The Dark Side of Friendship

There was this old legend I remember from the Jedi Academy, something that Grand Master Yoda well tell occasionally after class. A legend almost as old as the Old Jedi Order itself. The legend was of a race of what can only be described as super-intelligent horses who had a natural mastery of the Force. It seemed that one out of three of their young were born with the ability to use the Force. Those who weren't born with the natural ability to use the Force had other abilities as well, such as super strength, the ability to fly, and the ability to control the weather. Some of them were so powerful, they could literally move celestial bodies with the Force.

These horses, or ponies, as they liked to be called, fought and trained together with the original Jedi. They fought against the first Sith lords. Two of their kind, known as Master Celestia and Master Luna, helped found the original Jedi High Council.

However, centuries later, the Great Galactic War overtook the galaxy. One of the Sith's first targets was the planet of Equis, the ponies home planet. While the ponies and their elite Royal Guard defended their planet valiantly, the Sith assault was too much. When reinforcements arrived, all that was found was the burning remains of the planets once breathtaking cities, plus millions of charred corpses.

While scouring the destruction for anything useful, Republic soldiers found a recorded message from Master Celestia. The message stated that she, her sister, and the remnants of her species fled the planet, and traveled to an uncharted planet in the Unknown Regions of space.

When asked by my fellow classmates if the legend was real, Yoda would simply smile and say that nobody knows, but that he personally believes that the legend is real.

-Excerpt from Obi-Wan Kenobi's personal journal

It was the ending of another day on the bustling planet of Coruscant. After a busy day, Master Yoda meditated in one of the Jedi Temples many meditation chambers. Something that Yoda did look forward to for the most part.

However, Yoda's expression of pure bliss started to transform into one of discomfort, as a number of images flashed into his head. He saw images of destruction, chaos, and signs of droid occupation. Then, he witnessed a startling, but disturbing image. He saw a squad of super battle droids rounding up a group of pastel colored ponies, before mowing them down with blaster fire. He then witnessed a large, white alicorn, standing beside a smaller, purple unicorn, which were creatures from the legends he would tell his students, levitating lightsabers and fending off large numbers of battle droids.

At some point during this vision, Master Mace Windu walked in on Yoda, and noticed his troubled features. Upon witnessing Yoda's eyes opening, he asked, "What is it?"

"Pain... suffering... the loss of innocence..." Yoda croaked, "and... witnessed something startling, I did. Jedi, there are. Unlike any before seen. Send help, we must."

Meanwhile, on the planet of Equis, Twilight Sparkle looked up hopefully at the skies above. Her master, Celestia, had told her that help was coming. Shortly before teleporting her away to a remote Royal Guard outpost, much to the shock of the small regiment stationed there. That was weeks ago, and now the ill-equipped regiment were now equipped with a variety of stolen enemy tech that they had gained through various raids. Just the other day, they had linked up with her brother and the remnants of the Royal Guard, who were torn to pieces in the initial invasion, as well as numerous civilians, and of course, three of her closest friends, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and Applejack. All the others were captured and put in internment camps due to their importance.

Twilight examined her newly acquired lightsaber that she had crafted just a month ago, shortly after Celestia told her the true nature of her training, as well as the secrets of what she used to know as magic. She spoke of the Force, of how she and Luna used it to teleport their entire species to this planet thousands of years ago, and how they used their magic to keep this previously uninhabitable planet habitable. How Twilight was going to be one of the first unicorn peacekeepers known as 'Jedi' in centuries. How she was destined to become just as powerful as Celestia and Luna, as well as Star Swirled the Bearded, whom she had just found out wasn't a wizard, but a Jedi Knight.

And to top it all off, she was supposed to lead Equastria's military Forces against a coming alien invasion.

With a heavy sigh of frustration, Twilight plopped down on her plot and crossed her hooves around her chest, before continuing to watch the sky for any signs of the help that Celestia assured her would come.

And then, she spotted it. Two, then five, then thirteen new stars appearing in the sky above. Of course, it could mean the opposite of what she hoped it was. Twilight didn't think she or her Forces could take anymore of those metal monsters that Celestia had called 'droids'. Out of curiosity, she called for a nearby guard and told him to fetch her telescope set (something she picked up from her library in a recent raid on Ponyville). After hastily setting it up on its bipod and focusing in on the spot where she spotted the new arrivals, she noticed that the new arrivals were drastically different from the 'droid' ships. They were triangular in nature, came in two sizes (four were much bigger than the other nine), and had different markings on them.

"Guard, alert my brother that our help has finally arrived." Twilight ordered the guard who had previously helped her retrieve her telescope.

"Yes ma'am." the Guard responded, snapping off a salute and galloping off. Twilight smiled and returned her attention back to her telescope, continuing to observe the new arrivals.

Anakin Skywalker stood on the bridge of the fleets flagship, the Resolute. Beside him stood his master, Obi-Wan Kenobi, who appeared deep in thought.

"Well the planet certainly appears inhabited." Obi-Wan commented, pointing out the various signs intelligent life, including cities and towns.

"Seems a little..." Anakin began.

"Primitive? I've noticed." Obi-Wan finished for him.

"No... I sense something down there. I don't know what it is, but I don't like it." Anakin stated.

"I sense it too. Master Yoda did mention the Force is very strong on this planet." Obi-Wan pointed out.

"General Skywalker, General Kenobi." Admiral Yularen said as he approached them from behind.

"Admiral." Anakin responded.

"Any news on the droid fleet, Admiral?" Obi-Wan inquired.

"The droid fleet is currently holding position on the other side of the planet. As you can see," the Admiral led the two Jedi to a large table with a holographic display that showed the planet, its moon, the Republic ships, and the Seperatist ships, "we currently outnumber the enemy fleet 3 to 1."

"Looks like they weren't expecting us." Anakin commented.

"Yes..." Obi-Wan said, scratching his chin thoughtfully, "it is likely they are waiting for reinforcements to arrive before they engage our fleet."

"What about their ground forces?" Anakin inquired.

"Their forces appear to be heavily dug in, and their estimated number is somewhere in the tens of thousands, almost one hundred thousand." the Admiral responded.

"Nothing we haven't handled before." Anakin stated, "I'm going to take a few gunships down to set up a landing zone, and try to find the Jedi that is rumored to be on this planet."

"Be careful Anakin, we have no idea what is down there. It could be a trap." Obi-Wan warned.

"I can handle it." Anakin said, brushing off Obi-Wan's warnings, "Admiral, contact Rex, and tell him to gather his troops. I want those gunships prepped and ready to deploy in ten."