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."
The Dark Side of Friendship
[Authors Note - My apologies for the extremely short chapter. I have been suffering from severe writers block, and I decided that I was at a good stopping point. I'll have a bigger chapter next time.]
"Twiley!" Shining Armor exclaimed as he galloped up to where Twilight was sitting, sporting a smile that hadn't been since the day the droids invaded, "is it true? Has help arrived?"
Twilight nodded and motioned to her telescope. Taking the hint, Shining Armor trotted over to it and peered down the lens. As promised, there was thirteen triangle shaped objects hovering in orbit above the planet.
"What are they?" Shining Armor inquired.
"To be honest, I don't know. But they did appear similarly to the things that were transporting the droids." Twilight responded, looking up at the sky above them.
"I'm worried Twilight. What if this isn't help? What if these are droid reinforcements, or another invading alien species. Our forces wouldn't be able to take on that much. Hell, we're barely pulling through as it is!" Shining Armor exclaimed, motioning his hoof at the practically overflowing medical tents that were set up barely two hundred feet away from Twilight's position. "Every time we go out, we take casualties. Dozens of ponies lost or wounded."
"Don't you think I know that?!" Twilight demanded angrily, glaring at her older brother. Shining Armor was taken a back by Twilight's sudden outburst. Twilight herself was shocked by it as well.
"Listen, Twi, I think the stress is starting to get to the both of us. Maybe we should take a bit of a breather, so we-"
Before Shining Armor could finish his sentence, Twilight pushed her older brother into a nearby ditch and covered them with a small force field, just seconds before the entire camp was engulfed in flames.
Roughly thirty kilometers away from the camp, and about eight kilometers above, five LAAT/i Republic Gunships were rapidly descended towards the planet. Inside of these gunships was the members of the 2nd Airborne Company, an elite group of clone troopers assigned to the 212th Attack Battalion who specialized in airborne deployments. Leading them were Commander Cody and General Obi-Wan Kenobi, who jointly led the 7th Sky Corps.
"General," Cody began, "the pilot is reporting he has sighted several explosions of in the distance. It may be a battle between this planets inhabitants and the droids. Is that where we should be heading?"
After a few seconds of contemplation, Obi-Wan came to a decision. "Might as well. It would be wise to get help from the locals. This is their home, after all."
"You heard the General. Lock and load, men!" Cody ordered, as he slammed a charge pack into his DC-15A blaster rifle.
As she came to, all Twilight could hear was a steady ringing in her ears and her own thunderous heartbeat. Her head was pounding, and her entire body ached with pain. Slowly, Twilight's eyes fluttered open. As her vision cleared, she noticed her brother standing over her, shouting something that she couldn't hear through her ringing ears.
"Twilight, get up!" Twilight heard her brother urge as the ringing started to fade. Too weak to get up on her own, Shining Armor rolled his eyes and helped Twilight to her hooves.
"What happened?!" she demanded.
"Droid fighters came out of no where and strafed us. The camp is being overrun as we speak. We're abandoning our post." Shining Armor responded, lifting his pillaged E-5 blaster rifle from its makeshift holster using his telekinesis. After he inspecting it to make sure it was working order, he loaded a charge pack into his rifle.
"What about my friends?" Twilight asked.
Shining Armor frowned and glanced down at the ground. "They... I don't think they made it."
"That's impossible!" Twilight screeched at the top of her lungs, "We have to go back and get them!"
"Twiley, we have no time!" Shining Armor shouted back, loud enough to effectively shut his younger sisters trap, "Twilight, you're not the only one who lost somepony because of those droids. Must I remind you about Cadence? About our foal? About the hundreds of troops I have lost trying to defend this planet? I can't lose any more ponies. Especially not you..."
"...I'm sorry..." Twilight muttered as her head dropped in shame, tears forming in her eyes. To her surprise, she found her herself being picked up and pulled into a tight embrace by her older brother, who was barely holding back his tears.
Before either of them could say anything more, Twilight's ears perked up.
"Droids..." she whispered.
"I know. I can hear them too." Shining Armor stated, releasing Twilight and readying his blaster rifle once more. Twilight's horn glowed a faint purple aura as she pulled her lightsaber out of her saddlebag. With the press of a button, a bright blue blade of energy extended out of it, ready to cut down anything in its path.
"Let's go. The survivors are about a mile away." Shining Armor urged.
"Yeah... let's go." Twilight said, watching as the shadows of several hundred battledroids marched their way.
