To Walk The Sky and Catch The Moon

Chapters

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 3

Chapter 1

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away...

STAR WARS

Episode VI.I To Walk The Sky And Catch The Moon

It is a time of uncertainty. Above the Forest Moon of Endor, newly minted Jedi Knight Luke Skywalker did battle with his father Darth Vader before the Galactic Emperor, in the throne room of the second Death Star.

Overcoming his fallen father but refusing to kill him, Luke suffers the Emperor's wrath, only for Vader to kill his once Master, becoming Anakin Skywalker once more. Alas, he is severely wounded by the Emperor's dark powers in doing so.

In desperation, Luke attempts to leave the doomed battlestation with his father, but is waylaid by unlikely allies , who direct him to one of Vader's spare vessels. Reaching it just in time, Luke jumps to lightspeed just as the Death Star explodes.

However, in the escape, the ship is damaged, and Luke cannot bring the ship out of hyperspace. Five days have already passed, and all he can do is wait for the ship to run out of fuel while his father's life hangs in the balance...

Chapter One

The alarm shrieked in Luke Skywalker's ear, and his eyes opened to the ruined control panel once again, its single working light flashing insistently. He immediately straightened up in his chair, hand moving in a now all-too-familiar sequence of pressing undamaged buttons, flicking on control panels while also pulling functional cranks to help quell the half-lobotomized and panicking navicomputer. It wasn’t working as intended.

Through his vision, all he could see was the ethereal yet beautiful sapphire blue that was hyperspace. The sleek yet aging J-type 327 Nubian they were trapped on couldn’t get out no matter how hard Luke tried, they were stuck. Which was worrying; being in hyperspace for too long would come with extreme risks that could affect the psyche, and they wouldn’t know what they would impact until it was too late, It would happen too fast.

With a frustrated sigh he moved away from the controls and through the clean, shining hallways of the ship. It was different from the grungy yet homely halls of the Millennium Falcon; the corridors were mostly pristine, shining with ultrachrome, obviously maintained with great care and love. Only the open maintenance panels and scorch marks here and there portrayed the yacht's state of disrepair. Where his father had gotten such a vessel, he had no clue. Though, he thought tohimself, the Emperor did come from Naboo originally. It was all too likelyhe arranged for this ship for his father's personal use — a privilege of sorts. He would have to ask his father later.

Speaking of which...

Slowly he meandered through the halls, heading to the med bay where he could barely sense one other living person still aboard this ship, their life force like a candle about to gutter out. The only thing keeping this person from dying was the added life support system and with the aid of the Force to heal or mend his intense wounds. The med bay was quite roomy, with diagnostics, a surgical table with large cabinets with nearly every medicine known in the galaxy next to it - and on top of the massive stocks of bacta in the cargo hold- including the massive hospital-grade bacta tank that took up the center of the room.

Fluorescent Green lighting emitted from the bottom of the tank, revealing the occupant floating in the vat of liquid. The occupant was pale body of scarred flesh, a man with most of his limbs gone sliced cleanly with a saber, the stumps long since healed over and studded with contacts for prosthetics. Wires and needles were imbedded into the skin, pumping chemicals to accelerate the healing process.

It was hard to believe, looking at him, that this sorry wreck of a human being. The walking juggernaut that enforced the will of a former Emperor ever since the Empire was founded, a being single handedly slaughtered many Jedi with his terrible power with countless victims meeting the burning bite of his lightsaber, he who bore witness to Alderaan’s destruction with the souls of billions being snuffed out and joining the force far too early. He was the face of Imperial might, a frightening leader to legions of stormtroopers that both respected and feared the man that led them. And… he was Luke’s father.

His father, the Jedi-turned-Sith-Lord-turned-Jedi-again, Darth Vader.

Luke wanted him to live, he didn’t want to lose his father despite the horrendous atrocities the man had caused. Though he knew him little and took Luke arm without hesitation. He still loved him and he wanted his father to stay alive – to restart their lives and begin a new. Luke couldn’t just let him die he–

Shaking his head he wiped the tears from his eyes and took a few deep and calming breaths, Yoda’s and Ben’s instructions ran through his mind as he followed them with ease.

Five days ago he was much worse for wear, his skin red and cracked almost like he was recently burned, caked over charred leathery flesh with barely heeled skin. His father was still like this after who knew how long — Twenty years, at least? He had been in that suit from the very moment he first appeared in public — was shocking, to say the least. He knew the Darkside was dangerous, but to keep him alive after all this time? He was just surprised his father was even alive. Now the ex-Dark Lord looked more healthy in a way: new skin had grown over damages done from years of service. However his body was still covered in scars and bumps. That likely meant he would still need more time to properly recover.

Metal footsteps echoed the medic bay, then next to Luke, a synthetic voice spoke in a calm, diplomatic, Coruscanti accent. “He is doing well sir. Most of Lord Vader’s damaged tissue done to his body have been repaired. Though his lungs are still far too damaged at the moment, he will still need to wear the mask until they are properly healed.” it stated.

Luke turned to face the speaker. To the untrained eye, the droid looked like any KX-series security droid. It took a sharp eye and intimate knowledge of the various droid models to notice that the panels were slightly off from where they should be, with seams for the kind of manipulators no security droid had any need for. True to his first suspicions, T4-KN had freely admitted that he was a custom-built surgical droid, purpose-built by Darth Vader to tend to his dismal condition. He had been ordered to be scrapped years ago, on the orders of the Emperor himself — but, it seemed like with other things the stormtrooper corps had other ideas.

Luke sighed a bit. “What about the repairs, Teefour? Has Obee been able to repair the hyperdrive?” He questioned the droid. It shook its mechanical head and responded almost like it was disappointed.

“Unfortunately not, young sir; OB-1 has been largely unsuccessful. He has stated that the drive was too damaged beyond repair and that in order for it to stop would mean the whole ship will either have to lose functional power or run out of fuel. His calculations have put us at about one day of fuel left — two at the most.” The KX stated. Luke’s heart began to sink like an anvil into the abyss. Five days they had been stuck in hyperspace, which is probably the longest anybody has ever been in it. Not only that, they still only had two days at most to figure out something before the fuel ran out — after which they were most likely KUBAR. That wasn’t a lot of time to work with.

He sighed again in frustration and nodded to the droid. “Thank you for telling me Teefour…” he thanked the droid in a low, depressing tone.

The droid continued. “If it’s any consolation I am truly sorry that I am unable to give you any good news.”

“It’s fine Teefour. Just do what you can for father. It’s all I can ask for,” Luke said.

“Of course sir,” Teefour replied.

Luke left the medic bay and entered into the living space to meditate. A good way to relax his nerves for the time being and probably the last time he’ll be able to at all. Sitting in a lotus position and shutting his eyes, he entered a deep meditation, and dove headlong into the Force.

It was like dipping into a warm bath, the light was giving him a calming warmth to wean away fear and worries. Through his view his very being was bright whitish blue, pure and bright; a beacon of light, the kind that pierced the darkness. His right hand, however, was a dark purplish color, meaning that it wasn’t a part of him. The young Jedi watched as force butterflies flew and swirled around him calmly. In this state he can sense nearly every force user that was close by, including his father.

His color was also blue, but not as pure as Luke’s, it was darker, like the depths of the ocean or the sky just before night, and there also still was a chunk of red — a piece of the dark side that refused to leave like a stubborn tick. It wouldn’t have been surprising honestly; Luke already knew that you couldn’t fully rid yourself of the darkness despite how one might try.

Luke continued the rest of his hour meditating. Suddenly he felt something, something… huge. The force, a massive concentrated ocean of it, both dark and light mixing together in a chaotic fashion. Whatever this place was, it held so much power within and...it seemed to even grow. Yes, it was growing, slow as it may be at a snail's pace but it was definitely growing. That should be impossible. The Force didn’t just keep growing like that, unless it did and he just never knew. Whatever the case, he now had an objective.

Coming out from his meditation he stood up quickly to find Obee.

Said droid — full designation OB-1 — was busy fixing some of Vader’s prosthetics and building some new ones with help of the other astromech, designated as Q-G. Both of them had little arms installed into their frames to make better repairs, and Obee even had a vocoder which allowed him to speak at least Basic — Luke had a suspicion he knew a good deal more languages than just that -- meaning he was probably the first astromech to speak in anything other than Binary. Obee knew practically every single method of wiring, circuitry, and metallurgy in the galaxy, while Kyugee was unparalleled in coding and slicing into other computer systems. Even then, it was still a shame that the droids were not able to fix those systems.

The sliding doors open prompting the two astros to stop their work. OB-1 addressed Luke first in a crisp Core World accent, which sounded a great deal like Old Ben, only much younger. “Hello there. What brings you here, young master?” the little droid asked.

“How much time has passed since I went into the living quarters?” Luke questioned, in a hurried tone.

“By our count, at least 50 minutes. Why do you ask, young master?” Obee sounded puzzled.

Luke didn’t say anything and just hummed before taking on a serious tone. “Obee, I need you and Kyugee to pack everything up. Every tool and prosthetics, any loose pieces, and strap everything down tight. Make sure nothing can come loose and get flung around.”

The droid froze up for a good five seconds as it processed the strange command. “If you don’t mind my asking, young master, why are we packing our equipment and battening everything down?” Obee asked, his synthetic voice a deep, calm baritone.

Quickly Luke explained, cutting out the details to save time. “I have sensed something through the force, a planet I think, full of Force energy that even now continues to grow. This is more or less our last chance for rescue before the ship runs out of fuel. If nothing else, we could land and run repairs, and get help if it's inhabited.”

Both droids were silent, then Kyugee spoke up, a fluid stream of Binary. “Sir, that would be impossible. You can’t steer in hyperspace even if you had a hyperdrive in top condition.” Obee translated, his calm voice hiding the confusion he and his counterpart must have been feeling.

“And even then, the likelihood of stopping in front of a planet without being programmed in is nearly zero.” Obee finished, his confusion and worry more evident in his tone.

Luke sighed. “I know the risks, but it’s our only chance at this point. So pack up now, and let me know when it’s done,” he ordered the droids then promptly left them to their own devices. He had to warn Teefour… and wake his father.

After Luke departed, both droids were still for a moment before they turned to look at one another. Then they released a synthetic annoyed sigh. “Jedi…” Obee sighed out ruefully. “Why does every single one of them need to be a bloody daredevil in a starship…” Kyugee let out a string of bleeps and whistles. Obee considered his counterpart's input before twitching his photoreceptor up and down — the astromech equivalent of a sage nod.

“Good point — it is likely the Force sensitivity,” he agreed. “I find that such a connection seems to instill expectations of reality that even most organics would consider… unreasonable.”
Both astromechs shook their domes in united exasperation, then turned and got back to work.

Luke returned back to the medic bay. The medic droid was busy monitoring his father’s vitals, but he still noticed the young Jedi master and greeted him once more. Luke nodded and went to his father. He looked so peaceful, sleeping in the floating bay of liquid. It must be very comfortable and soothing for him if he’s been asleep for this long. It was a shame that he had to wake him up.

Extending his hand out to touch the glass, he sent out a mental nudge through the Force.

“Father?”

Anakin twitched slightly and slowly opened his eyes, blinking in the light before focusing on Luke.

He...was not dead? Peculiar; he would have sworn his injuries were fatal. He quickly registered the bacta tank, clearing his confusion, before his blue eyes — no longer the acidic Sith yellow -- looked up to see his son, Luke. The ex-Sith felt glad, seeing his son still alive and well after all that had transpired. He made to talk, to turn on the vocoder for communication through the bacta tank, but his son raised a single hand to hold him off.

“You don't have to talk right now, Father, just save your energy for healing. We can talk when you're out, after...” Luke stopped for a moment, averting his eyes, and then looked him in the face with a tired smile. “I suppose I need to explain what’s about to happen.” Luke explained to his father how they’d been stuck in hyperspace for a Galactic Standard week because of the damaged hyperdrive, of the world with an expanding Force presence he had seen while meditating, and his plan to divert the ship's course to said planet.

To say Anakin was dumbfounded was an understatement. Sure he had been on certain planets where the dark side was stronger, more prevalent than the norm — Mustafar, Moraband, and even… Exegol. He shuddered at the memories of that planet. If there was a planet aside from Tatooine he would be too glad to NEVER set foot on again, it was that one. There were also planets strong in the light side or even the Living Force itself, but a planet where the Unifying Force, both light and dark, combined into a presence many times bigger than the very planet housing it? That was just too impossible to believe.

Well, except Mortis, but what were the chances of another planet (if it could have even been called that) like that floating around in the galaxy…?

His son continued. “Father, I’ll be using the Force to guide us.” Anakin’s eyes widened with shock. “This is risky I know, especially in hyperspace, but what choice do I have? This could be our only chance.” Luke placed his head on the cold glass and sighed, staring back into his fathers eyes, which glimmered with worry. “Father, I have to do this for us to survive.” He moved away and made his way to the door, before turning to face his father once more. “I’ll see you after we have changed course.” Leaving the ex dark lord alone with Teefour and the sounds of the beeping life support system.

No sooner had Luke gone that the old Dark Lord immediately turned his head to face Teefour.

“Ready my limbs and armor.”

His tone brooked no argument, and the surgical droid knew better than to try.

Sitting in the cockpit, Luke once again began to meditate, centering and grounding himself in the Force, preparing himself for the difficult task at hand. Luke knew that he would feel immense strain from the task ahead of him — changing a ship’s course in hyperspace was no easy feat. In fact, he had never even heard of something like that before — Neither Ben or Yoda had mentioned anything like that, nor had it been covered during his crash course in Force sensitivity on Dagobah. Lifting a boulder was one thing. Moving something as big as a J-type 327 Nubian yacht — in hyperspace — was something else entirely—

Luke, hand outstretched, trying to lift his sunken X-wing, claiming it was too big...

“Size matters not. Look at me — judge me by my size, do you?”

“You ask for the impossible…”

Luke jolted at the unbidden memory, thinking back...

Yoda, small, wrinkled and green, barely level with Luke’s knee, yet standing as if he was 100 meters tall, a single tiny claw raised as the X-Wing slowly lifted out of the bog it had sunk in, the Force vibrating and humming, marshaled at his call, doing his bidding...

Luke patted the X-wing, safely on solid ground, still caked with bog slime, proving he wasn’t hallucinating, then turning to the old Master with astonishment.

“I don’t believe it!”

“That… is why you fail.”

Luke smiled at the memory and chuckled at his own naivete. Yoda would have been beating him over the head with his gimer stick for hours on end if he heard that line of thought. Nothing could be done, except to simply do. He opened his eyes and looked at the chronometer… five hours had passed. No matter how many times he meditated, the one thing Luke would never get used to was how time seemed to slip by without notice.

He got to his feet and stretched, letting feeling return to his legs. He felt pretty good, all things considered -- in the past five hours he had soaked up the Force like a sponge soaking up water. If he had to guess, he might have actually rivaled his father or even surpassed him entirely. Either way, it was time.

He lifted both hands up, reaching into the force. Invisible tendrils of power escaped from his palms and passed throughout the hull, wrapping around the entirety of the ship. Had they been in regular space, then this would be as easy as cutting a Meiloorun Fruit. This, however, was hyperspace — a different dimension from what he was used to. It was like using the force for the first time when he was training under Yoda, feeling the intense strain on his mind and the toll on his body. Of course, now that he was better trained the strain was nearly non-existent, however now Luke was doing this especially in hyperspace. Luke knew he'd be feeling this tomorrow. He reached out, letting his senses soak into the ship. The vessel started to creak as, slowly, its course began to change, but it wasn’t enough, not on course yet, he knew that deep within.

His facial muscles twitched as he used more of the force. The aches he had been ignoring since the Death Star now reared their ugly head, becoming more and more apparent, threatening to break his concentration. Nevertheless, he persisted, reaching through the pain even as it sharpened. He wasn’t going to give up, he would see that they would survive through this, by whatever means necessary. Unexpectedly he felt another presence because the strain he felt was less now. Then he heard it, the familiar raspy breathing. Luke immediately turned to look — and there he was, the monolith of dark with a pitch black cape and the skull-like mask and helmet that struck fear to anyone who saw it. Even Luke was frightened a bit, though that was quickly replaced with worry.

“Father!?”

Anakin replied, standing tall next to Luke, a pitch black anchor of certainty in the Force. “You didn’t think that I would let you do this by yourself?”

“But — but you are injured! You shouldn’t be doing this, father!” Luke shouted, fighting to keep his vision from graying out.

His father replied with a snort. “And let you do this alone, and tear yourself apart? No, I won’t allow it. We are in this together, life or death.” Anakin stated firmly as he furthered his reach, tightening his grip on the ship while interweaving it with Luke’s, strengthening both.

Anakin had always been stubborn; had always pushed himself to the absolute limit. He had his limbs cut off and set on fire while inhaling volcanic fumes. He had been systematically torn apart, put back together again, and practically welded to what amounted to a mobile iron lung, all while still conscious. He had been struck by lightning — real lightning — had been thrown off thousand foot high cliffs, had been literally stepped on by Imperial walkers on more than one occasion, and last but not least, had whole Coruscanti buildings collapsed on top of his head. He had survived all that and endured many other grievous forms of torture that he would not care to mention. While being struck by force lightning by his master was obviously worse than anything he had experienced, he would force himself to push through that pain and survive. Even more so now that he had the light side of force returned to him again, helping him mend his wounds. But… he was still not in proper shape, and he knew it. One misstep, and the miracle of his survival on the Death Star would be rendered moot.

Luke, on the other hand, was in no better of a position. He hid it well, better than most — but Anakin knew Obi-Wan Kenobi. No one could fake being healthy like his old bacta-phobic master; compared to him, Luke might as well be an open datapad in comparison. Anakin could feel Luke’s presence in the Force, and feel the ripples of residual pain still under the surface. Even now, the aftereffects of the Emperor’s wrath were still felt in the son as much as the father. Limitless as the Force may be, one needed to withstand the strain, or they were undone.

If either of them tried this alone, death would be the only outcome.

But together, the Force itself could not halt them.

They leaned into each other's presence, supported one another as they reached out, and said as one, ‘Move.’

And slowly, begrudgingly, the ship complied, turning ponderously to its new course, the united might of father and son in the Force safeguarding it from the turbulence of hyperspace.

Later, the chronometer would have recorded the entire ordeal as lasting barely twelve minutes. But to Luke and Anakin, it might as well have been a lifetime. Finally, with equal relief and satisfaction, they relinquished their hold and let the ship on its new course, while the two collapsed against each other, panting and shaking.

Luke spoke up first, still panting.

“Do or do not, my karking foot! If I ever see Yoda’s ghost, the first thing I'll do is take that kriffing stick of his and beat him with it!”

Anakin huffed, wheezing through his respirator. “That would be unwise, my son. Yoda was always insidious in his pranks. Any counterattack was met with… incredible creativity.” He was silent for a moment. “It took Obi-Wan a good month to get the dye out of his hair. Or his robes. He was… quite popular on our next mission, if I recall.”

Luke stared at him, fighting the smile that threatened to crack his face in two. “Dare I ask why?” he managed to say.

Anakin looked at his son, his mask radiating pure innocence. “Well, it wasn’t exactly his fault that wearing neon purple from head to toe meant a desire for marriage on that particular planet…”

Luke didn’t stop laughing until his chest started to hurt

Author's Note

Thank you for reading this Chapter, I love Star Wars I’ve seen the movies, what he’s the shows, read some of the novels even the none-cannon ones. I’m not the only one working on this I have a friend we are both working on this. This isn’t just a Fanfic, this is a project, a big one. Well post more chapters soon, see ya.

This chapter has been fixed, Also this was co-written by Nasubrony.

Chapter 2

Chapter 2.

“But are you sure you’re alright, father?”

A sigh came out of Anakin’s respirator as he paused in tinkering with his right leg. He looked across the medbay to his son, who had multiple bacta patches placed on his bare torso. After using their combined power to divert the ship's course, both had felt the strain on their bodies, Anakin even more so because he wasn’t even fully healed. Then again, it always seemed that Skywalkers always pushed themselves to the very limit — the son as much as the father, Anakin thought with some chagrin, if not more.

“Yes, my son, I am all right — just like the last ten times you asked me. If you must obsess over injuries, do so with your own."

Luke flushed at that. "I'm just making sure you’re alright, I'm not getting obsessed over it —"

Anakin cut him off. "Let me rephrase what I just said — like the last ten, no, eleven times you have asked me — in the past hour alone."

Luke stood there for a second, then sighed. “I’m sorry Father, it’s just having you out so early is unexpected. Yet I’m thankful you helped.”

Anakin nodded and replied, "I'm glad to have helped. I did not want you to kill yourself so soon after our escape from the Emperor."

Luke nodded silently, conceding the point, before T4-KN re entered the room with a scanner, running it over Luke first, then Anakin. The droid examined the results, before addressing the two humans.
“Well, the scans seem to check out for the most part," he began, his optics shifting from Luke to Anakin. "Both of you are so far in a stable condition; other than erratic brain waves from Sir Luke. Judging from the patterns, they are likely from overwork and sleep deprivation. A night's sleep or two should do the job for you. However...” he turned to Anakin. “I would strongly like to advise Lord Vader that he return to the bacta tank to continue finishing his recovery before doing anything more strenuous. Despite you looking healthier than you ever have these past years, there is still some risk of —"

Anakin cut the droid off firmly. “That is enough, Teefour. I am feeling alright at the moment, and am fully aware of my limitations. I thank you for your assistance, but it’s no longer needed at this point.”

The medical droid was silent. Its photoreceptors blinked for a moment, then he spoke. “Very well.” It said in a surprisingly calm tone despite it being synthetic. Though if one can hear closer it would be like the droid was annoyed. "I shall see to my equipment and other medical supplies then — for when you do have need of me." Turning around, he strutted away with a synthesized huff.

Luke winced at the retreating droid. "Father…" he began with a disapproving tone.

"Don't even start," Anakin warned. "You don't know Teefour like I do. Submit to just one of his recommendations and he'll heap more upon you without warning. First it's a bacta tank for a couple of days, then next thing you know you're strapped to a gurney with full intent to operate because a minor artery is but seven micrometers away from where it's supposed to be."

Teefour continued to strut away, muttering to himself and wrapped up in his wounded pride. Therefore he failed to notice the heavy box full of spare parts and tools before he practically walked into it, his heavy foot smacking right into it. Now it was commonly believed across the galaxy that droids feel no pain, but that wasn’t entirely true. If a normal man is able to punch a droid with their bare fist, or even remove an arm with tools, then that statement would certainly be true. However, if you were to shoot at it or fire an electric pulse… or, say, it were to stub its foot against a relatively hard object — like a tool box, for instance — then in a way a droid could feel pain — especially if his programming allowed for that.

Teefour was currently proving that point spectacularly, hopping on one foot while grabbing the other, releasing a string of invectives in Binary that left Luke and Anakin mildly impressed at the surgical droid's colorful language. “Ah damn bullocks!” the medic Droid growled. “You blasted astromechs! Quit putting your equipment in my station!” He picked up the box items and tossed it into a different part of the room.

Obee rolled into the room with another box in his manipulator. “Violence is not the answer, Teefour. Isn't it a medical droid's directive to do no harm?” The little droid said, with Kyugee behind him, quick to add his own two credits in a string of Binary. Obee chuckled.

“You know, Kyugee, you’re right! T4-KN gets angry too easily for a medic droid.”

Teefour clenched his mechanical fist and waved it at the Astromechs. “Shut it, you! I’ve tolerated the unorganized mess you two have made, but I refuse to let you two make a mess at my station. Be off with you, you mechanical menaces!” He flipped his hand at them in a classic universal "shoo" gesture. "I have enough to do without you two little miscreants cluttering up my med bay! Begone!"

"Ah, but you see Teefour," Obee interrupted, gesturing at the boxes of assorted parts, "we brought these spare parts here to build new prosthetics with your input. You are the expert in organic biology, after all! Who better to ensure the new limbs work perfectly for Lord Vader than the one droid in charge of his health?"

Teefour stared at him for a few seconds, then shook his head and groaned. "Oh, very well, you little flattering menace, get your parts over here and organized, and I'll see what you have already," He muttered begrudgingly as he began to help the two Astro droids place and organize their essentials, chattering with Obee in fast streams of Binary.

While this was going on Luke sat there, contemplating something he had realized while stretching his mind out to the presence they were now moving towards. Anakin looked towards his son in concern.

"Is something wrong, Luke? You seem troubled."

Luke looked up to him and shook his head. "I don't know for sure, father," he said, his brow furrowed in thought. "I think I might have been wrong when I said that Force presence was growing."

Anakin tilted his head. "How so, my son?" he asked as Luke turned toward him.

"Have you noticed," Luke began slowly, "that not only has it been growing faster since we changed course, it's also becoming clearer in the Force? More distinct?"

"I — " Anakin paused as he stretched out his sense of the Force towards that presence they were now aimed at. "Oh…" he said, with growing wonder.

"Exactly, "said Luke, with growing fervor. "Earlier, it seemed hazy and hard to grasp, like we were seeing it through a fog bank. Now, our sense of it has sharpened, like we were seeing it far away, and are now seeing it up close!" He got up and began to pace. "But the Force doesn’t work like that! Distance shouldn't matter on how clear you sense something, I remember Yoda telling me that. So if it isn't distance, then —"

"Something was concealing it," Anakin breathed in amazement. "We must have been moving through the fringe of whatever is hiding it, that's why we sensed it!"

"And now that we are on course to meet it — "

"We are further penetrating the concealing element —"

"And seeing more of the presence more clearly!"

"And thus, the illusion of growth!"

The two of them were grinning like sugar-crazed younglings now, the excitement of their revelation leaking into the Force.

Obee looked back and forth between the two humans for a moment, then let out a synthetic sigh, shaking his dome in fond exasperation. Organics — so easily excited. Ah, well. Might as well make himself busy — an update on ship diagnostics seemed due, in fact. The little droid trundled out of the med bay over to the main computer and plugged his spike into one of the I/O sockets, immediately accessing the diagnostics center.

“Well, now let’s see here…”

As soon as he connected, warning signs and alerts flooded his inbox. It wasn't just internal damage to deal with, though there was plenty of that — but the outer hull was also damaged. There were even some foreign objects, some barely larger than the muzzle width of a blaster, embedded into the hull. This, he already knew; he had in fact even risked going EVA in hyperspace to retrieve a sample — it was well worth it, and not just because it got under Teefour's chassis. Spectroscopic analysis was… interesting, to say the very least. They couldn't be micrometeorites since, for one thing, they were in hyperspace and thus could not accrue micro impacts. For another, the fragments were not of any mineral that he could detect. Instead, the substance was more metallic — a refined duranium alloy, markedly different from the ship's ultrachrome hull in terms of strength and quality. In all his records there was only one major structure with a matching alloy structure: the Death Star. The idea may be implausible but not impossible. Five days before, just entered hyperspace as soon as that second larger, colossal super weapon exploded. It wasn't too far-fetched to conclude that some fragments had been dragged into hyperspace with the ship, or maybe some faster, small fragments hit the ship just before it jumped. Either way, it wasn’t surprising to see that said metal survived in hyperspace, it was made to survive harsh environments despite its spectacular destruction.

However, this was ultimately irrelevant to the current problem. OB-1 sighed once more; judging from the initial reports alone, the amount of repairs needed would not be possible with current resources. At this point, their priority might as well be making the ship livable long-term post landing. Of course, they would actually need to land first — and Lord Vader never had a good track record with those, even during the Clone Wars. Still, they would manage. After that, the priority would be ensuring the survival of both ship and organics — even if the ship will never fly again it can serve as an effective temporary home until rescue. As it was, they wouldn’t be able to make another jump to lightspeed once they dropped out, fuel notwithstanding. Sublight would also be a problem — with the fuel all but depleted, they would only be running on fumes… wait.

How odd, Obee thought to himself. The fuel levels seemed a bit higher than he expected. Could the course change have been responsible for conserving fuel? Or perhaps the meters on the cockpit were also off calibration -unsurprising, given the state of the place-? No matter. Obee ran an obligatory recalculation, using what little of the navicomputer that remained to plot out a rudimentary prediction. His circuits froze. That couldn't be right! He checked again, and for a third time. The results remained the same. Something like panic flashed through his CPU as he scrambled to find ideas. Would that work— no, no, that would take too long. How about this? No, that wouldn't be effective enough in the timeframe they had — wait a moment! He sent a silent message to QG, still with Teefour: Look at this! He went over the simulation with his twin over and over again, and he felt the droid equivalent of elation scatter across the link. An affirmation was made, he disconnected from the central computer, and he sped back to the medbay, circuits buzzing. He had to admit when he was a hypocrite: droids were just as excitable as organics, from time to time.

Luke and Anakin turned to gawk at the pair of droids as they practically blurred into the medbay, excitedly chattering away in Binary so fast neither organic could parse out what they were saying. Teefour ambled after them into the medbay, shrugging.

"I haven't the foggiest clue what's gotten them so wound up," he reported grumpily to Anakin. "One moment QG was with me, then all of a sudden Obee shot through the room and he followed, both squealing like giant mouse droids. I'll never understand these astromechs."

Luke bit his lip to keep from laughing, reminded of a certain pair of droids back home with the Rebel Alliance. Anakin just shook his head, huffing, before addressing the two.

"Very well you two, tell me what you have found that has you so excited."

The two droids continue to blabber and chatter in a bizarre mixture of Basic and Binary, their excitement clearly overriding their logic circuits. The two humans exchanged a single glance before Luke raised his voice.

"Hey guys!" The droids froze mid-rant. "Mind filling us organics in on what you found — in a way that we can actually understand?" Luke asked, not even bothering to hide his amused grin.

Obee and QG looked at each other, then Luke, to each other again, then back to Luke. "Well, you see," Obee began, sounding quite sheepish, "I have discovered something — we have both good news and bad news, as organics say." His holoprojector lit up, and a technical readout of the ship's schematics appeared before them, with various subsystems highlighted — the fuel system in particular — while Obee began to elaborate.

"During a check-up I was running on the systems, I noticed that our fuel reserves are slightly higher than initially predicted — likely a fault in the cockpit's measuring gauges. I ran the calculations, and…" He hesitated, and a ripple of worry ran through Luke and Anakin.

Anakin leaned forward expectantly. "Go on," he said, beckoning Obee to continue.

The little droid seemed to steel himself for what he was about to say. "At the current rate of fuel consumption, we will not reach depletion until we have passed through our target system and back into interstellar space. When that happens…" he left it hanging.

Luke immediately connected the dots, his face pale. "We'll be stranded in dead space, with no way to turn back," he finished in a hollow tone. It couldn't end like that, could it? The two of them trapped in a dead starship, waiting for either cold, hunger or suffocation to take them?

Obee's photoreceptor flickered in affirmation. "That would indeed be the case — if it wasn't for the source of our good news." Father and son looked at each other. "And… that would be?" Anakin prompted.

Obee immediately turned back to the projection, where another system was suddenly highlighted. "While fuel control from the cockpit is certainly not viable," Obee began. “The actual fuel control system is still largely intact. It is actually a relatively simple task to, at the exact moment we must, directly shut off the fuel from the central computer system, which will enact the failsafe system early —"

"Dropping us out of lightspeed at the right spot," Anakin finished, nodding. "Between myself and Luke, we can sense the timing needed through the Force. We will not be using it," he added firmly, sensing that Teefour was about to object, "But merely reaching into it, so it may guide us. That does not cause any exertion."

Teefour hesitated for only a moment, then sighed. "I know that you won't take no for an answer," he groused, "So I won’t bother with objecting but expect a physical afterwards, and a bacta dip. I'm not taking any risks with your life, Lord Vader — even if you will."

Anakin gave him a long, steady look, then nodded. "Very well," he said in a short tone. He turned to Obee. "What is our current timeframe?"

Obee was quick to answer. "From what little the navicomputer could tell us, we have roughly fourteen standard hours before we miss our window." Anakin nodded.

"That will be enough for you to take a short rest," he said to Luke, who opened his mouth to object. "You will be needed to help with timing through the Force, and are of no use to this effort with no sleep," Anakin cut him off sharply. Suddenly he was once again every bit of the military commander that had been respected and feared from the Clone Wars, through the Empire's twenty-three year history, to today. "You will sleep for seven hours, and then join us — but not before. Do not argue with me, son. We will need you as close to your best as possible."

“And what about you? You aren’t any better off father! In fact, I would say you're in a worse condition!" Luke shot back hotly.

Anakin nodded. “You are correct. I am indeed aware of that, but the only place I could properly rest is in the bacta tank. It would take too much time to put me in, and then pull me back out. That is why I will take this time to meditate as deeply as possible, the way Jedi have been trained to when sleep isn't available."

Luke blinked once, then he blinked again. "Yoda never mentioned that," he half accused. It seemed to Anakin that Luke had inherited his father's foul mood when he got sleep deprived — Padme had called it "The Cranky Side of the Force", much to his chagrin.

Anakin shrugged. "He likely didn't have the time to teach you how," he pointed out. "Besides, it's a last resort for when sleep isn't possible, not a replacement." He was intimately familiar with that fact. "No more arguments, Luke, we have work to do later." He jabbed a finger towards the young man's face, the mechanical appendage less than an inch from Luke’s nose.

"So now, my son, you will sleep."

Luke eyes widen noticed the surge in the Force flow within his mind. It was too late to react and his vision grew hazy and his eyes felt weighed down by lead. "Now that's… just… cheating…" he managed to slur out before slumping over his father's shoulder, completely dead to the world. Anakin watched over his son with some amused fondness and a little déjà vu — and trying to ignore how Luke was now drooling through his armorweave cape.

Never let it be said that Anakin Skywalker was above some dirty tricks himself.

Satisfied that his son was properly comatose, and in a proper bed (where he wasn’t drooling onto his shoulder anymore, thank you very much!) Anakin made his way to the central lounge, where he sat in full lotus on the couch. He set a timer in his suit, and then, remembering something, opened a comm to Teefour. He ordered Teefour to work with the astromechs in setting up for the fuel cutting procedure, and to monitor Luke, but not disturb him —though a few holo pics of him drooling into his pillow were permitted — there was always time for friendly blackmail, after all!

He settled into his meditation, letting the Force flow through him. As he entered it immediately; he felt a liquid-like warmth, like that of heated water running over his skin; soothing, comforting, like Padme's voice after months of war… He sternly centered himself, then reflected on the past week's events.

While in meditation his exhaustion was becoming… less, in a way. It wasn’t gone, but rather slowly dimming away — he was in a state that could generously be called sleep, but his mind was still active and thinking while his body rested. He had used it multiple times during the Clone Wars, when true sleep wasn’t an option. It kept him functional and alert, but didn’t quite serve to replace true sleep. It did allow him to think clearly about different things that had been bothering him since the escape. First and foremost on his mind at that moment was the ship they were currently aboard. How the kriff did this ship get on the Death Star from the Executor!? Only he could arrange for it to be moved — or so he had thought. Had an officer gotten his codes somehow? Said that it was on Lord Vader's orders that the ship be brought to the Death Star, ready for launch? Of everyone on the Executor there were only two people, conditionally three, that were possibly capable of such. He ran through the short list on his head.

He briefly considered Piett, but quickly dismissed the notion. Capable and loyal to Vader as the Admiral indeed was, he was still too wary of his superior to take such initiative — especially since it was such actions on the part of his predecessor Ozzel that had gotten him promoted in the first place. If Admiral Piett had anything to do with this, it was not his idea — he likely didn't have any knowledge of the transfer beyond being notified of an order from Lord Vader. That left two suspects — Kreel and the 501st Commander. Kreel was definitely loyal, fanatically so, to Vader. He had been among the most openly concerned for his Lord since Bespin — especially notable given the Sergeant's tendency for stoicism. Then again, Vader had taken to wandering the halls of the Executor in a kind of depressed haze that even the most Force-deaf of sapients could pick up on… in hindsight, he could give Kreel a pass on that one. It was hard to see from the outside, but the 501st Legion was a very tight-knit group. Vader’s Fist looked after its own, no exceptions. And no one fit that category so much as their leader, the Legion's namesake, who more often than not, entered the fray alongside them, his saber as likely to protect them as it was to harm them. While he would have never let it get in the way of his Imperial duty, Vader did indeed care for the Fist, in his own way. He knew their hardships. There were times where he even started calling them vode in his head, like when he had been with the clones… with Rex… he pulled away from the trip down memory lane and refocused on the issue.. It wouldn’t have been hard for Kreel to rally the stormtroopers to the cause of 'defend Vader even if it means high treason,' it definitely made sense for him to be behind this... except for one fact. Outside of SCAR Squadron, Kreel didn't have much authority — hell, he wasn't even well-liked. He was too abrasive and cold of a man for the others to follow wholeheartedly. Plus, he admitted himself that he wasn’t any good at leading a large group like the 501st — that was why he led the relatively small SCAR Squadron.

That just left Commander… funny, Anakin couldn't remember his name. He had joined the 501st just after Vader had received the Executor and formed Death Squadron. The trooper didn't talk much, at least when Vader was around, but he was efficient, loyal, as skilled with a blaster as they came, followed orders to the letter and exactly the way Vader intended — even when he didn't say anything. Most of all the Commander was especially devoted to the success of the 501st as a whole. He had gained such popularity in the Fist so quickly that Vader was sure that if he had even dared to remove the commander, the whole Legion would have resigned in protest. Also, it didn't happen often, but Vader could swear that the Commander seemed concerned about him. The Commander had a presence not unlike a brother looking out for his younger sibling, from time to time. Sometimes, the man seemed oddly familiar, like he knew Vader from a long time ago -- even though Vader had never once even seen his face. It was only in hindsight that Anakin realized this strange closeness, this familiarity between the two. In other more leisurely times he would have confronted the trooper about this, but Vader had been preoccupied with the enigma and unreachable goal that was his son. He never had time to get to the bottom of things.

Hours flew by. Luke slowly began to stir from his sleep, he groaned a bit as he sat up. Rolling his shoulders, cracking his neck. He felt good and refreshed. He wondered how he fell asleep, until it came rushing back to him.

“Really, father?” Luke asked drily, shaking his head while he stood up from the bed. He straightened and twisted his back, a satisfying crack came from his spine.

Leaving, he made his way towards the central lounge. There sat his father meditating calmly. It did look like he was sleeping peacefully. The breath mask sounded very calm, emitting slow, deep breaths.

The force began to fluctuate. Anakin was awake now, standing from his lotus position he turned to Luke and spoke. “I see you have awakened from your sleep.”

Luke deadpanned a bit. “Yeah, no thanks to you.”

He could hear how miffed his sons were in his tone of voice. Anakin couldn’t help but release a chuckle. It is humorous to see his son like this, it was too much like those times he got one over on Obi-Wan, long ago. Their potential banter was cut off by a sudden squealing from the nearby timer.

Anakin’s levity fled within seconds. “Luke, it is time.”

Luke’s face turned serious and determined — once again, his Jedi discipline showed. “Understood father. Alright guys, is everything tied down?” He shouted over his shoulder, and Anakin could hear the whirring of mechanical wheels as the droids sped over to them. “Yes! I have double and triple-checked! There’s nothing loose!” replied Obee, Kyugee next to him snapping off a salute with a manipulator.

Anakin nodded. “Get into position and make ready for the cutoff. Luke and I will open ourselves to the Force now.” The droids wheeled away, whistling and blarting excitedly in Binary. Anakin turned to Luke and gestured to the couch. Luke nodded and assumed full lotus on the couch. Anakin quickly sat down next to him, and as one, they reached out.

Immediately, the full span of life energy in the galaxy was visible to them — every single being was as a star unto themselves. By themselves, they were but dim points of light. Together, they outshone the galaxy itself; a current of light that never waned. The surge of life curved and meandered through impossible angles, throughout space and even time. It was into this current that father and son reached, opened themselves as much as they could without being lost in the flow. They delved into the flow with a singular, united focus, a lone question shared between then, asked unto the Living Force:

When?

Soon, came the answer that was without words, that was but mere sensation. The seconds passed by without notice, and yet each nanosecond was as an eon to the Jedi. They waited with bated breath, waited for the signal, the sensation that would tell them —

“NOW!” They shouted as one. Immediately, Kyugee shut off the fuel line, while Obee monitored the power levels in the hyperdrive as they instantly dwindled. The drive sputtered for a few seconds, then shut off, the silence cutting into everyone’s ears more sharply than a vibroknife. For a few, breathless moments all was still. Then, there was a groan and a shudder that rippled through the ship, and the whole room seemed to jump a meter sideways. Luke and Anakin braced themselves as momentum threatened to tear them from their seats. There were a few muffled crashes — some of the bonds had failed. And then, there was silence.

Anakin and Luke waited for a few minutes, waiting to see if anything else would happen. There was nothing. Slowly, they got to their feet, and made for the bridge. The first thing they saw as they entered was the bright yellow sun in the distance, the little pair of blue and silver spots that had to be a planet and its moon, and the stardust barely visible behind them. They stared at the view, something that was so welcome to them after a straight week in hyperspace, for a full minute. Then, wordlessly, they went to the few working consoles and got to work. There was still much to be done, and little time.

On the cold, cold moon, circling a lone world orbiting a solitary star, the sole presence that dwelled on its barren face for a thousand years began to stir.

How much time had passed? She couldn’t tell, for there was no proper way to discern how long time had gone by save for drawing line after line in the lunar sand. That had become repetitive after only a year into her banishment, but what else could she do, aside from staring at the blue and white marble in the distance in a powerless wrath, unable to even scream her fury into the void? She remembered a line in a book she once read: “I have no mouth, and I must scream.” Her own situation was arguably worse — she had a mouth and still she could not scream! There was no sound here on the moon -- it is impossible to even whisper on this barren, airless wasteland! A worse prison she could not have imagined, even at her cruelest.

She paused in her internal ranting, then nearly crumpled from her renewed rage. That she, once the mightiest warrior in the great land of Equestria, the highest of nobility save only one other, master of the night itself, be brought so low as to think of her beloved moon in such a scathing light!? It could not be borne! By far, this was the worst of her humiliations. How her mind hadn’t cracked was beyond her. Maybe it was the dark power that she possessed that preserved her, such was its might! Maybe it was the quest for vengeance against her sibling that condemned her here to this most ironic of hells, where she would even despise her most beloved treasure. Or perhaps it was the sole consolation that she could, from time to time, cast the cruelest and most unspeakable horrors she could conjure into the dreams of those fickle ponies below, punishing them for their abandonment.

A punishment her traitorous sister would bear too, curse her bleeding heart! Let the sun-dappled wretch watch them suffer and know it was her own doing! Perhaps, when she finally returned, she would let her sister remain, rather than take her own place… if only to watch her ill-gotten, spineless farce of a kingdom come crashing down, and a newer, greater empire takes its place! Oh, how the other nations would cower! Griffons, Changelings, Abyssinians, even those insipid Yaks! All would kneel and be made to respect Her beautiful night — respect, or suffer.

A shockwave of magic, echoing across the void in a discordant cacophony, broke her out of her reverie. What in the world was that!? Following the echoing thunderclap ringing in her horn, she turned her gaze starward; had it been any other situation, she would have paused at the fact that she had not even looked to the stars once in the millenium she had been sealed. Her sight, augmented by the seat of her power, could make out the intruder — an oblong thing of mirror-bright metal, cheerily reflecting sunlight and starlight alike as it drifted sunward. And the power it held within— it seemed to her as both sunlight and moonlight in equal measure! Truly it was a worthy prize, if she could just reach it! Even as she bore witness to the dual power, it receded into the distant speck — a vessel of some kind, she now understood… and slowly heading towards her world. Perfect.

Slowly a grin began to form, baring her teeth and showing her pointed, almost predatory teeth, the eldritch power seething just beneath the surface of her horn. She could not bring her powers to bear just yet, it was still too far. She would need to wait for it to come nearer before she could consider pulling it onto the moon, and reaping the rewards within.

So, the Mare in the Moon settled down, and waited. For what was one more day, compared to a thousand years?

It was cool and clear that night, and the skies above Canterlot were as clear and smooth as crystal glass. Not even the barest whisper of a breeze troubled the great mountaintop city. Nor were any of the ponies living within troubled at all, every single one of them having long since turned in for a peaceful night. All in Canterlot were sound asleep at this point — all, that is, except for two little figures, a unicorn and a dragon, on a tower near the Royal Palace, standing next to a large telescope aimed at the bright full moon.

Twilight Sparkle looked at the moon in the viewfinder of the large reflector telescope, making sure that the great silver orb filled the viewfinder's field of vision. It was larger than usual, owing to the fact that tonight it was closer to the world than usual— an event called a supermoon by scientists. The arrangement of craters and lava fields on its face, taking the incredible likeness of a unicorn's head, was perfectly clear tonight — perfect for Twilight's purposes.

Keeping an eye on the viewfinder, she lit her horn. With small, precise flashes of magic,, she carefully began to turn a pair of knobs on each side of the telescope, slowly turning it this way and that, until the crosshair was perfectly centered on the large lighter patch that had long since been dubbed "The Mare's Eye." Suddenly, a small "ahem" made her jump with a little yelp. Concentration broken, she turned to scowl at the little dragon standing so innocently behind her. "Yes, Spike? Was there something?" She asked sweetly, the kind of sweet that implied infinite pain and suffering for the poor sap in her sights.

"Only the part where you tell me why we're up here in the middle of the night," Spike replied just as sweetly.

Twilight blinked for a few seconds, then laughed weakly. "I glossed over that part, didn't I?" She asked in a sheepish tone.

"More like you skipped it entirely," Spike replied flatly. "Now spill it, Twilight. What's so important that you had to pull me out of bed in the middle of the night?" He tapped his foot against the ground in a classic 'I'm waiting' gesture. She was going to talk sooner or later, she couldn’t help it.

Twilight didn't disappoint. "We're observing the lunar phenomenon known in legends as the Blue Flash, in order to ascertain its possible origins."

Spike looked nonplussed. "The Blue Flash? What the hay is that supposed to be?"

Twilight looked at him in disbelief. "How can't you know about the Blue Flash!? You've read practically the entire horror section in the Royal Library!" It was practically the only kind of book he ever touched, aside from — she shuddered — comic books.

Spike only shrugged. "Probably wasn't in any of the good parts. So," he leaned forward expectantly. "Blue Flash. What is that? Care to explain for the unwashed illiterate here?"

Twilight rolled her eyes at Spike's antics. "It's a rare event that occurs at random occasions on the moon," she explained. "At least once a year, at roughly midnight, it is said that one can see a flash of blue light shoot from the 'Mare's Eye' formation." She gestured at an open book at her side, where a lunar map was visible. "Legends say that the Blue Flash is a sign that predicts horrible nightmares for those who see it. The typical old mare's tale, you know the drill," she finished drily.

"So…" Spike thought for a moment. "Why are we even looking for it if it's just an old legend? It isn't real, right?"

Twilight chuckled and replied, “While I’m sure it actually doesn’t cause nightmares, the Blue Flash is a documented event. To this day, ponies haven’t found out what really causes it. Or rather,” she added ruefully, “they wouldn’t really try. The astronomy professor looked like he was about to start laughing his head off when I said I was going to observe the event. He said that it was best to ‘leave fortune telling to the hack oracles at the carnival.’” She adopted the low, nasal tone of the professor so well that Spike burst out laughing.

“So, he wasn’t interested in why it happens?” he summed up when the laughter passed. ‘No,” Twilight said.

“Ponies are either too caught up in superstition or too dismissive of it. Either way, no one seems to want or care to know why. Everything has a reason, Spike.” She looked up at the moon. “It’s just a matter of finding out what that reason is. So, are you with me?” She turned to Spike again with a little smile. “Number one assistant of mine?”

Spike immediately snapped off a Royal Guard’s salute. “Ma’am, yes ma’am!” He held the salute for a solid five seconds before the both of them burst out laughing.

“Okay, okay, little soldier, get your butt over to that button will you?” Twilight pointed to a little box with a button on it, with a wire running to the telescope. “It links to a set of magic slides in the telescope. When the Blue Flash appears, I’ll tell you, and you start clicking that button a couple times a second. The light will burn on the slides and —” she stopped at Spike’s glazed expression. “Basically, it’ll take pictures of what the telescope is pointed at,” she finished meekly.

Spike nodded. “Push the button a lot when you tell me to. Got it. So… when is it supposed to happen?”

Twilight looked at the open pocket watch hanging from the telescope. “Should be any time now, let’s get into position.” Spike walked over to the button as Twilight put her eye to the telescope, keeping it fixed on the Mare in the Moon and its single Eye.

The minutes seemed to crawl by. Twilight kept her focus on the eyepiece, waiting… waiting… waiting… It almost seemed like time had frozen, the world around was so silent and still, the Moon through the telescope static and motionless —

A tiny flicker of blue.

“Spike! Now!” Twilight shouted. A yelp from behind her told her the baby dragon had nearly fallen asleep, and then frantic clicking filled the air as he began to mash the slide button. The light grew, then instantly flared, eclipsing the Mare's Eye… then just as instantly, it faded and vanished.

Twilight immediately pulled the slides out of the slot in the side of the telescope and bolted downstairs, Spike ambling behind groggily. She immediately laid the slides out in a row on her desk, underneath a lit oil lamp as the photos slowly came into view. She stared at it, looking for any flaws in the six magically enhanced and magnified images, one after the other. Did it show? Did the slides catch the Flash — ?

“YES!” Sure enough, the azure burst of light, start to finish, was displayed fully on the slides. “SUCCESS!” Twilight crowed in delight. “We caught the Blue Flash on camera! It’s only a matter of studying it and discerning possible origins, narrowing it down —”

“Uhh Twilight… What’s that?”

“Huh!? Spike, what are you talking about? It’s the Blue Flash, we just talked about it —”

“No no, I mean ,” Spike pointed at something on the third slide. “That.”

Twilight was confused at what Spike was pointing at, deciding to take a look. Her heart began to beat at a quick and loud pace, so loud she could hear it from her ears. Her eyes slowly widened and in disbelief. This was not possible, and yet it was. Magic slides didn’t lie and she knew it wasn't some type of speck that got in the way.

There on the magically enhanced photo, off to the side of the moon, was a tiny, yet very distinct, silver triangular shape.

Author's Note

Final uploaded Chapter 2. So yeah my story was taken off, because the first chapter did not have ponies. Sigh,
Well don’t worry cause now we have ponies in this chapter now.

Also I’m really shocked how many of you guys loved the first chapter. Thank you all and we will post more.

Also this was Co-written by Nasubrony.

Chapter 4

Chapter 4
PREVIOUSLY:
"S-sir… look."

Shining turned and froze, gaping. Twinkleshine turned her head to look as the medics, about to lift her onto the chariot, also froze, one of them gasping in horrified amazement. Everypony who could look stared, unable to pull their eyes away.

The morning sky above was perfectly clear and cloudless, the mighty summit of Mount Canter splitting it like a giant knife. Further up, bright azure darkened toward deeper navy blue, a gentle, soothing gradient in the heavens. Above the mountaintop, almost like a crown, a golden shard of sunfire cut a crimson gash in the deep blue sky.

A few minutes earlier...
Cold.

Heavy.

Piercing.

Pain.

If there were words that better described the sensation that closed about Luke Skywalker as he fought against the Thing that assaulted their ship, he wasn't sure whether or not he wanted to know them. Its presence coiled around him, relentless and merciless like a Krayt dragon, seeking to crush, to stab, to subjugate. It felt like an entire planet had pressed its weight on his shoulders, bearing down on him with one, all-encompassing demand:

KNEEL AND SUBMIT.

To someone like Luke, who had only just been ordained as a Jedi Knight, the sheer power behind the attack was insurmountable. The only thing that kept him from collapsing under the strain was the solid, black, towering monolith of power that was his father; a pillar of support that he could lean on. He stood like a stalwart rampart of the Force, holding the worst of the Thing's mental lashes at bay. Even so, his presence was no less bone-chilling; cold wrath radiated from his form like the icy cliffs of Hoth. It had not escaped the notice of neither father nor son that the Thing had adopted a particular hatred of Luke, and had directed the worst attacks at him — strikes that had sent him to his knees from the pain.

Anakin had sent his own crushing strike towards the Thing, and it had backed off. Still, It kept a constant pressure on Luke that was only withheld by Anakin’s cold anger, tightly controlled and protective. This palpable aura of wrath honestly made Luke a little uneasy.

Still, he would rather face that than what lurked outside, waiting to claim them.

He focused, and sent out his own lashing tendril of thought against the Thing as a follow-up for Anakin’s own strike. For a moment it receded but it actually seemed surprised.

Huffing slightly off Luke exclaimed to his father. “We have to do something, otherwise we’ll crash.”

“I know.” Anakin replied, his tone carrying slight hints of frustration and anger. “Which is why we'll make sure it won’t succeed.” Instantly he started to plan. “At the moment, we are in a deadlock, " he began, audible strain in his voice, "We can defend against it separately, but — " he paused as he fended off another strike. "But striking back alone yields little to no reward, and our ship is still being pulled. I alone would normally have the strength to sever the grip it has on us, but with my injuries…" He left it hanging. It was clear to Luke that Anakin was struggling to admit he wasn't strong enough.

"So what do you propose?" Luke asked his father.

Anakin paused for a brief second then continued. "There were times when Obi-Wan and I pooled our strength against a task that neither of us could take alone, called on the Force as one. I believe we can do the same, and together we can relinquish its hold on us." He hesitated for a moment then added, in a more subdued tone "I… Would understand if you are adverse to this method. We can try something else."

The ship rattled again as Luke considered Anakin’s plan. Far away, he could hear Obee yelling that they were in the planet’s gravity well. Making his decision, he nodded. "OK, Father. Tell me what to do. You lead, and I'll follow."

Anakin, to his credit, only froze for a split second of surprise at his son's acceptance. Immediately he shook it off and together they made for the bridge, where the droids were at the controls. Ahead, the silver mass of the moon dominated the viewports.

"Report!" Anakin barked at Obee.

"We're less than two thousand kilometers from the moon now!" The droid cried. "Course unchanged! At this rate we'll make contact in less than three minutes!"

"Not if we have anything to say about it," Anakin snarled. "Luke, gather your strength now! When I say so, focus it on me!" Luke nodded and gathered himself in the Force, as next to him his father did the same. Their powers peaked in seconds, and both readied for the next step.

For a single, eternal moment, both father and son stood there, twin suns in the Force, radiating power in all directions. Then they reached for one another, focused on each other, and the singular goal they shared. Luke felt his father next to him reach out, and he reached for his father in turn. The tendrils of power met between them then conjoined, and they stood united in thought and the Force.

The Force.

The Father.

The Son.

All were one.

All were focused on a single, unifying goal.

Slowly, Luke-Anakin hefted the mighty power he/they wielded, and with a single thought, brought it to bear on his/their foe.

To say she was shocked would be a great understatement. For the first time in a thousand years, she had witnessed something unprecedented — she would even call it impossible, were it not happening in front of her. In the silver vessel slowly drawing towards her, close enough that she could make out more of its sleek profile, the two beings on board somehow merged.

No… not merged — that would be more along the lines of mixing two different things, to the point the separate components were inseparable and indistinguishable. This was more like combining, as the two beings had joined together to become one concentrated force — one, yet still separate. She could still perfectly make out the hated, sunny brightness of the Younger and the dim, yet strong smoldering of the Elder. It was incredible, and clearly the prelude to some kind of counter —

And then it hit her, with all the force of a falling meteor. An airless gasp came out as her legs began to buckle, and the ground cracked under her hooves. it was as if a mountain had actually dropped into her back and was about to crush her. What was going on?! She looked up and saw that the silver craft, just seconds ago inching towards her, was starting to crawl away through the skies. They were pushing against her and the moon, offsetting her pull — and hoping to distract her focus, no doubt! She pulled more of her power together, as much as she could without risking backlash from the seal, and then threw her will at the vessel with a soundless demand.

Come HERE!!!!!

The vessel jerked to a halt in its tracks, started moving towards her again, then stopped for a final time, shuddering under the two opposing forces. She wrenched and yanked on the ship with as much power as she could muster, but it remained stubbornly fixed above her, unyielding.

To think these beings were able to defy her so! It angered her, infuriated her; yet in her heart she could not help but feel a bit of jealousy. That kind of camaraderie was something that she hadn’t experienced since… since…

White wings spread before the coming dawn, and there was a gentle smile under the rainbow mane.

"Shall we go, _____?"

Hate boiled in her gut, and she felt bile threatening to rise in her throat. Those hated memories, that she had done her best to discard! That these… these foreigners would make her again recall that thrice-damned teaser of a marethat she once called sister! Enough was enough. She would pull the ship before her, drag the two occupants before her hooves, and have them beg for mercy.

Then, she would teach them the truth of her very name.

Screaming in fury, she poured more of her strength into the spell. The ship began to slowly crawl towards her again… then it stopped as the Two redoubled their efforts. Without thinking, she put as much into her horn as she could, straining at the seal binding her to the moon for more of her power. The ship once again began to move again, but this time sideways, swinging in a slow arc towards the planet below. As she pulled harder still, the ship halted, poised exactly between the world and the moon, stubbornly refusing to budge. Within, the Two continued to push, as she continued to pull.

It was a complete impasse, a clash of wills that would not budge either way. Between them, a knot of power grew, the warring energies twisting, tangling and knotting together into a mass of stress upon the fabric of the universe. Both sides could feel the strain building in reality and life itself, as the power built up with nowhere to go, like gas in a nebula trapped together by gravity, slowly compressing and reaching further towards the threshold of fusion. It was as if a long rope connected them, straining and growing more taut with each clash of push and pull.

Inevitably, the contest reached a breaking point. All the pent up energy was at critical mass, the strain at maximum — one more clash would release its disasters upon the world.

And without fail, the clash came, and the fabric of creation itself screamed from the tearing, soundless explosion. A blast wave of raw chaotic energy roiled through space and over the planet below. None would be able see the spectral blast as it raced over the surface of that world — but all with the gift felt it.

On the moon it was no different. For a moment that lasted an eternity, the Prisoner knew only agony— shapeless, formless and all-encompassing as the backlash of their duel made itself known. The moon itself groaned under the strain of the blast. Finally, the storm passed, and she regained her senses. As she looked up, the first thing she saw was the vessel spiraling and rocketing away towards the world below. She let out an airless screech of rage and frustration as her one hope of salvation and getting off her beloved yet accursed moon was taken away in an instant.

All caution and reason thrown to the winds, she spread her wings and kicked off the ground towards the falling vessel. For a brief instant, she was airborne for the first time in a millennium. Then, she felt something cold and hard wrap around her hoof, and she was suddenly yanked back to the ground. Turning to look, she stared in mounting horror and panic at the pitch black chain, with a nimbus of multicolored lights flickering and sparking around and upon it, wrapped firmly and tightly around her hind leg. She tried—ineffectually to shake it off, when another chain burst out of the grey soil to bind one of her forelegs. A third chain quickly joined its comrade, then another and another. The realization came to her in a flash of terror — the seal that had kept her bound, momentarily stunned as she was by the explosion of magic, was making itself known.

And it—was displeased.

Then, an innumerable amount of chains came forth, wrapping and constricting around her body like steel pythons. The more she struggled, then more chains appeared, tightening their grip refusing to let her from ever escaping. It got to the point where she felt pain from all sides, like it was squeezing her very life to near crushing levels.

To be put in such an insulting position almost forced her to cry.

The ground split, opened wide into a gaping maw. Light of a color that had no name streamed from within, waiting. The chains began to pull taut and drag her in. No matter how much she struggled it was all for naught. The Moon, so easily swayed against her, would not soon let its prisoner slip away.

She soon found herself between the two jaws of the massive crevice, still unable to pull free. Slowly the two walls of stone began to slide inexorably shut, and more and more of the sky continued to disappear from the Nightmare's view.

The last thing she saw, as she let out one last defiant, terrified scream, was the little speck of the vessel as it fell into the world's atmosphere, and she raised a hoof towards it in a useless gesture of escape.

Then the jaws shut, and all she knew was crushing blackness and silence.

“Oh no, oh no, oh no!” Screamed Teefour as his metallic body was sent flying out of the medical center and pelted by the broken instruments and scrap metal that fell from their containers and piles. The ship around them heaved and rocked and groaned like a wounded bantha, sending containers, tools and droids tumbling this way and that. Anakin stood in the middle of the chaos, seemingly unfazed as he cradled the unconscious body of his son, overwhelmed by the feedback of the explosion. It had taken Anakin, with his three-and-a-half decades of experience with the Force, everything he had to remain even a little functional through the onslaught of mental turbulence that had ensued. It made sense that Luke, strong as he was but relatively inexperienced, would not have been able to do the same.

Even so, Anakin couldn't help but be proud of Luke, who had held his own against the Thing outside, and had ultimately pushed the struggle to detonation, hoping to incapacitate the creature. Given that he could no longer sense the Thing, Luke had been successful in that at least.

“Sir, sir!” Obee shouted, taking him out of his musing. “We have a problem! The ship has been thrown off course and we're caught in the gravity well! We'll be hitting the atmosphere in minutes!"

"What of the deflector shields?" Anakin asked.

"Functional, but sporadic and irregular! The angling subroutines are jumbled up!"

Meaning, Anakin thought, they would have to be set manually— on a constant basis, or the ship would burn up. It wouldn’t be an easy task, even for him, and with no guarantee of success. He looked down at Luke, still slumped in his arms, and quickly came to a decision.

"Prepare a lifepod, and bring Kyugee." He hefted Luke over his shoulder, and followed Obee to one of the escape pods. Obee put a spike into the controls, and the hatch opened with a hiss. As Anakin carefully set Luke inside, Kyugee arrived with an inquisitive bleep. Anakin motioned to the droid. "Go inside," he said.

Another questioning beep from Kyugee. "I must concur," Obee added. "We need to know what it is that you intend for us."

Anakin nodded. "I will attempt to land the ship safely. However, given the state…" He hesitated for a moment, then continued," I cannot guarantee success. I can at least ensure that Luke survives, by putting him in this pod. You," Anakin pointed at Kyugee, "Must go with him. Assist him in any way necessary and possible. I do not know what you will face… but I wish you the best."

Kyugee warbled sadly, then beeped an affirmative and trundled into the pod at Anakin’s gesture. The hatch slid shut behind him, and Anakin peered through to take what might likely be the last ever look at his son. At that moment, Luke’s eyes flickered open; bleary and unfocused.

"...Father… what…"

"Be safe, my son. We… " Anakin stopped for a second.

Behind him, he heard Obee call, "We're about to enter the atmosphere!" Anakin looked back at Luke, who was becoming more lucid.

"We will see each other again. I swear it."

"Father, what —" Luke had seemed to finally catch on to where he was. "Wait, father —" Anakin pressed the release button and watched as the pod jettisoned. It tumbled through the slowly brightening void, plasma trails already starting to form as it righted its course. He watched only for a second more before turning and striding onto the bridge. Obee was already at his post, spike inserted, working furiously to maintain the deflectors. The ship around them bucked and jolted in the free-air turbulence, and already the view of the cockpit was obscured by a shroud of flame. Anakin took the pilot's chair and gripped the controls, and as the plasma trails formed around the stricken Nubian, he set to work. He quickly made adjustments to the deflector shields, tweaked the maneuvering thrusters as much as he could, but even so the rattling persisted.

Okay, Anakin thought. Time for a change of tactic.

He took in a deep breath, and began to draw on the Force. He once again felt his body rejuvenated, though his body was still feeling the backlash of the past hour, in addition to his continued lack of full recovery from the Emperor's Force Lightning. The odds right now were stacked against him.

I’m more exhausted than I initially thought…

Anakin could feel his strength flagging and faltering in the face of his challenge. Despite this, he persisted with a stubbornness that rivaled a krayt dragon before a sand storm — defiant before an inevitable, inescapable outcome.

As he wrestled with the Force he began to make a small prayer. Obi-Wan, my old friend... I know what I’ve done was unforgivable. I do not expect you to forgive me for my crimes, but I ask you—no, I beg of you. If I do not survive this… he thought back, to the small reprieve he had with Luke. Five days together did not make up for twenty-three years of absence, no more than one life could not balance out millions. Even so, he was thankful to know his son even for a short while.

If I don’t survive this...please watch over him. That’s all I ask…

He briefly thought how fitting it would be, for the ship to burn up and him with it; for the innumerable sins of Darth Vader, a monster born of fire, to be punished by fire, once and for all. He would accept that, for all his crimes.

How easy it would be, he thought. He could let go, and let the fire take him, as it should have all those years ago. All those he had wronged over his ill-gotten years as Vader — the Sand People, Dooku, Windu, the younglings, Obi-Wan and all of the other Jedi he had murdered… Padmé… their justice would come at last. All he had done would be repaid. And Luke…

Luke…

He straightened in his seat. Even now, he could feel Luke’s worry and concern for him radiating from the escape pod, concern for him — Anakin. Not Darth Vader, the monster who slaughtered millions, but the man underneath… his father.

We will see each other again. I swear it.

Resolve ignited in his chest. A determination such as he had not felt in two decades flared within, igniting like the core of a star. Let the Force have its pound of flesh some other day. He had made that promise to Luke, and he would keep it. He would not permit even the Force itself to make a liar out of him.

He would see his son again, even if it killed him.

Anakin admitted to himself that he had been overly optimistic in his assessment. The old Nubian was a mess. The maneuvering thrusters were shot. The hull was pitted and torn by their journey. The controls and navigation were nowhere near functioning properly. The deflector shields might as well have been made of thin, moth-eaten cotton for all the help they would do.

Landing in one piece was, in a word, impossible. It couldn't be done.

But he was Anakin Skywalker. He and the impossible were old friends now. He had conquered the impossible many times before — he could do it once more.

He began to pull in more energy, though it was getting more difficult to the point it was actually painful — he didn’t care. It was either this, or they were all dead. The instant he felt that he was ready, he expanded his senses over the ship. He took in every panel, circuit and wire. He perceived every nick, scratch and burn. He felt the ship as he felt his own body and proceeded to manipulate it as such. He no longer controlled the ship; he was the ship. If the controls themselves were not enough, he would directly influence the ship systems to move as he willed.

The ship began to even out and stabilize in its flight, and the deflector shields began to settle. The flames around them were now held back by the reorganized deflectors, directed and reinforced by the sheer might of Anakin’s will. He could see the walls of flame around the cockpit thin and recede somewhat; the blue sky and clouds now faintly visible. Soon they'd be low enough to see distinct landmarks.

And then, he thought grimly, the truly difficult part would begin.

The medical chariot had raced off just as another chariot had arrived with an earth pony guardsmare as its sole occupant. “Sir!” she stated, snapping off a salute. “Her Royal Highness requests your presence at once to organize a relief effort! Step aboard, sir, and we’ll head to the palace.” Shining stumbled on, with help from the guardsmare, and the chariot quickly took off, following the distant medical chariot to the palace. The earth pony quickly caught the Captain as he staggered from the sudden motion. “Are you alright sir?” she asked quietly.

Shining gave her a wan smile. “Just a little dizzy from the… event,” he replied, momentarily at a loss for words. He grimaced. “All the same, I’d rather you not mention this to Cadance.”

The mare snorted. “Sir, knowing Her Loving Highness, she can feel ya stub your hoof all the way from Manhattan, and this ain’t like that time you got nipped on the tail by that manticore cub.”

He snorted as well. “Oh please, don’t remind me of that incident.”

“Remember it like it was yesterday — you running round, little furball latched on your tail…"

"Corporal…"

"Then she's all over ya to the point — "

"OK, OK, I got the picture! " He exclaimed, blushing furiously while the Corporal laughed at his discomfort. Inevitably, he started chuckling too as he recalled just now ridiculous it had all been. He turned to the Corporal.

"Thanks for that. I needed the distraction.”

He wasn’t lying either — the humor, even if he was butt of it, certainly eased the tension. It took his mind a little off the events of the past few moments.

He wasn't sure how to exactly describe that single, chaotic moment of agony. It had almost been like somepony had simultaneously tried to melt his horn and rip it out of his skull. Even his first week in boot camp would never compare to that horrible white hot agony that happened not moments ago.

The Corporal grinned back. "Laughter is the best distraction from hard times like this. Heard that from a mare that lives in a town down the mountain. Mane looked hilarious and she was crazy as hay, but can't argue with —”

A shout of horror from one of the pegasus drivers interrupted them. The stallion was gaping upwards in terror, and Shining quickly understood why. The streak of red fire they had seen before had brightened and condensed into something like a large star, and was clearly moving, falling. It didn't take much observation to figure out just where it was falling either, given how fast it seemed to be growing.

“This ain’t good, not good at all,'' the driver moaned in horror as they saw the fireball in the sky. Shining could help but agree to that statement as it began to descend towards them at a frightening speed. As it neared Mount Canter, becoming brighter and growing in size, the morning blue sky began to slowly darken as though the evening had already approached by sunrise.

Thanks to many years of close proximity to his sister, Shining was familiar with various facts of astronomy, including meteors. Seeing the brilliant miniature sun rushing towards them, one term kept echoing in his head.

Superbolide.

The term referred to an extremely bright and large meteor, hundreds of times brighter than a full moon, that more often than not would explode midair with enough force that one would need to split and fuse atoms to match. He had read news reports of one such event over Fillydelphia that had happened when he was a foal. The thing had been so bright that ponies who saw it had been seeing spots for hours afterwards, and the resulting airburst over the city when the meteor exploded shattered windows and damaged buildings all over the city. Roughly 1500 ponies were injured badly enough to need medical treatment. That had been at ground level. If the same thing happened to Canterlot, which was halfway up the country's tallest mountain, there was no telling how much worse they would be when the shockwave hit.

That, however, wasn't what scared him so much. The thing that froze Shining’s blood at that very moment was that a meteor airburst over Canterlot was likely the best case scenario. After the Fillydelphia Airburst, there had been dedicated disaster response teams of unicorns and weather control pegasi who trained in every major town for various scenarios. This included defending a city from the blast wave of another meteor airburst, should one fall above them. Canterlot, the ancestral home city of the unicorn tribe, had a unicorn majority in its population. Add the fact that three out of every 4 unicorns living at Canterlot were alumni from Celestia’s School of Gifted Unicorns — himself and Twilight included, and the Airburst Squads had the cream of the crop where unicorns were concerned. Even if most unicorns in the city were incapacitated by that -- that Scream, as Shining started calling it in his head, there were many pegasi trained to divert debris and weaken the blast wave with weather control. The air patrols over Canterlot were no slouch either — many of the pegasi in the airburst defense squads were directly trained by Wonderbolt veterans.

The point was that a superbolide airburst was something they knew about, something they could train and prepare for. If it was something unknown, something that they had never encountered before, they had little hope of quick response.

Shining Armor was no idiot— he had been made Captain of the Castle Guard for a reason, and it wasn’t muscle or good looks, but rather his years of dedicated hard work and experience. He was especially gifted in connecting the dots and figuring out things that would have otherwise been unnoticed — a trait shared with his sister. An unknown but clearly artificial object was spotted near the moon. Then the next day, a psychic shockwave hit Canterlot, putting almost every unicorn out of action, and then a meteor falls over the city. All these events took place in the span of ten hours or less. In Shining’s own experience, there was no such thing as "coincidence " in such matters. The unknown object and the Scream were connected — he had no doubt about that.

And Shining would bet his entire annual salary that the very same object Twilight saw was the same thing that was streaking toward them at horrifying speeds and… slowing down? He blinked for a moment and scrunched his brow. Yes, he was seeing it correctly. By now, it should have reached them, but instead it had barely covered half the distance when they first saw it.

“What…” he muttered to himself, trying to process what was happening. One of the pegasi called out, taking him out of his stupor.

“Sir look! There’s another one!”

What?! He looked harder at the approaching mass of flame. At first, it all seemed to be one single object. Then, to his shock and horror, he could see that there was indeed another meteor trailing behind the first — barely a tenth the size of its larger counterpart, if that, but still burning brightly and moving at frightening speeds.

Shining felt a surge of panic in his chest. Had the meteor broken up!? Had there been another object the whole time, just hiding behind the larger body? He wasn't sure, but the presence of a second projectile meant even more destruction when they crashed.

Then something happened that made his jaw drop. The meteor slowly turned. It was slow, but he could see the larger meteor change course, not by much, but enough that it and its smaller counterpart were now diverging slightly. Not only that, it was climbing. Any doubt that the Thing was artificial vanished in an instant as the meteor, now larger than the sun itself to their eyes, not only turned in its flight, but rose slightly, so instead of flying by the mountain at a slight distance…

Oh Celestia.

The blood drained from his face as the implications hit home. He immediately turned to the drivers.

"Dive now!" He ordered sharply. "Make for ground! It's going to fly right over our heads!"

The pegasi followed his orders instantly, bunching their wings and pulling into as steep and fast a dive as they could without spilling the chariot. Shining and the Corporal hung on for dear life as the chariot rocketed towards the ground. No sooner had the wheels touched the ground that Shining leapt out of the chariot with a yell of "HIT THE DECK!"; the pegasi followed his lead, almost too late in fact.

The mass of fire and light and something else streaked over their heads, superheated air around it rippling and flashing. Shining felt the heat wash over his back — he was certain that had they remained in the air they would have been cooked alive. The Thing had to have been level with the palace's main towers! It was as though all sound had left the world, leaving the exhausted and stressed ponies perplexed. Some had started to pick themselves up when Shining yelled out again.

“Not yet! It's still coming!"

Before anypony could reply, the sonic boom, made stronger by the meteor's closeness to the ground, slammed into the city.

The very air around them seemed to explode in their ears, knocking one of the drivers clean over from the overload of sound. Shining's own ears felt like someone had driven nails into them and he couldn't hear anything aside from the massive thunderclap; the only way he knew he had screamed was the raw feeling in his throat. There were sounds of glass shattering and screams of alarm, fear and pain filled the air. There was a thin roar as the second meteor rushed over them, quickly followed by another sonic boom, though far quieter than before. There were more screams from the second blast, and then silence once again reigned over Canterlot.

It felt like a war zone, with the eerie quiet after the tumult of chaotic noise. Shining couldn’t hear anything aside from a faint ringing in his ears. He opened his eyes and looked around in a slight daze. He could see one of the pegasi supporting the other, who was slumped unconscious on his partner's shoulder. He looked on in a detached fugue as he saw the lieutenant's mouth moving, but he heard nothing. Oh, that was it. His hearing had been knocked out by the sonic boom. He should get it back soon, after his ears recover. He could see the Corporal on her hooves as well, squinting a little; she must have looked at the fireball as it passed by.

Wait a minute… where…?

The unicorn looked to the sky and saw the blindingly bright object heading off into the distant south. He wasn’t exactly sure where it was going, but the smaller piece was heading in the same direction. He hoped that they would land in uninhabited areas and not cause as much damage as he was sure Canterlot had just suffered. He could see shattered windows on the distant buildings, and there was a thin streamer or two of smoke. The prospect of civilians in danger had him try to stagger to his hooves, only to collapse. The Corporal shouted something he couldn’t make out. At least his hearing was coming back a little. He tried to mutter something, but only a few disconnected syllables tumbled out of his mouth.

"...ocked senseless… ...ituation… need medical…"

Hey, he could make out words again. Progress! Now if his hooves could just cooperate…

He tried to stand again and was met with as much success as the first time. What was going on? It wasn't like he hit his head or anything! So why did he feel so tired and heavy? Wait… had he gotten a concussion during the scream? Was it just a delayed reaction for him? His scrambled thoughts could only make out one particular fact about all this..

Cadance is gonna kill me.

The pegasus lieutenant shouted something and pointed, and Shining turned to look with suddenly heavy eyes. He could make out a few shapes coming from the palace, gleaming with familiar gold armor — guard pegasi, he assumed. That pink one in the center seemed a little familiar though, and where was her armor — oh. Oh.

"Ah, horseapples," He managed to slur out before his brain finally, mercifully, checked out.

Luke Skywalker was many things.

He was a Jedi Knight, the son of the war hero Anakin Skywalker. He was a skilled star pilot, a high-ranking and well-respected member of the Alliance to Restore the Republic. he had fought on many battlefields of many kinds, and had probably been in every situation that a Rebel could possibly face at least once.

Given the choice of career that Luke had selected and the risks involved, it was a bit surprising in hindsight that he never had the need or opportunity to use an escape pod before.

Anytime there was a crisis from where he had to escape, usually because he was being chased by angry stormtroopers, Darth Vader, hungry rancors, Sand People with a grudge, killer droids, Darth Vader, bounty hunters after his head, Jawas, Darth Vader, annoying Force ghosts, Chewbacca wanting hugs, Yoda brandishing a stick, an angry Leia, or Darth Vader, he always had either his trusty X-Wing with Artoo in tow, or the Millennium Falcon with Han’s impeccable/insane piloting skills.

Thus, it was actually his first time being in an escape pod — and if Luke were honest, he could have honestly done just fine without the experience. The pod constantly bucked, shuddered, and tumbled in the free-air turbulence in a way that actually made Luke feel sick to his stomach. It didn't help that he was still suffering the galaxy's worst migraine from the Force struggle with that Thing that they encountered, making any attempt to center himself in the Force an exercise in futility. Even the knowledge that escape pods were designed to withstand atmospheric freefall and crash landing without harm to passengers did nothing to calm his nerves, already on edge over his father’s uncertain fate.

The panicked astromech screeching in his ear didn't exactly help matters either.

Luke screwed his eyes shut and silently counted down, knowing roughly when the pod would break through the more turbulent layers of the atmosphere into calmer air. He remembered his training as a pilot — controlled reentry in any vehicle had roughly 90 seconds of turbulence before stabilizing and slowing down. This included escape pods, he remembered. All he needed to do was wait.

Sure enough, the pod began to steady in its flight, and the glowing red haze of flame visible through the portholes slowly dissipated, leaving a steadily brightening blue sky. He could see white wisps of cloud, and mountains far off in the distance.He had to admit -- despite his predicament it was actually beautiful and nearly made him forget where he currently was for a moment.

A sharp noise from Kyugee brought him out of his reverie, and he turned to look at what had caused such a reaction from the droid. Turning, he could see the Nubian, still wrapped in the fire and smoke of reentry, streaking away ahead of them, seemingly having protected the lifepod from the worst of reentry. Now it was breaking away from Luke’s trajectory, seeming to aim right at a large mountain that loomed ahead. As they neared, Luke could make out an irregular shape on the mountain side, the gleam of sunlight on polished stone making it clear what it was.

A city… the planet’s inhabited!

The Nubian, still traveling at nearly nine times the speed of sound, flew over the city in the blink of an eye, Luke's pod quickly following suit. He could make out what were most likely wooden houses and a structure that might have been a palace in the split second he had to look before the pod passed them by.

Ahead, Luke could see green fields and rolling hills, and the Nubian moving further away ahead, swiftly passing over what looked like a small town and practically making a beeline for a forest in the distance. The pod dipped lower, being less aerodynamic than the larger ship, and Luke suddenly realized the pod was on a collision course with the town his father had just flown over, as buildings appeared in sharp relief.

"Hang on tight!" He yelled to Kyugee and he tightened the straps on his seat. The buildings rushed by, the pod flying just a few hundred feet over them. Now Luke could see trees ahead, and a tall red building near them, rushing up at him fast.

Despite his faith in the Force, he couldn’t help but make a short prayer.

Ben, if you're watching us now… please help us get through this alive.

Then Luke seemed to hear the very last words Old Ben said to him, before going to face his former student one last time.

The Force will be with you… always.

Then the pod hit the ground, and everything went black.

Author's Note

Author's Notes:

NB:

And that’s… chapter… FOURRR!

*flops*

This chapter was honestly a struggle on both our parts — both CKT and I struggled with just HOW to put into words the idea we had. And it did actually change a bit during the writing. The biggest thing was portraying the re-entry sequence — both Anakin’s and Shining’s POV. I had to read through the similar scene in the Revenge of the Sith novel so we could make a proper callback to Anakin’s last stunt with a crashing starship. Like Lucas said, it's like poetry — stanzas will rhyme.

The more sharp-eyed of you might notice that we based the 'Fillydelphia Airburst " on the superbolide (yes, that's a real word) that exploded over Chelyabinsk, Russia in 2013. Given that happened not too long ago in-universe, it would make sense that someone in charge of civilian safety would be worried over a repeat occurrence. That, and also remember that Shining is A) largely uninformed of the real situation (I mean, come on, 'an ex-Sith Lord and a Jedi fall over a city' sounds more like the start of a joke than a realistic explanation of a GIANT FLAMING DEATH METEOR rushing at you at hypersonic speeds), so he is coming up with the best explanation he can here, and B) he IS still suffering from the after effects of Anakin, Luke and Nightmare Moon's accidental psychic Force explosion. That sort of thing tends to scramble thoughts JUUUUUST a little.

Finally, something we haven't put into the fic yet, but I have had in my head for this project of ours: accompanying music. When I think up a scene, there's always a tune playing in the background gWell, I hope you all enjoy this chapter, sorry for the wait,, and we'll get started on the new one soon! See ya!

CTK: Hello everyone it’s me I must apologize for taking too long. Part of the reason why this took longer was due to the fact that recently I’ve suffered a bad cold and after that I did a workout wrong which ended with me getting bad pressure in my hand. I’m okay and getting better every day so far and so good.

So as my buddy has explained it but I’ll just say it anyways. A Lot of research has been done, we wanted to make this seem more realistic and more enticing for you guys. Hopefully we’ve met those requirements and you guys are enjoying the wonderful stuff we have created so far.

The moon scene was an idea my friend beautifully integrated into this chapter. It's based on a bleach episode, unfortunately I forgot about it but if you guys remember it then good on you all.

Hopefully we’ll actually have a much easier time with the next chapter now that we are finally out of space.

I don't have much more to say currently but. Recently my Friends have watched Mlp gen 5. Now personally we enjoyed it and we like the concept and I kindly suggest you guys watch it if you haven’t. The concept as I said is interesting because it changes what we are used to in Gen 4 and it actually opens a magical window of new possibilities and changes.

Shout out to: The Psychopath because without him this would have taken much longer then needed, he’s the best partner in this.

Now with that said and done, thank you for waiting and then reading this chapter and also thank you for your wonderful comments and questions, we hope you enjoyed it.

Written by CTK and NB.

Proofread by–The Psychopath

Chapter 5

The day had started like any other at Sweet Apple Acres. Applejack had risen with the sun, gotten cleaned up for the day, had breakfast with her family, and got to work on the day's chores. The pigs had been slopped and the dented wheel on the cart had been removed for Big Macintosh to fix. Meanwhile Winona had, after much wrestling and coaxing, been given the bath that she had been a little overdue for by Apple Bloom. Now, Applejack was headed out to buck the apple trees Granny Smith had marked out as ripe for that day.

It hadn’t taken long to find the trees in question. While many a pony had laughed at the Apples' long-standing habit of naming the trees that were their main source of income, Granny Smith had set that tradition for a reason. Among other things, it was easier to figure out which tree needed tending to or bucking if you assigned a name to each tree. Applejack had memorized the name of every tree in the orchard. All Granny needed to mention was that Bertha needed bucking and Horace needed a trim, and Applejack or Big Mac would know exactly where to go.

Plus, It was a long held belief among the Apple clan that good treatment plus tender love and care yielded a better turnout than otherwise. "Yeh treat 'em good, and they'll treat y'all as good in return," was Granny's way of putting it. In all her time living and working at Sweet Apple Acres, Applejack hadn’t found anything to contradict that bit of her grandmother's wisdom.

After the last tree had been bucked and the last basket full of ripe red apples, Applejack took a few minutes to top the nearest hill to look out over her home. She took in the peaceful scene and calm weather. It was nice outside, a little warm for a spring day. A few clouds scudded through the air, but even so, the sun shone down unimpeded. Such a sight warmed Applejack inside while the soft breeze cooled her off. Yeah, this is the life, she thought as she closed her eyes to listen to the soft noise of wind rustling through leaves complete with the song of the birds…

Wait a minute… where's all the birdsong?

She opened her eyes and looked around. Not a bird in sight. The orchard was completely silent. That was odd… had something scared them off? Zap apple season had ended only a week ago. Maybe the birds were still skittish? Timberwolves did tend to cause that reaction after all.

Shaking off the feeling for the moment, Applejack set the two full baskets on her withers, and set off for the house. As she left the orchard and the old farmhouse flanked by the cherry red barn came into view, a sudden rumbling in the distance brought Applejack to a halt. Her ears flicked this way and that trying to pinpoint the source. At the entrance to the farmhouse she could see Granny Smith straighten up on her rocking chair while Big Mac stopped in his work out in the fields to look around. Meanwhile the airy rumble only waxed in volume, growing louder and louder until it became a dull roar.

“What in tarnation?” she muttered slowly to herself, looking around. When she turned her attention to the skies in the north, her eyes widened in horror and she ducked out of reflex as something in the skyroared by over their heads faster than her eyes could follow— something wreathed in smoke, flame and Celestia knew what else. It was low enough in the sky for Applejack to make out a vaguely arrowhead shape in the smoke. A split second later it was already streaking off; a trail of oily black smoke in its wake as it headed in the direction of the Everfree Forest to the southwest. Seconds later a loud booming crash could be heard in the distance, then silence.

Applejack starred in the direction of the massive projectile, puzzled about what she had just seen, when a shout from Big Mac had her glance over her shoulder. That glance had her scrambling for cover behind a tree as yet another plummeting missile slammed into the ground and skidded along the open field. Loam, dirt, seeds, plants, bits of fence and Big Mac’s plow were thrown into the air as the thing tore a thirty-yard long gouge in the field before finally slowing. It tumbled end over end before it finally settled in the ground.

Applejack coughed as the plume of dust kicked up from the impact rushed over the area, coating everything in a dull brown. Her ears rang a little from the massive crash, though it began to clear up and soon was replaced with somepony shouting.

“Applejack?! Applejack?!” It was Big Mac. His massive form lumbered into view from the thinning dust cloud. Next to him was their little sister, Apple Bloom, a look of panic on her face. Her mane was unkempt and her little red bow was polluted with dust and half-unraveled as she sprinted past her larger brother. An upended pail lay behind her, water spilling out into the dirt. Before Applejack could say anything the little filly had practically flown into a hug around the larger pony's barrel, rambling and blubbering into Applejack's fur.

“Applejack! Sis, are you alright?! Ah was gettin' water out behind the barn an' somethin' went whoosh overhead 'n I heard a big CRASH n' Ah thought—”

Apple Bloom suddenly found an orange hoof in her mouth.

"Apple Bloom, it's ok! Ah'm fine, just a little rattled is all." She turned to Big Mac.. "You alright? You were mighty close from what I could tell."

“Eeyup.” The massive stallion nodded. "Jumped out o' the way quick enough, it weren't that big, far as Ah can tell. But…" He looked over his shoulder with a teary-eyed expression. "Ah can't say the same fer Big Bessie…" He sniffled. "Ah'll miss that ol' plow…"

Applejack rolled her eyes as she patted him on the shoulder. As far as she was concerned, that saggy old plow needed replacing anyway. A tap on her flank caught her attention, and she turned to see Apple Bloom offering up her old Stetson. She hadn’t realized it had fallen off in all the kerfuffle.

"Thanks, Apple Bloom. " Applejack tousled the filly's mane, messing it and her bow up even more, and looked around, coughing a little from the dust still in the air. Wind began to pick up, dispersing the remnants of the debris cloud in less than a minute. When the view finally cleared she could see a newly made trench with roots and stone forcefully uprooted from the ground. What really caught her attention however, was what rested at the end of that trench.

Sticking out of the upturned soil, half-buried in the trench it had made, was a hulking thing of metal scuffed and scratched and scorched from its fall. Steam gently rose from its surface which betrayed the fact that it was still a little too hot to touch. It was artificial beyond any doubt however, though it certainly didn’t look like anything pony-made. It almost resembled
a giant tapered can from Applejack's point of view — tough studded with round portholes of thick glass that also seemed a bit blackened by fire. At any rate she couldn't see through them. She could see cone-like nozzles sticking out of the wider top, and the lower half of what was probably a door on one side.

In the end Applejack couldn’t figure out what was more confusing at the moment; how strange and utterly alien this thing was, or the fact that Granny Smith was standing in front of the half-buried door, smacking the blackened metal with her cane.

What.

“Granny?!” Applejack shouted, while she and her siblings proceeded to join her.

Granny Smith was an old mare without a doubt, she knew this and it doesn’t bother anypony one bit. Despite her age, she was as tough as nails and wasn’t afraid to show it every now and again. Of course this wasn’t always at the best of times such as now. Running up to her granny, Applejack and Big Macintosh opted to nudge her away from the metallic object.

“Whoa!” The young filly gaped. “What is–?” She reached out with her hoof. It was then smacked away by Granny Smith's cane.

“Don’t touch that,” Granny Smith chided, giving her granddaughter a stern glare. “This thing’s hotter than a pit fire at a family reunion.”

Applejack asked. “What is this thing?” It was something she had never seen in her life. It may as well have come out of a dream with it’s strangeness. Then it made a noise, sounds of internal clicking and clunking, it was obviously the sound of industrial mechanisms attempting something from within. The sound ceased leaving only an eerie silence. New sounds soon replaced it. Sounds of muttering and...birds chirping?

Even Granny Smith seemed confused. So Apple Bloom, being courageous, finally decided to break the silence. “Hello! Is somepony in there?!” The sounds coming from the metal can quieted before becoming louder for a brief moment.

A muffled reply came from inside. “Hello? Can you hear me?” The voice was male, one with youthful energy tempered by a fine discipline. There seemed to be something reassuring about that voice; something gentle and warm. It also sounded strained, and even a little punch-drunk.

“Yeah, we can hear ya.” Applejack scrunched her brow a little, wondering how somepony would end up in there. The voice responded with a tone that seemed relieved yet a little apprehensive.

"Thank the Force! Can you see the hatch on the outside?"

Wait… 'thank the Force?' Applejack shrugged off the confusion. She needed to focus on the here and now.

“If'n ya mean the big metal door, it's stuck halfway in the ground."

The word that followed in response wasn't one Applejack was familiar with, but she knew a swear when she heard it. She glared at the smoky porthole as more muttering and chirping wafted out, before the voice spoke up again.

"Ok… I'll have to cut myself out. I need you and anyone else around to stand back!”

The ponies were confused at this statement. What did he mean by that? More importantly, why did he need them to stand back? Apple Bloom was the first to take a few steps away from the metallic object, followed shortly by a calm Granny Smith.

“Ah think it might be best. There’s no tell’n what he might be fix’n to do to get out,” the old mare pointed out, pulling Appleboom close.

Applejack understood at once. This was something completely unknown to them. Who knew what else could happen? Both Applejack and Big Mac quickly moved away from the massive steel shell to join their sister and grandmother, and waited to see what would happen.

They didn't have to wait for long.

There was a loud snap-hiss that made all four ponies jolt, and a tendril of green light about a meter long suddenly jutted out of the metal side. With a screeching, tearing noise like lightning hitting metal, the long spine of green fire began to move, melting anything in its way. Sparks and crackling sounds were made as it began to move in a circular motion, the metal around the beam turning red hot and melting away in an instant. The beam moved as swiftly and smoothly through the metal as a stick through water, and in less than a minute it had completed a meter and a half wide circle in the metal hull, its edges glowing with intense heat. With a loud bang, the uneven disc of thick steel was suddenly flung out of its hole, flying nearly 30 feet before hitting the ground with a loud crash.

For a moment, silence reigned. Then, Big Mac slowly approached the round hole in the side, clearing his throat nervously.

"Ummm… hello? Y'all okay in there — "

An ear-splitting screech cut him off as something flew out of the hole and fell on its side with a loud CRASH that made Applejack wince. Big Mac scrambled backwards over his hooves and fell over in a tangled heap that had Applebloom laughing despite the situation. She moved closer to the thing laying on its side and moaning. If anything, it looked like a big black and copper trash can on wheels. A dome like head with a large glass "eye" was swiveling around frantically as it screeched and warbled.

Was this the voice? Judging from the screech it had made, likely not. It sounded more like Big Mac did that one time Granny Smith had walked in on him singing in the shower. It didn’t sound anything like the voice from before.

A grunt of effort came from inside the hole. Soon a black claw placed itself on the somewhat cooled metal, and a creature the likes of which Applejack had never seen before slowly pulled himself through the hole. He was covered from neck to toe in black clothes, save for his left hand, which showed pale, hairless skin with short nails instead of claws. His head was mostly bare and smooth, except for the blown hair atop his crown. When he looked up, wincing a little from the sunlight, Applejack could see a smooth, hairless face with a pointed nose, a thin-lipped mouth, and eyes bluer than the sky above. She could see something like a fancy flashlight dangling from his belt.

The instant he saw Applejack, he froze and gaped at her, clearly caught off guard by something. He looked like he was about to say something, but then immediately closed his mouth as his face turned a nasty shade of green. Without warning, he dropped to his knees and retched. Applejack's nose wrinkled as he vomited on the spot. After he had emptied his stomach, he slowly tried and failed to get back on his feet, like something had drained all his strength. With everything going on, Applejack considered just turning around and getting everypony inside before something even weirder happened.

That thought alone brought her mind to a halt. What on earth was she thinking? The newcomer was nothing like she had seen before in her life, sure — nothing like anypony had seen, she was willing to bet. She was also willing to bet that he had never seen a pony before, judging by the way he had gaped at her. He was well and truly a foreigner, in every sense of the word. That alone would make anypony run for the hills. But he didn't seem threatening. If anything, he looked friendly — and he definitely needed help to just stand on his own at the moment. Applejack remembered how her Pa had always said that the biggest problem in the world was that nopony was willing to help anypony else out. If she didn't at least try to help here, what did that say about her?

Her resolve steeled, she walked up to the creature, and leaned down to offer support. The newcomer accepted the help gladly, putting a hand on her back. She carefully stood back up to her full height, moving slowly to make sure the newcomer didn't lose his grip. When both had risen to full height, Applejack almost started at how tall he was, almost as tall as Big Mac. Shaking the thought out of her head, she walked forward , slow enough that he could keep pace with her.

Granny Smith, who had been watching wordlessly, smiled proudly. "Now there's The granddaughter I know n' done raised!" She turned to Appleboom and Big Mac, who were staring slack-jawed. “Come on youngins, we ain’t gonna leave the poor creature there without lending a hoof. Get 'in inside so he can rest up.” The old mare pointed at the now shaking metal being that was making frightened beeps and chirps like a bird while rocking like a turtle on its back. “That means you too, eh… whatever ya are.”

Even though it didn’t resemble any creature she had seen, it seemed to understand what she meant. Apple Bloom went to help the metal being while Applejack and Big Mac stepped over to lift up the taller being. Apple Bloom pushed fruitlessly at the metalbulk until Big Mac simply lifted it upright with one hoof. It then happily beeped before it pivoted backward on it’s legs and proceeded to roll across the ground on them and a third leg on the bottom.

Applejack rolled her eyes at the antics and turned her head to the tall newcomer as they trudged closer to the farmhouse.

"So… ya got yerself a name, sugarcube?"

The newcomer gave her a wan smile as he struggled to stay up.

"I'm Luke."

Luke… as good a name as any, Applejack supposed. Making sure that Luke was well-supported, the two headed inside.

The sounds of beeping were the first thing Shining Armor could hear as he slowly roused. There was the sharp smell of disinfectant and rubbing alcohol in his nostrils. His eyes slowly opened with blurry vision which slowly cleared as he got his bearings. He was in a clean white hospital room, laying on a comfortable bed with white sheets and two fluffy blue pillows. The sunlight was streaming through the window, curtains pushed aside to let the light in.

Shining tried to prop himself up to look around better, but a faint tugging feeling in the crook of his right elbow stopped him.. Looking down, Shining found an IV tube in his arm, the needle end taped down to stay put. Following the tube, he saw the IV bag dripping a light purple fluid into the feed, marked with a label reading 'Magic Recovery Potion, Grade: A+'. The bag was mostly empty save for a little puddle at the bottom feeding into the IV tube.

Shining grimaced. Normally a potion of that grade was reserved for higher ranked ponies, like generals, or to combat extreme cases of magical burnout. It was an easy way to get their magic back in the fight after immense strain. Often it needed to be diluted in order to conserve the magical elements and herbs needed to create it. To use an A+ grade mix on him, a newly minted captain...

He looked away in disgust. It wasn’t that he didn’t like needles — though that was indeed true — but this felt… superfluous. Looking around, Shining saw that he had a room to himself. A guard was more commonly bundled into the communal medical wards for treatment, not isolated from his comrades like he was better than them! He imagined many of the guards were getting lesser treatments than he was, passed over as "less important" than a ranked officer. He needed to get out there, to get to his ponies in arms. He would jump willingly into Tartarus before abandoning his comrades. He turned to the door and raised his voice.

“Nurse, I’m up!”

After a few seconds the door to the room opened. A guard pegasus entered — a lieutenant, judging from the armor -- flanked by a nurse who seemed a little… familiar. Shining's head was still a little fuzzy, so he didn't quite put two and two together at first.. Then he noticed that the pink mare had both wings and a horn and knew he was doomed.

“H-hey Cady...” he started, before a blue glow forced his mouth shut. Cadance looked at him for a moment before turning to the lieutenant. "If there's nothing else you need, Lieutenant Sentry, I'd like to speak with my patient in private." Sentry saluted with a wing and quickly marched out the door, but not before turning and guiltily mouthing "Sorry, Captain!" from over Cadance’s shoulder. The door closed behind him. For a moment, silence reigned. Shining, his mouth now free, was about to say something, but Cadance cut him off.

“I know what you're about to say, and I get it. You weren't going out to fight, you were just going to see Twilight when it happened. I'm not mad at you for that."

"What I am angry about,” she continued, glaring at Shining, "is that you didn't go with Twilight and get yourself checked over after that! No, you had to go and be the hero and accept the summons without any consideration for your well-being! Do you have any idea how scared I was when I found you! I thought that you — you — " She cut herself off, unable to finish her rant. She was shaking, and her eyes were wet. "Why…" she sniffed. "Why do you have to push yourself so much?"

Shining could see tears running down Cadence’s cheek, and it made his heart ache to see her like this. “Cadance...come on, don’t be like that.” He put his hoof on her shoulder, she didn’t stop him but she didn’t meet his eyes. He sighed, disappointed in himself. He hated it when he made her worry.

“Cadence you know how I am, I can’t help it. Today was unexpected and it was a spur of the moment thing. I was basically running on instinct!”

He huffed to catch his breath to calm his aching nerves. “Look...you already know whenever there’s a situation this big, the last thing on my mind would be about my health.”

Cadence knew the words rang true. It had been a defining characteristic of Shining Armor ever since he had been a colt; a habit no one could shatter, no matter how hard one tried. That didn’t mean she wouldn’t worry. “I know…” She rubbed her nose with her hoof, her teary eyes looking into his. Soon a small smile and a chuckle came out of her. “It’s one of the reasons why I’m so head over hooves for you.” She sniffed again, and another rush of tears began to stream down.

Shining wrapped his arm around and pull her into a reassuring hug of comfort, gently rubbing her back to help her relax. “I’m sorry I worried you, I didn’t mean it.” He said sincerely.

She sniffled a little. “It’s fine, I understand. It’s just I worry for you and Twilight's still in a coma and I thought…” she trailed off, Shining understood her message.

“Cadance, look at me,” he moved back so he would look into her eyes. “I’m not going anywhere okay? I will always be with you.” He reassured her. That was a promise he would always make, not to himself but to her as well. He nuzzled her cheek before the rest of her sentence clicked in his head.

"Wait… what was that about Twilight?"

Cadance winced and prepared herself for an explosion.

"Well…"

Spike leafed through the last few pages of the book he was holding absently as he tried to keep his thoughts from running away with him. Twilight had been admitted to the ward some time ago, and he had refused to leave the room, despite the doctor's protest. One particularly rude guard tried to actually pull Spike away from the bed — for all of five seconds. After Spike had shown the armor plated musclehead what he had thought of that notion, he had largely been left alone, sitting on a stool next to Twilight's bed in a lone, quiet vigil.

He looked down at the book and tossed it aside in disgust. He had just read through the thing for the tenth time since he had arrived in the ward. Even though he could probably recite the entire thing from memory by this point, he hadn't paid any real attention to the narrow, slanted text. The book had just been something he could hold in his claws and distract himself from Twilight's prone, motionless form on the hospital bed. Clearly, he thought sourly, it's not working.

The little dragon curled into himself on the stool, stubbornly ignoring the stinging in his eyes. He couldn't look away from Twilight laying completely still on the bed. Thoughts of what had happened earlier that day kept running through his head. He remembered how she had dropped to the ground, screaming at the top of her lungs, before falling limp. He remembered the roaring of that massive fireball streaking over Canterlot, like the world was going to end. Most of all the worry he had been dealing with since getting to the hospital wouldn’t go away: the idea that Twilight wasn’t going to wake up again.

He had been so caught up in his thoughts that he didn't realize that somepony had arrived until he felt something soft and warm draped over his shoulders. He looked up and saw the massive white form of Princess Celestia next to him, one of her wings curving around the little dragon. However, she didn't quite cut the serene and regal image that Spike was familiar with. Her regalia was missing, her pink-green-and-blue mane was a little unkempt, and instead of her tiara, Spike could see something like a cross between a beret and a fez perched just behind her horn. She followed where he was looking and chuckled a little.

"It's a compress," she said, adjusting it with a hoof. "I was taking a little cat nap before it hit. Told them I didn't need it, but you know old Sawbones. Wouldn't let me leave until I put it on. But hey," she laughed quietly. "At least the mares get a new fashion trend!" She smiled a little at Spike with her attempt at levity.

Spike returned the smile as best as he could, but it felt more like a grimace. Celestia pulled him close and leaned in to nuzzle his cheek.

"I understand, Spike. I've been worried too." They sat like that for a minute before Spike finally spoke up.

"But… What happened to her? What happened to everypony? I mean --" he sniffed and wiped his nose. "There wasn't anything wrong this morning, she was just tired from last night! One minute she was talking with Shining, the next she's screaming her head off!" He looked up at her with a hysterical, pleading look on his face. "Just what was going on!?"

Celestia sighed and turned to look at Twilight, still unconscious on the bed. After a moment of silence, she spoke up with a frown.

"The question isn't so much as what was going on, to be honest… but why."

Spike looked at her, nonplussed. No sooner had he opened his mouth to ask what she meant, however, when a sudden mess of crashing and yelling echoed from outside the door.

"What in…"

There was a loud bang, and the door flew open, revealing a frantic looking Shining Armor with a green hospital gown halfway fallen off and trailing an empty IV bag. His mane was disheveled and he bore a maniclook on his face.

“Where's Twilight?!”

Cadance appeared behind him, panting. "Sorry… Auntie…" she wheezed. "Couldn't... stop him…"

Shining’s eyes then fell on Twilight. He moved to her side so quickly it almost seemed like he teleported, talking nonstop.

"Twily! What's wrong with her!? Is she okay? Where's she hurt? Is it an aneurysm? Does she need a transfusion?"

Both Cadance and Spike stared at the scene in front of them before Celestia leaned in to whisper in Cadance’s ear.

"You might want to call for Sawbones… I'll handle Shining."

Cadance nodded and quietly slipped out of the door while Shining continued his frantic rambling, blurring back and forth around Twilight quicker than most pegasi that she knew. Celestia quickly walked up to Shining, grabbed him by the tail, and pulled him away.

"At ease, Captain," Celestia chided, chuckling despite herself. "As far as I can tell, she's fine, but I've already called for a doctor to check her over." She tucked him under her wing, which not so incidentally kept him from moving. "For now, the best thing to do is settle down and wait."

Shining Armor looked a little sheepish. "Y-Yes, ma'am," he muttered.

Celestia snorted and playfully poked her captive on the nose. "There's no need to apologize, Shining," she said. "Spike and I have been worried about her too, but the best we can do is…"

She stopped all of a sudden and looked over at Twilight. "Hmmm. How odd…" She muttered.

"What is it?" Shining asked, his panic renewed. "Is she getting worse!?"

Celestia stared at Twilight for a few minutes, then shook her head.

"No… she's just dreaming."

But how, when she shouldn't be able to?

She floated through an infinite void of stars. There was no sense of direction, no inkling of where she was, barely even a sense of self. Awareness soon returned, and with awareness, the void around her changed. Stars gave way to wisps of violet and aqua, vast stretches of ethereal cloud coiling before her into infinity. It moved and twisted and coiled without purpose, yet there seemed to be intent, inscrutable and unknowable, within the intricate structure.

Voices whispered about her, vying for her attention. Images flashed about her like shooting stars and lightning, showing things she could not know or name.

A giant forest, with trees bigger than any she had seen stretching to the heavens.

A massive city with buildings and towers of polished steel and glass, stretching to every horizon and beyond.

A palace and city of marble, with beautiful green plains and low hills stretching for miles from one side, a skirt of waterfalls over a cliff framing the other.

A roiling ocean beneath a storm, curtains of rain slithering into rolling waves.

A shining thing of metal, crowned by towers, hanging unsupported above a sea of golden-orange clouds.

Twin suns, sinking behind a sandy horizon.

All these visions and more flashed before her eyes, almost overwhelming her with the intensity. It was like a story, one that she never knew and would never fully understand.

More images, this time with creatures she never saw before. All different, all in variety. Some were biped, some had many legs, and others had none.

The voices were louder now, yet she still couldn't make out what they said. All she knew was that she needed to follow them, find out what they wanted.

She then felt a sensation of moving; like the voices were taking her where she needed to. An image appeared before her again — the twin suns again, but this time, someone was standing in front of it. Most of its features were hidden by the glare, but she could make out a biped stance, loose clothes, and gold hair waving in the hot breeze. She got an impression of wistfulness and longing from the creature, and her heart went out to him.. The desert and the creature suddenly grew hazy and indistinct, and the sunset began to draw closer together.

“What is it?” A voice asked, young and curious. She understood it—him clearly.

“It’s your father's lightsaber.” Another replied, this one sounding old and wise. "This is the weapon of a Jedi Knight."

Snap-hiss.

The twin suns collided, all else fading into darkness. They merged, lengthened, and morphed into a pillar made of blue light. It shrank, receded, and she could now see a pair of hazy figures side by side. One was standing upright, and she could make out blue eyes, fair hair and loose, baggy clothes as it brandished the blue light like a sword. The other was sitting, lecturing. She could make out brown robes and silvered hair and beard as the older voice continued to monologue in a wry tone.

“For over a thousand generations, the Jedi Knights were the guardians of peace and justice in the Old Republic."

The figures began to fade away, the blue light dimming until there was barely a glimmer.

"Before the dark times…"

The last embers of blue vanished, and the shadows closed in.

“Before the Empire."

Faint blue light filtered in, and a rush of steam flew past her face. When it cleared, she was suddenly standing on a steel platform, surrounded by a confusing mess of girders, pipes, catwalks and machines of a purpose she could not determine. Dim orange—red light suddenly streamed from below, illuminating the younger figure she had seen before. He seemed a little older, a little more confident, as his blue gaze warily scanned the room.

She heard a rasping sound, like someone was breathing through a tube. The sound sent a chill down her spine as she looked around for the source.

"The Force is with you, young Skywalker."

A booming voice rang out; as sharp as steel and as deep as the grave. It sounded of command, experience, and cold, lethal purpose. Both she and the figure — Skywalker — turned to the source of the voice and the heavy footsteps. What she saw froze her blood with fear and dread.

Standing at the top of a set of red-lit stairs, a tall black Shape loomed over them. It was a monolith of cold and black, darker than dark — more like a cut out of the fabric of reality itself than an actual object. It exuded an aura of menace, purpose and domination, a feeling of cold dread like she was in the presence of a predator. Nothing else could be seen of the Shape, save for a few dim spots of red and white light that flickered rhythmically on its center.

"But you are not a Jedi yet."

Skywalker looked up at It, perfectly still. Then, slowly, he ascended the steps to face the Black Shape. He pulled something from his waist; a silvery tube with black grips. He brandished it in front of him, and the blue light landed out with a defiant snap-hiss.

The Shape made a similar motion, crimson sunfire speared forth more menacingly. For the first time she could make out Its contours, the shape edges of armor and parts of the intricate machinery. She beheld Its helmed face, a mockery of a primate skull, leering at them as It stood ready, facing off against Skywalker.

For both an eternity and a moment, the two stood facing each other. The twin blades of fire hummed expectantly, a droning prelude to a symphony of lethal intent. The air vibrated with anticipation, and she could feel the tension build. Then, just when she couldn’t bear the suspense, Skywalker lunged forward, blade held aloft. The Shape's own blade swept upwards to meet him. Azure and crimson crashed against each other with a tearing screech.

And at the very moment of collision, Twilight Sparkle woke up.

Author's Note

NB: AAAAAAAAAAAND THAT’S CHAPTER 5!!!

*flops*

Holy hecking balls, this was tough! I hope this chapter meets expectations, folks! Sorry it's a bit short, but this chapter is just establishing Luke meeting his first ponies. Poor guy's going through the wringer, isn't he? No worries, this isn't going to be the norm! The next few chapters that star Luke will do him more justice! No spoilers, but we're planning some epic shit here!

Also, ponies. You can never go wrong with ponies.

Also, a small announcement: we will, in the near future, tie links to certain themes from the Star Wars soundtrack into the text to set scenes, as well as add some illustrations courtesy of yours truly! No idea on how soon it'll be, but keep your eyes peeled! We want to give the best experience possible here!

Anyway, next chapter will start with everyone's favorite cyborg daddy and how he managed yet another 'happy landing.'

CTK: Honestly I’m glad we got through this, this was a bit easier then the earlier chapters since we are all here yay!

Personally I wanted this chapter to be a bit longer but I guess we can’t get what we want right? I don’t know if it's just, when I look at the word count I just want to write a little more because I feel that it's too short. But that’s just me personally.

I don’t know about you guys.

Now to tell you a little bit about me, I’ve been starting to read the lord of the rings trilogy so I can both better my writing and get some inspiration! Because whyyyyyyy not honestly.

Also as a second announcement. We have a guest! Go ahead, introduce yourself.

AS: Hello, my name is Aedric Starborn. You probably don’t know me but I’m helping out some with writing this fic. This is the first collaboration I’ve ever done and I do hope to add value to these guys’ work.

CTK: Yup! He is a brand new addition to our story, he is an avid Star Wars nerd and writer. He had actually helped out with this chap.

We are gonna say this, people. We are gonna take this story by storm.

Co-written by NasuBrony, CelestialKingTurles, and Aedric Starborn.

Edited and proofread by The Psychopath.

Chapter 6

The first thing Anakin noticed as he came to was the fluid warmth of bacta. Thought and memory returned to him sluggishly as he tried to process where he was. Bacta tank to be sure, but how? Had Teefour moved him to the medbay? Where were they? How was the ship?

Most importantly, was Luke all right?

He tried to open his eyes, only for this to prove to be a difficult task. It was as if his eyes were weighed down by the same black coffin he continued to wear on a daily basis. In fact most of his body felt unresponsive.

Sleep paralysis?

That didn't make sense. He never had a history of such things, before or after the suit. Even so, it didn’t matter. He wouldn’t let this state keep him down. Luke was his priority.

Reality, however, rarely acceded to the whims of one man, as Anakin found to his chagrin. No matter how he tried, he could only barely twitch a limb. The Force was out of the question as well — paralysis of any kind and Force-sensitives did not mix well, and he rather liked the stumps of his limbs where they were, thank you very much.

The sound of metallic footsteps, muffled by the glass and bacta, reached his ears shortly before Teefour's massive black bulk moved into view. He was carrying a tray of assorted surgical tools, and he seemed preoccupied with something. He suddenly paused, then turned to Anakin.

"Ah, I see you are now awake… er, somewhat." he remarked in the familiar, if still electronically flanged voice Anakin knew so well. He never understood just what it was about Wilhuff Tarkin's voice that had so attracted the droid, but for whatever reason the day Teefour was activated, he had combed the Executor's entire database for all records of Tarkin's speeches. And when Vader removed all the data and reprogrammed the droid, it did the same thing again.

He finally threw up his hands in defeat after the eleventh time.

Anakin knew if given the chance the droid might be a cybernetic duplicate of the late Grand Moff, a life model decoy as the term went. The only difference would be the slightly unusual sass coming from the droid and the fact that he was so precise when it came to medicine. While in voice and mannerisms a copy of Tarkin, Teefour gave it a life of his own that Vader could have never expected.

Teefour cleared his non-existent throat to continue. “So to explain, we have indeed managed to land — well crash land, to be exact. To cut off any frivolous attempts at questioning, your son is alive. The last I saw of the young master's lifepod, it had landed intact in a relatively flat field just before we did. The transponder registers as green, so by all accounts he is safe. As I am clearly talking to you, you can surmise that we too have survived. Somehow. "

And there was the sarcastic wit. Yup. Teefour was pissed.

"Your sleep paralysis owes to a special relaxant I injected about an hour or so prior to your awakening. I advise against attempting to force movement. Not only has your body suffered some injury from the crash — mainly bruises and friction rashes from the restraints — but you also have not fully recovered from whatever was done to you in the Death Star. In short, Lord Vader, you have finally reached your physical limit." If the droid had the ability, he would be smiling far too smugly for Anakin’s comfort.

“And you want to hear something interesting, Lord Vader? Most of the internal machinery that power the prosthetics which includes the device that helps pump oxygen in your lungs are in fact also damaged and not only that, they are severely outdated and haven't been fully upgraded or replaced since…oh when the Clone wars era had come to its end! By goodness Lord Vader, you’ve definitely given me, as what organics say, a beskar mine of reasons to initiate a very thorough surgery.”

The droid turned to look at his helpless victim — er, patient — with shining photoreceptors that looked to Anakin like the portals to the nine Correllian hells.

"With all this in mind, I must insist that you remain in your tank where it is pleasant, milord. Unless, that is, you prefer being strapped to a surgery table."

With his vocoder deactivated and his jaw refusing to move, Anakin could only glare at his captor like a petulant child.

"I thought as much." Teefour turned back to the display, typing at the controls. "Unfortunately, all the surgeries needed to completely upgrade and replace your cybernetics require time and resources that we currently do not have at our disposal. The most intensive ones would require a fully staffed Imperial starbase for the job, and years of recuperation. The best we can do for the internals is half replace and half repair with a slight hint of upgrades, not the best but I would certainly say you’d feel a bit more comfortable." He turned back to Anakin.

"Thankfully, the same cannot be said for your prosthetics and neural connection hardpoints. The hardpoints in particular require almost no work at all, and in examining the ship's inventory, Obee has discovered a large number of prosthetic limbs — the latest and best models in the market, I might add! Not to mention the amount of rations and medical supplies we have discovered aboard! Someone has clearly gone out of their way to kit out this vessel for long term use."

Yes, Anakin thought, how convenient it is that we left so well-prepared. Never mindthat they simply jumped into the nearest available ship and had jumped into hyperspace straight out of the hangar — right as the Death Star blew itself apart. The whole thing stank of so much coincidence it wasn’t funny. Once again, he wondered as to who was responsible for arranging the Nubian to be brought to the Death Star, right when he and Luke needed it the most. His memories were hazy, given his state at the time, but he distinctly remembered seeing stormtroopers escorting them to the hanger bay. If — when he saw Luke again, he needed to get some answers about that.

Perhaps he should check the ship's log for answers… after Teefour finished amusing himself with his mad operations.

He again tried to speak, but only succeeded with a weak grunt. Teefour apparently heard, because he flipped a switch on the control panel and remarked, "Try speaking now, milord."

Anakin glared at him again before speaking up. "How soon can you operate?" There was no arguing with the droid at this point, but he needed a timeframe.

"We will need to wait for you to heal some first," Teefour replied bluntly. "If we operated now with your injuries, the strain on your body can cause the connectors to be damaged, even permanently. For the best results, I insist on you taking at least a four-day dip in the tank. We have a reprieve, so let us take advantage of it. Though, in the meantime while you rest we can work on modifying your suit, which in of itself has more problems then advantages.”

The droid at this point gave him a look one would give if they were a disappointed parent lecturing a youngling. “Honestly, Lord Vader, why do you do this to yourself? You had so many chances to replace the unnecessary components that make up that — that abomination! For instance, why have you not told me that you were basically in an oven with weights in your shoulders no less!? On top of that your helmet is also a liability, what with the many thousand needles stabbing into your scalp for more than 20 years.” Teefour’s tone was becoming more and more stern, and Anakin could have sworn that the droid was actually becoming angry. “There are so many things I’ve tolerated, Lord Vader, but this is something I will not tolerate anymore, Sith Lord or not!”

Anakin opened his mouth to retort, then stopped to think. The only reason he had remained with the suit as it came was primarily to take advantage of the pain it caused. Even during the Clone Wars Anakin had been no stranger to pain, learned to live with the sensation even. Even so his experiences on Mustafar, plus the operation to actually prepare him for the suit, were the most agonizing of his life. Compared to that and the knowledge that everything he knew and loved had been destroyed by his own hands, the pain caused by the suit was practically nothing to him. The pain instead became a companion, an ally to his cause. The greater the pain, the greater his connection to the Dark Side. Why would he throw away something that’s proven more useful than all the Inquisitors at his command, all the Stormtroopers in his Legion? Why discard something that only helped him use the Dark Side?

The Dark Side that he had turned away from…?

The random thought brought him up short. He was no longer Sith. He was no longer a slave of Sidious, or the Dark Side. He was free. He didn't need to use the Dark Side anymore. Why would he keep himself shackled down with something that wasn't even needed anymore?

That was something that he hadn’t initially realized until now, and he felt…lost somewhat. He was no longer Sith, and he was certainly not a Jedi either. No matter how his son felt, Anakin could never call himself a Jedi after all this time. It would feel like he was dishonest with himself — again — and it would have been an insult to those who he had betrayed, had murdered. So, the question now rang within his mind. What is he now? What was he supposed to do?

At the moment he had no answer to that. But he knew at the very least that he needed to start somewhere.

Not to mention that whatever they encountered on that moon was likely still there. Knowing his and Luke's collective luck, the Thing was not only still alive, It was probably preparing for a rematch. He needed not only to get back in working order, but to improve, and he wouldn't be able to do that while still recovering.

He turned his focus back to Teefour. "It served a purpose that is now no longer needed," he began. "As it stands… a redesign is in order. Teefour, you have my permission to make whatever modifications are necessary."

If Teefour was surprised by Anakin’s sudden acquiescence, he didn’t show it.

"Well, to make any modifications to your cybernetics or your neural interface in particular, we will need to wait for a full recovery," he began. "I would say that will take roughly a month, perhaps more. You won't be in the tank the whole time, but I recommend periodic dips to help improve." He looked back at Anakin. "In all honesty, building a new system to go with that new interface from scratch will take even longer than that. Seeing as we will likely need you as mobile as possible, we can modify your current suit to make do in the meantime. Streamline the neural connection, make it less of a strain on your body, that sort of thing. Reducing weight will be a good start. Bottom line, this will take some time."

Anakin gave the droid a small nod. Much as it pained him to admit it, he would have to follow Teefour’s advice on this. As impatient as he was to get to his son, he understood the need to recover, and healing couldn't be rushed. He could wait even if he didn't like to. He wasn't the impulsive idiot that he was during the Clone Wars, after all. And Luke could take care of himself. He had seen it first hand.

Didn’t mean he couldn’t worry, though.

“Alright, I’m willing to wait for as long as needed.” He could practically feel the droid smiling.

Tee four lifted his mechanical finger in the air. “Right now let’s get to work!” Obee trundled into the room, a hoverboard carrying Anakin’s armor behind him. Anakin grinned to himself.

At least his stay in the tank wasn't going to be boring.

Luke had seen a lot of different races traveling the galaxy — Twi'leks, Devaronians, Toydarians, Dugs, Gungans, Hutts, Trandoshans, Zygerrians, Zabraks, and more.

Sapient quadrupedal equines however? That was new.

Equine races in the galaxy at large weren’t common; there were some, but they were far and few in between. None of them had a quadruped stance to boot. Luke seemed to have stumbled onto not only an undiscovered world, but a new species to go with it!

'Though,' Luke thought to himself as he looked around the mostly wooden farmhouse, 'it may be some time before they might be considered ready to join the galaxy at large.'

From everything he could see, their technology wasn't very advanced compared to most other races. He barely saw anything electronic, and everything he did was relatively basic — simple lightbulbs, a rudimentary radio, and a wood-burning heater. They almost certainly didn't have something on the level of repulsors or hyperdrive, something relatively common in the rest of the Galaxy. To Luke, it was a little jarring.

The house was almost entirely made out of wood, and by the standards of most worlds downright primitive. That being said, it was as homely a home as Luke had ever seen. There was a living room with a sofa, polished wooden floors that pleasantly glowed, smooth walls painted with warm colors, and decorated with what looked like two-dimensional images printed on a kind of flimsiplast — no wait, paper — and framed with smooth wood. Luke had never seen a place that felt so lived in, felt like home.

Then there was their attitude towards him. Luke had never seen a group of beings so… friendly. They had been nervous and skittish around him at first, and that was understandable enough. But when they saw that he was in need of help, they almost immediately went to his aid and helped him into their house.

Whether this kindness was a trait common here or if it was just a quirk of the locals he had come across Luke couldn’t say, but he was grateful either way.

He was pulled from his thoughts when one of them called out. The old green one, like an equine Yoda, sat next to the door and pointed at it with her cane. “This is where you and yer friend will be staying, okay?”

He blinked for a moment then nodded. “Well…thank you I really appreciate this miss…” even though they called her Granny. Luke knew that wasn’t her real name.

“Granny Smith's the name, an' don't ya forget it, ya hear?” She said in a grouchy tone, then lit up with a smile to show she was joking. "Now get yerself comfortable in there, and we’ll call a friend of Applejack's to check y'all over so we know yer alright."

Applejack suddenly looked a little nervous. "Umm… Granny? If yer talkin' about who Ah think ya are…"

"Ah am, what of it?"

She shifted from hoof to hoof. "I mean, y'know how seein' er affects newcomers… plus, there's how she might react to Luke. Ya sure that's a good —"

CLONK.

Applejack was suddenly holding her head in her hooves, where the wooden cane had just whacked her square between the ears. Granny Smith didn't look like she had moved at all. Luke was again strongly reminded of Yoda at his worst.

"No questioning me, young lady, she's good at 'er job n' that's what matters. We need to make sure our guest ain't hurt at all, can we? It'd be bad manners not to make sure."

…That was very kind of her. Luke scratched the back of his head nervously.

“Umm… right. Again, I really appreciate this but I don’t want to intrude. I mean you all have just met me and my partner and—“

She cut him off. “Nonsense, now git yer rump in there you.” Already she was treating like he was one of her own.

Applejack snickered at Luke’s plight. “Ah think you should listen, once she's set on somethin' there's no stoppin' her."

CLONK.

Applejack was once again rubbing her head.

"Not another word outta you," Granny chided. "Anyhoo, ain't ya s'posed to be gettin' yer friend here? Ya know how Big Mac gets around her."

Applejack held up her hooves in surrender. "I'm goin', I'm goin'. Ya good?" she asked Luke. Luke nodded, and she carefully moved away from his side. When he didn't immediately slide bonelessly to the ground, she trotted down the hallway, Granny Smith close behind. Before they moved out of sight, Luke saw Applejack mutter something then snicker. Just what was that about?

They both went back down the stairs, leaving Luke to stand in the doorway of the guest room.

It was actually pretty nice, bigger than his quarters back on Hoth. The walls were smooth and decorated with pictures of large round red and green fruits — it made him think of the orchards on Alderaan and Naboo that Leia had described once. The bed was large, certainly big enough for him, with soft downy pillows and a thick green blanket. There was a bedside table on each side, carved of a polished, red-brown wood, a ceramic table lamp resting on one of them.

Luke walked over to the single window, a gentle breeze blowing through the open panel, and poked his head outside.

He saw a beautiful landscape, green with the life of rolling hills and tall trees. So soon after the clash with the Thing, his sense of the Force was muted. Which was slightly odd even so, he could feel the sheer quantity of vitality around him. Even the wind felt full of life as he felt the cool gentle breeze brushing and streaking through his hair and face.

Just next to the farmhouse, he could see the field that he crashed into, the escape pod sticking out like a sore thumb. Big Mac was standing in front of it, apparently at a loss at what to do. Kyugee was next to him, beeping away and pointing at different parts of the pod.

Luke winced, feeling guilty at having scarred their land. When his sense of the Force returned, he would lift the pod out of there and somewhere where it wasn't in the way. He owed them for helping him and Kyugee, and it would be quite unfair that he couldn’t at least do something as a sort of thank you.

He returned to looking at the new world around him. In the distance, Luke could see the tops of buildings just peeking over the trees in the distance. A town? He wondered if he could go there soon, learn more about the world he was in.

"You seem to be adapting well enough."

Luke quickly turned and saw the glowing form of an old man sitting contently on the bed. He looked just like he had when Luke last saw him in the swamps of Dagobah — calm and serene, seemingly solid and framed by a thin flickering nimbus of pale blue light. He had an odd look on his face, like he was both proud and in the mood for mischief.

"Ben," Luke said in wonder.

"Hello, Luke." The old face creased with a large, proud smile. "It is good to see you still on your feet, despite your recent trials. You look well, all things considered."

Luke went to sit on the bed next to his former teacher. "What are you doing here?"

“To find you. You’ve been trapped in hyperspace for a long time, even through the Force it was difficult tracking you, but here you are found at last.” Ben Kenobi then looked around then gestured around him. "This world is incredibly rich and teeming with life. As such, the Force is strong, stronger here than any world. The amount I feel all around is…overwhelming, and I feel that I’m barely touching the surface. In such places like this, I can speak with you, and you can see me.“

"As for my other reason why I’m here," he continued, his smile fading somewhat, "I have come to apologize."

"Apologize?"

Ben nodded, looking down at his clasped hands. "I didn't trust you well enough to make the right judgment to face Vader, armed with the knowledge of who he was. I did not believe he could be saved. All I saw was my failure, and the consequences we all suffered. You must understand, Luke." he turned back to Luke, and the young man was suddenly aware of just how old Ben looked. He could see the pain and grief of many facades etched into the lined face. "I loved Anakin. He wasn’t just a padawan, he was a brother to me. I would have fought for him, I would have died for him." His expression turned dry. "I did die for him, in a way. But learning what he had done… how he had fallen… I could not reconcile the man I called brother with the monster in front of me. That day, when we fought…" He looked haunted. "It broke me, Luke. At least as much as it ruined him."

Luke was silent for a moment, then he managed to find his voice. "Just… What did Father do? And why did he — "

But Ben raised a hand to cut him off. "That is not my place to say, Luke. It is up to your father to speak of it, given time. Do not press him, Luke. Let him work up the courage to open up."

"So he's okay?"

"Yes, for the most part. That droid of his stuck him in that bacta tank almost immediately after they… ah… landed."

Luke couldn't help but chuckle at the image of Teefour bodily dragging a reluctant Anakin into the medbay.

"I am actually a bit amazed by your ability to go along with everything that has transpired, Luke," Ben continued drily. "Given your situation, I would have expected you to panic at least a little."

"We're all alive, and that's what matters," Luke replied simply. "I can worry later, when I've gotten my bearings on this place." He stretched out a little, testing his joints. "Besides," he continued, "apart from a little bit of queasiness from before, I actually feel great, better than the past few days." It felt like he just had a full night's sleep, a good meal, and a cup of caf.

Ben chuckled. "Well naturally you do. Soaked in the Force as this world is, it's only natural that you would pick up on it. I would actually be worried if you didn't." Then the old man's face turned solemn. "I would recommend that you take this opportunity to rest and get used to this world, Luke. As it stands, you won't have that long."

Luke stopped and turned to Ben.

"What do you mean?"

"Luke, surely you remember the entity you and Anakin encountered."

Suddenly, Luke felt very cold. The light inside the room dimmed and the sunlight through the window suddenly had no warmth. Luke remembered well the sensation of cold iron, of ageless rage and domineering, brutal, queenly will.

"We're going to fight it again." It wasn't a question; Ben's silence was answer enough. "What even is that thing?" Luke pressed. "Why is it on that moon? What is it going to do? What does it want?"

Ben closed his eyes. "Luke…" he began. "What you must understand is that whatever has been going on here, it has been centuries in the making, perhaps longer. You simply arrived before the culmination of these events. And yet," he added cryptically, raising a single finger, "your arrival has also sparked a new set of events into motion. It is not easy to predict what will happen. Not even I have all the answers."

"All I can say," Ben opened his eyes, gaze leveled with Luke's, "is that you must have trust. Trust in your father. Trust in the Force. And trust in the new companions you will find here. Remember that, and you will prevail."

"But when is it going to happen?" Luke pressed. "And who am I supposed to — "

"Um… who're ya talkin' to?"

Luke blinked, looked around, then looked down. Applebloom was peeking her head through the door, looking at Luke like he had sprouted a second head. Luke turned to look back at the bed, which was suspiciously devoid of annoying, cryptic, dead old men.

The Jedi rolled his eyes, exasperated. Oh, very funny Ben. Make me look like I'm crazy to the locals, why don't you? Even though Luke was probably just imagining it, he could almost swear that he heard Ben chuckle at that.

"It's nothing," he told a skeptical looking Applebloom. "I was just talking out loud, it helps me think better. You needed something?"

Applebloom didn't look like she bought the lie in the slightest, but she let the matter drop.

Smart kid.

"Sis wanted me to come getcha downstairs, she brought somepony to have a look at 'cha and make sure you're not hurt any."

Luke nodded with a sigh. Though he felt just fine, it was best to submit to their requests. It wasn't like they were planning to torture him after all. What was a check up by one of these guys compared to the tender mercies of Teefour — or worse, the medics in the Rebellion?

Getting to his feet, he followed Applebloom down the stairs.

In the main living room, Applejack and Granny Smith were both waiting for him by the fireplace. Applejack looked almost expectant, like she was waiting for something in particular. Granny, on the other hand…hoof? Had such a good sabacc face that she would make both Han and Landon break out in cold sweats in less than a minute. At the same time.

Luke made a mental note to tread carefully around the old mare. To put a halt to the awkward silence, he turned to Applejack. "Applebloom mentioned that there was someone to meet me?" he asked.

"Yup!" Applejack affirmed… a little too cheerfully. "Ya just make sure to cooperate with her, ya hear? She knows what she's doin', so no sayin' yer fine and all that," she gave Luke a bit of a stink eye. "Let her be the judge o'that, and don't argue with her. Bad things'll happen if'n ya do."

Luke was starting to have some second thoughts about this. Before he could voice his feelings, however, Applejack called over her shoulder. "Ok, Flutters, it's good to come in!"

The door opened from behind him, and Luke heard soft clopping noises moving towards them. Ok, Luke thought. Just your typical medic. No big deal, you know how to handle them. Just be nice and speak when spoken to. No biggie.

He turned to greet the newcomer with his best — oh, that just wasn't fair.

The newcomer was very…small, somehow. Luke knew that they were logically the same size as Applejack. However, the way they shriveled in front of him was like an illusion by the force. Their yellow-cream coat seemed excessively fuzzy and they were hiding their giant watery eyes behind a drooping delicate pink mane. Everything screamed ‘weak’ and ‘terrified’ to the Jedi. He couldn’t help but feel a strange pang in his chest when he saw her force herself past the pink curtain to look up at him, giving him a better view of her face.

Her features were much softer than Applejack’s, implying an easier lifestyle to the sedulous one. He cringed when she gave him a tiny smile, hesitating on how to react. For the first time in a long while, the Jedi felt disarmed. All his training hadn’t prepared him for this. It was the polar opposite to looking at those…Ewoks, with their horrifying faces and shrill noises coupled with those eyes. Eyes which stared into the distance. Seeing something that surpassed the force. Now he was staring into the unending distance.

“Excuse me?” the ‘tiny’ pegasus called out meekly.

Luke shook his head, immediately pulled out of his waking nightmare. He shared a smile in return, doing his best to not show that his eyes felt like they were being melted from the excessive cuteness. Even her voice was ‘tiny’. He wondered if he could replace his eyes with bionic ones.

If he were honest, any bionic eyes would just short out.

"Umm… hello," he replied, wincing at how his voice cracked. There was a spate of coughing from Applejack that sounded suspiciously like laughter. Clearly, she was enjoying the show. Luke resisted the urge to glare over his shoulder and kept the smile on his face. "I'm Luke Skywalker. I hear that you're a doctor…?" She immediately shook her head.

"He's who Ah toldja about, Fluttershy," Applejack cut in, grinning from ear to ear. "We don't know anything about how his body works, so ah figured you'd have better luck seein' if sumthin's wrong."

Fluttershy's head was now a yellow-pink blur.

"Oh nonononono, goodness no, I only work with animals, not people!"

A vet. They brought a vet. This time, Luke didn't bother to resist giving Applejack a flat, unimpressed look.

Applejack held up her hooves in a disarming gesture.

"Whoa whoa whoa, hold up there, sugarcube! No offense, but you're not exactly normal around here! Ah figured that Fluttershy would be better than a normal doctor since she's worked with all sorts of different animals before!"

Luke thought it over and tunderstood. If he were honest it actually made sense. When dealing with something unknown it was best to bring in someone who was more creative and thought outside the box. Plus, being familiar with different biologies helped. He couldn't fault Applejack for that.

Still… that didn't mean he'd let her off scott-free. She did seem a little too eager to see his reaction, and turnabout was fair play. He remembered one of Leia's favorite ways to shut Han up when he got too mouthy.

Well, I am her brother…

He slowly turned to look Applejack in the eye then smiled.

Applejack immediately shrunk into herself until she seemed smaller than Fluttershy, staring back with terrified eyes.

"Why, thank you for your forethought on the matter, Applejack. I won't forget it soon. One day, I'll make sure to return your kindness."

There was no doubt he meant it. Traveling with Han Solo and Leia in the same ship was murder on the ears sometimes. It did occasionally give him Ideas however.

Turning to the now traumatized Applejack, he addressed Fluttershy, who was still peeking out at him from behind her mane.

"I'm willing to trust your judgement, miss. If Applejack recommended you, I can only take her word for it.” He gave her the most disarming smile he could. "By all means, whenever you're ready."

She seemed to think it over, her muzzle crinkling in the most adorable way he had ever seen in his life. Luke swore right then and there that Leia should never know about this planet. Or stars forbid, Han. They'd never let them hear the end of it.

Not to mention the rest of Rogue Squadron… the ongoing prank war between all of them would reach new, terrifying heights.

He shuddered to think about it.

"Ok," Fluttershy all but whispered. She pointed gently at a nearby stool. "I'll need you to sit on that stool over there…" her muzzle wrinkled again with a sound like a squeak toy.

"I-if that's alright with you…"

Yup. Never telling Leia.

Ever.

Fluttershy continued to examine and prod around her new patient, gently poking different spots with her hoof. Each time she asked, with as small a whisper as possible, if it hurt.

She saw Luke follow Fluttershy's instructions without argument, speaking as gently as the pegasus at times. Before too long, she saw the little signs that Fluttershy was becoming more at ease around Luke. Her step became a little more sure, her voice gained a little more volume.

To someone who had just met Fluttershy, these little tells would be missed entirely, but Applejack had known Fluttershy for years. The signs were as clear as day to the farm mare. She couldn't help but smile. At the very least that knack for making friends was familiar.

Fluttershy continued to look over the… foreigner? Alien? Applejack wasn't exactly sure what to call Luke. All she knew was that he was at least friendly enough to be examined by her friend.

Luke had pulled off his black glove at Fluttershy’s request. When it came off, Applejack tilted her head slightly. Her eyes squinted slightly trying to get a better look. The hand just looked…off. Maybe it was just her, but the way it moved just didn’t seem right, for some reason.

She wasn’t the only one who felt that way, Fluttershy noticed it too, being up close. She noticed that there was a slight discoloration on the forearm; from far away it wouldn't even be noticeable. But up close however…

“Do you mind if I…?”

Luke shook his head. “Go ahead,” he said.

The shy, yellow pegasus then placed her hoof on his hand. It even felt odd; didn’t quite feel as soft as his other arm, and didn’t feel as warm either. This was not only odd, but alarming.

She carefully touched it with her hoof, then did the same with Luke's other hand, and frowned. The skin on his right hand was smooth… too smooth. There was no feeling of the tiny dimples, miniscule hairs and natural creases that actual skin had. It felt fake — artificial.

Fluttershy moved the sleeve on his left arm a bit and stared. She ignored Applejack’s query of whatever was wrong and looked with dawning horror at the thin ring of burn scar tissue circling Luke’s wrist.

Applejack’s blood turned to ice, and she could hear Big Mac suck in a sharp breath. What in tarnation could cause a scar like that!? She never heard of anything that could…

Her thoughts flashed back to when Luke had cut himself out of the giant container outside, how that tendril — no, blade — of light melted and cut through metal so easily. She put two and two together immediately and felt sick. What kind of monster would do that to someone as nice as Luke?

Fluttershy looked up at Luke.

“Is it…?” She couldn’t finish. Luke caught her expression, and understanding immediately what she meant, nodded once.

“It happened a year ago,” he said quietly, a calm, melancholy look on his face. “I got into a fight I wasn’t prepared for. I paid the price for it soon enough.” He flexed his hand, and Applejack could this time hear the faint whirring that could never be made by flesh and bone. “I hope you don’t mind, but I'd rather keep this to myself for the time being.”

Applejack found herself nodding at once. He was going to have a hard enough time getting ponies used to him without stories of him having his hand cut off in a fight floating around.

Fluttershy nodded, then without warning leapt forward and wrapped her forelegs around Luke’s waist. Luke froze, then gingerly patted her head. “I’m so sorry,” she muttered.

Luke’s face flashed from pale to candy apple red and back to pale again and looked like Big Mac had clubbed him over the head. He continued to almost mechanically pat Fluttershy’s head while she remained glued to his waist like a yellow and pink skirt. It all looked so comical that Apple Bloom immediately burst out laughing. Granny Smith soon followed suit.

“Boy, looks like ya made a friend there!” the old-timer chuckled. “I reckon yer gonna be alright here. We got yer back until you figure out where you need to go and do.” She then adopted a dry expression. “Plus, there’s that giant thingamajig stuck in our front yard. I reckon ya can’t exactly go anywhere without it, and we kinda need that field.”

Luke was immediately on his feet. “Oh! I’ll get that out of there as soon —”

“No.”

Luke looked down at Fluttershy, still hugging his waist. Her voice had suddenly become very firm.

“I’m sorry?”

“No,” she repeated. “No hard work for a week.”

“Why?”

“You’re hurt.”

“But I’m fine!”

“You have muscle strain everywhere in your body including some tears on your abdomen, multiple bruises on your torso and arms, and general extensive fatigue. You’re not going anywhere.” The little fire left her eyes and she shrunk back into herself. “I--if that’s alright with you…”

Don't squeal, don't squeal, don't squeal, don't squeal ...

Luke shook his head thought for a moment. "Would simply looking at it be okay? If I don't try to touch it?"

Fluttershy considered that for a moment, her muzzles scrunching up again. Then she nodded slowly. "All right," she said. "As long as you don't try to push yourself and just look, I don't see anything wrong with going outside."

Luke nodded. "I'll be careful," he said with a disarming smile.

Applejack had the suspicion that what Luke considered 'careful' wasn't exactly the same as what she would think of as careful. Before she could voice this suspicion, Luke was already at the door. Applejack and Fluttershy quickly went to either side as he turned the latch and stepped outside into the daylight.

For a brief moment, all was calm and gentle. The sky was blue with the noontime sun high in the air, clouds scudding around it. A gentle breeze of the late spring wafted through the air, and Luke looked absolutely jubilant at being outside in the fresh air.

And then there was a woosh and Luke saw pain and felt every color of the rainbow.

And then Luke was gone and Applejack was staring at a sky blue Pegasus standing in front of her with flared wings like one of the Power Pony comic book heroines.

"No worries Applejack! The fastest flyer in Equestria is here to help!!!"

What.

"Uh…" Applejack was at a loss for words. "Rainbow Dash, what…"

"Um, do you mind?" said a muffled voice from below.

Both ponies looked down to see Luke pressed face first into the mud, on account of the four hooves digging into his back.

"Y'mind getting off…? No rush, but I kind of need my lungs… and my spine…"

Author's Note

AUTHOR'S NOTES:

NB: Aaaaaand there's another chapter! Phew! I'm glad we managed to push this one through! Things are starting to become interesting for our intrepid Jedi! And a new pony joins the — ah —
*Looks around fervently*
— ummm, event that has nothing to do whatsoever with any festivities! Yes! That's it!
*Laughs nervously*
Anyway, we have couple of announcements to go through! First off, we —

Unknown Voice: Men, INTRODUCTIONS!!!!!

Four shapes blur into the area striking poses

Aedric!

Mishkiel! I know more about a Galaxy Far, Far Away than I do about the world I live in.

Turles: I am all powerful Celestial king with a knack of horror and the unknown!

Psycho the Psychopath!

Night Bridge — wait, what the hell are we--

Everyone else: WE ARE THE GINYU FORCE!!!!!

*Beat*

NB: Wait… didn't we choose to call ourselves the Nerd Brigade? AND WHAT'S WITH THE POSES!? WHY AM I POSING!?!?!?

Well, shameless Ginyu Force ripoffs aside, we do have some announcements go through. First, another new member to our little team: Mishkiel!

The guy's forgotten more stuff about Star Wars than most of us combined! Between the five of us, we've got the entirety of Legends and Canon lore covered!

Come on over here and introduce yourself, Mishkiel!

Turles: Yes fellows, we have a new member of our group. However there is a bit of an announcement.

Mishkiel: See, we’ve pretty much established where this story is going. Jedi in Equestria, character arcs getting set up, all that happy fun time. And I say we, despite the fact that nothing you’ve seen so far has had my hand in it.

Turles: Yet, but you will soon. The more nerds the better. Speaking of which, I kinda need to explain some things. So the reason this kinda took longer than anticipated is because some personal things happened. See during the near end of last year, my dog who is a basset hound passed away. She was thirteen years old and at the peak of her life, it was very hard to write. That to me at least why this took longer. But there's also another reason. Night bro you explain.

NB: Right. Another reason we have been slow is that I, at least, have been a bit overwhelmed with everything else I have to do — my night job, doing art commissions, and of course this fanfic. Having a clear idea of only a few select points in the plot line, thus having to wing it, didn't really help matters. Turles is good with the horror aspect (he did the majority of the 'Moon Swallowing NMM' scene, and I'm good with prose and thinking outside the box.

Turles: Technically horror-ish. But yeah it’s true, you see I’m a big H.P Lovecraft fan that’s also a Dragon ball and Star Wars fan.—Though dragon ball I like a bit more— and to be honest I will say that I do a great job illustrating scenes that seem otherworldly like that scene where Luke entered the force.

Oh yeah I also like 40k, not really much of a surprise there. Later down the line and this is gonna stay true, there’s gonna be more eldritch like things, some concepts that me and my Accomplices that are friends are gonna create and build up.

NB: But between the two of us, linking the events together into one narrative and keeping our facts straight has been a challenge. With that over our heads, the other things I had been wanting to do with 'To Walk the Sky' like adding illustrations and adding music links could only be wishful thinking. Now with Aedric, Psycho, and Mishkiel in our group now, we can divide the work more and expand our horizons.

But, we do need to solidify the plot, figure out everyone's strengths, and, in my case at least, get better at writing in general and improve my skill with smaller fics and one shots. Otherwise, the Nerd Brigade might as well be called the Headless Chicken Squad for how much we'll be running in circles...

So, for the next month we'll be taking a one-month hiatus from writing "To Walk the Sky and Catch the Moon" to address these issues, take a breather, and plan out the next few chapters at least.

Here's to a new year and renewed determination!

Turles: Now with all that done, thank you for reading this chapter and thank you for understanding why the hiatus needs to be done. And don’t worry guys February is a small month, patience is a virtue after all.

PS: Mishkiel: Seriously. If you want to chat about the relative merits of various lightsaber crystals or blaster manufacturers, I'm your guy. Hit me up in the comments.

Chapter 7

"But are you sure you're okay?"

Twilight closed her eyes and took a deep, long breath before answering with clenched teeth, taking care to not snap at her brother walking next to her down the halls of the Royal infirmary.

"Shining, you've asked me that seventeen times now. Yes, I'm okay. I don't feel weak or dizzy, and my head barely hurts. I'm fine."

Her brother held up a hoof in surrender. "Okay, okay!" he said. “Sorry, it’s just — I mean — can you blame me on this?”

Of course, she couldn’t, but she wasn't exactly about to say that. A sigh left her as she thought back to the past six hours. Sawbones had poked and prodded her from muzzle to dock for the better part of two hours before he had declared her to be perfectly healthy, save for some magic trauma to her horn. He had explained that her horn was suffering from afterburn, which usually happened when a unicorn used magic far beyond their usual.

Twilight grimaced as she remembered Sawbones's order, delivered with all the hardness of a judge's sentence.

"No magic for a week…" she groaned. "A week! How am I supposed to get any of my studies done now? Spike's good at writing things down, but he doesn't know how to write a thesis!"

Shining patted her on the shoulder. "Hey, I get it! I'm in the same boat too." That wasn't saying much. Pretty much everypony who had been overwhelmed by what was now being called the Blast Wave was under medical restriction. It hadn't been just her, or Shining, or even just the unicorns; some pegasi and earth ponies had been hit hard as well, some even knocked into a coma, like she was. There was no real pattern to it, except that most were extremely talented in one way or another. Some pegasi had passed out mid-flight, crashing in various places and causing injuries. It had been a miracle nopony had died so far.

How did she know this? Well, it wasn't for nothing that Canterlot's rumor mill was considered the fastest and most trusted in Equestria. All she needed to do was listen.

As for Spike… oh, how her heart broke for her trusty assistant. The poor dragonet had been under a lot of stress for the past few hours, and she couldn’t blame him. He was still young, and what he had seen would traumatize most adult ponies. Watching her scream in agony, unable to help, and unable to do anything besides riding it out? She didn't blame him for breaking down in tears when she had woken up.

Right now he was riding on Shining’s back, just looking blankly ahead. The tears on his scaled cheeks were all dried up, leaving behind a salty trail in their wake. He looked practically emotionless; drained, Twilight knew, by the sheer rollercoaster of events and emotions. Perhaps, she thought, when she was fully recovered she could do something for him. After all the hard work he had done for her for the past few years, finishing up studies at the School for Gifted Unicorns—it was only fair. Perhaps that new Power Ponies comic book that he’s always raving about would be a good start, and there was a comic book convention in Manehattan not too long after the Summer Sun Celebration.

The stroll back home was a bit difficult, due to the constant stream of ponies being brought into the hospitals, either comatose or awake. Twinkleshine had luckily been one of the latter, and they had managed to talk with her for a bit before they had left.

"I'm sorry things went south like that," Twinkleshine had said to Twilight with a grimace. "Maybe when things are back to normal, we can have a proper picnic, huh?" Sawbones had sent them off shortly after that, stating that his patient needed rest. The look on his face was all the incentive the group needed to hoof it out of the ward; visitor or patient, you didn't argue with the head of the Royal Infirmary. Even Princess Celestia didn't cross the ill-tempered doctor on his best day.

Bringing her thoughts back to the present, she replied, “Right now, I just want to go home and rest and read a book.” Which was something she was looking forward to even if she couldn't use her magic for the time being.

A chuckle came from her older brother. “Even after leaving the hospital the only thing on your mind is reading.” A dramatic sigh came out. “Truly, my sister is an egghead.” That earned him a shoulder bump for his cheekiness.

“Shush, you.” Twilight seethed, which made Shining Armor cackle a bit. It certainly did help with easing the very noticeable tension around them, at least where Twilight and Spike were concerned.

As she looked around, she could see the drawn and shell-shocked faces of the ponies, and the tired, grim faces of the guards. Some were scuffed and bruised, some even had bandages in various places. One caught Shining's eye, and saluted with his good wing; his other wing was in a splint.

As for the city itself…

Twilight couldn't remember a time when Canterlot had looked so… run down. Every building she could see either had broken windows or cracked chimneys. Some had their roofs torn as they had been under a strong wind. Glass and debris littered the streets. She had once seen pictures of a small town after a near miss from a tornado; the kind of tumult and disarray she saw before now brought that to mind.

Looking up, she could see a sooty trail of thick, dark smoke, streaked across the blue sky like a black tear; still yet to fully disperse into the wind. Next to it was a thinner, paler trail running almost parallel to the larger trail, and well on the verge of dissipating entirely.

"Shining… what exactly put that there?"

Shining Armor looked up at the dark trail and grimaced. "Wish I knew myself," he muttered. "Damn thing came pelting overhead just after you got sent off to the infirmary. Couldn't make it out entirely, but I can say it wasn't a meteor."

Twilight looked over at him. "What exactly do you mean by that?"

Shining seemed to ignore her, instead of saying, "Let's just get you home safe and sound, okay?"

They continued without another word through the crowd of scared and tired ponies. It almost seemed like forever before Twilight could see the tower observatory in the distance. Surprisingly, it didn't seem to be that damaged — a few roof tiles out of place, some scratches on the stone walls where debris had been hurled against it. But there it stood, a stalwart sentinel against the near-noon sky.

Twilight couldn't help but feel at least a little glad for that. The old tower had been her home for five years now and had served well.

Spike leaned forward and wrapped his arms around Shining's neck. "I'm happy it's not trashed," he said quietly as if voicing Twilight's thoughts.

Shining gingerly reached around his neck to pat Spike with a hoof. In any other situation, it would have been funny.

"Me too, Spike."

One by one, they each ascended the stairs and walked inside. Already, stepping inside her home was a huge relief to Twilight. She could already feel it washing over her and relaxing her tense muscles.

Spike gently climbed off of his older brother. Had the stallion not been injured he might’ve hopped off instead. Twilight could see some of the weight lifting from the dragon. She couldn’t help but think about home being where the heart is; so it has proven in a way.

Twilight looked at the books currently stacked on her desk. This was not going to be easy to read through without magic. No matter, she could always turn the pages with hooves. The real problem was getting them down from the rope she had built. She’d have to remind herself to never do that again.

Coming to the ladder by the bookshelf, Twilight carefully gripped the steps and readied to climb up. A clawed hand placed itself on her hoof. Looking to her assistant, the unicorn gave Spike a caring smile, knowing what he was about to say.

“I think I can get a book, Spike.”

Spike seemed to consider Twilight's words for a moment. The determined expression fell for a moment as he looked down before he turned his eyes back to the pony. That same determination crept into his voice as he spoke.

“I know, but let me continue being the assistant I should be Twilight. You should rest.”

Her face fell as a wave of sympathy came to her. Just when Twilight was about to say something, Shining Armor put a hoof on Spike’s shoulder. The purple dragon’s hand came to his side as he looked at the guard captain. Shining’s face took a slightly somber smile upon it.

“I know you wanna help Spike, but that doesn’t mean doing every little thing to make up. It’ll all be okay given some time.”

Shining then pulled Spike into a hug. Twilight could tell that he was tearing up at this point and she got down and placed a hoof on his shoulder. Spike’s arms wrapped around Shining’s neck as he calmed down. It was a few seconds before the three separated again. Shining sighed from exhaustion.

“It’s been quite a day. I think everyone deserves some rest.”

Twilight and Spike nodded in agreement. With little else said, Shining headed for the door. Once the duo were alone they both felt the same exhaustion. Spike headed to bed while Twilight headed to a nearby bookshelf. While she agreed on resting, that didn’t mean she would be idle. Retrieving a text on old myths and legends, she flipped through the pages, looking for something which would help her find out what happened over Canterlot.

She pulled a blank journal over to her as well and picked up a pencil in her mouth before looking over an entry that had caught her eye. Skimming over it, she quickly decided that it didn't have what she was looking for before moving on through the book.

But what should I look for?, she thought as the pencil moved and twitched idly in her mouth. It wasn't like she had much to start from. A psychic wave knocks out half the population of Canterlot, and then something flies just overhead barely five minutes after? It didn't take a degree from the SGU to figure out that they were connected. The real question was how.

What had caused the psychic… attack? Could it have been an attack? It made sense; if you wanted to have an advantage against magic using a country like Equestria, knocking out most of the talented ponies first would be a good way to do it.

But even as she thought that she had dismissed it; it didn't seem right. Something she couldn't explain told her that the Blast Wave — whatever it was — wasn't deliberate. She was certain about that at least, though how she was so sure was beyond even her. It had a cause, but it wasn't the intended effect. The fact that not every pony was rendered unconscious proved that. If it were intended, the majority of ponies would be incapacitated, not just a fraction of them. As much as Twilight couldn't even comprehend her teacher being seriously hurt, Princess Celestia would almost certainly have been worse off than just having a hot compress on her head if it were a real attack. And why now of all times? There was nothing significant, no big celebration where everyone was really off guard. It was just too random, too chaotic, to fit into any real plan of attack.

In the hedge gardens of the Royal Palace, one of the statues seemed to sneeze and rock on its plinth.

Then everything fell silent again and all was right with the world.

No, it wasn't an attack, she decided, pencil twitching again in her mouth. Some kind of celestial event? A collision? That would explain the meteor Shining had described…

Though come to think of it, he said something was off about it… she never got anything beyond that. Perhaps she should ask him about it, considering how things are she can say with confidence that her big brother will show himself tomorrow.

She sighed, shaking her head. As much as she wanted to figure this out she wasn’t really in the proper state to do so, neither physically nor mentally.

The pencil flicked and twitched again in her irritation with her powerlessness. She needed to do something…

“Twilight?”

She turned to look over her shoulder, pencil dropping from her mouth. Spike was standing at the base of the stairs leading up to their bedroom, his favorite blanket in tow.

“Are you coming up?” he asked quietly.

Twilight blinked owlishly at him before shaking her head again. “Yeah, I am, Spike. I just wanted to see if I could figure out something before hitting the sack.” She looked at him more closely, noticing the way he seemed to draw back into himself. “Is something wrong?”

Spike stood there for a few seconds, then darted forward to bury his face into her neck. Twilight could feel his little body trembling against her shoulder.

“I don’t want to be alone.”

His voice was small and barely audible, even to Twilight’s ears. It barely took any time at all for her to make up her mind.

She stood up and closed the book, wrapping a foreleg around Spike. “Okay,” she said gently to calm him down. “Let’s go upstairs. Let me clean this up first, okay?” She set the book on a nearby table to get shelved later, then picked up the journal. She glanced idly at the page as she made to put it away —

Twilight froze on the spot, staring at the open page. Spike walked up next to her, standing on tiptoe to look at the journal. “What’s that?” he asked, tilting his head. Twilight only stared at the image of the vaguely sword-like object on the page, with a tube-shaped hilt and a blade that looked like fire. Out of the tired fog in her mind, a voice came, like a familiar echo as if she had heard it in a dream.

An elegant weapon, for a more civilized age.

Twilight shook her head again to clear it. “I-it’s nothing, Spike,” she finally said, closing the journal. “Just a random scribble. Didn’t know I was even drawing it.”

That wasn’t a lie, either; she had only been twitching the pencil in her mouth idly while she searched for leads.

She had to admit, she drew it well despite not having any experience with art.

Turning away from the journal, she ushered Spike back up the stairs. “C’mon, let’s get to bed, we’re both tired.”

Spike yawned as if on cue, his eyes drooping as he leaned against Twilight. “Looked kinda cool,” he murmured. Twilight smiled, but her mind was racing.

She had almost entirely forgotten about the strange dream she had experienced before waking up — strange landscapes never seen on Equestria, a skull-like face of black steel, a blade of azure fire…

Twilight said nothing of this to Spike as she tucked him into her bead, then squeezed in next to him; neither of them was willing to sleep alone. She decided on one final thing before she closed her eyes, her little assistant curled up against her like a scaly kitten.

She would need to tell Princess Celestia.

“I’m pretty sure this isn’t necessary,” Luke muttered as Fluttershy hovered around him with a roll of bandages, wrapping up his bare chest in a veritable cocoon.

The pegasus, just like the last three times he had said this, serenely ignored her on-again-off-again patient and continued her work. The entire group after Luke had been accidentally used as a landing pad by their second surprise guest of the day, dragged the Jedi back into the farmhouse. Both pegasi were left outside. Luke didn’t see what had transpired outside afterwards. Both ponies re-entered the house after ten minutes. The blue pony, shaking from mane to hoof, had immediately retreated to a nearby corner. Fluttershy, meanwhile, had instantly set about treating Luke’s new injuries despite the Jedi’s continued protests.

“I think one more wrap should do it…” Fluttershy repeated for the fifth time as she wrapped more gauze around Luke’s head.

A tap on her shoulder got her attention. “Uhh, Fluttershy I think that’s enough.” Applejack said, sounding both amused and worried.

“Eeyup,” Big Mac agreed.

The cream-colored pegasus looked at Luke and furrowed her brows. “Alright, if you’re absolutely certain,” she said hesitantly.

Luke gave her a gentle smile and waved her off. “It’s alright. I’ve dealt with worse before,” he said nonchalantly.

Fluttershy brought her hooves to her mouth in shock. “Oh my.”

The visitor forced himself up, his body straining a bit from the effort needed to fight against his wounds and fatigue. “I must get moving. Staying still weakens the body.”

The pegasus grabbed the man’s shoulders and stared at him straight in the eyes, unblinking. “I cannot allow such rash behavior!” she spoke firmly. “You will need to rest here and recuperate. If you continue to push yourself in your current state then you’re going to come out of this worse for wear!” She flinched and moved back slightly. “I mean, that’s what happens to my animal friends when they do just that.” She started reminiscing. “There was this bear that got stung by a bunch of bees–”

“It’s okay!” Luke interrupted her. He chuckled a bit then cringed from the pain. “I’m starting to think that you’re right.” He paused for a moment and performed a brief introspection. “Alright. If it will make you happy then I won’t move from this farm, okay?”

Fluttershy’s stoic gaze instantly softened to her usual, meek expression. “That’s all I’m asking for.”

Luke nodded and pulled his shirt back on. Applejack stepped forward and began inspecting the young man’s attire. Judging by her annoyed and increasingly angry expression, Luke realized that something about what he was wearing was irritating her to no end; even he didn’t need the Force to figure that out.

“Sugarcube, yer clothing's in a right manner of disrepair. If yer gonna be goin’ about here then ya need something that ain’t torn worse than apple tree bark when termites come nestin’,” she said. All the while she was poking the man’s leg.

The Jedi stared blankly at the farm pony throwing out colorful metaphors at him. She kept mentioning things that passed by his head like an old speeder. If termites could rip the bark off a tree they must be immense and powerful beasts, and he was in no mood to deal with another. He had enough with the Rancor and Sarlacc Pit.

“Um, what do you recommend then?” Luke gestured to himself. “I don’t exactly have any spare sets of clothing or the material necessary to fix my current ones.”

The farm pony rolled her eyes. “Ya don’t need ta fix ‘em, silly. Ah, know a pony that could help with that. Figure ah could get her over here with mah brother if ya don’t mind.”

Luke shrugged as he replied. “Certainly. I don’t see a reason why not.” His lips briefly pursed. “Just make sure to tell your friend what I look like.”

AJ briefly laughed in good nature. “Ya underestimate what creatures we meet here in Equestria.” She rubbed her muzzle and looked at Luke’s hand. “Though ah reckon she might get a might bit anxious or excited with that metal claw o’ yers.”

The Jedi looked at his hand and grinned. “Well, make sure to warn her about that too then.”

The farm pony brought her brother alongside her and closed the door behind, just for it to reopen a second later. “And don’t ya start doin’ some fancy moves or moving heavy weights. Ya gotta rest, got it? Or mah brother is gonna hogtie ya up real tight ‘til ya get strong enough to move around without issue.”

Luke almost laughed at the thought. Having these tiny colorful creatures threaten him didn’t work out as well as his host thought it would. That is until her brother poked his head through the door far above her own.

Big Mac narrowed his eyes at the Jedi. “Eeyup,” he added.

The door closed once again and didn’t open a third time. There was a strange chill that went through the Jedi's spine, making him visibly shiver if just a little. A giant red pony simply said one word that he wasn’t sure even was a word, yet Luke could sense the ill intentions behind that singular note.

He took in a deep breath and sighed. “Well,” Luke started. “That was an exchange.”

“Don’t mind them,” Fluttershy reassured. “They’re just doing what they think is right, and I don’t know anypony as honest as Applejack.”

Luke turned to look around and caught sight of the blue pony that crashed into him earlier. “What about you? Are you just going to hide there?”

Rainbow Dash glared at her interlocutor and muttered inaudibly under her breath. Luke frowned in worry and confusion. Had he done something wrong? He noticed that the blue pegasus almost immediately cowed when Fluttershy looked at her with a disapproving frown. Even this angry blue pony seemed cute when she was afraid, like a loth-cat when it was chastised for doing something bad.

“I’m just going to, uh, watch you.” Her eyes darted to Fluttershy every few words spoken. “In case you do something you might regret,” she said.

“Okay.” Luke nodded. “I can understand that, but you don’t need to worry about me doing anything to your friends. It’s not the Jedi way to harm innocents.”

“The what?”

“I’ll explain later,” Luke replied.

Rainbow Dash dropped the subject and made for the door, followed by Fluttershy and Applebloom. Luke was about to follow, but a faint warble behind him made him look over his shoulder. Kyugee was peeking out from behind a corner, his single photoreceptor gazing pleadingly up at Luke.

Luke rolled his eyes. “Ok, c’mon, Kyugee. I’m not going to leave you behind.” The droid let out a squeal of delight and trundled up behind him as he stepped outside, happily bleeping and burbling.

Outside, Fluttershy was sitting, waiting for Luke, while Apple Bloom hopped around excitedly. Rainbow Dash — who had yet to see Kyugee, stared at the black-and-gold droid with a mixture of consternation and horror. “What the hay is that?”

“That’s Kyugee,” Luke replied. “He’s a droid who crashlanded with me —” Before he could explain further, Apple Bloom interrupted him.

“C’mon, let’s go! Ah, figure, if yer gonna stay here with us, ah can show ya around the farm!” she exclaimed.

Luke smiled at her. “I would rather not remain here forever with you, but I am still grateful for your hospitality.”

He looked around a moment, taking in the scenery, but Apple Bloom noticed that his expression had gone from warm and serene to slightly perplexed.

“Somethin’ wrong?” she asked him.

“Hm? Oh! Not really, just…I have never seen farms like this before, although I was on a farm some time ago,” he recalled.

“Really? Yer a farmer too?” The young filly’s eyes bulged and sparkled.

“Yes, but I’ll tell you about it after you give me a tour of your home. I think that would be more exciting, to show someone your family’s accomplishments, no?” Luke suggested.

Such a suggestion hurt him inside somewhat. He was happy that he got his father back, but his actions were still a grim reminder of the scars left on the galaxy and what Palpatine had done to him. While he never dwelled on it, the thought always crossed his mind of what might have happened had his father never turned to the dark side. Would he have died in the Clone Wars? Would Palpatine have found someone else to replace Anakin? So many questions that he would never know the answers to. Thus, they weren’t important enough to be stuck on.

“That’s sure true!” the young filly agreed. “Us Apples have been farmin’ for a long time, ‘n this is an old farm that Granny says was passed down to us by our ten times great grandparents, although she founded it herself. Says it was passed down in spirit ‘re somethin’ like that. Ah, don’t understand it much though.” Luke raised a brow. That was an interesting point of view from the old pony. Luke once again had an odd feeling that Yoda would have found a kindred spirit in the old pony.

Applebloom was first stopped by a giant wooden structure standing near the house. It had been painted red with prominent wooden planks sticking out having been painted white. “This here’s the barn,” Apple Bloom began. “We move the livestock, our bushels of apples, ‘n all our equipment in it ta keep it safe. We only ever let the livestock in here when it’s too dangerous to lead ‘em back ta their stables ‘n stuff.”

Luke leaned in, clutching his chin with his mechanical hand. “I see.” He walked towards it and felt the strange, grainy roughness of the wood. “I’ve never seen wood like this before, let alone structures made of wood. Those tend to only be done by the species that are either too primitive for plascrete and durasteel or prefer to be closer to nature.”

Rainbow Dash clicked her tongue. “He’s calling us stupid,” she whispered to Fluttershy.

“Now, Rainbow Dash. You know very well that’s not what he said,” Fluttershy corrected. “He’s just sharing his experiences. To me, it just sounds like he’s being informative.”

Rainbow growled as she remained hunched over and her feathers fluffed out angrily. “He didn’t say we weren’t primitive either.”

The yellow pegasus sighed. “Why are you so suspicious of him, Rainbow?” She asked

The blue pegasus looked to her friend and then back to Luke and intensified her scowl. “I don’t know. There’s just something about him that rubs me the wrong way like it’s scratching at my head.” She rubbed it with a hoof.

“Probably just your paranoia,” Fluttershy said dismissively. Rainbow snorted at that.

“It’s apple tree planks,” Apple Bloom said proudly. “Our apple trees are tough ‘n sturdy, so we don’t gotta order no trees from outside as the other ponies do.” She looked around towards the orchard and groaned in disappointment. “Normally we uproot a dead or dyin’ tree and cut it apart for the wood. Then we plant some more seeds where it was so it can grow.”

“I see.” Some strange yapping noise caught the Jedi's attention. He had never heard anything like it before. “What is that noise?” he asked.

The Jedi spun around but too late. The next thing he knew he was on the ground, being assaulted by a disgustingly wet and slobbery tongue.

“That’s Winona, our guard dog,” Apple Bloom laughed.

The Jedi was having trouble getting a moment to move the strange, fluffy creature away without it somehow getting its tongue into his mouth during the manic licking. “Your what?”

“C’mere, Winona!” Apple Bloom called out. The dog obeyed and hopped towards the tiny filly, bouncing around happily and energetically.

The young Jedi was curious as he hadn't exactly seen an animal like her. Sure, he had seen similar creatures, but none like this small and energetic ball of fur.

His curiosity got the better of him as Luke was left to wipe his mouth and spit several times in disgust from a wet tongue. “I wasn’t expecting that. At all. Sometimes the force is disappointing in that it purposefully doesn’t warn me of things like this.” Luke paused for a moment. “Maybe that was Master Yoda’s doing.” He mutters to himself swearing he could hear his other former master chuckle down at him.

Apple Bloom and Fluttershy couldn’t help but giggle at the scene. The filly commented. “She likes you.”

“I can tell.” He wiped his lips while the dog stared up at him with an innocent gaze. “I think this world might have more to teach me than I thought, and I already expected a veritable wave of information.”

“Then perhaps we could be of some service to you?” Fluttershy asked. She shied away when he looked at her. “I mean, only if you would allow it.”

Luke chuckled. “No need for ‘allowing’. You can just share what you know with me.” He looked to the pegasus’ wings and Apple Bloom’s bare back. “For example, why are there two kinds of you creatures here? I am very curious to know.” He rubbed his chin while digging through the archives that were in his mind. “I’ve met a few species with several different types of their kind living together with each serving a different purpose in their society.”

“Oh, well, that is pretty close to how we ponies function,” Fluttershy said while reciprocating the smile.

“But we’re three tribes ‘a ponies,” the young filly added. Her surety suddenly made way for doubt, something Luke felt before it showed on her face. “Er…do alicorns count as a fourth tribe?” Apple Bloom asked, looking at Fluttershy, who shrugged with her wings. It seemed that neither of them had a concrete answer for whatever an ‘alicorn’ was.

Luke filed away the unfamiliar term for later. “So, the three tribes then,” he pressed on. “What exactly are the differences?”

“Well,” Apple Bloom started. “Ah ain’t pay much attention ta history in class, but ah recall Miss Cheerilee tellin’ us that we were fightin’ a lot in the past just cause ‘a how we looked.”

“It’s a bit more complicated than that,” Fluttershy intervened. “But it was a fight between pegasi, unicorns, and earth ponies.”

“I see, and which ones are you?” Luke asked Fluttershy.

Rainbow Dash bolted forward, glaring at Luke from a distance. “We’re pegasi!” she exclaimed. “We’re the best at flying and working with weather thanks to our magic,” she bragged.

“Bravado can only get one so far,” Luke chastised gently.

Rainbow scoffed at his comment. “That’s only for those who can’t back it up.”

He mutters out ‘fair’ before continuing. “And what about you?” Luke asked Apple Bloom.

“Ah’m an earth pony! Ah’m good at field workin’!” the tiny filly proclaimed proudly. Then she turned sheepish, scuffing the dirt before her with a hoof. “Or, I’m gonna be, when I grow up a bit. Applejack said so.”

“You’re gonna be great, squirt!” Rainbow Dash said, tousling Apple Bloom’s man with a hoof, eliciting a giggle from the filly.

“Their magic makes them very tough and with a natural affinity with the land.” Fluttershy rubbed the back of her head. “Well, normally. Most just like to travel around inventing things.”

That was twice now that Luke heard the word ‘magic’ which reinforced the abilities of these creatures. It was uncannily similar to a few tales he managed to recover from the old times of the Jedi and Sith orders. He was now feeling curious about that last tribe more than ever.

“And what about this last one you mentioned?” He placed his hand on his chest and started tapping it with one finger pensively. “Uni…kitties?” He asked tentatively.

“Unicorns,” Rainbow corrected with a slightly smug look on her face.

Luke gave a sheepish grin. “Ah. Yes. Of course. Unicorns. And, what is it that their magic does?”

“I-! Uh…” Rainbow’s proud façade almost immediately crashed. “I only know they do magic…”

Fluttershy frowned at herself. “Maybe Rarity would know?”

Rainbow Dash nodded in agreement. “Better that they stay in Canterlot. A lot of them aren’t exactly…mmm…open-minded like Rarity is.”

Luke exploded in laughter. That sounded a lot like a holonovel he had once caught Leia reading. He was sure she had more than just that — there had been an ongoing rumor within Rogue Squadron that Leia had some kind of contraband in her quarters, but no one could confirm it. The one time someone had bothered to ask Han, being the resident smuggler, he had promptly turned green in the face and said he didn’t want to talk about it.

“What are you laughing at?” Rainbow asked.

His face heated up a little. “Nothing important. Just some family things,” he explained with a giant grin.

“Okay?” Rainbow stared at him, confused.

Apple Bloom spoke up. “I gotta ask, are you an Alen?”

“What?”

“An Alen.”

Luke became confused, he honestly had no idea what she meant by Alen. “I’m not sure what you mean.”

“An Alen!” She repeated. “You know the ponies live in space!”

“You mean Alien?” Rainbow corrected.

“That's it!”

Oh, that’s what she meant. Luke realized though he wondered why it took them this long to ask. “Uh yes.”

All three of them stared at him wide-eyed and silent. Luke was starting to feel a little uncomfortable before Rainbow Dash shouted at the top of her lungs.

“I KNEW IT!”

Luke rocked back on his heels from the sudden shout — and the fact that a blue hoof was now hovering inches from his nose.

“Falling out of the sky in a big metal can? That beeping garbage can on wheels? And the fact that Fluttershy hasn’t seen anything like you before!? If Fluttershy doesn’t know what you are, you can’t be from around here! What are you doing here!/ Are you a spy!? Are you here to make the way for a globe-spanning alien invasion? Is that what all the headaches and comas were for before you landed!? Huh!?”

Apple Bloom stood next to the two, looking from one to the other as Rainbow Dash pelted Luke with questions without giving him a chance to answer. Luke’s head spun with all the questions the irate pegasus was throwing at him, but the last question caught his attention in particular.

“Wait — headaches? Comas!? What are you talking about?”

“Don’t give me that!” Rainbow Dash spat; she was on a roll now. “Do you expect me to think that it was just a coincidence that half the ponies in town got migraines or passed out on the spot just before that thing flew overhead and dropped you off!?” She poked Luke’s chest with her hoof. ”I may not have been the smartest in my class, but I can put two and two together, so spill it!? What did you do!?”

“I didn’t do anything! I don’t —” Luke stopped as a thought struck him. “Wait… I think I have an idea.”

“Oh really?” Rainbow asked, her tone oozing with sarcasm, but Luke didn’t answer. He turned to the direction the Nubian had flown from and began to reach out with his senses. Almost immediately, a harsh wave of pain slammed into his mind like a sledgehammer. Luke had to bite back a cry of pain. The Force itself writhed, almost retracting from him as if it were bruised and hurt. Battered and tense, it snapped at him like a wounded animal. Luke staggered and felt his knees give way. Luckily, there was a tree behind him which he slumped against as he tried to clear the pain from his mind. He dimly heard Apple Bloom call his name and when his vision cleared and the ringing sounds within his ear slowly left, he saw Fluttershy standing between him and a startled Rainbow Dash, wings spread.

“What are you —”

“H-he’s not fully healed yet!” Fluttershy said. “ We can’t be stressing him out so much so soon!” Her wings drooped a little. “I-I mean, I’m curious too. If he has an answer, I want to hear it… but I don't think he had anything to do with it.” She looked back at him over her shoulder. “He seemed too surprised to know anything about it.”

Luke's tongue felt stiff in his mouth, but he managed to speak. “Th-thanks,” he managed to stammer out, slowly getting back to his feet. “But I think she’s got something right.”

The ponies stared at him expectantly, waiting for an answer as Luke tried to think past his new migraine on how to explain the Thing he and Anakin had encountered.

“It’s a bit complicated, but—”

“Hey!”

Luke looked back over his shoulder to see Applejack trotting over to them, a satisfied grin on her face. “We brought Rarity over, she’s over by yer pod right now!” She motioned to the group. “Come along, Luke! She ain’t the type to be kept waitin’!” Luke immediately nodded and made to follow Applejack, only for Rainbow Dash to stand in his way.

“Hold it! You still haven't —”

“I know,” Luke cut her off. “But I need to think of how best to explain what happened, and why. There are some things I’m not sure of myself, and we’re dealing with concepts I’m not sure your people have even considered before. Besides…” His tone became a little sheepish. “It’s best to wait until Applejack and her family are all present. They should hear it too; I mean, I did crash into their field.”

Rainbow Dash seemed to consider this for a moment. “Fine,” she said at last. “I’m holding you to that!” She took to the air in a multicolored contrail. “And don’t think I’ll let you off later!” She called over her shoulder as she sped in the direction of the farmhouse.

“I wouldn’t dream of it,” Luke muttered under his breath. That got a little giggle out of Apple Bloom with Fluttershy smiling a little. “I’m sorry that happened,” she said quietly. “She’s just worried.”

“I would be too in her position,” Luke admitted. “She has a right to know what happened. You all do.” He started towards the farmhouse. “Now, let’s see what this ‘Rarity’ is like.”

Rarity, as it happened, turned out to be a pure white pony with a well-groomed mane of deep purple. When Luke, Fluttershy, and Apple Bloom stepped out of the orchard, she was examining the massive bulk of the escape pod. She turned to meet them and Luke saw the short, spiral-grooved horn jutting out from behind a curled forelock. Her eyes — a soft blue, and framed by well-done make-up — fell on Fluttershy first, and then Apple Bloom.

“Why, darlings! It’s so good to see you!” She exclaimed in a slightly posh tone, trotting over to the group. “Now how have you… two… been?” She had finally noticed Luke. Her eyes passed over his head to toe once, twice, and thrice, and then her mouth comically hung agape.

Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy braced themselves for the impending explosion. It came as no surprise or disappointment. The steam-whistle shriek that echoed off the trees was so loud that Luke was sure that people the way over in Nar Shaddaa had stopped trying to swindle one another to ask “What was that noise?” Before he had the chance to reflect on that notion, however, he was immediately set upon by a purple and white blur.

“Oh, my goodness! Just what have you done to your wardrobe!? All these frays, those stains, threadbare patches — are those burns!?” Her voice rose several octaves as she discovered each bit of damage to Luke’s clothes. Eventually, words failed her and she zoomed around the hapless Jedi, muttering under her breath as she examined the crimes against fashion before her.

Applejack walked up to Luke, shaking her head. “Sorry about that, sugarcube,” she apologized. “Rarity’s the best tailor in Ponyville —”

“— only tailor,” Rarity corrected, examining a hole over Luke’s right knee. “Though I do appreciate the compliment, darling.”

“...Only tailor in Ponyville,” Applejack acknowledged. “If anypony could fix yer getup for ya, it’s her.”

“Well, there doesn’t seem to be any fixing this!” Rarity said, backing away from Luke. She had a look on her face like a person had broken wind just under her nose. “By the time I’m done, you’d be wearing nothing but patches! Besides, wearing black? At this time of year? I won’t have it!”

Luke felt his face heat up. “It’s not like I have any spare clothes!”

Rarity clucked in disapproval. “Well, that just won’t do! I’ll take some measurements and make you a few outfits by tomorrow!” She trotted past Luke towards the farmhouse. Luke shook his head at the sheer strangeness of the whole thing. What was she expecting him to have done, pack a suitcase before getting shoved in the escape pod? He walked back to the house after Apple Bloom and Big Mac with Rainbow Dash and Applejack trailing behind him at a slow pace. They seemed to be speaking about something, but Luke couldn’t hear what.

Inside Applebloom was sitting with Big Mac on a couch, while Rarity was rummaging through her purse on the middle of the floor. "If you would just stand right there," she gestured with a hoof over to a spot on the floor next to her. "And don't move, please. I won't be able to make accurate measurements otherwise." Luke did as he was told and stood next to Rarity.

"Ah! Here we go! Hold still, now —"

Rarity's horn suddenly lit up a pale blue, and a long soft tape ruler slithered out of the bag. Liquid light danced around it as it floated.

"All right, let's get started, darling! Now if you will hold out your arm…"

At once the process began. The measurements seemed to pass by in almost a blur. Rarity carefully measured Luke's arms, legs, torso, and even his head in different angles and directions, marking down the measurements on a small notepad that sparkled with the same semi-fluid glow as the tape measure itself. Rarity asked some questions which Luke answered readily. The questions and measurements seemed to take hours, and by the time Rarity was done, the sky was starting to turn gold from an impending sunset and then slowly into an orange-red. Finally, the tape measure and the notebook flowed back into the bag.

"Well, that should do it," Rarity said, wiping her hoof across her brow. "I'll work on the outfits tonight and should be back with the finished product by tomorrow… hmmm, let's say noon? That should give me enough time to make a few sets."

Luke let out a sigh of relief. Even if he was used to meditation, standing for hours on end without moving was still tiring. "Thank you, Rarity," he said with a smile. "If there's anything I can do to repay you for this—"

Rarity waved him off. "Oh, don't even worry about it, darling! I’m just happy to help…whatever you are!”

Luke couldn't help but smile at that. "Even so, if you need help with anything, let me know."

He then blinked. The room seemed to sway a bit around him. Before he knew it, he was leaning against Big Mac, who had moved from the couch to catch him. Rarity deadpanned a bit. "If you want to repay me, getting yourself some bed rest would be a good start. You look dead on your feet!"

“Yeah I agree, you look like yer about to fall faster than a cart full of apples.”

“Eeyup.” Big Macintosh agreed.

Luke nodded slowly, blinking. He simply didn’t have the energy to argue.

Rarity beamed at the scene in front of her before trotting back through the door. “Well, I best be off. Those suits aren’t going to make themselves!” She opened the door and walked through before turning back to look inside and speaking one last time. “I’ll be back at noon, and not a second later! Ta ta!”

With that, the door closed, and Rarity was gone.

“I’d better be going too,” Rainbow Dash yawned. “I’ve got dew duty tomorrow, and that’s always a pain if I don’t get enough sleep.” She glared at Luke. “But don’t think you’re in the clear yet, Luke! I’ll be back tomorrow, and you won’t be worming out of it next time!” Before anyone could say anything, she marched through the door and was gone in a multi-colored blur.

Fluttershy said nothing, but merely shuffled over to Luke and then hugged him around the waist so tight Luke thought he felt a couple of vertebrae pop. She then blurted out of the door even faster than Rainbow Dash.

Apple Bloom, Big Macintosh, and Granny Smith moved on to the kitchen, but before Luke could follow him, Applejack pulled him aside.

"I heard about what went down with Rainbow Dash," she began quietly. "You all right?"

"Yes," Luke replies. He hesitated for a moment, fearing the answer, then pressed on. "Did any of you here… pass out?"

Applejack shook her head. "Granny was napping when it happened, so she was fine. Woke up with a start though, and said something about setting off firecrackers on her ears. Me n' Apple Bloom didn't feel anything. Only one of us that felt anything was Big Mac; he got a headache and he couldn't lift anything for a few minutes. Didn't last long though, was right about to start plowing when you, well, hit."

Luke grimaced. "I—"

He suddenly found his mouth covered by an orange hoof.

"Don't go blamin' yourself for that. You didn't know, and you weren't tryin' to hurt us. Fluttershy told me how you looked when Rainbow mentioned the comas. She said you went white when you heard it. We can tell you ain't meanin' to do anything bad. So don't worry about it."

"Also, I wouldn't worry about Rainbow Dash," she continued. When she saw Luke's questioning look, she elaborated, "She acts like a hot shot sometimes, but she's got a good heart."

"I noticed that," Luke said with a bit of a smile.

Applejack smiled back. "She's been visiting the farm since we were both fillies, so she considers us family. Any time there's even a tiny bit of trouble, she's got our back. She just gets a bit too intense on protectin' her friends sometimes. There are a few folks like that out there — they don't seem like much, but they'll stick with ya through thick n' thin."

Luke thought of a trench run, of a large round shadow passing over his fighter as pursuing TIE fighters suddenly burst into flame behind him, and a familiar gruff voice whooping out of nowhere over the comms.

"You're all clear, kid! Now let's blow this thing and go home!"

Luke felt a grin stretch across his face at the memories. He could agree with Applejack — there were people like that out there.

He looked at Applejack, who was smiling back.

“C’mon now,” she said, pushing Luke towards the kitchen table where Apple Bloom, Big Mac, and Granny Smith sat. “Let’s get you fed n’ watered before we getcha to bed. We'll talk more about what happened tomorrow when we're all rested up.”

The next few hours went by in a blur for Luke. He barely remembered what the Apples had made for dinner, only that it was the most delicious thing he had ever eaten. The next thing he knew, he was at the door to the guest bedroom once more, Applejack wishing him good night before trotting over to her room. Apple Bloom hugged him around his leg before zooming off to bed herself. Luke collapsed into his bed and almost instantly fell asleep.

Later, however, his sleep became more restless. The feeling of something that he couldn’t name prickled more and more at him, slowly bringing him out of sleep. When he fully woke up, it was dark in most of the guest room. Moonlight streamed through the window, and Luke could see stars in the sky; though he did note that the little bit of horizon he could see was paler now. It likely wouldn’t be long before morning.

A strange feeling came over Luke, and he felt the inexplicable need to go outside, to see the sky. He got up, put on his boots, then crept out of the room and down the stairs as quietly as he could. He didn’t want to wake the Apples.

It was as dark in the living room as it was upstairs, with only the moonlight through the windows giving light. Luke carefully stretched his thoughts out into the Force, not wanting a repeat of what happened that afternoon. There was still some resistance; the Force was still bruised, for lack of a better word, but it didn’t lash out at him like before. There was instead a muted sort of ambiance that he couldn’t name, a tension he had never felt before.

All he knew was that he had to get outside.

As quickly and silently as a loth cat, Luke moved to the door, taking care to avoid the obstacles the Force pointed out to him in silent whispers. He only needed to navigate to the door without stepping on a loose board or tripping on furniture. Where his eyes could not help him, the Force made up for the difference.

Before he knew it, he made it to the door. He turned the latch as slowly and carefully as he could, but it made no sound; the Apple family kept their home well-maintained. The door made no creak as he carefully opened it. Luke then stepped outside before gently closing the door behind him.

It was cool outside, but pleasantly so. Luke, no longer feeling the need to be stealthy, walked on; taking his time to enjoy the scent of grass and leaves in the air. He still felt the need to go somewhere. Yet he could take his time. He had the inkling that something was going to happen, something he needed to witness, but he also felt that there was also plenty of time to enjoy nature and its scenery. He wouldn’t be needing to go very far.

He left the farmhouse and the plowed field, moving on through the short grass. The moonlight falling over everything gave the trees and grass a strange, calm, ethereal atmosphere. It was quiet, save for chirps from unseen insects and a faint rustle somewhere behind him. Luke let the faint noises flow around him and continued on his meandering path. Before long, that niggling compulsion to go somewhere led him to a small hill that gave him a clear view of the surrounding area. Luke stopped at the hill’s summit and gazed about him, taking in the view.

In the relative darkness of the night, he couldn’t see much beyond the shapes of hills and mountains in the distance, the dark masses of trees, and the faint gleam of starlight and moonlight off small rivers in the distance.

He could see a massive peak to the northeast, a faint mass of lights clustered halfway to the summit. A city, perhaps? Luke remembered flying over that mountain in the escape pod, and catching the barest glimpse of buildings before they had rushed out of sight. Although he couldn’t remember very well. Everything that happened before the landing had been a blur from the time that… Thing… attacking them.

As if the thought of that mysterious attacker had somehow directed Luke’s gaze, his eyes were drawn westward and upward once more; to the white silver orb that hung in the sky. He could see the arrangement of craters and lava plains taking the shape of a unicorn’s head, horn leveled as if threatening. There was no doubt about it, the attacker was there. Luke could feel the cold, steely presence of the Thing radiate from that moon, carried on its rays like a parasite.

Yet beyond it, around it…

Luke turned to gaze at the still dark sky, awash with all the stars of the Galaxy, and all the stress he had carried up until that point was washed away in an instant. No matter what planet he was on the stars were always so captivating and beautiful, like silver dust over dark blue velvet. It was hard to believe that this world, this peaceful sleeping world; was adrift in the same galaxy that had been ravaged by the Clone Wars, the fall of the Republic, the Empire, and the Rebellion.

There was a faint rustling behind him, and a muttered oath so quiet it could have been mistaken for a breeze. Luke smiled to himself. He had known he was being followed from the start.

“You shouldn’t try to sneak in the tall grass,” he said over his shoulder. “It rustles too much.”

“Oh, and I’m sure you’re the expert on being sneaky!” replied a familiar raspy voice dripping with sarcasm. Luke turned behind him to see Rainbow Dash stumble out of the tall grass and bushes behind him with a face like a thundercloud. Her mane and tail were messier than before with a few blades of grass and twigs poking out here and there. All in all, it looked hilarious, and Luke had to keep himself from laughing and waking up everyone in a five-kilometer radius.

“Stupid twigs and roots,” Rainbow Dash grumbled, shaking off all the loose grass. “Kept tripping over roots and stepping on twigs.”

“And there’s another reason why you don’t sneak in tall grass,” Luke pointed out, still grinning. “You can’t see where you’re going.”

Rainbow Dash brushed the rest of the grass off her coat before sitting down. “Yeah, right, and what would you suggest?”

“Fly,” Luke said simply, and Rainbow Dash stared at him. “Most ground patrols don’t bother to look up,” he explained. “If they do, they don’t look up beyond a forty-five-degree angle. You could move from tree to tree, run along a rooftop, or fly right over their heads and they wouldn’t notice — provided you stay quiet.”

That little trick had been a lifesaver when, on missions for the Rebellion, he had to sneak in and out of Imperial bases without raising the alarm; the average stormtrooper was more focused on what was right in front of him than anything above him. Most patrols didn’t even notice Luke when he carefully hopped from roof to roof more than once.

It was a different story altogether where his father was concerned, however — blind spots weren't exactly a factor when the Force was involved.

Rainbow Dash gaped at him and Luke shrugged. “Of course, you could have just landed and walked along with me to enjoy the scenery. It’s nice out tonight.”

She glared. “And just what were you doing out in the middle of the night? Making contact with your alien invader pals?”

“Didn’t I just say what I was doing?” Luke asked drily. “I was enjoying the scenery. It’s not every day I’m on a planet like this and I have the time to appreciate the view.”

He wasn’t exactly lying either; he never got to see Alderaan before it was destroyed. Like only had an idea of what it looked like from what Leia had described. Tatooine looked nice enough at dusk he supposed; but in his opinion, if you saw one desert planet you saw them all, nice sunsets aside. On Endor, everyone had been a bit too preoccupied with the massive Imperial base and shield generator to marvel at the impressive redwoods around them.

Dagobah was… Dagobah. Enough said.

Luke had been on more than a few remarkable worlds, but he was always too busy to look around; what with fighting the Empire, Darth Vader, local scavengers, Darth Vader, wild animals, bounty hunters, Darth Vader, Boba Fett — again! What the kriff was his problem? — Darth Vader, another Death Star, the Emperor, and oh yeah, did he forget to mention Darth Vader?

He shook off the thought and turned to look at Rainbow Dash. “I could honestly ask the same thing to you. What are you doing up so early?”

Rainbow Dash drew herself up proudly. “I was busy training if you want to know! I’m aiming to make the Wonderbolts — The best stunt flyers in all of Equestria!” she added, looking at Luke’s blank face. “I may be the fastest flier around, but I gotta keep my skills and tricks nice and polished or they won’t look at me twice! But come the Summer Sun Celebration, I’ll show ‘em my stuff! Then they’ll let me on!” She then glared at him again. "Then I saw you walking around in the dead of night —"

"It's almost morning," Luke pointed out, but Rainbow Dash kept on going as if he hadn't talked.

"-- And I figured I should keep an eye on you just in case you tried something funny! There's no way I'd leave the Apple’s hangin'!"

"And why would I hurt them? They helped me!"

"You're the alien, you tell me!" Rainbow spat back.

Luke shook his head in exasperation. "I'm not going to hurt anyone here, Rainbow Dash. This time yesterday, I didn't even know this planet existed. I have no reason to hurt anyone here, much less Applejack and her family." He looked at the obstinate little pegasus. "You care about them, don't you?"

She puffed out her chest in what she likely thought was a show of strength. To Luke, it was just cute.

"Of course I do! I've known them since I was a filly and they've looked out for me all the time I've known them! I'll look out for them anytime! If anypony wants a piece of them, they're gonna have to deal with me! I'll clobber 'em!"

Rainbow Dash smiled with such smug confidence that Luke was once again reminded of Han boasting about the Falcon making the Kessel Run in under twelve parsecs. He couldn’t help but smile and chuckle at the sheer resemblance. “Hey, what’s so funny!?” Rainbow Dash was back to glaring at him.

“Sorry, I wasn't laughing at you,” Luke said, chuckling. “You just reminded me of a friend of mine — Han Solo.”

Rainbow Dash wasn’t about to let it drop. “Oh yeah? What’s this friend of yours like?” she asked skeptically.

Luke looked out over the hill. “He’s a smuggler, a cheater at cards, and a habitual liar. He's a complete scoundrel who fits right in with the criminal underworld. He’s smug, selfish, boastful, scruffy-looking, and has just about the biggest head out of everyone I’ve ever known in the whole galaxy.”

Rainbow Dash’s face started getting redder and redder with fury as he went on, but before she could say anything, Luke cut her off.

“He’s also smart, quick-thinking, caring, dependable, honorable, and one of the best shots in the galaxy with a blaster. He met his best friend in the works by freeing him from slavery and making countless enemies in the process. He's saved my life multiple times, even when the smartest way to save himself would have been to run and leave everyone behind. I’ve never met a pilot better than him anywhere I’ve gone, nor anyone more loyal. If he’s got your back, he’ll stick with you to the ends of the galaxy and beyond, no matter what happens. He always figures a way out of any situation no matter how grim, and never leaves his friends and loved ones behind. That is Han Solo.”

He turned back to Rainbow Dash. “And honestly? I’m glad to know there’s someone like him here. I'll bet that many friends of yours are in good hands — well, hooves,” he amended sheepishly.

Rainbow Dash, her face still flaming red, opened and closed her mouth multiple times. No sound came out. Finally, she turned around to look out over the hill, facing away from Luke.

“Well, I guess you can’t be that bad,” she muttered.

Luke chuckled again, but suddenly froze mid-laugh.

Something had changed. He felt it in the air. He felt it in the earth. He felt it in the Force itself. There was new pressure on him. One so alien, yet so like what he felt coming from the moon. However, where the Moon's presence was cold and steely; the new pressure was warm and draped about him like a mantle. Instead of weighing him down to submit, it uplifted him and supported him. If it weren’t for this he would have immediately collapsed to his knees from the weight of it. Instead, he stood, still in silence, feeling the Force. The air itself seemed to vibrate with a new kind of anticipation, a yearning. Something was coming.

Something had come.

It began with a sound; a sound that wasn’t a sound, but more of a vibrating surge humming in the Force itself. It blanketed the world around him and Luke felt every hair on his body stand on end. It was like standing in front of a massive orchestra; an orchestra that covered the entire globe, holding a single tone, waiting for a single conductor to begin the movement.

Thus it soon did.

The Music in the Force began to rise, slow yet strong, building to something Luke could not name. It then flared, a sudden, brief rise of sheer command that could not be overturned. Luke tried to follow the surge, the thrumming, blaring flow of power, and his eyes were inexorably drawn to the Moon.

The Moon which, until that very moment, had stood stationary and immobile among the innumerable stars.

The Moon which was now sinking not in the same way any other moon he had seen — smooth, constant, and inexorable as the world itself turned; but instead begrudgingly, reluctantly, gently, and firmly as if being physically pushed under the horizon by a giant invisible hand. The Moon resisted, pushed back, fought against the power that would tame it. Its passage slowed and Luke could see on the dark equine face emblazoned on the white sphere, a single blue Eye flaring angrily; defiant even as the Music built up for a second fanfare-like surge.

When it came The Eye’s baleful light immediately winked. The Moon, submitting, sank below the western horizon and out of sight. Luke’s eyes were now drawn to the great mountain to the northwest.

On the face of that distant peak, amidst the cluster of faint lights midway up the slope, a new light had joined them. This light was different — clean cut and shimmering, like a golden star had descended to that distant peak. As he watched the Star waxed in brilliance and the Music in the Force began to build one final time. On impulse, Luke whirled to face the eastern horizon where the pale glow from before had steadily grown from pale blue to pink to red to a fiery orange. The stars, one by one, began to wink out as the sky paled.

For one single brief and eternal moment, the world froze and the Music fell silent. Nothing moved. Luke didn’t even dare to breathe. Every cell in his body waited in anticipation for what he knew was to come, what was inevitable, his eyes fixed on that brightening horizon.

A blinding speck of shining gold pushed over the horizon, and the Force exploded into a crescendo of unbound joy and victory. Luke felt the Force vibrate around him and through him, to the point he thought his teeth rattled. He turned and looked back at the Golden Star, a miniscule echo of the Sun.

At first all he saw was that gold shine. He then beheld a waving banner of soft pinks, greens, blues, and a gleaming alabaster white with the faintest tinge of violet. He saw a long, proud horn raised to the heavens; a point of molten gold burning at its apex. Bright wings framed each side, flared out in an image of majesty. Finally Luke saw two eyes, warm and fiery pink. For a single instant, frozen in time, he stared at them. The eyes stared back.

The eternal moment soon passed and the vision faded. The Golden Star waned, its work done. The Sun rose higher and higher taking its seat in the sky, proud and victorious as the world brightened to greet it. The Music of the Force itself rising to one final high note that slowly tapered away.

All was then silent. To any other it was just another morning. A welcome one to be sure, but a morning like any other. To Luke however, it was the single most incredible experience in his life.

For what seemed like hours he stood there, mouth agape at what he had just witnessed. Something then tapped on his shoulder which jolted him back to reality. Rainbow dash was still there, looking at him like he had grown a second head.

“Are you okay?” she asked, frowning. “You really spaced out there.”

Luke shook his head to clear it. “Yeah. Yeah, I’m all right. Let’s go back. I’m sure Applejack and the others are awake by now.” Rainbow Dash didn’t reply, but trotted down the hill with Luke in tow. Every now and then she gave him weird looks over her shoulder. Luke trailed behind as he plunged deep into thought.

Never before had he witnessed such an event, and never again would he see anything like it as long as he lived. It dawned on him, at that moment, that this beautiful thing had existed in the same galaxy that had suffered decades of war — the Clone Wars, the fall of the Republic, the Empire, the Rebellion — and had not been touched by it in the slightest. This cosmic island of peace, warmth, and beautiful things had remained untouched and unscathed from the countless star wars that had scarred the rest of the galaxy for eons. Something began to stir in Luke that day, a decision that would not take shape until much later.

Luke could not have known it at that moment, but that one moment had changed his life — and the lives of countless others — forever

Author's Note

Author's Notes

N.B.: Well, that's Chapter 7! Things are going to pick up and lines will converge very soon!

CKT: Yeah. We have to apologize. We wanted to upload this chap back in March, unfortunately we were plagued with complications that made it harder than necessary.

Either way, we made head on our promise and we came back, not on the date intended but back either way.

N.B.: Either way, we hope you enjoy the chapter! We all had a blast with this one, difficult as it was at times! The sunrise scene in particular was pretty fun to write, especially since I had the perfect inspiration!

Science Fiction fans both young and small are familiar with Stanley Kubrick's masterpiece, 2001: A Space Odyssey, in particular the infamous opening fanfare. You may or may not be familiar with its origins. The piece was written by Johann Strauss, and is the opening segment of a symphony called Also sprach Zarathustra — "Thus Spoke Zarathustra." An interesting bit of trivia is that the segment itself is in fact titled "Sunrise!" When I learned this, it just clicked. I basically binge listened to that one fragment of music over and over again for hours on end until the scene itself took shape. Using the segment as a sort of timer for the pacing was key. If you play the music while reading through the scene, you'll see what I mean.

CKT: Personally I would use the theme from Dinosaur (the Disney movie) Titled breakout. Also, recently I’ve come to realize that Mlp was sorta based on Dnd, so I decided to do some research. I found some creatures that we could possibly work in, so for those who are a big fan of dnd and lord of the rings, we’ll get to see some awesome creatures soon. Honestly I just hope we don’t take as long as before, again we are very sorry for the wait.

Anyways thank you for reading this chapter, review if you like, and like for this story to grow. This has been nerd brigade Signing off. Tootles!

Chapter 8

Princess Celestia, Alicorn Princess of the Sun, The Eternal Mare, Royal Sovereign of Canterlot, Ruler Most High of Equestria, Overmare of the West, and so many other titles that she honestly couldn’t be bothered to try and remember them all, was sitting behind her ancient desk with a long scroll suspended in her magic. Her private solar was well lit, with many open windows and curtains letting bright sunlight and the sweet pre-summer breeze drift through the room; which eased the spirits of both of the solar’s current occupants.

Across from Celestia was her nephew, with a blond mane and a white coat similar to his aunt’s. On his horn was a thick cocoon of bandages which he had to wear for three days straight if he wanted to go back to work, and even then the Doctor was reluctant to allow him. It was frustrating because the dubious amount of reports that kept flooding in added to the discomfort.

“Blueblood?” Celestia called out. The stallion didn’t look up. “Perhaps we should take a break.” She heard him sigh with reluctance, and he looked up to meet her eyes.

“You know we can’t stop, considering the number of reports we are currently getting still and not to mention the other reports from the other kingdoms.” He let out a sigh and rested his forehead on his hooves. “Please tell me you were able to figure out the conundrum, it’s been three days.”

She replied instantly, shaking her head. “It is still something that even I am trying to figure out.”

“Have you considered that maybe it was probably caused by…” he paused for a moment. “Well, you know.”

Celestia didn’t reply, only staring through one of the windows where the sunlight streamed in. “No, it wasn’t her. What I felt was something very powerful, and I know because I felt them fight her.” That statement made Blueblood raise his brow at her.

“‘Them’? Do you mean there’s more than one? I was under the impression there was only one!”

“I felt at least one,” she corrected.

“Alright, so where do you think it is then? And how can we not assume it’s not a threat?”

“That’s the issue — we can’t.” She tiredly rubbed at her horn with a hoof. “I only had a brief glimpse of it, and that was when I was raising the sun the morning after… after… just what are the citizens calling it again?”

“The ‘Thunderclap.’ Originally, it was just called the ‘Blast Wave’, but the new name quickly spread.” Blueblood rolled his eyes at something Celestia was certain he considered patently ridiculous.

“For practically everypony who did not immediately collapse foaming at the mouth, that was what they best compared it to — a thunderclap that was not only heard but felt both inside and out.”

Blueblood shuddered a bit, raising a hoof halfway to his bandaged horn before thinking better of it and putting the hoof back down with a wince. “I wouldn’t know about that; I was a bit busier with the fact that my horn seemed intent on melting its way through my skull at the time. Doctor Sawbones wouldn’t let me go until he was satisfied with the amount of burn ointment he put on it.” He gave Celestia a scandalized look. “Why do you even keep him around, auntie? With the way that he talks to everypony, you especially —”

"And that's exactly why I have him," Celestia interrupted with a smile, turning to look her nephew in the eye. "I wouldn't get much help from a doctor who was too afraid of me to do his job and tell what I should or shouldn't do to stay healthy and stop problems in the future."

Blueblood didn't answer but shook his head in exasperation. Celestia continued to smile; her nephew always had trouble understanding the necessity of having ponies around who specifically wouldn't impulsivelykiss the ground any royal stepped on. It would only be a matter of time before he finally learned.

“Getting back to our original subject,” Celestia continued, “I can't say for certain what exactly the being I glimpsed was, but I do believe it isn't an intentional threat. However,” she raised a hoof to cut off Blueblood's protest, “that's not the same as being certain. We need proof — answers — and our 'guest' is our best lead at the moment.” She rubbed her chin with a hoof, thinking. “What's the status of the Royal Guard?”

Blueblood consulted a roll of parchment in front of him. “This morning, we are up to seventy percent of our usual strength. Some of the guards — mostly of the ritual division — are still unconscious, but stable. The rest in general have all but fully recovered. Do you have something in mind?”

Celestia thought about the situation for a moment. She wasn't too worried about Canterlot's recovery; as bad as the Thunderclap was, it was clear that it could have been far worse. Not only that, but she wasn't one to sell her little ponies short. The denizens of Equestria were far more hardy and robust than they were given credit for, even from themselves.

No, the problem was her.

It was clear to Celestia that something had happened near the moon, and it involved not only their new 'guests' but the moon's sole prisoner. The seal had been strained almost to the breaking point by the sheer scale of the conflict she had sensed.

Not only that but the fact that there was one creature — perhaps even two — besides herself that could potentially match her in a contest of wills…

The implications were both exciting and worrying.

She decided at that moment. "I need you to pass a set of orders to Captain Shining Armor. Tell him to send a small detachment of ponies southwest, to the town of Ponyville. Send two, perhaps three; we don't need to send a full army. Whether or not we meet our new guest there, the meteor crashed in the vicinity of the Everfree Forest, so that's the best place to start. Should they find someone who shouldn't be there, they are to bring them back here to Canterlot for questioning if possible. They are not to attack," she continued, looking seriously at Blueblood, "not unless they find them hostile. If possible, negotiate and persuade them to come peacefully."

"Do you think that the intruder will listen?" Blueblood looked dubious.

"We have to at least try," Celestia reasoned. "I feel that whatever their reasons are for coming here, the outsiders aren't hostile to us. The best way to avoid even more damage is to reason and negotiate. Stress that fact, Blueblood. We are not attacking anyone; we're looking for answers, nothing more." She locked eyes with her nephew, and they held that gaze for almost a minute.

Eventually, Blueblood huffed and swung his mane around dramatically. “Curses! There went my plans for the afternoon,” he moaned sarcastically, bringing a smile to Celestia’s face despite the overall serious mood moments prior. He bowed elegantly. “If you say so, your highness. I wouldn’t want to cause any…incidents that could hamper your position in any way.” He smiled at her and winked.

She couldn't help but laugh at that point. “Alright get going, you.”

“By your command,” he replied before he began using his ‘evil’ laugh while slowly walking out of the room. Before he went through the door, he said over his shoulder, “I'll try to pick up some cake on the way back.” And with that, he was gone.

All became quiet as Celestia was left with her thoughts. She left her seat and turned to the window behind her. From her lofty vantage point, she had a wonderful view of all of central Equestria stretching beyond the southern horizon.

Thoughts swirled and flowed in her mind as her eyes fell on the tiny little town sitting isolated in the plains to the southwest, bordered by the Everfree Forest on its southeast. She had known more about the newcomer than she let on to Blueblood. She hadn’t wanted to keep the information from him, but how could she describe something that only she could perceive to him? How could she let him know what she saw through words alone?

The “Thunderclap” had done more damage than anypony had known that day. The problem was that the damage was to something that almost nopony even knew existed, let alone could see.

All living things had energy, an energy that stretched out to form a potent web that connected them and the world around them. Most ponies were aware of this web of life, but only barely and not consciously; just enough to better wield the magic so unique to them without destroying themselves by accident. It was an unsung but invaluable aspect of their very lives. Celestia only knew of its existence because of the many, many lessons given to her and her sister by Starswirl the Bearded all those years ago. But even the pinnacle of magical learning could tell them very little about how it worked. For all his knowledge, Starswirl could only teach Celestia how to consciously feel others through this web, like small insects making vibrations in the infinite treads.

She had learned her other little trick on her own.

Whatever struggle had caused the Thunderclap had left the life-web of their world bruised, for lack of a better term. The planet had never once suffered such a wound for as long as Celestia remembered; not since the Days of Disharmony had anything injured it so. For the remainder of that terrible day, Celestia could barely hear herself think over the perpetual, wounded groaning of the planet itself. She, however, had known of a way to soothe its pains.

The key had always been her command of the sun. Whenever Celestia set about her daily task, she was more in tune with the world around her than any other moment. She was not merely 'Princess Celestia,' but part of a greater whole; a whole of such magnitude and scale that she could look for thousands of millenia and never come close to perceiving it all.

And when she was in this state, she could pour her own will and her boundless energy into the life-web and reinvigorate it, heal the bruises and strain and restore that crucial equilibrium on which their world was so dependent. This she had done the following morning, looked out into the world she so loved… and for the first time in a thousand years, she found someone looking back at her.

She didn't see much; a flash of golden hair, blue eyes, and the impression of youth and strength. But she saw enough to spark her curiosity…and her worry.

So every day after that first glimpse, she cast her senses to the south, to Ponyville. Just as she could feel every pony around her, so too could she feel this new arrival tugging on the threads of the world. He was waiting there, waiting somewhere in that small little town.

But for what? And why in Ponyville, of all places? She had a number of guesses about that and none of them were comforting.

She wouldn't be so concerned about that if he had surfaced in, say, Fillydelphia or Manehattan. But of course, he had to be in Ponyville, and considering just what was hidden away not even a five-hour trot from that little town, she couldn't help but feel even a little nervous. Not to mention that this was all happening so soon before the promised day. That alone set off alarms in her thoughts.

For the past thousand years, she had been planning, preparing, and watching. She had looked for every factor, accounted for any eventuality she could think of. Yet now, barely over a month away from those plans bearing fruit, she was confronted with something she could never have anticipated. This was a wild card, a variable; one that could either bring forth an outcome infinitely better than even her best expectations or bring everything crashing down so hard and so far that Equestria — the world —could never recover.

She would need to handle the new situation as carefully as possible, or everything could be lost.

Just as she was pondering this, there was a faint knocking sound from the door to the solar, and Celestia was suddenly aware of someone — two someone's — waiting behind it. The web around her seemed to shiver, the strings connecting her, the door, and the newcomers behind it thrummed and vibrated in something almost like anticipation.

She didn't know who was behind the door — which was strange enough, considering she knew every servant and guard pony and noble who frequented the halls by name — but she could feel their urgency.

“Come in,” she said clearly, and the door opened.

She stared at the visitors standing in the doorway for a good ten seconds, processing what she was seeing, then gestured wordlessly for them to take a seat.

As her new guests acquiesced to her offer, she was suddenly aware that today was going to be very long indeed.

At least she could say it was the most interesting day she had in the past millennium.

Less than a half-hour after Blueblood had relayed the Princess' orders, Shining Armor had called for volunteers for a recon trip to Ponyville. In less than a minute he had twenty guard ponies lined up in front of the barracks. All were standing at attention with grim looks on their faces, and it wasn’t difficult for the captain to figure out what was going through their heads.

Whether it had been intentional or not, ponies had been injured. Shining was certain that there were guards here who still had family in the hospitals. They wanted answers — and some likely wanted somepony to blame.

He paced in front of them, barking questions at them. After hearing their answers, he paced for a few more seconds before speaking up.

“All right,” he said sharply, turning to face the line of ponies. "Here's the situation! Her Royal Highness wants a three-pony squad for this mission and no more! This is strictly a search and retrieval mission, potentially with living creatures to track down, so we’ll need trackers and recon specialists! Any takers?”

“Right here sir!” called out a familiar voice.

Shining turned to look at the rust-coated pegasus who had spoken. “You have training in investigation and tracking, Lieutenant Spearhead?”

“Yes, sir!” Spearhead shouted, saluting. “Trained in the tracking course at the Royal Guard’s Academy for two years, sir!”

This, Shining knew was true. Not only that; he knew that Spearhead, an old friend of his since boot camp, had attention to detail that lent well to his hobby of observational painting. That kind of eye for detail would be invaluable in the mission. Plus, Spearhead was just about the most level-headed pony he knew.

He could keep a lid on the other volunteers should they get out of line. He nodded. “Okay, that’s one! Any others?” He turned to look at the rest of the throng. “We’re looking for at least one individual, according to Her Highness. Not aggressive, but likely on guard. We need somepony who’s well versed in other cultures and negotiation tactics”

A trembling orange hoof went up. “S-sir?” Shining turned to the speaker, another pegasus with an orange coat and blue mane. A rookie, judging from how he looked like a stiff breeze would blow him over. Shining walked up to the newbie. “Your name and rank, soldier?” he barked at the pegasus.

It was harsh, but it did the trick. The colt’s legs and back straightened as training took over and he snapped into a picture-perfect salute.

“Private Flash Sentry, sir!” he said shrilly. “Graduated from the academy two months ago, sir!”

Shining nodded, taking in Flash Sentry’s smaller frame and the way his armor was a little too polished. If he had to guess, the private wasn’t much older than his sister Twilight.

“You mentioned having training in cross-cultural negotiation, Private?”

“Yes sir! Graduated with the third highest grade overall, sir! I’m eager to prove my skills in the field, sir!” The Private’s body was tense with nerves.

“One more question,” Shining continued, leaning forward to look the private square in the eye. “Was anypony that you know injured in the event three days ago?”

Flash Sentry froze, cringing a little from the sudden intensity of the Captain’s gaze. “W-what—”

“Answer the question, soldier!” Shining barked, and the private’s back straightened.

“Y-yes sir,” he admitted. “My cousin was knocked out. She woke up just a day ago, but the doctors want to keep her for another few days.” He hesitated, then spoke up again. “Permission to ask a question, sir?”

“Granted.”

“With all due respect, what does my cousin have to do with the mission?” Shining had been expecting the question, but he still had to admire the private's guts in speaking out. He had potential. Shining Armor weighed the options in his head and decided on the truth.

“The reason I asked,” he began, “is because it is Her Highness’s belief that the individual we’re searching for had something to do with that event.” Every eye in the barracks turned towards the captain at those words. “She could not uncover his intentions but believes he isn’t aggressive at the moment. The purpose of this mission is to get answers by finding this being, and bringing him back to Canterlot for questioning.’

“My question for you, Private,” he went on, making eye contact with Flash Sentry again, “Is this: can you put aside personal feelings and do your best to avoid more violence?” The silence stretched on as Shining stared into the Private’s eyes. After a few moments, Flash’s eyes became like steel.

“I can, sir.”

Shining nodded once, then set a hoof on the private’s shoulder. “Then you’re in. Report to the chariot bay in fifteen minutes!”

Flash Sentry saluted once more with vigor.

“Sir, yes sir!”

With all the debriefing finished. Most of the Guardsponies were dismissed to their assigned duties. Before he left, Spearhead went up to Shining armor with a calm smile on his face. “Yo dude, you lookin better now.”

Shining couldn’t help but snort a little and grin, his friend’s positive energy being infectious. “I am feeling better too bro.”

“By the way, how’s your sister?” His face turned serious. “Is she alright?”

Shining nodded. “Yeah, she is, though she was feeling angsty because she couldn’t use her horn to do her usual magic experiments.”

“Heh, that sounds like your sister. What about the little dude?” Spearhead had always looked out for Spike and even hung out with him when Twilight was busy.

“He’s coming along. Still shaken up a bit, but he’s better now that Twilight is up and about again.”

“Hey, that's great! I’m glad he’s getting himself back together!” Spearhead looked around to see if anypony was listening, then whispered to Shining.

“Carmine’s been gloating about it all yesterday. You know how he is about Spike.”

Shining grimaced. He had spoken to Lieutenant Carmine Maple more than once about his prejudiced attitude towards Spike. The earth pony had taken an instant dislike for the little dragon from the very first day that he had been transferred in from a border outpost in Yakyakistan. What Shining Armor found unsettling was that the dislike seemed to be for no other reason than the fact that Spike was a dragon in the first place.

It looked like another discussion would be necessary soon. “I’ll deal with him,” he promised.

“Better be sooner than later; the sort of things he was saying…” Spearhead shuddered. “It took everything I had not to shove my hoof down this throat. He’s going to be a problem, Cap.”
Shining nodded, he knew that for a fact. Slowly, an idea began to form.

“Uh… dude?”

Shining was snapped out of his thoughts by Spearhead’s nervous tone. He was looking at his friend like he was growing a second head. “You’re kinda freaking me out. You got the look on your face that means a recruit’s going to be stuck for the next week making a hundred-foot wide picture of his unit insignia with gravel to just destroy when he’s done.”

“Hm, maybe some other time. I’ve got a better idea… Did I mention I’m giving you operational command?”

Less than twenty minutes later two disgruntled pegasi, pulling an earth pony on a chariot, rose into the air above Canterlot and swung about to rush southwest.

"So, lemme get this straight," Rainbow Dash said, her scratchy voice incredulous. "You're saying that there are thousands of planets out there like ours?"

Luke blew some hair out of his eyes. "Well, not exactly like yours," he corrected. “ Each planet is different, so —"

"Look out below!"

A hay bale as big as Luke's chest fell from the loft above them. Luke caught it, staggering a little with his arms clamped around the mass of dried straw, then set it down on top of another with a grunt, adding to the growing pile of hay bales. Luke continued as if nothing had interrupted them.

" — so the species living on them are all different," he finished. "But if you mean if there are thousands of planets with intelligent life, then the answer is yes.”

"And you use something called a hippo-dry-thingie—"

"Hyperdrive."

"Whatever. You use that to go from one planet to the other?"

"Yes, or it would take centuries at best to get to another system."

"So, what? You just point the ship where you want to go and boom, you're there?"

“Well…not exactly.” He caught another bale tossed down by Apple Bloom. “It’s a lot more complicated than that. I have to calculate where exactly I have to go while also dealing with any kind of complications that might occur.”

Apple Bloom spoke up, her head poking out of the loft. “What kind of compli.. c-compli-“ she stuttered out, still having problems pronouncing certain words.

Luke understood what she was trying to say and replied. “Well let’s say if I wanted to go from one planet to another. There would be all these obstacles in the way — large objects with deep gravity wells. If you don’t set the calculations for the jump right, you could end up running into a planet or even a star on the way there.” He brushed a tuft of hay from his shoulder. “And since you’re moving trillions of miles per second at that point...” He smacked his fist into his palm. “You’d be vaporized, and a large chunk of the object you hit would be too.”

Both Rainbow Dash and Apple Bloom flinched at the thought. Rainbow Dash in particular was unsettled; she had tons of crashes before, but even then, at least those were survivable.

Luke continued, “There are safe passages through the galaxy free of obstacles; we call those hyperlanes. If a hyperlane has been mapped out, you can calculate which one you need to take and how long. You can reach hundreds of systems with just one.”

“Oh.” Apple Bloom blinked while tossing another bale to Luke. She had another question to ask. “Alright, so what is he?” She pointed her hoof at Kyugee who was rolling in, a rope around the trunk of his mechanical body that was also attached to the wagon, he let out a few beeps, his form of saying greetings to them.

"He's an astromech droid," Luke explained. "He's a machine built with the purpose of repairing damaged ships and calculating hyperspace jumps."

“Wait, he's the one that helps with traveling?” Apple Bloom asked. Luke nodded.

Rainbow inquired. “You mean, he’s a robot?” Luke stared at her for a moment.

“Yes?”

Both ponies gaped at him.

“A real robot!” Apple Bloom squealed.

"Oh, that's so cool!" Rainbow Dash crowed. "Oh wait, what can it do? Can it shoot lasers out of its eyes? Can it fly? Tell me it can fly! You said it helps steer your ship!"

Luke blinked at the rapid-fire barrage of questions. He opened his mouth to answer before a shrill whistle from Kyugee cut him off. Shrugging off the rope around his middle, Kyugee trundled forward a few feet, and then extended a rocket booster from each of his legs. With a muted roar, the boosters ignited and lifted Kyugee a good two meters off the ground.

Both Rainbow Dash and Apple Bloom laughed and whooped with glee while Luke stood behind them, not even bothering to hold back the grin stretching across his face. Kyugee pirouetted and swerved in the air, whistling and beeping happily. Rainbow Dash took to the air herself and began flying around Kyugee, laughing all the while.

"What in tarnation is with all the ruckus he — land sakes!"

Luke spun around to see Applejack standing in the doorway of the barn gaping at the airborne astromech. Kyugee jolted at the sudden noise and rose higher, hitting the ceiling. Swerving out of control, he barreled into the hayloft with a loud scream. Apple Bloom yelped and scrambled out of the way as he knocked over a large pile of loose hay before the boosters suddenly cut off and he fell face first with a loud crash. The hay pile Kyugee had knocked over spilled over the edge of the loft and fell with a loud thud — directly on top of Luke.

“Luke!”

Applejack and Rainbow Dash ran over to help, but the sound of muffled laughter came up from under the pile of hay. Luke’s head then popped out, laughing all the while. Everypony else stared at him for a moment, then joined in as the ridiculous sight sunk in.

“Here, let me give ya a hoof, sugarcube,” Applejack offered a hoof. Luke’s hand emerged from the hay pile to take it, and Applejack quickly pulled him free.

“I’m alright, I’m alright.” He chuckled and started brushing loose strands of hay from his clothes.

Applejack frowned up at him. “I don’t think Rarity’ll appreciate you messin’ up the clothes she made for ya so soon,” she pointed out.

“I’ll apologize to her when the chance comes.”

Luke rolled his shoulders, marveling, as he had over the few days, at the excellent fit of his new clothes. He wore a simple cream-colored tunic, almost like what he used to wear on Tatooine except for the lack of sleeves, leaving his arms bare in the sunlight. His utility belt from his old outfit was fastened at the waist, keeping the tunic closed. Loose black pants covered his legs, tucked into the same boots he wore when arriving in Equestria. The leather boots were polished so smooth and bright they almost looked like they were made of painted durasteel. The boots and his belt were the only things out of his old outfit that Rarity had deemed worth salvaging.

The rest had promptly gone into the trash bin when Luke changed into his new clothes. He would have complained if it weren't for the fact that Rarity had seen fit to make five other sets of clothes matching the same pattern but in different colors.

In all of Luke's life, he hadn't had a set of clothes that fit so well and were so comfortable. He had insisted on paying somehow, but Rarity would have none of it.

"Oh, don't worry about it, darling!" she laughed. "I wouldn't leave someone in need like that! You needed proper clothes, other than that… that… hobo suit." Her eye had twitched at that, and Luke had the district impression that she was plotting some kind of violence against the tailor responsible for his old outfit.

Luke had decided to drop the issue and quietly accepted Rarity’s generosity.

“So,” Applejack started, bringing Luke back to the present and pinning him with a flat stare. “Mind explainin' to me why this lil’ guy was floatin' all over the place like a Nightmare Night decoration?”

Her little sister piped up before Luke could say anything. “It’s 'cause he’s a robot!”

“Robot?” She raised an eyebrow. “Like from them Sci-fi comics you would read?”

“Exactly!”

“Specifically, he’s an R3 unit,” Luke explained while Kyugee began to righten himself up with Apple Bloom’s help. “They tend to show off at times.”

“Arthree?” Rainbow Dash blinked. “What the hay is that supposed to mean?”

Luke was about to answer when something hit his shins painfully. Granny Smith was standing behind him, brandishing an old, gnarled stick in her hoof like a sword.

“I come in here to tell y’all that lunch is ready,” she began grouchily, “and I find y’all standin’ around yammerin’ and makin’ a mess instead of workin’!”

A chorus of murmured apologies floated around the barn. Granny Smith had fulfilled Luke’s initial impression as someone to never mess with and then some. He was positively certain she would have whacked Darth Vader’s shins or even the Emperor’s in the same way if they dared to anger her.

Granny snorted. “Well, I hope you had your fun, young’uns, ‘cause after you’ve all eaten, you’re goin’ to clean up your mess! I want every strand of hay back on that loft by suppertime, ya hear?” Everyone nodded,

“Except for you,” Granny added, pointing her stick at Luke. “You’re gonna help Big Mac and Applejack move that big metal thingamajig of yours out of our field. It’s been there for the past three days, and Big Mac needs to plow and sow that field before week’s end!”

Luke raised his hands in surrender. “Yes, ma’am, I’ll get right on it.”

Luke felt a bead of sweat slide down his face to his chin. He was positive that Granny would have been a complete terror in the Rebel Alliance, especially where Rogue Squadron was concerned. She probably would have reduced Wedge to tears the very first time he would try a prank.

Granny pointed out the door with her Stick, looking for all the world like a drill sergeant barking orders.

“Well, hop to it! Food’s getting cold and the daylight is burnin’!”

Luke saluted without even thinking. “Yes, ma’am!” he said, and walked outside as fast as he could, the others close behind. He didn’t want to risk another whack to the shins.

The sky outside was clear, and the near-noon sun warmed the fields outside. Applejack had mentioned that summer was close, so it tended to be warm. To Luke, it was just right. Growing up on Tatooine tended to harden one against the heat of one sun, let alone two. Out in the field, he could see the escape pod, jutting out of the middle like a sore thumb. Luke walked on, heading into the farmhouse.

The kitchen was full of wonderful smells of a home-cooked meal that made everyone’s mouths water. There were plates covered with sandwiches, sliced apples and grapes, a couple of steaming apple pies, and at the center of it all, to everyone’s delight, a massive jug of freshly pressed, chilled apple cider. The first time Luke had sipped from a cup of the Apple family’s most famous product, it felt like someone had set off a proton torpedo in his mouth. He had immediately taken a liking to the rich, tart drink.

It didn’t take long for everyone to settle down and dig in. There was talking, laughing, and a generally warm feeling permeating through the room. Luke basked in the sensation as he merely listened, sipping contentedly from a cup of cider. A home-cooked meal after a hard day’s work wasn’t something Luke had enjoyed ever since that night three years ago; before he had left the Lars homestead to find a droid and an old man in the Dune Sea. It was something he hadn’t even realized he had missed until that first night when he had been invited to the Apple family’s dinner table.

The discussion slowly began to die down and turned inevitably back to the work ahead.

“Alright, Big Mac, Luke.” Applejack started, wiping her mouth. “I reckon we should go over just how we’re going to be movin’ that there hunk o’ metal out in the field.” Luke sat up a little straighter at this. He already had an idea of what to do, had it ever since that morning.

It was just a matter of convincing the two of them.

“It ain't gonna be easy,” Big Mac rumbled around a mouthful of cheese sandwich. “I tried movin’ it on my own this morning. Wouldn't budge an inch.” He swallowed and grimaced. “There’s also the matter of how much it’ll tear up the field after we drag it off; that’s gonna mean more work fixing everything before plowin’, or the ol’ plow won’t make it.”

Luke knew all too well about the plow. He had seen Big Mac pull the rusted, saggy old thing across the fields every morning. He silently agreed with the earth pony; the plow wouldn’t be able to till a field that was so torn up.

“If I may,” he began quietly, catching everyone’s attention. “I think I can lift the escape pod out of there without either of you having to drag it out and damage your field.”

Applejack gave him a critical look. “Sugarcube, it’s not like we blame ya for what happened,” she said gently. “You and I both know you don’t got the muscle to lift that thing on your own. Ya don’t need to take everythin’ on yourself n’ make a promise ya can’t keep.”

‘I don’t mean it like that,” Luke replied, shaking his head. “I won’t be using my muscles to lift it.” Not in that way, at least, he thought to himself. “I’m going to use the Force.” He smiled.

“The what, now?” Applejack asked, nonplussed, but Rainbow Dash perked up. “You’ve mentioned that before!’ she said, pointing at Luke. “You never got around to explaining this ‘Force’ stuff when you got here! What did you mean by that?” Luke raised his hands a little defensively while holding his good-natured smile.

“I’ll explain Rainbow; it seems like the best time anyway.”

Luke took a sip of cider and thought about how best to explain.

“All lifeforms in this galaxy," he began, "create energy. That energy spreads out over the galaxy in a field that covers everything. It's around us, within us, made by us, and it connects everything and everyone.”

He looked out the window, at the lush green outside the farmhouse.

"We call this energy field the Force, and it's what gives a Jedi their power. There are life forms born with the ability to feel the Force, tap into it, draw from it for strength. With enough training and self-confidence, they could do this at will." He looked back at the ponies, who were all staring at him wide-eyed. He continued. “The Jedi Knights were a group of beings who learned how to feel the Force, and wield it to protect others. I trained under one of their greatest masters to use the Force before he passed away." He remembered Yoda, holding on to a few extra seconds of life to tell him one last truth before fading away like a mirage before his eyes.

"I'm likely the last Jedi still alive," he finished,

“Wait… the last?” Apple Bloom said quietly, her eyes large. “Where did all the others go?”

Luke was silent for a moment. “It’s something I’ve only heard stories of. I’ll tell you about them another time. It’s not a happy story.”

“Ah reckon you listen to what he says, Apple Bloom,” Granny Smith cut in. “It’s likely not a topic for the table, and he can tell ya later on his own time — when he’s ready.” She gave Luke a sidelong, knowing glance. The tale of sorrow was one known all too well to her.

“Are you sure there isn’t anyone else like you who came here with you?” It was Rainbow Dash who had spoken up.

Luke, more than ready to change the subject, quickly answered. “My father and two other droids were also on board; it was actually my father who put me in that escape pod. He was probably steering the ship to make sure it landed in one piece.”

‘What’s he look like?” Apple Bloom asked, her eyes wide with excitement.

“He’s…” Luke trailed off. The thought of his father was in itself a conflicting thing without taking into account everything he was with all the context he has. His brain worked to articulate a non-frightening description for his father.

“You might say he’s… very peculiar. Different from me but very similar in a way. You’ll know him once you see him.”

The ponies deflated at Luke’s explanation, or rather lack thereof. Their minds ran rampant on what his father exactly looked like. They didn’t bother voicing any of their thoughts, however. Luke didn’t seem so bad, so maybe neither was his father. As always, Rainbow felt a twinge of mistrust. He was hiding something, and it made her feathers stick up. She felt the need to press him.

“You know, you didn’t tell us how you ended up crashing into Equestria, just that you did.” She looked at the others from the corners of her eyes. “I think it might be important for us to know, because,” She wracked her brain as much as possible; this wasn’t Rainbow’s strong suit. “What if you try to leave if you figure out how to fix it and your ship blows up again?!” she blurted.

The pegasus felt pride well up inside her. That was the best idea she had gotten in a long time.

Luke pondered the thought and nodded. “I can’t find anything wrong with that logic,” he said. He caught Rainbow welling with pride. “We were near your moon, when we came out of hyperspace. While we were trying to understand what we were witnessing, something grabbed our ship and started pulling us towards the moon.” His brow furrowed. “It was… powerful. A presence in the Force that was…well, alien, for lack of a better term.” He sighed. “It required the strength of both my father and myself to oppose it, but whatever pulled at us caused our ship to become critically damaged. My father put me in the escape pod and, well, here we are.”

“The moon attacked ya?” Granny Smith asked.

“I… suppose? Is it alive?” Luke asked. Weirder things had been found in the galaxy than a living moon. Luke remembered the first time he had seen a pod of purrgils, while he had been recovering from his experiences on Cloud City. He had made a double take so fast he had given himself a crick in the neck.

It had been the first time he had heard Leia laugh since Hoth.

“Not that ah know ‘bout.” The old pony looked up to the sky. “Only ever saw it hangin’ up there. Supposedly made some kinda unique apples ‘n orange, but ah never ain’t seen none of ‘em.” She sneezed. “Pardon. Thought it was just a fat star in the sky.”

“Granny…” Applejack lamented.

“What?! It’s true! Ain’t never done no pony no good!” she complained. “Got all ‘em skeeters and crickets out when the sun burns ‘em all!”

“Maybe Cheerilee would know?” Apple Bloom suggested. “She’s mah teacher. Ah bet she’d know about that.”

Luke shrugged. “I suppose it’s something we could try at a later time.”

Suddenly, the sound of knocking came from the door. Winona tucked her ears back as she scampered towards the front door, yipping and barking excitedly.

Applejack blinked, then chuckled. "There's only one pony in all o' Ponyville that makes her go off like that," she said before walking to the door. Nudging Winona aside, she opened the door to a familiar butter yellow face.

The dog immediately dashed out the door to greet Fluttershy. “Oh, hi, Winona!” Fluttershy leaned her face down to accept the dog’s hello, which amounted to a lot of licks to the face. she giggled from affection given. “Oh it’s good to see you too.” She returned the affection with a nuzzle of her own before addressing Applejack. “Hi, Applejack.”

“Hey, Fluttershy.” Applejack greeted back.

“I was wondering how Luke was doing?”

Applejack adjusted her hat and grinned. “Mighty strange creature, but he ain’t too bad for a…whatever he is. Reckoned there might be somethin’ a bit…how’d the city family put it? Insolvabrious? Something’ like that, about him.”

The pegasus tilted her head. “Insolubrious?” Fluttershy asked.

“That’s it! That’s the word.”

Fluttershy frowned. “But…that’s Prench. Rarity often repeats it at her boutique.”

The farm pony shrugged. “Words ‘re words, ah figure. Anyways, ya wanna go see Luke yerself? He’s been helpin’ out around the farm. Been good with his words, too.”

Fluttershy gave the apple pony a warm smile that caught her off guard. That pegasus and her open kindness always threw her off at times. “That’s good to hear. Where is he?”

“In the dining room.” She led Fluttershy there.

Luke took another bite of some freshly baked apple dumplings. It was a flavor unlike anything he had ever tasted before. Sweet and savory, coating his mouth in sweetened spices and fruit chunks. From the corner of his eye he saw something yellow pass by the window.

'Ah. That must be Fluttershy,' Luke thought to himself.

He decided to leave a few of the dumplings behind for the additional guest to savor, but was startled by the loud bang of a metal tray being dropped onto the table in front of him. He looked up, and the tray was heaped with dumplings.

“Don’t ya worry yer hairy little head,” Granny reassured him. “Ah can cook enough to feed the whole apple family durin’ our reunions in just two hours!” She leaned in towards him and whispered. “And that’s about a hundred ‘re so ponies,” she chuckled. “So eat ta yer heart’s content! Gotta get yer strength back up.” She cleared her throat and let her eyes dart about. “ And, uh, maybe use yer fancy power thingies ya talked about ta get all the apples in the orchard fer us.”

“Granny!” Applejack chastised.

Luke laughed at Granny's offer. "We'll see how I feel after I move the pod.”

“So how are you feeling?” Fluttershy asked. “Also, hi, Rainbow Dash.” Rainbow waved back. Her mouth was currently stuffed with food.

“I’ve been good, I’ve been good,” he trailed off. “I’ve been helping around the farm.”

“So I’ve heard.”

“ ‘N he and his lil metal friend’ve been doin’ a good job so far, too,” Granny Smith added. She earned an agreeable nod from her grandchildren and Rainbow Dash.

“That’s good to hear.” She went up to him and began examining him like she had a few days prior. After barely a minute of looking Luke over, she blinked in confusion.

"Um…" She bit her lip.

"Is something wrong?" Luke asked.

Fluttershy immediately jumped back and shook her head violently. "No, nonononono, nothing like that! I-it's just… well…" She looked up at him. "You're in better shape t-than I thought you would b-be; I was —" She stopped for a moment, as if nervous about speaking, then resumed talking, so fast she was almost stumbling over her words.

"I was sure you'd still have some injuries after just three days!" She practically folded in on herself, hiding her face between her hooves, talking nonstop. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to underestimate you! Please don't be mad. You're mad aren't you? Oh goodness I'm terri—"

A blue hoof suddenly appeared over her mouth, silencing her instantly. Rainbow Dash, her cheeks bulging, swallowed her mouthful of sandwich before speaking. “Calm down, Fluttershy, he's not mad!” She rolled her eyes at Luke. "She's always so nervous around every pony. I'm actually surprised. She hadn't really gotten like this last time she visited."

Luke raised a hand. “It’s alright. No harm has been done.”

Fluttershy sighed in relief and smiled back. “Thank goodness, but that still doesn’t make me feel more comfortable about your wounds.”

Luke looked at himself briefly and shrugged. “Just something that jedi can do when we have a moment to meditate. It helps calm the body and mind and aids in its recovery.” He adjusted his clothing, chasing away some straw stuck to it. “I have been trying to learn how to stay in such a state of focus while active, but…” He blew out a lot of air. “It’s exhausting trying to do so many things at once.” He grimaced and nodded to himself. “All this farm work has actually been great in devising new ways to try and implement it though.”

Not only that, but Luke had been aware of something in the Force, working to heal the strain he had felt around him. Whenever he meditated, that feeling washed over him like he was swimming in sunlight. By the end of the meditation, he felt he could leap across the entire orchard in a single bound. It didn't last long, but he felt better afterwards than he did before.

“We’ve got more work for ya then!” Granny happily added. “It never ends ‘round here and ah’d rather things stay that way!” She chuckled to herself. “It’s how an ol’ biddy like mahself’s been around here fer so long.” She wobbled over to Luke and jab him in the side. “Stick around ‘n Ah figure you’ll be here longer ‘n any of those regular ponies in the town.”

“Granny!” Applejack exclaimed in horror.

The elderly mare shrugged. “What? It’s true. Us Apples live fer a long time thanks ta our hard work.”

Luke raised his hands. “Okay! Okay. That’s enough,” he chuckled. “Right now I need to recover the pod I came down in.” The young man leaned forward in his chair with a pensive expression. “If the systems are mostly intact, I should be able to contact my father, or at least repair them using redundant machinery.”

Luke thanked Granny Smith for the delicious meal then made his way into the fields to locate his crashed pod. The Jedi couldn’t help but feel guilty once he saw how the crash affected the area. The land had been ripped apart by his seemingly benign spacecraft. A long divet had been dug into the land, ripping out the layers of sediment that had laid dormant in the darkness of the land for countless millennia. Pieces had been shattered from the sudden shift and were scattered about like glass from a shattered window. They were easy to spot in the relatively barren landscape, contrasting with the greens of the grass and rare colors brought by a few weeds blooming despite the disaster that befell them.

“Whoa, I didn’t think it looked this bad,” Rainbow Dash cringed. “Almost looks like a giant sword crashed into the ground.”

Applejack shrugged. “It ain’t that bad. Apples in Zebrica told us some giant animal things done shredded their farm. Nothin’ left.”

Rainbow pouted and looked at Applejack with a skeptical expression. “Oh, really? And you saw it?”

Applejack shifted in place. “Not really, but ah figured it’d look a might worse than this.” She moved next to the wide trench and poked at the soft earth. “Least he softened the ground up. Can plant tree seeds here real easy,” she chuckled to herself.

“Should be at the end of this trench,” Luke stated.

The group reached his pod only a minute after following the trench. Looking at it, Luke noticed it seemed smaller somehow, before he realized it had sunk into the ground somewhat since the crash. Kyugee produced several upset beeps at the state of the pod, startling the jedi.

“Oh, you came with us?” he asked the droid. “I’m sorry to admit that I had forgotten you were here.” The droid produced an angry, low-tone beep in response. “So sorry.”

“So, ah figure ah can dig a bit of it out. Get mah brother ta help me tie some rope ‘round it ‘n get it outta there,” Applejack said. “Would take a while,” she muttered. “A few days, ah reckon.”

“No need to tire yourself out,” Luke stated. “I can pull it out myself.”

Rainbow smirked. “With those lanky forelegs?”

“Not quite.” The Jedi took in a deep breath then exhaled slowly. “I just need to use the Force.”

He closed his eyes, centered himself, and let his senses reach into the Force. He felt the flow of energy, surrounding them and flowing through them. He felt its strands, countless in number, connecting everything and everyone; an intricate weave of life and energy that could never be perceived in full. Above all, he saw himself, the being that called itself "Luke Skywalker," and how small he was in that weave — how he was but a miniscule thread in the immeasurable tapestry of life, tied to other threads, intertwined with them.

He felt the Force connecting him and Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Apple Bloom, Granny Smith and Big Mac. He felt it between the grass and the soil and the flowers. He felt it connecting the pebbles to the stones to the wind to the trees. He felt it between the Apple family and the earth below, and the house they lived in. He felt it between the currents of the air and the distant clouds in the sky. He felt it between the insects scurrying far below their feet, the birds flitting between the trees, and the three ponies near the edge of the farm.

And indeed, he felt it between himself and the pod.

A year ago, he would have struggled to lift the pod at all, let alone move it out of the field. Its size and weight would have defeated him. But now he understood: Size after all mattered not.

He raised a single hand, eyes closed. The air around the ponies and the droid seemed to calm and silence itself. The dirt around the pod started trembling as the craft started to move from its resting spot. Like a child who does not want to wake for school, the pod fought against Luke’s attempts to remove it from its soft bed. Little by little it gave in to its handler’s demands and roused from its rest, gradually rising higher and higher into the air. The dirt around it rolled off its damaged surface, revealing more and more of the metal underneath.

“Woah,” Rainbow said in a hushed tone. The others could only stare as the massive bulk of the pod continued to rise silently into the air. No light flickered around it, save for the sun glinting off its windows and hull.

Within seconds, the pod hung no less than fifteen feet in the air, suspended in the air as if by invisible wires. Without so much a creak, it gently slid through the air above their heads to the edge of the field, some thirty yards distant. After it had passed roughly twenty feet past the field's edge, it quietly lowered to the ground. There was the slightest thud as it settled in the grass, and then all was still. Absolute silence reigned over Sweet Apple Acres as the ponies processed what they had just witnessed.

Applejack stared at it for a good five seconds before sprinting over to the pod, with Rainbow Dash, Big Mac and Apple Bloom close behind. She walked around the pod, tapping it with her hoof in disbelief.

"Most unicorns who would have problems lifting something so big," Rainbow Dash muttered, looking up at the pod with her face pale.

She turned to Luke with round eyes.

"I don't believe it," she said numbly.

Luke only smiled, remembering when he, only a year ago, had said the exact same words to Yoda.

"And that," he echoed with a gentle voice, "is why we fail."

Rainbow Dash opened her mouth to retort, then closed it with a troubled expression. Then, she heard rumbling to the right and saw movement to the corner of her eye.

"Look out!"

Luke felt the warning in the Force just before Rainbow Dash yelled, and was already moving when the loud whoosh of displaced air reached his ears. He leapt to his left, guided by the Force, and so barely avoided the armored red stallion charging at him with his head lowered. Without so much as blinking, the stallion turned on a dime and advanced towards Luke, who noticed the sharp spearhead mounted on the gilded helm like a horn. Luke backed away from the deadly point until he felt the metal of the pod at his back.

The stallion stopped, the point of his helmet spike barely a centimeter from Luke's chest. Applejack and Big Mac yelled out and ran forward before "HALT!" shouted towards them and two armored pegasi dropped out of the sky in front of them, blocking their path.

Kyugee screeched furiously and rolled forward with his shock prod extended before Luke held out a hand.

"No, Kyugee! We don't want a fight." He looked back at the stallion in front of him. "Let's hear what they want."

The pressure hanging in the air was palpable, but Luke didn’t give it much attention while the ponies were slowly and quietly backing away without taking their eyes off the two pegasi. To their credit, the armored ponies barely flinched at the sight of Kyugee, though one of the pegasi did give it a wide-eyed glance every few seconds.

"I suggest that you cooperate, monster," the red stallion announced coldly, "if you even know what that means." Luke could feel the stallion's disgust radiating in the Force as much as he could hear it in his voice. “By direct order of Her Royal Highness, Princess Celestia, your presence is wanted at Canterlot," the red pony continued, keeping Luke pinned with a venomous glare, his helmspike remaining level. "In fact, it's demanded. I would suggest," he said in a tone that clearly wanted a fight, "that you don't resist."

Author's Note

Chapter 8 Authors' Notes

NB:CLIFFHANGER!!!!!!!
**ducks behind the curtain to avoid the pelting produce**
Ok, ok, sorry folks! We realized as we were finishing up the chapter that it was getting a lot longer than we expected, so we changed a few things around! We'll see how Luke gets around this new armor-plated problem next chapter, and we'll see more character interactions — don't worry, we'll see some more Anakin next chapter too, we have ideas for him… heheheheheh… oh, yes, so many ideas~

**Smacks himself** No! Bad Night Bridge! Bad!! No evil genius moments! *Ahem*

Anyway, speaking of ideas, I'd like to give a special shout-out to Foxtrot Company, 1st Battalion, 48th Infantry Regiment for a certain idea that inspired a little joke in this chapter… anyone from that regiment who sees this, you know who you are and what it is XD

CKT:Yeah, we legit were not trying to take this long. But you know life is ass sometimes and it causes problems. Oi… honestly we had a lot done but as soon as we were close boom! Life makes it difficult…

Though as Night said and with lots of conversations between the group , we started thinking of ideas as well as refining this story to reach peak awesomeness. We are true Star Wars and My Little Pony fans. This story is our child and we will watch it grow. Also one of our friends, The Psychopath, has helped us with this chapter. So we thank him for helping us as well as Chaos.

MCD:
I personally think I didn’t help much with the technical aspects of this chapter; but I like to talk about the flow of the story with these guys. In the future I’ll be trying to get back to swing as I was admittedly off my game for this one. I think I speak for everyone on the team when I say thank you to everyone who reads this story of ours. I’ll see you all in the future with more to offer as we forge this story.

PSYCHO: They take too long to write and keep getting stuck!

NB:
*Gibbs Slaps* Hi Pot, my name's Kettle! You're in the writing team too, so you just lumped yourself in that!

MCD:
Infighting of the kids aside; imma get the rest of the team to speak their minds.

NB:
*Splutters*
Kids!?!?

CTK:

Anyways. We hope you enjoyed this chapter, and honestly I gotta stop making promises on getting chapters out early; so I’ll be honest here we will get the next chapter out. I don't know when but I know we will. Till then thanks for reading.

Chapter 9

Silence reigned, and a feeling of tension hung in the air as the two groups stood off. The red earth pony leaned forward a little, the tip of his helmet spike pressing further into Luke's chest. Applejack gritted her teeth angrily; she hated feeling helpless when a friend was in trouble. She could hear Rainbow Dash growl quietly next to her; clearly her longtime friend shared her sentiments. The two pegasi blocking her, Big Mac, and Granny Smith didn't move a muscle.

Finally, Granny Smith drew herself up and stepped forward.

“N’ who ‘re you?” she asked loudly.

“Granny!” Applejack shouted in a panic. “Ya can’t talk ta ‘em like that! They’re–”

“Brats is what they are!” the old mare interjected. “Ah reckon they’d not survive one apple season here on the farm!” She started stomping forward. “Back in my day we–mppphf!”

She was caught mid-rant by Big Mac engulfing her with one massive foreleg and slowly backing away from the guards with the biggest sheepish smile he could muster.

To their credit, the two barely flinched. The one on the right, the dark tan stallion, stepped forward, pulling off his helmet. He had a dark blue mane and a laid-back demeanor.

"I'm sorry for the confusion," he began with a disarming sort of smile. "But we were sent here by royal command to look for anything or anyone out of the ordinary following the incident a few days ago."

"If ya want answers, we'll give 'em," Applejack cut off the lieutenant. "But first, mind callin' off yer attack dog there? Luke ain't gonna hurt no one."

One of Spearhead's eyebrows jumped up. "'Luke?' Is that what he's called?"

Rainbow Dash stepped forward. "Yeah, and he hasn't caused any kind of trouble since he came here! He's been helping around the farm for the last few days and hasn't hurt anypony!" She glared up at Spearhead like she was challenging him to call her a liar.

Spearhead's second eyebrow joined the first near his maneline, then he turned to address the earth pony. "Lieutenant Maple, stand down. It doesn't look like he'll be a problem.”

Maple didn't seem to hear him. The point of his helmet spike remained leveled at Luke's chest.

Spearhead frowned. "Lieutenant!" He barked. Maple's eyes flicked towards them for a brief instant, then he slowly backed away, not taking his eyes off Luke as he flicked his helmspike up. The glare of disgust and contempt didn't escape Applejack's notice — nor did the fact that the horn had only just missed slashing into Luke's face as it rose.

"Now then!" Spearhead spoke up, all smiles. Applejack didn't trust him one bit. "To continue our discussion, we were informed in town that there was a strange foreigner here." He waved a hoof in Luke's direction. "Seeing as Her Highness had directly ordered us to look for such individuals, we had decided to investigate."

Applejack took in this new information with more than a little concern. The Princess herself was looking for Luke? That part at least made a little sense, but were they going to blame Luke for what happened? Applejack had heard some fairly terrifying stories about what happened to anypony who had earned Princess Celestia's anger, and the way that Maple fella had been acting wasn't really reassuring her on that front. Another thing Spearhead had mentioned had also caught Applejack's attention.

"Hold up now," she started, giving the guardspony a flat, suspicious look. "Just who told ya that Luke was here?"

Maple turned to sneer at her. "What?" He asked. "Want to know who ratted you out for your treason?"

Cold anger settled in Applejack's gut. "What did ya just say?"

Maple practically swaggered towards them, his chest puffed out as he glowered at Applejack.. Behind him, the second pegasus moved in to stand next to Luke. Applejack couldn't help but notice him give a sour look at Maple, who seemed to be attempting to look bigger that he actually was.

Key word being "attempt": with the helmet on, he was barely half a head taller than Applejack herself, and was absolutely dwarfed by the likes of Big Mac.

"Let's go over it, shall we? An attack clearly magical in origin sweeps over the population and incapacitates roughly three-fifths of the ponies in Canterlot alone, with two-thirds of that number put in the hospital." Behind him, Applejack could see Luke suddenly blanch with horror. "At the same time a strange object flies overhead, crashing somewhere near Ponyville and in the process managed to shatter around 700 windows in Canterlot and Ponyville combined. And after that, there's a report from a concerned citizen of a strange creature on the outskirts, in the company of local farmers. It doesn't take much more than that to put two and two together."

"Lieutenant," Spearhead said in a warning tone, but Maple either ignored him or didn't hear. His face was now inches from Applejack's. If he got any closer, she was going to buck his snout off. Her mind raced a mile a minute.

'Concerned citizen?' That didn't make a lick of sense. There were only two other ponies Applejack had told, and she knew neither Big Mac nor Granny had told anypony else. Fluttershy would have mentioned something when she arrived, and Rarity… Applejack didn't know her well, but Rarity didn't seem to think Luke as a threat. She didn't strike the farmpony as the type to just call the guards on someone.

"So here we are, finding the prime suspect in an attack on our country… clearly being harbored by civilians who hadn't done their duty to the crown and turned the intruder in." He lifted his head, looking down his nose at Applejack. It reminded her of the kind of look her Aunt Orange used to adopt when talking with the marketplace vendors in Manehattan. She hated that look. Nopony had the right to look down on anypony else like some gross little bug they were about to stomp on.

“Aiding and abetting the enemy. That's treason, in my book. We have grounds to have everyone single one of you chained up and put into a dungeon with all the other criminals to await Her Highness's judgement." His eyes slid over to Apple Bloom, who was now trembling wide-eyed behind Big Mac's leg, and then he sneered again. "Now wouldn't that be a shame?"

The cold anger turned white-hot in an instant, and Applejack felt Big Mac tense and ready for a kick of his own. Spearhead's face twisted with anger and he stomped forward himself.

"Lieutenant, that's en—"

But he was interrupted by a new voice breaking in over them, shattering the tension

"WAIT JUST A MINUTE!!!!"

Everyone turned to the new arrival. Standing on the dirt road, sweaty and panting, was Rarity, but Applejack barely recognized her. Her coat was smudged with dirt and sweaty and multiple locks of her mane had gone wild, and she was clearly livid. Overall she actually looked pretty terrifying, and Applejack honestly couldn't blame the guardsponies for taking a step back at the sight of her.

Luke raised an eyebrow as he saw the white unicorn ready to unleash fury on the guards; who took her temper in stride.

“JUST WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO THIS GENTLEMAN!!! DETAINING HIM LIKE SOME CRIMINAL?! HOW POSITIVELY DISRESPECTFUL!!!!!”

The guards recoiled again, Maple most of all. Applejack's were already starting to ring and Rarity had barely even started. And she didn't seem to be stopping any time soon.

Luke winced as Rarity continued her tirade.

“YOU HAVE SOME GALL YOU KNOW THAT?! HOW DARE YOU TREAT HIM SO BARBARICALLY!!!”

The guards blanched a little as she continued to roar at them. Luke was glad she couldn’t use a sonic scream or she might have sent them flying.

“Rarity I thi-”

“I DEMAND THAT YOU RELEASE HIM!!! RIGHT!!! NOW!!!!!!!!!!”

Maple drew himself up and adopted that sneer of his again.

"How can you complain about us taking him? You informed us, didn't you? We're just going off what you told us!"

“And you ran out before I could finish!!!”

Snorting in anger, Rarity flicked her hair dramatically before taking a deep breath in an attempt to calm herself. Luke and most of the Apples remained quiet while Granny Smith smirked with a mix of annoyance and amusement.

Applejack would notice that the

“I would have told you that he wasn’t a threat had you listened! In fact he’s been helping these ponies for the last two days! While I understand haste, you can’t just not get the whole story from somepony!”

Granny Smith snickered after Rarity finished before chiming in with her aged voice.

“Y’all best be listening to her boys; spunky mare knows what she’s talking about!”

Applejack could see Luke looking between Rarity and Maple with a mixture of confusion, worry and amusement. Rarity drew in a deep breath before letting it blast out of her nostrils so fast Applejack could swear she saw steam. She couldn't help but grin at the fashionista's antics. Rarity may be more prissy than her Aunt Orange on a bad day, but she definitely knew how to lash a pony with her tongue alone when she got into 'high dudgeon,,' as Aunt Orange had called it. The 'Maple' fellow got a real loud earful; she can tell how nervous he was despite the sneer on his face. It didn't last long.

“They harbored a potential threat to Equestria. That’s still treason —"

That had been the wrong thing to start with. Rarity's eyes flashed.

"TREASON!?" She shrieked so loudly Applejack was shocked that the leaves hadn't been blown off all the trees in the area. The same, however, couldn't be said for everypony's ears.

“Now, it’s treason to be a good Samaritan! Taking a lost soul into your house and offering good food and a bed out of the kindness of your heart is now rebellion against the Crown, is that what you're saying!? So if I wave 'hello' to a passing griffin does that count as treason?! What if I bought a meal from a travelling Minotaur vendor? Will you clap me in chains for that? Is wearing Yak-made coats in winter worthy of a stint in the dungeons too!? What will you declare a crime next? Saying 'good morning' to a neighbor? Being polite to a stranger? Looking left instead of right!? And to think I actually respected the authority held by you — you — ruffians!"

At this point she was almost nose to nose with Maple, a pristine white hoof jabbing at his chest with every word, which caused Maple to step back with every jab the mare threw.

“Rarity.” Luke called out. “It’s okay.” Causing her and Applejack's attention to be drawn to him with incredulous looks. The human continued without addressing them further.

“They’re just concerned; I’m certain you can understand that. After all, if even half of what he said is true it would be strange not to be.”

Turning to Maple, Luke offered a calm but disarming expression. Applejack had an idea of what he was trying to do. Part of her wanted to warn him it wouldn’t work. From what she could tell however; it was likely he already knew that.

“I know how it is to know my family was hurt. Maybe you have family or friends hurt by whatever that was. You’re undoubtedly furious about it too.” He held his wrists out, a sign that he wasn’t going to put up a fight. “Take me.”

“W-wait Luke, come on you don’t have to.” Applejack tried to reason. Only for him to shake his head, she can see guilt in his eyes.

“No it’s my fault, I’d rather own up to this.”

Applejack wanted to protest further; but she knew a pony — or person — that wasn’t backing down when she saw them.

Spearhead pulled out a slab of rough metal from the saddle bags of one of the pegasi and approached Luke. Luke, in response, unclipped the short, flashlight-like tube that Applejack had never seen leave his hip, and turned to Flash Sentry. The guard gave him a confused look.

"I believe that I'm supposed to give you my weapons before I'm put under arrest," Luke said, offering the stouter, grooved end to the pegasus. Flash gave the tube a suspicious look, but carefully took it from Luke's outstretched hand before stowing it in a saddlebag.

Applejack made the connection immediately; now she knew what had made that burning tendril of green light that had cut a hole in the escape pod, when Luke had arrived.

Spearhead nodded in approval. "Hold out your arms, please," he ordered. Luke did so without protest, and Spearhead raised the metal slab and tapped it against Luke's right wrist. The unmistakable clank of metal against metal filled the clearing. The three guards both looked at the hand in amazement, but the enchantment acted regardless. The seemingly poorly forced bar of metal started shaking in Spearhead’s hoof and the rough etches running along its surface started glowing white and blue. The bar started to shriek and howl as it reshaped and latched around both of Luke’s wrists and hands like a furious, malformed serpent. Strange runes started to form from the dents and wedges, taking on soft and rounded features that overlapped each other. They almost looked like manacles of a sort to Applejack, with the bulky, octagonal shape the metal took as it grew around his wrists.

“Alright let’s go,” Spearhead began, walking to the dirt path the lead out of Sweet Apple Acres.

“HOLD IT!”

Applejack ran round them and stopped in their way, blocking them. “I’m coming with you.”

“Applejack there’s no nee-“

She cut him off mid-sentence. “No, it’s not fair what they’re doin. Somepony,” she shot a glare at Maple, "has to keep the story straight. So I'm comin' with!"

“So am I!” Rarity stated standing next to her friend. “It’s my fault I got you into this so…I want to help fix this mess.”

Applejack smiled at the tailor and gave her an appreciative nod.

Maple however seemed to not like the idea at all. He opened his mouth only for Flash to step in his way. “Can we not? Look, you mares can come but only you two. Our chariot is only so big.”

“What are you doing?” Maple demanded, glaring daggers at Flash.

Flash, surprisingly enough, snapped back.

“Trying to keep you from ending on the wrong hoof! You're causing enough trouble as it is!”

Maple's face twisted and drew himself up to full height; he was at least half a head taller than Flash. “Who are you to-”

"SECOND LIEUTENANT CARMINE MAPLE! PRIVATE FLASH SENTRY! THAT'S ENOUGH!"

Spearhead stamped his foot and marched up to the two, glaring down at them. “We are not doing this here! The two of you are going to stop and act like the soldiers you are! Flash, get yourself strapped in for the flight, and Maple!” His glare hardened on the second lieutenant. “You will keep your mouth shut until we get to Canterlot, do you understand?” Maple didn’t reply. Spearhead closed in until he stood nearly nose to nose in front of him.

“I said, do you UNDERSTAND?!” he snarled.

Maple’s face twitched. The seconds dragged by, and then he replied in a low voice. “Y-yes sir.”

“Good.” He turned to the two mares. “If you want to vouch for your friend, follow us. Your other friends will need to stay here or take the train to Canterlot. We can't carry all of you, and time is of the essence. Second Lieutenant Maple wasn't exaggerating when he said we’re here by Royal order."

Rarity nodded, still giving a sidelong glare at Maple. “We understand.” Applejack was admittedly happy to see Maple put in his place. If a fight broke out they would all be in a world of manure.

“Alright. Follow us,” he ordered.

Applejack turned around rubbing her hoof against the back of her head, feeling sheepish. “Granny I know today we’re supposed to harvest but-“ The elder matriarch waved her off.

“Oh it’s fine jus’ go and protect our friend. Show 'em us Apples ain't fair-weather friends.” She smiled , “We’ll be waiting for yer return.”

“But you can’t go!” Applejack looked at Apple bloom, her little sister was more worried than Granny Smith.

“Sis…”

“At least take me with you!” She begged. “Luke’s ma friend too. I wanna help!”

Applejack shook her head. “No Apple bloom, this is somethin’ you shouldn’ be involved with.”

“But-!”

Granny Smith interrupted. “Yer sis is right.” She gave her youngest granddaughter a stern look. Applebloom seemed to deflate upon hearing this. She couldn’t help but feel a little guilty about the situation somehow.

“We’ll be doing what we can for Luke, Applebloom. You need to be here okay?”

Applebloom merely nodded and walked back to the house. Applejack sighed as she turned around and got ready to go.

Not even two steps were taken when Rainbow was already in front of her. “Are sure you’re up for this? I know it’s the right thing to do, but I’ve got a bad feeling about…everything.”

Applejack gave her a funny look. “A bad feeling? Rainbow, I'm just going to vouch for him.” She couldn’t help but roll her eyes and smile. That Rainbow Dash. She acted tough all the time, but there were moments where that strong mask of bravado slipped a little, showing the kinder mare underneath.

Applejack could relate, but now wasn't the time for worry. She trotted after the others, not before saying. “If yer so worried then take the guard’s advice,” she threw over her shoulder. "Nopony's stoppin' ya."

When there was no reply, Applejack continued on after Luke and the others. There was no time for dawdling. She had a friend to help.

Apple Bloom watched her sister leave. She wanted to help out, but her Granny wouldn’t let her. For the best, it seemed.

She could tell that Rainbow Dash was pouting even if she couldn’t see it and could hear there grumbling something under her breath.

“Welp!” Granny Smith started. “No use standin’ around. Back to work.” She tapped Big Mac on his ankle, taking him out of his stupor. “Let’s go, Mac. You too, Apple bloom.”

“B-but-!”

“Now.” She gave Apple Bloom a stern look, ceasing any argument.

Apple Bloom whined as her big brother and grandmother went off to finish their chores.

“There’s gotta be somethin’ ah can do, Rainbow Dash…Rainbow Dash?” She turned to Rainbow, only to realize she wasn’t there anymore.. Four hoof shaped marks were left behind in the grass. “Oh come on…”

“Maybe we should let them handle it.” Apple Bloom's ears perked up at the soft voice. She spun around to see Fluttershy standing behind her, looking to where the group had vanished over the small rise.

Honestly, Apple Bloom had forgotten Fluttershy was still here after the kerfuffle. “What do you mean?” She asked.

Fulttershy replied, “I mean we should let your sister help Luke, without us in the way.”

“In the way? But we won’t be in the way!” Apple Bloom argued. “What’s wrong with tryin' to help a friend?”

“Oh there’s nothing wrong.” Fluttershy replied calmly. “It’s just this is simply something you can’t get involved with. You’re young, Apple Bloom, you’ll understand why.”

“B-bu-! Hooooo….” Her cheeks puffed up. “But what about you? Can’t you take me…?”

Fluttershy shook her head, to Apple Bloom's dismay. “No, I’m sorry. Granny wouldn’t be happy if I did; plus I have my own work to do at home.” She rubbed her hoof gently on the filly’s head. “Just trust your sister on this okay?” She gave a weak little smile. “I have to go now, so I’ll see you later.”

She spread her wings out, and with a flap she took to the air to fly home. Apple Bloom could only watch as the pegasi’s silhouette became smaller and smaller until it disappeared behind the trees.

The little filly sighed and started to walk back home. What could she do here, when Luke was going to Canterlot? He was going to need help! She heard stories about Princess Celestia and what she did to bad ponies, and with the way that guard was sneering, Apple Bloom didn't have her hopes up about Luke clearing his name.

A small beep broke her out of her funk. Kyugee was sitting on the spot where Luke had been. The filly walked over to him, putting a hoof on what she guessed was his shoulder. Despite him being a machine, she could tell that he was worried.

“Worried about him too?” The quiet beep and hum was her answer. She let out a small sigh and sat down. “I know, I just wish there was somethin’ we could do…”

Everything felt silent with only the wind as an ambient sound when Winona came up to Apple Bloom and nuzzled her, trying to cheer her up.

A loud click and the sounds of beeps and chirps rang loudly from Kyugee, almost sounding… happy? It was hard to tell but with the flickers of lights on his surface, but from what she could somewhat interpret, it seemed he had realized something.

“What is it, Kyugee?” Even Winona was curious, indicated by her raised ears. Sounds of whirring were heard. A compartment opened up and a jointed prong with a stubby claw on the end popped out, waving in the air.

Confused, Apple Bloom asked again. “What are you tryin to tell me?” The droid’s reply was another plethora of beeps. He spun, pointed the arm at her and then spun back to point towards the southwest. She realized he was trying to show her something and looked in the prong’s direction.

To the filly’s confusion, all she saw was the orchard, and beyond that, the forest. She turned to the droid and then back to the forest and started thinking. ‘He’s pointin at the forest…What does that…’ and the pieces connected in her mind. Hope flashed
bright in her eyes as she turned to the droid.

“Luke’s dad!” Apple Bloom cried. “Right?” Kyugee let out a confirming whistle. Apple Bloom practically jumped with excitement and asked “So do you know the way?” Another panel opened along the dome and from it rose a small, metallic stick. From its end unfurled a fan of metal fins, spreading out until it resembled an umbrella. The object moved from side to side until it finally stopped, pointing somewhere in the distance.

Kyuugee let out another rapid fire of beeps and boops before he began to trundle away in the direction the metal dish was pointing. After it moved a fair distance away it stopped and turned to stare at Apple Bloom.

Apple Bloom blinked, then ran to catch up with the droid, who began to lead the way. It wouldn't be long before they found Luke's mysterious father, and he could help with the current predicament. The plan was pretty simple, or so Apple Bloom thought; and since it was so simple, it was practically foolproof!

‘Ah wonder what his dad looks like?’ She thought as she tried to conjure an image of him in her mind. Though what she would see in her mind would not match with what she would see.

The two of them were so caught up in congratulating each other on such a wonderful plan that they didn't notice the worried pair of aqua eyes staring at them from behind the farmhouse window as they left.

Author's Note

CKT: Hey people. I told you we would get this out. Admittedly this chapter is short for my taste,but don’t worry the next chapters won’t be next time I will guarantee that.

MCD: We did have to change up rank a little given that up until now we didn’t really take a look at military ranks. As it turns out, First Lieutenant and Second Lieutenant are a thing. Thank you US Army for helping out with that by listing out ranks.

NB: That's not the only thing changed up; there's a bit of reshuffling of roles in this little group of ours. As of this chapter, I'm actually going to start taking a bit of a back seat in the writing process, and focusing on making illustrations for the fanfic instead. I have one in the works for this chapter, but it's likely not going to be ready by the time the chapter is uploaded. I will still help in planning out the plot and make some grammar tweaks here and there, but the writing will mainly be the domain of CTK, MCD, and Psycho from now on; I'm good with prose, but I'm more in my element when drawing art as opposed to writing; 8 chapters of tearing my hair out trying to figure out what to put down taught me that well enough!

Psycho: We’ll force NB to write from time to time, though, or else he will eat Swedish Banana Curry pizza and Hawaiian pizza: Some of the worst ‘foods’ know to all realities.

NB:*Loads Anti-Insanity Noble Phantasm* Feelin' lucky, punk?

Psycho: Psycho is not the Insanity. That’s Sociopath’s domain. The smelly chaos one.

CKT: You guys are fruitcakes. Anyways as my sla— I mean cohearts bicker with each other. I just want to say merry Christmas to you all and I want to thank you. We honestly never thought we get so much love despite how agonizingly slow it gets to pump a chapter out, I hate that we are slow honestly. However, patience is a virtue and it’s rewarding.

NB: we likely won't be starting on the next chapter until after New Year's. I don't know about you guys, but I say we need a break.

CKT: Well I might start the other chapter. At least like put in a little bit before stopping until new years. Eh either way this year has been a bit of a blast, I've got the God of war novel, I got Percy Jackson series. The Silmarillion, unfinished tales I even got world history of myths and tales. Oh yeah I even have Ragnarok. Guys it’s such a wonderful game I suggest you buy it. The scale and story is so massive and honestly it’s something that I want to replicate. I want to give you guys a big story.

Anyways. Thank you very much for reading, Merry Christmas to all and a happy new year.

Edit: chapter was re-edited.

Chapter 10

Despite all the posing from before there is no one in the group speaking as they walked towards Ponyville, letting the sounds of the townsfolk in the distance steadily fill in the silence as the group got closer.

It wasn't every day, Spearhead mused, that one took part in a first contact situation. It wasn't exactly a textbook scenario, but it was a first contact nevertheless. A meteor that didn't act like a meteor falling over Ponyville, and a creature never seen in recorded history showing up in the same area a few days later? Spearhead didn't need top marks to put two and two together.

'And already,' he thought sourly, 'the mission is a complete and utter mess.' It was just as well that the newcomer didn't seem to be that aggressive; were Spearhead in the same situation, he'd have been kicking Maple across Ponyville by now if he wasn't a properly trained and conditioned royal guard.

'I still might,' he thought darkly. If he had known that Maple would behave like this, he wouldn't have gone along with Shining's idea. Either way, he would report to Shining once they return, there would be no way he would let this slide. Spearhead almost felt embarrassed by the ordeal.

Insubordination and an attack unprovoked was not going to be unpunished, they are royal guards and not thugs.

With a huff, they continued towards town.

Spearhead had to admit, Ponyville surprised him. He’d never been out of Canterlot in a long time; he was born and raised there. Seeing this town for the first time was an experience. Ponyville was different, that much was obvious. There were fewer buildings, it was less compact and it didn't have that grand feeling.

Most of the buildings were simple one or two-story cottages made with wood frames, walls covered with mortar and straw thatch roofs. That wasn’t too different from what he knew from Canterlot, except the buildings were usually taller — two or three stories was the average — and some had cobblestone walls instead of mortar.

The buildings, particularly the stores, were also more ornate in Canterlot. In Ponyville, the only way to tell the difference between a house and a store usually was to see if there was a sign hanging over the front door.

Another big difference was the general attitude. In Canterlot, ponies were just as likely to shove their fellow aside in the mud as they were to greet them. In Ponyville, however, newcomers were always greeted with a warm smile. The residents were welcoming almost to a fault; they didn’t look at travelers as something disgusting they found on the side of the street. They treated them like, well, ponies. They would show you around town, show you the best stores or places to sightsee without any gain in mind. Some would even invite you to their home for a bit of tea and some rest after a long journey because ponies help one another.

Overall, the atmosphere in Ponyville felt more like you had just walked into a family reunion, rather than a town. Or at least that was Spearhead's first impression when the guards first arrived.

When the group of five ponies and — whatever he was — first stepped into town proper, that first impression was immediately cast aside. The hustle and bustle instantly ceased. It was so instant, it was like flicking a switch. Dead silence permeated throughout the town, as everypony who was out on their daily business froze at the sight of the group… or more specifically Luke, who was standing awkwardly towering behind Spearhead and Flash, Applejack, and Rarity coming up to either side of them with a disgruntled Maple bringing up the rear.

Spearhead could hear their whispered murmur and could feel their stares. He set his shoulders and pressed forward, the rest of the group following close behind. There was no point feeling anxious. Spearhead's job came first.

Spearhead cast a quick look over his shoulder at the group. Applejack and Rarity seemed unmoved by the attention, though Rarity would occasionally cast a nervous glance in one direction or another for a brief moment; public image, it seemed, mattered a fair bit to the one and only tailor of Ponyville.

Flash and Maple also seemed unperturbed. Flash kept up a stoic appearance — that was good, a guard shouldn't act out. Maple, on the other hoof, simply glared at Luke, as if daring him to try something, it was rather ridiculous since Luke didn't have eyes in the back of his head to notice it.

And as for Luke…

Luke's head was turning this way and that, taking in every new sight around him. There was a soft look of quiet wonder on his face wherever he looked. Spearhead had to admit; with a reaction like that, it was practically impossible for anypony to see Luke as a threat.

"EEEEEEEEK!!!!! MONSTER!!!"

Well, almost anypony, it seemed. A trio of flower cutie mark-themed mares had immediately started screaming and running around at the sight of Luke as the group rounded the corner.

"No! It's here to enslave us all!" said the yellow-coated one.

"Or eat us alive one by one!" spoke the pale pink one.

“The horror! The horror!” exclaimed the dark pink one.

Before Spearhead could speak up and diffuse the situation, the three bolted off in random directions, screeching at the top of their lungs about how they were all going to die. The entire group was left dumbfounded at the sight since Luke was wearing hoove cuffs and was surrounded by royal guard ponies.

Well, so much for a calm and orderly exit, Spearhead groaned to himself. He chanced another look over his shoulder. Luke and Flash looked just about as confused and embarrassed as Spearhead felt, and Maple looked supremely smug. Applejack and Rarity looked completely unaffected by the spectacle.

“Ah wouldn't put much stock into what they do or say," Applejack said loudly before Maple could open his mouth. "Those three overreact to the smallest things."

"O?" Maple sneered before Spearhead could cut in. "How would you know about that?" Spearhead silently swore that the last thing he would do before his inevitable demotion for letting things go RUBAR was to make sure Maple got reassigned to the most miserable post he could find. He heard Yakyakistan was nice this time of year.

Applejack looked over at Maple with the most deadpan expression that Spearhead had ever seen. "You mean despite me living here and knowing the mares unlike you? A couple of weeks ago a pack of rabbits escaped from Fluttershy’s cottage and flooded down main street."

"So!?" Maple looked nonplussed.

Applejack's expression became even more deadpan. "Those three took one look and fainted on the spot."

Everyone stared at Applejack. Rarity muttered "How overdramatic…"

“Yer one ta talk, Rarity,” Applejack retorted. “At least those three don't pull a whole couch out of plumb nowhere before they faint!"

Flash Sentry snorted. "A couch?"

Rarity drew herself up and pouted. "Well, I can't exactly mess up my looks, can't I? I do have an image to uphold! What would ponies say if my mane got all smudged and dirty?"

"Ya mean the mane that's got so many twigs in it, it can pass for one of my trees?" Applejack pointed out dryly.

“Quiet you!” Rarity snapped. Then the words sunk in. "Wait, what!?" She whipped out a mirror and looked into it while Applejack covered her ears.

Spearhead was surprised that the following shriek of horror didn't shatter every window in town; he was sure his eardrums weren't so lucky though. Nor were those of Flash, Maple, and Luke for that matter who covered their ears in hopes of not becoming deaf.

“MY LUSCIOUS MANE!” She cried out. “NOOOOOO!”

“Well,” Flash said while rubbing his ear. “Now I know what you mean by being overdramatic.”

“Can we please get going!” Mapel shook his head from all the ringing in his ear. “Seriously, I want to get this creep in a cell already!”

Luke, to his credit, didn’t flinch from the insult. Applejack, however, began to draw herself up in anger. Spearhead decided to cut them off then and there before his insubordination fellow guards pony dug his hole deeper, metaphorically speaking.

“No one is going into a cell without due process,” he snapped. “We’re here to find out the truth, not find and punish a scapegoat. And for the record, Second Commander Maple, you are the last pony I would trust with that decision. That will be Princess Celestia’s decision — not yours. Don’t test my patience anymore, Maple; you’re on thin ice as it is. I don’t want to hear a single word about this from now until Canterlot. Understood?”

Without waiting for a response he turned over to Rarity, who was fussing with her mane. “If you calm down we’ll drop you off at one of Canterlot’s boutiques.”

“NO! I refuse to go to one of Canterlot’s best boutiques with my mane looking like a rat's nest!” She crossed her hoofs against her chest.

Applejack gave her a look. “Rarity, didn’t ya want to vouch for Luke?”

“Yes well—!”

“Then when we leave, I’ll help ya pick the sticks out of your mane. Now calm down.”

Rarity seemed reluctant but then relented. “Alright fine I’ll come along…As soon I get something from my Boutique!” And then she zoomed off to her shop leaving a trail of dust behind her.

The group was silent for a moment before Spearhead spoke up. “You had to deal with this a lot didn’t you?”

Applejack replied dryly. “You have no idea…” she groaned. “Come y'all she’ll catch up with us.”

As so they continued their way; until the chariot was in sight. It was right where they left it, wheels locked in the middle of the square. Spearhead breathed a sigh of relief: finally, they would be on their way home. Then…

“LOOK OUT BELOOOOOOOWWWWWW!”

Spearhead whirled around to see a blur of blue and rainbow just in time to see a blue streak slam Luke to the ground. When the dust cleared, he recognized the blue pegasus from before slumped over Luke’s prone form.

“Made it… right… on time… Wooo…” she panted weakly. From under her barrel, Luke’s muffled voice could be heard.

“We really need to stop meeting like this,” he groaned.

Applejack had a stern look. “Rainbow…” while she did appreciate Rainbow wanting to help, she was unamused that she managed to crash on top of Luke. Again.

“Oof, that was a hard landing,” Flash said.

“Not her first time,” Applejack replied dryly.

Rainbow Dash quickly got off Luke and apologized then she turned towards Applejack and stated. “I'm going.”

“Rainbow.”

“Look I said I’m going, I’m going!” She stamped her hoof down. “I mean come on Applejack, just let me help out!”

Applejack continued to give her that stern look, her granny gave her many times. “Yer not gonna give up are ya.”

“Nope.”

Applejack groaned slightly. “That’s not surprising…”

“Yeah sorry to rain on your parade,” Spearhead said. “But you can’t all fit in the chariot.”

“Why not?”

“One, your friend already took the seat. Two, there’s not enough space.” Spearhead stated.

Rainbow Dash groaned. Her ears flicked up and realized. “Wait! Maybe I’ll fly with you guys there!”

Spearhead raised a brow. “You? Fly with us all the way from here to Canterlot?”

“Uhh yeah? What do you think I can’t handle it?”

“No,” Spearhead answered bluntly, which made her sputter in disbelief.

Carmine decided to put his own two bits. “You land with the grace of a brick, probably not even aiming to hit the bipedal creature.”

Applejack snorted while Rainbow Dash glared at them both.

She pointed her hoof at Spearhead. “I’ll have you know that I can fly there quicker than you!”

“Yeah, but this isn’t about speed ma’am. You do realize that we had to fly out for miles? It takes a lot of stamina just to get here,” Spearhead replied.

Flash sentry snorted. “Yeah, and it’s a complete pain in the rear.” He huffed out and stretched out his wings to get ready for the flight.

“Anyways.” Spearhead turned to Applejack. “Is your friend coming yet? We can’t exactly stay here forever.”

“Go ahead, she’ll join us eventually.” She shrugged dismissively.

Flash and Spearhead looked at each other, grimaced, and made to strap on the chariot harnesses. A chariot Luke looked at thoughtfully.

“Will we all fit in?” He asked. “You did mention that there was a space issue.”

Flash seemed to think about it before nodding.” It should be okay.” he said. “The Chariot was meant to hold three ponies, since you stand on two legs, you should be able to squeeze in, just as long as you stay at the front.”

Luke nodded and carefully stepped into the chariot, leaning against the front. Applejack followed suit, standing next to him.

Luke hummed. “So am I to assume that you’ll carry us all?”

“Yeah, why do you ask?” Spearhead said.

“Just curious,” he said, glancing around at the vehicle. He did look nervous about something.

Spearhead looked at the chariot and then at him, then it clicked. “I wouldn’t worry about the chariot, it’s made to channel our magic. When we take off it would be light as a feather, and it would feel like you never left the ground.”

The sounds of hoofs trotting close gain their attention. Rarity had returned, with her mane stick-free and as shiny as amethyst thread.

“Finally!” Applejack exasperated. “Are you done taking your sweet time?”

Rarity puffed her cheeks and had her nose straight in the air.”Hmph! I’ll have you know that I had already rushed while being delicate with fixing my mane!” She climbed in, with Carmine taking the rear.

Just as they were about to take off Rainbow Dash decided to chime in. “Sweet, let's get this going!”

“Wait, you are going to follow us all the way to Canterlot?” Spearhead asks dubiously.

Rainbow gave him a daring smirk. “Uhh, yeah! You thought I was going to chicken out?”

“Your friend is insane…” Carmine said dryly with a deadpan expression.

Spearhead groaned; the poor stallion felt a headache about to come. “Uhhh fine, but I am not responsible for whatever happens to you.” Both he and Flash spread their wings and then took off.

Perhaps entering the forest was not such a great idea…

Apple Bloom glanced around her surroundings and gulped. All around her were trees, not of the apple kind as they bore no fruit on their branches. The foliage above was so thick that only motes of vague light leaked through like stars on a clear night. Small vines hung down dripping with slight precipitation like they were near a swamp.

Her nose was assaulted with a menagerie of smells she was unfamiliar with, yet did not deter her from continuing her trek.

The ground was smooth and bumpy with occasional rocks and stones lying around. The grass was less tamed than on the fields. All of it was wild with weeds and foxtails growing next to them. There were some bushes she'd never seen before, with beautiful-looking flowers but sharp thorns quashed the idea of getting close.

Granny Smith had always told her that going into the Everfree Forest was a frightening experience. She would tell her stories that it was so pitch black at night and even with a lantern you couldn't even have seen three hooves in front of yourself. The dangers that skulked around were the packs of timber wolves and the bands of diamond dogs. Granny had told her that they were as numerous as the apples on a single tree.

One thing she had always warned Apple Bloom and her siblings, is to never go deeper into Everfree if they had the misfortune of getting lost in it. Manticores were said to inhabit those areas and were extremely territorial. Cragidiles the size of wagons infested the swamps like rats at an abandoned cabin, waiting to snatch up any pony that wandered too far. She even talked about the possibility of a Hydra that made itself at home there along with the rest of the nameless things that crawled around.

Apple Bloom thought Granny Smith only told her these stories to scare her, or just as a warning not to wander too far into the forest at the risk of getting lost.

Yet, as Apple Bloom continued trekking alongside Kyugee, she wondered once again if this was the best decision she made. “Uhhh…Kyugee?” she said quietly. “How far away are we?”

The droid let out a few bleeps, which, unfortunately, Apple Bloom couldn’t understand. She let out a weak sigh in response.

“I hope it’s close…”

It felt like they had walked for hours. It also felt like they weren’t making much progress as everything almost looked the same like they had walked in a circle. Then Kyugee stopped in place. A panel along its surface opened revealing the strange umbrella-looking device, it spun around a few times, stopped, then retracted back in. The droid let out a few beeps and quickly took a right, followed by Apple Bloom. At least she wasn’t alone, she thought, with all the croaking and chirps around her. It was a noisiness that Granny had mentioned before, but the young filly didn’t believe the noises would be this extensive. At least, it didn’t bother her, and Apple Bloom welcomed the noise as it did help distract her mind. It didn’t, however, take away the strain she felt in her hooves. A small break was in order.

“Hey Kyugee can we take a—“ she stopped and winced. Her eyes had adjusted to the dimly lit forest when a splotch of light hit her. It made Apple Bloom step back and shake her head.

She gazed up curiously and noticed that a big patch of branches and leaves seemed torn apart by something massive. Kyugee let out a stream of chirps which gained Apple Bloom’s attention. “What’s up?” She said trotting back to him. Her eyes widened. There was a large gap in the forest. The young filly looked up to see that the top of the trees had somehow blown apart like somepony had peeled a banana. It was just easier. Following the trail, she noticed that it gradually went lower and lower and disappeared further into the Everfree.

Kyugee let out several loud, energetic beeps and bounced in place, garnering Apple Bloom’s attention before moving back a bit to incite her to follow.

The filly looked around nervously like something dark and sinister had its grip on this part of the forest. “Wait, ah don’t think we should go further in,” she said with worry.

However, the little droid ignored Apple Bloom’s suggestion and moved away every time she got closer, pulling the pony deeper and deeper into the charred green. The trees gradually turned blacker and more beat the longer the young filly followed the path. What was once just a peeled-away ‘head’ had now become splinters and uprooted trees. A slow ‘snow’ of ash and burnt leaves made the path more disturbing to the young pony, but she felt the need to continue following the little machine. It knew where it was going, didn’t it?

Apple Bloom coughed when some of the ash entered her muzzle and covered it up by pulling her hair bow down. Where once animals and monsters were crying in the forest there was silence, and where once there was silence there was now the sound of wind freely flowing between the charred remains of the once-mighty trees. The howling they produced made it seem like the trees themselves were wailing during death throes.

Trees were either uprooted or simply pushed aside into the neighbors like a massive beast had pushed them out of its way. Plants as big as houses are pushed aside like a mere nuisance. Apple Bloom felt her heart sink and her blood freeze at the sight of such… ravages.

“Why are we travelin’ through here?” she asked the little droid nervously. Apple tried breathing in to calm her nerves, but that was hampered by her makeshift mask. “Wh…” She was partially blinded by something reflecting the sun that could now shine upon a land that had not seen its full gaze in thousands of years. “What is that?”

A snap behind her alerted Apple Bloom, her eyes widened as she spun around: nose to nose with something yellow and pink with huge blue eyes. She screeched loudly which made Kyugee screech in turn and start rolling everywhere wildly. The newcomer was pulled into the screaming contest and the whole exchange lasted for what felt like hours.

Apple Bloom gasped for air after the fear finally flushed out of her system. “Fluttershy?!” the filly shouted incredulously. “You followed us?!”

Fluttershy huffed. her hair was a bit frizzled.“Y-Yes I followed you! What are you thinking, going into the Everfree!?”

“W-we were just—!”

Fluttershy cut her off. “Apple Bloom, do you have any idea how dangerous Everfree Forest is?!” She coughed heavily as some of the ash got caught in her throat. She began to beat her wings to clear it away.

“But we only came because we’re gonna get Luke’s dad!” She defended her.

Fluttershy shook her head like a disappointed mother and gave the filly a stern glare. “It doesn’t matter what your intentions were, you still came out here by yourself! Do you have any idea how much trouble you're in?”

“But Ah wasn’t alone! A-ah was with Kyugee!” She helped the droid up, who beeped a thank you.

Fluttershy, surprisingly, was having none of it; Apple Bloom had never seen her so agitated. “This doesn’t change the fact that you willingly went into the Everfree Forest! Apple Bloom, there’s a reason why this is called the most dangerous place in Equestria! Now.” she got behind the fillie and nudged her forwards. “Move,”

Apple Bloom stumbled slightly from Fluttershy’s nudge, she spun back with a defiant glare. “No I’m not going and you can’t make me!”

Fluttershy’s eyes widened in surprise, she blinked a couple of times. Apple Bloom was about to continue her argument when she heard a snap. Her ears flicked as she turned to where the noise was. Fluttershy also snapped her neck to the side. Both of them stared into the dark spaces between the trees, not moving a muscle.

The hair on Apple Bloom’s back stuck up, but she was confused. She didn’t know why she was feeling weird, after all, Kyugee and Fluttershy were there. The only sounds she heard were the wind and the birds chirping— wait…

There was no chirping.

There was no sound at all in fact, except for the wind and the small hissing from still-burning embers on the ground. From within the forest, the bushes began to shift and wave almost like they were alive. Another snap from within made both ponies tense up while Kyugee’s dome swiveled around in confusion.

The rustles of the bushes began to quicken as more sounds of snapping became more frequent. Vague shapes can be seen moving, it was hard to tell if it was just the bushes or…

Apple Bloom and Fluttershy tensed up even further once they heard growls. Glimpses of green light floated and then disappeared, Apple Bloom thought it was a firefly until more of these lights flickered in and out of existence becoming more numerous by the second.

It was then she realized they weren’t fireflies.

They were eyes.

One of the vague shapes grew in size and a deep growl was made as it got closer to the clearing, revealing a body made of wood with a mane made from dozens of dry straws.

Apple Bloom's ears folded back as she took in the sight before her.

Its eyes glowed brightly as it glared at the two ponies with a mixture of piercing bloodlust and famine. Its jaw quivered open to reveal a line of serrated wooden teeth that could pierce flesh just as easily as a sharp knife of a butcher shop, while its thorny claws dug into the dirt as it stopped in front of them. It was bigger than Fluttershy by three feet and it was not alone as three more appeared at its sides; they were smaller but still bigger than Fluttershy and their eyes were trained on the ponies. It was the one thing the filly hoped to not meet in the Everfree Forest: Timberwolves.

She took one step back; she can hear Kyugee chirping in alarm.

Only one word came from Fluttershy.

“Run.”

The hum of running machinery filled the dimly lit room. Wires hung through the ceiling occasionally sparking with electricity, illuminating the cluttered mess that was the medical bay. Most of the medical equipment littered the ground, some were destroyed while others were banged up but still salvageable. Small glass bottles containing medicines had shattered against the floor, spilling their sticky content to the ground and wafting the air with a pungent mixture of chemicals.

Not that it would have bothered Teefour, the only occupant of the medbay. Nor did it distract from his perusal of the medical computer to look through data on the most recent medical scans.

“Hmm,” hummed the medical droid as his optics read through the aurebesh scrolling across the display.

After making that horrendous crash landing they were able to get the ship’s power up and running again via the remaining backup generator. Unfortunately, the Nubian would never fly again. Her engines were broken beyond repair due to the outer layer being scorched so badly that many of its internal components had melted. This was the ship’s final destination — an unknown planet with unknown life forms. Not even the combined engineering skills of the two astromech droids or even Vader himself would be able to get her lifted again.

A shame really, as Teefour had grown fond of her whenever she took to the air towards any known direction. Still, her sacrifice was able to keep them all safe even as they breached through the planet’s atmosphere, and it was still a miracle that the last remaining backup generator functioned or that the Bacta tank hadn’t shattered.

Despite this, the ship was still an utter mess from the inside. Before it was pristine and orderly, just like the rest of the ship. Now, the medical bay was cluttered with loose wires hanging down from the ceiling cables that burst from broken panels and not to mention the rest of the broken equipment and debris that had accumulated over the last few days.

Teefour had been monitoring Lord Vader’s health, and, once again, he couldn’t help but be stumped. His recovery had accelerated at a rate that couldn’t yet be calculated. Wounds and fractures that should have taken weeks, if not months to mend, were now being knit together in a matter of days.

Teefour almost felt cheated.

He asked Vader for his current status, and Vader stated that he felt refreshed. A feeling he hadn’t felt in so very long. A lot of the pain he once suffered seemed numbed for some reason, but whether that was because of his current train of thought or his scars from the past were lessening was left to Teefour to figure out.

Something the droid still couldn't understand, which drove his motor components and processors to overheat with frustration. Then he remembered Lord Vader speaking about the Force. That power he wielded was the reason why he was currently in the workshop with Obee.

What he was building Teefour did not know for he was busy figuring out how to remove those implants from the man’s body. Which reminded him that he should inform Vader.

Miraculously, some of the mouse droids had survived the initial crash — surprising, considering most of the smaller equipment usually broke first. Although, their outer casings were dented all over: indeed, not all had survived, their components being recycled for later use.

He entered the workshop to see half-done projects scattered, then he spotted Lord Vader over by the workbench with a blowtorch in hand and other tools floating above his head; he didn't know what the Sith lord was building since he hadn’t been programmed with engineering knowledge outside medical equipment.

Obee was on the other side, rummaging through an assortment of chests and cases strewn about the floor.

Teefour simulated clearing his throat to call his master. “Lord Vader!” But it could not reach over the screech of the blowtorch. “Lord Vader!” he shouted again. Vader extinguished the torch and moved the rest of the tools back onto hooks and into drawers.

Darth Vader stood up, rolling his shoulders and popping his spine. “Teefour,” he greeted as he cracked his neck.

“Lord Vader I bring you an update on—“ Vader cut him off.

“Teefour,” he held a hand up.” I would prefer not to be called Vader any longer,” he stated.

Teefour blinked for a moment. “What should I refer to you as?”

Vader lowered his head for a moment contemplating. Then he spoke. “Anakin, I would rather be called Anakin.”

Teefour made note of the change and saved it into his data storage. “Right, Lord Anakin.” He pressed down on the data pad. “I've come to update you about your upcoming surgery.”

He handed the pad to the former dark lord and continued to explain. “For instance, some of the implants have stopped functioning, mostly the ones in your back and shoulders. They’ll need to be removed. At least the med bay is still clean enough for that.“ He waited a moment as Va-Anakin, read through the pad’s contents. “Others like the outdated artificial lung will need to be monitored until we build a more up-to-date one, whenever that might be, given the distinct lack of resources needed to make such a thing.”

“What about the wires in my stomach?” Anakin asked.

“Unneeded, they will be removed. ” Teefour replied. “Your stomach has already repaired itself which means the wires are no longer useful. Of course, you would need a few days until you can eat solids again, but at the rate you are going I'd estimate that you will be in tip-top shape in less than a day.” His optics blinked a couple of times. “Though it’s only short term…” he mumbled quietly.

Anakin tilted his head a bit, perhaps he heard what he said. The medical droid glances at the workbench to change the subject. “Might I ask, what exactly you are creating?”

Anakin stared at him for a moment, then replied. “I’m constructing a new lightsaber; the old one fell through the depths of the second Death Star.”

“I see.” While Teefour didn’t know much about a Lightsaber, he knew that it was a plasma weapon that Lord Anakin carried on his side. He did wonder what had happened to it. “Hmm.” The droid went up to the workbench to examine it.

While Teefour was no engineer he was still curious about the contraption. The saber wasn’t finished, as it was still in its skeleton phase, some components needed to be installed but other than that it would probably be ready within the hour. Though…”Doesn’t a saber require a crystal, how will you obtain one?”

“I’ll figure that out, I trust that I will find one.”

“Ah yes,” Teefur’s voice oozed sarcasm.”Because they are so abundant around the galaxy.”

Teefour might not know much about Lightsabers but he knew those crystals were hard to find, even during the days of the Clone Wars.

Anakin snorted behind the mask. “I see your quips are as sharp as—“

“Lord Anakin?”

Obee was trundling towards the pair with a large, dented chest in tow. “You may want to see this,” he continued in a subdued tone.

Now Teefour was curious. This quiet, somber attitude was very unlike the gregarious astromech.

Teefour watched as Anakin opened it to reveal its contents and instantly the medical droid knew what they were.

Lightsabers.

Old trophies that were collected over years of battle. Anakin’s respirator went silent as he kneeled over to examine them, Teefour noticed how Anakin lingered on a few Lightsabers in particular; a pair of identical tapered hilts with rounded pommels, one long and one short, caked with dirt and rust. Teefour was sure that they couldn't work, until Lord VA — Anakin —
carefully picked up the shorter of the two and thumbed its activation switch.

With the iconic *snap-hiss* that none in the Galaxy could fail to recognize, a glowing blue blade sprang forth.

Lord Anakin nodded, saying nothing as he set the saber and its mate down on the workbench, side by side. Then, he returned to look through the case, and more lightsabers emerged. Teefour could only watch as Lord Anakin silently lingered over each one he pulled out.

An elegantly curved lightsaber with a claw-like guard.

A simple hilt with a black, scalloped grip and silver accents.

A silver hilt with practically no adornments; as spartan as they came.

A saber with a red switch and a tapered pommel seemed to hum with static electricity.

A stocky electrum-plated saber that glinted proudly in the light.

Finally, a thin, skeletal hilt that looked worn and sandblasted, but still exuded a quiet, aged dignity.

One by one, Anakin placed them all onto the workbench in neat order. He handled them all with the utmost care like they were the flimsiest things in the galaxy and worth more than one hundred thousand Death Stars.

Even though Teefour didn’t know who the original owners of these sabers belong to, by just staring at them with his optics, he knew each told their own story — stories that meant a great deal to the silent Lord Anakin. What were they to him? Trophies of his greatest conquests? Or, as the droid was beginning to suspect, something far more somber?

Teefour was about to ask when Anakin straightened as suddenly as if he had been struck by lightning. The dark helmet snapped around to stare at Teefour — no, past him, through the meters of metal and hull to something outside, that only he could see. The Sith Lord rose to his feet.

"Teefour. Obee." His voice was hard as steel. In a single moment, the softer posture had vanished, and once again Darth Vader, Dark Lord of the Sith and enforcer of the Emperor's will, stood before them.

"Open the entrance ramp."

For a moment, Teefour's internal processors stopped cold. Open the entrance ramp? For what reason would — then the realization came on him at once

"Wait just a moment! You don't mean to say you're going outside, are you!?"

For what reason would Lord Va — Anakin — want to disembark now, of all times? Who knew just how untamed, how unsanitary it was out there? Teefour considered himself a loyal and efficient droid, but even he had his limits.

Lord Anakin stared at him for a moment, then spoke slowly. "I have felt distress in the Force, not too far from here. No doubt a local needs aid. I shall go and assist them."

Teefour processed what he heard slowly — Lord Vader, going to save someone? Then he brought himself back to the moment.

“Lord V-Anakin, you need to wait! I must finish the implantation process or you could overload your own body with the strain of combat.” The droid checked his instruments briefly. “And if you plan on doing more than just sitting all day.” The droid’s voice module glitched, causing its voice to stutter multiple times. “The ones in your shoulders especially are a vital part of your articulations. What’ll you do if they give out?”

As always, Teefour’s advice was ignored by the former Sith. Instead, Anakin fumbled through his workshop, looking through several lightsabers from his collection. He paused when one came into view. It was an old thing kept mostly intact from being in storage for so long. Grabbing it, Anakin felt the previous owner’s strong emotion still bonded to it, but the former Sith was more powerful than they ever were and quickly suppressed and dismantled them. All this took but a second to Teefour but felt like ages to Anakin.

The man quickly began going through his supplies and dismantling the saber temporarily at the same time with the force, looking for parts that needed replacement and getting to work.

“While I am indeed fascinated by the coordination you can perform with your biological appendages, I must insist that we finish the surgical procedures!” The droid simulated a sigh. And I wish you could use those skills for medical procedures as well, he thought to himself.

“I admire your zeal in fulfilling your programming, but I don’t have time to spend stuck in a vat while you cut me to ribbons,” Anakin protested.

Teefour leaned back in shock. “I am a professional medical droid! I would never-!”

“The force is odd in this world, but I could still feel a great ripple in it.” Anakin cut him off. He replaced the power cell of the saber and slowly reassembled it. “I feel that whoever is causing such a disturbance could prove beneficial to us.” He grunted and slacked briefly when his shoulders stung sharply but shook it off.

“In what way?” Teefour asked. “Are they even capable of speech? Are they sentient, let alone sapient?” It raised a hand to protest, but Anakin cut it off.

“Yes,” he answered bluntly. “Information is a prized possession in the unknown.” The man rotated the completed saber in front of his eyes and grimaced before gripping the hilt tightly. “But first, I have something for you,” he told Teefour. The former Sith pointed at the other droid on the monitor. “You two stay here. I…We won’t be long.”

“What is it you have for me?” Teefour asked.

Anakin moved opposite his workshop to a locker and had to force it open. The impact had damaged the locking mechanism, revealing several dusty weapons that hadn’t seen the light of day in many, many years. He fumbled through the mess and pulled out a heavy, primitive-looking gun made from rusted metal. It almost looked like a blaster, but the metallic shape and the lack of any plasma condensers lining the barrel and energy cell holder made it apparent that this was something else entirely. Teefour realized it was also very weighty once Anakin passed it to him.

“This is a slug-thrower,” Anakin explained. He passed the droid several massive metal bolts of some kind, which the droid struggled to hold. “I will need you to support me with this.”

“B-b-but, I’m a medical droid! I can’t kill —”

"Even when one who is both your lord and your patient is going into a dangerous situation?" Lord Anakin cut him off bluntly.

Anakin gestured to the machine to settle down. “If this world is indeed primitive, then just firing that off once will be more than enough to scare off any threats.”

Besides, he knew that Teefour's combat protocols were intact, as much as the droid detested them. The droid was programmed to be a combat medic after all.

But it’s been years since those protocols have been activated, and he’s not even sure he even has them anymore…

Teefour looked down at the weapon and grumbled in frustration. “Fine, but afterward you’re finishing the surgical procedures, and I won’t hear another word of protest nor me being ignored!” it huffed.

Teefour hefted the slugthrower, noting the long barrel and large scope, and followed Lord Anakin down the hallway towards the exit ramp, running through his combat subroutines and activating them one by one.

The final subroutine kicked in just as he stepped off the ramp, and cold purpose and a little bit of anticipation filled him. The surgeries could wait.

"Confirmation: HK subroutines enacted. Heading to the combat zone."

He chambered a round into the slugthrower. There were meatbags to fry.

This is how it feels to be Anakin Skywalker, for now:

You stride down the dented and oil-stained ramp as fast as you can walk. The instant your feet touch the ground, you throw all caution to the wind and begin to run, the whispers of this way, this way, and hurry-hurry-hurry from the Force urging you to go faster.

Trees blur past you as you run, the sun hidden from view. You dash through shadow and gloom, your senses reaching out and guiding your path when your eyes fail you.

You ignore the tearing pain in your shoulders, the jarring shock traveling up your hips each time your foot strikes the ground.

You pay no heed to the fact that you seem to be breathing a little harder than usual, that it takes a tiny bit more effort to move your arms and legs than you remember it should be.

You put aside thoughts of pain or regret.

You shunt aside nostalgia, the grief of seeing relics of the past, weapons that are all that remain of those who you called friend and enemy in the same breath.

Your brothers and sisters.

Your victims.

You ignore the taunting glint of electrum at your hip, reminding you of the warrior who made it — the stern, stalwart swordsman who was first to feel your traitorous blade through his flesh. You forget the taunting grin of Master — dead, dead, dead,you remind yourself — as he presents it to you twenty-two years ago, a trophy of your “first true victory,” in his words.

You keep ignoring the familiar, mounting cold-dead star-dragon of worry over your son, doing only Force knows what over at Force knows where. He’s a grown man, a better man, a better Jedi, a better Knight than you ever hoped you could be. He can handle himself.

You focus on the here and now, on the constant pull of the Force, the sharp feeling of distress and fear that is not your own, guiding you like a beacon.

You focus on the fact that right now, there is someone who needs help; someone who is within your reach. And no matter how many you have killed — or perhaps because of them — you cannot bring yourself to let this one die.

You are close enough to see glimpses of movement in the shadows of the forest around you — blurs of brown and moldy green. You even see a flicker of pale yellow once or twice.

You are closer now. You now hear grating snarls that would put a pack of wild anooba to shame — and rising over that, a high-pitched shriek of terror. A new rush of fear rolls over you in the Force, and glimpses from a field of vision, not yours flash through your mind.

You see Kyugee, lying on the ground screeching helplessly, you see burning green eyes and gnashing teeth and the forest around you and the little yellow-and-red form looking at you with large, terrified eyes — a child —

Then you are suddenly in a large dark room with the lights and spires of Coruscant visible through the massive windows.

You hear a voice in front of you, small and afraid.

“Master Skywalker! There’s too many of them! What are we going to do?”

You hear your lightsaber ignite, and see blue (purple) light fill the room to reveal the youngling looking up with the same fearful eyes, scared, pleading as the saber comes down—

Then the old furnace in your heart ignites as if both of Tatooine’s suns have ignited within, and the image burns away in nuclear fire, and the last you see as you charge into a clearing is a group of hunched brown shapes surrounding two smaller, brighter figures before all else fades into red, red, red.

This is how it feels to be Darth Vader, right now.

Apple Bloom and Fluttershy rushed through the forest, dodging the stray branches and sharp thorns appearing in their path. Ahead of them, Kyugee was rolling forward as fast as he wheels could carry him, whistling shrilly all the way. Behind them came the aggressive panting and snarling of the pursuing timberwolves, and the prospect of being caught by them filled the ponies with panic and more adrenaline.

“Hurry, Apple Bloom!” Fluttershy panicked. “If we can get to the forest edge we’ll be safe.”

Apple Bloom, having much less experience with this kind of outcome, nodded energetically. Her little legs and lungs were burning from the effort, but the fear of ending up torn to pieces by those monsters was motivation enough to push through the pain, and thanks to the damage suffered by the forest, it was significantly easier to gallop through.

Fluttershy knew that the two wouldn’t be able to run away forever, but she just couldn’t find a good position to pick up Apple Bloom. Fallen trees, charred stones, and upturned boulders blocked any attempts to carry the filly away. Fluttershy grumbled to herself. She had almost managed to take Apple Bloom away a few seconds earlier, but the pursuing Timberwolves jumped up toward the filly. Fluttershy let go at the last second, letting the wolve’s jaws snap onto air and tumble onto the ground from the surprise. Several of the pursuing wolves became tangled up on impact, throwing dust and yipes of pain into the air.

Another attempt was almost successful, but the filly was grabbed by a wolf. The sudden weight shift flipped everyone around. Fluttershy’s grip on the filly was strong enough that, when they crashed, the wolf was sent flying. The brush with death made Apple Bloom and her body finally break down. The exhaustion was too much for her to deal with and she collapsed into a crying mess. Fluttershy did her best to shield the filly with her wings, but every movement of her wings brought about a sharp pain.

“It’s going to be okay, Apple Bloom,” Fluttershy tried to reassure. “We’ll be alright. We’ll get out of this and meet up with Applejack, Big Macintosh, and Granny Smith, okay?”

Try as she might, the filly wouldn’t stop crying and screaming uncontrollably. Even in the midst of this life-threatening situation, Fluttershy hadn’t lost her affinity for animals and realized that the wolves weren’t moving forward despite having surrounded them.

Fluttershy observed them, followed their gaze, and turned around. “Eep!” she squeaked.

One of the wolves snarled at the pair and broke off of the pack, fully intent on taking out its pack’s future meals, and so it pounced.

The ponies instinctively shut their eyes, but the strike didn’t come. Fluttershy slowly opened her eyes to see that the timberwolf was floating in the air, futilely snapping its jaws unable to gain purchase on any surface. Before anyone could register what was happening, the hound was violently ripped backward, howling, into the wall of black smoke coming from the languishing forest. The wolf’s claws dug deep trenches into the ground as it tried to escape by pulling itself out of the veil, only for it to be violently pulled back. Its howling lasted a good five seconds until it was silenced by a sudden sickening crunch of wood. Nothing left. No sounds. No struggling. No movement in the black curtain. The wolves jittered and yelped loudly in place, trying to figure out what had happened to their pack member.

The silence was broken by the sound of very heavy footsteps, and as they grew louder so did another sound reach everyone’s ears. A strange rasping noise, like the death rattle of a greater predator, one that makes even timberwolves nervous. The noise grew louder and louder until Fluttershy realized it was indeed the sound of breathing — slow and measured, like some kind of machine.

Through the curtain of black emerged a gigantic figure upon which the smoke glued and flowed across its body like a log surfacing above water. A black, metallic body the likes of which the pony had never seen before. Its imposing figure squashed the mare down harder than the active threat that the timberwolves posed, and it had simply walked into view. The longer Fluttershy gazed at the monstrous giant, the colder she felt and the more she felt her soul getting crushed by its sheer presence and the nameless fear it produced within her.

Suddenly its gaze was upon her. The hairs on her neck stuck up further, she knew nothing of this creature nay. What this thing is. But behind those glassy red eyes, she spotted an intelligence comparable to her own, it was frightening her. It regarded Fluttershy for a moment before turning to face the timberwolves that growled loudly.

The Timberwolves snarled and snapped their jaws at the creature, yet they did not charge toward it. They glared at the creature warily, despite their size and numbers. One of the Timberwolves was braver than the rest and ran towards the creature, it used it and then leaped into the air. Claws out and teeth bared.

And then it happened.

Snap-hiss

It was so quick that even Fluttershy, who had seen Rainbow Dash at her quickest, had trouble following it. All she saw was a black blur. With a familiar snap-hiss, there was an explosion of purple flame and a sharp howl. Then suddenly two halves of the Timberwolf tumbled to the ground.

Fluttershy let out a gasp. The creature had moved to a new spot on its torso leaned down and its legs positioned back, in the creature's hand a purple blade of light shone brightly it hummed like a low hum of electricity.

She heard Apple Bloom gasp with surprise, and it was easy to see why. In the hands of the creature was a familiar cylinder-shaped object only this time it was colored gold.

‘So that’s what it was; a weapon,’ she thought. Her eyes trailed toward the Timberwolf that had been struck cleanly, despite the char.

The creature stood up fully as it regarded the now endangered Timberwolves. Three more decided to charge at the giant, but as one of them was decapitated during its leap, leaving the body to bounce weakly against its killer’s body.

Fluttershy watched as the black giant backhanded another, and like an executioner of old, bisected the third wolf from the middle of its head, causing the pegasus to feel very sick. The giant kicked the timber wolf’s wooden corpse off as it refocused its gaze on the remaining aggressor.

Its wooden face was caved in on the side, broken wooden teeth hanging loosely as greenish sap in place of blood gushed from its wounds, almost like a hammer had been taken to its skull. It stumbled back onto its feet to stare at the monolith of black in fear. It tried to run off but was never given the chance. The creature thrust its hand out and, without warning, the timber wolf began floating in the air, panicking. The giant then balled its hand into a fist, and the timberwolf let out a quick yelp before it imploded on itself with a resounding crack and a weak tumbling of wood chips.

Its mangled corpse was then tossed towards the rest of the pact, frightening them. The wolves scrambled out of the way as their former pack mate slammed into a tree.

Fluttershy couldn't believe what she was seeing. This wasn’t a battle, this was a slaughter, and that's a term Fluttershy never thought she’d use. Apple Bloom hadn’t said a word. She glanced at the young filly, who was also watching the whole thing with wide eyes, like her whole life was starting to change, and Fluttershy felt the same.

The wolves probably realized that they couldn’t take down the new predator easily, and all of them, the remaining pack, began to circle the creature. None of them moved within the reach of that terrible blade, wary after the example done on their pack mates.

There was a misconception about timberwolves. Most ponies would assume that they were mindless beasts. Dark magic taking the form of a wolf and using wood as their bodies.

This was not the case. Timberwolves were a lot smarter than they were given credit for, something Fluttershy knew from watching them hunt.

One of them got close and snapped its jaws at the creature, trying to goad it into attacking again. Others began to follow suit; some did mock charges or leaps but it didn’t seem to be working. Those that came too close were suddenly pushed away by what seemed to be nothing but air, slamming into trees or vanishing into the shadows.

One of the wolves seemed to get impatient and charged in, snapping its jaws on the cape and then yanking it back, forcing the creature to stumble back.

The other wolves took advantage of this perceived weakness and began to converge on their prey. One of them leaped forward and clamped its jaws onto the creature's sword. Fluttershy expected a howl or a shriek of pain, yet none came other than a muffled grunt. The other wolves charged in to pile onto the armored giant, and one dived down for his throat.

Suddenly, a loud CRACK split the air, and the Timberwolf slumped forward with a splintered, smoking hole in its head. The other monsters had frozen at the sound, staring at their fallen packmate. Then two more sharp cracks rang out in quick succession, and two more heads shattered into flying splinters. The rest immediately scattered, more from the noise than from seeing their packmates drop dead with no explanation. In just a few seconds, there was nothing in the clearing except the two ponies, the dark giant kneeling on the ground, and the smoking, crushed, and perforated remains of no less than six timberwolves.

Silence reigned in the clearing, save for the heavy, metallic breathing from the giant, now wheezing and labored. Slowly, she began to approach the slumped giant, before a rhythmic thump, thump, thump, thump, stopped her short. Slowly, another hulking figure strode out of the darkness, carrying something long and thin. It stared at her for a moment with its bright flashlight eyes. Seeming to ignore her as a threat, it slowly turned its head around, searching for any movement. Finding none, it stumped towards the first giant, throwing a comment over its shoulder in a grating voice.

"Reassurance: I am not here to harm you, so don't panic, meatbag. I must attend to my master first, then I'll see to your wounds."

Fluttershy could only blink in confusion, before silently going to check on Apple Bloom, leaving the newcomer to his work.

A bullet shell was ejected out of the rifle and onto the ground with the rest.

Teefour glanced down to the sniper rifle. He nodded in satisfaction, impressed by the slugthrower’s performance despite its age and condition and the power it produced. Perhaps he should have Obee restore it, or even improve it; such a tool, in Teefour’s optics, should not go to waste.

He had to admit, while he usually didn't like activating the combat subroutines, it felt good to be back in action after so long. Maybe it was his security droid base code talking, but he did so enjoy pulverizing rambunctious meatbags.

He stepped out of his hiding spot and made his way to his master, only stopping along the way to set Kyugee back on his wheels. A quick, seconds-long exchange of binary between the two brought Teefour up to speed, then the droid sped over to the other side of the clearing, clearly worried for its newfound companions.

Anakin was still kneeled over, winded it would seem. An alarm pinged from his medical subroutines, but he set it aside. It wasn't wise or efficient to perform field dressings without making sure the area was secure.

Still, it was odd, Teefour thought. Usually, he wouldn’t be this tired. Compared to the reports that Teefour had read, battling those creatures should have been a cakewalk.

So what was—?

His thoughts were interrupted when he heard a whine, he glanced to the source of the sound which gained the attention of the others.

One of those wooden creatures was still alive despite its lower half being sliced by a lightsaber. Its eyes were flickering like an old light bulb about to burn out. Teefour should hasten its end. He casually strolled towards the wooden creature that was dragging half of its body away from Anakin.

Teefour stepped in front of it, halting its advance. The wooden canid looked up at the droid, showing the fear in its dying eyes.

Good.

And he unloaded another bullet on its head, making it explode from the proximity. Satisfied of the certain kill, Teefour ejected another bullet and made his way to Anakin, who was slowly standing back up.

“Teasing question: So, Lord Anakin, was that a good stroll?”

Lord Anakin snorted; the unusual sound warped even further through the vocoder. The former sith slowly got up, unsteadily, patting his dirty shoulders and cape. The purple blade of the lightsaber quickly retracted as he hooked the electrum-plated hilt to his belt.

It always puzzled Teefour why his synthesizer changed his voice so much when the HK subroutine was activated — not to mention the strange habit of prefacing a sentence with its contextual purpose. Perhaps it interfered somehow with the programming? No matter. He didn't need the dulcet, cultivated tones of Wilhuff Tarkin to blast meatbags.

Besides, his master needed more attention than frivolous ruminations — and that wasn't even mentioning the two meatbags behind him. Kyugee hovered around them, whistling and warbling in worry.

“Query: So you are the ones Kyugee had been leading to us?” Teefour asked, looking the pai up and down. “Fascination: I never thought we would land on a world populated with equid meatbags, especially one with intelligence and…wings.”

“Indeed,” Lord Anakin agreed. He turned his gaze to the two ponies. “Now might I ask who you are?”

The larger, pink hair equine spoke first. “I-I-I’m F-F-Flut-ttershy!” she managed to squeak out. She was clearly not a very strong-willed individual, Teefour could tell.

The smaller one with the red mane limped forward; Its forelimb appeared injured. “I-I’m Apple Bloom…”

Teefour cut off any prolonged conversation. "Observation: these two meatbags seem to be injured, master. The little one in particular seems to have a sprained limb, at least."

Anakin turned to better regard Apple Bloom, who shrunk away a little bit from the helmet's blank stare. "I-it does smart somethin'," she mumbled.

Teefour nodded and continued on. "Addendum: And the larger, squeaking meatbag — Fluttershy, was it — seems to be favoring her left wing, judging from what I can see of its structure from here. Suggestion: it would be wiser to bring the two to our vessel for medical care and safety? It would provide us more time and leisure to discuss matters." There was an agreeing whistle from Kyugee, who was regarding Fluttershy with his large photoreceptor.

Anakin nodded after a few seconds. "True. Then, we should not waste any more time here. Those creatures will likely return, and in greater numbers. It is the way of predators." He looked at Apple Bloom and gestured. The filly was suddenly lifted off her hooves, suspended by what seemed to be only air. She let out a startled little squeak and squirmed a bit in midair, hovering just a yard or so behind Anakin's shoulder as he began to walk back to the ship.

Teefour was both amused and a little sympathetic; he always felt Lord Anakin's display of 'the Force' a little unnerving. He turned to Fluttershy, who was staring up at the hovering Apple Bloom with wide eyes.

"Invitation: after you, madam," Teefour intoned, gesturing after the retreating pair with his slugthrower. Fluttershy squeaked and immediately trotted after Anakin, walking quickly to catch up to the man. Teefour brought up the rear, slugthrower at the ready. Kyugee came up next to him, keeping pace. Behind them, faint, distant howls broke the tense silence.

It wouldn't be long before the odd little group reached the starship. Then, Anakin's and Teefour would get the answers they were looking for.

Chapter 11

The journey back to the Nubian was short and uneventful, yet it felt long and uncomfortable. When Anakin ran into the woods and battled those wooden creatures the temperature in his armor began to rise, then he felt the uncomfortable heat begin to build up until it was smoldering.

Usually, he would be used to the heat — it was nothing compared to Mustafar — but because he was not as connected to the dark side as he was in the past, it now felt like he was wearing an oven.

‘What was I thinking, not installing more cooling vents?!’

On the bright side, the new prosthetic limbs worked better than anticipated. Sure, they were still outdated to some standards, but with Obee’s help, the two of them were able to replace some stiff sections that hindered certain movements, replacing the uncomfortable sections by replacing it with a more flexible and lightweight material they were able to scrounge up. The results provided greater mobility in the joints, and the speed and swiftness of his limbs were vastly superior to the prosthetics he used before. Not only that, sensory systems were installed into the limbs that shot electric signals into the brain to simulate feeling, which meant the stimuli of touch had returned.

Although it was still partially muted, by the Force, he could feel again!

With enough time he knew he could improve this technology, and he felt excited at that prospect. After all, managed to build C3-PO with a box of scraps from Watto’s shop. Though…he did have to steal from others to get the right parts.

He hoped that Obee could uncover any data from the ship that could boost their chances of survival. Even though it was unlikely to find instructions to, for example, build a sentry droid. It still wouldn’t hurt to try. He still had plans to improve his armor and perhaps removed these accursed weights off his damn shoulders. It was just a growing project amongst others.

Once inside, Anakin seated himself in the living area. He felt like he'd been running a marathon for an entire day. Then again, he had been tinkering with Obee, working on a spare piece of armor, and working to repair what little of the ship he could for a good while — not that it would ever fly again.

A deep sigh escaped his respirator. He felt a dew of the force seep into his muscles to alleviate the soreness — particularly on his shoulder. Maybe he pulled a muscle or something.

Teefour, on his side, tended to the two new guests. The youngling Apple Bloom looked around in amazement despite the room's current condition of loose ceiling wires and partially uprooted cables. Her excitement grew once she realized that Kyuugee wasn’t the only astromech droid and that he could talk.

Even the yellow creature, Fluttershy, as she called herself, shared the same kind of awe once she stepped foot—hoof— onto the ship.

“Whoa,” Apple Bloom expressed with childlike wonder. “This is ma first-time bein’ on an alien ship!”

“Order: Hold still please.” Teefour reached down to grab her sprained hoof making the filly yelp, he then carefully wrapped it up with a cloth.

Anakin wondered why Teefour didn’t consider using a bacta patch. Then he realized that their biology could react differently and they could be allergic to it.

It was unfortunate, but common with unknown lifeforms. Until the medical droid could get a DNA sample — Which no doubt he would — it was best to stick with some wraps.

“Statement: There we are!” Teefour said. “Doctor’s orders: Now make sure you get proper rest and try not to add too much pressure alright?”

Apple Bloom nodded rapidly. Anakin could see how nervous she was around the droid, so he called out to it. “Teefour, you forgot to switch off your combat protocols.”

“Embarrassment: Ah! My mistake.” The droid straightened for a moment then returned to a sem-slouch. “Ha. There we go. Back to normal.”

The small filly snickered. It made Anakin smile a little. He noticed, however, that Fluttershy had her eyes on him specifically.

Through the Force, he could sense all the different emotions wafting off of her — the main ones being curiosity and fear.

The small piece of the dark side that was still latched onto him stirred with life. Its dark tendrils reached to her wanting to taste her fear, to sip it like the finest wine.

Anakin leashed its tendrils to keep its attempts at bay. It struggled against him, agitated from being denied a meal, but it ultimately relented. If it hadn't fed on the animal fear of those wolf creatures it would have been far more difficult keeping in check.

With that dealt with, Anakin turned to face the quivering Fluttershy.

“Is there an issue?” he asked. She flinched at his harsh voice, and he quietly swore to himself. Of all the changes planned, a change to the vocoder settings was near the top of the list. He wouldn't get any information from these creatures if a simple question was barked at them with the voice of a demon.

She flinched and blinked at the same time and her jaw quivered. “U-u-um…” Fluttershy stuttered out. “W-w-w-where a-are w-we?” She gulped. “A-a-a-and w-who are—“

“Anakin,” he interrupted, which made her squeak. “My name is Anakin Skywalker.”

Fluttershy’s eyes widened. She was about to speak until Apple Bloom appeared on his lap so fast Anakin swore she teleported.

“YOU’RE LUKE’S PAPA!” A small part of Anakin had admitted that the little pony had an impressive set of lungs on her. Another part was silently thanking Sidious — thanking! — for having sound dampeners installed in the suit. If his eardrums hadn't already melted that shriek would have burst them

Fluttershy, unfortunately, wasn't so lucky; she was rubbing her ears. “Apple Bloom, inside voice…”

“Oh.” The child giggled nervously while stroking the back of her head. “Sorry…”

Anakin tilted his head slightly. His shoulder and neck twinged slightly at the movement, but he ignored it. He would dip in some bacta after he got to the bottom of things.“You know my son?” he asked.

“Oh, yeah!” Apple Bloom bounced happily. “He landed in our backyard.” She sat down. “Well, crash landed.”

Anakin had wondered where that pod landed. All the transponder had reported was that it had landed in an open field. “I see. So, where is he?”

“And might I inquire about his health?” Teefour asked while wrapping a bandage around Fluttershy’s wing with delicate care.

“Oh. He’s doin' okay! He was helpin' back at the farm until…” Apple Bloom suddenly looked nervous and fell silent.

Fluttershy drew in on herself a bit; she looked apprehensive.

Was it because of earlier events?

Oh who was Anakin kidding, of course it was! Who wouldn’t be frightened after they witnessed him decapitating and crushing those wolfen creatures asunder? Not to mention the fact that he was over six feet tall, jet-black from head to toe, and had a kriffing skull for a mask. If they knew what he did before as Darth Vader, the color of their fur would no doubt be as pale as Ahsoka’s lightsabers.

In any case, Anakin wanted to know about his son — and why he wasn’t with them in the first place. “Is there a problem?” He asked, taking care to control his tone of voice as best he could. “If my son is doing fine, then why hasn’t he accompanied you here?”

It was odd that Luke was not present with them if he were indeed healthy and capable. Anakin could feel panic beginning to kick in; his heart seeming to flutter and jump at the thought of his son in peril; but he kept that emotion under control. He needed information rather than threaten lives. Luke wouldn't approve if he started threatening his new friends, and his son was more than capable of handling himself. He was fine — wherever he was. Anakin hung onto that thought like a lifeline.

The group remained in an almost complete silence broken by the electric hum of the ceiling light and the occasional whistle from Kyugee and Obee—who wheeled in earlier to see his twin— until Fluttershy began to speak.

“U-um M-Mr Skywalker—“

“Anakin,” he interrupted a bit harshly. Wincing, he struggled to make his tone more gentle. “Just Anakin.”

She nodded nervously. “A-Anakin…y-you see what happened…was…” She took a deep breath to calm her nerves and faced him. “Our uhhh… law enforcement had taken him away to a place called Canterlot. It’s—“

“Ohhh! Let me tell him!” Apple Bloom interrupted, she faced him and explained. “It’s a pretty big castle that hangs on the side of a mountain. Mah Granny Smith said it’s one of the oldest places in all of Equestria!”

“Really?” He asked. Even though he had just met this youngling, a fondness began to well in his chest, and he appreciated the information, and yet; there was that part of him that felt the prickles of agitation at the mention of his son being taken.

“Yeah!” Apple Bloom cleared her throat. “Umm, sorry, Fluttershy. Continue.” She rubbed her scalp with embarrassment.

“Thanks, Apple Bloom,” she said softly, clearing her throat. She continued. “As I said, they are taking him to Canterlot because…” She stopped for a moment to think. “I’m not quite sure but if I had to guess, it was due to recent events…”

“Recent events?” Teefour asked.

Anakin can tell that the other two droids present were just as interested as he was.

Fluttershy nodded. “I think they called it the Thunder Clap?” She rubbed her scalp. “But anyway, everypony in Equestria felt this shockwave, and at first I thought I was a little tired, but then when I talked with a friend of mine she said she had a splitting horn ache. Something happened in Canterlot that did something to the magic around there, or at least that's what the ponies in town were saying.” Fluttershy rubbed her shoulder. “And I think it also came here as well, I’m not sure.”

Anakin asked. “When did it happen?”

“Three days ago,” Fluttershy replied.

An itch crawled on Anakin’s shoulders, and he flexed his arm to soothe the deepening ache there. His chest felt tight as the implications sank in. The timing of this “Thunder Clap” was too much of a coincidence, and it made too much sense. The struggle with the Thing on the world’s moon had been titanic indeed; when the clash erupted massively, all that raw energy had to go somewhere. The Force connected all things after all, and if the shockwave was potent enough even the marginally sensitive would feel something. Even Force-blind individuals could be affected by a great enough disturbance.

“I see.” Anakin moved Apple Bloom off his lap with the Force; causing her to yelp in surprise.

“Then allow me to rectify this issue.”

Teefour turned to him. “And just what exactly do you intend to do?” the droid asked suspiciously.

“I will go, and I will speak to whoever I need to see my son released.”

“And if they won’t?” Obee’s tone was skeptical.

“Then…” Anakin gestured, and Windu’s lightsaber flew into his hand with a resounding smack. Both Apple Bloom and Fluttershy stared wide-eyed at the weapon, which remained unlit. “I would consider aggressive negotiations.”

Silence reigned in the room. Everyone just stared at Anakin like he had grown a second head. Anakin felt a little annoyed at this point. “Well?” he asked.

“Well, what?” That had been Obee.

“Aren’t you about to try and persuade me about how bad of an idea that is?”

‘Why would we?” Teefour interjected. “You do have a point; you are the only one aside from the young master who can explain the situation best. Going to this ‘Canterlot’ to support him is a logically sound option, and besides, seeing as they have already taken the young master into custody, that denotes some belligerence. We cannot expect them to see reason.”

“Yeah, he’s got a point!” Apple Bloom cut in. “Two of the guards were nice enough, but one o’ them was reeeeeaaaaaally nasty! He even accused Applejack an’ me of treason for helpin’ Luke!”

Anakin gaped at the group before him in disbelief. “You do realize what I’m suggesting, don’t you?” he exclaimed. “We’ll be running headlong into a likely fortified city, most likely on high alert, teeming with hordes of armed guards and Force knows what else! And it’s entirely possible we’ll have to fight them all to get my son out of there. Knowing that you’re all willing to come with me?”

The combat medic droid shrugged. “That was never in question for us,” he said, gesturing to himself and the astromechs. “Where you go, we go, and if it is to aid the young master, we’ll fight to the end.” There was an agreeing chirp from Kyugee, and Obee added his two credits.

“And besides, it’s, well, you. Someone has to watch your back.”

“Uhhh…I’m not sure about this…” Fluttershy shifted from hoof to hoof. “B-but if it’s to help Luke, I’ll do what I can. If it’s alright with you, I mean…”

Anakin didn’t know what to say about this. Usually, someone would say ‘Oh no you can’t do this because something, something, something’, but none of that happened, not even from the two natives on the ship which he isn’t sure if they were going to join. If Anakin honestly felt conflicted about whether or not he should go.

But whether he should or not, his son needed aid. In the face of that, his decision was already made.

With a nod, he spoke. “Then shall we pre—“

He was interrupted by the sound of tapping. The group was surprised by both Apple Bloom and Fluttershy jumping at the sound. Seconds later, Obee spoke up.

“Lord Anakin. Ships sensors have detected a lifeform outside. It is different from those wooden creatures.”

Anakin turned to the two ponies. “Friends of yours?”

“I’m…not sure,” Fluttershy admits. “When I was following Apple Bloom and Kyuuge I didn't see anypony behind me.”

Apple Bloom chirped up. “Maybe it’s ma Granny!” Then a look of horror dawned on her face like she had just seen a Rancor for the first time. “Oh Faust, maybe it’s ma Granny.”

Anakin can only raise a brow, whoever her Granny is must surely be a terrifying force to be reckoned with.

“Hmmm, tell me,” Obee said. “Does your Granny wear a cloak and hold a spear?”

Her fear was washed away with a look of confusion “Uhhh…no?” Apple Bloom looked at Obee curiously. “Wait, how can ya tell?”

Obee was quick to answer. “This vessel's cameras are still operating. I was able to connect to them and view those on the other side.”

Anakin doubted they understood the astromech's explanation, he could see it in their eyes. Yet they both nodded. Clearing his throat, he spoke. “In the meantime, I will investigate this newcomer, and assess if they are friend or foe.”

Clipping Windu's lightsaber to his belt, he made his way down the hall, stepping over the scuttling mouse droids that were clearing the litter. He extended his senses towards the door and felt no malice from the other side, only wariness and curiosity.

Something felt amiss, however. Was the hallway always this long? His suit felt tight on his chest, and the ache in his shoulder half spread down his back. It was feeling hotter too. Perhaps he should let some of the cool air in. His mask whirred with life as it began to open up in the front, a few small flaps on each side to vent heat.

He was thankful for the few modifications he managed to squeeze in. Between that and the neural sensor pads replacing the needles in his helmet, it was a tiny bit more comfortable. Maybe he should figure out a way to lighten the casing of his chest computer, or somehow distribute the load into a smaller accommodation. Had it always felt this heavy?

The former Sith felt the cool air on his pale skin. It was something he missed dearly and found himself taking a moment to enjoy before continuing on his way with the mask snapping back into place, locking together with an automatic click. Fresh air returned to his lungs as the respirator switched back on to continue supplying him oxygen.

With a press of a button, the door opened at a slow pace, revealing the being outside. As Obee had predicted, it was hidden by a leathery brown cloak, it was tattered from branches of bushes and other kinds of foliage.

All that was visible was the black muzzle and the striped hoof wrapped around an intricately carved spear. Anakin couldn’t tell if it was a male or female, or even if it was the same species as Fluttershy and Apple Bloom.

In the Force, Anakin could only sense wary curiosity. He looked down at the stranger, trying to see something of its face; then the hood moved slightly and he could briefly make out bright blue eyes. The stranger in turn kept the point of its spear leveled at his mask, ready to impale him at the slightest provocation.

He needed to end this standoff. “I have no intention to fight," he began. If the stranger was unnerved by his voice, it didn't show. He continued "However, it is unwise to point a weapon at me. You will find no resistance from me — but if you require answers, I'd rather not give them at spearpoint.” A small voice in his head noted that Obi-Wan would have been proud of that little bit of negotiation.

The stranger in front of him blinked in surprise and then narrowed their eyes. “I have traveled from forest to shore, but I have never seen your kind before…” Their voice, feminine and exotic, reminded Anakin of some races and the sisters of Dathomir.

At least one question was answered, now it was time for the other. “May I ask who you are?”

“Zecora is my name.” She replied simply. Keeping her eyes leveled on him. “What are you called beyond this forested plain?”

Anakin blinked, this Zecora spoke in rhymes. She reminded him of Yoda, only he spoke in reversed sentences. “I am Ana—kin?”

What just happened? One moment he was just talking to the newcomer, the next his back was on the floor facing up the sky. Everything felt off, what had ha—

“Lord Anakin!”

Teefour? Why was his voice so…distant, what was…what was going on…?

Only his rapidly beating heart filled his ears, it was fast, and rhythmic like it was being played by an expert drummer.

The force…the force felt strange, it felt warm.

Darkness began to encroach on his vision, he realized at that moment he would lose consciousness, but his thoughts were on his son. He needed to see him, he wanted to talk to him but that chance would never be given at this moment.

The last thing he saw before blacking out was the multitude of eyes and optics staring with shock.

The chariot moved swiftly, carrying its four passengers without effort. A gentle breeze washed over them, cooling them and bringing the fresh smell of late spring. The sky itself was clear, a few clouds scudding high above.

When the carriage took off from the ground Luke was a little apprehensive; this wasn’t like being on an X-wing at all. Hell, it wasn't even like the old Sky hopped he had back on Tatooine! There was no seat or strap to keep him secure and prevent anyone from falling off. There was no reinforced glass to protect him from foreign objects that would fly and smack him in the face. He was completely bare to the outside, in the clouds miles above the ground.

Yet, he was perhaps experiencing the greatest time of his life for he could not fend off the smile growing on his face. The excitement coursed through his body as he experienced this new sensation. These ponies continued to surprise him.

At first, he didn’t know how the pegasi would be able to lift such a large carriage with the extra weight on it, but, to his surprise, it lifted from the ground as if an anti-gravity field had been switched on, such a device did not exist in this world.

Luke first thought that perhaps it was lifted by the force itself until he felt the power being generated. It was different and hard to describe, it raised some questions about what it was exactly.

Fluttershy did mention that they used magic, but Luke had interpreted that as them using the Force, and it was just perceived as magic. Yet what he sensed from a while ago, and what he’s feeling from the carriage itself, made him question if this was indeed another source of power he did not know of.

But if that were the case, how did it explain the literal ocean of force energy that stretched across the planet? Simply put, these were just questions he didn’t have and he doubted his father knew either.

However, like every question, they can be answered at a later date. Right now Luke wanted to bask in wonder, as they flew over the vast land of trees with a flock of birds flying away and a great glistening lake that seemed to snake across the fields for miles.

“I have to say, this is my first time seeing more of Equestria. It’s beautiful,” he stated while smiling.

Rarity giggled. “Amazing isn’t it?” She said, Leaning her hooves on the edge to set her head. “Not even the greatest, well-cut, and polished diamond could compare to this.”

“Ya darn tootin’, it’s one heck of a view!” Applejack replied happily.

Times like these were something that Luke enjoyed a lot: when he wasn’t burdened by the galactic war. If he was honest this world was just perfect for retirement, not just for him but for his friends. The people he fought alongside with, even…his father.

But if war had taught him anything, it is that peace only lasts for so long. Obi-Wan’s warnings still rang in his mind, he never forgot about the creature on the moon, he knew that he needed to be prepared for the coming storm. Whenever that great typhoon came, however, was still the issue at hand.

Speaking of weather, he should acknowledge the streaking blue rainbow that was looping around the carriage. “Haha! See I told you guys I can handle this!”

“Rainbow, stop doin’ that!” Applejack shouted. “You're gonna make yourself sick!”

Rainbow laughed while still looping around the carriage. “I know, I’m sick as heck!”

“Not that kind of sick!” Applejack shouted.

Rarity groaned. “Uhhgeee.” Her face became a little green.

“Are you alright?” Luke asked. He knew what she was experiencing, but he felt that he should ask with some concern.

Rarity replied. “Oh I’m…” she gulped. “Fine darling, I-I just have the occasional air sickness. Ugh, the spiraling colors aren't making it better…”

Maple decided to speak, edging away from her. “If you’re gonna puke, please do it on the other side.”

Rarity groaned. “Oh please… you might be a ruffian but I’m not that cruel…” Applejack rubbed her hoof on Rarity’s back.

Luke chuckled as he watched Rainbow Dash having fun.

He wondered how long it would be until they were at the location, he also wondered how long Rainbow Dash would continue her flight considering the two pegasus pulling the carriage did mention that the journey would be a long one.

Four minutes had passed, and Luke used that time to observe the landscape thoroughly. Once again he appreciated the beauty this world had to offer. From a distance, he spotted a flock of birds flying out from the tops of trees, in a dozen droves. He speculated that they were spooked by the large shadow cast from the carriage itself. That, or it was because of Rainbow Dash still cackling in the air.

He could hear Rarity mumble with some annoyance at Rainbow Dash’s antics. It made the young Skywalker chuckle at the antics as it reminded him of the old times he had with the others.

A tap on Luke's shoulder pulled him out of his mind as Applejack spoke. “Luke,” she said, a smile slowly rising as she pointed forward. “Look.”

Luke turned, and when his eyes fell on what Applejack was pointing at, he could only stare in awe.

It was monumental, it sprouted from the side of a large mountain like the branches of a tree. It wasn’t just a royal palace in the middle of a dingy town like he had seen so often, accentuating the difference in status and wealth. This place was so enormous that Lukei felt like it would take him hours to go from one end of the white land to the palace and back. Waterfalls rushed out from the unseeable peak of the mountain itself and crashed down into lakes that had been carved in the stone, directed through canals.

The water ran through the infrastructure like veins in a body, feeding the greenery around it and pooling every which way these creatures had directed it. He could see small lakes born from this craftsmanship around which colorful buildings grew. One such lake dangled on an artificial platform someway beneath the main body of the city and let out its contents through two openings into the valley far, far below. It was then that Luke realized that most of the city wasn’t built on nor into the mountain.

It was dangling from the side of it.

Rings around the base of the palace seemingly clung to nothing but remained steady and stable in the air. A very large circular platform from which extruded several more of smaller stature floated silently as large dirigibles docked at their sides. Luke could only see so far, so he couldn’t tell what they were disembarking, but he could still feel the lives through the force. He could sense the concentration of ponies here as well as other creatures traveling through the confines of the streets.

Focusing more on the finer details, Luke noted that most roofs were purple or golden while the vast majority of buildings were primarily white. On occasion, he could spot an open bit of street on which a sun, a crescent moon—or sometimes both—were present. He thought that they had to be pretty immense to be able to be spotted so clearly from the sky, but he wasn’t exactly sure what they meant. Did the ponies worship the sun and moon in some way? Was it royal symbolism? It was never mentioned before.

While Luke was no historian he still had interests in alien culture, and his mind began to fill with questions he would ask in the future.

Seeing his amazement. Applejack chuckled. “Heh, yeah, Ah had that same look when Ah first came here.”

If only his friends could see this! He wondered what their reactions would be. Would they be amazed like he is? Would his father be amazed?

Where was his father anyway?

“Beautiful…”

Luke was taken out of his thoughts once he heard a whisper, and turned towards the source. Maple was smiling at him, and he was showing signs of relaxation. It seemed the hostility he had earlier was washed away seeing the kingdom they were about to land in like a soldier returning home after a long and arduous campaign.

Perhaps there was more to Maple than met the eye, Luke thought.

“Oh my.” Rarity spoke with her head over the edge. “Canterlot is more lively than usual.”

“I wonder why…” Maple under his breath. Luke heard it but chose not to acknowledge it or the venomous glare that he could feel on the back of his head.

From in front of the carriage, Spearhead shouted. “We’ll be making a descent soon. Please keep close and don’t wander off!” That last sentence, specifically thrown to Rainbow Dash.

Speaking of the Rainbow manned pegasus she was beginning to look tired after flying for so long. She huffed a lot, her wings trembled with the strain used to keep her aloft, but Luke could tell she still had the drive to stay afloat.

In a bid to boost her morale, he called out to her. “You got this Rainbow! We are almost there!”

Applejack chuckled next to him. “Come on Rainbow, yer more stubborn than a mule, I know you can do it!”

“I-I know I can!” she shouted back. “I-I’m just enjoying the view from up here!”

A humored snort was heard coming from Rarity, her air sickness from earlier seemed to lesson on her.

The chariot slowly began its slow descent with the winds beginning to pick up, the chariot even began to creak slightly from the sudden turn. Luke guessed that their destination was the palace.

The closer they got, the more varied and detailed the immensity of the palace grounds became. It almost looked like it was the size of a small village from where Luke sat. There were cobblestone pathways with large trees and bushes on the side trimmed in various shapes, many of which he did not recognize and could only conjecture about.

There were large groups of around ten armored ponies patrolling the grounds, their golden armors gleamed from sunlight in a show of brilliance. Some of them had extra padded armor covering their legs, and even though he couldn’t see it from the distance he was, he could see a…symbol on their chest. A crest, but he couldn’t tell what it was.

They often stopped to check with groundskeepers and other employees about their identity. Several large buildings were built into the inner side of the walls, which were reinforced with thick white beams crisscrossing their front. The buildings looked like they were squishing themselves against the wall as they gradually flattened and climbed higher.

Dotting the landscape were smaller buildings, seemingly homes, with immense mansions that made the houses seem smaller than they should be. The multitude of things the Jedi could sense here was overwhelming. Of course, the lives, but the Force felt… strange. He could feel its regular motions flowing across him like a cool breeze on a lukewarm day, but there were other things. Things piercing through that veil, trying to overpower it, or somehow circumventing it entirely. It was only their proximity to the Force that alerted Luke to their existence. It was disconcerting for him. Were they different aspects evading his limited knowledge or something else entirely?

But most of all, Luke felt pain. Here, more than anywhere else, the Force felt bruised. It was strained and overstretched as if a great shock had run through it. He could feel it in the ground beneath his feet, and smell it in the air. He could see it flash across the faces of ponies passing by for a split second; a momentary gap of naked grief in the glamor of cheer; before the mask reasserted itself, and they continued on their way as if nothing had happened.

Canterlot, for all its pristine beauty and stiff resolve, was shrouded in pain and melancholy. And he, Luke, had been instrumental in causing this pain.

Luke was then immediately assailed by the sweet fragrance of perfume. In any regular scenario, this might have been a pleasant moment, but the sheer intensity made him reflexively cover his nose. Did these creatures just enjoy such an overpowering stench, or did they have diminished olfactory capabilities and this was the only way for them to notice odors?

With a shake of the carriage and slight forward momentum that was quickly stopped by the pulley ponies in front, Luke was finally within the castle’s grounds. The carriage landed in one of several large circles flattened and treated from the rest of the grounds. It took on a tannish color and crumbled underfoot, keeping it easy to spot even in the dark, although some shoots of grass were starting to pop up through the material.

All eyes were immediately on the newcomers, displaying various emotions. Some were surprised to see something like Luke, while others — he assumed they were the older and more experienced guards — were able to hide their emotions better.

Applejack and Rarity were the first that trotted out, Luke and Maple last. Then there was Rainbow Dash who landed down in a heap trying to catch her breath while wiping the sweat from her brow, snickers can be heard coming from Applejack and Spearhead. The latter spoke first. “I told you it would be long.” He said with humor.

Rainbow glared while pulling herself back up on her shaky legs, cursing under her breath. Then she looked around her and quickly stood tall, adopting the same swagger he had seen from the start, even though her wings and legs were visibly quivering. Luke had to suppress a laugh in order not to incur her rainbow fury; Han and her would definitely be best friends.

“I see you’ve all returned.” A voice called out, authoritative in tone. “With civilians and…who is that?” The voice came from a particularly large Unicorn, striding toward them from the nearest gate.

He was as tall as Big Mac with a build honed from militaristic training, Luke could tell pure muscle hid behind fur as white as Rarity’s. The horn on his head was twice as long as hers, ending with a pointed tip. Luke knew that horn was more than just for show, given the chance he’d rather not end up skewered by it.

Gleaming amethyst and gold armor covered the top of his form, the back being protected by a segmented plate, that moved unison to his stroll. At the center of the chest was a purple star, with its center being pink.

Was it a kind of rank? A family crest? Was he a captain perhaps? Luke wondered. His question was answered when Spearhead, Flash Sentry, and Maple lined up in front of him.

“Sir!” They greeted in unison, snapping off a picture-perfect salute as one.

He acknowledged them with a nod “I assumed things went well?” He asked.

Spearhead was about to speak until Mapel beat him to it. “Yes actually, more than that actually.” he turned to Luke and glared at the Jedi. “We just caught the one that started the Thunder Clap!”

The sounds of gasps and murmurs filled the air now, as all eyes were on Luke. He was still unbothered but the same could not be said about his three companions; their faces contorted with different stages of anger.

“Now hold on just one damn—!”

Applejack was about to unleash a tirade of curses, but Luke was quick enough to dispel that with precision.

“Stop,” he said calmly. “It’s okay.” Varied looks from them said otherwise. He knew they wanted to defend him, and he appreciated it but it was unneeded. He shot them a look that said, ‘Don’t worry, just let it play out’ Then he smiled at the three with such disarming charm it would make even old Ben proud. Thankfully they relented, with Rainbow huffing.

“Is that so?” The captain said. Hir brow raised with a questioning leer. “And your proof?”

Caught off guard by the question, Maple stiffened, and he began to splutter. “W-w-well I-I uhh—!”

Rainbow Dash snickered while she whispered to her friends. “Looks like he didn’t think it through.” Applejack snorted with humor while Rarity shook her head with amusement.

While Luke watched patiently as the scene played out, Maple pointed to him. “Well, look at him!” He shouted as if that was enough. “He even admitted it!”

“Spearhead, is that true?” The captain asked, focusing on him now.

The brown pegasus nodded. “Yes sir, but that’s not all.” Spearhead leaned into the captain’s ear and began to whisper, Luke couldn’t hear it but by the facial features of the captain and the flicks of his blue tail, it was clear that he was displeased.

“I see.” The captain gave a look at Mapel which lasted for a second, with said pony shrinking down a little. Before he turned to Luke, he strolled up to the man and said. “I’ll be honest, I’ve never seen anything like you before. Do you have a name?”

Luke nodded. “Yes, I am Luke Skywalker.” He introduced. “I do not know how many times you’ve heard this, but I mean you all no harm.”

“Yeah!” Applejack called out. “He’s done nothin’ wrong!”

“I agree. What are his crimes anyways?!” Rarity asked loudly.

The captain, unfazed by the mares, replied. “That is something I cannot say under jurisdiction.”

Rainbow Dash scoffed. “Is this about the ‘Thunder Clap’ that everypony is talking about?”

“No comment.” Was the instant reply. Other guard ponies stepped closer just in case things got more heated.

The captain was silent for a moment, then he spoke. “My name is Captain Shining Armor. I command the Castle Guard here at Canterlot.” He gave Luke a level look. “ Mister Luke Skywalker, do you know why you are here?”

Luke nodded. “I do, and I know you are only doing your job.” He said.

“I see,” Shining replied. He turned to the two Pegasus guards that had brought them to the yard. “Spearhead, Flash, please take our new guest to a cell. One of the better ones in the guardhouse, we won’t be keeping him there long.” Then he turned to Maple and gave his subordinate a cold stare with an equally cold tone. “Maple, I expect you to be in my office later. Understood?”

Maple didn’t reply but Luke could feel the spike of anxiety and fear wafting off him, he only quietly said. “Yes sir…” then bowed his head to not incite Shining Armor’s wrath.

“Well.” Spearhead started, looking at Luke. “Follow us then.” Then lead the way with Flash Sentry in tow.

Luke did so with no complaint, only having a calm demeanor as he walked behind the two. His companions shouted to him.

“Don’t worry Luke, you’ll be out soon!” Applejack stated. “Yer gonna be okay!”

“Yeah, if not I’ll bust you out myself!” Rainbow Dash stated. Earning some looks from that.

Rarity was quick to correct that. “What she means is that we are here to support you no matter what, you won’t have to be afraid!”

That made the young Jedi knight laugh. There was no reason to fear if he was honest. He had faced down criminals, Stormtroopers, and two Sith Lords along with a menagerie of other dangers. Going to an Alien prison was no worse than a stroll over the Dune Sea, making the trench run on the Death Star, facing his father stars knew how many times, frequenting cantinas in Mos Eisley or even Nar Shaddaa, pranking Yoda, or stepping between Han and Leia in the middle of an argument. Those girls were so precious that it made his heart warm, even though they’d been friends for a few days they already treated Luke like they had known him for years. If he was honest he felt the same way.

“Rarity, I’m doing just fine, I appreciate it though!” Luke shouted back. He turned to Spearhead as Shining led the two away, with a visibly sulking Maple in tow. “They won’t be arrested, will they? For helping me?” Spearhead snorted.

“Absolutely not,” he spat. “Maple was way out of line threatening a civilian family with treason charges; much less one of the most influential families in Ponyville.” He caught Luke’s confused expression. “Their apple crop is one of the most well-known in Equestria,” he explained. “Ponyvill was practically founded because of their apples. More to the point, your posh friend was right; we don’t arrest ponies just for being good hosts to a stranger.”

Flash Sentry spoke up. “That said, those girls care for you quite a bit for a pair of ponies who had known you for just a few days.” He looked up at him with a slight scrutinizing gaze. “Are you mind controlling them?”

Now it was Luke’s turn to snort. “No, but I can see why you’d assume that.” He said with a smile. “It caught me by surprise too, how quick they were to befriend me.” Flash raised an eyebrow at that, but whatever was on his mind, he refused to voice it.

As he followed the two guards toward the guardhouse, a thought lingered in his mind. He could have sworn he sensed something through the force, like a tiny swell of power coming from the girls, Rainbow Dash more so…

He would mull on it later.

When Luke stepped inside. There was no shouting of profanities or the sounds of metal bars being smacked. It was just…silent. Only the clopping of hooves and boots against stone. It was a little strange but certainly not unwelcome.

The guardhouse was dimly lit, the only light coming from torches hanging from the walls. The ground was clean and pristine of any possible litter and the air was devoid of any strong, unpleasant stenches. The young Skywalker took in his surroundings as he moved forward: The walls themselves were covered in markings and scribbles he didn’t recognize. Though they did seem similar to the runes on his cuffs, was this perhaps their written dialect or something else?

As he walked with Spearhead and Flash Sentry he took a look at the cells and noticed that they didn’t seem to have been used in a very long time. That said, they looked more comfortable than most detention cells or brigs he had seen. They looked more like cheap hotel rooms than housing for criminals; proper beds, some bookshelves, even the walls seemed to have been plastered and painted with a warm cream color, more comforting to the eye than the drab gray of bare stone.

Eventually, they came to a stop. Spearhead opened the cell allowing the young Skywalker to enter. Flash Sentry then removed the cuffs with a silver key, then the runes on the cuffs glowed and hummed. In an instant they snapped off and into Speahead’s hoves, returning to its previous form.

“There, now you don’t have to worry about those anymore.” Spearhead then slid the cell door closed and said. “You’ll stay here until Her Highness is ready to speak with you.” He then tapped the cell bar with his hoof. “These bars are covered in magic runes, so if you attempt to use magic you’ll be negated.”

“Interesting”; Luke thought even though he couldn’t see the runes. Were they perhaps so tiny the naked eye couldn’t see them?

Placing two fingers on the bar he sent a stream of Force energy into it and was met with a reaction. An orange-red glow appeared with the runes being shown. A sizzling similar to oil boiling on a hot pan was being produced from the metal yet no heat was being made. There certainly wasn’t pain of any kind. He felt the force being pushed back or…reflected, like trying to make two positive magnets meet. He poured a little bit more power then suddenly a sensation came across his body, a kind of pressure trying to contain the power back to his body.

This got a reaction out of the two guards. “What are you doing?” Flash Sentry asked, his wings tensed. Spearhead, however, was more relaxed but was ready to pounce at any moment.

Luke smiled calmly and replied. “I’m just testing the defense, I’m impressed.” Though Luke was honest with himself, if he was any lesser Force user than he was before he doubted he would get free, even now it would take a considerable amount of power to burst out from the cell. But he wouldn’t do that unless hewanted to compromise his peacekeeping mission.

Retracting his finger the runes slowly vanished and the sensation along with it. “Well, don’t mind me.” Luke sat down on the new one he’ll be sleeping on, it was comfortable, but not as comfortable as the mattress from Sweet Apple Acres, but it'll do.

Seeing as Luke settled in, Spearhead turned to Flash. “Alright, Flash, I want you to stay here and stand guard, I’ll be right back.”

“Where are you going?” The younger stallion asked.

Spearhead replied. “I’m going to get our equipment. We're going to stay here so I might as well bring snacks” He patted Flash’s shoulder. “I shouldn’t be long, okay?”

With that Spearhead trotted away, leaving Flash Sentry with the new inmate. The Stallion nervously looked at Luke, with the former waving at him. “Oh boy…” he muttered.

Luke understood the creature’s nervousness and apprehension. Most sentient species were usually afraid of something new; something they couldn’t understand and it was usually why some species were more hostile than others. It wasn’t because of ignorance, it was because of an evolutionary drive that had been engraved into the very bones of life that made them react the way they did. Of course, with the invention of hyperspace travel most beings were now less hostile and more trusting, but considering he was now on a planet that he never knew existed and doubted the rest of the galaxy even knew, and where the hyperspace technology didn’t exist, the behavior was warranted.

Seeing as Flash had decided to start his guard duty by facing away from Luke, the Jedi had decided to check on some of the books on the bookshelf in his cell. He telekinetically levitated one towards him, the book was red with its edges being black, and the cover of the book had… a strange creature on the front, with a squarish skull and two horns protruding from the back of its head. The title was on the bottom, but he couldn’t read it. Luke could only find amusement in that; these ponies spoke Galactic Basic well enough, but it seemed wherever they had gotten it from didn’t include Aurebesh.

Shame because it looks interesting. Maybe he could use the Force to translate the language. But then how would he do that?

‘If Ben or Yoda appear again I’ll ask if they know if such an ability exists.’

Well if there is nothing to do, then meditation will have to do. He shuffled himself onto the bed more with his boots removed, leaving him in black socks. He closed his eyes, placed his hands on his lap, and then started meditating.

Luke had to admit that even after three years of getting used to it, meditation wasn’t one of his favorite exercises; though he knew it to be necessary. it allowed both his body and mind to relax, to stem the tides of anxiety and fatigue to more manageable levels, and to remove the overbearingness. It also helped to control his emotions. On the day he crossed lightsabers with his father for the first time on Cymoon-1, he allowed those emotions to overtake him. He had been lucky to escape that with only his ego bruised. On Bespin, as a Jedi trained only enough to give him plenty of confidence, but not enough strength, he hadn’t been so fortunate. It had cost him his friend, his father’s lightsaber, and his hand. It took him a while, but under Yoda’s tutelage, Ben’s help, and his journey of self-discovery over the following year, he learned not to make the same mistake again. He finally gained wisdom. Then he faced his father once more with a calm mind and demeanor, even while under the gaze of the Emperor himself. It had lasted for a good while even as they dueled, but when his father mentioned corrupting his sister…he had snapped. All he saw was red and just wanted nothing but to end him right then and there. Thank the Force he didn’t- the power he felt when each strike was made was stronger. He felt mightier than a rancor; like he could take on an entire army of well-trained stormtroopers and come out unscathed. He felt the hot power coursing through his veins, and it was glorious.

And it scared him.

Being under that state wasn’t right, like he wasn’t himself. Yet Luke was not naive and attempted to deny what happened and blame it on the dark side. That was not how it worked. He learned that while that vast dark ocean of boiling stimuli enhanced his rage, that emotion came from him.

Perhaps he could ask his father. After all, the man himself was practically bathed in the Dark Side itself, and if anyone had any knowledge of it, it would be him.

‘Hmm… how is my father?’ he wondered.

A voice called out gaining his attention. “Can I ask you something?” Luke opened his eyes to see Flash sentry staring at him.

“Fire away, but is there an issue?” Luke asked.

Flash shook his head. “No no, it's just…” He paused himself, trying to get the right words out. “Are you uhh…uhh”

“An alien?” Luke supplied drily.

Flash nodded his head. “Yeah, yeah, are you an actual alien?” There was a child-like curiosity in the young stallion’s eyes. One that Luke decided to fulfill with an answer.

“Why yes, I am.” He smiled.

A look of awe grew on the young stallion's face, Luke could sense his growing excitement. “Wow really!” He stifled, then he shook his head rapidly to remove the smile. He cleared his throat “I mean uhh… interesting.”

Amused, Luke chuckled while Flash Sentry slowly became embarrassed. “I’m assuming you have more questions right?” he asked, Flash nodded rapidly. “Alright then; fire away.”

To say things were tense would be an understatement to Shining Armor. The atmosphere felt thicker than cold mud. The three mares following behind him sported a myriad of emotions about the eventual interrogation of Luke.

He turned to the others after opening the door to his office and slowly scanned them all.“Please step into my office and don’t touch anything.” The three nodded in agreement, but Rainbow still shot him a glare that he reciprocated with a stern gaze. He then turned to Carmine who had followed behind. “Maple, I want you to wait out here. We will be talking afterwards. Understood?”

The red stallion bowed his head down. “Yes, sir…” he said quietly.

With that done Shining shut the door and turned towards the mares. “Please sit,” he said as he made his way behind his desk.

His quarters were spacious and illuminated by the afternoon sun from a window on the right side of the room. On the walls hung paintings and pictures of previous captains who once led Shining’s regiment, although the further back they went, the more haggard the ponies became. A sign of the tumultuous past brought into the modern times… Directly behind the stallion’s desk was a hoof-crafted map of Canterlot, detailing as much as possible from the castle down to the finer details of ponies walking in the streets, even if they were a bit difficult to spot. Beneath that and to the sides were small shelves holding many books with gold-inlaid spines and the symbol of the guard printed at the base. Each was related to the military in some manner, from military tactics to handling supplies, and all looked quite worn to some extent.

Whether Shining was the one reading them that much or the wear had come from his predecessors was up to him to answer if so asked. Sitting on Shining’s desk was a plethora of neatly stacked documents he had sorted through earlier and needed to deliver quite soon, but the current situation warranted his focus more than some papers did.

“Now.” The stallion cleared his throat and then sat down, placing his hooves in front of him. “I want you three to explain in a calm, orderly fashion. Which means no shouting, no getting physical, and no interruptions. I am here to question and to listen,” he stated firmly yet calmly. Hopefully, he could get through it without issue. “Now, what are your names and what is your relationship with…Luke?” Honestly, he didn’t know what the heck Luke was other than by name. He would inquire into that later. “Starting…with you.” He pointed to the orange mare with the hat. “What is your name?”

Blinking, she sat up straight and then cleared her throat. “Right, Ma name is Applejack ‘n I am Luke’s friend,'' she stated firmly.

Her rainbow-maned friend let out a small scoff next to her. “I’m Rainbow Dash, and I’m also Luke’s friend,” she affirms. Judging from her tone it was obvious that she didn’t like what was happening with their mysterious visitor. Shining could tell that loyalty was in her heart as he could see it clearly in her eyes. He’d have to keep an eye on her so she wouldn't get in trouble.

He turned to the third mare of the group. She nervously rubbed her well-kept mane which glistened slightly in the light. Grunting, she eventually spoke in a regal and calm tone. “My name is Rarity, as for my relationship with Luke I would say… I'm more of an acquaintance. Like a very close acquaintance that's close to being considered a friend.”

“I see.” Shining nodded.” Now please explain to me about Luke. What is he and where did he come from? Also do tell me the truth because I will know if you are lying,” he said, his tone becoming a little stern.

Rainbow Dash let out a small scoff. “And why should we-” She didn’t get to say her piece once Applejack shoved a hoof in her mouth.

“I’ll explain because I know ma friend will get ahead of herself.” She turned to shoot a small glare at her. Rainbow Dash all but relented once Applejack removed her hoof and faced Shining. “Now for where he came from. It all started about…three days ago-”

Shining nodded as she began to recount days prior. His horn glowed as he pulled out a notepad and a feather, to which he dabbled into then started writing in information. He found it interesting. From what she said Luke came down from a giant sphere and crash-landed into their fields, and Luke wasn’t alone. The orange pony spoke about his companion named Kyugee. She described him as ‘A metal trash can with legs and squealed like her brother whenever it got scared’. An odd quote for sure, but Shining's heard weirder. From the way she described it, it almost reminded him of a-

“Wait wait wait wait wait!” he said rapidly while shaking his head from side to side, the action catching her off guard.”So what you're saying is that his companion was a robot?” She nodded.

Rainbow Dash spoke up. “Yeah I was just as surprised too,” she admitted. Rainbow raised an eyebrow in a confused manner. “What's with that look?”

If anypony were to describe Shining's face, it would be so blank that it might as well have been carved from granite. Despite looking calm, Shining was fuming within his mind because of all the things his subordinates didn’t think to bring was the Tartarus damned robot!

How could they have missed bringing such an asset to Canterlot?! That's the whole reason he sent them out there in the first place!

The captain of the royal guard took a deep breath to quell the bundle of nerves that made up his frustration. He was going to be speaking with Spearhead next after Carmine. The girls gave him a concerned look, though Rainbow Dash was more so confused.

“Umm…” Rarity started. “Are you okay?”

“Dandy,” Shining replied calmly with a hint of steel in his tone. “Anyways, it isn't important.” He motioned her with his hoof. “Continue.”

Applejack blinked, a little confused by Shining’s change of tone, then simply shrugged and continued. “So anyway…”

She continued her story of how she and her family then took them both in and how quickly they warmed up to their new guest. She described Luke as a calm and collected individual, who didn’t seem to be the least bit bothered with them though it did seem he was confused at first.

Shining then questioned her if there was a reason why Luke crashed into Equestria in the first place, and, thankfully, she had the answer. While she admitted that he was vague, he explained that it was an accident. He and his father had been trapped in something called ‘Hyper Space’ —Thanks to Rainbow’s clarification— for days after escaping a war above another planet.

They managed to get out but in the process, the vessel was damaged. They saw their world and were making plans to land somewhere in an empty field, but complications arose when something attacked them and tried to pull them to the moon. Luckily they won the tug of war but at the cost of the ship being flown towards Equestria. His father had pushed him into the escape pod which explained how he ended up in the field.

His father was apparently in Everfree.

If the captain was honest, what he wrote down word for word sounded ridiculous. Though his mind was reluctant to admit it, the accounts seemed to match up. After all, the Thunder Clap was quickly followed by a massive ball of fire that streaked across the skies. He knew his eyes weren’t messing with him once they veered off in a different direction, away from the castle.

Still, there were now two pressing matters: One was the apparent war. Two: the being on the moon. Once he was done with the girls’s testimonies he was going straight to Celestia urgently.

After 20 minutes of getting each of their testimonies, he closed up the notepad before turning to them. “Thank you for your testimonies, you are free to leave.” He stated.

“Wait!” Rainbow said. “What about Luke!? What's going to happen to him?’

Rarity chimed in. “I have to agree, you heard our story so he isn’t a threat.”

“Yeah, so can’t ya just let 'em go?” Applejack asked.

Shining shook his head at them. “I’m sorry but that’s not how it works, I can’t just let him go, he is still unknown to Equestria. I need to at least know what his motives are.”

“But he hasn’t—!” Rainbow Dash was about to argue on the alien visitor's behalf.

Shining, however, interrupted her. “Look, I already listened to your stories, however, I cannot just disclose this with a simple flick of my horn.” The reaction he earned from the three ladies was varied, but it was clear that they were displeased. Rainbow Dash looked to start a fight, where it not for her friends next to each other.

Despite how they felt, he knew that they understood even if they didn’t like it.

As they left, Shining was left to his thoughts. Quietly contemplating everything that happened lately, with the Thunder clap and now the Alien within canterlot. He could almost feel an ache beginning to grow within his skull.

Either way, he already made his decision. ‘Faust…’ he groaned in his mind. ‘I need a break.’

Author's Note

I deeply apologies for taking so long. Life has been taking us hard, I took it the most because my dog had unfortunately passed away, plus a menagerie of other problems me and the team have been facing.

Thankfully we managed through. So I thank you guys for your patients, I hope you all enjoy the chapter. Please tell me if there are any typos, I’m considering going through all of them the fix the irregularities I left behind.

Thank you.

May the force be with you all.

Chapter 12

Within the guardhouse, the newest arrival in Canterlot had already started to attract attention, and how could he not?

Luke was a total unknown to them, a real alien sitting in a cell conversing with one of the guards. But it was because he was an unknown that they became curious, and their curiosity eventually won the battle against their fears. Soon, a small crowd of guards had formed. Still, some had kept their distance and opted to observe while keeping themselves primed for any possible confrontation.

The braver—or foolish—in this case, have opted to ask him questions—simple ones, like if he was an actual alien from another world.

The one thing he never explained or at least in detail was his adventures across the galaxy, he felt that they would be overwhelmed with the information and so opted to tell the guards an abridged version.

Currently Luke was explaining to them about his home world, Tatooine. Reactions varied when he mentioned that his world was a gigantic desert, devoid of green vegetation and scarce sources of water—save for subterranean springs—but also holding a plethora of dangerous wildlife within its sandy cradle that evolved to deal with the extreme conditions.

The Royal guards were both horrified and fascinated, which reminded the Jedi of children listening to a frightening story. Once he mentioned the fabled apex predators that swam Tatooine’s sanded seas and vast dunes caught their full attention. “Wait, you have dragons too!?”

Luke raised his brow at the question. “Yes.” He replied. “I assume, by your reactions, that you have them as well, or something resembling what I’m picturing.”

“If what you’re picturing are giant flying reptiles with four legs that breathe fire, then, uh yeah, we do,” Spearhead spoke up. “I don’t know much about them, but they do have their own kingdom.”

Luke’s expression became one of surprise. A whole kingdom consisted of dragons. Truly, this world continued to marvel at him, and he wondered what other surprises it held.

Though he couldn’t help the shutter in his spine. If these equestrian dragons were as big as a Krayt and had their legendary temperament, he wouldn’t lie and say he’d be raring to face one, especially since this variety breathed fire.

He was taken out of thoughts when Flash spoke up. “Do your dragons have a kingdom too?”

Luke was about to reply when one of the guards spoke up. “Guys!” One yelled out. “The captain’s coming over!”

Spearhead's eyes widened. “Oh shoot, alright everypony in formation!” He ordered quickly. Luke watched with some amusement as the guards quickly got in position, to some it was easy, others however did stumble. Flash Sentry was one of them, and Spearhead’s snacks valiantly and tragically paid the ultimate price.

Luke heard the sound of hooves clicking against the stone floor, silencing the crowd of security as they all stood like status within a workshop. The young Jedi knight could feel the anxiety of the younger less experienced wafting from their nerves, Flash especially. Perhaps thinking he’ll get in trouble.

Eventually Shining rounded around the corner with Carmine tailing behind, the red stallion’s head was slightly bowed with his spiked helmet shadowing his eye a little. The captain’s features were calm, and relaxed while his eyes were sharp like vibroblades, they glanced between pony to pony.

“Hmmmm…” his eyes narrowed at them. Luke could hear one of the guards gulp with anxiety, and he couldn’t blame them. Their captain looked ready to tear them a new one for, what Luke assumed, leaving their posted area. Instead, all they got was a shake of his head. “You know, I would be on your rears for this, but considering the circumstances, I’ll let it slide.” He strolled up to Spearhead and Flash. Just as he was about to speak, his hoof crunched down on Spearhead’s snacks. Shining lifted his hoof, some chips stuck under it as he gave Spearhead a look that said ‘Really?’

Luke quietly chuckled, remembering the time something similar had happened to him in the rebellion. Luke heard a faint ‘sorry’ as Spearhead moved out of the way, then swept some of the chips away with his hoof.

After that incident, Shining turned to Luke and asked. “How’s your stay, currently?”

Luke mulled it over for a bit. “I would say it was pretty good, thank you for asking.”

“I see. Well, I have come to inform you that the princess has decided to have a meeting with you,” he stated, catching Luke off guard.

“Already?” he asked with a look of surprise that marred his features.

Shining nodded, then levitated a key to unlock the cell. Luke put up no resistance once the cool touch of the strange metal cuffs was clamped back onto his wrists.

“Now just follow us; do not cause any trouble here.” Shining stated with a hint of steel in his voice. “Otherwise we will have to take more drastic measures.” He leveled a stern look at the Jedi. “Am I understood?”

Luke nodded. “You have my word, I promise that I won’t cause an issue.”

“Good, now follow us, the Princess is waiting.” He stood aside, letting Luke step out of the cell, flanked on either side by Flash, who was still trying to shake the remains of an apple off of his hind hoof; and Carmine, who at least seemed to be more willing now to just ignore Luke rather than antagonize him. Spearhead, the second in command, trailed behind.

The young Skywalker had a feeling that even after this meeting, he would be here for a while.

Luke followed Shining out, into a large hallway with the ground covered with a large wine-colored rug, stretching from one hallway to another. The interior was much wider from the inside; it was almost breathtaking. He soaked up as much detail as he could, even the walls, shining and reflective, had spirals and intricate shapes running along the surface.

Paintings of what Luke assumed were people—or in this case, ponies— of great importance hung for all to see, to show the vast history of this kingdom…Canterlot he remembered, held within its walls. The young Jedi couldn’t help but appreciate the years of work that went into building this vast structure; every brick of smooth granite and marble must have been handled with excellent care, exquisite precision, and dedication.

He had to admit, Luke felt like he was, perhaps, underestimating the species a little even when they hadn’t developed their technology further. He hoped for the day to come when they discovered hyperspace… Perhaps that was one of the reasons why he was here.

The stroll was lengthy; Luke counted that only five minutes had passed even though it felt shorter, with the only noise filling the air being the sounds of trotting hooves and shuffling armor.

Eventually, he would see their oncoming destination. A great door of blue marble with an image of a pony with wings and a horn carved into the stone. From what his friends told him, the image had to be of an Alicorn: a being of great power that controlled the rotation of the sun and moon… Although Luke was skeptical of such a claim. And yet, there was no denying that this being did exist if the radiant energy he felt three days ago, in that first glorious sunrise, had any say.

As he got closer he examined the door a bit more. A carved image of the sun and moon, on either side of the Alicorn. Perhaps it was a representation of how this princess controlled the star and satellite’s rotation around the planet, it’s interesting, to say the least.

New noises filled the air, a low hum as suddenly the door began to open revealing the throne room. It was just vast, so vast that a Rancor could perhaps make itself at home, hell maybe even a young Kyrat dragon would make a nest here!

At the far end where the rug ran its course, sat in the middle was perhaps the strangest-looking throne that Luke had ever seen. It had two separate sections that at first he thought were steps until he saw the waterfall seeping down from a strip of wall inlaid with gold and silver. The water, as it flowed, displayed the sun on the golden left so long as the sun shone directly on it. It seemed, as well, that the right side was starting to show the faintest signs of a crescent moon as the day went on. Luke was unsure how this worked nor why it was done. Is this how they read time?

The golden throne on the left had a strong, sturdy appearance with a backrest and seat covered by deep blue cushions. The backrest sported shapes along its sides, making Luke think of the flames licking at space from the surface of stars. The base of the throne, likewise, seemed to ‘melt’ into the podium upon which it stood, creating a pool of golden metal that seeped over the steps to the floor he was on.

The silver throne on the right was quite similar in concept, with a seat and backrest covered with purple cushions. The backrest of this one was surrounded by a faint halo of white light that was extremely difficult to perceive in the sunlight. Likewise, with the golden throne, this one also had silver material stretching out from the base and over the stairs. However, these were straight, vertical, thick lines of silver that stopped neatly at the foot of the first step, much like the shadows the moons would cast upon everything at night.

‘Two thrones?’ Luke thought. He was under the impression that there was only one ruler. Going off his new friends' testimonies.

His thoughts were interrupted once they made their stop in front of the throne, and just as he was about to ask where the princess was, a flash of bright light blinded him, catching him off guard.

He squinted and turned his head away from the light, but as he did, he heard a new sound: heavy wings beating against the air, sending gusts that made his hair flutter and wave. Upon opening his eyes he was met with the sight of who could only be Princess Celestia, her presence bearing down on him with familiar, purple eyes.

In the Force she radiated like a sun, shining golden rays open the world. Another thing that struck Luke was how ancient she felt; at least as old as Yoda was, if not older! And yet, she seemed as young and fair as Rarity or Fluttershy. Being close to her felt suffocating like he was in the vicinity of a star’s gravitational pull, but that feeling vanished.

From the gleam in her eye, Luke knew why.

Like Rarity and Shining, she was pure white with flecks of light sparkling softly before vanishing. Her mane held the strangest assortment of colors yet compared to the others. At first, Luke thought it was a rainbow, but with pastel colors. It moved and flowed in the air like it had been submerged under a current of unseen liquid, or like a stream of solar plasma in a false color filter. Even her tail was waving and rippling smoothly in the air, carried aloft by its own wind.

She wore a golden crown with a purple gem in the center of her head, just sitting behind her long horn; which was at least triple the length of what he saw on other Unicorns. Around her chest was a golden torc with ornate writing and patterns chiseled into the metal, and at its center was another purple gem with slight hues of pinks glinting from within. Gold shoes rested on her hooves, shaped in the image of her tall crown.

Princess Celestia gazed down at him with curious eyes that seemed to examine him in detail. She gave him a soft hum and a soft smile that seemed to wean the tension from the air. “So…” she began in a warm, rich voice. “You’re the newcomer that Everpony has been panicking about.” She stated while lowering herself on her throne. Her wings furled behind her back, and every pony present — the captain, the guards, and the girls — sank into a low, deep bow, their forelegs bending down.

Shining stepped up first,. “Your majesty, we have brought the Alien, Luke as he calls himself.”

“Is that so?” She said in a calm tone.

Luke caught a glimpse of her ‘Cutie mark’ which was an image of a blazing sun on her hip. He’d need to ask about that eventually. He took a step forward, the chain between the cuffs rattled slightly from his movements. He lowered himself into a bow, a universal sign of respect to royalty.

He could feel the surprise coming off from the guards to varying degrees, including the princess herself. “It is an honor to meet you, your majesty.” He stated in a polite tone.

Amusement rolled off her like the morning dew on a leaf. She replied. “Oh I appreciate it, but please lift your head, no need for the formality.”

“Either way it should be proper for me to formally greet royalty.” He said. If he hadn’t, Leia would have his ear. Straightening himself up. “I have come to make amends for the issue I have caused.”

Celestia’s brow raised with surprise. “Oh? I see.” With a hum, she rested her back against the seat. “Well before we begin, I hope you don’t mind if your companions join.”

Now it was Luke’s turn to be surprised. “My companion—“ He was interrupted when the door behind opened, and there he got to see some familiar faces.

He couldn’t help but smile once Rainbow Dash saw him. “Luke!”

“Hey you guys, how are you three doing?” he asked.

Applejack gave him a warm yet snarky look. “We should be askin’ you that, sugarcube.”

‘Sugarcube?’

While Luke was processing the name given to him, Rarity attempted to step forth, only for a wall of guards to block her way.

Agitated, she huffed. “Honestly, is this necessary?”

“Sorry miss, precautions are required,” a random guard explained.

“And with great reason you three.” The Alicorn stated, gaining the attention of Luke and the girls. “Now.” Her bright smile reminded Luke of the twin suns of Tatooine soon vanished and became stern like the afternoon sun, an air of professionalism surrounded her as now her sights were on Luke. “Let’s begin.”

Warmth, a sensation he was now all too familiar with, coated his entire body in a blanket of liquid, numbing the various aches that plagued his muscles and nerves. Taking one breath made his chest feel tight like every strand of muscle was stretched further than it should, twitching like electricity was still forcefully surging through them. This was all accompanied by a painful throb in his head acting as the catalyst to waking up.

Opening his eyes, Anakin once again found himself, without a doubt, in the Bacta tank. Held suspended by the breathing mask and the straps on his shoulders, bubbles would occasionally float up from the floor and into the ceiling of the chamber.

His eyes darted around, his sight unimpeded in the bacta unlike in water, granting him a perfect vision of the lab which revealed that Teefour wasn’t present at his usual control station.

He tried to remember what had happened, recollecting a sudden pain in his chest and being on the floor. His last memory was Teefour and the locals looking at him with great worry as he passed out.

Which was why he was in the tank, but….

Anakin just felt so tired…

He didn’t know why, but every part of his body felt heavy and useless. In a way they never had. It was like the years of service had finally caught up, and it was only just now how truly exhausted he felt. He even tried to summon the Force, but that seemed to drain his strength further.

Not even a moment later, his eyelids now felt like they were weighted down with lead. What little strength he had to keep even his eyes open had expired. Attempts to fight against passing out were met with difficulty, moving his limbs and shaking his head, yet it seemed that his body would not cooperate. It became clear that even he could not win the war against sleep. His consciousness gradually drifted away. Into the calm darkness.

“Anakin.”

His eyes shot open and he gasped. The scenery had changed. The bacta tank he was submerged in vanished, replaced by a thick layer of gray fog and…solid ground

Glancing down, it was hard to tell but Anakin could tell he was standing on a smooth, featureless surface akin to polished marble… except he could see right through it.

The former Sith Lord knew where he was. After all; it surrounded him on all sides and even flowed through his being. Pulsing slightly with invisible power evenly, like the soft beats of a living being's heart.

“The Force…” he said quietly. His voice was barely a whisper, yet it seemed to echo off his surroundings.

Slightly surprised but undeterred. He set his gaze to the sky—or what could be considered the sky— and found that it was also obscured by the gray mist. He raised a tentative hand in the air to remove the layer, yet Anakin stopped himself for a moment and then lowered his hand. Confusion ran through him like ichor in his veins. Questions seeped into his mind.

Why did the Force bring him here in the first place? In fact, where is ‘here’?

It was not the calm tides of the Lightside nor was it the churning rapids of the Darkside. Two vast conceptual aspects of the universe, as a whole, and yet the realm that he currently resides in…seemed to be between both?

How was that possible?

“Anakin.” Jolted from his thoughts, the urge to reach for the lightsaber, despite it not being present at his hip, was squashed beneath the great tide of discipline; he looked for the source of the voice but could not find its origins. It seemed to bounce off every surface.

‘At least I wasn’t hearing things…’ he thought. Whether that was good or not was left to fate, so he replied. “Who is there?” he called out. “Show yourself!”

A curious hum was made, full of expectations. Like it had predicted his reaction. “Even after all these years, you are still impatient. I sometimes wonder how Obi-Wan handled you.”

Anakin narrowed his eyes. There was familiarity within the voice, he just couldn’t place his mechanical finger on it. One thing was certain, and that was that the being knew his former master.

“I can feel the uncertainty wafting off you. Allow me to refresh your mind.”

Footsteps could be heard this time coming from behind him. Anakin turned to the source and saw within the thick fog the outline of a man. Strolling closer to him in a patient fashion, the outline created an air of familiarity that rose within Anakin. With a flick of the figure's wrist, the fog parted. Anakin stared, not believing his eyes.

There was no mistaking the person in front of him — tall, brown robes and even darker skin, and calm dark eyes staring at him from a stern, severe face that Anakin hadn't seen in twenty-four years — not since he had witnessed the man, be handed and scorched by Sith lightning — fall into the endless depths of Coruscant from the Chancellor’s office on that horrible night.

“Mace Windu?”

Anyone in his place, save perhaps his father, would have felt anxiety, but not Luke. The rigorous Jedi training and the battles had made sure that emotion would not manifest itself. Though this could not stop a certain pressure within the air, and while it wasn’t tense, he could feel the lingering weight bearing down onto his shoulders.

Popping out his fingers, he rolled his shoulder to loosen some stiffness from his joints. “May I ask: how long will I be kept here?”

Celestia tilted her head slightly at the question. “If all goes smoothly, then not very long.” She smiled slightly. “Now, could you introduce yourself again if you don’t mind?”

The young Jedi gave her a nod, clearing his throat he introduced himself. “My name is Luke Skywalker,” he said in a calm tone.

Celestia hummed. “A strange name — but oddly fitting for a strange creature like yourself. Both familiar to our conventions and yet, not.” Specks of curiosity glittered within her eyes. “So what are you exactly?” she asked. “I have lived for a long time and seen all sorts of beings, but you are something new.” Her lip quirked up. “It’s safe to assume that you are not from this world?”

A smile rose from his lips, and a small humorous chuckle came out. “Yes indeed,” he said in a good-hearted tone .“I am indeed not, and before you say anything — no, I am not here to take it over.”

Celestia snorted. “I assume it's not your first time?”

“Nope,” Luke replied instantly. “Not even my first, and I doubt it will be my last.”

The quirk on her lips turned into a full bright smile. “That’s fair,” she said, her body posture beginning to relax. “So how did you end up in our world?” she asked, curiosity lacing her tone.

He could sense that the others were curious too, even Carmine despite his suppressed agitation and distrusting emotions that came off from him. In any case, he would answer her question. “Well, it is a lengthy story,” he stated. “But I will tell it as best as I can.” With a calm sigh, he began explaining with a neutral expression. “My Father and I had escaped from a battle, but unfortunately the ship we resided in had a damaged system due to conflict, forcing us to be stuck in hyperspace.”

Before he could continue, Celestia raised her hoof. “Hyperspace?” she asked with curiosity.

Luke considered his answer for a moment. “How much of a grasp do your people have on astronomy?” he asked. “Specifically, the actual distance between stars, as opposed to the apparent distance.”

She hummed thoughtfully. “Enough to know that it would take much longer than the average pony’s lifespan to reach here even at light’s speed, if you were indeed from another world.” She gave him a level look. “I assume this ‘hyperspace’ circumvents that issue.”

A smile slowly brightened on his features. He was glad to know that had a better grasp of physics, which made it much easier to explain. “You would be right. Hyperspace is a parallel dimension that allows for faster-than-light space travel to other worlds, and…we had been stuck in it for five days,” Luke stopped for a moment, a look of realization kicked in with his brow rising. “Frankly, it was a miracle we even survived at all.” He admitted with a slight nod of his head.

“Why is that?”

Luke, in a small burst of mischief, answered in a deliberately neutral tone. “Because of the risk of accidentally hitting a planet or a star. Or getting too close to a supernova, or Force forbid a black hole en route. And then there’s also this affliction called ‘hyper rapture’ to consider—“ And so Luke went on, going into a tirade and listing off all the things that could go wrong in hyperspace, while everyone present just stared at him as if he grew a second head, sprouted tentacles, or both at once.

Celestia raised her brow in cautious surprise. “You…sensed our world?” she asked, confusion marring her tone.

Luke nodded. “Through the Force, and before you ask — ” he raised a hand to forestall the imminent question. “I will endeavor to answer your questions regarding that eventually.” He coughed into his fist and continued. “But yes, I sensed your world, and…it was quite honestly nothing I had ever experienced before, and…” A smile stretched over his features, filled with sincerity. “It gave me hope, knowing that there was a possibility of salvation.”

The young Jedi continued with his story, the princess and the others encapsulated into the tale. Even his friends listened in as he went into further detail — how he and his father had managed to escape hyperspace by first shutting down the system and then performing a risky maneuver that required precise timing — and, Luke thought to himself, an extreme amount of luck.

In the timelessness of the Living Force, a certain old man briefly separated from his oneness with everything to shout in utter long-suffering exasperation.

“Luke! How many times have I told you that there’s no such thing as luck!?”

Like father, like son indeed; irritating Obi-Wan Kenobi even in death.

Luke shook off the feeling that someone was shouting at him from a vast distance and continued with his story.

It had been… rough to say the least. Honestly, rough was an understatement; when the system was shut off the momentum unfortunately continued and it felt like he was being forced out of his own body. Thankfully he was strapped in the chair—thank the Force for that—but the sensation left his body shaking like a frightened Womprat.

Looking back, he realized that it was both a terrible and wonderful idea. Ah if Uncle Owen saw this he’d be tearing his hair out.

Ah, good times, good times.

“And I have to say, after being stuck in hyperspace for a week, your planet was a welcome sight for sore eyes,” he stated with a smile that slowly flipped into a frown. “Until…it happened.” A tremor went up his spine. The room felt a little colder with the sunlight seeming to dim and withholding its warmth from the world.

Luke gazed out in no particular direction, the events prior resurfacing within his mind. The day when they were attempting to fix the vessel to make proper landfall was ruined when It came. He remembered that moment when it managed to get its oppressive tendrils of cold indifference past his defenses to make him submit to its whims. Its vengeful and hate-filled desires could be felt through the Force.

Luke was familiar with them, the desire for revenge, the desire to oppress anything beneath Its heel; but most of all Its desire for freedom. Luke at the time was momentarily surprised by such a desire until he realized that there was a reason for its probable imprisonment. All he could think about now was the scenario of it leaving the moon; the thought made his chest burn with searing heat. Though he had barely even been on this planet for a week, Luke would not allow this entity to do unto others what it attempted on him. He couldn’t allow it. He wouldn’t.

“Mister… Skywalker?” He blinked, taken out from his thoughts he glanced up towards the monarch; a look of concern deeply rooted in her eyes. The resemblance to Aunt Beru, when she was in her “concerned mother” mode, was uncanny. For a moment his emotions almost swelled remembering his aunt uncle again, which he quickly pushed down. “Are you alright?”

Not just her. He felt those present gazing at him with varying degrees of concern. He realized his fist was balled so tightly that the joints within his synthetic hand were creaking from the pressure. Luke uncurled his hand and nodded slowly. “Yeah…I am.” He gave her a calm reassuring look, and then he started to explain. “When my father and I saw your world, we immediately planned to make landfall with what little power our ship held within its battery core. We repaired what we could…until It came.”

“It?” Celestia repeated.

“We don’t know what it is…other than that it was on the moon.” As soon as he mentioned it, Celestia’s posture changed. They were small of course and unnoticeable to the average person, but with a well-trained eye like his, Luke could tell that she went stiff, her shoulders tensing by an inch and her wings seeming to spread out a little.

The young Jedi was about to ask if she was alright when she interrupted him. “Are you sure…?” she asked.

The question made him pause. He heard the desperation in her tone. The force around her seemed to quake and quiver from her emotions, and it was…familiar. Very familiar.

“I am quite sure,” he stated. “It was powerful too.” From what he sensed, the power It wielded was vast like an ocean around an island; a grand mountain that reminded Luke of when he faced his father for the first time, on Cymoon-1 years ago. It made him question the reality of things, how something like that could even exist in the galaxy. “To defend ourselves, my father suggested we combine our powers. It helped greatly but it was still a struggle, and then I…blacked out.” He licked his lip. “It all happened in an instant, but I guess when it happened the Thunderclap, as you call it, was made…”

The room became silent, implications now filtered through the room like a fresh breeze of smoke from an ashen tree. They know the truth now and Luke felt the guilt bubble from his heart, he bit the inside of his cheek and said. “I am so sorry for what I—“

The Princess silenced him with the raise of her hoof, her features were calm and her gaze was stern. “Do not apologize, Mister Skywalker. For the thousands of years I’ve been in this world I can determine whether somepony is lying or not.” Her lips quirked slightly. “You do not fit that criteria. The truth is all I've heard from you, and for that I thank you” Celestia rose from her throne, her hair flowing just above her shoulder and wings. She turned her eyes to Applejack, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash. “As for you three; I also thank three for coming and vouching for our guest here. Your conduct and testimony today are a testament to the nigh-limitless scope of your honesty, generosity, and loyalty. However, I must now ask that you all vacate the room please.”

An array of emotions flashed quickly on their muzzles, ranging from surprise to mild shock and agitation. Luke could tell that Rainbow Dash was about to argue. Before he could say anything, Celestia beat him to it. “Before you speak, hear this. Your friend is in no way in trouble.”

“Then why are ya tellin' us to leave, Yer Majesty?” Applejack asked, frowning.

Celestia’s reply was instant but gentle. “Because Mister Skywalker has revealed sensitive information that I feel should be kept between as few ponies as possible. I do not doubt your willingness to help, but what he has mentioned so far would cause unnecessary panic among the ponies if it left this room. Now, you have all done your jobs and vouched for his innocence. I ask you, please, to go home. See to your homes and families. Mister Skywalker here is in good hooves.” She gave them that gentle smile once more. ‘I swear it on my crown and authority as Princess.”

Before the three could protest, Luke spoke up. “Girls, it’s okay.” Bringing their attention to him, he gave them a comforting smile. “I’ll be okay.”

“But Luke—“ Rainbow Dash tried to speak out.

“Dash, I promise I’ll be okay.” His smile widened more, showing that what he said would be true. For a moment he sensed something flicker with the three, like a small ember before vanishing. The urge to raise his brow was suppressed, so he wasn’t sensing it randomly. Interesting. “Look, once I finish up here I’ll tell you more stories of my adventures.”

Her eyes lit it from that, yet reluctance still glowed in them. Something was in those girls, what that was he couldn’t tell because of how fast it flickered away. In any case, his message seemed to get through with reluctance Rarity nudged them both. “Let’s go you two, we wouldn’t want to delay his stay longer than necessary.”

Rainbow grumbled earning a pat on the shoulder by Applejack who felt the same, she gave young Skywalker a small glare. “You better keep your promise.”

He chuckled at that. “I will.”

Soon the three left with two guards guiding them out, meanwhile he turned back to Celestia who had a raised brow and a hint of a smirk. “I must say, you certainly continue to grow more interesting.”

He chuckled at that. “I aim to please,” he joked.

The smirk widened a little, she turned to the captain of the guard. “Captain Shining armor,” she called out.

“Yes, ma’am?” The unicorn stepped forward, his posture stiff and disciplined while his face was like stone.

“Please release Mr. Skywalker from his bonds,” she ordered politely. Shining followed through with no issue. Freed, Luke took the moment to rub his wrist and twirl his hand around to remove stiffness while watching as the cuffs returned to their normal shape.

“Thank you. I’ll be honest, this world fascinates me,” Luke admitted while returning his gaze to Celestia. “I hope you don’t mind sharing knowledge of your world.”

Celestia chuckled. “I wouldn’t mind, but that would have to wait.” She turned to address the remaining guards in the throne room. “Please return to your posts now, this meeting is over. I appreciate that all of you have decided to join. But it's over now.” Without a second thought, they all began vacating the royal chambers, but Celestia called out one particular guard. “Spearhead, could you fetch my student?”

“Yes ma’am!” he saluted. He hurried out afterwards until only Luke, Shining Armor, and the Princess were left in the chambers.

With a hum, Celestia slid off her throne, hoof clopping against the gold-accented steps. “Mr Skywalker, I appreciate everything you told me. However, there is more to your story than you realize,” she stated. Her features were relaxed yet held a sternness that reminded Luke of his old masters: Yoda and old Ben.

Luke slowly nodded. He had a feeling that she had more information about It judging by her reactions earlier. “Well, what can you tell me, Princess?” he asked calmly.

An indescribable glint manifested within the princess’ eyes. “Follow me,” she said, turning to another entrance within the chambers. “And I will explain everything.”

Author's Note

Yes, I’m still alive. I apologize for taking to so long, this year has kept me from writing, but I do still write when I have the time.

I felt so bad about leaving you guys hanging, but I wanted to give you all the best quality story. You all deserve that.

But it kinda got worse when I got betrayed by ‘Friends’ who didn’t come to help me out when I needed it. I will not name them because they matter little to me now, no it’s not someone from my writhing team. They are my real friends and they helped me moved through.

The chapter was proofread by The Psychopath, I’d suggest checking out his stuff honestly, he’s one hell of a writer.

Chapter 3

“Wait a minute — are you absolutely sure about this, Obee?” Luke asked the droid. “You’re positive that these readings are accurate?”

Obee was silent for a moment as if Luke asked a very dumb question. “When aren’t my readings accurate!?” The droid shot back rather testily. “I have double checked, triple checked, even quadruple checked! I even ran these readings by Kyugee, and he couldn’t find any error in my own circuits or the sensors’!” They had been having the same argument for the better part of an hour now, ever since the Nubian’s sensor suite had been reactivated by Anakin’s skilled hand. After spending the better part of a day in the uncharted system, they could finally peruse their surroundings with more than the naked eye. The sensors had immediately begun feeding data to Obee and Kyugee as soon as they went online. One such finding had sparked a long and heated argument between Jedi and droid.

“But Obee, according to these readings, that star shouldn’t even be there! How do you explain that?”

“I have no clue, you’re the Jedi! Use the Force to find out, or something!” Obee flipped a manipulator dismissively at Luke. The sounds of a hydrospanner came in from a nearby compartment — Anakin at work once more.

“That’s not how the Force works!” Luke yelled, grabbing handfuls of his hair. He normally wasn’t so argumentative, but there was something about the astromech that had Luke immediately feel like an argument was on the horizon.

There was a loud ZAP from the other room, and Luke could hear some of the most impressively colorful examples of Huttese that he had ever heard. He groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose. They had distracted his father from his work again with their arguing. Sure enough, Anakin stormed into the lounge, hydrospanner in hand, a spot on his shoulder still smoking. Before Luke could even open his mouth, he found his rear firmly glued to the couch without warning, while Obee was just as suddenly stuck to the wall dome first.

Anakin spoke in an annoyed, manic tone. “Can you both shut up and sit down! I have been shocked by that kriffing panel for the fifth damn time! Now the two of you will shut up and talk calmly like civil adults so I can get this panel fixed, or so help me, the next time I have to come out here I will WELD YOUR KARKING MOUTHS SHUT!” The menacing sparks the hydrospanner gave off as he finished his rant added some emphasis to his threat — particularly since hydro spanners did not spark like welding torches.

Luke and Obee could only give a mute nod (or a faint beep in Obee’s case) in answer. Anakin slouched back into the compartment he was working in, muttering to himself. When a mouse droid cheerfully went into the compartment some minutes later, Luke heard his father snarl, “DON’T make me turn this starship around!” and the droid literally screamed back out into the hallway and out of sight. Luke winced and, sharing a look with Obee, decided to make himself scarce and find something to — anything to avoid disturbing his Father again.

Outside, the corridor was in shambles. Where before there were spotless halls and smooth walls, now there were open panels every few feet, scattered tools and scorch marks from blown wires. In some compartments, things were so disheveled it looked like a hurricane had passed. In one such compartment Luke found Teefour sorting through a jumbled pile of all the things that had been flung about by the sudden halt. The bonds on multiple, heavier crates had failed from the strain and had sent them flying; some things were fine, others however were broken, some beyond repair — but they will be recycled for reuse.

Teefour had been ordered to put the broken parts on a different pile for recycling, on account of actually having thicker and stronger arms, as opposed to flimsier manipulators. He found another broken instrument, letting out a dramatic sigh he tossed into the broken pile. “Another one bites the dust…”

Luke leaned in to take a look. “Mind if I help out?” he asked. “I'm good with machinery, and you look like you could use a hand.”

Teefour flipped his hand dismissively.

“Do as you will, young master,” he grumbled. “It's not as if any of us have anything better to do…” He fell into unintelligible mutterings, with words like “physicals” and “bacta” audible here and there.

“Well, maybe together, we can cut the time needed to finish this by half, and you can get back to the medbay,” Luke chuckled, sitting down next to the droid and picking up a broken coupling to toss into the trash pile. He could hear Anakin tinkering away in the other room as he continued to work. He didn't keep track of the time, but he couldn’t have been working more than fifteen minutes before his father’s voice whispered in his thoughts.

Luke.

Luke looked up on instinct, then stretched his thoughts out toward the contact.

Yes, father? he replied telepathically.

Can you come in here and give me a hand? There’s a part that needs fixing, but I can’t remove it alone.

I’m coming, father.

Luke got to his feet, quickly telling Teefour he needed to take care of something, before heading to the room his father was in. He found Anakin, sans cape, crouched over an open panel. The hydrospanner was on the floor next to him, while the cyborg wrestled with something beyond Luke’s field of vision.

“Come take my spot,” Anakin said quickly to Luke without even turning to look at him. “I need to remove this part here for a bypass,” he indicated a blackened circuit board, “but its companion conduit is fused to it. I need you to uncouple the conduit while I disconnect the board — I can’t do both at once, and your hands are slimmer than mine. You’ll have better leverage.”

Luke nodded and moved to where Anakin had indicated, looking in the panel. Sure enough, the conduit was practically welded into the board on one end, with the other coupling in a smaller space than Anakin’s massive cybernetic hands could permit. Luke carefully moved his hand through the cramped space, reaching out with his senses to guide his hand to the coupling.

The Force had some very useful applications at times.

Luke could feel his father’s amusement in the Force as he worked at the coupling. He ignored it for the moment, and focused on the task at hand. A few twists more… Finally, it came loose, and Luke heard his father grunt in satisfaction next to him as the circuit board was at last removed. Anakin quickly threw the useless mess over his shoulder before pulling some conduit and a new board to him, and started to make some adjustments while Luke watched. It was silent between the two at least for a moment, until Anakin spoke up. “So Luke, what were you and Obee arguing about?”

Luke gave a sheepish chuckle.

“Yeah… sorry about that by the way,” he said meekly.

Anakin waved him off. “It is done and over with, and you learned your lesson — at least I hope you have," he added, leveling a look at his son that could be felt even with the infamous mask obscuring his face. "But yes please, do explain.”

Luke gathered his thoughts. “Well,” he started, “Obee used the ship’s scanners to get a readout of the system, see what we’re dealing with. The planet is pretty typical for a Mern-class planet — by all accounts, it’s not much bigger than the likes of Naboo. It’s got one moon, and aside from an odd one second blip that’s probably a fault in the scanner, there’s nothing really special about it.”

Anakin could hear the ‘but’ coming.

“But the star, however…”

Anakin looked at his son. “What about the star?”

Luke let out an explosive breath and turned to look at Anakin.

“Father, what’s the smallest you’ve ever heard a star get?”

Anakin tilted his head at the odd change of subject, but humored his son.

“Compared to say, the gas giant Yavin, in terms of mass I would say…”

“About 30 times. Obee told me,” Luke finished. “And that’s for a red dwarf, the smallest kind of star out there, right?” Anakin nodded with confirmation. “Well,” Luke continued, “Do you want to guess how massive the yellow star in the center of the system reads as on the scanners?” Anakin didn’t answer, staring at Luke. Luke held up both hands, fingers up. “Ten.”

Anakin looked at him in confusion. He asked, “Ten times a red dwarf's mass?” but Luke shook his head.

“Nope,” Luke clarified. “Ten times the mass of Yavin.”

Anakin stopped and reeled at the idea. “But that’s—”

“Impossible, right? I thought so too, and so did Obee.” Luke shook his head. “He ran the scans four times in a row and it was exactly the same each time. He and Kyugee can’t find any fault in the scanner, so it isn’t that either,” he added, guessing correctly that his father was about to point out that possibility. “Whatever is happening out there to make it happen, that mass has the same radiation and heat output as a Grek-type star, but the mass barely makes brown dwarf territory. Obee can’t explain it.” Luke rubbed his head. ”Neither can I, for that matter. I’ve never heard of anything like this. Ever. By all accounts, and based on everything known by science, that star shouldn’t even be a star! Could the Force possibly have something to do with it?” Luke asked, turning to his father.

Anakin also tried to think of something, even though he hadn't seen it and he doubted Luke was joking judging from his tone. The idea of the force keeping a star alive — not only alive, but as bright as any main sequence sun — despite its mass being barely in the range of a brown dwarf was unheard of. He had to wonder if Yoda or even his former master knew of such a phenomenon?

Somehow he doubted that…

“We will…” he trailed a bit awkwardly. “Figure it out soon, in the meantime let’s finish up some repairs and find a way to land on the planet.” Luke nodded as he continued to help his father.

As they worked together they suddenly felt something...off. Shrugging the odd sensation aside at first, they continued repairing, now with Obee’s aid. Suddenly, the sensation returned without warning — a sensation of wrongness, a nagging feeling that almost felt like it was boring into their skulls.

Luke spoke up first. “Father… Do you feel that?” He looked at him.

Anakin didn't say anything at first, just the sound of air filtering through his mask. There was something, something was off. “Yes… Let me…"

He began to expand his senses with the Force. He didn’t know why but he needed to do this just to get that feeling out, to seek out the source of this nagging wrongness --

Wait… what was that?

Anakin stiffened suddenly with an indrawn breath as something brushed against his senses.

“Luke.” His voice sounded hoarse and low, even through the vocoder. “Expand your senses,”

Not questioning his father's order, Luke did just that. his eyes slightly widened. Another precenes but not on the ship but outside. Further, and further, towards the planet — no, not there.. Luke followed the whisper of the Force to the moon, a lone sentinel against the void..

And on that moon…

Luke nearly gagged as he encountered the Thing that had so startled his father.

Cold.

Cold, unlike what Luke had ever felt in the cave at Dagobah; the damp kind that warned, that revealed, that admonished, that neither supported or opposed, was neither good nor evil, but merely was — the unforgiving, yet neutral Cold of the universe itself.

Cold, unlike what Luke noticed, would follow Vader like a funerary shroud wherever he went; cold burnt out cinders and endless agony, angry and bitter and sorrowing without end, hating all that existed in equal measure, but none so much as Anakin himself — the Cold of a broken man, that tore and gnawed at itself.

Cold, even unlike what chilled him to his core in the throne room on the Death Star, standing next to the Emperor, the Dark Side incarnate; oily and deep, a cold that consumed, that took in all under its shadow and hungered for more, ever feasting, never once relinquishing that which it engulfed — a black hole in the Force.

This Cold, this darkness, was different from all Luke had encountered. Unlike the Cold of the Dark Side that surrounded Vader and the Emperor, passive auras and nothing more, this Cold was alive. It wasn’t the Cold of Grief, or the Cold of endless Hunger, or Avarice. It was harsher, more warlike.

It was the Cold of Iron.

It was tough and strong, like the hardest armor. revealing nothing of itself but blood-freezing anger. It bit deeper than the sharpest blade, freezing one to the core with an endless, frigid wrath. It was focused, singular in Its intent. Immediately upon his sending it, it launched a staggeringly powerful mid-probe that nearly had both father and son on their knees. Like a spear, it stabbed towards them, driving through their hastily erected defenses, reaching for their minds.

Luke felt ghostly talons rake across the innermost walls around his thoughts and shuddered from the sudden feeling of cold that rushed over him like a breaking wave. Again, and again, the probes stabbed at them. Luke felt his father’s presence next to him,and leaned into it for support. Anakin, surprisingly, responded in kind. They covered for one another, each warding off a probe meant for the other, pooling their efforts into resisting the stronger attempts to break into their minds. Whatever the Thing was, it was persistent, Luke understood that with grim certainty.

Suddenly, the Thing lashed out again. Both Luke and Anakin braced for the imminent attack, but it never came. Before either of them could consider what that meant, the ship shuddered beneath their feet. They looked down at the deck, as if they could see through to where the tremors came from. A horrible realization began to build up, and they gathered their thoughts to resist. Just before they could act, another barrage of attacks had them hunker beneath mental shields.The ship shook again, and Luke, even though he was standing still, felt the distinct sensation of moving sideways, that could only mean one thing.

They had changed course.

There was a terrified screech and babble of binary as Kyugee zoomed into the compartment, Obee hot on his wheels. Kyugee whistled and squawked and blarted so fast, gesticulating violently with his manipulators, that Luke couldn’t make out what he was saying. He did have an idea, however, and he hoped he was wrong.

Obee quickly dashed those hopes as he quickly translated in a frantic tone.

“The ship is changing course, accelerating,” he began hurriedly. “We can’t figure out why, but it’s almost like we’re in a tractor beam, though we can’t find any energy signature! Through means neither of us can detect, this entire vessel is on a new course, like it is being pulled!”

“To where?” Anakin interrupted. Both he and Luke, however, already knew the answer before Obee confirmed their suspicions.

“At our current course, we will intersect with the planet’s moon, sir.”

Luke and Anakin looked at each other grimly as they considered their options. The Thing on the Moon wasn’t going to be dissuaded so easily by their resistance, so It reached for what couldn’t fight back — the ship that carried them. It was clever, but that was the least of their concerns. Now, fleeing what was left of the Empire and the death-storm of the Emperor, they had stumbled across something just as terrible, if not worse — an Entity the likes of which neither father nor son had ever encountered before. It was far more direct and determined than Palpatine had ever been, at the very least, not afraid to get Its hands dirty. Luke couldn’t discern much else of it, but he knew enough from the brief flashes of intent he felt from the Thing.

It was old.

It was powerful

And It wanted them.

He only hoped that they were strong enough to keep It from getting what It wanted.

She gathered her strength to herself, and flung it at the vessel, still so distant. Her horn blazing a ghostly dark blue, she bent her will upon the thing of metal and wires, and commanded it to come. It turned, slowly but obediently, towards her, and she smiled. Resist her, would they? Defy her will, would they!?

Well, she thought coldly, they would know the error and futility of their ways soon enough. When they stood before her and saw her majesty, the strength of her will even so bound, and the rightness of her crusade, surely they would kneel before her! Surely they would pledge themselves to her cause. She was mighty enough alone, but the two she perceived aboard that ship had strength that combined could surely match her own!

Despite the distance, she could ‘see’ their figures, so to speak. She can feel the full spectrum of emotions — such was the power of Dreams. What had intrigued her was the flashes of insight she had gained from her constant attempts to reach them, to know them. Both of them were as different from each other as the sun and the moon — an irony among ironies!

And yet, they had a similarity that mirrored one she knew long ago.

One of them felt cold — not the type of cold one would feel if they were outside in winter, no. It was the bleak cold of the eternal void. She could sense the emotions that made up this cold — a long-standing pain… and boundless rage. It was the kind of rage that made her fury look like a candle compared to the suppressed inferno that eternally threatened to explode forth, and consume all. And the pain... there was so much of it; pain to the point that it was life threatening, the fact it was even alive was shocking. These were years worth of emotions, how many years she did not know, for all she knew it could have experienced centuries’ worth of grief. What she did know was that she could feel the inky fingers of betrayal that stretched like the void. His betrayal, or another’s? Perhaps both?

It saddened her black heart, because she knew its pain keenly.

The other was quite different. It seemed… younger. Calm and warm and bright, like that blasted sun had stuffed itself inside. Like a massive rock in a river current, it merely let the probes roll off to either side, infinite in its serenity. It reminded Nightmare of her, and it was sickening. She had sent the more vicious probes her way, taking satisfaction from the younger’s struggle… until the elder sent an attack of its own, snarling and rabid like an angry dragon. It had almost blown completely through her guard and used her mind as target practice. The worst part was that she knew, she knew, beyond all doubt, that It could have brought more power to bear.

It hadn’t been an attack — it had been a warning, and she had the distinct feeling that she wouldn’t get a second.

She had balked at that for a moment. The two shared a bond… one strong enough, at any rate for one to be quite protective of the other. That was unexpected to say the least, given their inherent dichotomy.

But then again, hadn’t it been the same way with her and…?

She snarled and banished those thrice-damned memories. Thinking of such things only wrought sadness and pain, both unwanted and unneeded. She didn’t know what annoyed her more — that they resisted her advances, or brought those useless memories and distractions forth in her mind. She directed her annoyance and irritation into the command she threw once more at the vessel.

Come to me!

She laughed soundlessly into the void as the ship inched ever closer to the moon. Soon, they would learn who the true pinnacle of might was! Their power was great indeed, but they seemed reluctant to bring it to bear — a pity. It would be their undoing. She would enjoy beating the will to resist out of them, of course; but she hoped that the fight wouldn’t be too short. It had been too long since the last time she had a good, old-fashioned brawl. She looked forward to the more direct contest of might that was imminent — the most entertainment she had had in a millennium! She would savour it, nice and slow.

She stopped in her exultations and frowned as something crossed her senses. Far off in the distance, the Two were gathering their strength once more. Their power intertwined with one another this time, weaving together like the strands in a basket, interlocked and stronger together than alone, like well-woven ropes of pure thought. Interesting… so they weren't planning to be pulled before her star-dusted throne without a struggle, were they? She smirked as their conjoined might flared: a direct challenge. Very well… she would humor them. After all, it wouldn’t be very sporting if she crushed their attempts to fight back before they could get ready... let them show what they could do. The result would be the same no matter their plan. She spread her wings and marshaled her strength once more, magic flaring like a newborn star on the face of the Moon.

The challenge was accepted.

Let the game begin.

Ding!

“AND — THEY’RE — OFF! Star Blazer of Cloudsdale in the lead, followed closely by Appleloosa’s Tail Wind and Mighty Meso trailing third —”

Twilight ignored the enthusiastic commentary from the radio atop her bookshelf and continued to stare blankly at the long-cold mug of coffee like she had for the past hour while Spike sat next to her with a worried look on her face. Presently, he poked her on the shoulder and said “Come on, Twilight, it’s not the end of the world.”

“Yes it is,” was her dull reply.

“She didn’t say it was stupid or anything!”

“She didn’t even look at it, Spike.”

“Maybe it’s because oh, I don’t know, that you woke her up late.” He deadpanned at her.

She huffed slightly and rolled her eyes. “Wasn’t that late…”

“It was 2:30 in the morning,” Spike pointed out flatly, pointing to himself. “I should have been asleep by then.” He yawned and stretched. Even now he still wanted to sleep due to the lack of it he had recently. “I’m surprised you aren’t tired as well.”

Twilight bit her lip. In hindsight, it probably hadn’t been her best idea to sprint through the castle at 2 in the morning, waking up half of Canterlot in the process, and going right up to the Princess’ chambers and slamming her hoof on the door until her mentor answered. She couldn’t actually blame Her Highness for barely even glancing at the image slates before telling Twilight in no uncertain terms that while yes her discovery was certainly noteworthy, Twilight was certainly tired just like everypony else was – HINT HINT –so they could discuss it further tomorrow morning and right now, the best thing she could do was to get to the observatory and go. To. Bed.

Twilight wasn’t sure if what convinced her was her teacher’s frazzled mane, the faint twitch in her left eye, the very sweet tone in her voice that was only present when Blueblood galloped across her nerves – AGAIN –, or the ever-so-faint curl of smoke from her horn, but next thing she knew she was bolting for the tower like a rabbit chased by a fox, Spike trailing behind her.

She hadn’t been able to sleep well, tossing and turning in her bed before getting up at around 6:30 in the morning to pore over the image slates again.

So here she was, with barely four hours of sleep, reduced to staring at a coffee cup with her mind spinning with thoughts she couldn’t even hope to organize. But she wasn't about to admit defeat to Spike yet — she had powered through sleep deprivation before.

“Fatigue is for the weak,” she said stiffly, turning her nose to the air haughtily. Her stomach suddenly growled, and her stubborn expression turned sheepish as Spike rolled his eyes.

A plate suddenly appeared under her nose, and the wonderful scent had her staring transfixed and cross-eyed at the blueberry scones like she had never seen pastries before.

“Well, having a need for food doesn't seem to be just for us mere mortals at least,” a new voice cut in; smug, familiar, annoying and welcoming at once. Twilight’s head swiveled like a gun turret until her eyes fixed on the armored white stallion leaning against the doorway, grinning at her teasingly.

Twilight glared at the unwelcome invader, then turned her nose to the air.

"I have no idea what you are talking about, Captain," she said primly. "I certainly don't need any food at this moment."

The Captain raised an eyebrow at the stiff-backed mare in front of him. Then he gave a bright and cheerful smile and pulled the scones away from her, noting the way her eyes followed the pastries. He then said in the most chipper tone he could manage, "Okay miss, my mistake! I’ll just have to eat these scones aaaaaallllll by myself! All these hot, tasty, fresh-from-the-kitchen scones!” He pretended to ignore how she flinched at each word he emphasized as he turned to Spike. The dragonet was visibly trying not to laugh.

“It’s just too bad, too,” he continued in a loud dramatic voice, making sure that Twilight could hear him. “I really wanted to share these… Would you like some, Spike?” he asked the dragon, all innocence, while giving him a sly wink.

Spike understood immediately and played along.

“Why certainly, Captain!” Spike answered just as loudly. “I’d be happy to eat these with you!” If Spike had been facing Twilight at that point, he would have broken down with laughter at the utterly betrayed look she gave her assistant. The Captain, thankfully, was too disciplined to give in to the temptation — yet — and instead nodded. He bellowed, “Excellent! Let us go down to the hill outside and enjoy the nice weather as much as we will enjoy these scones!”

“Oh yes, let’s!” Spike replied.

Both let out an exaggerated “HA HA HA HA HA!” of laughter and slowly began to march to the door with the plate of scones hovering between them, completely ignoring Twilight gaping at them. The Captain caught Spike's eye and mouthed, Wait for it. Spike nodded and looked straight ahead, pretending not to hear the little whimper behind them.

He was glad he was facing away from Twilight so he wouldn't have to see the look on her face; he was already having trouble keeping in a cackle.

The Captain, who was now fighting to hold back his own grin, mouthed again at Spike, counting down.

3… 2… 1…

"Wait!"

Twilight walked over to the two conspirators, who slowly turned to her with matching pleasant smiles.

"Yes?" They said at the same time. "Was there something?" The Captain asked pleasantly. A bit smug

Twilight mumbled something incomprehensible. The Captain leaned closer, an ear raised.

"Come again?"

Twilight's face turned a spectacular shade of maroon and she repeated herself more clearly. "I said, can I have some scones too?"

The stallion looked at her for a moment.

He raised his brow and squinted. “Hmmmm...I don’t know... should we?” He turned to Spike with a serious look. "What do you think? Can she have some?"

Spike also puts on his thinking face, contemplating if he should. “I don’t know ehhhh…” he made the mistake of looking at the despair on Twilight's face. He started laughing so hard that he fell to the floor, rolling on the ground.

The Captain couldn’t contain his mirth anymore as soon as Spike started laughing. He trotted up to Twilight and lightly booped her nose.

"Gotcha, Twily," he chuckled as Twilight's face flushed deeper. She turned away from him in a huff, muttering "That was a low blow, Shining, tormenting your little sister like that."

Shining Armor grinned mischievously, then looped an arm over his sister’s withers and gave her a noogie. Twilight squeaked in dismay and tried to squirm out of her brother’s grasp, but the older stallion's greater strength prevailed. Finally, Twilight lost her patience, and lifted Shining off her with magic.

“Ok, that’s enough! Seriously, what are you doing here?” She punctuated her last word by releasing her magic, letting drop to the ground with a plop. He got up and dusted himself off.

"Well, I heard my dear baby sister was in a big funk, so I figured coming over and giving her some classic brotherly love should help! Aren't I a good BBBFF?" He looked at her with a pout.

"An annoying one is more like it," Twilight remarked drily.

Shining beamed at his sister. "Good, then I'm doing my job right!" He snickered as she rolled her eyes.

Shining took a breath to calm down. “Alright, alright all jokes aside what's going on? I haven't heard much except you woke the Princess up in the middle of the night and she sent you away." He gave her a sidelong look. "Something happened with a project?"

“You can say that again.” Spike started with a gleeful tone, before he was quelled by a Look from Twilight.

“Oh? What happened?” Shining asked with a raised brow.

Twilight then began to explain the situation from earlier in the morning. “Me and Spike were taking pictures of the blue flash on the moon.”

Shining interrupted for a moment. “Wait, you mean that old story that dad always tells us? The blue flicker that causes nightmares?” Her sister nodded. “But...I thought that was a myth.”

"All myths have a basis in reality," Twilight pointed out. "I wanted to find out what that basis was, and —"

A white hoof immediately covered her mouth while Shining chuckled. "OK, ok, I get it, but before we get into a conversation this heavy I think we all need something in our stomachs." He gestured to the door and the walkway outside. "I actually have a picnic set up outside, so we can eat and continue the conversation outside with some fresh air."

Twilight pinned her brother with a very flat look. "You plan for everything don't you?" she said drily

"I learn from the best!" Shining gave a toothy smile that, despite Twilight's best efforts, sent her laughing.

"All right then, lead the way, Captain!" She gestured grandly to the door.

Shining marched through, saying "Don't mind if I do!" and the trio began to set off down the walkway, laughing as they went. Shining took the lead, Spike carried the plate of scones next to him, and Twilight trailed behind them, shaking her head even as she kept grinning. Between Spike and Shining, it was a wonder that she hadn’t gone nuts from their antics every time they were in the same room.

Even so, they were family, and she wouldn't have it any other way.

"Hey, Twilight!"

The call broke her out of her train of thought and she looked ahead. They had reached the base of her tower and were making their way to a small knoll not too far away. At the top she could see a spread out blanket, some baskets, and a white unicorn waving at them, her pink mane waving a little in the breeze.

Twilight blinked in confusion as they reached the picnic spread. "Twinkleshine?”

“Hey Twinkleshine!” Spike greeted her happily.

“What are you doing here?” Twilight asked with a tilted head.

“Well I was around, Shining asked me if I wanted to join for a picnic with You and Spike, I said yes and well here I am,” Twinkleshine simply replied with a smile.

In fact, it had actually been Twinkleshine’s idea to start a picnic to lure the elusive Twilight Sparkle out of her lair — er, study — with the prospect of food and fresh air. Unfortunately, Twilight had a bad habit of being too engrossed with her studies, or experiments, depending on the subject.

To that end, she had gone to Shining Armor for some help; if anypony had ways to get Twilight's purple horn out of her books, it would be her brother.

Though, Twilight didn’t really need to know those little details to know that, so Twinkleshine put on the most innocent smile she could muster while Twilight stared at her like one of Princess Celestia’s pop quizzes. After a few uncomfortable seconds, Twilight let up and settled onto the picnic blanket next to her brother.

“So Shining, what did you bring this time?” She asked.

“Nothing fancy.” His horn glowed, getting the assorted food out. “We got 4 apple juices, 4 daisy sandwiches, grapes in a bowl and last but not least!” He pulled out another bowl this time full of colorful gems and rubies. “Some exquisite crystals for our dragon!” He mocked in a fancy tone while also giving the little dragon a teasing hoof noogie.

“Hey!” Spike pouted a bit while trying to bat away Shining’s hoof, though his mouth started to water at the thought of eating those delicious crystals.

Twilight deadpanned a bit. “You are gonna spoil him at this point.”

“Oh come on sis, he’s like a brother to me of course I’m gonna spoil him.” He gave a cheeky laugh.

Twilight rolled her eyes at his remark and turned to her daisy sandwich, fishing a few scones from the plate. Twinkleshine decided to start the conversation. “So how are you guys?”

Twilight shook her head and sighed. Spike however spoke for her. “We are doing okay, sleepless nights notwithstanding.”

“What happened?” Twinkleshine asked.

Twilight swallowed her mouthful of sandwich and was about to explain, then froze. “Oh no!” she cried, grinding her hooves into her hair. “I forgot to bring —”

“These?” Spike smoothly interjected with a cat’s grin, holding up the image slates in front of him. Twilight looked at him, eyes round, before gingerly taking the image slates and laying them out in front of her like objects of worship.

“What are those?” Twinkleshine asked.

“Do these have to do with the Blue Flash like you mentioned before?” Shining asked thoughtfully, prompting an odd look from Twinkleshine.

Twilight nodded, and gestured to a slate in the middle. “Look at this one, just up and to the left of the moon,” she said, stepping back so Shining and Twinkleshine could look.

“I don’t see anything out of place...” Shining said after a few seconds.

Twilight nodded.

“Now look at the next slate, same place.”

Twinkleshine was the first to notice the difference. “There’s something there that wasn’t before!” she exclaimed.

“Exactly.” Twilight began to pace back and forth, some of her earlier excitement revived.

“What?” Shining went to take a look and indeed there was something there. At first he thought it was speck of dust, but on closer examination it had a very distinct shape but also it seemed to be shining. Like how some of guard ponies’ golden armor would glint brightly from the sun sometimes, this was exactly that but it seemed brighter.

He huffed a bit in disbelief. “No way...this can’t be real, Twilight are you pulling my hoof?”

“What? No!”

“But what is it?” Twinkleshine interjected. “Is it an asteroid, or a comet?”

“Oh, please!” Spike said in a joking tone. “Nothing so mundane! It’s obviously an alien spaceship!” He started to laugh at his own joke.

“Actually, I’m starting to think that’s exactly what it is.”

Jaws dropped and eyes popped. Absolute silence reigned for a few seconds. It seemed that even the birds were silent from the sheer ridiculousness of Twilight’s statement.

Finally her brother broke the silence. “Am I dreaming? Did you actually say that… that...”

“That I think it’s an actual spaceship?” Twilight finished. “Yes. Look at the gleam, the shape of it. There are metallic asteroids out there, and there are even icy comets that might have a similar shine, but that’s unlikely. Even a metallic asteroid won’t shine that brightly — it’s like a refined metal shell as opposed to ore. And a comet this close to the sun would have a vapor corona and tail, and that isn’t present.”

Shining, Twinkleshine and Spike could only stare.

“As for the shape —” She laughed sarcastically. “Can you explain how an asteroid not only looks smooth, but has a symmetrical arrowhead shape?” She didn’t get an answer, which was, of course, her point exactly. “So YES, I genuinely believe it’s a spaceship.” She looked at the three of them. "Any other questions?"

Twinkleshine blinked, then put a hoof to her chin in mock thought. "Um… yeah I can think of something like, oh I don’t know, why is the flying rut up there in the first place???"

Twilight raised a single hoof and opened her mouth to answer, while Spike, Shining and Twinkleshine leaned in expectantly.

"Not a clue!" Twilight exclaimed brightly, causing all three to face-fault. To think Twilight doesn’t know, and she was happy about it. Is the world ending now? "But I do have a few ideas."

"Care to elaborate?" Shining prompted.

Twilight opened her mouth to reply, then looked around suddenly. "What's that?"

Twinkleshine looked a little worried. "Um, Twi, maybe you should sit down for a bit —"

"Don't you hear that?" Twilight asked her. "That rumbling noise?"

"Twilight, I don't hear any—" Spike began to say, before Shining cut him off. "No, no… I hear it too." He looked up at the clear skies. "It can't be thunder," he said. "Not a cloud in sight."

"OK, now I'm hearing it! What is that!?" Twinkleshine was looking around, a note of worry in her voice. "Is it me, or is it getting louder?"

All three ponies looked around for the source of the noise, seeing nothing even as it grew louder and louder to them. A sense of dread began to build up in all Spike looked on in bewilderment. "What's going on? What noise are you talking about?"

Twilight turned to him in amazement. "Spike, how can't you hear that, it's —"

Then the world, the very air around them, suddenly screamed. It was as sudden as a thunderclap, and more jarring than any explosion. It tore through the mind and ravaged all thought like a rabid beast, robbing any sensation but pain. All three unicorns dropped to the ground as the sound that was not a sound tore through their ears. Their horns rang and vibrated like bells, and their limbs had no feeling.

Twinkleshine crouched over and groaned as her horn felt like it was driving through her skull like a giant nail. Through tears and unfocused eyes, she saw Shining clutching his head with both hooves, yelling as his horn flickered and sparked with faint blue light. Was he having a magic fit?

Twilight was arguably the worst of them. She had curled up into a ball, twitching violently and spasming uncontrollably in the grass as she screamed herself hoarse. Her horn was glowing so brightly that it looked like a spine of magenta sunfire on her forehead, molten sparks flying off into the grass and smoldering. Twinkleshine wanted to get up and help her, but she couldn't move. Spike was next to Twilight, shaking her shoulder and yelling, but she couldn't make out what he was saying.

The screaming waxed in volume, and there was a sense of pressure, a crushing feeling, of two forces straining against each other, building up further and further, greater and greater— and then, with a sudden, furious wrenching, the pressure released, and the screaming and pain abated. Twinkleshine went limp, gasping for breath as her vision blurred. She couldn’t tell how long she laid there.. She could hear screams and shouts in the distance. She could hear Spike yelling for Twilight to get up, and she could dimly see her friend prone and motionless in front of her. She wanted to get up, to help her friend, but she couldn't move, and was so tired… She felt like she had been trampled by a manticore. She saw Shining struggle to his hooves, looking around before shouting and waving to the distance. Another guardspony, a pegasus, had landed in front of him. Twinkleshine's vision and hearing cleared up as Shining barked orders at the Pegasus.

"... every available medic into the city now! And get a medical chariot over here now! We have injured!"

"Yessir!" The pegasus took off without another word.

Twinkle tried to stand, but then Shining was there, gently pushing her back down. "Don't push yourself right now," he said hoarsely. "Wait for the medics to arrive."

"SHINING!" Spike was grabbing onto his shoulder, tears running down his cheeks. "Shining, she's not waking up! She's not —"

Shining pulled him into a tight hug and Spike broke down into his chest. "It's okay, Spike. She's— she's going to be okay." It sounded like he was saying that to himself more than Spike. "The medical chariot will be here, and she'll be in good hooves."

Twinkleshine groaned as she strained her neck to look up at Shining. "What happened?"

The guard captain shook his head and looked down at his sister’s still form. "I have no clue. I have no rutting clue." Then he looked up and Twinkleshine could see a fire build up in his red-rimmed eyes. "But I'm going to find out."

A noise caught their attention, and the medical chariot dropped out of the sky, a pair of earth pony medics jumping out and galloping to them before the wheels even hit the ground. The guard pegasus from before brought up the rear and addressed his captain even as the medics lifted Twilight onto a stretcher.

"Sir!" The pegasus saluted. "The medical corps is already heading into the city to assess casualties! Her Highness also requests your presence immediately!"

Even after the ordeal he had just been through, his horn still sparkling a little, Shining Armor was still every bit the E.U.P. Captain at that very moment. "Very well, Lieutenant," he replied. "I will see these two escorted to the royal infirmary, then I will go to Princess Celestia. Spike," he turned to the dragonet he still had a hoof wrapped around, "you'll stay with Twi, ok?" Spike nodded. "Head to the garrison and tell everypony that I'm putting the guard under high alert. Everypony needs to be read at a — are you paying attention, Lieutenant!?"

The lieutenant, who had been staring over Shining’s shoulder with large, horrified eyes, lifted a trembling hoof to the sky.

"S-sir… look."

Author's Note

Authors' Notes:

NB:
Hello all, NasuBrony here! Thank you all for your patience in waiting for this chapter! I would like to apologize for the time it took to put this out, it was mostly my fault :twilightsheepish: . Between me looking for a new job and just being preoccupied with my art commissions, I've been really busy and tired lately. That, plus the numerous cases of writer's block had really slowed down the creative process on my end. That said, I feel more confident with writing further now that Chapter 3 is out! I'll be hammering at this with CKT in my spare time, and maybe we'll be able to add some bells and whistles along the way!

Now, as to the setting of the story!

The main basis for our story, Star Wars wise, will be Disney's Canon. That's the most current continuity present and the freshest on everyone's minds, for one reason or another. We will, however, fill in the numerous gaps in the Canon with elements from Legends, Lucas's unused scripts, and even other fanfics that we like and want to pay our respects to! I, for instance, particularly like the ideas surrounding Tatooine slave culture in Fialleril's series, particularly Double Agent Vader. The Desert Storm is also a big draw for me, as is Darth Vader: Hero of Naboo. In the end, however, this will be, at its core, our original idea, spanning as many books as we have to! We're in this for the long haul folks, so sit tight and enjoy the ride! It's gonna be wild! See you at Chaper 4!

CKT:
A lot of thoughts have been put through this chapter so it was not all in vain, but luckily we finished it up. Our spark has returned and we are once again ready to write more of this story, as I said before we have a lot of badass ideas for this story. Of course we aren’t going to tell—YOU!— The viewer because that would ruin the moment. I will say we are gonna take some inspiration from legends, the novels, movies —because sometimes there will be something that will catch our eye— some things from the unused movie scripts etc, etc.

I know I repeated what my partner said, but this is kinda a way to remember what we said we are going to use.

Oh yeah and maybe the Mlp lore too but we might need help with that.

With that out of the way however—thank you very much for reading this chapter, all of you won’t be disappointed.

Written by Celestial King Turles and NasuBrony

Proofread by The Psychopath.