Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic: Rise and Fall of the Revanchist
Prologue
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A lone fighter rose from the planet’s surface, arcing towards the massive space station in orbit above. Within a few minutes the station was quickly reached and one of the multitude of hanger bay doors opened. Without question, the fighter slipped inside and the hanger doors slammed shut behind.
The cockpit of the star fighter opened, and out stepped the familiar garbs of the Jedi – colors of various shades of grey rather than the famous browns and pastels. A similarly styled grey cloak masked any specific features of the presumable Jedi.
What was otherwise unique and thus noticeable, was the species of this Jedi. The Jedi had six limbs, four of them hooved legs, two were leathery-bat wings that were folded yet protruding through the cloak. There was also a noticeable muzzle, and a small lock of mane was visible from underneath the hood. However, like the wings, the light was too dim to make out the specific coloring of the Jedi. The shape of its muzzle suggested at first glance that the Jedi was female, but further observation revealed that the Jedi was actually male.
In short, a Bat Pony.
The pony observed its surroundings, taking note of the recently closed hanger door before trotting to the only doorway. The door opened as he approached, whether the door was automatic or was opened for him remotely he could not be sure. He paid it little attention as he continued onwards deeper into the station.
The hallways, if you could call them that, were vast and open and just as dim as the hanger bay. The Jedi speculated that the lighting was not there by choice, as the hum of energy and moving of mechanisms echoed constantly through the facility.
Admittedly, the walkways were not consistent in how open they were. Often enough there were walls that seemed to section off areas of the station and there were other doorways that dotted the sides – concealing mysteries four-thousand years unseen.
The Jedi shifted his wings, resisting the urge to explore the vastness of the ancient structure – knowing that it wasn’t the reason he was here… but mostly because he knew he would get lost without a doubt, the Force guiding him regardless.
Speaking of which, he focused his attention onward, following the inaudible whisper of the force.
After having going through a few doorways that had laid in front of his winding path, there were new sights.
Various types of droids he didn’t recognize littered the skies and walkways. The flying droids more like drones bearing little more than what appeared to be cameras.
The ground-bound robots were of various designs, most were humanoid in structure but there were others whose specifically designed purpose was unknown even to him; all he could determine was that all of these droid were designed for combat in some fashion.
The hovering spherical droids were the only ones that paid him any attention, turning to observe him as he passed, but otherwise continued on their way. The Thestral decided to do the same and ignored the part of him that wanted to examine these new droids.
After what seemed like hours, and one turbolift trip later, he came across what must be the Command Center of the station. In the center of the room was a large hologram of the space station; the size of the station was extraordinary. Capital ships could easily move between the gaps of the three "fins" that radiated outwards from the central spherical structure.
But his focus was not on that, but on the device in front of the hologram. It was a four-sided pyramid, each side as long as he was from muzzle to flank, and as tall as a human.
The Thestral sat on his haunches in front of the pyramid in meditation, for it was not just a geometric shape.
It was a holocron.
Larger than most, this holocron was; the average holocron could easily fit within the hands of a human or in his case on his hoof. The Jedi mildly thought that the odd size of the holocron was connected to how it was still capable of functioning – an aspect of the device that could be felt even now.
The Jedi reached out into the Living Force, using the passion of the Dark Side to create energy and power and using the Light Side to rein in that energy and give it focus and control.
The holocron responded, humming before glowing silver. A moment later a hologram like apparition appeared between him and the holocron.
The figure was also a pony, but was clearly a Pegasus pony – the slimmer frame suggesting a female, but as he knew, one couldn’t be sure based on looks alone.
The pony wore a combination of robes and armor, which reminded him of Jedi robes and Mandalorian armor respectively. The pony’s face was masked, which too showed signs of Mandalorian design; which was odd considering that Mandalorian were generaly humanoid. The mask also had a curved horn attached, the Jedi noted that this was part of the mask itself and not suggesting that the pony before him was an alicorn.
The apparition spoke, “You have traveled far to make it to this place. What is it that you seek? Knowledge? Power? Harmony? Victory? Or are you a wanderer and thrill-seeker? A grave robber? Speak.”
The Jedi remained silent for a moment before he replied, “Understanding.”
“I see.” The Force Apparition muttered, “You seek the first three in order to gain the fourth. Very well.”
The Force Apparition sat down on its haunches, as to why an ethereal presence needed or desired to sit was lost to him.
“Feel free to stop me when necessary, Force User, as the answer you seek will take time to impart.” The Apparition chuckled, as if amused, “Look at me, using more sophisticated vocabulary and long sentences, the younger me wouldn’t be able to even begin to comprehend the future before her.”
The Apparition focused its gaze back on the Thestral. “First,” it spoke, “understand that for everything you are to hear, know that fate played no part. Everyone made their own choices, decided their own destiny.”
The Apparition paused before pointing to itself, “I sure did.”
The Jedi nodded, before motioning for the Force Apparition to continue.
“Well then,” the Apparition began, “Before I begin my story, it is important to tell of the civilization of our species. Whether or not you know already, I don’t care, you’ll just have to listen anyway as I am not going to skip this.”
The Jedi rolled his eyes at the behavior of the hologram projection, but didn’t interrupt.
The apparition actually seemed to slump at not getting a wry out of the Jedi, but continued regardless.
“Pony civilization and culture arose in the Equus system on the planet of Equestria and further on the then continent of the same name. The first and really only state of ponies among various other intelligent species was also confusingly known as The Principality of Equestria.
“That kingdom of ponies rose and fell several times throughout its pre-space flight history that is ultimately irrelevant if not for a single fact; a set of six crystals always appeared and had part in the rebuilding of pony civilization and the maintenance of it. For unknown reasons, the crystals would disappear and for unrelated reasons the kingdom of ponies would fall, only to arise once more upon their rediscovery.
“Despite my own interactions with those very crystals, even I have no idea about their full potential or where they came from. What I do know, is that the crystals are artifacts of pure Force energy, tools that instrument the will of those whom bear them.
“Separate, the gemstones are powerful, amplifying one’s connection and control with the Force immensely. They could even be used to amplify lightsabers as the main crystal; in fact that would come to be the preferred use when lightsabers came around. The reason being is that the raw power that the crystal or ‘Element’, as they were more commonly called, was addictive and despite not being an artifact of the Dark Side often had the potential of driving one down that path.
“Perhaps, thankfully, it was a blessing that ponykind or any other race on Equestria knew not of the force in the way the Jedi or Sith know it. It is unknown how, but over time ponykind evolved and the powers of the Force mutated ponykind creating a separate internal energy which was simply called ‘magic’.
“Even in my time much wasn’t documented before the time of space flight, perhaps regardless of their ignorance of the Force that Pony Civilization rose and fell because of those who went down the dark path.
“Anyway, transitioning back to the history lesson, the set of artifacts where known as the Elements of Harmony: Magic, Generosity, Honesty, Laughter, Kindness, and Loyalty. The meaning behind those words is something that can and will be told later, for now know that those were the ‘qualities’ that defined whom would become a bearer of one of the Elements of Harmony. It wouldn’t be until later that other tell-tale signs existed.
“These qualities are what came to shape the base of Pony culture and belief, not to say that Ponykind was above the same greed or hate of other species. It was actually the culmination of darker emotions, and thusly the influence of the dark side, that created a terrible mutation of the Force; a being known only as ‘Discord’. His terrible and seemingly unlimited power brought war and devastation across the entire planet, he was the first to create a global empire in Equestria’s history at the cost of his interesting yet horrifying magic’s being unleashed upon his subjects.
“I am not entirely sure how it occurred, but it was during this time that two sisters were born to a virgin mare; whether this was due to random chance, the scientific phenomenon of virgin birth, or the meddling of the Force. The two sisters were unlike ponies born before them, who had belonged to one of three races: Unicorn, Earth Pony, and Pegasus – of which you are a subspecies of. No, these sisters where born with the features and magic of all three races: The raw utilization of magic through their unicorn horns, flight with their majestic Pegasus wings, and the physical strength of an Earth Pony.
“They were called Celestia and Luna - they noticed but did not know at the time that they were strong in the Force. Growing up during the horrors of Discord’s and the suffering he enacted on all forms of life, the sisters became determined to bringing about the return of the old Equestria. It wasn’t until they were young adults did they discover the Elements of Harmony, and using the artifact’s power over the Force they imprisoned Discord into the core of a barren planet five planets away from Equus’ sun.
“Discord defeated, the sisters were the only one’s qualified to rebuild the broken planet – entire cultures and nations of sentient life having been brought to the brink of insanity and starvation. The sisters, over time, would come to learn of their increased mortal lifespan and continued to rule over the world long after the planet had rebuilt its societies. Benevolent was their rule and were accepted by the people as such.
“Five centuries passed after the fall of Discord and it was then as Equestria became space worthy did the growing Republic discover them.
“The Republic had in recent decades gained the major addition of Malastare and was continuing to explore the southern rim of the galaxy when about halfway in between them and the Naboo system was Equus discovered.
“Celestia’s and Luna’s reasons for joining the Republic were only officially declared in advancing society technologically and scientifically and to help spread Harmony and the ideals of Freedom. If they felt otherwise about the Republic, they kept it to themselves.
“With the Republic came the Jedi, and with it the knowledge of the Force. It is another Jedi secret of what occurred when The Royal Sisters met with the Jedi council, but its end result was the training of themselves and force sensitive ponies as Jedi. It wasn’t until a few decades after ponies were trained as Jedi was it discovered that to be a bearer of the Elements of Harmony was signaled by having an impressively large sensitivity to the Force – which translated to ponies with capabilities of using the force far more extensively and intimately than others.
“Bearers would come and go, and ponykind would play their part in the wars that followed. Despite being trained in the ways of the force by the Jedi, the Royal Sisters remained the sovereign rulers of Equestria in parallel with other duties within the order they felt like. Several times, one or the both of them would join the Jedi Council but then dismiss themselves after a few centuries.
“Equestria as you may know, assuming it has stayed relatively the same as always, had their economy based on the mining of rare metals and gemstones, agriculture, tourism, and a lesser note of other industries producing a variety of goods. Equestria also had minor shipyards circling its singular moon and it became a source for Jedi to gather lightsaber crystals.”
The hologram slumped, took a deep breath, and began to pant slightly of all things. “It’s… it’s been a while since I’ve talked so much.”
The Thestral pointed out, “You are a hologram, you know? It’s sort of what you are supposed to do.”
The hologram just looked at him for a moment before defending itself, “I-I’m different!”
He merely rolled his eyes at the antics of the hologram, “Of course, you are a one of a kind.”
The hologram got suddenly and very strangely serious, “More than you know…”
The tone of the voice surprised him, “Huh?”
The hologram shook its head slightly, “Don’t worry about it.”
The hologram then continued, “I could go into more specifics of the role that Equestria and ponykind played in various events through history, but I only wanted to tell you the basics of its entry and general history beforehand, as it is relevant. If you are truly interested more in those events I could, but…”
“But…?” The Jedi repeated, getting a little annoyed at the hologram’s delay.
The hologram turned its head to the side before childishly stating, “I don’t want to talk about it! I wanna talk about me!”
The Jedi’s mouth dropped, the eccentricity of the hologram was getting to him and leaving him shocked.
At his expression, the hologram defended itself, “There are plenty of other holocrons and datapads that would tell you the same basic things about those times, the only thing you could receive from me about them is my spectacular point of view.”
The Thestral twitched, before sighing, “Very well, tell me your story holocron.”
The projection perked at its listener’s surrender. “Awesome!” it announced in glee. Suddenly a bright light erupted from the holocron, blinding the Thestral’s vision for a moment.
When the light receded, it was revealed that the apparition had changed slightly – and by slightly it was meant to be in the way that suggested the actual change was minor but not the considerations of what it meant.
For the hologram was colored and in all manners looked and felt like it was physically there before him, surely some kind of trick of the Force. The robes and armor of the figure were revealed to be a variation of black and dark, rusty, blood red –with the mask following the same color scheme. Two elegantly designed lightsabers were also visible on the utility belt of the figure.
The figure spoke up, “Ah! That’s better! Anyway, there’s no need to refer to me so rudely. I do have a name after all…”
Before the figure finished, it sat on its haunches and went to remove its mask. Thanks to the user’s hood, all that was visible of the figure was the tip of her muzzle and some strands of mane, but analysis at this point was unnecessary as she quickly pulled her hood back.
The figure was distinctly female at this point; her coat was a light cyan with signs of having lost color due to age and possibly a lack of sunlight. Her mane was also fazed by time, albeit a much lesser extent as all the colors of the rainbow stood brightly in contrast to her dull coat – her mane was somewhat spiked in the front and the long end cascaded down to the midway joint in her leg. What was perhaps most noticeable was the red coloring of her eyes, so distinct of full of the energies of life that you could have mistaken the figure to be a young adult like himself.
The mare before him smirked, as is amused yet unsurprised at being gawked at, “I had been called and known by many things throughout my life, but for now call me as most did then: Revan.”
The mare then smiled sadly as if remembering something bittersweet but ever more missed, “But do know that I was first known… as Rainbow Dash.”
Author's Note
And there it is, the first and/or last chapter! Why do I say that? Well, the main reason being that I am in college and have to deal with that, but I am also working on another story for a different fandom that I have already invested much time in. So essentially, if the premise isn't interesting enough for other's I'm not going to bother writing - as I only have as much time to write as I can allow myself.
This was more for me to use some of my creative freedom so I can keep interested in my main fanfiction.
Either way, leave a comment/review/suggestion below! If you enjoyed what you read, gift the like button with your approval so it won't feel so sad. We wouldn't want it to fall to the dark side now, would we? ![]()
