Star Wars: The Clone Wars: The Equestrian Side of Things

Geonosis: 21 BBY

Counterattack! With the clone army

stretched in desperate attempt to engage

General Grievous' Starfleet, Separatists

planets that were once thought secure are

now rising up against the Republic. On

Geonosis, Separatist leader Poggle the

Lesser, safe in his newly ray-shielded

factories, creates thousands of terrible new

weapons which march off the assembly

line against the outnumbered clone army.

The Jedi, resolute in the effort to restore

order to the Republic, mount a massive

invasion to retake Geonosis and shut down

Poggle's factories once and for all.... (Source: Star Wars the Clone Wars: Landing at Point Rain episode opening narration)

The troopers' boots pounded against the sandy cave floor, with the distinct clanking of the battle droids mechanical heels right behind them At the very back of the clone trooper squad, blaster fire was laid down along with Twilight throwing out blasts of force energy to keep the injured from being cut down by battle droid fire. Over the comms, two distinct voices were heard.

"We've got no air cover. Two generals on the ground beyond our position. And a mess of bugs surrounding us. The enemy was more than prepared for our attack, sir. They knew our every move." Commander Cody shouted as laser fire could be heard in the background. A second voice, a wiser, more confident and reassuring voice followed it.

"Well, I'm sure General Skywalker and General Mundi will make it to our position. We just have to make sure we're still here when they arrive." General Kenobi's voice reassured. Twilight smiled as she heard the Negotiator, as he had began to be known as for his ability to negotiate out treaties and put out embers before they sparked into full scale wild fires. She was also glad to hear that her squad wasn't the only one having trouble, and that compared to them, someone else had it worse.

"Damn it, looks like we're not going to be getting any help any time soon!" Trixie shouted as she snapped off a stalactite from the cave roof with her force powers and sent it flying into a mess of Super Battle Droids.

"Well, we've been in worse scrapes. Remember that situation on Beta Five? Krayt Dragons all around us, and we survived that." Twilight pointed out.

"And Trixie would like to remind you that YOU got us into it, with you wanting to study them! They sure as Tartarus didn't want to study us, they thought we were food!" Trixie snapped back as a group of clones threw EMP Grenades, or "Droid Poppers" as they called them at a group of battle droids, stunning them in flashes of electricity allowing them to be swiftly cut down by clones holding repeating blaster cannons which took down the droids as if they were simply lined up for target practice. Then, a clone holding a rocket launcher fired a missile at a group of super battle droids and blew them all up sending limbs flying everywhere.

"Funny, I remember things a different way... I think you wanted to challenge them and show off how Great and Powerful of a Jedi you were." Twilight deadpanned as she threw her curved saber into a group of battle droids and it boomeranged right back into her open hand. But the battle droids kept advancing, and as they kept going deeper into the cave, the darkness seemed to envelop them with opening arms, forcing the clones to the turn the flashlights on their rifles on and for Trixie and Twilight to power up their horns, illuminating the cave in a combination of indigo and magenta light, the laser fire only illuminating the cave further.

"Like Sith this is a good idea, we could be walking into a dead end for all we know and then we'd get all ambushed and die horribly." Silas remarked as Trixie helped him along. Just then, the sound of rolling against the cave floor was heard and Silas, Trixie and Twilight's eyes all widened in fear. They knew exactly what sound that belonged to. Destroyer Droids, one of the worst types of droid for any Jedi to face, armed with shields and repeating blasters, they were well known for infamously striking down legions of clones without any help from other droids all by themselves.

"Then again, we'd sure as Hell take a lot of Clankers before those Droidekas catch up with us, so it wouldn't be all bad. We all gotta go sometime." He joked morbidly. Trixie smirked at him, the kind of smirk that let anyone around her know she was about to do something crazy.

"That day isn't today, Trixie thinks." Trixie replied before firing magical blasts at the cave ceiling in various places, with Twilight gaping at her in pure stunned silence as she did so just as the Droidekas rolled up and unfolded with their personal shields coming up soon afterwards and the sound of their weapons cocking brought fear into everyone's minds.

"Trixie, have you lost your mind? You're going to bring the whole cave down around us!" Twilight shouted in fear, not sure if it was from Trixie's seemingly insane tactics or the Destroyer Droids.

"Oh Twilight, I know what I'm doi-" Trixie tried to reassure only to get cut off by her fellow Jedi Knight.

"Getting us all killed?" Twilight deadpanned but was ignored as Trixie continued to fire magical blasts into the ceiling. But soon, her seemingly suicidal reasoning became clear. She was firing at very specific points, and not just at random. And her reasoning paid off, as with a loud rumble, the cave ceiling above the battle droid squadron gave way and collapsed on top of them, burying the droids and also barring any path out of the darkness and back into the box canyon.

"Great, so we've traded one boxed in type of situation for another. Excellent work, Trixie." Twilight deadpanned as she observed the area around them. The clones were starting to panic, she could sense their fear.

"Well, from what I can see, I just saved all of our asses in the process so I think a thank you is in order." Trixie boasted and Twilight found a palm slapping itself to her muzzle.

"Do you see a way out, cause I sure as Tartarus don't!" Twilight snapped as she gestured to the area around them. As far as she could see, there was no way out of the new-found situation that they were in. But then, Twilight took a re-scan of the area around them with her horn and found one cave wall weaker than the others and with a mighty blast of force power, opened another passageway.

"You are going to correct yourself, you are, yes?" Trixie asked with a smirk.

"Shut it, Yoda." Twilight responded as she set up a splint made of hard light for Commander Silas and then the whole group trudged into the newly made passage way. As they walked, Twilight took out a holo-map of the whole cave network, and Trixie raised an eyebrow as Twilight sat down on a rock and studied it closely, mumbling to herself as she did so.

"...Wait, you had a map of the networks this whole time! You were acting!?!" Trixie screeched out in fury and embarrassment as it hit her.

"Yes, consider this pay-back for all the times you've bragged about your abilities and played pranks on me." Twilight remarked simply. Trixie's jaw dropped and she was unable to form coherent sentences for the next few moments. When she finally did regain the power of speech, all she could manage to say was this.

"...Of all the times she picks to grow a funny bone, it had to be now of all times." Trixie mumbled to herself and stayed silent for the next few minutes, a very welcome relief to both Twilight and the clones. Twilight said nothing before she got up off the rock and smiled.

"Okay, I've got good news and bad news." Twilight stated.

"Okay... Give us the good news before you scare us half to death with the bad news." Silas said bluntly.

"Okay, good news, we're right below our target." Twilight said, pointing a finger upwards. Up above them, through miles of caverns was their target, one of two anti-air cannons (The other being targeted by Jedi Knight Lyra Heartstrings and her squad, the 599th.) that was protecting the Droid Factory Poggle was working tirelessly away in to produce weapons of mass destruction. Battle Droids, Super Battle Droids, Tanks, and who knew what else.

"And the bad news is...?" Trixie asked with more then a hint of trepidation, not really wanting to know. And I mean really not wanting to know.

"Bad news... Okay, above us and the only way of getting through these caves are mile after mile of Geonosian hives. Basically, we're walking through a time bomb and one false move or one wrong word said loud enough could set it off and we could all be dead before we even reached the cannon, and who knows what's waiting for us up there." Twilight stated bluntly. This was a quirk of her, stating how bad the situation was and not sugarcoating one bit of it.

"Okay, can I just commit Seppuku now just so I won't be killed by buggers later on?" Trixie asked sarcastically. She was ignored as everyone continued trekking upwards into the caverns. Surprisingly, everything was calm. Too quiet really. The troopers were starting to get more and more fearful, you could cut the tension with a knife. But nobody said anything, in case of alerting the local population to their presence.

"I don't like this... It's way too quiet. By now, you'd be thinking we'd have been detected." Trixie whispered, and then something moved in the darkness, jumping from one hive-hole to another directly in front of them.

"What... was that?" Twilight asked nervously.

"The wind...?" One trooper suggested before he was smacked on the head by another.

"Idiot, it's never just the wind. And besides, wind never takes physical form." The second trooper stated.

"Actually on the planet Beta Nine..." Twilight began before she remembered nobody would probably be particularly interested. Then, she heard loud screams and the sounds of bodies thudding as they hit the floor from behind them and when Trixie and Twilight turned, they found what was left of their squadron cut down by an unseen force. Silas in particular had a lightsaber sized hole right through his chest.

"By the Sun and Moon..." Twilight whispered as she bowed her head in mourning and sent a silent prayer to Faust for these souls to join with the Force in paradise.

"Well, now you've done it Twilight, you've really stepped into it this time, and you've brought Trixie along with you! We're going to die, and-"

Twilight clamped a hand over Trixie's panicked mouth to stop her from rambling.

"One: We are not going to die. Two: We are going to make it through these caverns and take out that Anti-Air Battery. Three: If possible, we are going to find out what just killed our squad. But we're going to have to take this one step at a time. One hoof in front of the other, got it?" Twilight asked in a tone that left no room for argument.

"Now, I'm going to take my hand off your mouth and we are going to get out of here, understand?" Twilight continued and Trixie nodded and then Twilight removed her hand from her fellow Jedi's mouth.

"...Well, at least now we know why our trip through these caves has been so quiet." Trixie finally uttered after a few minutes of silent walking.

"Agreed." Twilight replied before her voice took on a more teasing tone.

"We can hold hands if you want." She smirked before she let out a yelp.

"...That's not where your hand is supposed to go Trixie! Personal space, personal space! Go look it up in a holocron!"

The only sound that followed was Trixie's loud laughter.

Eventually, the two made it to the top of the caverns and out into the light, where the gigantic anti-air cannon was waiting for them, firing off rounds at various Republic Gunships hitting each one with dead-point accuracy.

"Okay, explosive charges, like we planned." Twilight said, and she and Trixie pulled det-packs out of their robes and began to walk towards the cannon when suddenly an invisible force grabbed them from behind.

"Ah, ah, ah. I can't let you do that." A mocking voice laughed, and both Jedi turned to see a black skinned figure with green insect like eyes, long dark blue hair and dressed in dark robes with insect like wings and a sharp horn covered in holes jutting out from her forehead.

"Chrysalis." Twilight snarled, as she and Trixie ignited their lightsabers, and Chrysalis ignited her own, two blood red blades which she spun around in a display of her prowess with them.

"That's Queen Chrysalis to you, learn some respect. (Here she flung Trixie and Twilight into the side of the cannon.) You know, you'd be surprised at how easily these bugs will betray their queen for a higher power... and some extra added "Incentives" on the side." Chrysalis added with a seductive smile.

"And then what, you toss them away like you do all your other lovers?" Trixie snarked and was soon hit by a barrage of red hued force lightning from the Changeling Queen's fingertips, causing her to scream out in pain.

"I said, learn some respect!" Chrysalis roared before she quickly regained her composure. "Hmm, going to have to be quick about killing you, as your deaths will be detected and cause a disturbance in the Force given how powerful you both are, and then the rest of the Jedi will come running. So, soon as I'm done here, I'm leaving for another planet, find another hive location for my babies. I'm going to have to punish you for exposing my existence. You know, I was content to live out my life quietly, but you had to come along and mess it all up!"

Chrysalis sent another barrage of force lightning towards the two Jedi, but this time Twilight was quick enough to react and ignited her lightsaber blade and blocked it. Trixie leapt forwards blades ignited but was soon caught in a force hold but with a mighty blast of force push she got out of it and swung at Chrysalis, who blocked her duel blades with her own. Swords continued to be swung and each time Chrysalis blocked Trixie's blade and even when Twilight came at her from behind, she used one blade to block Trixie's, and her other to block Twilight's own.

"Give up, the both of you and submit. You're only Jedi Knights, while I am a Sith Lord!" Chrysalis boasted.

"Who do you work for, who's your Master? Count Dooku?" Twilight inquired and Chrysalis could only laugh as she force pushed Trixie away and the battle became one on one, and Twilight blocked every blow expertly, despite having a single saber to Chrysalis's two.

"Hardly, those idiots can fight their war and kill each other all off for all I care. I'm my own Master. My only concern is me, myself and I." Chrysalis remarked before she felt a presence behind her and Trixie materialized out of thin air. Twilight's eyes widened, using a combination of the Force and her magic, Trixie had camouflaged herself against the rocky red landscape.

"In-genius. I knew her specialty was illusions, but this is on a whole new level!" Twilight admitted to herself and soon Chrysalis was forced to go back on the defensive as Trixie and Twilight attacked her from both sides.

"Consider this a little payback!" Trixie shouted and holstered her sabers and let loose a blast of blue shaded force lightning causing Chrysalis to scream out in pain as Twilight gaped at the sheer use of a normally Dark Side tactic but the Changeling Queen quickly recovered and grabbed a giant boulder and flung it towards Trixie but it was grabbed by Twilight in turn and flung at Chrysalis and she was knocked over the side of the cliff face and down the sheer drop below. Twilight and Trixie sighed, as Trixie muttered "Good riddance to bad rubbish."

Just as they turned to walk away, they sensed a presence in the force and turned to see Chrysalis hovering in front of them.

"Oh, you Jedi scum should know you can't get rid of me that easily. Now, I've over-stayed my welcome, so I must be going, but rest assured, we'll be seeing each other again, you can count on that!" Chrysalis screeched before flying away into the atmosphere to parts unknown.

"...Well, at least she's gone." Trixie panted as she put her det-pack on the cannon while Twilight did the same. Off in the distance, they could see the other anti-air cannon explode and Twilight mentally thanked the Force for Lyra achieving her task. Now, if only the rest of the Jedi could do their part and take down that factory. But even as she looked upon it, Twilight's gaze found itself drifting off to Trixie. Her fellow Knight had used some decidedly Sith like tactics against Chrysalis, and didn't really care for the life of her fellow troops at times. Twilight had to wonder, just how close exactly was her best friend drifting to the Dark Side? That was the question she would find herself pondering for a long time to come. But even as they stepped back from the cannon and pushed the detonator, the two Jedi Knights turned to each other.

"Small victories." Trixie remarked and Twilight nodded.

"Yeah... small victories." Twilight said, but all the while she looked at Trixie and wondered to herself.

"She hasn't been corrupted, not yet... But for how long?"

END