Brothers Forever

Princess Luna's P.O.V.

It seemed like another usual night for me, another night of watching over the dreams of all the little ponies. I caught the night wind soared towards the first troubled mind I felt, which was, surprisingly, in Canterlot. The dream was odd, it gave off a strange feeling that I had never noticed before, something was different. I decided to investigate, and the dream that I entered next was one I'd not soon forget. I was taken to a barren, dusty, rocky and isolated place; it was dark out, I couldn't see any stars in the sky. I was on a metal platform leading up to a strange  circular building with what looked like a large bowl on top of it, with something protruding from the large bowl. But, what was even stranger was that there was a white creature on the platform with me. I hadn't noticed me yet, and I dove behind a large metal crate just to be sure. Tampering with an unstable dream was never wise. I poked my head up from behind the crate and observed the creature more closely. It was pure white for the most part, except for its head where it's face was black, its black mouth looked like an upside down V and it's black eyes were shaped like a T. It also had a crimson colored appendage attached to its head, which it brought down every once and a while to its eyes. It moved as though were patrolling the area, like a guard, clutching a strange a strange black thing in its hands. The creature suddenly spoke and said, "This is the deck officer checking in; nothing going on... as usual."

Suddenly, I was inside the building. The room was was metal, and strange lights lit up the room. A few of the creatures were bent over strange devices, and a strange short blue being with a strange voice was talking about some group called the 'Mudjumpers of the 224th' and how they were slugging it out on at a place called 'Mimbam'. Also, a set of stairs led to a small upper level where large window was located, it was an observation platform. Some strange form of music was also playing. It was at this point I realized something: the creatures were soldiers. Their helmets were off, and I could clearly see the creature's true faces. They were all virtually identical, but they each had different personalities, and other small things that separated them. One soldier carrying a small grey tablet with a screen of some kind walked in while two of the others were currently engaged in some sort of sport of strength, and one apparently won the challenge, laughing victoriously. The loser said nothing about his loss and the soldier with the tablet asked the winner, named Hevy, to check on his 'scope'.

Hevy pressed a button and a screen displayed a blue flickering image of the outside landscape. Hevy said, "Hmmm, what do you know? All clear! Just like the hundred last times I looked at it."

The soldier with the tablet said. "Personally, like that it's so quiet out here. Allows me to catch up on my reg manuals!"

However, Hevy didn't seem to agree, "What's wrong with you, Echo? We should be out on the front lines, blasting droids!"

Another soldier then said, "Ah, leave him alone. They kept him in his growth jar too long."

"Yeah!" said Hevy as he and the soldier laughed at Echo.

Hevy them made comment, "You uh... may not have realized it yet, Fives...  but you have landed in the most boring post on the Outer Rim."

Suddenly, another one of the soldiers walked up and said, "And one of the most important." This prompted Fives to turn off the music and cause a kind of electronic whistle to sound and another soldier to yell, "Sergeant on deck!" as all the soldiers in the room snapped to attention.

The sergeant responded with, "At ease. Even though you're all knew here,I shouldn't have to remind you that this quadrant is key to the Outer Rim. If the droids get past this station, they can surprise attack the facilities where we were born on our homeworld of Kamino. There's some officers on the way, so I want everything squared away for inspection. Understood?"

"SIR YES SIR!" responded all the soldiers.

Obviously, the white soldiers defended the 'Republic' and they were fighting the Separatists. Who these 'Separatists' were I didn't know, but they were bad, that was clear. However, I swore one of the soldiers look at me directly, for a moment. It was a brief and suspicious glance that partly convinced me I had been spotted by him. "But its not possible," I thought to myself. "Nopony can see me while I've cloaked myself!" Suddenly, an alarm went off and the soldiers scrambled around the room to I assumed to be their designated positions. "Sir, in coming meteor shower!" said a soldier at a panel to the sergeant.

"Raise the shield," replied the sergeant.

"You wanted excitement, Hevy," one of the soldiers said.

"Right. Ooooo, meteor shower..." the one named Hevy mumbled.

"Raise the shield!" said the sergeant.

Suddenly, I was outside the station. Sure enough, there was a small group of meteors headed for the station. A few hit a transparent blue white bubble of energy, obviously the shield they spoke of, and were vaporized.  The rest of the meteors overshot the station or fell short of it. By the time it was all over and the dust had settled, everything was normal... except for a large black needle-shaped object embedded a short distance away in a barren rocky plain.

"What the..." said the soldier patrolling the deck, as though he had seen the same thing I had.

Suddenly, I heard the soldier let out a garbled scream as purple electricity surrounded his body and I ducked behind a crate to avoid detection. When I turned back, what I saw disturbed me. Several brown skeleton-like figures with strange black objects in their hands were standing around the body of the soldier, who I assumed had been killed. My theory was confirmed when they drug his body out of sight. They  had piercing white eyes, and they also had a glowing red spot on their chests. One of them had white markings on its head and chest. They honestly scared me, and I nearly yelped when one turned in my direction. The figures then approached a large door at the base of the building.

The one with the white markings said, "Get these doors open!"

"Rodger rodger," responded another one of the figures, who removed a small panel next to the door, and after a few moments, the door slid open with a strange hiss. The figures then drew the black objects towards their eyes, and they began walking forward.

Suddenly, two of the soldiers appeared and one of them shouted "DROIDS!" and pointed at the brown figures.

The figures responded by firing red beams of magic at the soldiers, who took cover. The white soldiers, also armed with black things (which I quickly realized were weapons), responded by firing blue beams of magic, put it seemed the droids had the upper hoof.

"Sound the alarm!" yelled a soldier. Another soldier flipped a cover and pressed a button, but a discouraging beep sounded and the soldier said, "They've disabled the beacon." The figures then proceeded without any care or mercy; they mowed down all the white soldiers in sight.

The sergeant, now the only one left of the other clones, frantically said, "Get a message to the fleet! We have to warn... AGH!" But the sergeant was hit by one of the red beams in the leg and fell down. Before he could retaliate, the droids knocked the sergeant's weapon out of his hand and killed him by shooting red magic beams into his chest point blank.

I was suddenly standing next to Hevy, Echo, Fives and another one of the soldiers who I didn't know the name of.

"SARGE!" exclaimed a soldier.

The droids heard the soldier's shout and pointed their weapons and fired red beams of magic at them, but the soldiers had sealed the door to the room they were in.

"That should slow those buckets down," said a soldier as he tore something from a small panel next to the door.

"This way, hurry!" one of the soldiers frantically exclaimed as he removed a small grate. "No! We can..." one of the soldiers interrupted.

However, the figures were starting to break in, so the one next to the tunnel said, "There's too many!"

The soldiers climbed into the tunnel of some kind and I followed and dove inside the tunnel just before the last one crawled in and shut the grate behind me. While distracted by my curiosity, I accidentally bumped into one of the soldiers while trying to crawl ahead.

"Quit shoving Cutup!" one of the soldiers hissed.

"It wasn't me!" the soldier behind me protested.

"Quiet! Those clankers are gonna hear us and then we'll all be dead!" whispered a soldier.

It didn't take long before I heard something be kicked out of the way and hit the stony ground with a loud KLANG, and we dropped down on a narrow ledge next to a large, gaping pit. There were many large holes, which actually looked like the entrance to burrows lining the walls of the pit. The four soldier went single file, and I had to stand very uncomfortably on two feet in order to squeeze in between the third and fourth soldier.

"What do we do without the sarge?" asked a soldier, presumably Fives.

"The reg manual says that next..." began Echo.

I suddenly heard a loud hissing sound. I didn't like it, and my fur stood on end. Something bad was going to happen.

"Wait, did you hear that?" interrupted Hevy upon hearing the same hiss that I did.

"Yeah, what was that?" a soldier asked.

"It doesn't sound like droids," responded Fives.

I thought I heard a crackling sound, like something slithering through the rock.

"Don't forget about those giant eels," said Hevy.

"Oh, I've never seen- GAAAAAAAAAAHAAAAAAAAHAAAAAAAAAAH!" screamed the soldier right behind me as he was eaten by a huge, fat, blue-grey eel with large mandibles and a gaping mouth.

I nearly wet myself and jumped back, letting out a scream of fear. Fortunately, it seemed that none of the soldiers or the eel had heard me.

"CUTUP!" the soldiers yelled. Fives pointed a small weapon at it and shot blue magic beams at it, but the creature disappeared into another one of the holes in the cliffside and any of the beams that did hit it didn't affect it.

"What the HELL was that?!?!" yelled Fives, pointing his hand at the eel.

"Uh that was an eel. N-now that's why we have the regulation not to go outside," said Echo.

"Let's move before it comes back," said Fives.

"Ugh, poor Cutup..." mumbled Echo as we walked away.

I didn't like that eel; it made the Giant Quarry Eels from the mountains look like cute puppies. I also shivered at the fact I'd seen it eat a soldier whole in one bite. It was disgusting, disturbing, and sad all at once.

Suddenly, I heard a loud humming sound and I saw a red bird descending onto the platform next to the station.

"Look, it's Commander Cody!" said Hevy, pointing to the bird.

"The inspection team!" said Fives.

As the clones and I observed in silence, I decided to fly up and get a better look. I was next to the platform, and I watched as the bird, who I don't think was Commander Cody, slowly descended and landed, its wings folding up and feet reaching out for the ground. From my knew vantage point I saw the mouth of the bird open two soldiers, one with blue markings and armor accessories and another with orange markings, a visor and small antennae on his helmet walk out of the bird, which I now realized was a flying carriage of some kind.

"This is not good," began orange marked soldier as he and the blue marked soldier began walking on the eerily abandoned platform towards the station. "I don't see the deck officer anywhere."

"These boys are sloppy; there should always be an officer on duty." replied the blue marked soldier.

I jolted when I saw a droid hiding behind crate they just passed; the soldiers were unaware of the danger they were in. I wanted to do something, but tampering with something like this could lead to all kind of nasty consequences, so I let the dream play out. I descended to where Hevy, Echo, and Fives were and Fives said, "We have to warn them. Get on the comlink!"

I returned to my previous vantage point and I suddenly saw the front door of the station open, and a very suspicious soldier was walking up to the blue marked soldier and the orange marked soldier and began speaking while making unnatural arm motions, "Welcome to Rishi, Commander. As... you can see, the outpost is operating at... peak efficiency. Eh thank you for visiting, and have a safe trip... back."

The two soldiers briefly looked at each other confusedly and the orange marked one then said, "We need to inspect he base just the same."

"Ah... there is no need. Everything is fine and fully operational," said the soldier, making more suspicious arm movements, and also trying to block the two soldiers from going any further.

I checked on Echo, Hevy, and Fives and it seemed they were running into issues...

"Argh, it's no good! Their comlinks are on a different scramble set!" said Echo, fiddling with something attached to his forearm's armor.

"I'll signal them with this flare," said Fives.

I returned back to the three soldiers back on the platform and the blue marked one said firmly to the suspicious one, "Take us to the sergeant in command."

The suspicious one instantly sent me up the wall when he responded with, "Rodger rodger." It was a droid in disguise!

Suddenly, a red flare shot up and it flew high into the still starry sky with a whistling sound.

"A droid attack flare?!" said the orange marked soldier confusedly.

The blue marked soldier turned on the droid and shot it in the head with a single blue beam of magic from a black object that looked just like the one Fives had.

"Whoa, Rex; what the heck are you doing?!" said the orange marked one.

"Re-lax," said Rex. He took the helmet off the droid and said, "Just as I thought, looks like one of those new Commando Droids."

"That flare must have come from the survivors," said the orange marked soldier.

"You don't say?" I remarked to myself.

Suddenly, red magic beams filled the air, and the Commando Droids popped out of their hiding places, firing more beams of magic, the soldiers countering.

"AMBUSH!" yelled Rex as he began returning fire.

"Thanks, Captain Obvious," I thought.

The Commando Droids were to be the winners, it seems, and the two soldiers, despite being excellent marksmen, were outnumbered and surrounded. The orange marked soldier even said that they had tough armor. Several droids suddenly rushed forward and tossed some grey spheres that made a quickening alarm as they flew through the air.

"OFF THE PLATFORM!"  yelled Rex.

"Copy that!" said the orange marked soldier.

The spheres suddenly exploded and the red craft was destroyed in series of loud explosions. As soon as the smoke had cleared, the white marked Commando Droid walked out and inspected the remains of the carnage. "No sign of them, they must have been pulverized," it said in a trademark deep monotone voice, "Resume defensive posts."

However, Rex and the other soldier had survived, and were hanging precariously from the platform on cables. They let out more cables from their objects and descend down to the ground; and I also heard the hiss of an eel as the rappelled.

"Well that complicates things, Commander. No worse than that time on Tibrin," said Rex after he and the other soldier landed and detached their cables.

"We had Jedi with us on Tibrin. They helped," said the Commander.

Suddenly, Hevy, Fives, and Echo approached.

"Hands above your heads, take your sun bonnets off!" said Rex, grabbing a weapon and pointing it at  the other soldiers.

"Uuuuh, sir?" said Echo, puzzled.

"Take 'em off. NOW," said Rex.

The three soldiers did as they were asked and revealed confused the soldiers' identical confused and frightened faces.

Suddenly, and eel (perhaps the one from before) burst out of a rock wall and hissed  at the soldiers, mouth gaping and staring intently at them, as if it were saying,"HEEEEEEERE'S EELY!"

However, Rex shot the eel with a blue beam of magic dead (no pun intended) through the eye, which killed it. The eel fell to the ground with a tremendous THUD which rattled the ground.

"Nice shot," said Hevy, which made me giggle for second. A giant eel nearly eats them and they are narrowly saved by Rex, and all he can say is, 'nice shot?'

"The name's Rex," said Rex, turning to the three soldiers after examining the corpse of the eel. "But you'll call me Captain or sir."

"SIR YES SIR," responded the three soldiers simultaneously.

"I'm Commander Cody, your new boss," said the Commander, taking off his helmet and revealing a scar surrounding his right eye.

"My designation is trooper 27 dash 5555," said Fives.

"We call him Fives," said Hevy, turning his head to Fives. He turned to Echo and said, "This is Echo."

"Where's your sergeant?" asked Commander Cody.

"Dead, sir, we're all that's left," said Fives.

"Looks like we've got ourselves a batch of shinies, Commander," said Captain Rex, walking up to the troopers.

"Shinies, sir?" said Echo quizzically.

"That's right. Your armor, it's shiny and new, just like you," said Captain Rex, putting his left hand and stamping a purple handprint on Echo's breastplate.

"Sir, me and my batchers are trained and ready," said Hevy.

"There's hope for you yet, rookie," replied Captain Rex.

I'm not sure how it happened, but I somehow suddenly got weak legs and fell, tumbling down the rock face and landing in front of the troopers.

"What the?!?!" Captain Rex exclaimed.

I somehow had been revealed to all of them, and they all were staring at me with shocked and amazed expressions and Commander Cody had his weapon trained on me. After getting up and dusting myself off, I cleared my throat, and I said the best I could come up with to introduce myself, which was, "Eheh... greetings! I am Princess Luna."