt stated extending his arm towards the door and opening it using the force. In the doorway stood Twilight’s friends, they were all on time.

“Hey Kurt, hey Twi, hey Spike.” Rainbow Dash said greeting the library’s inhabitants “So what’s going on? Why’d you call us here?” She asked.

“I know! I know!” Pinkie exclaimed “You got us together so we could have a party celebrating Kurt being with us for a whole week, didn’t you?!”

“Erm… N-”

“This isn’t much of a party, I mean, there aren’t any balloons or cake or streamers or any fun party stuff! Well, better bring out my Party Ca-” Pinkie stated interrupting Twilight.

“Pinkie, that’s not what I called you all here for.” Twilight interrupted trying to stop Pinkie from taking out her party cannon and turning the library into a Happy You’ve-Been-In-Ponyville-For-A-Week party for Kurt.

“Then what did you call us here for? Is somethin’ wrong?” Asked Applejack.

“No, nothing’s wrong Applejack.” Kurt replied “I had Twilight call you all here this afternoon for something very important.” Everypony looked at each other quizzically. Twilight simply looked to Kurt awaiting him to reveal to the others what he had summoned them for.

“What’s so important then?” Asked Rainbow Dash who hovered above her grounded friends. Kurt took a deep breath.

“You all recall Princess Celestia and I discussing the Elements of Harmony’s connection to the force; don’t you?” Kurt asked the six ponies who all nodded in confirmation. Kurt motioned his right hand horizontally and the door to the library shut, emitting some surprise from Applejack and Rainbow Dash. Fluttershy let out a high-pitched yelp and hid behind Applejack once the sound of the door shutting had reached her ears. Applejack and Rainbow Dash both rolled their eyes and looked back to Kurt.

“So, as you are all aware, each of you has a connection to the life-giving energy known as ‘the force’. A very strong connection at that, not one easily found in your average, every-day person.” Kurt paced back and forth in front of a book shelf as he spoke, the ponies and Spike watching and listening closely.

“As you are also aware, I am one of the last of the Jedi in the galaxy. One could say that I am the last Jedi in the galaxy. Because of this, the Jedi Order will only survive as long as I do unless I find students to train in the ways of the force.” He stopped pacing and turned to face the ponies.

“I would like those students to be the six of you.” Everypony in the room looked to each other trying to see who would speak first.

“Hay yeah I’m in!” Shouted Rainbow Dash eagerly.

“Me too! Me too!” Pinkie exclaimed jumping up and down.

“Hold on now, why do we have to rebuild this here Jedi Order again?” Applejack asked. Kurt sighed.

“The Emperor holds every planet in the Galactic senate in an iron grip. From what I can guess, I’m sure he has silenced any opposition he has had in the senate. It is also very possible that he has enslaved the inhabitants of entire planets of his opposition in the senate as well. Those planets with inhabitants that cannot repel the Emperor’s forces on their own have surely fallen by now.” Kurt replied beginning to pace again “I want to train you six so that one day we may be able to overthrow the Emperor and restore peace to the galaxy.”

“But we can’t do that just with the seven of us!” Twilight exclaimed “We need an army to fight the Emperor! If you say there were hundreds of Jedi and in one day they all got killed, we need some kind of military to back us up!”

“Twilight, this is just the beginning. When the time comes that you have all been taught everything I can teach you about the force, we will assemble our army and we will strike against the Emperor and free the galaxy of his control.” Kurt replied.

“Kurt darling, where do you intend to get your army from exactly?” Rarity asked stepping forward “We would need weapons and bases an-”

“Rarity, please, as I said to Twilight, we are only at the beginning. Have patience, and your questions will be answered.” Kurt interrupted as politely as he could.

“Kurt?” Called the quiet voice of Fluttershy from the back of the group of ponies “Why do we have to fight the Emperor?” Kurt was half-surprised at Fluttershy’s question. It was only natural for her to want to avoid conflict, but that didn’t fully dampen the shock the question gave him.

“Maybe if we just asked politely he might change his mind and stop doing such mean things to everypony… Don’t you think that would work?” Kurt could vividly picture Fluttershy as a filly asking him that question. Maybe her cuteness would make the Emperor change his mind... Kurt thought to himself.

“Fluttershy… I wish we could do that.” Kurt replied “The Emperor controls the galaxy with force rather than the diplomacy it was controlled with before. He does not care about the suffering of others as long as he maintains control of the galaxy.”

“Fluttershy, what Kurt here’s tryin’ t’ say is that sometimes to get your message across, ya need t’ give somepony a good buck t’ the head.” Applejack said with a grin. Kurt silently hoped Twilight wouldn’t put that in one of her letters to Princess Celestia about the magic of friendship “Especially if that somepony’s enslaving an’ hurtin’ others! Kurt, you can count me in on this here Jedi business!”

“Although Applejack’s metaphor is vulgar to say the least, I must agree with her. I cannot simply stand by and allow these horrors to continue. I accept your request Kurt and I will gladly be your student.” Rarity stated proudly. Upon hearing Rarity’s acceptance, Spike perked up.

“Kurt, could I be your student too?” He asked.

“I’m sorry Spike, but your midi-chlorian count is far too low for you to even do incredibly basic force abilities. If it’s any comfort to you, it’s about as strong as Princess Celestia’s or Luna’s own.” Kurt said in an attempt to cushion the harsh truth of the matter. Spike groaned and hung his head.

“Oh Spikey-Wikey, don’t look so sad, I’m quite sure Kurt will let you come to our lessons to watch, wouldn’t you Kurt?” Rarity asked trying to comfort the baby dragon. Kurt smiled.

“I suppose Spike could come and spectate if he would like to.” He replied with a light smile “Twilight, Fluttershy, will you help us?” Twilight and Fluttershy both dragged a forehoof along on the floor nervously.

“I don’t know Kurt… I still think it's n-”

“Twilight!” Rainbow Dash interrupted “You can’t really just sit here and do nothing about what’s going on in the galaxy?! I’d understand if you couldn’t do anything about it, but standing right in front of you is somepony who can give you the tools to make a difference and you’re just going to let it slip by?!”

“Rainbow, this is Twilight and Fluttershy’s decision. It is up to them whether they would like to go down this path.” Kurt stated before Rainbow Dash could say more.

“No, it’s okay Kurt. I accept your teachings and will happily follow the path of the Jedi!” Twilight said happily. Kurt nodded in satisfaction

“Fluttershy, what is your choice?” Kurt asked softly. Fluttershy shifted her gaze to the floor, then to her friends and finally to Kurt.

“Okay… I’ll do it.” Fluttershy said softly. Kurt smiled.

“Thank you very much, everypony. Together, we will end the Emperor’s reign over the galaxy someday. I promise.” Everypony cheered. Today was the beginning of something life-changing for everypony. Kurt and his band of ponies were on the road to liberating the galaxy from the clutches of the Empire. One day, their dream will be reality…

“AAAAAGHH!!!” Screamed Kento as he was thrown into the hut he had lived in for nearly ten years of his life, smashing into the pillars that held the hut together. He groaned in agony in a feeble attempt to stand up and continue fighting the Sith lord that threatened him and the Wookies. Heavy footsteps shook the floor combined with the sound of mechanical breathing. Kento was lifted into the air holding onto his throat with both hands in a futile attempt to continue breathing. The Sith lord Darth Vader stood in front of him. He was completely clad in black armour from head to toe with a flowing black cape. He held a red lightsaber in his right hand. His left hand outstretched in front of him at the same height as Kurt’s throat.

“I sense someone far more powerful nearby…” Said the Sith lord’s deep and machine-like voice, Vader raised his lightsaber “Where is your master?”

“The dark side has clouded your mind…” Kento said struggling to breath under Vader’s grip “You killed my master years ago…” The last words of his sentence showed more struggle than before as Vader tightened his grip.

“Then now you will share his fate.” Vader said swinging his lightsaber backwards, he brought his hand forward to find his lightsaber was no longer there. Vader turned to find who he had sensed. It was not the rogue Jedi’s master. Instead, it was a small boy.

“A son…” Vader said in astonishment. The small boy held Vader’s lightsaber in one hand and a small wooden figurine in the other. The boy looked up at Vader and his eyes widened in fear, causing him to drop the figurine he held. The figurine fell to the ground with a light clunk. The simple wooden figurine was of a pony with wings and a long horn on its forehead. The pony was painted white and it's mane was made of light pink hair.

“RUN!!!” Yelled Kento. Vader clenched his left hand into a fist, causing Kento’s throat to collapse as he fell to the ground. The boy looked over at his now dead father and back to Vader who approached him slowly, looking down on him as the boy attempted to back away.

“Lord Vader?” Called the voice of an Imperial officer, the officer entered the hut with an escort of three storm troopers. He looked to the boy who held Vader’s lightsaber and motioned his right hand signalling the troops to open fire on the child. Vader took his lightsaber back from the boy and swiftly struck down the troopers and the officer who commanded them as the boy watched in horror. After Vader had killed the Imperials in the hut, he walked over to the child and stood over him.

“Come with me.” Said Vader “More will be here soon.” Vader walked out of the hut. The boy trailed after Vader, leaving the figurine of the alicorn on the floor of the hut...

Chapter 4 - Master and Student

“Aw come on Kurt!” Rainbow Dash shouted while she hovered in the air a few feet in front of him. “We’ve been your students for nearly ten years! How come we can’t be knights yet?! It isn’t fair and you know it!”

“Rainbow, please,” Said Twilight “You can’t talk to our master like that! Just be calm.” Rainbow flew in front of the purple mare and glared at her.

“Aw come on Twilight! You know you want to be knight too! Don’t lie to me!” She snapped. Twilight blushed in embarrassment.

“I-- I don’t know what you’re talking about!” She said looking away from her pegasus friend “I would neve-”

“Twilight, Rainbow, that’s enough.” Kurt spoke as he stepped forward “I know both of you want to become knights, especially you Rainbow Dash.” Rainbow scoffed.

“No kidding.” She replied “So when do we get promoted?”

“Rainbow, you will refer to me as master,” He said shaking a finger at her “Why must I tell you this every day? Also, I do not know when you will be promoted.” Rainbow growled at Kurt.

“Well why not? Don’t you just have to put us through the Trials? We’re more than ready for them! You know that!”

“Don’t be so sure of yourself, my young padawan. How can you be so sure all of your companions are ready?”

“What the hay do you mean?! Don’t you remember how Pinkie handed your butt to you on a silver platter the other day?!”

“Rainbow, we were sparring! Not trying to kill each other! Of course Kurt would go easier on us than if we were actually fighting!” Twilight interjected.

“Alright then! Fine!” Rainbow said flying over to the door of the library and opened it “If you were holding back this whole time, why don’t you show me just what you can do?!” Rainbow Dash flew out the door, leaving a rainbow where she stood. Twilight sighed.

“Master, forgive me for her behaviour.” Twilight said “Also, if you don’t think I’m ready to face the Trials, I under-”

“Twilight, I believe you and your friends are all ready for the Trials.” Kurt said interrupting Twilight “However, I do not know the means by which to put you through them.”

“But… Why? Didn’t you face them?” She asked.

“I did face them, my student.” Kurt replied “However, I did not face them in the same manner as the majority of Jedi did. I faced them through battles I took place in throughout the galaxy rather than under the supervision of the council. That is why I am not sure how to put you and the others through the Trials when I do not know what the council would do when putting padawans through them.”

“But surely you must know what one must do in order to pass them.”

“In that case, go find the nearest battlefield and defeat an army of one thousand hostile foot soldiers by yourself.” Kurt replied flatly, Twilight frowned and hung her head “I’m sorry Twilight, but until I find a way to test you and your friends, I cannot promote you to the rank of knight.” Kurt walked towards the library door.

“Master, where are you going?” Twilight asked.

“To teach Rainbow Dash a lesson.”

“But mas-”

“Don’t worry Twilight, I won’t hurt her.” He replied walking out the door waving a hand to her.

“Ugh… They’re both so brash…” Twilight said to herself closing the door with the force rather than her magic.

The late afternoon sky was a dim orange, it wasn’t quite sundown yet, but it was close, only an hour left until Celestia’s day would be replaced by Luna’s night. As Kurt walked down the streets of Ponyville following the rainbow trail left behind by his student, his mind was racing with questions.

Where and how could I properly test their skill? He asked himself. Surely not through fighting me, I’m getting close to being an old man. They’d gain nothing by it. Also, we've all sparred together so many times, there's no point to it. Kurt thought as he stroked his greying beard. His once blonde hair was now a mix of silver and blonde. His face was also starting to wrinkle.

I could send them into the Everfree Forest for a few days I suppose. He thought. It seems logical; the forest is home to a great many beasts and could easily serve as a means to go through the Trials. If only I had a goal for them other than to defend themselves from any monsters they find. Kurt sighed. His once viable method was now useless until he could find a proper mission for them.

Kurt continued following the rainbow out of Ponyville, he passed his ship, giving it a nod as if to acknowledge it. The ship had not been used in several weeks. It was still used whenever Kurt would need to go to Cloudsdale or Canterlot or generally anywhere far outside of Ponyville. A few years back, he had taught Spike how to fly the ship. He wasn’t sure how often Spike took the ship for a fly-around, but Kurt knew that Spike loved flying it. He seemed to love it almost as much as he loved eating gemstones.

After a few more minutes of walking, Kurt had reached the grassy field where he would hold sparring matches with his students. The evening sky was a bright orange and the sun hung just slightly over the horizon. Across from Kurt hovered Rainbow Dash, her lightsaber switched on and held in her fore-hooves, the blade’s cyan colour almost matching the colour of the mare’s coat. Her expression was one of complete determination, one that showed how much she wanted to prove to her master that she was ready to face the Trials of the Jedi. Unbeknownst to Rainbow Dash, her master already knew that she was ready.

“Rainbow Dash, you don’t have to fight me.” Kurt stated.

“Well too bad! I want to fight you!” She shouted in reply. Kurt sighed, dropping his cloak to the ground and taking his lightsaber from his belt.

“I suppose there’s no convincing you otherwise.” He said switching on his lightsaber, revealing the glowing green blade “If you can get my lightsaber away from me, you win. If I get yours away from you, I win” His student smirked and chuckled, closing her eyes and landing on the ground softly.

“You will try.” She said flatly.

A rainbow burst erupted from where she had been hovering and a streak of cyan flew towards Kurt who jumped to his right, landing on his stomach after avoiding what would have been a painful attack to survive through. Kurt hopped to his feet and looked around to see Rainbow Dash flying towards him from above; he quickly sidestepped as the pegasus made a loud stomp on the ground upon landing. She turned on her lightsaber and flew towards Kurt with it, slashing away as fast as she could at him. Kurt blocked every blow while attempting to hold one position on the ground, but to no avail as he was forced to move back with each attack.

Rainbow’s onslaught of quick slashes continued, instead of speeding up, she was slowing down now, she was getting tired. Kurt kept blocking until he was able to knock Rainbow Dash back slightly with a well-timed parry which caused her to grab her lightsaber with both hooves to prevent it from slipping out of her hoof and fly back a bit. Kurt turned off his lightsaber and held back both his arms. Rainbow Dash turned to face Kurt again only to see him thrust his arms forward, sending her flying backwards across the field. Kurt ran after her, seeing her fall to the ground several meters away, she sprung to her hooves switching her lightsaber on again.

Kurt was on the offensive now, using strong swings at a moderate pace in an attempt to knock Rainbow’s lightsaber away from her. The strong swings were working, albeit not as well as Kurt would have hoped. The attacks were making her tired, but they were having the same effect on Kurt. Rainbow Dash blocked one strong swing that came from Kurt’s right, stepping into the blow as she blocked it sending Kurt off balance. She dashed around Kurt in a circle and taking to the air, leaving a tall and rainbow coloured flame in place of the circle she had run around Kurt.

Rainbow Dash took to the sky above her trapped master. She then flew down towards the center of the ring of fire on the ground at top speed, using gravity to help her speedy descent towards Kurt. Kurt floated himself a few inches above the ground and curled himself into a ball. Rainbow Dash closed in on Kurt, hardly seconds away from impact. Suddenly, Kurt outstretched his limbs and a burst of energy erupted from him, sending Rainbow Dash hurtling through the air screaming.

Kurt’s feet touched the ground again. The rainbow fire that had surrounded him had been put out leaving only scorched ground where it had previously been. A soft thud came from Kurt’s left. It was Rainbow’s lightsaber. Kurt smiled to himself. He was quite proud that he still had his skill, although he needed to work on his endurance. He was getting old, so that was something he had to cope with. He picked up the lightsaber and walked off to find Rainbow Dash. After only a couple minutes, he found the cyan pegasus lying on the grass, looking up at the clouds blankly. Her gaze shifted over to Kurt, she looked to Kurt’s left hand where her lightsaber was held loosely.

“Aw horse-apples…” She stated, she sighed heavily and moved her gaze back to the clouds “I was hoping it was just in the grass somewhere around here…”

“It wouldn’t have mattered,” Kurt started “I simply needed to get this out of your hoof, remember?” He sat down next to his student on the grass, holding out her lightsaber for her. She took it and put it beside her on the ground.

“So, I guess I’m not cut out to be a knight then…” She said with another sigh.

“Rainbow Dash, I’m certain that you and the others are all ready to become knights, I just need a proper way to test it.” Rainbow Dash thought for a moment.

“Could fighting you be a way?” She asked. Kurt chuckled as he lay back on the grass.

“No, I’m afraid beating an old man wouldn’t be much of a challenge.” Kurt replied.

“Aw come on, I couldn’t beat you! It must be a real challenge if I can’t do it!”

“You weren’t trying to kill me. If you were, you just might have won the fight.” Rainbow Dash sat up on her haunches.

“Why would I try to kill you? I’d never do something like that!”

“I know that, my student. You are the most loyal of my students, although you may be hard-headed at times, you are still the student I am most proud of. I forsee you will become a powerful Jedi, possibly even more powerful than Twilight.” Kurt replied smiling, Rainbow Dash blushed.

“Oh, come on Kurt, you’re just saying that.”

“Yes, that's true.” Kurt said as he looked away. He turned back to Rainbow, looking at her with a smirk. She hit him with a hoof on the shoulder. Kurt rubbed his shoulder, feigning a pain that wasn’t there. Rainbow Dash broke out in laughter which Kurt joined in.

The two watched the sun set over the trees on the other side of the field. Now Luna’s night had begun. Trillions of stars shone in the night sky, dimly lighting where the master and student lay talking.

“It’s getting kinda late, we should probably go before the others come looking for us.” Rainbow suggested.
“That’s a good idea. By now, they probably think we’ve killed each other.” Kurt said standing up.

“Hey,” Rainbow started as she stood up “Let’s go to Fluttershy’s. She’s pretty close by, you wanna go?”

“Sure, why not?” Kurt said in agreement.

The two took a ten minute walk to Fluttershy’s house. Upon reaching the house, they found the lights all turned off. Either she wasn’t home or she was asleep.

“Well, time to break ‘n enter.” Rainbow said as she flapped her wings, lifting herself off the ground.

“Rainbow Dash, what do you think you’re doing?” Kurt asked as Rainbow Dash flew up to Fluttershy’s window. Inside, she could see the yellow pegasus fast asleep in her bed.

“I’m waking her up, of course.” Rainbow replied as she distanced herself from the window. After a few moments, she sped towards the closed window at top speed. Kurt used the force and grabbed Rainbow's tail stopping her inches from the window. Rainbow Dash sighed.

"Okay, fine, you win." She said "Can you let go of me now?" Kurt obliged and allowed Rainbow Dash to move around again. She flew to the ground and landed softly.

“Oh well, so much for hanging out with Fluttershy.” Said Rainbow “Come on, let’s go.” She turned and headed towards Ponyville. Kurt started to follow her, but something felt horribly out of place to him.

“Rainbow Dash, wait.” He said stopping in his tracks “Do you sense it?”

“Sense what?” She asked.

“Something… In the forest… Something powerful.” He replied.

“The Everfree forest is full of monsters, Kurt.”

“No, not those, it’s something bigger. Whatever it is, it’s deep in the forest.” Kurt took a step towards the tree-line “Rainbow Dash, go home. I need to find the source of this.”

“By yourself?” She asked “It’s too dangerous!” Kurt stopped and turned to face his student.

“I’ll be fine Rainbow Dash, don’t worry about me. I bid you farewell, and, good night.” Kurt said as he disappeared into the forest. Rainbow wanted to shout to her master and tell him to come back. But she held her tongue, she knew he would be fine. He was strong, even though he was getting old, the forest wouldn’t claim him tonight. She decided to obey her master’s request after a few moments of hoping he would return and headed for Ponyville. She took to the night sky.

“Be safe…” She said quietly, she knew he wouldn’t hear it, but she needed to say it to put her mind at ease.

Kurt walked through the Everfree forest. The sounds of the creatures that lived inside stalked him wherever he walked. He followed the source of this dark power he had sensed outside the forest. As he walked he wondered how he had never sensed it until now. He had been to Fluttershy’s house on several occasions. He had also been inside the forest a few times. He had never sensed this dark presence before however. It scared him.

After about an hour of trekking through the forest, Kurt had reached the source of this dark presence. It emanated from an old and abandoned castle. Kurt made his way inside the castle. The first room Kurt entered seemed to be the throne room. The room looked like it had been the site of a huge battle. Windows had been shattered, statues broken, walls broken, cracked and stained with what seemed to be laser blasts. The dark side was strong here. Kurt looked back to what Princess Celestia had told him about her father and the battle with the Sith that had occurred on this planet before it had been moved far beyond the outer rim. Kurt could almost see and hear the battle that had taken place here.

Kurt closed his eyes for a moment, when he opened them the room no longer looked abandoned. It was pristine and clean. Red and gold banners hung down from the ceiling. The windows were no longer broken and there was no rubble or broken statues adorning the floor. On the floor was a long red carpet that led to the throne. In front of the throne, he saw a large number of Jedi knights standing in a defensive formation. Behind the Jedi stood a black-coated alicorn with a bright orange mane that reminded Kurt of the evening sky. The alicorn was wearing golden armour with a red symbol.

“This is it men!” One of the Jedi at the front of the group shouted. “Protect the royals with your lives! Hold off the Sith until the elements can be used!”

Suddenly, Kurt heard the large wooden door of the room crash open. Sith warriors charged through the large doorway and ran towards the defending Jedi. The battle raged on, the Sith and Jedi were locked in battle in every corner of the throne room. A rainbow of lightsabers clashed against one another in fierce conflict. One Sith jumped out of the main battle and attempted to kill the King but was defeated when the alicorn lit the Sith on fire and threw him out of the closest window with his magic. The king continued firing bolts of magic at the Sith warriors. The majority of the Sith were able to deflect the bolts or stop them using the force however. From behind the king, Kurt saw another alicorn appear; however this particular one was a filly. Her coat was white and she had a flowing pink mane. The filly tugged at the older alicorn’s leg. The filly seemed to be yelling at the older one. Kurt couldn’t hear what she was saying over the sounds of battle around him however. The alicorn picked up the filly by the scruff of her neck in his teeth and galloped out of the room with her, narrowly avoiding a thrown red lightsaber that flew back to its owner like a boomerang.

Kurt followed the alicorns out of the room, leaving the battle behind him. He ducked out of the way as he saw a Jedi thrown towards him and planted in the wall. Kurt knew that it was only a hallucination, but everything he saw and heard seemed incredibly real. Kurt followed the galloping alicorn into a bedroom. He saw a Sith standing over a white alicorn with a dark red mane who clutched a dark blue baby alicorn against herself. The king alicorn put down Celestia softly and then stomped his hoof heavily on the ground. The Sith turned to face the king.

“Well, isn’t this a treat?” Chuckled the Sith “I get all four of you all to myself! All four! I’ll definitely be promoted to a master when I finish you!” The Sith rushed at the king with his lightsaber drawn, activating both blades, one blade was orange and the other yellow. The king took out his own lightsaber using his magic revealing a white blade and swung at the attacking Sith who clashed with it, attempting to overpower the king’s magical hold on the lightsaber.

“Go! Quickly!” The king shouted to the other alicorns. The others ran out of the room. The Sith thrust his hand towards the door they had escaped through and sent a bolt of red lightning towards it, missing the alicorns. He snarled in frustration.

“You’ll pay for that!” The Sith said angrily. He thrusted his free hand towards the king, sending him back with a powerful push. The door behind the king burst into splinters as he crashed through it. The Sith leapt towards him, bringing one of the blades of his lightsaber down on him in a stabbing motion. The King picked his lightsaber back up and swung again, slicing the Sith’s lightsaber in two, making the lightsaber switch off for good. The Sith flinched in surprise and growled angrily when he could not reactivate his weapon. The alicorn gave the Sith a buck to the chest which sent him back into the bedroom, hitting the wall at the other end of the room. The Sith coughed up some blood into his hand as the black alicorn approached him with his lightsaber at the ready.

“NOOOO!!” Shouted the Sith as he thrust both hands forward sending red lightning bolts at the king, making his lightsaber fly out of his magical grip. The Sith then sent the lightning at the king who was now defenseless. Kurt watched in horror, wanting to intervene and save the king from certain death. The Sith stood back up laughing maniacally, lifting the king into the air with the force as he continued to electrocute him.

“Celestia no! Come back here!” A female voice shouted. A small white filly ran through the doorway which she had previously escaped through and tackled the Sith warrior, sending him to the ground with the filly. The king slumped to the ground in pain, still twitching occasionally from being electrocuted. The filly got on top of the Sith and started hitting his head with her hooves as hard as she could between her tears.

“STOP HURTING MY DADDY! STOP IT! LEAVE HIM ALONE! LEAVE HIM ALONE!” She shouted as she pummeled the Sith with her tiny hooves. The Sith growled and grabbed the filly by the throat and threw her off of him into a dresser on the other side of the room. She fell to the ground after smacking into the dresser with a loud whack and a yelp. The Sith stood again, blood pouring from his nose and his right eye slightly swollen and bruised. Celestia cringed as the Sith walked towards her.

“Oh don’t worry, little girl.” He said “I’m not going to hurt your daddy anymore…” An evil grin adorned his face as he levitated the king’s lightsaber into his hand “In fact, he won’t even feel a thing… And neither will you!” He raised the lightsaber above Celestia, cackling maniacally.

“CELESTIA!” Screamed a female voice as a large white alicorn jumped in between Celestia and the Sith who was about to swing his lightsaber.

“ENOUGH!” Shouted the Sith who proceeded to lift the alicorn into the air and throw her across the room into the wall. He then sent the king’s lightsaber into the alicorn’s stomach impaling her. She tried to scream, but no sound came from her voice as the lightsaber was pulled out of her. She fell to the ground as the lightsaber came back to the Sith’s hand.

“Now DIE!” Shrieked the Sith as he raised his lightsaber above Celestia again. Suddenly the Sith burst into flames, making him drop the lightsaber to the floor as he screamed in pain. A dark red aura surrounded the burning Sith as he was lifted off the ground. The king levitated his lightsaber in front of the Sith, switching it on making the blade impale him immediately. The king then threw him out of the nearest window and into the courtyard below, leaving the lightsaber stuck through the Sith.

The king gasped for breath as he collapsed onto the floor. In front of him sat Celestia who nuzzled his neck. He smiled. His daughter was safe. Something suddenly struck him. He frantically looked over to his queen who lay bleeding on the floor.

“No… No…” He said to himself as he dragged himself over to his wife. Celestia got up and ran over to her mother.

“Mommy?” She asked, the alicorn gave no response, her breathing was faint “Mommy, get up! Please mommy!”

“Tia…” She uttered “Mommy… Mommy will… Be… Okay…” Three unicorns entered the room.

“Your highness! Are you alr-” Asked one of the unicorns who stopped when they looked to their queen.

“Queen Faust! King Dusk!” The unicorn exclaimed “Get the doctor! Quickly!” The unicorn ordered to the other two. The king and queen looked to each other and smiled at one another even though they were in great pain.

Suddenly a white glow enveloped the king and queen. The two lifted off the ground, their eyes emitted white light as a rainbow coloured energy enveloped everything around them. Kurt shielded his eyes from the bright light…

When Kurt opened them again, he found himself in an abandoned bedroom. It was bare except for the pieces of broken glass on the floor and a large and broken stone block that sat on the floor beneath a gaping hole in the ceiling of the room. Kurt rubbed his eyes wondering what made him see all of this. After a moment, he decided to resume searching the castle.

Kurt exited the room and continued exploring the castle. Every room was practically the same. No furniture, broken glass and missing chunks of the walls, ceilings or floors. Kurt entered a chamber with a large stone monument. On the monument sat six stone spheres. Each stone had a coloured emblem on it. The emblems reminded Kurt of his student’s cutie marks. In this room he sensed the dark presence far less than in the rest of the castle. He looked through a missing section of the wall and saw a tower in the distance. Kurt decided to make his way there.

After several flights of stairs, he reached a room at the top of a tower. Across the room were several pieces of broken armour. The dark presence was completely absent from this room. Kurt went to examine the broken armour more closely. Suddenly, Kurt saw Princess Celestia appear next to him. He gave a small bow.

“Princess, what is this pl-”

“Princess Luna.” She spoke. Kurt shook his head, he looked to the other end of the room noticing Princess Luna who lay on the floor near the broken armour. Luna gasped as she recognised her sister’s voice “It has been a thousand years since I have seen you like this.” Luna cringed as her sister drew nearer and sat in front of her “Time to put our differences behind us. We were meant to rule together, little sister. Will you accept my friendship?” Celestia asked as she stood back up. Luna continued to cower in front of her. Luna looked up at her sister, then to the floor. She was on the brink of tears, she looked back to her sister and jumped to her hooves, bounding over to Celestia.

“I’m so sorry!” Luna said, with tears streaming from her eyes as she nuzzled Celestia’s neck “I missed you so much, big sister!” Celestia’s eyes had tears in them as well now.

“I’ve missed you too…” She replied. The visions of the two princesses faded away.

“Pray tell, Kurt,” Luna’s voice echoed through the room “What brings you here to my father’s home?” Kurt looked around the room to find Princess Luna standing behind him.

“Good evening, Princess.” Kurt began “I sensed a presence in this place. The presence of the dark side of the force, I came to investigate the cause of it.”

“Have thou found the source?”

“No, not yet.” Kurt replied “However, this room, doesn't have the dark presence in it.”

“I see…” Luna said with a bit of concern in her voice “This place has been abandoned for several thousand years. Ever since our father died, this place has held an evil presence within it ever since. It corrupted the forest surrounding this place, turning it into a home for every beast imaginable.” Luna kicked a few pebbles that lay on the floor of the room “This is the final resting place of my mother and father. I hate the fact that their home has become home to so many abominations. If you could, Master Kurt, please purge this place of the evil that has plagued it for so many years. Please Kurt, you’re the only hope this place has.” Kurt turned away from Luna for a moment. His mind raced.

He knew he couldn’t do this. He was getting too old, too old and too weak. He knew that and had come to terms with it. He thought of Rainbow Dash, she would do whatever it took, regardless of her knowledge of the situation. She was loyal to her friends, and to the princesses, and to Kurt. Suddenly Kurt had an idea.

“I cannot do it.” He stated “However, I know some ponies who can.” He said with a grin appearing on his face.

“Who?” Luna asked.

“My students, of course.” Kurt replied still grinning. Kurt was going to allow his students to take up this task. They were all more than capable. This mission would certainly prove that they are worthy of being called Jedi Knights. Tomorrow they would purge the evil that has consumed the old castle for several millennia…

Chapter 5 - Trials of the Forest

“Now that everypony has been gathered, I can tell you why you are all here today.” Kurt stated. His six students stood side-by-side in front of him awaiting an explanation for why they had been brought to the edge of the Everfree Forest just outside Fluttershy’s cottage so early in the morning.

The six ponies wore Jedi robes which Rarity had made for them only a few days prior. There was nothing strikingly different about anypony’s robes, but Rarity had done her best to make the robes as fashionable and true to tradition as she could without causing them to be impractical.

“Tell me, do you all feel a dark presence coming from this forest?” He asked.

“Uhh, Kurt? The Everfree Forest’s always given everypony a bad feelin’ in their gut.” Applejack stated “That there’s nothin’ new.”

“No, Applejack. Look deeper, feel the force around you. Do you not feel a dark presence deep in these woods?”

“I can feel it.” Said Twilight “Whatever it is, it’s quite deep in the forest.”

“It is indeed deep inside the forest.” Kurt replied “Do the rest of you feel it now?” Everypony nodded in agreement.

“So where exactly is it coming from?” Asked Rainbow Dash.

“It is coming from the old castle where you all defeated Nightmare Moon over a decade ago.” Kurt stated “The reason for this forest being filled with so many unnatural and evil creatures is because of the dark side’s presence in that castle. The presence has plagued these woods since Celestia’s parents had removed this planet from the outer rim after the Sith’s attack.”

“So… We gotta go in there an’ get rid of it?” Asked Applejack.

“Yes, the six of you shall go to the castle and eradicate the dark side’s hold over this forest.” He replied.

“The… Six of us?” Rarity asked.

“Wait a minute!” Pinkie gasped, she took a head count of everyone present by tapping everyone present on the head “But there’s seven of us!”

“Kurt, you’re… Not coming? Why?” Asked Rainbow Dash.

“This mission will be your test on whether you six are ready to become Jedi Knights or not. I cannot interfere as it is your mission alone.” Kurt replied. Everypony gasped and spoke amongst themselves for a moment. Rainbow Dash simply stood in silence with her jaw dropped.

“Are you serious?!” Rainbow Dash asked failing to contain her excitement “You’re finally testing us?!”

“Yes, yes I am. I finally found a way to test you all to see whether you should be promoted yet. So this is it.” Rainbow Dash tackled Kurt embracing him.

“Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou!!!” She yelled.

“So you really think we’re all ready to become knights?” Asked Twilight.

“Why of course we are!” Replied Rarity before Kurt could answer “We have been Padawans for so long. I know that you are certainly ready and so are the rest of us, just as we have been for a long time! Isn’t that right Master?”

“Yes it is, Rarity. You all are very skilled and I think the six of you should have been promoted long ago.” Kurt replied.

“Umm… Kurt?” Said Fluttershy who had been quiet the entire time “Are you sure this is what we have to do to be promoted? The Everfree forest is so… Scary…” Kurt knelt down in front of Fluttershy.

“Fluttershy, you have nothing to be afraid of. Your friends will all be with you to help you, and you have the power of the force as your ally. Do not be afraid, my student. Just remember your training, Fluttershy. Use your abilities to help your friends on this mission, just as they will use theirs to help you.” Kurt said with a reassuring smile. Rainbow Dash stood next to Kurt.

“Yeah! Come on Fluttershy, this’ll be easy! Just stick with me, okay?” She said trying to encourage her friend. Fluttershy eventually managed a smile after a moment or two of thinking.

“… Okay, Rainbow Dash. I’ll stay with you.” She said quietly. Kurt smiled at Fluttershy and stood back up.

“Twilight, I need to have a word with you.” He said as he directed his gaze to her and motioned to her to follow him “The rest of you can talk amongst yourselves for a moment.” Kurt didn’t need to tell them to do so as the five ponies had already started expressing their excitement about their first mission. Twilight and Kurt had walked several meters away from the rest of the group and were far out of earshot.

“You really believe we’re all ready?” She asked.

“Of course I do.” Kurt replied “I wouldn’t be sending you in there by yourselves if I didn’t have complete faith in you all. Do not worry yourself too much. Have faith in your abilities and your friends, you will pull through.”

“I’ll try, master.” She said with a slight smile that turned back into a straight face just as quickly “There was something you wanted to ask me?”

“Well, I didn’t bring you over here to ask you something. I wanted to give you something.” He said reaching into his cloak. Kurt produced a small black cylindrical object with a silver top and held it in front of her “In the case that your situation is too dangerous and for whatever reason you cannot teleport yourself and your friends away. Use this comlink to contact me and I will come as fast as I can to aid you.” Twilight levitated the comlink from Kurt’s hand into her cloak.

“Thank you, but, how will you get to wherever we are so quickly? Aren’t you going to be at the library?”

“No, I’m going to be helping Spike with Fluttershy’s animals. I fear for the animal’s safety, not to mention Spike’s own.” Kurt said remembering the last time Fluttershy’s rabbit Angel and Spike had been left alone together.

“That’s definitely a good idea.” Twilight chuckled.

“But yes, I’ll be close by. I’ll bring the ship over to the cottage so I can fly over to your location quickly. Oh yes, there’s a homing beacon in that comlink as well, activate it with the lower button.” Kurt said as Twilight took out the comlink from her robe and examined it again.

“Thank you, master.” She said as she put away the comlink again.

“Hey Twi! You done yet? Let’s go already!” Rainbow Dash shouted. Twilight sighed.

“Rainbow Dash is right; I’ve kept you here too long. Come, let’s go back to them.” He said walking over to the rest of his students. Twilight followed Kurt and the group walked over to the edge of the forest.

“Good luck my students,” Kurt began “May the Force be with you all.” The six ponies replied with goodbyes mixed with shouts of ‘May the Force be with you’ as they went deeper into the forest.

Kurt stood by the treeline, still looking inside even though it had been several minutes since his students had gone out of sight. He knew it was dangerous sending them into the forest alone. He started to doubt his decision more and more with each passing second.

“Kurt, you alright?” Asked Spike, Kurt jumped slightly and turned to see the small purple dragon standing behind him. He sighed as he took another look into the forest.

“Yes Spike, I’m alright. It’s them I’m worried about.” He replied.

“But you’ve been saying they’ve been ready to do this for so long, why are you so worried all of a sudden?” Spike asked.

“I suppose it’s because I’ve never sent them off to do anything like this by themselves that I’m now worried about them, that’s all.” Kurt said looking back to the tiny dragon.

“I’m not worried about them. They’ll be fine. Trust me, Kurt; they’ve got each other and they’ve got the Force at their disposal too. Besides, you gave Twilight the comlink so she can contact you if something does go wrong, right?”

“I did, yes.” Kurt replied “Thank you Spike, you seem to be the only one who can keep a level head about these things these days.”

“Thanks Kurt, it’s all thanks to your meditation training you know? I may not have any ability with the Force, but the meditation does wonders for somepony either way.” Spike said with a smile, Kurt smiled back.

“Come, let’s go get the ship fr-” Kurt stopped as he looked up to see his ship landed in front of Fluttershy’s cottage.

“Oh yeah, I brought the ship over because I was closer to it than you were. I’m surprised you didn’t hear me landing.”

“Well, thank you Spike. I must admit though, I always forget that I’ve taught you how to fly the ship. It was quite a long time ago after all.” Kurt said as he walked away from the forest to Fluttershy’s cottage.

“It’s a good thing I don’t forget that then, isn’t it?” Spike chuckled. The duo walked towards Fluttershy’s house to take care of her animals for the day. Kurt took one last look towards the forest…

The six ponies travelled slowly through the Everfree Forest watching their surroundings carefully. The trees of the forest blocked out most of the sunlight, limiting everypony’s sight. The sound of crickets and other insects were the only sounds to be heard along with the beating of Rainbow Dash’s wings. She flew a few feet above her friends, looking from left to right half-expecting some monster to jump their group at any moment. Twilight and the rest monitored their surroundings in the same way, just from the ground rather than the air. After a few minutes of walking, Rainbow Dash landed next to Twilight and walked along beside her.

“Hey Twi?” She asked quietly.

“Yes Rainbow?” Twilight responded in the same fashion.

“What kind of monsters are we gonna see in these parts of the forests?”

“MONSTERS?! WHERE?!” Pinkie shouted. Applejack put a hoof over Pinkie’s mouth before she could shout anything else. Fluttershy hid behind Rarity who had drawn her lightsaber using her magic and switched it on, allowing its purple, pulsating blade to shine through the darkness. Twilight and Rainbow Dash simply froze in place scanning their surroundings with their eyes alone. The sounds of the forest had been replaced by an eerie silence which was accompanied by the hum of Rarity’s lightsaber. The ponies’ breathing became heavy with fear, adding to the silence.

The sudden sound of a twig snapping came from a nearby bush which made everypony turn to face it. Rarity sent her lightsaber spinning towards the bush and held it over the bush with her magic, slicing the bush into a pile of leaves and small sticks. Rarity levitated her lightsaber closer to herself and Twilight tip-toed towards the former bush. She looked around and saw nothing other than the pile of sticks and leaves that were the remnants of the bush Rarity had destroyed. Twilight sighed heavily and walked over to Pinkie who still had Applejack’s hoof over her mouth.

“Pinkie. Don’t. Do. That. Again.” Twilight said quietly with a very serious tone “Unless you actually see a monster, stay quiet. Do you understand?” Pinkie nodded her head frantically. Twilight nodded to Applejack who moved her hoof off of Pinkie’s mouth.

“TIMBERWOLF!!” Pinkie shouted as soon as the hoof was removed while pointing behind Twilight.

Twilight turned around to see the wooden body of a Timberwolf standing a few feet away from her, baring its wooden fangs and giving a low, menacing growl. Its eyes shone a bright yellow that pierced the darkness of the forest.

The wolf arched itself back and jumped at her. The wolf was hardly inches from her head when a rainbow blur tackled the wolf to the dirt. Rainbow Dash landed a couple feet away from the wolf who now lay on its side. She took to the air again levitating her lightsaber out of her robes and into her fore-hooves switching it on. Rainbow Dash flew towards the Timberwolf with her lightsaber held above her head, she brought it down on the creature, cutting its head and part of its upper body in half, leaving a bright orange scorch mark across the cut that blackened as it fell to the ground.

“Girls! Get in formation now!” Twilight shouted taking her own lightsaber from her robes and switching it on, revealing its green blade. The six ponies stood in a circle backing each other.

“That won’t be the only one of them! Be on guard at all times!” Twilight said to her group. Fluttershy, Pinkie and Applejack took their lightsabers from their robes revealing their yellow, pink and orange blades respectively.

From the darkness came several growls of Timberwolves that walked out into the little bit of light that had made its way through the trees. Nearly two dozen of the wolves had shown themselves and many more awaited them in the shadows.

“Oh… Oh m-my… T-t-there’s s-so m-many…” Fluttershy whispered as she trembled in fear.

“Twi? What d’ya reckon we do now?” Applejack whispered to the purple unicorn next to her.

“I’m thinking, I’m thinking…” Twilight whispered back.

“Well think faster!” Rainbow prodded in a hushed yell as she tried counting the fast-growing number of wolves in front of her. More yellow eyes kept popping out from the darkness of the forest, unsettling the six Padawan ponies as they waited for either Twilight to come up with a plan or for the wolves to attack.

“Fluttershy,” said Twilight in a standard volume which made Fluttershy jump slightly.

“Y-yes Twilight?” She replied.

“I need you to put a shield around us when I say the word.” Twilight ordered.

“W-w-what word?” Fluttershy asked quietly.

“Rarity, I need you to use any gemstones you can find under the ground and take down as many wolves as you can.” Twilight commanded.

“Good idea, my dear.” Rarity said quietly levitating her lightsaber in front of Twilight “Hold onto this for a moment, will you?” She asked allowing Twilight to hold onto her lightsaber with her own magic. Rarity’s horn shone with a blue aura as she closed her eyes and searched for as many gems as she could using her magic.

The growls of the Timberwolves were becoming louder by the second. Whether that was due to the rising number of wolves or because they were getting ready to attack was unknown to the mares.

“Come on Rarity… They’re getting louder…” Rainbow Dash said quietly. One wolf finally made the first move and ran towards the ponies barking loudly. Almost immediately the other wolves followed suit and made a dash for their prey.

“Girls! Keep the wolves off Rarity! If she stops charging that spell we’re finished!” Twilight shouted as she impaled one wolf through the head with Rarity’s lightsaber and slicing another in half with her own lightsaber. Everypony other than Rarity rushed into battle against the wolves, doing their best to keep any wolves from getting past them sending orange chunks of wood flying from the bodies of the attackers.

Rarity watched helplessly as she continued scanning the ground for more gems to attack the wolves with. She dodged to the side, narrowly avoiding one wolf. Rarity gave the wolf a buck to the head that sent it flying into nearby rock, immobilizing it temporarily. She grinned in satisfaction and turned her head from where she had sent the wolf back to in front of her. Her grin quickly faded into one of disbelief as six more wolves approached her.

“Pinkie! Could you give me some assistance please?!” She shouted as she backed away from the small group of wolves in front of her. Rarity looked around for a sign of the pink pony but couldn’t find her. She could see the rest of her friends, but all of them were already engaged in combat with other groups of wolves. Rarity didn’t ponder where Pinkie had disappeared to for too long before thinking of another idea.

“Twilight! Lightsaber please!” She yelled to Twilight who spun Rarity’s lightsaber as well as her own like a fan, turning several of the Timberwolves she was fighting into wood chips. Twilight looked over to Rarity and saw the wolves approaching her. Twilight sent Rarity’s lightsaber towards her while swinging her own lightsaber into another attacking Timberwolf. Rarity took hold of the lightsaber in a hoof and swung it into an attacking wolf just before it could take a bite of her.

“Where in the hay is Pinkie?!” Shouted Applejack who gasped as she noticed a wolf that had gotten behind her. She quickly gave it a strong buck to the head, making it cave in as the body dropped to the forest floor with a thud.

“I don’t know!” Rainbow Dash shouted as she landed on top of a wolf, crushing it beneath her hooves “She was here a second ago!”

“The wolves didn’t get her! Where’d she go?! Don’t tell me she just ran off on us!” Applejack replied throwing her lightsaber through a group of Timberwolves who had just emerged from some nearby bushes.

“Girls! Concentrate on the wolves for now! We’ll find out where Pinkie went later!” Twilight shouted as she shot a bolt of fire from her horn at a particularly larger group of wolves, engulfing the majority of the group in flames.

Fluttershy squealed in terror every time a wolf made a jump at her. She would swing out wildly with her lightsaber after the wolves had landed which would kill them. With each swipe of her weapon, Fluttershy apologized to each individual wolf posthumously. She turned around to see a group of seven wolves approaching her. She gripped her lightsaber tightly, looking at the pack of wolves through the erratically pulsating and swirling energy of the blade that let off a bright yellow glow. Suddenly, the blade vanished from her sight. Fluttershy looked at the deactivated lightsaber in her hoof and pressed the activation button, only to hear a fizz emit from the blade.

“Oh… Oh my…” Fluttershy said quietly as she tapped the activation button of her lightsaber repeatedly. Her lightsaber wouldn’t turn on no matter how much she tapped the button. The wolves approached her baring their wooden fangs and growling. Rainbow Dash looked over to Fluttershy after finishing off one of the beasts, throwing it against a tree using the Force, making the wooden body split into several pieces leaving a wolf-shaped dent in the tree’s trunk. She took to the air and flew towards Fluttershy.

“Hang on Fluttershy!” Rainbow Dash shouted as she landed in the center of the group, crushing one of the wolf’s heads. The wolves directed their attention to the new threat but were unable to attack it as Rainbow Dash lifted herself a couple feet off the ground with one hard flap of her wings and let out a burst of force energy in all directions, sending the wolves flying away from Fluttershy and herself. Rainbow Dash turned around to face Fluttershy.

“Fluttershy, I told you to get a new crystal from Rarity!” She yelled “That unstable one you have is gonna get you killed one day!”

“I’m… Sorry…” Fluttershy replied sheepishly.

“Look, just get behind me alright? I’ll cover you until your lightsaber starts working again.” Rainbow Dash groaned as she lifted herself off the ground and reactivated her lightsaber. Fluttershy nodded and stayed close to Rainbow Dash, still trying to turn on her lightsaber, only hearing a fizz with no spark every time she pressed the button.

“I’m ready!” Rarity shouted as her horn glowed with an extra layer of magic that was an even brighter blue than the previous layer. Twilight turned towards Fluttershy after cutting through the Timberwolf closest to her.

“Fluttershy! Shield us now!” She shouted. Fluttershy closed her eyes and swung her fore-hooves in front of herself. When Fluttershy opened her eyes, she could see a mostly transparent yellow shield of energy around herself that floated just a few inches off the ground. Four more shields like her own had formed around Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Applejack and Rarity.

“Rarity! Now!” Twilight shouted as several Timberwolves tackled her shield.

Suddenly, a fountain of gemstones of every colour and cut erupted from in front of Rarity and flew into the air. The gemstones hovered in the air for a brief moment before they flew into the remaining Timberwolves, shredding them into splinters and into the forest where more were hiding. Several gemstones bounced off of the shields Fluttershy had created as the storm of jewels raged around them. After about thirty seconds, the storm had subsided and Fluttershy released everypony’s shields, everypony landed on their hooves except Fluttershy who landed belly first on the ground hardly a couple of feet below where she had just been floating.

“Good job everypony.” Twilight said after a sigh of relief “But now we have to find P-”

“FEAR NOT EVERYPONY!” A bubbly voice shouted from the way which Twilight and company had come into the forest through. From the darkness emerged Pinkie Pie and her party cannon.

“I’LL SAAAAVE YO-” Pinkie stopped as she looked around at her dumbfounded friends, chopped remains of the Timberwolves that were strewn everywhere along with the large hole in the ground from where Rarity had summoned her storm of gems.

“I’VE SAAAAVED YOU!” She shouted triumphantly. She then proceeded to give everypony a wide smile and a wink.

“Pinkie! Where in the hay did you go during the fight?!” Rainbow Dash yelled angrily.

“Obviously I was SAAAAVING you guys!” Pinkie replied happily as she bounced along with her party cannon in tow.

“Pinkie, as soon as the fight started you disappeared! You didn’t save us!” Twilight replied.

“That’s just what you want everypony to think! I bet you want them to think you saved them!” Pinkie said playfully as she bounced past her and continued going further into the woods while singing a happy tune.

“I- Wh- Ho- Ju- Grrrrr!!!” Exclaimed Twilight as her mind was overloaded with arguments against how Pinkie had not saved them like she claimed. Applejack put a hoof on Twilight’s shoulder.

“Just let it go, sugar cube.” She said calmly “No need fightin’ over it. That there’ll just cause more trouble.” Twilight wanted to argue with Applejack, but her friend had a point. Twilight sighed and hung her head.

“Fine…” Twilight replied in an upset tone.

“Maybe Pinkie did save us.” Fluttershy said as she approached Twilight “Maybe there were even more Timberwolves on the way, but Pinkie stopped them.”

“How could she even kn-”

“Pinkie sense.” Rarity, Applejack and Rainbow Dash replied in unison.

“Ughhhh… Fine… Let’s just go.” Twilight shrugged as she walked in the direction Pinkie had gone in. Everypony followed her and Pinkie deeper into the forest at a steady pace once again.

The six Padawans continued trekking through the dark and spooky forest. They all did their best to keep as quiet as possible, learning their lesson after dealing with the army of Timberwolves. The only sounds that were present now were the insects and beating of Rainbow Dash’s wings or the occasional bat flying through the trees. Rainbow Dash did her best to stay out of their path as she hovered over her friends.

“Twilight, how much further do we have to go?” Asked Rarity quietly “I’m sure we didn’t take this long to get to the castle the first time.”

“We’ll be there soon. It only feels that way because of our run-in with those Timberwolves.” Twilight replied. There was a rustling of leaves in a nearby bush, the group suddenly stopped and turned towards the source of the noise. The rustling got louder and louder. A very faint silhouette of what seemed to be a pony appeared beyond the bush. Rainbow Dash took her lightsaber from her cloak as she hovered hardly a foot off the ground, Twilight put a hoof in front of Rainbow and shook her head. Out of the bushes stepped a zebra. The zebra wore golden earrings and a necklace that the little light that reached through the trees glistened off of. The group sighed in relief as they weren’t faced with another threat, but instead an old friend.

“Oh, Zecora, you scared us.” Twilight said.

“Hello, my little ponies” She spoke “What brings you into these parts of the forest?” Twilight and the others looked at each other skeptically. Something was wrong.

“Err, Zecora? Are you okay?” Rainbow Dash asked “You don’t really seem like yourself.”

“Yes, my… Cyan friend, I’m quite alright. Why?” Zecora replied. Twilight took a step forward with her expression turning from one of confusion to a straight face with no emotion.

“Why aren’t you speaking in rhyme?” Twilight asked firmly. Zecora looked around nervously.

“I… Felt like a change in voice! Yes, that’s it.” Zecora said taking a couple steps back.

“A change in voice, you say?” Twilight replied “I’ve known Zecora for over a decade, I visit her once a week to get special tea leaves from her and never once have I not heard her speak in rhyme.” Twilight drew her lightsaber from her cloak with her magic and switched it on, its green light cutting through the darkness of the forest. She pointed the blade towards Zecora.

“Who. Are. You?” Twilight asked harshly. Rainbow Dash and the other four ponies drew their own lightsabers and switched them on. ‘Zecora’ looked around nervously. She focused on the purple unicorn in front of her and her look of fright turned into an evil grin. A deep chuckle came from ‘Zecora’.

“Very good, my dear.” ‘Zecora’ said with a stallion’s voice. The zebra’s stripes slowly faded away into a pale white and unkempt coat. Its mane and tail slowly transformed into a collection of dark green vines which had bits of twigs and dead leaves sticking out of it. The jewellery seemed to simply vanish off the white stallion. His eyes opened to reveal bright green and glowing eyes.

“You’ve managed to see through my disguise. I suppose I should’ve paid finer attention to how your zebra friend spoke when I looked through your thoughts.” Spoke the stallion.

“What have you done with Zecora?!” Rainbow Dash shouted.

“Zecora? The zebra? Nothing at all, as a matter of fact I don’t even know any zebras.” He replied calmly “No, I simply delved into your friend’s thoughts of the inhabitants of this forest and found what was a sentient being I knew I could trick you into following.” The stallion chuckled again “You see; I’d gotten bored of leading ponies astray by pretending to be a rabbit or kitten. The act gets old after a while; I need some variety every now and then. The one thing that’s never changed though: They always fall for it.” In the distance, a roar echoed through the forest.

“Oh my, it would seem my pets are quite hungry, they’re so famished they’re complaining. How adorable, I do love them so.” He stated. He whistled sharply and another roar sounded out through the forest.

“I must be off now, however. My manticores like to eat their meals without my presence nearby.” The stallion stated as he brushed off one of his fore-hooves with the other “It’s been a pleasure, my little ponies…” Suddenly, the stallion vanished from view as if he were never there to begin with.

“What the- Where’d he go!?” Rainbow Dash asked worriedly. She was about to fly towards where he had been standing but was held back by the loud roar of a manticore.

“What was he?” Applejack asked “Was he a Changeling?”

“No, he was a Leshy.” Twilight replied “They’re shape-shifters that live in forests and are connected to all the animals and plant life in them. They’re not usually hostile, but…”

“It doesn’t matter now! We’ve got manticores coming our way and we have to stop them!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed as she drew her lightsaber.

“Wait girls…” Fluttershy said softly.

“What is it, Fluttershy?” Rarity asked.

“Maybe we don’t have to fi-” Fluttershy gasped as a manticore came into view through the tree line. Its fur was covered in dried blood that certainly did not belong to the manticore. Five more of the beasts emerged from the forest surrounding the ponies, each one with its own pattern of dried blood staining its orange fur and teeth.

“Any ideas, Twilight?” Applejack asked quietly as she drew her lightsaber from her cloak.

“I… Umm… Uhh…” Was all Twilight could mutter as the manticores approached the group. The ponies backed themselves up until they were in a tight circle in the center of the perimeter created by the beasts.

“Twilight, any time now…” Applejack said in a poor attempt to speed along Twilight’s thinking. All six manticores let out a deafening roar, snapping Twilight out of her trance and opening her eyes to the hybrid creatures licking their chops in anticipation of their meal.

“THAT’S IT!” Rainbow Dash shouted as she rose from the circle of ponies. She flew towards the nearest manticore with her lightsaber activated and held in her muzzle. She left a rainbow trail behind her as the manticore slumped to the dirt in two pieces.

One of the beasts on the opposite side of the group raised its paw to swipe at the ponies. Fluttershy quickly pushed past Rarity and Applejack and raised herself a few inches off the ground with her wings, fore-hooves outstretched stopping the manticore’s swing with a newly created wall of force energy.

“COME ON EVERYPONY! WE GOTTA GO!” Rainbow Dash shouted as she kicked an approaching manticore in its muzzle. Rarity, Pinkie and Twilight ran past Rainbow Dash following the cyan pegasus’s order.

“Yeeeeee-hawwww!” Applejack cheered as she decided to join the fray, jumping into the air and bucking the closest beast she could get at in its head.

“Fluttershy! What the hay are you doing?!” Rainbow Dash yelled as she saw her friend creating wall after wall of force fields in a desperate attempt to keep three of the attacking manticores away from her. Suddenly, Rainbow saw a claw swipe at her out of the corner of her eye, dodging in the nick of time, saving her right wing from improvised amputation. Twilight, Rarity and Pinkie stopped running as they heard Rainbow’s yell.

“I’m coming Fluttershy! Just hold on!” Twilight shouted as she ran back towards the fight.

“Twilight wait!” Pinkie called as the purple mare left her and Rarity alone.

Applejack dodged the manticore’s swings effortlessly, parrying its attacks with her own swings of her lightsaber, creating several gashes along the beast’s forelegs. In one last, desperate attempt to kill Applejack, the manticore jumped towards her headfirst, baring its fangs. Applejack smirked as she threw her lightsaber through its outstretched front paws. The beast roared in pain as it fell to the ground, its paws landing several feet away. It continued to howl in pain until finally, its eyes rolled back and shut for the final time. Applejack let out a breath of relief and turned to help out the others with the remaining manticores when she noticed her lightsaber had not returned to her.

“Aw ponyfeathers.” She cursed as she started searching the area around the freshly slain beast for her lightsaber.

Dash somersaulted through the air dodging a sting from the manticore’s scorpion-like tail and delivering a punch to its head as she flew above the beast. She quickly dived back down with her lightsaber held in her muzzle again, slashing through the manticore’s neck, severing its head as they both hit the ground.

“CHAAAAAAARGE!!” Twilight yelled as she ran past the cowpony and the pegasus towards the three remaining manticores, drawing her lightsaber from her cloak.

Meanwhile, Applejack had just found her lightsaber lying next to a nearby zap apple tree. As she went to pick it up however, a purple aura surrounded it and it flew out of her reach.

“Twilight! You best give that there back!” Applejack yelled in response to her lightsaber flying past her face. Rainbow Dash had just finished putting away her own lightsaber as it flew from her cloak towards Twilight.

“Hey! What gives?!” Rainbow shouted as her lightsaber was snatched away from her.

Twilight spun the three lightsabers as fast as she could as she ran towards the beasts. Only one had taken notice of her and had stopped attempting to breach Fluttershy’s force field. It roared loudly as Twilight galloped towards the beasts. At the most opportune moment, she flung the two borrowed lightsabers into the backs of the unaware beasts, making them howl in pain before falling to the ground.

The last manticore remaining started running towards Twilight. She nervously swallowed as the beast approached rapidly. The monstrosity jumped into the air just above her with its claws out, ready to tear the purple mare to pieces. Just before the beast got within range of the unicorn, she disappeared in a flash of purple light as the manticore landed on the ground where she stood. Suddenly, Twilight reappeared above the beast, holding her lightsaber in her forehooves, piercing the manticore’s skull before it could even turn around to see the pony end its life as it landed on its head.

Twilight stood on top of the manticore, breathing heavily. Her forehooves were still clutching the hilt of her lightsaber which was still embedded in the creature’s head. She opened her eyes slowly to find her friends slowly approaching her and the three slain beasts in awe of Twilight’s more than lethal attack on the creatures. Twilight took her lightsaber out of the manticore’s skull using her magic, turning it off and storing it in her cloak as she jumped off the corpse of the beast. She turned to her left to find a completely frozen yellow pegasus, her face paralyzed in what seemed to be fright. Her yellow force field was still active, but was fading in and out intermittently.

“Fluttershy?” Twilight called quietly as she approached her friend slowly. Rarity and Pinkie followed suit. Applejack and Rainbow Dash would have done the same, but they were busy attempting to find their lightsabers under the corpses of the manticores. Fluttershy’s force field continued to flicker while her shocked expression remained plastered on her face. The yellow shield finally disintegrated and the pegasus blinked a few times and shook her head as she acknowledged the presence of her friends around her.

“G-girls? Oh my… I-is everypony okay?” She asked quietly, Fluttershy then noticed the bloodstains adorning Twilight’s cloak and lavender coat. “Oh no, Twilight!” She exclaimed quietly as she dashed over to her side and started inspecting the dried blood closely. Twilight brushed off Fluttershy’s hoof with her own.

“I’m fine, Fluttershy. This isn’t my blood, don’t worry. I’m just glad you’re okay.” Twilight stated as she gave Fluttershy a smile. Fluttershy stood still for a moment, staring into her eyes. After a moment, she blinked repeatedly and nodded slowly as she attempted to recompose herself.

“Gah! Finally!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed as she grabbed her lightsaber with her wing from underneath the limp and heavy corpse of the manticore. She let it down quickly once she claimed her weapon, creating a loud thump on the ground.

“So, we heading out or what? Let’s go!” She shouted as she took to the air and gestured to her friends to follow her. Twilight sighed loudly as the rest of the group followed Rainbow Dash deeper into the forest.

“Always on the move…” Twilight said quietly. Before she could take a step however, she noticed something odd.

“HEY!! GIRLS!! YOU’RE GOING THE WRONG WAY!!” She shouted, nopony seemed to pay any attention to her however as they continued walking to the East instead of South. Twilight sighed once again...

Author's Note

Part one of my update.

Chapter 6 - Trial of the Castle

Twilight finally caught up to her friends to find out they were indeed going the right way, for they had found the castle, but not before night had fallen. The castle looked the same as when they had left it so many years ago. Only this time, they were fully aware of the dark energy emanating from the castle. The ruined building of the past showed its age despite its poor upkeep as though it were proud of its state, looking as though it would fall to rubble with the slightest earthquake, or maybe even a light breeze.

The six entered through the large wooden door that was somehow still attached after its opening, the loud creaking sound of the hinges threatening to give way to the thousand years or possibly more of service it has kept. Broken glass and rubble were the main sights in this chamber where so many years ago the same six mares had found what they believed to be the true Elements of Harmony.

“Hasn’t changed a bit, has it?” Applejack stated looking to one of the broken windows.

“It looks just as we left it all those years ago.” Rarity added as she surveyed the hall.

“Except for that cold feeling in your gut you didn’t have last time.” Rainbow Dash replied, acknowledging the dark presence in the atmosphere.

“Ah’m sure it was just you who didn’t have that feelin’ Rainbow, tryna be all brave an’ whatnot.” The cowpony replied, kicking a pebble out of her way. She turned to look at Twilight.

“So now what? We’re here, where do we start lookin’?” She asked.

“We should split up.” Twilight stated, her sentence being met with a gasp from Fluttershy and Rarity.

“B-b-but it’s so… Scary…” Fluttershy stammered.

“Not only that, but we don’t know what’s lurking around the corner. There could be any foul creature you could imagine!” Rarity added.

“I didn’t mean search alone. Applejack and Rainbow Dash, you both search the higher levels of the castle, leave no room unchecked. Rarity, Pinkie and Fluttershy, check the lower levels, remember, no room unchecked. We need to be thorough but fast. We don’t want to be here all night.” Twilight replied, explaining her plan.

“What about you Twi? What’ll you do?” Asked Applejack.

“I’m going to stick to the first floor rooms and do my sweeps. If anypony finds anything unusual, use your comlinks to contact the rest of us. Any more questions?”

“Uhh, yeah, why do you get to go on your own?” Rainbow asked, landing for a moment.

“I’m only handling this chamber and the few other rooms on this floor that haven’t completely crumbled away. Remember, most of the castle has deteriorated. There are entire floors that are gone, while others still stand. Not always in a fashion that makes sense either. It’s a miracle most of this castle is still standing. Keep that in mind everypony, watch your step.” Twilight explained.

“Alright everypony, move ‘em out.” Applejack stated loudly as she and Rainbow Dash headed towards the stairwell at the other end of the chamber. The other group nodded and started making their way towards the hallway west of the large monument in the center of the chamber.

After a few moments, Twilight was the only one left standing in the large hall. She could almost hear her breaths echoing throughout the chamber. That was only due to how tuned in she was to her environment due to her mastery of the Force, a normal pony would not hear her unless she were to sharply exhale, or had a special talent having to do with their above-average sense of hearing.

She walked towards the statue, her memories of the first time she had been in this place flooded back to her as though she were reliving it all. She remembered her feelings of what she would call dislike for the five ponies that became the best friends she ever knew, simply because she believed she didn’t need them. She recalled how she thought she would just be done with them once the whole ‘Save-Equestria-From-Eternal-Night-by-Getting-the-Elements-of-Harmony-and-Stopping-Nightmare-Moon-With-Them-in-Some-Way-That-Did-Not-In-Any-Way-Involve-These-Five-Hooligans’ event was over. The way things turned out though, it didn’t quite go how she thought they would. Twilight looked up at the statue, missing the five spheres representing the elements her friends possessed.

“What would I have been like if I never realised what friendship could really be?” Twilight thought aloud, without really thinking about it, Twilight reached out a fore-hoof to touch the statue. Upon her touch, she immediately felt faint, stumbling back from the statue as though she suddenly had too much cider to drink. The chamber around her spun wildly, the already particularly dark room grew darker and darker until all Twilight could see in any direction was black. She wanted to yell for help, she wanted so badly to take her comlink out of her cloak and tell her friends to get back to the main chamber, but she couldn’t move, she couldn’t use her magic, every part of her felt numb. She fell onto her stomach as her legs gave out from underneath her. She shut her eyes tightly, hoping the overwhelming sickness would go away soon. She could feel the numbness slipping away slowly and the void she was in felt as though it was spinning less. Both feelings could have been her becoming used to the symptoms, but she was determined to think otherwise.

After what felt like eternity, the feelings finally vanished, albeit slowly. Twilight opened her eyes and looked around the void of black. Although there was no apparent light source, she could see her body parts even though nothing else was visible in the space. She cautiously picked herself up from the ‘floor’ of the void, surveying her surroundings, or lack thereof. Twilight wanted to walk forward but was rather concerned with the significant overabundance of empty space and even more prevalent lack of a floor. Suddenly, the emptiness beneath Twilight’s hooves formed into a light grey stone floor, it did not cover the entire space of the void, but made a large platform in it at least. She carefully placed one hoof forward, followed by the next hoof, and so on until she felt comfortable enough knowing the ground would not drop out from under her suddenly, even though she still half-expected it to happen.

After becoming confident enough in her steps, she looked to the opposite end of the platform. Twilight could see what she believed to be another pony. This pony was draped in all black and was backing her.

“Umm… Hello there? Could you help me?” Twilight asked nervously. The other pony took visible notice of her, performing a very slow about-face. Over the pony’s head was a hood, effectively hiding her face along with the apparent darkness that covered the realm of this plane of existence. Twilight noticed that the only apparent light source was the platform, which brightly stood out in the void of black.

Twilight took another step forward with her left hoof, her motion mirrored by the mystery pony. Twilight wanted to recoil but was determined to not show more weakness than she already had with her greeting and took several more forward, every step being mirrored by the draped figure before her. Every time the other pony’s hind hooves and right fore-hoof stepped down, Twilight swore that there was a slightly more metallic sound as well as weight to this pony’s step than her own.
As she grew closer, she no longer felt safe. Something more was wrong about the entire situation. The other pony took two more steps than Twilight did, its head facing the floor.

“Who… Are you?” Twilight asked lightly under her breath.

“I thought that much was obvious.” A feminine yet robotic voice answered. Twilight’s eyes shot open as the pony looked up from the ground to look her in the eye. From inside the hood, one flame-orange eye accompanied by what seemed to be one sole red light where the pony’s other eye should be stared through Twilight.

Twilight thought she knew who was staring back at her, but didn’t want to believe what she was thinking. From the corner of her eye, she saw a metallic rod emerge from behind the dark pony. Twilight took control of her senses and jumped out of the way of the now-activated lightsaber that swung at her, drawing her own to counter the next swing of the pony’s red blade of plasma.

The two ponies locked eyes once again as their lightsabers were brought to a ready position in front of them. A low, mechanical chuckle sounded from the draped pony. Twilight lunged forward, her lightsaber spinning in a flurry of movements to confuse her foe, to no avail however as her series of feints were met and stopped as if the pony had seen the technique a thousand times before. Their lightsabers clashed together several more times in a series of exchanges that caused Twilight to realise that this was becoming more and more like trying to fight her shadow if it had been brought to life to do battle with.

Suddenly her ‘shade’ did something unexpected; Twilight stumbled back after the dark pony parried her swipe and forced Twilight’s own lightsaber hilt into her face, following with a swift buck to her front, sending Twilight to the floor. It felt like she’d just been whacked by two pieces of metal that were not her own lightsaber. The dark pony leapt high into the air above Twilight. The pony closed in on her quickly with her lightsaber aimed right for Twilight’s throat. Twilight thrust her hoof out in front of her, pushing the pony back into the air again with the Force, allowing Twilight to get back on her hooves safely. Her safety would not last however, as she barely escaped the red blade hurtling towards her ducking out of its way just in time.

The shade rushed towards Twilight again, lightsaber flailing just as before. This time however, it was obviously less planned and more rage-filled. Twilight could feel the raw power behind the swings of the dark being, but less concentration and concern of leaving itself open after an attack. The shade also stopped moving altogether, simply swinging the lightsaber at Twilight without actually staying close to it. Twilight decided to use this against the shadowy pony and started putting more space between it and her between attacks, jumping away after each attack, playing purely defensively. The shade still did not budge an inch, standing still on the center of the platform, surveying its opponent with its mismatched eyes. Twilight mentally measured at least fifteen feet of space between her and the pony and decided it was time to end this fight.

After countering with a hard swing, making the red lightsaber recoil enough to allow Twilight a moment, she closed her eyes and concentrated her magic into her horn as quickly as she could, imagining the symbols she had conjured into her mind countless times before. Twilight disappeared in a flash of purple light, making the floating red lightsaber flail at the air where she had once been.

Twilight reappeared above the dark pony, swinging her lightsaber down towards the pony’s neck. The shade grunted in surprise as it narrowly dodged the fatal blow. Twilight landed where the draped pony had once been, observing the crimson blade flying towards her, knocking it out of the air in an instant with her own, slicing the hilt in two, rendering the weapon useless. Twilight smirked and looked over to her still standing opponent who was hunched over slightly and visibly breathing hard. A few moments passed as she observed the shade.

The draped pony looked up at Twilight, letting out a low mechanical laugh. A dark magical aura engulfed the pony’s hood; Twilight could hear the fabric tearing as the hood was ripped clean from the rest of the cloak. As she observed what lay under the hood, Twilight once again found herself unable to believe what she saw before her.

The shade greatly resembled Twilight minus the striking differences. The pony’s right eye was completely red with metal covering around the sides. Its mane was cut short in some places or completely bald in others, the pony’s coat looked as though it had been burnt off in some places. The shade’s snout and mouth were covered by a metal breathing device that was considerably loud for such a small device. The left half of the pony’s horn was completely grey and metallic.
The shade let out a robotic growl as a sustained bolt of red lightning shot from its horn and struck Twilight, her lightsaber falling to the ground, shutting off as it hit the stone flooring. She found herself struggling to maintain even the simplest line of thought as the lightning painfully coursed through her. She fell to the floor with her entire body in spasms as the shade approached her slowly, chuckling as it did so.

Twilight wanted to scream for help, or even just form a coherent thought that didn’t have to do with the crippling pain flowing through every inch of her. She feared death. She felt as though it was approaching her. Every moment she was getting more used to the pain was another moment where she felt as though death was coming for her.
Not here, not now.

That was the only thought Twilight could continue repeating as her shade shot bolt after bolt of energy into her soon-to-be corpse. After what must have been the hundredth time she had repeated the thought to herself over the course of hardly a few seconds, Twilight found herself wishing for death as a way out. Anything seemed viable at this point in her pointless struggle against this greater being. There was no bargaining for her life, this shade wanted nothing from her other than to take her life. For what reason, Twilight knew not. She did not really care either. None of that mattered.

I’m sorry. I failed you all. I’m sorry. I’m sorry.

Twilight thought as she began to embrace her fate as it slowly wrapped its cold, numbing feeling around her. Twilight opened her eyes one last time. The shade above her looking down with pure hatred upon Twilight, it needed not even the one good eye to convey its feelings. Twilight was about to shut her eyes for the last time when she noticed the shade’s horn. The metal half of it had turned white, as though it were being smelted in a furnace. Suddenly, the shade’s horn exploded in a tiny blast of white and orange flame as red electricity shot through the air in every direction. Twilight could breathe normally once again, form thoughts that could last for more than just a split second. She thanked Celestia that she did not have to die today.

Twilight looked over to the shade again, seeing that it was now shocking itself with the rampant blood-tinted lightning that now shot through the air as well as hurt the caster of the lightning who yelled in pain, clearly unable to control the stream of power shooting from its forehead. Twilight picked up her lightsaber from the ground next to her, flicking it on and dashing towards her foe.

The crimson lightning storm subsided as Twilight rushed towards her foe, not allowing another moment wherein it could recover. Twilight was within striking range of the dark pony when it pulled a violet-bladed lightsaber from the remainder of its now-burnt cloak, blocking Twilight’s swing. She looked over the hilt of the weapon.

“Bu- What? How d-” She stammered, realising the previous owner of the lightsaber the shade held. It was Rarity’s. Twilight’s resolve to defeat this pony was stronger than ever. She desperately wanted to repress her anger but was finding it incredibly difficult. She wanted this pony dead for what it had done, or what her mind implied it had done, but before she could act on her wishes she saw four more lightsabers burst from the pony’s cloak. Fearing a point-blank strike from five separate lightsabers, Twilight broke away from her foe and put several feet between them with a single backflip.

Twilight observed as the newly drawn lightsabers were switched on one by one. First Applejack’s, then Rainbow Dash’s, then Fluttershy’s and finally Pinkie’s own floated in the air around the shade, all pointed towards Twilight.

“I can sense your anger…” The shade stated ominously, Twilight felt a cold bead of sweat form on her brow.

“I can hear your thoughts too…” It continued, strafing around Twilight who mirrored this action “You want to kill me because I killed your friends… But you can’t… Not while restraining your emotions anyway…”

“I can defeat you any way I want! You’re nothing but a shadow!” Twilight yelled back. The shade chuckled, sighing after the last huff of laughter.

“I think I know what it would take to defeat me, and you would too, after all, you’re me and I’m you. We’re just a bit displaced as far as time goes.” The dark pony responded.

“So what you’re saying is that you are me in the future?! You’re lying!” Twilight screamed in reply “I would never kill my friends!”

“Not as you are now. If you strike me down however, that may just be your fate.” It spoke, readying its arsenal of reclaimed lightsabers once again. Twilight was brimming with anger, part of her wanted to list all the reasons why she would never kill her friends, presenting evidence on how strong her bond was with each one. However, a bigger part of her just wanted to take out her rage on this pony physically.

Twilight charged towards the shade, screaming her battle cry at the top of her lungs. She slashed away at the pony, giving it more than enough work for the five lightsabers it had employed. Twilight found her first opening in the shade’s defenses, slicing Fluttershy’s lightsaber in two, sending the broken weapon skittering across the stone floor, bringing the number of remaining swords down to four. Next to be destroyed was Applejack’s, then Rarity’s, then Pinkie’s until only the lightsaber previously owned by Rainbow Dash remained.

A flurry of green and blue clashed together repeatedly. The shade was showing signs of fatigue, over-exerting the force abilities it had by using the multiple weapons and with its lightning abilities. It became more careless in its swipes and was slower to block Twilight’s attacks which only seemed to grow faster and more powerful each time their weapons collided.
The shade made a risky move and lunged towards Twilight, only to completely miss as the purple pony teleported to the side. She disarmed the pony of its only remaining weapon the same way she had the others, the pieces of the hilt bouncing across the ground, rolling to their final resting spot. Twilight turned herself around, aiming her hind legs towards her opponent, bucking it into the air with the help of the force.

She bounded skywards, kicking the shade even further into the dark sky of the void several times, teleporting herself close enough to do so after each buck. Just as the shade believed Twilight to be finished, she appeared above it, her lightsaber racing towards it, connecting with the dark pony’s neck, passing through it as though it were air.

Twilight landed safely on the ground below. A loud, fleshy thud followed by a quieter plop sounded out behind her. Twilight stood as still as she could, her eyes closed, her ears ringing with the sound of her heartbeat and loud breathing that could only be described as laboured.

Twilight’s eyes shot open as she sprung to her hooves looking frantically around the hall of the deserted castle, some flashes of colour vaguely resembling her friends filling random spots in the room.

“Where’d it go? Where’d th-” Twilight stammered as her eyes darted around madly.

“Easy Twilight, calm yerself, it’s alright.” Applejack spoke calmly putting a hoof on Twilight’s shoulder, making the purple pony look over to her in shock, eyes like dinner plates before realising who had touched her.

“Oh, Applejack!” Twilight exclaimed, embracing her friend immediately.

“It’s alright sugar cube, what happened t’ you?” She asked quietly.

“We tried contacting you, but you wouldn’t respond.” Rainbow Dash stated as she flew into view.

“We feared the worst even though the dark aura had disappeared so suddenly.” Rarity added.

“T-then we came b-”

“Then we came back here and found you taking a nap!” Pinkie shouted interrupting Fluttershy.

“I’m sorry girls, I just, I touched that statue a-”

“Well, looks like I wasn’t really needed here after all.” Kurt’s voice sounded out from the entrance to the hall. The six ponies met Kurt halfway, closer to the entrance.

“I see you’re conscious once again Twilight, are you alright?” He asked. Twilight thought for a moment.

Maybe it was just a dream, is it really important enough to bring up? She thought.

“I’m fine, I’m sorry for scaring everyone like that.” Twilight replied “You see, I was up all of last night refreshing my knowledge of the Everfree and the castle and, well, I must’ve fallen asleep when I sat down to take a rest.”

“Well, apparently you girls have done your job. The presence is gone. Who found it?” Kurt asked sounding a bit excited to hear the results. Possibly more excited than he should have.

“None of us found anythin’.” Applejack replied after a few moments of silence.

“Our group didn’t find anything either.” Rarity added.

“So that leaves Twilight. So what did you find?” Kurt asked, turning to face the purple mare.

“Well… I remember touching the statue and then feeling a bit woozy, so I sat down and then…” Twilight held her tongue, wondering whether she should continue her story.

“And then?” Rainbow Dash prodded.

“I don’t really remember.” Twilight responded “I woke up as if I had a nightmare, and I noticed the presence had disappeared.” She was lying, but nopony would know. Nopony but the pony who was lying to her friends and master.

“I see. It’s possible that the statue was the source of all this. Maybe this statue was a Sith holocron emitting large amounts of force energy, attempting to draw something or someone force sensitive to it.” Kurt reasoned, trying to narrow down just what had transpired. He looked to his students who looked back at him with a wondrous yet slightly confused look in their eyes. He chuckled lightly.

“But I will explain all of these things later. For now, I would like it if you debriefed me on your mission, however, not here. It’s too cold out tonight, who’s up for a flight to Canterlot for a night on the town to celebrate your promotions?” Kurt asked smiling. There was no disapproval from anypony, shown by the agreeing shouts of the ponies as they exited the abandoned castle.

Twilight followed the group slowly, stopping after a moment. She turned back to look at the statue once again. The presence was gone, and Kurt probably knew what happened even though she was feigning not being able to recall the events. Maybe it would be okay.

She looked to her right fore-hoof, shaking her head and examining it again as her hoof was metal like the one of the shade she battled. Twilight trembled in fear, was she to become like the apparition she faced? Was sh-

“Hey egghead! Hurry it up!” Rainbow Dash shouted, snapping the purple mare out of her trance. She looked to her hoof once again to find it was the same as it had always been: Made of flesh and bone with purple fur to cover it.

“Sorry girls, I’ll be right there!” Twilight yelled back as she exited the castle...

Author's Note

OH. MY. GOD.

SO THESE LAST TWO CHAPTERS TOOK ME A WHOLE DAMN YEAR TO WRITE?!

OH MY GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAD.

Thank you guys for sticking around this long, personally, I wouldn't have if I was following a story that hadn't updated in a year. I had the worst case of writer's block ever on this one and I finally just tanked through it all and pulled through.

I first intended the previous chapter and this one to be one chapter, but I figured I'd screw with the format last minute because, I dunno, fit better (made me look like I wrote more than 10k words).

Anyway, here's to the next chapter, hopefully that won't take a whole feckin' year to come out!
- Dats

Chapter 1 - Escape

A long, long time ago, in a galaxy far away...

*listen to this for added effect*

STAR WARS

THE FRIENDSHIP UNLEASHED

The galaxy is on the brink of total darkness. The Jedi Council has failed in killing Chancellor Palpatine after finding out that he is the leader of the Sith.

Anakin Skywalker has turned to the dark side, becoming Palpatine’s new apprentice and has gained his new name and title, Darth Vader.

Palpatine has formed the first Galactic Empire, overthrowing the Old Republic and now controls countless star systems across the galaxy. With the Jedi still unaware of these changes, Palpatine orders the immediate execution of every single Jedi in the galaxy in the form of ‘Order 66’, an order which the Clone troopers under the supervision of the Jedi are to carry out…

The space surrounding the Vergesso Asteroids was calm as it usually was. A small base just on the outer ring of the field had been taken over by the Separatists. Even though the Separatists had taken over this sector, this base was left almost undefended due to it being far out of the reach of the Republic and that it was difficult to detect because of it being located in an asteroid field. It served as a safe haven where the Separatist leaders could escape to in the case that the Republic had somehow decimated their gigantic droid army and forced them into hiding.

The somewhat still space around the station was disturbed by several Acclamator Class-II cruisers and one Venator Class Star Destroyer dubbed the ‘Liberator’ exiting hyperspace just a few clicks away from the Separatist’s haven, opening fire on the base. Orders were being shouted over the PAs of the starships for all pilots to man their craft and all forward batteries to increase fire on the enemy base. A hefty number of droid starfighters appeared on the cruiser’s targeting system as they exited the asteroid base.

In a small room aboard the Liberator sat two Jedi Masters. The two had been friends since they were both brought to the Jedi temple on Coruscant many years ago to learn the ways of the force. They were Kurt Cloudrunner and Jason Moon. Jason was the younger of the two only by a few days. Both of them were around six feet tall and were around the same weight with Jason being slightly lighter. Kurt had short blonde hair and green eyes while Jason’s hair was a long and dark brown and his eyes were dark blue.

Both Jedi had become knights and then masters on the same days as each other and had also faced the Trials of the Jedi at the same time. Both were equally strong in the force. If it weren’t for their disagreements and arguments with the Jedi Council, both Jedi would surely be elected. Kurt’s connection to the living force was a powerful one that was often compared to Master Qui-Gon Jinn’s own, whereas Jason’s connection was not as powerful. The two were near-inseparable. Throughout the war the two had hardly been apart from each other and had always operated within the same fleet. The two were so close that they could easily be passed off as blood brothers and they easily sensed each other’s thoughts. As things were presently with the assault starting, they sat patiently awaiting the news of the attack on the Separatist base.

“General Cloudrunner, General Moon, the fleet has moved out of light speed and we’ve opened fire on the enemy base. All fighter squadrons are being mobilized as we speak to combat the droid fighters closing on our position.” Said the friendly voice of the Clone Commander Terry.

“Thank you, Terry. Tell everyone to be quick about this battle, will you? I don’t think we want a run in with reinforcements like last time.” Kurt chuckled.

“Yes sir, it will be done.” Terry said as the hologram disappeared.

“Welp,” Said Jason getting up “Let’s go watch some droids get blown up from the bridge, eh?”

“Sure, why not?” Replied Kurt standing up “Better than staring at the walls hoping the ship doesn’t suddenly get overwhelmed by the droids, I suppose.” The two exited the room and started making their way to the bridge.

On the bridge of the Liberator, Commander Terry was busy ordering all fighter squadrons to attack the incoming droids. He told the pilots to use attack pattern Epsilon which sent several V-Wing squadrons to speed straight through the oncoming droids, scattering their formation. This left the ARC-170s, BTL-B Y-Wing fighters and the reserve V-Wings to decimate what still remained of the now broken formation.

“The attack pattern was successful, sir. Not a single casualty has been taken for us yet.” Said one of the clones who was monitoring the conditions of all the fighters in battle.

“Excellent.” Terry replied “This mission will be over shortly, General Moon and General Cloudrunner will be happy to hear that.” As Terry finished his sentence, a long-range message came through from Lord Sidious. The message was displayed through the hologram projector.

“Commander Terry, the time has come. Execute Order sixty-six. Eliminate both Master Kurt Cloudrunner and Master Jason Moon immediately.” The Dark Lord of the Sith ordered.

“It will be done, my lord.” Replied Terry as the hologram faded. Terry touched a button which gave him complete control over the PA system of the ship.

“All troops, execute order sixty-six immediately.” The voice of Commander Terry spoke through the PA system. The two Jedi Masters stopped in their tracks.

“Order sixty-six?” Asked Jason “What is that? Is it an evacuation code?”

“No… It’s not…” Replied Kurt.

“Then what is it?” Jason asked looking a bit worried. At both ends of the hallway, several clone troopers blocking the hallways and readying their weapons. There were about ten troops behind them and seven in front of them.

“Jason! Now!” Kurt yelled levitating his lightsaber from his belt and switching it on, a green aura surrounded the white of the ‘blade’ getting in a defensive position facing the clones in front of them while Jason took his own lightsaber in his hand and turned it on showing a yellow blade surrounding the center. He turned around to face the clones behind him and his friend.

The clones opened fire, the pair block every laser that comes into range of their bodies, sending a right back at the clones killing them upon contact despite their armour.

“This way!” Jason said as he deflected another laser back at a clone troop, sending the number of troops behind them down from the original ten to three. In front of them there were still five troops. Jason was always the better swordsman when it came to deflecting lasers back at his opponents. The two moved steadily backwards with Jason finishing off two more of the clones with his deflection skills. Kurt had only managed to kill one more clone in this time. The clones from Kurt’s side moved down the hallway as the Jedi did the same. Jason finally got close enough to the final clone to end him. He swung his lightsaber from the right, slicing the clone’s rifle in two. Jason then swiftly impaled the clone who had stumbled back slightly after his gun was destroyed. Four clones still followed the pair down the hall. Luckily, the Jedi had reached a corner.

“Come on! Quickly!” Jason yelled at Kurt as he ran around the corner. Kurt deflected one last laser away from himself and used the force to push the remaining clones backwards, down the hallway and into the wall at the other end as well as an unfortunate clone who had just rounded that corner. If it didn’t kill them, it at least gave the Jedi time to run from them.

“We have to get to the hangar!” Jason said as they ran down the hallway.

“That’s a good plan, but don’t you think they would have taken measures to stop our ship from leaving by now?” Kurt asked.

“Well, I hope they haven’t!” Replied Jason “Those bastards better not lay a finger on my Baby Girl! I’ll kill them if they do!”

“We’ll have to kill them either way, you know.” Kurt replied in a matter-of-fact tone, Jason paused before responding.

“Still though, I’ll be mad!” He replied trying to justify his earlier statement. Kurt rolled his eyes as they kept running.

They finally reached the elevators and pressed the button to call it, the door to one of the elevators opened almost immediately to the Jedi’s luck and they stepped inside. They pressed the button for the hangar. It would only be a few seconds before they reach it, so they didn’t bother turning off their lightsabers and got into defensive positions again while facing the door. The door opened. In the hangar were several fuel carts, two ARC-170 fighters and their ship which was a YT-2000 Corellian transport dubbed ‘Baby Girl’.

The ship had been passed on to Kurt after his father died. It was unusual for Jedi to use their own transports, but the two preferred this ship over the specially modified star fighters given to the Jedi. They had gone on many missions in this ship and weren’t about to retire it or sell it. Jason and Kurt had made several modifications before the Clone Wars which involved giving the ship more firepower by adding two sets of quad-laser cannons to the top and bottom of the ship as well as better shield capabilities. The engine was also modified giving the ship more speed than others of its kind. The original hyper-drive generator had been replaced with a class 0.4 generator, making this the fastest light freighter in the galaxy.

“Stop them! Don’t let them reach their ship!” Yelled one of the clones, a volley of laser fire headed towards them as they stepped out of the elevator. They ran to their ship deflecting any lasers that came their way. Once they reached the ship, Jason took cover behind one of the landing gear. He let down the entry ramp as Kurt covered him.

“Kurt! Get onboard now! Give me covering fire!” He yelled as he turned back on his lightsaber and started deflecting laser fire. Kurt followed his request and got inside. He ran to the cockpit starting up the engines, angling the deflector shields and waiting for the lasers to become operational so he could give Jason covering fire. Jason lifted one of the fuel carts using the force and propelled it towards an ARC-170 fighter which was behind several clone troopers who had taken cover behind some supply crates. The fuel cart and fighter exploded in a bit more of a spectacular explosion than Jason thought it would create. The blast was quite bright, dulling his vision for a moment. Onboard the ship, the lasers were online at last. Kurt took control of a modified E-WEB turret stored in the ship’s hull that lowered itself and started to open fire on some of the clones. A screen showed what was in the turret’s line of fire, Kurt focused on some clones positioned behind some storage containers and fired on them.

Another group of clones entered the hangar. Jason took notice after reflecting a laser back at a lone clone trooper behind him. He ran towards the group of clones who had just arrived in the hangar and leaped into the air, ready to slice the clone at the front of the group in two. As he leaped however, the clones opened fire. Kurt looked up from the screen which he had fixated his eyes on while he shot down the last of the clones behind the supply crates in the hangar to see his friend jump into the air and then blasted with laser fire.

“NOOO!!” Kurt yelled as his friend fell to the ground in front of the troops. The troops continued firing on Jason’s corpse as Kurt watched in horror. His life-long friend, taken from him in an instant, he couldn’t believe it. Kurt snapped out of his daze and closed the entrance to the ship, powered up the engines and flew out of the hangar as fast as he could. A couple of lasers were shot at the departing ship barely missing it as it flew away.

As he exited the hangar, lasers from all sides opened fire on him. All the laser batteries on the Liberator were concentrated on Kurt’s ship. To his right was an approaching squad of V-Wing fighters that were ready to tear him apart. One part of Kurt almost didn’t care if he died or not, he didn’t want to live anymore, not without his friend by his side. This was not the more dominant side however; Kurt diverted all the power from the lasers to the engines and shields as he flew the ship away from the cruisers. Several more squadrons of the different kinds of clone star fighters pursued his ship. It seemed as though all the star fighters in the fleet were after him. Kurt started preparing the ship for the jump to hyperspace. Suddenly, he heard his friend’s voice.

“They’re getting close! Give them the ‘hard goodbye’!” Jason’s voice said. Kurt didn’t bother questioning where the voice came from as he flicked a few switches and fired a seismic charge into the midst of the following squadrons of fighters. The charge exploded right in the center, destroying nearly all of the clone star fighters in pursuit. The jump to hyper-space was ready. Kurt threw the switch and watched as the space around him meshed together and turned into a blue vortex which surrounded the ship.

Kurt lay back in his chair with tears in his eyes. The death of his friend was hitting him harder than the moment it happened.

“WHY?!” He yelled banging his fist on the arm of his chair “WHY DID HE HAVE TO DIE?!” Kurt buried his face in his hands, still sobbing heavily. A beeping sound came from the control panel. Kurt delayed his curiosity only for a moment as he looked up to see a message being transmitted from the Jedi temple. Kurt opened the message and decoded it. The message said for all Jedi to return to the Jedi temple immediately. Kurt’s hand immediately reached for the hyper-drive lever to shut it off so he could re-plot his course. But he stopped and thought for a moment. Something was out of place here.

“This must be happening all across the galaxy.” Kurt said to himself “Jedi… Everywhere, being slaughtered by the clones! I can’t go back to Coruscant, that’s where all clones are sent before they are assigned to a fleet to be deployed! There’s no way I’m go-” Kurt stopped talking as he saw the message in front of him change before his eyes. The message now said for all surviving Jedi to stay away from the temple and that Chancellor Palpatine is the Sith lord the Jedi have been searching for all along and he now controls all the systems in the Galactic Senate and has overthrown the Republic to form the first Galactic Empire.

Kurt’s heart sank again. The Sith controlled the galaxy now. Kurt’s path was clear. He would have to go into hiding. It would have to be on a remote planet where he wouldn’t be found.

“I can’t believe this.” He said burying his face in his hands again. Everything the Republic had done was just washed away in an instant. His closest friend was just killed before him. It was too much for him to handle all at once. Kurt broke down in tears again. This couldn’t be real. This had to be a nightmare. There’s no way this was all possible. But no matter how much Kurt told himself those things, the more Kurt realised that this was real. This was a nightmare, but he wasn’t sleeping. That everything he had just experienced was possible.

He got over his sobbing for a moment and checked the co-ordinates he had put in so frantically during his escape from the clones. The co-ordinates read ‘193.524.832’. Kurt chuckled slightly and wondered what planet he had tried to enter originally that made him put in such odd co-ordinates. He pulled up more information on these co-ordinates. It was indeed a planet he was headed towards at least. Kurt sighed in relief at the fact it wasn’t a sun or a supernova or an asteroid field. The planet’s name was simply ‘EQD33’. There was little to no information on the planet other than that it had one small moon and was far outside the reach of the newly formed Galactic Empire.

“I suppose it’s worth a shot.” Kurt said out loud as he left the cockpit. It would be at least six hours before he reached the planet, he decided to try and get some sleep. That is, if he could manage to cry himself to sleep. He walked into the modified storage room of the ship that was his bedroom and lay down on the bed. He began to cry again as memories of Jason came back to him. There was hardly a time when they weren’t together, which made it incredibly difficult for Kurt to try and focus his mind on another time altogether. Eventually, Kurt had managed to cry himself to sleep. Hoping that he’d wake up back on the Liberator with Jason still alive and all of what he had just experienced to be a dream.

Kurt awoke to an erratic beeping sound. He buried his face in his pillow for a moment and then decided he didn’t want to crash into a star because he didn’t come out of hyperspace at the right time, so he should get to the controls. He got up and exited his ‘bedroom’ and headed to the cockpit. A timer on the dashboard counted down from twenty seconds as he sat down at the controls. As the timer hit zero, he shut off the hyper-drive and the blue space surrounding the ship disappeared to reveal the darkness of space around it. Directly in front of him was a blue and green planet. It reminded him of a giant blueberry. He shook away the childish comparison from his mind and flew towards the planet.

“Home sweet home… I guess.” He said to himself as he got closer to the planet. After a slightly bumpy entry into the atmosphere, Kurt decided to fly around the landscape for a little while before landing to scan around and see if there is civilisation here. As he exited the cloud bank, an orange pony with wings appeared outside his cockpit for only a moment. He passed it off as his imagination and flew closer to the ground. He saw a large castle and city on the side of a mountain.

“So there is civilisation here.” He said to himself out loud. He flew past the city and into the countryside, heading South West of the castle town. After a few minutes he saw a medium sized village with some oddly shaped and rather colourful structures. He could’ve sworn he saw another pony with wings, this time a light blue one with a rainbow coloured tail, but shook it off again. Why was he seeing ponies with wings?

Kurt flew to the outskirts of the village, landing his ship in a clearing just a couple hundred meters away from it. As he landed, he felt tremors in the force. He felt several life forms nearby that were strong in the force. They gave off stronger auras than that of Master Yoda or even Skywalker who was supposedly the strongest Jedi in existence. As the ship set down, Kurt let out a sigh.

“So, this is home now, is it?” He asked, half-expecting someone to answer him as he looked at the landscape outside the cockpit’s window. The sky was a beautiful light blue. There were hardly any clouds in the sky. The field in front of him was lush and green with many flowers growing in it “Well, at least it’s not Dagobah.” He said to himself getting up from his chair.

As he exited the cockpit he heard something hit the top of the ship. It was something considerably heavy to make the sound it did. Whatever it was, it was living, and it was incredibly strong in the force. There were several taps on the heard from where the creature landed.

“This thing better not damage my ship!” He said running to the exit and lowering the entry ramp. The ramp lowered and he ran into the open air and leaped onto the ship’s hull to see a cyan pony with wings and a rainbow mane.

“What are you?!” They asked each other in unison. It can talk!? Kurt thought to himself. I must be hallucinating now, this is insane!

“Hey! I asked you a question!” Shouted the blue pony, its voice made it difficult for Kurt to tell whether it was male or female, its accent was similar to that of a Corellian’s “What are you and what are you doing here?!” Kurt was still speechless and shocked at the creature before him.

“Won’t answer me, huh? Well I’ll just have to make you answer!” The pony said as it flew into the air leaving a rainbow trail behind it. After gaining some altitude, the pony flew straight towards Kurt at a blinding speed. Kurt snapped out of his daze and extended his hand in front of him, using the force to grab the cyan pony stopping it from crashing into him hardly a couple feet away from him.

“What the… HEY! LET ME GO!!” The pony demanded “I don’t know how you’re using magic, but I don’t care, I’ll-”

“Rainbow! That’s enough!” Yelled another voice, this voice was a bit more feminine than the one that belonged to the cyan pony, this time the accent was more like that of the humans of Naboo. Kurt turned to face the direction the voice came from still holding this pony in place with the force to keep her from escaping and/or attacking him again.

On the ground next to the ship stood five more ponies looking up at him and the blue pony. There was a purple pony with a horn and a darker purple mane with a streak of pink in it. There was a bright pink pony with a very puffy mane and tail. One was white with a horn and purple hair that was styled in a fashion similar to that of the women on Coruscant. There was an orange one wearing a hat with a long blonde mane and tail. Behind the orange one was a light yellow one with wings and a pink mane. These ponies all were equally strong in the force. These must be the life forms he had sensed earlier.

“Excuse me, umm, could you please release our friend?” The purple one asked Kurt “I’m sorry about her behaviour so far, she’s a bit of a hot-head.”

“Hey! I’m not a hot-head!” Replied the cyan pony.

“Heh, sure Rainbow, and Fluttershy ain’t afraid a’ the dark.” Chuckled the orange pony, this one had an odd accent, one Kurt had not heard before, it was like a lower-class Corellian’s own, but still different “No offense there, Fluttershy.” She said turning around to face the cowering yellow pony behind her. All the yellow pony replied with was an almost unheard squeal.

Kurt could sense that these ponies meant no harm. He also had no intention of harming the blue pony he held in his grip. He was simply stopping it from causing him harm. He released the cyan pony from his grip and she flew to the ground next to the other ponies.

“Thank you.” Said the purple pony “My name is Twilight Sparkle, I’m a resident here in Ponyville and a student under Princess Celestia, one of our leaders.” Kurt jumped down from the top of his ship.

“My name is Kurt Cloudrunner.” He replied introducing himself “I hail from the planet Coruscant. I have come here seeking refuge on this planet, EQD33-”

“EQD… What?” Asked the pink one, her accent was that of a Naboo as well.

“Coruscant?” Asked the white one “Where in Equestria is that?” She spoke with the accent of a high-Coruscanti, making her question somewhat ironic to Kurt.

“What’s… Equestria?” Asked Kurt.

“Well duh, it’s where you are silly!” Replied the pink one.

“Umm, Rarity…? I think he said Coruscant was a planet.” The yellow pony said quietly, too quietly for Kurt to determine an accent, but it sounded like it was from Naboo. Kurt remembered her name was Fluttershy.

“Yes, I did Fluttershy.” He said giving the pony a smile “You seemed somewhat shocked at this fact. Don’t you all have… Ambassadors to other planets?”

“No, the only pony who’s ever been outside our atmosphere is our Princess Luna.” Twilight replied “And that was only to the moon.”

“I see… No wonder there is hardly any data on your planet or its inhabitants.” Kurt said answering his questions about the lack of data his ship provided on the planet “Am I the first one to come here from another world?”

“I’m… Not sure, I wouldn’t know.” Twilight replied “The princesses might know however…”

“So, let’s go ask the princess then!” Said Rainbow.

“Err, Rainbow?” The orange pony spoke up “That there trip may be an easy one fer you, but to th’ rest of us, Canterlot’s a whole day’s trip away from Ponyville.”

“Applejack’s right Rainbow, we’ll at least have to wait until tomorrow to go to Canterlot. There isn’t even another train going there until tomorrow morning.” Twilight said supporting Applejack’s claim.

“Excuse me, Twilight? Where is, ‘Canterlot’, exactly?” Kurt asked.

“Oh, it’s the capital of Equestria.” Twilight replied “That castle there in the distance is where it is.”

“Well, in that case, who wants to go for a ride on my ship?” Kurt asked.

“OOH!! OOH!! I DO!!! ME!! PICK ME!!!” Shouted the pink one jumping up and down.

“Hold on, Pinkie.” Rainbow said putting a hoof over Pinkie’s mouth, Pinkie still attempted to speak regardless “How do we know this isn’t some kind of trick? How do we know you’re not some kind of spy?!”

“Well, for starters, don’t you think I wouldn’t have tried to make myself less known to you all?” Kurt started “I did fly directly over your village at a low altitude. Also, if I was a spy, I wouldn’t be standing here talking to you, would I?”

“I… Well… I still don’t trust you! I’ll stick to my flying, thanks.” Rainbow replied “You better not try any tricks on my friends!”

“Oh Rainbow Dash, stop being so paranoid, he’s not going to hurt us.” Twilight said trying to calm her friend “How long will it take to get there?” She asked turning to Kurt.

“About five or ten minutes I think.” He replied trying to remember the amount of time it took him to get from over the castle town to Ponyville, as this village was called.

“WOOHOO!! COME ON EVERYPONY, LET’S GO!!” Pinkie yelled suddenly appearing behind Kurt at the top of the entrance ramp. He glanced back to where she was standing before and back to where she was now, how did she move so quickly without him noticing? All the ponies except Rainbow Dash got on board the ship. She hovered in the air with her hooves folded and her nose turned up.

“You know, you can come on board if you want.” Kurt said to her.

“No thanks, buddy.” She replied sharply.

“Okay, well, I hope you can keep up with me.” Kurt said heading up the ramp. Rainbow flew over to Kurt.

“Hey! I can outrun this hunk-of-junk any day of the week!” Rainbow said poking Kurt in the chest with her forehoof.

“Well, you’ll just have to prove it then, won’t you?” Kurt replied, he enjoyed racing, he seriously doubted this pony could outrun Baby Girl. There wasn’t a chance this pony was faster than this ship.

“Bring it on! You get this hunk of metal in the air and the first one to Canterlot wins!” Rainbow said flying away from Kurt and quickly ascending into the sky above the ship. Kurt chuckled to himself, that competitive spirit reminded him of Jason. He entered the cockpit where all five of his passengers were waiting for him to fly the ship.

“WOO! THIS IS GONNA BE SO MUCH FUN!! CAN YOU GO FAST? WE SHOULD GO REALLY SUPER DUPER FAST!” Pinkie yelled excitedly bouncing off the walls of the cockpit. Kurt moved past the ponies crowding the cockpit and got to the controls. In the seat behind him sat Pinkie and Rarity. Pinkie leaned forward.

“Hey Kurt, want some popcorn?” Pinkie asked holding a bag of popcorn in her hooves.

“No th- Wait, where’d you get that?” Kurt asked; he didn’t have any popcorn aboard the ship.

“It’s a secret~!” Pinkie said giggling and offering Rarity some. She shook her head declining Pinkie’s mystery popcorn and Pinkie happily shoved her face into the bag munching away. Kurt turned back to face the controls and started up the ship. The ship whirred loudly as the engines started. Fluttershy let out a small squeal and grabbed onto Applejack who was standing next to her once the engines started. Twilight was carefully observing what switches Kurt was pressing in the start-up sequence in an attempt to memorise the steps on how to start up the ship.

“Kurt?” Twilight asked.

“Yes Twilight?” He replied.

“What does this ship run on exactly?” She asked.

“It runs on solar energy. I’ve modified the ship so it does that. It works a lot better than fossil fuels and saves a lot of money too.”

“Interesting…” Twilight replied looking out the window of the cockpit. The ship was lifting off the ground.

“WOOHOO!! THIS IS GONNA BE SO COOL!!!” Pinkie yelled as the ship gained altitude. After they gained enough altitude, a patiently waiting Rainbow Dash could be seen outside the cockpit window. Pinkie jumped to the window pressing her face against the glass and waved to Rainbow Dash.

“HEY RAINBOW DASH!!! LOOK!!! WE’RE FLYING!!!” Pinkie yelled.

“Pinkie, she can’t hear you.” Twilight said.

“Get down from there please.” Kurt asked politely.

“Whoops, sorry.” Pinkie said sheepishly jumping back into her seat. Kurt looked out the window to see Rainbow Dash wave at him and zoom off towards Canterlot.

“Hey Rainbow Dash! Come back!” Shouted Pinkie who suddenly appeared atop the ship.

“PINKIE?!!” Shouted Twilight moving closer to the window “GET BACK INSIDE!! WHAT ARE YOU DOING OUT THERE?!”

“Oh fine.” Pinkie said with a hint of upset in her voice. She walked out of view and suddenly appeared back inside the cockpit “Baaack~!” Pinkie said happily bouncing back into her seat next to Rarity who rolled her eyes at the energetic pony. Kurt looked out at the rainbow trail left by Rainbow Dash when she flew off.

“Pinkie, you wanted to go fast?” Kurt asked, Pinkie gasped loudly.

“CAN WE?!” Pinkie asked hardly being able to contain her excitement.

“Umm… Could we go slowly please? If you don’t mind, that is, I mean…” Fluttershy asked quietly.

“Hold on everybody, we’re gonna go FAST.” Kurt said throwing the throttle to 100%. Everypony was thrown backwards slightly while Pinkie was leaning forward cheering. Rainbow Dash was in for a surprise for sure “A hunk-of-junk eh? I’ll show her what this hunk-of-junk can do!!” Kurt said to himself out loud as he flew after Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow flew along slowly. She was already considerably far ahead and decided she didn’t have to worry about Kurt catching up to her.

“Ha! There’s no way he could ever beat my speed!” Rainbow said to herself. She whistled happily as she flew along. Suddenly, a ship flew past her, making her lose concentration for a moment and dropping altitude a few feet “Oh no you don’t!” Rainbow yelled flying after the ship as fast as she could. The
race to Canterlot was on…