Equis

Canterlot

10 Days after the Elysium Incident

Princess Twilight Sparkle

A pitiful side indeed, the cameras flashed, the audience jeering, and the judges of her fate stared down at her with anger aside from Princess Cadence and Princess Ember.

The Former Princess of Friendship along with her assistant, Spike the Dragon, stood in the middle of the courtroom in nothing but rags, flanked by two guards, 1 Unicorn, and 1 Griffon.

Twilight looked perfectly healthy, but Spike, who stood a little taller than Twilight, had scars all over his muscular body, no doubt courtesy of the guards.

She can see her friends, her former friends staring at the both of them with malice off in the crowds.

Her brother, General Shining Armor, and her parents stood off to the side, her mother barely holding in her tears.

Twilight and Spike showed no emotion on their faces. They stood defiantly in front of the judges.

"Twilight Sparkle and Spike the Dragon, you have been accused of treason, in a unanimous decision, you both have been sentenced to banishment to Tartarus. Do you have any last words before your banishment?" Celestia said as she, Luna, and Cadence had their horns at the ready to banish them though tears were falling off Cadence's face.

Twilight and Spike have always been advocates of peace, unlike the other leaders who favor war against any species to absorb them. 10 days ago, the Alliance sent a fleet to invade a Chiss planet. Twilight voted for sending a delegation to form a peaceful relationship, but the Council voted to subjugate the Chiss. Twilight made a decision, she rallied around her supporters, including a Griffon Admiral, and gathered a fleet to defend the Chiss planet that was going to be invaded. Negotiations with the Commander of the Chiss fleet was tense as the Chiss Admiral did not trust them. However, the Alliance invasion fleet arrived days earlier than planned. The Chiss were furious and believed Twilight and her Rebels were trying to trick them. Before the Chiss could eliminate the Rebel fleet, they were engaged by the Alliance invasion force. Receiving fire from the Chiss fleet, Twilight gave the order to ignore the Chiss and engage the invasion fleet. The Chiss Commanders were astonished as the presumed "Vanguard" of the invaders engaged their apparent allies. Rejuvenated, the Chiss stopped firing at the Rebel ships and assisted them in fighting the invasion fleet. It was nothing short of a bloodbath. The Alliance fleet, expecting an easy victory, were picked off one by one. Their frigates and cruisers were easily destroyed in duels with Chiss or Rebel warships, and the Dreadnoughts were receiving concentrated fire from multiple ships. The Rebels did not go out unscathed however. 50% of their fleet was destroyed with Twilight's flagship disabled. Her ship was boarded by Alliance soldiers in the middle of the battle. The crew fought bravely, but they were outmatched by the Royal Commandos, the special forces of the Alliance. Twilight and Spike knew fighting was useless so they surrendered without a flight. The bridge have already escaped in escape pods per Twilight's orders. It was only after the Commandos brought Twilight and Spike to one of their surviving warships did the devastated Alliance fleet jumped to lightspeed. Now that the Chiss Ascendancy knows about the Alliance and their intentions, all invasion plans were put on hold. It was the losses that shocked the Alliance leadership to the core. 12 Troop Transports, 25 Frigates, 19 Cruisers, and 5 Dreadnoughts were destroyed. On top of all that, the Admiral of the invasion fleet was killed along with half of the Royal Commandos and a quarter of them wounded including Big Mac who became a Royal Commando not too long ago. The Council was furious at Twilight and Spike. Although, some of them pursued the death penalty, it was outlawed thanks to Twilight, Celestia, and Cadence. The next best punishments were banishment and slave labor.

After Celestia's question, the courtroom fell into silence, the cameras pointed at the defendants, no doubt, billions are watching them right now.

Twilight looked around at the audience.

"Citizens of the Celestial Alliance, you did not heed my warning our path of war, will only bring ruin to us. You all stand here, confident in the strength of the Alliance, not realizing that there may be other civilizations more advanced than ours. The galaxy is humongous, we firmly believe if we continue this path of violence, we will end up angering an enemy more powerful than us who will not offer us any mercy. I, Twilight Sparkle, have 1 more warning for the Alliance, we will not return begging for mercy, but we will return as conquerors. When we do return," Twilight looked up at her former mentor, "those who chose to lead us towards this path of violence will be brought to the sword. We will not stop until the galactic menace known as the Celestial Alliance, is no more, that we swear to you."

There was only silence in the courtroom.

"Is that all? Do you not wish to say goodbye to your friends and family?" asked Princess Luna.

"They are no longer our friends," Spike said as he looked at the other Bearers of the Elements with hate. "They forfeited that title when they betrayed us. They do not deserve mercy. As for our families, this is goodbye for now. We will meet again."

"Very well, your punishments shall be carried out immediately. May Faust have mercy on your souls." Celestia said as Twilight's and Spike's visions were blinded by a flash of light."

Tartarus

"Yeeeow, my back." Spike said as he stood up while rubbing his back. When Celestia, Luna, and Cadence fired that spell, it teleported them to Tartarus, a planet specifically chosen by the Alliance leadership, for anypony sentenced to exile. It was named after the real Tartarus in Equis.

"Ugggh." Spike heard Twilight behind him, and ran to help her off the ground. It looks like their handcuffs and the inhibitors weren't teleported with them.

Spike checked Twilight for any injuries.

"Are you alright Twi?"

"I think so." Twilight said.

They looked around their surroundings, the only sounds were coming from the birds.

"Well, what do we do now?" asked Spike.

"We survive Spike, that's all we need to do."

2 years later

Onboard the Star Destroyer Admonitor

Above Unknown Jungle Planet

Edge of the Unknown Regions, near Wild Space

Grand Admiral Thrawn

"Sir, we've arrived at our final destination, though I don't see anything interesting about this planet. It's just a jungle world."

"Looks can be deceiving Captain Niriz. We will never know if there's anything useful unless we check. After all, I was found on a seemingly uninteresting jungle world Captain." said Thrawn who was standing on the ship's bridge, staring at the planet with his hands behind his back.

"Yes sir."

"Captain Niriz, send the Probe Droids. I want to know everything about this planet. What is the status of the rest of the fleet?"

"They will be here in approximately 2 hours sir."

Tartarus

Spike

Spike was completely exhausted. What was suppose to be a simple hunt, turned into a fight for survival. Today, he hunted for these rodent-like creatures. It took him 2 hours just to find 1, and it turned into a long chase. He finally caught it, but then he realized the little bastard led him to the rest of his pack. They swarmed him which was the reason why he had a lot of scratches and wounds all over his body. Despite being exhausted and wounded, he killed off the entire pack, which will feed them for a while.

Twilight needs to make me a new shirt thanks to that little shit. He thought.

He was broken out of his thoughts when he heard a weird noise.

He quickly took cover in a bush and waited. It didn't take long before a weird, floating contraption wondered into his vision. It had appendages sticking out of the bottom of it with lenses all over the top half of it giving it a 360 Degree vision.

A Golem? I've never seen this one before. What's a golem doing in Tartarus anyway? Spike wondered.

Not far away, a swine-like creature was munching at some plants when it glanced at the approaching golem. To Spike's surprise, the golem fired a red bolt at the swine, killing it. It approached the dead body, in which, it seemed to be analyzing it considering how it was using its appendages to turn the swine over.

I've gotta warn Twi, but I need to be careful. Spike thought.

He was about to make a run for it while the golem was busy, when it then fired two bolts behind it.

There was a growling sound before the golem fired 1 more time and floated towards where the source of the growl came from.

Or maybe I should wait until it's gone.

It didn't take long until the he couldn't hear the Golem anymore and made a run for their hut.

The Hut

Twilight Sparkle

Twilight stood in the middle of the hut, proud of her work. To the left side of the room was Twilight's bed, and on the right was Spike's bed. On the back of the room were the weapons they crafted, knives, bows & arrows, spears, etc. They built shelves to hold everything else from eating utensils, to the clothes they made from animal fur. What was a mess in the morning, was nice and tity.

Hmmmm, now all I gotta do is wait for Spike to-

*BANG*

The door was thrown open by a worried Spike.

Never mind

"Twi, we've got a problem. Come with me quick!" Spike said as he dropped the bag full of his catch and dragged Twilight outside.

"Spike calm down, why are you in such a hurry?" Twilight asked as she ran right behind Spike in the jungle.

"When I was coming home, I found this floating golem scouring the jungle. Didn't seem like Alliance designed, so I assumed it's from a species we've never encountered. Maybe, they're Chiss Twi. Think about it, this is our chance to get off planet!" Spike said excitingly.

Twilight thought about it, "But what if they're hostile?"

"Well, the golem did shoot some animals and it began to analyze their bodies. I was thinking you can use your magic to trap it in a bubble shield and then we can try to find a way to contact its owners."

"You do realize we can end up getting killed right?"

"I know, but this may be our only chance."

They kept on running until Spike motioned Twilight to stop.

"What is it?" Twilight whispered.

"I heard it, it's nearby. Stay low, and follow me." Spike answered.

They crept among the bushes and trees. Twilight couldn't see what's up ahead because of Spike's body until he stopped.

"I found it, come here." Spike said, standing behind a large tree.

Twilight peered from behind the tree and saw a floating golem above the dead body of a large feline.

Twilight pulled back and whispered to Spike, "What's your plan?"

"I dunno." Spike said. He leaned out of his cover only to pull back quickly as a red bolt flew past him.

"Ok, so I guess it'll shoot at anything that moves." Spike said sheepishly.

"Ugh. You know what, do you have anything you can throw at it?" Twilight asked.

"Ummm" Spike said as he looked around. He spotted a large branch and picked it up. "I've got this?"

"Good enough." Twilight said with a nod. "Ok, when I say now, you throw the branch at the golem. Ready?"

"Ready." Spike said as he prepared to chuck the branch at the Golem.

Twilight waited a few seconds, watching the Golem analyze the body.

"Now!"

Spike chucked the branch from behind the tree and just as Twilight predicted, it fired at the branch. Quickly, Twilight conjured a spell and trapped the Golem in a bubble. Just in time too, as the bubble absorbed a bolt intended for Twilight.

"Yes! We got it." Twilight said.

"Whooo! Come on, lets check it out."

They walked towards the Golem, but the Golem tried to break out of the bubble by firing at it. All of the red bolts simply fizzled out the moment it made contact with the bubble.

"So, what do we do now?" Spike said as he tapped on the bubble.

"Ummm, hello? Is there anybody there? Can you understand us?" Twilight said as she tapped on the bubble as well. "We're friendly."

Without warning, the Golem blew up, sending Twilight and Spike sprawling on the ground.

"Ugh, what was that?" Spike said as he held his head. He saw the tree they were hiding in was mere inches from his head.

That was too close

"The Golem blew up. It must've had some kind of self-destruct mechanism." Twilight said as she got up and rubbed her back. "If it weren't for that bubble, we would've been dead."

They both looked at where the Golem was which was nothing but small pieces now on some scorched earth.

"So....what now?" Spike asked.

Above Tartarus

ISD Admonitor

Grand Admiral Thrawn

Interesting, most interesting. Thrawn thought as he reviewed the footage from one of the Probe Droids. That purple creature, it trapped the droid in some kind of bubble. I don't believe I've ever heard of any force-sensitives that can do that.

"Captain Niriz, send a ground team to the Probe Droid's last location. I want these 2 individuals brought to me unharmed."

"Yes sir."

Lambda-class T-4A Shuttle

Echo Squad

Unknown Jungle Planet

Sergeant RT-3804 "Slash"

The trip was silent for Sgt. Slash and his squad. They were debriefed by Captain Niriz and were told to capture the 2 creatures that destroyed one of the Probe Droids alive.

"Ten Seconds." They heard the pilot say.

The squad stood up, ready to run out of the shuttle.

"Remember the mission lads. Don't screw this up. If we see them, do not stun them unless I say so."

"Yes sir!" He heard his squad shout.

The ramp to the shuttle opened.

"Go go!"

His squad ran out.

"Secure the perimeter." Slash said as he aimed his blaster at the treeline. His squad split up to different parts of the clearing around the shuttle.

"Clear!"

"Clear!"

"Alright, the last location of the Probe Droid isn't far. Vector, Chemo, Dawn, you guys stay here and defend the shuttle with the pilots. Everyone else, with me." Slash said as the 2 pilots walked down the ramp of the shuttle, blasters at the ready.

"Yes sir." His squad said.

They trekked through the jungle. It reminded Slash of Maridun when he was just a private under General Ziering. The place was a literal hell and they were saved only by the now Commander Janek Sunber. All of the survivors received medals and promotions. Last he heard, Ziering became part of Grand Moff Zsinj's staff with Sunber. As for Slash himself, he was transferred to the Unknown Regions. At first, he thought it was some kind of punishment, until he realized he was transferred to Grand Admiral Thrawn's command. Being in the Unknown Regions does have its perks. It's usually quite, they don't have to worry about the Rebels attacking them, and the planets that resisted Imperial rule were easily put down.

They didn't find anything until one of his squadmembers spotted something.

"Hey Sarge, over here."

Slash looked at the trooper who was up ahead, waving his arm. He jogged over there and the rest of the squad converged on the location.

What he found was the dead body of a feline and near it, the ground was scorched with pieces of the Probe Droid. Small little fires still littered the area.

"Search the area. The HVIs shouldn't be too far."

ISD Admonitor

Grand Admiral Thrawn

On the bridge of the Admonitor, Thrawn stood at the window staring into space, eyes closed and hands behind his back. Everything he and his colleagues have worked so hard for is getting closer and closer to fruition. They can't afford to be arrogant however. Not all of the pieces are in place and in one wrong move, they can all expect ISB to be at their doorsteps.

"SIR! Something coming out of hyperspace!" He heard someone yell.

Thrawn opened his eyes in time to see 5 ships emerge out of hyperspace.

"Sound General Quarters. Launch all fighters but maintain defensive positions. We do not know if they're hostile yet. Captain Niriz, what is the ETA of the rest of the fleet?"

"They'll be hear in ten minutes sir."

Thrawn walked towards the holotable.

"Open Communications with the unknowns, I want to speak with them."

"Sir, one of them is trying to contact us." The Communications Officer said.

"Bring them up." Ordered Thrawn.

"Yes sir."

A blue hologram appeared of a humanoid creature wearing a uniform adorned with medals. Thrawn could tell this creature was of equine nature just like the Nazzar, but they seemed more Human-like.

"Greetings, my name is Grand Admiral Thrawn of the Galactic Emp-"

"Chiss" The Equine Commander hissed. "You Chiss dare come here and mock us?"

Thrawn was confused. "I assure you, I have no idea what you're talking about."

The Equine only sent a hateful glare, "Regardless, you will surrender your ship to the Celestial Alliance or be destroyed."

The hologram fizzed out, leaving behind a very confused Thrawn.

A lot of things must've happened while I was gone.

"Where's the fleet Captain?"

"They'll be here in a few minutes sir."

Thrawn turned to look at the enemy fleet. They had a box-like design, and Thrawn could just barely see the two large gun barrels on the fronts of the ships.

"Sir, enemy fighters closing in fast!"

"Tell all fighters to engage them. They're straying too far from their ships, we'll take them out here and the enemy's fighter force will be greatly reduced."

"But we're outnumbered sir!" He heard another officer yell.

"Not for long." Captain Niriz said as he gazed out the window.

"Sir, the Corvus and the Whirlwind have just arrived." The Comms Officer said.

"Excellent, tell them to pull in the rest of the fleet on my mark." Thrawn said.

It wasn't long before the view is full of TIE Fighters and TIE Interceptors engaging the unknown's V-shaped fighters. Thrawn read the reports coming from the fighters engaging them. While the hostile fighters can take more hits than a TIE, they are far less maneuverable and are much slower. It makes Thrawn wonder how well a Star Destroyer can last against the hostile ships.

"Sir, hostile ships closing in fast. They'll be in weapons range in 1 minute."

Thrawn's eyes narrowed at the ship in the middle of the enemies' v-shaped formation.

"I want the middle ship disabled. The rest are to be destroyed. Launch the TIE Bombers. Their orders are to destroy the enemy flagship's engines."

"What about us sir?" asked Captain Niriz.

"Do not worry Captain, we will engage the enemy fleet alongside ours."

CAN Harmony

Tartarus

Admiral Sun Strike

The Orange furred Admiral wiped the sweat from his brows. While his fighters engage the hostile fighters, his fleet has been engaging the enemy ship. In return, the enemy ship singled-out his flagship. The ship and its fighters he was engaging however, did not look Chiss designed at all, however, the enemy commander was clearly a Chiss. He was more confused than worried really.

"Shields at 75% and dropping fast! Sir, I advise we retreat and allow the rest of the fleet to engage the enemy ship" His Captain said.

"Negative Captain. Press the attack. I want that ship disabled for our boarding parties."

"Sir, enemy fighters closing in the port side." One of his officer's yelled.

"Order Magic Squadron to intercept them. All ships are to concentrate on that enemy ship."

He couldn't tell what's the status of the enemy ship's shields, but it was getting hammered by the combined firepower of his fleet.

'What a fool' Sun Strike said referring to the enemy commander. 'I would've retreated the moment a fleet attacked.'

Reports continue to come in and Sun Strike was not happy. His fighter force, to be blunt, was getting their asses beaten by the enemy fighters. His fighters simply could not keep up with the speed and maneuverability of the enemy fighters. Then, there was the report of 2 smaller ships appearing out of lightspeed behind the first hostile ship. The new unknowns were dagger-shaped like the first ship but were significantly smaller and each of them have four sphere-like structures protruding out of them. Strangely enough, they made no attempts to assist their apparent ally aside from sending fighters to assist.

'I've never seen the Chiss use these tactics. Aside from the new ship designs, they're behavior is abnormal.' Sun Strike thought.

All of a sudden, an entire fleet of warships dropped out of lightspeed right in front of his fleet. Sun Strike nearly fell as he stumbled back.

"By Celestia's arse. All batteries engage the enemy ships! Fire the main cannons!"

"But they need to be charged up sir."

Sun Strike silently cursed. "Then charge them up you idiot!"

He quickly turned his attention back to the enemy fleet.

'Precision Jumps? Impossible!' He thought.

Precision Jumps in the Alliance Navy were banned. Naval High Command tested the theory of Precision Jumping with a mothballed, obsolete cruiser. The result ended with the Cruiser crashing into a moon. They tested the theory with 9 more obsolete warships and only 1 of them were successful. The rest either pulled out too early, or crashed into the moon. They came to the conclusion that you either have to be extremely lucky, or extremely precise to perform a Precision Jump. Not wanting to lose lives over an extremely risky maneuver, they banned its use until further notice. To see an entire fleet perform a Precision Jump was simply jaw-dropping.

His ship continued to shake as it was being battered by the enemy fleet.

"Status?"

"Shields have dropped to 25% and dropping fast! We've lost the Everfree, Prosperity, and Unity. Loyalty's lost their shields and are trying to ram the enemy." One of his officers yelled.

Sun Strike began to sweat uncontrollably. That's 80% of his fleet gone.

"Set coordinates for Avalon! We're getting out of here!" He yelled.

"But what about our fighters? We just can't leave them behind!"

"No time! We need to leave now!" Sun Strike yelled at an officer.

"We've lost the shields! Hull breaches at levels 1-3! Heavy Turrets 2,3, and 6 have been kn-" The officer didn't get to finish that sentence before the ship shook, sending everyone to the floor.

Sun Strike slowly picked himself up.

"What was that?" He said as he turned to one of his officers who ran to one of the computers.

"Our engines have been knocked out sir."

Sun Strike started breathing heavily. From the viewport, he could see the hostiles have stopped firing at them and were holding their positions. He could see the wreckage of the Loyalty floating in space but his main concern were the intentions of the hostiles.

Knowing what they will do next, he addressed the crew of the Harmony.

"Attention all hands, this is Admiral Sun Strike. The enemy plans to board us to capture us and gain information. As members of the Alliance Navy, we will deny them that. I am very sorry. We all have friends and families back home, but we must sacrifice ourselves for their safety. If you must pray, now is the time, it's been an honor serving alongside all of you. Admiral Sun Strike out."

ISD Admonitor

Grand Admiral Thrawn

Thrawn watched as the Grey Wolf launched its shuttles carrying the boarding parties. The hostile fleet did a number on the Admonitor, bringing its shields down to 30%. One of the enemy ships, about the size of a Victory-class Star Destroyer, tried to ram the VSD Sceltor, but luckily, it was destroyed by the combined firepower of the Sceltor, the ISD Vanguard, the Strike-class Cruiser Daring, and the Nebulon-B2 Frigate Ludwick.

He was eager to find out, what happened to his people while he was gone. From what he heard from that Equine Commander, it would seem they do not have the best relations with the Chiss. If they're at war with his people, then Thrawn hopes he can persuade the Emperor to allow him to assist them.

To his horror, explosions dotted the enemy ship before there was a huge explosion that consumed the entire ship. The shuttles carrying the boarding parties maneuvered to avoid the debris. He could hear the transmission as one of the Lambda shuttle's wings was sheared off by debris.

"Mayday mayday mayday! This is Gamma 3. We're hit. We've lost a wing.

Copy that Gamma 3. Maru Ki is moving to assist.

Thrawn clenched his fists. He knew Gamma 3 will survive, but he was angry he could not obtain info from the enemy warship. He took deep breaths to calm himself down.

"Um sir?"

Thrawn turned around to find Captain Niritz standing behind him with a datapad in hand.

"I've received reports that an unknown, the size of a Lambda-class Shuttle, launched from one of the hostile warships before the engagement and headed planetside. We believe it's a troop transport."

"Hmmm, this is very good news Captain. Divert all of the shuttles aside from Gamma 3 to planetside to support Echo Squad. Alert Echo Squad as well of this development. I want that transport captured and as many hostiles captured for interrogation."

Then Thrawn came to a realization. That enemy commander looked similar to one of the unknowns spotted by the probe droid. What confused him was if this was a space faring species, why was that individual dressed in rags? A sudden thought almost made Thrawn smirk.

Maybe it's an exile like me. What are the odds honestly?

"I need to know if Echo Squad has apprehended the individuals. If they haven't, I want them found as soon as possible. We are running out of time before enemy reinforcements arrive."

"Yes sir." Captain Niriz said.

"Anything else?"

"Admiral Parck and Commander Stent are requesting to send a battlegroup with the Shadow of Bastion and the Pride of Corellia to assist."

"Tell them that will not be necessary. We will set course for Niruan as soon as we're done here."

"Yes sir. And one more thing sir."

"Yes?" Thrawn said giving Niriz a questioning look.

"Admiral Krennel and the Reckoning have returned from Coruscant with an extra Star Destroyer, sent by the Emperor himself."

Thrawn raised an eyebrow. "And what is the name of the Star Destroyer?"

Niriz looked at his datapad one more time.

"The Vendetta"

Author's Note

Leave your comments, yadda yadda yadda.

If any of you guys have recommendations let me know.

Criticisms are welcomed, just don't be an asshole.

If you guys haven't realized it yet, this is an alternate universe.

Yes, it is a heavily altered Star Wars Universe utilizing elements from both Legends and Disney canon. In my opinion, there are some elements I liked about the Disney canon, but I largely don't like it.

Maybe I'll kill off some of your favorite characters. Who knows. I never really liked the Ghost crew anyways.

There aren't enough fics about my favorite character. Pretty sad in my opinion.