Dawn of the Force

Canterlot, Equestria

06/13/2025

1422 hours

Twilight could only watch as her friends and mentor left the room, slamming the doors behind themselves. Never before had she felt so broken, so alone. As tears formed in her eyes, she slumped to the floor and laid down on the steps. After a short moment, she felt a hoof rest on her shoulder, bringing her out of her daze. She looked up to see who she thought was Cadance staring down at her with an almost sad look on her face.

"I'm sorry," Twilight said.

"You should be sorry," Cadance scolded, "Though, fear not, for you shall not have to worry about how your pathetic friends, brother, or even that sorry excuse for a princess feel about you for much longer".

Before Twilight could utter a word in response, green flames formed a circle around her. The unicorn could only look on in horror as the circle completed itself and a wall of green fire shot up around her. After a few, brief seconds, Twilight blacked out. When the wall of green finally dropped, Twilight was nowhere to be seen.

"Now, there'll be nopony who can stand even a sliver of a chance of stopping me in time," Cadance said just breaking out into a bout of sinister laughter.

Imperial base outskirts, Kashyyyk

06/13/2025

1439 hours

The world was black. Twilight was caught in a void that she couldn't seem to find her way out of. No amount of running or magic helped, much to her chagrin. She cried out, but there was no answer.

BANG

A nearby explosion caused Twilight to bolt upright. Her brain hadn't been given enough to catch up, so she was stuck in a daze. Beams of light flew past her, not catching her attention until one grazed her left foreleg. The heat from the near miss caused the unicorn to cry out in pain. At least her brain was awake and caught up now. She forced herself to focus on finding out what had just caused her such pain. What she saw was a small group of white creatures heading right for her. After her first step towards the opposite direction, pain shot up from her injury, causing her to stop and cry out once again. A glance over her shoulder told her the creatures were closing in... fast. Another step, more pain. Much as she tried to ignore it, the pain was just too much at the moment, and she soon tripped over herself and fell to the ground. Next thing she knew, she was surrounded by the creatures.

"What do you think it is, sir?" One of the creatures asked.

"No idea, but the commander will want to see it," Another creature said.

At that point, all Twilight could focus on was survival. She threw up a shield around herself and cast it outwards, knocking all the creatures to the ground. No longer had she managed to lift herself up with only three usable legs had it taken the creatures to get back up. Twilight was stuck. Without knowledge of her surroundings, teleportation was out of the question. She couldn't run, she couldn't fly... she was done for, or so she thought. Two of the creatures were stuck from behind, and dropped to the ground before anyone knew what was happening. By the time the rest of the strange creatures turned toward the threat, three more were dropped. This was just the distraction Twilight needed to get away. As the sounds of fighting roared in the background, Twilight hobbled away towards a nearby hole in the ground.

"Ok, so Cadance sent me to this strange place, strange creatures I've never seen or heard of before are trying to kill me, and my leg doesn't want to cooperate," Twilight said to herself, "Why me?"

Before long, the distant sounds of battle were gone, replaced with the sounds of nature around Twilight little hidey hole. Twilight paid no attention to the rustling of leaves just outside her hiding place until whatever was moving spoke up.

"I took care of those imperials, you're safe now," The voice said.

Terrified, Twilight moved as far backwards as possible and started to hold her breath.

"I know you're probably still scared, but I won't hurt you, I promise," The voice said, "If anything, I want to help you".

The voice sounded sincere enough, but Twilight wasn't about to take any risks. She did everything she could to focus on keeping her breath held in. When at last she let her breath out, it was because she heard the sound of rustling leaves getting farther away. She felt confident enough to gasp for air now. Her lungs now filled with fresh air again, she got up and hobbled out of her little hole. Confident, but still slightly cautious, Twilight kept her horn ready in case something else came for her.

"There you are," Came a voice from behind Twilight, causing her to release a burst of air out of panic, "Hey now, that wasn't very nice".

Twilight turned to see the creature still standing firm. Scared, she lit up her horn, ready for another blast.

"I'm not gonna hurt you, don't worry," The creature said, laying down whatever it was holding on the ground, "See, I'm unarmed. I can't do anything to you".

"What are you, and what do you want?" Twilight asked harshly, keeping her horn ready.

"What do you know, you actually speak basic," The creature said, "Well, to answer your questions, I'm what's known as a human, and I want to help you".

"Help how?" Twilight asked.

"When the imperials find out you weren't able to be captured, they'll be out here in force," The person said, "Why they want you, I have no clue. Not that I care, either. All I know is that you're obviously not on their side, and so I want to help you out. The enemy of my enemy is my friend".

Twilight considered her options, and the fact that this person seemed to be sincere enough to be at least a bit trustworthy. After a couple of stressful minutes, she dimmed her horn and sat down.

"Right, so, now that we can start off on a better foot, let's start with some real introductions," The person said, "My name is Neo Durgen, what's yours?"

"My name is Twilight Sparkle," Twilight said.

"Nice to meet you, Twilight," Neo said, "So, if you mind me asking, what exactly are you?"

"I'm a unicorn," Twilight said, "Say, you don't happen to know where Equestria is, would you?"

"Can't say I do, sorry," Neo said, "But, maybe somebody back at base knows about it".

"These other humans, they're good, right?" Twilight asked.

"They won't hurt you, trust me," Neo said, "After I explain the situation, they'll do what they can to get you back home as soon as possible".

"Alright, I'll trust you, but only because it doesn't seem like I have much other choice," Twilight said, "But let it be known that I'm not afraid to defend myself if you turn on me".

"Noted," Neo said, picking up the object from earlier off the ground, "Now, let's get going before more stormtroopers find us".

Rebel base, Kashyyyk

06/13/2025

1641 hours

After Neo and Twilight got back to the rebel base, Twilight was whisked away to the medical bay to help with her leg. It took some convincing, but she eventually agreed to be submerged in a tank of strange liquid known as "bacta". After about an hour, she was taken out of the tank and woken up.

"So, how you feel?" One of the humans asked.

"Very rejuvenated," Twilight said, "Never knew anything other than magic could do this to an injured body".

"Yes, well, when you feel up to it, the commander wants to talk to you personally," The human said, "I don't know why, so don't bother asking".

"Alright then," Twilight said nervously, "How about some food first? I'm starving".

"Surely, what do you want?" The human asked.

"I would really like a daffodil sandwich and some hay fries if you have any," Twilight said.

It took Twilight a few seconds to realize why the people were giving her a wide assortment of weird looks.

"Right, of course you would know what those are," Twilight said, mentally scolding herself, "Well, this place is covered in vegetation from what I've noticed, so you should have something I can eat, right?"

"We might be able to fix up something for you," The human said.

With that, the human then led Twilight towards the mess hall. As soon as the door opened, Twilight's nose was assaulted with the very unmistakable smell of meat. The unicorn suddenly stopped and took a defensive stance, lighting up her horn a little.

"Hey now, take it easy," The human said.

"Take it easy?" Twilight asked, "Why? So I can become your next meal?"

"That's not it at all," The human said.

"You led me here to kill me," Twilight said accusingly, "Your commander doesn't really want to talk, does he?"

"What... yes, he does," The human said, finally grasping the situation, "We're not strict carnivores. We prefer meat, yes, but we also have vegetarian habits as well".

"Fine, I'll trust you for now," Twilight said, "But the second you come near me with a so much as butter knife, I will hurt you".

"Understood, now let's get you some food," The human said.

With the mess hall fiasco out of the way, Twilight and the human, known as Amy, made their way to the commander's quarters. As they entered, Twilight was greeted with the sight of a very intimidating individual. Easily twice Amy's size, muscular beyond belief, the commander reminded Twilight of Iron Will, the minotaur that almost turned one of her friends into a monster. Despite his tough and intimidating appearance, the commander spoke with a strangely calming tone.

"So, you're the creature that Neo found," The commander said, "My name is Gus Novar, and I want to personally welcome you to this base".

"Um, thanks," Twilight said sheepishly.

"Neo said you were lost and wanted to get home," Gus said, "Unfortunately, Equestria isn't on any known star chart, so I have no idea where to even start looking".

"Start out with the bad news?" Twilight asked, "Not what I was honestly expecting".

"Says the one who thought we were going to feed her to the commander," Amy pointed out.

"There's absolutely no correlation there," Twilight said matter of factly.

"Yes, well, sounds like you've had an interesting introduction to our species," Gus said, suppressing a chuckle, "Regardless, don't think that I have just given up before starting, because I haven't. I will do what I can to get you home, but it's going to take time".

"Understandably," Twilight said, "However, I'm sensing a catch to this".

"It's completely optional, but I'm willing to offer you a spot in the rebel alliance if you wish to take it," Gus said, "If you take it, you'll receive the best training we can offer, and you'll be given the means to defend yourself in a firefight. If you turn my offer down, you'll simply be treated as a civilian. Either way, I won't hold your choice against you. You're far away from home, and I can't, in good conscience, let that continue".

"Do I have to choose now?" Twilight asked.

"Not at all, you're free to take your time on this," Gus said, "Just understand that if you choose to join the alliance, you won't be able to go back to being a civilian until you return home, and you'll be expected to follow any military orders".

"I'll take that into consideration, thanks," Twilight said, "Now, is there anything else you wanted to talk about?"

"Oh yes, I'd very much like to get to know you," Gus said, "If you'll be staying under my command or protection, I want to know what makes you tick".