Chapters Star Wars: Friendship Divided
Studying the Portal (Prequel)
The Republic has fallen... "What is the Republic?"
You were my brother, Anakin... "Anakin? Who is... Anakin?"
You must feel the Force around you... "The... Force?"
Already begun, the Clone Wars have... "Clone Wars?"
The voices were strange, almost as if they faded in and out of existence- Like they were there, yet not there. However, as time moved on, the dark void surrounding Twilight Sparkle began screaming words at her; Incomprehensible, unintelligible, blurred words. They screamed and screamed, directing a wave of pain and pressure to her head. She clenched her temples to try and block out the noise, until all went silent again. Save for one last sentence:
There has been an awakening...
Twilight awoke screaming. Out of breath, her heart tried to burst out of its flesh prison, still startled from the nightmare. Was it a dream? She rubbed the sand out of her eyes, and looking around she saw what startled her awake: her alarm for school. Reaching for the glasses on her nightstand, the girl pushed the dismiss button on top of the infernal machine as quickly as she should. Looking around her room she sighed. Or was it something more?
It didn't take her too long to get ready, and her routine was fairly simple: Get dressed, take shower, brush teeth, fix hair, go to school. It was a routine she had written in her head all the time; A mental checklist. Every part of the routine she did, in her own mind she shouted Check! to prove to herself that it was just that closer to becoming complete. That nightmare she had though, it plagued her thoughts. None of it made sense, and yet it did. Like an encoded message without the cipher. Republic, Clone Wars, the Force? she chuckled to herself. It all sounds like a bunch of nonsense! Before catching the bus to her school, Twilight took a look at the Calendar. Today's date was circled in red marker.
It's today... Today was the official first day of her transfer to Canterlot High School. Although it warmed her heart that she'll be learning all sorts of new things from her friends, a part of it remembered how she ended up going there in the first place. If I didn't become that... Monster, I wouldn't have ever met my friends, or learn the power of friendship. She resented that whole ordeal; She violated powerful magic, and in turn it violated her, twisting her ambitions and morals into something evil and corrupt. She wanted to learn all about magic, but her arrogance and lack of poor judgement nearly fractured an entire dimension just because her hunger for knowledge consumed her voice crying out for reason. Her new friends helped her to see that light, and was determined to repay the debt. Shaking her head, Twilight grabbed a quick bite to eat, then hopped on the bus heading downtown to CHS.
"Are ya sure it's today, Sunset?" Applejack drawled on in her country accent.
"Yes, I'm positive! It's only the third time I've said it!" Sunset Shimmer said, grunting in frustration. Three different people asked her prior if today was the day that Twilight finally came to study with her friends at CHS, and it wasn't much surprise when she started to get annoyed at repeating herself, anyone would.
"Okay, was just making sure sugarcube, heh!" Applejack nervously chuckled.
"*sigh*, I'm sorry for snapping at you, AJ. It's just, you were the fourth person to come up and ask me that." She lifted her hand, and rubbed the other arm with it, a nervous habit she picked up when she first arrived into this strange new world. Sunset was hunting down as many friends as she could, hoping to give this world's Twilight a very welcome surprise at the front of the school. She had already tracked down many people wanting to help out, but her friends were all busy in the morning: Applejack was helping Granny Smith prepare food, Pinkie was being...Well...Pinkie, Rainbow was stuck doing practice this morning no thanks to Coach Spitfire, Rarity was designing outfits for the school play, and Fluttershy was the only one she had left to talk to. "Honestly, I'm a bit nervous. It's been a couple of weeks, and Principal Cinch hasn't exactly expressed her enthusiasm for getting rid of her 'Prize Student' from what I hear." Looking up, she asked "Do you think she'll still be that nerdy bookworm that we knew back then?"
"What do ya mean, Sunset? What did Cinch do that she hasn't already done?"
Hesitantly, she spoke up. "Well, judging from the texts I get from Twilight, it sounds like Cinch did everything she could to prevent those transfer papers from going through. Even Vice Principal Cadence had a hard time trying to find loopholes in the Principal's paperwork. It doesn't help that the school is still a bit peeved about losing, either. Just take a look-" Sunset rummaged through her jacket pockets to find her phone. Once she found it, she pulled up the texts about how Twilight was still getting bullied over there.
After reading through the messages, Applejack was appalled at what they were doing to that poor girl. "Aww, the poor gal! Even having friends in that school didn't help none. Why if I ever caught anybody I know bullying her, I'd kick 'em out of here faster than Rainbow's sobriety during Cider Season!" Though she was an honest gal, you could count on Applejack being there for you when the going gets tough. It even sometimes explains her fierce competitions with Rainbow Dash. She never got peeved about losing. Winning, losing, it don't matter none, Sugarcube! She explained after the Friendship Games were over.
Awkward silence filled the cafeteria's kitchen, Applejack still helping prep some food. "Thanks, Applejack" She pulled the country girl into a hug. "I gotta go. Still lots to do. If you can be there for Twilight when she arrives, great. If you can't..."
She laid her hand on Sunset's shoulder. "I can't promise for sure i'd be there, but I'll try Sunset." With that, she went to go track down Fluttershy and give her the news.
It had been an arduous fifteen minutes tracking down Fluttershy, and ironically, she was in her usual spot enjoying feeding her animals tucked in her backpack secretly. "Hey Fluttershy, which animals did you bring today?" It was always nice to lay down and pet the animals the shy, timid girl always brought.
"Oh, I only brought a few animals this time. I had to leave Hummingway and Garfield behind. Those two can never get along if I bring them both!" She giggled.
"I know about Hummingway, the hummingbird, but I haven't heard about Garfield yet." Sunset took the time to remember almost all the names of Fluttershy's seemingly overpopulated stockpile of animals, but sometimes there were exceptions.
"Oh, that's alright! He isn't mine, I'm putting him through an exercise regimen for a neighbor of mine, and since John is always busy working at his job I thought I'd help him out a bit." She looked around for anyone within earshot. "To be honest, I think the cat eats too much lasagna." Fluttershy whispered.
"Lasagna? Never heard of a cat eating that before!" What kind of cat eats lasagna?
"Yeah, apparently he can't eat regular food, it gives him cramps."
"Then why the exercise routines and not just a different diet?"
She shuffled her hands nervously. "W-well, I am feeding him a different food blend, but Garfield is still too overweight..."
Fluttershy was locking herself down, like she usually did when being questioned about something. "It's fine, Fluttershy." She hugged the pink-haired Shy girl. "You're trying and that's what matters."
Breaking away from the hug, Sunset spoke up. "Oh! Today Twilight's finally coming to CHS! And knowing her, she'll probably bring Spike along to play with your animal friends..." She said in a singsong voice. Fluttershy brightened up immediately after that.
Throughout the entire bus ride, Twilight's mind never dulled from the nightmare she had, or what she thought it meant. Ever since messing with magic, I've been questioning the world more and more often... She opened her backpack and pulled out her notebook, petting Spike she hid away while her parents weren't looking. Was magic already here? Pulling a pencil tucked neatly in her bun, she began to jot down notes, charts, and graphs of every theory and fact under the sun about this new "magic". She stopped, thinking about the recent events. She knew it held the answer, but she also knew that too much thirst for knowledge can lead to something catastrophic. Shaking her head of such thoughts, Twilight continued writing down everything she knew, except this time with an air of caution about it. That dream I had last night, it didn't feel much like a dream... Wincing, her headache added to her frustrations by screaming a bit louder.
"Ugh! I can't explain it!!!" She yelled aloud. Everyone else riding the yellow bus to school turned to stare at the strange girl with a sudden outburst, much to her embarrassment. "Sorry." she mumbled.
Something about it is making me drawn to it... It was all so strange... Maybe Sunset and the girls can help?
Twilight's yellow bus finally arrived, and everyone who wanted to showed up to the front of the schoolyard, near the still destroyed Wonder-Colts statue. In front of the massive crowd gathered was Sunset Shimmer, surrounded by her new-found friends who, despite their busy schedules, were able to show up and greet Twilight Sparkle. Once the doors opened, school students walked out and went inside, ignoring the welcoming party still waiting for their VIP to make an appearance. After the last few got off, Twilight walked down, her eyes fixated on her notebook, and her pencil scratching away furiously. It wasn't until everyone shouted "Welcome, Twilight!" that she took her eyes away from the notes she scribbled, and like anyone would be at a surprise party, was startled.
"Oh, wow! You didn't have to do this for me!"
Sunset jogged up to her, and gave her a quick hug. "Of course we did, Twilight! I know you've been having a hard time still at that other school, especially after you were... Eh, um..."
"Going crazy about magic and nearly collapsing two dimensions?" She chuckled, breaking the hug.
"...Yeah. It doesn't matter now, though! We're not like those jerks at Crystal Prep!"
Sunset rested her hand on Twilight's shoulder, and gestured to all the faculty and students standing behind her. "All of this is for you, Twilight. I know what it's like to feel like you don't belong, and that's why I gathered as many as I could to welcome you!"
"You're like a sister to me, Twilight." She said, hugging her again.
You were my brother, Anakin!
Wincing, Twilight jerked away from Sunset, grasping her head.
"Is something wrong, Twilight?" Sunset asked, worry stricken.
"N-no, I'm fine." Her pain subsided, and let go of the grasp she had on her head. "I've been having these pains and nightmares. I'll tell you more during lunch, but I think it might involve the residual energy coming from the portal."
School's first few hours weren't bad, despite the now numb pain in Twilight's head. She had fun practicing soccer with Rainbow Dash in Gym, Cooking with Pinkie in Home Economics, and building bird houses with Fluttershy and Applejack in Woodworking, and that was just half of what was left for her after lunch, which involved Advanced Arithmetic with Sunset, and helping Rarity with her dress making for the school play in her free period. Lunch however, she talked with the girls about her headaches, the nightmare she had, and how she thought it was connected to the presumably sealed portal...
"So Twilight, about this morning..." Sunset Shimmer began.
"Well, it's like I told you girls- I've been having these headaches all day, and last night I had a very lucid and bizarre nightmare."
"W-what was in the nightmare, Twilight? I hope it wasn't too scary... I hate the really scary ones!" Fluttershy exclaimed.
She shook her head. "No, it was just...weird. Like magical portal weird!"
"Well, can ya remember any of it, Sugarcube?" Applejack asked.
"Yeah I remember some of it, but even the nightmare itself felt like it wasn't all there." Twilight said, straightening her glasses.
"And what exactly makes you think it's connected to the portal?" Sunset asked, concern in her eyes. "They just don't sound tied at all right now."
"Well for one, some of the dream talked about some Republic and a war that was fought, and since over here we have a democracy, I was wondering if your world had any Republic or even some wars that took place recently." She pulled out her notebook, listing everything she could remember about the dream, and even some theories that might link the two separate events together.
"As far as I'm concerned, we didn't have any Republic except for the Lunar Republic dated over a century ago. Right now, we're an oligarchy, and as for any wars, none were fought dating past Sombra's Crystal Rebellion around 2000 years ago."
"Really? Nothing at all?" Sunset nodded, confirming Twilight's suspicions. She sighed. "I guess it really was a bad dream."
That is, until she got another headache, worse than all the other ones. It was like someone, or something was drilling into her skull and filling the holes with knives. Visions started bleeding through her mind, at first just a jumble of blurs, but then became more focused as they went on. The first to come through clearly was strange, and yet sad too:
A large gray planetoid within an asteroid belt housed a medical facility, where a mother in labor was being operated on to save her two twins...
"Hold on, Padme! Hold on!" a voice said, it's owner unknown to the vision's onlooker.
The mother was in great and terrible pain, each push bringing more agony to her already weak body...
"Hnng! W-who are you, Padme?" Twilight said, too entranced to hear her friends calling out to her, asking what's wrong.
..."It's a boy, Padme!" the voice exclaimed.
Gasping, she named him. "Luke." She smiled as it cooed to the sound of its mother's voice.
With another push, the other twin came. "It's a girl."
With her labored breaths, she named her daughter. "Leia."
...The rest of it became blurry, the voices fading along with the vision.
Before it ended completely, another voice uttered something.
Through the force, visions you will see...
The present...
The past...
Old friends long gone...
It faded to black, and Twilight fainted.
Author's Note
So this story is finally done with it's first chapter! Thank Celestia that I got finished with it, just as I cancelled one of my more popular stories!
Now I know that this is gonna be a HUGE project for me to complete, but what the heck? IMMA MAKES ME SOME CROSSOVER GOODNESS!
Also, this story was kinda inspired by this youtube vid:
Star Wars: Friendship Divided
Waking Up (Prequel, Part 2)
While unconscious, Twilight had yet another vision, stronger than before...
There has been an awakening...
It's that voice again! She thought."What do you want?!"
The voice was oblivious to her, and continued, drifting through her ears in a wispy baritone.
...Have you felt it?
Felt what? What do you mean?
A torrent of different voices came through again, just like last time. Only they were stronger, and made her whole body shake with fear.
...TRAITOR!
...I will finish... What you started...
Then, some other ones came through, this time familiar ones. It sounded like they were talking to each other.
It's been two years since her expedition! We need to find her before something bad happens!
She's gone now! There's no point in just looking for a corpse!
One of them was breaking up, almost as if in tears.
P-Please don't say that...
We have to face facts, dear! She might be out there, dying or dead. Still, we should bring back the body. It wouldn't be right if we didn't...
What about P-----? We need to hear her opinion this. After all, this is a High Council meeting...
It's no use, sugarcube. She's been in meditation for days now. No use trying to get her to budge.
It's settled then. One of us has to bring her back...
The dream once again faded just like last time, bringing her back to the realm of consciousness, and back among her friends.
When first waking up, Twilight heard voices, but they were fuzzy and unclear, much like her vision. However, they started to become clearer as time went on...
"----ssed her out too much with the big welcoming committee, Sunset!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed, obviously furious.
"Well how was I supposed to know it would send her into a coma?!" It was apparent that Sunset Shimmer was equally mad at the accusation. Though they forgave her after previous...endeavors , sometimes that anger came back, if only a little bit.
"Now now, simmer down you two! Last thing Twilight needs is two friends arguing about how she passed out, okay?" It was clear Applejack took the reins as a voice of reason.
"U-um girls..." Fluttershy said, staring at the girl in question waking up.
"Well it's gotta be explained somehow, Applejack! And I'm pretty sure little Miss 'Ketchup-and-Mustard' here had something to do with it!" Apparently that anger from the past went both ways, especially with a hot-head like Rainbow.
"Girls..."
"*scoffs* Really? Coming from the girl with that oh so flamboyant mane of hers?" Pinkie pointed out.
"QUIET! She's waking up!" Rarity exclaimed, silencing the two, now three people arguing. Fluttershy heaved a sigh following her outburst.
Fluttering her eyes open Twilight stared at each of her friends, still dazed and uninformed as to what was going on. "Hey, what's going on?" She asked, shaking her head to clear the dizziness. The headache she's been having still persisted however.
She began to get up, but rose too quickly, becoming dizzy as a result. Rarity sat her back down on the bed. "Easy now, Twilight! No need to rush things, dear."
Twilight nodded, this time slowly rising up from what looked to be the bed in the Nurse's office. It seemed she fainted and her friends rushed her to the Nurse's office, but like all schools, monitored her temperature to make sure it wasn't a cold or something, then went back to filling out paperwork, assuring her friends that she'd be fine and wake up in a few minutes.
Rubbing her head, she asked the Nurse how long she was under. "It's only been 15 minutes. I've been checking your pulse every few minutes and you seem to be in perfect condition from what I could tell."
Sunset hugged her tightly, after Twilight had some time to stand up for a few minutes. "I'm sorry for stressing you out so much with that welcoming party, Twilight!"
"What do you mean?" she chuckled. "The party was wonderful! I'm not sure why I passed out earlier, but I am pretty sure what's been causing the nightmares and headaches now..."
"You can always count on us to help you with... whatever it is that's going on with you right now!" Rarity exclaimed, soon backed up by supporting murmurs from the rest of Twilight's new friends.
"Still," Sunset started. "It's best if we get to the bottom of this before you pass out again. It's obvious now that it's not just nightmares and headaches anymore." She opened her backpack and handed Twilight her notes on the portal. She gave her a curious look. "Since you fainted, I've been looking at your notes. I think we should go back to your theory about the portal causing these problems. Is there a chance you can meet with me after school to investigate it?"
Twilight nodded, with a determined look in her eye. "These headaches are serious, if my theory is correct. However, I don't think we need to investigate just yet until I'm absolutely positive that this isn't just a side effect of... what happened at the Friendship Games. If it is, I'm sure I'll get over it, just like the incident you told me happened at the Fall Formal..."
As school went on, the headaches still persisted and the pain varied. Aside from the visions in her coma-like state, Twilight had none throughout her classes, that is until History Class with Mr. Cranky Doodle...
Class began, and all students took their seats preparing for today's lesson. All except for Twilight who, like any transfer student, gets to introduce herself to the entire class, and just like those other people, put her in a spotlight she wanted to avoid entirely.
"I know that we don't normally get transfer students from our rival schools, but I'll make an exception to the rule even though she nearly wrecked the entire school and shatter the dimensional plane..." Cranky began.
"What was that?" somebody yelled from the back of the classroom.
"Nevermind! Darn kids and their sonic hearing... Anyways, please welcome Twilight Sparkle to our school, and no she's not that Twilight, and yada yada yada..." Even the teacher didn't enjoy this, it seemed.
After her brief and embarrassing introduction to the class, she took her seat at the front of the row, near a certain fiery haired girl, who also took History at this hour, ironically enough. Though they had a larger and much more dangerous problem on their hands, Twilight and Sunset were forced to pay attention to the lecture after a very verbal warning from an angry Mr. Doodle.
"Is he always like this?" Twilight whispered to her friend, only to receive a very terrified nod, shocking the young girl.
"You're never quiet, not even like this. What's wrong?" Hastily, Sunset scribbled a note and passed it to Twilight.
I'd stop talking, or cover your ears for a Royal Canterlot Voice session with the most notorious Teacher in CHS!
"Huh?" Twilight said aloud after reading the note. "What does that m-"
"TWILIGHT SPARKLE, EITHER YOU PAY ATTENTION TO THE LESSON I'M TEACHING OR MARCH YOUR KEISTER STRAIGHT TO VICE PRINCIPAL LUNA'S OFFICE FOR DETENTION FOR THE HOUR! "
Guess that answers that... Twilight thought, still trying to recover her hearing.
Sunset giggled. "It's best if you just pay attention in Cranky's class." she whispered, paying close attention to Mr. Doodle's lesson, and whether or not he was paying attention to her whispering.
"Duly noted!" She smiled back.
After Cranky's yelling, the lesson continued without any indication of strain in his voice. "Going back to the lesson, the Roman Empire was the effect of the post-Roman Republic's fall after the Battle of Actium and when, consequentially, Octavian rose to power, becoming the first to adopt the title of "Imperator Caesar" , effectively making him the first Roman Emperor..."
Wincing in pain, Twilight's headache increased tenfold. Looking over, Sunset saw her friend in distress. "Twilight? What's wrong? Are you okay?"
She nodded her head, despite the pain it was in. "I-I think I'm alright. It's just my head again. nngh!" The pain spiked again, this time a vision welcoming her, though now she can hear her friend calling out unlike before, though she still elected to ignore the cries of help from Sunset Shimmer...
Another plethora of voices breached her mind; a jumble at first, but a few stood out and some of them brought small glimpses of scenery.
One came through and brought visions of strange people in white armor and masks. Some had paint adorned on them to establish rank.
"General," One said, adorned in white armor with yellow stripes and designs applied to it. "The droid army is in full retreat!"
Another voice came through and sounded much older, with a grainy tone of voice showing age. Along with this voice brought a vision of pale white hair adorned atop a small and green forehead. The face was blurred, but the ears were large and curved and also had small tufts of snowy hair along and inside them. "Good. Commander Cody, order your men to close ranks. Push them back, we will... Hmm..."
"What is it General?" the Commander asked the mysterious green figure.
"I sense a great disturbance in the Force... Someone reaching out, there is..."
"Is it Skywalker, sir?" The figure shook its head.
"Uncertain, these feelings are. Such is the way of the Force, Commander.
"Skywalker?" Twilight asked. "Who is that?"
"Something powerful there is, breaching throughout the galaxy. Suspect I do, that those powerful enough in the ways of the Force will sense it..." The voice in the vision responded, shocking the young girl looking on. What looked like shrugging, the figure continued. "Commander, I'm afraid our time will be cut short. Needed elsewhere, I am..."
"Yes Sir!" Cody exclaimed.
"I'm not that powerful... Am I?" Reaching out across an entire galaxy... I don't think it's our own. It's just impossible! The young girl thought. We are not technologically advanced enough to get past Mars, and that green figure isn't a Human, I don't think...
Strengthen my mind, I must, if ever I am to discover who is behind the disturbance. The green figure waved its blurry hand in front of Twilight, and the vision pushed back, launching her back to consciousness.
A little hazy, it took her a second to regain focus. "-light? You there?" Sunset asked, worry plastered on her face.
"Y-yeah, I'm here." She sighed, lifting herself up off the ground she was apparently on now. All the students were staring, wondering what happened. It made her flush with embarrassment for a bit. "We need to look at the statue. Tell Princess Twilight we're gonna need her too."
"Alright everybody, quit gawking! It isn't the first time somebody's fainted in my classroom." Cranky said. "Sunset, do you mind taking her to the Nurse?"
"Sure thing, Mr. Doodle!" How convenient... Sunset rolled her eyes.
"And to think I retired from the Navy for this..." he mumbled.
Instead of going to the Nurse's office like they were told, Sunset followed a determined Twilight to her Lab. After all, the bell rang and they both had a free period before school got out for the day. It was a bit larger than the small closet space she was using at Crystal Prep for research, but not by much. Instead of a small closet her previous school gave to her, there was a room in Canterlot High's Library that used to be a Computer lab but due to budget cuts to support the CHS Football team, was converted into a storage area. Still partially littered with some dusty equipment like old slide projectors that outlived their usefulness and out-of-date dictionaries and textbooks, it was still somewhat a cramped space like she was used to over at Crystal Prep.
Walking over to a small desk, she sat down and turned on the computer that sat on it. While waiting for it to load, Twilight explained what happened in the vision.
"There was another one?" Sunset asked. "Did it give you some more perspective on what's happening?"
The computer loaded, and Twilight clicked on one of the various chart making programs, pulling up a recent project titled "Portal Disturbance Rate".
"Ever since that first nightmare I had, I've been cataloging every anomaly that's happened so far; Their potency, the length between them... Everything!" A graph appeared on the screen, showing the potency compared to the rate she's been receiving them. In the graph, there was a red line that stayed level until just after the point when she started to receive the visions. "And this recent vision confirms it!"
"Confirms what, Twilight?" Sunset asked, going over the mathematical calculations and graphs from her own notebook.
She spun around in her computer chair to face her friend. "I think the Portal isn't connected to just Equestria anymore!" She beamed. It wasn't like a nice smile Twilight normally does, this one verged on one more found on scientists that made an impossibly huge discovery. Come to think of it, despite the piles of old equipment scattered about and the little breathing room they had, there were still quite a lot of tools, charts, graphs, and a few empty vials and microscopes strewn about, making it feel more like a small lab with extra bits of an old computer lab, instead of the other way around. "Did you bring the book linking to Equestria?" She asked.
"No, I didn't have time to open my locker when you were rushing me down the hall." Twilight gave a sheepish smile at that.
Suddenly, four electronic pings sounded over the intercom, indicating school was out for the day. "Well, it sounds like you have time now! Hurry up and get the book, then meet me out front near the portal."
Author's Note
So chapter two is done! Hooray! I wanted to add a little bit of chuckles in this chapter. I know it's meant to be a serious story, but I haven't even gotten to the serious parts yet so I wanted to add the part with Cranky yelling in SUPER LOUD volumes.
Though I added a bit of humor in this chapter with Cranky and all, there's still a bunch of information in this chapter that's going to be very important to the plot behind this story (which is gonna be HUGE by the way!) and it's best to pay attention to these visions.
I also know that this is based off of the Star Wars universe roughly, so I am gonna need a large amount of help from you guys to stick with the lore, since I don't know anything past the movies :P. Any constructive criticism or a bit of hints as to how certain things don't fit within the parameters of Star Wars is tremendously appreciated!
Also, if you guys wanna check out the graph for a more visual and dynamic perspective of SciTwi's vision potency, i made a .png file up on my public Drive folder so you can see it! Let's pretend that it's the actual one she pulls up on the computer, okay? ;)here to check it out!
Star Wars: Friendship Divided
After Sunset grabbed the book linking her native world with this one, she rushed to meet Twilight out in front of Canterlot High. Weaving past her fellow students rushing to get home, she waved a hand to her friend in front of the mangled statue that used to hold CHS' stone mascot, the Canterlot Wondercolt. All that was left was a small piece of one of the hind hooves and the podium that was now horseless. Laying around the indigo haired girl was what looked like a bunch of scientific equipment. On one side was Twilight's laptop, hooked up to what appeared to be a seismograph of some sorts, and on the other stood a small whiteboard with scientific formulas strewn about it. In a similar fashion, there was also a notebook propped up by some textbooks. After the crowd of exhausted students grew smaller, Sunset Shimmer was able to make her way over to her friend in front of the entrance to the portal that brought her to this world.
"Hey, Twilight!" She sat down, pulling something out of her backpack. "I got the book, just like you asked. Hey-!"
Twilight snatched it from her hands, ignoring the outburst her friend gave. "Good! You told me it worked like a phone does, right?" She said, jotting down something in it.
"Yeah, but-" Sunset tried to protest, but to no avail.
"Good! Then the other Twilight- Princess Twilight, should be able to get the notes I'm sending her. I also told her my plan!" She beamed.
"Which is...?" Sunset asked.
Her beaming smile turned to a sheepish one. "Oh. Right. I forgot to mention it to you, heh heh!" She scratched the back of her neck- a nervous habit she picked up when she was younger. Clearing her throat, she filled her friend in on the plan. "Well, ever since my...outburst, I've been seeing these visions and having these headaches, and I never understood why...until now." Turning towards the whiteboard, she erased part of it, and began to explain. "I believe that I may have ruptured the inter-dimensional gateway linking the two parallel dimensions together. As a result, another gateway started to link, and since the rapture occurred during a potentially catastrophic space/time phenomenon, the two linked planes now have become 3."
"So in other words, you somehow linked a third world to the portal to Equestria?" Twilight nodded. "Well, how can that be? Unless..." Sunset Shimmer began to realize what exactly occurred during the Friendship Games.
"Yes, now you're beginning to realize." Twilight straightened her glasses. "Consider the Wonder Colt statue as a focusing point for the magical energy of the portal. Much like an antenna on a radio." She stated.
Once again, she erased the whiteboard and drew another diagram to explain better.
"The portal's entrance is at the base of the statue. However, I believe that the statue along with the podium anchored and separated other worlds trying to establish a link. If the statue was completely obliterated, I believe any and all worlds would be cut off, including Equestria."
"But it wasn't. Only a hind leg was left!" Sunset exclaimed.
"Precisely!" Twilight smiled. "That means that the bond that Equestria's portal made with ours is still intact, but now there's a third portal being established." Whilst talking, the book linking to the Twilight in Equestria started to vibrate. "Uh, what does the glowing and vibrating mean?" She asked.
"Oh, it means that Princess Twilight got your message and sent you a reply."
Sure enough, when Twilight opened the book, different words were written, seemingly in reply to the plan she explained to the other Twilight. "You know, this reminds me of Tom Riddle's diary..."
"Who's Tom Riddle?" Sunset asked.
"Never mind!" Looking at the book, Sunset read Princess Twilight's reply alongside her friend:
Hello Twilight! Wow, this seems weird, heh!
*ahem* I never fully realized how powerful this inter-dimensional gateway between our worlds was! Starswirl the Bearded was a very powerful unicorn, but I never thought that even he could create such a powerful link between worlds.
From the formulas you gave me, I understand that somehow you were able to link a third world to your side of the portal. If this is true, then the passageway previously established may be unstable, which means your plan to bring me to the other side might not work in our favor. The Quantum Tunneling effect could destabilize my transformation when I enter the portal, and I could end up as two halves at different points of space and time. However, it could be possible for you to create a probe and send it through the portal to collect data.
"She might be onto something," Sunset mentioned. "If you dismantle your magic capturing device that stole me and my friend's magic along with the portal's and transformed you, instead it could be made into a simple Quantum Recording device with a bit of magic thrown in from Equestria's side to stabilize it, then maybe we could actually get some data out of it." She pointed to the necklace around Twilight, holding the inert device. Ever since the incident, she's been wearing it as a reminder to never again mess with things she does not understand completely. It was disabled, but she never had the heart to dismantle it.
Twilight's jaw dropped. "What? You can't be the only genius on the block you know!"
Shaking her head, Twilight hesitated in agreeing with this. "In theory, it sounds good, but you're forgetting one thing: The portal is now unstable. How do you expect us to get it to Princess Twilight without it falling apart on the way there?"
Sunset tapped her chin with her finger in thought. Then it struck her. "That's it!" Grabbing the book, she ripped a blank page out of it.
"Sunset! What are you doing?!" Twilight exclaimed. Then Sunset yanked Twilight's necklace off her neck.
"The book is still stable between the two worlds, right?" the purple haired girl nodded. "So, if we add that stability to the device," she undid the clasp and opened the inert device hung around the necklace, jamming the paper inside. ", then we'll be able to keep it stable through the portal!"
"T-that's brilliant! Why didn't I think of that?!" Twilight exclaimed.
"Well, you never had to bring magic into the equation before." Sunset opened the book again and told Princess Twilight the plan, who agreed wholeheartedly with it.
It was sunset, and there was still no reply from Princess Twilight. Once they all agreed with the plan, Twilight Sparkle and Sunset Shimmer waited patiently for the device to come back through. For the first five minutes, they both thought nothing was wrong. Then minutes turned to hours and they still sat in front of the portal to Equestria. Suddenly, the book linking the realms began to vibrate. Both pacing, they rushed to the book and opened it. What it said indicated something unexpected happened:
Twilight and Sunset,
Your device did come through, though I'm afraid this next part may be a little... unexpected, considering other Twilight's reaction to this other world.
I tried to activate it and took every precaution to keep it from draining Equestria of its magic. However, when I opened it...
...Just take a look for yourself. I'm sending the device back through, this time with an enchantment so it won't take so long.
True to her word, the device came through the portal like a bullet. Red-hot, the necklace buried half of itself into the stone steps of the school.
"Nothing happened? Like, the magic was minuscule, or literally nothing happened?" Sunset was curious. How could something from an entirely different dimension not have any reaction... to anything?! Both were flabbergasted.
"Maybe the device needs adjustment, Sunset. After all, it was designed to contain anomalies, not magic." Though the consequences of trying to contain the "anomalies" Twilight thought came from CHS was actually magic, the device wasn't built for such things. Swiping the amulet from Sunset, Twilight opened it and began to take it apart using a screwdriver she brought with just in case the device needed to be dismantled for safety purposes. Fiddling with the buttons and wires attached, Twilight spoke. "There's absolutely nothing wrong with the sensors, and none of the fuses have been broken." she explained.
"Which means it's even more confusing than before." Sunset sighed. She turned towards the reflective mirror that hid the portal. Gazing back was her reflection. Maybe...maybe directly going there might work...
She began to walk towards the mirror.
"Sunset, what are you doing?" Dropping her screwdriver and setting down the device now dismantled, Twilight stood up, watching the flame haired girl walk towards the portal. You were my brother, Anakin!
That vision rang clear in the back of her mind, all too clear now as to what it was trying to tell her. Nearing ever closer, Sunset was within inches of the portal, ready to take the plunge, until her friend spoke.
"Stop!" Twilight exclaimed. She walked closer to her friend raring to risk it all just to figure out why this new world is affecting her so. Grasping her hand, she pulled Sunset back a few feet, making her stand face to face with her friend. "I'm not gonna let you go."
"You don't understand!" Sunset reared back, not paying attention to how close she was nearing the portal. "I'm not gonna watch you suffer over this stupid portal!" She threw her hands in the air, stepping back even further.
"Sunset!"
"Don't you get it?! I don't want to see you like this!"
"Sunset, wait!"
"NO! No waiting. This stupid portal is the only thing-" Her sentence was cut short by a crack of lightning shooting from the portal, whizzing past her ear and striking the device still disassembled on the ground near Twilight's feet. Magically, the device reassembled and rose from the ground and began to hover in the air, sparks flying out of it. Sparks soon turned into a black hole and began to suck the two closer to it.
"Run!" Twilight exclaimed. Doing as suggested, they both began to run, Sunset considerably faster than Twilight due to her more athletically toned body. Twilight ran as fast as she could, gaining distance from the growing black hole, heading towards her friend. Inching closer and closer, she was about side by side with Sunset, until she tripped.
The black hole began to increase its gravitational pull, pinning Twilight on the ground, and inching her nearer to the growing nothingness.
"Twilight!" Skidding to a stop, Sunset turned around and raced towards her friend, the gravity getting heavier and heavier as she approached. The gravity was too much, and threw her down on all fours. Crawling towards Twilight, she gained some footing, but by then it was already too late. They both were now too close to the device-turned-black hole to be able to escape its threshold. Close enough to grab each others' hands, they nodded and waited for the inevitable. It came as quick as a flash, but they were still alive, and now in some sort of pale white gateway with bits of other streamlining colors whizzing past. "What's-" Twilight spoke too soon, as both were peeled away and seemingly thrown in opposite directions.
Author's Note
Woo! Chapter 3 is finally out! Updates might be slow depending on my work schedule, so don't worry if it takes a bit! I'm just busy and will update with a new chapter when I get the chance!
Let me know what you guys think in the comments below. Please give me constructive criticism, so I know exactly what I can improve.
Star Wars: Friendship Divided
Journal, day 90:
It's been exactly 3 months since I first was discovered, or so my Master tells me; No memory yet of what happened before I was found lying on the ground in front of the Jedi Temple here on Coruscant. I find myself still stunned at the vastness of everything around here! Though I am not allowed to go outside of the Temple very often because of the War, I still try to see as much as I can.
I had another dream... It was the same as before. I was... reaching for somebody, I can't see their face. I think it was a vision, but when I confronted Master Yoda about it, he said otherwise.
Stopping for a moment, she recalled what the wise Master said:
"Vision, this dream is not. Suspect more, I do. Hmm... Though memory lost, The Force, willing to aid you, it seems."
"So it's... a memory? Of what?" The young girl asked. Master Yoda shook his head. Not my mind it is, young one. Only you, does this concern...
She continued writing.
When I first woke, many of the Jedi Masters knew I was powerful within the ways of the Force, considering I manipulated it out of fear and sent Master Obi-Wan Kenobi flying back a few feet. His former apprentice, Anakin Skywalker had a good laugh with that, saying that I was "Okay in his book"!
Not long after that incident, they had me inducted as a padawan learner, considering I exceeded the age requirements to start as an Initiate.
It took a few weeks of debate to determine if I should become a Jedi or not, and it took no small amount of convincing from the same one I sent hurdling back the first day here, Master Kenobi. He convinced them, proving that though too old, there were two very important exceptions to the rule in the recent decade, one being him and the other Anakin. From then on, it was decided that I was to be trained, but by a Jedi Master who was also an exception to normal rules: Master Celestia Sol Invictus. She never joined the council and instead focused on written instruction for Jedi of all rank and size, handing them reading materials and guides for certain projects. Even Master Anakin was lectured effectively once or twice by my Master! Seeing as how she kept to the records often, Celestia taught me much about the ways of the Jedi- The different classes, defense stances and techniques in the heat of battle, everything! Without her, I would have not faced The Trials without failure.
Today is special to me, and that is why I am recollecting my growth from a Padawan Learner with no memory of who she was, to Jedi Knight and proud pupil of Master Celestia. I was given a message to meet the Council before writing this passage by my number one assistant, the SP-K3! He was a malfunctioning C3 Astromech unit that I repaired myself! Fully combat ready with 3 pronged "Claws" that replaced those clunky clamps that it had before. I even updated it with a voice module and emergency heat emissions coming out the front in case he's surrounded by some droids in the future. Though, for some reason, it keeps shooting out flames when I receive a message. I need to fix that...
I painted him purple with green accents and obviously changed his boring name. I call him Spike!
"Ahem!" The aforementioned assistant exclaimed, pointing to the time.
Looks like I'm running out of time, and I don't want to be Tardy , so I'll continue another time, though I suspect it'll be a good long while before that happens.
-Twilight Sparkle
Author's Note
For those who aren't familiar with the C Series astromech, it appeared in the show "Star Wars: Rebels" and I thought it was a good model to work off of for "Spike"! Please go Here to read up on it!
Star Wars: Friendship Divided
Author's Note
I know it took forever to get this out, and I apoligize. I've been facing hardships left and right, and finally the waters of my life have calmed down enough to let me continue writing! Please enjoy this chapter, it might be a bit short, but I hope I impressed!
The Meeting
"Hey, watch it!" a Knight called out.
"Sorry!" Twilight exclaimed, rushing past a few dozen of her fellow Jedi. Some were scarred from battle thanks to the recent excursions of Masters and their Padawan Learners to the battlefield in order to help turn the tide of the war. She even ran into the famous Anakin Skywalker and his Padawan, Ahsoka Tano.
"Woah, where are you running off to, Sparkle?" Anakin exclaimed, with a cocky tone.
"For the last time, Master Skywalker, It's Twilight!"
"Whatever you say, Sparkle! You still didn't answer my question though."
Though fuming, Twilight began to tell him where she was headed. "Well, if you absolutely have to know, I'm on my way to see the Council. They wanted to discuss something with me." She smirked.
However, Anakin wasn't smirking. His demeanor changed at the mere mention of the council. "Whatever the Council wants with you, it isn't something to brag about, Twilight." He walked closer, grabbing her shoulder with his robotic arm. "Keep a level head when you go in. I sense that this meeting is going to change you in ways that you never thought possible."
"Thank you, Master Anakin. I'll.. try to take your advice to heart." With that, they parted ways.
"You surprise me sometimes, Master." Ahsoka murmured to her teacher.
"I might be cocky, but I've got a serious side sometimes..." he smirked.
A few minutes later, Twilight finally arrived at the destination she was racing towards: the Council chambers. she knocked on the door just slightly, her anxiousness getting the better of her. Waiting for a reply, many thoughts raced through her mind. Are they going to finally let me join the war? Did something happen to my teacher? Have they decided to go against their word and expel me because of my age?!
She could feel a panic attack coming on. Breathe Twilight, breathe!
Putting on a look of determination, she burst through the chamber doors!
...Only to see Master Yoda meditating alone.
Confused, she looked around for the other Jedi Masters, only to find it was just the two of them. The projectors were off, and the seats vacant. "Master Yoda? Where is-"
"Gone they are, or have you forgotten we are at war, hmm?" The little green Jedi said, eyes still closed and with a smile now adorned upon his aged lips.
"I'm sorry Master. I didn't mean to presume-"
The wisest and oldest of Jedi merely chuckled. "Presume? Presume?! Oh ho ho! Young are you, still eager to please, hmm? Hmm?!" Still chuckling, he uncrossed his legs and leaned on his cane to prop himself up, looking at the young Jedi with fire in her eyes, like so many before her. "Young are you, still so eager to please, hmm? Hmm?!" He still smiled at her, knowing his words held volume to the girl. "Your Master Celestia, just as eager during her Padawan years, yes! A lesson all younglings must learn is control..."
Those words brought back a memory of Twilight's back when she first arrived, no memory and lost...
Control, control; You must learn control!"
"I'm trying!" Struggling to lift a small training droid, currently powered down. After hours of trying in the study room, she eventually became frustrated and tossed it at the wall by accident. I'm sorry, Master Yoda, I don't know what went wrong...
"Nothing went wrong, my ever faithful student." Celestia walked into the door after hearing the commotion. "You just need to learn to control your emotions, as i'm sure Master Yoda has taught you."
"Hmph! Certainly I did! Though it seems my methods, not the right course. Master Celestia, care to teach our young one the value of control?"
Nodding, she knelt down to the now crying Twilight. "I-I'm sorry I-" Her throat dried out from shock- Her teacher was hugging her. It felt warm and friendly... It made her regret her frustrations. "My Faithful student, there are two sides to the Force: The Light side, where control and temperament is key, and there is the Dark Side, where Anger and Frustration is the source of power..."
"As beings practicing in the light, we are not able to use frustration. We need to learn control. Let's try again...
Suddenly Yoda prodded at her with his cane. "Huh, what?" Twilight gasped.
"Your mind, wandering it seems, hmm?" He chuckled, much to the Knight's embarrassment.
"I- Yes, master. I was reliving an old memory."
"Ahh, learn from the memory, did you?" She nodded in reply.
"Yes, though I sense I'm not here to learn a new lesson..." Her tone changed to a more serious one, eyes focusing on Master Yoda's.
"In a way, no." the old Master cleared his throat. "Here, you are, to teach young learners much like yourself. Master to them, you will become..."
"M-Master?! But I don't even know where to begin! How do you know I'm ready?! I-I...." she kneeled down, hyperventilating and thoughts pouring from her head. What if I'm not good enough? Will I fail? I shouldn't accept this, I'm not ready...
"Ease your mind, young one. Master Celestia, train you she did. And advise me she did, on this matter. You are ready."
Twilight sighed. "I-okay... If she thinks I'm ready..."
Unsheathing his lightsaber, Master Yoda tapped both her shoulders, a formality normally used in the ceremony of christening Jedi Knights. "No longer Padawan, and though short your knighthood was, the Council deems you worthy of the title of Jedi Master. Ready are you, to accept this title and its responsibilities in protecting and training your Padawan Learners in the Way of the Force?"
"I am" She stared into Yoda's eyes, an even bigger fire of determination burning bright in them.
"This moment on, never Knight again you are. Master, you become" He once again sheathed his rarely seen lightsaber.
"Rise, young one." Doing as instructed, she rose. "Difficult is your task as Master, for not one learner you will train, but five..."
"F-five?! Master Yoda, I don't think that many has been trained at one time before!"
"True, that is. Their previous masters, due to the war, many met their demise it seems... None will take them."
Feeling regret, she sighed. I am always forgetting we are at war right now. Those poor Padawans...
"I will train them, as is my duty as Master. I accept them under my tutelage." Yoda's smile appeared once again because of this action of kindness.
"Grateful, I am! A long journey you have. Meet with them soon, you will. For now, meditate and rest."
And thus a large journey has begun, just as Master Skywalker has said. The war may still be going on, but friendship will rise from it, and these six Jedi will have a large part in the unfolding of the future of the war, as well as new threats arising. They will face hardships and new challenges in the following months.
Star Wars: Friendship Divided
"Alright Spike, let's go over the list again!" Twilight exclaimed, only to hear her assistant chirp in response. It was midday in Coruscant, the Temple bustling with activity of all sorts. From the Clone Troopers generously assigned by the Republic to protect and defend the Jedi Temple and all it contains to the Jedi Masters and their pupils training and researching as if oblivious to the current wartime status. In her room, the newly christened Jedi Master was having droid problems in her personal chambers. Turning around, she looked at her robotic companion and sighed in exasperation. "Is your voice modulator malfunctioning again?"
CHIRP BLOOP BEEP
Reaching into one of her pockets, she pulled out a handheld Plasma Welder and motioned for her assistant to come closer. "How many times do I have to tell you not to eat shiny rocks?! It messes with your modulator!" Pressing a button on the side of the head module, SP-K3's side claws retracted to reveal a now open panel, containing his voice modulator and Ion Fuser for starship repair, as well as a Micro Furnace. When she first built Spike and saw his fiery malfunction with messages, she adopted it into an idea for a defense mechanism. Unlike most droids of it's class, SP-K3 had a hardened shell triple reinforced with Carbonite to handle the intense heat that it's unique defense mechanism gave off.
After a few spot welds from the Fuser, the repair job seemed to leave a satisfied look on Twilight's face. "Is that better?" She asked, hopeful that the quick repair worked.
"Yeah, lots! Thanks Twilight." The droid's voice sounded childlike, almost innocent. It was just as the Jedi who built him intended. Somehow, it gave the droid a bit more humanity. It made her feel like she had a little brother.
Brother...
That word put her at unease. She didn't have a brother, but- it still felt wrong to say it. Shaking her head, she focused on the task at hand. "Okay since your modulator is fixed again, we should go over the list."
"Alright! Loading it now;" With a few whirs, the projector on Spike's head flickered to life and produced a holographic list titled "FUTURE PUPILS".
On it, the list had several names:
FUTURE PUPILS
"Okay, do you know where they are located? I need to make some final preparations, then meet them there."
Whirring his head back and forth, SP-K3 said "I have no idea, Twilight. I looked in recent records, but it doesn't say where they are. Wait, here comes a message from Master Celestia." Once again, his projector hummed to life, and began playing the holographic message. After a quick burst of flames of course. "Sorry Twilight! Even with my software upgrades, I still can't help it!"
"It's alright, Spike. Continue playing the message." Nodding in affirmation, he resumed the message.
With a brief flicker of static, the holographic visage of Master Celestia appeared, bowing in respect to the newly appointed Master. "Greetings, Twilight. I have no doubt that you have noticed the altered records which currently do not show the whereabouts of your new pupils. It is because the Council wishes to make your assignment anonymous. There are... rumors present that pose risk to your pupils, and the Jedi Council as well as a few members of the Senate do not want to take the risk of your discovery. These many Padawan all in one place could be a terrible bargaining chip for the Separatists..."
"Wait, it's already day one and my pupils, who I haven't met, are in DANGER?!" Twilight began Hyperventilating, the first symptom indicating she was about to enter her infamous "Panic Mode"; A mode that her robotic assistant is all too familiar with. Shutting off the message briefly, he held Twilight's arms with his claws, and began to gently shake her. "Snap out of it, Twilight! You remember what happened last time you freaked out over nothing, don't you?!"
That seemed to do the trick. Taking a few long and deep breaths, Twilight calmed down. "Okay, I'm calm. Whew, that was a close call!" She wiped off the sweat she didn't know she had from her brows. "I wanna hear the rest of the message."
Whirring up his projector, for the last time he hoped, the rest of the message played. "... The Council decided to disguise their numbers amongst the thousands of Clone Troopers stationed aboard the Gambit , a Republic Attack Cruiser . Your number one astromech was given coordinates to the cruiser's current location. Your Delta-7 is waiting in the docking bay, fully fueled. May the Force be with you, Twilight." The message faded, leaving nothing but silence, until Spike spoke up.
"I have the coordinates ready and waiting, Twilight. Just tell me when you're ready!" Turning, the droid saw a shocked Twilight, silently mumbling to herself.
"My very own Delta-7..."
"What was that?" Spike leaned in, bringing one of his claws closer to his microphone hoping to funnel the sound better towards it.
"MY VERY OWN DELTA-7!!!!"
"GAH!" Spike fell on his metallic back, being surprised so suddenly.
"Sorry!" Waving her hand, she manipulated the Force to lift her assistant back onto his wheel tracks. "It's just, Delta-7's are one of the most, if not THE MOST exclusive Starfighter that a Jedi could have!"
"It's just a ship. What's so special about it?" asked Spike innocently.
"What's so special about it? WHAT'S SO SPECIAL ABOUT IT?! Only members of the Jedi Council own them! They made them so fast and reactive, that only Jedi could pilot them!"
She grabbed her mechanical assistant by the sides and bore her gaze into his head module. "THAT'S how special they are!" Suddenly pushing him away, she exclaimed "I've been dying to see one up close, and they gave me my own! Think of all the things I could learn by stripping it down to it's core and... What?"
Spike glared at her the only way an astromech could- by shaking its head, putting its claws to its side in a way that made it look like he had hips to dig them into. "You kinda need it to get to your new pupils, or did you suddenly forget that?"
"Hehe, right!" Twilight blushed.
Meanwhile, thousands of parsecs away, her students were all sitting aboard the Gambit's docking bay, being questioned by one of the Clones...
"I'll ask only one time," A helmeted Trooper with blue accents adorned on his almost pristine armor asked, Blaster Rifle aimed at them. "Who are you, and what are doing on this ship?!" The safety was clicked off. "Last chance."
"Um, w-we're the Padawan Learners s-sent by the Jedi Council to be t-t-trained out here, um with our n-n-new Master?" One of them spoke up, with a timid tone. She had a light pink mane of hair, and a cream yellow Jedi training robe with the same light pink color accents as her hair on. She was shivering and looked scared half to death. One slight motion would've made her jump it looked like, and the rifle trained on her wasn't helping.
"All of you?! Under one Jedi Master? That can't be right!" Two blaster Pistols were now trained on them in addition to the other Trooper's Rifle. This one's armor was different however. Instead of the blue accent, this one's was red, and there was no helmet worn. The armor looked scarred and the paint worn, most likely from heavy combat. "There's almost always been only one Padawan per Master! The odds of our ship holding 5 under the training of one Master Jedi?! Impossible!"
"Of course, silly! Buuuuut, we're not! I even planned a patent pending Pinkie Pie Party just for the occasion!" The new voice's owner was vastly different from the previous one's. She had a bubblegum pink shade of hair, and her training robes were a brighter pink, with yellow accents. Pulling out a holocube, the new voice turned it on to display the proposed party. Surprisingly, it was very accurate to the scene before her. It even included the troopers aiming their weapons at the group. The only thing different was the vast amounts of streamers, balloons, and even a few Cannons it seems.
"Are those cannons?" the trooper in blue asked, only to receive an excited grin and nod from the girl holding the holocube.
"YOU BROUGHT WEAPONS ABOARD THIS SHIP?!" The red exclaimed, now priming his pistols to full capacity.
"Ahem" The third girl stepped up. Like the first, she had a beautiful mane of hair, the only thing different was the royal purple color as well as the great care obviously given to it. Her robe was white with light purple accents. "She doesn't have any cannons in any of our manifests. Believe me, I checked ten times before heading out!" Fluttering her eyelashes at both troopers, she began to use her feminine wiles. "Now, would you strong, brave Clones please help us unpack?" Stepping closer to the blue one, she began tracing the side of his arm with her finger. "After all, it wouldn't do any good to let us poor, defenseless young girls stay here, frightened by those Big Guns of yours!"
They both lowered their rifles...
Only to handcuff all five of them and throw them in the brig, declaring that all the property onboard "is now considered evidence, and any and all of its contents will be under close watch from all the troops and officers aboard."
"Great goin', Rarity! Now not only do we not have any of our things, but now we're also considered criminals! If you would've just left out our message from Master Celestia like I told you instead of packing it, we wouldn't even be in this mess!" The girl that spoke had blonde braided hair, and her training robes were tinted a cream orange, with red accents.
"Well it's not my fault I didn't know we were supposed to keep it out! I just assumed it was a formality, Applejack!" The purple haired girl from earlier exclaimed, glaring at the blonde haired Jedi. "And who's brilliant idea was it to let Fluttershy speak for us?" She pointed to the light pink haired shy one that first spoke to the troopers. "She can barely stop herself from flinching when she sees her own shadow!"
"Hey! Don't you talk about my friend like that!" The last girl spoke up. She had short hair with each color of the rainbow adorning it. Her robes were baby blue with dark blue accents. "We shouldn't even be here in the first place, so blaming my friend for these knuckleheads drawing their guns on us isn't necessary!"
"If we followed your plan, we would've been thrown out the nearest airlock, Rainbow Dash!" Pinkie spoke up.
The five Padawan Learners began bickering and arguing amongst each other for what seemed like hours...
Back at the Jedi Temple Docking Bay...
"There it is, Spike!!!" Twilight pointed to the Delta-7. It was painted a stylish Purple, with pink accents, fitting the streaks of color in her hair. It was currently being fueled by a Clone Mechanic. Approaching, the mechanic stopped what he was doing, and addressed the Jedi the ship belonged to. "She's in tip-top shape and ready to take you wherever you want to go! I even made sure she was calibrated right. Here-" he pulled out a state-of-the-art Kremlin Starship Repair Kit. Only Clones were allowed to carry them. "Me and the boys all pooled together our credits to get you this." He handed the kit to Twilight. "You saved us so much time with those little mechanical shortcuts you've shown us over the years, that we decided to get you this to remember us by!"
"I-I don't know what to say, Gearbox!" Clone M3970 was nicknamed that because of his fascination with any and all gearboxes that came across him. Twilight always helped him and his comrades with any and all mechanical problems they were having.
"Aw, you don't have to say anything! Consider it a parting gift. I don't think we'll be seeing a whole lot of each other, now that you're a Jedi Master and all!"
She hugged him. "Thank you, Gearbox. I won't forget what you've done for me." With that, they both parted ways, and she sat in the pilot seat of her new Delta-7. Her robotic assistant was soon to follow, activating his thrusters to hop into the Astromech Housing Unit.
"Are you ready, Spike?" With the push of a button, the monitors thrummed to life and Twilight grabbed hold of the thruster controls.
"Ready as my programming will let me be!" The droid's voice spoke through the ear piece Twilight put on. She smiled back. "Good to hear it, Spike!"
"Okay, let's see." Gazing over the control panel, Twilight searched for the Primer switch for the thrusters. "Aha!" Flicking a red switch, the thrusters of the Delta-7 hummed to life. After the thrusters warmed up, Twilight maneuvered the ship slightly, and knocked down a pile of nearby crates full of cargo. "Blast it! When the books I read said the maneuverability of these things was sensitive, they weren't kidding!"
With more care this time, Twilight maneuvered the Starship to the exit, retracting the landing gear. "Okay, Spike. We need to dock outside orbit with our Hyperdrive Boosters. It should be in those sets of coordinates Master Celestia gave you."
"Yep, got em' right here! You want me to take you there?" She nodded in affirmation. With the droid now piloting towards the Booster, Twilight had time to think about what her Padawan Learners are like. "Hey Spike..."
"What is it, Twilight? You wanna try flying the rest of the way there?" Spike asked.
"No, you're fine. I'm just wondering what we should expect from these pupils I'm supposed to train." She explained.
"Huh. Haven't given much thought to it, if I'm being honest. I hope they like droids, that's all I can say!" That seemed to earn a chuckle from Twilight.
"hehe, I'm sure they'll love you Spike! I'm not so sure about me though..."
"Don't worry about it, Twilight! If they like me, they're certainly gonna like you!"
"I hope so... Anyway, it looks like we reached the Boosters. Go ahead and dock, then we can head for the Gambit ." Twilight said.
Doing so, the droid docked the ship, and began to warm the Booster's engines up. Within a few moments, the ship warped out towards the Gambit.
"5,4,3,2,1... and we're here!" Coming out of Warp Speed, their ship stopped just a few parsecs away from the Gambit . It was a Massive ship, towering over the Delta-7 by no small amount. "You alright, Twilight?" You look a little... green."
Feeling woozy and about to puke, she croaked out "I'm fine, Spike!" to her number one astromech. After regaining her composure, she was suddenly hailed by the acting captain of the Gambit .
"Halt. This is the Republic vessel codenamed Gambit. State your intent." The captain wasn't a Clone like she was expecting. Instead, it was a tall and well built man with a slight moustache and shaved head. "This is Captain Boros, and if you don't comply, I'm gonna wreck you like a Dark Souls Boss!"
"Huh? Anyways, I'm Jedi Master Twilight, sent from Master Celestia to begin my tutelage for five young Padawan aboard your ship. I was told they already arrived. Is this true?" Giving a suspicious glare at Twilight, Captain Boros asked for proper ID. "We detained five young girls earlier, due to not having proper Identification."
"Oh, of course. My astromech is transmitting the missive now." Doing as instructed, the small droid transmitted the message Celestia sent him to show Twilight, hopefully clearing up any misunderstanding the Captain might've had.
"I see. Well, you're here. Just don't start any campaigns without asking me first, got it? I wanna join in!" He abruptly cut the message off, sending two fighter escorts to lead her to the docking bay.
A few hours later, in the brig...
The five girls were still bickering amongst each other when the Ray shields blocking them from leaving the cells deactivated. What happened next was astonishing. A very angry Twilight Sparkle manipulated the force to keep all of them still, and hovered them to the docking bay. Only then did she release them and took their lightsabers before they did something else rash. They were silent, and should be, considering what transpired. No one uttered a sound. None, except for Twilight, still mad at her new pupils. "My Quarters. Now."
They knew they were in trouble, and scurried off quicker than a wamp rat on Tatooine. As far as they were concerned, they were going home, after Twilight had seen...
Author's Note
Hey, so i'm totally looking for fanart of Celestia in Jedi Robes, to give the readers the gist of what she looks like. Oh, and all the Mane 6 too. If you know any good artists that are up to it, please let me know!
Also, what an intense chapter!!! Took me a while, but I did it!!! If you have any criticisms, I'd love to hear them!
Star Wars: Friendship Divided
"Well, it looks like our lesson ended before it even began, girls..." Rarity admitted dejectedly. All five pupils were seated in various places among Twilight Sparkle's quarters. It wasn't very large, but it wasn't cramped either. The walls were a vibrant purple, with a separate shower room as well as a sizeable bedroom. Despite the circumstances, it had a very friendly atmosphere to it.
"Argh! I hate this!" Rainbow slammed her fist into the wall she was leaning on. "Not even past day one, and we're getting kicked out of our training!" Sighing, she slid down to the floor. "It isn't fair..."
"I'm sorry everyone. It was my fault that the missive was packed in the first place. If anyone is to blame, it's myself. You should all still be able to train if I take the responsibility..." Rarity sighed
"Ah, don't beat yourself up sugarcube! Ain't nobody to blame. We just made a mistake, that's all! What would Master Yoda say at something like this?"
"There is no try..." The rest of the group repeated in a monotone. Many lessons were drilled into their heads by Master Yoda when they were but inexperienced Initiates.
"Right! So don't give up hope, girls!" Applejack exclaimed, smiling. However, no one was inspired by her speech, not even her. "Oh, who am I kidding? We done goofed, and now we're going to pay for it."
"I-It's not all bad!" Pinkie Pie began. "At least I can throw us a 'leaving the Order forever' Party!" her smile disappeared, and her hair deflated a little. "*sigh* I don't even think I'll love that party..."
"What about you, Fluttershy? What do you think will happen?" Applejack asked the final member of their party.
She was silent, shielding her face from her fellow Padawan with the palms of her hands. The only thing to come out was light sobbing. Nothing seemed to cheer any of them up. Their hope for training was doomed from the start.
Suddenly, the door opened to reveal their Master. She came in, followed by her Astromech SP-K3, a stern look set about her face. "Master, I-" Rarity began, no doubt trying to keep the blame to herself and try to save the rest of her fellow Jedi from being expelled from the Jedi Order. Twilight raised her hand, causing her to stop. In the calmest voice possible, she asked all five of them to follow her. Twisting and turning through the pale white hallways, until they reached a circular room with a table in the center. "Please, sit around the Holotable. I'm not expelling you from your teachings, though it would be the right thing to do."
Not knowing what to expect now, they did as instructed and sat around the table. "*sigh* After consulting with my number one assistant, I think it's best if we put the past behind us, and focus on your training." Everyone seemed to brighten up at that, cheerfully talking amongst themselves. "But-" She continued, silencing them once more. "It seems we need to go over a few lessons that haven't particularly 'stuck' so to speak." Pressing a few buttons on the side of the Holotable, it thrummed to life and showed a planet. It looked like a large gaseous planet, with a few rings surrounding it. "This is the planet Gallum. It's a nearby supply depot that the Gambit needs to stop outside of its orbit in order to refuel and gather supplies for its next mission. I will be going with Captain Boros, as well as Hotflash, one of the Troopers who detained you, down to the surface on one of it's moons via supply shuttle. He was the one in the red accented armor. Their interactions with the natives needs a translator, and since I've memorized over 30,000 different types of dialects, I will be joining them. My assistant, SP-K3;" She motioned to the purple and green astromech next to her. "Will stay here and monitor your progress. You may call him spike, if it makes it easier."
Rainbow raised her hand. Twilight nodded her head, signaling that she could speak. "That's all well and good, but what exactly is our lesson?"
"You each have different ones. I've already told Spike what to expect when he monitors each of you individually. In the meantime, get to know your surroundings. A Jedi must be in tune with their environment, so feel free to explore and mingle with your fellow crewmates. My assistant will find each one of you individually, and record what you do."
Dismissing the five Padawan, they each returned to their rooms to get a good amount of rest and to meditate on what Twilight had said. The moment they all woke up, they said their goodbyes to their new Master before the shuttle took off...
"I will be fine, everyone! Uh, no need to worry!" Twilight said awkwardly, seeing all her pupils staring at her as if it was the last time they were going to see her.
Fluttershy sprinted towards her and hugged her tightly. "Be careful!" She exclaimed, almost pleaded.
"Honestly, there's nothing to be worry about!" She pulled Fluttershy away gently. "It's a routine resupply, according to the Captain."
...That didn't change the expressions on their faces.
"I'll be fine!" She finished, hearing the Captain call her for the takeoff. "I need to go now. Uh, bye!" She waved, before the shuttle door closed, and it left the hangar.
Twilight sighed. I forgot. They all lost their Masters because of "Routine Resupplies"...
Author's Note
BOOM! This chapter is done! Gonna split up their lessons one at a time. You'll probably get the theme of each one. Maybe? I dunno, it's late at night, I'm tired.
There'll be a theme to each one, and hopefully within the next few weeks they'll be done! Unless something comes up.
If you have any criticisms about this chapter, go ahead and put a comment, I'd love to hear from you guys!
Star Wars: Friendship Divided
Fear Thy Neighbor, Part 1
“Nothing is more terrifying than fearlessness.” ― Cornelia Funke
I really hope she's okay... Fluttershy wondered, silently petting her Bunny Angel in her quarters. During their meeting with their new Master, all of the five Padawan's things were moved into their respective rooms, including their pets. Each one of the animals had their own uniqueness to it, but Angel? Well... "Ouch!" Angel bit down on the cream skinned girl's hand. "Angel Bunny! How many times did I tell you I was sorry?" She gave a stern look at the fluffy devil, only to have him scoff. That was a fatal mistake on his part, because Fluttershy had a power over animals like no other. With what most have called the "Stare", she has calmed all manner of beasts in an instant, and almost instilled a sort of fear into them. The Jedi Council thought it was tied to her abilities as a Jedi, but her control over the Force was not high enough to even come close to that sort of power. In fact, all she had been able to do successfully was slightly wobble a rock. Only when afraid was she able to control her power effectively, a practice shunned by the Order. Her pet bunny was no exception to the rules, and as a result scurried to his owner's hand and nudged it in apology.
Realizing what she had done, she groaned. "I can't believe I did it again! I'm sorry Angel. Could you ever forgive me?" Nodding, the bunny chittered in what could be considered a "Yes", but honestly it was anyone's guess. Pointing to his mouth sent the message more clearly.
"Oh of course I'll give you something to eat!" She giggled.
A few more moments of silence went on after that, save for Angel happily nibbling on his carrot on her lap. It was unnerving, like the calm before a storm. Suddenly, her chamber doors slid open, causing a leap of panic from Fluttershy to send her behind the couch she was resting on. "W-who's there?!"
"Fluttershy? Ma'am?" A helmeted Clone Trooper spoke into the room before him. His armor was a generic white, and the notoriously recognizable matching helmet was currently off. To him, the room looked similar to the barracks, only converted for one person instead of several. As for the décor, it was peaceful. It had brown shag rugs, and cream yellow walls accented with pink butterflies near the trim. A few tables here and there. The bedroom was sealed off from the rest of the room.
Slowly, the shy girl emerged from her hiding spot, still shaking. "Y-yes? W-what is it?"
"Your presence is requested at the debriefing room. Follow me." Still trembling, she did as instructed and followed the Clone through the halls, and to the room that Twilight had her and her fellow Jedi in before she departed. Pinkie, Rainbow, Applejack, and Rarity were already seated around the Holotable, waiting for this meeting to begin. It looked like she was the last to show up. She sat between two of her fellow Jedi and began the waiting game just like they had prior.
"You're dismissed, Trooper." a robotic voice spoke up.
"Yes, sir!" the clone barked back, saluting and exiting the room. After it was just the five of them, the source of the voice revealed itself from the shadows. It was SP-K3, Twilight's astromech.
"Y-you can talk?" Fluttershy asked. I didn't know droids could talk...
"Yes I can, thanks to Twilight!" It exclaimed in a proud tone. "Oh, er- I mean Master Twilight installed a military grade voice modulator to help make me speak English." The droid changed tried to sound like an adult, but its childlike voice wasn't convincing to the five Jedi.
To be honest, she thought it was adorable.
"Anyways, enough about how great I am!" The droid continued. "*Ahem*, I've been instructed by Twilight to hold on to your lightsabers for the time being. She doesn't think you should get them back until you each have learned your lessons." His head compartment opened up to reveal all five lightsabers currently housed inside. None of them had distinguishing characteristics and were all a bright blue. Though not traditional until the Jedi visited the caves on Ilum, these lightsabers were offered to the five Padawan Learners due to the dangers they might encounter out in the far reaches of space. The fact they were all under the tutelage of the same Master didn't help matters much.
Closing the compartment shut, Spike settled near the Holotable's Droid Interface panel. "I also have a message from Master Twilight she recorded before meeting you girls and departing with the Captain:"
Opening the panel, Spike interfaced with it, dimming the lights and projecting the holographic message on the table. "Is it on, Spike? Okay, well... Here goes!" The holographic Twilight spoke, bowing slightly in greeting. "Hello my uh, pupils! Oh gosh, this is more awkward than I thought..." She mumbled, then sighed. "Look, I don't think it's fair you were imprisoned. I know it was a lack of judgement from Hotflash and his associate, and I apologize for your mistreatment;" She rubbed the back of her holographic neck, eyes downcast and remorseful. Suddenly, the look was gone and her eyes were stern. "But that does not mean you will not go unpunished! It seems you all have a lesson to learn that you have failed to learn a few key lessons that were neglected back at the Temple." The holographic Jedi Master straightened her glasses. "My number one assistant, SP-K3 or Spike if you feel the need to shorten time, will monitor each and every one of you individually. Don't intend on asking anyone on board for help. These are Lessons that need to be taught through experience, as much as it pains me to say.
Twilight cleared her throat. "Therefore, I have instructed the second in command, First Officer Shotlock to give the orders to all the soldiers aboard the Gambit to perform their regular duties and treat you as if you were just another Clone aboard. However, they are not completely useless to you five, so feel free to ask questions, but NOT anything related to what your lesson is or how to solve it. Good luck, my faithful students, and may the Force be with you". The hologram ended, and Spike wheeled away from the Holotable, and towards Fluttershy.
"Twilight gave me a list, and you were at the very top, Fluttershy."
"EEP! Not me!" I would've preferred last, so I wouldn't be so nervous, not first!
And so the lessons begin...
Author's Note
Well, there you have it folks! It's all done, or at least the first part is
Each lesson is going to be split up into two different chapters, and there will be a random quote in the first part of each that gives the premise of the lesson, so I hope you enjoy this first part of Fluttershy's Lesson, and I hope you like what you've read so far!
If you have any questions or criticisms, please leave me a comment, and I'll get back to you!
Star Wars: Friendship Divided
Fear Thy Neighbor, Part 2
The Gambit's Mess Hall, a wretched hive of fistfights and debauchery. A place Fluttershy wanted to avoid at all costs...
It's okay, Fluttershy. Breathe, stay calm... She thought, shivering in place and sweating bullets. The Mess Hall was the only place, aside from the barracks, that the clones could settle disputes, relax, and occasionally get at each other's throats without being court martialed. Drunken brawls and the occasional table flip were quite frequent in this mess hall. "Wow! This place is amazing!" Spike exclaimed, causing the poor girl to jump in fright. "I mean, just look at that hardware the chefs are using!" One of his metallic claws pointed to the kitchen, and more importantly, the advanced ovens and stoves the kitchen staff were using. The poor astromech was oblivious to the chaos surrounding him.
"Heh heh, yeah... The hardware..." Fluttershy chuckled nervously, flinching at another brawl started mere feet away from where she was sitting. For a ship under the Republic flag, there doesn't seem do be much regulation...
After a while, the chaos of the Mess Hall died down to only the occasional verbal spat, calming the Jedi's nerves a little. Remember Fluttershy, you're still being tested...
"So," she stared down at the cute little robot currently sat to the left of her, paying close attention to her and also adding to her anxiety. Fidgeting in her seat, she continued. "Have you...read any good books?" She smacked her forehead almost as soon as the words left her mouth.
"Oh yeah, tons!" The droid spoke enthusiastically. "Twilight, *AHEM* I mean Master Sparkle, has catalogued and read over 2.8 quintillion books, theses, adventure novels; You name it, she probably read it, took notes, then alphabetized it! She had me scan all the hard copies to her Holocron." SP-K3 chuckled, earning a giggle from Fluttershy as well.
"Oh my! That does sound like a lot!" After a bit more of polite conversation about good books, awkward silence ensued once again. Noticing a bit of dirt on SP-K3's shell, the young padawan licked her thumb and wiped off the smudge from one of his lenses, much to the small astromech's dismay.
"Hey! what are you- Oh. Oh, wow! My ambient environment processors just kicked up by 9.3%!" His lenses refocused with enhanced vigor. "I can even smell the Womprat Stew one of the clones are eating on the other end of the mess hall! And this Mess hall takes up a quarter of the ship!"
She giggled. "It's amazing how far a little bit of kindness goes, isn't it?" It was true- even during short time with her previous Master on the frontlines, she always helped where she could, even if it was as small as giving an injured Clone some water to drink while the Bactas did their work. The chipper little droid reminded Fluttershy of those treasured short moments under Master Pectus. It took her mind off the test Master Sparkle had in mind.
Suddenly, a rumble knocked most of the Clones and Fluttershy to the ground. Red flashing lights came on, followed by a call from the Captain to battlestations. What was once a mess hall full of famished soldiers turned into a cry of excitement and a surprisingly neat line or two forming outwards, each clone trooper grabbing their helmets and heading to their stations. "What are you doing still standing around?!" A clone barked at her and the droid, startling the poor girl by doing so. "Battlestations means everybody that can use a weapon!"
"B-but I d-don't know how to f-fire b-blasters!" She stuttered.
"There's no greater weapon than the mind! Now move it!" She still stood there frozen, the red flashing lights illuminating her face. "ON THE DOUBLE, SOLDIER!"
"Eep!" Fluttershy sprinted away as quick as she could, her robotic observer struggling to keep the pace.
"Where are you going, Fluttershy!?"
"I don't know!" She bawled. Turning a corner, she saw a familiar sight, at least to her: the Hospital Ward. It was one of several aboard the Gambit and had several floors soon to be littered with clones in need of aid.
SP-K3, flagging down a nearby trooper, asked what was going on. "Surprise attack." The clone began, saluting the droid. "A small command ship came out of Hyperspace followed by a few support ships. If they haven't spotted us, they soon will; The clankers came out just a few parsecs south of our location!"
"What was the rumbling then?"
"Full stop, by captain's orders. If we got any further to our rendezvous point with the landing party, it would give away that they are down there!" Noticing Fluttershy's look of fear, he turned to face the young Padawan, taking off his helmet. "Don't worry," he smiled. "Your Master is safe, there ain't no way Hotflash is gonna let anything harm her. Besides," he put his helmet back on. "She isn't just good for reading and lectures: I heard about her skill from some of the uppers and let's just say I'm more confident she'll be protecting more him rather than the other way around." Another rumble followed, interrupting their conversation.
"All engineers to bay 6! Repeat, all available engineers to bay 6!" The intercom rang once more.
"Fluttershy, you need to get up!" SP-K3 begged, shaking her vigorously. It was too much for her to handle. She thought she'd be safe! They were gone, in a safe space; The Gambit was their virtual cottage on the outskirts of a dangerous forest, and she wouldn't have to panic!
Another alert finally shook her out of the fetal position she was in. "Priority Alpha to Medical Ward 16! Critically wounded are on arrival! ETA 5 minutes!" It was automated this time, probably a local alert. "Wounded?"
"Fluttershy, it's not safe here." SP-K3 said. "We need to get back to your room! We can continue there!" His robotic claw tugged her hand, dragging her towards the nearest exit and more importantly, away from danger. Spike was given a mission to both monitor the young Padawans closely and to keep them safe. A bloodcurdling scream echoed through the now bustling hospital ward: a sign of the soon to be droves of wounded that were to occupy here.
Suddenly, Fluttershy jerked away from his iron grip and rushed towards an open operating room. Quickly, she found a nearby nurse and asked to be place in a theater to begin helping. "Civilians aren't qualified to just jump in and start using a laser scalpel!" He yelled, pushing her out. Still, she held her ground and pushed back. "You need to-"
"That patient behind you," she pointed to the Engineer clutching his shoulder, obvious scorch marks beneath the part he clutched desperately. "He needs treatment on his upper left torso. The blast damage he sustained had liquid plasma in the round. If you don't cauterize the wound and seal it with burn foam, it'll turn gangrenous." Both the nurse and SP-K3 were stunned to silence.
"...Alright then, you heard the lady!" The clone yelled to his medical team listening in nearby. "Get that burn foam ready while I get to work on getting rid of,that excess plasma." He stared back at the woman standing before him with new convictions written upon her face. "You wanna help? Fine, you proved you got the smarts so help me cauterize that wound! Your laser sword would do a better job than my Bacta Welder, so after I clean I need you to go along the outer burn."
"I would, but Master Twilight took away my lightsaber until she gets back." Fluttershy replied, sending glances towards the still silent astromech sitting behind her. The clone picked up on it and approached him.
"Droid, from her stares outta the corner of her eye, I'm guessing you have her tool?"
Looking up, he nodded. "Well, yeah, but it isn't a tool. It's a weapon, isn't it?"
The nurse sighed. "You droids all think the same, ya know that?" He crouched down and continued, facing SP-K3. "You see her, over there?" He gestured to the woman in question. "Look at the fearlessness in her eyes. I saw how she was before she knew about the injured; whatever mess she went with before us, it must've done her in but good. But the way she is now, I'd say her 'weapon' would do a lot more good saving lives than ending them, don't you think?"
Spike stared long and hard at the young Padawan before him, explosions still shaking the massive vessel they were in. He sighed, opening up one of the five ports on the top of his head unit, revealing Fluttershy's lightsaber. Using the force, she attached it to her belt and went to work. "I'll be fine, Spike." She smiled. "Why not check on the others?"
And with that, SP-K3 checked his internal GPS and headed towards the nearest Padawan transponder, hopefully finding the next Padawan to be observed still in one piece...
AUTO-GENERATED REPORT 1 [TO BE SENT WHEN STATUS MEETS CERTAIN CRITERIA]: SUBJECT: FLUTTERSHY STATUS: PASSED
NOTES: THOUGH PREVIOUS BEHAVIOR INDICATED LACK OF SELF-CONFIDENCE THAT ALL PADAWAN LEARNERS SHOULD HAVE, FLUTTERSHY HAS SHOWN CAPABILITIES OF FEARLESSNESS WHEN PRESENTED WITH OPPOTUNITIES TO AID THOSE IN NEED. ADDITIONALLY, HER TOOL HAS BEEN RETURNED, AS MORALITY OF THIS UNIT HAS INDICATED WAS BEST COURSE OF ACTION.
Author's Note
Holy macaroni! This has been one heck of a delay, eh folks? Well, have a new chapter, on me ;)
As always, make sure to let me know about any errors/criticisms and ill try to address them immediately. Thanks for reading!
Star Wars: Friendship Divided
War raged on in this galaxy. No one knew that better than I, given my recent promotion. They were down there all along, and this assignment was just a trap. I think the previous Captain knew that. That's why he took our most powerful and most recent asset planetside. I just hope his resignation doesn't do him in...
Vice Captain Siegebreak sighed as he filled in the most recent entry to his holo-journal. "Captain!" A sudden banging echoed on his door. "Captain! Urgent request to the bridge, sir! Separatist forces just arrived outta hyperspace!" Another quick rapping on his chamber door followed, along with another insistent order to appear at the bridge.
"Order a full stop and issue the alert to Battlestations!" Siegebreak said in a gritty and deep voice.
"Aye! The clone troopers look forward to your response, sir!" The clone barked, sprinting off towards the comms center.
Clones...[i/] Vice Captain Siegebreak wasn't too fond of this new generation of clones from Kamino. They were too eager for orders, too obedient. "My generation didn't have this robotic sense of eagerness. Kamino must be desparate to win the war these days..." He rubbed his bald head, sighing to himself. Clone commander number GC-281 was his official designation, but that was abandoned a long time ago. His cloning generation was known as the most diverse out of the entire cloning process to this day, due to the gene pool his DNA was derived from. Standing from his desk, Siegebreak walked over to his closet, putting on his old battle armor and gearing up for another battle, his beard showing signs of age and his body scarred in various places.
His generation of clones was also known as the "lost souls" due to the diversity and lack of overall obedience they inherently possessed. Around one decade before the bounty hunter Jango Fett offered his DNA to assemble a clone army as part of an order from a mysterious client, Kamino was commissioned by a gang of mobsters to help quell a small rebellion in their controlled region of the outer rim. From his understanding, they used their own genomes to help serve as a basis for their army, but lacked the foresight or knowledge to have obedience chips implanted, and thus was a failure from the beginning. Most of the clones were put through rigorous training, ten times worse than the training the most recent generation experienced and as a side effect, shortened their lifespan. Only 20 survived to the present day, most carrying on with their own lives, but still retained the same knowledge from before, making them coveted strategists, and dangerous adversaries if provoked.
Siegebreak's war-torn armor proved it: scorch marks littered the ion infused Kaminoan Battle Armor. It was an exceptionally old model based off depictions of the ancient Kaminoan Warriors, before technology and evolution allowed them to adapt to how they are now. Heavier than the typical modern day clone armor, it was powerful enough to stop a direct hit from a single plasma cannon. His has been chipped in several places, signs of explosive damage, and even several marks that only a lightsaber would leave and yet putting it on still filled him with pride. It intimidated anyone that saw him in it.
Fully dressed and ready for war, the Vice Captain opened his chambers and made his way to the Command Center, located in the bridge. A rumble occurred, following another more powerful one a few minutes afterwards, jarring him slightly on the second one. Tapping on his holo-watch, the Vice Captain patched into the comms center. "Status report." He bellowed.
The clone from before appeared via hologram and gave him the basic rundown. "Separatists have begun their initial attack run and we already have wounded near the starboard battlements."
"And our 'Special cargo'?"
"Safe." He breathed a brief sigh of relief. At least they were unharmed. "And surprisingly helpful. One of them has been put in charge of a medical team in one of our hospital wards."
"Hmm..."Siegebreak grunted. "And the others?"
"Unknown, sir. We will try to find out more shortly."
"Carry on then, dismissed." He swiped away the hologram, ending the call before entering the bridge. Through the windows, he could see the ongoing battle taking place: The command ship was spearheading the assault while the others lingered not too far behind it, the beginning wave of fighters steadily approaching. Walking over to the holotable, the Vice Captain began to strategize with the other officers. A cacophony of voices echoed around the table, all of which he filtered out in favor of complete silence.
The first wave of fighters shouldn't be out this early, that's not how droids think. What's their play then?
Demoralize and confuse.
And after?
Crippling our defenses and leaving us for dead.
Conclusion?
The inner conversation he had ended, bringing him to a conclusion worthy of his nickname given to him by his comrades. "It's a surprise attack, obviously." He calmly said in his baritone voice, silencing the others around the holotable. "The droids are too cold and calculated to sacrifice forces this early in a battle." The Vice Captain brought up a tactical map of the Gambit as well as the enemy ships located just south of their position. "Their strategy was to confuse and cripple us so that way they can land their main forces planetside."
The map updated according to his instructions, showing a play-by-play of what happened so far. "They came out of Hyperspace just south of us, presumably to disable our engines." The map showed a shot landing a direct hit to the ship's engines, highlighted in blue. "However, their entry was too far to the right and instead hit us starboard side, which brings us up to now:" the actual shot was highlighted in red.
"How do we respond then, Vice Captain?" One of the officers questioned.
"Their strategy failed, we know that as a fact, but that doesn't mean they still don't intend to cripple us. Focus power on rear deflector shields and prepare a counter-attack! Once the battle starts, I want this ship turned 90 degrees starboard for the offensive."
"Understood, sir!" The officers saluted, breaking off into several groups to relay orders.
Walking up to the control rig, arms behind his back in rest stance, Siegebreak beheld his new chessboard and grinned, glad to be back into another fight. Tapping on some controls, he patched into Master Twilight Sparkle's droid. "Droid! Are the young ones safe?"
"Agh!" SP-K3 exclaimed. "Don't scare me like that!"
"Hmph."
"And to answer your question, Uh, well..." A distant explosion was heard in the background followed by a cheer from a raspy and enthusiastic voice.
"Vice Captain! An unauthorized ARC-170 has taken off in Bay 2!" A nearby officer reported.
"You're that ARC-170 aren't you, droid?"
Author's Note
An intermission before the next lesson?! Oh ye cruel gods!
Anyways, the next one is gonna be awesome! It'll involve explosions and stuff!
EDIT: sweet Jesus, I forgot to change my placeholder name for Siegebreak! AND IN THE FIRST NAME DROP TOO IM SO SORRY DONT HATE ME
Star Wars: Friendship Divided
Loyal to the Core, Part 1
"Confidentiality is a virtue of the loyal, as loyalty is the virtue of faithfulness..." -Edwin Louis Cole
A few minutes earlier, just after SP-K3 went to find the others...
"I have a bad feeling about this..." Spike mumbled to himself on the way back to the Holodeck they were sat in when Master Twilight gave them a lecture, hoping they would think logically and regroup to a familiar and safe area. Distant rumbles shook the Gambit yet again, this time albeit a bit softer than before. "Well the good news is the deflector shields work!" Rushing a little bit faster on his treads, Spike headed towards the Holodeck and, hopefully, where the rest of the learners are.
Unfortunately, only two out of the five were accounted for: Pinkie Pie fidgeting with what looked like a toy party cannon, and the most dazzling creature his monitors ever beheld. There she sat, adjusting her coiffeure and makeup and looking radiant as ever. It was almost enough to fry his circuitry before his logistical matrix kicked in and he gave his head unit a good slap to get him rolling again. "Where are Applejack and Rainbow Dash?" He asked both of them, heading to the holotable in the middle of the room.
"Engine room, fighter bay." They simultaneously replied, none too concerned.
"WHAAAAAAAT?!" Quickly, he tapped into the Holotable's control board and brought up an internal holographic map of the Gambit's interior, 5 colored dots flashing in various intervals. The purple and pink dot were exactly where he stood, while the orange dot was 20 floors down and heading towards the Reactor Core, while the blue dot sat just outside Fighter Bay 2. "Nononono, this is really bad! If anyone gets hurt, it'll be my rear exhaust port on the scrap heap!"
"I wouldn't fret too much, darling." Rarity said, now filing her nails.
"Yeah! We all got places to go when there's a battle!" Pinkie followed up with, still tinkering away. "I mean, it's not like it's our first time seeing one!" She giggle-snorted.
Oh... I nearly forgot. These were all EX -pupils of various Jedi Masters on the front lines. Of course they've seen battles! "...You all have ways of coping, huh?" SP-K3 said, rubbing the back of his head unit.
"Oh there there, Spikey-Wikey!" Rarity hovered the astromech closer to her using the force, wrapping him up in a big hug. "There's no need to berate yourself! You were very dear to check on us and keep us safe, but we can handle our own." Looking behind him, she was worried about how close that little red dot on the map was to one of the fighter bays. "However," she said, letting go of the little droid. "I'm a tad concerned about Rainbow. With how long I've known her, being that close to one of the Fighter Bays can only mean bad news."
Glancing back down at the astromech, she smiled. "Could you be a dear, and go check on her for me?"
A few minutes later, SP-K3 arrived at Fighter Bay 2 via droid maintenance tunnels. Looking for Rainbow Dash, he found her inspecting a nearby starship. It was an ARC-170 Fighter according to his database. "Rainbow Dash! I'm glad to see you!"
"I WASN'T GONNA FLY IT, I SWEAR!" She yelled out of habit, probably from the dozens of clones occupying this hangar. Opening her eyes, the young Padawan breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh, it's just Twilight's astromech! Phew! For a second, I thought somebody caught on, heh-heh!" Turning back around, Rainbow began trying to jar the cockpit open so she could get in. If my new master wants to leave us, fine! This time I'm gonna take the fight to them! That'll show those walking rust buckets for Sp-
"Uh, you do know I can understand you, right?"
Rolling her eyes, she turned back around. "Yeah? What about it, DROID?"
"...."
She scoffed. "Figures it can't get a good comeback going..." Rainbow mumbled.
"I have feelings too, ya know." Spike crossed his arms. "You really ought have faith in Master Twi-"
"Faith? FAITH?!" The tools around her began to rumble unnaturally, as if there was an isolated earthquake centered around Rainbow Dash. "It hasn't even been one day and my so-called 'Master' decided to bail on us!"
"Uh, Rainbow-"
Her fists clenched as hard as they could, bending the nearby pieces of scrap metal, most likely for quick patches on Fighters coming in from dogfights. "SHE should have faith in US!" A bolt from the fighter she was tinkering flew off, snapping her out of it. Looking around, she saw lots of clone engineers and pilots staring in her direction. Blushing out of embarrassment, she took a deep breath and got back under control.
With the incident now over with, the clones carried out their orders once again. "She should have faith in me..." The once arrogant and angry girl now looked shy and composed, rubbing the strange blue and yellow patch on her arm absently.
Deep down, she's just a teenage girl. I feel sorry for her, for all of them. They sacrificed so much to get this far...
"*sigh* Look, Twi- I mean Master Twilight, she had faith in all of you, and probably still does, knowing how forgiving she could be." He chuckled. "A force of habit she picked up from her Master, Miss Celestia if you asked me! Uh, you alright there?"
Rainbow stood flabbergasted. "Woah, woah, woah! Time out- you don't mean Celestia Sol Invictus, Guardian of Harmony, do you?"
"Um-"
"Because if she was trained by someone as legendary as that ," she grabbed a hold of SP-K3's head unit and brought him face-to-face with her rose colored eyes. "She'd be sent straight where the biggest, meanest, and most powerful droid occupied planet was, and would nuke the Wampa-Rat droppings outta them!"
"Um, well, if you quit staring at me like that and put me down I'll answer your question." He cautiously said. Spike already saw what happened when she was mad, he dreaded to see what she'd do when she turned manic!
"Oh! Uh, sorry!" She unceremoniously dropped the astromech like it were another piece of scrap metal.
Dusting himself off, he turned to face her. "First off, I'm an astromech and not another droid you can 'look menacingly' at, okay?!" He pointed his claw at her. "Two, I'm not just any other astromech off the assembly line either. Master Twilight modified almost everything about me-my programming, my speech, and even my hull and combat protocols! Also," he reinforced with a few jabs to her chest via pointed claw. "I am your one and only chance to prove her faith in you guys wasn't for nothing!"
"And lastly, to answer your question: Yeah, she was trained by Miss Celestia. However, she retired many lightcycles ago. Twilight probably doesn't even realize it, and the only reason I know is because I have a database containing several hundred books' worth of historic documents, famous battles, and ex-Jedi Masters in my head." Silence ensued afterwards, Rainbow's jaw agape.
"Uh, you still there?" He waved a mechanical claw in front of her face. Great, I broke her...
Author's Note
A little background knowledge for the automatic messages for ya: Regardless of the safety and whereabouts, Spike is recording ALL data being sent in, even on a base level. That means, even though he's hoping they're all safe and sound, that order put in to "monitor" all the Padawans takes precedence over emotion. Cuz he's a robot, and robots don't rely on touchy-feely stuff. But maybe I'll pull a "Pinocchio" and give him more human thoughts and make him a real boy ;).
Also, he's a Robot[emphasis on the word], so he isnt going to be little baby dragon Spike, and he'll have some "tough love" moments such as this one.
Btw, the "my rear exhaust port on the scrap heap" was droid slang for "my a$$ on the line" and I probably shoulda not sounded like a dingaling but my best friend/ new editor complained about lack of explanation and I'm salty af about it SO HERE YOU GO EXPLANATION STUFF.
Feel free to leave a comment, constructive or otherwise!
Part 2 involves space and battles that happen there via lasers and stuff cuz space battles are par for the course, especially for a hothead like Rainbow Dash or(sometimes) Applejack.
Star Wars: Friendship Divided
Loyal to the Core, Part 2
"Depa Billaba!"
"Yep, she's currently with her apprentice Caleb Dume on an off-world mission."
"Okay, what about Agen Kolar? You know her?"
"Yes, Rainbow! What part of 'I'm a walking library' did you not understand?!" Spike exclaimed.
"Only, you know, the entire thing!" She threw her arms up in exasperation. It took a few minutes for Rainbow to comprehend that her new Master was so much of an egghead that she made her droid an encyclopedia of the most awesome Jedi she ever idolized! "I mean, you have every move, every biography, every, well, EVERYTHING! Why would you wanna stay on this ship when you can help me be 20% cooler shooting down the bad guys?!"
The little astromech sighed. "Look, I get you're here in Bay 2 to kick droid butt, but my safety protocols prevent me from endangering any of you." He held out a metallic claw. "Now, let's get back to the others and ride out this space battle."
Looking behind her at the ARC-170 longingly, she sighed. "Fine!" Rainbow huffed, shaking his claw. "But before we do that, do you mind doing me a huge favor?"
"Anything, if it means getting you back to safety! What do you need?" The droid desperately pleaded.
"Oh nothing," the young Padawan said, silently using the Force to bring over a laser wrench. "Lemme just take a look at your control panel. It looks a little loose."
SP-K3's lights brightened up. "Sure!" The droid said, swinging open the panel. "It has been squeaking lately! I didn't know you could fix astrom- ERROR, SAFETY PROTOCOLS DISENGAGED."
"I can't." Rainbow twirled the laser wrench in her hand. "Buuut, most repair droids have a motherboard just like fighters. All I did was a slight solder to it and now we can go out to the real fun without you freaking out!"
"...Huh, how about that." was all the droid could say in response, before hopping in the astromech pod on the fighter she was repairing, still furious yet impressed at the same time.
"I hope you know Master Twilight is gonna be furious at you for hotwiring me!" He berated, running diagnostics on the ship.
"Yeah, well that's future me's problem!" Rainbow grunted, sliding under the ARC and plasma welding a few pieces of loose armor. "What's the armor reading, droid?" She spat out of habit.
"Seeing as I don't have much of a choice, the output is enough to take a few blasts but that's it. Anything else, Human ?" Spike hated acting childish despite his voice and demeanor, but he figured might as well fight fire with fire.
"Nope! Just one more quick solder to the S-Foil control and we should be in *grunts* business!" She smiled, wiping sweat off her brows. Suddenly, the cockpit lights flickered on and the pod flung open, waiting for its next pilot. "Ha! And the repair crew said I couldn't do it!" She smugly grinned, wiping off excess grease from her hands.
The ARC-170 was fully repaired and ready to go, yet it was missing something. Rubbing that same patch, Spike noticed, she snapped her fingers and brought over a stencil and some paint. Holding the stencil over the sigil of the Republic Army, she painted what looked like a bolt of rainbow colored lightning coming out of a single white cloud. Below it in baby blue words, she signed "for the Wonderbolts..."
"Who are they?" SP-K3 asked curiously, only to receive a killer glare from Rainbow.
"THEY have nothing to do with you, so quit asking dumb questions and start running your programs or whatever." Out of all the young learners, there was almost nothing about Rainbow Dash in Spike's databanks, save that she was a survivor much like everybody else. Again, she rubbed that faded patch on her robes absently. Snapping out of it, she started to clean up her tools and clear the area of debris.
After a long and awkward silence, Spike spoke up. "Diagnostics are done."
"Huh? Oh yeah, sure..." Still quietly rubbing the patch, she hopped into the cockpit and began booting up the fighter. The engines roared to life, bursting forth a brilliant blue flame before idling. Flicking switches and checking controls, Rainbow remained silent.
"I'm not the bad guy, Rainbow." Spike rotated his head unit, feeding script written in Galactic Basic onto the cockpit screen. "*sighs* I know you don't wanna talk about it, but knowing Twilight, it's better if you get it off your chest before she comes back. Otherwise, the lack of data will force her to bug the living Sith out of you, and trust me, she gets pretty insane!" More silence. "We really are here to help-"
"Mind your own business, okay?!" She spat. "I... Don't wanna talk about it." Rainbow grasped at the patch as if it were a lifeline and letting go would maroon her in empty waters. "Just... Do some droid stuff or something!"
Dang it, Spike. Now's not the time to press for answers! the droid thought. Right now we gotta stay alive!
"Hey Rainbow, do you want me to switch on the auto-pilot?" He asked cautiously through the monitor. "It'll give us a head start into space before the fight begins."
"What's that supposed to mean?!" She glared daggers at the astromech. "Giving me the silent treatment too with that monitor speech? I can still hear you fine, ya know!"
"Yeah but not in space, Rainbow!" He yelled back.
"...Fair point." Rainbow snapped out of her funk and got back into the flow of things, checking various instruments in the on-board computer. "Nah, I dont need auto-pilot. In fact," she smugly grinned. "I was the fastest outta all the fighters back under my old Master! In fact, I was so fast that I did a Sonic Rainboom! When I first flew a fighter, no less!"
"Uh, what's a Sonic Rainboom?" SP-K3 looked through his records of space flight phenomena, but nothing came up.
"Oh you never heard of it? I wouldn't be surprised, only the coolest people even know it exists!" She beamed. "When there's a very strong Force User or Jedi with awesome flying skills, they can concentrate with all their energy and use the Force to mess around with the space around the fighter! I didn't even know what I did until my Mas- I mean my Ex-Master told me."
"Wow, it sounds pretty awesome, Rainbow!"
"Hey, that's what you get for tagging along with the coolest Padawan!" She beamed.
Suddenly, the controls locked up and her commandeered ship started to power down. "What's going on?! I thought the bypass worked!" Quickly, the young Jedi started pulling plugs left and right, desparate to keep it running.
"Can you hear me in there, soldier?" A clone engineer's voice echoed through the comm. "Regardless, we saw what you were doing! That's a Court Marshall, youngling! Which means this bird is grounded!" True to his word, several pilots and mechanics began approaching with Magna-Clamps to ground the fighter until the damage Rainbow did to the system was reversed. Reaching back up from under the cockpit, she turned off the comms link and switched on the communicator to Spike instead, pulling a few wires here and there to do so.
"Spike! Help me out here!" She whispered.
"As far as I'm concerned, this is Karma. It's outta my claws anyways, I'm locked out too." The clamps were attached, an engineer crawling up towards the cockpit to hotwire it back open.
"Poodoo!" She slumped near the control board underneath the ship's computer. Sighing, Rainbow switched the comms back on. "I know I broke some major rules, and I'm sorry." She pulled herself out from underneath the computer and unlocked the cockpit doors. "But I know how to fly and I know how to do it good." Raising her hands, the Padawan accepted her fate.
"Even so young one," the engineer opening the cockpit spoke. "We must respect the chain of command. Your Master specifically ordered the entire ship to look after you lot, and that's exactly what we plan on doing." He gestured to one of the other clones, handing him a pair of prisoner's cuffs. "Even if it means putting you in the brig."
The young jedi sighed solemnly, holding out her wrists. "I just wanted to help..."
"There are many ways to help young one, and a lot of em don't involve being another ship for the tinnies to shoot at." The engineer slapped the cuffs on and locked them tight. Sighing, she nodded in understanding. "Take her away boys! She's no use to us in a hangar." He gestured to two troopers standing by, giving them the signal to escort Rainbow to the brig alongside the astrodroid.
Author's Note
So, the announcement that the clone wars tv series is coming back inspired me to write again! Good news for that I guess.
Bad news is this planned 2-part story is gonna actually be a 3-part one instead because ~~I suck at writing~~ I planned it from the very beginning and sound very confident because I'm a tired bean that knows how to write ~~trash fanfiction~~ compelling stories!
Part 3 in the works, it'll take some time. Like probably a week...
Star Wars: Friendship Divided
Author's Note
I agree, it's not the best crawl out there, but I did my best!
Tried adding merge filters in between during editing, but it just screwed the whole film up, so sorry if it's too choppy or the transitions are segmented!
