Star Wars: Power of the Dark Side
Chapter XIV: Shadows of the Past

Vesper heaved a heavy sigh as she finished the second half of the scripts on Form VII: Juyo or Vaapad. Finally finishing what she had learned from paper, all these forms used for all different kinds of situations. All these personalized styles to choose from and for all different kinds of situations. Since it was personal, there had to be different situations to use the different forms. Her master had told her to choose a form or many combined into one to use, using ones that appealed mostly to her personality. The apprentice leaned back in her chair and thought for a moment over everything she immediately committed to memory.

Form VI: Niman appealed very well to her. Its jack-of-all-trades style of fighting was not only practical but it was the smart thing to do. She would have wanted to master all the forms of combat but there was no guarantee that her master knew all the styles. It gave her the proper amount of defense balanced with offense.

However, it was the jack-of-all-trades that worried Vesper. It was not focused on one which is not exactly a bad thing, but that's just it. It was not a master of any particular style. Which is why she would likely combine it with Juyo or Vaapad, giving her a very aggressive offensive. These two spoke to her, she could feel it in the Force, she knew that this combination of forms was perfect. These were the forms of combat that she would use to combat those that wished harm upon her.

The scripts told her that conflict between ponies has existed throughout history, but this also meant that relics and artifacts can be found of these ancient wielders of the Force. While yes she would need the teachings of her master, she could not solely rely on him. Mainly because of the fact that she was furious with him and the fact that he is a hologram that can somehow teleport her into limbo and can communicate even when dead. Magic could not do this, if magic was involved in raising the dead it usually did not paint such a good picture of the afterlife. Or Un-life for that matter.

She rolled the scrolls up and closed the books, she lit a candle as evening had settled in fast and her natural lighting was already starting to fail her even with the most recent change from summer to autumn. Pushing them aside, Vesper thought back deeply to what she had learned from Niman. 'Let's see;

'Form VI attempts to balance all elements of lightsaber combat, combining the techniques from Forms that came before into a less intensely demanding combat style. In practice, Form VI was a combination of older forms (Forms I, III, IV, and V), and all of them in moderation. In the blending, much of the individuality was lost, but the strengths were spread evenly, and there was little weakness in it.'

She nodded at her thought's accuracy and nodding her approval to proceed. Vaapad next; 'Juyo was described as the most vicious form of lightsaber combat, and was said to be filled with both fury and "malignant grace.".'

There were vague illustrations for the types of attacks that were commonplace for somepony who knew both of the forms used. But she felt it was enough for now. She knew what little she could for her combat style, she had spent a good hour staring at the progressing attacks for each form. Vesper felt that she had not mastered it, she had a good grasp on it.

A loud clank against the stone floor in the hallway to her left drew her attention. She stood up fast and waited for a shadow to jump out and attack her. She felt through the force and tried to sense if there were any other ponies near her. Sure enough, she felt the presence of a few ponies. The force that they dully radiated betrayed them. There were at least a dozen of them, each one held no lenient towards one side. The duality of the place as well helped with their location to the Sith'ari.

Sith'ari. There was that word again. She needed to know more about this. Something told her that these figures that lurked just out of her range of view told her that they knew something. So many questions, all stemming from one word. Vesper then felt a sudden flux of the dark side and felt it move her limbs. She shot up from her chair and it lead her somewhere. She sensed the figures and she drew near one of them. She was at a bookcase at the far left end of the library.

She stood, her breath drawing longer and more ragged. They would reveal themselves soon, and they were likely here to hurt her or worse. She cast away most of her thoughts and began to quickly question the use of the force. Why would it send her here? There was nothing that made sense about this? She felt fury rush through her and she slammed her hoof against the bookcase in anger.

As she did so she heard something rattle and hit the ground. With a deep thud it smashed against the floor and startled Vesper, she back pedaled and saw the object for what it was. She looked and saw what looked to be a sword. The long obsidian blade was slightly curved and had a guard across the top with a dark shimmering ruby at the top of the hilt. The blade was wide and thinned out at the tip. The archaic and dark sword remained on the ground, a red mist began to slowly billow out of the ruby.

Vesper felt the dark side like a beacon in the night with this weapon. It bled dark side energy like Vesper could not believe, she could feel it ebbing and inching its way closer into Vesper's mind. She inched closer and touching her hoof to it, a phantasmal energy surged through her calming her emotions and focusing harder on the dark side. Judging her worth.

The blade was cold against her hoof and as per what she had read, she stood up on her hind legs and lifted the sword with her. The blade was heavy and felt increasingly awkward as she held it. It thrummed with power and offered a small taste of what the true power of the dark side felt like, and she loved it. She reveled in the power that she tasted from the blade. From her limited knowledge of the dark side, she knew that this was old and powerful.

She stole herself as she saw something move in the shadows just within the corner of her vision. Toying with her, like a cat with a mouse. Only, they were hunting a rat not a mouse.

Vesper clenched the blade tight as she sensed them close in. There were three on the above platform in the upper segment of the library. Six more were along the ground, three behind her gaining closer. Two on her left, and one on her right. They were not force sensitive, she felt that much, through the blade. It spoke to her in her mind and told her things. Promises of great power and great conquest, and she listened. She felt something envelope her mind and she grasped tighter of the long hilt of the blade.

What came next, what she said next, did not sound or feel like her. More like her voice was replaced with somepony more menacing. Her voice slithered out with a fierce and stinging tone as she recited, "Peace is a lie, there is only passion. Through passion, strength. Through strength, power. Through power, victory. Through victory, my chains are broken. The force shall free me."

The air was colder, and a wind caught the underside of her cloak and it fluttered slightly in the brief wind. A deep voice that was clouded through what must have been some sort of receiver and a helmet called out, "At least you Sith have something to pray to before you meet the Maker. Hooves up Sith, though I am not entirely convinced that you will come along without a fight."

Vesper responded with a growl, "I was considering repainting the walls, your blood should do just nicely."

The voice, though she could tell that it was feminine, answered, "Don't count on it."

She dared not move to face them, one of the things that she learned was to never deliver the first blow unless you know your opponent's weakness. She has not seen them and therefore does not know their weakness yet. She waited and heard hooves, not hers, stop somewhere behind her. She waited, the blade thirsty for blood and even though Twilight would never have approved of what she had said. She was not Twilight anymore, she was Vesper.

With a slight warcry she heard the thunder of charging hooves from behind her and she could sense their every movement and even saw what attack they would open up with and how she could counter it. Through this she calculated the most optimal counter attack that would not lead to her death.

She spun around and met the humming blade strike against her sith sword. From head to hoof this individual was armored and from head to hoof. Plate splattered with dark plat and on his helmet there was a dark black glass capital 'T' for them to see out of. She felt electricity threaten against her blade. She felt the blade slightly absorb the shock charge and it absorbed the small amount of the discharge. Stored it within the blade and guiding the opposing blade away she smashed the hilt of her warblade against the side of her foe and dove away as she heard the shots of magical stun bolts fire from unicorns above her.

Unicorns could innately cast a bolt spell that momentarily paralyzed anything if they felt threatened. A sort of defense mechanism in case the worst has come to pass. Many distortion and nullifiment rings were made of similar enchantments to these paralyzing spells as they prevent spellcasting as well.

They followed her behind a book case out of range and out of sight from the ranged opponents, pages and books flew up in the chaos of the shots. She looked and the five pushed towards her, carrying electrified blades and heavy armor that she had never seen before. She had read of these special suits of armor made from Duros or cortosis. These individuals wore them, and this meant that they were used to hunting Sith or Jedi like her.

The shelves they were in between offered space for two up standing ponies to fit side by side. They rushed on towards her, their blades attacking at the same time. She parried one as she backpedaled, and the other niched her in the shoulder. Slicing through her flesh and searing slightly. The sting of the wound only caused her to get more and more angry. She gripped her blade tighter and in a wide downward arc she clashed with the one on her left and him and the ones behind him stepped back from the force of the blow.

The congested attacks were slow and offered recovery for her as she was not armed to the teeth, and pressed against the shelves. Another attack came towards Vesper and she narrowly dodged it, slashing through one of the shelves. Priceless books and scrolls falling to the ground. They were accounts of the first contact with griffons and they caused fury to surge through her. The blade feeding her dark energy.

They regained their formation and her pride soon was damaged from her inevitable capture or her death. The Sith'ari recovered quickly and narrowly dodged one of the attacks from behind the front one. She then turned down the side of the shelves and dashed away. Not running but to find a more advantageous approach to her situation. She was not entirely familiar with fighting, let alone in an enclosed space. But she did know the layout of the land and the different traps and hidden passages she knew from exploring it. She could use the traps and passages against them to have the advantage of the environment on her side.

She stopped at the hallway on the side and peered down it, there were no enemies waiting for her in the shadows and she sensed none, though the unicorn shooters would likely be on her tail any time soon.

She heard the same clouded mare voice shout, "After her!"

Vesper swung to face the enclosing ponies, in fear she raised her hoof and responded to a voice in her mind that said,

'Release the energy inside of you.'

She complied and lifted a hoof towards the ponies she heard the sound of lightning growing and in a crack of thunder she saw tongues of electricity spring from her outstretched hoof and the chaotic purple lightning struck the two front ponies and they fell from the shear force and they screamed in pain and their armor failed them as it singed through armor and baked them in their own protection.

Six remained and they knew business, that last release of lightning took a lot out of her. She would need to rely on both luck and the traps to help her. She sifted through the locations that held the more harsher traps and sprinted across the sunken halls of the Celestial Citadel. Weaving and dodging debris as she ran through the halls. She passed a hallway connecting to the library and the unicorns joined in behind her with their comrades as they shot bolt after bolt towards her. Her muscles already felt tight from the physical strain she already had on her form. She was not known for her physical aptitude or stamina. She was quickly breathing heavy and her speed was drawing to an end.

She thought quickly on what she could do. By her navigational skills she neared the kitchen hallway, which harbored a particular trap that she found most helpful for her situation. She reached out with the force to both calm her anxiety and to increase her speed. She felt her hooves fly with renewed vigor as she remembered back to how she had fell three of those curs with little knowledge of her fighting style. It welled her with pride and she found herself a few feet ahead of her foes. She heard the storming hooves behind her and the mare's voice shout out, "Quickly she is getting away."

The force quickly left her and her perspiration hung on her and she heaved out long breaths, she stopped by a pillar to catch her breath and put a hoof on a hidden lever behind the lever as she faced the hallway that had the six foes turn towards her past a corner. She held it in her hoof until the very precise moment. She watched as their expressionless faces neared ever closer to her and with a sly smirk she pulled it and the floor heaved and began collapsing.

A deep rumbling rippled underneath all of them. Not wanting to be caught by the trap she ran down the hallway on her right, mapping out her next trap location with one that had a doozy. As she ran away she heard unicorn bolts shoot out towards her. Three struck the wall and left scorch marks. A fourth struck her flank as she just barely made it all the way to the hallway. She felt a harmful surge of electricity run through her and shock her system. She screamed to quell the pain and the sword she carried complied and absorbed as much of the paralyzing electricity as it could.

It writhed within her as she ran along, once again having the force carry her quickly. She glanced back and saw that of the six that had chased her she saw four remaining, the well decorated and fading gold plated one with the mare's voice chief among them. She carried quicker and heard shots whiz past her as she narrowly avoided them. She turned and weaved her way to her destination.

Vesper was well ahead of them and stopped by a sconce on the wall, turned it as she saw them over her shoulder as they rounded the corner. A rumble occurred once more as the corner wall fell away and the ground fell to a ramp and one of them slid down the ramp. Vesper rushed along the ground away from her captors/executioners and went her way to the place that would give her the room that would level the playing field.

She opened a door and stepped into the long abandoned ball room. The wide open room helped beat down her anxiety of more enemies nearby and knew that the only enemies would rush through the door. It was wide and little light peeled through the dark grey sky outside and cast small amounts of light inside. Debris littered the ground everywhere, which gave her a slight advantage of any of the unicorns survived. Her chest heaved at the amount of physical strain she had done on herself. She thought, 'Note to self: Get a bit more physically fit so this doesn't happen again.'

She sucked in a deep breath and got into a wide stance facing the door, tip of her blade pointing at the door.

They burst through the open doorway and rushed on towards her with weapons raised. Luckily just the fading gold mare and two of the regular stallions. Vesper never thought she could not be more happy that a pony as dead. Vesper parried the two armored stallions and dodged the strike of the golden mare. She sliced her blade through the open stallion's hamstring and he instantly fell to the ground. Dodging the attacks of golden mare and the other stallion she stabbed the warblade straight through the back of his throat. Blood trickled from his death wound.

But she celebrated too quickly as she quickly parried the stallion's attack but her blade fell slightly from the might and with a swift strike across her chest and felt her flesh rip and tear as she fell to the ground. She felt a hoof crash against the side of her head and she fell nestled next to a collapsed pillar. The hoof connected with her stomach, the force so hard that she felt tears burst through their canal and seeped down her cheeks. She clenched her eyes shut at the feeling and offered more power to collect to her but the dakr side was silent, at least for the moment.

Her sword had clattered away and she looked up, clenching her stomach as the last two remained. The golden mare, with her open hoof found its way into her hood and grabbed a clump of her mane. With a jerk she followed the path as she was lifted off the ground, a cry of pain releasing from her as the heat of her wound on her chest intensified and she felt all amounts of her strength fail her. She looked down at the cold expressionless helmet that the golden mare had.

Vesper squirmed to try and release from her titanic grip but found it futile. Her stomach felt tighter than a bungie cord and her muscles felt like taught knots. The golden mare mocked her, "I thought you Sith were made of better stuff. I have to admit though, you have been the only Sith to actually kill any of my crew. For this I applaud you, but I also have to kill you know because you have been the only Sith to kill any of my crew."

She was lowered level to her supposed eyes and pulling back one of her hooves Vesper flinched and fear ran through her system as she heard an all too familiar voice ring out, clear and distinct underneath the mask, "Sorry sugarcube, it's just business."

Before she punched the lights out of Vesper, Vesper squeaked, "Apple...jack?"

As she was about to respond with the punch she heard a hiss pierce through flesh and armor. Vesper and the mare she could only guess was Applejack, looked to see what was wrong. She looked and saw a tall hooded bipedal creature standing behind the armored stallion with a glowing purple blade protruding from his lifeless chest. A hood was pulled over his face and with a curdling sheath, the blade exited from the corpse and moved to the figure's side as the body fell limp to the ground.

The mare looked on in fear and spoke, "What the hay-"

Her sentence was lost as an invisible force smashed against her and she was crushed into a fallen pillar. The sound of cracking armor and bruising bones sounded, maybe a fracture or two. Vesper fell violently to the ground and looked up at the figure in fear and spoke in a shaken and fearful tone, "Please, I am not-"

The figure sheathed the plasma blade and hooked it back unto his belt. Stepping into the grey light, and kneeling down to Vesper, he pulled his hood down and offered his clawed hand to her and in an aged but wise voice he spoke, "Sith'ari, I am not here to hurt you. I am here to assist you."

Despite the lack of efficient light she knew his face. A brown mane around the famous gargoyle, black and yellow eyes looked back at her after two brief blinks with his hand towards her. Though she knew the answer already she asked, "Who are you?"

He answered how she expected, "I am Lord Scorpan and I am here to give you aid you, Sith'ari."

Vesper lifted a wounded hoof to his claw and questions upon questions flooded her mind and he seemed to sense this as he helped her up and with a free hand levitated the blade into his hand. He seemed to read her thoughts as he said, "I will explain everything within due time. But you are in desperate need of medical attention now, Sith'ari, you are no use to anypony if you are dead, no?"

Vesper was originally going to ask a question but decided against it and nodded as she looked up at him, "Okay."

They walked on in silence for a good few minutes, aside from when they entered what she could only assume used to be the infirmary of Celestial Citadel. It was quaint, where is should have been grand and open. The ceiling had the roof open and debris lied on the ground though it was not under hoof. A cabinet in the corner of the room was relatively undamaged, except by exposure to the elements and age. Scorpan rested her unto the aged leather chair that was famous in many patient rooms in doctor's offices.

Scorpan asked, "What is your true name, Sith'ari?"

Vesper found it hard to ask as she could only focus on the pain, after a crushing grunt she answered, "Vesper...my name is vesper."

The gargoyle nodded as he faced away from her, sifting through the contents of the cabinet, "Yes...hmm...as in the bell ringing at evening?"

The apprentice shook her head, "No, as in a simile to Twilight."

Scorpan turned and faced Vesper with wary but friendly eyes and commented, "Not many Sith apprentices fancy names similar to their previous names. But, I find it rather amusing for one such as you, Sith'ari."

And yet again, she finds her in reference to this Sith'ari, which prompted her to ask this as she neared her with rubbing alcohol, gauze, and stitches, "I keep on hearing ponies call me that. What is a 'Sith'ari'?"

Scorpan remained silent to the question, not in difficulty trying to find the answer but deciding what she is capable of knowing and what she should know at this moment in time. Vesper knew the look well, her father and mother would often times use it when they were deep in thought. Vesper has found herself familiarized with the look. She would not rush the old wielder of the force and watched as he patched her wounds. He finally found his answer as he dripped some rubbing alcohol in the cloth and moved her to sit up, "While I am nothing compared to a cryptic mysterious mystic nor should I be compared to one, but I cannot answer that question until your mind is clear of your conflict and you are ready to listen to what I have to say."

He lightly dabbed her cut in her shoulder and she gasped slightly at the pain. Scorpan breathed calmly, "Easy now Sith'ari. Just breath and refocus on the force."

She closed her eyes and listened to him, the pain was substantial and anything would be nice to distract her. She meditated and stared in the abyssal darkness of her closed vision and felt the ebb and flow of the force within the place. Very easily as she meditated she quickly felt herself fall into a deep sleep. The last thing she heard was Scorpan's light but clear warning tone, "Conserve your strength, Sith'ari. For you have many battles to face in the future ahead."

Author's Note

There you go you guys. After I watched Star Wars Episode VII you guys get a new chapter. Hope you enjoyed reading this and enjoyed the movie. I know I did