Dawn of the Force

Rebel base, Kashyyyk

06/16/2025

1300 hours

"Finally! It works!" Twilight yells pridefully.

The purple unicorn had spent a good chunk of the previous day meddling with the harmonic generator Luke had found for her. It took many tries, and more knocks to the head than she cared to admit, but she finally got it to work. Luke had even agreed to swap his out so Twilight could perform the ultimate test, which was a success. After putting his lightsaber back together, Luke gave the generator back to Twilight, along with a few vital lightsaber parts so she could craft her own. Though used mostly by Jedi and Sith, Luke saw no harm in letting Twilight craft her own lightsaber for her own personal use. After all, there were non force users out there with lightsabers, so one more on the good side couldn't hurt.

Now, Twilight was finally done crafting her own fully functional lightsaber. She used a clear crystal to give the blade a pure white color, and even took the time to engrave Princess Celestia's cutie mark into the hilt.

"You've always been there for me before," Twilight said to herself, "Now, even though we're universes apart, you can still be by my side when I need you".

"Who are you talking to?" Asked someone behind Twilight, starting her.

"Myself," Twilight admitted after a brief pause to catch her breath.

"I see," The person said, "Nice hilt".

"Uh... thanks," Twilight said.

"There some significance to this image?" The person asked, pointing towards the cutie mark.

"That's Princess Celestia's cutie mark," Twilight explained.

"Add sentimental value for you?" The human asked.

"Yea," Twilight said, pausing briefly, "Say, Luke, do you... have someone close to you?"

"I try not to get too close to others," Luke said, "Recently, just about everybody I've gotten too close to has died right as it started getting good. It's gotten hard, and I can't let it stay that way, not while the Empire is still a threat".

"I see, I'm... I'm sorry," Twilight said.

"Don't bother yourself with it, I'll be fine," Luke said, "There will be plenty of time for mourning once there is peace again in the galaxy".

Twilight had tried many things to see where she could fit in. She was decent with a blaster, pretty efficient with her lightsaber, sucked at medical work, and her cooking skills were horrifying. That was but a few of the things she'd be allowed to try. Now, however, she was going to try one last thing. She was determined to either do good, or quit after this next attempt. As she walked through the halls of the base, she thought about what she was about to try. Yea, she'd done her research, but it would never be enough when compared to the real thing.

"You ready?" Gus asked as Twilight approached.

"As ready as I'll ever be," Twilight said.

With that, Gus turned and opened the door. On the other side was a very large room. As Twilight looked around the room, she couldn't help but notice the many parked X-Wings. Their sheer size surprised her to no end. She'd read all about them, but to see one up close, like she was getting the chance to, was breathtaking.

"Real beauties, aren't they?" Gus asked.

"I wouldn't say beauties, but yea," Twilight said, not taking her eyes off the fighter in front of her.

"Ready to try to pilot one?" Gus asked rhetorically.

"Yes, I'm very much looking forward to it," Twilight said, turning around excitedly.

"Good, then let's go this way," Gus said, walking away.

Twilight followed closely, unable to wait much longer. The two very quickly came up to a red and green striped X-Wing, which Gus had informed Twilight was their trainer. She was going to be the main pilot, but she'd have a co-pilot sitting right behind her to take over in case something went wrong. As she climbed in the front seat, she was immediately overtaken by all the buttons, switches, and controls. As soon as her co-pilot was in his seat, he began instructing her on what to do to, and the engines eventually roared to life. The co-pilot took over the flying at first just so they could get out of the hanger safely. Once outside and a nice distance above the surrounding canopy, he gave Twilight the controls.

"Just to get you used to the controls, I want you to tilt us left, then right a few times," The instructor said.

Twilight did just that. However, she banked too hard, turning both her and her instructor into temporary bobblehead dolls. She stopped almost immediately as instructed.

"As you can see, these things respond poorly to full stick movement," The instructor explained, "Try subtle movements, and you won't throw yourself around as much".

Nodding, Twilight moved the flight stick only a couple degrees to each side, resulting in a much smoother bank each time. After a few times, she was instructed to level out, which she did. After leveling out, the instructor took over again to show her how to perform a basic turn, then told her to perform the same technique going both left and right. She banked the fighter to a ninety degree angle facing left, then pulled back on the flight stick to perform a left turn. After leveling out, she did the same thing for the right side.

"You learn pretty quick, I like that," The instructor said, "Believe it or not, most recruits screw up on their first turns".

"How is that even possible?" Twilight asked.

"I've been asking myself that very question for a long time," The instructor said, "Anyway, now that basic movement is out of the way, let's teach you some real maneuvers".

The first maneuver the instructor pulled off was a Chandelle maneuver. He banked the X-Wing to about thirty-five degrees and pulled the flight stick back harshly. The X-Wing then turned it's nose in the desired direction at a near breakneck speed, scaring the hell out of poor Twilight. He leveled them out after a hundred and eighty degrees.

"That's a pretty useful maneuver that can be used to evade an enemy," The instructor said, "Don't rely on it too much, however, as it can be defeated kind of easily. However, I want you to learn how to do it properly so you can add it to your queue of tricks. Now, follow my instructions, and don't try to go ahead of me".

After finally getting her nerves back, Twilight wrapped the flight stick in her aura again. Step by step, Twilight performed the maneuver very slowly at first, but then was instructed to do it on her own, with a sharp turning radius, turning to both sides. After doing so, the instructor showed her a more useful maneuver: the Immelmann turn. It was a relatively simple maneuver, just pull back on the flight stick to perform a one hundred and eighty degree flip upwards, then level back out. After performing it, the instructor told Twilight to do so, which she did with relative ease.

"This is, in my honest opinion, the best evasive maneuver," The instructor said, "Not only does it confuse enemy pilots, it also throws off homing missiles".

"Sounds good," Twilight said, "So, what's next?"

"Learning how to shoot properly," The instructor said as he hit a few buttons, "Look at that little screen in front of you, I've loaded up a moving outline of an enemy fighter. This trainer isn't equipped with working weapons, so we use a built in simulation. When you shoot down the enemy fighter, it'll disappear from the screen. Make that thing disappear".

Twilight manipulated the flight stick and pulled on the trigger as soon as the target was in the center of the screen. It took a few attempts to get the proper timing, but Twilight shot down the target. After praise from her instructor, another target appeared on screen for her to shoot down. This continued for about five minutes before the instructor felt satisfied that Twilight could handle basic combat.

"Now, remember that the enemy won't always stay in front of you, nor will he always BE right in front of you," The instructor said, "Never move in a straight line, and you should be fine".

The instructor took back the controls so they could land safely back at the base. After landing, Twilight climbed out of the cockpit to see a grinning base commander, who was soon joined by her instructor.

"You did quite well," The instructor said, "You're undoubtedly the best recruit I've ever taught. You learn very fast, and you can fight pretty well so long as the enemy stays in front of you".

Gus could help but laugh at that comment, making Twilight blush a little.

"Regardless, I believe you'd make an excellent addition to our pilot ranks," The instructor said.

"She did THAT good, huh?" Gus asked.

"Yes sir, she did," The instructor said, "Though she's a rookie and never been in a real combat situation, I'd already feel confident with her as my wingman... wingwoman, eh... wingwhateversheis".

"I believe the term you're looking for is 'Wingmare'," Twilight said.

"Yes, that... that's exactly what I meant to say," The instructor said, "So, feel confident enough to join our ranks?"

"I do, actually," Twilight said, "Flying those things is pretty fun, and the weapons are much easier to handle than blasters".

"Then it shall be done," The instructor said, "We have three X-Wings without a pilot, choose one and it'll be yours. You'll be free to make it look however you want, customize it till your heart's content".

Twilight decided on the X-Wing closest to the hanger door. It was the newest one of the three, but still needed a little TLC. After going through the process of claiming the X-Wing as hers, she asked for a full rainbow colored palette of paint colors.