Star Wars: Power of the Dark Side
Chapter XVII: These Wounds Never Heal

"Every Sith must go through trials and tribulations to succeed and become Sith. In the old order, Sith Acolytes would go through these trials to be picked by a master and would become an apprentice. You are going through these trials to become a Sith Lord. You are already my apprentice, now it is time for you to prove that you are capable of becoming a Sith Lord.

"Your first trial is to last three weeks in these cracked halls. Now that you are a practitioner of the force, the ghosts that prowl through these grounds and now recognize you as such. I have held them off long enough, but be warned, a powerful Sith ghost prowls these halls with her fallen students. They will try and devour your life force."

Vesper gulped at this and listened intently, "This will prove to me that you have the will to survive and the aptitude to take on much more challenging tasks. Be wary, I am not the only Sith that wanders these woods. Be mindful my apprentice, and may the Force be with you."

Scorpan raised his palm up and she rose with the gesture. She bowed and repeated, "May the force be with you."

Like a shadow, he stepped away and his form was absorbed into the lingering darkness that engulfed the corner of the room. Grey skies enveloped the evening air and silent drops fell idly into the open roofed room. She stayed there for a moment, as if waiting for her master to return. So much had fallen on her shoulders, the weight of her entire world rested upon her and what she would do with a simple holocron. She had to master the ways of the Sith and Jedi, to become this fateful Sith'ari. To take up the mantle of Dark Lord of the Sith and once more be elevated to a higher position than she believes she deserves.

Doubt settled in quickly, joining the falling rain. Their oppressive drops did nothing to fix the way that she felt. She stood up on her hind legs and reached underneath her wings and procured the holocron. It was with this very device that she would deliver the Equestrian ponies from evil. Whether it be from themselves or from this phantom force that was just beyond the reaches of their perception. She swallowed hard as she began to think of what she had to do first. She had to take care of Darth Venator. With his death could she surely continue her path to becoming Sith.

Her deadline was not set in stone with Venator but she must learn how to defeat Venator if she is to continue. Darth Venator had held knowledge from her and prepared to take over her mind to become the corrupted Sith'ari. He failed as a master, and therefore she would nee to kill him. As per the rules of the Sith, he lacked the proper motivation to train her and was only further leading her to her death. She could not let him do this. For her sakes and for the sake of her friends.

The rain came down harder and she clutched the holocron on her hoof. Her anger brewed and she fed off of that anger, growing her strength in the force and growing her hatred to Darth Venator. She would kill this dead Sith Lord, if it was the last thing she would do. To let him continue to manipulate her would be to forget the words of the Sith Code entirely. He chained her, chained her from her true potential. For this he must be stopped.

Vesper left the confounds of the infirmary and held back her steps as she saw a sight most concerning.

Standing before her out of her chains was Applejack. In her hoof, hunched over, was a sword of some kind. She breathed deep with hate and Vesper could sense it flowing through her. Her iron gaze tightening around Vesper as she stood in the doorway. Her armor scratched and torn from their earlier confrontation. Vesper held her Sith Blade tight and put the holocron in a pocket in her cloak.

Applejack spat in hate, "All you Sith are the same. You all want to see innocents lying at your hooves groveling before you or you want them sputtering their pleas for mercy and relieving them of this pain. I heard your master call you Sith'ari, that means that you are this fated Sith Lord, right? That means that if I kill you the Sith die with you."

Vesper shook her head, "No, Applejack you are wrong. We-"

"Save it!" Applejack scorned, "I don't wanna hear anymore of you. I just want all you Sith dead and gone. I'm sorry Twi, but I have to do this."

Vesper growled in hatred as she began to circle the Mandalorian, "Twilight Sparkle is dead."

Applejack joined the circle and sneered, "I know, I just hoped that there was still at least some part of her that remained. I guess I was wrong to think that my friend was still in there."

Vesper growled, "I always thought that you were such a noble pony. I guess I held you in higher regards than I should have. I am doing this to protect you, and our friends."

Applejack stopped and got into a wide stance, brandishing her blade and commented, "Seems you're doing a great job at that."

Vesper faced her former friend, thunder crackling the sky around them. She held her blade with more conviction and breathed, getting into a fighting stance as well, "Don't make me do this Applejack, I do not want to fight you."

"You should have thought of that before you joined the Sith."

Vesper grazed her wound on her head with a hoof and snapped, "I did not choose anything. This is destiny. I am the Sith'ari, I always have been. I just didn't know it yet."

She pointed her Sith blade at Applejack and said, "You have sealed your fate, Mandalorian."

Applejack spat, "And you yours, Sith."

Applejack charged in and raised her sword high and in a wide arc swung down to strike Vesper. Vesper saw the attack and with her limited knowledge of her lightsaber combat form, she parried and guided the sword away. Vesper went to counterstrike when Applejack backhoofed Vesper's face. Her hoof colliding with Vesper's cheek and sent Vesper reeling sideways. Her mouth tore up a little bit and she spat blood when she slightly recovered.

Applejack swung again and Vesper barely dodged the wild and furious strike. She recovered quickly and clashed blades with Vesper again, Vesper batted the sword away and counter struck hoping to land the blow on her chest. Applejack leaned back and the sword barely niched the chestplate. The Mandalorian swung again and Vesper parried again, changing positions and faced her back to the two pronged hallway behind her.

She nearly stumbled over one of the cracks in the floor and regained her battle stance. She back pedaled and dabbed a hoof on her cheek. It stung when she touched it and she winced slightly, she kept both eyes on her opponent and evaluated her situation.

She could not beat Applejack in a raw battle with just weapons and combat. Applejack was a seasoned warrior and Vesper has only used it twice within the span of five or six days. Truly, if she wished to continue to fight her head on then she will soon join the ghosts that so eagerly want to devour her. What she needed was a plan, she once again had to rely on her surroundings. And she knew jus the place to do so.

Vesper parried another attack and counterstruck, the blade glancing against the armour. Applejack smashed hoof against her face and Vesper went tumbling back, knocking herself off her hooves and stumbling towards the ground. Falling against the jagged stone, she landed hard and sought the force to enrage her once more. The pain was bearable, paled in comparison to losing her magical connection. The one thing that made her who she was. And it was gone.

She regained second wind and stood up, wiping blood from the corner of her mouth and snapped, "You think of me as the enemy? Perhaps the Jedi have influenced you for far too long."

It was something small enough to her knowledge that she was running on a guess. And it seemed to infuriate the Mandalorian. Applejack charged towards her and attempted to stab the prone Sith Acolyte. Vesper rolled away and sprang to her hooves and discharged the electricity from her blade that leapt from the silver and iron blade.

The tongues of force lightning leeched on her armour and boiled flesh and bone under the armour, rendering it useless. She fell at the contractions of the discharge and fell to her knees, fighting against the terrible pain. Tears watered down her clenched eyes and Vesper chided, "To think I was just beginning to enjoy the way you hate me."

She thrust her blade to the kneeling bounty hunter, ready to plunge the blade deep in her chest, but was deflected by Applejack's own blade. Despite the shaking of her muscles, she was straining with all of her strength and will, this bounty hunter was no push over. This gave Vesper the proper opportunity to go on the offensive.

In quick bursts she unleashed quick flourishes and Applejack would counter with an ill placed strike and purposefully push back the Sith'ari. Each one of Vesper's strikes was parried, as she had expected. Despite her injured form, they both held great tone and physique for battle. Celestia had always preached that she needed to be ready for combat or for danger. She would often spar with some of the guards in her off time in between her studies and her time with her family.

While it prepared her for a moment like this, she never hoped to eventually face a veteran of combat.Twilight loathed fighting in all of its forms, it was the great separation of ponies. It was only when she became Vesper that the world truly changed for her. War and conflict become more than a forgotten ideal, but it was a tool that Vesper could use to fuel her power of the dark side.

Applejack pushed her to the apex of the T that made up the hallway. Brandishing her blade and rolling her dominant shoulder she grunted, "I have not fought like this years. Seems like ahm getting a little rusty."

Vesper gulped. If this was not her full potential but she had a good guess of just what that might entail. She went back into striking hard and true with her blade and Vesper narrowly dodging her attacks.

She pushed the Sith'ari back and Vesper guided her through the broken halls just to where she wanted to be. Through their minutes of fighting, Vesper had noticed that her attacks were strong and wide. Each stroke arc wider than the last. If Vesper could somehow tighten the space, Vesper would have a chance of winning. Doing calculations and landmark analysis she guided the Mandalorian bounty hunter exactly to where she needed. Like a snake luring its prey for the kill.

As their blades sounded in the halls, though she was not focusing completely on them she could have sworn out of the corner of her vision she saw shadows leaping across the surface of the ceilings and walls hidden by shadows. She would have lingered and studied this strange new happening, it was as if she saw the outline of a strange apparition. Her skin crawled at the thought.

Twilight never believed in ghosts, despite the stories and legends about the dead lingering on the material plane. Vesper, however, took Scorpan's words with a grain of salt. She believed him when he had said that haunting ghosts roamed the crumbling halls of Celestial Citadel. Vesper side stepped and Applejack crushed a decaying table with the weight of her blade. The table shattered to pieces, reminding Vesper what would happen to her if the strong former farm pony landed a blow on her, she would be done for. She had to think of something quick, lest she becomes her former friend's next paycheck. She was succumbing to fatigue faster than she had expected and had no intentions of using the force to enhance her stamina after what had happened last time.

Applejack scoffed, "I expected at least a little bit of a fight, it don't even look like your trying."

Vesper stumbled past the threshold of the old forsaken reliquary. Upturned tables and various others with items of inquiry and the wallpaper of this room torn, revealing the skeletal inside walls of the room. Various alchemical tubes, vials, and philters with suspicious liquids filled the room. In the back there was an old fashioned generator for self powered electricity. She glanced quickly into the room and saw the old laboratory was empty save for a few tables with various glassworks and unfinished projects. The force felt strong in this room and it seemed as if the ground left an eerie glaze on the stone floor.

Vesper thought quickly and quickly scanned the bottles on the table and ran through the various reactants she had seen. She finally scrambled and picked up a bottle that contained a orange and red liquid. The liquid itself looked very old and oily, residue clung to the glass philter as she shook the liquid.

The Mandalorian burst into the room and in a quick throw, the bottle went sailing towards the bounty hunter and exploded on the armoured adversary. She stumbled a bit, before she could recover however, the liquid reacted in an instant to the oxygen air and flames burst and blew the glass apart. The Mandalorian flew back a couple feet and Vesper tasted the wonderful fear that she emanated.

She felt powerful despite her lack of strength and stamina, the sweat that trickled down her brow, and her splitting headache. Vesper leaned on her knees at the amount of physical activity she had done thus far. Vesper decided that the next thing she needed to do was to improve her physical aptitude. At least a week, a week and a half at the most just so that she can get a routine going. And this castle was just big enough that she could improve her abilities and strength without any problem.

Thunder crashed and Vesper felt a force tackled her to the ground and destroy a table filled with notes and empty glassware. Her and the unsuspecting force both got cuts and bruises from the glass shards. She cried out in pan as they eviscerated her flesh and tore into her. She looked and saw the severely scarred and burned form of her friend. Lightning struck the laboratory ceiling and a hole broke through. Half the roof and part of the wall behind them blew apart and debris flew all around.

The raging storm found its way to them and the rain mixed with their blood. Vesper was glad that they had not fallen on one of the tables with alchemical items. Her friend was whipped into a fury and with one strong hoof smashed it against Vesper's jaw and jabbed her n the stomach with the other. The force behind the blows was too much that Vesper could not recover. Her vision grew blurry and spotty. The fatigue did not work well with the hits she had sustained. With another punch, the top of her cheek tore and bled with the various other wounds she had.

She looked up in helplessness and another lightning strike exploded in the sky. Applejack reared back another punch and Vesper choked back a painful lump and her voice that carried out in the storm was barely a whisper, "Applejack..."

Her friend, seethed with rage and breathing exceptionally heavy, she calmed down slightly and looked down at her friend. However heard it was to stared into an eye that was swollen and puffy, she stared into Vesper's violet eyes and she faltered under her friend's hurt and wounded gaze. Vesper lifted a weak hoof, trembling from the amount of wounds she sustained. She very lightly gripped Applejack's forehoof and pleaded, "Please...I can...help you...just...just...just let me protect you..."

Looking at her friend so hurt and wounded, Applejack closed her eyes and a tear shed from it. She reached behind her and pulled out a silver knife that gleamed in the dark evening air. She opened her eyes and there was sympathy and remorse in her gaze. Tears shed from her eyes as she raised the knife high. This was it, this was the end of Vesper and Twilight. They would die by the hoof of their own friend. She knew where Applejack's loyalty lied. Not with her.

Vesper saw the murderous intent behind her facade of friendship and remorse. Vesper breathed weakly, "No...no, no...no please."

She sputtered as Applejack readied her final blow, "I'm sorry Twi, but I have to do this!"

The theory of somepony's life flashing in front of their eyes, it could have been true. But what Vesper saw was something far worse. She saw in her eyes a glimpse of the very future. She saw a landscape burning and in ruins. Ponies marching in chains to their dooms to a facility made of pure obsidian. Vesper panoramed to the far side of the landscape and saw two hooded figures. One was a tall pony, from the horn protruding from under the hood, she knew exactly who this was.

The other was bipedal and a wrinkled face, from the lower part she could see. He had a wicked grin on his face and looked over the hellscape and laughed. A wicked and evil laugh that made Vesper's own skin crawl. The wrinkled bipedal spoke in a raspy old voice and turned slightly behind him and said, "Look on and see your world burn from your failure."

Vesper looked and saw a heavily clothed figure, feminine and wounded from the looks of it. Bruises, blast marks, and cuts adorned the figure. Her wings were a deep lavender, though Vesper could barely tell they were lavender from the amount of soot and blood stains that remained on them.

Vesper gasped as she knew who this pony was, this was her.

Her from the vision painfully looked up and after clenching at her wounds, from the cloth around her muzzle, her muffled despairing voice breathed, "No..."

She looked down at the soot stained grass and said, "We failed..."

Vesper shook her senses and righteous fury burned within her and resurged power inside of her, her bones no longer felt heavy and in a defying scream Vesper shouted, "NO!!!!"

Flicking her hoof she summoned her Sith blade into her hoof and it sung through the air, whisking through raindrops as it projected right into her grip and thrust the blade deep inside of her former friend. The blade plunged deep in Applejack's chest and blood ran down the blade, over Vesper's trembling hooves. She stared at Applejack and tears ran down her eyes as she saw what she had done.

Applejack met Vesper's gaze and with her last drawing breath she raised a flinching hoof to Twilight's cheek and looked as if she was going to say something. She desperately gasped for air and with a drop of blood trickling down the corner of her mouth she could not find the strength to say what she desperately wanted to say. Before the last light of life in her eyes Vesper choked, "I am so sorry...please...please..."

As Applejack fell forward into Vesper's chest Vesper shook and tembled, "No...no, no no no no no. NO!!!! NO PLEASE!!!"

She cradled her friend's head in her hooves and collapsed to her knees as they began to shake. Her muscles felt numb, she began spilling more tears than she could count. Her lip quivered as she surged anger through her as she lifted her head to the sky and released the most soul wrenching scream she had ever done. All the memories she had with Applejack flashed through her mind. All of them past through her eyes and all ended with that very first friendly smile and greeting, "Howdy there sugarcube."

She lowered her hoof and nuzzled her face against her friends and hugged her close, rocking slightly on her knees. She managed to breathe, "It's...it's not fair..."

She spent hours cradling her fallen friend and sat there in the freezing cold, anger roaring within her. At the dark side. At the force. At the holocron. At herself. After hours of pouring hate unto everything else, she knew there was no one else to blame but herself. She was to blame for Applejack's death, and no one else. This was her burden she had to always carry with her. As she finished sniffling over her friend, she looked at her friend's lifeless and closed cold eyes. In that moment, she knew in her heart, she would never be the same again.

In that moment, Twilight had truly died.

Rarity suddenly stopped as she stepped off the train from Canterlot to Ponyville. The rain had settled to a gentle downpour and had mostly cleared the sky before evening had settled in. She had shed her Jedi robes as she did not want to attract any unwanted attention to herself. But she did wear a hooded cloak to protect her mane from the shower that meticulously beat against the edges of her hood. She knew of the rogue Sith that wandered around and she could not be certain if either of them were in Ponyville.

But she had suddenly stopped because she felt something wrong in the force. Her stomach tugged against her and she felt nauseous. No, this was not the force. This was something else, the Force was never this intense when something was wrong. That and it felt strange, she felt something inside of her, like a lack of harmony. Something was wrong.

She shook the feeling, likely nothing too bad. She had to keep her wits about her, the Force was a very strange thing.

Rarity looked up and found the new crystal castle in place of the old Golden Oaks library. The large and yet quaint castle sat upon a large tree stump that acted as the foundation for the castle. No walls or security like the Canterlot Castle. And it looked somewhat ominous and made from obsidian in the lack of natural light. The towering battlements caused a surge of dread run up her spine. She took note of this and decided to talk to Twilight about installing some outside lights so that when she found solitude in ehr home she would not have to muster courage just to knock on the door.

Her stride had slowed as she pondered the possibility of telling her of what is occurring. She was going to inform Twilight of what she did at Canterlot anyways and Celestia likely would have already sent a letter informing her former student. So, if they talked then there should be no harm in it.

She approached the large and ominous doors and rapped on the oaken threshold into her friend's latest home. She pulled the collar of her cloak closer and pulled her hood down.

The door was answered and there to meet her was none other than her very own Spikey wikey.

Rarity smiled and greeted the shocked and stunned baby dragon, "Hello-"

The door was immediately shut and Rarity humphed at the action. She had always known Spike as a gentleman, this was not like him. Rarity peaked in through one of the nearby windows to see what might have been the problem. After she saw nothing she returned to face the door and rapped on it once again. She had to admit that she was not pleased with the sudden rude gesture but she would not dare voice her anger or irritation at the young and learning dragon.

She spoke as she knocked, "Spike? Darling, is everything alright?"

"In a second Rarity!" Spike shouted through the door.

Rarity shrugged and giggled at his always strange mannerisms when he was around her. Rarity can remember when she had her little crushes at his age. She thought back to those days and she bit her lip at the memory, "Mmm...David Hasselhoof...now there's a stallion."

The door opened and she regained her composure, there Spike was. Standing tall and firm to impress her. His scales freshly cleaned and a bowtie around his neck and a smile on his face. Rarity could not help but smile back at the sharp looking dragon. Rarity cheeked, "My my, Spike the Dragon, it won't take you long before the mares start swooning over you."

Spike gave a friendly shrug, "What can I say, it's all natural. But, they are going to have to be disappointed. I already got my eye on a mare."

Spike winked at him and his eyes seemed to sparkle with the warm light behind him. Rarity blushed slightly and was rather impressed at his much improved flirting and his very confident behavior. She gave a modest giggle and chided, "My, what a charmer. May I come in?"

Spike ushered her in, "Please, it would be a pleasure."

Who is this dragon, and what has he done with Spike? She considered his age and while she did not know how quickly or how slow a dragon ages, but he must have been close to Sweetie Belle and she was fourteen. Right around that age that everything changes.

Rarity asked, "Where is Twilight?"

"Oh she's out studying an artifact that she found the other day. She actually has been gone a long time." Spike answered.

Rarity froze in place, Adamas peaked and nearly regained control but Rarity held her ground as she assured herself that it was not could not be the holocron. Rarity swallowed and hid her worry well. Rarity asked, "Okay...where is she now, do you know?"

Spike tapped his scaly chin, "Hmm...I think she mentioned something about being in the Celestial Citadel a few days ago."

Those were the castle ruins. She let loose Adamas and she said, "How long ago did she find this artifact?"

"Two, maybe three days ago," Spike shrugged, "Why is something wrong?"

"What did this artifact look like?" Adamas had a slight twinge of desperation squeak out. She thrust towards Spike quickly and he leaned back at her sudden inquisitive nature.

Spike mused, "Um...red and black, it was like this pyramid looking thing. It glowed too."

Adamas' eyes grew wide and averted her gaze to the ground, "Oh horsefeathers."

"Excuse me?"

"Sorry, I am dearly sorry, but I must leave to find Twilight immediately!" Adamas barreled out the door and slammed it shut behind her and sprinted towards the edge of town that lead to the Everfree Forest.

As she ran she pulled out her robes from inside her cloak and felt her lightsaber clank on its belt clip. She quickly put on everything and in between hard breaths she said, "I hope I am not too late."

Author's Note

Before you blaze this chapter with comments, I just want to say I know that Rarity knows about Twilight being the Sith'ari. But she had willfully forgotten about that when she left Canterlot. She had a lot to think about when she left and thus kind of forgot that fact. I do it all the time.

Now that all that sentimental bullsht is out of the way, Vesper can truly embrace the dark side.