Star Wars: The Friendship Unleashed

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...