Star Wars: Galaxy of Disharmony

Chapters

Prologue
Outside the Norm
Silence and Noise
Rain of Fire
Questions Without Answers
Hope and Luck
Fear and Curiosity
World Upside Down
Silver Tongues
Looming Chaos
Coping with Change

Prologue

The cool night air chilled the fingers of Princess Luna as she gripped the marble rail of the balcony. Her silver horseshoe resounded with a soft chime as she tapped a hoof on the stone floor. As she stared out into the night a soft breeze blew through her wings causing her feathers to flutter in the wind. Her shimmering night blue mane and tail swayed in the gentle breeze. The dark blue, form fitting dress she wore kept the chill at bay while she watched over the land.

As the night dragged on she stared up into the night sky and the numerous stars that surrounded the silver moon. Every twinkling dot in the dark blue sky had a name and Luna knew each one, even the ones that go unseen by the all others. A feeling of longing tugged in the back of her head as she stared at one spot in particular yet she repressed it, averting her eyes to the other stars. She could not bear such thoughts. She belonged here.

The soft sound of clicking hooves snapped her away from her thoughts and back to the cold night. She turned to see her sister Celestia attempting to move quietly despite her swaying from exhaustion. She wore a white night gown with gold lace which was wrinkled and bunched up in places from constant tossing and turning. Her pure white wings were a mess of ruffled and frayed feathers and her mane was a mess of multi-colored hair, even wrapped around the long horn on her head and some hair strands stuck to her muzzle. Luna struggled to suppress a giggle at the state of her elder sister.

“Does something ail you sister?” Luna asked as Celestia rubbed her sleepy eyes. “Should you not be sleeping and preparing for the day? Tomorrow shall be busy for you will it not?”

“I’m afraid I have had trouble sleeping,” the elder sister said while trying to right her night gown of its chaotic state. The act only elicited a smile and a soft giggle from Luna who tried to hide it by putting a hand to her mouth. Yet her sister’s next statement removed the feelings of silliness. “I have been…troubled.”

“Troubled, sister? In what way?”

Celestia shifted in agitation as she tried to form the proper response. “I have had a strange…feeling. A sort of sensation that something is wrong, or will be. It has been troubling me all day.”

Luna moved towards her sister and placed her hands on Celestia’s shoulders, looking at her with care. “Sister, you are merely anxious for the day. Or perhaps you have forgotten something minor. This is nothing to worry about. All things are–”

Luna was cut off by a sharp sting which passed through her temples as though a thin nail had pierced her skull. Celestia winced violently and put a hand to her head, indicating she had the same feeling. Luna held her sister to support her and the princess sisters glanced towards the night sky. Above they saw what appeared to be a bright star slowly flickering in the night before winking out.

The feeling of longing resurfaced again by the sight but was quickly subdued. The night princess would not bring up such things. Instead, she focused on aiding her sister who gripped her head. Luna stared back out where the light had been seen. She knew what had happened and knew the consequences that would follow.

“T-The barrier,” Celestia said, still recovering from the sudden sensation. “The barrier has been breached.”

“Are you certain my sister?” Luna asked despite knowing the answer.

“If the barrier has been breached, it means we are no longer safe. It is as the vision foretold,” Celestia said as she regained her former composure and stood on her own.

“We must do something. Surely there must be a way to prevent such disaster.” Fear began to build within the night princess, even frustration as she knew her sister and the answer she would give. As though on cue, Celestia answered as Luna expected.

“All we can do is hope that what will come is not the catastrophe that was foretold. I must make ready. The day will be here soon. Good night my sister.”

Luna gave a sigh as Celestia left the balcony. “Good morning my sister.” When the door within the room had closed and Celestia had gone, Luna spoke to herself aloud. “What did you foresee in the vision my sister? For I only saw death. I fear for you my dear sister. I fear for us all.”

The land trembles with the shaking of violence as an explosion tears a gaping hole in the ground. Screams of terror and pain echo all around as flashes of light etch and cut the air. The smell of burning flesh permeates the air as smoke fills the sky, choking the lungs. Scattered across the scarred land are numerous bodies, scorched and unrecognizable. Fire rages across the scarred land, consuming all it touches. The cries of the dying invade the ears. All around is suffering.

Another explosion sends a tremor coursing through the ground as a fireball stretches out to the sky. Rocks and dirt are flung in all directions. From out of the black smoke come ghostly figures of white each bearing a blank face with a T-shaped slit and a perpetual frown. They bear strange objects which spew blue light as they charge across the wounded ground. The figures charge across the scene of terror as several box shaped objects with slanted wings soar across the sky and beetle-like machines stomp across the ground.

On the other side of the horror are numerous skeletal figures and large body figures. The skeletal figures bear strange red light spewing objects of their own while the large body figures spray red light from their wrists. Supporting them are horned dome-like objects, floating about a span off the ground and dozens of claw like objects sailing across the sky. The opposing forces continue their march towards one another as figures fall and the large objects are consumed by fire.

Soon, fire engulfs the whole of the land and everything upon it as black smoke swallows the sky. Darkness envelops all things until nothing remains. All that is left is the feelings of suffering and loss. Only death remains at the end of the upheaval.

The sense of suffocation awoke Twilight Sparkle. She sat up in a panting fit struggling to breath and nearly hyperventilating herself. Her heart pounded against her chest, threatening to shatter her ribs and burst through. She looked all around for something, anything to tell her that she was okay. The crystalline walls of the room shined a dull purple in the moon light. Her bed was mess of sheets with a damp spot in the center from the young princess’s sweat. A pillow lay on the other side of the room on top of a dresser which held her crown and other regal wear. The crown teetered on the edge of the dresser before falling to the floor with a soft clang. All else in the room was normal.

She looked out the window at the blue sky which was slowly beginning to bleed orange as the light of the early morning sun seeped into the sky. The soft chirping of birds pierced the window’s glass. While her heart still pounded on her chest, Twilight was slowly calming down. She sat on the edge of the bed, preening her wings which were ruffled from the tossing and turning. Her mind continued to wander back to that horrid nightmare. What was all of that?

After letting herself calm down from her raging emotions, she stood and exited the room, gently opening the door as to not awaken Spike. She moved as quiet as she could past the little dragon’s room as she made her way to the bathroom. Once inside, she locked the door and began peeling her night clothes away from her wet and matted fur. She entered the shower and let the cold water pour over her body, still thinking about the dream.

For several minutes, she could only stand and think, letting her body soak in the warming water. After washing, she stepped out and walked over to the mirror, staring into her fogged reflection as water dripped from her body. Questions still raced through her head about the nightmare. Was it just a bizarre dream or something more? It felt so real and yet…

She wrapped a towel around her nude body and proceeded to use a heating crystal to dry her mane and tail before drying her fur. Her thoughts continued to drift back to the dream even as she went through her daily routine. She felt so much anger and hate when she watched the events of the nightmare unfold. But why? Fear still gripped her even now. What meaning does such a dream hold? Whatever the meaning, a dream of death and violence was something she did not want to think about too much.

Outside the Norm

Republic Acclamator-Class Cruiser Rising Dawn: Entering unknown system; 370 days after Battle of Geonosis

The Rising Dawn quaked as another violent charge of energy surged through its hull. On the bridge, Captain Jan Aldair grabbed a nearby rail to steady himself while the rest of the crew worked furiously to maintain the course and keep systems from failing more than they already had. The bridge was dark, illuminated only by the emergency lights, but filled with the noise of the scrambling crew and the blaring alarms. Aldair put a hand to his head and began to rub his temple in a vain effort to stave off the splitting migraine from the repetitive alarms.

“I want two things!” Aldair barked, “A status report and for someone to shut off those karking alarms!”

Another quake sent the crew scrambling for support as several of the clone ensigns worked almost violently at their stations. A “Chuba!” seethed from Aldair’s lips as he held the rail to keep from getting friendly with the floor. His frustration was eased slightly as the alarms finally went silent, leaving the windowless room to flicker in the emergency lights.

“Captain,” one of the ensigns reported, “a majority of the primary systems have completely failed including communications and shields. Weapons are-”

“I don’t care about weapons!” Aldair exclaimed to the young clone. “Weapons are of no use right now. Just tell me the important stuff.”

“Y-Yes sir,” the clone stuttered as he returned to his monitor. “There is some minor damage from detonated ordinance on the lower decks but nothing too severe.”

“Discharged by the energy surges no doubt. What is working?”

“Engines are at fifty percent power while life support is down to thirty percent and falling. Sensors are fluttering at five percent power which will leave us blind in minutes. Finally, several non-essential systems are still barely functional with some at less than a percent of power.”

Aldair put a hand to his chin and rubbed the short hair follicles of his early stage beard as he tried to think of a plan. But the mounting variables kept any plan at bay. He needed something to look at and more intel in general. He moved towards the command console as he issued his orders.

“Get as complete a scan of the system as you can and send the information along with the status report to my console. Divert power from non-essential systems to the life support to buy us some more time.”

He pulled up the status report and looked it over as he awaited the system scan, noting the numerous system failures and minor damage. Once the scan was complete, he activated the holo projector and looked over the new star system. Behind the Rising Dawn was a large nebula that circled the entire system, a system of one medium size, yellow star and a single planet with one moon.

His complaints at exploring an uncharted region of the galaxy were put on hold at the bizarre sight. Never had he seen any system with a single planet, much less one with a violent nebula surrounding it. The nebula would explain the energy surges but everything else made no sense. In his entire career as a captain in the Republic Navy, he had flown through a few nebulas but never one quite like this one. The rest defied logic. His thoughts were interrupted by another report from another clone ensign.

“Captain, sensors are just barely alive! We’ll go blind in seconds!”

“Point us towards the planet and let us drift for a bit!” Aldair bellowed from the back. “Conserve engine power for now until I have a plan of action!”

“Yes sir! Adjusting course now!” the navigator responded.

Aldair looked over the status report once more to assess the situation. With engines losing power, they would likely give out before a safe landing could be achieved. Without shields a landing, much less a safe landing, was a stretch in and of itself. Dwindling life support meant they needed a plan of action soon otherwise the entire crew would end up as space debris along with the ship.

His internal debate was interrupted once again by another report. “Captain, sensors just failed! We’re flying blind!”

Aldair pinched the bridge of his nose as his frustration boiled even more. He had survived pirates, bounty hunters, and even Black Sun. There was no way he would allow himself or his crew to die because they ran out of air, crashed into the planet, or even hit the sun. Yet the problems continued to mount and dead sensors only left him with one option to get any farther. He keyed the ship’s internal coms.

“Captain, I need you on the bridge five minutes ago!”

He pinched the bridge of his nose again, trying to calm himself. The situation at hand called for a clear head and calm nerves if he was going to keep these men alive. He stared at the holo image of the system alongside the status report, tearing apart his mind for an answer. He never had been good at quick thinking, preferring to have everything planned far in advance. But a blind jump and a system structured outside the norm would throw off anyone.

The sound of the turbolift opening sent a spike of anger through him as his thoughts were interrupted yet again. This time however, he eased his mind when he saw the clone officer enter the bridge. The trooper stopped in front of Aldair and brought up a sharp salute as he stood firm as durasteel.

“Captain Alpha-53, reporting as you ordered, Sir!”

The trooper standing before the Captain was a fully armored ARC Trooper, the elite of the elite. His helmet held the small antennae shaped device that was his range finder and his polished armor bore the red stripes of a clone captain. A red command pauldron sat on his left shoulder and a dark gray, red trimmed command skirt hung from his waist which came down to his knees. A strap stretched across his chest from the pauldron to his right hip which held a pair of thermal detonators. Hanging at his thighs were a pair of blaster pistols, a now common sight amongst elite and officer clones.

Fully armored, the ARC Trooper stood shoulders above Aldair and his imposing figure caused the ship captain to shift and straighten his grey navel uniform. The quick glimpse of a vibroblade hidden under the command pauldron proved that this soldier was a force to be reckoned with. Aldair had worked with a few clone commanders over the last year but this elite soldier put him on edge like no other could. This was the impression that a clone trained by Jango Fett himself could give.

“At ease,” Aldair said, trying to put aside his tension and focus on the task at hand. “Don’t worry about decorum right now. We have more pressing matters to attend to.”

The ARC eased his stance as Aldair motioned to the command console. “This is what we have so far. Minimal life support and dying engines, so we need to act fast. Shields are gone and we’re flying blind so we have dwindling options for survival. We need a plan of evacuation and I have enough things to focus on just keeping us alive long enough to do so.”

The ARC bent over the console and removed his helmet, placing it to the side, before looking over the full report and system scan. His fingers danced across the keypad as his eyes darted back and forth. His face showed no emotion but Aldair could practically feel the electricity his brain was generating as he planned. The trooper had been brought on board as a consultant for the mission due to his expertise at planning on a moment’s notice as well as his experience in unknown territory and operations behind enemy lines on multiple occasions. It took less than a minute before he stood up and replaced his helmet.

“I take it you have a plan,” Aldair said, shocked at the speed he managed to absorb, process, and plan an evacuation.

“Yes, and we need to move quickly.”

“I couldn’t agree more. You’re in charge of the evacuation. I’ll try to get us close enough to pull this off.”

“Sir?” the clone said, almost shocked at the response.

“We’re flying blind and, I hate to say this but, I can fly this thing blind better than any clone here. I may not have the quick learning like you but I do have the piloting experience to pull this off. Now get moving.”

“Yes sir!” the clone said, giving a sharp salute and making his way to the turbolift.

Aldair moved to the navigation station and nearly yanked the young ensign from his seat. “Sorry son but I’ll be taking over this from here on. You may have been trained from birth but that’s only ten years of training. I still outclass you by fifteen years of experience so I’ll need you to move.”

“Y-Yes sir,” the ensign said, rather taken aback at the captain taking the helm.

Aldair barked to the bridge. “All commands still come from me! All non-essential personnel make your way to the lifepods and prepare for evac!”

He eased into the seat and brought up the system scan, calculating their current location to the nearest meter he could. His mind raced as the calculations flew through his head. Despite not being one for snap tactical decisions, he could still calculate faster than practically any droid or nav computer he had encountered. Some had said he had a special gift, even a connection to the Force. But Aldair had always dismissed the idea that he could have been a Jedi just because he was an excellent pilot. He never was one to believe in the mystic anyways.

“Now then, let’s see if I remember how to fly this tub.”

Ponyville Observatory; 5:00 am

Lyra Heartstrings leaned back in her chair and gave a long sigh of exhaustion. She stared up at the large telescope she sat in front of with a weary glance and spat out a frustrated raspberry. For the entire night she had sat up watching the night sky for anything new or out of the ordinary, and she had found it. A quick flicker of light in the sky and then nothing. She had searched the rest of the night only to see the same night sky that always hung above her head.

She lazily reached over to her coffee cup without even looking only to knock it off the small table and spill the final drippings across the floor of the observatory. With a sorrowful glance she watched the last drops drip out of the plastic cup. She groaned less at the spill and more at the fact that there had been so little left anyways.

Tired from the night and desperate to find something else before the night truly ended, Lyra stood and started walking towards the coffee pot at the other end of the small observatory. She lazily charged her horn causing a mint green aura to surround the empty cup on the floor. The cup gently levitated into her hand just as she reached the pot of cold brew. She hated cold coffee but desperately needed something to keep her going for a bit longer.

As she sipped the cold liquid, she looked over a flyer advertising a picnic for the members of the Ponyville Astronomers’ Society, a group she had just barely managed to join. She had always been fascinated by the idea of something beyond the stars but had always been viewed as a nutcase, even by her friends. If she didn’t find anything tonight, nothing would change.

With the sun beginning to peak over the horizon, Lyra went back to the telescope and decided to take one final glance at the sky before calling it a night and getting some much needed sleep. She was going to find something, she could feel it.

As she peered through the telescope’s eyepiece, her heart began to sink ever further down as she scanned the sky which grew steadily brighter from the morning sun. Desperation to find the light flicker again drove her to scan for the next hour. Hope faded and she was about to call it quits when something caught her eye. A small flicker of light blinked in the steadily growing light of the morning sky, hardly visible but there nonetheless. Lyra centered the telescope on the light and focused the lens in an attempt to get a clear view but only saw the light slowly blinking in the sky. Excitement built up inside as she had possibly found the mysterious light once again, or maybe something new.

Several minutes went by as the light continued to blink in a rhythmic pattern and make its way across the morning sky. The initial excitement began to dwindle as confusion took over. Lyra struggled to think of any logical explanation for a light passing across the sky, even if it was related to the initial flash she had seen earlier in the night. She increase the magnification to its maximum to try and solve the mystery of the light, only to discover that it was comprised of multiple flickering lights. Her brain steamed as she tried to comprehend the new discovery and continued her observation.

After almost another half hour, the lights dwindled in the morning light and a strange object revealed itself. A bizarre triangular shape materialized from the flickering lights, both exciting and worrying Lyra. Some thing was in the sky above the quaint town of Ponyville. But there was no way of telling what it was just yet or how to tell others what she had seen without them thinking she was crazy, again. For now, all she could do was watch the object gently glide across the sky.

Castle of Princess Twilight Sparkle; 7:00 am

Discord wandered through the halls of the new castle of Princess Twilight Sparkle, listening to the gentle alternating tap and click of his feet echoing off the walls. He pondered over his life as he looked around at the purple crystalline walls, still bare and showing their young state. He had once been the great master of chaos and ruler of Equestria feared by all. Yet his reign had been rather short and his second attempt had been even shorter. Over time he had shifted sides multiple times and now he stood as a friend to the young princess and her friends.

“What a strange life for the very embodiment of chaos, eh?” he said aloud.

He stopped for a moment to stare out the window at the morning sky, his thoughts drifting to the strange feeling he had had during the night. Another strange tingling sensation sent the draconequus into a wobbling fit, lasting for but a second. Whatever was the cause of these feelings, it was drawing closer. He looked up at the sky once more. Something was no longer coming, it was already here.

As the being of chaos, any change in the light or dark was felt by him. But what was the cause of this change? Whatever was here now, it was the cause. No. Only part of it. Something else, something more, was coming. Discord could feel intrigue build within, as though his old self was resurfacing. A sinister smile etched its way across his face as a slight giddy laugh breathed out from his teeth. Something was here and something more was on its way.

“Oh so much fun we shall have,” he whispered to the morning.

“Discord?!” The cry of the young Twilight Sparkle snapped the draconequus from his musings. “What are you doing here? I thought you were staying with Fluttershy for the night.”

“Well I was and now I am here. The night is over correct?” Discord countered, shifting his smile into a one of innocence and pity.

“Ugh, whatever,” Twilight said, throwing her arms up and turning to leave. “Next time you should let others know when you are dropping by, even if they are your friends. It’s called courtesy.”

“I will try my best to remember that,” Discord said as the young princess left for her daily tasks.

With the young princess gone, Discord returned to his thoughts. There was something different about the young alicorn. Though she did not show it, something weighed heavily on her mind, as much as the thoughts on Discord’s mind now. He stared back at the morning sky. For better or for worse, life on Equestria was about to change drastically and soon. His smile of intrigue returned with full fervor.

“Oh so much fun indeed. I can hardly wait.”

Silence and Noise

Republic Acclamator-Class Cruiser Rising Dawn: Approaching unknown planet; 371 days after Battle of Geonosis

Silence.

That was all ARC Trooper Captain Leonis could hear within the privacy of his helmet. Noise cancelling technology along with other methods of hardening to prevent deafness after the concussion of heavy explosions all silenced the ordered chaos that surrounded him. Within the darkened hanger bay, his fellow clones, his brothers, moved with practiced purpose as they loaded up the LAAT/i gunships with all required supplies before loading themselves.

A few AT-TE walkers were loaded up and checked over to ensure they were fully locked into place while several of the small AT-RT walkers were loaded into the large tanks or a few LAAT/c vehicle transport gunships. Along with these, five AV-7 artillery cannons were loaded up. Anything that could not be loaded onto the gunships was locked into place to ensure survival after touchdown. As long as the ship survived the crash.

Helmet lamps crisscrossed the hanger as the clones moved. In the hanger were one thousand of Leonis’s brothers, all from the 22nd Defense Regiment. Five hundred from Mynock Battalion and five hundred from Nebray Battalion. All members of the 6th Negative Region Army, Black Sword Command. Like the other units from the Negative Region, the regiment had been shifted around from defense of their region to other duties, like exploration. The constant shifting to more active theaters or other missions where reserve units were perfect to task with left the region thinly defended and the units with varying numbers and a shifting command structure.

One example of the shifting command made his way over to Leonis. Commander Darren was the clone commander for Mynock and currently the only ranking officer of Captain or higher in the battalion. Nebray fared worse, having only a Major as their current commander, Major Atto. Neither battalion had a Jedi, or even one of the Padawans at that. They did at one time but the Jedi had been needed elsewhere. Of the total personnel on board Rising Dawn, crew and troopers, Captain Aldair was the only non-clone.

Movement crossed over Leonis’s helmet lamp, drawing his focus. He looked to see Commander Darren waving a hand to get his attention. Noting the indicator from his personal com, he silently cursed himself for allowing himself to become distracted and not notice something so simple. He could not allow distractions or miss anything. Next time could cost his life or that of one of his brothers. He blinked at the indicator on his HUD and Darren’s voice chimed in.

“You doing okay brother? You seem out of it.”

Leonis sighed. “I’m fine ner vod. Don’t worry about me.”

“No can do.”

Leonis had seen Darren’s profile. Moved around to a couple of theaters in the last year so an able veteran. He was trained by a Corillian sergeant and was always looking out for his brothers. His family values rivaled that of those trained by the Mandalorian sergeants and he never got on to his subordinate clones if they ever broke protocol and forgot to call him Sir or failed to come to attention and salute at his presence. Leonis inwardly cursed himself again for his incompetence. Not much of an elite soldier.

He turned to the commander and was about to come to attention and provide the delayed salute when he was stopped by Darren’s hand on his shoulder.

“Relax Captain,” Darren said, speaking the rank with a sarcastic tone and a laugh. The smile under his helmet was almost audible. “More pressing matters now. Remember?”

Another inward curse. “Sorry, Sir.” Thank the Force for the helmet hiding his embarrassment. That and the intensive training that helped him hide his emotions. Always so confident and fearless behind enemy lines or in a firefight. Why did he always fall apart around his brothers? Or was that it? They were his brothers more than his fellow soldiers.

An awkward silence fell as the two started towards the gunships which was quickly broken by Captain Aldair over the com. “Time to get those dropships off this tub!”

“Time to get this underway,” Darren said. The two looked at each other as they made their way to their gunships. “See you on the ground.”

Leonis kept silent, giving a nod and a quick salute instead. He needed to stay focused and was not going to flounder his interactions with his brother anymore. He hopped onto the gunship as the doors closed him in. Just before the doors had fully sealed, the hanger lit up with a bright flash emanating from the back of the hanger. Leonis knew the flash of explosives when he saw it.

“What happened?” he called over the com.

“Hanger door wouldn’t open without power so I improvised. Hope you don’t mind Captain.” Major Atto’s sarcasm and added emphasis to the rank seemed to reach through the com and cut at the ARC.

Leonis cut all coms and let himself voice a curse in privacy. “Shabla dinii!” When he switched coms back Aldair’s voice kicked in.

“Major, I appreciate the forward thinking but do me a favor and don’t destroy my ship. The planet already has priority there and I would like to keep it in as few pieces as possible.”

“Sorry, Sir,” Atto responded with poorly hidden sarcasm. “I’ll be sure to consult you next time.”

“Save it,” Aldair snapped. “You boys get moving.”

“Copy that!” Leonis said, cutting in before Atto could make any more remarks, and switched over to the pilot com channel. “Move out!”

“Alright guys,” the lead pilot called, “let’s get off this derelict! Detach and don’t hit anything on the way out. Form up on me when you exit.”

Leonis switched coms again as the gunship shuddered and moved towards the exit. “How are you and the rest of the bridge getting off, Captain?”

“Don’t worry about me, son,” Aldair said. “Just focus on getting your brothers to safety. See you on the ground.”

Leonis sighed and switched back to the pilot channel as the gunship descended out into space. He struggled to keep from fidgeting out of anxiety at standing around. The deck was dark except for the dim glow of the red internal lights. With the doors sealed, Leonis could only guess at what was happening outside. Once again, he was thrust into silence save for the calls of pilots. Confined. Still. Helpless. Useless. The so-called elite soldier was in the hands of the pilots. And he hated it.

As the pilots called out their ready status the lead gave the order to move into the formation Leonis had formulated. In the front, back, and sides of the formation would be the sixteen support gunships, gutted much like a vehicle transport but armed with heavier firepower. Something Leonis had to specially request as the 22nd had been denied starfighters. One never knew when air support would be needed. Given that the mission would be in uncharted territory, Command had been stingy in committing a fully armed force on a mission with a low likelihood of encountering Separatist forces.

The rest of the group was divided into small groups of four transports. Two troop transports, one supply transport, and one vehicle transport. The individual groups consisted of a variety of supplies and vehicles carried to allow for immediate deployment to set up defensive locations, begin reconnaissance, or begin search-and-rescue of the life pods and the few remaining crew aboard Rising Dawn. Command would be handed over to Commander Darren and Major Atto afterwards while Leonis worked with the reconnaissance teams.

The plan was to descend through the atmosphere as a group then split into deployments with the groups containing Darren and Atto keeping together to establish a command base. The recovery effort would follow then setup of an emergency beacon for rescue. In the past year, Leonis had always succeeded in his missions. He would not let this be his one blemish.

The shudder from heavy turbulence indicated that the flight group had hit the upper atmosphere. Leonis could practically feel his knuckles go white as he gripped the handle above. Heat began to build up inside as friction cooked the exterior of the gunship. The effects of the nebula must have had a small impact on the integrity of the heat shields. There were only a few gunships left on the ship but the ones in the flight group had been chosen as having the highest chance of survival on their own. That said, it seemed that the nebula had had a greater effect than previously thought.

Leonis never failed as a result of perfect planning, short notice or not, and practiced perfection. He hardly ever had to rely on luck. Now, luck was all he had. And it was being thoroughly tested.

Just as the lead pilot gave the ETA to the lower atmosphere, another pilot called out the first of their problems.

“She’s shaking too bad! I’m not sure if she’ll hold!” one of the pilots called.

“Keep it together!” the lead pilot responded. “Just a little further to go and we’ll be out of the worst of it!”

The decent through the atmosphere’s upper layers continued for several more agonizing minutes as a few pilots called out mounting issues. Ranging from minor power failure to sections of the gunship threatening to tear apart, the reports ate away at Leonis who could only sit, wait, and hope that they would survive and his gunship would not join the failing group. The lead pilot called out an updated ETA to the lower levels of the atmosphere. Less than a minute to go before the heaviest turbulence was over.

As if waiting for his cue, one of the escort pilots called out a new status. “Left wing is shaking too much! It’s not going to-” He was cut off by a violent wrenching noise and several emergency alarms. “Fierfek! Left wing is gone! I’m going down!”
A second later, the turbulence settled as the flight leveled out prompting Leonis to call to the deck Sergeant. “Open these windows!”

The window near him opened in time to watch the escort gunship careen to the planet as fire poured out of its side. He turned away, not wanting to watch the ship hit the ground in time to hear another pilot call out damage and watch an object fly passed the opposite side of his gunship.

“Tank didn’t take to kindly to the entry! It’s falling apart! The blasted thing is threatening to take the whole-” The transmission was cut short by a series of unidentifiable sounds. A couple of flaming objects flew passed Leonis’s gunship as he cried out for a report.

“What happened?”

“Gunship couldn’t hold together,” his pilot answered. “Whole thing fell apart! Took the larty with it!”

Before Leonis could respond another pilot called over. “Just lost power to engines! Stabilizers are non-functional!” Emergency alarms sounded over the com. “Poodoo! We’re going down! Repeat! We’re going down!”

Out the window Leonis watched as a transport gunship fell from the sky. A full load of troopers were onboard and now they were going to die from a system failure with no means to escape. He slammed his fist into the gunship’s door and cursed. So much going wrong and there was absolutely nothing he could do about it. The feeling of helplessness churned and tore at his gut. This wasn’t how any of them were supposed to die. Being shot down was one thing but this was different. His brothers’ lives were in danger and all he could do was sit and watch them fall to their death. Not much of an elite soldier at all to fail so spectacularly.

“Find somewhere to land! I don’t care where just get on the ground now!”

“Got a location! All gunships on me! Proceed to indicated rendezvous!”

The gunship dipped and dove for the ground. Once again, Leonis found himself in the hands of the pilot, unable to do anything. All he could do was hope that the remaining ships made it to the ground in one piece. Yet as if mocked by the universe, another pilot called out another issue.

“Engine’s acting up! Cooling systems malfunctioning! Trying to identify…Fier-”

The transmission cut out and the gunship lurched left, passing a black cloud of smoke and flaming debris. It was bad enough to watch yet another gunship fall apart but what really tore at Leonis was the sight of a couple of bodies amidst the wreckage. He found himself hoping that they had died in the explosion as a fall to the death was wrought with the helplessness he hated. To plummet to your death and all you could do was wait, helpless.

The lead pilot called out once more. “ETA to LZ is one minute! Hang tight! This will be a heavy landing!”

Yet even with the ground only a short stretch away, the gunship issues persisted. Two pilots called out that they were diving too hot. Out the opposite side, Leonis was able to watch as one hit dirt and vanished from sight as it skidded forward, carving up the ground. The other was cut off in another wash of static. Relief finally came as the gunship hit the ground with a thud, causing a short bounce before it settled.

Leonis didn’t even wait for the doors to gully open before pushing his way out. Around him, the gunships were setting down in the designated formations to take stock before moving on to their designated tasks. Given the series of disasters, that would take some time. No one wanted anymore brothers falling out of the sky like that.

Around Leonis, his group was prepping to move. The vehicle transport was offloading the four AT-RTs while thirty clones offloaded supplies and an additional six BARC speeder bikes. The others took position at the edge for defense, just in case.
The formation planned called for each group to land in small circles and form a makeshift command base. The command group in the center, defense groups with the artillery and tanks surrounding that, then the recon and search-and-rescue groups forming outposts on the edge. After set up, the outer groups would divide. Half would remain at the outpost consisting of one troop transport, the supply transport, and the vehicle transport. The rest would spread out and begin their task.
His com chimed as Major Atto called in. His usual sarcasm and immature attitude was replaced by shockingly stern and serious tone. “The command group is set up except for the transport with Commander Darren. From what we saw, he went down not far from your location. One of the last two gunships to fall. I’ve got things under control here, you go recover him. Let’s hope he survived.”

“Copy that.”

Leonis called out to two squads to begin checking the area of the closest gunships but a report from a sentry delayed his progress. “Sir! I have eyes one what appears to be the indigenous inhabitants. They look to be armed.”

Leonis gave another inward curse. More problems. It was to be expected though, just not so early. A massive flight group of military craft, with some falling from the sky, then, eventually, a massive starship crash landing. Whatever inhabitants lived on the planet, it was only a matter of time before the whole population knew of the arrivals. A possible armed group though only added more difficulty to the survival effort.

He called the two squads to him and started out to the crash site, and the direction the natives were coming from. “Leave the populace to me for now. If anymore arrive, do not fire unless fired upon. Let’s try to avoid any hostile engagements. We have enough problems on our hands as it is.”

As they made their way to the downed gunship, Leonis lowered his range finder to get a quick overview of the situation ahead. Ahead and to the left was the gunship, mangled with one wing ready to snap off and the nose buried in the dirt up to the cockpit. Straight ahead was the group of natives, numbering around a dozen or so. He pushed the range finder up and pressed on.

They got about twelve meters from the gunship as the natives moved up nearly nine meters away. Each side halted and stared at one another for a full three seconds, waiting for the other to act first. This gave Leonis plenty of time to assess the natives.

Fifteen bipedal creatures, almost two meters tall, stood in a double curved-line formation. Their armor was metallic and appeared to be of an ancient style, having just a breastplate, open-face helmet with plume, shoulder plates, arm plates, and leg plates. Their weapons were staff or spear like, questionable whether they were energy weapons or really ancient melee weapons.

The creatures themselves had short muzzles and their legs ended in rounded hooves. On the back of five of them were a pair of feathery wings while five others had a single straight horn protruding from the center of their head. The last five had neither wings nor horn. About half of the group was grey in color with the others being white.

Instinct kicked in as the clones reacted in kind to the natives raising their weapons. Both sides held their position and the hair triggers they now rested on as the natives began shouting. There was no way of knowing what they were saying but they probably wanted the clones to identify themselves, surrender, or leave.

Leonis weighed the options of all possible reactions but was surprised when another native was revealed. He inwardly cursed himself once more at missing something. This time was when his brothers’ lives were on the line. He thanked the Force when the new native turned to the others to get them to put their weapons down before almost begging the clones to do the same. Leonis obliged and motioned his brothers to stand down.

The new native stood shorter than the others, by almost a full head. The slender build and a protrusion at the chest, indicating breasts, gave the impression that this one was a female. That and the dark purple dress, one which ended at her leg joints with sleeves that began tight and loosened up until they hit the wrists. She had long dark purple hair with two shades of purple streaks on her head that stretched down to her midsection and a similarly colored long tail of hair sprouting from behind. Her body varied more from the others as she was purple in color and had both a pair of wings and a horn.

A fight had been avoided, but the two sides still stared at one another, unmoving. The native soldiers appeared distrustful while the female seemed to look in both fear and inquiry at the armored clones. Leonis knew his brothers were awaiting orders, their fingers still hovering over their triggers. The ARC weighed the new options. They needed to help their brothers in the downed gunship, assuming they had survived, without causing a panic in the natives and sparking a firefight, despite the female’s earlier actions.

The sound of scraping metal diverted all attention and a clone, battered and bloodied, began to crawl from the wreckage. Leonis’s mind raced to formulate the proper reaction. Move too quick to help and the natives may assume hostile intent. Too slow, and his brothers’ chance of survival dwindled. Even with his mind racing, his reaction was slow and he watched as the female turned and began running for the gunship.

The clones began raising their rifles prompting the natives to raise their weapons. Leonis thought less this time and reacted, running to catch up to the female and calling for his brothers to stand down. The female was shouting as well and Leonis turned his head to see the natives hesitating to lower their weapons. He was stopped by what he saw next.

A purple glow began to emanate from the female’s horn as she stopped and took a stance like he had seen Jedi do when performing their telekinesis. The door to the gunship became surrounded by the same glow and moved enough to give the wounded clone more room to escape. Leonis moved to grab his fallen brother and drag him from the wreckage.

Behind, both clones and natives stood still as they watched the rescue attempt. The female held the door in place and turned to the soldiers, crying out to them. Leonis commanded his brothers to join in the effort. A couple of seconds later, two wingless and hornless natives grabbed the gunship door and held it in place. Two clones took their wounded brother from Leonis. With the soldiers taking over, the glow from the female dissipated and she sighed relief.

The horned natives, using their own telekinesis, and the wingless and hornless natives worked together to open the door while clones climbed inside and began ferrying the fallen out to their brothers and the winged natives. Only three clones had been recovered when a new development halted the progress.

“Captain!” one clone called out.

Leonis turned to the trooper and up to the sky where he was looking and saw Rising Dawn diving towards the planet. The ship was surrounded in flames and the natives stood in awe and fear with a few of them voicing such fear. The group watched the ship soar over their heads and into the distance beyond the clone gunship encampment. Half a minute later, a sound like a massive explosion echoed across the land, shaking the land.

He turned to the immediate rescue effort. The clones were looking to him for orders as the natives continued to stare in fear, especially the female.

“Get our brothers out of this shabla osik!”

As the clones returned to the rescue the natives followed suit. The female continued to stare as if still trying to comprehend the situation letting Leonis know that her initial efforts were blind reaction. He ignored her and returned to help his brothers, his thoughts drifting to the now crashed ship and Captain Aldair. As he wondered whether the ship captain had made it or not one of the clones snapped him back to the immediate task.

“Captain! It’s Commander Darren!”

Leonis aided in dragging the broken body of the commander from the wreckage and out into the open. He offered no resistance nor made much sound despite the blood seeping out between his armor plates. Leonis removed Darren’s helmet then began removing the armor before Darren stopped him.

“Don’t. My…injuries…too bad. I won’t…make it.” He weakly held up a hand to a clone who tried to inject him with bacta. “Save it…for the…others. Help…them.”

The clone looked to Leonis. “You heard him,” Leonis said. “Help the others first.”

“You have…command…of Mynock,” the commander continued. “You are…the only one…with the rank and experience. Keep them…alive.”

With this, Commander Darren went limp and breathed his last. Leonis stood and looked over the group of dead clones that had been gathered. Sixteen. Sixteen out of twenty four died in the crash with a few dozen more from the other downed troop transports.

He keyed the com to relay the news to Atto. “Commander Darren is dead. I now have command of Mynock Battalion. We have only eight survivors.”

“Alright then.” Atto’s voice was still surprisingly devoid of his earlier sarcasm, being more controlled now. “The recovery groups are ready to go so I’ll send one your way to finish there.”

“Copy. We also ran into the locals. Not sure of their intentions but I’ll keep a personal eye on them for now, see where things go.”

“Understood. Atto out.”

The Major was taking the situation rough. His profile had portrayed him as a risky forward thinker and a constant pain in the shebs for command with his sarcastic attitude. Not a lot of experience beyond defending his initial post. This must been an early, if not his first, experience with the death of his brothers. No blaming him for the momentary personality change.

Leonis looked over the site again and then down at Darren’s body. While his role as an ARC normally sent him into action alone, he already had an officer rank and the training on commanding soldiers. The added responsibility was something he had not only been trained for, but something he knew he could handle. But this command was not his. It belonged to Darren. He had only actually known the commander a short time but his death weighed on Leonis as though they had grown up together, fought side-by-side.

All clones were created to die, but not like this.

Leonis turned to the female inhabitant. “Thank you,” he said, unsure if she could understand. He looked back at his brothers. “Prep the injured to move! We need to get them immediate attention!”

“I’m sorry.”

Leonis stopped for half a second at the sudden words of Basic. He looked at her as she held her hands tight to her chest and stared down at Darren’s body. A look of pain covered her face. He decided to ignore it for now. His brothers needed his attention more. He took a step to help before being stopped by a hand grabbing his arm. He turned to the female once more.
“We can help,” she said.

Leonis gently took her hand and pressed it to her chest. “No. You’ve done enough. Thank you.” He looked back to his brothers. “Move out!”

The clones carried the survivors on makeshift stretchers and started making their way back to the spawning base camp. Those who had none to carry began gathering the dead. Leonis crouched to pick up Commander Darren when a purple glow surrounded the fallen clone’s body. Leonis quickly looked to the female inhabitant.

“Don’t. We’ll take care of our own dead.”

The glow dissipated and she stood silent for a moment before speaking to her soldiers. They ran over to the clones carrying the survivors and began aiding in carrying.

“You take care of the dead. We’ll take care of the living.”

Leonis hesitated a moment, unsure if he could trust the locals. But the look on the female’s face seemed to express the same pain and loss that the clones felt. It was painfully obvious she did not like to see such suffering.

“Thank you,” he said before allowing the natives to carry the survivors while he and his brothers cared for the dead.

As they marched back to the outpost one of the gunships from the recovery groups flew overhead before descending. Leonis could not help but wonder what new ordeals lay ahead on the uncharted world and the mysterious race that inhabited it.

Rain of Fire

Castle of Princess Twilight Sparkle; 7:30 am

The world spun and swayed as Twilight Sparkle blindly wandered the barren halls of her castle. Her directionless travel had left her walking the halls in circles for the past half hour and now she was beginning to feel nauseous. The dream from the previous night continued to consume her thoughts and the images haunted and hounded her even now. No matter what she tried, the dream, or perhaps the vision, replayed over and over again in her head as clear as if she was seeing for the first time. The ghostly faces, the skeletal frames, the fire, the death.

Even the emotions she felt when she had the dream stayed with her. Fear, rage, sorrow. Her mind was a storm of emotions. She felt her body sway as she lost her balance. Her shoulder hit the wall and she braced against it to keep herself upright. Confusion churned her emotions further as her heart was wrenched by the pain she felt at such images.

She curled her hand that rested against the wall and placed the other to her head before moving it to her face. Her teeth clenched and her stomach tightened. All she wanted to do was slide to the floor and curl into a ball.

Questions abounded. What was the dream? Why did she have it? Why did it seem so real? What were all of the things she saw?

“Twilight!”

The voice snapped her away from her thoughts and back to reality. She looked up to find the world a blur and wiped her eyes to find they had filled with tears. With her vision clearer she watched as Rainbow Dash flew towards her almost out of control. The pegasus cut her flying and her hooves screeched across the crystalline floor as she skidded nearly a meter to a halt just shy of colliding with Twilight. She stood there a moment, doubled over and panting.

“Rainbow?” As the pegasus took a moment to catch her breath Twilight tried to return to calm, wiping her eyes to clear away any wayward tears. “What’s wrong? What’s going on?”

Finally having caught her breath, Rainbow looked up. “There’s a bunch of flaming objects falling from the sky! A few pegasi just reported them coming in from high and East. They just came out of nowhere!”

Fear shot through Twilight as the images from her dream resurfaced. She shook her head in an effort to dispel the thoughts. There was no reason to believe that this was related to the dream, more likely a freak meteor shower or something. Of course such a thought bore separate fears and dangers of its own. But not wanting her friend to see her in such a fearful state, she steeled herself for whatever was happening.

“Come on Twi!”

The two headed for the exit with Rainbow hovering ahead and Twilight running behind. In such a panic she found it difficult, even impossible at the moment, to muster the strength to fly. Her mind practically screamed her begging that whatever she had seen in the dream would stay there. She would talk to Celestia later about it once everything had calmed down. A meteor shower brought dangers but would be over shortly. If it was related to her dream…

Please be a meteorite or something.

The two had barely gotten out the door when a shower of flaming pieces of metal rained down on their right. They ducked back in as numerous shards rained down and chunks of various sizes and shapes damaged buildings and bore small craters in the ground. Fire began to spread as ponies scrambled to flee the chaos. The sounds tore at Twilight’s gut.

Taking a quick look over the scene, Twilight noticed a few of the larger pieces that stood out. Familiarity struck her as she stared at the remains of a craft of sorts and a few pieces that resembled the legs of the beetle-like objects from her dream. She made out the mass shell that made up the metal beetle. Fear held her in a vice grip. Her dream had become a reality.

“Twilight!”

Twilight turned to see Rainbow pointing up into the sky as another fire ball hurtled towards the ground. Her eyes went wide as she made out the shape of one of the flying objects from the dream surrounded in flames. They watched a moment as the craft shifted its trajectory a bit before clipping the top of a building. The two held one another and ducked as the craft slammed into the ground and carved up the road. The sound it made sent a chill up Twilight’s spin.

When they looked up they saw the path that it had taken in the crash. It has brought down a building, one fortunately recently built and still unoccupied, destroyed a fountain, and slammed into a small business building with fire starting to spread. They ran towards the scene as ponies fled. Twilight wanted to join the fleeing ponies but found her body simply reacted and charge ahead.

As they closed in on the wreckage Twilight slowed before ultimately stopping. The burning wreck was a mangled mess of metal and broken glass. The left wing had been wrenched off and smoke rose from the top and back. She looked up at the front and the two bubbles of glass that toped the front end. Inside she saw two white figures slouched over and still. Her fears resurfaced in a new light as the side parted slightly, revealing it to be a large door, and a white figure limped out.

Exiting the craft was one of the figures from her dream. White body with a T-shaped slit on the face. Despite this new revelation, Twilight’s fear was pushed aside as worry, even compassion, arose when the figure staggered and fell. It looked up and reached out a hand, pleading. She could sense the pain as the figure struggled to crawl forward.

“Twilight! Wait!”

Twilight ignored Rainbow’s cry as she charged ahead. No pony else was moving. No pony else was helping. She could not blame them. It was all terrifying. Horrifying. More so when she had watched these figures fight, kill, and die in a horrific dream that ended in fire. But as before, she simply reacted.

There was no time to think. Whoever the figures were, they were in pain. Twilight reached the wounded figure just as it slumped once more. She grabbed it up and slung its arm over her and began dragging it from the wreck. Rainbow hovered over and helped, taking the other arm.

As she carried the figure, she noted the “skin” was in truth armor, though was not made of metal. It was comprised of multiple plates that covered the body with some sort of cloth material underneath. The helmet covered the entire head and had a short fin on top. There appeared to be no injuries on the body nor blood, but the lack of movement and limp stated clearly indicated injury of some sort.

Finally far enough from the fire, Twilight called out to bystanders to get a doctor or any pony who could provide medical help while she and Rainbow carefully set the being on the ground on its back. She slowly reached down and took hold of the helmet and carefully removed it to reveal the face beneath. The face was flat and was primarily hairless, limited to just above the eyes and on top of the head. The mane was solid black and was short, cut close to the scalp. A gash on the top left side of the head wept crimson, indicating one of possibly several injuries.

The being, likely male by the body features, opened his eyes which grew wider at a new sound from above. All heads turned as a full flight of the strange craft flew over as an explosion rang from above. As the flight soared passed the town another shower of metal rained down just passed where Twilight and Rainbow were, towards the direction of travel of the flight. The sound of metal striking the ground and buildings echoed through the streets as well as a series of disgusting cracks just in front of where she was. Despite the danger, Twilight found herself opening her eyes to see that she was huddled over the being she had rescued.

She sat up as the being stared at her before cringing in pain. A doctor and a pair of nurses finally arrived and the two friends stood to let them work. She watched for a second as they pushed aside their fears and began removing the armor. Twilight looked ahead to find the source of the cracks. Lying on the ground was the mangled body of another armored being. Each limb bent at odd angles and the head turned to the side. It did not move.

A look around showed her the chaos of the situation. Ponies fled in terror or watched in frozen fear as the fires began to spread. The injured being screamed in muted pain. Despite all this, Twilight could only stand and stare. Even the appearance of a platoon of Royal Guards did nothing to faze her. The guards scrambled to help ponies escape the area and organize an effort to put out the flames. Fear abounded and drove all actions.

“Princess!”

Twilight came back to herself at the voice of the guard that stood before her. She had not even realized that he had been standing there, much less trying to get her attention. Worry was plastered across his face as he looked her over.

“Are you alright, Princess? Are you hurt at all?”

She stood silent for a moment and looked down at her hands which trembled violently. She clasped them together and tried to put on an air of calm and control to keep others from panicking further. But the calm would not come.

“Yes. I mean…No. Forgive me.” She held her hands close to her chest. “I am alright. I am…fine. Just…fine.” She shook her head to try and dispel her fears, even to drop her hands a bit to display calm as she looked back at the guard. “Why are you here? Did Princess Celestia send you?”

“Yes Your Highness. I don’t quite know all of the details but she sent us to aid with a disaster that she said she sensed.”

The way the guard said “sensed” seemed almost…questioned. As if he was unsure if that was even the correct word. He clearly did not understand Celestia’s reasons and had likely not taken the time to question the orders of the Princess. Such reasons Twilight would have to ask about soon.

Nothing seemed to make sense. Not only did Twilight have a strange, premonition-like dream and just witness some of what she saw literally fall from the sky, but the Royal Guard had been dispatched in advanced to aid in a situation that just happened. What was going on? What was all of this? Was Celestia in the dark as much as Twilight was now?

Twilight needed answers to the flood of questions that surged through her head. With the immediate crisis, speaking to Celestia would have to wait until things calmed down a bit. She looked out towards the direction that the other objects flew. That was where she would find some answers. The Guard seemed to have things under control in keeping every pony safe and the fires contained.

“I want you continue with the relief effort here,” she told the guard. “If you find any of them,” she motioned to the one being treated by the doctor, “provide any assistance necessary.”

“Yes Your Highness.”

The guard was about to leave before Twilight stopped him. “I need you to stay with me.” The guard held his position, standing in mid-step and looking at her in slight confusion. “Rainbow.”

The pegasus seemed to almost snap to attention. “Whatcha need?”

“Stay here and help with putting out the fires and recovering these…creatures from the wreckage. Get Applejack to help too. Rarity, Fluttershy, and Pinkie can help calm every pony down.”

“What about you?”

Twilight turned to the guard. “I need a squad to come with me.” She turned and started walking towards where the other objects had gone as the guard called for the squad.

She was stopped as Rainbow grabbed her arm. “Where are you going?”

“I have to find some answers and maybe…” she looked back at the creature from the wreck, now stripped of the armor and the top portion of the black body suit which revealed new injuries, “help them.”

She started to move as Rainbow’s hand lost its grip and fell. But Twilight was stopped once more as a large chariot, filled with the requested squad of guards, flew over and hovered just in front of her.

“Princess, we’re ready.”

She hopped on and directed the driver to her destination. The chariot banked and took off, leaving the horrific scene behind. She spoke to the driver.

“We land after a little while and go on hoof. I want to try to avoid startling these newcomers as much as I can.”

Ponyville Observatory 7:30 am

Awards and prizes. Fame and fortune. Even the chance to be the pony to represent Equestria in meeting with the bizarre visitors from other worlds. Lyra had it all. Or did until her world was torn asunder by an explosion.

Her pleseant dream ended violently as Lyra was shaken awake and sent tumbling to the floor as the sound of something like a mix between the roar of a dragon and heavy machinery screamed from outside. She scrambled on her hands and hooves in a blind panic towards the table across the room and curled herself into a ball underneath the likely useless cover. With her hands pressed against the back of her neck, she pushed her face into the floor as the sound screamed for two agonizing and terrifying minutes. It took another three minutes after for Lyra to work up the courage, and curiosity, to crawl out from under her impromptu cover.

Moving cautiously, she made her way towards the door to the building before being stricken again by fear as another roar screamed from above. Frozen in fear, she hesitated for a second, debating whether to dive back for cover or rush out to investigate. For whatever reason, she charged for the door and swung it open to a horrifying sight.

Before her, the land was charred and ravaged with pieces of jagged metal strewn about. Small fires flickered in a gash in the ground. Still trying to take in the scene, a new sound caused her to turn her head to see a new sight. She looked up as a large group of fireballs screamed overhead towards Ponyville. As they passed over, one of the fireballs billowed black smoke and dove towards the ground. A second later, an explosion sounded as the fireball disappeared into the midst of the town, already exhibiting evidence of small fires starting to spread.

Looking back at the mess before her, Lyra mustered the courage, or some semblance of it, and creeped forward to the edge of the gash. As she peered into the long crater, she took note of the various pieces of metal that were strewn across the pathway of whatever had struck the ground. From small slivers to large sheets and chunks, she followed the trail until her eyes landed on the mangled remains of a large object. In its wrecked state there was no way to clearly identify what it was. The only thing she did know for sure was the obvious conclusion. This was no meteorite.

Ignoring her better judgement, Lyra carefully climbed into the gash and began wandering the site. Not only did the pieces once belong to something she had never seen before, the metal itself seemed a bit…strange. She picked up a few smaller pieces to find them different from any metal she had ever held or touched. Even the occasional glass was unbelievable. Truly alien.

Things became much stranger as she noticed something amongst the wreckage that did not appear to be a part of whatever had crashed. Lying in the charred dirt was a rounded object that was open at base. Though not familiar with military gear or even protective equipment she could see that it was a helmet of some sort. It looked to be designed to cover the entire head, though not a pony’s head by the look of it. Solid white with a short fin on top, the real defining feature was the black T-shaped slit and a feature that looked like a frown.

Lyra stared at the helmet for several moments then looked around at the wreckage surrounding her. Was the owner of the helmet here in the wreckage? Her stomach clenched at the thought of finding a new creature, dead and likely mangled beyond any sort of recognition from the impact. This was not how she wanted to prove that they were not alone.

Her musings were put on hold as another explosion caused her to throw herself to the charred ground and cover her head. The ground shook and a sound like a dragon clawing along the ground filled her ears. She waited a minute for the shaking and gut-wrenching sound to die down before she defied her better judgement even further. She crawled to the edge of the gash where she had entered and peeked out to see that another object had slammed into the ground.

The new object, something that looked like a cylindrical container with flaps on one end, was in much better shape than the one she had just investigated. A mix of fear and excitement surged inside as Lyra watched a creature emerge from the new object, visibly shaken but standing firm. It wore the same helmet she had found which led her to assume that the rest of the white on the body was a full set of armor or at least protective gear of some sort. The body frame was only slightly similar but ultimately different from any pony, having thin legs which ended in pointed and flat feet. It carried a strange, long black object and held it with one end tucked under the armpit and the other pointed towards the ground.

The strange creature looked around at the area and examined the observatory a moment before looking over at the wreck location and Lyra’s direction. It moved its head as though taking in the scene before stopping. Lyra could practically feel eyes on her as the creature tilted its head slightly before taking a few cautious steps forward, taking full grip of the object it held and raising it slightly.

With her heart in her throat and her stomach clenched so tight she felt like she would vomit, Lyra burst from her cover and charged towards the observatory. She thought she heard a voice as she ran but she could not look back. She could only run and hope she made it to the door before the creature attacked her. The fear and desperation drove her to run faster than she had ever ran before.

She nearly slammed into the door and fumbled with the handle a second before opening it and slamming it behind her. She pressed her back against the door and dropped into a fetal position, fearful that the creature would enter at any moment. She sat for what felt like hours, unable to move, as tears streamed down her face.

For so long she dreamed of finding evidence of life beyond what she knew. Whether it be new animals hidden away or something entirely unknown altogether. To find life beyond the stars would have been her crowning achievement. Now she sat in fear of what she had hoped and dreamed to find. Were they hostile or had she overreacted? Either way, this was defiantly not how she wanted to meet new life.

Questions Without Answers

Canterlot Castle; 8:00 am

Sleep would not come for the Princess of the Night. The past half hour had already provided more proof for that then Luna had wished. Instead, she sat atop her bed in a meditative pose to calm herself. One of only a few practices she had maintained from so long ago. Practices that were steeped in beliefs she had grown to despise over the years. But her heart continued to pound against her chest and her mind raced about in her head. She needed to move, to do something.

Anxiety pushed her heart to beat faster as her legs itched to rush to the scene she had witnessed. She knew in her heart what she had witnessed and her mind raced with questions demanding details. The sense of longing was forefront in her mind. She struggled to push aside her desires and focus on the present situation.

What lay ahead for the Princess Sisters would be to calm the citizens of fear after the sights and sounds that came from the distance, namely the direction of the town of Ponyville. The group of fire balls would have been easy to explain. A meteor shower with several stray meteorites that simply got too close for comfort and then an effort to ensure no pony discovered the truth. So long as they had landed in more remote areas with few eye witnesses, the situation would have been easy to contain. But what had followed complicated things one hundred fold.

As she witnessed the shower of fireballs, Luna had pleaded inwardly that they be something beyond what she knew in her heart they were. But there was no denying the triangular object that followed. She knew what it was and her eyes would not be deceived. For so long the ponies of the land, and the inhabitants of the planet as a whole, had believed they were alone. Now they would know what Luna had learned long ago. There was more to the sky then they had ever imagined. And with this instance, the stars had come to them.

The stars. With the thought, longing resurfaced once more and Luna struggled to suppress it. But now, such a feeling would not be subdued. She clenched her hands into fists on her lap, feeling her nails press against her palms. Was Celestia going through the same thing? Perhaps not or, at least, not to the same extent. Her sister knew her place, knew where she belonged. Not so for the Princess of the Night. At least, not anymore.

No. That was not true. Luna knew where she belonged. She knew her place, her true role. She had known for so long. But here in Equestria was not it. She had tried to make her place by her sister’s side. Joint rulers, guardians, of Equestria. But it never felt like home. In truth, she had realized she had no home long ago. But she knew where she belonged and here was not it.

But her desires would have to wait. For now, the present was priority. She tried to relax her body and remove her thoughts for now. She calmed her mind and focused, following another practice she had held onto. One still useful but more despised. The familiar sensation flowed through her body as she began to feel the world around her. She felt her room, the castle, and beyond. She reached out and touched Ponyville. What she felt was fear, pain, and death. She withdrew her touch. As she feared.

A quick and easy explanation to the masses was far more out of the question that before. Not that it would have been easy as it were with a massive object surrounded by fire soaring over the heads of the common pony. But what she had felt from Ponyville showed that the situation was already complicated beyond fear of objects falling from the sky. They likely knew more than they would have ever wanted.

Luna opened her eyes and stood. She took two steps towards the door before stopping. She and her body fought for control as her instincts pushed her to move but her mind told her to stay. Luna held her hands closer to her chest, pressing them against her breast. She could not leave, no matter how desperately she desired to. Regardless of her place, she had a duty as a princess of Equestria. Celestia had already mobilized the Royal Guard and soon the politics would begin.

Yet her mind would not return to ease. Her worries only compounded at the thought of having to wait. Were the other ponies ready for what they now saw? She had faith in Princess Twilight Sparkle. Faith she would be ready and able to handle the situation. But the common pony, the one who lived their life in peace without a care about what lay beyond the sky. They were who Luna worried for.

Her thoughts drifted to the vision she and Celestia had shared so long ago. Worry arose in greater fervor at the thought of what, who, had arrived and what may follow. So much to know, and all she could do was wait. She shifted in agitation. She could not wait. She had to know. Celestia had said that all would be well. Luna begged that it would.

Luna looked over to her private cabinet. The thought of its contents put her mind to some semblance of ease. Whatever happens, she would be prepared.

Outskirts of Ponyville; 8:15 am

Twilight watched the craft that now bore the wounded and dying aliens ascend and fly farther west. As it disappeared over a hill her mind drifted to the one alien she had just watched die. The face. Similar, even identical to the one she had helped in town. Such a coincidence that a pair of twins had arrived seemed astronomical. Or was the race all identical like that? It seemed unlikely. So many questions about the newcomers.

The one with the more ornate armor, the one she assumed was the leader, looked towards her and the guards before turning. With a gesture, the alien group gathered and began their march towards the direction of the craft. Twilight followed.

But with only two steps the alien stopped and turned to her. “There are a lot of questions each of us have but they will have to wait for now. Go back to your people and we’ll talk when this is all over.”

Twilight hesitated a second as he turned to return to the others. His voice, the language. Each brought on such curiosity in the young princess. Not only was his voice a bizarre blend of natural and unnatural, sounding as if it came from the helmet more than from underneath, it sounded identical to the one she had recently witnessed die. Were they related? Perhaps she had just witnessed triplets. The odds of such a coincidence skyrocketed with such a thought.

But the language he spoke raised another, greater, question. She knew it. She had been taught it by Celestia and, as far as she knew, only she and Celestia knew the language. But now she had witnessed aliens from beyond who spoke it as well. Why? How? It had been a private language before. One that she had regarded as a secret code in her fillyhood. But to hear it spoken by one who had come from the sky? Impossible. She did not know who to question first about this. The alien or Celestia.

Twilight quickly weighed her options. She turned to the guards. “Return to Ponyville and help in providing aid.”

“But what of you Princess? We cannot leave you alone with these – Princess!”

Twilight ignored the guard and quickly caught up to the aliens. “I’m staying with you. As a Princess, I must act as a representative of this land. As such it my duty to act as an ambassador for my citizens.”

The alien continued to walk, not even turning to her. “Then with respect your Highness, please stay out of our way. I appreciate the help earlier but these men are my responsibility not yours. We will take care of our own. The politics can come later.”

“Very well.”

The lead guard caught up and moved around Twilight to stop her. “Princess, I must object to this. You will go to the midst of these…aliens? You put yourself at too much risk.”

“I understand your concern and your duty. But there are more of them and even with you or the whole squad they will overpower us if they desired. Even in such an unlikely scenario, a princess is a valuable asset and they would likely keep me alive in such a situation. Not so for you. I wish for you to stay safe.

“For now, they appear more concerned with helping their comrades than harming us. For the sake of establishing a peaceful relation, I will go alone as a sign of faith and trust. For now, please return to Ponyville and help with providing aid to the citizens and the aliens there. Please try not to show any hostilities. If any more are found provide them with whatever aid they require.”

The guard stood silent as she moved around him to continue. “As you wish your Highness.”

Twilight heard the hooves of the guards move away. She knew they were sworn to protect the royalty at all costs so she could not blame them for wanting to stay by her side. But the situation was delicate. Any act that could even be remotely construed as hostile would only make the situation that much worse. A liaison was needed to begin relations with the newcomers and who better to begin an establishment of friendship than the Princess of Friendship? Besides, there was no time to properly elect an ambassador and Twilight was more than available.

After a few minutes the group ascended a hill topped by another one of the flying craft. Its side was opened slightly and she saw something set on a tripod poking out with an alien standing behind. As they rose, Twilight noticed two more of the crafts. They were set in a semi-circle with several aliens having taken positions around the area. The defensive formation was easy to see despite Twilight’s limited exposure to military tactics. What she saw, however, was vastly different from Equestrian tactics she had read up on from some of Shining Armor’s military manuals.

She followed the group as they moved around the primary defensive craft and through a small gap on the left side of the formation between it and the one set behind it. She took note of four strange objects she could only describe as two legged machines. The metal body and lifeless appearance stirred an eerie feeling inside the princess. Each had an alien on top who appeared to operate the objects. She looked around to count up the total number of the newcomers. More than thirty in this area.

Before she could do much more, one of the aliens rushed up to her. It held a smaller variation of the weapons she had seen but held it down in a non-aggressive fashion. The helmet was slightly different than the others, having a brim-like feature just above the slit. She read the body language as…excited.

“You must be one of the natives,” the alien said, removing the helmet and revealing the same face as the others. “What do you call your race? Can you really fly with those wings? What position do you hold in your society? Can you understand Basic?”

Beyond the string of questions, his face was what left Twilight the most speechless. Were all of these aliens the same? Encountering twins, even triplets, was unthinkable already. But to hear the same voice and see the same face yet again, impossible.

Mild relief came as the lead alien grabbed the other. “Helmet on and back to your post!”

Disappointed, the alien begrudgingly did as he was told without questions or argument. “Yes Sir.”

“Don’t mind him.” Twilight looked to her left at the alien who had just spoke, one who was with the group with the leader. “He has this thing where he has to know everything. Bit of a know-it-all.”

Twilight watched as the alien who had questioned her returned to his post and the others from the group spread out to positions of their own. She looked to the one who had just spoke to her. “What of your leader? Can you tell me about him?”

The alien stopped and looked at her then over to the leader. “The Captain? Bit of a hardline. He’s an elite trooper. Brought aboard just for this mission. Don’t really know much about him myself.”

The alien made his way to a position on the edge of the defensive line and relieved another. Twilight looked at the leader who appeared to stare into space, silent. She walked over to him. He stood firm but the silence was offsetting. Was he grieving for those who died? Perhaps she could lift his spirits and start on a path to a peaceful relation.

“Um…Captain?”

He turned to her rather suddenly, startling her. “I’m sending medical aid to your settlement and we’ll be taking over the care of my men. I’ve also informed all troopers to avoid hostilities.”

Twilight was struck speechless. Somehow, this alien not only knew of his comrades under the care of the ponies in Ponyville but also managed to contact all of his comrades without any sign of initiating contact with any of them outside those in the immediate vicinity of him. Knowledge of Ponyville and assumption of any medical aid needed was one thing. They did fall from the sky after all. But to know his comrades were there and to make contact with them brought all new questions to the princess. But given what she had seen of them so far, there was no telling what capabilities they possessed.

Regardless, she needed to maintain the upper hoof in some way. She was never one for any sort of less than honest means but politics were a messy business. And to have such an alien force nearby she needed any advantage she could get to ensure that peace could be properly negotiated. She had read up on enough books to learn political strategies to understand this.

“You can’t. You’re men are under our care for the moment and shall stay under our care for the time being.”

The alien leader stopped all movement and turned to her. His tone was low and respectful but she could hear the traces of frustration underneath his control. “With all due respect, they are my brothers and we possess the means to properly care for them.”

The armored alien was imposing but Twilight stood her ground. She took careful note of the word he had used to describe his comrades. Brothers.

“Regardless. In the name of establishing peace and trust, we shall continue to care for your men. Those who are well may return to your care but the wounded shall remain under our care with the exception of those that are beyond our capabilities to help.” He stood silent for a moment, likely contemplating the proposal. “You need to search for your other “brothers” who may be in greater need of care. Am I correct?”

The leader stood silent. Twilight noted his clenched fist at the use and emphasis of the familial word. Slowly he relaxed. He stood tall and silent before speaking again.

“Very well.” His voice was again laced with frustration hidden under control. “I have called the aid off but a medical team will stand by for any you cannot tend to.”

“Very well.”

The alien looked up suddenly as another craft flew in and landed near the rear of the encampment. He turned and started towards it. “I have something to tend to. For now you remain here until I return.”

“Of course!” Twilight shouted over the sound the craft made. “Before you go, I wish to know your name!”

The alien stopped a moment and turned back to her. “Captain Leonis of the Grand Army of the Republic.”

With that he turned back to the craft and boarded. The sides remained opened as it took off and even as it flew away towards the west. While it was possible he was going to meet with more of his “brothers,” it was also possible he was going to rescue more or even see to the massive object that had fallen in that direction.

With the craft out of sight, Twilight decided to gather information on the newcomers rather than sit around and wait for Captain Leonis to return. Hearing him call his comrades his brothers brought more questions to her mind. Did he regard them as brothers in arms or did this hint at an answer to the similarities they all seemed to share? She headed to perimeter of the encampment and found the one who had attempted to question her earlier.

“I wish to speak to you about your kind. I am willing to tell you of myself in exchange.”

The alien looked at her with his head slightly tilted. His voice was full of excitement. “Of course.”

He motioned to another as he led her to the center of the encampment. The other alien took his place as he began a string of questions following an introduction of himself. Twilight listened carefully and answered as many questions as she could, taking care to withhold sensitive or vital information as her books had taught her. But she needed to know as much as she could about the aliens to properly begin building a peaceful relation with them.

The likelihood of the aliens remaining for an extended period of time seemed possible and her head was still brimming with numerous questions about them. Where had they come from? Who were they? Why did they speak a language that only she and Celestia knew? As she began to gain answers, the number of questions only increased. Her world had become cosmically smaller.

Author's Note

"Know-it-all" clone is Clone Trooper OC Know-It-All from The Dark Soul. Thanks to him again for letting me use his OC.

Hope and Luck

Unknown Planet; Unknown Region: En route to Rising Dawn crash site; 371 days after Battle of Geonosis

Leonis slammed his fist against the front wall of the gunship’s troop bay and swore. Not only did he have to deal with his brothers dying from falling out of the sky, he now had to deal with politics. What he would not give to be back behind enemy lines where he only had to watch out for himself and the dangers that came with it. Dealing with enemy fire was his specialty. Battlefield tactics were his forte. Dancing around words, treaties, and sharp tongues, not so much.

He ignored the stares of the other four members of the rescue group and relaxed his arm. He needed to focus on the task at hand. Whatever politics lay ahead, Aldair was needed. The ship captain was better at playing the game of words. That was assuming the dinii had survived the crash.

Leonis recalled the captain’s profile. Originating from an unknown location in the Outer Rim, he rose through the ranks of the Republic Navy through cunning and tact. The man was a survivor and had a street wise personality that blended with the military training he received upon enter the Republic Navy. He even managed a promotion from enlisted to officer only to continue his rise in the ranks. Though not much of a combat tactician except when given ample time to plan, he excelled more in his words. Case and point was that he apparently talked his way out after being captured by pirates during an escort mission.

His com indicator lit up and Major Atto chimed in, his voice bleeding with impatience. “Captain, what’s the status of the search and rescue effort? And where are you?”

Leonis settled in for a long brief. “Recovery effort is proceeding well. Nearly all gunships and those on board have been accounted for. At least one has crashed in the midst of a native settlement that was along the entry pathway with the possibility of one or two others with it. The troopers with those gunships are currently under the care of the natives and the ruling native will not allow them to be released to us in an-”

“Their being held hostage?” Atto exclaimed, cutting off the report. “We need formulate rescue immediately. I’ll-”

Di’kut. “Negative, Major. The natives are caring for the wounded and have requested to continue to do so as a sign of trust. I have already arranged for those with light or no injuries to be returned as well as any who are beyond care of the natives or deceased.”

“Hold on now,” Atto said, cutting off the brief again to Leonis’s frustration. “You mean to tell me you not only made contact with the natives but have already established communications with them.”

“With the ruler, or local ruler perhaps, yes. She at least seemed to understand Basic, even speaking it. I don’t know how widespread the language is. I can give the full report later. We’re too constrained on time right now. But let me handle the natives for now.”

Atto huffed in frustration. He was not quite back to his sarcastic self but he was still arrogant and his lack of experience made him rather naïve and impatient. One thing Jango Fett had taught the ARCs during training was that experience always trumped rank. Compared to Leonis, Atto was little more than a Lieutenant in experience. The Major needed to trust Leonis’s judgement.

“Fine. Anything happens to them then it’s on you.”

It already was. “I’ll personally avenge them should anything happen.”

Leonis worked to keep his frustration under control. Atto’s inexperience was starting to upset him and his impatience quickly had. There was no telling what he would be like when his sarcasm returned. A thought like that would have to wait. Hopefully Aldair was still alive. He seemed to be able to handle him earlier and Leonis was not looking forward to Atto having full control from a technicality of being the ranking officer.

Atto sighed. “So where are you?”

“En route to Rising Dawn’s crash site. I’m going to search for any survivors and get a better understanding of the status of the ship. We’re going to need Captain Aldair’s expertise if he survived and we will need to recover any surviving equipment, ordinance, and vehicles.”

“You expecting trouble with the locals?”

“No. At least not with the local population. The situation with the locals is going to lead to political talks and the captain is the man for the job there. Plus, we can’t rule out the possibility of any form of hostile activity. Either with the locals or Separatists.”

“Do you expect the locals are in league with the Seps or that the Seps are going to be dropping in soon?”

“Doubtful. Just a precaution to cover all bases. I would prefer to be prepared in the unlikely scenario that Seps are behind us or arrive first when we get to a position to begin a call for help. Besides, ordinance is valuable and we can’t lose that and not have it for later battles or allow the locals to get their hands on it at any point. Not sure if they are ready for that level of tech yet. Plus, there are Republic secrets hidden in the ship that must be secured.”

“Understood. I’ll leave that to you. Atto out.”

Leonis breathed a sigh of relief. He never did enjoy dealing with superior officers, more so when they were brothers. He had grown used to getting a mission and being left to his own devices to fulfill that mission. From the start of this mission, he had been out of his comfort zone.

The call of the pilot brought Leonis out of his contemplations and back to the mission. “Coming up on Rising Dawn’s crash site”

A look out revealed the massive gash in the planet torn apart by Rising Dawn. Debris was strewn across the land and dozens of fires still raged along the path. Ahead, Rising Dawn was angled into the ground with the front end and right side partially buried, leaving the bottom accessible. But the mangled state of the outer hull and the fires that burned either on the outside or glowed from underneath exposed hull breaches brought on worries of structural integrity. While it was relatively intact overall, the rescue would be nothing short of dangerous and any recovery of ordinance would be near impossible for the time being.

“Set us down and move to a safe location. We’ll call for evac when we’ve located and recovered the survivors.”

“Copy. And if there are no survivors?”

The gunship landed and the rescue team stepped off. “Then we’ll be bringing back the dead. I will not leave them in that wreck.”

Leonis motioned the group to move as the gunship took off. As they moved underneath the derelict, they kept a careful watch for falling debris. The underside was mangled and entire sections of the hull seemed to have been torn right off, leaving the frame exposed. Fires were scattered about and sections of the exposed frame glowed bright orange. The entire ship creaked which echoed in the newly formed canyon.

Several tense minutes passed as the squad moved to the only open hanger door near the rear. Leonis silently cursed their luck that Atto had the stupidity to blast the door. Nothing but a di’kutla idea that had put the ship at risk during entry but somehow worked in their favor now. He could just hear a Jedi now. The Force works in mysterious ways.

But it did not take the Force to notice the low structural integrity of the surrounding hull. The blast had indeed left them with an opening but the result left the area weak and ready to fall apart. Entry had already torn major gashes into the hull and ripped off sections of the surrounding hull plating. Plus, the fire was stronger here.

Fire aside, the squad had an entry point and only one obvious means of entry. Two problems made even that entry difficult. The micro-fiber cable launchers each trooper carried would only reach high enough to attach to the edge of the square opening of the hanger door. That and the only edge that had a light enough spread of fire still displayed low structural integrity, running the risk of giving way under additional stress. The last thing they needed at the moment was the ship to continue to fall apart and an anchor point to collapse.

But as Leonis calculated the best target for ascension, the canyon like gash echoed with the creaking moans of the ship. A glance to the right side of the vessel revealed shifting dirt. A look up and Leonis saw the underside of the ship move towards them.

“Move!”

His mind raced in the split second it took to register the ship’s movement and react. Instead of moving out from under the ship he kept directly under the blasted hanger opening. In that moment, Leonis actually began hoping to the Force that the Jedi believed in to let things work out. As the ship dipped lower, he found himself hoping harder.

“Down!” he called as the ship got within ten meters of the ground.

Never before had he relied on luck or hope. Each mission succeeded from a combination of planning, skill, and properly applied training. He had never hoped a mission would succeed. He never lucked out. Not until this mission. Every moment so far from entry into the system to now seemed to hinge on luck and hope. All those who lived seemed to do so out of luck. And Leonis had found himself hoping that more would not die or that the series of events would cease their downward spiral of tragedy. Now, that luck seemed to hold out once again.

Leonis slowly rose and flipped through his visor settings to infrared. He took a look around to find the four heat signatures of his brothers and one side of flames still roaring. The team had survived and the impact with the ground seemed to have kicked up enough dirt and dust to smother the smaller flames.

They let the dust settle before Leonis switched to night vision to scan the area while the others activated their helmet lamps. The immediate area of the hanger glowed from the flames and the four artificial lights while the rest was dark save for a few spots lit by small fires or occasional sparks. Leonis recalled the schematics of the assault ship and the group started for the bridge.

The surrounding darkness weighed heavy and the lights from fires or the helmet lamps cast shadows which appeared as creatures stalking prey. The silence was haunting, broken only by occasional echoing creaks from the ship as damaged portions shifted. The surrounding damage only added to the uneasy feeling. It was like wandering through a carcass.

They proceeded with extreme caution through the hanger. The overhang rail that had held the gunships was in pieces and several sections of the ceiling sparked from openings and pieces dangled precariously. One gunship that was left behind sat in a burning, mangled heap while another was smashed against a wall to the far right of the hanger.

Time was critical and there was no chance to check on the other remaining vehicles tucked away in the bay. Once again, Leonis found himself hoping that at least most had survived. But the thought of surviving vehicles and other ordinance brought on a new worry. Retrieval. With the ship lying against the ground, trying to get ordinance out would be a monumental and dangerous task if not impossible. Vehicles already stood an impossible chance of retrieval.

But now halfway down the hanger, the sight of a turbolift brought Leonis back to the mission at hand. Wrecked and without power, the turbolift was useless, leaving the recovery team to work open a maintenance hatch to a service corridor as a quicker route. The tunnel like pathway was large enough for a human sized being to fit through but the tight space brought claustrophobia and other dangers. Should the ship shift or collapse further, the corridor could easily be blocked or collapse or falling debris could take them out in one fell swoop.

Once again, Leonis hoped and his luck held. They ascended through the decks as Leonis mentally followed their progress along the memorized schematics. They emerged in a hallway and proceeded to the rear to reach another service corridor which would lead straight to the bridge, or at least as close as they could. Another several tense minutes of climbing and they emerged in the final hallway with the bridge straight ahead.

The door to the bridge was partially opened with half the space needed to squeeze through. The other members of the recovery squad rushed forward and began trying to pry it open with no success. The door creaked but held fast. They made one more attempt yet the door no longer even budged. The clones looked to Leonis.

“Sir, any ideas?”

Leonis sigh and held back a mental curse at the idea that came to mind. Atto was getting to him more than he liked but they did not have the luxury of time to come up with a less drastic solution.

“Grenades, now. Not thermals,” he said, holding out a hand to the clones.

The clones each handed over a simple standard issue grenade and Leonis began setting them into the crack of the door. He increased the volume on his helmet speaker and called through the crack.

“Captain! If you are alive and can hear me, stay down and away from the door!” With the explosives set, he turned to the squad. “Cover!”

The squad dove back into the hall and placed their bodies as close to the walls as possible. Leonis temporarily switched off his night vision to avoid the flash from the blast and turned away. The charges detonated, lighting up the entire hall and sending a shudder that felt like it coursed through the entire ship. Several shards of metal were flung through the hall with a few bouncing harmlessly off the clones’ armor. They waited a full three seconds to ensure the explosion had not triggered a collapse. But once again, luck held as only a few loose pieces of plating broke free and fell.

The explosion had not only opened the door further, but had wrenched one side out and the squad now had an opening large enough for two. They moved through and began searching the debris for the remaining bridge personnel. Including Aldair, only three bridge officers were found with the Captain sitting at the navigation console. The two clones were huddled under stations.

The Captain looked up at Leonis and gave a pained smile. “You know, that visor of yours is pretty scary in the dark.”

Leonis shook his head, holding back the shock that the dinii had survived looking like he had remained in the seat the entire way down. “Where is the rest of the crew?”

Aldair grunted and held his side as Leonis helped him out of the chair. “Already off. Left with the rest of the evacuation. These two refused to leave. Told them I didn’t need them here”

Leonis gave Aldair a shot of bacta to begin healing the smaller injuries and dulling the pain of the more serious ones. He supported the captain as they started towards the door and could already feel broken ribs on Aldair’s chest. The rest of the squad had already administered similar initial aid to the others and were helping them to their feet.

“It takes a minimum of ten to pilot an Acclamator,” Leonis said as they worked their way through the door.

“Only one to crash it though,” Aldair said with a low pained laugh before Leonis could say more. “Besides, I wanted to make sure as many of your brothers made it off as safely as possible.”

Leonis hesitated his response for a second, thinking about the deaths so far. “They didn’t all make it safe.”

“Well then,” Aldair started and began trying to support himself before giving a groan of pain and leaning back on Leonis. Leonis looked down to see the captain dragging his left leg. “We can save the details until after we get out of this wreck.”

Leonis agreed and the group started back through the maintenance hatch. The injuries of the survivors slowed progress and the still shifting debris slowed them even further. The trip out was now taking three times as long as entry.

Finally, the group moved down a main corridor and to one of the lifepod docks. They set the survivors down to rest while the recovery squad worked the manual override on the hatch to open it. With the hatch open, Leonis called the gunship for evac. When the gunship arrived, it held position as close as possible to the dock port while Leonis and one of the squad members turned a broken panel from the wall into a makeshift gangplank. Each survivor was carried on and the gunship took off as the doors closed behind them.

Leonis relayed the situation to Atto and turned to hear Aldair waving away the field medic. “I’m fine, I’ll live. Take care of those two first. Ensign Jacks is in worse shape than me and needs the attention first.”

Leonis reflected on the events inside the ship. Once more, luck had held. He watched the medic divert to Jacks who had a large gash across his chest and looked back at Aldair, noting the injuries. The only visible wound was a small laceration to the head which he held a rag to. The other injuries were likely internal, broken ribs and perhaps a broken leg. They would know for sure when they returned to the main camp.

“Captain.” Leonis’s attention was broken as Aldair spoke. “Take your bucket off a second, please.”

Leonis complied, although hesitantly. The captain looked at the ARC with a look almost of compassion, or perhaps it was. He spoke low and reverent. “How many?”

Leonis felt a knot in his stomach at the question as he thought to those who had died so far. “Latest report puts the death toll at fifty including Commander Daren. The number of wounded is estimated to be at about one hundred. As such, I’ve been given command of Mynock Battalion.”

Aldair eased himself and gave a sigh of relief. He closed his eyes and gave a small smile. “Could have been worse.”

Leonis’s anger begin to rise. He closed his hands into fists. “Worse? Captain-”

He was stopped by the look Aldair was giving him. Not so much angry but intimidating nonetheless. He practically felt himself shrink.

“Son, don’t dwell on the dead.”

Leonis felt his blood boil and his knuckles go white as he clenched his fist. Despite all of his discipline and training, he found himself shouting. And at a commanding officer no less. “They fell from the shabla sky! This is not how any of them were meant to die! My brothers-”

“Leonis!”

He froze at the sound of his name, his anger and frustration coming to a full stop. Aldair had not used the rank as a commanding officers does when speaking to a subordinate, but his name. It was hard to identify exactly what tone it was but it stopped the elite trooper mid-sentence, keeping him from uttering another word.

Aldair continued, his voice low but firm. “You listen to me son. They’re dead and there’s no changing that. No matter how unceremoniously it happens. Death is never heroic nor is it meant to be. The best thing you can do is step up to the command you’ve been given and lead those who are alive and do what you can to ensure they stay that way.”

Leonis stood silent, unable to speak. But Aldair continued, shifting his tone to one that was softer, gentler. His stern look shifted back into a smile and Leonis could almost swear he felt warmth from it.

“Don’t ever forget them. No matter how it happens, don’t ever forget your brothers. The day you do is the day they truly die.”

Captain Leonis, ARC A-53, had just been scolded then comforted. Not reprimanded as a soldier, but a form of correction he hardly understood. Jango Fett had always treated the ARCs that he had trained as soldiers. He pushed them, disciplined them. But this one moment was something Leonis had no understanding of. But for some reason, he hardly cared. There was no way to describe the exact feelings. Hurt. Comfort. Something altogether different.

He was only able to muster a single response before replacing his helmet and remaining silent during the rest of the flight. A response that did not feel like he was responding to a superior officer. For a moment, he felt as old as truly was.

“Yes sir.”

Fear and Curiosity

Ponyville Observatory; 8:10 am

How long she had sat in the same spot against the door, Lyra could not tell. With nothing happening since she had run from the alien beings, her adrenaline had faded and she had calmed down. With the outside world having gone quiet, Lyra carefully turned and raised herself up to peek out the small window in the door. To her fortune, the aliens were not standing outside waiting for her.

Outside, she only found the same damaged land directly in front of the observatory and the front end, or what she assumed was the front end, of the other object off to the side. The aliens were still nowhere in sight. She slumped down and set her back to the door again, still unable to muster the courage to move from her spot.

“Okay Lyra,” she said, desperate to hear words of comfort and break the uneasy silence that had fallen. “You’re fine and safe. Those things aren’t out there so this is your chance.”

She tried to move but only ducked her head between her legs and placed her hands on her head. “My chance? Chance to do what? What if those things are just hiding and waiting for me to come out?”

She sat up and slapped herself across the face as hard as she could. “Get a hold of yourself! What if they aren’t? What if they’re just as scared or hurt? They fell out of the sky so who knows?”

She sat up again and peered out the window, seeing the same scene as before. Whether out of fear or curiosity, or a mix of both, she did want to know what was going on now with what had happened. She sat down, sitting upright, and took several deep breaths. “Alright then.”

She carefully turned and opened the door, peering out to see if the aliens were waiting right outside for her. With none in sight, she opened the door further and slowly moved out. As she began to crawl out, she moved slower than she had ever moved before. Her heart began to pound, shaking her whole chest with the beating ringing in her ears. She wished the pounding would quiet down, fearing that even the slightest noise would cause the aliens to leap out from hidden spaces.

Slowly and cautiously, she crawled towards the edge of the gash that the first wreck had torn in the ground. She managed to get about a meter away from the door when she looked over at the other object. Something prodded her from within to investigate. She sat in place for a few seconds, weighing the chances of what she may find were she to give in to such curiosity.

Fear, or perhaps better judgement, held her in place while curiosity pushed her to look. Finally, curiosity won out and she shifted towards the object. She moved from a crawl to a crouch as her mind soared at what she could find within. As she moved towards the back, she braced for whatever she would find.

The object was larger than she had originally estimated, now that she had an opportunity to examine it closer. Its rounded body was about as tall as pony and a half and as long as three. Lyra peeked around to find a small opening and peered inside. To her relief, it was empty and dark within. The only light was from what shined in from the sun, but it was enough to leave her gasping at what she found.

The space was smaller than the object’s overall size and the sight of a door at the far end indicated a second space. There were seats along the sides for approximately six to eight with a few cabinets built in above the seats. Though the rest of the space was sparse, Lyra was still in awe.

She looked around at the back end of the object to see a few cone shaped pieces positioned at almost corner spots, each pointed back and at a slight angle outward. She walked around the object until she reached the front to see a large window with a metal frame of sorts embedded into it. A look inside revealed two more seats and some sort of panel with numerous buttons and switches. Numerous questions abounded in Lyra’s mind.

What was this thing? Who and what were the aliens? Where did they come from? Why were they here? Where were they now?

Lyra grabbed her head and tried to sooth the headache that was rising from so much stimuli all at once and the numerous questions that each new thing brought. But one question recalled her fear. Where were the aliens now?

She looked out to Ponyville. Smoke still rose from the town, though in smaller plumes than before. A tinge of fear spiked through her mind that felt like a sharp snap of pain had just shot through her head. She took a few steps towards town and quickly sped up to a full run.

“Please be okay. Please be okay,” she repeated as she inwardly pleaded that whatever reaction she had was simply an overreaction due to high adrenaline. In truth, she had no proof that the aliens were dangerous. But she really had been more to react in flight rather than fight. Uncontrolled fear always made things scarier than they really were. Though it was occasionally right.

But even as Lyra closed in on Ponyville, curiosity continued to practically dominate her mind. Guarding one of east roads into town was a small group of six members of the Royal Guard. Each was fully outfitted with full armor and spears in hand and had erected a roadblock along the road. Was it really so dangerous that the Royal Guard was needed to keep watch over the town?

Worry arose as the guards moved to stop her. “I’m sorry ma’am, but this area is currently under lockdown for a training exercise.”

“Training exercise?” Lyra nearly screamed in disbelief at the cover-up story. “You mean the bucking aliens who fell out of the sky?”

The guards stared in shock, likely not having expected others to know about the incident yet. They were about to reply when Lyra continued. “My name is Lyra Heartstrings and I’m a resident of Ponyville.” She took a short breath to calm herself. “Look, I saw some of those…things crash up near the observatory. I saw the aliens so I know all about this. I just want to see if my friends and home are okay. Please?”

The guards looked at each other and then to one guard who Lyra assumed was the ranking guard of the group. He sighed. “Alright fine. Hurry straight home. Do not divert and do not speak a word of this to any pony until the matter is resolved. Like we said. The town is currently under lockdown.”

They stepped aside to allow her in, their body language telling her to hurry before they change their minds. “Thank you,” she said as she entered.

Lyra hurried past the roadblock and started wandering through the streets of town. Everything was eerily quiet with no pony out, likely moved indoors per the lockdown and away from the aliens. The presence of more guards patrolling caused Lyra to begin moving as stealthily as she could to avoid any more issues regarding the lockdown. She needed to know what was going on and wanted to know more about the aliens. She would not let even the Royal Guard stop her.

As she wandered through the town, the eerie silence weighed upon her. The streets were sparse and all but empty, save for the guards who kept watch or made patrols. Even the lack of any kind of damage or other wreckage, which she assumed was around somewhere, was unsettling. Where was the wreckage? Where were the aliens? Was the cover-up really so extensive that it was all whisked away so quickly?

Finally, she arrived at Bon Bon’s home, or what was left of it. The roof of the two story home had been damaged somehow, leaving the top level inaccessible. The rest of the home was in at least living condition. But the damage was odd as it appeared to have been struck by a wrecking ball or something. Lyra followed the line of damage and felt her jaw drop at what lay along the street ahead.

Her eyes followed a path of destruction which passed through the ruins of a building and beyond. She was barely able to make out the features of some object in the distance past the rubble of the destroyed building which only kept her jaw to the ground and had her eyes practically bulging out of their sockets. What she saw was a piece that looked very similar to the wreckage lying in the gash in front of the observatory, though this one was in some kind of better state.

The sound of a door opening to her right caused her to jump and squeal. She turned to see Bon Bon in the doorway, her body displaying shock and relief at the sight of her friend. “Lyra?” The earth pony grabbed her in a short hug and dragged her inside. “Quickly, inside.”

Bon Bon slammed the door behind them and locked it, still shaken and scared from whatever had happened here. She sat pressed against the door for a second before finally pulling away as if she had been waiting for something to happen and was sure that it had not. The home was is relatively good condition, though the upper level still had pieces of debris scattered about with a beam blocking one room upstairs.

Lyra looked back at Bon Bon who was now almost enraged. “What were you doing outside and where were you?” Bon Bon said, taking a step forward and causing Lyra to step back. “You had me worried.”

“I’m sorry Bon Bon,” Lyra said apologetically, putting her hands up, palms out. “I was at the observatory last night doing a bit of stargazing when I finally saw something in the early morning.” She relaxed from her defensive stance, becoming more excitable. “It was the aliens, I know it.”

“And you didn’t tell anyone about it? You didn’t warn us before they started falling out of the sky?” Bon Bon nearly yelled, throwing her arms to her side with her hands balled into fists.

Lyra retracted her excited state and returned to defending herself. “What would I have said? Would any pony have taken me seriously if I did say anything?” She put her hands on Bon Bon’s shoulders to calm her. “All of this would still have happened.”

“I…” Bon Bon gave a sigh, slumped her shoulders and looked down. “You’re right. And now I feel bad about everything I’ve said to you about all this alien stuff. Just look at things now.”

“Hey,” Lyra said, holding her friend tighter. “It’s okay. We’re all okay now, right?”

Bon Bon looked up, giving a small hint of a smile. “Yeah. I guess we are.” She looked down again, smile fading. “For now.”

“Hey, it’s alright. Look, I’ll tell you what happened to me and you tell me what happened here, okay? We’ll start there.”

“Sure.”

For the next few minutes, the two mares discussed all of the happenings up to the calm. Bon Bon had been in her house when something struck the roof and had been fortunate enough to avoid harm, having already taken cover after an initial sound just before. She had watched out the window as something surrounded in flames had torn a path through the town, sparking fire. She had watched ponies scramble and the Royal Guard arrive out of nowhere. After that, she had simply hidden away even after the Guard began ensuring all ponies were inside.

After Lyra told her side, up until she had arrived at Bon Bon’s house, she walked over to the window and looked out again at the path of destruction out front. “Where are the aliens now?”

“What?” Bon Bon exclaimed, shock in her voice as she was already guessing what Lyra was thinking. “No Lyra! We need to just stay inside until this is over and everything is safe.”

Lyra spun around to face her friend. “But Bon Bon, think about it. Everything I hoped for and watched for is finally here. Real aliens.”

Bon Bon’s disproval was almost screamed in her body language. “You just said you were nearly pissing yourself when you first saw them, and now you going to go find them? What is wrong with you?”

“Look, I was scared. Things falling out of the sky and strange beings walking out of them. But still-”

“Still nothing,” Bon Bon cut her off and began flailing her arms slightly. “We don’t know anything about them. What if they decide to start…I don’t know…attacking us or something?

“We don’t know that for sure.” Lyra grabbed Bon Bon by the shoulders again. “This is why I want to go find them. Find out who they are and why they’re here. Come on now.”

Bon Bon sighed, finally giving in to her friend’s insanity. “Look, I don’t really know. I’ve been inside the whole time. But think I saw some of the guards heading towards the south side of town. Maybe the hospital. Those things did fall from the sky so they could be hurt.” She looked down and gave a scoffing giggle. “Listen to me. I sound as crazy as you.”

“No, it’s okay.” Lyra hugged Bon Bon. “Thanks for this.” She pulled back, still holding Bon Bon’s shoulders. “Look, I’ll make sure to stay safe, okay?”

“You better stay safe.”

Lyra released her friend and went to the door, cracking it open and peering around for any aliens or guards. With the coast clear she looked back and smiled at Bon Bon before stepping out and closing the door behind her. She looked towards the south and started towards the hospital, making sure to keep hidden from guards. She needed to see the aliens and could not afford to get caught out during a lockdown.

She took two steps forward when her curiosity grabbed her again. She looked back over towards the path of destruction and past the destroyed building. She ran towards the rubble and ducked behind pieces of stone and wood as she worked around to see what had caused the damage. Her head practically spun as she kept a close watch out for any guards or even aliens. Finally, she had a clearer view of the object.

Just passed a destroyed fountain was a strange white and red box shaped object with what appeared to be a wing on one side, with the other side showing damage. She instantly recognized the look and color of some of the parts as similar to whatever had blown itself apart back at the observatory. Standing guard around it were four of the aliens in full stark white armor. Curious as to why the aliens were guarding the object rather than Royal Guard but not wanting to incite trouble by approaching, Lyra reluctantly moved on towards the hospital.

As she made her way to the hospital, Lyra continued to duck behind and weave through cover to avoid the guard patrols. Finally, the hospital was in sight. And so was a small group of aliens gathered to one side in front of the building. They appeared less on guard than the ones at the strange object, gathered in a group and appearing to mingle with each other. A few even had their helmets removed, revealing odd hairless faces with short or shaved manes. Shocking was that each face appeared to be very similar, if not the same.

Lyra was about to approach the aliens but stopped after taking a look near the hospital entrance. Standing guard were four more Royal Guard members, each an earth pony and nearly twice her size. No way to investigate the aliens with them nearby. She glanced about the windows. She needed a more private setting. But how to get inside?

Her mind worked out multiple ideas from sneaking in a back or side entrance to trying to slip in a window. She thought of crazy ideas like trying to convince them she was a doctor, given that she still had her lab coat on, or trying to convince them she was injured and needed to be admitted. But instead of a daring or spy-like idea, she went with an idea that must have been crazier.

She ran forward.

The guards instantly took notice and stood to stop her. “Hold it! What are you doing out?” one called.

Lyra was hardly thinking, simply running on instinct by now. “Bon Bon? Have you seen my friend? I can’t find her anywhere!”

The guard who had called to her grabbed her and held her as she struggled in vain to get inside. “Now, now. Hold on there. What’s wrong? Who’s Bon Bon?”

Lyra stopped her struggling and looked at the guard, trying to look as worried as she could. Easy considering she had been worried and scared since all of this had started. “My friend. I can’t find her anywhere. I…I just want to know she’s okay. Please!”

The guard pushed her away gently and tried to console her, yet still keeping himself between her and the hospital. “We can try to see if your friend is inside but you need to go home. It’s not safe outside right now.”

Lyra made herself look as innocent as possible, holding her hands close to her chest and looking down. “Can I…go inside? Just for a minute. If she’s here, I want to know she’s okay. Let her know I’m okay. Please?”

The guard put a hand to his face and sighed, clearly annoyed and wanting this over. “Fine. But you stay with me at all times. Then go straight home when we find your friend.”

“Thank you,” Lyra said, perking up and feeling relieved.

The other three guards were told to remain at their post while Lyra followed the other guard inside. A glance to the aliens showed them staring in the direction of the ponies, interested but remaining still. As Lyra and the guard entered, she found herself asking herself what the next step of her insane idea was.

Lyra and the guard wandered through a few rooms where some pony patients were being held. She indicated that none were Bon Bon but kept to her story of wanting to find her. Another room and the guard was now fully annoyed. He led her towards a reception desk, likely to inquire about her friend. Panic rose in Lyra.

Not wanting to be found out, she slipped into a hall the first chance she got. She heard a shout a second or two later at her disappearance and she hid in the first room she found. She ducked down and to the side of the door as she heard hoofsteps pass by. The door opened, fortunately keeping her behind it, and a doctor looked in. With her not in sight, he left.

Lyra waited a little longer as the sound of hooves moved down the hall before standing. She looked around the room to find a single bed and the patient lying asleep on top. One of the aliens.

Shock and excitement, along with fear of being caught, froze her in place. She looked over the strange being who was bare skinned and whose mane had been all but shaved from the top of the head. Muscular features and the general build of the body had her assume the alien was male. Strange though was that he featured the same face as those she had seen outside.

Several bandages and other medical wrappings covered his body, some already soaked with red blood, and some bruises marked some areas not covered. Lyra wondered about the armor the aliens wore and found his set to the side of the bed in a small pile with the helmet on top. The T-shaped slit of the helmet stared straight at her.

She took a step forward to investigate the strange armor when an odd beeping sound came from the pile of protective gear. She froze and looked at the alien who remained motionless. The beeping continued and Lyra stepped forward, curious. On a piece that appeared to be for the arm, she found a small green light blinking. Still curious, she reached out and tapped the blinking piece.

Fear shot through her and she stumbled backward as a voice came from the armor piece. It was clearly alien as the voice and language was anything but recognizable. Lyra wondered how an object was capable of speaking like that. What kind of magic did these aliens possess to make objects talk?

“Hello?” she said, nearly slapping herself at the stupidity of talking to an object.

The object responded, sounding slightly angry, but still Lyra could not understand. She tried speaking again.

“My name is Lyra. Who are you?” Idiot. she thought. You’re talking to-

“Hello?” the object said, this time in the pony language and in a voice she actually recognized.

“Twilight? Princess Twilight Sparkle?”

This was absurdity. First an inanimate object makes noise and speaks and now it sounds like Princess Twilight? Although, she should not be surprised by all that had happened so far. But how was all of this possible? Could they…

Lyra picked up the armor piece, hardly realizing she was now shouting. “What have you done to the princess? Let her go!”

“Lyra, it’s okay,” the object said, still in Twilight’s voice. “I’m fine. But I need you to do something for me. Please find one of the Royal Guards and give him the device. I need to speak with them right away. Can you do that for me?”

Lyra hesitated. “Why me?”

“There’s no time to explain. Please, just find a guard.”

As if called by the object, a guard opened the door. “There you are.”

Lyra backed up, tripping on the corner of the bed and falling into the pile of armor. She waved her hands about in a reactive manner to stop the guard. “Wait, wait, wait!” She picked up the armor piece. “You need to listen to this! It’s Princess Twilight!”

“Sure,” the guard said. “Now put that down. You are going-”

The guard was cut off as the object spoke again. “Do not harm her!”

The guard hit the wall as he jumped back. “Princess?”

Lyra slowly stood and handed the guard the armor piece. He looked it over in awed fear and curiosity as Twilight began to speak about meeting the aliens and some agreement they had come to regarding the injured. As she spoke, Lyra noticed the alien on the bed groan and begin to toss, likely disturbed by the momentary commotion.

“I can explain further but I must go for now,” the object in Twilight’s voice finally said and then went silent.

The guard looked over the object again and handed it back to Lyra who returned it to the pile of armor. “Well,” he said, mostly to himself, “it sounded like the Princess.” He looked to Lyra. “Look. Whatever is going on right now, I need you to keep quiet about this. I’ll let the Princess sort things out later. For now, you need to go home. I’ll be taking you there.”

Lyra looked at the alien on the bed then back at the guard. She hung her head and sighed in defeat. “Fine.”

The guard escorted her out of the hospital and she allowed him to escort her back to Bon Bon’s house. If she was going to be stuck inside for a while, she much rather be stuck with her friend. Yet even on the way back, Lyra continued to think about the aliens. She hoped and pleaded that she could get a chance to find out more about them.

World Upside Down

Outskirts of Ponyville; 9:00 am

Twilight massaged the sides of her head in a futile attempt to alleviate the ever growing headache brought on by all that had happened in such a short time. Her fingers pressed hard against her skull, practically digging into her scalp, as she paced across the ground of the alien encampment. Her pacing had already gotten to the point that her hooves had begun digging a series of pits which were becoming a rut. But it hardly mattered as her mind was flooded with a deluge of information.

In the span of nearly two hours, her world had felt like it had been turned upside down twice with the arrival of the alien beings. With so much stimuli input all at once, the recent information she had gotten from the soldiers of the encampment, and the series of political protocols and diplomatic steps to take with the new arrivals, it was a wonder her brain had not shut down by now.

Twilight paused her pacing for a mere moment to look at the trooper who had allowed her to use his communication device. The trooper stared at her in worry, face hidden by the helmet.

“Ma’am? Are you alright?” he said.

Twilight shook her head and grasped it with her hands. She turned and continued her pacing. “No…I mean…Yes. I…Forgive me but I need a moment alone to think.”

She could hear the sigh from under the helmet as the trooper began to turn. “Alright then. Just let one of us know if you need anything.”

Twilight said nothing as he returned to his post. She returned to her musings and attempted to sort through all of the information that her brain had stored up from the past two hours. A contingent of soldiers, each a physical copy of a single being but retaining their own unique personalities. A level of technology beyond anything she had ever imagined. Travel not only beyond the sky but out to the stars beyond. A government that oversaw thousands of planets and tens of thousands of different species. A war between this government and a breakaway faction involving this “clone” army on the side of the “Republic” and an army of machines on the other. And then so much more that time, and Twilight’s over stimulated brain, would not allow for further discussion.

Twilight paused and gripped her head once more, squeezing as though trying to hold everything in. It was all so much to take in and she had not even scratched the surface of it all. The politics and diplomacy that needed to occur only stressed her even more.

A meeting between whoever was the leader of these soldiers, if not Leonis, and the Princesses was to take place. And if the clones were merely the soldiers, a meeting between the Princesses and this “Chancellor” would be required for a greater level of diplomatic talks. That was if such a meeting was even possible.

Twilight gripped her head tighter, feeling her breathing become ragged and her legs loose strength, and leaned against a stack of odd metal crates. A meeting with Celestia and Luna would be necessary if just to alleviate her of some of the stress that overwhelmed her. Politics aside, she needed the council of her mentor now more than ever.

A mere moment passed until the sound of one of the flying crafts approached and the object landed in the center of the small encampment. It continued to make its odd sound as another clone hopped away from the open side and approached her.

“Are you the native called Twilight Sparkle? They told me you would be able to understand me,” the clone said, shouting over the sound of the craft.

“Yes,” Twilight replied, yelling her response and trying to calm herself from dizziness that had come from the warbling sound.

“I’m asked to take you to the main camp. The Captain wishes to speak with you. Please come with me.”

The soldier motioned her to the craft and Twilight hesitantly approached. She had ridden in flying chariots before so the idea of flying in a transport was nothing new. But the strangeness of the alien object, and everything else about them, caused her to take caution. She carefully stepped into the craft, followed by the clone, and the door closed behind her. The craft lurched as it took off and caused her to fall to the floor. The clone helped her up and had her grab onto a handle above, which she gripped tight with both hands as she felt the craft quickly gain speed and lean right and left as it soared through the sky.

After little more than a minute of flight, the craft lurched again as it descended, causing Twilight’s stomach and other internal organs to feel as though they had risen into her throat. A sudden thud put her organs back in place, though they felt rearranged. The doors opened and the clone helped her off the craft, after peeling her hands from the handle. Once off, the craft quickly rose and flew away. To where, the now sick princess hardly cared.

When the clone aiding her stopped, Twilight lifted her head to the kindly smile of another alien. This one bore all of the features of being of the same species as the clones yet was anything but a clone. He wore a rather simple grey uniform with little more than a small rectangular pin bearing a line of three red squares above a line of three blue squares for decoration. Numerous smudges and dust covered the once pressed uniform. Black boots which came shy of his knees covered his feet.

The alien stood about as tall as the clones but appeared older with lighter colored skin. His face was starting to show signs of aging and his short cut mane bore streaks of grey and signs of thinning. In his right hand was a piece from a small tree which he used as a makeshift cane, though seemingly more for the leg injury he seemed to have rather than for a weakening from age. In fact, he seemed quite fit. Perhaps more mid-aged for his species.

The alien turned and presented his left arm to her, never dropping the kind smile. “Come my dear,” he said to her, “I believe we need to talk.” He looked to the clone helping her. “I’ll take it from here son.”

The clone released Twilight to the other alien and provided a sharp salute. “Of course, Sir.”

For reasons unknown, Twilight could feel a level of warmth from the alien whose arm she held and could practically sense that she could trust him. Even to an extent that she nearly tossed out all semblance of caution. Yet the alien never appeared malevolent or harmful even despite the injuries he clearly had. It felt almost like being around her own father.

“My name is Jan Aldair,” he said as they walked. “I am, or perhaps was, the captain of the ship that unfortunately crashed on your planet. I’ll apologize for the flight you just took. They tell me that the pilot is a bit of a thrill seeker and is a bit eccentric.”

Twilight suppressed the urge to vomit at the reminder of her swift flight which still made her a bit sick. “That’s quite alright,” she managed to say. “Are you the leader of these clones?”

“You’ve been informed as to what they are?” Jan said, looking at her with curious amusement. “Good. That removes at least one question you likely have.”

“I had the opportunity to speak with a few of them at the other encampment, so I know a little bit. But you are not…”

“A clone?” Jan said, finishing her sentence. “No, dear. I’m just a regular human. Our species that is.” He looked forward in a prompt for Twilight to do the same. Ahead was Leonis and another clone with armor more similar to the others but with a brim over the visor, something sticking out of the left shoulder plate, and several red markings across the armor.

“I’m afraid that questions will have to wait for now,” Jan said. “We have things to discuss.” They approached the two clones and Jan continued. “These two are Captain Leonis, who I understand you met, and Major Atto. They are the ranking troopers and, unfortunately, the only officers of the unit here.”

“She doesn’t look much like a leader,” the one named Atto said. “Must have low standards here.”

“I’ve seen Jedi that don’t look like much but are actually rather impressive fighters and leaders,” Leonis said.

“Are you really comparing her to a Jedi?”

“You’ve never even seen a Jedi in a fight.”

“Can it you two!” Aldair shouted, sounding as a parent quelling the argument of two foals and ending the bickering. As the two clones went silent, Aldair turned back to Twilight, back to the kind soul with the gentle smile he had when she had seen him earlier. “Sorry about them, dear.”

“No, it’s alright,” Twilight responded, finally feeling herself recovered from the flight and able to focus more. “I’m sorry, but you said that there are no other leaders among you here?”

“I’m afraid so dear,” Aldair said. “The clones here have been shorthanded due to the war and the only other officer died during the crash.”

“You actually met him already,” Leonis said before any other comment could be made. “Back when we first met.”

Twilight thought back and recalled the meeting. But there was no way for her to know which of the clones she had watched die or be dragged out already was the other officer. So much had happened that had her mind still trying to sort everything out. And the clones, being all the same, were near impossible to tell apart. At least for now. She put the thought aside, not wanting to relive that at the moment.

Twilight felt Aldair’s hand gently tighten on her arm. “I’m sorry you saw that dear. Are you alright?”

“Yes,” she said and looked to Leonis. “Are you well? Given the loss of your brothers.”

“I’m fine,” he said without any hesitation.

Twilight thought his reaction curious. The response seemed…detached. As though he hardly cared. But his earlier reaction when they had first met showed that he truly cared. It became blatantly obvious that he was hiding his emotions. Atto on the other hand…

“Of course the droid’s fine,” the Major said, with poorly hidden sarcasm. “Nothing fazes a great ARC Trooper.”

“That’s enough Atto,” Aldair interrupted, keeping his voice calm this time but firm.

“Just kidding around,” Atto said. “You know that.”

“A little decorum in the presence of our local Princess if you don’t mind.”

Atto lazily straightened up a bit and gave a lazy salute, giving clear indication of further sarcasm. “Yes sir.”

Aldair ignored the reaction with a simple shake of his head of disappointment and turned back to Twilight, returning to his kind self. “Well, dear. This is your home, so how shall we proceed from here?”

Twilight thought back to the political proceedings that were needed. But rethought as she recalled that things had yet to be fully resolved regarding the crashed flying objects and clones still within Ponyville. Plus, her thought continued, her friends were probably very worried about her being gone without much, if any, notice.

“We will need to set up a meeting with Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, our regional rulers. They will wish to know of your arrival, who you are, how long you shall remain in our land, and the terms regarding your stay.” Aldair gave a nod of approval, maintaining the kind smile.

“But first,” Twilight continued, finding her voice become more sincere and withdrawn, “I wish to return to Ponyville, my home. There are some seriously injured clones still there whom we are treating and I…” Her voice trailed off at the thought of wishing to see her friends and ensure all was well with them and the other inhabitants of Ponyville.

“Of course, dear,” Aldair said, seemingly to understand that there was more reason than the clones to return.

Aldair beckoned for Leonis to follow and informed Atto to remain with the other clones. Atto was about to argue his role to stay but was cut off by a stern glance from Aldair. As Twilight and the two aliens made their way to one of the flying craft – a different pilot, Aldair reassured – Twilight became ever more curious about the visitors.

CIS Munificent-Class Frigate Silent Fang: Unknown Sector, Wild Space; 372 days after the Battle of Geonosis

The holo image of the galaxy bathed the darkened room in a flickering blue glow. The image slowly spun as it hovered above the projector, giving full view of its entirety. The young man’s eyes stared fervently into the white center of the galactic image, yearning. He wanted it. From the core to the rim and beyond. He wanted everything.

Outside the cabin, the mindless battle droids that made up his client's army sat in their holding spaces, deactive and awaiting orders to deploy. A few operated the ship as it sailed through the galaxy towards its prey, hunting. The three other organics, each a fool and satisfied by credits alone, either waited in their own cabin, in the case of two, or commanded the bridge and the mindless droids, in the case of the third.

But here, the young man sat and stared. The act had grown into a ritual over his short span of free reign across the Outer Rim. A daily reminder of what he strove for. What he desired. Credits spoke and power controlled. Fear was a tool to be used. Every being in the galaxy was a pawn in the greater plan. And he would be the master of it all.

The cabin’s com chimed as the commanding fool barked at him. “Your little device has failed! We lost the signal and their trail. This was your idea and if I don’t see results, you pay for my loss of credits.”

Wermo. When will the fool learn to trust in the intelligence of those obviously superior to him? The young man sighed and stood, allowing the holo of the galaxy to fade and the lights of the cabin to return. “I’ll be there in a second.”

After a short trip, he arrived at the ship’s bridge to find the impatient idiot pacing back and forth. The view out the bridge windows revealed they had left hyperspace and were waiting in the middle of open space. The fool probably did not know where he was now.

The idiot, an aging human with pale skin and wearing a relatively clean brown flight vest, dirty white shirt, and dark blue pants, ceased his pacing and turned to glare at the young man. To those who cared, his name was Vahn Tybo, a mercenary with several years of experience as a hired blaster and the hired commander of the expedition for their client within the Confederacy of Independent Planets.

“You have three seconds to give me good news or I throw you out the airlock for causing me to lose out on a huge profit.”

The young man played his part and put on the face of the inexperienced but clever subordinate. “First, there is a backup transponder that I planted and set to go off should the first fail. Since the first did fail, it means the ship has suffered significant damage. Either they were attacked,” Tybo’s eyes rolled in fury, “or something caused them to suffer damage. I can’t say exactly what might have caused the damage. But regardless, this means they are now vulnerable.”

Tybo crossed his arms and began tapping a foot. “So when is this second transponder supposed to kick in? And what do we do if they did get attacked? Huh? Smart guy.”

Steaming pile of bantha poodoo. “Since we are currently stationary, we should receive the signal soon.” He checked a data pad. “Right about…now in fact.” A ping came from a console, prompting the droid at the station to report the new signal. The young man looked back at Tybo. “And if they were attacked, then we find the wreckage and claim we found and destroyed them. They were sent into Wild Space so there will more than likely be none to disprove such a claim.”

Tybo looked over the console that tracked the signal and then turned to glare at the young man again. “You better be right. I’ll have your head if I lose this payout.”

The young man said nothing and turned to leave. E chu ta sleemo.

After returning to his cabin, glad to have satisfied the idiot who called himself the commander of this escapade, the young man shut off the cabin lights once more and called forth the image of the galaxy. A single blinking dot sat on the fringes to mark the new transponder signal planted on the Republic ship. He scanned the rest of the image and took it all in.

One day, it would all be his. Everything would belong to him.

Silver Tongues

Unknown Planet, Unknown Region: Local Settlement, Ponyville; 371 days after Battle of Geonosis

Aldair pinched the bridge of his nose while the com chattered away in Atto’s voice. The Major was resolute that he should be going to meet the local leaders rather than Leonis and continued his tirade as he had for the past minute. For all their accelerated growth to churn out fully grown and battle ready soldiers, far too many clones seemed to hold on to that immaturity of the ten year old they were. Not real growth in the end.

“Captain, are you even listening anymore? Even I know that as a commanding officer, I should be attending this diplomatic meeting and not the droid. I have rank on him and he’s only a consultant anyways. He doesn’t even deserve Darren’s-”

That was it. “That’s enough Atto!”

Once again, Aldair found himself calling a clone by name and scolding him as a father does a child. He had never had children of his own, much less a mate. He never even knew his parents and hardly had any parental example outside of a few kindly elders he had come to know in his youth. But the reaction was almost instinctual nonetheless.

Technically, none of the clones had a name, much less a full name of anything more than a single word. The Kaminoans had simply numbered them and the use of nicknames was something started by a few clones and Jedi that spread in use thanks to the Jedi. Despite that, the use of Atto’s name had the same effect as calling a child by his or her full name.

The com was dead silent and Aldair could practically see and feel Atto’s shame and shock. He allowed the moment to linger a second before lowering his voice but keeping a firm tone. Why he was treating a trained soldier as his own child, he could not tell. Perhaps it was because Atto was acting like a child more than a soldier. For the moment, it hardly mattered.

But the second of lingering silence turned into two and Aldair found himself without more parental scolding to bring to bear. Instead, he fell back on military discipline. Or was it more the instinctual parental tone as before? It was hard to tell at this point. How did you really handle a fully trained and disciplined soldier who was, biologically, in his mid to late twenties but chronologically, and perhaps partially mentally, only ten years old?

“This is why I left you behind. You don’t have the discipline and control to handle a situation like politics. Words are delicate and you don’t have the delicate touch. If you want more reason, it’s because I said so. Even you should know that as the commanding officer, I can make this kind of decision. If you want something to do, then start by figuring out how to get supplies from Rising Dawn and quit your whining.”

For once, since Aldair had known the Major, Atto was at a loss for his usual sarcasm. “Yes…Yes sir.”

As the com cut out, the tension in the air around Aldair seemed to exhale violently like a being holding its breath until nearly passing out then left gasping for air. In the new silence, Aldair could hear and feel his own breathing as he exhaled with the tension. He leaned against the back wall of the home he had ducked behind for his private talk and found himself envying the clones and the privacy of their helmets. For whatever reason, he could only smile.

“What will I do with you boys?”

Aldair rolled his head right and found Leonis standing at the corner of the home, waiting patiently in silence. He grabbed the walking stick that the young Princess Twilight had provided him after their arrival in her home town and stood, staring straight ahead.

“How long have you been there?”

“Not long.”

Despite the expert control of his voice to hide his lie, probably combined with a bit of anti-interrogation training, Aldair found the lie near comically obvious. “You were there the whole time, right?”

Leonis was likely caught off guard at being found out as he waited a full second to respond. “Yes, sir.”

Aldair casually turned towards the corner of the house and made his way passed the ARC, looking passed the clone but smiling the whole time. “Come on son. Our young princess should be ready to go by now.”

During the walk back to the gunship, Leonis gave his report on the clones under the care of the natives and the others who had opted to remain in the settlement to maintain security of Grand Army property and to watch over their injured brothers. As it turned out, the quick actions by the natives, due in no small part to young Twilight’s command decisions, saved nearly all who were not killed instantly in the crashes. Local medicine and healing practices had even proven effective enough to get about a third back on their feet and ready for duty.

Everything else had been worked out to move the clones out of the native settlement and into the outpost until the diplomatic side had been dealt with, save for a few with more serious injuries that prevented immediate movement. With the wounded no longer in danger and politics deciding things from here on out, there was no need to keep the natives on edge with armed and armored clones in their midst. Anything to settle things until talks were concluded.

Aldair and Leonis waited at the gunship for a few minutes before Twilight arrived, hovering in using her wings and apologizing profusely for being late. While Leonis maintained his discipline and distance, Aldair simply smiled.

“Don’t worry yourself about that dear. Are your family and friends alright?”

Twilight looked at the ship captain in shock, clearly not expecting the mention of family or friends. “Um…Yes. How…?”

Aldair maintained his smile. “Never mind that dear.”

Twilight straightened herself, trying to get back to the situation at hand. “I have sent a messenger to inform the Princesses of the full situation and that we will be arriving shortly for diplomatic talks.”

“Well then,” Aldair said, motioning all to board, “I don’t think should make them wait much longer.”

Canterlot Castle; 10:00 am

The knock on the door returned, louder and accompanied by the imploring call of the guard who had been sent. “Princess Luna, Princess Twilight has arrived with the visitors and your sister continues to request your presence.”

Luna opened her eyes and stood from her meditative pose. Despite the hated philosophies that had once accompanied the act, the very act of meditation helped to ease her mind and focus. And even up to now, the meditation did occasionally bring insight in various forms. This time, the insight was the continued feeling of dread that she had felt since all of this had begun.

She stood in front of her private cabinet and visualized the contents within. She inwardly begged that such actions would not have to be taken. She begged that the dread she felt was far more futuristic. The vision she and Celestia had seen so long ago would come to pass, one way or another. But was the planet ready for such a time if it should be now? Did fate even care?

Luna gritted her teeth at the thought of fate and destiny. She despised it. Once a slave to fate, she had lived a life of control over her own fate. Lived to survive in the chaos of life. Mistakes had been made and she had sworn to never duplicate her mistakes after each. She could not stand the thought of an unavoidable event or to have her life dictated for her. Even if the dictator went unseen. She had mastered her own life. Or had she?

The guard at the door called for her again and caused her to wince in anger. She breathed deep and released the rage that had begun to build. The past was gone. That which would be was dictated by the actions of the present. None could predict the future. Guesses were only so good and visions were always vague and subject to change. All that could be done was to seek the best path, make the best choices. Should a future be desired, one only need to chase after it and not wait for it to arrive. Even if the future was set in stone as the past was, one had to write it first.

With another deep breath Luna calmed herself and focused on the present. The meeting with the visitors and the events that would follow. She informed the guard she was on her way to the throne room and apologized for making him wait. She gave one last deep breath and made her way to meet Celestia and the visitors.

“It is difficult to sleep with such life changing events is it not, sister,” Celestia said with a playful tone as Luna entered the throne room.

The elder sister lounged on the red cushioned throne set upon the dais, head resting on a fist and elbow resting on an arm of the regal chair. A smile of comfort sat upon her face and she winked with a playful smirk at her young sibling. It was all meant to calm Luna of the trouble she could feel. They had always been able to sense the emotions of the other ever since they were young. And thus, Luna could feel the trouble her elder sister hid behind the veil of playful smiles and happiness.

Luna returned the smile, comforted by the gesture alone if nothing else. “Yes it is, sister.”

Celestia sat up and began to rise from the throne but Luna put up a hand. The act to comfort her and ease her mind was enough. She made her way to the base of the dais and took her position.

During the talks, Celestia would remain on the throne as her role as ruler of the day demanded. It would be she who would play the greater role in the diplomatic talks. She was better at speaking to others and forming bonds as it was. For Luna, she preferred the more direct approach and would act as a more intimidating presence. Each would display their power and position to the visitors. Watched from above and from below, day or night. A powerful image, one that had worked in negotiations before during other delicate situations.

With both sisters in place, Celestia nodded to the guards at the door. The guards opened the grand doors, surrounding it with a blue and yellow aura. A guard on the other end entered and announced the arrival of Princess Twilight and the representatives of the visitors. One identified as Captain Jan Aldair and the other Captain Leonis.

But as Twilight and the visitors entered, Luna was struck with intense shock at the sight of the one who wore the ornate white and red armor. The T-shaped visor that marked the face of the helmet stood out along with the military mannerisms that the soldier carried about him. While the armor as a whole was unfamiliar, the skirt he wore and the piece attached to the side of his helmet were also all too familiar. These were not simply similar features but identical.

With his armor, he did not appear to be one of them but there had to be a reason for the similar features. And why did he carry himself as one? The other was clearly not one of them. What was going on?

Luna inwardly struggled to control her reaction and managed to maintain her outward appearance of control and command presence. She kept her peace and eyed the other, a mid-aged being using a walking stick to support him from a healing leg injury. He displayed calm and control though was far less intimidating upon first glance than his fully armored companion. But his eyes betrayed him and she could see him take in everything, examining and gauging the guards and princesses. Cunning.

As the visitors were led to their place before the sisters, Twilight stepped off to the side of the room to observe. It would be good to keep her as part of the talks as she had made first contact and already knew some things about them. The young pony eyed the scene with worry for both sides, clearly sensing the heavy atmosphere building as the princesses and the visitors prepared for a potential battle of words. Hopefully, it would remain as no more than a battle of wits and sharp tongues.

Luna could feel her sister giving off her royal presence and prompting the visitors to introduce themselves first. The armored one remained silent but the other spoke, giving a short and respectful bow.

“My name is Captain Jan Aldair of the Grand Army of the Galactic Republic. This is Captain Leonis.”

He held his bow a moment more and rose as Twilight spoke in the pony language to translate. Celesitia’s response took both Luna and Twilight by surprise as she requested that all guards and other court officials to leave the room. Twilight looked to Celestia, wondering if she should leave or stay. Celestia simply smiled and gave a short nod, prompting her to keep her place. When the doors had shut, only the visitors and princesses remained.

Sensing the confusion of the visitors, Celestia explained and followed with a nod for Twilight to continue translating. “I wish to keep this discussion as private as possible.”

“I understand your Majesty,” Aldair said.

“I first wish to know how long you expect to remain on our world, Captain,” Celestia said, keeping a kind but commanding tone.

“It is hard to say your Majesty, as our ship is no longer fit for flight. It was all but destroyed upon impact with the planet, and was already hardly functioning prior. We are far out of contact of our government or the military command or even our allies. It would take some time to contact anyone to provide us with a way home.”

“I see. And where are you and your forces currently located and how many are there?”

“We have set up camp just on the very outskirts of a small town, Ponyville I believe the young princess called it. As of now, there are approximately fourteen hundred men in total. Several are wounded, some serious but better thanks the aid of Princess Twilight and your people. The crash took a bit of a toll on us.”

“How much contact have you had with the ponies of Ponyville and beyond?” Luna asked, more commanding than Celestia.

“I could not give a precise number but there were not many outside of medical personnel. Captain Leonis and I are the only ones to have contact with any outside of Ponyville right now.”

“And those in the transport here?” Luna continued to question.

“We followed the instructions of Princess Twilight and kept it in an isolated location, one already manned by your local military. There are only three on board and I have informed them to remain there and not speak to anyone.”

“They will obey?”

“You have my word.”

“Very well then,” Celestia said, cutting Luna off from more questioning. “Following this, you are to move all of your forces to your encampment and remain there. You will remain under watch and you will speak to none outside of your own.”

“I understand and we have already begun moving some already. However, with all due respect your Majesty, there are some who cannot be moved now due to their injuries.”

“I am afraid you will have to move them carefully then.” Though Luna could sense the worry Celestia had for those in need, Twilight reacted in respectful shock at the response.

“Princess…” she began to retort, leaving the statement untranslated, but was stopped by Celestia who simply put up a hand. She relented and relayed the response.

“As soon as you make contact with the others of your kind, you will leave this planet and never return.”

Aldair was silent for a moment then spoke. “Very well. But may I ask a question before we conclude this meeting?”

“You have my permission. Please ask.”

Aldair looked over to Twilight. “No need to translate anymore dear.” All three princesses were surprised and his question only added to the shock. “How much do you know about us already?”

Twilight responded before either Celestia or Luna could. “I…I don’t understand.” She looked to Celestia, as if curious herself now.

“It’s simple,” Aldair replied. “Your young princess knows the language we call Basic, a common language through the galaxy. It’s hard enough to imagine it being spoken on a remote planet such as this and more so to imagine that she would be the only one to know it especially given the location of your planet. One far out of contact with a vast majority of the galaxy.”

Luna felt as though a wall was being torn down between her and the visitors. His cunning and perception were exquisite but it hardly should have been that obvious even with Twilight speaking their language. Aldair continued.

“While your people scrambled in panic and fear, your military was mobilized to suppress the situation and now you demand us to make no more contact with your people and leave as soon as physically possible. With all due respect, your Majesty, you’re hiding something and it seems that it is something that only you know and even your young princess here is unaware of.”

Luna felt her hands clench into tight fists and could even feel Celestia’s own anger rise at this outsider’s questioning. “You would do well to hold your tongue,” she said, speaking so they may understand and ignoring the reaction by Twilight.

“Understand this,” Celestia said, lifting the veil of the language barrier herself, “this is not your planet nor your people. It does not concern you how much we know or understand about you nor should it. You are trespassing on our home far away from where you belong. As my sister said, you would do well to hold your tongue.”

With this, the sisters surrounded the door with their respective auras and flung it open wide. Celestia commanded the guards to escort the visitors back to their transport. With the two gone, the doors were shut and Celestia released her anger. In its place was regret for such harsh language.

Twilight looked at the princesses, “I…I don’t understand. What is going on here? What did he mean by all of that?”

The young princess looked on with questioning, tear filled eyes as confusion visibly coursed through her. Celestia looked down with a smile and descended from the throne to comfort her former pupil in an embrace.

“Worry not Twilight. I will explain everything when the time is right.”

As Twilight held to her former mentor, eager to ease the confusion in her mind, Luna turned to leave. The sight of the two was comforting and helped her to release some of the anger from the meeting. Although, this is what she and Celestia had been afraid for. The ponies were not yet ready and this situation threw too much at them all at once. Such would be too much for any to handle.

Looming Chaos

Castle of Princess Twilight Sparkle; Unknown Time

Twilight shot up in a blind panic, fear permeating from her very core. Her emotions were running wild with anger and rage blending in with the fear and pain. She could not see. She could not breathe. But for whatever reason, she screamed.

Everything was pitch black, yet she still made out shapes in the darkness. Familiar shapes appearing in a way that only brought about pain and terror. All around were those she knew, dead or dying. She could hear their screams of pain and the sounds of what had brought such suffering.

“Twilight!”

The world quickly righted itself. Twilight searched around for familiarity and calm, watching the world blur before her eyes as she cast her gaze quickly about. Another shake diverted her attention to the one who had awoken her. Fear and worry filled his eyes, but not the same fear as what terrified her.

“S…Spi…ke?” Twilight could hardly breathe. She gasped for air and held herself tight as the young dragon held onto her as though trying to keep her from falling into a chasm. Her screaming had stopped but the images and sounds lingered.

A full minute passed, then two, then three. While the lingering terrors continued to hound her, Twilight fought to focus only on the young dragon who desperately tried to soothe her. His desperation drove him to climb onto the bed and wrap her in as full an embrace as he could. He spoke, but she could still not hear his attempts to reach her.

Finally, the storm subsided. The horrifying images faded into the shadows of her darkened room and the terrible sounds gave way to Spike’s voice, still attempting to calm her. Her breathing slowly returned to normal and her violent shaking ceased. She wrapped her arms around Spike, needing the touch of another to fully return her from the terrible vision.

“I’m sorry Spike. I’m sorry for scaring you like that.”

Another dream. Another vision. Similar to the one the night before with the ghostly figures she now knew as the clones warring against the skeletal figures. Another fierce battle of lights and menacing machines that ended in fire and death. But this time there was something new. New details that were not present before.

Within the smoke and fire she had seen structures and other figures. Familiar shapes. Homes, buildings, inhabitants. All of which she knew. This time, not only did the clones and skeletal figures litter the ground but ponies as well. She had seen flashes of Ponyville, Canterlot, even the Crystal Empire. She had heard ponies scream in pain and fear. Her home, her people, caught up in a battle that had nothing to do with them.

But beyond the images and sounds, there was no other context. She knew of the war that the clones fought but why did she see that battle involving her people? Would the other side arrive? Were the Equestrians to get involved at some point? If the ponies were to become involved, what side would they be on? Based on the dream, they would most likely simply get caught in the middle.

Twilight grabbed her head as a migraine began to form. Another dream, vision, of suffering and death and so many new questions that came with it. Her mind was already overflowing with input and questions and the new vision and questions only pushed her further past the brink. She felt like her head had expanded beyond what was capable and about to burst.

She felt Spike hug tighter and heard him speak to her. She could not make out what he said but she knew he was still trying to comfort her. She eased her mind and fell into her practice of sorting and organizing. She shuffled the questions and information around and arranged her thoughts according to importance. Questions that required immediate answers would be addressed first. The rest would wait. It was all she could do for now to release the pressure she was under having so many thoughts inside her head.

With her mind more organized and her body now under control, she embraced Spike once more. “Thank you Spike, for being here.”

Spike looked at her with a gleeful and naïve smile. “That’s what family is for, right?”

Twilight returned the smile. Spike knew nothing, understood nothing about what was going on in her head. He hardly understood what had happened the day before and was still clearly putting on a brave face even when she knew that internally he was wishing it all away. But it did not matter. The comfort was all that mattered now. He would still stand by her no matter what happened.

Twilight looked around at the darkened room. “What time is it?”

“About one in the morning,” Spike said, looking over at the clock on the wall. “You’ve only been asleep for about four hours.”

Four hours? More like two or less. The day’s events had made sleep difficult to obtain. She had paced in her room for nearly two hours before finally attempting to sleep. And that was after spending the rest of the day following the meeting between the Princesses and Leonis and Aldair trying to make sense of everything. To answer any questions she could. And even after exhausting herself, she still tossed for nearly two hours trying to sleep.

“Twilight? Where are you going?”

Twilight stood at the side of her bed a moment and stared out at the star filled sky. “I…need some air.” She looked back at Spike and gave as warm a smile as she could muster. “Go back to bed.”

“But…you need to sleep Twilight. You’ve been running yourself ragged because of all of this. And-”

“And your still a little dragon,” Twilight said, interrupting and putting emphasis on his age. “One night of rough sleep isn’t all that bad for me but you need to sleep.”

Spike stood and stared at her defiantly. “Family is supposed to be there for each other.” His defiant stare fell and was replaced by a rather childish naïve smile. “So I’m going to be here for you.”

Twilight could not help but smile and fight to suppress a giggle. No matter what happened it seemed, she could always count on Spike to be there for her. “Okay then.”

The two wandered the castle a bit before making their way to a balcony that overlooked Ponyville. They set out a pair of mats that were set off to the side and sat down in the middle of the balcony. While Spike stared up at the bright moon and glistening stars, Twilight took a meditative pose that Celestia had taught her to help calm her and ease her mind during times of heavy stress.

She closed her eyes and let the sounds of the night and the feel of the world around her move about and through her. She never did understand the meaning of some of the things Celestia had taught her but it certainly helped. Her mind calmed further than before and she felt as though a heavy burden had been lifted or at least made lighter.

There were still her numerous questions that needed answers and many other things to address concerning the presence of the clones. But for now, Twilight allowed all of that to be pushed aside. She would talk to Celestia again later in the morning. And, despite the warning given them to make no more contact with the ponies, she would talk to Aldair and Leonis. Celestia had kept things from her but had said that the time was not right for her to know. But the presence of the clones certainly made the time right to know some things.

Twilight continued her meditation into the morning even as Spike fell asleep after a mere ten minutes. The world itself seemed to take hold of her in a loving embrace as the small voice Celestia had taught her to listen to spoke gently to her now quiet mind. Despite running on only a few hours of sleep in the past two days, she felt newfound energy flow through her and reinvigorate her.

As the sun rose, she found determination to find out more.

CIS Munificent-Class Frigate Silent Fang: Unknown Sector, Wild Space; 372 days after the Battle of Geonosis

So long as a ship was properly maintained, coordinates properly inputted, and instruments calibrated, an exit from hyperspace was relatively smooth more often than not. Forced exits from gravitational pulls or damaged systems could send a ship into a limited shuttered halt but more often nothing more. But that was not the case this time.

The sudden drop from hyperspace shook the ship aggressively followed by a violent quake that made the cabin feel as though it had been casually picked up by a youngling and tossed like a toy. The cabin was plunged into darkness as the lights failed and the floating image of the galaxy flickered and died. Emergency lights lit up and bathed the room in an eerie dull red glow. A light fixture sparked and a small flame glowed from within a console, overcharged from an apparent unknown but powerful power surge.

Despite all this, the young man in the cabin hardly moved. Instead, he continued to stare into the darkness where the galactic image once hovered. Tybo was an idiot and had likely made a poor command to drop out of hyperspace only to run the ship into the solar storm of some system’s star or perhaps even a nebula. Being an idiot, he could have even run into a moon sized asteroid or some other similar celestial object. Or he had allowed the mindless droid navigating to do one of the above.

Nevertheless, the young man hardly cared. So long as the ship was still serviceable and a majority of the combat force was still operational, he did not care. There was no reason to care and no reason to become angry and hate the idiot any more than he already did. He had planned for every contingency. From a failed battle with the Republic troops to the idiot flying into a star. He had planned for anything and everything that could happen.

For the young man, this expedition and those involved were simply a spring board to greater things. If that spring board broke, he had others. Patience was the key to gaining power. Multiple plans and backup plans were in place and he could easily transition to another should one fall short. Power would be his and a single mishap by lesser beings would not impede him on his path to obtaining everything.

But another violent surge aroused the anger he tried to suppress. The emergency lights flickered as warning lights engaged and sirens started to blare. The ship shook violently again at another power surge and sent the young man tumbling to the floor. What the hell had that wermo run into? Had he actually hit a karking star? It would not surprise him if the ship was about to enter a black hole.

No longer satisfied with waiting, the young man ejected the holo disc with the image of the galaxy, his galaxy, from the projector built into the cabin table. The loss of power forced him to wrench it out as even the manual eject had been jammed by the electrical surge. He pocketed the disc and stormed through the corridors towards the bridge. He found himself floating through several sections of the ship as the surges had apparently knocked out all artificial gravity to those areas.

Just before arriving at the bridge, the young man quickly and masterfully put on the mask he wore in front of the others, managing to hide his anger and loathing just as he was met by the other two organic members of the group. The first was a female Zabrak whose pale reddish skin, athletic build, and light muscular features would have made her desirable were it not for numerous scars across her face and body and a few broken horns on her hairless crown. The other was a male Twi’lek who had the frame of a muscular being but hardly had the tone, indicated by a gut that was starting to protrude slightly. His pale tan skin was covered with a myriad of tattoos save for the right side of his face and his lekku head tails.

The two scowled at the young man in loathing hatred, though his personal hatred of them could likely put them to shame. The young man maintained his mask and stared back with a face showing no emotion. While the Twi’lek maintained his silent demeanor that he was known for, the Zabrak was more apt to speak up.

“Move it whelp!” She stood at the doorway, arms at her side ready to thrash the one who blocked her, waiting for the young man to obey.

The young man maintained his emotionless demeanor as he answered and took a step to the side. “I’m sorry.”

Though the response clearly upset her, the young man hardly cared. She was known for her violent demeanor and her overreaction was hardly surprising. She grabbed him by his collar and pinned him against the wall of the corridor. “Listen you lousy piece of poodoo. I don’t care if the commander is your old man. Cross me one more time and I’ll rend your head from your body.”

The young man maintained his emotionless mask. “I’m not sure he would approve of you doing that.” He was right. The idiot would rather make the kill himself. “And I’m afraid we don’t have time for this given our situation. You’ll have to kill me later.” He allowed his mask to shift just enough for her to see the true murderous intent hidden behind his eyes. “Now let go.”

The Zabrak scoffed and released him, storming into the bridge with the Twi’lek close behind. The two of them were animals and nothing more. No, less than animals. Though motivated by money, they were more driven by the sheer thrill of killing and violence. Even an animal holds a reason to kill. But it made them easy to control, even without intending to.

The Zabrak, Twill Mara as she was known, and the Twi’lek, Jai San, were long time cohorts and subordinates to the idiot. They held no attachments to him beyond that of a stray animal following whoever feeds it. Though staunchly independent and often doing whatever they pleased, they obeyed their master as the good pets they were. Still, they hated Tybo’s offspring and he them.

As he headed into the bridge, the Zabrak’s words reminded the young man of his relation to the commanding idiot. He was no father. They simply shared a similar genetic makeup. Half from Tybo and half from a street woman on Nar Shadaa. It must be some sort of irony that the resulting offspring was a genius beyond compare when the parents were little more than street rabble and a wild animal. He was everything that Tybo proclaimed himself to be, and more.

He had no parents. Simply a pair of vessels that had brought him into this galaxy. Rather humble origins to the one who would one day own and control it all. Then again, that was evolution at its finest. From two lesser beings comes the dawn of a new age.

By the time the young man entered the bridge, the alarm sirens had gone silent and the bridge flickered in the strobing flashes of the emergency lights. All other light came in from the bridge windows as a yellow star shined in the blackness of space. A glance around found the other organics gathered around Tybo’s command console and at least five droids and their stations heavily damaged by the surges and no longer functional.

Tybo looked over at the young man while the other two tried to keep their glances away. “Hurry up and get over here.”

The young man complied and Tybo relayed the situation. “I don’t know what happened but we’ve been forced out of hyperspace out into the middle of the most volatile nebulas I have ever seen. You can see the damage for yourself. I’m not going to go over it but it does include life support so we don’t have long as it is. I have maintenance droids already mobilized to begin repairs. But those will take a bit of time.”

“So where are we and what do we do until repairs are done?” Twill Mara asked, voicing a surprisingly reasonable question for her.

Tybo tapped on the console and brought up a holo of the system. “This is the system, though I have no idea where it is. The droids managed a scan just before the station was taken out by the second surge and I’ve never seen anything like it.”

For once, the young man was just as confused. The system was the smallest he had ever seen, impossibly small. A single medium sized star with one planet orbited by a single moon. And surrounding it all was a large nebula that somehow forced them out of hyperspace. Was anything like this even possible? Even so, impossible systems aside, he was still prepared.

“Boy!” Tybo said. “Are we still getting a signal from that beacon of yours? I want to know how far off we are from it.”

The young man pulled out his data pad and checked on the signal. Sure enough, it was still transmitting and they were far closer than they imagined. He linked it with the console to show them all. The small planet became surrounded by a rhythmic blinking light to indicate the signal.

“Right there. Our poor fortune is now fortune.” Tybo looked at the holo then at him. “This means that the Republic likely suffered a similar fate to us and is in system. Either floating debris or a pile of scrap on the surface.”

Tybo smiled. “Boy, you actually did well.”

“So now what?” Mara piped up again.

“If we survived, the Republic could have survived as well. The four of us are leaving the ship and making our way to the surface for recon. While we do that, the ship will stay in high orbit and the droids will shut down any system they don’t need like life support or artificial gravity to focus solely on repairs. We’ll find the Republic and find out if they lived. If so, we take them out the moment the battle droids are functional again. If not, we leave once the ship is ready to go and take home a hefty payout.” Tybo keyed the console. “Get in here!”

For all of his idiocy, the young man had to admire Tybo’s limited intelligence. There was no reason for the organics to remain on a ship that was this heavily damaged. The droids would have no issue with a lack of oxygen, food, or gravity. They could easily handle surviving a full on derelict and function so long as they themselves functioned. And while they returned to strength, the others would obtain intel and prep for battle. He let the idiot have his moment.

Tybo relayed the situation and orders to the tactical droid that entered and the four made their way to a ship for departure. Time to see if the Republic survived. The animals, like all pets, needed to be let out and allowed to run every so often.

Canterlot Castle; 5:00 am

“What fun, what fun. All of the pieces are nearly in place and soon the game shall truly begin. Oh, I can’t wait.”

Discord felt his smile grow larger at the thought of the impending chaos. It had been far sooner than he had expected but he preferred it this way. Another sensation and another entry through the barrier that surrounded the world. This time, he reveled in it. He drank it.

He looked up at the night sky and the spot where the second flash had appeared. He closed his eyes and felt the looming darkness emanating from above. He felt around and took in the chaos that was already tightening its grip on the world. Light and dark clashed, already leaving only chaos left.

He could feel the fear emanating from the residents of Ponyville. Even those outside the small town expressed a tinge of fear given what they had seen and the fact that the Princesses have yet to provide an explanation. He reached out further to where the first arrivals were and drank in the conflict within them. Darkness posing as light.

It would not be long now. The pieces were assembled and soon would be in place. The happy bliss of the world, born of ignorance, would soon be torn away. It did not matter who was on what side, so long as the sides clashed.

Dark. Light. Discord cared nothing for either. He had played both sides at various points in his life, all for the sake of causing strife. The chaos that ensued from the clash of light and dark was where he belonged. He had never lied to the Princess when he had determined to use his talents for the light. But he never intended to stay that way.

He would miss the happiness that he saw in the faces of those he called friends. There was truth there. But change did not always result in pleasant endings for all. Things were gained and things were lost. That was the nature of all things. Light and dark existed and, as opposites usually do, inevitably clashed. That was the nature of life. The nature of the now. Whatever the nature of the end, Discord was life incarnate. He was the chaos of the now and the harbinger of change, regardless of how it happened or the results.

“Stagnation is so boring,” he said as he stood from his rooftop perch. “So let’s enjoy the change in the wind, shall we?”

He spread his mismatched wings and took off. So long as the pieces moved, he would watch. Should the pieces cease, he would be there to give them another nudge and watch the ball tumble down once more. The princesses would have felt the entry of the newest arrivals and were likely already preparing for the inevitable.

“What fun, what fun we shall have.”

Coping with Change

Local café: Ponyville; 10:00 am; Four days after the Newcomers arrival

Quiet. Peaceful. Ordinary.

One massive lie that every pony seemed to willingly accept in order to return life back to the way things were before the sky fell. Ponies walked the streets once more with seemingly little on their minds outside their daily tasks. Even the sight of construction crews repairing damaged buildings, clearing the last bits of rubble, and rebuilding one of the town’s fountains did little to remind any of what had caused it all.

It was sickening.

Lyra stared up at the sky, wondering. Her mind still raced with questions and dreams of what lay beyond the blue that hung over her head. She had not forgotten. Even if the whole town seemed to have willingly thrown out any concept that actual aliens had arrived and had been the reason for the destruction, she had not. She would not. She could not.

She took a sip of her coffee as she continued to stare up at the sky. The bitter taste of the coffee mixed with the sweets that were blended with it and teased her taste buds. The warm liquid heated her throat as the caffeine already seemed to send small charges through her body. But that was most likely the surge of excitement that caused her to shiver.

The town may have forgotten, but Lyra had not. Instead, she had been all the more excited each passing day.

“Lyra? Lyra. Lyra!”

Lyra nearly jumped out of her seat at the call of her friend. She quickly grasped her cup in both hands to keep from spilling it contents and stared across the table at Bon Bon with an annoyed glare. “Don’t do that.”

“You spaced out again,” Bon Bon said, given a smug expressing as she sipped her own concoction of coffee. A blend of numerous sweets that practically drowned out the coffee altogether. Even she seemed to have forgotten everything. Or at least acted like she had.

Lyra relaxed and looked at the coffee in her cup, peering at her dull reflection in the liquid. “I…I just have a lot on my mind.” She dissolved her reflection as she took another sip.

Every pony around her was acting so natural. Other patrons casually drank their own coffee concoctions or some other drink they had ordered as they listened to a local guitarist play on the stage of the patio. The music was upbeat yet portrayed the same ordinary feeling that the other ponies had about them. Normal.

Disaster, resolution, move on. That was how the average pony seemed to deal with any major event they faced. Regardless of what happened, they always seemed to move on like nothing happened once things resolved or, in this case, calmed down. They lived in willing, blissful ignorance.

Despite the overwhelming evidence that the entire world had changed. Despite the physical presence of actual aliens from somewhere beyond the sky, even if they had kept their distance for the past few days. Every pony seemed to be willing to forget. So long as the aliens remained away from the populace, the ponies would be content with forgetting. Out of sight, out of mind.

But Lyra had not forgotten, nor would she.

She took a large swig of her coffee to finish it and stood, ignoring the burning sensation down her throat. “I’m gonna head out. Catch you later?”

Bon Bon looked at her in confusion then at the sky. “But it’s still morning. Not the best time for stargazing, right?”

If Bon Bon wanted to forget, so what? “I’m not going to the observatory. The Ponyville Astronomer’s Society is holding their picnic today. Remember?” That was true but not why she was leaving.

Bon Bon finished another sip, still acting like nothing had changed. “Didn’t they have to cancel it with the military conducting training drills in the area? Or did they find somewhere else to go?”

Lyra was never one to get angry but for once she was furious. She could not take the foolish ignorance any longer. She spun and slammed her hands on the table, glaring at her friend.

“What’s with you and every pony else?” Her voice was low but filled with fury. She ignored the looks of the other ponies as she sat back down, bringing her voice lower to avoid causing more of a scene.

“What in Tartarus is wrong with every pony? Four days ago, aliens, actual bucking aliens, crash land right in our backyard. The town got trashed because of it. And military training drills? It’s a bucking cover-up, that’s what it is. We all saw it with our own eyes. I saw them. They crashed through your bucking roof! Damnit Bon Bon, why does every pony want to go about their lives like nothing happened?”

Bon Bon gripped her cup tight and her face curled into a scowl as she stared into the cup. In a single moment, she hurled the cup across the café patio as she quickly rose and stormed off. The act turned all heads and even cut off the musician on stage. Once again, Lyra ignored the stares and gasps of the other patrons as she rose after her friend.

“Bon, wait!”

Even only walking at a brisk walk, Lyra was forced to run to catch up to her steaming friend. She grabbed Bon Bon by an arm and tried to stop her. “Bon stop, please.”

Earth ponies were known for their natural strength but Lyra had never experienced it until now as Bon Bon easily yanked her arm from her grip, making it feel as though she would tear her arm right off. She tried to move in front of Bon Bon only to be nearly shoved to the ground as she pushed her way past. Finally, as Bon Bon turned a corner behind a building, Lyra threw her arms around her friend. Both stopped.

“Bon Bon, please. I’m sorry.” She braced herself to be thrown to the side again or have her embrace easily broken. Instead, the two stood still. “I’m sorry Bon. I didn’t mean to be mean to you. I’m sorry.”

Bon Bon was silent for nearly a minute as she stood where Lyra had caught her. “It’s because I’m scared,” she finally said. “I’m terrified and probably so is every pony else.”

It was true. Lyra could hear the quiver of Bon Bon’s voice as she spoke and she could feel her friend tremble. As though she had bottled up her fear while she wished away what made her so afraid.

Bon Bon slowly turned and Lyra loosed her grip and dropped her arms to her side. The earth pony brought her own arms up, wrapping them around herself slightly as she continued. Tears filled her eyes as she seemed to fight the urge to look away, struggling to look her friend in her eyes. Her face was that of forced anger and Lyra could practically sense her friend silently scream to her for comfort from her fears.

“We’ve seen a lot of terrible things over the past couple of years, haven’t we?” Bon Bon’s gaze finally fell and she stared off to the side at the ground. A trembling smile hung on her face, one used to hide fear and insecurity. “But each time, some pony fought against it and made all that terror go away. Each time, life returned to what it was before. And no matter what changed, whether the Crystal Empire being reestablished or Twilight Sparkle being named a new Princess, life itself seemed to always go back to normal.”

Her grip on herself grew tighter and her smile faded. “But that’s not what gets to happen this time. We don’t know if we’re really being threatened and we don’t know how to cope with this change. Even so, nothing will ever be the same. Will it?”

Lyra was not sure what to say. It made sense but it all came back to a simple fear of the unknown or change. But no matter how fearful it may seem, ignoring it as though it would just vanish if one never thought about it was no way to cope.

“Bon Bon…You can’t just-”

She was quickly interrupted as Bon Bon continued. “I have this bad feeling that something terrible is going to happen. Something worse than anything we’ve ever seen before.” She looked up at Lyra, her face filled with sorrow and terror as tears streamed down her face. “I’m scared, Lyra. Scared for you, scared for every pony.” She tried to speak more but only ended up sobbing. “I…I just…”

Lyra grabbed her friend in a hug, trying to calm her as her emotions were let loose. “Don’t worry. I’m sure everything will be alright. We just have to tackle this together, right?”

Even with her face buried in her friends shoulder, Bon Bon said on last thing. “Don’t go see those things anymore. Promise me you’ll stay away from them.”

Lyra said nothing. She had gone to see the aliens where they had set up their impromptu settlement and thought she had been careful enough for no other pony to know. Not even the military. But it seemed her efforts had not been good enough.

She thought to what Bon Bon had said about her bad feeling. She had always had a pretty good intuition, a couple of times being incredibly spot on. Lyra had trusted her friend’s intuition before. But despite that, she found it hard to keep the promise she had been asked to make. She wanted to know more about the aliens and about the things beyond their world. But it only tore her to think of how to stay loyal to her friend and fulfill her own curiosity at the same time.

So, she said nothing. And it hurt.

But as she continued to comfort her friend, Lyra began to feel legitimate fear and terror. But it was not her fear or terror she felt, that much she knew. In fact, it almost felt like it was emanating from Bon Bon. A strange feeling but one she could not dwell on at the moment. So she pushed the feelings aside and went back to comforting her friend.

The two friends stood where they were for another two minutes as Bon Bon allowed her emotions to revert to as normal as possible. Lyra, stared up at the sky. Her mind fought between two thoughts vying for dominance. Continue to feed her curiosity and risk her friendship, or stay true to her friend and fall into the same cycle of ignorance as all of the others. Either way, Bon Bon’s intuition was bound see truth eventually. And by then, would anything matter?

For once, she hope her friend’s all too accurate intuition was wrong.

Republic Forward Command Outpost; Outskirts of local settlement, Ponyville, Planet Equis, Wild Space; 375 days after Battle of Geonosis

A moment alone, away from worrisome clones ensuring he was well, was all he wanted at the moment. They were good boys, no denying that, but the childlike worry that occasionally slipped through their mature bodies was tiring. Of course, it was important for the morale of the soldiers they were that their commanding officer be in the best shape possible. Even if it was mostly an act.

Aldair eased himself up and allowed himself a moment to stand on both legs unaided. Though the pain was mostly gone, replaced more with a constant numb, his leg still refused to hold its footing. He wobbled and caught himself with his cane. A sharp pain coursed through his chest as he gave a heavy gasp.

One broken leg, three broken ribs, and several cuts and bruises across his body. Miraculously minor injuries that would have normally left him in a medical ward for weeks at best and months at worst. He should not even be standing much less walking, cane or no, were it not for sheer stubbornness, the healing properties of raw injected bacta, and treatments of local medicine.

He would have to thank the young Twilight Sparkle for the medicine. A potent concoction that one of the medics had described as a form of naturally occurring bacta. Not only did it speed up his recovery, it had saved several lives.

His com chimed as one of the sentries reported. “She’s back, sir. Keeping her distance still but still watching.”

Aldair smiled and gave a short chuckle at the thought of the curious native that had started visiting over the last few days. “Just keep an eye on her. I’m sure she won’t bother you but I’d hate for us to get in trouble because she got too curious.”

The sentry acknowledged and another clone called in moments later. “Sir, Captain Leonis has returned and awaits you back at the command center. Major Atto is also ready with his report.”

Aldair parted the flaps of the temporary structure that made up the command center and addressed the clone at the com station. “Right here, son. Just went for a short walk.” He looked over at the station in the center and gave a nod to Leonis and the holo image of Atto. “Alright, let’s begin. Atto?”

“We’re doing fine here. We got one of the landing struts extended and that’s given us access to the hanger doors. Shouldn’t be long before we can start rolling out more gear and the tanks.”

“Good,” Aldair said, “because I have a feeling we might need them.”

“To deal with the natives?” Atto scoffed. “I thought they fought by talking. Or are you trying to keep that princess away from the droid?”

Aldair shot Atto a glare. “Are you trying my patience? Cut the sarcasm for later.”

“Sorry, sir,” Atto responded without much in the way of regret.

“Leonis?”

Leonis keyed the console and pulled up a holo of the available map of the region. A small dot marked a location in the clearing of a local forest. “Our newest friends set down here, a set of ruins in the area known to the locals as the Everfree Forest. Supposed to be a bit of a dismal place. Local superstition aside, we only noted about four occupants exit the small craft. They set up a base camp then moved out in standard recon fashion so they have experience. I have men on their trail now and monitoring their craft. No markings were on the craft and none had anything openly visible to identify them as anything outside of mercenaries or bounty hunters.”

“Species?”

“Two humans, one Zabrak, and one Twi’lek. I’m not sure of the motives or goals or even affiliation.”

Aldair rubbed his chin as he thought. “Just scouts or hunters then. But what’s their target and who are they scouting for? We’re too fortified for their numbers, even for experienced hunters. And there’s no reason they would be after any locals.”

“You sure they have a target?” Atto said, crossing his arms. “Could have gotten caught like us.”

Aldair shook his head. “No, too much coincidence. By the sounds of it, their prepared and here for a reason.”

“Has to be the Seps then,” Atto said, giving a short shrug.

Aldair continued his thoughts. “Perhaps. Maybe a hired group on their payroll. Atto, speed up the recovery but be ready to dig in. Leonis, get back to recon and keep a close eye on our new friends. Don’t let them out of your sight.”

Atto scoffed again. “Why not just take them out now?”

“What would you think if you sent out scouts and then they just suddenly went dark?” Leonis retorted.

Atto sighed. “Alright, I get it.”

Aldair keyed off the map holo. “Well then, let’s prepare a welcome for whoever wants to set up a new home.”

The image of Atto faded and Leonis gave a quick salute before leaving. Aldair moved to the back of the command center and called to the scanner clone. “Begin a scan of orbit. See if we can find whatever ship our friends came in on.”

The clone acknowledged and Aldair began to plan. Regardless of who had arrived, Seps or mercs, there was little doubt that they had been following the clones. Finding the ship would answer at least one question.

Author's Note

Guitarist pony at the cafe is the fan OC Retro Beat by user That One Rodimus Fan. I apologize if the user's name has changed at all but thank you still.