Star Wars: Power of the Dark Side

Star Wars: Power of the Dark Side
Chapter XVIII: Hysteria

The frost had settled in quickly. Winter had come and that meant the Weather Teams had to kick their flanks into high gear. When the snow factories would light up the halls of individual snowflakes that would fall to the earth like their ancestors before them. When families and friends would huddle close in a tight embrace to warm each other from the cold. When lovers would cuddle by a warm hearth to shield them from the frostbitten world outside. Rainbow Dash's favorite season, especially it will be her first season not on Weather Patrol.

No she was ina much more important job. She was a Wonderbolt now.

Nearly a week and a half of training, briefing, and consideration and now she was officially a Wonderbolt. At first, she had to admit, she was a bit anxious and a little saddened that she got the position. While it was depressing that the Wonderbolts were replaced so quickly, but she could not let that halt her from fulfilling her lifelong dream of becoming a Wonderbolt.

Rainbow Dash shut her locker and looked at the plaque that was on it. Where there should have been 'Spitfire' there was 'Rainbow Dash'. She smiled and saw herself in the opaque brass metal nameplate. She wore the Wonderbolt's uniform quite well. At least she thought. The familiar lightning bolt design emblazoned on the sides and the baby blue accented her cyan coat quite well.

She took in a deep breath and breathed it out through her mouth, her eyes remaining shut. Her life had improved so much since she had become a Wonderbolt. Not only that she had the dream job she always wanted, she got to meet so many of the celebrities that she knew and all of the popular ponies that lived in Canterlot. Already she was famous for being the fastest pegasus ever (actually recorded now) and being an Element of Harmony, but her reputation improved vastly when she took up the blue uniform. She got a place in Canterlot for little to no cost. Where normally it would have cost seven hundred bits, it only cost her one hundred and ten bits. So she was happy about that.

Her reverie and praise for her new life was interrupted by a calm and soothing voice that was very near her ear, "Oh, Dashie."

Rainbow Dash turned and met the warm gaze of the mare that she has come to care for over the past week, one of the new Wonderbolts, Hazelblossom. As her name would suggest she was a hazel coloured mare with warm yellow eyes and a deep brown mane that was short enough that it reached the bottom of her nuzzle. She fluttered her eyes and her ever playful voice spoke volumes to her heart, "We're waiting on you, leader."

Rainbow Dash smiled and replied, "I'll be right out, I just needed a second."

Hazel rushed to her lover and wrapped a hoof around her shoulders and in a soothing voice she breathed, "Is something wrong?"

Rainbow hid a smile and said, "Yes."

She leaned in close and turned her head to Hazel's and nuzzled underneath her chin and whispered huskily in her ear, "You were not with me."

Rainbow very lightly kissed Hazel down her jawline and on her neck. Hazel slightly squirmed and giggled, "Dashie, not here. We have a speech to attend."

Rainbow Dash smiled, "But speeches are so boring, and it doesn't start for another ten minutes."

Hazel giggled, "Dash, stop. Not right now."

Rainbow Dash sighed, she could not resist those eyes, "Fine. But I expect a few extra minutes when this is over."

They connected warm gazes and Hazel smiled, "Alright, you've got a deal Dash."

They gathered themselves and left the locker room making their way down the halls. They matched the same temperature as it was outside. Hazel shivered and Rainbow Dash pulled her in closer. The cold air of the halls were no better than the air outside, Rainbow Dash did not know the exact temperature, but she could only assume that it was below 25 degrees. They made their way down the maze like hallways to where they would need to meet.

The halls were quiet aside from the occasional pony that was involved with the speech. Guards given specific orders to where and whom they are ordered. Their faces sullen and not exactly a lift me up. Rainbow Dash could vaguely remember that Celestia was giving this speech because she was declaring official peace with the Griffon Kingdom. Thus far, their borders had been relatively closed. The only time that griffons were seen was when Gilda had stopped by to visit. And even then, Rainbow Dash did not find out until later that she was an ambassador for the griffon kingdom to figure out the new rulers. From what Rainbow Dash had heard, it went over relatively good and the Griffons agreed that their relations should improve. Now that a new emperor had been chosen for the throne.

The tapestries had changed with this part of the castle. She did not notice that she had strayed from where she and the other Wonderbolts had to meet.

They both halted in their steps when they heard the sound of two voices arguing in the adjacent room.

"I will not stand for this! I cannot stand for this," She recognized the one, belonging to Princess Celestia, "A week and a half of silence after your hunters are found dead."

The other was a stallion but it was deep and sounded as if knives were scraping against stone, "Need I remind you, princess, that it was your Sentinels that failed to capture the rogue Sith?"

"Spare me the comments about my own Sentinels who wrongfully sought combat and engaged expecting them to be only apprentices."

Rainbow Dash lifted a hoof to her lips and shooshed Hazel who was getting very uncomfortable from the stallion's voice. Hazel nodded in agreement and Rainbow Dash leaned over the corner and looked to find the two ponies.

She saw Celestia leaning against one of the benches, shoulders tense and pulled up. Donning richly adorned armour and simple robes. A look that was not really befitting for a princess, but she wore it well. Rainbow Dash mentally kicked herself, she had been hanging around Rarity for too long. She saw the glint of metal around her hips and two baton looking things on her back.

Then she saw the stallion, wearing large golden plate armour with a red scarf over one of his shoulders. His face masked by a golden helmet. A large black T made the slit to look out. On his back as a brown rifle, very shrewd and darkly stained wood on what looked like wrought iron. He stood on his hind legs, forehooves crossed over his golden breastplate. Two other shorter stallions stood next to him, what looked to be spears at their sides.

Celestia slammed a hoof on a bench and grumbled, "They are growing in numbers by the day and we have not seen sight of anything. No agents. No assassins. No recruitment for the Sith. They are expecting a speech of peace with the Griffons and it is not what they shall receive."

The stranger spoke, a low rumbling growl escaping his throat as he did so, "To keep your subjects in the dark is to shut your eyes to your enemies. You are ill prepared for an attack, which is why you came crawling back to me. To do the work that you cannot do."

Clestia turned to the strange pony and this was the first pony Rainbow Dash had ever seen that Celestia was dwarfed by in height. Though she spoke coldly and fearlessly, "Mandalore. Who's side are you on? I asked you to bring me the bodies of those rogue Sith so they cannot gain followers. We have both failed. And do not preach to me what I should do about my citizen's safety and security."

Celestia locked her gaze on Mandalore, tightening like iron, "You are the one who sailed to a new continent without even breathing a word to your followers."

Mandalore snickered, "But I am not the one being hunted by the Sith."

What the buck are they talking about? Sith? Mandalore? These are words and terms that she has never heard in any vocabulary or any other setting other than now. While it filled her mostly with confusion, a small part of her flickered a spark of curiosity.

Celestia pulled something from under a bench and slapped it on the oaken seat. Rainbow Dash could barely see what it was but it looked to be a cracked helmet of some sort, with a quick insignia emblazoned on it. A dark crescent crossed with swords. Celestia barked, "This is a sign that they are mobilizing and they are seeking to destroy every society that threatens them."

Mandalore picked up the helmet with slight hesitation and turned it over in his hooves. Mandalore growled, "Where did you get this?"

Celestia nodded to the helmet, "Three days ago. My scouts found five dead Crimson Water corpses with them. They knew that these were Mandalorians and still they were slaughtered."

She paused and her tightened atitude loosened slightly as she said, "It would appear that we have a common enemy, Mandalore the Immortal."

Mandalore pondered the situation at hand and he had grown agitated in their discussion. He considered his options and thought of things that Rainbow Dash could never bear. She was content with leading the Wonderbolts, nothing more.

Mandalore spoke gravely, "I have not been truthful princess. We have spread out hunt for the Sith ever since you put out the bounty. Spread far across the continent to find these rogue Sith. They move with uncanny speed and disappear without a trace. And they bear the mark of the Dark Blessing."

The stallion turned to leave and said, "I cannot promise anything. My warriors that are here can stay a week, but I can offer no more support. We are spread thin. And the Clans have never been more distant from one another. They must be reminded who rules them."

Celestia sidled, "Then remind them."

The stranger left and his guards followed him as they left. Rainbow Dash stopped her snooping and turned to face Hazel. She seemed a bit shaken and Rainbow Dash could not help but feel the same way but she could never express that. Rainbow Dash could not help but feel that she had heard something that should not have been heard. Rainbow Dash however felt her adrenaline rush and she loved that feeling. Doing something she wasn't supposed to do or hearing something she was never meant to hear. But she had Hazel right there, and Rainbow Dash could accept whatever punishment they threw at her. Hazel however was a little bit more soft than she was. In more ways than one.

Rainbow Dash nuzzled Hazel as she whispered in a low tone, "Meet me at the speech, I have a feeling this is not over yet."

Hazel shook her head, "Dashie I-"

"Hazel," Rainbow Dash squeezed her tighter, "I can handle the punishments that come with this. I don't think I'd be able to live with myself if you got in trouble because I dragged you here. Please Hazel."

Hazel sighed contentedly knowing how stubborn Rainbow Dash can be and accepting the fact that she cannot resist Rainbow Dash's pleading wide eyes. Hazel pecked Rainbow Dash on the cheeks and responded, "Alright Dashie, I'll meet you at the speech."

Hazel sneaked away and just as she rounded the nearby corner, Rainbow Dash turned her attention back over the corner to Princess Celestia who was inquisitively looking over something on the table. Rainbow could not quite make out what it was. As newly appointed Captain of the Wonderbolts she was entitled to see many things that were otherwise lost to the public eye. As Rainbow Dash lingered her gaze on Princess Celestia, she had noticed that she was a little tense. Rainbow recognized a pony like that a mile away, it was a pony still in mourning. It wasn't Luna, she had seen the midnight princess a few hours ago. Who could have died that left such a weight on Celestia's shoulders?

Her mind raced as she immediately assumed the worst. It throbbed with terrible thoughts of her friends dying and her not being by their side until the very end like she promised. Twilight would be the only one that would make Celestia so sullen.

Rainbow Dash shook her head and whispered, "Now come on Rainbow Dash, you haven't seen your friends in a while doesn't mean that you can assume the worst. Maybe some...distant alicorn relative from a thousand years ago."

It was a big decision for her to just up and leave her friends without breathing a word. A few days ago she did have a sudden aching and nagging urge to pop in on Applejack and say hello. She felt lost and confused slightly without her friends near her but this was the Wonderbolts and she had been away from them before, why would it be so different now? Loyalty to her friends had always come first tied with her dream of being a Wonderbolt.

Rainbow pushed her thoughts aside as another pony came into view. She barely showed any signs of regaining composure to hide her feelings, as the pony stopped a few feet behind her and bowed, "Master Solinara."

She was dressed very similarly to Celestia...or as she called her Solinara, though less aesthetically pleasing. Rainbow listened more closely.

"...and there has been no sight of the rogue sith or any affiliates of the Dark Blessing since a few weeks ago."

Solinara pressed her hooves hard against the oaken table, "Status on the identity of the Sith'ari, Moonshadow?"

"Unknown."

"And what of Master Adamas? Have you found her?"

The pony breathed, hesitantly, "She...her location is unknown. At least not since her return to Ponyville."

Solinara lost her composure and slammed her hoof on the table in anger, her robe fluttering up and Rainbow saw three pieces of metal on her hip, moving with her sudden flash of anger. She could only distinguish them as some sort of hilt.

Solinara barked, "Three weeks, three weeks of silence! Our enemy is unknown, the Dark Blessing's location is unknown, my Sentinels are dead, and I have lost my pupil!"

Rainbow Dash swallowed hard and kept a wince from escaping her lips, deep down not accepting the fact that Twilight was dead. Celestia had settled and her livid tone was nearly a whisper, "We are vulnerable for attack and our enemies know it. They are rearing up for an attack."

The pony chimed, "If I might be so bold, master, we are only making ourselves more vulnerable with this speech."

Solinara turned and crossed her hooves behind her back, "We are running out of options, Padawan Moonshadow. This is not exposing our soft underbelly, this is a trap set to lure them out and test their mettle. And they are doing the same."

There was a long strip of silence as her ears folded against her head, Rainbow Dash refused to listen to any more. She stepped away cautiously and silently, her heart falling deep below her chest. Twilight was gone...and she had promised never to leave. Rainbow, for the first time in her life, held back a tear of sadness and loss. When she was done with this speech she would ask for a leave for visitation and for comfort for her friends. Though it pained her to see their hurt faces as she suddenly came back, it would not go over easy but it was better than not going at all. Rainbow's hoof falls had become so quiet, that even she could no longer hear their weight.

The air was cold and stung through her tight blue uniform and shivered slightly in the cold. She stood stone faced as she was commanded, on one side of the princess. She stood staring out at a large courtyard that had once only a spec of dust upon the white coated flagstone floor. Now it was filled to the brim and bustled with activity and with gentle murmurs that made them sound pretty menacing. Some of them talked about the same subject, which frightened the fearless flier even more. Even though she was incredibly awesome there were only two things that creeped her out enough to scare her. Fillies that were acting very creepy. And multiple voices talking in unison. There was just something about it that really unsettled her.

She gave a cold swallow at it. Staring off into the light snowfall that had blown down from the weather factories of Canterlot. She lingered her mind over what she had heard and seen and never wanted to speak or think about it again. But something inside of her just could not ignore it. There was a lot that she had to say when she returned to Ponyville.

This plan of Celestia's to draw out these 'Sith', as she called them, was far too risky for Rainbow's taste and she could handle a lot and take a lot. But to endanger the lives of so many ponies, she could willingly overlook maybe one or two, maybe even three. But at numbers this large? You would have to be absolutely sure that you would win. A quote that was preached to her multiple times in basic training is "Half the fight is in the mind than on the battlefield."

Rainbow had no idea what it meant at first, but now that this has opened her eyes she knows that all sh could do was stand there. She dared not defy her princess, loyalty to a grain of salt.

She looked about the balcony and saw the other Wonderbolts in similar positions on the small balcony. Around the tiled roofs were guards and in the courtyard in the perimeter were guards. To know Celestia is to know that paranoia is only the beginning of her personality and Rainbow Dash could never truly understand why she was. She was never entitled nor given permission to talk to Celestia alone.

Her gaze had fallen on Luna who stood proud and stoic with her chest puffed out and at attention. Unaffected by the drastic near zero temperatures. As if sensing the gaze on her Luna looked at the Wonderbolt's captain with her peripheral vision and gave a soft smirk that warmed Rainbow slightly, "Nervous captain?"

Rainbow Dash coughed and replied, "Heh, well...no, not at all. Just waiting for this boring speech to be over."

Luna snickered, "I can agree with you on that. You have no idea the amount of irony in this situation."

'Oh trust me I think I know enough...' Is what Rainbow Dash wanted to say to Luna but she could not converse about her snooping out of fear that she might inform Celestia and request a secret audience or worse. Rainbow kept her strong and fierce facade and gave an arrogant smirk, "Glad I'm not the only non-egghead here that doesn't want to hear somepony talk about what they might do."

Rainbow Dash and Luna shared a small round of laughter but she let it slowly die as she held her anxiety in her throat and felt the awkwardness more closely than the cold. Rainbow froze as she felt an embrace of something surround her and she heard in her mind the soft and intimidating voice of Princess Luna in her head, "I find your arrogance very charming. Just know that not everypony might. Just a friendly warning, captain."

Rainbow tried t ease her tension with a fake smile and worry filling her. She swallowed hard and Luna seemed to enjoy the mess that Rainbow was in, "Captain, relax. Take a deep breath."

The far from comforting long breath did nothing to ease her mind but she could hold her emotions in close and not let anypony find out what she was truly feeling. Nothing could ease her from this reverie of anxiety. She looked at Luna and saw that she was wearing near rags for clothes and a long brown robe with her starry mane billowing behind her, tied back in a ponytail. Next to her was a very similar hued mare that Rainbow recognized as this Moonshadow that was apart of the secret conversation.

Both ponies stiffened and breathing in the winter air, Luna released in a loud announcing voice, "Fillies and gentlecolts of Equestria."

Rainbow stood at sudden attention as she heard her hoof falls. She did not carry much physical weight but the sound of her hooves alone were enough to shudder Rainbow Dash and cause her to stand at immediate attention. She held a heavy weight of pride and power that Rainbow Dash could not help but bow to this powerful figure. She radiated power and beauty beyond the mortal comprehensions of the words.

Celestia passed Rainbow and she felt the power move. She wore a long black cloak with golden hem and matching red gold armour. On her hips on full display were the same rod shapes that were attached to her hip before, but now six of them swaying on strings attached to her belt.Whatever they were, they were quite menacing.

Her normal regalia was gone and lowering her head she rested her hooves on the balcony and all the whispering nobles fell instantly silent and paid very close attention to their goddess and princess. She spoke as she always did, with warm pleasure and with the tone of a soothing mother to their fillies, "My little ponies...I shall not keep you all so hidden from the truth. Just that, I have not been forefront with my information and have kept a large secret from you all.

"There exists two orders that have waged war on our land for centuries. Ever since the First Alicorn Empire in fact. And for the last thousand years I have kept them a secret from you all. I did this because I thought them defeated all of them. But, it would appear that such secrets always resurface when it is not needed. But, what Equestria it was before it has to be again. I see this now. Where we once protected our land from invaders, we shall do again.

"The Jedi and the Sith. These orders, have returned. I am one of the Jedi and so is Luna and Moonshadow. These Sith even now plan our domination and complete annihilation. And I have nopony to blame but myself."

Murmurs had settled over the crowd as a sudden and yet familiar voice called out over the whisperings, silencing them, "So you yet admit your sins, Solinara?"

Rainbow focused down at the courtyard where the voice came from and she saw two ponies dressed in all black robes and a large silver baton looking thing on their backs. They were menacing but she knew that voice anywhere. That was the voice of Pinkie Pie. What was she doing? Rainbow Dash had settled as Celestia's shoulder's shifted weight and told everypony to hush to her words.

Celestia gave a cruel smirk, "So the upstarts finally reveal themselves."

Rainbow kept her soldier like composure but her eyes darted in disbelief from Pinkie and Fluttershy, being able to see them very clearly through their shrouds. Rainbow Dash knew their faces anywhere. She listened with a lump forming in her throat.

Pinkie looked up defiantly at Princess Celestia and the others that acted very tense around her and kept iron gazes on the black shrouded pony. Pinkie intoned, "You are the upstart for trying to hide your true nature for a thousand years. While it is true that you defeated us and made us sleep for a thousand years. Stirring in our great powers."

She turned to the ponies that kept a reasonable distance and Fluttershy, with more confidence than Rainbow Dash had ever seen, spoke loudly to them, "You see, your dear princess has kept one of the largest secrets Equestria has ever known. She has brainwashed generations of ponies to hide from her warseeking ways."

"You-"

"Your princess preaches friendship and kindness when in reality she has committed more war crimes than me or everypony here combined."

"Now that's-"

She turned to face the supposed tyrant, "She tried to start anew even though she knew of what would happen. She tried to have crontrol of destiny, when in reality...she is just another pawn."

"Silence!" Celestia slammed her hoof that cracked the white stone. Dust filled the air in front of her for a time before it revealed a face of the princess that Rainbow Dash never wanted to see. Spite and anger. She had never seen such passion and emotion course through her. Celestia tried to compose herself as she growled, "I will not stand here and be judged by the likes of you and your pathetic excuse for a pet."

"Why you-"

Pinkie lifted a hoof to stop Fluttershy from drawing the metallic rod on her back. Pinkie spoke loud enough for everypony to hear, "No, show restraint where the princess has none."

Celestia was livid with anger, Rainbow could feel it emanate off of her like an aura of pain and rage. She tried desperately to hang on to her emotions and compose herself. She fell silent as she gribbed the sides of the balcony railing. Rainbow waited for a rebuttal but there was none, making Rainbow Dash question her morals on what she believed was true and what was influenced by Celestia.

Pinkie turned to the crowd once more as Fluttershy lowered her hoof, "You have been deceived, good ponies of Equestria. You have all fallen on hard times and there is nothing Celestia can do about that because she is afraid of change. Afraid that Equestria will become a nation of war again. But by avoiding it, she had it become one as it grew. Making it nigh impossible for her to avoid herself."

Luna stepped forward and said, "How would you have it then? How would you govern such a nation? Yes, the leader has made mistakes but I ask everypony, have we all not made mistakes in our lifetime? Truly if you search inside-"

While the crowd murmured Fluttershy interrupted, "Save the speech, Gray Jedi, do not teach them a lesson on redemption. Nightmare Moon."

Fluttershy spoke clearly, without falter or squeaks of any kind, silencing the crowd, "You are fronted with a single question. Ponies of Equestria. Will you stay with a hypocritical tyrant? Or will you join us, and our new world order. The New Dawn."

Murmurs amongst the crowd grew louder and the two rebels. Shocked and stunned at the spectacle before her, Rainbow sat in silence as she watched hysteria break out, full brawn.

"We cannot forget the thousand years of protection. I'm staying!"

"Yes, but how can we be able to trust a leader that keeps secrets from us! I side with the New Dawn!"

"You fools, our protection is not guaranteed by a broken fascist government."

"But how are we to survive the winter on this broken serf system? Kindness? Joy? We need assurance that we have the resources we need. I am with the New Dawn."

One by one they split their numbers. Rainbow glanced to the guards, gazing at them and seeing some of them filled with uncertainty but too much fear to actually voice their opinions. They had seen what happens to those who betray her. Pinkie shrugged at Celestia and said, "How does it feel that half of your citizens have chosen the Sith?"

Celestia offered no words as she seemed to narrow her gaze, tightening around the already weakened balcony. Rainbow knew what she had waiting and felt a twang of fear rise up through her. Celestia ordered to the guards, "Keep the loyalists and either capture or kill the ones who have committed high treason. Kill the rogue Sith."

Celestia turned and left as she did she heard war cries and whispered to Rainbow Dash, "Run far from here and warn Twilight."

Rainbow shook her head slightly and said, "But...isn't she..."

"Go."

Without a moment's hesitation she burst into the winter air to confirm whether or not Celestia was joking. Although Celestia was into jokes, she never would do something so dark. She needed to know if Twilight lived or died. She could not live with the knowledge knowing either. As she rapidly left earshot she heard the sound of conflict break out between the Canterlot nobles. The cries of battle meeting, hoping that Hazel fled when she could. Rainbow breathed a silent prayer on her lips as she soared through the air. The words spoken resonating deep within her, she had not heard such urgency in Celestia's voice before. She never heard so much weakness before.